1880. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



48'; 



close of summer, previonsly to their departure, they 

 are again occasionally heard, but their note is now 

 languid and seldom uttered ; and early in September 

 they leave us for the more genial climate of tropical 

 America, being there found giving their usual lively 

 ciy in the wilds of Cayenne and Demerara." 



CROPS IN MINNESOTA. 



As you are interested in agi-icultural matters in all 

 portions of onr wide country, I will say a word in refer- 

 ence to the farming interest in this region. 



The farmers are now in the midst of their wheat 

 harvest, and all unite in saying that the present in- 

 gathering is by far the most abundant they have ever 

 h.id in this region. Indeed, it would ])e a veiy diffi- 

 cult matter tolind any land which seems so well fitted 

 by nature to j'ield an alnindant increase of small 

 grains as this. A soil of limestone formation, just as 

 rich as nature could make ie, seemingly, cannot but re- 

 ward the farmer with a hundred fold increase for his 

 labor bestowed upon it. It is a wonderful soil for pro- 

 ducing potatoes as well as wheat. One man assures 

 me that last year he raised no less than sixty bushels 

 of potatoes from one-half bushel of seed. Did you 

 ever hear of such a yield before ? His mode of plant- 

 ing was to cut the seed potatoes into small pieces each 

 containing one eye only, and planting each piece by 

 itself. The weather here is unprecedently cold, now ; 

 I hear of frost in low places. The corn has not grown 

 any the last week or two, on account of the cold 

 weathei-. Edwin Teele. 



FROST IN THE FULL OF THE MOON. 



There was a frost in this vicinity on the nights of 

 the 2J, 3d and 4th inst., sufhcient to kill the corn and 

 potatoes in many places. Your Springfield correspon- 

 dent, (please insert the initials of Dr. Allen's name, I 

 forget them,) in his interesting letters to the Farmer 

 last winter, staggered my previous opinion in regard 

 to the frosts in "the full of the moon. I must watch him 

 and the frosts hereafter, a little more closely. 



To set the matter right, is the frost as frequent on 

 any three nights of the month of September, as on the 

 same numlicr of nights at the full of the moon ? I find 

 it hard as yet to decide in the atiirmative. 



Bethel, Me. Sejit. 6, 1860. N. T. True. 



Remarks. — The initials desired are "J. A. A." 



THE WHEAT CROP IN MAINE. 



This crop has not been as good as it is this j'car for 

 ten to fifteen years, and many old settlers say it has 

 not for twenty ; but as to this I cannot say. There has 

 been scarcely a failure of a remunerative ci'op where 

 it was sown in March and April, and in fact, I have 

 not seen or heard of a single piece sown thus early but 

 filled well and had no midge to injure. 



In Franklin and Somerset counties, I have seen a 

 few late-sown fields that were injured by rust and the 

 weevil or midge, considerably. It was easy to stand 

 by the edge of dilferent pieces and select heads con- 

 taining fifty kernels of perfect grain, each, where it 

 was sown early. Farmers are making preparations to 

 try its cultivation much more extensively, o. w. t. 



THE CROPS — HAWTHORN HEDGES. 



There has not been in this town, for many years past 

 at this time of the year, the appearance of a better in- 

 coming crop of farm produce than there is now. And 

 although the hay on both the uplands and inten^ales 

 has not been quite so much in bulk as usual, it will, 1 

 think, be more than made up in the extra yield of corn, 

 oats and barley. 



Have any of the readers of the Farmer ever tried to 

 raise a hedge from the planted berries of the common 

 Hawthorn (cratcpr/us) ? If they have, with what suc- 

 cess r John C. Gitchell. 



Boscaweii, N. H., Sept. 7, I860. 



ADVANTAGES OF A MOWING MACHINE. 



Some of j'our readers may be pleased to hear a 

 brother farmer's experience of a mowing machine. The 



season previous to my buying a mower I paid nearly 

 one hundred dollars for hired help to get my hay. The 

 season after I liought a mower I paid fifty cents for 

 help above what I mowed for my neighbors. The sec- 

 ond season I paid a man thirty-six dollars for work in 

 haying, did my own mowing, and mowed for others, 

 and had forty dollars left ! This season grass was veiy 

 light, and I had but little to cut, but I get thirty dol- 

 lars clear. Cost of mower $117. 



An Old Subscriber. 

 Addison County, Vt., Sept., 1860. 



FROSTS. 



There was in Franklin county, Me., a frost July 

 28, killing buckwheat, cucumbers, &c., in many places, 

 and in some very frosty places, corn and potatoes. Al- 

 so, September 2d and 4th, frosts quite general on low 

 lands and along rivers, doing some injury. Occasion- 

 ally a piece of corn was spoiled and more India and 

 buckwheat than in July ; yet in spite of the frosts 

 crops will be more than an average in Northern 

 Maine. 0. W. True. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE THUNDEH SHOWER. 



Mr. Editor: — On the morning of the 8th of 

 August the thermometer stood at 70° at sunrise, 

 and 98° at 12 M. The forenoon was so sultry 

 and so hot that people who labored suffered se- 

 verely. A little past the middle of the day a few 

 clouds of singular appearance suddenly collected 

 a little at the southwest of my dwelling-house, 

 which were soon succeeded by low murmuring 

 thunder and the appearance of rain. This little 

 beginning of a shower advanced so rapidly that 

 those people who were a little way from home 

 were thoroughly saturated with rain unexpectedly. 

 About this time portentous clouds were to be 

 seen collecting in the northern atmosphere, and 

 advancing rapidly to form a junction with the 

 forces from the southwest. While advancing to 

 meet each other the battle in the elements com- 

 menced in earnest, the lighter artillery commenced 

 the action by sudden electric discharges which 

 seemed to shatter and rend the heavens, and on 

 the two bodies meeting, (who can abide His 

 wrath ?) the great magazines of electricity explod- 

 ed in seeming vengeance at every object below. 

 I sat and saw the streaming fire issuing from the 

 clouds and coming down in every fantastic shape, 

 some zigzag, some in such large bolts as to split 

 into branches, but all tending directly to the 

 earth, to the horror of all people, and more espe- 

 cially of those who had barns well stowed with 

 new hay. The shower continued till near night, 

 with a frightful roaring and violent discharges of 

 heaven's artillery, till every one seemed to be im- 

 pressed that the damage must have been very 

 great in the destruction of life and property as 

 far as the shower extended. 



Reports have been afloat that barns were struck 

 in the towns of Andover, Middleton, Reading, 

 Danvers, and other places. It would be vi i-y grat- 

 ifying to many others as well as myself, to be in- 

 formed in thereports of these barn-burnings how 

 many had lightning conductors on them, or 

 whether they were all destitute of lightning rods. 

 There seems to be a prevailing interest in the 

 public mind in regard to the utility of lightning 

 rods. The best evidence is a statement of facts, 

 and the best way to come at facts, is to know 

 whether those buildings which were furnished 

 with rods were entirely exempt from disaster, oi 



