1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEJ^IER. 



451 



although cut before matured, and I should judge 

 the straw to be equal to four tons per acre or more ; 

 but it seems so hard or woody that it cannot be 

 worth much to feed. 



I give this information to con-ect any impres- 

 Bions which may have been formed in consequence 

 of my former statement injurious to Mr. Rice. 



Montpelier, Vt., Aug. 28, 1868. A. D. Arms. 



Remarks. — The sample sent is quite different 

 from the Hungarian millet which has been dissem- 

 inated by the Agricultural Department. Mr. C. L. 

 Flint, Secretary of the Board of Agriculture of 

 Massachusetts, to whom we showed the "Japanese 

 Wheat," thinks it is a variety of the millet known 

 as the "Italian." The general term millet is ap- 

 plied to a large number of seed bearing plants, 

 and includes, we believe, broom com, and the 

 "sorghums," or Chinese ^nd Italian Sugar Canes, 

 as well as many smaller varieties used as forage 

 plants. 



The stalk of Mr. Ann's saiftple, including the 

 seed head, is about four and a half feet in length, 

 and must be hard fodder. The head is over ten 

 inches in length, and is a compact cluster of little 

 bunches, or sub-heads, of seeds, yielding many 

 thousand fold. It has somewhat the appearance 

 of barn-grass. Mr. Joseph Breck who examined 

 this specimen remarked that he has seen a variety 

 cultivated, that in rich land would grow twelve 

 feet high. The seeds were fed to poultry, but the 

 other portions of the plant were of little value. 



MANURING MOWING LAND BY SHEEP. 



I am following my new plan of top dressing. 

 This season, I began July 29th, and have already 

 gone over half an acre thoroughly. The sheep are 

 becoming tamer and more easilj' managed, as they 

 are used for this purpose. It has been objected 

 that this plan robs the pasture. But as our sheep 

 lie in the pasture night and day during May, June, 

 and July, and are there now all day, I think the 

 pasture gets its share of their droppings, all in fact 

 that is needed to keep them from running out for 

 want of manure. The fact is our pastures are 

 bound out by manure, brakes and thistles, and the 

 only way to improve them is l)y ploughing. Did 

 you ever know of any one ploughing up an old 

 pasture and having to manure it the first year for 

 a crop? We all know that such land yields big 

 potatoes, corn, oats or anything. It any one 

 doubts the policy of this plan, I will invite them 

 to call and see for themselves the first of July next. 



I have a new kind of fence or hurdle, which I 

 think is an improvement on that previously used, 

 and which was described in the Farmer of July 

 11th. I now use three boards fo^r inches wide, 

 with end and centre posts one and one half by two 

 inches, with two braces three inches wide, meeting 

 at the top from each lower corner of the panel. 



Braintree, Vt., Aug. 24, 1868. h. h. c. 



YOUNG TURKEYS DYING OFF. 



I wish you would ask your subscribers if they 

 can tell me what it isthat makes my young tur- 

 keys die off? I tried to find out last year through 

 your paper, but could not get anything satisfac- 

 tory. 1 had thirty-five the first of August that 

 came out June 1st, and they have died about one a 

 week since. They are about one-third grown. 

 The first I notice is, that one looks dull and keeps 



two or three rods behind the flock, eats but little 

 and continues to grow more dumpish, and about 

 the third day he dies. I examined the last one 

 and found he appeared all right, except he had 

 yellow spots on his liver. I wish you would get a 

 little information on this subject if you can. 

 Shrewsbury, Mass., Sept., 1868. G. e. h. 



Remarks. — We trust that some of the turkey- 

 raisers of New England will give "G. E. H." in- 

 formation on this subject that will enable him to 

 save the remainder of his flock. The information 

 will be valuable to thousands of others as well as 

 to him. Mr. N. B. Butler, of Hamilton, has skill 

 and great experience in turkey-raising; perhaps 

 he can throw light upon the matter. 



The books which we have consulted give no 

 clue to the difficulty which you mention, and 

 nothing in our own pretty large experience enables 

 us to throw light upon it. If they ramble in wet 

 grass eai'ly in the morning, or continue to do so 

 late enough in the evening to go to roost with wet 

 feathers, we should be inclined to impute their 

 sickness to that cause. Look • carefully about to 

 ascertain whether they have access to any food 

 which would be ftjurious to them. 



DROUGHT IN NORTHERN VERMONT. — THE POTATO 

 CROP, &C. 



We are still suffering from the effects of the 

 most protracted drought ever experienced in 

 Northern Vermont. In fifteen miles north we see 

 no water near the highway ; our wells and springs 

 are nearly all dry, and our fields look scorched on 

 dry soils. I noticed in a late New York Tribune 

 the statement, that potatoes in Vermont were a 

 three-fourths crop ; in this vicinity ordinary early, 

 and late, varieties will not now average over fifty 

 bushels to the acre, and without rain they will 

 make little, and in some districts, no improvement. 

 On four adjoining farms we are growing the "Early 

 Rose," and its extreme earliness and productive- 

 ness have given us a large yield. In the same fields, 

 and with similar culture, the ordinary varieties 

 have failed. I have already harvested forty bush- 

 els from twenty pounds planted, and think other 

 plots in the vicinity will yield still better. About 

 the 10th of July I found some of the "Rose" 

 sprouting in the hills, and having time to mature 

 another crop, I tried every conceivable plan to 

 make the newly sprouted potato grow and produce. 

 My experiments proved an entire failure. 



What are the conditions necessary to the growth 

 of new potatoes ? If only age and maturity are 

 necessary, why is it that half-grown potatoes 

 sprout as earlj' in the cellar as mature ones ? How 

 soon can they be gro-wn after harvest ? 



O. C. Wait. 



West Georgia, Vt., Sept. 1, 1868. 



SWEET FERN FOR IVY POISONING. 



As the plant recommended by your Maine cor- 

 respondent for the cure of ivy poison may not be 

 known, or within the reach of all who may get 

 poisoned, I will say that a wash made by steeping 

 sweet fern leaves, has been used in my family and 

 neighborhood for many years with entire satisfac- 

 tion. It should be applied as soon after the disa- 

 greeable effects of the poison are felt as possible, 

 and I have never known a few applications to fail 

 of effecting a speedy cure. S. M. Caswell. 



Fitchburg, Mass., Aug. 24, 1868. 



