1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



295 



For Buckwheat and Millet — Apply two hundred 

 and fifty pounds per acre, using it in the same way 

 as for other grain. This amount is sufficient to war- 

 rant a crop, even on poor soil. 



For Corn and Potatoes — If preferred to use it 

 in the hill, about a wine-glass full must be intimate- 

 ly mixed with the earth. 



For Turnips — Apply three hundred to four hun- 

 dred pounds per acre. This quantity (vill give an 

 excellent crop. 



For all Garden Vegetables — Apply at least five 

 hundred pounds per acre, spreading it on after the 

 land is plowed and harrowed ; then to be worked 

 in thoroughly. 



For Fruit-Trees and Grape-Vines — It will be 

 found to be an invaluable and lasting manure. 

 Loosen the earth well in the spring with a garden- 

 fork ; then apply the manure liberally, and rake it 

 in, which will give a vigorous and healthy growth, 

 ripening the wood early, causing it to produce a 

 larger amount of fruit-buds. The proportions are 

 calculated for one acre ; yet it is evident the con- 

 dition of the soil has some influence. 



SOUTHERN COEN. 



It is but a few years since farmers commenced 

 the planting of corn for fodder for cows. Now it 

 is rare tc find a farm in this neighborhood where 

 more or less of this important forage is not cultiva- 

 ted. For cows in milk it is highly advantageous 

 to add a considerable quantity of green succulent 

 food to their pasture diet, during the hot, dry 

 month of August. 



Some farmers plant fodder corn near to the pas- 

 ture, and cut and throw over the fence to the ani- 

 mals several times in a day. Some plant at a dis- 

 tance from the field, and cut and haul to the pas- 

 ture or barn. In the modern barns, where the cat- 

 tle eat from one side of the floor way, it is very lit- 

 tle work to drive through the barn and distribute 

 the load. We think it better where there are prop- 

 er conveniences, to feed the corn to the cows in the 

 barn. All tlien have a fair chance. There is no 

 hooking or trampling the corn. It will be found 

 that it is alike desirable that animals, as well as 

 their intelligent owners, should take their food in a 

 quiet way. 



When it is considered how large a proportion of 

 fodder corn is wanted, and what a number of tons 

 to the acre is a good crop, economy would seem to 

 direct that it be planted quite near to the barn. 

 Perhaps no other crop should take precedence of it 

 in convenient proximity, as it probably is the heavi- 

 est of any cultivated. 



It is not the best policy to plant this corn on poor 

 soil. The cost of seed, and labor, and perhaps ma- 

 nure, may be the same for two pieces of corn, and 

 four times as much be cut from one as the other, 

 because one was rich, strong soil, and the other 

 barren and unproductive. 



It is very important that this corn be planted at 

 suitable intervals, from the middle of May to the 



first of July, to afford only enough for the stock 

 that it may be eaten while it is fresh and tender. 

 If the whole supply be planted all at one time, much 

 of it will become too old to be relished by the cat- 

 tle; the strength of the plant will be absorbed into 

 tough stalks, which almost defy mastication, and be- 

 come a complete waste. 



The manure should be applied very liberally. 

 By this means the crop will be heavy and palata- 

 ble. Sowing in drills is commonly practiced, but 

 broad-cast on land that is quite free from weeds is 

 usually successful. 



For cutting up the corn, the bush scythe, as 

 now so well made, is the best tool. It does the 

 work better, perhaps, than those would believe who 

 have tried other contrivances. 



The Southern white flat or yellow corn is better 

 than our Northern, as it grows larger. Some per- 

 sons sow sweet corn, and say the cattle prefer it, 

 thinking it sweeter and more nutritious. We have 

 never tried it, and cannot say whether it is so or not. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



A NOBLE MAPLE TREE. 



Mr. Olney Bates, of this town, has a maple tree, 

 standing in a pasture, which measures fourteen feet 

 in circumference, at two feet from the ground. It 

 is quite tall, and sends out numerous large and 

 long limbs, forming a most beautiful cone-shaped 

 toj). From the sap of this tree there has been 

 made, this present spring, some seventy-five pounds 

 of sugar. Mr. Bates informs me that after the 

 "sugar season" was over, they had sixty-five pounds, 

 and he estimates that the family ate and gave away 

 fully ten pounds. I have resided within half a 

 mile of this tree, since I was a child ; and have re- 

 peatedly been informed, by those who tapped it, 

 that from forty to sixty pounds have been made 

 from it in a single season. Where is the maple 

 tree that excels this ? J. K. w. 



Springfield, Vt., April 27, 1857. 



SWALLOWS — SQUASH-VINES AND BUTTER. 



Sir : — The first swallows were seen here April 

 19th, skimming the surface of Pentucket pond, just 

 before sunset. 



My cows last fall eat up all my squash vines — a 

 thing I never knew them to do before ; the conse- 

 quence was, that about thirty pounds of butter 

 tasted so much as pumpkin bugs smell, that it was 

 about ruined. I have heard of another similar case 

 in this town. B. M. J. 



Georgetown, 1857. 



THE GRASSES. 



On looking into that model annual of agricultu- 

 ral instruction for the year 1855, pp. 634 — 645, 

 published under the supervision of Mr. Secretary 

 Johnson, I was much struck with the intelligence 

 condensed in a small space ; and the thought oc- 

 curred, if each and all our counties would make 

 annually, returns, as complete as this, and they 

 could be embodied in volumes, we should soon be 

 in possession of inexhaustible sources of information. 



I was more particularly pleased with the re- 



