VOL. XXI. NO. 44. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



347 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



BO.M.MER'S P,\TENT— GIRDLED TREl^S, 

 &c. 

 Mr Pdtnam — I hate "all talk and no cider.'' 

 We have much said in the papers ahout " Uoni- 

 mer's Manure." One very important part nf the 

 story is, it can be made in a few days, and at a 

 small expense. I have a large heap of peat or 

 muck, which I carted into my cow-yard last fall; 

 have also a goodly pile of manure from my horses 

 and cows, and some other stuff which would 

 answer to increase the pile ; but 1 fear it cannot 

 be made in season to spread this spring, unless 

 operated upon by sojne of Bonimer's patent modi- 

 cine. My object in writing to you, is to request 

 Mr Bommer to come forward at once, and divulge 

 his process. If his invention is what it purports to 

 be, let him put the price of the rights so low that 

 any one con afford to buy, and give it a fair trial. 

 Now is the time. A few weeks from this will be 

 quite too late for this season. I fear he may charge 

 so high, that but few will be able to buy ; that is, 

 if he pursues the same course of those who make 

 < farmers' tools, &c. I believe if these articles 

 ' were put at a price that would give the maker a 

 handsome profit, twenty would be sold where there 

 is now but one. Winnowing macliines, hay cut- 

 ters, iron pumps, forks, &c., are among the high 

 priced and useful articles. 



I have considerable land on which corn and po- 

 tatoes have been planted for sometime, but not 

 long enough to seed down to grass, according to 

 my neighbors' notions of farming. How would it 

 answer to manure and seed down this spring ? Can 

 I promise myself any thing like a decent crop of 

 hay this season, if I give it a good top dressing 

 and plenty of seed ? 



Since the snow has melted, I find many of my 

 small apple trees injured by mice — some complete- 

 ly girdled. Can you tell me if there is any chance 

 to save them .' 



Yours, TOPSFIELD. 



05^ As to the price for Mr Bommer's patent 

 process, we believe it is from 8 to 20 dollars or 

 more, according to the size of the farm. 



If the price of farming tools waa much above 

 cost, we should think mechanics would soon dis- 

 cover it, and by competition reduce the price. 



We cannot expect much of a crop of hay this 

 season from seed sown as late as the fir.<t of May, 

 though herdsgrass or timothy may give something 

 worth cutting. 



If apple trees have been girdled near the ground, 

 the drawing up of earth around them so as to cov- 

 er tlio wounds, may save them. I5ark may be tak- 

 en from other trees, and if well fitted in, may be 

 made to heal the wounds. — Ed. N. E. F. 



Irrigation- — In the States of Lombardy, the wa- 

 ter of all the rivers belong to the State ; in those 

 of Venice, the government extends its claims to 

 that of the smaller streams, and even to collections 

 of rain water. So highly, for the use of the culti- 

 vator, is water of every kind valued, in the north 

 of Italy. The water is sold by the government at 

 a certain rate, which is regulated by the sixe of 

 the sluice, and the time the run of water is used. 

 The rent of the irrigated lands in the north of Ita- 

 ly, is upon an average, more than one-third greater 

 than the same description of land not watered. — 

 Farmer's Cab. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



ONION WORM— MARIAS IN FOAL— SNOW. 



Mr Putnam — Sir— For the Inst three years 

 the onions in this vicijiily have been tnuihled with 

 a worm or maggot, which will prevent our raising 

 them in future, unless a stop can bo put to their 

 ravages. They begin in the bottoms of the young 

 onions like fly blows, and continue to increase in 

 size till they exactly resemble magpots bred in pu- 

 trid meat. I!y fall, but few onions iire left alivo, 

 and those few full of the maggot. My seed tmions 

 were ruined by them last year. I have tried soot, 

 ashes, lime, soap-suds, sulphur and tansy, without 

 any effect. Brine will de.stroy them, but not with- 

 out using enough to kill the onions also. They 

 have been coming to us, as I believe, from the 

 eastward, and the foregoing is submitted in the 

 hope that some one can point out a remedy. 



A word about mares casting foal. Vou may 

 recollect that I submitted, last fall, some queries 

 respecting it, which were answered by Mr Brig- 

 ham, of Westboro'. This winter, another case 

 has come within my observation, which has led 

 me to make farther inquiries, and I think the 

 fact established, "that although the sight and 

 smell of blood does not always have that effect, 

 yet in many cases it certainly will." I have found 

 four well authenticated cases, which produced that 

 result, and only one besides that of Mr Brigham, 

 which did not: therefore would not again run the 

 risk. 



We have had a winter unparalleled, as I believe. 

 According to the best calculations, 17 feet of snow 

 has fallen, and it now lies more than four feet on 

 an average, and nothing is doing towards spring 

 work. Hay is getting scarce, although an equal 

 division might last a month. Grain and potatoes 

 are however plenty, and there will not be much 

 suffering of cattle. B. 



