186 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ter late than never. If the vines are forming a thick 

 mass, cut back a part of last year's growth, leaving 

 bearing buds that bid fair to produce good bunches 

 of fruit. Cut out all feeble branches, and if very 

 thick,cut ont some of the least thrifty main branches. 

 Do this soon. Vines will not generally bleed at 

 this season. But there are exceptions; we have 

 seedlings that will bleed after sending out shoots 

 three feet long. 



Sheep and Lambs. — Sheep that are shorn should 

 be protected from cold storms, else they will suffer 

 severely and be liable to perish or be seriously in- 

 jured. If smeared with sulphur and lard, or any 

 kind of grease and oil, melted together, it will be a 

 great protection against damp weather, destroy in- 

 sects, and tend to cure cutaneous disorders. When 

 the sheep are shorn the ticks take shelter in the 

 warm fleece of the lambs, and should be thoroughly 

 destroyed. The most effectual and safest mode is 

 to fumigate the fleece with tobacco smoke. A de- 

 coction of tobacco and other poisonous substances 

 as a wash is injurious and dangerous, and mercu- 

 rial ointment and other powerful mineral substances 

 should be avoided. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



We have had a good supply uf communications for 

 the paper, but recently tliere has been a falling oft'. 

 We hope that our friends not will forget us in the 

 busy season for practical operations. 



If it is agreeable to our correspondents, we prefer 

 having their names and dates to their articles. 

 There are many advantages in this. Sometimes we 

 wish to communicate with them; and occasionally 

 a reader wishes to correspond with a writer, for 

 the purpose of further information, or to procure some 

 article from him; or he may wish, when convenient, 

 to visit him and see the result of his experiments. 

 Again a writer's name and date often gives impor- 

 tance to an article, more than is attached to one 

 without "a local habitation and a name," 



Yet on this subject we only recommend; we 

 would not dictate; we request all who communicate 

 for the paper, and do not add their names and local- 

 ity to their articles, to give them separately. 



All correspondents out of the State are requested 

 to add the State to their communications, for we 

 often receive articles with nothing to indicate the 

 State. It may have been marked on the envelope, 

 but that is often illegible, and frequently the envel- 

 ope is thrown one side and not filed with the letter. 



In all cases we will attend to the correction of 

 errors in graminar, whether in words, spelling or 

 punctuation, but we wish for correspondents to 

 express in a plain hand, and plain style, their 

 thoughts. Sometimes a writer throws off an arti- 

 cle in great haste for the paper, and evidently does 

 not revise it, and asks us to correct errors. Now 

 this is asking too much for us to correct errors of 

 thouglit or expression. I,et the writer revise and 



see that he expresses clearly what he means, and we 

 will attend to the rest. 



But few writers are well acquainted with punctua- 

 tion , but all can put a period at the end of a sentence, 

 and begin the next sentence with a capital letter. 

 This would in some cases be of great advantage; for 

 we have received articles without the least mark 

 from one end to the other; and articles will often 

 admit of dilTerent constructions from the modes of 

 punctuation. Again, we would say to correspondents 

 that we depend greatly on them to make a valuable 

 journal, and we are all mutually interested in this, 

 and we solicit a continuance of their aid through the 

 summer season. 



NOTICES OF PUBLICATIONS. 



Agriculture for Schools. — This is a new 

 work by Rev. Dr. John L. Blake. A large por- 

 tion of the work consists of choice specimens of 

 Rural Literature, designed for reading in schools 

 and academies, tending to elevate and improve the 

 mind by a correct estimate of the importance of 

 rural life and American industry. Other parts of 

 the work consists of articles on practical and sci- 

 entific agriculture, adapted to study, and more 

 thorough instruction. Dr. Blake has long been 

 known to the literary and scientific public, by his 

 various standard works; and more recently to the 

 agricultaral community, by his very interesting 

 work, "The Farmer's Every-Day Book." He is 

 an accomplished scholar, and accurate observer, 

 and gives a polish and a charm to whatever he 

 touches with his pen. 43:2 pages, 12 mo. New 

 York: Mark H. Newman & Co. 



Farm Journal is the name of the new agricul- 

 tural paper just started at Lancaster, Pa., by A. M 

 Spangler; edited by S. S. Halderman. Monthly, 

 at $1 per year. It is well filled with instructive 

 matter, and embellished with eng-ravinffs. 



QUASSIA A SUBSTITUTE FOR TOBACCO 

 IN GARDENS. 



Do you know that a decoction of Quassia is as 

 effectual a remedy for gieen fly as tobacco liquor: 

 and at the same time much less expensive, and a 

 more cleanly thing to deal with 1 1 have tried it 

 here, and found it to answer well; it was, I believe, 

 recommended originally in Mr. Loudon's book, 

 but I saw it first in the Midland Florist. Now 

 (when tobacco is much dearer than it used to be) 

 is a good time to recommend a substitute; a quarter 

 of a pound of Quassia (valued 3d,) will make a 

 decoction sufiiciently strong, if mixed with from 

 three to four quarts of water: to make the decoc- 

 tion, pour about thtee pints of boiling watei on the 

 Quassia, and let it simmer before the fire for two or 

 three hours. When about to use it, add the remain- 

 ing quantity of water, and either dip the shoots 

 or put on the liquid with a feather or brusii. It is 

 advisable to syringe the plants a day or two after- 

 wards; not that I ever knew the application do harm 

 without such precaution. 



iJ^ Live up to all your engagements. 



