1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



227 



abandoned some seventy-five j'cars ago, being 

 reclaimed by a system of improvement in whieh 

 salt and lime were largely used. In that case, one 

 and a half sacks of salt and twenty- five bushels of 

 lime wei"e estimated equal to "a moderate dressing 

 of manure." How it might operate on your land 

 we cannot say, but from our own experiments we 

 should not anticipate, a paying result. 



hereick's improved danvers seed sower. 



The sowing of onion seed is suggested b)' the 

 very name Danvei'S, where this little machine has 

 been long used and is recommended by Mr. Greg- 

 ory, In his book on Onion Culture. It has been re- 

 cently improved in nearly every part and now 

 weighs less than twenty-five pounds, and claims 

 to combine all the requisites of a hand-seedsower, 

 and is adapted to the different kinds of seed. It 

 is advertised in another column. 



FILLING A'ACAXCIES IN AN ORCHARD. 



About fifteen years ago I set out an orchard of 

 apple trees of various kinds, and a number of 

 them were destroj'ed l\y the borers, and by ac- 

 cidents. I wish to know if I can set apple trees 

 in the same places where the others died, and ex- 

 pect them to do well. If not what is the best 

 course for me to take to fill up the vacant places 

 in the orchard. The other trees are good bearers. 

 A part of the soil of the orchard is gravelly, the 

 other part a rich sandy loam, 



Augustus Goodwin. 



South Berwick, Me., March 13, 1868. 



Remarks. — We should have no hesitation in 

 filling up with apple ti-ees, though as a general 

 rule, trees as well as other crops do best under 

 some system of rotation. Give each new tree a 

 load of muck, sods or fresh soil, mingled with 

 ashes, if to be had, and well composted if you 

 have time to do so. 



COBS AND CORN. — WIRE WORMS. 



It is a custom among us to feed grain to milch 

 COWS to make more and better butter. The far- 

 mers here raise corn and oats for feed, and have 

 them mixed and ground with the cob. The law in 

 Vermont allows a quart for cracking and two 

 quarts for grinding, or some six to tenp'ounds toll. 

 Some of the farmers have the cob sifted out, when 

 the bushel of meal will weigh only forty pounds 

 after taking the toll and cob out. Where a fiirmer 

 feeds from 400 to 800 Ijushels in a year, this will 

 amount, as corn is now selling, to $60 ; a sum that 

 would pay for a corn sheller, and leave i^'50 to pay 

 a hired hand for two and a half months. This 

 amount of corn could be shelled with two hands 

 in four days, leaving forty-seven days for other 

 work on the farm. As coljs are a dry substance, 



they may be thrown into the hog-yard to absorb 

 the urine, and then put on the land to raise more 

 corn. From three to five pieces of cobs put in a 

 hill of corn at planting will keep the wire worm 

 busy at the pith until the corn has so fiir advanced 

 that it is out of his way. And finally vonr cobs 

 are worth twenty per cent, for kindling"^ fires. So 

 you will see that if corn is shelled and'then mixed 

 with oats and ground, you have nothincc Init the 

 pure meal. This will make animals thrive, and 

 their hair will lay sleek, instead of standing like 

 the quills of a porcupine, as it does when you feed 

 with the cob ground in with your corn. 



Lyman J. Sbeley. 

 Jeffersonville, Vt., Feb. 20, 1868. 



improving stock. — SOUTH DOWN CROSS. . 



I see that "V. M. H.," of Rochester, Vt., asks, 

 are we i'nproving our stock ? I answer, yes, no 

 doubt of it. Stock is kept better than formerly, 

 and I claim tliis is one way to improve it. Our 

 flocks and herds are being crossed advantageously, 

 and this must improve them. But if I wished an 

 animal to cross with my stock, I should pay more 

 attention to the good points of the animal than to 

 its pediffree. In a late discussion of the question, 

 "Will it pay to change our grades for thorough- 

 breds ?" by the Springfield Farmers' Club, Mr. J. 

 B. Whipple remarked, that he "did not care a 

 straw v/here an animal came from, if he was only 

 a (jood one. We don't want second class thorough- 

 breds, and the best cost too much for us small far- 

 mers." We all know that those who breed fancy 

 stock for market or for show, give it better care 

 and keeping than most of us do our grade stock. 

 Now if we raise good animals and take good care 

 of them, does it matter whether they are grades 

 or thoroughbreds ? I should answer this question 

 as Mr. Whipple did. But I have had very little 

 experience in breeding stock, and my opinion 

 would have but little value. As an experiment, 

 1 raised four grade lambs, last year, crossing a 

 South Down ram with Merino ewes. These four 

 are the best formed and hardiest lambs I have, 

 and keep in the best condition. This year my 

 laml)s will all be of the same grade. I intend to 

 sell for mutton. Can you inform me whether the 

 wool of the South Downs will sell as well as the 

 heavy wool of the Vermont Merino. j. d. 



Weathersfield, Vt., Feb., 1868. 



TRANSPLANTING M.iNGEL "VVURZEL. 



Why it is that the planting and raising of man- 

 gel wurzel are carried on so entirely different here 

 from what is customary jn Europe generally, and 

 in Germany especially ? 



I do not think you can find an Oekono'm (large 

 farmer) in all that country who will plant a single 

 acre of wurzels without transplanting them, and 

 yet a great many are raised there for stock and 

 other purposes. I have never seen elsewhere such 

 large wurzels as are raised in Germany, on a 

 poorer soil, and with less cultivation and dressing 

 than is usually given to them here. In this coun- 

 try I have observed very closely, and have come 

 to the conclusion that the want of transplanting is 

 the great cause of failure. 



Every farmer in Germany has a patch of land in 

 a sheltered place near the house, of rich soil, on 

 which he raises all his plants and seeds for 

 the coming season, as well as for the year fol- 

 lowing; such as beets, turnips, carrots, onions, 

 cabbages, &c., in fact, all the seeds he re- 

 quires, as he cannot afford to buy old or mixed 

 seeds and spoil his coming crop. At the end of 

 March or beginning of April he sows the seed in 

 beds which are covered with straw cold nights. 

 About the first of May, when the plants are large 



