THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



109 



persaiid tiiniiii flies, experience imich tlio same 

 fate. A l>ioce ol LuirkH li<':il snwed about tin- 1st 

 of June, spniiii; lioii] tlic pioiiiid in >i)ots «here 

 there was left a litlle iiioi>iiue ; hut in otlier places 

 (lid not start at all until altei- tlie raiu in the lat- 

 ter part of the month. In the first places it was 

 glowing well and in the blow when in the oth- 

 ers it was scarcely an inch high from the ground; 

 and on [lortioiis of the ground the second drought 

 has dried it up. 



Jt is now (July 2i)) twenty-lour days since the 

 parched earth in this immediate vicinity has had 

 the benefit of as much wet as would fall in a sin- 

 gle night of dew. For the last week we have 

 had no interruption in gathering the hay and rye 

 crops, while it liiishren really a " catching time " 

 both at the iiorlh and .-(jiilh ofiis; on Sunday 



while the earth was cm eloped in log came near 

 to us, but passed a little to the nortli^ leaving 

 none of its benefits. On Sunday afternoon and 

 evening we could plainly see the clouds charged 

 widi rain which had gathered during the day oi 

 the highlands west of us — they p:is.<r(l a liiili! U 

 the .south, and began the discharge oiraiu hard' 

 ly fifteen miles off. Still i;.rther .-uuih (as we now 

 perceive by the Massachusetts i)apers) these 

 clouds became charged with electricity, the dis- 

 charge of which burnt barns in various directions 

 and killed several catile. 



Next day l()llouiiif; iliis clearing and cooling 

 oftlie atmosphere all ariuiiid us, came the rushing 

 ill of the cold north wind (>\er our |mrched sur- 

 face ; it was a jjerfect di j storm on Monday com- 

 }ielliiig us to hold our hats to our heads. 



While our corn, potatoes and other crops are 

 drying up, it is gratilying to learn that in sections 

 of the country at no very great distance the pros- 

 pect is very encouraging. In all the northerly 

 section of this State and generally in Maine and 

 Vertjiont it is said the Indian corn and potatoe 

 fields bear a fine appearance — that the (irospect 

 of crops was never belter. A rain within a 

 few days may yet pailially relieve our crops of 

 corn and potatoes. Most of our pa.stu res are how- 

 ever too dry to expect niucii benefit from any 

 rain this season. 



A letter from South ISerwick, Maine, thus de- 

 scribes two eleuant Berkshire pigs beloneiiig to 

 Col..Tohii Cohhey: They were liltered March 24, 

 June 24, at three nionilis, they weighed 90 and 74, 

 making 164 Ihs. July 17, the sow measured 

 three feet four inehes llcini her nose to the roots 

 of her tail, <;irte(l hack of the fore legs two feet 

 eight iiiclics. anil \v( ighed 121 lbs. The barrow 



measiin i! Imi se to roots of the tail, three 



feet two iiiclies. i:irtecl two feet and six inches, 

 and weighed 107 lbs. In the first two months 

 after leaving the sow the food of these pigs had 

 been only a single peck of corn and four barrels 

 of potatoes, besides the spare refuse milk from a 

 small native cow that calved on the 20th of April. 

 The calf was taken off at one week old. June 

 S7th, at the expiration of sixty days, they had 

 made from this cow 61 lbs. of butter, and sold and 

 used 102 tpiarts of new milk: the skimmed milk 

 and sour butter milk only went for the benefit of 

 the Berkshire pigs. 



Small BiriiS Great Blf.ssings. — We wish 

 our intelligent fanners could be awakened to the 

 importance of preserving robins and other small 

 birds, as a means of aiding in their work. The 

 inhumanity which suffers every lazy lubber of a 

 boy, who can rest an old king's arm over a 

 stone wall, to kill or frighten every poor linnet 

 that sings in the fields, and every roliin red-breast 

 that dares eat an unripe cherry,' and save a child 

 from tlie dysentery, is a short-sighted piece of 

 selfishness. These harmless birds live upon 

 grubs and other worms ami insects, and the 

 slight inroads made upon the farmers' crops are 

 repaid a hundred fold by the jirotection they af-^ 

 ford against a thousand destroyers. These birds,' 

 if not frightened, will become so tame as to perch 

 on the hand, or light on the jilougb as it turns 

 over the furrow. No good fiiimer should fail to 

 teach his boys to spare and cherish these harm- 

 Tess and often tuneful visitors to his fields and 

 orchards. The crows, too, nature's living 

 mouse-traps, instead of being a taine, almost do- 

 rhestic bird, as in some other countries, where 

 farmers have been taught their value by long ex- 

 perience, have been frightened into mean pilfer- 



ers of unwed corn-hills! A good crow is worth 

 a busliel of wheat or other grain to the acre, and 

 sometimes ten ! A knowledge of oruithslogy, 

 and not penal laws, is what our farmers anil 

 their sons need to induce tliein to regard their 

 true interests in this matter. — Anonymous. 



