484 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



galleries are clear, and then commences to pump 

 air into the cavities, as he fits the cavity precisely 

 by shortening and enlarging his body, he pushes 

 out the foul air before him, and then converting 

 each end of his body alternately into a piston and 

 piston rod, by proper motion, he can send the air 

 along the gallery in any direction that he pleases. 

 He then descends, drawing the air along with 

 him. Thus his gallery has constantly a supply of 

 fresh air drawn into it, and the foul air pumped 

 out. In some rivers in Virginia, there is a fish 

 •which never rises from the bottom, and unless the 

 bait is kept on it, the fish will never bite. When 

 the fish is caught, if his stomach be opened, fresh 

 worms will be found in it, which shows that they 

 get a plentiful supply at the bottom of the stream. 

 Yet a worm cannot live long under water. Neith- 

 er can an otter, but both can feed in it. The 

 worm gets under some log at the bottom of the 

 stream, running a gallery to the places haunted 

 by the fish to feed, perhaps, on their spawn and 

 excrements, or dead fish ; then he constructs 

 another to the bank, and thence to the air. He 

 has a kind of cell under the log air tight, and 

 upon the principle of a diving-bell, he pumps air 

 into the cell under the log from the aperture in 

 the bank, and thus furnishes himself with a sup- 

 ply of air ; when he forages upon the fish ground 

 and feeds, he retires to his cell to get a fresh sup- 

 ply of air ; no doubt when seeking his food, un- 

 der water, the fish catches him. — SouWn Planter. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 NOTES FROM MAINE. 



The Weather. — It is really interesting to see 

 from the notes on weather in the different agri- 

 cultural journals, that while in one State they are 

 Bufi"ering for ram, in a bordering State it will be 

 the reverse of this. But here, in Maine, we do 

 not have to go even to another New England 

 State to find such a diversity, because among 

 our hills one county will be parched with the 

 "balmy breezes," and an adjoining county will be 

 flooded with continual rain ; though but little 

 detriment, upon the whole, accrues from either 

 extreme. 



In this part of the State (Franklin County) 

 the month of August has presented, almost un- 

 interruptedly, the best of weather for haying — 

 and this is the chief haying month, though there 

 is haying going on all through the month of July. 

 It has become quite dry, so much so that late 

 crops will be injured somewhat, as well as pota- 

 toes particularly; yetothers, such as corn, &c , will 

 be benefited rather than otherwise, by hurrying 

 them along. 



From April to the middle of July, it was truth- 

 fully called a wet and cold season ; not that there 

 were severe and long rain storms, but frequent 

 ones, just enough to keep it wet. The season has 

 been a marked one for cool nights. There have 

 been but few too warm to enable us to obtain 

 good, refreshing sleep under a respectable amount 

 of bed-clothes, in properly ventilated rooms of 

 suitable size for sleeping in. 



Stock Sales. — August brings the stock buyers 

 of beef along, and they continue scouring through 

 every nook and corner, as long as any cattle fit 

 for beef are to be found ; which usually extends 



to December and January ; thus bringing a mar- 

 ket to each farmer's door, however isolated he 

 may seem to be among the hills. The speculators 

 in stock, that is, those who buy low, for cash, or 

 take them for debts, and sell on time at a large 

 advance of prices, are busy now at their sure 

 harvests. Beef and young stock are going at a 

 low figure ; not near paying for their winter's 

 keep. 



Frosts. — For three years, with the present 

 one, that unwelcome visitor, frost, has visited the 

 county both late in Spring, cutting down and 

 destroying much, and early in the Fall. There 

 was a frost August 20th, and another September 

 2d, doing considerable damage in low places to 

 corn, potatoes and vines. There was a frost June 

 18th, cutting down squash-vines, and the like, 

 and in some places marking corn. 



Grain Apiiis. — Innumerable numbers of these 

 insects (new in this county, to any extent,) are 

 preying upon the cereal grains. They appear in 

 three classes or kinds — if that phrase is admissi- 

 ble — that is, one class of large brown ones ; one 

 medium sized, brown, and long winged ; and one 

 a grass green — the smallest. They are injuring 

 some fields of grain materially. The description 

 of them in any one place, in any of the agricul- 

 tural papers, applies so nearly, that none need be 

 given here. 



The Hay Crop. — Much has been said and 

 written about the abundant hay crop to be gath- 

 ered this season. It it better than last year, but 

 not what many anticipated. Many of the old 

 fields have not yet recovered, so as to yield as 

 well as before 1860, nor will they till plowed and 

 seeded ; and probably there has not been a year, 

 for quite a series of years, that so much new 

 seeded land failed "to catch" as in 1860. These 

 drawbacks cut down the sum total of hay some- 

 what more than was expected ; yet it is quite a 

 good crop upon the whole. Some farms cut two 

 and even three times as much as last year, and 

 others not so much. These are the extremes, of 

 course. 



Shingling. — Judge French, in speaking of his 

 shingles of clean rift shaved pine, in his "Letter 

 from the Homestead," says the roof needed re- 

 pairing after only about fifteen years' use. Now 

 they have not lasted half as long as good shaved 

 pine shingles do with us. Why is this ? Does 

 the tarred paper have a bad effect upon the roof 

 by stopping the circulation of air so that the 

 shingles do not dry on the under side, or were 

 they shaved so thin and laid to the weather so 

 much that they could not be expected to last 

 long ? How is this. Judge ? O. W. True. 



Elm Tree Farm, Sept., 1861. 



Composts. — Compost materials may be gath- 

 ered at this season in profusion, and at small ex- 

 pense. Muck, weeds, brakes, loam, refuse straw, 

 and, indeed, every variety of material that is re- 

 quisite to furnish a healthful and grateful food I 

 for plants, and a salutary strengthener of the * 

 soil. This is a department of the farming art to 

 which sufficient attention has not as yet been 

 given by our farmers. As he feeds his soil, so 

 will his crops abound, and feed him. 



