VOL. XS. NO. 4ft 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



:J63 



SALTPICTRK FOR MAMMIE. 

 Mr O. M. Whipple, of Lowell, in a coinmunicn- 

 in to Mr Colman upon tho use of ssUpctro an a 

 nur», Bsys : — 



*' tUvini; nit isUnd in Boston harbor, callvd 

 toctncle laltnJ, and its distance tVoiii land render- 

 it very expansive to fiirniiih manure Tor it, in 

 spring of IS'l8 I concluded to try the expen- 

 nl of iisin£ xaltpctrc as a substitute, and in or- 

 to teat its ability with some exactness, out of 

 o acres which had been cultivated lire year hc- 

 e, half tin acre was set a[>art for tlio purpose of 

 eiving 150 lbs. saltpetre, which were sowed on 

 surface and the whole two acres were then 

 <rei and planted with potatoes. At harvesting, 

 jund that lliore was an increased crop upon the 

 }und where the saltpetre had been applied. I 

 eclod the man in charge to dry 5 hills upon the 

 and where the saltpetre had been applied, and 



5 hills where there had been no sallpetri", and 

 iph each parcel. The potatoes on the ground 

 ere the saltpetre was applied, weighed 9 Iba. ; 



other 4 lbs. : this, it will be perceived, was the 

 ult of one year's application only. I am inclin- 

 to think that its influence will be felt more or 



the second, or even third and fourth years. 

 A field containing two acres from which grass 

 i been taken for eight years, I had plowed in 



spring of 18^8, once only ; it was plowed deep, 



1 90 rods were appropriated to riila baga. The 

 d was sown upon the tops of the furrows, wilh- 



Miy manure in the drill, and the result wns 



I obtained .500 bushels : the remainder of the 



d'iras sown to oats, but the crop was mostly 



itroyed by the unexampled growth of hog-weed. 



■ field has been wholly sustained by the appli- 



lon ofsaltpetre upon its surface, previously to 



(being plowed, excepting at the time of plowing, 



n there was turned in a small coat of manure." 



'olman^a Fourth Report. 



From ihe Farmer's Journal. 



TO DESTROY WORMS, 

 ^e of the most expeditious and effectual melh- 

 of destroying the ova of insects in the soil, with 

 ch I am acquainted, is to burn the surface of 

 soil, in spring. This is done simply by covcr- 



ihe spot infested, with combustible materials, 

 h as straw, dried boughs, fag;;ots, or any other 

 crial that will burn readily, and set it on fire 

 a rainy day. The expense is trifling, and the 

 lit sure. 

 The ashes lofX upon the soil after deflagration, 



operate as a powerful manure to the crop, 

 other important advantage resulting from burn- 

 is tho thorough destruction of all noxious 

 ds, numbers of which are annually disseminated 

 Ihe winds from the parent stalks, and buried in 



fall. Try it, farmers. H. D. White. 



f'indham, Me. 



To Make Hens Lay Perpttually I never allow 



ks to run with my hens, except when I want to 

 e chickens. Hens will lay eggs perpetually, if 

 ited in the following manner. Keep no roost- 

 : give the hens fresh meal, chopped fine like 

 sage meat, once a day, a very small portion, say 

 fan ounce a day to each hen, during winter, 

 rora the time Inserts disappear in the fall, till 

 \y appear again in the spring. Never allow any 

 8 to remain In the nest, for what is called neti 



tpf^s. When tho roosters do not run with the hens, 

 and no nc«t eggs are left in the n«st, tho hens will 

 not cease laying after tho production of twelve or 

 fifteen epps, (ns they always do ulion roosters and 

 nest eggs are allowed,) but continue laying perpet- 

 ually. My hens always lay all winter, and each 

 from scvenlyfivo to one hundred eggs in succes- 

 sion. 'l"lu-re being nothing to excite tho niiimnl 

 passions, they never attempt to set. If the above 

 plan were generally followed, eggs would bo just 

 as plenty in winter os in summer. The only rea- 

 son why hens do not lay in winter as freely an in 

 summer, is the want of animal food, which they get 

 ill summer in abundance in the form of insects. 

 The reason they stop laying and go to setting, al- 

 ter laying a brood of eggs, is the continual excite- 

 ment of the animal passions by the mains. ! hove 

 for severol winters reduced my theory to practice, 

 and proved its entire correctness. It must be ob- 

 served that the presence of tho mole is not neces- 

 sary for the production of eggs, as they are formed 

 whether the male be present or not. Of course 

 such eggs will not produce chickens. When these 

 are wanted, roosters must of course run with the 



hens .many Cult. B. 



We dissent from the ahovo positions. — Ed. Far. 



Qinnce /Sorer. — The quince tree as well as the 

 apple tree is subject to the attacks of the borer. 

