1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



143 



most of us a simple mixture, but the chemist may 

 see in it the most decided elements of destruction. 



QUALITY OF- MLK. 



My attention has been arrested by a discussion 

 between "Norfolk," and "Suffolk," as published in 

 the Transcript. It is, indeed, an interesting top- 

 ic, though I thought it had been very satisfactorily 

 settled, by the authority of Mr. Secretary Flint, in 

 his work on "Dairy Farming." I take the liberty 

 to suggest this might be a useful subject for dis- 

 cission at one of your Legislative Agricultural 

 meetings. 



I remember when I used to milk cows, my 

 mother, who was a well-skilled manager of a dai- 

 ry, could readily judge of the feed of cows by the 

 quality of their milk. Li fact, she would detect 

 a change of pastures in the course of one week. 

 Now, if this difference from the variation of feed 

 on a farm was so great as this, that an artless 

 woman could detect it unerringly, with no other 

 lactometer than a skimming shell and a churn, is 

 it not strange that learned chemists should be 

 bothered in prescribing rules for determining 

 whether or not milk has been adulterated ? 



Jan. 25, 1860. _ Essex. 



CROPS IN ILLINOIS. 



Distance alone prevents my laying some speci- 

 mens of our "Egyptian" fruits and vegetables 

 upon your table. My largest sweet potato from 

 the garden last fall weighed 7 3-lG lbs., when 

 clean washed, and several others 3 to 5 lbs. each. 



The birds here will eat strawberries, raspber- 

 lies, grapes, &c., to our great annoyance. They 

 even indulge their appetites upon our early 

 peaches, which we begin to enjoy about the 

 eighth or tenth of July. Yovir city and vicinity 

 consumes quite a quantity of extra white flour 

 from this place, but the best quality, I am told 

 by our millers, does not pay quite as well in your 

 market as the No. 2 brand. J. H. Jones. 



Chester, 111, 1860. _ 



SUBSOIL PLOWS — BONE FOR MANURE. 



Will you inform me where I can get one and 

 two horse steel subsoil plows, Mapes' pattern, and 

 at what price ? 



Also, dry ground or crushed bone for manure, 

 in small quantity, sny eight or ten hundred 

 pounds, and the price ? A. L. Patridge. 



Peaclmm, Vt, 1860. 



Remarks. — The price of the plows inquired for 

 above is $8 for the small size, and $11 for the 

 large. 



Dry ground bone for manure is $25 a ton. 

 These articles may be found at Nourse & Co.'s, 

 34 Merchants' Row, Boston. 



WORMS IN HORSES. 



I wish to inquire through the columns of the 

 Farmer what will cm-e worms in horses. By giv- 

 ing such information you will oblige. 



Candia, N. H., 1860. M. Varnum. 



Remarks. — See Farmer of last week in answer 

 to "Subscriber, Exeter, N. H." 



jFor the New England Farmer. 



CONGBATULATIOIsrS— BEES—WARTS— 

 COAL- ASHES. 



First — I congratulate the publishers of the New 

 England Farmer in their success in getting out 

 from Aveek to week one of the very best agricultural 

 papers published in this country. Its extended 

 and increasing circulation, if nothing more were 

 wanting, is proof of this. Its varied contents are 

 wholesome, sound and practical, both in its farm 

 and moral character. If there be those who ques- 

 tion this, I ask them to com])are the Farmer with 

 any or all other agricultural papers they please. 

 "By their works ye shall know them." 



Secondly — Those persons who have bees should 

 not neglect to examine each and every hive dur- 

 ing such weather as we have had during the past 

 few weeks. See that there is not too much mois- 

 ture in the hive, and if so, give the bees more air, 

 and keep the hive as free from filth and dirt as 

 possible. In case I find any of my bees getting 

 short of food, I take some of the warmest days 

 and put in a few spoonfuls of honey and let it run 

 down anywhere among the bees. Last winter I 

 kept two swarms alive by now and then putting 

 up between the combs a few sticks of pure sugar 

 candy, and renewing it when eaten up. Bees are 

 very fond of this. I am well satisfied that most 

 persons, except the really experienced, who keep 

 bees do not give them air enough. My way is, to 

 give them aii- enough, so as to prevent any accu-' 

 mulation of moisture on the inside — not wholly — 

 for tliis cannot be done with safety to the bees in 

 cold weather, but to admit all the air which safe- 

 ty to the bees will admit of. The past season was 

 a bad one for bees in this section ; out of six 

 stocks with Avliich I begun in the spring, and all 

 in good condition, I did not get a swarm, and 

 only about fifty pounds of honey. Such luck is 

 unusual. 



Thirdhj — Warts — I have seen, of late, inquiries 

 in the Farmer for a remedy to remove warts from 

 cattle. I have often done this by rubbing tliem 

 every day with whale oil. From one trial with 

 rosin oil it did the work quicker and more easily 

 than whale oil. I have found turpentine, such as 

 maybe gathered from the ends of green pine logs — 

 one of the very best remedies for removing warts, 

 either from cattle, or on man, that can be found. 

 Gather enough to cover the wart and bind it on 

 the part, and let it remain for two or three days, 

 and the Avart will come off, root and branch. 



Fourthly — It will take a long time before any 

 person can convince me that there is no virtue in 

 coal ashes as a manure, particularly for grass 

 land ; and if the soil is light and sandy, so much 

 the more and better will be its effect. Let those 

 who doubt this make a pile of it in any grass field 

 they please, and if the grass is not larger and 

 more thrifty about the pile than where there is no 

 ashes, then I give it up. n. Q. T. 



King Oak Hill, Jan., 1860. 



Best Four Grapes. — "The Grape Growers* 

 Association" of Hartford, Ct., at a meeting, Jan. 

 10th, recommended the following varieties for 

 general cultivation, in the order in which they are 

 named : Diana, Hartford Prolific, Isabella, Con- 

 cord. 



