1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



291 



mile in 2.40 is no part of the proper use of a 

 horse. Give me a good sized, well formed ani- 

 mal that is able to draw a load, trot in the bug- 

 gy eight or ten mile? in an hour if need be, and 

 when he is properly cared for, -will repay that 

 care with something besides laziness and un- 

 soundness. I love to feed such an animal. He 

 will earn his living, not gamble it out of fools' 

 pockets. 



If speed were the object, I think the pro- 

 found critics on Morgan horses might learn a lit- 

 tle modesty, and wait until they could match 

 Ethan Allen, to say nothing [of young Morrill, 

 owned at Manchester, N. H., who by-the-bye is 

 a very fast going handsome trotter, and can hard- 

 ly be matched by any thorough-bred entire horse 

 in the country. One of his colts owned at Laco- 

 nia, N. H., by L. T. Tucker, Esq., trots down 

 close to 2.40. Also the North horse, sired by old 

 Black Hawk, a splendid animal, going in 2.40 or 

 less. But enough of this. 



I desire to see our farmers turning their atten- 

 tion to raising a class of good roadsters, such as 

 we have seen in times past — horses that can work 

 every day. Brother farmers, when you have a 

 good mare that will command a good price, keep 

 her for your own service ; do not se* her to the 

 first man who offers a fair price. Keep her to 

 raise stock, and for service on the farm ; you will 

 find it a good investment. Plow Jogger. 



Addison, Vt., May 6, 1858. 



For tlie New England Farmer. 

 CBOSSINQ PUMPKINS WITH SQUASHES. 



Where does the Sicash Borer come from ? 



Messrs. Editors : — Your correspondent "A. 

 M. P.," in the Farmer of April 17th, has thrown 

 the light of his experience on the question pro- 

 posed by "Essex," in January last ; but as Essex 

 appealed directly to Marblehead as an "overflow- 

 ing fountain" on squash culture, perhaps she may 

 yet be allowed to throw a little mist over the sub- 

 ject, in the summing up of her experience. 



On a pretty extensive inquiry among our farm- 

 ers, I meet with one vital trouble at the outset, 

 and that is, that from the value of our land for 

 high cultivation, owing to the facilities presented 

 by a good soil, good markets and abundance of 

 valuable manures, the culture of pumpkins for 

 the past ten or fifteen years has almost been ob- 

 solete. The summing up of their experience 

 previous to the general introduction of the mar- 

 row-squash, amounts to this : that the squash 

 and pumpkin will cross ; which they have se^n in 

 the squash assuming the shell of the pumpkin, 

 somewhat of its color, and when thus character- 

 ized being inferior in quality ; that they never 

 have seen the squash take upon itself the form 

 of the pumpkin. 



The experience of one gentleman was striking. 

 Several years since a neighbor whose land was 

 adjoining, planted a few hills of the old-fashioned 

 "nigger pumpkin" near by a large crop of mar- 

 rows, a common wall intervening. For several 

 years previous to this his marrows had been ex- 

 ceedingly pure, but since that date, with the ut- 

 most care in selecting his seed he has always had 

 some among his marrows with a hard pumpkin- 

 like shell ! 



There appears to be a general impression 



among farmers that the borer, that has proved 

 himself of late years so troublesome to the squash- 

 vines in many sections, ascends from the ground 

 and bores his way into the plant. Your corres- 

 pondent from Spring Grove, in the Farmer of 

 April 17th, appears to have adopted that theory; 

 I have also noticed it interwoven into some of 

 the reports included in the transactions of our 

 County Agricultural Societies. 



If gentlemen will turn to the treatise of the 

 late Dr. Harris, on "Insects injurious to Vegeta- 

 tion," they will find that that most original ob- 

 server traced the parentage of the borer to a spe- 

 cies of the coccinella, lady-bird or lady-bug, as 

 it is variously known. This insect deposits its 

 eggs in the vine at about the time of the push- 

 ing of the runners. It may be recognized by its 

 resemblance to the common lady-bug in form, 

 being larger, of the size of the half of a large 

 pea, and its back having a red groundwork, spot- 

 ted with black. I quote from memory, but be- 

 lieve I am substantially correct. 



Marblehead, Mass. J. J. H. Gregory. 



CURE FOR THE GARGET. 



Some two or three years since we published the 

 following recipe for curing garget, and from ac- 

 tual experiment in this vicinity, we know it to be 

 a good one. Mr. Lowell Greenleaf writes to one 

 of our agricultural exchanges, (we have lost the 

 credit,) giving an account of his trials of the re- 

 ceipe, and its results, as follows : 



"Having had a cow that was almost worthless 

 on account of bunches in the udder which ren- 

 dered the milk bloody, stringy, and not fit for 

 the hogs, I was on the eve of giving her up for 

 lost, when I used the following recipe, which in 

 three weeks restored her to perfection, and not 

 the slightest symptom of garget has appeared 

 since. I could cite numerous cases of perfect 

 cure. And not only doubling the nuantity, but 

 improving the quality of the milk and butter. 

 Since I applied this remedy, my cow has, in two 

 years risen in value from $20 to $75 : 



Itecipe. — "An ounce and a half of hydriodate 

 of potash, at 440 grains to the ounce, will contain 

 660 grains. Put the whole into a glass bottle of 

 sufficient capacity, with fifty-five table spoonfuls 

 of cold water. Shake briskly, and it will be 

 thoroughly dissolved in a few minutes ; one table 

 spoonful will contain a dose, the requisite quan- 

 tity of twelve grains. Wet a little Indian meal 

 or shorts and thoroughly stir in the dose. Give 

 two or three doses a day. Keep the bottle corked 

 tight."— Ex. 



Soot. — In England this is saved and applied 

 to the wheat and other crops, with great returns. 

 In this country, it is too often thrown into the 

 street and lost. About eighteen bushels are a 

 good dressing for an acre. Several salts of am- 

 monia, magnesia and lime render it too valuable 

 to be wasted. As a liquid manure for the garden, 

 nothing is better than three or four quarts of soot 

 dissolved in a barrel of water, and applied with a 

 watering pot. Almost every family may, as well 

 as not, preserve a few bushels of it. It is good 

 for any kind of grain ; also for roots, especially 

 potatoes and carrots ; and nothing excejjt Peru- 

 vian guano, which it is silly to buy, and at the 



