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THE GENEbEE FARMER. 



Fifteen Months in the Year. — All wbo subscribe for 

 the next volume of the Genesee Farmer at this time will 

 receive the three remaining numbers of this year free. 

 Fifteen months for half a dollar! Will our friends tell 

 their neighbors of this moat liberal offer ? It will only 

 be continued a few weeks. Our object is to introduce the 

 paper into places where we have now but few subscribers. 



Our Friends who are competing for the Cash Prizes of- 

 fered for the largest club of subscribers to the current 

 half-volume of the Genesee Farmer must recollect that the 

 time expires October 15. For terms, etc., see the August 

 number of the Farmer. Few are competing for these 

 Premiums. A little effort now will secure them. 



Inquiries and Answers. 



Mowing off the Tops of Diseased Potatoes. — (R. L.) 

 This has been frequently recommended, and we have seen 

 statements which would indicate that it is sometimes ben- 

 eficial ; others report unfavorably. As you wish our " opin- 

 ion," we would say that wo have little faith in the efficacy 

 of cutting ofl" the tops. We once mowed the tops off a 

 part of a field of potatoes just as the tops were affected, 

 and the crop on this part was much smaller than on the 

 remainder of the fi^ld — and we could see no difference 

 in the potatoes so far as the disease was concerned. 



Mock for Compost. — (T. B.) We know of no easy test 

 for determining whether there is iron in your muck in an 

 injurious form. The muck would doiibtless be useful on 

 the dry, sandy uplands. It would be best to compost it 

 with manure, or perhaps with ashes, lime and salt, but if 

 this can not be done, we would try a little applied in the 

 raw state. 



Arbor Vit^ for Screens — Fruit Book. — (Wm. L., Ma- 

 iildaville. Pa.) For a screen for an orchard. Arbor Vitfe 

 may be planted six or eight feet apart. It will take about 

 ten years to get a screen ten feet high, by planting trees 

 eighteen inches in height. 



The Fruit Garden, by P. Bakry, is a valuable work on 

 the subject of which it treats. 



Budded Stocks. — (J. D., Gates, If. Y.) Two or three 

 weeks after budding, the bands may be taken off, and in 

 the spring following the stocks headed down within throe 

 or four inches of the bud. In July, the remaining portion 

 may be cut off, close down to the bud. 



Nails in Fruit Trees. — (J. H. T., Jr.) Nails driven 

 into fruit trees can never, by any process of decay or 

 chemical change, produce ammonia : and will not in any 

 event afl'ect the particular qualities of the tree, either in 

 wood, bark, foliage or fruit. 



Silver Maplk. — (E. A. F., Edgerton, Ohio.) The seed 

 of the Silver Maple, if gathered as soon as ripe as sowed 

 immediately, will be found to vegetate freely. 



Plantain. — (J. B., Scalp Leael, Pa.) The most effectual 

 way to exterminate plaiitaiu is to pull it up by hand. 

 Plowing it under, cultivating the soil far a year or two, 

 and then sowing the ground thickly with grass seed, will 

 probably rid you of it as well as any process, and result 

 in doing good to the soil. Hogs are very fond of plan- 

 tain, and if pastured upon it would doubtless succeed 

 partially, it not perfectly, in accomplishing your purpose. 

 — Bowles, Hamilton Co., 0. ' 



Timber for Fencing, etc. — Some of our farmers here 

 in the town of Gorham are getting rather scarce of tim-i 

 ber. Most of us have timber enough for fire wood; but| 

 when it comes to rail timber and sawing, we have to split 

 some pretty tough rail cuts, and we have to take some 

 rough logs to the mill. Some farniers go ten or twelve 

 miles, and pay ^30 or $40 per 1,000 rails, or §10 per 1,000 

 for fence boards, near home. Only a few swe doing any- 

 thing with hedges. Some have for a few years been try- 

 ing the Osage Orange, and I believe they do well. I think 

 we ought to improve our timber lands, by shutting up or 

 keeping the cattle entirely out of the woods, so that all 

 the sprouts that are springing up from year to year may . 

 be suffered to grow and not be browsed off by the cattle; 

 and also by planting out occasionally a few acres for tim- 

 ber. I should like to have your opinion or that of some 

 of your numerous correspondents about raising timber ; 

 what kind of timber would be best ; what time of the 

 year it should be planted, and how ; in rows or hills, and 

 how far apart ; what kind of pi-eparation of the soil, and 

 anything else connected with this subject. 



I have eight acres of timber land that has been shut up 

 five years. Where the trees are open, the second growth 

 comes up very thick and is growing rapidly. It consists 

 mostly of sugar maple, although there is plenty of elm, 

 iron-wood, bass-wood, beech, and some ash. — Nathaniel 

 Smith, Gorhavi, N. Y. 



» 



Decadence of Melon Vines. — A large portion of the 

 melon vines throughout this section of the country are in 

 a state of deCay, and many of the patches have died out 

 entirely. The early part of the season was dry, melons 

 thrived well, and the promise of an unusually large crop 

 was fair. A wet spell ensued, lasting two weeks, and now 

 the vines are in the state already mentioned. Can you oi 

 any of the readers of the Genesee Fanner give us the rea- 

 son — whether it is occasioned by the wet, by too highh 

 manuring, or any other cause? It is a rare occurrence 

 here. — Bowles, Hamilton Co., 0. ' 



Gravel House. — Will you or some of your readers in 

 form us of the best method of building what is called { 

 gravel house ; whether they are durable or a desirabh 

 kind to build ; and if so, the proportion of materials, as 

 gravel, lime, etc., the depth of box for wall, and how con 

 structed to raise easily ; what size gravel is best, and if i 

 should be clear of rubbish, as dirt, etc. Also, what is ih( 

 difference between common (or yard) and yellow locusts 

 not honey? Which is preferable for a grove, in beauty of 

 foliage and growth ; and whether the yellow locust wil 

 send up shoots from the ground? — E. S. Cox, Bandolpl 

 Co., Ind. 



Frog-spittle in Fish Ponds. — I have seen nothing ye 

 to satisfy me why what is generally called " frog- spittle' 

 grows in pure water. My fish pond was full of it a shor 

 time after I filled it with water, but it soon rose to th( 

 surface and floated off. Last month it commenced grow 

 ing again, and the pond is nearly filled with it. My trou 

 can only be seen when I feed them. Will it hinder theii 

 growing? If you or some of your numerous readers car 

 give me any information on the subject, I should be verj 

 glad. What is the best food for trout? — A. H. Curtiss. 



Dairying in the Wf.st. — I intend going into the dairy 

 business; and as there is nothing of the sort about here, 

 I should be glad if some one who has had experiencf 

 would give us an article on the manufacture of gooc 

 cheese. — J. H. Stout, Greene Co., III. 



Preserving Fruit. — Please ask your readers if any of' 

 them know a good plan to preserve specimens of fruit Id' 

 their original size, shape and color, so as to be shown Sfii 

 actual specimens of what have been grown. — A. V. D., 

 Fidinouth, Va. 



Rotten Tan-bark. — I would like to know if there is. 

 any virtue in old rotten tan-bark (say from ten to twenty 

 years old) as a manure; and if so, what crop is it mosi 

 suitable for? — J. H- T., Aew Providence, Tenn. 



Trimming Woodland. — Can you 'or some of your cor- 

 respondents tell me what time of the year is the best to 

 trim ti'mfeer in woodlands? — W. W. G., Grapevine Bottom j' 

 Ky. 



