282 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



under our actual observation, and we think we can the wood, there would be a large class of your 

 suggest to the purchasers a mode of witnessing readers greatly benefited by knowing it. The sugar 

 them for themselves. Boston is supplied with sev- ^^^^o" has commenced in earnest and if it con- 

 , , ,, i. Ml J -1 r .1, .. tinues SO, Vermonters Will be supplied, and some 



eral hundred gallons of milk, daily, from the town ^^^^j^^^ 



of Concord, in which we reside, and any person de-| This season is a pleasant one to me. With my 

 tected in adulterating the milk which he sells, pen, a good book, or some musical instrument, the 

 would lose character and standing at once. hours of night quickly pass away, if obliged to watch 



On many accounts, it is a good time 



BRIGHTON PINE STRAWBERRY, &C. 



Mr. Editor : — I notice in the J^eio England 

 Farmer' a cut of the Brighton Pine strawberry, and 

 a brief description and recommendation of the 

 same ; but I could not learn from the paper where 

 the strawberry was to be had. Will you tell me in 

 the next Farmer, where I may get that, and what 

 the price, and if there are any other choice kinds. 



The bound volumes of the Monthly Farmer I have 

 added to my library, every year since 1850, and 

 consider it one of the best books of reference on 

 farming that I have ; although I take other publica- 

 tions on farming, being very much of a book far- 

 mer, as well as a practical farmer. I would like to 

 try the Lawton blackberry, if I knew where it could 

 be had this side of New York. 



John B. Neallet. 



South Berwick, March, 1857. 



Remarks. — Messrs. Hovey & Co., No. 7 Mer- 

 ehantsRow, Boston, have the Brighton Pine straw 

 berry plants, but at what price they are sold we 

 are unable to say. The Lawton Blackberry may 

 be obtained of Mr. George Davenport, No. 14 

 Commercial Street, Boston. 



ABOUT making MAPLE SUGAR. 



Did you ever visit the sugar camp during the 

 busy season of sugar-making ? If so, you rnay im 

 agine that over all the countless hills of Vermont, 

 the steam of boiling sap is rising in vast volumes, 

 perfuming the air, and gaily twirling upward, till it 

 vanishes. For the past four days, we have had a 

 great flow of sap. Though we have been boiling 

 night and day, still our buckets are full and run- 

 ning over. This difficulty would be easily over 

 come, if we made sugar as a person with whom I 

 was conversing yesterday supposed we did. Which 

 was, "that we had but a few trees, and when we 

 bored them, plugged them up, and then, when we 

 wanted sap, all we had to do was to draw out a 

 few pailsful, and stop up again." I trust your 

 readers are better informed in regard to maple su 

 gar-making than this person, and it would be use 

 less to describe it. The cold north wind freezes 

 everything up this morning, so that we have a 

 chance to catch up while the trees are resting. 



I took my pen to make a few inquiries concern- 

 ing the best method of evaporating sap. It takes 

 from one to two cords of wood to make one hundred 

 pounds of sugar. This is a serious drawback to 

 the sugar-makers; and wood is becoming scarcer 

 every year. Cannot some of your readers give their 

 experience in sugar-making, and give /oc<s in re- 

 gard to the building of arches, so that we could 

 obtain a hundred weight from half the common 

 amount of wood used. How shall we build arches 

 for seven hundred trees, to save wood ? -What kind 

 of form is the best ? What would a filter cost to 

 purify the sap ? If there is a way to save half of 



the boiling. 



for the farmer's boy to improve his mind. 



^pril, 1857. Maple. 



Remarks. — Yes, we have been in the sugar 

 camp, and if you like sugar and music as well as we 

 do, an evening in your camp would be a rare treat. 

 But we were there for fun and frolic, and if a 

 blooming cheek caught the imprint of lips well 

 sweetened with syrup, it was only what might be 

 expected on such an occasion. Lugging the sap, 

 tending the fires, and skimming the kettles, would 

 probably be quite another thing. So you see our 

 experience has not been in the line of your inqui- 

 ries, and we beg of otl;;rs better acquainted with 

 the subject to reply. 



A LOST HOOF. 



I let a horse out of my livery stable on the 1 1th 

 inst., to one of my neighbors ; he drove him about 

 10 miles, when he, by chance, stepped one of his 

 hind feet into a hole in a stone bridge, and left his 

 entire hoof under the bridge. The horse is yet 

 alive. Will you ask your numerous readers if they 

 ever heard of a case of the kind, and if the hoof 

 will grow on again ? We, up here in Vermont, 

 never heard of the like. S. Cross. 



Montpelier, March, 1857. 



Remarks, — A neighbor of ours had a mare who 

 lost her entire hoof by running a nail into the un- 

 der part of the foot. It was well taken care of, 

 and at the end of a year the hoof had grown out 

 again, and the animal was nearly as sound as ever. 



CHARTER OAK GRAPE. 



I have been much interested in the Farmer for 

 the past two years, especially in the articles on the 

 culture of the grape. I have turned my attention 

 mostly to the cultivation of the Charter Oak grape. 

 It had its origin on my father's farm, and I have 

 cultivated the vines for the last ten or twelve years. 

 It is perfectly hardy, needs no protection in winter, 

 and is more to be depended upon than the Isabella, 

 and is from two to three weeks earlier. The Char- 

 ter Oak grape generally ripens from the 10th to 

 the 25th of September. The grape is juicy and 

 very good flavored, and commands in market an 

 advanced price over any other native grape that I 

 know of. Daniel S. Sheldon. 



West Stafford, Ct., 1857. 



A NEW PAINT. 



Being a subscriber to the JV. E. Farmer, I saw 

 a notice in the miscellaneous items, in the paper 

 for March 21, of an invention of Mr. Comstock, of 

 New Canton, respecting paint ; and sir, I would be 

 glad to get a receipt to make and use the article, 

 but do not know where to write. Can you give 



