84 



HE FARMER'!^ MONTHLY VISITOR. 



surface, tlian when it is compact and hard. The 

 oftener you hoe the ground, when it is properly 

 dry, the surer and larger will he the ciop. lt■thi^^ 

 could be done every day, without cutting the lat- 

 eral roots, your plants would be thankful for it 



Some of our neighbors, who have visited our 

 garden — it is a large one — marvel how it is that 

 there never appear to be any weeds in it. For 

 themselves, when the plants in their beJs are 

 up and large enough to he hoed, they are im- 

 mersed and overtopped in weeds, and it is a dread- 

 ful job to pick them all out and leave the plants 

 to the sole occupancy of the soil. But before 

 ours are hoed, they see but a very few weeds in 

 the beds — the rows of plants are all distinct and 

 free, and appear as if they had already been hoed 

 clean. VVe will tell them how this is done. In the 

 first place, we never allow a single weed to go to 

 seed in the garden. Of course then, there will 

 be no seeds from this cause to come up the next 

 spring — only such as have been borne upon the 

 premises by the winds from adjacent grounds. 

 We take as much care to kill the infant weeds, 

 all summer and in autunm, as we do iu spring. 

 Then again, we never put on land weedy manure. 

 Tliijy who make their beds of new stable manure, 

 which is filled with the seeds of grass, clover, 

 sorrel, pig weeds, &c. must e.xpect tliat those 

 seeds will come up as soon as their be(^ts, onions, 

 carrots, &c. and being more numerous, they will 

 cover the ground very early. ^Ve are careful to 

 dress the soil only with manure that has under- 

 gone the fermentation of at least one season, which 

 has killed the weed seeds. Then we plant and 

 sow as soon as the land is manured and pulveriz- 

 ed so as to give the seed we sow as fair a chance in 

 time, as the seeds of weeds that jnai/ chance to be 

 in the manure. As soon as weeds do appear, and 

 we can <listinguish oin- plants, we go at them in 

 earnest— not allowing them to g-et the mastery 

 By such timely care, we are troubled with weeds 

 but little through the whole season. 



Rich soil, kept soft by frequent hoeing, and free 

 from weeds, will in ordinary seasons^ produce 

 perfect crops. A carelessness in either of these 

 respect.a is fatal to a large harvest. 



From the Essex Agricultural Society Transactions. 

 Management of Dairies. 



To J. W. Proctor, Esq.— Sir: Having been 

 unable lo attend the meeting of the trustees in 

 December, I submit the following considerations 

 relating to the management of dairies. 



The first and most earnest point to l>c gained 

 is to obtain good cows. It costs no moie to feed 

 a good cow, than a poor one. And the compar- 

 ative result of their produce at the close ot the 

 year, makes a most essential difference in the pro- 

 fits of the farmer. Suppose one cow to give one 

 quart at a milking, or two quarts per dav more 

 than another, the milk being of equal q"uality ; 

 and this milk to be estimated worth two and a 

 half cents per quart, and this to continue 200 

 days— here would be a difference often dollarsin 

 the produce of the two cows. This rule applied 

 to a dairy of fifteen cows would equal the sum of 

 $150— half as much as the net annual income of 

 a majority of the farmers in the country. 



The qualily of the milk is a consideration not 

 less important than the quantity.— Those, who 

 never have tried the experiment of setting difter- 

 ent cows milk separate have very imperfect ideas 

 of their comparative value. I have known some 

 cows that five or six quarts of milk would raise 

 sufficient to make a pound of butter. I believe 

 this was stated of the Oakes cow, from the milk 

 of which was made twenty i)ounds of butter a 

 week for several successive weeks ; and I have 

 lieard the same of others. But onlinarily, it takes 

 ten quarts of milk to yield a pound of butter. It 

 therefore becomes a point of great importance, in 

 selecting cows for the making of butter, to obtain 

 those whose milk is adapted to this purpose. 



The manner of feeding cows is a point not to be 

 neglected, in the management of the dairy. Good 

 feed not only increases the quantity of the milk, 

 but it improves the qualitv ; and of" consequence 

 the butter also. The kind of food used is also to 

 be regarded. Every dairy woman knows that 

 the milk will indicate the kind of food used ; 

 therefore, those kinds of food which leave the best 

 flavor m the milk shoukl be selected. When 

 cows have been fed on cabbages or on turnips, 

 who has not tasted the peculiarities of these veg. 

 etables.' When they are fed on Indian m»al, on 



carrots, or on beets — it is fair to presume that 

 these articles become incorporated witli the milk 

 also. I do not presume to say which of these ar- 

 ticles is the most valuable to be cultivated lor the 

 feeding of cows ; though I hope in this age of ex- 

 periments, with so many inducements as are now 

 field out for the trial, it will not be long before 

 some of our farmers will give us satisfactory in- 

 fbrnirition on this subject. 



