1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



409 



Duty of Overseers. — We notice in one of our 

 Southern exchanges, an article on this subject by a 

 correspondent who is himself an "Overseer," and 

 very possibly a Northern man with Southern prin- 

 ciples. In reply to another correspondent, who had 

 said that he believed that overseers might encour- 

 age negroes to work, and dispense with the lash, 

 this writer remarks : — "My experience has not 

 learned me this ; they must stand in fear of the 

 lash ; 'an ounce of fear is better than a pound of 

 love,' with them." After enumerating the various 

 articles that should be furnished by the planter, he 

 says : — "I mention these things, because there are 

 a great many men who give their negroes not more 

 than half enough to eat, give them old tools to 

 ■work with, and then blame the overseer if he does 

 not make as much as a neighbor who furnishes 

 every thing necessary." 



For the Hew England Fanner. 



HAY CAPS. 



Friend Brown : — 1 propose in a few words to 

 tell the readers of the Farmer how they can have 

 good hay caps, costitig them nothing but a few 

 common brass pins, and a little time preparing 

 sticks to fasten them on with. First, I start with 

 the fact that every farmer uses more or less cotton 

 cloth, during the year. Well, then, buy a web or 

 half a web of such cloth as you need in the family, 

 Tear off pieces, some a yard, some a yard and a 

 quarter, and some a yard and a half long. Turn 

 the corners up sufficiently to form a loop, and faS' 

 ten them with a common, large, brass pin. For 

 pegs, you can break small smooth limbs from any 

 tree that is handy, and sharpen them at one end. 

 You are then "armed and equipped" for a rain. 

 Take good care that your caps are dried after using, 

 and when you are done with them, the "gude wife" 

 will find a use for them, and will call them none 

 the worse for being used in the field. 



I am inclined, while I have my pen in my hand, 

 to report the prospect of crops. Grass is excellent ; 

 corn is backward ; hot weather may bring it for- 

 ward, so that we may get a fair crop ; grain is low ; 

 potatoes look well ; Chinese sugar cane is decided- 

 ly below every thing else, not only in size, but in 

 the estimation of farmers. I have seen many little 

 patches, but it all looks like being "small potatoes." 



Apples are being mostly destroyed by the curcu- 

 lio. What do ripen, will probably be small and full 

 of "knots." Granite Quill. 



Weare, JV. H., 1857. 



For the Neu> England Fanner. 



HOW TO DESTROY WEEDS. 



Mr. Brown : — As now is the time for destroy- 

 ing noxious weeds, 1 will give you some of my ex- 

 perience in this department of farming. I was 

 brought up in the old-fashioned way, of hoeing corn 

 three times and potatoes twice ; nothing more was 

 done, if the weeds spoiled the crop. After I took 

 the management of the farm, I began to manure 

 more lilierally, and found that the weeds increased 

 in equal proportion upon me. It was double labor 

 to dig the potatoes, and the corn was overrun aiid 

 buried in weeds. 



I came to the conclusion that I must do some- 

 thing more, or it was useless to pretend to culti- 

 vate. I then thought I would try the experiment 

 of hoeing the land all over about the first of Au- 

 gust, before commencing to cut sail hay, and have 

 practised it every year since. I feel satisfied that 

 1 have obtained extra produce enough to doubly 

 pay the labor, and the improvement of the land is 

 almost incalculable. I can now raise grain and 

 not have it choked with weeds. If I wish to raise 

 a root crop, I can select the most suitable place 

 without the fear of its being overrun with weeds, so 

 that it will cost more to keep them clear than the 

 whole crop would be worth. I think that a great 

 saving of labor is made by not allowing any weeds 

 to go to seed, beside the neat and tidy appearance 

 it gives the farm, which I think to be a great deal,, 

 for I wish to make farming so attractive that more 

 of our young men who have an inclination for 

 farming, shall try to get hold of a little land> here 

 at home, and cultivate it well, and not desire to be 

 great land-holders ; for but few amongst us are ca- 

 pable of managing a great farm to advantage. 

 While most of us may improve a small one, and 

 have the pleasure, in our declining years, of look- 

 ing back and seeing that we have done something 

 for the benefit of the race, by making the land pro- 

 duce double the amount for human sustenance that 

 it did when we came into possession of it. 



Gloucester, July 3, 18u7. Thomas Haskell. 



Cabbage Worms. — J. Farrar, one of the most 

 practical farmers in the State of New York, says 

 that cabbage worms may be destroyed in the fol- 

 lowing easy and simple way. "Break off" a large 

 leaf from the bottom of the cabbage, and place it on 

 the top, upper side down. Do this in the evening, 

 and in the morning you will find nearly all or quite 

 all the worms on each cabbage have taken up their 

 quarters on this leaf. Take off the leaf and kill 

 them or feed them to chickens, and place the leaf 

 back, if there be any more to catch." 



SUMMER CARE OF TREES. 



The general policy in the management of a 

 young and growing tree is to throw its whole vital, 

 wood-making power into those branches, and those 

 alone, which are needed, and are to be preserved ; 

 that is, so to manage the tree that half its growth, 

 every two or three years, shall not be thrown away 

 in pruning. Examine the branches. See first 

 what are necessary to make the tree symmetrical 

 Then pinch ofl' every other sprout. If one etarte 

 from the bottom, pinch it off at once. If a branch 

 is pushing out too rapidly for the rest, and threat- 

 ens them, pinch off the end and stop it. In this 

 way, all the sap is appropriated just where it is 

 wanted, and the tree does not have to be shocked 

 every year by the wounds of the pruning-knife. 

 All young trees should be mulched. It is time to 

 do this now. Let not their roots get the blighting 

 impressions of the hot sun at all. The mulching 

 can be done in numerous ways. If the tree needs 

 enriching, put a good coat of coarse manure 

 around it. The cheapest mulch, and one that an- 

 swers well, though it does not look very well, is 

 the grass mowed about this time in the yard. Put 



