1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



301 



the case of brown bread, &c., may form excep- 

 tions to Dr. D.'s rule. It may also be observed, 

 that certain cases which may be abnormal or 

 diseased cases, may form exceptions to some of 

 the other preceding rules ; but they cannot be 

 numerous, and their application belongs to the 

 department of the medical men, rather than that 

 of the hygeist. 



Your readers may now judge for themselves, 

 Avhether your statement is too strong, that our 

 cookery needs reformation more than anything 

 else. They may also understand, perhaps, how 

 it is that while medical men, even we, of the old 

 school, do not order for our patients, one-fourth 

 as much medicine as we did fifty years ago, so 

 much more is sold in proportion to the popula- 

 tion. They eat and drink it daily and hourly — 

 this is one reason. Hence the correctness of your 

 own statement, that "half the trade of the apoth- 

 ecary has gone into the grocer's hands." 



If any of your fair readers should begin to be 

 alarmed, and to say that, at this rate, nothing is 

 left for us to eat, or certainly to cook ; let them 

 recall their conclusion till I have time to show 

 them a long list of dishes, longer perhaps than 

 they will have patience to look over, which can 

 be prepared without violating any of the fore- 

 going rules, unless it be the eighth — hardly even 

 that. Meanwhile, if they do not like to wait, let 

 them look into my great work, "The Laws of 

 Health," (at John P. Jewett & Co.'s) or into a lit- 

 tle book costing about ten cents, entitled "Bread," 

 written and published by William Hunt, of Bos- 

 ton, which, on the preparation of breadstuffs, 

 contains more wisdom than many an "ample vol- 

 ume — mighty tome," which could be named, even 

 though emanating from "high authority," and 

 highly commended. W. A. Alcott. 



Auburndale, May 10, 1858. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE BONE SPAVIN. 



Friend Brown: — In your last monthly an 

 inquiry was addressed to yourself or subscrib- 

 ers, as to a cure for bone spavin. Knowing 

 nothing of the remedy you refer to, permit me 

 to relate an experiment of my own with bone 

 spavin, and the result, leaving parties interested 

 to form their own conclusions. Some few years 

 since, I became possessed of a fine family mare, 

 that was, and had been for a long period, trou- 

 bled with bone spavin. This, while it did not 

 exactly lame her, seriously affected her gait when 

 at full speed. Having in the stable one day a 

 can of "rosin oil," it occurred to me to apply 

 some of it to the mare's spavined joint, which I 

 forthwith did, without any very definite idea as 

 to the nature of the remedy or its probable eff"ect. 

 During that and the succeeding day, several appli- 

 cations of the oil were made, and I soon came to 

 notice considerable inflammation over and about 

 the joint, attended with a copious discharge of a 

 transparent _ fluid resembling water. In a few 

 days the hair came off" where the oil had been 

 applied, and the watery discharges continued 

 through the pores of the now uncovered skin. 

 This gradually ceased, however, and I soon had 

 the gratification to find that instead of destroy- 

 ing the joint, as I began to fear, I had completely 



removed every vestige of bone spavin. This be- 

 came known to a neighbor whose brother was in 

 the livery business, and he has since informed 

 me that both himself and brother subsequently 

 applied this oil to bone spavin, and in one in- 

 stance to incipient ring-bone, with complete suc- 

 cess. It should be the first run of rosin oil. 

 Mine was procured from the "Boston Oil Com- 

 pany's," Custom House Street, Boston. 



East Wohurn, May 12, 1858. l. p. d. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ASPARAGUS BEDS. 



Mr. Editor : — I wish to say a few words to 

 you, and to have a few words from you, in re- 

 gard to asparagus beds. From all my reading for 

 the past fifteen or twenty years, I supposed that 

 the only way to have a good asparagus bed, was 

 to bestow a great deal of labor and a great deal 

 of manure in its formation, as well as of atten- 

 tion to its proper position. ^ few days since, 

 having an opportunity of getting some good 

 roots, I thought I would make one, late as it is,- 

 this spring. I took my stored information into 

 account, of trenching deep, two spades at least, 

 or even two and one-half feet, manuring at the 

 bottom very heavily, &c. I laid out a bed about 

 sixteen feet square, and came to the conclusion be- 

 fore I got through with the digging, that if th(? 

 operation was to be conducted on an extended 

 scale, it would be well for humanity, if not for 

 the asparagus, that an easier plan should be 

 found. The idea of having eighty acres, (as 

 Bridgman, I think, says one gardener has, who 

 sends to the London market,) under cultivation, 

 would require a life-time, and the fortune of the 

 Duke of Devonshire, to supply the manure. Our 

 farmers, I thought to myself, must have an easi- 

 er method, — and so it turned out. I asked one 

 of them, soon after, and this was the amount of 

 the conversation. 



Question. — How do you manage your aspara- 

 gus beds, — do you trench ? 



Answer. — No, I plow two furrows. 



Q. — How, both in the same line ? 



A. — No, I plow one furrow, and then return. 



Q. — How deep, then, is your furrow ? 



A. — O, perhaps eight or ten inches. 



Q. — Well, do you manure highly at the bot- 

 tom ? 



A. — No, I believe I didn't put any manure \r* 

 to the bottom of the trench. 



Q. — Is your ground very rich ? 



A. — No, only medium. 



Q. — You manure on top, then ? 



A. — Yes, a good deal. 



^.— When ? 



^.— In the fall. 



Q. — Do you think this the best plan to follow, 

 in managing a bed ? 



A. — I don't know whether it is the best plan 

 or not, but from my bed I got, a few days ago, 

 one hundred bunches for Boston market, and I 

 thought that was doing pretty well. 



I can't give you the size of the beds mentioned 

 by the individual above, but it is enough to say, 

 he is one of those energetic, practical farmers, that 

 would hardly be content with one bunch of as- 



