580 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



Aug. 



field, without being harvested. Is their soil so 

 different from ours, that this crop will do well 

 there, and not at all well with us ? I have known 

 1600 bushels of English turnips to be gathered 

 from an acre, estimated to be worth for the feed 

 of stock 20 or 25 ots. per bushel. I supposed 

 this to be a better yield than 7<5 bushels of In- 

 dian corn from the same land — both demanding 

 like dressings of manure. 



I do not believe Mr. A., of P., will agree with 

 his townsman C. in this matter — nor do I believe 

 will Mr. D., of P., all of whom have had the 

 honor of being Presidents of the Plymouth 

 County Society. If my recollection is right, in 

 the last speech I heard from him, and he always 

 speaks forcibly and to the point, he spoke en- 

 couragingly of the culture of ruta bagas and oth- 

 er turnip crops. Essex. 



June 13, 1859. 



For the New England Farmer. 



lilTTLE THINGS: 



Or, a Walk in My Garden....No. 19. 



While watering some plants the other day, I 

 was led to notice some of the 



SIGNS OF A STORM. 



My dog. Carlo, has occasionally a fit of eating 

 grass. Now I suppose others have noticed the 

 same fact in dogs ; but I never yet saw one eat- 

 ing grass whose act was not followed by rain 

 within twenty-four hours. Others may have 

 met with an exception, but I have not. 



The instincts of animals with reference to the 

 weather have been noticed from the earliest an- 

 tiquity; and I believe the time has arrived when 

 a careful collection of facts should be made re- 

 specting the behavior of plants and animals as 

 indicative of the weather. 



EARLY AND LATE FROSTS. 



"While noticing a white frost in ray garden 

 where I had hoed a few potatoes, I was led to in- 

 quii-e why it should be so severe there ; when a 

 sensible-looking neighbor told me that ground 

 recently hoed in spi-ing was more liable to frost, 

 but when hoed in the fail it would prevent a 

 frost. The reason was at once obvious. In the 

 spring the earth has not been warmed, and evap- 

 oration is increased, and cold results, as a conse- 

 quence, sufficient for a frost ; but in the fall, when 

 the ground is warm, stirring it causes an evap- 

 oration of warm air and moisture. 



It was a beautiful evening, and while taking a 

 walk down the garden I was meditating on the 



INFLUENCE OF THE MOON ON THE TEMPERA- 

 TURE. 



Physicists are not inclined to attach much im- 

 portance to the influence of the moon upon the 

 weather, but it seems to be a well-established 

 fact that when the moon runs high, as farmers 

 say, it is colder than at other times. It is the 

 dread of the farmer that he shall have a frost on 

 the full of the moon, either late in the spring or 

 early in the autumn. He always looks for it at 

 that time, and no other. Farmers in Maine know 

 that if they can get safely by the frosts on the full 

 moon in September, they will not be likely to 

 have a severe frost till the next full moon in Oc- 



tober. Farmers have long noticed that when the 

 moon runs low in the summer months, the nights 

 are very warm. Here, I believe, is an interest- 

 ing field of inquiry, requiring, to be sure, a long 

 series of observations, but which will result in 

 something important to the cause of science and 

 of scientific agriculture. 



While painting over the wounds on my apple 

 trees, this week, I was pleased to see the apples 

 well set for a crop, and was led to reflect on the 



EFFECTS OF COLD ON APPLE TREES. 



I have for several years been led to doubt the 

 generally received opinion of farmers in regard 

 to the causes of a failure of fruit after blossom- 

 ing full. The present season has been remarka- 

 ble for two weeks of the coldest weather ever 

 known in June in this vicinity. Water has been 

 frozen the thickness of a dollar. The leaves of 

 locust, beech and sumach trees are all killed — 

 grape vines ditto. On three-fourths of an acre 

 of corn on my land, probably not a hundred hills 

 can be found which are not killed to the kernel, 

 and past recovery, yet the apple trees adjacent 

 are heavily set with fruit. A year ago my or- 

 chard was a mass of blossoms, and we had no 

 very cold weather, yet I did not gather but six 

 barrels where I should have expected fifty. I 

 think I can explain the reason. Two years ago 

 my orchard bore heavily. The fall season was 

 favorable for the development of the fruit buds 

 the next year, and when the next year came, blos- 

 soms were abundant, but the trees, except a few 

 in a high state of cultivation, were not in a con- 

 dition to bear fruit. They had been exhausted 

 the year before ; I think the weather had but lit- 

 tle to do with them. The present year they have 

 recovered their energy, and, frost or no frost, I 

 shall have a good crop. 



RHUBARB FOR GREENS. 



I did not know till the other day, when a lady 

 told me, that the leaves of rhubarb make excel- 

 lent greens. They are as tender and delicate as 

 anything I have ever eaten. I think this fact is 

 not generally known. 



But as your readers may see that I commenced 

 this article rather (Zo^'-matically, I fear they may 

 think that I shall close it crt^-egorically. So 

 enough of little things, till 50U hear again from 



Bethel, Me., June 20, 1859. N. T. T. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE LAW IN SEGARD TO THE SALE OF 

 MILK. 



Mr. Editor : — It is well known that a law 

 was passed last winter that milk should be sold 

 and bought by wine measure, and that it is in force 

 in our cities many persons will be ready to tes- 

 tify who have keenly felt the diff'erence between 

 the quart they used to receive and the one thai 

 is now dealt out to them. 



But I am confident that the law is not as strict- 

 ly adhered to by those who buy milk at whole- 

 sale, as it is by those who sell at retail, and I 

 know that in many instances milk is bought of 

 farmers in the country for sixteen and seventeen 

 cents per can, the cans holding seven quarts beer 

 measure, making the price per quart, beer rneas- 



