NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



375 



Fur the New England Fanner. 



THE BEST "WAY TO MAKE LARGE 

 FIELDS. 



Messes Editors : — I have been dabbling at 

 farming and experimenting upon a small scale, 

 and laboring practically, when other business did 

 not interfere, for nearly a half century past. My 

 farm consists of nearly 200 acres of "Wilmington 

 land," of all descriptions except the best. I have 

 soil which ranges from good down to the very 

 cheapest. I find more or less profit derived from 

 it all. My best lots we cultivate and use for pas- 

 turage, the remainder, of upland, produces a 

 quick and profitable growth of wood ; my low 

 land produces a plenty of meadow hay, occasion- 

 ally a crop of cranberries, and any amount of wa- 

 ter bushes, and a profusion of meadow flowers, 

 besides answering the purpose of a reservoir for 

 a mill pond. When I commenced fai'ming here, 

 I did as many of my neighbors did, made my fields 

 too large for my manure. It cost me as much to 

 cultivate four acres of corn that produced 15 

 bushels to the acre as it would the same number 

 of acres which would produce 40 or 50 bushels 

 to the acre, beside the loss in the depreciation of 

 the soil, which is not duly considered by many 

 farmers. 



A light crop of corn was not the end of the 

 evil ; my grass seed, if it came up at all, was no 

 more prolific than the corn that grew on the 

 same ground. I found a great difference in rais- 

 ing my supply of corn, between the expense of 

 raising it on four acres and cultivating two acres 

 to obtain as large a quantity. We cannot cheat 

 our laud, but we can cheat ourselves in trying to 

 do it. If we have but little manure, make a little 

 land better than it was before ; in that way there 

 is a great saving of expense in labor and time. I 

 find by making every little field which is laid 

 down to grass richer and more productive, is the 

 direct course to larger fields. The best way to 

 enlarge fields is to get large crops from small 

 fields. Large quantities of manure applied to 

 small lots of land is much the cheapest way of 

 farming on Wilmington, and much other soil in 

 our State. 



The great Creator of New England never de- 

 signed it for large farming operations, as is evi- 

 dent from the "lay of the land and the nature of 

 the soil," but for a hardy band of republican pa- 

 triots, who could do their own farming and fight- 

 ing successfully, by cultivating small farms and 

 keeping an eye well directed to the enemy. I be- 

 lieve, in the prevalence of the late "panics," that 

 the small farmers have escaped the epidemic as 

 well, if not better, than those who have been en- 

 gaged in an extensive business of almost any 

 kind. The inordinate desire to gain wealth often 

 defeats its own purposes and instead of conduct- 

 ing the deluded aspirant to the true El Dorado, 

 it conveys him to the barren mines of poverty. 



I\^rth Wilmington, 1858. Silas Brown. 



it remain a few seconds, then into boiling water 

 again, repeating this process ten times in a min- 

 ute, without injury or inconvenience, not even 

 making my arm look red. From this experi- 

 ment I suggested the propriety of using cold 

 water baths instantly after being scalded. I 

 have practiced the above remedy with entire suc- 

 cess during the last ten years. Cold water is al- 

 ways handy where there is hot water. The soon- 

 er cold water is applied after scalding, the surer 

 will be the cure. — Ohio Cultivator. 



For the New England Farmer, 



A GOOD "WEBDER, THAT NEED NOT 

 COST A COPPER! 



Messrs. Editors: — I yesterday saw in the 

 hands of !Mr. William Goodwin, of our town, a 

 very useful little implement for weeding, which 

 might rest a good many aching backs. It was 

 simply a rusty table-knife, sharpened towards the 

 point, on both sides of the blade, about two inches 

 of which was then bent up like a hook and firmly 

 secured by the handle to a strip of light pine, of 

 sufficient length to enable a man to use it as a 

 weeder while standing erect. If our friends will 

 try this simple weeder, they will find, after slight 

 practice, that they can weed about as clean and 

 nearly as fast as with the hand. The weeds are 

 removed by a scraping movement. In wet weather 

 it will prove a capital preventive of rheumatism 

 and cramp in the limbs. Let no one "poh" upon 

 this implement because of its simplicity ; if he 

 has much bed sauce to weed, let him try it, and 

 he may have reason to thank our friend for his 

 "notion." J. J. H. Gregory. 



Marhlehead, Mass. 



Cold Water to Cure Scalds.— I placed a 

 large tub full of cold water, with plenty of ice in 

 it, by the side of a large kettle full of water, 

 which was boiling very fast. I then rolled up 

 my sleeve above the elbow, and thrust it into the 

 kettle of boiling water up to the elbow, then im- 

 mediately back into the tub of ice water, letting 



THE DROP-'WORM— AGAIN. 



Eds. Rural: — I am perhaps like friend "Plow 

 HANDLE," somewhat ambitious to see my name 

 in print. Yet I hope I will never trouble you 

 and your readers unless I have something to say 

 unto edification. 



The article in the last number of the Rural on 

 the "Drop-worm" is excellent. By way of gos- 

 sip, I will give you my brief experience of this 

 villanous insect. 



On the the 21st of May, 1855, I first noticed 

 them on a peach tree, apparently restless. How- 

 ever, they arrested my attention by their comic 

 movements, sticking on the stem and branches 

 with their then small cocoons of bits of leaves, 

 &c., erect, while their head and first and second 

 pair of legs were withdrawn. On July 25th, I 

 found them increased in size on a beautiful and 

 vigorous Tliuja Occidentalis in my yard. Unac- 

 quainted with the creature, I left it alone to watch 

 the process of its transformation. In short, I 

 learned the economy of this Oiketicus Conif era- 

 rum, as you call it, but lost my tree. There it 

 stands, a sad memorial of my forbearance in not 

 picking the customers and treading them under 

 foot. 



I was amused, however, at the ruse de guerre 

 of a large species of Ichneumon fly, which I ob- 

 served to pinch with its strong jaws the domicile 

 of the Oiketicus, irritating the tenant within un- 

 til it thrust its head out of its hole, when the 



