386 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



better to have him subjected to the use of the 

 halter ; for then he may be taken, -when the 

 case requires it, to the village, and kept where 

 he belongs, or tied to the fence while the team 

 is in the field at work. If a colt is to be left 

 in the stable during the day, while the mare 

 is put to hard work, or driven a long distance, 

 let him fill himself before the mother is har- 

 nessed, and on her return, kept away, if the 

 mare's blood is heated, until it has cooled oflF. 

 The milk of the dam shoidd be drawn witl: 

 the fingers, once or twice during the day, ir 

 absence of the colt. — Ohio Farmer. 



LAWNS. 

 A firm, velvety, elastic turf for a front yard 

 or lawn we regard as one of the most beauti- 

 ful of all the outward adornments of a home. 

 But in consequence of the violence of our cli- 

 mate it is undoubtedly more difficult to keep 

 a lawn in good order in this country than it is 

 in England, and hence perhaps the popularity 

 of trees and shrubbery, which sometimes 

 make our dwellings look as though their occu- 

 pants were reverting to the tastes of the abo- 

 rigines. We are glad to see evidences of a 

 change of fashion in this respect. Lawns are 

 becoming more common, and we think many 

 will be interested in the following statement of 

 Prof. Eastman of Commercial College fame, 

 who has recently fitted up extensive pleasure 

 grounds in connection with his residence in 

 Poughkeepsie, N. Y., especially as his plan is 

 as applicable to a small yard as to a broad 

 lawn. We copy from an article in the Dutch- 

 ess, N. Y. Farmer : — 



I read much on the subject, before I made 

 my first attempt, determined that the work 

 should be well and intelligently done. I then 

 commenced operations by draining, trench- 

 ing, subsoiling, manuring, grading, ploughing, 

 spreading Plaster of Paris and Peruvian Gu- 

 ano, harrowing, picking off the stones and 

 coarse lots of earth, and finally sowing seeds 

 of the best mixture and quality bountifully ; 

 raked again, rolled it and waited for the result. 

 I had followed directions to the letter, at an 

 extravagant expense, and expected to have a 

 perfect lawn in a very short time. I have now 

 waited four years and find it far from what I 

 had reasonably expected it would be the next 

 season. 1 have added greatly to the expense 

 each year by weeding, re-seeding, filling up the 

 uneven places, &c., &c., but my disappoint- 

 ment at the result has been more than all. 



The next season I concluded to lay down 

 four acres more, and to try another plan. I 

 omitted two-thirds of the labor I had expended 

 on the first lawn, and one-half the expense in 

 manure and fertilizers. I simply ploughed the 



groun'd deep, manured it as thorounhly as for 

 a garden crop, graded and removed all .^ton('s 

 and rubbish. 1 then purchased, for a small 

 sum, from the farmers near the city, sod 

 enough to cover the whole four acres. I se- 

 lected this sod from low, mucky places, in ra- 

 vines and between the hills from ground that 

 had long been in grass. Selecting the sod 

 from these uncultivated places enabled me to 

 get just what I required, a sod of fine velvety 

 grass, free from weeds and of unequalled rich- 

 ness, at a small expense. I prepared at small 

 expense a cutter resembling a corn marker, 

 except the teeth were of iron and thin and 

 sharp. With this I cut the sod in strips afoot 

 wide and eighteen inches long. Then with 

 spades lifted them from the ground at a uni- 

 form thickness of two inches. These were at 

 once carted to the ground already prepared, 

 and laid down as evenly and firmly as possi- 

 ble and with much less expense, labor and 

 time than would be supposed, the entire lot 

 was covered. I then rolled it thoroughly with 

 a heavy roller. The sod being two inches in 

 thickness showed no signs of being trans- 

 planted, and in three weeks from the time they 

 were laid it presented a firm and even surface. 

 I then mowed the lawn with a scythe and a 

 week later went over it with my lawn mower. 

 This lawn has now been down for three years 

 and speaks for itself. Sullice it to say it is a 

 perfect success. It is the first to respond to 

 Nature's call in the spring, and the last to 

 yield to her demands in the fall. 



It has never been weeded but once, and has 

 been cut from two to three times a week dur- 

 ing the summer season with a lawn mower, 

 and grows more beautiful and perfect every 

 day. It is regularly top-dressed every fall 

 with long horse manure. 



The above method has been tried by quite 

 a number on a large and small scale and found 

 to succeed most admirably. After a careful 

 estimate of the expense incurred in making the 

 two lawns, I found a large balance in favor of 

 the latter, to say nothing of the vexations and 

 delay caused by the first plan. The two inches 

 of sod was equal to a two-inch dressing of ma- 

 nure, and the saving in this respect alone, to 

 say nothing of seed and extra labor, was almost 

 equal to the expense of sodding." 



AGRICULTUBAL ITEMS. 



— Mr. Justin S. Davis, of South Reading, Vt., 

 has lost one hundred and fifty-three sheep the 

 past winter. 



— Benjamin Waketielcl, of Lyndon, Vt., lost a 

 cow last week from the elTects of eating poison 

 set for woodchucks. 



— A correspondent of the American Institute 

 Farmer's Club says that for removing knots from 

 plum trees, he takes a paint brush, dips it in 

 spirits of turpentine and thoroughly saturates the 

 knot, being careful not to touch the tree exceot in 



