1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



19 



A HOME PICTURE. 



One autumn night, when the wind was high 



And the rain fell in heavy plashes, 

 A little hoy gat hy the kitchen fire, 



A-po|ipiiig rorn in the ashes : 

 And his sister, a curly-haired child of three, 

 6ai looKing on just close to his knee. 



The blast went howling round the house, 



As if to get in 'twas trying ; 

 It rattled the lalch of the outer door, 



Then it seemed a butiy crying : 

 Now and then a dror' down the chimney came, 

 An<l sputtered and hissed in the bright, red flame. 



Pop ! pop ! and the kernels, one by one, 



Came out of ihe embers flying ; 

 The boy held a long pine stick in hand, 



And kept it busily plying -, 

 He stirred the corn and it snapped the more, 

 And fHstei juinix-d lo the clean-swept floor. 



Part of the kernels hopped out i.ne way, 



And a part hopped out the other •, 

 Some flew plump into the sister's lap, 



Some under the stool of the brother 5 

 The lilile girl gathered them into a heap, 

 And culled them "a flock of milk-white sheep." 



At once the boy sat as still as a mouse, 



And into the fire kept gaiing ; 

 He quite f rgot he was |>opping corn, 



For he looked where the wood was blBZing ; 

 He looked and he fancied that he could see 

 A house and a barn, a bird and a tree 



Still steadily gazed the boy at those, 



And f ussy's back kept stroking. 

 Till his sistt-r cried out, "Why, George, 



Only 6«e how the corn is smoking I" 

 And, sure enough, when the boy looked back, 

 The corn in ihe ashes was burnt quite black. 



"Never niit:d !" said he "we shall have enough, 



So now letH sit back and eat it ; 

 I'll carry the stool, aod you the corn — 



It's good — nobody can beat it." 

 She took up ihe corn in her pinafore, 

 And they ate it all, nor wished for more. 



Harper''s Magazine. 



and thriftily, they must be well hoed after plant- 

 ing. " They may remain in the nursery rows two 

 or three years, but if more than two years, the 

 tap root should be cut away with a sharp spade. 

 They will then throw out side-roots, and will en- 

 dure transplanting the next year all the better. 

 There is no difficulty in transplanting chestnuts, if 

 the tap root has been cut off a year or two before. 

 We transplanted six trees last spring from a 

 nursery in this neighborhood, and they have since 

 made an average growth of three feet. 



Many p3ople complain that their chestnuts are 



I stunted in their growth, or, that they grow crooked. 



'■' This may be remedied by cutting them down even 

 with the ground so soon as they have become 

 stout enough. They will then throw up a nice, 

 straight shoot, that will grow very rapidly, and 

 very little if any time is lost in making a large and 

 healthy tree. The whole nurishment from the 

 roots, however, must be thrown into the one 

 shoot, by cutting or rubbing all others off. — lotea 

 Farmer. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 OBSERVATIONS IN A GARDEN. 



SUPER- PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



For the few past years, I have been on the look- 

 out for a cheap concentrated manure. Last year 

 1 tried guano on a few young trees, and was well 

 satisfied with the results. But this season I was 

 told that there was none in the market — although 

 there was occasionally a little, but very dear, and 

 sold in too large quantities. Guano will always 

 sell well, and why is it that our merchants do not 

 import more, if it is to be had? Disappointed 

 in procuring this article, I purchased a sufficient 

 quantity of Deburg's super-phosphate of lime, to 

 give it a test. But instead of making vegetables 

 "yuwjj," it did'nt hardly keep them awake ; and 

 this was discovered only when it was too late to 

 remedy the evil. Later in the season, a dealer in 

 the article told me he had some that he knew was 

 good. Still I shook my head, when he, (deter- 

 mined that I should try it) gave me 15 or 20 

 pounds. I tried it in corn and around corn, and 

 Messrs. Editors: — "Will you please to givej also around potatoes, cucumbers, squashes, toma- 

 your readers some directions for the cultivation of! toes, &c., but did not perceive any benefit. Tha 

 •(hestnuts. I tried to raise them two years ago,j potatoes and tomatoes look very fair, but not so 

 from seed, but failed entirely, and a neighbor tried well as if ordinary manure had been used. The 



CULTIVATION OF THE CHESTNUT. 



i^em last year with like success. 

 Yours, &c. 

 Columbus City, Juiva. 



There is no difficulty in raising chrstnuts from 

 the seed, if proper precautions are taken in gath- 

 ering, preserving and planting the seed. The 

 die.stnuts which are designed for planting should 



corn, cucumbers and beans, are a little below re- 

 spectability ; and the poor squashes hav'nt been 

 able to keep alive upon it ! The article was De- 

 burg's. Now I ma unable to say what its composition 

 was (though I fancied I saw a little guano in it) ye4 

 I can hardly conceive of a chemical composition, 

 having so many ingredients as it is said this has, 

 that would not have told more beneficially. If all 



be gathered as soon as they are fully ripe, and *''^ ^^*^*^^ '^^^^ ""^"^ permanently yij:?^ in this new 

 " " " " ?st should be selected, fertilizer, I might venture to say it evolved one, 



the largest and plumpest 

 They should be immediately placed in mould or 

 rtfted earth and put away in the cellar, or buried 

 in the ground, out of the way of the frost, rats 

 and children. Be sure to use earth enough about 

 them to prevent their iicating. When the spring 



•nd ploughing it deeply, and plant the seed in 

 rows three feet apart in the rows. They should 



and that was suspicious ! 



PLCU TREES. 



The curculio has committed its ravages as usual 

 this season on my trees, and those of the neigh- 

 bors, in spite of brick and mortar paving, which 



opens, prepare a place of ground, by pulverizing some of them have adopted. On some trees that 



set full, hardly one was to bo seen in August. But 

 next season they anticipate better results, as they 



not be covered deep, else they will rot in the say the insect will not ))e able to burrow beneath 

 ground. Half an inch of covering will answer the tree the present. But how did the curculio 

 every purpose. If you wish them to grow straight I get up through the pavement /Ajs season? The 