The manner of mitking also demands attention. 

 Cows should be milked about the same time each 

 day, and they should be milked quick and clean. 

 If a portion of their milk is suffered to remaii], 

 this will soon diminish the quantity, and the cows 

 will dry up. It is bad policy to trust milking to 

 children, for they usually do it moderately and 

 imperfectly, and more is lost thereby than would 

 pay the best of laborers. 



The place for the setting of the milk, is also wor- 

 thy of attention. This sliould be cool, well ven- 

 tilated, and exclusively appropriated to this pur- 

 pose. For if it is permitted to be occupied in 

 part for other jHuposes, some tilings will find 

 their way there which will be iujui-kius to the 

 milk. It shotild also be properly lighted. Cream 

 will rise more favorably in the light than in a dark 

 room and the qtiality will be better. Therefore 

 a dairy room above ground is prelijrable to a cel- 

 lar. The room should be carefully guarded, liy 

 the use of wire gauze, or some other substance at 

 the windows, against the approach of insects or 

 intruders of every kind. The'milk should be set 

 in pans uncovered ; as the cream will not rise so 

 freely when there is acoverover the pans. Care 

 should be taken not to fill the pans full, especial- 

 ly in warm weather, as the cream will rise quick- 

 er and better when the milk is spread over a 

 large surface. The .sooner it rises and is remov- 

 ed from the milk the better; and this should al- 

 ways be done before the milk begins to turn sour. 

 When the cream is taken off, it should be kept 

 in tight covered vessels, in cool places, until the 

 churning proce.ss; and this should always be be- 

 fore any sourness is discoverable. 



Much care should be taken to separate the bi 

 ter-niilk thoroughly from the butter. More d 

 pendson this than any other part of the process 

 making good butter. Unless this is done, it will 

 be impossible to preserve it swett and good ; if 

 our dairy women would apply double the labor 

 to half the quantity of their butter, and therchv 

 remove all |)articles of the butter-milk, this one 

 half would be worth more than the whole in the 

 condition which it i< ii.siially sent to market. As 

 this is a matter that interests every farmer, and 

 every lover of good butter, {and who" does not love 

 it when it is lair and nice ?) I have presumed to 

 forwaril these remarks. You will use them as 

 you think proper. Respectfully yours, 



Metheun, Jan. 6, 1841. "Joseph How. 



Note. What 1 have said in relation to the 

 working of butter, is to he understood, in relation 

 to such butter as had the proper [s^vious man- 

 agement. For if the butter becomes soft, it may 

 be worked ever so long, and not become hard anil 

 good; although it may be improved by working. 

 But if it is to be kefit, care should be taken that 

 the butter-milk is thoroughly removed. 



It was my intention to have said something on 

 the feed of cows. But my remarks have already 

 extended so far, I will simply say, that there is no 

 feed on which cows can he kept, that will make 

 better butter, than a first rate pasture ; such as 

 abounds with English grasses. When this sup- 

 ply fails, let the deficiency be made up by green 

 corn-stalks. Farmers will do.well to plant some 

 corn extra, for this puniose. 



The present winter, 1 have boiled i-oots for my 

 cows, such as turnips and sug-ar beets, to which 

 I add a little Indian meal. This food, when prop- 

 erly prepared and seasoned with, salt is well re- 

 ceived by the cows, and improves the flavor, and 

 increases the quantity of the milk. 



J. H. 



Orchards— Grafting— Catterpillars. 



Joseph Doe, Esq. of Somersworth several 

 ars ago purchased the Prentice farm at Lon- 

 donderry, now within the limits of Derry since 

 that ancient, wealthy and respectable town was 

 divided into two towns. About seven years ago 

 he sold this farm and returned to liis old position 

 ill Somersworth, near the village of South Ber- 

 wick in the State of Mtiine. A^friend informs us 



that Mr. Doe has a small orchard of about fifty 

 apple trees which were .set out and grafted with 

 his own hands since he left Derry; and that this 

 orchard has already become productive, and will 

 probably piodnce the present season more first 

 rate fruit than the proprietor can make use of in 

 his own himily. 



