230 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



been out grasshoppering awhile, they will not 

 touch corn if thrown to them. I think it worth 

 a good deal to a farm when grasshoppers are 

 thick, to have a flock of turkeys to thin them 

 out. I think it would pay to keep them, even if 

 we did not get their good "fat haunches" to eat. 

 Many times have 1 seen a flock of turkeys march 

 over a field thick with grasshoppers, with almost 

 the regularity of soldiers in file, and then back 

 again — not in the same track, but beside the first 

 — thus culling the field with the regularity of a 

 mower. It is curious and interesting to observe 

 their operations. Isn't it a sight that will set an 

 epicure's stomach into peculiar gastronomic 

 ticittcrations, to see a flock of large, latand sleek 

 turkyes perched upon the wall, or strutting round 

 making observations, — ever and anon making the 

 'air vocal with toot-toot-toot — gobble-gobble-gob- 

 ble. Yours, J. T. w. 

 Marlboro', N. H., March 20, 1855. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HOME-MADE GUANO. 



Mr. Editor : — On page 253 of the monthly 

 Farmer, for 185-1, may be found an inquiry from 

 me, and your answer, concerning the mode of 

 preparing and using the manure of that much 

 neglected portion of farm stock, viz., the hens. 

 I saved and used a small quantity, applying it to 

 corn, potatoes, peas and vines, with satisfactory 

 results. 



It was prepared with muck, dug the autumn 

 previous, half and half, and put in direct contact 

 with the seed, vines excepted. On corn I found 

 it, applied at the rate of a large handful to a 

 hill, to be two-thirds equal to a shovel full of 

 yard manure. For potatoes I think it good, 

 though not near so valuable as for corn. It gave 

 mine an early and vigorous start, but the drought 

 affected them more, on account of their being 

 more forward than the other crops, they all being 

 late planted. For peas I consider it a valuable 

 manure. It gave ^eui an early and vigorous 

 start, and is, in my opinion, manure enough for 

 them, applied at the rate of a bushel to a double 

 row of ten rods long. On vines I consider it 

 useful, but it ought to be well covered with earth 

 before dropping the seeds. I did not cover mine 

 at first, and they came up very poorly. I then 

 planted over again, mi.King the soil and manure 

 intimately, and they came up well. 



Thus you have the results of one year's trial 

 with this availatjle source of home-made guano. 

 More experiments may confirm or change the 

 above opinions. I do not claim any thing reli- 

 able for them, further than that it is a valuable 

 manure, and ought to be improved by all who 

 keep fowls, even in small numbers. 



The coming season I intend to mix as before, 

 and add one bushel of ashes (dry) just before 

 using, and cover well with loam. The manure 

 ought to be thoroughly pulverized before mixing 

 with the ashes. The muck ought to bo strown 

 under the roosts, a little at a time, and as often 

 as once a week. A quantity of plaster would 

 not bo lost if strown under the roosts Aveekly. 

 If others have tried the "home-made guano," 

 shall we not hear from them ? S. Texney. 



West Poland, Me., March, 1855. 



THE WAY WEEDS MULTIPLY. 



The Gardener's Chronicle enters into a calcula- 

 tion to show the rates at which weeds multiply : 



"The common groundsel ripens about 52 seeds 

 in each head of flowers ; and produces about 40 

 heads or 2080 seeds. The dandelion ripens about 

 135 seeds in a head, of which it produces about 

 2740 seeds. The sow-thistle ripens about 280 

 seeds in each head, and produces about 38, thus 

 yielding 11,040 seeds per plant. The annual 

 spurges form about 180 seed-vessels, each con- 

 taining three seeds, and therefore produce 54j0 

 seeds per plant. These are, as we have said, very 

 low averages. 



Now according to this calculation — 



1 Groundsel, 2,080-1 



1 Dandelion, 2,740 ( ,n .rvn ^i„„*.„ 



1 Sow-thistl^, li;040 I ^^''^^^ P^*"**- 



1 Spurge, 540 J 



which will cover just about three acres and a half 

 of land, at three feet apart. To hoe land costs, 

 we will say, about 6s* per acre, so that allowing 

 four such weeds to produce their seed may involve 

 an expense of a guinea. In other words, a man 

 throws away 5s. 3d. as often as he neglects to 

 bend his back to pull up a young weed, before it 

 begins to fulfil the first law of nature. We know 

 tliat some well-fed folks object to all inflection or 

 deflection of the vertebral column — they are gen- 

 erally fond of hard words — but then they also ob- 

 ject to its being considered in their wages, which 

 is not exactly fair. 



Let us look at the foregoing data in another 

 point of view. Every dandelion left to flourish 

 unchecked may plant an acre of ground 4 feet 

 apart ; every sow-thistle may do the same two feet 

 apart ; every groundsel five feet apart, allowing 

 for waste. Supposing a garden to consist of two 

 acres, IG dandelions, or four sow-thistles, or 21 

 groundsels, or 80 sparges, will cover it with a 

 crop a foot apart. Taking this calculai;ion in 

 their : hand, we recommend everybody afliicted 

 with weeds, or with a gardener whose vertebral 

 column will not bend, as aforesaid, to count the 

 dandelions, groundsels, sow-thistles and spurges 

 upon the first square rod of ground they can 

 measure off. 



Seriously, this forgetfulness of the consequences 

 of allowing weeds to seed is a fault of the first 

 magnitude ; the more inexcusable, because no 

 skill is required to remedy it ; nothing whatever, 

 except industry and foresight is demanded. 



* The BhiUiiig spoken of is about 25 cents. 



Downfall of a Cojiposite House. — Last fall a 

 Mr. Cozzens, of Brookline, commenced a compos- 

 ite house of cobble-stones and mortar, nearly 

 finishing it. He postponed further work upon 

 it, to allow time for the walls to become hard, 

 and was intending to go to work this morning to 

 finish it for occupancy. Last (wening, as two 

 gentlemen were examining the walls, and admiring 

 the elegance of the structure, and its cheapness 

 and durability, the walls suddenly crumbled, and 

 the whole building came down so rapidly that 

 they escaped with difficulty from being buried in 

 the ruins. It appears that the recont warm 

 weather had driven the frost from the walls, and 

 that being the only cohesive power in the com- 



