384 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:MER. 



Aug. 



SCIONS — CROPS IN ILLINOIS. 



I notice in your April or May number of the 

 Farmer that a Mr. S. A. Shurtleff offers to fur- 

 nish scions of certain sweet apples, but does not 

 give his address sufficient to enable us to send for 

 them. You will oblige me very much by giving 

 it in full. 



The ])rospect for farmers is very good. Wheat 

 is nearly ripe, the yield and quality of grain will 

 be very good. Of corn, there is more than usual 

 planted, and owing to a dry June it has been very 

 easily kept clean. A good crop is almost certain. 

 Other crops look well, except meadows which were 

 all injured, and a good deal entirely destroyed by 

 the army worm. Of hogs, there is about the usu- 

 al number, but will make a better average than 

 common. Fruit is promising — we have had plen- 

 ty of cherries for some weeks, and will have for 

 weeks to come. Apple trees are about full enough 

 and peaches are overloaded. Wm. Cutter. 



Beverly, Adams Co., Illinois. 



Remarks. — Excellent, this is a cheering letter. 

 Dr. S. A. Shurtleff, Brookline, Mass., is the ad- 

 dress you inquired for. 



THE CROPS. 



After one week's scorching sun, ranging every 

 afternoon in the shade, from 83° to 95°, we have 

 been favored with refreshing showers of rain, last 

 evening and this morning. Our hay crop is de- 

 cidedly good, and has been cured in the very best 

 manner. Indian corn looks vigorous and luxuri- 

 ant, and is now growing splendidly. How it is 

 with wheat and other English grains, I have not 

 noticed, but have no reason to think there will 

 be any deficiency in those crops. Fruits of all 

 kinds, excepting strawberries, are likely to fail. 

 I have never known strawberries better than this 

 season. On the whole, there is every reason to 

 bless God that our lines have fallen to us under 

 such favorable auspices. J. w. P. 



July 10, 1861. 



N. B. — I went out this afternoon to look at the 

 fields of onions — found them few and far between. 

 On inquiry for the destroyer, found that he had 

 not failed to appear, and that the specific remedies 

 that have been recommended find no favor with 

 sensible men. 



HOW TO RAISE CREAM IN HOT WEATHER. 



Allow me to suggest to the readers of the Far- 

 mer a simple method of management to raise good 

 cream in hot weather ; it will cost nothing, and is 

 simply the following : Milk in tin pails, and af- 

 ter milking set the pails into a tub of cold water 

 ten or fifteen minutes — stir it in the mean time, 

 occasionally, before straining off. I have tried it 

 for years, with good success. S. Byington. 



Btockbridge, July 8, 1861. 



Cabbage for Fodder. — There is no vegetable 

 that can be planted after the first of July that 

 will give so great a yield of fodder as cabbages ; 

 and no one who is likely to be short of pasturage, 

 or winter feed, should neglect this highly impor- 

 tant adjunct to his other crops. The notion that 

 cabbages should only be grown by the dozen, for 

 cooking in the kitchen, is an old and we may add 



a foolish one. Grow them by the thousand, and 

 after pasture fails, feed them from where they 

 are growing to every domestic animal on the 

 farm. When the ground freezes, pull up your 

 cabbage crop and store it in the cellar, or the 

 barn, or under straw, until you can feed it out. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 INFIiUENCB OP THE MOON" ON" TIMBER. 



On looking over the pages of the Monthly Far- 

 mer for July, just at hand, I perceived remarks 

 on the "influence of the moon on cutting of tim- 

 ber," &c. The moon has so long been loaded 

 with absurdities about "the cutting of timber," 

 "the growing of crops," the bringing into the 

 world calves, pigs and children, and hundreds of 

 other things, that it is time she was vindicated 

 from such slanderous abuses. This brings to 

 mind a conversation I once heard, where a large 

 number of persons were present, and the venera- 

 ble Timothy Pickering, of Salem, was of the 

 number. One of these gentleman, a captain of 

 Rowley, had been explaining the importance of 

 having regard to the size and position of the 

 moon, when timber was cut, saying that he had 

 followed the business of cutting such timber, and 

 taking it to market for many years, and knew 

 whereof he affirmed, and this he did with marked 

 emphasis, it being after eleven o'clock in the day, 

 those being times when this hour of eleven was 

 duly regarded by many men, especially when they 

 were at the tavern. Says the old gentleman, 

 Pickering, rising with all the dignity at his com- 

 mand, "My good friend, I beg of you never again 

 to introduce the moon, as having an influence on 

 the quality of timber, where I am present. I have 

 lived more than eighty years, and seen much of 

 the world, and I can assure you, she has no more 

 to do with it, than the 'man in the moon.' " The 

 brave captain was silent, and said no more. 



July 9, 1861. J. W. Proctor. 



Large Fruit Farm. — The Oardener's Month- 

 ly, of Philadelphia, gives an account of the Rev. 

 J. Knox's fruit farm in Pittsburg. Fifty acres are 

 planted with strawberries, ten with raspberries, 

 ten with blackberries, seventeen with peaches, 

 ten with apples, and three with grapes, &c. The 

 ground for strawberries is abundantly enriched, 

 and to give some idea of the amount of labor ex- 

 pended on this fruit, it is stated that in spring- 

 time over one hundred persons are employed on 

 the grounds at one time. 



N. H. Journal of Agriculture. — W. H. 

 GiLMORE, Esq., has sold his interest in the New 

 Hampshire Journal of Agriculture, to F. B. 

 Eaton, Esq., who will control the journal here- 

 after. Mr. Eaton says, — "We come to this work 

 with an earnest purpose and conscious desire to 

 make it worthy of support." We wish these qual- 

 ities success, and hope the Journal will merit a 

 most liberal patronage. We welcome brother 

 Eaton into the corps and the good cause. 



