296 



NEW E>fGLAND FARMER. 



June 



marks on grasses, a topic that has of late been so 

 fully and ably illustrated by our own Secretary. 

 To be ignorant, as most people are, of these useful 

 and beautiful products of nature, now just spring- 

 ing into life, under the softening influence of the 

 genial showers of heaven, argues a stu])idity that 

 no one who realizes it can approve. Throughout 

 this communication of President Dennison, is a 

 comprehensiveness and justness of remark not or- 

 dinarily met; and which many of more pretensions 

 ■would do well to imitate. So true is it, that there 

 still remain fish in the sea, as good as ever have 

 been caught. *. 



^pril 14, 1857. _ 



ONIONS. 



Can you inform me what sort of onion seed 

 would do for fall crops, and in what way they would 

 require to be sowed ? The above question is of- 

 ten asked out West, in this part of the State of 

 Illinois. Yours respectfully, 



Chebanco, III, 1857. W. A. McCrea. 



Remarks. — The Danvers people are famous for 

 raising good onion seed, and perhaps some of them 

 will mention the kind best suited to your wants. 

 They are sown in drills, in fine, well manured soils. 

 See article in this number on "Culture of Onions." 



PLANT THE CABBAGE WHERE IT IS TO GROW. 



I wish to raise a piece of cabbage this year, and 

 •would like to have you or some of your readers who 

 have had experience in the matter, inform me 

 through the columns of the monthly Farmer, 

 whether anything is gained by transplanting, and 

 vi'hether it will not answer as well to sow the seed 

 in the places where the plants are to grow. 



W. M. Page. 



JVorth Hampstead, jy. Y., Jlpril, 1857. 



Remarks. — It is much better to sow the seed 

 where you wish the plant to grow, and this mode is 

 now frequently adopted. 



COST OF MILK. 



Mr. Brown : — Looking over the March num- 

 ber of your ever-welcome monthly, my attention 

 was drawn to an article entitled "Cost of raising 

 milk," and I was induced thereby to make some 

 inquiries of my neighbor, Mr. N. R. Marden, re- 

 specting the profits of his one cow, and from him 

 obtained the following statement, which I think 

 ■will compare favorably with the others "as far as 

 heard from." 



My neighbor has a large family of children who 

 don't object to milk, and for four months of the 

 year, they make their own butter, and sometimes, 

 even sell a little. His account stands thus : 



840 quarts milk, soldat 4cts $33,60 



909 " " " 5 " 45,00 



420 " " used in family at 4 cts 16,80 



1 calf sold one week old 3,00 



$98,40 

 CONTRA. 



2 tons interval hay $24,00 



Pasturing 6,00 



5 bushels meal 6,00 



$35.00 

 Lea vin g profit of $83,40 



The manure paying for care, &c. The above amount 



will moie than pay the interest on SIOOO, and is 

 another clincher for "Farmer's Son," besides being 

 a better statement than I have ever seen in the 

 Farmer, though since Dec. 9, 1848, I have been a 

 Francestown, A*. H. Constant Reader. 



MILLET FOR PASTURE. 



I want to keep more cows than I have pasture 

 for, so as to make my farm better. How would 

 millet do, to sow it and pasture it, or would corn be 

 better ? 



Can I get good corn on light land ■with nothing 

 but guano and phosphate ? Can I get Egyptian 

 millet seed in Boston ? Farmer. 



Raynham, 1857. 



Remarks. — "We have never known millet to be 

 fed as pasture, and should be glad to know if it can 

 be used for such a purpose. Its roots take slight 

 hold of the soil, and would be easily torn up by the 

 cattle in feeding it. Millet makes an excellent fod- 

 der as hay. Rye sown about the first of July would 

 probably help you to pasture better than millet. 



On light land containing a fair proportion of veg- 

 etable matter, you may, perhaps, get a tolerable 

 crop of corn, for one year, with guano and super- 

 phosphate. But unless you plow under some crop, 

 immediately after, you decrease the fertilizing ca- 

 pacity of your soil. 



You can usually obtain any seed of NouRSE, 

 Mason & Co., or Nourse & Co., Boston. 



LOOK OUT FOR CATERPILLARS. 



These busy little fellows know when their forage 

 is ready as ■well as a hungry boy his breakfast hour. 

 As the tendeV leaf of the apple tree shows its form, 

 the young caterpillar is brought out, and soon 

 builds his house in the crotch, and lays his track to 

 the ends of the twigs ; up and down this original 

 railway he travels two or three times a day, extend- 

 ing his travels out to the young leaves, and feeding 

 luxuriantly upon them. His growth is rapid, and 

 so ■will be his destruction of the foliage, if his dep- 

 redations are not prevented. 



It is unpleasant to crush thousands of them by 

 the hand ; the spiral brush, fastened to a pole, is 

 excellent by which to reach high limbs, but on 

 young trees where the limbs may be reached from 

 the ground, there is nothing we have used equal to 

 an old dust brush that is nearly worn out, and the 

 bristles are somewhat stifi". With this, a person 

 may clear a young orchard very quickly and efiect- 

 ually. 



The young, however, are not all brought out at 

 once, and the careful orchardist ■will have an eye to 

 his trees every day. 



These pests are allowed too )»«eh latitude ; if 

 permitted to remain undisturbed, they destroy the 

 foliage, prevent the growth of fruit and tree, and 

 le'ave the latter in a filthy and disgusting condition. 



Look out now for the caterpillars. 



