240 



NEW ENGLAND FAHMER. 



May 



Mr. Gould advises me to try more of it, using 

 some singly, and mixing some with compost, and 

 note the results. This I have done, though not in 

 the same season. Corn and potatoes planted one 

 season without it I have compared with the same 

 planted another season with it, in connection with 

 a compost of night-soil, and obtained no favorable 

 results ; used alone in the hill, as I have intimated, 

 I consider it positively dangerous. Besides, I have 

 carbonate of lime on liand, — not much unlike Mr. 

 Gould's, probably — which I can use whenever I 

 think it may be serviceable. 



Further I have no desire to .discuss the subject. 

 D. W. LOTHROP. 



West Medfonl, Feb. 2, 1857. 



EXTRACTS AHD REPLIES. 



CURE FOR WEXS ON CATTLE. 



Mr. Editor : — I observed in the Farmer of 

 • March 28, an inquiry of E. P. Wilder, if some one 

 will tell what will cure wens on cattle. While 

 reading this, I felt a strong inclination to give him 

 the remedy I have always used in such cases, with 

 entire success. 



I take a tin cup, large enough to cover the wen, 

 fill it about half full of unslaked lime, then nearly 

 fill it up with soft soap, bind it on the wen tight, 

 with strips of cloth or straps so that it will not 

 come off. As the lime slacks, it eats the wen com- 

 pletely off. I tie the cow, or ox, to a hook in the 

 beam in the centre of the stable, to prevent their 

 rubbing off the cup. Let them stand tied four or 

 five hours, and the vrork is done. A. B. 



R'ussell, April 2, 1857. 



brewers' grains. 



Are brewers' grains good to feed milch cows, and 

 grov/ing swine, and will it pay to buy them for 

 that purpose ? Charles 11. Damon. 



Coch'duale, 1857. 



Remarks. — Brewer's grains are undoubtedly ex- 

 cellent feed for cows in small quantities, and as a 

 change of food. But they should be used sparing- 

 ly. Whether they would ])rov8 profitable, or not, 

 depends upon the price you pay for them. 



SPECIFICS FOR MOIST LANDS. 



Much is said about tlie use of guano, phosphate 

 and muriate of lime, bone dust, &c., and I have 

 watched the experiments as they are reported with 

 a good deal of interest to see if they were appli- 

 cable to my own case. I find them most all report- 

 ed as being on light or sandy soils. We have, in this 

 vicinity, (White River Valley) lying just back of 

 the intervals, a large portion of land lying in swells, 

 some rather steep, and other more level and flat, 

 of a marly nature; it is easy to till when not too 

 w<',t, and moisture dries up very readily. It has 

 been plowed, hoed, sowed, mowed and pastured, 

 till it now yields only a light return. Now I wish 

 to inquire if this land can be improved by the use 

 of any of the above named stimulants, either with 

 or without a light application of yard manure, and 

 which of those stimulants are most applicable to 

 soils of that character ; whether, in case no manure 

 is used, it would be best for the land, to plow and 



plant with corn and follow with small grain and 

 clover, or to plow and immediately follow with 

 small grain and clover, or, perhaps, a mixture of 

 grasses. The great object seems to me, to be to 

 make this land produce a paying grass crop, and, 

 at the same time, pay for its own improvement. 

 If you or any of your correspondents will answer 

 these inquiries you will much oblige a subscriber. 

 Sharon, Vt, 1857. A. s, P. 



Remarks, — Such land as you describe is well 

 calculated to receive guano, and probably it may be 

 used with profit for one or two years, if barn ma- 

 nures are also added to the land. Bone dust or 

 superphos])hate of lime would also be useful as a 

 stimulant, but none of these ought to be depended 

 upon to bring the entire crop. 



INSECTS ON YOUNG TREES. 



I find the branches of my young apple and pear 

 trees much damaged by some insect. This insect 

 has made an incision in the bark from an eighth to 

 a quarter of an inch in length, and deposited its 

 eggs beneath. These egg are so small as to be 

 hardly perceptible, unless closely observed. It is 

 something new to me and threatens to be very for- 

 midable. Can you or any of your correspondents 

 give jny information with regard to it — any pre- 

 ventives or remedies ? If so, it will be thankfully 

 received by at least one of your subscribers. 



P. S. Enclosed, I send you a twig with the in- 

 cision made by it, and its eggs. N. P. 



Remarks. — We have examined the specimen you 

 sent, under a microscope, but could discover neither 

 insect nor eggs. 



THE DEVONS. 



Beautiful delineations of fine animals of this class 

 are given in the Patent Office Report, (Agricultu- 

 ral,) for 1855. For these pictures I am much 

 obliged. They are so much superior to the ordi- 

 nary trash put forth in modern engravings, that I 

 feel that I am in better company. Cheap engrav- 

 ings, of all things, are the most contemptible stuff". 

 Give them good, or give them not at all. From 

 the slight examination I have been able to give to 

 this volume of 500 pages, just come to hand by 

 the favor of our obliging Representative, Mr, Banks, 

 I think there has been great improvement in this 

 department. If they would take care to get their 

 comments from those only who understand what 

 they say, and not from those who are distinguished 

 for their proneness to be gabbling, either with or 

 without knowledge, the book would be entitled to 

 regards as a NATIONAL AUTHORITY. 



March 30, 1857. _ 



A LARGE COW AND CALF. 



Seeing a statement in the Greenfield Courier 

 that E. H. Williams, of Sunderland, Mass., has a 

 Durham bull calf ten months old which weighs 700 

 pounds, I wish to inform your readers, and also 

 friend Williams, that Abner Curtis, of East Abing- 

 ton Mass., ownes a heifer calf nine months old 

 which weighs 722 pounds; the mother of the calf 

 weighs 1562 pounds. Beat this you who can. 



A. Brown. 



East Abington, March 28, 1857. 



