656 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Dec. 



called "Polypodium vulgare," the common name 

 of it being "polypody ;" but these common names 

 may change. The new Freshman class numbers 

 thirty-three, so that we have in all about one hun- 

 dred students here. For the last two weeks our 

 class have been eng ged underdraining the wet 

 land about the new barn. A. h. b. 



Amher&t, Mass., Sept. 28, 1869. 



DOVER RED, OR HORTON POTATO. 



Having read several statements illustrative of the 

 great fertility of the Rose and other new varieties 

 of the potato, I thought I would try a little experi- 

 ment with an old sort, the Dover Red, which has 

 been considered a shy bearer. The soil of this 

 beautiful river town is a disintegration of stone 

 and silex, common on the Hudson below the High- 

 lands. This soil is soft and pliable after rains, but 

 when dry it becomes so hard and tough that it 

 cannot be worked with ordinary garden tools. 

 The spot experimented with was a hard sod on 

 which the grass was six to eight inches high when 

 it was spaded, and no manure was applied. 



From two small tubers, both weighing three 

 ounces, I cut out twelve eyes with a pen-knife, 

 taking very little of the potato, so that the twelve 

 eyes did not probably exceed half an ounce. 

 These were planted separately, ten inches apart 

 and four inches deep, about the tenth of May. 

 Eleven of the twelve eyes grew well for eight or 

 ten weeks, under the stimulus of the frequent 

 rains of last spring. Early in August there was a 

 drought which continued, with an occasional 

 shower, till they were dug, the 27th of September, 

 at which time the vines were fresh and apparently 

 growing. The stalk from one of these eyes meas- 

 ured at the butt two and a quarter inches in cir- 

 cumference, and six feet and two inches in length, 

 with nine branches, the length of which with the 

 stem, exceeded sixty feet. This vine produced one 

 and a quarter pounds of potatoes. Some of the 

 other vmcs were nearly as large. The produce 

 of the eleven vines was seven and a quarter 

 pounds, though from the severity of the two 

 montiis' drought the potatoes were probably not 

 more than half grown. 



On digging the potatoes I found thrm with the 

 "Peach Blow" coloring, — skin mottled pink and 

 white. The Dover Ked when cooked is a pure 

 white potato. Who can account for this change 

 of color? H. Poor. 



Yonkers, N. F., Oct., 1869. 



Remarks. — The following description of the 

 Dover or Worcester Seedling, is from Mr. Burr's 

 Vegetables of America. "Tubers of apinkish white 

 color, and similar in form to the Jackson White. 

 Eyes deep-set, flesh white. Stalks upright; blos- 

 soms pinkish, but not abundant." 



alsike clover. 

 I have grown a plot of this new variety of clover 

 for two years, and am prepared so far to endorse 

 Mr. Baldridge's remarks in the Fakmer, with re- 

 gard to it. I am sure that no plant with which 1 

 am a< quainted will bear comparison with it as a 

 honey producing plant. My plot was literally 

 alive with bees, while the white clover in the ad- 

 joining hi:lds attracted but very few. Unlike tne 

 red clover, the stalks are small, and both stalks 

 and leaves continue perfectly soft and green until 

 the seed is ripe ; consequently the hay is not in- 

 jured in the least Ijv maturing the seed. It seems 

 10 be perfectly hardy, while in our latitude, the 

 ordinary "Red Clover" winter kills as often 

 as otherwise, consequently comparatively little 

 is sown even on our light soils where it would 

 otherwise be invaluable and almost indispensable. 



We hope that this new variety will make up the 

 deficiency in the clover crop in this northern sec- 

 tion. I have no seed for sale, and do not consider 

 my experience conclusive, fur our last winter was 

 remarkably favorable, and all clover wintered well. 

 West Georgia, Vt., Oct. 1, 1869. O. C. Wait. 



CHERRY POISONING. 



I have read the remarks of Mr. Simonds with 

 much interest. The loss of three valuable cows in 

 this place, — two of which were known to have 

 eaten the foliage of the wild cherry, — leaves no 

 doubt in my mind that in some seasons, and in 

 some conditions, the eating of a small quantity of 

 the green or wilted leaves will cause death. Among 

 the reading farmers in this place, it is a settled con- 

 viction that wilted cherry leaves must be fatal, but 

 that green ones are not so. The active poison is 

 undoubtedly hydrocyanic, and it may be, that 

 wilting developes it. When an animal has been 

 kept in the barn until June 15, 1 should consider it 

 highly dangerous to give it access to the cherry. In 

 the spring, a limb or two is removed from a cherry 

 tree near the house, and in some cases is permitted 

 to remain. If cattle have access to it at such time, 

 trouble may oe apprehended. So in regard to trim- 

 ming up trees in the road. Those who denend on 

 street pasture occasionally get more than they bar- 

 gain for. Cattle confined to the barn during the 

 year, are not, and cannot be healthy. They .'•hould 

 have a small pasture, if not more than three rods 

 square, in v/hich to get a bite of grass daily, and 

 breathe a little sweet, pure air. But this opens up 

 the whole question of soiling of cattle, and I do 

 not propose to say anything about that. 



L. W. Puffer. 



North Bridgewater, Mass., 1869. 



MILKING A KICKING COW IN SAFETY. 



I have a kicking cow which I milk in perfect 

 safety. I bore one and a half inch hole in the 

 stable floor just behind and a little to the right of 

 the right-hind foot of the cow, as she stands tied 

 up in the stall, and against a partition on the left. 

 Then procure a stout stake, fit it in to the hole 

 in the floor and to a simple fastening in the scaf- 

 fold floor, and put an iron bolt with a one and a 

 half inch eye through this stake, about eight inches 

 from the floor. Into this bolt, I put one end of a 

 stick ; the other end going into the partition. This 

 stick comes close to the cow's legs and behind 

 them. A small chain is then fastened across from 

 the stake to the partition about three feet from the 

 floor ; and a stout board is placed on the right side 

 of the cow, reaching from the floor to the seatfold 

 in such a manner that it can be easily removed 

 by me, but not by the cow. I then have two stout, 

 short straps to buckle around her ancles. To 

 these straps jcrpBs are attached. After putting 

 on the straps, pass the ropes first beneath ttie 

 stick and up around it once or twice and to the 

 stake above on one side and to the partition on the 

 other and fasten them. 



1 can put on and take off this anti-bicking con- 

 cern in less than one minute, long as it has taken 

 me to describe it. Indeed I really believe I could 

 have milked a dozen kicking cows in less time 

 than I have been writing this, and done it better. 

 I find it takes a great many words to describe a 

 very simple thing, and I wonder newspaper men 

 do not become disgusted with their busiTiess. 

 Please straighten out and shorten up my descrip- 

 tion if you can, or burn it if you please; but my 

 cows are not going to kick me when I am raitking, 

 nor I them. 



In my apparatus the cow can not get f )rward nor 

 backward, nor sideways, nor lie down; all of 

 which she attempted with desperate exerti(ms. 

 Nor can she kick at all. Stand she must, and that 



