500 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



so unnatural, is more than I can tell ; by some, it 

 is considered as an omen of bad luck ; perhaps 

 you or some of your readers can explain the mys- 

 tery. Alpha. 

 Brandon, VL, 1859. 



POISON IVY. 



I wish to inquire if there is any way that I can 

 rid a meadow of poison ivy ? If so, what is the 

 easiest and most effectual way of doing it? 



J^orwich, 1859. A Subscriber. 



For the New England Parmer. 

 TRANSPLANTING PINES. 



In the July number, "Oak Hill" inquires how 

 pine trees may be transplanted. I give him my 

 limited experience with two, and two only, which 

 have both lived, and are growing well. In March, 

 1856, as soon as the frost was out, I went with 

 my wheelbarrow, iron bar and spade, to my pas- 

 ture, selected a thrifty pine 4 or 5 feet high — 

 drove my spade into the ground around it on a 

 circumference 18 inches or so from the trunk, 

 not perpendicularly, but as much inclined to the 

 ground as my pen now is to the paper I am 

 writing on, (and I hold my pen as I was instructed 

 by that excellent writing master, Mr. Barker, who 

 lived in London, N. H., 25 or 30 years ago.) That 

 done, I pried up the tree, dirt and all, with 

 my iron bar, and hoisted the same (a good solid 

 lift, by the way) into my wheelbarrow ; dug a 

 hole in my front yard, set the whole into it, and 

 levelled off — and left it to grow — and grow it did 

 without more care. Yesterday, August 29, I ob- 

 served it had grown this year upwards of a foot 

 in height. Last March I sat out another in the 

 same way, which is growing well ; have not wa- 

 tered either of them. N. C. Berry. 



Randolph, Mass., 1859. 



LOOK IN THIS MIKROK. 



Investing in champagne at $2 a bottle — an 

 acre of good government land costs $1,25. In- 

 vesting in tobacco and cigars, daily, one year, 

 $50 — seven barrels of good flour will cost $49. 



Investing in "drinks," one year, $100 — $100 

 will pay for ten daily and fifteen monthly peri- 

 odicals. 



Investing in theatrical amusements, one year, 

 $200 — $200 will purchase an excellent library. 



Investing in a fast horse, $500 — four hundred 

 acres of good wild land costs $500. 



Investing in a yacht, including bettings and 

 drinkings for the season, $5,000 — $5,000 will 

 buy a good improved country farm. 



Panics, hard times, loss of time, red faces, bad 

 temper, poor health, ruin of character, misery, 

 starvation, death, and a terrible future may be 

 avoided by looking at the above square in the 

 face. 



A majority of "financiers," in making calcula- 

 tions for the future, watch the importations, ex- 

 ports of specie, the ups and downs of stocks, and 

 the movements of the Wall Street bulls and 

 bears. All that is very well, but let them at the 

 same time estimate the loss of gold in the mael- 

 strom of extravagance. — Scientific Artisan, 



AUTUMN— A DIRGE. 



The warm (un ia failing ; the bleak wind is wailing; 

 The bare boughs are sighing; the pale flowers are dying; 



And the year 

 On the earth, her death-bed, in shroud of leaves dead, 

 Is lying. 



Come months, come away, 



From November to May ; 



In your sacdest array, 



Follow the bier 



Of the dead, cold year, 

 And like dim shadows watch her sepulchre. 



The chill rain is falling ; the nipt worm is crawling ; 

 The rivers are swelling ; the thunder is knelling 



For the year; 

 The blithe swallows ar-? flown, and the lizards each gone 

 To his dwelling; 

 Come, months, come away; 

 Put on white, black, and gray ; 

 Let your light sisters play — 

 Ye follow the bier 

 Of the dead, cold year. 

 And make her grave green with tear on tear. 



Percy Bysche Shellty. 



For the New England Partner. 

 FROM NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 



Mr. Editor : — As our harvest is gathered, and 

 all growing crops in such a state of advance- 

 ment that a correct idea of the yield may nearly 

 be guessed at, I will offer a short article on the 

 subject for the Farmer. 



The wheat crop is not a full one — many are 

 now threshing out wheat and oats ; whea*, varies 

 much in quantity ; while some have scarcely five 

 bushels per acre, others have ten, fifteen and 

 some few twenty and upwards, but the number is 

 small that reaches the last figure. The majori- 

 ty will most likely be under ten. This county 

 will scarcely average ten, and I believe it would 

 be a liberal estimate for the whole northern por- 

 tion of the State. The quality is generally good, 

 far ahead of last year. Oats are good — the best 

 pieces will yield sixty bushels per acre ; the av- 

 erage will not be far short of forty. 



Corn will not be half a crop in this vicinity. I 

 think it will scarcely average fifteen bushels to 

 the acre of good marketable corn, but this is not 

 the case in all parts of the State. 



Potatoes will be a light yield near this place. 

 I am told they are much better in many places 

 not far distant. The hay crop is also much light- 

 er than usual. The importance of this crop is 

 being felt more in this country now, than it was 

 some years ago. 



The chintz bugs did considerable damage to 

 many of the crops ; they operated on the wheat 

 first, damaging some fields badly. I do not know 

 of a single field that was clear of them. They 

 went from the wheat into the corn, where they 

 still remain in large quantities but do not seem 

 to be doing much injury now ; they worked hard 

 on it a few weeks after wheat harvest. Vegeta- 

 bles of all kinds are much scarcer here than com- 

 mon. The frost of June 5th cut most of the ten- 

 der plants down, and what few escaped then, 

 with what was planted since, have suffered se- 

 verely by dry weather. 



We have had a very dry summer, having had 

 no rain since early in the season to moisten the 



