1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



857 



is to be plowed under, should first be cut and wilt- 

 ed. If turned under with all the water it contains, 

 a rapid fermentation soon takes place, which drives 

 off the starch and sugar which the plant contains, 

 leaving little else than vegetable fibre. Slow de- 

 composition, and not fermentation, is what is nec- 

 essary in order to retain the full benefit which the 

 plaats ID ay impart to the soil. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



PENOBSCOT PLUM. 



Friend BRO^V'N : — In your paper of the 6th inst., 

 you give a cut of the "Penobscot Plum," and say, 

 "we cannot give the origin of the fruit, and cannot 

 speak of its merits." 



On the 4th of September, 1846, B. F. Nourse, 

 Esq., and myself visited the fruit garden of Mr. 

 James McLaughlin, our neighbor in Bangor, and 

 found many natural plum trees in bearing, the 

 object of our visit being to ascertain if any of the 

 new plums were worthy of cultivation. We found 

 two only" that we thought were so. We were re- 

 quested by Mr. McLaughlin to give names to the 

 two varieties ; accordingly we named one McLaugh- 

 lin, and the other Penobscot, which met the appro- 

 bation of the originator. 



Mr. Nourse wrote a description of each variety, 

 drew accurate outlines of the two fruits, and sent 

 them to A. J. Downing, Esq., Editor of the Horti- 

 culturist, together with samples of each of the 

 fi uits for his opinion of them. In the first volume 

 of the Horticulturist, pages 195 and 196, will be 

 found the description and Mr. Downing's remarks 

 upon them. I carried, personal!}-, specimens of 

 each to Boston and laid them before the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Societj'. I have had occasion to 

 speak of it many times since. I think the Penob- 

 scot plum will rank as "very good ;" tree very 

 thrifty, hardy, and free from disease, very produc- 

 tive, and a profitable plum for the market. I be- 

 lieve the trees have stood during the past severe 

 winter uninjured, while many others have suffered 

 severely. Henry Little. 



Bangor, June 6, 1857. 



ENGLISH TUIIXIPS. 



Can you oblige me with information as to what 

 •will destroy the maggot upon eariy turnips ? 



Joshua Brooks. 

 Concord, Mass., June G, 1857. 



Remarks. — The slug, a little black, soft worm, 

 and a small roundish flea, are very destructive to 

 young turnips, and it is exceedingly difficult to de- 

 stroy them. The best way to prevent their havoc, 

 is, to make the soil rich, so that the plants will 

 grow rapidly, and to keep away all weeds. Air- 

 slaked lime, ground plaster or ashes will check the 

 bugs, but not wholly prevent injury. 



A FINE cow. 

 Dea. Erastus Cole, of this town, has a cow from 

 which he made from one week's milking, 2 1 lbs. 2 

 oz. of butter ; it seemed to me to be an unusual 

 yield. Have you heard of a cow which will beat 

 her.'' 12^ lbs. of the same butter was made from 



four days' milking. The rest of the week she did 

 not produce as much, on account, as they supposed, 

 of the weather being considerably warmer, so that 

 the milk soured. She is of the Samuel Childs 

 breed, so called about here — part Durham. 

 Hatfield, Mass., 1857. c. M. b. 



DWARF PEARS. 



I wish to make a little inquiry about dwarf 

 pears. Can they be profitably cultivated for mar- 

 ket, or are they only for the amateur gardener? 

 Does the mere fact of a young, small tree blossom- 

 ing full, exhaust it, and prevent its growth, or only 

 where too much fruit is suffered to remain ? — 

 Should a part of the blossom buds be picked off 

 or only where too much fruit is ? 



Marlboro', JV. H, 1857. H. T. Wis^vell. 



Remarks. — Pears, like other products of the 

 earth, prove profitable when in a proper soil and 

 under suitable culture ; though another condition 

 of things is necessary, — the vicinity of a city to af- 

 ford a market, or so near one as not to require 

 very extended transportation. 



Most young fruit trees attempt to do too much. 

 Blossoming and setting the fruit, of course, is ex- 

 hausting, but no injury would be likely to arise 

 from that, if the young fruit were thinned to one- 

 half that was originally sec. 



A SORE udder. 



Having one of the best of cows, one that gives a 

 good quantity of milk and the best quality, and being 

 a little troubled this season about her bag, as she has 

 been before as soon as we turn her out to pasture, I 

 thought I would drop a line to you, thinking some- 

 thing might have come under your notice which 

 would effect a cure. Her bag seems to be hot, and 

 stringy stuff comes out of the teats, and she loses 

 milk fast ; the teats are sore, and it hurts her to 

 be milked. I have thought it was the garget, 

 and have given her something for that, and have 

 washed her bag in cold water before milking. I 

 have thought it was something that she got to eat 

 in the pasture, as her bag was well enough in the 

 winter season. A Subscriber. 



Grafton, May, 1857. 



Remarks. — Give the cow five drops of the tinc- 

 ture of aconite, morning and evening, and wash the 

 bag in weak arnica water. Do not repeat the doses 

 of aconite until you see what the effect of the first 

 is. Washing the bag in beef brine sometimes ef 

 fects a cure. It is undoubtedly garget in one form. 



ruta-baga and beans. 



Mr. Editor : — I wish to inform you and the nu- 

 merous readers of the Farmer, how I plant and 

 raise ruta-bagas and beans. Plant on old ground ; 

 rows three and a half feet apart ; furrow out deep, 

 fill each furrow with hog manure ; put on a little 

 dirt ; then sow the baga seed in drills ; sow white 

 beans in the same row, not very thick ; cover one 

 and a half inches. The beans will soon come up, 

 and will grow tall while the bagas are quite small, 

 and before the bagas get so large as to need much 

 room, the beans will do to pull which can be done 



