1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



281 



I do not wish to be extravagant in my commen- 

 dation of the Hubbard squash, nor can I be, it' I 

 trj' ; for I think it impossible to speak in too high 

 terms of it ; I do not think it possible to get a bet- 

 ter squash. It is sweet enough and mealy enough ; 

 if too dry, it can be moistened with milk. At first, 

 I thought its hard shell was an objection to it; but 

 it is not ; cut it up with an axe, and cook it with 

 the shell on, and scrape it out. 



Here I wish to relate an anecdote ; I sent a 

 squash to one of the hotels in our little village. It 

 was cooked and set upon the table ; among the 

 guests was a gentleman from the Old Bay State, 

 who so much admired the squash that he begged 

 some of the seeds to carry home, saying, "he nev- 

 er tasted such squash before." If those seeds prove 

 good, and true to their kind, he can call them the 

 Hubbard, a description of which he can find in vol. 

 8 of the monthly Farmer, page 281. 



I think it very doubtful if the seed I have saved 

 this year all proves true ; for some of the squash 

 raised from the seed sent me had a sprinkling of a 

 yellow kind, but most all had hard shells and were 

 dark green. E. G. Crowell. 



Canaan, Me., April, 1857. 



EXTRACTS AND EEPLIES. 



SAW-DUST — YOUNG APPLE TREES — OLD APPLE 

 TREES. 



Last fall I purchased a small farm, which has 

 been rented out to mostly yearly tenants for sev- 

 enteen years past ; consequently, it is pretty well 

 run down. With your permission, I should like to 

 ask you a few questions through the Farmer. I 

 have about two acres of low, swampy land, covered 

 with alders, through which a stream of water runs. 

 All up and down this stream there are large quanti- 

 ties of partly decayed saw-dust, which comes from 

 a saw-mill about a mile above. Is this saw-dust 

 good for anything as a fertilizer ? My neighbors 

 tell me that it is not. My land is mostly of a light, 

 gravelly soil, but I have a few acres of moist, hea- 

 vy loam. I wish to set out an orchard this spring, 

 of one acre ; will you inform me how to prepare 

 the soil, and the best two or three kinds of winter 

 apples, and two or three kinds of summer and fall 

 apple trees ? Is it a good plan to set peach trees 

 between the apple trees ? The soil is a light yel- 

 low loam, free from stones. For the last two years 

 it has been laid down to clover, no other kind of 

 grass seed. What shall I do with my old orchard ? 

 I have about thirty trees, that have not borne ten 

 bushels of sound apples for ten years. Many of 

 them are hollow, and some have lost the most of 

 their tops. My nearest neighbor says that it has 

 not been plowed for thirty years. If you will an- 

 swer these questions, you will oblige me, as I have 

 worked as a mechanic for twenty-two years, beside 

 serving a six years' apprenticeship, and never had 

 any experience in farming. Edward Lewis. 



JVorth Fairhaven, March, 1857. 



Remarks. — It is doubtful whether the saw-dust 

 would be worth removing to be used as a fertilizer ; 

 but when you have planted your apple trees, it 

 would make a capital mulch to protect their roots 

 from our summer droughts. 



Prepare your land to receive young trees as you 

 would if you were planting corn, and intending to 



get eighty bushels to the acre ; that is, plow ten or 

 twelve inches deep, pulverize finely, and work in 

 thirty loads of good barn manure per acre. Then 

 set your trees properly, tend them carefully, and 

 with God's blessing, you will have no cause to com- 

 plain of a meagre profit. 



Among your winter apples, we would recommend 

 the Baldwin, Hunt Russet, Roxbury Russet, Win- 

 ter Green, and one or two other sweetings ; among 

 the fall apples, the Hubbardston Nonsuch, Fall 

 Pippin, and Porter. 



If your orchard is on high land where it is prob- 

 able your peach trees will bear, they will not be 

 much in the way, nor injure the apple trees during 

 the first eight or ten years. 



If your old orchard is in the condition you de- 

 scribe, being hollow, and having lost their tops, 

 the trees will be scarcely worth working over. 

 Where one has sound and growing limbs, dig about 

 it, manure it, scrape, clean, and graft it. 



HOW TO CUP.E a STIFLE — WARTS ON HEIFERS. 



Mr. Editor :— In you paper of March 7th, Mr. 

 G. W. Hayes inquires what will cure his colt that 

 has got his stifle displaced. This is my way : take 

 the white of an egg and a piece of hog's lard about 

 as big as a shellbark; put them on a moder- 

 ately warm stove, and stir them till they are thor- 

 oughly mixed, (do not heat them too hot, a fried 

 egg will not cure a stifle,) apply to the stifle joint, 

 a little above and below ; heat the joint with a hot 

 shovel, as hot as the horse will bear; two or three 

 applications will perform a cure, if the stifle has 

 not been out too long. I have cured a number in 

 that way. 



I have a two year old heifer that has a great ma- 

 ny warts ; there are enough, if taken off, to fill a 

 half bushel. They grow m clusters, so that they 

 cannot be corded. She belongs to a valuable breed 

 as milkers, and ought to be kept for that, instead 

 of beef. If you, or any of your correspondents, can 

 give an efiectual remedy, through the Farmer, you 

 will oblige a constant reader. H. S. 



Palmar, Mass., 1857. 



adulterated MILK. 



I have seen with pain, by the papers, the great 

 mortality among children in our cities. It has oc- 

 curred to me that perhaps adulterated milk may 

 be one great cause of these poor innocents' sufier- 

 ings, and premature deaths. I am credibly in- 

 formed that large quantities of milk brought pure 

 from Westboro', and other towns in the interior, 

 are doubled in quantity when sold in Boston mar- 

 ket, by mixing water, chalk, &c. I am told that 

 these dishonest dealers have actually driven good, 

 honest men from the milk business, as they could 

 not compete with them, and would not sell an im- 

 pure article. Let purchasers be on their guard 

 against this vile compound. 0. W. 



Brookline, March, 1857. 



Remarks. — Farmers send pure milk to market, 

 but, we are sorry to say, it does not always 

 reach the consumer in that condition. Instances 

 of dishonesty among milkmen in Boston have come 



