ISoS. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



509 



as it relates to their nutritive qualities, whereae 

 the best qualities cf apples ai'e perhaps superior. 

 In Cornwall, England, the peasantry consider 

 ripe mellow apples superior to potatoes as food, 

 and nearly equal to wheaten bread. In many 

 parts of Europe the laboring people eat sliced 

 apples with their daily bread, and make a hearty, 

 healthy meal of them. The finest apples in the 

 world are raised in the United States, and the 

 working people in our cities would do well to use 

 more of them for food, especially during the fall 

 and winter seasons, when they can be obtained 

 cheap. We hope yet to be able to eat apples 

 during the midst of summer (at fair and reason- 

 able prices,) as sweet in flavor and rich in nutri- 

 ment as when plucked from the tree. Much at- 

 tention is now directed to their perfect preserva- 

 tion during the summer's heat and. winter's cold. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 

 A LAEGE CALF. 



Mr. E. Johnson, of this place, has a heifer calf 

 that is just eighteen weeks old, which weighs four 

 hundred and fifty pounds. The calf is of the 

 Devon breed, of a deep cherry red color, and 

 well marked for a cow. Its weight, when four 

 weeks old, was 196 pounds ; when four months 

 it weighed four hundred pounds. The girt of 

 the calf now is four feet and six inches. The feed 

 of the calf has consisted of the milk of one cow 

 and what hay she would eat ; no meal or any other 

 grain having been given her. 



Mr. Johnson is one of our most thorough far- 

 mers, and raises some good stock, as the above 

 will testify. H. G. Palmer. 



Lebanon, Conn., Sept. 14, 1858. 



PLOWING OLD PASTURES. 



Mr. Editor : — I wish to inquire through the 

 columns of your paper, of Mr. Holbrook, if it 

 will do to plow old pastures in August, and seed 

 down, without fencing to keep the cattle from 

 treading it up. Last year I tried a small piece 

 of winter wheat and it yielded 25 bushels to the 

 acre. I have now three acres which look well. 

 Ought it to be fed down any ? Would it be a 

 good plan to roll it as soon as the snow is oflf in 

 the spring ? Maple. 



East Hardwick, Vt., Sept. 1, 1858. 



REPLY. 



It will unquestionably work well to plow old 

 pastures in August and the first half of Septem- 

 ber, and seed the land to grass, Avithout fencing 

 the cattle from it. Such has been my own prac- 

 tice, and that of other persons whose improve- 

 ments of pasture lands I have observed. Some 

 advantage would perhaps be gained by keeping 

 ihe cattle olf for one year after seeding anew, but 

 by no means enough to pay the trouble and ex- 

 pense of fencing. After plowing the land as w^ell 

 as possible, harrow it thoroughly, and then sow 

 the grass seeds thickly, covering them with simp- 

 ly a bush, or a heavy roller, the roller, however, 

 being best, unless the land is moist and heavy. 

 I should not feed down the winter wheat. If the 

 land, is sti;^ and compact, and liable to heave by 

 freezing and thawing, then it would be well to 



roll it as soon as may be after the snow is off in 

 the spring. But if it is a friable, sandy or loamy 

 soil, rolling will not be necessarj\ Ten to twen- 

 ty or more bushels of unleached ashes sown on 

 each acre of the wheat next spring, will cause it 

 to tiller out well from the root, improve the crop, 

 and pay you well. If the land is to be stocked 

 with grass seeds, the ashes will also insure a good 

 catch of grass. F. HOLBROOK. 



Sept. 20, 1858. _ 



A PUMP FOR A DEEP WELL. 



In a late Farmer, I notice a correspondent in- 

 quires for the best pump for a deep well. Hav- 

 ing some experience with pumps, I will give 

 "C. W." my opinion. 



Having recently and quite thoroughly exam- 

 ined "Jeffrey's Patent Ball Valve Pump," I think 

 I hazard nothing in saying that it has claims to 

 preference over all others. It works easy and 

 fast, is not liable to get out of order, and must be 

 very durable. Moreover, it is in itself an effi- 

 cient fire-engine, capable of throwing water rap- 

 idly on to the roofs of two-story buildings, by 

 the aid of a few feet of hose. This latter consid- 

 eration gives this pump very great importance, as 

 by its adoption the risk of loss by fire is very 

 much diminished. 



Were I the owner of "C. W.'s" 32 feet well, I 

 should not attempt to draw water with a chain- 

 pump, if I could procure one of the above men- 

 tioned. E. Ingham. 



Springfield, Tt., Sept. 6. 



SOWING BUCKTHORN SEED. 



Will you inform me how the berries of the 

 buckthorn are to be prepared for sowing, and 

 when to be sowed, and oblige 



Derry, N. H., 1858. A Subscriber. 



Remarks. — The following is Mr. J. F. C. 



Hyde's plan, as communicated to us in 1853. See 

 Monildy Farmer for 1853, page 226, for an in- 

 teresting article on "Live Fences." 



"I take my seed after it is washed free from 

 the pulp, and mix it with sand and loam, about 

 half of each, using enough to prevent the seed 

 from heating ; after having thus mixed them, 

 put them into a tub or box, and place them away 

 in the barn-cellar or some such place, looking 

 out that the mice don't get at, or water run in, 

 to rot them. In the spring, prepare the ground 

 by first spreading on manure, then plow it well, 

 that it maybe well pulverized, after which strike a 

 shallow furrow and manure again slightly in the 

 drills, mixing it up with the soil, and then sov/ 

 the seed as peas are sown, not too thick, for the 

 plants will not grow so stout ; this should be 

 done as soon as the ground is dry enough to 

 work well. It is unnecessary to say that they 

 should be kept free from weeds." 



A SPRAINED' COLT. 



Can any one tell me, through your paper, a 

 remedy for a sprain caused by slipping on ice ? 

 The swelling lies on the fore foot, half way be- 

 tween the hoof and joint, rather uneven and 

 somewhat callous. I shall try an oil made from 

 angle worms, which is very powerful, and has 



