NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



175 



the honey, amounung to sixty or seventy pounds, 

 has been carried off in a few days. Some bees, like 

 some nations, do not effectually resist invaders, 

 though they are numerous and strong. 



CHEAP WINTER PROTECTION-BED FOR 

 HARDY PLANTS. 



We were induced, last fall, to try an experiment 

 suggested by a friend for raising cabbage, cauliflowei-, 

 broccoli, and lettuce plants in the latter end of the 

 season, and protecting them during the winter for 

 early si:)ring planting, without the use of sashes or 

 shutters. 



They arc thus constructed : on a southern exposure, 

 with a slight declivity, ridges are raised fifteen inches 

 high and eight feet apart across the declivity. The 

 seeds are sown in the beds between these ridges, and 

 when well up, are either trimmed or picked out to 

 the proper distance apart, (we have tried both,) and 

 lima bean poles are then laid across the beds on the 

 ridges at about six inches or less apart, being, of 

 course, lengthwise with the declivity. These poles 

 nre then covered with pea brush, and finally with a 

 coating of salt hay or straw. This arrangement pre- 

 vents the frequent freezings and thawings of our 

 changeable climate; and thus far (March 6th) the 

 plants are in good order and ready to be planted out 

 as soon as the weather is settled. 



Part of these plants were put out in places last 

 fall, in time to establish themselves, take root before 

 severe frost, each being covered with a wooden box, 

 which cost three and a half cents, and will last many 

 years, and protected as described %t the close of our 

 article " Kitchen Garden," under the head " Work 

 to be done from March 15th to April 1.5th." 



These boxes will come off in time to be used for 

 cucumbers, melons, &e., and each of them Avill an- 

 swer all the purposes of a hand-glass if desired, by 

 laying a pane of glass on top : covered with mil- 

 linet, they effectually keep off flyers. — Professor 

 Mapes. 



FATTENING BEEF AND PORK. 



Whenever I see a farmer peddling half-fatted pork, 

 I ask the age of the hogs. Strange as it may seem, 

 such animals have generally starved through two or 

 three winters ; and it requires no exercise of faith to 

 believe the farmer's story, that it took fifty bushels 

 of ears to get them started, or on the lift. The 

 science of making the most pork with the least feed- 

 ing, is to keep the hog growing from the start given 

 him by his mother's milk. 'Twas but the other day 

 that I saw a farmer who disports himself of one 

 hundred and fifty all arable alluvial acres, hawking 

 about a few quarters of lean cow beef : am I in the 

 wrong for saying that I instinctively felt as though 

 all the fat of that animal had been lost, without one 

 cent of corresponding gain to the farmer. I once 

 knew a farmer who suffered his sheep to cat out of 

 one side of a stack of hay, when it fell over and 

 crushed several sheep to death. This farmer averred, 

 with a smile, that the surviving sheep were enough 

 better for their extra feed to compensate him for 

 their loss ! Eut the man who essays to fat a half- 

 starved animal from fall to Christmas, has not even 

 the excuse of the sheep story- — Genesee Fanner. 



STIFF DISORDER IN HORSES. 



Messrs. EnitoRS : As I have had, in the last two 

 years, some experience in the treatment of the dis- 

 ease among horses, commonly known by the name of 

 st'ff disorder, I send you my mode of treatment. 



It will not be necessary for me to go into a minute 

 description of symptons, as they are very correctly 

 described (in the main) by J. J. Rosseau, p. 126, 

 vol. vii., of the Prairie Farmer. The first symptom 

 that the horse shows, that is discernible to the com- 

 mon observer, is a stiffness in the hind parts, with 

 the extension of the main muscle that runs up in the 

 groin ; and if the disease is attended to before it gets 

 any further advanced — a strong decoction of butter- 

 nut bark (or perhaps it will be better known by the 

 name of ichile tcaliuit) given one quart at a time, 

 once in twenty-four hours, for three times, with a 

 tablespoonful of sulphur given eight or ten hours 

 after each dose of the bark juice, will be sufficient to 

 put the horse in a healthy condition. But when the 

 disease is further advanced, the horse must be bled 

 from one qtiart to three pints once in twenty-foiir 

 hours, two or three times, (the number of times de- 

 pends on the severity of the case,) and the decoction 

 once every twelve hours for four days, and not give 

 the sulphur till done bleeding, and then give once a 

 day, together with a tsaspoontul of saltpetre. 



This mode of treatment, I have tried in several 

 cases, and it has proved effectual in every instance. 

 During the treatment, the horse must be kept on 

 wheat bran, with a small sprinkling of oats. Then 

 turn him out, and let him go five or six weeks, and he 

 will be as good as ever. 



E. P. W. 



Elmore, Peoria Co., Jan. 1819. 

 — Prairie Farmer. 



TO PREVENT THE RAVAGES OF THE 

 CUT-WORM. 



Most gardeners have experienced a great deal of 

 vexation from the destruction of their j^iants by the 

 cut-worm. The cabbage plant appears to be in 

 special favor with these destructives. They are 

 much more abundant in southern gardens, I think, 

 than at the north, and in many gardens the plat de- 

 voted to cabbages has to be often almost entirely re- 

 planted. There is a simple and efficient preventive, 

 which requires only to be known to be universally 

 practised when necessary. 



On the site of your intended row of jjlants dig a 

 narrow trench, three or four inches deep, and in the 

 bottom of this trench set your plants as usual, and 

 the cut-worm wiU not go into the trench to injure 

 the plants. The experiment was fully tested by the 

 writer the past summer, and proved perfectly satis- 

 factory. When the plants have become a little 

 stout, and able to resist the enemy, the earth must be 

 gradually gathered about them, until the whole plat 

 once more becomes a level. The plants will head by 

 this mode of culture quite as well as by any other. 

 I have left about half of the plat at times, to be set 

 in the old method, and from one third to one half of 

 the plants have been destroyed, while not one in the 

 trenches has been injured in the least. I had but 

 little faith in the plan when first pointed out to me ; 

 but repeated experiments have satisfied me that it is 

 an efficient one. I don't pretend to give the reason 

 of the thmg, though I am convinced of its efficacy 



Athexs, Georgia. 

 — Albany Cultivator. 



WILLIAM N. WHITE. 



TO DESTROY THE STRIPED BUG, ETC. 



Messrs. Editors : To destroy striped bugs and 

 other insects, a brood of fifteen or twenty chickens, 

 in a small garden, will keep it free from the above 

 named ravagers. The brood should be hatched 

 abovit a week before the vines and plants come up. 

 The hen should be secured in a coop near the centre 



