ENGt.ANP FARMER. 



Published bi John B. RussELt, at JVo. 52 J\orth Market Slrtel, (over the Jl^ricuttural IFan/ioHScj.— Tuomas G. Fesse.nden, Editor. 



VOL. \ !. 



BOSTOrS, FRIDAY, JULY 18, 1828. 



No. 52. 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FAHMEB. 



\ METHOD or PROCURING FRESH WA- 

 TER I'l^E AX!) WHOLESOME. 



tTrd).:UttdJ. om tht French.) 

 Mr. Fessk.vden, — Tliu proocss which is here 

 proposed is nut wholly unknown lo scientific men ; 

 but it may be useful to publish it tor the benefit of 

 those, who reside in places, where the water is 

 not of the best quality. The method is to make 



iness of the Weather has made it necessary to be for a few days relaxed ; so they will, (often) to 



tar many inonths'to eilect their entire destruction. 



In some instances, they have also dug up the 

 soil about the trccs,«e.\posing the grubs or eggs 

 to the frost, or to be devoured by dunghill fowls. 

 This, no doubt, had soJfie effect ; but llie^ insects 

 are so amazingly prolific, that, if only a few as- 

 cend, the tree is injured. 



1 had formerly supposed, that some other meth- 

 od would be found to be more expedient and cf- 

 j'octual tiian tarring ; such as, perhaps, putting 

 hiiie about the roots, or tan, clay, or sea-weed, or 

 all the soil from around the trees to a 



use of pulverized charcoal, which has the proper- j r riuovin^ 



ty of attracting all the products of vegetable and j distance and sifPi)lying its place with such as was 



animal decomposition, held in solution in the wa 

 trr. The water of sewers, the most foul, and of 

 marshes the most muddy, may be rendered as 

 clear, and agreeable to the taste, as that of the 

 best fouutams, by filtering it through a few inches 

 of charcoal dust. Many persons perisli, annually, 

 during the warm season, in consequence of using 

 foul and putrefied water. 



Any ])erson can afford to purchase a half cask, 

 and adopt to it a wooden cock, with a false, mov- 

 able bottom, and five or six cents worth of char- 

 coal. Sailors, also, may provide themselves with 

 casks, prepared by this method, by which means 

 fhey wiU be able to supply themselves with good 

 water, during a long voyage. 



I believe that an industrious man, might, (in 

 many situations) find his accoimt in purifying wa- 

 ter in this manner, as the process is simple, and 

 ihe apparatus costs but a trifle. 



With esteem, yours, 



A. PARMENTIER. 



Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, \ 

 Mw York, July 7, 1827. ] 



roR THE NEW ENGLAND FARBIEU. 



CANKER WORMS. 



Mr. Fesse.\den, — The desolating ravages of 

 the canker-worm in various parts of the State, call 

 for the energetic exertions of agriculturalists and 

 orchardits, to destroy them. Various experiments 

 have been attempted to stop the progress of tht 

 grub while attempting to ascend the fruit trees. 

 Encircling the bodies of the trees with a rim of 

 tar, has, the last season, been found to be com- 

 pletely successful in this town, where properly and 

 faithfully applied. Several fine orchards, (which 

 the preceding seasons exhibited the appearance 

 \viuch marks the progress of these destructive in- 

 sects) are now clothed with luxuriant verdure and 

 fruit ; while orchards immediately adjacent which 

 have not been tarred are completely divested of 

 fruit and foliage. 



The method pursued by those who have been 

 successful, was to encircle the trees with a band- 

 age of coarse cloth and apply the tar on the cloth 

 every evenuig about sunset. In the morning the 

 tar was found to be full of grubs and millers. The 

 tarring was attended to in the preceding fall as 

 well as in spring, many of the grubs were caught 

 in Novcmbi'r, and in February ; and it is found 

 ihat they ascend at all times after the first freez- 

 ing, when the ground is sufficiently thawed to al- 

 low them to extricate themselves. The past sea- 

 son has been particularly \mfavorable ; — fljr the 



not infected with the deposits of the worm. I 

 hud also supposed that tarring, taking into con- 

 e ^Quble, expense, uncertainty and 

 the injury of t>fa"ar to the trees, would be nearly 

 juivalent to a total loss. But 1 am now convinc- 

 I that the canker-worm may be exterminated by 

 this method, and that the cause of failure hitherto 

 has been, that the grub has stolen a march upon 

 in the autimm and whiter. 



Certain it is, if the canker-worn should continue 

 ravages many yaars, some of our finest orch- 

 ards will be entirely ruined. Thes considerations 

 have induced the foregoing remarks from 



Lynn, July, 8, 1828. A FARMER. 



From ihc Massachusells Agricultural Keposilorj'. 



RAW POTATOS BAD FOR MILCH COWS. 



