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NEW ENGLAND F.MllNtER. 



June 



lies and individuals. If we go, therefore, 

 among the rural and laboring classes of Swit- 

 zerland, France, Germany, Sweden and Rus- 

 sia, we may take lessons in our future 

 modes of life. In health and vigor they are 

 among the first people of the earth, yet their 

 e.xpenditures are nothing in comparison to 

 ours. Indeed, the waste of a common Amer- 

 ican town of ten thousand people, would al- 

 most or quite support as large a population in 

 the rural districts of Europe. Never shall we 

 come to their level, for our country is new and 

 diti'erently situated, but the next generation of 

 Americans cannot hope to live as we have, and 

 there we could take lessons in economy that 

 would be very useful to us. We could dis- 

 cover, as we shall be forced to by some means 

 — that a family can be subsisted upon a very 

 small portion of what Americans are accus- 

 tomed to expend ; nay, that they can be fed on 

 what is now, in many instances, thrown out 

 their back door to the dogs. Those of us who 

 take these lessons and practice upon them first, 

 will be the best off in the end. — Cor. Oer- 

 mantoion Telegraph. 



Grape Growing in New York. — At a late 

 meeting of the Herkimer county, N. Y., Far- 

 mers' Club, Mr. S. A. Farrington, of Schuyler 

 county, said that along the Seneea Lake they 

 are going largely into fruit growing — apples, 

 pears, and grapes. The pear succeeds admira- 

 bly but apples are troubled with the borer. 

 Grapes succeed along the lake shore, and it is 

 regarded as a very profitable business when 

 well managed. It is generally conceded that 

 five acres of grapes, to be cultivated properly, 

 is about as expensive as the management of 

 one hundred acres in the ordinary way when 

 devoted to mixed husbandry. The profits will 

 be much in excess of the farm. This year 

 there were raised from well managed vine- 

 yards, two tons of grapes per acre, which sold 

 from eight cents to sixteen cents per pound. 

 The grape soil is a shaly limestone that decom- 

 poses and furnishes sufficient fertilizing mate- 

 rial for the grape. Do not manure the grape 

 with barnyard or other manures, except ashes, 

 as it is regarded prejudicial. 



New Way of Sowing Grass Seed. — At 

 a late meeting of the Herkimer county, N. Y. 

 Farmers' Club, Mr. Cephas Johnson stated 

 that of late he had seeded down his land by 

 stirring into the grain to be sown just water 

 enougli to wet the surface of the kernel. The 

 timothy and clover seed thoroughly mixed with 

 the wet grain adhered to it in such amanner 

 that the whole could be sown together broad- 

 cast and very evenly, and, perhaps in conse- 

 quence of the nutriment derived from the de- 

 cay of the grain, he thought the grass seed 



was more sure to take than when sown in any 

 other way. Red top should be sown by itself. 



AGKICULTURAIi ITEMS. 



— Northern Iowa and other western sections are 

 going into the hop growing business extensively 

 this summer. 



— Mr. Lincoln Fay, a nurseryman and fruit 

 grower of Portland, N. Y., plants fruit trees for 

 posts, and hooks on to them panels for fence. 



— That good New York farmer, John Johnston, 

 says : "Only by mixed husbandry, and with par- 

 ticular attention to sheep and cattle, can grain 

 growing be made profitable." 



— The California Farmer says we can send away 

 75,000 sacks, (100 lbs.) of wheat per week until 

 i>ext harvest, — four months hence — and have all 

 we need besides. 



— The agricultural press of America is equal in 

 ability, circulation and capital to what the news- 

 paper press in the whole world was at the com- 

 mencement of the century. 



— The subject of beet raising for sugar purposes, 

 is attracting attention in Central Pennsylvania. 

 The White Silesian beet is the favorite for cultiva- 

 tion. 



— Mr. Goodrich, the great experimenter in pota- 

 toes, raised over 16,000 seedlings, of which number 

 less than ten sorts have proved of value for general 

 cultivation. 



— A simple corn-marker can be made by putting 

 a four-foot axle between the front wheels of a 

 wagon and a twelve-foot one between the hind 

 wheels, coupling them together, with braces to the 

 hind axle. 



— The California Farmer quotes potatoes at 

 ^1.7o to .^2.50 per 100 lbs., and remarks, "accord- 

 ing to the present pi'iccs, it takes the whole, of a 

 laboring man's income to keep himself, wife and 

 family well supplied with vegetables." 



— They who have the hop fever and who are 

 preparing to plant largely, will be glad to learn 

 that a large part of the hop roots in Wisconsin 

 have winter killed, for this will give them a better 

 chance. 



— In the American agricultural papers Airm ma- 

 chinery is illustrated by decently dressed, smart 

 looking men; in the English papers, by a heavy 

 clodhopper with wide suspenders across his back, 

 or by women following with rakes. 



—After the sugar season is over some farmers in 

 New York fill up the bit holes witli nicely fitting 

 wooden plusrs, which it is believed faciUtate the 

 healing of the wound made by tapiiing, and pre- 

 serve the vitality of the tree. 



—A late number of the Lexington, Ky., Far- 

 mer's Jlomc Journal notices the sale of one farm 

 of 103 acres at STo per acre, cash ; 117 acres unim- 

 proved at §35 per acre ; one farm six mi!es from 



