10-2 



NEW ENGLAND F A R M E 11 



SEPT. as, 18-12. 



AM) HOin ICLTr.TUKAL RKGISTER. 



Boston, Wkunksuay, Skpt. 28, 1642. 



SLAVERS IN HORSES. 



Ai.LBN PuTNiM, F,sq.— Deiir Sir — 1 send yon a small 

 quantity of the gniss wliicli 1 iliink, indeed I know, 

 makes horsps slaver. My horses have had nothing of 

 the slavers for a number of years, jinii there has been 

 none of this kinil of grass in mj' pa>tures. This sum- 

 mer they have the disorder again, if it is proper to call 

 it a disorder, and Ihe gras< has made its appearance 

 again. It is much more plenty in my mowing land, 

 such <i* lias never been plowed, than in the pastures. 

 One piece is now half that kind of grass. 



For proof that this kind of grass does the mischief, I 

 tetliercd my horse on thf hist mentioned piece about one 

 hour, and it caused tin; water to run from liis mouth a 

 continual stream 



There is some doubt whellicr the gia's will get to 

 you in so fresb a state as is desirable, for you to give it a 

 fair examination. 



I should like to have some chemist make an examina- 

 tion of this grass, to ascertain its property or what it 

 contains that should cause sucl) an effect. 



Yours, &c. LOVETT PETKRS 



Wesllioro,' Sept. 20, 1842. 



UXTbe sample of grass sunt by Mr Pelers, came to 

 us in|good condition. Cut it being blades, merely, 

 without roots or flower*, we have some doubts whether 

 we have seen the kind before or not, though we think 

 we have. If so, it is a plant called the Hijpoxis. It 

 grows in tufts, and has a blade in a slight degree reseni- 

 blirg the oat, when five or. six inches high, but is thick- 

 er and firmer — more velvety to the touch, and of a paler 

 green. If we know the plant, it is one that grows in a 

 cold rocky pasture, where we used ta go to "catch the 

 horse," in our boyhood, and where tije horse used to 

 catch the slavers. It used then — (we mean the plant 

 that we were acquainted with) — il used to produce a 

 small, bright yellow si.\-lenved flower — the leaves of the 

 flower quite pointed. We have had no o[iporiunitv yet 

 to submit it to the inspection of any skillful botanist. 



Mr Pelers has on former occasions given good reasons 

 for bis belief that this grass produces the troublesome 

 affection in horses which he ascribes to it now. Some 

 have maintained that the evil was produced by lobelia, 

 and others that clover docs the barm. No one, to our 

 knowledge, has better supporlcd his opinion by facts and 

 observation.s' than our present correspondent. If others 

 have facts we shall be glad to receive iliem. 



tlo bins in the slate in which you find them, unless the 

 ground or weather is quite wet. When there is unnalu 

 nil moisture U[ion them, that may be injurious, and it is 

 well to dry it off". 



Afior they are stored in the cellar, keep tliein as nnich 

 excluded from the air as possible. Some who have 

 packed potatoes in casks, filling all the spaces between 

 and around them with loam, or sand or sawdust, say 

 that tliey retain all their e.'ccellenee in perfeclion until 

 they begin to sprout in the spring. Any lover of good 

 potatoes may very easily put up in this or some similar 

 way, enough fur his own use. 



Pits ill the ground for storing potatoes, we have never 

 tried. It is said that they are in fine condition in the 

 spring when first taken fiom a well secured pit, but that 

 exposure to the atmosphere causes them In deteriorate 

 very rapidh'. 



HAUVESTLNG AND STORING POTATOES. 



Where the ground is icct and the vines of the potatoes 

 are dead or hailhj rusled, it may be well to harvest the 

 crop forthwith. But the quality will be better, if they 

 are in dry lands, to leave them iindug fur three or (our 

 weeks, even though now ripe. We say this upon the 

 presumplio" that, if dug, they will be put immediately 

 into bins in the cellar, and that Ihe air will circulate 

 among them. If the vines remain green and the tubers 

 are yet growing, whether in moist or dry lands, leave 

 them — they are belter where they are than in any other 

 place in which you can put them, until it is so lale in 

 the season that yuu fear they may freeze in the ground. 



If not wet and coated wilh dirt at the time of digging. 

 it is best not lo expose them any more than is absolutely 

 necessary to the sun's rays. We do nut wish to dry 

 oS" the ordinary moisture upon ihem. Let tiiom go into 



RUST. 



We menlioned, three or four weeks since, that the on- 

 ions of Essex county were badly blighted. The evil is 

 not confined to onions: many fields of potatoes — even 

 the long reds, which usually escape — sufler in the same 

 way. And the carrot crop is very extensively aflected, 

 esjiecially where sowed early. From this cause the 

 crop of roots generally will be very ccmsiderably less 

 ihan rhe tops promised a few weeks since. 



HARVESTING WINTER APPLE.S. 



Less pains is taken to avoid bruising apples than is 

 desirable. Most tiirmers we know pick by hand — that 

 is, take the fruit from the trees by band, and think that 

 is enough. But bruises made by throwing the fruit into 

 a ba.sket, or by emptying the contents of the basket into 

 a barrel, are none the less bruises, and are no less harm- 

 ful than those made by falling from the tree to ground. 

 Some of the venders of apples in Boston market, line 

 the baskets inio which they gather the fiuit, with coarse 

 blankets, and are very careful lo avoid all bruising. By 

 this care they can keep their fruit until it becomes 

 scarce in the spring, and thus can command an extra 

 price. The owners of orchards farther in the interior, 

 inigiit sell their fruit for more than they now geneially 

 gel, if they would gather and pack it with extraordinary 

 care. 



