148 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



subject for cHi-cas.sion nest Tuesday evening, in 

 liau of the subject in ordei- for that evening : 



"The expediency of establishing in the several 

 counties of the State, Farmers' Institutes, and 

 the most useful form of such organization." 



Mr. Proctor explained that the object was to 

 establish something similar to the Teachers' Insti- 

 tutes novf existing under the Board of Education. 

 The subject is now pending before the Board of 

 Agriculture, and was suggested by President 

 Hitchcock, who, it was probable, might be present 

 and address the meeting next Tuesday evening 

 The motion was carried, and at 9 o'clock the meet- 

 ing adjourned. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 A FEW REMARKS ON RAISING CEL- 

 ERY. 



Mr. Editor : — I saw an article on celery in the 

 last number of the Farmer for January ,with which 

 I cannot fully agree, though in most respects 

 good and true. Your correspondent quotes fi'om 

 the Patent Office Report, which says: "As the 

 plant groVvs, continue to earth up," &c. Now, 

 my experience is that it should not be hoed up at 

 all, until within four ivQeks of the time you intend 

 to dig it, if early celery ; if late, it requires longer, 

 as it does not blanch so fast when the weather 

 becomes cool. Last season I tried both ways, 

 and the result was, that that which was earthed 

 up at different times as the plant advanced in 

 growth, was some of it very rusti/, and all of it 

 more or less so ; while that which was not hoed 

 up at all until within four weeks of the time I 

 dug it, was entirely fi-ee from rust, blanched up 

 twenty inches, and as white as snow. From these 

 fiicts, as well as the testimony of others, and all 

 previous experience, I must say, I think the prac- 

 tice of earthing up at different times is a very bad 

 one ; and I would advise all who h-:ive been in the 

 habit of hoeing up as recommended by your cor- 

 respondent, to try the plan I have recommended 

 above, and I am satisfied they never will return to 

 the other. j. f. c. h. 



Newton Centre, Jan. 1, 1853. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 A NEW APPLE. 



Gents. : — I send you by bearer, a few apples of 

 a variety which my father has growing upon his 

 farm, and fur which he knows no name. I would 

 like to have you try them, and tell me if they are 

 a variety which are grown to any extent in the 

 N. E. States. I do not know of any like them ex- 

 cept in this place. The tree is a good grower and 

 an excellent bearer in even years. The fruit is 

 uniform in size and color, will keep as well as a 

 Baldwin, and is preferred to Baldwins by all who 

 have eaten them. I sold the fruit this year high- 

 er than other fruit. I ought to have sent the ap- 

 ples before this ; they are a little past the prime. 



Respectfully yours, Addison Richardson. 



East Midway, Feb., 1853. 



Remarks. — This apple has been kept a little too 

 long, but is a good one still. It has a striking 



similarity to the Red GilUflower, but does not agree 

 in all particulars sufficiently for us to pronounce it 

 identical. It is a much better apple than many 

 now under cultivation. We know of no fruit 

 like it. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



Mr. Samuel Blodget, Acworth, N. IL, has an 

 apple of six years' growth. Three inches from 

 the ground it is 13 1-2 inches in circumference ; 

 and 5 inches from the ground 10 1-2; 15 feet and 

 7 inches in height. Bore the (jt!i year five and a 

 half pecks of apples ; the tree bears common fruit, 

 and has had no cultivation. 



Large Hogs. — Mr. Joseph P. Gould, of Mid- 

 dleton, slaughtered a hog on the 27th Jan. which 

 was but 20 months old, and weighed 651 pounds. 



Messrs. Blood & Bent, of Faneuil Ilall Market, 

 havejust received of Mr. Joseph Jameson, of South- 

 boro', 4 hogs which weighed, respectively, 723, 

 G07, 513, and 506 pounds ! Also, from Mr. Jonas 

 Cutter, of Weston, two hogs which weighed 567 

 pouuds each ! 



To J. K., Bradford, Vt.— There can be hardly a 

 question but that guano will materially increase 

 your corn crops on the interval lands you mention, 

 if you apply it during a gentle rain, or in such a 

 manner as that it shall not give off its fertilizing 

 properties. If you sow it broadcast let it be dur- 

 ing a moist day ; if you put it in the hill, mix 

 with five parts of moist loam, on the morning of 

 the day in which you intend to apply it, thorough- 

 ly pulverizing the lumps of guano and incorporate 

 them with the loam. On a portion of the gua- 

 noed land, make some experiments with ashes, 

 salt, lime and plaster, and note the results. Say 

 a few rods only of each. On a few rods apply 

 ashes, on a few, salt, and so on. It will be clear 

 to you, we think, on reflection, that your land 

 abounds now in vegetable matter, but that by 

 long cropping, and no manuring, the mineral pro- 

 perties are expended. 



Friend Brown : — Dear Sir, — Can you or any 

 body else, tell us how to make hard water sof 

 if you can you will oblige a subscriber. 



There is a New Hampshire girl in New York 

 City, who has been offered |20 per week to go 

 to London and learn tlio girls how to use the sew- 

 ing machine, and her expenses in a steamer going 

 and coming all borne — God bless her. d. «. 



Lebanon, 1853. 



From two to four ounces of sal soda dissolved 

 in a barrel of water is usually sufficient to soften 

 it. This is a very cheap salt, and is one of the 

 principal articles used in making the famous wasli- 

 ing fluid so much in use at present, and sold at 

 the shops at from 20 to 50 cents a gallon. 



L. H., Burlington, F/., describes a steer raised 

 and owned by Jacob Perkins, of that town. At 

 one day old, it weighed 1241-2 lbs. ; at 30 months, 



