206 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



same time, the soil must be open, so that the roots 

 •will have ample means to extend themselves. 



"NVc have as yet been able to find no variety that is 

 l)i-oof against this plague. Some are more subject to 

 it than others. Those ■vvho are not willing to employ 

 a little labor and a trifling cost to remedy the evil had 

 better throw away their bushes, and done Avith it. 

 liut lor om-selves, the crops of last year and year 

 before were an ample remuneration for the labor we 

 employed, and we have no doubt but others will find 

 as good a compensation in the same way. 



Yours truly, W. B. 



May, ISoO. 



IIemamcs. — Foreign gooseberries are very liable 

 to mildew, but Houghton's Seedling is free from this 

 evil. "\Ve have cultivated this variety for several 

 year--, both on moist and dry land, also on a poor 

 soil, and under high cxilture, and we have them both 

 in sheltered and exposed situations, and we have 

 never seen any mildew on them. It is a great grower 

 and bearer, and the fruit is of the highest quality. 

 This is perfectly healthy, while our foreign kinds 

 growing in the same lot are blighted. But as it is 

 desirable to cultivate a variety, the prevention recom- 

 mended by our correspondent is important. — Ed. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 MILDEW OR INSECTS ON GRASS. 



Mr. Cole : In my letter to you to send me the 

 Farmer, I forgot one thing ; and that is, our herds- 

 grass, as it is beginning to head, is attacked by an 

 insect, or the miller, and it is stopped in that state, 

 and remams so until it starts at the bottom and comes 

 up anew. 



I have talked with a good many men about it, but 

 I do not find any one that can give any information. 

 They have noticed that it did not come up, but knew 

 not the reason ; they attributed it to the drought or 

 some other cause. I have noticed after the larvre 

 hatched, as I suppose, as I have been walking along 

 in the grass, the millers would fly before me like 

 grasshoppers, when they are thick. 



They are a very great damage to our crops of grass. 

 They do not attack a field until the third year after 

 seeding, and then they do not take more than half 

 the heads, and the fourth year they take almost every 

 head. 



And now I wish that you would send out an in- 

 quiry in the Farmer, to find out whether other parts 

 of our country are affected like this vicinity; and 

 also to find, if possible, a preventive, for it is a very 

 great injury to our grass crops. 



INQUIRER. 



Waitsfield, Vt., 1850. 



Rem.vrks. — Will some of our correspondents 

 throw light on this subject, if it has come within 

 their experience ? Two years ago, we had a piece of 

 herdsgrass that was afi'ceted with mildew, and we 

 attributed it to very thick sowing on wet land ; and 

 we expected to see it again last season, but it did not 

 reappear, although our grass was so thick that we 

 had three tons of fine hay to the acre, at one mow- 

 ing, on the very spot where it was blighted the pre- 

 vious year. But this blight might be different from 

 that mentioned by Inquirer. — Ed. 



For the New England Farmer. 



BLUE FLAG. 



Mr. Editor : Can you or any of your correspond- 

 ents inform mo of a method of eradicating the blue 

 flag {iris versicolor') from grass land? We have a 

 field in Avhich it has obtained roothold, and is rapidly 

 spreading. Tlic ground is low, but not very wet, the 

 superfluous water being taken off by a drain. The 

 soil is very shallow, with a hard, stony subsoil, which 

 prevents ploughing. The lot has received abundant 

 top-dressings, and has, until within a year or two, 

 yielded good crops of grass. The flag is now so 

 abundant as nearly to ruin the crop. If you have 

 met with similar cases, perhaps you can give some 

 information on the subject to a 



SUBSCRIBER. 



Remarks. — We have destroyed blue flag, and 

 almost every other worthless plant, by ploughing, 

 thorough culture, manuring, and growing of crops. 

 We have no experience in destroying blue flag where 

 the land cannot be ploughed. Will some of our 

 readers give the information desired ? — Ed. 



For the New Etigland Farmer. 

 SELECTING FRUIT TREES. 



Mr. Editor : Though the subject of this epistle 

 comes a little out of season, yet, owing to its manifold 

 importance, it may net come amiss to discourse upon 

 it occasionally. 



We would not recommend the farmer to select the 

 thriftiest trees that he can find, because it is no un- 

 common thing for the nurseryman to have thrifty 

 growing trees ; he can manure his nursery well, and 

 take aU other necessary care, thus force them along 

 with all possible means, get them in a short period 

 large enough for sale, and looking very nice and 

 handsome, will sell readily, and at a very high price. 

 No, we do not recommend such trees, because, unless 

 they are kept in equally as good cultivation as they 

 have been, (and I hope and believe that it is not cus- 

 tomary for farraers generally to force their orchards,) 

 they wiU not last so long as those that thrive chiefly 

 in accordance with the laws of nature. No, farmers, do 

 not purchase a tree out of a nursery where they are 

 tall, slender, sleek, and smooth as a candle, unless 

 you wish to keep them in a high state of cultivation. 

 Trees should not pierce the sky, like Cleopatra's 

 Needle, or as once did the celebrated towers of 

 Bologna. No, it is enough for the human masonic 

 art to do this, but the vain intention should never be 

 practised upon the productions of nature. 



D. WARREN JOHNSON. 



Winchester, May 25, 1850. 



For the Neto England Farmer. 

 MILLET. 



Mr. Cole: In your number of May 11, in an 

 article headed " Work for the Season," I notice you 

 mention millet, among other kinds of grain. I live 

 in a section where millet is entirely unknown as a 

 field crop. I should like to be informed how much 

 seed it requires to sow an acre; how much an acre 

 in good condition would probably yield ; what it is 

 worth per bushel, and what is its use or uses ; also, 

 if it should be sown on laiid rich enough to raise 



