1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



525 



in the neighborhood, and no contrast is afforded ; 

 consequently, fruit of poor quality is cultivated, and 

 taken to be very good. A single visit to a good 

 orchard would expose the error, and show how 

 much time and labor have been expended to pro- 

 duce a really indifferent article. 



Now we would suggest to Mr. K. to take the Con- 

 cord, Isabella or Clinton grape, and compare them 

 with the one he sent us, and if he finds any of them 

 preferable, taking hardiness, rapidity of growth and 

 time of ripening into consideration as well as the 

 flavor, then to abandon his and cultivate one of 

 those if he finds one preferable. So of the apples. 

 The columns of the Farmer mention the different 

 varieties ripening at different periods. 



SIEDHOF'S lamp — SWEET POTATOES. 



Mr. Editor : — I have just been looking over 

 the monthly JV. E. Farmer for 1852, and I find an 

 article on page 469 describing a new lamp, then 

 just patented by Dr. Charles Siedhof, of Lancaster, 

 and for which he claimed several very important 

 advantages. Now I wish to inquire if this lamp 

 answered the expectations of Dr. Siedhof, and if 

 so, why it is not in the market ? 



I also wish to inquire how I can best preserve a 

 few sweet potatoes through the winter to raise 

 plants from another spring? Can such as are com- 

 monly found at the store be kept through the win- 

 ter? A. E. G. 



Fiichburg, Oct. 2, 1857. 



Remarks. — We cannot enlighten our corres- 

 pondent about the lamp. Who can ? Sweet po- 

 tatoes require a dry place, and one entirely free 

 from frost. At the South they are sometimes 

 buried in the sand, but the negroes preserve them 

 successfully by keeping them in some old box di- 

 rectly about the big fire-place in their cabins. The 

 potatoes found at the stores, of a small size, are 

 suitable to preserve. 



measurement of hay. 



My experience in measuring hay will not allow 

 Mr. JVew Jersey Farmer to be correct, in measure- 

 ment. We sell and buy hay here mostly by meas- 

 ure, and call 512 feet for a ton. One of my neigh- 

 bors says he has sold a certain scaffold full of hay, a 

 number of times, and had it weighed, and it holds 

 out 5 12 feet for a ton. I sold at one time, a barn full 

 of hay, measured and weighed ; the bottom weighed 

 a ton to 400 feet, the barn of hay weighed out lit- 

 tle less than 500 feet for a ton. I should be satis- 

 fied to take a common barn full of hay, scafi'old and 

 bay. at 500 feet for a ton. A Subscriber. 



Reading, Vt., 1857. 



ESSEX show. 

 Friend Brovntst : — We never have had so nu- 

 merous and fine an exhibition of promising young 

 horses as the present year ; almost every animal 

 presented at the show gave evidence of care in 

 rearing and training. Can there be any reason 

 why as good horses cannot be reared here as else- 

 where ? I have never known horses of good qual- 

 ity to be in greater demand than they now are. 



When I speak of good quality, I mean those fit for 



useful service, not those of specially fast speed, and 

 jgood for nothing else. To say nothing of the bar- 

 j barity of using the noble animal, the horse, at the 

 itop of his speed, and the vices inseparable from 

 [ such exhibitions, those who rear such animals will 



ever be best rewarded by training them to useful 

 ! labor. I know this is the day of fast things, but it 

 [by no means follows that the safe and sure way of 

 I doing things will not, in the end, prove far better 



than any other. Old America. 



October 2, 1857. _ 



THE wheat crop. 



The wheat crop this year, in this region, is better 

 than usual, and is mostly spring wheat, sown on 

 ground made rich by manure from the barn, in a 

 foregoing crop ; this too oft repeated, makes an 

 excess, so that our wheat, in spots, falls down pre- 

 maturely, to the no small detriment of the reaper, 

 and diminution of yield. To remedy this I would 

 recommend alternate cropping, and restocking to 

 grass. Let the green sward be well turned, and 

 hoed one year. Plant on an inverted turf, manure 

 and tend the crop thoroughly, and follow with 

 wheat the second year, and a good crop is nearly 

 certain. Joseph Pollard. 



Mount Holly, Vt., Sept. 1, 1857. 



the purple wasp. 



Does this wasp, which builds its nest of mud, in 

 dwelling-houses and other buildings, produce two 

 different species of insects — namely, their own 

 species and a species of spiders ? I have frequently 

 destroyed their work, and found a maggot enclosed 

 in a thin, transparent coat, similar to their own 

 color ; the other cells containing a number of spi- 

 ders, each of a yellow and black appearance, which, 

 on coming to the air, began to move slowly, like 

 any other insect recovering from a torpid state. If 

 any of your numerous readers can solve this myste- 

 ry, I should be the M'iser for one thing. 



Chester, .Y. H., Sept. 2. John Dunlap. 



the highland agricultural society. 



The twenty-third of September marked the era 

 of the second anniversary of the Highland Agricul- 

 tural Society, at Middkfield, where excelsior was 

 visibly stamped upon every variety of animal rep- 

 resented, as well as upon the exercises of the day. 

 The horses exhibited were worthy of special notice, 

 and the "Lone Star," who moved so gracefully 

 around the course, will not soon be forgotten. 



At three, P. M., I listened to a spicy and practical 

 Address, in which the nobility of labor was eloquent- 

 ly demonstrated, by illustrations which could not 

 but influence for gcod every one present, particu- 

 larly the youth, by Dr. De Wolfe, of Chester. 



All hail to the people of Middlefield, who well 

 appreciate these festivities ; may they witness many 

 such. p. 



Jforthington, Sept. 25. 



A fat calf. 



The venerable Dr. Robert Starkweather, of Ches- 

 terfield, aged ninety-two, fatted a calf last season, 

 that was killed when six months and twenty-seven 

 days old, and weighed when dressed 408 pounds. 



Goshen, Mass., Sept., 1857. E. P. 



