192 



NEW ENGLAND FARaiER. 



April 



their equals, for ten dollars to-day. Farmers 

 sometimes allow "the golden opportunity" to pass 

 unimproved. Ability to raise large crops or tine 

 stock is only one of the elements of successful 

 farming. A knowledge of the markets, and of the 

 best mode and time for disposing of our products 

 to the best advantage have become a necessity to 

 every producer. This requires the exercise of a 

 sound judgment and a careful calculation. One 

 needs a firm nerve to sell on a rising market, and 

 from want of such nerve many good bargains are 

 allowed to slip out of one's fingers. Some time 

 since one man in this section refused, on an ad- 

 vancing market, an offer of $30 per ton for a lot 

 of hay which he finally drew tight miles and sold 

 for $10 per ton, — making a difference of some 

 $4300 in a single trade. While telling farmers 

 how to plant and how to reap, our agricultural 

 papers would do well to furnish us with the means 

 of forming an intelligent opinion as to the present 

 and prospective condition of the markets of the 

 country. Zen. 



Anson, Me., Feb., 1869. 



THE CANKER WORM. 



The canker-worm made its appearance in this 

 town and Dover year before last, but did no seri- 

 ous injury, but last year it was quite destructive in 

 certain localities. Will you or some of your cor- 

 respondents inform me through the Farmer what 

 is the best and most economical method to pro- 

 tect the trees against this terrible pest ? 



U. A. Roberts. 



Rollins ford, N. H., Jan. 28, 1869. 



Remarks. — One of the surest and most eco- 

 nomical modes, in our opinion, is to tar the trees. 

 Of late a cheap kind of printer's ink is used by 

 many instead of tar. This process will require 

 some knowledge of the habits of the insect, and 

 when begun must be faithfully followed up. 



The wooden boxes used and recommended by 

 our correspondent, Mr. G. B. Moulton, of Ken- 

 sington, N. H., have proved efficient in many cases. 

 Among others we may mention the large orchard 

 of Messrs. F. and L. Clapp, of Dorchester, which 

 has been fruitful for several years past, while oth- 

 ers in its immediate vicinity have bQ,en badly rav- 

 aged by the canker worm. We have seen the 

 trees of this orchard in full foliage and loaded 

 with fruit, while neighboring orchards were en- 

 tirely stripped, and of course without fruit. In- 

 deed so successful have been these gentlemen by 

 the use of these wooden boxes and oil, that they 

 received a greater amount of premiums on fruit 

 at the exhibitions of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society in 1867 than any other competitors. 



We republish Mr. Moulton's description of these 

 boxes and of their use. 



"In the spring of 1865 I placed wooden boxes, 

 ten inches high, around all these trees, allowing a 

 space of two inches between the tree and the in- 

 side of the box. It would have been better to 

 have left a space of iferee inches. I filled the in- 

 side with tan, and made it solid by pressing it 

 down with a strip of board. The gutter around 

 the boxes was placed about three inclies from the 

 top; the corners being made tight with roofing 

 cement; and a clapboard was nailed on the top 

 edge ol the boxes, so as to form a roof over the 

 gutter. I filled the troughs with 'bug oil,' which 

 can be obtained in Boston at from twenty to twenty- 

 live cents per gallon. This I prefer to coal oil, 



because it will not skim over ; while the coal oil 

 will skim over in forty-eight hours and afford a 

 bridge ibr the grubs. Theie are two kinds of this 

 bug oil — the thin and the thick. I prefer the thick 

 for wooden troughs, as the thin is liable to leak 

 out. When they run the thickest, the surface of 

 the oil needs to be cleared olf as often as once in 

 two days. 1 use a piece of iaihe for this purpose, 

 and a tin quart measure with a long lip to turn iu 

 the oil. 



"The cost of these boxes is not great. I paid 

 seventeen cents a piece for making the boxes, and 

 found the stuff. Any kind of cheap boards will 

 answer. For the gutter two-inch stuff of good 

 quality should be used. I purchased second-hand 

 tubing used for chain pumps which cost two cents 

 per foot. Dividing this, n)y troughs cost one cent 

 per foot. Some that I had made, cost two cents 

 per foot for making. The clapboard should be of 

 good quality, so that it will not crack by the weath- 

 er. My trees are very large, and some of my 

 boxes were about ten feet around them. I esti- 

 mate the boards at seven cents per box — troughs 

 ten cents, and clapboards at three cents — making 

 the whole cost of boxes at thirty-seven cents per 

 tree; and the whole cost of oil, tan, and labor, not 

 to exceed one dollar. For any ordinary orchard, 

 this would not exceed fifty cents per tree. It 

 takes, for troughs of this size, about one quart of 

 oil at a time." 



Various other ways have been contrived, all 

 more or less expensive and troublesome, but none 

 have come to our kowledge that are certain pre- 

 ventives, and that are sufficiently economical to 

 justify their use. 



HUMBTJGS. — USES OF MUCK. 



I often see notices in different papers of receipts 

 for making manures ; for instance, A. says, "send 

 me five dollars, and I will send you a receipt for 

 making a very valuable manure," &c., &c. Now 

 'this may all be very well, and then it may all be 

 humbug; who knows ? What assurance have we 

 of the good faith of the advertiser ? What we 

 want in this vicinity is a cheap ingredient that we 

 can mix with meadow muck, and make it into a 

 fertilizer. Most of our farmers have plenty of muck 

 on or near their farms. If any of your readers 

 can give the desired information, they will confer 

 a great favor on your subscribers in this part of 

 the State. l. 



Winchendon, Mass., Jan., 1869. 



Remarks. — Ii is a pretty good general rule 

 never to pay money for property until you have 

 seen it. It is far better to purchase wood ashes, 

 lime, damaged potash, saltpetre, &c., and mix 

 with the muck. Any of these things mixed with 

 good muck, will give you a dressing which will 

 soon make your fields glad. But the muck alone 

 is manure. It is nearly all decayed vegetable 

 matter, and if applied and worked in, will soon 

 make a change for the better, even on granite or 

 heavy soils. On sandy loams it will prove highly 

 beneficial at once. 



FAILURE OF APPLE ORCHARDS. 



I have seen in the Farmer and other papers 

 complaints that apple trees do not bear as they 

 used to do, and I thought I would say a few words 

 why, in my feeble opinion, they do not, especially 

 in tills vicinity. One great cause is neglect. The 

 orchards in this vicinity are mostly old and have 

 not had any care, not even the ground ploughed, 

 ibr over thii ty years, and not a shovelful of ma- 



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