362 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



one that is less objectionable in these respects, and 

 such is the case with the grape in question. 



It would be "well to make a distinction in our 

 grapes, calling all from the forests and fields wild 

 grapes, and those raised from seed, natives or seed- 

 lings. We will endeavor to be definite in future ; 

 j'ct it is proper to remark that some natives are as 

 unpleasant as the wild, often j-ielding the same, or 

 nearly the same, from seed. 



TIME FOR SECURING ROOTS. 



It is best to secure beets early in November, before 

 we have very hard frosts, as they often project above 

 the ground, and are injured by freezing. Carrots 

 will endure severer frosts without injury. As the 

 white carrot grows partly above ground, it is more 

 readily injured by hard frosts than other varieties. 



Turnips and cabbages are better for remaining out 

 late. The time that they should be secured in this 

 climate is the middle of this month. Sometimes the 

 weather for harvesting these vegetables continues 

 fine till the 20th or 25 th, but this is uncertain. It is 

 better to be ready in season for snows, cold storms, 

 and hard frosts. 



POTATOES. 



Notwithstanding the great destruction of potatoes 

 by the rot in most parts of the country, the market 

 here is pretty well supplied, though at rather high 

 prices. Potatoes are brought into the market from 

 the provinces east, from the region around Lake 

 Champlain, from New Jersey, and various other 

 sections, where the rot was not very severe. Apples, 

 turnips, beets, carrots, and squashes are generally 

 plenty, and are very good substitutes for the potato. 

 Sweet potatoes are plenty in our market, and some 

 persons prefer them to the common potato. 



Salt as Manure. A Great Mistake. — In a late 

 article on this subject, Ave recommended, for aspar- 

 agus, one hundred and si.tty bushels to the acre, or 

 one bushel to the square rod. The article has been 

 copied extensively, and in some cases there has been 

 an omission, so that it reads ojie hundred and sixty 

 bushels to the square rod. Those who have made this 

 mistake will please correct. 



The copper mines near Litchfield, Connecticut, are 

 being worked with increasing success. The ore ex- 

 tracted yields a large percentage of pure copper, and 

 BO doubt now remains, that, as the miners penetrate 

 deeper into the bowels of the mountain, the ore will 

 be found to be of a richer and better quality. 



FATTENING HOGS. 



For several years, I have paid some attention to 

 fattening hogs, and find that they will thrive much 

 faster on corn and sweet potatoes, or on peas and 

 sweet potatoes, than they will on any one of these 

 alone. I am well satisfied, also, that they will fat- 

 ten much faster on boiled and raw food mixed, than 

 they will on either separate. 



The year before last, I turned my hogs into a 

 potato patch, and every evening fed them with corn. 

 Under this treatment, the old hogs soon got very fat ; 

 but in the lot there were ton long-legged pigs not a vear 

 old, which, at the time I killed the old ones, were in 

 as good order for running races, perhaps, as hogs 

 could be put in for that purpose. I despaired of 

 making them fat enough for bacon; but as I did not 

 wish to keep them another year, I determined to try 

 what effect cooked food would have on them, as "l 

 was well convinced that they could not be made fat 

 on raw corn and potatoes ; and with this view, I put 

 them into a close pen, with sufficient jjine straw in it 

 to keep the hogs from the dirt. I then boiled sweet 

 potatoes until they would mash up freely, into which 

 I stirred corn meal until the whole became mush ; 

 and after feeding them on this, until they appeared 

 satisfied, I gave them corn, then raw potatoes, and 

 sometimes turnips with the tops on. Under this 

 treatment they fattened faster than I had ever seen 

 hogs before. In two weeks after I put them into the 

 close pen, they were fat enough for any use — fatter 

 than they ever could have been made on corn at that 

 age, or on any one kind of food. 



Hogs ought never to be put on a floor of jilank, 

 nor rails, if pine straw can be had ; because they 

 cannot be made comfortable on a floor of wood. Fill 

 the pen two feet deep with pine straw, and when it 

 becomes foul, put in more straw. In this way the 

 hogs can be made comfortable, and no part of the 

 manure lost. 



A. E. ERNEST. 



Macon, Ga., July, 1850. 

 — American Agriculturist. 



A farmer should never be so immersed in political 

 matters, as to forget to bow his wheat, dig lue pota- 

 toes, and bank up hia cellar. 



IMPROVEMENT IN BRICKS. 



The London Patent Journal states that Mr. Henry 

 Roberts, of Hydo Park, London, has taken out a 

 patent for a new kind of bricks, which are so made 

 that there will be no vertical joints in the wall which 

 may be built of them, as are now made by the head- 

 ers, where the English and Flemish bonds are used. 

 The bricks are made hollow, to be lighter. They are 

 made so that one side of the brick is inclined to the 

 top or the bottom, or the one part projecting beyond 

 the other ; so that one brick being laid, the other is to 

 be reversed, so that the projecting sides of the bricks 

 will fit into one another, to bond the work, using 

 onlj"^ stretchers to avoid vertical joints. "NVe do not 

 believe that this invention will come into use. The 

 hollow brick will be lighter, and should be easier 

 fired than the solid brick, and on that account may 

 have advantages ; but the dovetailing form will be 

 rather a detriment than a benefit to the mason. — 

 Farrnei- and Mechanic. 



Agricultural Papers. — The American Agricul- 

 turist says, that of the twenty million inhabitants of 

 this country, — more than three fourths of whom are 

 engaged in agricultural and horticultural purlsuits, 

 and most of whom obtain their entire support from 

 these avocations, — not one in two thousand (and w« 

 much doubt if there is one in three thousand) sub- 

 scribes for and reads a purely agricultural paper I 



