>52 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



3. The common practice of grazing mowing lands 

 is exceedingly injurious. Where there is a gener- 

 ous second growtli of grass, a portion of it may be 

 fed ofl' witliout detriment, but to crop it as is the 

 common practice, deprives the roots of their vigor, 

 and exposes them to the winter winds, and is the 

 frequent source of "winter-killing." Over feeding 

 also robs the land of a coating of manure which 

 would be found in the tliick and decaying grass of 

 the second growth. 



4. Cotton cloth, oiled with linseed oil, answers a 

 pretty good purpose for a hot-bed. But a glazed 

 sash may be obtained so cheaply now, that it is 

 scarcely economy to resort to anything else. 



APPLES. 



Mr. Brown : — I send samples of tliree vaz-ieties 

 of apples, of Avhich I wish to know the names. 



The largest-sized red apple is just now in eating, 

 bears well every year, most in odd years ; tree 

 probabh" forty years old. 



Two specimens of what I take to be Hunt's Rus- 

 set, keeps till ^Slaj-. Are they ? One specimen of 

 a handsome small, red apple, said to be very fine, 

 m eating in January. An answer to the above, 

 through the Farmer, or otherwise, will oblige, 



JVorth .Jindover, 18o5. Wm. Batchelder. 



Remarks. — Two of the ap])les mentioned above 

 are the Hunt Russet — the others are milinown to us. 



MAGGOTS IN SHEEP. 



GiDDiNGS Whitmore, of Marshall, Calhoun Co., 

 Micliigan, informs us that common honey appHed 

 to the heads of sheep afflicted with vermin, or to 

 the tails of lambs when docked, will cure them. Pie 

 also says, in answer to the frequent inquiry, "What 

 does the striped squirrel do with the dirt he exca- 

 vates in making his hole ?" that he has seen them 

 repeatedly go away with their cheeks stuffed, and 

 drop the contents in some stream near by, and so 

 continue to Avork until their task was completed. 



CULTURE OF CRANBERB.IES. 



Mr. Editor :— AVill you inform me through the 

 columns of the Farmer, the best modes of cultivat- 

 ing cranberries, on a swamp where the turf is from 10 

 to 15 inches deep, and the water is drained two feet 

 from the top of the turf. Would it be best to 

 take off the turf and set the vines on the mud or 

 muck? When is the best time for setting the 

 vines, and how far apart should they be set ? And 

 is there anything that can be put on them to make 

 them grow and bear well ? H. w. 



Mason, 18oo. 



Rejlvrks. — The following is the plan proposed 

 by Mr. F. Trowbridge, of New Haven, Conn., 

 and agrees pretty well with our own knowledge of 

 the proper mode of cultivation : 



"The soil best adapted, is such as will keep 

 moist through the dry season ; they have been 

 raised on land high cn(xigh to produce" corn and po- 

 tatoes with a wet substratum under the soil, or a 

 clay and loam. They will not succeed well on dry, 



sandy, or land liable to bake or become hard in dry 

 weather— Ijut they will jiroduce an abundant crop 

 on poor swampy land that will not produce any 

 other valuable crop, or any wet land after being 

 drained. Dry ground should be plowed and har- 

 rowed smooth ; in a swamp where a plow will not 

 work, the turf or bog may be peeled off or burnt 

 to get the weeds and grass out. They may be set 

 in fall and spring, as early as the ground will admit, 

 until the middle of iVIay. Moss, tan, or anything 

 to retain the moisture, would be beneficial around 

 the plant after transplanting ; a little sand around 

 the plant fall and spring, will tend to keep the 

 weeds out. 



Planted in drills as you plant strawberry, cab- 

 bage, and other plants, one and a half to two feet 

 apart. At two feet apart each way, it will take 

 10,000 plants to the acre. Hoe them slightly at 

 first, until the roots become clinched, and after- 

 wards no other cultivation is needed, unless to keep 

 out weeds and grass. The plants may be expected 

 to run together and cover the whole ground in two 

 or three years. They can be gathered with a crab- 

 berry rake made for the purpose, to be procured at 

 the agricultural stores." 



HOW TO save plum TREES AND PLUMS. 



In the spring remove the soil from the roots, and 

 if there are any knotty lumps on them, scrape them 

 off careful!}', and then scatter two or three quarts 

 of coarse salt over them, and then put on the soil, 

 and during the summer keep the tree well covered 

 with air slaked lime, to keep off the curculios, and 

 occasionally shake the trees while in flower and 

 while the fruit is forming, gather and destroy all 

 the fruit that drops. In this way I have been able 

 to save my plums; I have gathered five liushels of 

 good ripe fruit from one green gage plum tree this 

 summer. Respectfully yours, 



PawtucM, Oct., IS65. ' G. D. Street. 



Please accept a specimen of my apples. Can 

 you inform me the name of them ? The tree is a 

 great bearer, and some of the fruit is excellent ; 

 where the apple is exposed to the sun, it is some- 

 what watery. H. W. Bartlett. 



East HolUston, Oct., 1855. 



Remarks. — This fruit is new to us, and if like 

 those we tasted, hardly worthy of propagating, when 

 we have so many fine varieties about us. 



For the Neip England Fanner. 



STRIPED SaUIRRELS' HOLES. 



Mr. Editor : — There has lately been going the 

 rounds of the papers an article asking "What be- 

 comes of the dirt when a striped squirrel digs his 

 hole ?" I had supposed that naturalists know, and 

 that every intelligent farmer ought to know, that a 

 striped or ground squirrel, when he digs his hole, 

 carries his dirt in his cheeks to a distance of several 

 rods from where he digs it. In proof of the above 

 I can show a pile of dirt where it has been left by 

 them, and have several times killed them Mith the 

 dirt in their faces or cheeks. B. F. Gutter. 



Pelham, M H., Oct., 1S55. 



