1S63. 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



171 



EXTKACTS AND REPLIES. 



FLAX CULTUKE — HEDQES^OFFEE. 



I notice that the inadequate supply of cotton has 

 awakened the cultivators of the soil to the importance 

 of raisins a larger amount of (lax. Napoleon the 

 First, in liis rciiin, saw the necessity of a larirer breadth 

 of land lieinj; devoted to that staple, and offered a gra- 

 tuity of one million of francs to that producer who 

 sowed the most acres and raised the finer varieties. 



I saw one farmer that planted a liedge of hemlock 

 to protect his newly set out orchard, and I should 

 judge, Ity the thrift that the trees indicated, that he 

 was amply repaid for his trouble. 



I read In the books that the East India Company 

 bought 2 llis. and 2 oz. of coffee as a present for the 

 King in 1064. It was first used to gratify the palate 

 of the royal family; but ere long it became an article 

 used in almost every family. In 1732, the duty on 

 coffee was 2s. a pound. But those who now procure 

 the pure and use it in preference to that which is bet- 

 ter, cold water, growl when it can be bought at the 

 price which was exacted then as a duty. To those I 

 would say that a few red oak acorns give to the rye 

 coffee a better flavor. s. p. m. 



April, 1863. 



A CORN BAKN. 



I would like to inquire through the Farmer the best 

 way to build a corn barn. Is the soutti side as good 

 for drying corn as any? Would corn dry if husked 

 and put into narrow bins, with grates on each side and 

 bottom, with the bin raised a few inches from the tloor, 

 without si;siding to the outside of the rr>om ? 



Keene, .V. H,, April, 1863. J. W. Nye. 



Remarks. — There is no one particular form for a 

 corn barn Itetter than all others, to our knowledge. 

 A cheap building, 15 or 20 feet long and 10 to 15 feet 

 wide, is a good form. It is better that it should not be 

 connected with any other building, and it should stand 

 on posts, and every paius be taken to keep rais and mice 

 out. In a building something like the one suggested, 

 the bins may be on every side, if it is desired, and the 

 corn will dry, and keep well, if it was ripe when it was 

 put into the bins. The space l)etween the slats should 

 not be more than half an inch in width. Where the 

 building was sufficientlj' wide, we have seen bins on 

 the sides, and one made of slat work extending the 

 whole length of the floor in the centre, and was in- 

 formed that the corn kept as well there as on the sides. 



HORSE PITCHFORK — APPLE WHISKEY. 



"Will you inform a subscriber to your valuable pa- 

 per if a horse pitchfork, for unloading hay in barns 

 from a load, can be purchased in Boston, and as to 

 their being efftcient and a labor saving implement ? as 

 I am to cut quite an arnotmt of hay this year as per 

 contract, I»esides my own. 



Also, if apple whi-^key can be made at a profit, if ci- 

 der is ^'2 per bbl., and freight to New York 40 cents, 

 owning a mill and power r Oli> Essex. 



Remarks. — We have been expecting to publish an 

 illustratiim of Palmer'.'J Excelsior Horse Pitchfork, 

 but as the engraving does not come, we will state that 

 Messrs. Pal.mer & Wackekhage.v, of Greenville, 

 Greene county, N. Y., have the horse pitchfork, and 

 will be likely to give any information asked for in re- 

 lation to it. 



We have no definite knowledge of the cost of mak- 

 ing apple whiskey. Many years ago it used to be 

 made by farmers in a very simple manner, and at 

 small cost. 



HOOTS FOR SHEEP. 



W^ill you inform through the Farmer of the best 

 and cheapest root to rai.se for feeding sheep, especially 

 breeding ewes? One most conducive to the well be- 

 ing of the sheep and growth of wool. What quantity 



of the same may be fed to advantage as a substitute 

 for hay and grain ? h. p. l. 



Hurrisburg, Vt., April, 1863. 



Remarks. — We think the cheapest and best root to 

 cultivate for feeding to sheep is the mnnriold ucurtzel. 

 It is hardy, grows quick, is easily cultivated and har- 

 vested, and is palatable and wh(jIcsomc for the sheep. 

 It also yields large crops per acre. A variety of roots 

 might l)e better, perhaps, such as an occasional mess 

 of carrots, ruta baga, flat turnip, or the white or red 

 beet. But the mangold is the root, in our opinion, 

 mainly to be relied upon. 



NURSERIES. 



We have no means of complying with the reqncBt 

 of "P. S.," of West Gloucester, in relation to the nur- 

 series of the United States. 



RAPID GROWTH IX A PIQ. 



I notice in the Farmer of the 4th of .\prll, nn ac- 

 count of a pig, slaughtered by Mr. How, of Gill, which, 

 to say the least, is a marvel. At 9'a months, say 

 285 days, it dressed 525 lbs.,— an increase of almost 

 two pounds per day, from the day of its birth ! I 

 must acknowledge this exceeds everything I have 

 heard of before, and I doubt its match is not often 

 found. One and one-fourth pound is all I have ever 

 been able to make myself, and L'j lbs. per diem the 

 highest I have known of previo<is to this. Unwitting- 

 ly, your typos did not tell a story, did they ? 



Salisbury, Conn. p. 



SHEEP TICKS. 



The best known preventive — a handful of com and 

 beans to a sheep a day, during the winter. Test it and 

 report through the Farmer. No "patent applied for !" 



I. w. 8. 



For tfie yete England Farmer, 

 POTATOES— OBCHARDINQ. 



Mr. Editor : — In passing from Pittsfield to 

 S])ringfiel(l a few weeks since, I was seated by the 

 side of a venerable Shaker from Lebanon Springs. 

 I took the liberty of introducing the subject of 

 farming, knowing these people are skilled in the 

 practice, and ])robably no class live more frugally 

 nor more strictly within the means of their own 

 earnings than do these Shakers. 



I named to him the practice of our potato-grow- 

 ers on Long Island, as I have taken occasion to 

 repeat in the Fnnncr the first four or five years. 

 He believed in planting large ])otatoes in prefer- 

 ence to small ones, but to cut off the tip or seed 

 end, or to cut out the cluster of small eyes on the 

 round potato, struck him very forciI)ly as the true 

 principle of getting large potatoes. He said wc 

 shall not fail to try the experiment this spring, 

 and to illustrate it, we will jjlant the small tips 

 or eves in one row, and the large pieces in anotli- 

 er. This will be a comfortable way of sorting 

 them. 



Three to five eyes in a hill, two feet apart, is 

 ample seeding. It will be found, the large vines 

 bring the large potatoes. The seed end is fed out 

 to the pigs in this region. 



He interested me much in the story of an or- 

 chard. He said, I bought some apple trees of a 

 nunserynian, ploughed deep, manured well, set 

 out my trees and cultivated the ground for four 

 year.s. The trees grew rapidly and the eighth 

 year they bore well. He had occasion to call on 

 the nurseryman about this time and went to see 

 his orchard' set out at the same time. But instead 

 of finding it thrifty and progressive, it had scarcely 