 The larva of this insect resembles the peach worm; 

 but it cuts through the solid wood, and iherefort! is 

 much more difficult to extract. Wi'.h a barbed 

 wire, we have often succeeded, and sometimes fail- 

 ed. In a young tree that had been neglected, we 

 found them so deeply entrenched, ond their holes 

 so winding, that they kept possession. We then 

 made a small auger-hole through the heart of the 

 tree, and filled it with sulphur. A few days after 

 we found one of them in a dying stale, and no 

 more filth was ejected. Quince trees should be 

 examined on this account, at least once a year. 



As the pear tree is not infested by the borer, it 

 has been employed as a stock for the quince tiee, 

 and if budded or grafted a foot or more from the 

 ground,- it must generally be safe from such at- 

 tacks. 



The quince tree like the pear tree, however, is 

 subject tojirt blight ; but only a few inches of the 

 ends of the branches suffer. Whether this appear- 

 ance is owing to the more stunted nature of the 

 tree, or to a different insect, is not positively known ; 

 but as it is probably caused by an insect, it would 

 be prudent to cut off the dying tops, and burn ihein. 

 —Tr^ns. .V. Y. .^gri/rul. Soc. 



A Protection for the Defenceless — Many object 

 to rearing hens on account of their liability to be 

 carried off and destroyed by tho owls and iiawks. 

 In some situations, this is a serious objection, as 

 the hen if suffered to run at large with her chicks, 

 is almost certain to be lost 



But the evil may be avoided. A Guinea lieu, if 

 suffered to associate with the flock, will at all times 

 prove efficient in protecting the latter from the 

 hawk, who no sooner hears her voice than he takes 

 wings and carries the war into another quarter, 

 where his murderous propensities for slaughter may 

 be more easily gratified, and without fear inspired 

 by so valorous and powerful a foe. 



The eggs of these fowls are also highly prized 

 by some, and meet with a ready sale in our mar- 

 kets, being much larger than those of the common 

 hen. — Maine Cult. 



POTATOES. 



Lime for Manure. — Mr Silas Thayer, of Sharon, 

 informs us tlint he planted potatoes la«t season on 

 green sward, without mnnnre. The land hail. been 

 in pasture IH yuars without plowing. The soil, a 

 sandy loam. When (lie pulatoos came up ho ap- 

 plied nearly half n pint of lime to a hill on a part 

 of the land. Tho limo was air-»lackcd, and had 

 been long in llinl stnle ; it was applied by throwing 

 on and around tlic plants, as convenient. Where 

 the lime was applied, .the crop was one third lar- 

 ger than on other parts of the land treated in like 

 manner, and the seed the same. — Fanner's Jour. 



" ProfUa of Farming." — In the Albany Cultiva- 

 tor is an article on this subject, showinj that far- 

 mers in comparing their profits with those of other 

 professions, look only at wliiit is left after support- 

 ing their families, wlicn in reality the whole ex- 

 pense of the family is defrayed from the profits of 

 the farm, and all that is added to the improvement 

 of the farm arises from the profits of the farm also. 

 Many persons in other avotations do whol is called 

 a pretty profitable business, and yet they have little 

 or nothing left at the end of the year, after paying 

 their family expenses. — Ibid. 



Good and Did Tools.— A writer in the Maine 

 Cultivator illustrates the importance of having the 

 best implements, by showing that a hand with an 

 excellent axe, and a handle well hung, would cut 

 a pile of wood in 12 days, which would require 18 

 days labur with a poor implement. The difference 

 in the two implements is supposed to be 72 cents, 

 and in this one operation four dollars are saved by 

 the use of a superior tool. This is a fair specimen 

 of the loss or gain by good or bad management, in 

 furnishing implements of husbandry — Ibid. 



How to Boil Irish Potatoes. — Good and indiffe- 

 rent potatoes depend very much upon the manner 

 in which they are prepared for the table. Some 

 cooks always have heavy, hard watery potatoes ; 

 while others Xor tho most part have them dry, 

 mealy and excellent. This difference depends 

 generally iifon the difference of cooking. The 

 comrnv>n wayvis to put the potatoes into cold water, 

 boil them by a slow fire, and cool them us slowly ; 

 the belter way is to put them in boiling water, 

 keep up a brisk fire till they are just done, take 

 them out immediately, throw a wet olotli around 

 them, and gently squeeze each with the hand till 

 it cracks open, for the watery particles to escape 

 in form of steam, then peel them, and they are ex- 

 actly right By this method, almost any potato 

 will do well. — Xashville Jlgricul. 



Health. — A great number of diseases arise from 

 checked perspiration, and might be prevented by 

 timely care. If a person perspiring freely, gets 

 wet, or litands in a draught of cold air, or lies down 

 on the damp ground, or drinks cold water, he runs 

 a great risk of seriously injuring his health ; and 

 the more relaxed and weaker he is from his work, 

 the greater is the danger. When wet he should 

 keep moving about briskly, and never sit in his 

 damp clothes if he can help it. The sooner a per- 

 son gets into a perspiration after feeling the least 

 unwell from its being checked, the more certain 

 will he be of avoiding a cold or fever. A good 

 way to induce perspiration is to rub the body with 

 a coarse towel before a fire. — Selected. 



