288 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



STONES. 



When lands are to be laid to grass, great care 

 should be had to free the surface of all incum- 

 brances, and render it as smooth and level as pos- 

 sible, in order to facilitate the operation of the 

 scythe or mowing machine. On most lands, there 

 are generally many stones, which, although of 

 small size, are serious impediments to the mower. 

 These should be picked either before or after sow- 

 ing the grass seed, and not piled on the field but 

 taken oif by the cart or drag. An implement 

 called a "stone picker" has been invented, which 

 is said to work admirably, and to be capable of 

 saving three-fourths of the expense of picking by 

 hand. In a neighborhood of very stony farms it 

 would be well to look after such a machine. 



Where the surface of a field is covered with 

 stones, it is impossible to get all the grass, and 

 when the bottom is thick, a considerable portion of 

 the crop will be beneath the range of the scythe. 

 On fields that have been some time laid down, 

 one inch of the bottom is often worth two of the 

 top ; consequently a "close cut" is very important. 

 It is poor policy to pile stones on the field, either 

 in small or large heaps. They are not got rid of 

 in this way. The most economical method is to 

 pick them into a cart and convey them directly to 

 the lines where they are to be constructed into 

 fence, or used for some other purpose. 



Now that the mowing machine has come into 

 so general use, it is more important than ever that 

 the surface of mowing lands should be level and 

 free from stones. 



Many people lay down lands in August and 

 September,- -the practice is a good one, — and 

 •when the operation is going on in these two 

 months, let it be remembered, that it is h-ue econ- 

 omy to leave the field smooth and clear of ob- 

 structions either to mowing machine or scythe. 



The Agricultural College Land Grants. 

 — The certificates for land to be issued to those 

 States which have accepted the agricultural college 

 grant as being signed at the general land office in 

 Washington and in a few days the first issue will 

 be made to the State off" Rhode Island, which was 

 the first to avail itself of the grant. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



FLEAS ON A DOG. 



Can you tell me of any method to kill fleas on a dog ? 

 I have a valuable setter dog whose hair is very long. 

 I have tried whiskey, snuff, castile soap and tobacco 

 steeped in water. All of these they fat on. If you 

 can inform me through your valuable paper you will 

 much oblige a regular subscriber. i. h. w. 



Remarks. — Procure "Dodge's Infallible Vermin Ex- 

 terminator," and you will succeed without hurting the 

 dog. It is sold at 831 Broadway, New York, but 

 whether in Boston or not, we do not know. 



CITY HAYMAKERS. 

 Such was the surrounding of one city church- 

 yard that I saw last summer, on a Volunteering 

 Saturday evening towards eight of the clock, when 

 with astonishment I beheld an old man and old 

 woman in it making hay. Yes, of all occupations 

 in this world, making hay ! It was a very con- 

 fined patch of churchyard lying between Grace 

 church Street and the Tower, capable of yielding 

 say, an apronful of hay. By what means the old 

 man and woman had got into it with an almost 

 toothless, haymaking rake, I could not fathom. 

 No open window was within view ; no window at 

 all was within view sufficiently near the ground 

 to have enabled their old legs to descend from it ; 

 the rusty churchyard gate was locked, the mouldy 

 church was locked. Gravely among the graves 

 they made hay, all alone by themselves. They 

 looked like Time and his wife. There was but 

 the one rake between them, and they had hold of 

 it in a pastorally loving manner, and there was 

 hay on the old woman's black bonnet, as if the 

 old man had recently been playful. The old man 

 was quite an obsolete old man, in knee-breeches 

 and coarse gray stockings, and the old woman wore 

 mittens like unto his stockings in texture and in 

 color. They took no heed of me as I looked on, 

 unable to account for them. The old woman was 

 much too bright for a pew-opener, the old man 

 too meek for a beadle. On an old tombstone in 

 the foreground between me and them were two 

 cherubims ; but for those celestial eml)ellishment8 

 being represented as having no possible use for 

 knee-breeches, stockings, or mittens, I should 

 have compared them with the haymakers, and 

 sought a likeness. I coughed and awoke the 

 echoes ; but the haymakers never looked at me. 

 They used the rake with a measured action, draw- 

 ing the scanty crop towards them ; and so I was 

 fain to leave them under three yards and a half 

 of darkening sky, gravely making hay among the 

 graves, all alone by themselves. Perhaps they 

 were spectres, and I wanted a medium ? — Dickens' 

 All the Year Bound. 



Tomato Corn Cakes — A Spanish Recipe. — 

 Take a dozen ears of green corn ; split the rows 

 of kernels lengthwise with a knife, then shave off 

 and mash with a rolling pin ; or grate off the ker- 

 nels fine ; scald a dozen medium-sized tomatoes 

 and remove the skins ; beat three eggs well, and 

 mix the whole with a pint of milk, and flour 

 enough to make a batter ; add salt, pepper and 

 allspice to the taste ; fry on a griddle in the same 

 manner as buckwheat cakes, avoiding excess of 

 grease. 



J^^Mr. Bailey Sargent, seventy-seven years old, 

 of Orford, N. H., with his own hands, sowed and 

 harrowed this spring, fifty-three bushels of oats on 

 ten acres of land, which he also plouglied without 

 assistance, beside doing much other out-door farm- 

 ing work. "Young America" must look to its lau- 

 rels when veterans are possessed of such untiring 

 endurance. 



!^" A railway from the Canadian border to the 

 Pacific British possessions, is so seriously contem- 

 plated by the English government, that they have 

 resolved to grant a yearly subsidy of £12,500, and 

 also a large tract of land, to construct a road across 

 the continent. 



