NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ill 



subject, we have known cases of the barberry grow- 

 ing in the midst of wheat and other grain crops 

 without any injury to the grain, and it is our opinion 

 that the barberry has no unfavorable effect on grain ; 

 but as there is so much c^'idencc to the contrar)-, Ave 

 arc not confident in this opinion ; but we regard it 

 as a doubtful subject, that should be more thoroughly 

 investigated, rather tJian as a settled point. 



A great deal has been said on both sides of this 

 question, and no small amount of evidence has been 

 offered in support of either side ; but the largest 

 amount of testimony, and that of a most positive 

 character, goes to show that barberry bushes have no 

 unfavorable influence on grain crops around them. 

 Still we want more experiments to settle this ques- 

 tion, and we should be pleased to receive fact* that 

 throw light upon it. — Ed. 



For ike New England Farmer, 

 MANAGEMENT AND PROFIT OF FOWLS. 



Dear Sie : Since the exhibition of fowls last No- 

 vember, there has beeii great interest shown in regard 

 to diflercnt breeds of hens and their management. 

 It is a subj ect of more or less interest to every reader 

 of your paper. Most persons are trying to obtain 

 the largest hens. I think that small hens are much 

 more profitable as layers. They will lay more eggs 

 than those of the large breeds, and they can be kept 

 at half the expense of those that are extremely large. 

 My object is to obt-ain the hens that will yield the 

 most eggs according to the expense. I have pur- 

 chased a pair of Poland Top Knots, from wliich to 

 raise stock for next year. They weigh about seven 

 pounds to the pair. 



I will now give you an account of my manage- 

 ment the past winter. I kept twenty-five hens and 

 a protector, of the native breed. My pullets that 

 were hatched in April commenced laying in Novem- 

 ber, and those hatched in May began to lay in De- 

 cember. I have not kept an account of the number 

 of eggs they laid during the winter. The first week 

 in January they laid nlnety-onc eggs. In the first 

 two weeks in February, they laid one hundred and 

 ninety-two eggs. I sold the eggs at fifteen cents per 

 dozen, and during the winter the cost of keeping the 

 hens was only equal to two fifths the value of the 

 eggs. 



I give my hens corn and cob meal every day, 

 mixed in milk or hot water. I kept corn, barley, 

 and oats by them all the time ; I also kejjt by them 

 ashes, lime, and oystor-shcUs. llav.* meat was given 

 to them every day ; I kept all the egg-shells during 

 the summer, and gave them to the hens in the win- 

 ter. I keep my hens in a house twenty by fifteen 

 feet, with a large window in the south side. I find 

 no difficulty in making my hens lay in winter; most 

 people fail by neglecting to supjily animal food, as a 

 substitute for the numerous insects which they 

 devour in sunnncr. 



liens should be let out a few hours during the 

 day, when the ground is bare. The best layers 

 should bo selected as breeders, and the protector 

 ■changed every year. Grain should be kept by hens 

 at all times during the year. The principal reason 

 that some farmers find no profit in Icceping hens, is 

 because they only half feed them ; thcrcl'<ne they are 

 always in mischief, scratching for food. When 

 farmers plant corn, they should give their hens a 

 good supply, and they will not scratch it up. If 

 hens arc well managed, they afford more net profit 



than any other stock. Young hens should always 

 bo kept over, as they will lay better in winter than 

 old hens. NOAlI W. DAllDY. 



Nklsox, N. II., Maroh 5, 1850. 



FroiR Mr. Williams's Acklrcss before ilie Kalnmazoo Co. 

 Af/ricidCural Sociafy. 



DO YOU LOVE GOOD FRUIT? 



As it is with the animals and vegetables, so it is 

 with fruits. You can have stinted, astringent, crab- 

 bed fruits, or the most delicious. The precaution to 

 send your neighbor's boy the slip of a shoot from a 

 fine tree, while you are stopping to decide the affairs 

 of the nation with him — a few moments taken to 

 slide it under the bark, while you are waiting for a 

 meal at home — will transform a useless shoot into a 

 valuable tree, that shall furnish pleasure and nutri- 

 ment to generations of men. A few minutes im- 

 proved now and then, which would otherwise be 

 idled away, will surround your d-o elling with a grove, 

 which sTinll prove of the greatest utility, and a de- 

 lightful enibcUishnient, I know men say they have 

 no time, yet I have always observed that the men 

 who make this excuse, have plenty of time to lounge 

 at the tavern ; plenty of time to run after some 

 mountebank or charlatan ; plenty of time to litigate 

 with a neighbor. No, man ! plant the tree. It will 

 grow while you sleep. Bud it — graft it — nurse it — 

 and it sball gladden the sight and please the palate of 

 people unborn, and you shall leave a memorial of 

 your existence, springing from the grocu sod, when 

 you repose beneath it. 



Some five or six years ago, I found, on the place 

 where I reside, some scrubs of natural fruit. The 

 tops of the trees, my neighbors said, were too large 

 to graft. But they were grafted with considerable 

 labor. My predecessors might have budded or graft- 

 ed each with a single genu, and saved me nineteen 

 twentieths of the time and expense. Another set 

 of men told me the country was not natural lor fruit. 

 I put in the grafts, and for years have had abundance 

 of delicious fruit for the table or cookery, for myself 

 and mj' neighbors, in summer, fall, and winter ; and 

 I find none will eat it more greedily than those who 

 have no time to gralt their own trees, and who curse 

 the i-limate as uuht for fruit. — Literary G&z-cttc. 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM IN CHINA. 



The Chrysanthemum is the Chinese gardener's 

 favorite fl(jwer. Tliere is no other with which ho 

 takes so much pains, or whii'h he cultivates so w ell. 

 His Camellias, Azaleas, and Koses, are well grown 

 and well bloomed, but with all these we beat him 

 in England; in the cultivation of the Chrysanthe- 

 mum, however, he stands unrivallciL The plant* 

 themselves seem, as it were, to meet hiin half way, 

 and grow ju.st as he jjleascs ; sometimes I met with 

 them trained in tlie form of animals, such as horses 

 and deer, and at other times they, w«rc made to 

 resemble the pagodas so common in the country. 

 They are always in high health, and never fail to 

 bloom most profusely La the autumn and winter. — 

 Goj-d. Chrou. 



The French Academy, after discussing the new 

 dictionary of the national tong\ic during the last 

 nine years, hare not yet eonjpletcd tbc letter .L 



Ilcsolvc to perform what you ouglit ; pci form with- 

 out failure what you resolve 