Preservation of Butter.- -Henry Wood, 

 of England, has transmitted to the Council of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, a jar of butter 

 specimen of the successful mode adopted for its 

 preservation when the article is intended for e.x- 

 port to loreign climates. 



Mr. Wood informed the Council that this but- 

 ter had been prepa-;ed on the U)th iust., accord- 

 ing to the process adopted in eastern countries, 

 where it was used for culinary purposes instead 

 of hog's-lard, which the Mahometan law prohib 

 ited, and would keep for any length of time, in a 

 perfect state of preservation, although it contain- 

 ed no salt, or other additional substance. This 

 preservative state of the butter was induced by 

 the removal of scum, and the dissipation of the 

 watery particles of fiesh butter, effected by the 

 gentlest possible ajiplication of sulBeient heat 

 produce the lesult. Mr. Wood stated that 

 Asia this gentle heat was obtained by the natives 

 by filling a large open earthenware pan with 

 powdered and well-dried cow dung, and then 

 setting fire to it, introducing into the midst oftlie 

 burning cow-dung an earthen vi'ssel containing 

 the butter, which became melted ; and wlien the 

 scum, as it rose, had been successively removed, 

 and the watery particles driven off by the heat, 

 it was poured iiiloajar, and preserved for use. 

 Mr. Wood suggested that a sand-bath, properly 

 regulated, niiglit answer the same purposi 

 the dried cow-dung, and as the jirocess was so 

 very simjile, there could be no difliculty in pre- 

 paring it ; and that, when once prepared, the 

 butter never "became tainted." Mr. Wood stat- 

 ed that he carried with him to the Cape of Good 

 Hope some butter prepared in the same way, at 

 Colonel Skinner's farm at Hansi, to the westvvard 

 of Delhi, a year previously, and which was pro- 

 nounced, by the agriculturist, Mr. Duckett, and 

 others, to be superior to the salted butter of the 

 colony; and, tor cnlinary purposes, far superierto 

 lard. — Yankee Fanner. 



Buckthorn Hedge. — If any gentleman wish- 

 es to see a beautiful Buckthorn Hedge, he may be 

 gratified by stopping at the residence of the edi- 

 tor, in Cambridge. We are satisfied, from our 

 own experience, that farmers might adopt this 

 mode of fencing inclosures with success. It 

 would be a perfect protection against all animals 

 that usually trespass on Iheir grounds. The 

 plant is not only- usefiil for this purpose, but is 

 highly ornamental. No worm or borer attacks 

 the root or the stem ; no insect preys n(ion the 

 Ibliagp. It is also of rapid growth; and in six 

 years it tnay I.e raised from the seed to a state of 

 maturity sufiiciint to afford the jirotedion re- 

 quired. And the best recommendation of all is, 

 perhaps, that it will last as long as its owner or 

 his heirs may need it. Our plants were produ- 

 ced six years ago, from Mr. Derby of Salem, who 

 it is well known, has a specimen of the hedge, 

 which surpasses any thing of the kind in Mass- 

 achusetts. — Boston Courier. 



From the Southern Planter. 



Hogs.— I believe that, with half 

 the quantity of corn, tlie Berksliir's will make 

 good pork, and more of it than any other breed I 

 have ever known. Upon good grass they will 

 require no feeding. They are the most quiet 

 hogs, and the best nurses I have ever seen. I 

 have never known one to jump a fence eighteen 

 inches high, and one of the greatest recommen- 

 dations to Virginia liirna^rs is, that a single cross 

 of the Berkshire upon the common stock imme- 

 diately changes and improves the character of 

 the offspring. To show the additional weight 

 and size obtained by tlie im|iioved cross, I would 

 refer you to a communication in the March num- 

 ber of the Farmer's Register, page 174, where 

 the weight of several huge lots in Ohio of the 

 cross is reported to have averaged from two hun- 

 dred and fifty to four hundred and thirty-five 

 liouiids, at sixteen and twenty months old. In 

 the same article, one single cross, under the most 

 unfavorable circumstances, is reported to have 

 effected an increased average of one hundred I 



and two pounds over Ihe weight of the origina 

 stock. E. Phinney, Esq., of Lexington, Massa-' 

 chusetts, sent to market, on the 22d February 

 last, fifteen half Berkshires, from fifteen to 

 eighteen months old, of which the total weight 

 was seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight, 

 an average of five hundred and thirty and a half 

 poutids. Some of those weighing upwards of 

 five hundred pounds were only fifteen months 

 old. 



