1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



205 



Turnip. — From one or two pounds are general- 

 ly allowed to an acre ; one ounce will sow 2000 

 square feet. 



Water Melon. — One ounce will plant from 40 

 to 50 hills. 



AORICULTUEAL SEEDS. 



Quantity taryincf according to the soil, and tchether 

 sown in dnlls or broadcast. 



After they have used a handkerchief they throw 

 it away, and are thus saved the trouble of a wash- 

 erwoman. They even weave their paper, and 

 make what may be called paper cloth of it. 



Cotton in tiik Last War with England. — 

 A correspondent of the Ohio Farmer, who was em- 

 ployed in a New Enj^land factory at that time, 

 says that as the war progressed, factories increased 

 in number and size. 



As the British cruisers filled all our bays and 

 inlets, we soon had to send teams and wagons to 

 Virginia and the Carolinas, to liaul cotton for the 

 factories, paying five to six cents a pound for cot- 

 ton, and twenty-five to forty cents per pound for 

 hauling. Our cotton and woolen goods were then 

 selling at much liigher prices than now. We were 

 then well supplied with wool and flax of our own 

 raising, and a great majority of our families made 

 all, or the greater portion of their clothing from 

 these materials in their own dwellings. 



Li 1S13, our factory made a purchase of cotton 

 in Boston, at fifty cents per pound, called "Chili 

 cotton ;" it was superior to the then Southern cot- 

 ton, and was packed in raw hides, laced up by 

 thongs. I often think of this and query, "Can't 

 we still get cotton from Peru and Chili ?" 



Japanese Oddities. — One great peculiarity of 

 the people is their mania for squatting ; they seem 

 to do everything in this position, and even when 

 a man is ploughing in a field he looks as if he 

 wanted to squat. Their habits in many things 

 seem to be so often exactly the opposite of ours, 

 that it almost resolves itself into a rule that every- 

 thing goes by contraries. When they cook a 

 goose, instead of putting the goose on the fire, 

 they put the fire in the goose, thus making a great 

 saving of fuel. In planing or sawing a board, 

 they plane or saw toward themselves instead of 

 from themselves. When you go into a house, in- 

 stead of taking off your hat you take off" your 

 shoes. Instead of saying John Smith, they would 

 say Smith John, and instead of Mr. Brown, Brown 

 Mister. The country is rich in flowers and in 

 vegetable productions. They have carried the art 

 of making paper to great perfection. Dr. Mc- 

 Gowan showed an overcoat made of paper, per- 

 fectly strong and serviceable. In this country we 

 have paper collars, but in Japan they go further, 

 and have paper handkerchiefs, which are very 

 beautiful and soft, and of very fine texture. But 

 they are more delicate than we, in one respect. 



Shoeing Houses and Oxen— From the in- 

 troduction of an article on this subject, written by 

 Mr. I). Stiles, of Middleton, and published in the 

 New Hampshire Journal of Af/ricuUure, we clip 

 the following paragraph. The writer, who says 

 that he has been engaged in shoeing horses and 

 oxen thirty-five years, admits that upon our grav- 

 elly soil and hard roads we mioni shoe, but says : 



"More cattle and horses suffer from bad shoeing 

 than all other causes ])ut together. I have known 

 many cases where, if they were let alone, even if 

 their feet were worn through on the bottom and 

 bled, it would be less painful and far more health- 

 ful to their feet. Did you ever know a horse or 

 an ox whose feet were spoiled by going bare, or 

 without shoes ? I never did, and I don't believe 

 anybody ever did, yet I have seen some sore feet, 

 and so thin ilvdt you could see through to the 

 quick, and the blood sometimes oozing out ; but 

 a little care in shoeing, or rest without shoeing, 

 would make all right and perfectly natural." 



Ploughing. — Light or gravelly soils which 

 quickly become dry, may be ploughed at almost 

 any time ; but rich loams should be taken at pre- 

 cisely the right period. If ploughed too early 

 while yet wet, they may become i)oached and in- 

 jured for the season. If left too late, the sjjring 

 rains may have settled back wiiat the frosts ot 

 winter liave loosened. Ploughing well saves 

 much labor in subsequent tilh^ge. Narrow furrow 

 slices, (except with sward,) pulverize the soil more 

 perfectly, and leave a beautiful mellow suriaLC. 

 Furrows seven or eight inches deep, and only six 

 inclies wide are easy for the team, and leave the 

 1 md in veiy handsome condition. — t'ounlri/ (Jen- 

 tloiian. 



He who asked the daughter's hand, and got the 

 father's foot, had the consolation of knowing that 

 his wooing was not bootless. 



