398 



NEW ENGLAND FAR^VIER. 



Sept. 



Wc think the cultivation of winter wheat is 

 too generally given -up in New England. Our 

 fathers found it a profitable crop, and so may 

 . their sons if they will adapt their methodlof 

 culture to the changes of climate and soil. 

 For the deeper snows that protected the plant 

 in the winter, they must apply a deeper cover- 

 ing of earth ; and for the fertility of the vir- 

 gin soil, they must supply the elements of nu- 

 trition which the wheat requires. 



The practice of ploughing the soil in the 

 fall, for all crops, is we think growing in favor. 

 Worms and the larvas of various insects in- 

 crease in lands long under cultivation, and fall 

 ploughing seems to be the best and almost the 

 only remedy we have for this increase. Where 

 lands are level, manure may be applied and 

 covered in the fall with little if any loss, and 

 certainly with great improvement to the me- 

 chanical condition of the soil. The manure 

 becomes more thoroughly incorporated with 

 the soil, and both manure and soil are found 

 more fine and mellow, when we come to work 

 them in the spring. The manure that has been 

 accumulated in the summer may be carted 

 easily at this season, and may be used in a 

 green state without composting, thus saving 

 a good deal of labor. We think this is the 

 only time and way in which green manures 

 should be applied. Indeed many who advo- 

 cate the use of green manures, are in the habit 

 of applying them in the fall, thus making a 

 compost on the spot where it is wanted. 



But there is much other work to be done in 

 September. The grain should be threshed 

 and carefully secured from the mice and other 

 vermin. Corn fodder should be attended to 

 with care, and boused as soon as dry. Ditches 

 should be cleaned out and a good supply of 

 material prepared for the compost heap. 

 Calves and colts should be brought up as the 

 frosty nights come on, and be taught to eat 

 hay and roots, and thus be prepared for the 

 winter. 



Now is the best time to fatten swine. They 

 will lay on fat much faster in the pleasant 

 weather of September and October than at a 

 later season, when half their food is needed 

 as fuel to keep them warm. Improve the 

 present fine weather, for the winter is fast ap- 

 proaching. 



Warts on IIoiisks have been ctired by a 

 wash of Sal Soda and water. 



LETTEK FKOM THE PABM. 



Concord, Aug. 7, 1868. 



Gents. — After an absence of two weeks 

 among the White Mountains, I find a great 

 change in the vegetable world about me here. 

 The abundant rains of spring had thoroughly 

 wet the subsoil, so that when the intensely hot 

 weather of the latter part of July came, plants 

 grew with a rapidity entirely unprecedented 

 in my observation. It wus really wonderful 

 how soon the gardens and fields seemed crowd- 

 ed with the most luxuriant vegetable life and 

 vigor. Grass became too heavy to wave, and 

 was falling to the ground ; barley stalks were 

 bowing with heavy heads of ripened grain, 

 while the Indian corn, only a few days ago 

 backward and unpromising, had now rushed 

 into comely proportions, and gave great 

 promise of an abundant crop. The potato 

 crop, also, appeared finely, save where the 

 slug had robbed the stems of their leaves. In 

 some fields serious injury has been done in 

 this way, so that the putting forth new leaves 

 will greatly retard the growth of tubers, and 

 the crop will probably be light. 



The rye and barley crops are good, and 

 have been generally well secured. Some 

 fields of oats about us have been cut, and 

 yielded well. 



The hay harvest on uplands has been excel- 

 lent in quantity and quality, and most of it 

 housed in fine condition before the recent 

 rains and cloudy weather set in. The "runs" 

 among the uplands were good, but large, low 

 meadows, where water remained until the last 

 of May or into June, will be light and un- 

 profitabfe. The grass upon them is thin, and 

 partially covered with a dried slimy substance, _ 

 which adhered to it as the water slowly re- fl 

 ceded from the meadows. The loss to far- 

 mers in Middle.-ex county, in this respect, will 

 be very heavy. 



I have had the pleasure, to-day, of visiting 

 some farms in this neighborhood, and among 

 them that of Capt. John B. Moore. He has 

 about sixty acres in one enclosure, most of 

 which has yielded a very heavy crop of Eng- 

 lish grass this season. In one corner of it, I 

 fovuid about one acre in asparagus, as much 

 in strawberry plants, and several varieties of 

 potatoes, millet, Indian com, and many other 

 plants, which he is testing in order to learn 

 what is best for future cultivation. On a level, 



