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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 13« 1835. 



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BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 13, 1335. 



FARMER'S WORK FOR MAY. 



Insects. — It is now time to be taking measures for 

 guarding against the pett)' but powerful adversaries of 

 tlie cultivator, which too often succeed in destroying and 

 devouring the most valuable fruits of his labors. Among 

 the substances, which are either offensive or fatal to all 

 sorts of insects may be numbered elder, especially of the 

 dwarf kind, tobacco, quick lime, lime water, brimstone, 

 unleached ashes, tar water, water impregnated with tur- 

 pentine, plaster of Paris finely pulverized, decoctions of 

 walnut leaves, and oilier bitter and acrid articles. 



Boiling water is likewise an effectual and .sometimes 

 an expedient application for the destruction of insects 

 which have taken possession of a soil, and are lying wait 

 to devour its vegetable products, as soon as seeds germi- 

 nate or plants are developed. We have known beds or 

 plats in gardens well scalded previous to sowing them 

 with the seeds intended for them, with perfect success 

 against worms, grubs, and every .'ipecies of insects, 

 which had its habitation in the plat to which the boiling 

 water was applied. This operation, if thoroughly per- 

 formed, cannot fail to destroy not only every reptile 

 within reach of its influence, but those eggs or nits, 

 which are lodged in the soil, and are maturing for mis- 

 chief. 



It would be well, after a bed has been scalded, as 

 above directed to inclose it with slips of boards, bark, or 

 some other suitable material to prevent the access of in- 

 sects from its neighborhood. Hills intended for cabbages, 

 cucumbers, melons, squashes, &c. &c., after having 

 been scalded, or sometimes only dug over, and carefully 

 inspected, have been surrounded with strips of white 

 birch bark, shingles, boards, &c. and remained impreg- 

 nable to every kind of creeping thing. If this defence 

 is covered over the top with a strip of gauze or muslin, 

 the plants are secured against bugs, flies, &c. 



Wo are inclined, to believe that the best, and perhaps 

 the only safeguard of plants in many cases, against flying 

 insects is something, which will entirely preclude their 

 access. Mr Levi Bartlctt of Warner, New Hampshire, 

 has recommended a covered frame, constructed as 

 follows : 



" Take a strip of pine board (about three fourths of an 

 inch in thickness is most suitable) eight or ten feet in 

 length, and four or five inches in width, plough one edge 

 of it with a carpenter's plough, or match plane, then 

 mark off the side and end pieces ; before sawine the 

 side pieces, run a brad awl through where you wish to 

 drive your nails, as it is not so likely to split as after it is 

 sawed. The side pieces eleven inches long, ends eight 

 inches long. They must be of this particular size, be- 

 cause one yard of millinet will just cover nine boxes; 

 «r a third of a yard will make three covers. After having 

 nailed your boxes and divided your millinet, have some 

 thin strips or tongues, as the carpenters call them ; press 

 these with the c-dges of the coversinto the groove, which 

 fastens them much cheaper and more expeditiously than 

 small nails." 



Shearing Sheep. — Writers on agriculture, mostly 

 assert that we commonly shear our sheep too early in this 

 country. In England where the season is more forward 

 than with us, they shear their sheep in June, or the fore 

 part of July. But Lemuel Briggs, Esq. of Bristol, in ar- 

 ticles published in the New England Farmer, vol. iii. 

 pages 283, 287, stated certain facts, which would seem 

 favorable to early shearing; and in certain circumstances, 

 and particularly with sheep that are not washed there 



can be no doubt but the practice may be beneficial, Mr 

 Briggs stated in substance that Mr Rouse Potter of Pru- 

 dence Island, Narragansct bay, Rhode Island, who kept 

 nine hundred and fifty sheep, and lost but two the pre- 

 ceding winter, begins to shear them by the first of May, 

 if the weather is favorable, and continues daily until he 

 completes his shearing. For the first week he puts 

 those sheared under cover in close yards every night; by 

 that time the wool will grow so as to give them a suf- 

 ficient covering. By this practice of early shearing he 

 gains much wool, which formerly, when he put his 

 shearing off till the middle of June, the sheep would 

 shed; and further when thus early sheared, the wool be- 

 gins to start and grow much quicker than when shearing 

 is deferred to the usual time. He says that formerly, 

 being exposed immediately after shearing to the rays of 

 the sun, their bare backs would frequently become sore 

 and scabby, when no wool will grow till healed, and 

 then what does grow from the scars, is thinner and 

 coarser than the rest. 



" Mr Potter states from actual experiment that he not 

 only gets more wool, which would otherwise be lost, but 

 the succeeding woul will be from half an inch to an inch 

 longer, if sheared early than it will be if delayed to the 

 usual time of shearing. And farther, there is not the 

 same necessity for washing the sheep as the wool is 

 much cleaner, more free from sand and dirt, when taken 

 off early, than it would he if suffered to remain on their 

 backs until a hot sun had compelled them to seek refuge 

 under walls and fences. 



The foregoing authorities are apparently contradictory 

 as respects the time of year in which to shear sheep. 

 But Mr Potter did not wash his sheep before shearing, 

 which must make considerable difference with regard to 

 risk from cold ; and Mr Potter was careful to shelter 

 his sheep after shearing, which must in a great measure 

 obviate the disadvantages of early shearing. 



-tlASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



FLOWERS EXHIBITED. 



Saturday, Way 9, 1S35. 

 William Carter, from the Botanical Garden at Cam- 

 bridge — Viola grandiflora, improved hybrids, of various 

 colors. 



Also; Seedling auriculas much admired. 

 For the Committee, 



JoNA. WiNSHip, Chairman. 



Baltimore Fakmek and Gardener. — The last num- 

 ber of this paper announces that Mr Hitchcock its late 

 proprietor has sold that concern to Messrs Sinclair and 

 Moore, of Baltimore. Mr Hitchcock slates in his 

 " Card Valedictory," that the gentleman who is selected 

 to conduct the paper is known to the undersigned to be 

 peculiarly well qualified for the task" &c. Mr H. will 

 in this month open in Philadelphia an Agricultural and 

 Horticultural Agency or Commission ofKce for the pur- 

 chase and sale chiefly of choice domestic animals of all 

 kinds," &c. &c. 



In whatever location or employment Mr Hitchcock 

 may he engaged we wish success to him and his pursuits 

 and this with the more solicitude because from the na- 

 ture (if the concerns in which he is employed his prosper- 

 ity and the public good will in a great measure be 

 identical. 



American Silk Hosiery — We were shown at Mf 

 Bird's Store, in this town, this week, some very beauti- 

 ful specimens of silk hosiery for gentlemen, entirely of 

 American fabric. They were a very neat and fine arti- 

 cle, with every indication of durability, and are equal if 

 not superior to those of European manufacture. The silk 



was produced and manufactured at Dedham and sold at 

 $10 per lb. It was made into hose at the manufactory 

 in Newburyport. We believe that small quantities of 

 tilk goods have been occasionally manufactured in differ- 

 ent parts of our country, within a few years. Among 

 other articles, wc were shown about a year since, a large 

 variety of vesting patterns, manufactured by Mr Golding: 

 of this town. These things all give an earnest of wha^ 

 may, and ultimately will be accomplished in this country 

 in the manufacture of silk goods. — Bunker Hill Aurora.- 



WiNSHip's Green House and Norsery Grocrds,- 

 at Brighton, are at this season of the year, particularly 

 worth a visit, especially by those who are fcnd of hand- 

 some plants, to ornament their rooms, or who hnve 

 vacant ground which they would occupy with ornamen- 

 tal or fruit trees. To those who have small lots of gro'ind' 

 to cultivate, delays in setting out trees, shrubs and plants 

 are almost always to be regretted. A season lost, in such 

 work, is not easily in any case, to be regained, and we 

 advise all who are thinking of gardening, on some of 

 their grass-plots or of laying out new gardens, to do so 

 much of it this spring as will secure to them the advan- 

 tages of the season. If they do not, they will do as many 

 others have done, regret it next year. Every thing 

 necessary in the way of ornamental, forest and fruit 

 trees, shrubs, and plants, &c. &c. may be had at Win- 

 ship's and at the common prices for such articles. Farm- 

 ers who are usually deficient in goodfruils, — when their 

 city friends visit them, — would do well, save expense 

 and gratify their visiters, we have no doubt, by spend- 

 ing a few dollars in some good nursery. For a trifling 

 sum they can procure good trees, whose fruit will soon 

 be worth more than the cost of the trees. — Bunker Hill 

 Aurora. 



Demand for Cocoons. — Judging from appearances, 

 the demand for cocoons and reeled silk, the coming sea- 

 son, will exceed the [supply in a thousand fold. The 

 silk manufactories in Dedham, Mansfield and this city, 

 are depending principally upon the new crop for the raw 

 material. The last year's crop is already exhausted, and 

 we understand that scarcely a bale of foreign silk can 

 be found in the commercial cities. Those, therefore, 

 who raise a crop this season may depend on its being 

 sought for by the manufacturers and at a very liberal 

 price. — We should not be surprised if they command $4 

 a bushel. Such persons, therefore, as have foliage, will 

 do well to make cocoons, if they are not prepared for 

 reeling. 



The Jingo Tree which grew on the estate of the late 

 Gardner Greene, and of which we spoke the other day, 

 has been safely removed to the Common, where it is to 

 be planted. It is probably the largest tree ever trans- 

 planted in this vicinity, being 40 feet high, and the cir- 

 cumference, at 3J feet from the ground, 4 feet 4 inches. 

 The labor of transplanting it was undertaken by Mr 

 Sheridan, formerly gardener on the estate. The earth 

 was carefully removed from the roots, and the tree lifted 

 by shears and tackle from the ground, sufficiently high to 

 pass under it a low wheeled drag. The roots were 

 then carefully covered with matting, and the tree low- 

 ered upon the drag, on which it was easily supported 

 in an upright position, being kept from falling by ropes 

 attached to the top and held by men who walked along ,, 

 with it to its destination. Mr Sheridan tells us that there 

 is not the slightest doubt that it will live and flourish in ' 

 its new location. — Boston Transcript. 



No Lawyers are permitted to reside on the island of 

 St. Helena ; nor is a newspaper permitted to be printed i 

 there ; an almanac every year being the only production 

 of the press. 



