554 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Dec. 



a million passed his ship in the course of twelve 

 hours. It is also called the Sea-Dove, Dovekie, 

 and little Guillemon. This beautiful little sea- 

 bird is but seldom seen on our coast. I have seen 

 but two taken in Danvers after violent north- 

 east storms, during a period of twenty-five years. 

 Mr. Audubon, in his synopsis of our birds, gives 

 us the scientific name of Mergulus Alle, and says it 

 is rare. s. P. F. 



Danvers, Oct. 19, 1861. 



CATERPILLARS IN THE GARDEN. 



The specimens sent by Mr. Stetson, are the 

 caterpillars of the painted Mamestra {Mamestra 

 picta,) a night-flying moth belonging to the same 

 division as that of the army worm, but of a differ- 

 ent genus. It is very common in July and Au- 

 gust, flying into lighted rooms in the evening. 

 The caterpillar, living as it does upon the leaves 

 of low plants, may readily be picked off and then 

 crushed. They very seldom occur in sufficient 

 numbers to do serious injury to any crops but 

 beets and cabbages, the leaves of which seem to 

 be its favorite food. F. G. Sanborn. 



State House, Boston, Oct., 1861. 



A cow THROWING UP HER FOOD. 



Can you tell what will prevent a cow from vom- 

 iting food from her stomach ? I have one that 

 will eat awhile and then throw it off. She con- 

 tinues to do so through the day, but not through 

 the night. A Subscriber. 



Enfield, Oct. 2, 1861. 



Remarks. — We cannot, but hope some other 

 person will be able to. It is the first of the kind 

 that has come to our knowledge. 



dwarf broom corn. 

 I have not noticed anything in the Farmer in 

 regard to the Dwarf Broom corn. I am anxious 

 to know how it has succeeded this season, and 

 •whether it is as good or better than the old sort. 

 I wish to obtain two or three bushels of dwarf 

 broom seed at a reasonable rate. 



A. N. Jenks, Jr. 

 Marlboro', Vt., Oct., 1861. 



crops. 

 The crops in this county, Carroll, N. H., are 

 fair this season. Corn will yield a more than av- 

 erage crop. Potatoes are medium in quantity 

 and superior in quality. Grain is rather light 

 and fruit scarce. There has been a good harvest 

 of hay. P. 



THE CARROLL COUNTY FAIR. 



was held at Ossipee, Oct. 2d and 3d. There was 

 a good exhibition of stock, produce and fancy ar- 

 ticles. The address before the Society was deliv- 

 ered by lion. Joel Eastman, of Conway. The 

 attendance was large. The fair gave universal 

 satisfaction. P. 



Cautious Men. — Some use words as riflemen 

 do bullets. They say little. The few words used 

 go right to the mark. They let you talk, and 

 guide with their eye and face, on and on, till 

 what you say can be answered in a word or two. 



and then they launch out a sentence and pierce 

 the matter to the quick, and are done. You 

 never know where you stand with them. "Your 

 conversation falls into their minds as rivers into 

 deep chasms, and are lost from sight by its depth 

 and darkness. They will sometimes surprise 

 you with words, that go right to the mark like a 

 gun shot, and then they are silent again as if 

 they were reloading. 



For the New England Farmer. 



A ROOT-CUTTER— THE SEASON- 

 CROPS— WHEAT. 



In looking over some back numbers of the 

 monthly Fanner I noticed in the June number p. 

 2.54, (which must have come when I was too ill to 

 look it over) an inquiry in regard to the price and 

 ^-place of obtaining a machine for cleaning and 

 cutting roots referred to by a correspondent in the 

 March number. If the inquiry has not yet been 

 answered, I will say that the maker is Daniel 

 Odiorne of this town, and the price is $10,00. 



Whenever I review numbers of the Farmer, I 

 often think what an amount of very valuable 

 matter they contain for preservation as a stand- 

 ard work, not for one generation only, nor for 

 farmers simply, but for all classes, sexes and con- 

 ditions till the Re-United States shall have seen 

 eye to eye and labored hand to hand in patriotic 

 progress, while children's children bless their ef- 

 forts. 



Our first freeze to do any hurt occurred last 

 night — mercury 18 degrees above zero this morn- 

 ing — the coldest for the season for many years. 

 Our wheat crop has not been so good as last 

 year^averages about 15 bushels per acre I think, 

 of good quality ; corn better than an average — 

 potatoes good — hay abundant — other crops, ex- 

 cept fruit, a fair product. Some fields of wheat 

 had a large amount of spurred wheat — for which 

 we cannot satisfactorily account ; what is your 

 theory as to the cause of spurred grain ? 



I think, perhaps, on second thought, this aver- 

 age is too small, as I have not heard of more than 

 half a dozen who have threshed, and 20 bushels 

 would be a nearer average ; one man had over 

 200 bushels of very superior wheat from ten 

 acres. Last year the average would be nearer 

 30 bushels per acre ; one man had, as I have been 

 told, forty-three bushels per acre from four acres ! 

 Our farmers have of late been taking more pains 

 to sow only pure seed and only the largest kinds 

 that, with very perceptible advantage. R. N. 



Randolph, Vt., Oct., 1861. 



BEAN MEAL FOR PIGS. 



In England, on the continent, the practice pre- 

 vails quite extensively, of feeding pigs and young 

 swine on bean-meal. The beans are ground the 

 same as corn or wheat with us. The Mark Lane 

 Express says on this subject: 



"A subscriber wishes us to inform him what is 

 the best food for fattening pigs ? I have myself 

 tried nearly every description of food, and have 

 never found anything to produce so much weight, 

 or so fine meat, in a given time, as bean meal. 

 Some pigs fed with food mixed with fine top- 



