1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



43 



invariahly cut brush, is the best season, as at that 

 time the prowth of the year is evidently at an end. 

 A piece of vahiable pasture land of ours, overrun 

 wirh l)uslies which had been many times cut over 

 by a former owner to no purpose, because cut in 

 the summer season, was by us cut over in Decem- 

 ber, 1861, and to this time, a period of nearly six 

 years, not a bush has sprouted or started, and the 

 land, though moist, is well stocked down to grass. 



— The Leicestershire, Eng., Chamber of Agri- 

 culture, after long deliberation, has declared against 

 intellectual improvement among the agricultural 

 class, on the sole ground that they would be ren- 

 dered less efficient as laborers. It therefore op- 

 poses the education of the children of agricul- 

 tural laboi'ers. 



— In reply to an inquiry as to the best time to 

 plant nuts for growing trees, the Germantown Tel- 

 egraph says it should be done as they come from 

 the burr or pericarp, and, of course, before they 

 get dry. This includes the chestnut, the shell- 

 bark, walnut and acorn, as well as some seeds like 

 the piw-paw, &c. Hence they must be planted in 

 the fall. 



— Accounts from Austria are to the effect that 

 swarms of poisonous flies have appeared in Tran- 

 sylvania, by which large numbers of the cattle 

 have been killed. Farmers are compelled to house 

 their stock closely, while large fires are kept burn- 

 ing night and day around barns and sheds to warn 

 off this new and unwelcome pest. The guards 

 have great trouble in avoiding their venom. 



— A gentleman of Nebraska, writes : "I have 

 been troubled for three seasons by ewes eating 

 their lambs. Last year, I found out the guilty one, 

 and knocked her in the head ; she was eating the 

 lambs of other ewes. I thought I was rid of the 

 trouble, but this season it appeared to be as bad 

 as ever. I killed the one I caught at it, but that 

 does not seem to prevent the diflieulty. They eat 

 off their feet as soon as they are born." 



— The forests in France are under the care of the 

 Government, and under the new laws for their pro- 

 tection they have increased nearly one million of 

 acres. Less than one-sixth of the area of the 

 kingdom is covered with wood land, while it is es- 

 timated that from 20 to 25 per cent, of a country 

 should be covered with forest in order to secure 

 uniformly good crops. Our forests, now disap- 

 pearing, demand the attention of Government. 



— Judge French, of Concord, Mass., says an 

 established community, who have for generations 

 depended mainly on their land for support, usually 

 will be found to have discovered what, on the 

 whole, is the best course of husbandry to be pur- 

 suid on their own farms. This is worth consider- 

 ing by those farmers who propose entirely chang- 

 ing their system, and by those who advise such 

 radical changes. 



— S. P. Mayberry writes to the Maine Farmer, 

 "a few years since we used to cultivate amongst 



our apple trees, but took a lesson from nature. 

 Now we know that forest trees drop their leaves, 

 which serve both to protect the roots and loosen 

 the soil. This we imitate by mulching with straw 

 and meadow hay, which we find prefer.'.nic to cul- 

 tivating the soil, as it is less work and better se- 

 cures the object in view." 



—A correspondent of the New England Home- 

 stead says vermin may be driven from hen houses 

 by the following plan. 1st, Give the hen-house a 

 thorough white-washing, nests, boxes, roosts, and 

 everything about the premises. 2d, Sprinkle sul- 

 phur in the nest boxes three or four times during 

 the year. 3, Keep the floor constantly covered 

 with sand or gravel, and clean out at least once a 

 month. 4th, Rub lard under the wings of the hens. 



— Where a wood lot is part and parcel of a farm 

 and has "down timber" upon it, farmers will find 

 it a paying operation to cut up and cord these fal- 

 len trees before snow storms come on. This will 

 give the wood an opportunity to dry, rendering it 

 better for use and more easily handled when the 

 sleighing season arrives, if not wanted before that 

 time. It is difficult to gather such fuel after the 

 snow has fallen, while every day's exposure to 

 storms renders it less valuable for market or for 

 domestic use. 



— When raising calves for cows, the greatest care 

 is necessary when they have their first calf, as 

 everything depends on the habits which they then 

 acquire. Also, about the time they are going dry, 

 for the longer they can be kept in milk then, the 

 longer they will give milk thereafter. They should 

 be milked perfectly clean at every milking, and if 

 in the winter time, a few turnips or potatoes should 

 be given in addition to their other food, to increase 

 the flow of milk. 



—Levi Bartlett, of Warner, N. H., writes to the 

 Country Gentleman that "the growth of our wheat 

 straw was large, and long heads ; but when put 

 through the threshing machine the farmers were 

 disappointed in the yield, that being only about 

 two-thirds what was expected. Oats and barley 

 fell short in about the same ratio. Corn about an 

 average, and potatoes less than half the usual pi-o- 

 duct, while the growth of weeds among hoed crops 

 has been remarkably luxuriant." 



— The Toronto Globe mentions, among other 

 dairy novelties exhibited at the late Provincial 

 Fair, a milk can of large size, designed for carrying 

 milk to factories and markets. It is furnished 

 with an adjustable lid or cover, fitting the can 

 closely and moving up and down readily. It is 

 designed to diminish agitation as the milk is being 

 moved to the factories or to market. No doubt 

 such a can will prove valuable to the dairying fra- 

 ternity. 



— The Southern pines, Pinus palustris, grow 

 from eighty to a hundred and twenty feet in height ; 

 are often very straight, and sometimes with trunks 

 free from limbs to withia twenty feet of the top. 



