1860. 



l<rEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



175 



boys on the borders of the salt water so green as 

 he'hoped they might be. What ! decline to pay 

 this moderate sum f(^r a discovery that will re- 

 place it in full every year ! Beyond question, the 

 onion crop in Essex county alone, amounts to many 

 hundred thousand dollars annually. If one farmer, 

 on a small farm of fifty acres, raises 5000 bushels 

 annually, how much may be expected from 500 

 such farmers ? *. 



Feb. 22, 1860. _ 



TOP-DRESSING GRASS LANDS. 



When is the proper time to top-dress gi-ass 

 lands ? Or, is it always necessary to plow before 

 dressing ? 



Why do many good farmers allow their cattle 

 to remain in the yard, or other out-of-door places 

 in cold weather ? Is it more healthy or profitable 

 in anv way than keeping them in the barn ? 



Mention, Vt, 1860. W. C. Walker. 



Re5L\rks. — A good time to top-dress grass 

 lands is immediately after the hay crop is taken 

 off; the fine manure settles down among the stub- 

 ble where the dews moisten it, and it soon finds 

 its way to the roots of the grass, reviving and 

 starting them into vigorous action, instead of dry- 

 ing away and dying, as they too often do. Late 

 in the autumn, just before snow falls is also a 

 good time ; so is the last of March, while the 

 ground is frozen, and just in season to catch the 

 spring rains that will wash their fertilizing prop- 

 erties into the soil. 



We cannot give you any other reason \;\\y good 

 farmers allow their cattle to remain out of doors 

 in cold weather, except it is they think it promotes 

 their health. In moderately cold weather, cattle 

 may enjoy the liberty of the yard for a portion of 

 the day, and it seems to us that such liberty must 

 be beneficial to them. Much, however, will de- 

 pend upon the circumstances under which they 

 axe placed. If they are fed in the yard, and all 

 sorts of stock are out together, jamming and 

 hooking each other about, it is doubtful whether 

 tbey will derive any advantage from this use of 

 the yard. 



COLTS ON A H.A.RD FLOOR. 



One of your correspondents has stated that 

 colts should stand on a hard plank floor in order 

 to toughen them for a hard road. It looks to 

 me like putting hard thick shoes on an infant's 

 foot to raise corns that will trouble him for life. 

 Let colts stand on a soft, moist floor. w. 



New London, N. H., 1860. 



REMEDY FOR WORMS IN HORSES. 



Feed the horse for two or three days in succes- 

 sion on good, bright corn stalks, green or dry, 

 and in the meantime give him nothing else to eat. 



TO CURE POISON FROM IVY. 



Rub the part poisoned with sweet oil. A small 

 portion rubbed on the skin before going among 

 the ivy will prevent tailing poison. 



TO KILL VERMIN IN CATTLE. 



I saw in your last monthly an inquiry — "How 

 to kill Lice on Cattle ?" The remedy I use, and 

 I find it always produces the desired" eff'ect, is to 

 steep tobacco in urine, and wash the animal thor- 

 oughlv v.ith it. l. b. 



Meriden, Feb., 1860. 



Remarks. — All such washes must boused with 

 great care. Tobacco is a dangerous article to use. 

 Cattle are liable to take cold after such washings. 

 A little sweet lard melted and rubbed thoroughlv 

 over the skin, if persevered in, will usually answer 

 all purposes. Any other pure oil may do as well. 

 In confirmation, read the following as a sure 

 method of 



DESTROYING VERMIN ON COLTS. 



Take flax seed (linseed) oil, and rub the harbor- 

 ing places tlioroiiijldy to the skin, and the vermin 

 will swell up, die and drop off, It is very safe 

 and sure. e. h. d. 



Boston, Feb. 10, 1860. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THINNING OUT PINES. 



Mr. Brown : — I noticed in your paper of last 

 week an article in reply to an inquiry about thin- 

 ning and trimming pines. I fully agree with your 

 correspondent in regard to trimming off' the dry 

 limbs and letting the green ones remain. I think 

 it is well to let nature have its course. But I am 

 a Yankee, and consequently I go in for improve- 

 ment. Not for improving nature, but for assist- 

 ing it, and improving the growth of the timber 

 lot ; I believe that nature can be assisted in grow- 

 ing timber as well as in growing corn. Pines, in 

 order to flourish, must have room according to 

 their size. Young white pines that come up on 

 an average two and a half feet apart, may remain 

 so until they are ten or twelve feet in height ; 

 then, in my opinion, they should be thinned out 

 gradually, as they increase in size and height, un- 

 til they stand full twenty feet apart ; I think that 

 some fifty years hence, one tree standing on a base 

 of four hundred square feet, with a diameter of 

 two feet, and a spindle seventy or eighty feet to- 

 wards the zenith, would be better than sixteen 

 trees on the same base with a diameter of six 

 inches on an average, which I think would not be 

 far from the result, if all were allowed to gi'ow. 



Amherst, N. H., Feb. 1, 1860. d. n. 



Possible Distance of Drains. — In the- Ca- 

 nadian Agricidturist, for February, we find an 

 earnest word of caution from a correspondent, who 

 says that a year or two since he wrote an article 

 recommending drains to be only eight yards apart. 

 Further experience and observation has satisfied 

 him that in many cases this distance may be 

 greatly increased. He is now satisfied that he 

 had thrown hundreds of pounds away, and is sure 

 others have thousands, and he wishes to prevent 

 this in future. He cites a case stated by Mr. Me- 

 chi, in which a field of twenty acres was drained 

 by a single drain, four feet six inches deep. 



