270 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sulphate of Lime 2 bushels 20 cts. per bush. 



Carbonate of Iron 2 drachms...} ct. per drachm. 



Sal. Ammonia 10 lbs 16 cts. per lb. 



Carbonate of Ammonia 5 lbs 25 cts. per lb. 



Fine bones 60 lbs i ct. Jier lb. 



Magnesia 2 drachms...! ct. per drachm. 



Salt 10 lbs 6 mills per lb. 



Cart load of meadow mud 00 



What would be the cost of these materials'? 



Winter Oats. — Where can they be purchated, 

 and at what rate? Who knows any thing about 

 them, and the tillage of theml 



For fear of overdoing you with questions, I will 

 conclude my rambling letter. 



Yours truly, o. 



Nova Scotia, June, 1851. 



blows, and scarce ever against the wind — I find by 

 experiment that rose-bugs in a few hours cause the 

 death of young ducks. When my brood was six 

 weeks old, I took one of them and put Iiim into a 

 tight box. I then caught some dozen or more 

 rose-bugs and gave them to him — in an hour's 

 time he began to sicken. I watched the progress, 

 and as soon as he died, I opened to liis crop, and 

 found the bugs had eaten holes through the crod, 

 nearly as large as the holes they eat in rose-leaves. 

 I shut the living ones up in a close coop, and they 

 are all doing well. Yours, 



S. Eldridge. 

 Canton, Mass., July, 1851. 



Re.marks. — Horns reduced to a fine state are a 

 valuable manure. Horn shavings from the comb 

 manufactory are a powerful fertilizer. There are 

 many modes of reducing bones to a fine state suit- 

 able for manure. The most common in England 

 and in this country is by dissolving them in sul- 

 phuric acid. If the bones are well ground, or 

 crushed tolerably fine, one-third of their weight in 

 acid will be sufficient; if coarse, one-half of their 

 weight will be necessary. 



The acid is usually diluted by adding one, two, 

 or three parts of water. No uniform quantity has 

 been agreed on. One person made a clay bed, put 

 in 100 bushels of half inch bones, damped them, 

 then turned on 1,700 lbs. sulphuric acid, without 

 dilution, stirred all up thoroughly till effervescence 

 subsided, which was in about two hours. Then 

 he let them remain about ten days, and added water 

 to bring the mass to the consistency of porridge, 

 then cinders, to bring it to a powdered state. In 

 this case only 17 lbs. of acid was used to the bush- 

 el, which was probably less than one-fourth the 

 weight of bones. The cost of sulphuric acid is 

 about two and a half cents per pound. It is a good 

 manure. 



We do not know the value of artificial guano 

 made by the above prescription. We have an- 

 nexed prices but they vary much. Sometimes re- 

 fuse salt may be had at 15 or 20 cents per bushel ; 

 while in some sections salt is 60 cents or a dollar 

 per bushel. Ground plaster may be had at some 

 mills at 20 cents per bushel, while it costs twice 

 that sum in other places. We are not acquainted 

 with winter oats. The wheat inquired for was 

 distributed long since. 



For the New En^Iayid Fariner. 



MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG DUCKS. 



Farmers generally say there is a difficulty in 

 raising "ducks." They require a place to bathe 

 in, but they should not be suffered to run at large 

 when it rains, as their plumage is very thin and 

 of a downy nature, absorbing the water instead of 

 shedding it, they thereby become chilled; this re- 

 tards the growth and they become imbecile and 

 weak. At a season of the year when rose-bugs 

 are thick, they should be kept in a tight coop leav- 

 ing just room enough at the ends for them to see 

 to eat; rose-bugs fly in the direction the wind 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COLOR OF HOUSES. 

 Friend Cole: — 



"Variety's the very spice of life, 

 That gives it all its flavor." 



So thought the venerable Covvper. All, however, 

 do not agree with him, and ainong the number is 

 friend "J. W.," who in writing upon the color of 

 houses, recommends while exclusively. Says he, 

 "I consider pure white the color for our dwellings." 

 Now as far as color is concerned, I consider it a 

 matter of taste altogether. One may prefer red, 

 another yellow, and so on through all the various 

 shades of coloi; while some, like "J. W.," have 

 a purely trhite taste, and white is an absence of all 

 color. I find no fault with any man's taste, nor do 

 I wish to prevent him from gratifying it, but a 

 majority of farmers, especially in country towns, 

 are under the necessity of studying economy. 



This is a point which was discussed in an edito- 

 rial article in No. 6 of the current volume of the 

 "Farmer," but one to which "J W." only inci- 

 dentally refers, and then — without denying its 

 truth — says, "I should still be decidedly opposed 

 to the change." Even though white is less dura- 

 ble, and is also injurious to the eyes, he would 

 have no colored paint on his dvvellirg ! I fully 

 concur with "J. B. D." in the opinion that only a 

 small portion of the readers of the Farmer possess 

 this white taste. For myself I will say that for 

 common farm-houses I have a preference for red 

 with white trimmings. Yellow is also a good 

 color, especially for large houses. Each of these 

 has two valuable qualities to recommend it, — 

 cheapness and durability. Some other colors look 

 well, and are, perhaps, as durable, but they are 

 more costly. 



In accordance with my text, my rule would be 

 this, — the more compact the houses, the more 

 would I vary the color. In a village I should prefer 

 to see the various colors interspersed, and in front 

 of those painted white I would have evergreen 

 trees set out, in order to give the scene a more an- 

 imated appearance. If trees are set along the 

 streets and roads, — and they certainly should be, — 

 I should prefer having deciduous and evergreen 

 trees set promiscuously, always having the darker 

 trees in front of the lighter colored houses, so as 

 to give the greatest possible variety to the scene. 



I agree with "J. B. D." in saying that "pure 

 white will not harmonize with nature," and "J. 

 W.'s" assumption that the argument is all on his 

 side, — that this "is just the reason why our build- 

 ings look better white than colored," — appears to 

 me untenable; much less will a reference to "a very 

 weal; spot somewhere, — an entire want of self-con- 



