1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



193 



ncre ^applied to keep up the fertility of the soil; 

 and yet the owners complain that their orchards 

 do not hear as formerly. If we plant any other 

 crop we have to apply manure or none would ex- 

 pect it to pay. I know from experience that it pays 

 to keep an orchard well cultivated, a* the last year 

 has proved it to my saiisfaction. While other or- 

 chards in this vicinity that promised as well in the 

 spring as mine did, bore very few apples, mine 

 was so loaded that I had to prop up itie limbs to 

 keep them from breaking down. Mine was culti- 

 vated ; the others were not. Now I think if far- 

 mers would cultivate their orchards as they do 

 the rest of their farms they would in most cases 

 raise more fruit than they do now. J. w. k. 



Biddeford, Me., Feb. 25, 1869. 



BRAHMA. FOWLS AND MUSCOVY DUCKS. 



The following is m}' account for the year past. 

 Owing to the wet season and to cats I lost about 

 200 chickens and 19 ducks, and consequently my 

 balance sheet shows a small profit : — 



Stock, January 1, 1S63. Dr. 



45 fowls at 75 cts. each $33 75 



12(lu-;k8 at 7a cig • . . . 9 Ou 



62 late chickens at 50 cts 26 UO 



$63 75 



Cost of Food. 



Bo'l68 bu«h. corn, $7-l.!iU; 38 do. oats, 



$34 45 109 25 



" 26 busb. meal, $31.80; 26 bush. C. 



coin, $31.8 ■ 63 60 



" 34 bu^h, (inefetd, $16 20; 695 lbs. 



8cr..p5, $16.54 32 74 



" 12 fowls, $ld; 2 Guinea fowls, $2 18 00 



" 4 ducKS, $5.50 ; 1 doz. eg^s, 50 cts. 6 00 



" 1 bbl lime, labor ana repair ... 14 49 



Dressiug poultry 9 OJ 



253 C8 



Other expenses. 



54 doz. & 2 hens' eggs set, 4l>^ ^ doz, . 22 21 



14 doz. ducks eggs, 44c ^ doz 6 16 



28 37 



Total, $350 20 



Stoch, Jan. 1, 1869. Cr. 



38 fowls at 75 cts. each $28 50 



13 ducks at 76 cts 9 75 



4 Guinea f)wl8, $4; 20 chickens at 



50c, $.0 14 CO 



$52 25 



Stock and Eggs sold. 



152 chickens 101 05 



102 ducks .' 10) 74 



.220 doz. hens' eags, average 4tc . ... 9020 



25 doz. and lo ducks' eggs, 44o , ... 11 33 



39 bb.s. manure £9 40 



347 32 



Used in family. 



53| doz. hens' eggs, at 41c 21 93 



ly doz. and 1 ducks' tgg«, at 44c ... 8 40 



30 S3 



Total, $429 90 



Cost and expenses .350 20 



Profit $79 70 



Showing 327| dozen hens eggs laid during the 

 year; .59 dozen, less one, duck's eggs; 377 chick- 

 ens and 121 ducks hatched. It viil be noticed that 

 while I suld my Brahma eggs at 41 to 44 cents per 

 dozen, the dealers in fancy eggs were selli^'g at .^2 

 per dozen. James Buffington. 



isaltm, Mass., 1869. 



MANURE AND SUPERPHOSPHATES FOR POTATOES. 



I have j'ist finished assorting mj' potatoes, — 

 Harrison's, Seedlings and Orono. A part of each 

 kind was raised with Bradley's Sup"erpho.'^phate, 

 and part with barn yard manure only. I have 

 kept them separate in my cellar, and 1 find those 

 raised with i'hosphate arc mostly sound, not half 



a bushel damaged in twelve hundred bushels, 

 while those raised with barn yard manure, are at 

 least one-sixth rotten. The potatoes were planted 

 about the same time and had about equal chances 

 and equal care. Those raised with phosphate 

 yielded at least twenty per cent, more than those 

 raised without the phosphate. Now will some of 

 your scientific fitrmers tell us the reoson of this, 

 and also the reason why so much trouble with 

 rotten potatoes of late years ? I raised potatoes 

 before I ever saw Bradley's Phosphate, and had 

 no trouble with their rotting. There mn&t be a 

 cause for this. Please state your views. Is it not 

 because our soils are exhausted of bone and thus 

 fail to give the potato what it requires to make it 

 healthy ? V. K. Warren. 



Tufts' Farm, College Hill, ) 

 Somerville, Mass., Feb. 12, 1868. \ 



CUKE FOR SCRATCHES. 



Not quite two weeks ago I found that the horse 

 I am using was very much afflicted about the pas- 

 turn joints and ankles of both of its fore feet, with 

 what is called grease or scratches. I immediately 

 washed the parts affected with warm soap suds, 

 and wiped as dry as I could, and then bathed thor- 

 oughly with benzine, and rubbed it well in with a 

 rag or my hand. I pursued this course daily for 

 about a week, when I found that all the sores on 

 one leg had healed, leaving the skin soft and 

 smooth, and the others had nearly healed. I used 

 my horse nearly eveiy day and did not change her 

 feed only to give ,two or three messes of potatoes 

 sprinkled with sulphur' and saltpetre. It is the 

 simplest and cheap st remedy I have ever found, 

 and I think it might be used as a preventive. 



Bernardston, Mass., Feb. 15, 1869. S. Barker. 



QUALITY OF THE HARRISON POTATO. 



Of your contributors who have given us their 

 success in raising the Harrison potato, I do not 

 recollect that any one has said much about the 

 quality of them for cooking. I am disappointed 

 in mine. They are not as good as I expected, 

 from what was said of them last year. To obtain 

 the opinion of others as to their quality, I left some 

 of them one week last November with eight or ten 

 of my customers whom I had been supplying with 

 the Jackson white, or more properly the Orono, 

 but without informing them of the change. The 

 next week mostof them complained of the potatoes 

 that I left the week before. Some said that they 

 did not cook even ; that part of the potato would 

 he hard when the other end was cooked sufficiently. 

 Perhaps under some circumstances they might be 

 grown so as to be a good table potato. They need 

 a long season to ripen well. My vines were green 

 when the blight came, and I think I did not hill 

 them up so much as I should have done. They 

 are disposed to grow out of ground, and many of 

 them are sun-burnt. I shall try thetn another 

 year. Wm. R. Putnam. 



Danvets, Mass., Feb. 4, 1869. 



prospects and duties of wool GROWERS. 



In your issue of January 30, I noticed an article 

 headed "Wool at the Custom Houseu," which 

 closed with this question, "Is it a good time for 

 wool growers' associations to go to sleep r" I an- 

 swer, no! It is high time to awake and do what 

 we can to protect and encourage wool growing iu 

 the Eastern States. We have had a hard time for 

 the past three years, but, in my opinion, we have 

 seen the worst of it, and -may expect better times 

 for three years to come, if we are true to ourselves 

 and to our own interests. 



In the first place there are not more than two- 



