1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



207 



For the Neiv England Fainter. 



LITTLE THINGS, 



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

 grate vines. 



14. 



A neighboi" of mine says, that the sweet water 

 grape should be pruned as early as the 1st of 

 Nov.ember, so that the wood will harden a little 

 before covering them up. Otherwise they will 

 bleed in the spring. I have been much pleased 

 vritli your correspondent who writes on 



THINGS I RAISE IN MY GARDEN. 



This Is just what we want ; not only what we 

 raise, but how we raise it to the best advantage. 

 Professional gardeners have rare advantages in 

 this respect, and can do much to elevate the con- 

 dition of the multitude by making public their 

 success. May your correspondent long continue 

 to gratify us. But I see a red spot on one of my 

 apple trees, and I am led to notice a little, but 

 very important thing, and that is, a covering for 



WOUNDS ON APPLE TREES. 



I have tried several things with indifferent 

 success, but have not seen anything so complete 

 and easy as a little red ochre mixed with linseed 

 oil into a paste and applied with a brush some- 

 what profusely but closely to the wood. It forms 

 a yielding surface, a matter of importance — is 

 impervious to rain, and completely protects the 

 tree from bleeding. It injures my feelings very 

 much to travel by an orchard and see the bark 

 black and killed, by neglecting to cover the 

 wounds. But I wish to say a word on cultivating 



THE CRANBERRY. 



Very many persons are deterred from cultivat- 

 ing the cranberry because they have been influ- 

 enced by the complicated and expensive processes 

 supposed to be necessary. I have eaten as hand- 

 some cranberries the present winter as I ever saw, 

 which were raised in this manner. A man ob- 

 tained some vines three years ago, in a neigh 

 boring town, took his hoe and proceeded to a 

 wet spot in his grass field, struck in his hoe, put 

 in a vine, trod it down with his foot, and so on, 

 and then said to the grass and vines, do your best 

 each for the mastery. The vines grew, and he has 

 had cranberries to sell. Though this may not be 

 the best method, yet I believe that they may be 

 raised in thousands of places in sufficient quanti- 

 ties for family use without any particular difficul 

 ty. I do wish some of your correspondents would 

 inform me through your paper about 



MY ASPARAGUS BED. 



Shall I, in making a new bed, transplant old 

 roots, or young plants from the seed ? 1 have 

 plenty of each. Yours exceedingly little. 



Bethel, Me., Feb. 25, 1858. N. T. T, 



Remarks. — If you transplant the old roots 

 you will obtain asparagus much sooner, of course 

 than you would from the young plants, — and we 

 can see no reason why they would not be just as 

 good. 



Gophers. — Some years ago, the State of Iowa 

 was nearly overrun by gophers ; but at last it 

 •was discovered that the castor bean was an effec- 



tual remedy, and its use very much reduced the 

 number of this mischievous pest. The method is, 

 to plant the bean all over the land, about one 

 bean to the square rod. It is supposed that the 

 gojiher is fond of the root, and eats it, and that 

 it acts like physic or slow poison. At any rate, 

 it exterminates the gophers. Whether it oper- 

 ates the same with squirrels, or whether any ef- 

 fectual remedy has been discovered for them, we 

 are not informed, but hope if our readers know of 

 any, they will inform us, and thus benefit all. — 

 Prairie Farmer. 



EXTK.ACTS AND REPLIES. 

 WEAKNESS IN LAMBS. 



^Vhat is the cause and remedy for weakness in 

 the backs and limbs of lambs ? 



I have twenty-four good northern ewes, three 

 to five years old ; eighteen have lambed and the 

 lambs did very well until they were a few weeks 

 old, and then they are taken while fat and smart, 

 with this weakness, and die off suddenly, or re- 

 main lingering along. J. B. Ball. 



Concord, Vt., March 2, 1858. 



Remarks. — These ewes, as appears above, 

 have dropt their lambs early, and while the 

 weather is yet cold. The lambs are weak in the 

 back and limbs. This is a sort of palsy, or par- 

 tial suspension of nervous influence on the mus- 

 cles of voluntary motion, and is a disease very 

 liable to occur to young lambs just dropt, if ex- 

 posed to cold. Ewes heavy with young should 

 always have a warm dry place to retire to, as the 

 lamb, perhaps, suddenly exchanges the tempera- 

 ture of the mother's womb, for one below the 

 freezing point, and lies for hours on a bed of 

 snow, becomes palsied, and perhaps never entire* 

 ly recovers. 



A lamb that has been exposed to cold and be- 

 come chilled, should be placed in a basket, 

 wrapped in warm woollens, and gradually brought 

 near a fire ; then administer a little warm gruel, 

 with some ginger, in small quantity, and gently 

 rub the surface with the warm hand. When the 

 lamb has recovered a little return it to its mother, 

 but in a place where it will not again become 

 chilled. 



BONE DUST ON CORN. 



Will bone dust, if applied in the hill, produce 

 any serious effects on corn or potatoes by coming 

 in contact with the seed ? 



A GOOD FERTILIZER. 



I have made a good fertilizer by mixing one 

 part night soil, one of ashes and one of plaster 

 together, two weeks before use. It can be ap- 

 plied on the seed M'lthout Injury. It will push 

 corn ahead faster than any other compost that I 

 ever used. Emory Stone. 



Auburn, Mass., February, 1858. 



Remarks. — Bone dust applied to the hill and 

 mixed a little with the soil will not prevent the 

 germination of corn or potatoes — it probably 

 would not if unmixed. 



