i:864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



125 



ibell as at those three "dwarfish, insignificant, 

 dirty, scrubby merino lambs." And I think it 

 was also intended to prove an extinguisher to the 

 whole race of merinos. But I am happy to say 

 phat some of them "still Hve ;" and if Mr. Weld 

 jivants to see evidence that they deserve to- live, he 

 lnust accept this challen<?e • He is at liberty to se- 

 lect the best and mot-t profitable flock of any of 

 |,he English i)reeds within the limits of the United 

 [State, and show on undoubted authority the real 

 jiet profit per head of keeping- the same for a year; 

 jind if I am not able, on equally reliable teslimo- 

 liy, to prove that merino flocks, equally large, 

 lave given iheir owners iicice as greit profit per 

 lead as baid mutton sheep, I will write no more 

 n their defence. I do not wi^h to be understood, 

 n anything I have said, to a])prove the cross of 

 he merino with the Leicester and South. Down. 

 '. interpret the article as a fling at the merinos, 

 md hence my challtnge. And until fiiuilly beat- 

 n, I claim for the merino a po.-<ition second to no 

 »ther breed of sheep, and p^ifectly adapted to 

 lach an^ every county of Maine. 



A. B. Palmer, 

 OrfordmlU, N. E., Feb. 22, 1SG4. 



A New Remedy for the Borer. — In conver- 

 ation with one of our suliscribers the other day, 

 le casually stated that his apple trees were not 

 roubk'd by that jjest, the borer. Upon inquiry 

 ee learned that he applied the earth and sub- 

 tance taken from where his sink-spout emptied, 

 o the trunk, or rather around the collars of his 

 ipple trees each autumn, and then dug it away or 

 emoved it the next summer. lie considered this 

 in efi'ectu 1 remedy, as the borer did not trouble 

 |hem, and further, it was a g.^od dressing for the 

 oil around the tree, after being dug away. Of 

 ■ourse the soil where the spout emptied would 

 lave to be renewed yearly, by supplying a cart- 

 oad of earth, sods, &c., to absorb and hold the 

 efuse liquid. If not used in this manner, the 

 lops from the sink sliould always be added to the 

 ompost heap, or applied to tho garden crops dur- 

 ng the growing season, as they are too valuable 

 nd rich in fertilizing material, to be wasted. 

 Maine Farmer. 



Pot the New England Farmer. 

 METEOKOLOGICAL KECOBD FOB 

 JANUARY, 1864. 



These observations are taken for and under the 

 direction of tlie Smithsonian Institution. 



The average temperature for January was 22° ; 



average mid-day temperature, 28". The corres- 



i panding figures for January, ]8G3, were 27° and 



I '62°. Warmest day, tiie 2oth, averaging 39° ; 



; coldest day, the 7th, averaging 4~ below zero. 



Highest temperature 43° ; lowest do. 8° below 



zero. 



Average height of mercury in the barometer 

 29.22 inch'Ps; do. for January, 1863, 29.3J inch- 

 es. Highest daily average 29. 02 inches ; lowest 

 do. 28.72 inches. Range of mercury from 28.54 

 inches to 29.Gi> inches. 



Rain or snow fell on seven days ; amount of 

 snow 14 inches ; amount of rain and m-'lted snow, 

 2.3>5 inches. Fifteen stormy days wiih 26.75 

 inches of snow and 3.66 inches of rain and melted 

 sno\^, ill January, 18G3. There were two entirely 

 clear days. On two days the sky was entirely 

 overcast. 



The winds have been very light, and but little 

 snow, as will be seen ; only about half as much aa 

 same month lust vear. A. C. 



Clarcmont, N. 11., Feb. 22, 1864. 



How TO Grow Pe.vciies E\ery Year. — 

 Che following, by a correspondent of the Ohio 

 luliivator, is worthy a trial by all lovers of dcli- 

 ious fruit : Procure your trees grafted upon the 

 vild plum stock. The tree partakes of the na- 

 ure of the plum, being hardy, and will never 

 jvinter kill, and putting out late in the spring, will 

 lever be irijured by the frost. It is a certain pre- 

 fentive against the workings of the peach grub, 

 Ivhile the natural lifetime of the tree is beyond 

 hat of our own ; so you may depend upon peach- 

 ;8 every year, and for a long period of time, with- 

 )ut the destructive and discouraging influences 

 ittending the growth of the common peach, 

 rhey can be obtained at from fifty to seventy-five 

 sents per tree, and you had better pay five times 

 the amount than not to obtain them, being cer- 

 tain of peaches every year. Try it, and our word 

 for it, you will be satisfied with the result. 



Cultivate your own heart aright ; remembering 

 Lhat \\u..ib^e\cr a man hoxvtth, that shi^U he also 



Green Cheese. — The one grand error in 

 American cheese-making, is the want of care in 

 not ripening the cheese before it is sent to market. 

 We all know ihat there is considerable d.ffercnce 

 between a green pear and a mellow one ; between 

 a Baldwin ap[)le in the fall and after it has been 

 kcj)t a few months to ripen. So there is much 

 (Hii'erence between curd and cheese. The curd is 

 I he grren apple, the cheese the ripened fruit. If 

 you were g:>iiig to send hay to market yon would 

 noi send the green grass fresh from the field, and 

 yet you often sell your cheese when it is as green 

 as grass. 



In the Cheshire dairies of England, so celebrat- 

 ed f)r che se — none is ever sold until it is six 

 months old. The cheeses are kept in a moder- 

 ately warm room until thoroughly ripened and 

 cured, with that outside mold so indicative to a 

 practiced e\e of a rich, fine flavored, ripe cheese. 

 — Genesee Farmer. 



Cure for Co.vsumption.— Dr. Hall, in the 

 February number of his Journal of IJcallh, says 

 the 'essential, the fundamental, the all controll- 

 ing agency in the arrest of any case of consump- 

 tive disease, aiid a return to reasonable health for 

 any considerable time, is an active, courageotis, 

 and hope/id out-door life, in all weathers and in 

 any latitude, with some rousing motive, other than 

 regaining the health, beckoning them on, to do 

 and to dare." 



Paste may be made witli flour in the usual 

 way, but rather thicker, with a proportion of 

 brown sugar, and a small quantity of corrosive 

 sublimate. A drop or two of the essential oil of 

 lavender, peppermint, ani^le, or bergamct, is a 

 conijileie security against molding. Paste made 

 in II. ii mannt-r, if Kept in a cL;so tovercii pet, may 



