210 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



May 



to 320 feet in height, and from 10 to 20 feet in di- 

 ameter. The cones are about two inches and a 

 quarter long, and two inches across at the thickest 

 part ; the trunk of one tree, which Messrs. Veitch's 

 collector (Mr. Lobb) saw felled, was perfectly sol- 

 id, from the sapwood to the centre, and, judg- 

 ing from tlie number of concentric rings, its ago 

 has been estimated at 3,000 years. Of this vego- 

 t;vblc monster 21 feet of the bark, from the lower 

 part of the trunk, have been put in the natural 

 form in San Fx-ancisco for exhibition ; it there 

 forms a spacious carpeted room, and contain a pia- 

 no, with seats for 40 persons. On one occasion 

 140 children were admitted without inconve- 

 ience. 



SOWING CLOVER SEED. 



Where clover seed was omitted in laying down 

 lands to grass last fall, it may very properly be 

 done now, and probably with complete success. 

 Our own ojiinions on the subject are well sustained 

 in the article below from the Philadelphia Dollar 

 Newspaper. 



In answer to an inquiry in the last number of 

 the " Newspaper,'^ as to the best time to sow 

 clover-seed, I remark that it is my opinion that 

 the spring or winter is the best time, for the fol- 

 lowing reasons : Clover sown in the fall, is apt to 

 be killed. First. — By the dry weather which 

 usually prevails in October and November. Second. 

 If the weather is favorable, and the clover should 

 get a start, tlie action of the frost would be more 

 liable to destroy the young and tender roots, es- 

 pecially in a clay soil, where I have seen the clover 

 drawn entirely from the ground, by the expansion 

 of the soil from frequeat freezing and thawing. I 

 have always succeeded by sowing in March. The 

 first good snow that falls in the month of March, 

 sow your seed, and, as you can see it on the snow, 

 you can sow it more evenly than when sown on the 

 ground, and when the snow melts, it leaves the 

 ground soft and moist, and the seed is buried even- 

 ly at the proper depth. When the first warm 

 weather comes it springs up and becomes sufficient- 

 ly vigorous to live through the succeeding fall and 

 winter. 



PLUMS-THE CURCULIO. 



Sir : — As I am a reader of your Weekly Tribune, 

 I saw a statement in your Address at our State 

 Fair whei-cin you mention that Dr. R. T. Under- 

 bill, of your State, succeeded in saving his Plums 

 from the ravages of the Curculio by jilanting his 

 irees so as to have them hang over water. Now, 

 since every one has not such a situation, I will 

 mention how Mr. Joseph II. INIather, of Goshen, 

 20 rpiles eouth-east of this place, succeeded in sav- 

 ing his Pjuins this season. After having tried 

 many ineffectual remedies, and Avhcn the Curculio 

 had already coi^nienced its work, he mixed sul- 

 phur and lard with a little Scotch snuff and rubbed 

 it freely upon the body and branches of his trees. 

 In a few days the Curculio had all left. The con- 

 sequence was that he had such a crop of Plums 

 that he was obliged to prop up the branches to 

 keep them from breaking off. 



I shall try the remedy next season.. If you think 

 the recipe worth printing, you can do so. I see 

 jao good reason wliy it will not do as well for 



others as for Mr. Mathews.-^REUBEN Chapin, in 

 N. Y. Tribune. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LARVJE OF THE CRANE FLY. 



Simon Buown, Esq.: — Dear Sir — Yesterday, Mr. 

 Flint brought tome the bottle of grubs, which you 

 sent by him. He said that they were found in 

 considerable numbers, on snow in Concord lately, ' 

 and tliat they were alive when taken ; l)ut they 

 were dead when received. 



They are of a livid or pale brownisli color, about 

 half an inch long, thickest at the hinder end of 

 the body, and tapering towards the other end. 

 Above the vent, there is a kind of coronet of short 

 spines, four of which are longer than the others, 

 and the latter are black at the points. These gruba 

 are tlie larvae or young of some kind of crane-fly or 

 Tipula, and resemble the figures of the larvae of 

 the European Tipula corniciva and Tipula oleracea, 

 two sjijccies vulgarly called daddy long-legs, in 

 England, and well known there for their injury, in 

 the larva) state, to the grass-roots of meadows. In 

 thevoluraeof "Insect Transformations" belonging 

 to the "Library of Entertaining Knowledge," will 

 be found a short account of the European insects 

 above named, pages 252 to 255 inclusive, to which 

 I beg to refer you. The Concord grubs, like their 

 European prototypes, probably lived in the ground 

 upon the roots of grasses. How they came to be 

 dislodged from their quarters I cannot tell. 

 Respectfully yours, 



Thaddeus William Harris. 



Cambridge, Mass., March 16, 1854. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HOW TO MAKE THE BUTTER COME. 



Mr. Editor : — I noticed in your valuable paper 

 of Feb. 18th, 1854, an article headed "Why don't 

 the butter come?" I have waited until now to 

 see if some one would not give the information 

 which Mr. Joseph H. Welles, of Columbus, Ohio, 

 inquired for ; I would inform Mr. Welles that I 

 suppose it is a species of garget that troubles his 

 cows. I have been in trouble like his several times, 

 and have as many times found that a little nitre, 

 commonly called salt-petre, administered to my 

 cows occasionally, has been an effectual remedy ; 

 in a dose not more than a table-spoon even full, 

 given every other day, for two or three times; it 

 is equally effectual in summer as in winter ; pul- 

 verize it and give it in grain or meal. 



E. Marsh. 



Montpclier, Vi., March 13, 1854. 



Elastic Horse Shoe. — We are glad to find that 

 the inventive genius of the day has been exercised 

 for the direct benefit of the animal of all others 

 the most worthy of such regard. Mr. J. O. 

 Jones has invented and patented, and is now man- 

 ufacturing in this city, an Elastic Horse Shoe, 

 which is regarded by those who have seen and 

 used it as an effectual preventive for all the trou- 

 bles to the feet of the horse which are caused by 

 constant concussion upon stone pavements and 

 hard roads. The shoe is made of German spring 

 steel, with India rubber inseated in the heels to 

 give it elasticity. — Traveller. 



