1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



329 



NAPOLEON AND URBANISTE PEAR. \ 



Napoleox. — Rather large ; obtuse-pyrifonu ; 

 greenish pale-yellow, deeper in the sun, some-: 

 times a red tinge ; stem ratlier short, rather stout, 

 in a sliglit depression ; basin of moderate depth ; 

 flesh whitish, coarse, melting, extremely juicy, of 

 a spriglitly, slight acid, delicious flavor. October 

 and November. Sometimes excellent, but rather, 

 late and uncertain in this region, excepting in; 

 warm soil and loca- 

 tions. Better furth- 

 / ";• er south. Does well 

 "\ / / on quince or pear. 



— Ripen in a warm 

 room. Foreign. 



Urbaxiste. — (Dotted Outline.) 

 Rather large ; obovate, inclining 

 to pyramidal; smooth, pale yel- 

 low, gray dots, and a little russet ; 

 stalk short, stout, a broad basin ; 

 calyx small, in a narrow cavity ; 

 flesh white, melting, buttery, very 

 juicy, of a rich, delicious, pecu- 

 liar, perfumed flavor. October 

 and November. Hardy, a moder- 

 ate grower and bearer, and one of 

 the best. It resembles tlie White 

 \, Doyenne, which has fiiiled in 



over this half a grain of strychnine ; it kills the 

 rat before he can get to his nest. 



It would lie wrong to let tliis statement pass, 

 in a journal like this, without cautioning the 

 reader tliat strychnine is a fine white powder, 

 much like flour, made from the seeds of a fruit 

 which looks like an orange, growing on a mod- 

 ei'ate-sized tree in the East Indies, in the island 

 of Ceylon and neighboring islands. A sixth of a 

 grain of pure strychnine will kill a dog in half a 

 minute. One grain, which would eisily lie on a 

 three cent piece, or even less, may prove fatal to 

 a man. Hence the reason for not mixing more 

 than half a grain at a time, and by putting it on 

 a chip or dirty board, it would not be likely that 

 children would taste it, although the mixture 

 with flour looks very much like white pulverized 

 loaf sugar. As it is such a deadly and instan- 

 taneous poison no more than half a grain should 

 be purchased at a tii'ne ; it should not be allowed 

 to pass out of the hands of the head of the fam- 

 ily for a single moment. The mixture should be 

 placed in a room the last thing at night, the door 

 locked, the key put in the pocket, and removed 

 the first thing in the morning, by throwing chips 

 and all into the fire, washing the hands well after 

 doing so, as also after first mixing it, for a great 

 deal less than a prain would kill a man, if it 

 happened to faH on -a sore or cut finger. — HalVs 

 Journal of HealTh. 



' ^'WJW^.. 



/y^\^."'''' 



some sections. C ibot, after long experience, re- 

 commends this as one of the surest and best for 

 general culture. Long in coming into bearin»on 

 the pear stock. Flourislies double worked on°the 

 quince. Foreign. — Cole's Fruit Book. 



COCKROACH RIDDANCE. 



The Scientific Amtricnn says — '■^Common red 

 wafers, scattered about the haunts of cockroaches, 

 ivill often drive away if not destroy them.'''' 



These wafers, like candies, are colored red by 

 oxide of lead ; a most deadly poison, and so is 

 the acetate of lead, or sugar of lead, as it is some- 

 times called, on visiting cards, which being a lit- 

 tle sweetish, has been known to destroy young 

 children to whom they were handed, to be amused 

 with. Fashion for once acts sensibly in discarding 

 glazed cards, using instead Bristol board, more 

 pliant, less cumbersome, and really more delicate. 

 And while we are .speaking of one of the pests of 

 housekeepers it may bo well to know 



How TO GET Rrn OF Rats, old, young, and mid- 

 dle aged, with the shortest possible suffering to 

 them, and with small probability of their dying 

 in their lioles or other uncomeatable places. 



Spread a level teaspoon of flour or cornmcal on 

 a chip or small piece of dirty board, sprinkle 



DEEP TILLAGE. 



In the last volume of the Essex County Agri- 

 cultural Transactions, there is a capital article 

 on this subject, by Dr. E. G. Kelley, of New- 

 buryport, which we read with a good deal of in- 

 terest last fall, and intended long before this 

 time to have placed portions of it before the 

 reader. The portion which we now give below, 

 no doubt will prompt many farmers to plow a 

 little deeper than they ever have before : 



It turns the drought itself to good account, and 

 renders mulching and irrigation comparatively 

 useless, or, if used, more efficacious. During a 

 dry spell and in trenched ground roots strike 

 deeper in search of food and moicture, become 

 more extensively ramified, and sooner find the 

 rich loam and manure intermingled deeply with 

 the soil. The leaching process, as it is called, 

 is reversed, and takes place upwards more than 

 at any other time, or, in more scientific phrase, 

 capillary attraction is increased. As eacli parti- 

 cle of moisture is evaporated from the surface, it 

 is succeeded by another, and the whole soil ia 

 filled with the ascended moisture and gases, 

 which are appropriated by the numerous rootleta 

 as they have need. 



The wet season is also a blessing to the deep 

 cultivator. The more rain, the more heat, am- 

 monia, carbonic acid, and other organic elements 

 are left in the soil as it descends. As each drop 

 filters through, it is succeeded by another, or by 

 air, both essential to vegetation ; and to dissolve, 

 act on, or combine with, the inorganic elementa 

 of the soil. As the water drains ofl", air is sure 

 to follow, and this is the proper mode of its cir- 

 culation. Each is also generally at a higher 

 temperature than the undraincd land, and the 



