394 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEE. 



Sept. 



went away, — or the roses and syringas of a later 

 date, we have now beds of flaunting, gaudy, but 

 almost scentless phloxes — the dahlia, marygold 

 and aster. Then the cardinal, whose scarlet blos- 

 soms made the meadow so gay in August, has 

 had its day, and the clematis has changed its 

 white blossoms for a feathery mass of little curl- 

 ing tendrils. 



At home, too, we insensibly glide into a differ- 

 ent way of life. Instead of gathering about the 

 great front door, or sitting out on the piazza of 

 an evening, we come to the bright parlor lamp, 

 and say to each other that the evenings are grow- 

 ing chilly, although nobody likes to insinuate that 

 it is time for fires yet. It doesn't come amiss, 

 though, if we can get a seat near the kitchen 

 stove, accidentally, while the tea is being pre- 

 pared. 



There is something very pleasant in this reas- 

 sembling of a family group around a common cen- 

 tre, after the more wandering habits of hot weath- 

 er, and the social delights of autumn and winter 

 evenings go far to compensate for the loss of the 

 delicious romance of summer. 



As a farming community, we have had, on the 

 whole, our usual prosperity during the present 

 season, although the disease among the cattle has 

 caused pretty serious inconvenience in some lo- 

 calities. But we hope that time, and a better ac- 

 quaintance with the disease, will remedy the evil. 



There have been, perhaps, about the usual num- 

 ber of events capable of furnishing subjects of 

 talk at stores and depots, and the corners of the 

 streets. There was the tornado at the West which 

 carried cows and horses through the air as if they 

 had been so many insects — and the storm in this 

 vicinity which did not "spare that tree" on Bos- 

 ton Common, — a comet with a tail about as large 

 as that of a good sized rat, and a partial eclipse 

 of the sun. So much in the way of meteorology 

 and astronomy. 



Then, to descend to a lower sphere, there have 

 been the Presidential nomination, a visit from 

 those diminutive specimens of humanity, the Jap- 

 anese, and the sailing of Dr. Hayes toward that 

 Unknown Sea, and tlie unknown regions that may 

 lie beyond, the search of which has already cost 

 so much in money and human life. Success to 

 the brave navigator. 



When the stray items of another summer are 

 gathered up, may pleasant returns from him and 

 his crew brighten our recording page ! 



Fine Diffusion of Gold. — Professor Faraday 

 supposes that if a leaf of gold, which is only 

 1-280,000 of an inch thick, and weighs about 8.2 

 of a grain, yet covers a superfices of nearly ten 

 square inches, were diff'used through a column of 

 solution having that base, and 2.7 inches in 



height, it would give a ruby fluid equal in depth 

 of tint to a good, red rose ; the volume of gold 

 present being about the one five hundred thous- 

 andth part of the volume of fluid. — Timbs' Curi- 

 osities of Science. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 CUTTING AND CURING OF HAY. 



There is no part of the farmer's employment in 

 the month of July of more importance than this. 

 When and how grass shall be cut for the making 

 of hay, are inquiries that will be likely to be an- 

 swered, according to the education and practice of 

 those who answer. I have supposed that grass 

 should be cut when grown, so as to produce the 

 greatest weight when cured — say between the 

 bloom, and the maturing of the seeds. If suffered 

 to remain longer than this, it becomes hard and 

 wiry, and loses that aromatic flavor which is the 

 beauty of new-mown nay. 



My attention has been drawn to this point, by 

 the assertion of gentlemen of experience, that it 

 is best to let grass stand until fully ripe, before 

 it is cut, because it will then be quicker and easi- 

 er made into hay. I cannot concur in this opin- 

 ion. 



How shall it be cut, with a scythe, or with a 

 mower, by horse-power ? I had supposed it to 

 have been demonstrated, again and again, that 

 full one-half the expense of cutting can be saved 

 by the use of a mower of approved construction. 

 I know nothing to the contrary of this, unless it 

 be, that the expense of fitting up mowers will be 

 disproportionate to the wants of small farmers. 

 Where this is so, several farmers, in the same 

 neighborhood, may unite in the owning of a ma- 

 chine ; and have a common operator to guide it. 



A machine can be used for the cutting of ten 

 acres per day, without unreasonable fatigue to 

 man or beast. This would require the labor of ten 

 men — as work is usually done with a scythe. I 

 therefore unhesitatingly approve of dispensing 

 with the use of man-power, when it can be done 

 so advantageously as in the cutting of grass. m 



Essex Co., Mass., July, 1860. * " 



Remarks. — So mote it be, Mr. *. Prejudice is 

 more than a "monster of frightful mien" — for if 

 it would frighten some persons into a sense of 

 their own interests, it would be well. But it does 

 not, for they worry along for years fighting di- 

 rectly against their own comfort and interest, 

 merely because they are determined the world 

 shall go no faster than they do. 



COLIC IN HORSES. 



A' correspondent of the Farmer''s Advocate, (E. 

 S. Phelps, Jr.,) gives the following recipe for colic 

 in horses : 



"I knew a horse taken with colic while on a 

 tread-wheel to a carding machine, so that the 

 owner thought he could not live. He got three 

 veterinary surgeons, and they did what they could, 

 and all decided the horse must die. The man's 

 wife, who believed and practiced hygiene, from 

 the time the horse was taken, tried to persuade 

 her husband to use a wet bandage, but he insisted 



