NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



sic;»l neighbours a clay ; and tifty of them may 

 give the farmer not a little trouble in a hoi 

 night. 



I recollect a notice in the Boston Cenlinel 

 some tnenty-tive years since, that there had 

 been a famous blackbird hunt in a town but a 

 little to the northward of Boston on Election 

 day. 1040 birds were taken. Some good cause 

 ■thereunto moving they spared the Parson's 

 meadow. It was a year of canker worms. The 

 Parson disliking this cruel cport. spent the next 

 day in his orchard, and calculateil, that a black- 

 bird, whose nest was fifty rods distant, carrieil 

 as many worms to her nest that day, as the 

 sportsmen had killed birds the day before. 



1 have noticed the recent dissertations on the 

 best method of destroying lice on the apple tree 

 and can only repeat what 1 have before said, 

 Irom mucli additional evidence, I am satisfied 

 the cheap composition 1 have uscd,kills the wood 

 lice instanter, keeps the woodpecker from 

 wounding, operates as a powerful manure and 

 makes the tree hold its fruit. These destroy- 

 ers both of fruit and tree are much more abun- 

 dant in the high latitudes of Maine, than in the 

 more southern New England Slates. 



Author of Touches on Agriculture. 



EASY METHOD FOR KILLING BED BUGS. 

 Ta the Editor of the JVew England Farmer, 



Sir, — I read in your paper of July 10, a piece 

 from the American Farmer, staling that " a 

 strong decoction of red pepper, would speedily 

 kill or expel bed bugs.'' 1 tried the same twen- 

 ty years since ; it would kill them, but new 

 swarms would soon appear; I aftcrwarils tried 

 corosive sublimate, essence of (ob.TCco, l.imp oil, 

 yellow snuff, spirits of turpentine, linseed oil, 

 salt, brine, &.c. &c. wilh no betler success. In 

 1815, I used the following composition, and have 

 since used it once in two or three years, and 

 have not seen a bug in my bed since I iirst used it. 



For two bedsteads, take six cents worth of 

 quicksilver, [crude mercury] and the while of 

 one hen's egg, beat them thirty minutes wilh a 

 feather, and apply the mixture wilh the feather 

 to all the joints, Sue. of the bedstead. 



DORCAS. 



From the Vermont Republican. 



CUTTING GRAIN. 

 Grain should be cut earlier than is ordinarily 

 the practice, and before the tield is t'ully whiten- 

 ed.--Almost every farmer has his peculiar rule, 

 or modus operandi, by which he is governed. 

 My rule is to cijt my grain, when I can easily 

 crush the kernel wilh my thumb and linger. — I 

 firil by experience, that there are many peculiar 

 advantages attending this practice of early cut 

 ting. In the first place, you get as much, or 

 more grain, notwithstanding the shrinking of the 

 kernel. But when made into bread, its superi- 

 ority is strikingly apparent. Your loaf will in- 

 crease in size and beauty, and its flavour will 

 be manilestly superior. The superiority of the 

 straw is another important consideration, in fa- 

 vour of this early cutting ; for cattle or horses 

 it is vastly superior, and even for purposes of 

 manure it is far preferable. — When grain stands 

 late in the field, many of the stalks are crip- 

 pled down, much is destroyed ty vermin and 

 birds, and immense quantities wasted in gather- 



ing it by its scattering from the heads and sheaves. 



.•\flcr cutting yourgrainat the ]>eriod I propose, 



expose it a short time to the sun, then bind in 

 mall sheaves, and put it very nicely into the 

 hock. — After this you need not be in haste to 

 ret it irlo the barn ; should it stand out 20 or 30 



days it will not be amiss. SICKLE. 



Poison hy Ivy. — Many people during the sea- 

 on of hay-making, are grievously afflicted from 

 the poisonous effects of ivy. — To cure which, 

 my method has been, as soon as I feel its effects, 

 to hold the part thus affected as near the fire as 

 I can endure, for twenty or thirty minutes each 

 day, until the inflammation subsides. My hay- 

 makers, at my instance, have adopted this me- 

 thod of cure wilh uniform success. — Having al- 

 ways been easily affected by ivy, 1 have had 

 occasion to resort to this mode of cure for 

 thirty years past. In addition to my own expe- 

 rience, 1 have seen it recommended in several 

 agricultural papers. SCYTHE. 



The Canada Thistle. — If has been thought next 

 to impossible to destroy this most troublesome 

 weed, — but experience has proved the follow- 

 ing method to be effectual, viz. : — Cut off each 

 Thistle about half an inch below the surface of 

 the ground, and then put on it a gill of coarse 

 salt. Fish brine may be used instead of salt, 

 and will answer the same purpose. If in a bed 

 of these thistles, a few should escape the first 

 year, the above operation should be carefully 

 performed on them the year following. The 

 summer season, when the thistles are in full 

 growth, is the proper time for doing this busi- 

 ness. — Con. Mirror. 



