1859. 



iNTEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



323 



but the milk-sellers of the town employ alum for 

 the purpose, or place in the ■\\arm milk an old! 

 Spanish coin, supposed to be of peculiar efficacy 

 in securing coagulation. 



EXTBACT8 AND HEPLIES. 



AKTICHOKES FOR COWS — ^yIIITE SPECKS IN 

 BUTTER. 



"Will you be so kind as to inform me through 

 the columns of your paper, vrhether or no arti- 

 chokes are useful to give cows. 



I Jhave, for years, occasionally noticed white 

 specks in butter, and have made inquiry for the 

 cause, but no one can tell. If you rinse the but- 

 ter, many of those white particles will float on 

 the top of the water, but it is impossible to get 

 them all out. If you can tell me the cause or 

 preventive, you will favor one who is interested 

 in your journal. 



"^Vhat soil is best for white blackberries, and 

 what will make them productive. T. 



Felchville, VL, ISj'J. 



Remarks. — Artichokes are good for cows, 

 given in proper quantities. 



In churning, as soon as the butter begins to 

 come, all the particles of cream that have been 

 thrown to the top, or any other part of the churir, 

 should be carefully scraped down. If they are 

 left, they will, more or less of them, mingle with 

 the butter, and make white spots. Sometimes, 

 however, butter will have white streaks through 

 it. This may be occasioned by collecting the 

 cream at many different times, so that in churn- 

 ing some of it is quite fresh and does not "come" 

 so readily as the rest. The cream, while being 

 collected, should be salted a little, and carefully 

 stirred every day. 



OBSTRUCTED MILK. 



I have a valuable cow which calved about ten 

 days ago ; she has an obstruction in one of her 

 hind teats. The milk will only flow in a very 

 small fine stream and takes as long to milk it as 

 it would two cows. The teat or udder does not 

 swell, no appearance of garget ; but there ap- 

 pears to be a small hard bunch in the teat in the 

 milk passage close up to the udder. Can you, 

 or any of your readers, tell me what to do for it ? 



Atkinson, A^, II., May, 1859. L. Keen. 



Remarks. — Take one-half of a small pair of 

 scissors, and grind down to a sharp edge on both 

 sides, and running down to a small point. Hold 

 the teat firmly in the left hand and thrust the in- 

 strument up the teat, gently, so as to make an 

 incision one-sixteenth or one-eighth of an inch 

 wide. If you find the stream obstructed in a 

 day or two, repeat the operation. 



TO SAVE VINES FROM BUGS. 



The most sure remedy is to go over the hills 

 early in the morning, and kill all you can find; 

 get some old shingles or bits of board, put a lit- 

 tle tar on one side, and lay it so the bugs can 



crawl under, by the side of the hill ; they can 

 then be readily found about the middle of the 

 day and killed. 1 sometimes use a mixture of 

 three parts flour, two of sulphur, one black pep- 

 per, and sprinkle a little on and around the 

 vines. Last season, I entirely gained the victory 

 over the bugs in three days. Perhaps some may 

 think my mode requires a deal of labor, but one 

 hour in the morning and another at noon for a 

 few days will save an acre, that is, if the bugs do 

 no worse than heretofore. 



Shaker Village, N. U. Henry J. Durgin. 



RECLAIMING LAND. 



I have a small piece of wet land that was cov- 

 ered with brakes and small brush, and bore little 

 worth anything. In August, 1855, I mowed it 

 with a bush scythe, and let it dry well, and then 

 burned it. After which I took a team and plow 

 and tore it up, and let it rest until the next June, 

 1857 ; then I took a bog-hoe, and levelled it, and 

 dug a ditch, and sowed herds-grass, red-top and 

 clover seed and a few ashes. In 1858, I cut two 

 crops of hay; the first was as large as I could 

 well dry on the land. I have tried a number of 

 pieces in the same way with equal success. 



Asliby, Mass., 1859. A. Taylor. 



GREEN WORMS — INCH WORMS. 



Last year the currant and gooseberry bushes 

 of this place were stripped of their leaves, by a 

 green worm about an inch long when full grown, 

 by some called the inch-worm. When the bush 

 is jarred, it will suspend itself by a web some six 

 or eight inches long, and then return to its work 

 of destruction. They are so numerous in some 

 localities that it would be an endless job to pick 

 them off" by hand. Can you tell of some more 

 expeditious method of ridding our gardens of this 

 pest ? They commence their work about the last 

 of May or first of June. I. G. J. 



Great Falls, May 16, 1859. 



Remarks.— AVe know of no remedy, as the 

 common application of whale oil soap, &c., would 

 be quite likely to spoil the fruit. 



ROOT crops. 



Having read considerable discussion in the 

 Farmer the past winter, on "Root Crops," I 

 would refer you to an article written by myself 

 at your request, printed in the Fanner of April 

 0, 1856, on the first page, in regard to "Root 

 Crops." 



I wish to say that I have practiced the same 

 mode of farming with equal success, and that I 

 now have a cow five years old that weighs 2360 

 lbs., being 300 lbs. heavier than either of those 

 I had at the United States fair at Boston. 



I wish to have it understood that her principal 

 extra feed during the winters has been roots. ' 

 JosiAii Bennett. 



Westmoreland, N. H., April, 1859. 



cockroaches. 



Can you, or any of the readers of your valua- 

 ble paper, inform me what will exterminate cock- 

 roaches ? A Subscriber. 



