516 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



2. The months of August and September were 

 very wet, which started a new growth on all our 

 fruit trees, vines, &c., which might be called spuri- 

 ous, imperfect, unripe, or anything else you please. 



3. A very severe frost about the middle of Oc- 

 tober, which found this imperfect growth in a very 

 poor condition to withstand the cold, the mercury 

 being at my place at 17°, or 15'^ below the freez- 

 ing point. I found my Isabella vines dead the next 

 day. B. F. CUTTER. 



Pelham, jV. H., August, 18o7. 



For the New England Farmer. 



SPRING WHEAT-SUGAR CANE. 



In answer to Mr. Poor's request of your corres- 

 pondents, I submit a statement of a wheat crop, 

 grown by myself the season past. Not so much on 

 account of the extraordinary yield, which was, how- 

 ever, fair, — as for encouraging my brother farmers 

 in wheat culture, as a crop that will "pay" in these 

 times of exorbitant speculations in the staff of life. 

 For one, I have paid their prices for flour long 

 enough ; and then, he who raises his own bread- 

 stuff has 



'The glorious privilege 



Of being independent." 



Land 137 rods ; soil, a gravelly loam, in corn 

 last year, and well manured. Plowed 7 inches deep, 

 and sowed on the 25th of April, 1 bushel 3 pecks 

 of Michigan wheat. Got the seed in with a com- 

 mon horse cultivator ; afterwards stocked with grass 

 seed and smoothed off with a seed harrow. Sowed 

 2 barrels of leached ashes, broadcast, on top. When 

 the wheaten blades were about 3 inches high, I 

 sowed on the piece 1 bushel of coarse salt. Pro- 

 duct 19 bushels of very plump and handsome wheat. 

 On about one rod of the piece, the vitality of the 

 seed was killed by the excessive rains of the early 

 spring settling and standing for some days in a low 

 spot. 



Experiment with sugar cane. Cut 50 stalks grow- 

 ing from 12 to 14 feet high ; expressed therefrom 

 2 pailsful of juice — boiled down to between 3 and 4 

 quarts. Product, molasses clear and sweet, but not, 

 to my taste, remarkable for good flavor. My own 

 opinion is, that our common corn stalks will make 

 equally as good molasses, and perhaps as much of 

 it, although 1 have not tried the experiment. 



J. D. Cannikg. 



For the New England Farmer. 



SMUT UPON THE ONION. 



In my rambles a few days since, I chanced to 

 pass upon the fine, cultivated grounds of Mr. Ware, 

 of Marblehead. There I found eight acres of on- 

 ions, yielding a very fair crop, estimated at 500 

 bushels to the acre. On one corner of the lot, the 

 smut or black rust has prevailed to some extent. 

 1 found the onions, under the outside skin, covered 

 thick with this fungus or offensive substance. I 

 understood the proprietor to say, that he thought 

 this affection of the plant was more to be dreaded 

 than the maggots, for the maggot is periodical in 

 its appearence, and the smut has no end. Not- 

 withstanding these annoyances, there will be an 

 abundant harvest, and never was the season more 

 favorable for their being perfectly gathered, than 

 has been the last fortnight. Essex. 



Sept. 16, 1857. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HAY CAPS— ELDERBERRIES. 



Friend Brown : — Though late in the season for 

 the use of hay-caps in the field, yet at this late day, 

 I wish to say another word upon the subject, as a 

 matter of interest to the farmers of New Hamp- 

 shire, as well as a matter of self-defence. 



A correspondent at Ossipee, N. H., thinks the 

 hay-caps recommended by me, would not be a very 

 desirable article. He says, "we are sorry to learn 

 (I will try and quote him more correctly than he 

 did me,) that the 'quill' holds the farmers of New 

 Hampshire, or of any other place, in so light esti- 

 mation as to suppose they would use an article con- 

 structed in so shiftless a manner, laying aside the 

 utter uselessness of the attempt." To "P. E. A." I 

 would say it is probably far easier to express an 

 opinion about what others introduce, than to intro- 

 duce anything new or useful ourselves. It is an in- 

 variable rule with me, never to intrude myself upon 

 the public, unless there is a prospect of helping on 

 the march of improvement. Never let my "quill" 

 be guilty of throwing stumbling blocks in the way 

 of the farmer. If the farmer of small means thinks 

 he can't afford to procure hay-caps after Mr. French's 

 pattern, (which by the way are no new thing, every 

 farmer in New Hampshire having seen a description 

 of them before it entered the "fertile brain" of "P. 

 E. A." to introduce them,) let him do the next best 

 way, and try what he can afford, and leave it to ex- 

 perience to decide the matter, and not to "P. E. A." 

 nor any one else, who so hastily passes judgment 

 upon a thing they know nothing about. I am half 

 inclined to think "P. E. A." is one of the precise, 

 particular unmarried brethren, who can aftord to 

 have all the nice things at any cost, and don't know 

 that cotton cloth is made into shirts, and that pie- 

 ces a "yard long" can be conveniently used in a 

 family of small children. If he is such an one, I 

 would like to have him call on me, and after show- 

 ing him my strawberry bed, my cranberry patch, 

 my osier willows and my reclaimed swamp land, 

 which I would be pleased to do, though he did 

 wield his Spartan blade upon my hay-caps, I will 

 show him sundry little specimens of humanity, that 

 need "sundry pieces of cotton cloth" to cover their 

 nakedness, and the "gude wife" will tell him that 

 cotton cloth of any length dont come amiss. 



In conclusion, in all kindness to "P. E. A." I would 

 say next time, please quote correctly and do not mis- 

 represent. Put up a heap of hay, neatly, next sea- 

 son, take a piece of cloth a yard square, draw it 

 down at each corner, pin it securely, let "violent 

 showers" come, and then tell us if a "shiftless" 

 thing is not better than none at all. 



I will add an item which may be of some use to 

 those who have but little fruit. The common elder- 

 berry is made use of in many places, and when prop- 

 erly cooked, makes a very excellent sauce. They 

 need about the same sweetening as the blueberry 

 and twice as much cooking. They are also dried 

 for winter and spring use. To do this, they should 

 be picked stems and all, placed stems up on a sheet 

 in some garret or chamber. They will dry without 

 any further care. They should be stewed like any 

 dried fruit, only much longer. Granite Quill. 



ftd^ To preserve flowers in water, mix a little car- 

 bonate of soda in it ; it will keep them a fortnight. 



