1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



363 



What, then, some reader may inquire, Avill be- 

 come of her little turkeys ? Why, Mr. Gobbler 

 will look after them and brood them at night. 

 He is a very tender parent, I can tell you. Last 

 year a little turkey got lamed, and had much diffi- 

 culty in getting over -walls with the others. The 

 motlier with the ninety and nine would move on 

 despite his cries, but the old gobbler would fly 

 back and forth, never deserting the lost lamb till 

 some place was found where he could get over. 



Turkeys are easy to raise if you are careful for 

 the first five or six weeks. They should then have 

 eggs boiled hard and chopped fine and soaked in 

 milk, afterwards some dough. They must be 

 kept in during storms, and while the dew is on, 

 during this early period. Afterwards the sum- 

 mer flies and grasshoppers will relieve you from 

 feeding, and furnish the turkeys sumptuous re- 

 pasts. They are useful in clearing the fields of 

 insects. They arc sad strollers, constantly per- 

 ambulating, like the restless spirits who sing, 



"We'll wander this wide world over, 

 And then to another we'll go." 



But if you have ample space, they are a profitable 

 fowl to raise. F. 



Wayland, 1860. 



PLUM CULTUKE. 

 BY PRUNUS GAGE. 



There is no good reason why we should not 

 have good crops of plums. The most difficult en- 

 emy to be conquered is the curculio, and there is 

 evidence during the past season that this insect 

 could be beaten from the field if we only go at 

 him with a determination to "carry the war toex- 

 tremeties, and give no quarter." It is not right 

 that on our clay soils we should be obliged to give 

 up this delicious fruit ; and the full crops secured 

 by S. O. Knapp, of Jackson, the present year, 

 prove that plums can be grown. His trees the 

 past autumn were very fully laden with very lus- 

 cious fruit. But he attended to the curculio at 

 the proper season. His plan was the sheet and 

 mallet, every morning. Some of his trees had been 

 paved around for a few feet from the tree, and he 

 observed that the curculio did not work so freely 

 in the branches over the pavement as they did 

 where they were over the ground. Many try the 

 sheet and mallet, but leave it off" before the sea- 

 son is over. They don't stick to it. Others let 

 their poultry attempt the work, but the poultry 

 can only destroy a part, from the fact that the 

 curculio is a cunning insect, and soon buries it- 

 self out of the reach of all kinds of barn-yard 

 fowls. 



That a crop of plums is one of the most profi- 

 table known there is no question. The point to 

 be come at, is how to raise them. The soil in ev- 

 ery case should contain clay, or be a somewhat 

 stiff loam, and in choosing a location, the yard 

 should be by itself, so that it may be separated or 

 fenced in whenever it is deemed necessary. A 

 yard a hundred feet square will aff'ord room for 

 about forty trees, set about fourteen or fifteen feet 

 apart in the rows, say seven rows of six trees in 

 each row. The ground should be well tile-drained 

 and should be trench plowed, before the trees 

 are set, and then the following seven varieties, a 

 row of each kind being grown, may be selected, 



viz : the Imperial Gage, the Jefferson, Bolmar 

 Washington, McLaughlin's, Coe's Golden Drop, 

 Heine Claude de Bevay, Blue Imperatrice. — 

 The soil in the plum yard should never be permit- 

 ted to grow grass or any other crop whatever, es- 

 pecially after the- trees begin to fruit, or before, 

 unless absolutely necessary, then only such crops 

 as turnips, parsnips, carrots or potatoes. No corn 

 or grain should ever be permitted amongst fruit 

 trees of any kind. 



After the trees have matured so that fruit is set 

 from the blossoms each year, then the ground 

 should be pulverized and rolled as solid as possi- 

 ble each spring before the season for the curcu- 

 lio. During the curculio season, we would again 

 roll it once a week, and turn in the poultry, es- 

 pecially broods of ducks, to devour all the insects 

 which might be found troublesome to the fruit. 

 Besides this treatment the trees should be shaken 

 every morning to dislodge the curculios, so that 

 they might come Avithin the reach of poultry, and 

 be destroyed. By this system it is claimed, first, 

 that the plowing turns down to a great depth the 

 insect, which has just reached the surftice and is 

 ready to commence operations with the arrival of 

 the season ; second, that the rolling consolidates 

 the surface, and makes it more difficult to work 

 his passage out, and presents a smooth surface, 

 so that should any of the larva fall from the tree, 

 they do not so readily find crannies and nooks 

 into which they can crawl and hide from the ento- 

 mological researches of the ornithological tribes ; 

 third, the jarring of the trees should be steadily 

 followed up, because, if any insects do ascend to 

 attack the fruit, the only plan to save the year's 

 fruit is to attend to their destruction at the prop- 

 er time, and on a rolled surface they are as easily 

 destroyed either by hand or by poultry, as though 

 they were on a white sheet. 



In addition to this treatment, after the curcu- 

 lio season is over, the yard should be topdressed 

 with half a bushel of salt, and a couple of bushels 

 of air-slaked lime, with a good coating of marsh 

 muck compost late in the fall. 



With this treatment a crop of plums may be 

 raised as easily as a crop of cherries, and every 

 tree in the course of three or fovu- years will easi- 

 ly yield a profit of from five to ten dollars for ev- 

 ery one invested. There are no difficulties in the 

 plum culture that cannot be conquered, if wo only 

 use the means which common sense points out as 

 necessary to follow. But it will not do to try for 

 one season, and imagine that all further work or 

 care is to be dispensed with. The work must be 

 performed every season, if we would have a crop 

 every year ; just bear that in mind. — Michigan 

 Farmer. 



ONE BKIOK WKONG. 



Workmen were lately building a large brick 

 tower, which was to be carried up very high. The 

 architect and the foreman both charged the ma- 

 sons to lay each brick with the greatest exactness, 

 especially the first course, which were to sustain 

 the rest. Plowever, in laying a corner, by acci- 

 dent or carelessness, one brick was set a very lit- 

 tle out of line. The work went on without its 

 being noticed, but as each course of bricks was 

 kept in a line with those already laid, the tower 

 v/as not put up exactly straight, and the highes 



