498 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov.' 



Westboro' is a beautiful town, and has a thrif- 

 ty and intelligent population. It has many ex- 

 cellent farms, cultivated with intelligence and 

 skill, and they present in their fields, gardens 

 and dwellings, the most substantial evidences of 

 a progressive and prosperous people. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 NEW CHUHJSr— AARON'S EOD. 



Messrs. Editors : — In a recent number of the 

 Boston Herald, I noticed a ''churn" advertised 

 of improved character, which the inventor oper- 

 ated for general inspection each day at "Gerrish 

 Market," adding that it would convert either 

 fresh or sour milk into butter in three minutes ! 

 Sure, if any invention can be found, altogether 

 dispensing with the use of cream, and affording 

 butter in so short a space of time, it would be 

 most desirable to obtain, unless the promised 

 product be as that of the fancy farmer, who boast- 

 ed that, in a few years, manures would be so 

 condensed, that a man could carry fertilization 

 enough in a vest pocket to enrich twenty acres ! 

 "Aye ! good master," said his servant, "and sure 

 at that time, you may be able to carry all the 

 crops produced, in the 'tother pocket !" Pray, 

 Messrs. Editors, can you bestow on us any in- 

 formation as to a three minute milk churn ? 

 Will it perform all its inventor promises ? What 

 is the price, and how much butter can be made 

 from a gallon of milk ? 



1 would be glad to learn if any of your readers 

 know of any medicinal virtue in that singular 

 plant "Aaron's Hod," and what is its botanical 

 name ? Surely a product of nature possessing 

 such singular properties, could not have been 

 made altogether in vain. Oak Hill. 



July 24, 1859. 



Remarks. — The plant you inquire about, and 

 commonly known as "Aaron's Rod," belongs to 

 the family "Sedum," in botany. There are sev 

 eral varieties ; the botanical name of the com 

 mon house-leek is "Sempervivum," or "everlast 

 ing." 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FINE POTATOES. 



My neighbor Osborn, whom I have long 

 known as a first rate man to mend his own and 

 neighbor's ways, this morning brought me abas 

 ket of potatoes, of the Davis Seedling variety. 

 They were planted the 30th of June, fertiliz-d 

 with guano only, plump and fair as a Virgin's 

 cheek. I mean, a regular built country virgin 

 of sixteen; not your pale-faced, tight-laced, city 

 exquisite, of twenty-five, who would turn up her 

 nose with a sneer, sooner than lay her delicate 

 fingers on a potato. What I would particularly 

 remark about those potatoes, is, their rapidity 

 of growth, and superiority for quality and quan- 

 tity. I had some of them cooked today, and 

 they opened perfectly, and tasted as well as they 

 looked. In these days, when so many mishaps 

 visit the potato, it is a luxury (to us paddy boys) 

 to find those as good as ever grew in old Ireland. 



South Danvers, Jane 13, 1859. *. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 

 LIME AND WHEAT — MUCK AND GUANO — HAY- 

 CAPS. 



I regard the Farmer, published by you, as a 

 valuable means of intercourse among farmers. 

 Through it they learn each others' experience in 

 the various departments of agricultural pursuits. 



If lime is sown on wheat, when is the right 

 time to sow it — at the time of sowing the wheat, 

 or some time the next spring, and how much 

 ought to be sown to the acre? 



I practice drawing muck into my barn in the 

 spring, yarding my cows on it, and in the fall I 

 spread it on my grass land. Now I want to 

 know if it would be wise to buy guano and mix 

 with it, before carting, and if so, how much 

 ought to be used, say, for example, in a quantity 

 that will make fifty cart-loads? 



I also want to know the price of hay-caps, all 

 ready for use. I have lived in this world more 

 than fifty-five years, and have never seen one yet. 



Elijah Gunn. 



Montague, Mass., Sept., 1859. 



Remarks. — Sow four or five bu,shels of slaked 

 lime per acre — even more will do no harm — at 

 the time the wheat is sown. 



A bushel of guano mingled with an ox-cart 

 load of good, moist muck would form a valua- 

 ble manure. It depends upon circumstances 

 whether it would be wise for you to use it. If 

 jou have exhausted your manure heaps, and 

 have land at a distance from your building that 

 you are quite desirous of bringing up, we have 

 no doubt your crop would be sufficiently bene- 

 fited by the muck and guano to pay the cost of 

 application. The great advantage, however, to 

 be gained in the use of guano is to cover the 

 land, if possible, with a crop of grass, and thus 

 fill the starved soil with grass roots which sup- 

 ply it anew with vegetable matter. You then 

 have a basis to proceed upon in getting future 

 crops. 



Hay caps two yards square may be obtained 

 for about 40 cents each. Of a smaller size for a 



blackberries. 



Will you, or some of your correspondents, 

 please inform me the mode of cultivating black- 

 berries, and also, where I can obtain the genu- 

 ine Lawton or Rochelle variety, the price of 

 them, and how many it requires for an acre? 



What are blackberries worth per quart in your 

 market generally ? 



Newbury, Vt., 1859. Subscriber. 



Remarks. — Such cultivation as one would 

 give to raise sixty bushels of corn per acre, 

 would be suitable for high blackberries. They 

 may be cultivated in hills, four feet apart, or sus- 

 tained by rough trellis work of poles or strips of 

 boards. Mr. Lawton usually advertises his 

 plants in the Farmer. Vermont or Massachu- 

 setts are too far north for the Lawton. It is a 



