246 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



kind of business is dependent upon it. If my 

 statements above are incorrect it would give me 

 great pleasure for some of your correspondents, 

 better informed than myself, to point out my er- 

 rors. Silas Brown. 

 North Wilmington, June, 1864. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE SEASON AND CKOPS IN VERMONT. 



How cheering and refreshing to the parched 

 earth is the rain, now gently falling, which has so 

 long delayed its coming ! Our wet spring has 

 bsen followed by an unprecedented drought, com- 

 mencing with the month of June, though there 

 had been but a trifle of rain for some time before 

 the first of the month. We had a slight shower 

 the ninth day, when the wind suddenly shifted to 

 the north, and the next day the snow-flakes flew 

 among the green hills of Vermont in high style. 

 The thermometer stood at 46° all day ; the clouds 

 and wind kept off frost that night, but the next 

 morning, Sunday, the 12th, the thermometer was 

 found standing at 30°, giving us a hard freeze in 

 the valley, killing early potatoes level with the 

 ground, and entirely spoiling some fields of corn 

 and beans. I think the corn that was killed was 

 not planted so deep as it should have been. Some 

 of our best fields are now large enough to hoe the 

 second time, and give promise of a crop yet if we 

 have a favorable season till October. From the 

 12th, the thermometer rose gradually to 90*^ in the 

 shade, and in some villages in the valley several 

 degrees higher, scorching the gi-ass on gravelly 

 and sandy lands till it would burn like dry stub- 

 ble, as was proved by fires catching from engines 

 passing by the fields. But the rain is again fall- 

 ing, and we may yet have an average crop on most 

 of our lands, if the summer should be wet. 



Could some of your readers inform me, either 

 by letter or through the Farmer, where a year- 

 ling heifer and bull of the Jersey breed could be 

 produced. I don't know that there is any of that 

 breed in this vicinity, but I lately purchased a lit- 

 tle quiet red and white cow that had her last calf 

 the first day of last December, and the 28th day 

 of May the milk she gave made a pound and four- 

 teen ounces of butter, and she had no other feed 

 than she got in a very good sheep pasture. I 

 don't know what breed she is, but am satisfied 

 that she is a very good cow. W. I. Simonds. 



Boxbery, Vt, July 2, 1864. 



For t/ie New England Farmer. 

 LEADING ANIMALS. 



The horse, cow, calves and sheep may be easily 

 led by making a slipping noose and fastening it to 

 the lower jaw, passing the rope (which must be 

 small) around the neck and through the noose on 

 the jaw. It is a very easy way of leading a sheep, 

 not being obliged to go behind and "push." Af- 

 ter once pulling, the sheep will follow right along 

 •with no trouble. It costs nothing extra. Try it. 



Dickson. 



Remarks. — We have no doubt but this would 

 be effectual. It is the contrivance which Mr. 

 Rockwell uses in managing a vicious horse. In 

 leading a bull, never trust to his good nature. 

 Bulls are unreliable animals. They can be led, 

 but often take a fancy to "push with their horns" 



in a most uncomfortable manner. Always, there- 

 fore, have a stick as strong as a good hoe handle 

 between yourself and the bull, and fixed in such a 

 manner as to poke the sharp end of it through the 

 rascal's skin if he undertakes to poke you. Nev- 

 er trust a bull. Make it a rule and you may es- 

 cape getting terribly gored. Frightful occurren- 

 ces by them are not uncommon. 



PLANTING CABBAGES. 



A correspondent of the Mark Lane Express, 

 who highly extols the cabbage for feeding milch 

 cows, store cattle, sheep and swine, and more es- 

 pecially for spring-feeding of lambing ewes, says 

 that the average product per acre in England may 

 be stated at 25 tons. He gives the following di- 

 rections for planting them : 



The cabbage plants freshly drawn from the nur- 

 sery-bed, with the extreme end of the slender fi- 

 brous root cut off', are brought to the field, and 

 immersed in tubs of water, with the roots down- 

 wards, and taken from the vessels as the plants 

 are required for use. Persons provided with dib- 

 bles insert the plants on the top of the drills, at 

 the distance of two feet from each other, making 

 a hole with the dibble for the insertion of the plant 

 to the depth it has stood in the nursery-bed, and 

 pushing with the dibble the sides of the hole to- 

 gether, in order to give the plant a firm position. 

 It must be very carefully observed not to insert 

 the plant deeper or more shallow than they stood 

 in the nursery-bed, as a transformation of the ex- 

 posed or earthed up skin is the consequence, and 

 a necessary delay in the onward progress of the 

 plant. AH plants with a large foliage require 

 much moisture, and the dung that is used for cab- 

 bage must be thoroughly moist, and even wet, 

 whether it be cool or fermented ; the plants im- 

 mersed in water, and the insertion in the ground 

 should be performed in the wettest weather in 

 which the work is possible to be done. When 

 any plants are seen to be dead, the places must be 

 immediately filled with fresh plants in order to se- 

 cure a full crop all over the field. 



The Western _Grain Crops.— A gentleman 

 having an extensive telegraphic correspondence 

 with the Western grain markets speaks of the 

 crop prospects of the present season as very fair, 

 taking the country as a whole, notwithstanding 

 the prevalence of drought in many parts. Recent 

 rains have done incalculable good, though not as 

 abundant or general as might have been desired. 

 In Southern Ohio the harvest will soon be ready 

 for gathering, and the crop is spoken of by Cin- 

 cinnati papers as a good one. Corn and oats still 

 need rain, but promise an average yield. "" West- 

 ern agriculturists, as a class, are represented as 

 exceedingly comfortable in regard to money, as 

 the high prices of grain have induced them to send 

 forward their old crops, exchanging them for cash, 

 and paying off incumbrances. Farm mortgages, 

 so much desired for investment, are not to be had. 

 — N. Y. Journal of Commerce. 



Scouring Knives. — A subscriber to the Amer- 

 ican Agriculturist writes that the ashes of hard 

 coal unmixed with any from wood, are a better 

 article than Bath brick for scouring knives, forks, 

 etc. 



