342 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



wold kept fat all winter. I do not know the exact 

 weight of the different animals, but I judge the 

 Cotswold to lie three times as heavy as the merino, 

 and twice as heavy as the South Down. A writer 

 in the Stock Journal says cows will not eat after 

 sheep. That's bosh. They clean out sheep racks 

 with the greatest eagerness, and pick up hay that 

 has been tramplej^ by sheep, and graze in the same 

 pastures. Z. E. Jameson. 



I Irashurg, Vt., June 1, 1868. 



wood's gold prize mower. 



In/fit* 



American farmers have reason to be proud of 

 the honor achieved by the agricultural implements 

 exhibited and tested at the late World's Fair, at 

 Paris, because their liberal patronage of our me- 

 chanics created that necessity which was the 

 mother of all these inventions. The above cut 

 represents the mowing machine which took the 

 Grand Gold Medal, and the Decoration of the Im- 

 pfrial Cruss of the Legion of Honor, on that occa- 

 sion, as well as First Premiums at the State Fairs 

 of Vermont and New Hampshire, and numerous 

 county Fairs. It is manufactured only at Hoosick 

 Falls, N. Y., where we understand over one hun- 

 dred are made per day. This machine is for sale 

 by Whittemore, Belcher & Co., Boston. 



farmer's girls. 

 I was glad to see that "One of the Boys" had 

 contidence enough to write a few lines in answer 

 to the complaint about boys leaving the farm, and 

 that you had tlic fairness to publish them. Can- 

 not he, or some one of the otlicr boys, say a word 

 for the girls, who are about as much censured in 

 this respect as themselves ? Our school books tell 

 us that effects are the results of causes. What 

 then arc the causes of this general dissatisfaction 

 of the young people ? Girls as well as boys are 

 pleased with a sense of responsibility. "This is 

 thrown upon us in school. We are required to 

 demonstrate problems, to write compositions, and 

 to give a reason for every operation we perform. 

 In old tmies tlic dignity of responsibility was fdt 

 by the girls who were i-equired to s[iin a given 

 number of skeins per day, and then perhaps to 

 weave a web of her own. But now household 

 duties arc so narrowed down that some mothers 

 find little for their daughters to do on their own 

 hook, and fret and complain because they hel}i 

 them so little. If we go to the factory, we have 

 tasks of our own — the charge of one or more 

 looms, or some other department, — and are respon- 

 sible for our work ; if we teach school, the com- 

 inittee speak of it as Miss So-and-so's school. 

 But how is it with those of us who are blamed for 

 not staying at home to help mother ? Have we 



the responsibility necessary to excite ambition ? 

 Whether these thoughts of one of the girls are 

 worth the notice of editors or mothers is not for 

 me to decide, and I therefore bid you good evening; 

 New Hampshire, May, 1868. Annie. 



Remarks. — "Man never is but always to be 

 blest" can be truthfully said, we suppose, of girls 

 and boys as well as of "man ;" of city as well as 

 of country people ; of the trades and professions 

 as well as of farmers. Is it wise, therefore, dear 

 Annie, to blame the farm, the flirm-house, or any 

 of our outward circiimstances for the "aching 

 voids," or the restless discontents, which spring 

 from within ? Do you expect ever to be contented ? 



time and mode of hat making. 



The readers of the Farmer cannot well overlook 

 your editorial. May 30th, on the subject of "Early 

 making the hay." The subject is welt elaborated, 

 and carries with it the most convincing facts. 

 That too much grass stands till it js overripe and 

 becomes tough, wiry and woody, every farmer 

 that feeds his stock will admit. "The teeth and 

 stomach of the animals are severely tested ; the 

 nourishing, fattening properties are lost, and the 

 milk pail fails to slioiv a "good mess." 



The shortest pos.-ible time for curing hay fs the 

 rule on this island. Unless the grass is very 

 green and heavy, or a very poor "hay day," by 

 plying the tedder freely hay is generally "Ijarned" 

 the day it is cut, unless it may have been mowed 

 the evening previous. Farmers here say it is far 

 better, sweeter and more tender when thus hayed, 

 and that hay is gciicrally dried too much, and that 

 farmers have too much fear of must. 



Your correspondent, Asa G. Sheldon, in a com- 

 munication in the Monthly Farmer, for 1867, 

 page 417, favors late cutting and more thorough 

 drying, and suggests imperfectly cured hay as a 

 cause of abortion in cows ; l)ut I think that far- 

 mers generally are now sati>ficd that much has 

 been lost by letting the grass get too ripe, and by 

 exposing it to too much drying after it is cut, and 

 I canno'. but thank the New England Farmer 

 for this instructive aricle, and feel that every far- 

 mer who reads it will be instructed, and will 

 adopt and accept the general principles as sound 

 in everj- particular. It will cost no time to test it, 

 nor money to try the experiment suggested. 



Brooklyn, L. J., June 3, 1868. Henry Poor. 



green currant worm. 



Will you please inform me, through the columns 

 of your paper, in the "Extracts and Replies," a 

 remedy for those small green worms that infest 

 currant bushes. They will completely strip the 

 bush in a short time. Nickerbocker. 



Orwell, Vt., June 2, 1868. 



Remarks. — Having great faith in manual labor, 

 our first recommendation is hand picking. Turn 

 over the leaves and destroy the eggs. But if too 

 late for that, dust the plants and worms with white 

 hellebore, which is somewhat costly and may be 

 reduced by the addition of flour, well mixed, or 

 try equal parts of plaster, wood ashes and lime, 

 which is said to be effectual, and much cheaper. 



COARSE WOOL SHEEP .^ND LAMBS. 



As I have occasionally seen lamb stories in the 

 Farmer, permit me to say that I have a little flock 

 of t<?n coarse wool sheep followed by eighteen 

 lambs. One of my sheep hns three lambs, which 

 at three weeks old, aud before going to grass or 



