290 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



many families must go half a mile, at least, for 

 the milk for their coffee and tea ! The scene is 

 truly a sad one. Fifty head have died of the dis- 

 ease, beside what have been destroyed by order. 

 With the exception of a single case in New Brain- 

 tree, the Commissioners think the disease is con- 

 fined within the limits of North Brookficld. But 

 as Mr. C. Stoddard, 2d, sold a portion of his stock 

 by auction, last November, it may break out from 

 those at some new point. 



The appropriation by the Legislature was only 

 $10,000 ; the Commissioners have already ex- 

 pended $20,000, and the work is not completed. 

 What is to be done ? It must be this. The peo- 

 ple all over the State must subscribe a guarantee 

 fund, and this must be done so generally that if 

 the Legislature refuses to cancel the debt — which 

 it will not refuse to do — the assessment will fall 

 upon so many as not to become a burden. With- 

 out such a fund, the Commissioners will not feel 

 justified in going much further, and thus all that 

 has been done will' be lost. We suggest, also, to 

 the several county societies to pledge their boun- 

 ty to the cause for one jear, and to omit the show 

 of neat stock in the next autumnal exhibitions. 

 Decided and substantial measures must be at once 

 adopted, or a calamity will befall the Common- 

 wealth such as it has never yet experienced. 



I should be glad to make some further sugges- 

 tions were not my letter already long, and my 

 lieart pained with the sad details of the day. If 

 any entertain doubts or lack sympathy for those 

 suffering, let them witness the scenes we have 

 seen to-day and they will no longer be indifferent 

 or doubting. The Commissioners have gained a 

 high reputation for the energy and fairness they 

 have exhibited. Truly yours, 



Simon Brown. 



Mesarg. Nodese, Eaton & Tolmaji. 



For the New Ensland Farmer. 

 THE CULTURE OF FLAX. 



I noticed in the Farmer of Feb. 11th, remarks 

 of S. M- Allen, at a meeting of the Legislative 

 Agi'icultural Society. I am interested in those 

 discussions. The soil best adapted for the growth 

 of flax is a clay loam. I should prefer clear clay, 

 or marl, to a sandy soil, or a mucky, light, po- 

 rous soul, as on the latter it will neither give a 

 profitable return in seed or lint. Jonah's gourd 

 was destroyed by a worm, so also is many a piece 

 of flax ; also by violent hail storm. To insure 

 against grubs, cut and wire worms, sow on an 

 area ot KiO rods of ground, 160 quarts coarse 

 salt, which materially assists the growing crop as 

 regards both seeding and lint. 



I admit it is a more sure crop, on the right soil, 

 than wheat, or oats ; nevertheless, I have some- 

 times had a failure, when it was nearly Avorthiess, 

 for the seed, or lint, but in that case not a dead 

 loss, as it then answers a valuable purpose for 



feeding stock, and making manure. I think it 

 easier of decomposition than hay or straw, being 

 highly charged with potash, as is evinced by the 

 marked effect it has when spread on grass land, the 

 first shower discoloring the golden hue of the flax 

 fibre, but imparting a most brilliant green tint to 

 the aftermath of grass where it is spread. In 

 short, the various uses to which it can be put are a 

 high recommendation in its favor ; viz. : as sup- 

 ])lying linseed oil, oil meal for stock, superior for 

 fattening qualities to corn meal, also an excellent 

 article as manure ; the lint, if it cannot be cot- 

 tonizcd, is wanted for cordage, shoe thread, and 

 various other uses. A volume might be written 

 in favor of flax culture. For seeding for the lint, 

 or fil)re, two bushels of seed per acre, but for the 

 seed only, one and a half bushels seed per acre 

 is suffici'.'nt. Elisil\ Fuller. 



Middlehury, YL, 1860. 



For the Neip England Farmer. 

 THE CUBCULIO. 



Mr. Editor : — You will gratify at least one of 

 your readers by publishing before the curculio 

 season the following report of the remarks of Dr. 

 Fitch, on this insect ; being part of his third New 

 Haven Lecture. 



In the spring of 1850, 1 planted an orchard of 

 some 125 apple trees, which I have watched pret- 

 ty closely, as it is my agricultural pet. The com- 

 mon caterpillar, the ordinary borer, bark lice, &c., 

 troublesome as they are, I have kept in check 

 with comparative ease. But for the curculio I 

 am no match. As the coon said to Davy Crock- 

 ett, so must I say to this contemptible insect, "If 

 that is you, I'll come right down." Morning af- 

 ter morning I have spread the sheets, caught and 

 killed the bugs by hundreds, gathered and burned 

 the fruit as it fell, and yet at the close of the cur- 

 culio season scarcely an unmarked specimen was 

 to be found cither on the ground or on the trees, 

 while the surface of many of the young apples 

 that still clung to the branches were literally cov- 

 ered Avith the hacks. 



In this my bootless contest with a visible and 

 palpable enemy, that I have seen destroying my 

 fruit, I have been provoked and surprised to hear 

 people account for the late repeated failure of the 

 apple crop by talking about "unfavorable weather 

 in the spring," "a thunder shower when apples 

 were in bloom," or some other fashionable and 

 time-honored excuse. 



In the discussion last winter on small fruits by 

 our Legislative Agricultural Society, over which 

 your honor, Mr. Editor, presided, and at which I 

 took much pains to be present, the name of my 

 friend, the curculio, was not even mentioned. 

 And yet even the choice and polished specimens 

 of fruits displayed on the tables of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society have often borne evi- 

 dence on their cheeks of the unsuccessful hacks 

 of the curculio. 



In the published Transactions of the Ohio Po- 

 mological Society, I find that the subject of the 

 curculio was forced upon the consideration of the 

 members of this body at their late session at Co- 

 lumbus, by the direct queries of N. Longworth, 

 which elicited "much general conversation," says 

 the report, (p. 25,) but "no one present teas of the 



