240 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



al arrangements, with all the effjrts of the philan- 

 thropic and good, there is still suffering and sor- 

 row all around us that ought not to exist. Our 

 social organization is still extremely imperfect. 

 There is immense loss and worse than waste, from 

 the indulgence of morbid appetites, and constant 

 and heavy expenditures for defence against crim- 

 inal and foreign invasion of the public peace. How 

 these evils are to be remedied, is a question de- 

 manding the earnest consideration of all. With 

 those who are correct in their ha.bits and who are 

 industrious, there should be no suffering for want 

 of food or shelter ; and yet, this is the very class 

 who suffer the most ; who, having honor and po- 

 sition to lose, shrink from the rude gaze of the 

 world, and suffer on in silence rather than ask 

 charities which are too often grudgingly doled out. 

 We express no new zeal on this subject, but speak 

 of what we know to exist. 



It is for the interest of all that all should possess 

 permanent homes, be well fed and clothed and be 

 happy. Let each strive to accomplish this for 

 himself and his neighbor, and the world will soon 

 present a new aspect. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PLA3TEE. 



It is not unfrequently that we hear farmers ex- 

 tol the virtues of plaster in imparting a more vig- 

 orous growth to vegetation, while others, equally 

 well skilled in practical agriculture, declare they 

 can see no improvement in their crops by its use. 

 One contends that plaster increases the clover on 

 mowing fields, without any essential benefit to the 

 other grasses ; another is sure his potatoes are ben- 

 efited by its uses, while his corn looks as if con- 

 sumption mortgaged it, if he depends entirely on 

 plaster to manure his crop. 



In looking over the proceedings of the Legisla- 

 tive Agricultural Meeting, March 22, the value of 

 plaster, I perceive, was generally appreciated, ex- 

 cept in the county of Plymouth, where the speak- 

 er said no effect could be seen from its use except 

 on potatoes. 



Mr. Smith, of Hadley, was sure it would lose its 

 efficacy if applied to the same piece of land for a 

 series of years without the aid of other manures, 

 while Mr. Faulkner had found the use of plaster 

 to produce the same effect from year to year, even 

 for fifty or seventy years. 



Farmers hereabouts agree that a pasture should 

 be lightly stocked after plastering, in order to give 

 the grass a start; this I believe is true, whether 

 plastered or not, and I believe Col. Faulkner hit 

 the nail on the head when he said he considered 

 the great cause of sterility in pasture lands to be 

 in overstocking them. Grass grows but very little 

 in April, or the first half of May. 



Why some fields become green sooner than oth- 

 ers in the spring, is Ijocause more grass was left 

 on them in the fall; tlie grass does not grow, but 

 the withered blades tui-n green. So if the farmer 

 plasters his pasture and takes out half his stock 

 he sees an improvement in the i)asture which he 

 ascribes to the plaster, when the cause may be at- 

 tributed to the stock. I believe our old pastures 



need something more than plaster. Jlany of them 

 are trod exceedingly hard, and the grass roots are 

 short, where the moss has suffered them to remain. 



Let such land be thoroughly plowed two or three 

 times, and liberally manured, in return for what 

 has been taken from it, the grass roots could then 

 descend to the subsoil and the moss would be 

 ashamed to grow without the aid of plaster. 



1 would not be uQdersti)od to say there is no 

 virtue in plaster as a manure; I only say I have 

 not been able to discover its effects. I think it 

 very harmless; it may attract the heat of the sun 

 and force the grass along in tlie spring. Pick up 

 the stones that have fallen from your walls in the 

 spring; you find the grass higher around them than 

 elsewhere. The question then should be, is it 

 profitable to buy plaster at five or six dollars per 

 ton for manure ? Is it profitable for t'.ie farmer to 

 buy that for manure, which will not aff.jrd him a 

 crop of Indian corn, even if he put a cart load to 

 the rod 1 



Some years ago I planted a field with corn which 

 others had also planted with the same crop before, 

 and witnessed astonishing effects of plaster. After 

 dressing the same with l:)arn-yard manure, I plas- 

 tered every hill of the field excepting one row 

 through the field, putting a stake in said row. I 

 harvested the same in autumn, and but for the 

 stake, should not have known the row which did 

 not receive its quota of plaster. Still I may be 

 prejudiced against the use of plaster, and cannot 

 see its favorable effects ; while others having favor- 

 able opinions, may think they perceive improve- 

 ment in their crops from its use, when in reality 

 there is none, or if there is, it may be the result 

 of some other cause. 11. Fowler. 



Stowe, March, 185-3. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 TAKING HONEY. 



Mr. Editor: — Report says a new method pre- 

 vails in many places of obtaining honey annually 

 without destroying the bees. 1 he method is some- 

 what thus : — The hive is suddenly turned over and 

 a new one placed upon it, then by drumming light- 

 ly with the hands on the old hive, the bees ascend 

 into the new one, when it may be slipped off and 

 treated precisely like a young hive, leaving you in 

 undisturbed possession of the old one. The advan- 

 tages are these : — The bees are preserved, and the 

 honey obtained is of superior quality, the comb 

 never becoming dark colored, as is often found in 

 hives that have stood a few years. 



Now can you or any of your readers give any 

 more definite information concerning this method, 

 as to the time of year ; also, what time in the day 

 is preferable. I should suppose the early morning, 

 or after the bees are still for the night. I should 

 like to know, also, if there was not great danger 

 of the bees leaving the new hive and going away, 

 and if they are not reluctant to leave the old hive. 

 Benjamin Stetson. 



Hanover, 1853. 



The Stone Gatherer. — We would inform our 

 young friend that we have no engraving of the ma- 

 chine by which stones are gathered from the fields; 

 a description of the manner in which it is opera- 

 ted was given in the Monthly Farmer for August, 

 1852. 



