1860, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



If any of your readers have had experience in thin- 

 ning out and trimming up such trees, I wish they 

 would tell me whether it is better to trim and thin 

 out, or to let "nature take its course." 



N. B. S AFFORD. 

 White River Junction, Vt,, 1859. 



Remarks. — This is a matter not well settled. 

 We know of some experiments in pruning that 

 have resulted favorably. Shall be glad to hear 

 from others in relation to the inquiry. 



CRANBERRY CULTURE. 



I learn from the Plougliman that the experi- 

 enced editor had four rows of plants twelve rods 

 long, which continued to do well and improve for 

 three years, so long as he kept the grass and weeds 

 away from the plants; but the fourth year, when 

 no attention was given to them, they failed to do 

 well. I should like to inquire of the veteran en- 

 thusiast, if he knows any other variety of plant 

 that would not fail under such circumstances ? 



I have known the cranberry cultivated five years 

 successively on the same ground, yielding a boun- 

 tiful crop of superior berries each year, always 

 liaving been watched with vigilance that no extra- 

 neous substance should check its growth. I can- 

 not think that any valid argument can be brought 

 against the culture and growth of the cranberry, 

 from the facts stated in the Plougliman, any more 

 than there could from the failure of a field of corn 

 that was neglected to be hoed. Crops are ever 

 the reward of vigilant attention ; and no crops the 

 contrary. *. 



IMcember, 1859, 



WINTER BUTTER. 



In answer to friend Leonard's inquii-y how to 

 make butter in cold weather, I will tell him how I 

 practice. I heat my milk by putting it into a 

 ■strainer pail, and set it into a kettle of hot water ; 

 heat until nearly scalding hot ; set it in a cupboard 

 with a cloth hung in front, in a room where there 

 is a fire kept through the day ; it will keep from 

 two to three days. I am careful to skim it before 

 it sours ; keep the cream in the same room, and as 

 near summer heat as I can. I never heat the 

 cream before churning, but scald the churn before 

 putting the cream into it. I add a little carrot 

 juice to the cream when I churn it. It will puzzle 

 the best judges to tell the butter that I am mak- 

 ing this winter from that made in September. 



Dec. 22, 1859. Butter Maker. 



STOVES — PK4T — IRON-RUST. 



Can a cast iron box be made with front and bot- 

 tom grating to put into a wood-stove, so as to 

 burn coal in it? 



What is the comparative value of the best peat 

 and wood or coal .►* 



Is there some kind of cement or solder, that can 

 be put on the inside of a tin wash-boiler, to pre- 

 vent the clothes from iron-rusting ? 



Georgetown, Mass., 1860. N. 



Remarks. — You can get a stove with a lining 

 calculated to burn either wood or coal; or if you 

 have a stove the top to which can be taken off to 

 give room to put in the grate, you can fit it up 



yourself. We have not the information at hand 

 in relation to value of different fuels, but a ton of 

 hard coal is considered equal to two cords of the 

 best wood. 



BUTTER and CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



In reply to E. Leonard's inquiry about "but- 

 ter-making in winter," I will give my own meth- 

 od, which may, perhaps, be of some use to him. I 

 scald the milk in a kettle used for the purpose, 

 — being very careful that it does not burn, — then 

 place it in a cool closet. In three or four days, 

 skim. Scald the chum before putting in the 

 cream. The butter will come in from ten min- 

 utes to au hour, at longest. 



Will some one please inform us thi-ough the 

 Farmer how to bring chrysanthemums to the 

 greatest perfection. b. 



Somerset, Dec. 16, 1859. 



COST OF KEEPING OXEN PER WEEK. 



Will you or some of your readers please inform 

 me what would be a fair price a week for keeping 

 a yoke of oxen through the v^inter, on good hay — 

 the oxen not to be worked — the keeper to have 

 the manure. Ought they to have meal, to be i.i 

 good working order in the spring — if so, how- 

 much meal a day — and price a week on hay and 

 meal. A Reader. 



P. S. — If the oxen are worked — but not by tlio 

 keeper — what feed should they have, and what is 

 a fair price for keeping them a week. 



Billerica, Mass,, Dec, 1859. 



Remarks. — We leave a reply for some of our 

 readers better informed. Of course, the age and 

 size of the oxen would have much to do with it. 

 As a general rule, v/e suppose that cattle eat about 

 three per cent, of their live weight, so that an ox 

 weighing 1500 pounds would require 45 pounds of 

 hay per day. 



SHEEP. 



Sheep highly fed with meal or other good prov- 

 ender, about the time the buck is with them in the 

 fall, will almost invariably have two lambs apiece. 

 So says one of the greatest sheep-breeders. The 

 lambs, also, may nearly all be raised by proper at- 

 tention to the mothers. The great mistake in re- 

 gard to sheep is in not keeping them well enough. 

 If you wish them to be prolific or profitable, give 

 them plenty of the best hay through the winter, 

 meal daily, and for shelter, a warm barn-cellar 

 wherein is an open tank of pure water. p. 



Colebrook, N. IL, Dec. 5, 1859, 



The Turnip Crop in England. — We find 

 considerable complaint in our English papers of 

 the failure, this year and last, of this important 

 root. Caterpillars that attacked the blade, gi-ubs 

 that mined into the root, blight that checked its 

 growth, and finally, a frost that occurred on the 

 22d of October, are among the casualties enumer- 

 ated, this season. At some of the late meetings 

 of farmers, the opinion has been freely expressed, 

 that some substitute must be found for the Swedes. 



