58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Feb. 



cabbages 1 What breadth in each of the princi- 

 pal crops, how much seed per acre? What trees 

 shall be planted, and what location shall they oc- 

 cupy? How much stock shall be summered, 

 wliich oxen or cows sold or fiittened, and how 

 many swine kept 1 Shall the Garden liavc a 

 small assortment of choice pears — the Bartlett, 

 Seckle, Vicar of Winkfield, Beurre d'Aromberg, 

 Bloodgood, Louise Bonne, — a few choice raspber- 

 ries and currants, together with a grape vine or 

 two of the best varieties '.\ Shall beds be formed 

 for permanent use to be stocked with the best ear- 

 ly vegetables, parsnips, onions, carrots, beets, 

 radishes, tomatoes, asparagus, celery, lettuce 

 parsley, and patches for cucumbers, early squash- 

 es, cabbage, cauliflower, melons, beans and peas ? 

 These will promote health, and afford a constant 

 supply of delicious summer food, save the money 

 in your purse, and embellish the ground about the 

 house. 



Sheep and Lambs require especial care in Feb 

 ruary. Leave it ojjtional with them to go out or 

 remain under cover ; feed liberally with hay 

 sweet clover hay they relish highly — and give 

 them occasionally any juicy roots cut finely, or a 

 few beans, or a little corn or barley. They will 

 then bring strong lambs. Throw into their yards 

 also, evergreens of pine, hemlock or spruce 

 boughs. 



Cattle and horses will need the card as well as 

 timely and liberal feeding ; milch cows, especially, 

 will find much benefit from the use of the card. 



When the plans alluded to are made, the stock 

 all fed and warm, the wood-pile lusty in its pro- 

 portions for another year, and the children with 

 lessons well conned for the morrow's recitation, 

 are mingling in the social conversations around 

 the evening fire, what prince or potentate but 

 would envy the farmer his simple and pure de- 

 lights, his hours of unalloyed domestic bliss ! 



February, cold and rough as it is, is none too 

 long for households such as these. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE POTATO--CURCTJLIO-..-SHAD- 

 BUSH. 



Mr. Editor : — I am going to write something 

 about the potato, the curculio, and grafting the 

 shad-bush ; I hired une-fuurth of an acre of 

 land in a field where some four others hired from 

 one-fourth to three-fourths of an acre each, and 

 all planted potatoes, the rows running north and 

 south. After my first hoeing, I put on ashes 

 and plaster, and the piece east of mine was served 

 the same. The potatoes that I phvnted were not 

 large, and were cut, the same as on the piece 

 oast, and the piece next west, (throe-fourths ol'an 

 ar-re,) tlie potatoes were whole an^l mostly lurge 

 th-.t. were planted. A short time liofore my last 

 lioeing, I read in tlie New Encjland Farmer that 

 salt mixed with plaster, in proportion of two of 

 plaster to one of salt, would prevent potatoes 



from rotting. I therefore, after my last hoeing, 

 (I hoed them three times,) applied th"^ salt anu 

 plaster, and in less than three days there was a 

 perceptible diflference between mine and the other 

 potatoes ; mine were much greener and more 

 thrifty than the others. I had from my one- 

 fourth of an acre forty-one bushels of good sized 

 potatoes for cooking, and only three bushels of 

 small ones ; and the three-fourths of an acre 

 west of mine, that was planted with whole pota- 

 toes, had some eighty bushels 011I3-, and from 

 their appearance after being dry, whilst lying on 

 the ground, I should think, at least, that one- 

 fourth were too small to cook. The potatoes 

 east of mine were better than those west, and 

 mine were judged to be much the best in the 

 field. What made the east potatoes better than 

 the west? Was it the one application of the 

 ashes and plaster, or was it because they were 

 cut before planting? And what made mine the 

 best in the field ! Was it the third hoeing or the 

 salt ? I leave it with the lovers of good potatoes 

 to find out by trying the experiment. 



One word about destroying the curculio. I 

 commenced last spring, soon after my plum trees 

 were out of blossom, to throw dry ashes on them 

 in the morning when the dew was on ; I applied 

 it but a few times, when I read in the Farmer 

 that some one had saved his plums by throwing 

 on soap suds ; I therefore applied the suds until 

 I read the next Farmer, where I read that some 

 one had saved his plums by the use of lime water. 

 I then used the lime water, and succeeded in 

 raising a large ci-op of very nice plums, whilst 

 one of my neighbors raised but very few, and 

 that one by the use of a few applications of lime 

 water. So you see that lime water would answer 

 the purpose if applied often enough. 



In the Farmer of Nov. 25t]i, there is a letter 

 from " Far East," recommending the shad-bush 

 as a substitute for the quince for raising dwarf 

 pears. I will tell you how near I came to getting 

 a dwarf from a shad-bush. Some twenty years 

 since I was grafting pears in the back part of my 

 lot, and having a scion or two left, I inserted one 

 in a shad sprout, some three-fourths of an inch 

 through and six from the ground, merely for 

 pastime, not even thinking it would grow ; but 

 the first time I passed that way I discovered that 

 it was growing nicely. I watched it through the 

 summer, tied it up occasionally, and in the fall, 

 after the leaves had dropped, I measured it, and 

 it had grown over seven feet, and had much more 

 the apj^earance of a grape vine than it did a 

 dwarf. It grew and bore pears some two or 

 three years and died, but the pears wei'e always 

 dwarf, quite small of their kind. 



Yours ever. Not Far West. 



Shelborn, Dec. 28, 1854. 



Pears. — We would call the attention of the rea- 

 der to the article on "Pears," as it is from a gen- 

 tleman Avho has given the sulijcct much attention. 

 AVe welcome him heartily t ) our columns, and 

 hope to hear from him as he pro]ios'>s. 



The Centenarians. — Forty-seven persons died 

 ni the United States during the past year over 

 100 years old. Of these, one was 128, one 1.30, 

 and one 14G. The eldest Avas a negress. United 

 ages of the forty-seven, 52GS years. 