Kennebec Co., Me., ..Ipril 12, 1843. 



Chinese Food. — With nothing more than a few 

 beans, the meal of rice and corn, and some spices 

 and herbs, the Chinese prepare a variety of savory 

 dishes. Horse-flesh, rats, and mice, are standard 

 articles of food, and sold publicly at the butcher's. 

 Birds' nests are another article of food ; but neith- 

 er mud nor sticks enter into their composition. 

 The nests are found in the rocka along the coasts 

 of Tonquin, and are built by birds resembling the 

 swallow. They are constructed, as is supposed, 

 of a small species of sca-fiah, cemented by a glu- 

 tinous matter exuding from the bird itself; and 

 when fully formed, resemble the rind of a large 

 candied citron. Bears' paws form another favorite 

 dish. They are rolled in pepper and nutmeg, and 

 dried in the sun. When about to be dressed, 

 they are soaked in rice-water, to make them soft, 

 and then boiled in the gravy of a kid, and seasoned 

 with various spices London Weekly Review. 



Strawberries. — Many cultivators suffer their beds 

 to run wild, and still obtain tolerable crops ; but a 

 still better way is to plant in drills or hills, and 

 keep Ihem so. Hoeing or cultivation, benefits them 

 as much as it does corn. By pursuing this course, 

 the writer obtained nearly a pint of large, fat, 

 plump strawberries from some single plant? the 

 last season. Lime had been applied two years be- 

 fore to the strawberry bed, at the rate of about 

 half a bushel to a square rod. — Mb. Cult. 



Fonlic N. E. Farmer. 



CORN — CLO.SE PLANTING, &r. 



Mr Putnam — Permit me to urge some of your 

 readers to make an experiment this season in close 

 planting of corn. Take for this purpose say one 

 quarter of an acre : plant in hill.s or drill.s (I should 

 prefer tha latter,) thug — rows 2 1-2 feet apart; 

 seed 20 inrlies asunder in the row. Ia'I the experi- 

 ment be made in the same piece with cum planted 

 at greater distances, and let the quarter acre be 

 treated the same as the residue of the lot — leaving 

 the same number of stalks in a hill in one case 

 as in the other. If the result is not decidedly in 

 favor of close planlino, taking into iho account all 

 extra expenses, then I shall have still less faith 

 than I now have in the soundness of my judgment. 



One well settled fact is worth more than a thou- 

 sand undemonstrated theoretical opinions ; and it 

 is of infinitely more importance to the farmer to 

 know if he can reap more profit by a method of 

 cultivation which is at vanance with commonly re- 

 ceived opinions, than that he ought to reap a cer- 

 tain profit by proceeding in accordance with such 

 opinions. "I may be wrong, but Me;n'4 my senti- 

 ments." 



If any shall be induced to make the experiment 

 herein suggested, I hope, whether it results favora- 

 bly or otherwise, they will communicate the issue 

 for publication. 



I see in some of the agricultural papers that the 

 question is beginning to be agitated whether corn 

 ground may not bo exempted from the application 

 of the rotation principle, by dressing it with the 

 stalks of the crop, plowed under in the fall. There 

 is reason in this, and science goes to support it. 

 Moreover, the practice of some, it would seem, has 

 established its feasibility. Let this point, too, be 

 subjected to the tost of experiment the present 

 season — no matter on how small a scale, if it be 

 fairly conducted in other respects. 



The chemist may preach from his laboratory till 

 doomsday — but unless his efforts are seconded in 

 experiments by the farmer in his fields, but little 

 approximation can be made towards bringing about 

 an unanimity of belief upon the now thousand and 

 one controverted questions in agriculture — if, in- 

 deed, such unanimity were possible to be attain- 

 ed : and he acts the part of a public benefactor 

 who each year does something by way of experi- 

 ment, (and makes that something public,) with a 

 view to bettering our modes of husbandry. 



While considering here whether to say more or 

 stop, my eye was attracted to a paragraph in an 

 old London periodical, lying open before me, which 

 I copy, thinking the information it gives may be of 

 interest to some, especially your lady readers, 

 whose muffs and boas, cloak-trimmings and other 

 " fixings," are particularly liable to the depreda 

 lions of the mischief-working moth : 



" The Moth. — The Magazine of J^atural Histo- 

 ry, contains some hints by M. Vinet, guardian of 

 the Straaburg Museum, on the mode of preserving 

 the articles under his care from moths. Camphor, 

 pepper, cedar wood, savine, &c., used by some 

 housewives to keep moths from clothes, are per- 

 fectly useless if the clothes are not frequently taken 

 out and aired ; and if this be done often, no other 

 preventative is necessary. To convince himself of 

 the uselessness of camphor and other nostrums alone, 

 M. Vinet has hatched moths in an atmosphere im- 

 pregnated with camphor and other substances." 

 Yours, truly, PHILO. 