The following article taken from a foreign mag- 

 azine, has been copied lately into the American 

 Farmer and the New England Farmer : 



" Many farmers are in the habit of giving raw 

 potatos to all kinds of stock; but they are of a 

 watery and griping nature, and accidents have 

 ffequently liappened from their use, before the 

 oattle have been accustomed to them. For milch 

 cows, they are very bad, purging them, and ren- 

 dering their milk too thin and poor, even <i)r suck- 

 ling. If given raw to fatten oxen, good hay and 

 bean meal should be allowed, to counteract the 

 watery quaUty of the roots. There is, however, 

 much difference in the nature of potatos, and the 

 mealy approach nearest to the nature of corn, the 

 yellow afl'ord the strongest nutriment." — Scotch 

 Magazine. 



REMACKS. 



Nothing can be of greater importance to ever^ 

 iarmer, than a correct knowledge of the compara- 

 tive merits of the different varieties of food for his 

 cattle. Of course nothing can be more perni- 

 cious, than throwing out loose and general cen- 

 sures of any particular species of food, particular- 

 ly of those most easily raised, and therefore the 

 cheapest. I certainly am not disposed to set up 

 my authority against opmions advanced in estab- 

 lished works. But there is no treason in itating 

 facts, in relating careful and long continued exper- 

 iments. For nearly twenty years, I have been in 

 the practice of allowing my milch cows from No- 

 vember till they go to grass about three pecks of 

 roots a tlay with good English, or upland hay to 

 their full content. I first commence with the beet, 

 because if is most perishable ; carrots then follow, 

 and from February till May, they have raw pota- 

 tos. In commencing with the potatos, they will 



as great a degree, with Indian meal ; atter a little 

 use, fhey return to their natural state of body, and 

 are always in high condition when tlisy are turn- 

 ed out to grass — perhaps they are too fat. 



Potatos, then, cannot be a watery, griping food ; 

 my milk is as rich as the milk of cows not thus 

 maiuiged. My cows have been almost always 

 raised by riiyself, from my oyvii 8to( k, and I usual- 

 ly keep them till they are aged. If the proposi- 

 tion stated in the extract at the head of iliese re- 

 marks had been true, or nearly true, or had any 

 degree of soundness in it, it seems to me impossi- 

 ble, tliat I should never have remarked the ill ef- 

 fects stated. 



Some farmers may consider these re-marks as 

 of less weight, as coming from a man not bred a 

 ■farmer. Some may suppose that I trust the eyes 

 uf others, and am deceived. iTo these possible 

 objections, I reply, that my cows are objects of 

 special regard, as furnishing me with one of the 

 most valuable luxuries ; that 1 attend to them per- 

 sonally and carefully, and I can see no good rea- 

 son why an attention of twenty years should not 

 enable me to form as coiTCCt an opinion as a 

 thorough bred former. I am not, however, with- 

 out support from persons of that desciiption. An 

 intelligent practical farmer, whose dairy is in such 

 repute that he obtains from thirty-one to thirtj'- 

 seven cents a pound for his butter, assiu'ed me, 

 that he al« ays gave his cows in winter the long 

 red potato m a raw state, and that he estimated 

 two bushels of that potato for his cows as equal to 

 one bushel of corn. JOHN LOWELL. 



CURRANT WINE. 



Extracts from tke Report of Messrs. Bartletc & 

 Harvey to the Rockingham Agricidtura! Society, 

 at a Cattle Show, held in Exeter, N. H. 



The samples of wine exhibited, were of white 

 and red by Mr. Samuel B. Stephens of Exeter ; 

 and of red, by Joseph Tilton,'Es(i. of Exeter. — 

 The wme from the white currant, for body and 

 flavour, was preferred ; and the committee award 

 )o Mr. Stevens the premium. This wine had no 

 distilled ^irit mixed with it, and was made by the 

 follovving receipt : 



" To each gallon of clear juice was added two 

 gallons of water, and to each gallon of the mix- 

 ture was added three and a half pounds of white 

 Havana sugar, and put immediately into a clean 

 wine barrel ; after it had done fennenting it was 

 bunged tight." 



The red wine of 3Ir. Stevens was made by the 

 following receipt. 



"To each gallon of clear juice was added two 

 gaUons of water, and to each gallon of mixture 

 was added three and a half pounds of good brown 

 sugar and put into good barrels ; after it had done 

 fermenting, it was stopped tight. In February af- 

 ter it was made, one gallon of the best 4th proof 

 Cogiuac brandy was added to each barrel, and 

 stirred up thoroughly." 



A late London pajier states, that the duke of 

 Buckingham has, at liis seat at Avuigton, a team 

 of Spanish asses, resembling the zebra in appear- 

 ance, which are extremely tractahle,|and take more 

 freely to the collar than any of the native species. 



