1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



573 



nothing to begin the great work of farming 

 with. 



^^Hog-hilling in Cincinnati.'" — A striking in- 

 stance of the effect of capiUxl and skill. In my 

 neighborhood mechanics and small farmers pay 

 the butcher one dollar for dressing a hog ; in the 

 Cincinnati establishment forty hogs are dressed a 

 day to each man employed. 



Questions by the Secretary of the Board of Agri- 

 culture. — Answers to these questions will enable 

 the Secretary to make a valuable report, and 

 those who want capital subjects to write upon will 

 find in these questions appropriate texts for arti- 

 cles for the Farmer. 



^^ Gardens that never Fail," {rom drought, in 

 Ohi», are those tliat are plowed or spaded deep- 

 ly; so argue the Ohioans, this year. 



^^ Breaking Colts," is generally a troublesome 

 and dangerous business. If tha plan recommend- 

 ed here works well, those who have colts to man- 

 age will be likely to preserve the November Far- 

 mer, if all the otiier numbers are thrown away. 



^^ Maturing Plants." — A practical criticism on 

 certain scientific theories, lately advanced in the 

 Farmer. 



^^ Improving the Soil by Shade." — On this theo- 

 ry cellar bottoms ought to become rich, and apple 

 tree roots in grass land ought to grow all the 

 better for enjoying a shaded soil. Land covered 

 for four years with brush two feet deep, especial- 

 ly such as would decay in half that time, or even 

 land on which flax is spread merely to rot, might 

 be improved thereby from the deposit of vegetable 

 matter, and the disengagement of gases, conse- 

 quent upon even partial decomposition, without 

 giving any credit at all to "Shade." Though I 

 have little faith that shade will ever be bagged 

 up and sold at "fifty dollars a ton,'' as a fertil- 

 izer, yet I like to read what sensible men have to 

 say on tliis, or any other "new theory," — for it 

 shows that they are thinking. 



'■'■Another Specimen of Farming." — "Vermont- 

 er" here gives so attractive a picture of his farm 

 and neigliborhood, of his success and indepen- 

 dence, that many readers of the Farmer will 

 hope to hear from him again, and be lui'onned 

 more definitely of the location of his portion ot 

 Vermont. A detailed statement of his manage- 

 ment, crops, sales, &c., will be interesting, partly 

 from the fact that small farmers, being unwilling 

 to contrast tlieir humble doings with those "big 

 stories" that abound in agricultural papers, very 

 seldom furuish accounts of their operations (or 

 publication. Ueside the $1500 purchase money, 

 what amount of capital was required the first 

 year to pay for your stock, implements, seeds, la- 

 bor, keeping of auim.-.ls, &c. Give us the items, 

 will you! 



"■Importation of Guano." — A memorial to Con 

 «Tess, for its influence to reduce the price of Gua 

 no. 



"T/ie CurcuUo." — Experiments with lime, 

 whale-oil soap, and a brood of chickens, to save 

 plums from the curculio. 1 tried the chicken pre- 

 scription, this year, with no success. 



'■^Remarks almit raising Hops." — An article 

 "true to its name." 



"Lighining Rods not Humbugs,"— So argues 

 Mr. Quhnby, an old rod-builder. 



"State Almshouse." — Proves a bone of conten- 

 tion." Fair play is a jewel ; but is it quite fair 

 for one writer to represent another as saying, "an 

 ample supply [of water] is expected from the 

 wells that are to be dug — not from those they al- 

 ready have," — when his words were, "tliey had 

 a good supply of water at present, but were im- 

 proving the wells, to have it more plentiful and 

 of better quality?" 



"Hawaiian Agriculture." — An account of the 

 progress of whoat-raising on these islands, which 

 I notice for the purpose of quoting the remark of 

 the writer, who has tried both climates, that the 

 sons of New England "may well be tliankful 

 that they were born and cradled among her hills, 

 instead of first breathing the balmy air of a 

 southern climate." 



"How to save Top Onions." — By one who has 

 "raised them over twenty years, and never failed." 

 When so many people find it almost impossible to 

 raise a few common onions in their old gardens, 

 why are not the top onions more generally culti- 

 vated ? 



'■'■Domestic Guano." — If ten millions of dollars 

 are paid out of the United States annually for 

 imported guano, is it not time for farmers to com- 

 mence the manufacture of domestic guano, if, as 

 this article says, every family of four persons 

 may make a ton, by saving what is now thrown 

 away? 



"Buckwheat." — The increased cultivation of 

 this grain recommended, because improved mills 

 for grinding and hulling it have been introduced. 



"The Drought." — Among the many accounts 

 of the past dry summer, I notice one in which the 

 writer says, — "The moral of the dry spell is, to 

 plow deep and cultivate mo/s/ land." I believe 

 so, too ; and cannot help inquiring what hearing 

 this experience has upon the book-farming theo- 

 ry of "thorough draining," so often urged upon 

 the farmers of this country? A Reader. 



Winchester, Nov., 1854. 



For the JVew England Farmer. 



PATENT CIDER MILLS. 



Mr. Editor : — Some short time since, tliinking 

 that tUofoT-niipj, community might be benefited by 

 a few words of caua... K.Pore purchasing a cider- 

 mill, called, _l think, "Hickok's t'aun.r,-' i ^A. 

 dressed a few lines to the Ploughman, stating my 

 objections, but which the l^ditor did not think 

 proper to put into his paper. I cannot see what 

 objection there could have been to whiit I wrote, 

 unless the interest of tlio Ploughman is on tlie 

 side of the "mills," and those farmers who would 

 otherwise have purchased might have delayed do 

 ing so from what was said in regard to them. The 

 substance of what I wrote was this : — That the 

 mill was very far from l)cing what it should be as 

 yet ; — that as the mill now is, it was nearly im- 

 posf^ible to make it work with the ordinary eider 

 applrs as they are brought to be made up: I had 

 no doubt but what two men might rossinly make 

 two barrels of cider in a day, provided the apples 

 were all perfectly sound and free from rot ; nut 

 it is well known that tliis is far from being the 

 case as the apples are brought to the mills to be 

 'n-ound. I uo not hcsitiite to say, from what 1 

 have seen in regard to the operations of two of 



