1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEIVIER. 



387 



But some years since, I called on a friend, whose 

 sugar lot, "like the Irishman's orchard, consisted 

 of "one scattering tree," and that was a White 

 Maple, and to my surprise they had nice molasses 

 made from that tree. Since then I have tapped the 

 White Maple, when convenient That tree com- 

 prises about one-tifih of my sugar bush, and I 

 consider it nearly or quite equal to the Rock Maple. 

 I have not made any experiments in boiling the 

 sap separately ; but I get as much sugar from a 

 given quantity of sap as most of my neighbors 

 that do not have the White Maple. 1 only wish I 

 had more of the same sort. B. 



Wilmington, Vt., June 26, 1867. 



AGEICUIiTURAL ITEMS. 



— Milking machines are exhibited in the city, 

 not in the country. 



— The dairymen in Western New Yotk, are ex- 

 perimenting with paper boxes for cheese, instead 

 of wooden ones. 



— Twelve families out of fourteen in one school 

 district in Bradford, Vt.. made this season seven 

 tons and five hundred and fifty pounds of maple 

 sugar. . 



— Equal parts by weight of white lead and dry 

 sand, mixed with linseed oil to the consistence of 

 putty, makes a good cement for leaks around 

 chimneys. 



— The Novelty Machine Works in Chicago man- 

 ufacture a machine horse-shovel, or scraper, which 

 will load upon wheels a cubic yard of earth in one 

 minute, and is also an excellent street cleaner. 



— Two posts split from the same log were set for 

 gate posts, one top end in the ground, the other 

 with the butt ; the first lasted seventeen years, the 

 other ten years. 



— For the hop aphis a correspondent of the Coun- 

 iry Gentleman recommends a dusting of plaster of 

 Paris as an efficient remedy, and at the same time 

 an application that is beneficial to the soil. 



— As a remedy for mosquito bites, keep a phial 

 of glycerine at hand,' and apply freely to the bites. 

 It will relieve the irratation and swelling at once. 

 One application is generally sufficient. 



— Five thousand Texas cattle aiTived in Cham- 

 paign Co., 111., during ten days, ending June 24. 

 Price there of fair fleshed, ten-hundred Texas 

 eteers $25 to $30 per head. 



— Sober cattle in the meadows, 



In the shallow brooklets wading, 

 Or 'neath alders' grateful shadows 



Ruminate with drowsy eyes ; 

 Dragon flies o'er pools are winging, 



Busy bees with honey lading, 

 And the notes of irsects' singing 



Everywhere in chorus rise. — Shillaber, 



— Tn reply to an inquiry for a remedy for a hop- 

 worm about one and one-half inches long, of green- 

 ish color, with reddish stripes running crosswise, 

 that seems to originate in the soil, and eats his 

 way up the pith and cuts off the vine, Mr. A. S. 

 Fuller of the New York Farmer's Club, says "the 



best way to get rid of insects infesting hop roots 

 is to keep skunks, which will find them. The 

 skunk seems to be the natural guardian of the 

 hop root, and there should be the picture of one 

 on the head of every beer barrel." That the sup- 

 ply may be equal to the demand, some one will do 

 well to start a skunk factory at once. 



— Four acres of corn south of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College were recently hoed in one 

 hour and three-quarters by thirty-eight of the 

 students. No fanmer will object to such "hazing" 

 as that. 



— The Hagerstown, Md., Free Press states that 

 in that place the locusts which are about emerging 

 from the ground, are causing sad devastation 

 among the swine, as the hogs eagerly devour them. 

 A large number of losses of this kind are already 

 reported. 



— A correspondent of the American Jouriial of 

 Horticulture says that the roots of Eastern trees 

 run on the surface, while the same trees West run 

 downwards. He says that roots prefer to be near 

 the surface, but must have moisture, and as the 

 West is famous for its summer droughts, the roots 

 are forced to go deep to get their drink. 



— A Texan, writing to the St. Louis Republican, 

 urging the construction of a railroad from St. 

 Louis to Texas, says that between the Nueces and 

 Rio Grande rivers there are a million, head of 

 horned cattle, and ten thousand head of horses 

 and mules. The cattle in that country are being 

 killed for their hides alone. 



— The Gamgee Meat Preserving Company have 

 their machinery in working order at Mr. Turner's 

 slaughter-house in Bridgeport, near Chicago, and 

 expect soon to demonstrate to the whole West 

 that the enterprising sons of the soil can not only 

 rear their stock but preserve it and send it any 

 distance by boat, railroad, or Atlantic steamers, to 

 the best markets in the world. 



— ^We learn by the Maine Farmer that Mr. Allen 

 Lambard, of Augusta, has lost two valuable calves, 

 and has two others dangerously ill, from the effects 

 of eating or licking some old house paper that was 

 thrown in a corner of their pasture, containing a 

 considerable portion of green color. A medical 

 gentleman who examined the paper said, that a 

 square foot of its surface contained poison enough 

 to kill four men. 



—There are in the United" States about 6,400,000 

 cotton spindles, which cost $25 each, or $160,000,- 

 000. The capital used to work them is not less 

 than $12.50 a spindle, which is $50,000,000 more. 

 Add to this shops for making cotton machinery 

 and "supplies" $20,000,000, making in all $260,- 

 000,000. This machinery works up 16,000 bales 

 of 400 pound per week, making 832,000 bales per 

 year. 



— ^When drinking cold water in hot weather, 

 grasp the glass by the hand, take one swallow at 



