1868. 



NEW i;ngland faeivier. 



323 



plaster, is a good top-dressing for corn, and 

 will prevent in a measure the destroying effects 

 of the cutworm. — Cor. Co. Oent. 



THE CULTURE OF DWABP PEARS. 



In addition to trenching and underdraining, 

 one or both, muk'hing will be required. This 

 moderates the effects of climate, rendering the 

 soil cooler and moister in summer, and warmer 

 in winter and at the same time keeps down 

 the weeds. 



In the spring transfer the surplus mulching 

 from the strawberry beds to the pear orchard. 

 Jn the fall spread manure on the surface. 

 The rains and frosts will carry its solvent parts 

 to the roots. Common barn yard manure does 

 very well, but ashes, lime, fish brine, urine, 

 soap suds and any waste do better, I think. 

 According to my observation, barn-yard ma- 

 nure produces wood growth and foliage, 

 while lime, ashes and the manurial salts, I 

 have mentioned, tend to harden the wood and 

 make fruit buds. 



Pruning. When planting out, cut back the 

 top so as to establish an equilinrium between 

 the roots and branches. During the growth, 

 prune for symmetry, and when limbs interlace 

 and rub ; but so long as the tree is healthy 

 avoid the use of the knife and shears. Re- 

 member that bleeding, blistering, vomiting and 

 purging have gone out of use in the treatment 

 of diseases in man and auim ds, so also the old 

 'barbaric stjle of cutting and slashing is going 

 into disuse among intelligent fruit growers. — 

 Country Oentleman. 



Heavy Sheep. — Mr. John Snell of Edmon- 

 ton, Canada, furnishes the Country Gentleman 

 with the iiWowing result of weighing some of 

 his sheep. He thinks the weights of his year- 

 ling rams the highest that have ever been 

 reached in Canada at this season : — 



Six yearling rams, Cotswold and Leicester, av- 

 eraged 276 lbs.— the lightest being 2.51 lbs., the 

 heaviest 285 lbs., or an aggregate of 16-56 11)S. Six 

 twoyear-old sheep ayeragtd 341 Jbs., the lightest 

 being 314 lbs , and the heaviest 368 lbs. — total 

 for the six, 2040 lbs. I. sheared from a yearling 

 Leicester ram 20 li>s. of wool, from a yearling 

 Cotsu'old ram 22 Ihs., and from a two-year-old 

 Cotsw(jld raui 21 lbs. . 



— Mr. J. Harris says, in the American Agricul- 

 turist, that "clover is unquestionably the great ren- 

 ovating crop of American agriculture. A crop 

 of clover, equal to two tons of hay when ploughed 

 under, will furnish more aiMinonia to the soil than 

 twenty loads of straw-mad« manure, dravni out 

 fresh and wet in the -spring, or than twelve tons of 

 our ordinary barnyard niannrc." He, however, 

 thinks it nearly as well to make the clover into 

 ■hay, feed it out, and carefullj save the manure, — 

 that is, there will be little loss in the value of the 

 fertilizer, and may be .profit from the feeding. 



aqriculturaij items. 



— If a redbreast comes into your garden, does 

 he come there a robin ? 



— Excellent sugar, it is said, can be made from 

 the sap of the white birch. 



— The best strawberry plants are said to come 

 from the third and fourth set of runners. The 

 first and second are to be cut off. 



— This spring, a cherry tree near Boston, blos- 

 somed May 11. In 1775, the same tree blossmed 

 April 19. 



— In relation to the destruction of caterpillars 

 and other insects, don't forget the old adage, "a 

 stitch in time saves nine." 



— It is said that valerian or nervine, if planted 

 near infested vines, attracts insects so that they 

 may easily be destroyed. 



— The Rural World recommends giving stock, 

 especially those coufined to stables, a sod of earth 

 a foot square once a week, or what they will eat 

 up clean. 



— It is the province of agricultural papers to re- 

 peat knowledge, rather than to give new. People 

 forget, and must be reminded. New facts, worth 

 recording, are few and far between. 



— The Ohio Farmer says that within the last 

 ninety daj's, one auctioneer in Mahoning county 

 had sold at various times 239 cows at an average 

 price of '^bd 38 per head. 



— The amount of wool imported from July 1, 

 1867, to November 1, was 9,410,926 pounds. Value, 

 $1,478,953. Within the same time woolens were 

 imported to the value of #17,185,305. 



— It is one of the smgular facts that does not 

 often occur, that potatoes are worth more than 

 corn, cabbages are worth more than wheat, and a 

 barrel of onions will purchase a barrel of flour. 



— The Gardener's Monthly recommends enrich- 

 ing the soil for cabbages, by making a hole with a 

 dibble for the plant, fill the holes with manure 

 water, and after it has soaked away into the earth 

 set the plants as usual. 



— The editor of a French agricultural paper 

 suggests that the school boys shtnild be sent out 

 in the fields twice a week, to hunt after the insects 

 injurious to the crops. It is estimated that 600 

 schools, attended by 30,000 pupil?, can destroy 

 6,000,000 insects every fortnight. 



, — An experienced horticulturist recominends 

 that iron shavings, scrap-iron, and the scales and 

 dust from blacksmiths' shops, be dug iii around 

 pear trees, and also that the bodies be repeatedly 

 washed with a solution of sulphate of iron for the 

 purpose of destroying fungi. 



— In an article cautioning farmers not to plough 

 land when wet, a correspondent of the Western 

 Rural says he once planted corn on a field a part 

 of which was ploughed before and a part ijnme- 

 diately after a rain. "As soon as the corn was up, 