Poiso7Mng by Arsenic. — A physician informs 

 us of the following c.Tse, which has recently 

 happened in his practice, at the northern part 

 of this city. The house, where the patient re- 

 sides, had been so much infested with rats, that 

 the occupant, after suffering awhile their alam- 

 ing depredations, mixed a quantity of arsenic 

 wilh Indian meal, and, besides in other haunts of 

 these mischievous animals, placed a quantity at 

 the mouth of an ash-hole, in the kitcheq. Un- 

 fortunately, one of his young children got to it, 

 and swallowed a considerable portion. As soon 

 as possible, large doses of sweet oil were».admin- 

 istered, and, immediately after, an emetic, by 

 which nearly all the meal was thrown off the 

 stomach. The child continued to be affected 

 wilh vomiting and drowsiness, accompanied with 

 severe spasms, and laborious breathing, until 

 alkalies were resorted to, in conjunction with 

 oil. After a close and unremitting application 

 of these remedies, for several days, the patient 

 became convalescent, and, we are h^ippy to say, 

 is now perfectly recovered. — Bos. Med. Intell. 



JVahant. — " We cannot forbear speaking here, 

 of the wonderful coolness and beauty of the 

 climate at Nahant. Every body who wishes 

 to be refreshed and invigorated should visit that 

 delightful and salubrious spot. The air is ne- 

 ver as hot as in Boston by 15 degrees, and its 

 heal is always prevented from being uncomfort- 

 able, by the breezes from the ocean. Infants 

 who have languished under summer complaints 

 in this city and vicinity, have immediately be- 

 gun to recover, on being carried to Nahant ; 

 and we have often remarked a wonderful change 



411 



in these little patients within an hour after their 

 arrival. Indeed we could go on and write co- 

 lumns on the blessed virtues of the Nahant air, 

 but the amount of them all would be, that every 

 body who wishes to get well or feel well ift 

 summer, must go down to Nahant.'" — ibid. 



From the New York Statesman. 



COMPARATIVE LONGEVITY. 



Dr. Ramsay in his sko.lch of Souih Carolina, 

 in speaking of New-England, remarks, that"a» 

 many of their inhabitants rcuch 85. as of ours 

 who attain to 70." And 1 saw mentioned a few 

 days since, the great age of some persons in a 

 grave yard in Connecticut. 



Some years ago I was in the town of Grotonr 

 in that State (Connecticut.) a high, hilly, rocky 

 district of country, within a few miles of the- 

 sea coast. In the second society, a parish of 

 that town, being detained by the weather one 

 rainy day, I had the curiosity to examine a re- 

 gister of the deaths of the inhabitants of that 

 society for 45 years past, not including those 

 which were occasioned by accidents, by disea- 

 ses of foreign climes, or occurred in the slaugh- 

 ter at Fort Griswold, in the American iirmy, or 

 the Jersey prison ship, &.C. The result exhi- 

 bited a degree of-longevity which I little ex- 

 pected to find, as well as I was acquainted with 

 the salubrity of the air, and temperate habits 

 of that region. And I am inclined to think, that 

 the schedule will bare a comparison with fables 

 of mortality in any other part of the world what- 

 ever. Of this, however, i leave the rei'der to 

 judge. 



The total number of deaths was 623, of which 

 100 were of the age of one year and under, 

 leaving 

 ..Over one year ^23 



Of which were from 70 to 80 73 



80 to 90 65 



60 to 100 15 



Over 100 1 



Over 70 155 



80 82 



90 17 



100 1 



This gives 1 of 100 out of 623 births. 

 European registers give but 1 of 3126. (In 

 Charleston in 1790, of 8000 inhabitants, 100 

 were over 70 and 1 over 100.) We all know 

 that a billy country is favourable to long life. 

 But the different calculations and comparisons, 

 I cannot recollect, not having Price's tables, or 

 any other at hand. Perhaps this hint may in- 

 vite more interesting and useful recollections 

 on the subject. H. 



From the American Farmer. 

 TO DESTROY COCK-ROACHES. 

 By a gentleman in the South. 

 The correspondent in the American Farmer 

 of the 25th inst. may be assured that the com- 

 mon Hellebore root, found on low grounds 

 and near water courses inMaryland and Virginia, 

 is as completely destructive to the cock-roach, 

 as arsenic or corrosive sublimate to the human 

 race. 



Chip it with a knife, and strew where the 

 roaches will find it. They eat it with avidity 

 and as certainly perish. — Known Irom 



ACTUAL EXPERIENCE." 



