250 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



are other^matters no less important, and to a few of 

 which we will briefly advert. 



June is one of the fervid months ; hot suns and 

 drying winds usually prevail, and unless there are 

 frequent showers, plants will begin to fail where 

 careful cultivation is neglected. Much may be 

 done to prevent this, by a frequent stirring of the 

 soil, by mulching the young trees, shrubs, toma- 

 toes and other plants, and an occasional watering 

 of those considered the most valuable. When wa- 

 tering is resorted to, it should be done liberally, 

 wetting the ground thoroughly about the roots of 

 the plant, and then omit for a few days. A fre- 

 quent dribbling of water only wets a little below 

 the surface which soon becomes caked, and pre- 

 vents the admission of air and atmospheric influ- 

 ences. 



Those who are cultivating dwarf pears, or any 

 young trees, will find much benefit from mulching ; 

 it prevents escessive evaporation, and weeds from 

 springing up ; keeps the ground porous, and yet, 

 if properly done, will admit heat sufficient for the 

 vigoi'ous growth of the plant. Coarse hay, straw, 

 leaves, saw-dust, tan, fine brush, sucli as the tops 

 of white birches, or fine chips from the door-yard, 

 will answer a good purpose. It should be laid 

 loosely, and not so thick as to prevent the rays of 

 the sun from reaching the ground. 



The Garden will require </a27y care. Weeds will 

 grow while you sleep, or take your "nooning." 

 Give the garden a half hour's attention just after 

 milking every morning. Fill the waste corners 

 with cabbages for the cows ; a few hundred heads 

 may be raised in this way»and the lalx>r scarcely 

 be felt. 



Millet.— This is a fine crop for haying for win- 

 ter fodder. Some farmers of experience say it is 

 as valuable as an equnl amount of English hay. — 

 Sow about the 10th of June, eighl quarts of seed 

 to the acre. See recent articles in the Farmer on 

 this subject. 



Hoeing. — If the season is a dry one, cultivate a 

 flat surface ; but if rainy, as was the summer of 

 1850, perhaps slightly hilling the corn and pota- 

 to crop may prove advantageous. The clear, hot 

 days are the days for hoeing ; leave the weeds on 

 the surface a few hours at such a time, and they 

 will trouble you no longer. 



Haying. — If some particular pieces of grass 

 lodge and require to be cut early, do not allow this 

 beginning to call off your attention entirely from 

 the hoeing. Great losses are annually sustained 

 among us 1)y this practice. No weeds should be 

 allowed to grow among your hoed crops ; and the 

 ground ought to be stirred once in 10 or 12 days, 

 if there are no weeds ! This was Jeturo Tull's the- 

 ory, and he proved its efficacy by the test of prac- 

 tice. 



Young Trees. — Trees coming into blossom for 

 the first time, should not be allowed to perfect 



much fruit. If it grow on the ends of the limbs it 

 bends them out of shapes and diverts the sap from 

 making wood into the fruit, while the growth of 

 the tree is what is desired. 



The Curculio. — Sift lime-dust over the plum and 

 apricot trees when the dew is on them, and this 

 little plague will not sting the fruit. Two or three 

 sprinklings, at intervals of several days, will pro- 

 bably be sufficient. Try the same remedy on some 

 of your apple treea. 



Striped Bugs. — Many persons say that a box put 

 round the plants will positively prevent the attack 

 of these bugs. Three shingles 5 or C inches high, 

 supportedby the earth or sticks, answer every pur- 

 pose. Mr. T. 0. Paine, in the Eastern Mail, says 

 he has practised this plan with success for 12 

 years. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PASSING MATTERS. 



BT A. G. COMINGS. 



Imagination in Cows. — Being at Mil ford, N. II., 

 a short time since, I learned from Mr. P. M. Ros- 

 siter, of that place, a singular and striking case 

 illustrative of the effect of imagination in cows. 

 Sometime during the winter Mr. Rossiter lost a 

 cow, and the following circumstances attended 

 the case. The cow died in the evening, and was 

 skinned by candle light, that is, by lamp-light, in 

 a part of his barn, at some distance from his 

 cow stable. The position of the cows was such 

 that when the body of the dead animal lay upon 

 the back the legs would be in full view of the cow 

 in the stable. In such a position they were skin- 

 ned, and the matter disposed of, on that evening. . 



In the early part of March, if my memory is 

 correct, a very fine Devon cow gave a calf, ■which, 

 was most singularly marked in the legs, they be- 

 ing in a great measure destitute of hair or even 

 skin upon the lower portion of tlie legs, and the 

 hind legs were without feet, that is, without 

 hoofs. 



The case is one which should be attributed, 

 doubtless, to the effect of imagination in the .cow. 

 It is a strong case, as I had the statement, which 

 I presume was correct. If imagination produced 

 such an effect in the days of Jacob, in the color 

 of cattle, what other effects may follow from the 

 same cause we cannot determine. It appears 

 to me to be indicative of an unusual degree of in- 

 telligence, as it is common for people to express 

 it, in certain animals ; and certainly some of Mr. 

 Rossiter's cattle look as though they did really 

 know something, if they cannot talk. 



MiLFORD Village, &c. — It is decided that the 

 Hillsborough County Agricultural and Mechani- 

 cal Society will hold its next annual fair at Mil- 

 ford, on the 28th and 29th of September next. 

 We expect to be fovored with an Address on the 

 occasion from Hon. Johfi AV. Proctor, of Danvers, 

 Mass. The first fair of the Society was at Mil- 

 ford in the fall of 1850. So the next will be our 

 fourth annual fair. 



At that place a large number of Eagle plows 

 are manufactured, from whence they go to Cali- 

 fornia, Australia, Oregon, the Sandwich Islands, 

 &c., as well as for a large sale nearer home. The 



