1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



369 



killed by the fish guano. Now, how shall we 

 manafre to secure early plants .' This is the all im- 

 portant question. 



One neighbor who generally succeeds, says he 

 ploughs in all the manure he can conveniently in 

 the early fall, and ploughs at lea't twice more, be- 

 fore the ground freezes up. In the spring he rakes 

 in "Russt 11 Coe's superphosphate." This j'car he 

 was setting plants in May. We think the seed 

 beds should be ploughed as often as once a month 

 after taking off the plants, and the manure applied 

 as early as July, so yiat the v/ild seed in the 

 ground and manure may have a chance to germin- 

 ate, and be destroyed by the ploughing, before 

 sowing the beds. This is our method ; who has a 

 better ? Lataika. 



Whately, Mass., May 31, 1869. 



SEDIMENT FROM SODA ASH. 



I have something like one ton and a half of the 

 sediment of soda ash used in scouring cloth. Can 

 you inform me of its manurial vatue, and the 

 proper way of preparing it for use on crops or fruit 

 trees. a. b. 



May 16, 1869. 



Remarks. — As we were not able to answer the 

 above, — not knowing whether the sediment was 

 gravel stones or something else, — we submitted the 

 query to Dr. Nichols, editor of the Boston Journal 

 of Chemistry, thinking it probable that, in the 

 course of his business as a manufacturing chem- 

 ist, or in his extensive experiments with "doctor's 

 stuff," in making a poor farm in Essex county rich 

 without manure, he had had occasion to make a 

 chemical examination of the substance alluded to. 

 In reply, he informs us that he has never made 

 such examination, and that he does not know 

 what the sediment is. But he presumes, on gen- 

 eral principles, that it may be of value to soils. 

 Soda, however, he remarks, we all know is not as 

 valuable as potash and potash salts. 



"WHEAT CROPS IN MAINE AND VERMONT. 



In your paper of April 10, I noticed a statement 

 by Mr. M. E. Rice of Stetson, Me., that he raised 

 114 bushels Scotch Fife Avheat from 5^ acres, using 

 11 bu&htls seed, and sowed 1200 pounds of super- 

 phosphate of lime on the land. I raised on seven 

 rods kss than two acres, 53 bushels of Bald wheat 

 from four bushels of seed. In the fall I spread 

 twenty one-horse loads of muck manure to the 

 acre, sowed April 28, and harvested the last of July. 

 The land the previous year was cropped with oats, 

 wihout ruanure. Our rich Vermont hills, with a 

 sprinkling of muck manure, will give us thirty 

 bushels per acre. Try again Mr. Rice. 



Craftsbury, Vt., May 15, 1869. E. Hatch. 



THE FLEA BUG. 



In my communication about the cabbage weevil 

 there is one mistake. I intended to have said the 

 cab'tage weevil is the offspring of a fly, as is the 

 onion worm, not "maggot." They are two distinct 

 species of insects. 



"S. E.'s" inquiry as to what will destroy the flea 

 bug is too late for this season. I suppose he has 

 reference to the small black bug that hups like a 

 flea. They have never troubled my onions. In 

 years past they destroyed my cabbage and summer 

 savory, and eat my vines, but do not trouble me 

 now. They are a very sensitive insect and will 

 not stay where there is an ofiensive odor. One 

 morning last season I found my vines covered 



with flea bugs. Having a tub of liquid hen ma- 

 nure in the garden, I put some of it around each 

 hill, and the second day alter applied it again. 

 The bugs all left for a patch of potatoes close by. 

 There were thousands of them, l)ut they nev«r 

 again came near the vines. Now if "S. E." will 

 apply hen manure on one side of his onion rows, 

 near, but not directly on the onions just as they 

 are breaking the ground, or a little before, and 

 two days after repeat the application, the bugs 

 will leave. He may have to use it the third time, 

 but a faithful application of it will save his onions. 

 CJielsea, Vt., June 4, 1869. 0. Hoyt. 



GIRLS LEAVING THE FARM. 



In the Farmer of April 3, the girls are accused 

 of leaving home or the farm to seek other em- 

 ployment, as the farm is not fashionable enough 

 lor them. That some may have left, I would not 

 deny, but to charge them all with desertion is 

 hardly just. I have in my mind, in not a very 

 wide circle of acquaintance, at least five young la- 

 dies, over sixteen years of age, who most faith- 

 fully assist in carrying on the indoor operations of 

 the farm, and if occasion requires will don the sun- 

 bonnet for a job in the garden, field or barn ; and 

 some of them I happen to know are readers of your 

 paper. The girls are not all gone. Batch. 



Walling ford, Vt., May 10, 1869. 



PRACTICAL FARMING. — LOSS OF SHEEP. 



I enclose $2.50 for your paper another year, 

 hoping that it may long continue, and that more 

 be said about experience in farming by those who 

 are better acquainted with farming than myself. 

 I wish that more farmers would tell how to pre- 

 pare land for different kinds of crops, &c. I wish 

 to inquire particularly what it is that ails f»he sheep 

 this spring. I have lost two. They died very 

 suddenly. Whether it is the grub in the head or 

 something else, I do not know. Some of my 

 neighbors have lost more or less in about the same 

 way. E. A. Moore. 



Weston, Vt., May, 1869. 



Remarks. — There has been unusual mortality 

 among sheep in New England and at the West the 

 past winter, and we solicit the experience and 

 opinions of flock-masters as to the cause. Do not 

 wait till you know all about it, but let us know 

 what you have found out. 



RAGGED ROBBIN — Lichnis FloS'CUCuK. 



In the Farmer Nov. 30, 1868, I find it said that 

 the well-known Ragged Robin is one variety of 

 Lychnis. I would like to inquire which variety it 

 is, and whether it can be grown from seed } 



Roijalton, Vt., May 20, 1869. Sue, 



Remarks. — The variety is Flos-cuculi. Mr. 

 Breck says in his Book of Flowers that "it is propa- 

 gated by divisions of the root." We do not find 

 the seed mentioned in Mr. Washburn's catalogue. 

 Mr. Breck says "the double variety is deservedly 

 esteemed, is very ornamental, and flourishes in 

 any common garden soil." 



THE crows. 

 Mr. Thomas M. Brewer, in the Atlantic, takes 

 strong ground in defence of the crows. He thinks 

 agriculture is goitig to the hugs, m consequence 

 of our "murderous warfare" upon the crows, by 

 which the "harmonies of nature" are sadly dis- 

 turbed. We are disposed to think that the pull- 

 ing up of an acre or two of coin in a cold 