In a letter from John Mahard, Esq., of Cincin- 

 nati, flue of the largest pork packers in that city, 

 it is stated that the half-blood Berkshires are 

 found to stand driving better than any other breed 

 of bogs. 



These facts are sufRcient. I presume, without 

 tlionsands of others that could be adduced, to 

 establish the superiority of this celebrated stock. 

 A. B. SHELTON. 



Rhubarb Wi.ne. — Let the stalks be at least of 

 full growth, cut them in pieces into a pan, pour 

 boiling water on them, and macerate till soft but 

 not intoa pulp, let them stand till ncxt<lay, strain 

 and proceed as for gooseberry wine ; w itii respect 

 to proportions, about one third more by weight 

 than of gooseberies. It is an aperient, hut mild. 

 — Magazine of Domtstic Economy. 



Feeding Geese with Turnips. — An experi- 

 ment has lately been tried of feeding geese with 

 turiii|is, cut up fine, and put into a trough with 

 water. The effect was that six geese, weighing 

 only nine pounds each, when shut up, actually 

 weighed twenty [twelve ?] pounds each, after 

 three weeks feeding with this food alone. 



Farmers, don't sell your Ashes. — Accor- 

 ding to late discoveries in Agricultural Chemistry, 

 Professor Liebig say-s, that in taking the hay from 

 meadows, the principal cause of exhaustion to 

 the .soil, is the loss of the potash contained in 

 the hay ; and that this may be readily restored 

 by sow iug the meadow with a thin covering of 

 wood ashes. 



I once heard a very successful farmer say, that 

 he never suffered a bushel of ashes to be sold 

 from his farm — that it was worth 50 cents a bu.sh- 

 el \fi sow on grass and corn. — J^ew Genesee Far- 

 mer. 



Bees.^-TIiosc who love the busy bee should 

 isit her hive often and guard it from her ene- 

 mies. When bees become accustomed to our 

 s they are never inclined to use their sting — 

 they recognise old acquaintances and are not un- 

 easy on account of our appearance unless ive tar- 

 ry ton long. They will not be offeiide<l if we cant 

 ip their lii\es and brush away the filth that ac- 

 •iiiiiiil tes M.Kh.'r llir comb. Worms which pro- 

 liici- llie liri' nioMi may frequently be found on 

 lie plalloiiii seeking an office and a portion of the 

 qioils. These worms must be destroyed, and to 

 leter others from making an entry, a little fine salt 

 q)rinkled over the bottom is one of the best ar- 

 ticles we know of Bees are fond of salt which 



With very little troiihle hives may be weighed 

 daily to ascertain llieir increase in honey and 

 wax. A jiretty good swarin will make three 

 pounds per day by the week together when 

 ; weather is good — thus in ten days they 

 can lay up a store for the whole winter season. 



Boston Cultivator. 



Saving Seed. — Every attentive observer w ill 

 remark among the plants ofalmost eveiy kind of 



op some individual stalksare distinguished from 

 the others by a greater degree of health or luxu- 

 riance, or productiveness, or earliness, or some 

 .ther peculiarity. A friend of ndne remarked 

 some \ears ago a jiartirular stem of ]ieas among 

 lis earliest crop, which came into flower and 

 ■i|>ened long belbre the others. He marked this 

 ;tem and siived the whole of its produce-for sec d. 

 riicse came as much earlier as they had original- 

 ly done. This produce was also saved for seed, 



d thus he obtaiuod a iiarticular kind of early 



as, that came at least a week before the best 

 sort he coidil buy in the shop.s, if sown at the 

 same time. The Doctor relates facts similar to 

 this respecting wheat and beans. The general 

 dea he means to inculcate is obvious and ex- 

 remcly worthy attention.— />/•. ^ini.'crson^a R(C- 

 cations. 



