422 



NEW ENGLAND FAHMER. 



Sept. 



TOADS AND BLOODY MILK. 



I used to be told Avhen a boy, not to kill toads 

 and frogs, as it would make the cows give bloody 

 milk — but I did not suppose that any one really 

 believed it, until lately, I have met with two or 

 three that professed to believe in it. The idea 

 always appeared ridiculous to me, and does now ; 

 but they have so much faith in it, that I take the 

 liberty to ask you to give your opinion of it, and 

 should like the opinions of your readers, if any 

 are willing to say what they think of it. 



Corneal/, July, 1861. An Inquirer. 



Remarks. — Yes — we believe in it, in this way 

 — and in no other. Any person who will throw 

 clubs and stones at toads, frogs, and other useful 

 creatures, and wantonly murder them, will be 

 quite likely so to abuse their cows as to make 

 tJum give bloody milk ! 



To Destroy Flies. — To one pint of milk add a 

 quarter of a pound of raw sugar and two ounces of 

 ground pepper; simmer them together eight or ten 

 minutes^ and place it about in shallow dishes. The 

 flies attack it greedily and are soon suffocated. By 

 this method, kitchens, etc., may be kept clear of flies 

 all summer, without the danger attending poison. It 

 is easily tried. 



I found the above in last week's Farmer, and 

 tried it. But it won't do. My kitchen and din- 

 ing-room are overrun with flies of the most impu- 

 dent and adhesive breed ; and when 1 saw the 

 foregoing receipt for their mortality, I really felt 

 a glow of happiness. I tried it, as I said. But 

 instead of the "insects attacking the mixture" 

 greedily, they buzz around it with contemptuous 

 indifference, and light on everything else, as if to 

 show their disgust to this particular pizen. I 

 have not got a single fly into any of the shallow 

 dishes that are Ij'ing around baited with the ex- 

 terminating fluil. It's a humbug. 



If you know anything that loill fascinate and 

 kill flies by the million, do let us have it, and re- 

 ceive the endless gratitude of 



A Thousand Housekeepers. 



Remarks. — The common "fly-paper" of the 

 shops will destroy a great many ; so will a tum- 

 bler of sweetened water, covered with paper with 

 a hole in its centre. But the true way to keep 

 flies out of the kitchen, is, to have as little as 

 possible about that they can eat — then keep the 

 room dark by closing the blinds, or by other con- 

 trivances, leaving a small space open somewhere 

 to admit the light, so that when a fly does enter 

 he will pretty quickly make for the light and pass 

 out. The room need not be made so dark as to 

 make the necessary labor there unpleasant. We 

 are rarely troubled with flies in the kitchen, or in 

 the horse stables. 



Sex in Eggs. — A correspondent of the Lon- 

 don Field, talking on this subject, says : In all 

 eggs, whether of poultry or pigeons, there is to be 

 found an indentation, resembling the dimple in 

 the chin often to be found in our own sex, in the 

 round end of the egg. This mark will always be 

 found directly on the top or to the one side of 



the round end of the egg. If the breeder wishes 

 to select eggs for hatching cock birds let him pick 

 those having the dimple immediately on the top 

 of the egg, and if for hens let him choose those 

 eggs with the dimple to the one side. 



A PREMIUM FABM, AND THE MAN 

 WHO OWNS IT. 



We find in the New Hampshire Journal of 

 Agriculture the following "statement" of the 

 farm to which the Hillsborough North Agricultu- 

 ral and Mechanical Society awarded its first pre- 

 mium last fall ; and in another column of the 

 same paper, a brief history of the man who owns 

 the premium farm. We put them together, and 

 commend them particularly to the attention of 

 young farmers. 



The farm which 1 offer for premium, lies in the 

 east part of Deering. It is quite level, and for 

 the most part rather moist. It contains 165 acres, 

 divided as follows : 36 acres mowing, of which 

 25 acres are arable ; 84 of pasturing, and 45 of 

 woodland. Cut about 35 tons English hay and 

 three meadow. We usually break in the spring 

 for planting, and plant two years — the third year 

 sow down to grass — with wheat and no manure. 

 We plow in the new manure, and put the old in 

 the hill. 



Our corn averages about 35 bushels per acre. 

 Potatoes of late years, 125. We raise from 75 

 to 120 bushels of carrots, besides ruta bagas, su- 

 gar beets, &c. 



We think roots very profitable to raise, and 

 wonder that more farmers do not raise afeio. We 

 think one year's trial will insure a larger crop for 

 the second. Farmers, try them. 



We have underdrained some in one field, and 

 think it pays well. At last we have learned how 

 to reclaim our worthless bog holes, and make 

 them the most productive of any acre on the farm. 



The farm is well walled, and bushes kept down. 

 When I moved on the farm, every acre of the 

 field was covered with stone-heaps, from 25 to 

 40 per acre, and now not one is found in the 

 mowing. Herod Chase. 



I would say a word to those that think farming 

 is a hard and a slow way to make money. It is 

 so ; but it is a safe way. I will tell you how I be- 

 gun. I was bound out at the age of 14 years un- 

 til I was 21 for $100, and learn to read, write 

 and cypher as far as the single rule of three, and 

 learn the trade of a farmer. At 23 I married. At 

 that time 1 had added $200 more to the $100. I 

 moved home with my father-in-law, on to a farm 

 of 100 acres, somewhat out of repair. I then 

 purchased a pasture, for which I paid $800, which 

 brought me in debt $500. I carried on said farm 

 eight years, at the halves, giving him one-half of 

 the income of my pasture for the income of one- 

 half of his stock. At the expiration of eight years 

 he died. From that to the present time, I have 

 had three-fourths of the income, paying my moth- 

 er-in-law one-fourth. During that time, I have 

 improved the farm, kept the buildings in repair, 

 attended meeting regular, always paid the printer 

 in advance, and purchased a farm of 120 acres, 