Most apples will be in as good condition for gather- 

 ing in a few days now, as at any later time. 



estimates his crop the present season at 150 tons. Re 

 cenlly he has commenced operations upon a meadow c 

 thirty or forty acres, in a very rou^li state, with the in 

 tention of subduing that also. Should he go on for 1 

 years to come as he has gone for 15 past, he will have 

 farm of immense productiveness. Il will become a plac 

 of greater interest ilian it now is, though i't present it i 

 labor enough for more than one man, and the best o 

 help-meets into the bargain, to act the agreeable and th 

 polite lo the niullilude of visitors whom his buildiniis 

 his grounds, and above all, his hospitalily draw to hi 

 residence. 



INDIAN HILL FARM. 



lusincss calling us last week to West Newbury, we 

 bad the pleasure of spending an hour or two at the lios- 

 pitiible home of Mr Benjamin Poorc, Indian Hill. The 

 mansion here is unique in its style of architectuure, and 

 gives an expression of a curious but good taste in its own- 

 . Differing in all its details as well as in the general 

 firm, from any thing tliat we had seen elsewhere, the 

 iiansion was lo lis a great curiosi'y. But the l/arn is 

 qually unique. It is an L in form, is 12 feet high, and 

 about 200 feet in length. The floor, or drive way, is on 

 one side, and the hay is on the olber. Immediately un- 

 der the hay is a basement, or as the Scotch call it, a 

 byer, in which the horses, oxen and cows are kept. All 

 are fed very conveniently from the floor above. The 

 floor of the basement, which is paved wilh small stones, 

 is on a level with the barn yard, and the whole arrange- 

 ment, if costly, is comfortable for the stock. The urine 

 is conveyed in gulters to a large reservoir, where it is 

 composted v\'iih muck, iVc. 



Mr Poore has done much at reclaiming wet meadow 

 lands, which he lias accomplished thorovgljij — and from 

 ihesc lands he now takes immense ciops of hay. He 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



EXHIBITION OF FRDITS. 



Saturday, Sept. 24, 1842. 



White Sweetwater Grapes, from I{. M. Copeland 

 Boston. 



Clingstone Peaches from D.S. Godfrey, Milford, Mass 



Orange Quinces, iron or Black Pear of Worcester 

 and Egg Tomatoes, from J. F. Trull, Dorchester. 



White Sweetwater Grapes, open culture, from S. R 

 Johnson. 



From .James Monroe, Cambridge — a large Pear, knowr 

 in some places as Tucker's Winter. 



Green and White Gage Plums, from George Walsh 

 Charlestown. 



Lady Haley's Nonesuch and Summer Pearmain Ap- 

 ples, from Elijali Vose, Dorchester. 



Coe's Golden Dro[) Plinns— the best specimen thai 

 has been exhibited of lh.it beauliful and excellent fruit- 

 by Henry Vandinf, of C^ambridge. 



Seek-no-furthor Apples, from Jairus Lincoln, Hing- 

 ham. 



Lemon Clingstone Peaches, from J. L L. F. Warren. 

 Brighton. 



Gloria Mundi Apples, from Samuel Woods, Saxon- 

 ville— (weight 2(1 1-2 oz ) 



Orange Quinces, from Albert Hager Lincoln. 



Lemon Clingstone Peaches, fiom Capt. Wm. Stone, 

 Nalick. 



Gloria Mundi Apples, from Francis Low, Jamaica 

 Plain— (weight 20 3 4 oz.) 



Bartlett Pears, from Otis Johnson, Lynn — fine speci- 

 men. 



Lemon Clingsione Peaches- fine specimen — from Jno. 

 Hill, West Cambridge. 



Hibstone Apples— fine specimen — from Geo. Lee, W 

 Cambridge. 



Porter Apples and Seedling Peaches, from A. D. 

 Weld, Roxbury. 



Barlletl Pears and Porter Apples, from Zaccheus Read, 

 Weslford — fine specimens. 



Bartlett fears, from 'I'honias Dowse, Cambridgeport 

 — fine specimens 



Pearmain, (in appearance like pears,) Abingtoncons, 

 (last year's growlli — have kept iwo years,) Rock, Beam, 

 Niles's Swecling Apples— from .Mr N. N. Dyer, Abing- 

 ton. 



Loll Apple— a fine specimen — from Lemuel Dana, 

 Dedham 



Bilboa, Belle el Bonne, Bcurre d' Isamberg and two 



unknown kinds of Pears, from Capt. Hooper, Beverly 



fine specimens. 



For Ihe Committee, 



BENJ. V. FRENCH. 



inrWe intended last week to insert in the present 

 number, the speeches at length whir h enlivened the 

 Horiii:ultural Festival, but we find that they will occu- 

 py loo much space. The remarks of ttie President of 

 the Society, and of President Quincy, conlainiiig facts 

 and reminiscences, we deem it desirable to preserve. 

 These with the toasis are all that our limits will permit 

 us to give, though our abridgement causes us to keep 

 back much thai is brilliant and entertaining. 



frosr— On the morning of Saiurday last we had the 

 first frost of autumn that reached the fields generally 

 and the hijiblands. It cut down many of the vines, but 

 probably did no extensive injury. Peppers, grapes, 

 .iquashes, &c., may have suffered some from it. 



ITTVVe have not been furnished with an account of 

 the Premium Dahlia Exhibition of last week. 



