1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



223 



EXTRACTS AND BEPLIES. 

 FORESTS FOK WOOD. 



I wish to plant an acre of very rich (loam) 

 land to forest trees ; will you give the informa- 

 tion, as to what kind is best to grow wood fast- 

 est, where seed can be obtained, and the best 

 way to plant and manage, also, what tiuK; is best 

 to plant ? and oblige, Wm. li. L. 



Remarks.— Mr. B. F. Cutter, of Pelham,N. 

 H., can probably answer these questions, so as 

 to be of value to you. See a long article of his 

 on "the cultivation and preservation of forests," 

 in the Monthly Fanner for January, 1856 ; also, 

 several other articles, same volume, pages 217, 

 222, 258. Some of the seeds of forest trees may 

 be obtained at the seed stores, — but generally, 

 they must be ordered in advance. 



AGE OF SEEDS. 



Will you or some of your correspondents fur- 

 nish me through your paper, the length of time 

 that the following seeds may be kept on hand be- 

 fore they will lose their vitality? 



Shawn, Mass., March, 1858. Patron. 



I'cars. 



Beet 4 



Carrot 2 



Parsnip 1 



Cucumber 6 



Squash 6 



Melon 



Turnip 4 



Cabbage 4 



Lettuce 3 



Radish 3 



Pepper 4 



Onion 1 



Remarks. — We took the above list to Mr. 

 GwYNNETH, one of the firm of Nourse & Co., 

 Boston, and who attends to the seed department 

 of that establishment, who placed the above fig- 

 ures opposite the name of the article in question. 

 Mr. G. states, however, that the long-continued 

 vitality of seeds depends upon so many circum- 

 stances, that no certainty can be expected unless 

 the seed was gathered when in proper condition, 

 careJuUy cleaned, so as not to bruise or otherwise 

 injure the seed, and thoroughly cleaned, so that 

 no foreign matter shall excite fermentation or 

 dampness and mould, and then kept in proper 

 packages in a place pretty uniformly dry. When 

 these conditions are all complied with, he would 

 have no hesitation in guaranteeing that most 

 seeds will germinate at double the length of time 

 he has set down above ; but they should never be 

 placed where the heat is more than 60"^. 



SPAYING GOVTS. 



It will not answer. Nature must have its course 

 in some measure ; it is best ; it is profitable for a 

 cow to go dry one, two or three months in a 

 year — the milk is better and more of it, in a year. 



Plaivftcld, Mass., 1858. G. V. 



Remarks. — If we did not arrest nature in her 

 course in a good many things in farming, we 



I'eaTs. 



Tomato 5 



Celery 3 



Beans 3 



Peas 3 



Sape 3 



Saffron 1 



Summer Savory 2 



Flotrer Seeds. 



Balsam 5 



German Aster 3 



Pink 



should probably have queer results, both with 

 animals and plants. It is a fruitless effort to at- 

 tempt to put down scientific results by mere opin- 

 ions. All the reasoning in the world would not 

 convince Massachusetts farmers that it is best 

 never to graft an apple tree, even if it is a viola- 

 tion of nature ; and so of many other things. 



A RAT ? OR weasel ? OR WHAT ? 



I recently ftmnd upon the cellar bottom an an- 

 imal which the cat, I suppose, had caught and 

 killed, that was milk white, except a tuft of hair 

 on the end of the tail, which was black. It was 

 as large as a fair sized rat, and had all the ap- 

 pearance of a rat, except the color and tail, the 

 latter being shorter and covered with hair which 

 was somewhat bushy at the end. I at first sup- 

 posed it to be a white rat, but the strangeness of 

 its color caused me to examine it more particular- 

 ly, and I began to doubt whether it could be one, 

 and the more I reflect upon it, the more certain I 

 feel, it must be some other species of anim 1. 



But what it is, or where it came from, is beyond 

 my knowledge, having never seen anything of 

 the kind before. It has been suggested that it 

 might be a weasel, but it has nothing of the 

 shape and appearance of a weasel, but in all par- 

 ticulars excepting those named above, it strongly 

 resembles a common house rat. 



If }ou, or any of your readers, can give any in- 

 formation in relation to such animals, it would 

 be most thankfully received. A. S. Sawyer. 



Harvard, Mass., March, 1858. 



BONE SPAVIN. 



Can you or your subscribers tell of an\i;hing 

 that will stop a bone spavin from growing, and 

 prevent it from making a horse lame, if taken ia 

 season ? H. F. RoYCE. 



South WoodstocJc, Vt., 1858. 



Remarks. — Dr. Dadd's "Modem Horse Doc- 

 tor" recommends as a remedy. 



Muriatic acid 4 ounces. 



Water 2 quarts. 



Tincture of blood-root G ounces. 



Applied daily by means of a sponge. 



cracks in TREES — PUMPKINS. 



"S. W.," Waltham, thinks "cracks in trees are 

 occasioned by water freezing in them, when the 

 expansion causes the crack." But what caused 

 the original crack ? 



RUSSET SWEET APPLES. 



Some of the finest Russet Sweet Apples we ever 

 tasted, have been handed us by Mr. James Eus- 

 Tis, of South Reading, a gentleman well known 

 as a successful cultivator of good fruit. 



PROLIFIC HENS. 

 I have had four laying hens through the win- 

 ter and they have laid from seventeen to eighteen 

 eggs j)cr week ; they have been kept on a coarse 

 food, roosted in a cold l)arn. One dozen of the 

 eggs weighed 2 lbs. 1 oz. Hinsdale. 



