204 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New Ejis/cmd Farmer. 

 WHITE WEED — STRAWBERRIES. 



Mp. Editor : — Dear Sir, — What is to be done 

 with what is commonly called JVhi/cWced, to erad- 

 icate it from our pastures'? Upon the authority of 

 some of our agricultural publications, I have, for 

 the last three or four years, mowed it just before 

 flowering. But it seems this year as if there were 

 a hundred flowers where there was but one last 

 season. Sheep, it is said, by being turned upon 

 the lot, will soon destroy it. But the sheep I pas- 

 ture are cows, and they don't touch it in any stage 

 of its growth. It would seem as if I had tried the 

 scythe long enough, provided it springs from seed 

 and not from roots. 



I notice in your number just received, that in 

 speaking of strawberries, you say, " Willcy is much 

 the same, if not identical witli the Hudson, cultivated 

 so ccctensivehj about Cincinnati.^ ^ Now it would be 

 presumptuous in me to enter the lists against you. 

 So, presuming lliat the author of the "American 

 Fruit Book" writes from knowledge, I am bound 

 to conclude that I have not the genuine plants of 

 one or both of these vai'ieties of the strawberry. — 

 True, the Willey was obtained from the late Pres- 

 ident of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 and the Hudson from Mr. Ernst, lately and perhaps 

 at present President of the Cincinnati Horticultural 

 Society; affording a presumption that each variety 

 was genuine. But one or the other is false, if your 

 remark is true. For I should as soon say of the 

 pine-apple and peach that they were very much the 

 same, if not identical, as of the fruit of these differ- 

 ent vines. If great difference in form, color, flavor 

 of fruit, as well as foliage of plants, gives presump- 

 tive evidence of difference in variety, then are the 

 Willey and Hudson, as grown by me from plants 

 procured as stated above, as unlike each other as 

 possible. May you not be mistaken in the genu- 

 ineness of your plants? 



Yours respectfully, 



Worcester, June 7. William Lincoln. 



Remarks. — We know of no remedy for the White 

 Weed, excepting thorough and good cultivation. 

 This will subdue it in tillage; and when the land 

 is laid down to grass in good condition, the luxu- 

 riance of this crop will check it ; but if the land be 

 not kept in good condition by top-dressing, or fre- 

 quent tillage and manuring, the grass will fail, and 

 white weed come in as a rotation to occupy the 

 poorer soil. When this plant first makes its ap- 

 pearance in a lot, it should be thoroughly eradica- 

 ted just as it begins to blossom, so that there will 

 be neither root nor seed for it to start from. Will 

 some of our readers give us more light on this sub- 

 ject ^ 



As to the Willey strawberry, ours came froin 

 Mr. F. R. Elliott, of Cleveland, Ohio, through the 

 nursery of C. Downing, Esq. We were informed 

 that Mr. Elliott considered it very similar to, if not 

 identical with, the Hudson cultivated about Cincin- 

 nati, and we considered our authority good, and 

 have made our statements accordingly. Yet we 

 may mistake, and our correspondent is liable to mis- 



that he has called in question our statement, that 

 we may have the subject investigated. 



We should be pleased to exchange plants with 

 him for more thorough examination. But who 

 shall decide what the true Willey is? Mr. Elliott 

 raised from this strawberry one of the largest and 

 most profitable crops ever raised in this country. 

 Will Mr. Lincoln have the goodness to inform us 

 and our readers which of his two varieties that he 

 has mentioned are the best, and how they compare 

 with our most valuable kinds generally cultivated. 

 This information will be useful to many cultivators, 

 as the Willey, and the Hudson of Cincinnati, are 

 but little known in this section. In the vicinity of 

 Cincinnati, the Hudson is preferred decidedly to 

 any other variety. — Editor. 



For the New England Farmer. 



AGRICULTURAIi PAPERS— FARMING- 

 CHICKENS. 



Mr. Cole : — I was a subscriber to your New 

 England Farmer the first tuo years of its existence, 

 and then I thought I would rest awhile; but I felt 

 its loss, and early in the spring I again subscribed, 

 receiving the back numbers. I find it an interest- 

 ing and useful paper for the farmer, containing ma- 

 ny valuable suggestions and the experience of men 

 who have devoted their energies to this department 

 of labor. 



Some men pursue this occupation as secondary 

 to some other business, supposing that it cannot be 

 rendered a source of profit. Perhaps they may 

 have inherited some land, and cultivated it as their 

 fathers and grandfathers did before them, themselves 

 depending upon professional, mercantile or mechan- 

 ical business for their gains. I grant that often- 

 times much more money may be made in a given 

 time by one of these occupations than by cultivating 

 the land; but then the cultivation of the soil affords 

 sources of pleasure and real profit to the reflective 

 mind which these do not. 



I think you stated that one of your objects in the 

 publication of this paper was to elicit facts. I have 

 one to communicate respecting some fowls which I 

 am raising. I have four chickens which were 

 hatched the second day of last April. Three of 

 them are a cross of the Black Italian, and one of 

 them I think is the Lawrence breed. I went to my 

 barn early in the morning the day they were thirty- 

 eight days old, and found them upon the hen-roost, 

 sitting there at a distance of five or six feet from 

 the floor, having been obliged to fly up there the 

 night before. I weighed them at 59 days old, and 

 the four weighed 5 lbs. 14 ozs. They have received 

 no extra care, having been hatched in a cold, rainy 

 season. This I think is an uncommonly rapid 

 growth. • M. W. Putnam. 



North Dancers, June, 185 L 



Re.marks. — We are pleased that Mr. Putnam 

 found an inconvenience or loss in doing without an 

 agricultural paper; and it would be well if many 

 others were aware of the loss they sustain in this 

 way. 



It is no wonder that there should be so many dif- 

 aky also. Let who will mistake, we are pleased iferent opinions about the piofits of farming, as good 



