394 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



and the good, are made to counterbalance each 

 other in this life. 



In this section of our country the fruit crop is 

 not very abundant. The apples, we think, will 

 be of better quality, in general, than they were 

 last year. The early blossom promised an abun- 

 dant crop. The deficiency is owing chiefly to 

 the ravages of the cureulio. This insect is the 

 enemy which we have most to dread. The bor- 

 er, the caterpillar, and the canker-worm, we can 

 encounter with some hope of a successful result, 

 but the cureulio seems to be beyond our reach. 

 It is but recently that it has attacked the apple, 

 but its ravages are now widely extended, and 

 what may be the result time only can show. We 

 do not yet fully understand its habits. The can- 

 ker-worm extends its devastations for a few 

 years, and then partially, or wholly, disappears. 

 Whether this may be the case with the cureulio, 

 future observation will ascertain. If its return 

 shall be constant and permanent like that of the 

 caterpillar, the prospect of profit from the thou- 

 sands of trees that have been planted within 

 the few years past will be greatly diminished. 

 But we will not despair. If the crop is not abun- 

 dant, those we have will bear a better price, and 

 we will harvest them with the greater care. 



September is a busy month. The winter 

 grain is now to be got in, and the earlier, the 

 better. Those who neglected to seed down their 

 grass lands in August, should do it as early this 

 month as possible, that it may get well rooted 

 before the ground freezes. Ditches should be 

 dug or cleared out and a good stock of mud 

 and peat thrown out for future use. Early pota- 

 toes should be dug this month. Rye and oats 

 should be threshed, and not left till winter for 

 the mice to riot in. Look well to your ruta-bagas 

 and turnips, and thin them out where they are 

 growing too thick. They will well repay a little 

 care. Make your barn-cellar secure against the 

 frost, that your roots may be properly protected, 

 after they are harvested ; your stock will be 

 grateful for them during the cold and dreary sea- 

 son which is approaching. 



We have often expressed our opinion of the 

 value of the turnip crop. We wish we could 

 speak our own view upon this subject in such 

 words as would carry conviction to the minds of 

 all our brother farmers. There is no crop, unless 

 it be the mangel wurtzel, so easily raised, and 

 probably no crop of equal value can be raised 

 on the same ground, at the same expense. The 

 value of turnips for fattening cattle, for making 

 milk, or for promotinj the health and thrift of 

 all kinds of stock, is not duly appreciated by 

 New England farmers. They have much to learn 

 by experience upon this subject, and the sooner 

 they set about it, the sooner will they be con- 



vinced of its importance. Many of our farmers 

 depend largely upon swale or meadow hay for 

 wintering their stock. Could they add to this a 

 few hundred bushels of turnips, they would be 

 able to carry their stock through in much better 

 condition than they now do, and they would 

 come out in the spring vigorous and healthy, 

 and not lose two or three months in the summer 

 recuperating from the loss of the winter. In 

 sheep culture the value of the turnip can hardly 

 be estimated. As food for colts and horses the 

 ruta baga is very important. Put a half bushel 

 of roots into a box two feet square and chop 

 them with a sharp spade, and sprinkle a little 

 meal or shorts over them, and they will soon 

 learn to eat them freely. Try them once and you 

 will be satisfied. Experience is the most con- 

 vincing argument. 



The present season has taught us in a forcible 

 manner our dependence upon Providence. Much 

 hay and some grain have been injured in the 

 making. The excessive rain and low tempera- 

 ture have retarded many of the crops ; we have 

 barely escaped a frost, more than once, when it 

 would have been very destructive. The ripening 

 of the corn is still somewhat precarious, but the 

 season has thus far been remarkably healthy, and 

 we have an abundant supply for all our wants. 



Let us then never indulge a spirit of repining 

 or distrust, but enjoy with thankful hearts the 

 blessings which Heaven bestows. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 "WHITE ■WEED—SOW GKASS SEED. 



This infectious weed (white daisy it is called 

 in some sections) has become a standard nuisance 

 on nearly every farm in New England. Many 

 beautiful fields areas white with it as if blanched 

 with the snows of mid-winter. It was so much 

 my abomination, and my father's before me, that 

 every peering blossom was hunted out of the 

 grass-field, and its roots spaded out as clean as 

 a surgeon would trace the roots of a cancer with 

 his microscopic eye. Why tolerate white weed 

 in your grass field, any more than weeds in your 

 garden or cornfield ? If suffered to abide, it be- 

 comes a selfish monopolizer. In a few years lit- 

 tle else will grow. What is its range of value as 

 a hay crop ? How does the feeding stock thrive 

 upon it? Will your intelligent farmers give us 

 light ? The writer may be in the dark as to it« 

 nutritious qualities. 



If it is the pest I judge it to be, this is the 

 time to put in the Double Eagle Plow and give 

 it a berth as near "Symmes' Hole" as possible. 

 If it can make its way to the opposite hemisphere, 

 I would say good riddance, and many a farmer 

 would say amen. 



Now upon this virgin furrow, harrow in your 

 grass seed and your crop will be doubled the 

 next year with pure hay, and not white weed, 

 which cannot be called hay. No loss of time or 

 of a crop. 