\\\ien ihe profits of a good apple-tree are con- 

 sideicd— some being known to give twenty dol- 

 l:iis wditli (it iViiit in a your — it is surprising that 

 nil)].' Mitinti.iii IS not paid to orchards bv tiirmei'S. 

 The .■,.s,.,.|- .Mr. barrel, a clrrgymat"i of some 

 tow II ill Maine, liiis been iiieiitiojirii: heiiig a pocr 

 iiiiiii depciidi'iit ujioii a scmiiIv salary, he coiitiiv- 

 cd to tiive his two sons a lilieral education fVoin 

 the avails of an orcliard wliich he carefully culti- 

 vated with his own hands. 



Looking ahead, most men are apt to think if 

 ihey plant an orcbard now or even engraft an or- 

 chard already i«lanted, they mtiy not live to real- 

 ize any advantage f.om it. Theliict i.s, too many 

 larmers of this country fail to look ahead — they 

 cultivate their land more with a view to what it 

 will produce this year than to the benefits which 

 it may produce in after yeais. The product of a 

 grafted apple-tree is too far off to induce them 

 to lay out much in the business of improving au 

 oi;chard. 



So little is an improved apple orchard valued 

 in this vicinity, that scarcely one man of a thous- 

 and understands how a tree is to be grafted, much 

 less how it should be treated after the graft 1ms 

 been set in the stock, and has sjirung into lite. 



We had a preparation of grafting three years 

 ago: a small portion of the grafts are living, and 

 we may possibly get apples from a few of them 

 this season. But we can now see the erroneous 

 manner in which those grafts were set. Iu al- 

 most eveiy case the scion was placed in a stock 

 double its proper size ; and the fault discovered 

 is that when tlie graft grows it is very likely to 

 make a diseased limb from the unequal size of the 

 scion and stock. Moreover our experiment Isiiled 

 from suffering the sprouts and suckers to stand 

 with the grafts ujion the tree, thus dividing the 

 growth and retarding the jirogress of the scions, 

 so that they will not become bearable for several 

 years. 



The present season we have had the advantage 

 of a more skilful and experienced hand. Mr. Pe- 

 ter Foster of llie Canterbury Third Family, 

 whose orchard we noticed in the Visitor of Au- 

 gust last, agreeably to an engagement then made, 

 appeared at the proper lime this season and spent 

 the greater pai-t of two days upon Ihe little or- 

 chard attached to our premises. He went to 

 work in his own way, finishing out the trees where 

 the old grafts were living with scions taken from 

 them, and setting entirely new other trees with 

 several kinds of the best apples. He commenced 

 the work by making a wooden horse so that he 

 could stand and work upon the tree at a higher 

 or lower point, where he could saw oft' the limb 

 of the proper size. On some of the trees he (ilac- 

 ed as many as twenty-five to fifty grafts, taking 

 off the limbs that were unnecessary to the proper 

 shape of the tree, and filling those that might be 

 usefully left. Two scions were set upon a stock ; 

 and with this stock another limb was left to be 

 resorted to in cjise both the grafts shall fail. In 

 this way the trees were left, until about a fort- 

 night ago Mr. Foster came over and took a look 

 at them. During the short lime he stopped 

 at the orchard, finding that most of the scions 

 had started from the bud, he stripped one of the 

 trees of its supernumerary limbs and branches, 

 and left directions to have the others treated in 

 the same manner. This has since been done. 

 The trunks of the trees stand divested of their fo- 

 liage with the exception only of the grafts them- 

 selves. The grafting took place about the 10th of 

 May, and the limbs were taken off about the 10th 

 of June. The trees now present a beautiful, al- 

 though a somewhat naked appearance compared 

 with other ap|)le trees at this season ; and know- 

 ing that all the foliage upon them has sprouted 

 from the small shoots that were this spring in- 

 serted, the idea at once associates itself with this 

 a|ipearance, that a worthless tree of sour and dis- 

 tasteful apples is in a few-weeks converted into a 

 tree soon to bear the choicest fruit. 



Witnessing the operation upon these trees, we 

 readily perceive how the bearing of grafted fruit 

 trees may be hastened. The whole sap of the 

 tree, it will he seen, is at once thrown into the 



