358 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



perior to others which deserve increased attention 

 — can you suggest any improvement in the man- 

 agement of rice plantations ? Quantity grown per 

 acre. 



Tobacco. — Average yield per acre — cost of pro- 

 duction per cwt. or hhd. — describe any new process 

 of cultivation or curing — crops best grown in rota- 

 tion to maintain the fertility of tobacco land. Is 

 guano used, and with what result ? 



Hemp. — Is the culture of hemp on the increase 

 or decrease. Describe any new process of culture 

 or preparation for the market — average yield per 

 acre — cost of pioduction per lb. 



Root Crops, {Turnips, Carrots, Beets, <^c.) — Is 

 the cultivation of these roots, as a field crop, on the 

 increase — can you suggest any improvement in pre- 

 paring land, seeding, after tillage and feeding? 

 Average product per acre. 



Potatoes, {Irish and Sweet.) — Average yield per 

 acre — cost of production per bushel — most prolific 

 and profitable varieties — best system of planting, 

 tillage and manuring. 



Fruit Culture. — Is the culture of fruit receiving 

 increased attention — cannot apples enough be grown 

 on an acre to render the crop a very profitable one 

 to the farmer — comparative value of apples and po- 

 tatoes for feeding hogs and cattle — what varieties 

 to keep for winter use and for exportation — do you 

 know any preventive or remedy for the "blight" 

 on pear and apple trees, or the "yellows" on peach 

 trees ? The best method of transplanting, budding, 

 grafting, &c. Make any suggestions on the cul- 

 ture of grapes, and other fruit — the manufacture of 

 ivine and on forest culture. 



Manures. — What is regarded as the best plan of 

 making and preserving manures from waste — are 

 Jimc and plaster used as fertilizers — if so, in what 

 quantity, and how often applied — is guano used, 

 and with what success 1 Quantity usually applied 

 per acre. 



Meteorology. — Time and degiee of highest and 

 lowest range of thermometer — mean temperature 

 of each month in the year — fall of rain in each 

 month, and aggregate for the year. 



FIRE— ARTIFICIAL HEAT. 



The cool weather is reminding house-keepers 

 of the necessity of artificial heat for keeping them- 

 selves comfortable. The multiplication of fires of 

 course increases the danger of accidents from such 

 cause, and in addition to greater care, some knowl- 

 edge of the principles to be pursued in the man- 

 agement of fires is necessary. A writer in the 

 Traveller, whose initials are those of a distin- 

 guished chemist of this city, calls attention to the 

 causes of spontaneouscombustion. Porous bodies, 

 like pine charcoal, when perfectly dry, absorb rap- 

 idly oxygen from the air, and take fire at the tem- 

 perature below 212 deg. F., or tlie boiling point 

 of water. Light chaff of corn and shavings took 

 fire at 300 deg. F., in a drying-room of a corn- 

 mill. A drying-room of a chemical and color la- 

 bratory took fire at 240 deg. F. Pine chips from 

 oil of turpentine works, packed in a barrel, took 

 fire at ordinary summer heat. The wood-work 

 around steam-pipes never heated so high as 300 

 deg. F., becomes charred, or is converted into 

 brown charcoal. Oiled cotton and rags imbued 

 with any drying oil, when packed in a mass into 

 a barrel, take fire at ordinary temperatures of a 

 factory. Mixed lampblack and linseed oil take 



fire at ordinary temperatures, if the lampblack is 

 in excess, or a portion of it is dry. Strips of 

 new painted carpet, stowed away in a garret in a 

 mass, took fire at the summer heat of our climate. 

 A knowledge of these facts, with sufficient care, 

 will prevent fires from spontaneous combustion. 



Carpenters and masons in building should not 

 bring any wood-work against those parts of chim- 

 neys that are likely to become heated, either from 

 ordinary fires or from fires in the soot of the chim- 

 neys. The timbers get charred and the admission 

 of air through cracks of the plastering, or in the 

 chimney, will cause the destruction of such houses. 



When the air-chamber or a furnace is small, a 

 quantity of very hot air is delivered by the register. 

 This is always dangerous, and it is also a most un- 

 comfortable and unwholesome heat, drying up fur- 

 niture and cracking the wood-work of the house. 

 Straw carpeting and wood have been set on fire by 

 the heat of a hot-air register. A furnace should 

 deliver a very large volume of u'arm air, and thus 

 secure good ventilation with air that is not so desic- 

 cating as to injure the house or impair health. The 

 action of vinegar of wood, a pyroligneous acid, on 

 the mortar of chimneys, removes the cement from 

 between the bricks, and thus exposes the house to 

 fire from the chimnej', which, after the use of the 

 so called air-tight stoves, is charged with the most 

 powerfully inflammable matters. The mortar of 

 new houses, not fully hardened, is most readily 

 dissolved out by acids from air-tight stoves. 



When a fire has taken in the furring of a house, 

 do not cut a hole below or at the place of the fire, 

 but always cut through above it, but not before you 

 have a few buckets of water ready to pour down 

 upon the fire. When a chimney with a fire-place 

 gets on fire, and burns so as to endanger the house, 

 the fire may at once be extinguished by throwing 

 a pound or two of briinstone into the fire, and clos- 

 ing up the fire-place with a fire-board or screen. 

 Stopping the top of the chimney by a damper is 

 also a good way to extinguish the fire in it, for 

 the carbonic a'l'd formed soon puts an end to com- 

 bustion. On board ships, it is very easy to extin- 

 guish a fire in the hold by means of carbonic acid 

 gas. 



TO PROTECT SHEEP FROM DOGS. 



The general evil of dogs, which I see is chim- 

 ing at present the most stringent legislation in our 

 Northern States to protect the sheep, likewise ex- 

 ists with us. Our own legislature has done much, 

 and will, no doubt, do more at the proper time, to 

 eradicate this evil. In the mean time, let me pub- 

 lish to the sheep-raising world a remedy against 

 the destruction of .^heep by dogs, which was given 

 me a short tiine since, by a highly respectable and 

 valued Iriend, himself an extensive wool-grower. 

 It consists simply, in placing on one sheep in every 

 ten of the flock a bell of the usual size for sheep 

 The reasoning of my friend is this: the instinct of 

 the dog prompts him to do all his acts in a sly, 

 stealthy manner, — his attacks upon sheep are 

 most frequently made at night while they are at 

 rest, and the sudden and simultaneous jingling of 

 all the bells, strikes terror to the dogs; they turn 

 tails and leave the sheep, fearing the noise of the 

 bells will lead to their exposure. The ratio of bells 

 might be made to vary according to the size of the 

 flock. 



The importance of sheep preservation from dogs, 



