1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



565 



day, than around the homes and hearths of Ver- 

 mont. "May its shadow never grow less." 



Then comes "Monday after Thanksgiving," 

 when our winter schools uniformly commence. 

 These need a chapter by themselves, which I hope 

 to have time to attend to in season. E. J. 



EXTRACTS AND BEPLIES. 



HOW TO DESTROY CANADA THISTLES. 



I own a piece of ground which was anciently 

 used as a pasture, there being a small spot of 

 what we call Canada thistles on it. More than 

 forty years ago I broke up and summer-fallowed 

 it. After raising two crops of grain, one of wheat, 

 the other oats, it was seeded down with clover 

 and herds grass. Since then it has been used as 

 a mowing field, having been mowed every year 

 since. Still, that spot of thistles not only re- 

 mains, but has gradually increased. Now, as I 

 consider this a singular case, never before having 

 failed to exterminate a spot of thistles in three 

 years mowing, I wish you, or some of your cor- 

 respondents, to explain this mystery, and tell me 

 how I can kill said spot of thistles. J. D. 



Lebanon, N. //., 18-58. 



Remarks. — Plow deep the offensive spot, ma- 

 nure well, and plant potatoes on it. Hoe them 

 thoroughly, suffering not a weed or a Canada 

 thistle to grow among them. Plant corn on the 

 same spot for one or two succeeding years, with 

 the same faithful culture, then sow to grass, and 

 you will probably be able to tell the world how 

 perfectly you succeeded in suppressing a plant 

 which once exercised the wisdom of sage legis- 

 lators in your State to devise means to destroy. 



Cutting down Canada thistles and burning 

 them on the spot will not affect the roots so that 

 they will not spring up again. The Plow and the 

 Hoe are the civilizers that succeed. 



spring or fall, I break up a piece of green sward 

 and dig holes in the ground as large as a bushel 

 basket, and fill that up with coarse manure ; cov- 

 er that with a light coat of loam, and plant my 

 seed on that, and I never have failed of a crop. I 

 have made up my mind that it is a worm in the 

 old manure which destroys the root and causes 

 the blight. I have had them destroyed after the 

 melons were as large as a two quart measure. I 

 have raised two melons this year that weighed 

 46 pounds. I think if the subscriber will try 

 green sward, he will find no difficulty in raising 

 a crop. My time of planting is about the 20th 



profits of dwarf pear culture. 



Allow me to state for the benefit of those who 

 douot the success of dwarf pear culture, that 

 from loss than h of an acre planted 7 years ago, 

 of Duchess de Angouleme dwarf trees, I have 

 since sold over $400 worth of fruit, and that this 

 year my best pears sold here to go to Philadel- 

 phia at $25 per barrel, and the second quality in 



of May. 



North Springfield, Vermont. 



J. Lewis. 



SPARE THE BIRDS. 



Can it be, Mr. Editor, that our friend, the emi- 

 nent cultivator of West Danvers, is sincere in 

 his argument for the destruction of the robin ? I 

 have ever looked upon him as a man of peace, 

 and amiable propensities. I have therefore read 

 his high-wrought rhapsody against the robins 

 with pity and astonishment. 



What, shall the robins be wantonly killed be- 

 cause, when no other food is at hand, he sustains 

 life by picking berries from worthless shrubs ? 

 Did not the power that created the robin endow 

 him with an instinct to sustain life ? Who has 

 the right to complain of his efforts to do this, 

 notwithstanding the title deeds of the most grasp- 

 ing miser ? If the truth were fully known, I think 

 our friend would be found much more disturbed 

 by the injuries done to his cultivated fruits, and 

 the diminished income consequent thereon, than 

 by any injury done to his neighbor's pastures. 

 Neither he, nor any other person, has the right 

 to proclaim, "I am monarch of all I survey," but 

 all God's creatures have their right to as fair pro- 

 portions. And I hope it will be a long time be- 

 fore he will again appear as the advocate of such 

 selfish notions. Possibly our friend may think, 

 that he can make wiser and better laws than his 

 predecessors have done. 



October 23, 1858. 



COMPOSTS, MUCK AND ASHES. 



Allow me to bring your attention to an article 

 in your work under the head "Composts Muck 

 and Ashes," on page 405 in your N. E. Farmer for 

 September, which requires to be written over 

 again. You quote "15 to 20 bushels of ashes 



New York at $17 per barrel. The culture is no '(wood ashes) or 90 pounds of potash are required 



more expensive thus far than the same ground! to a ton of peat "" 



planted to potatoes. My best barrel contained 

 166 pears. The trees are very vigorous and 

 strong, and give promise of abundant productive- 

 ness in future. T. G. Yeomans. 

 Walworth, N. T., Oct., 1858. 



BLAST IN MELON VINES. 



Your subscriber, H. T. Wiswall, of Marlboro', 

 N. H., wishes to know the cause of blast on mel- 

 on vines. I have been in the habit of raising 

 more or less vines for twenty years, and have al- 

 ways met with the same difficulty when I planted 

 my vines on the same ground more than one 



In a following paragraph you say of yourself — 

 "five bushels of ashes to a cord of muck has been 

 found sufficient." 



These two accounts of the quantity of potash 

 differ enormously. 



In the first statement, 15 or 20 bushels ashes 

 are necessary for a ton. In the second, "5 bush- 

 els of ashes to a cord." A cord must be equal to 

 3 tons. 



One statement 15 to 20, and by the other, less 

 than 2 bushels for the same quantity of peat. 



By the first statement, 90 pounds of potash is 

 required for a ton of muck or peat. Now what 

 would this cost ? Evidently too much to be af- 

 year. My mode of raising vines is this ; in the I forded by any farmer who could not agree to pay 



