42 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



ONION PUZZLE. 



Your correspondent will find the solution of his 

 thick necked and perfect onions growing side by side 

 in the difference of seed. His seed might have been 

 the product of a scullion (thick necked) and perfect 

 onion respectively. As "like begets like," the seed 

 from perfect onions produces perfect onions, and the 

 seed from scullions produces scullions, other things 

 being equal. Poor soil, deep planting, and seed from 

 immature thick necked onions will produce scullions. 

 If you wish perfect vegetables, be careful what seed 

 you sow. L. L. F. 



Rolling Prairie, Wis. 



PRODUCT OF 31 SHEEP. 



I have sold from thirty-one sheep the past season 

 $281.2.5 worth of wool, being a trifle over $9 a head. 

 They were neither coarse or fine wool. They raised 

 me forty-six lambs, which were sold at the market 

 price. Milo Lawuence. 



Passumpsic, Vt., 1863. 



THREE HINTS FOR THE SEASON. 



Be sure and cover the bits of your bridles with 

 leather, to prevent the frost from making the 

 mouths of your horses sore. It is downright cru- 

 elty to put an iron bit into a horse's mouth on a 

 cold morning. If you doubt it, bit yourself some 

 day when the mercury stands below zero. 



When you cut India rubber, keep the blade of 

 your knife wet, and you can then cut it without 

 difficulty. 



We have heard of and tested a great many 

 kinds of waterproof blacking for winter boots. 

 Let us tell you what we have tried for two win- 

 ters, and found to be the best article we know of. 

 When your boots are stiff and you think need oil- 

 ing, wash them in castile soap-suds — oil before 

 the leather dries, (you may use blackball or any 

 kind of grease ;) have a saturated solution of gum 

 shellac in alcohol — anybody can make it, as all 

 there is to be done is to dissolve in a pint or half- 

 pint of alcohol just as much shellac as the liquid 

 will take up — and apply this solution with a 

 sponge to the oiled boots. In two or three min- 

 utes the shellac will dry and harden, and you will 

 have a coating on your boots through which the 

 water cannot by any possibility penetrate. Try 

 it, reader. — Oermantown Telegraph. 



LANGUAGE OP INSECTS. 

 A most singular discovery, the credit of which 

 appertains, we believe, to Mr. Jesse, is that of the 

 antennal language of insects. Bees and other 

 insects are provided, as everybody knows, with 

 feelers or antennae. These are, in fact, most del- 

 icate organs of touch, warning of dangers, and 

 serving the animals to hold a sort of conversation 

 with each other, and to communicate their de- 

 sires and wants. A strong hive of bees will 

 contain thirty-six thousand workers. Each of 

 these, in order to be assured of the presence of 

 their queen, touches her every day with its an- 

 tenna?. Should the queen die, or be removed, 

 the whole colony disperse themselves, and are 

 seen in the hive no more, perishing every one, 

 and quitting all the store of now useless honey 

 which they had labored so industriously to collect 

 for the use of themselves and the larva?. On the 

 contrary, should the queen be put into a small 

 wire cage placed at the bottom of the hive, so 

 that her subjects can touch and feed her, they are 

 contented, and the business of the hive proceeds 



as usual. Mr. Jesse has also shown that this an- 

 tennal power of communication is not confined to 

 bees. m Wasps and ants, and probably other in- 

 sects, exercise it. If a caterpillar is placed near 

 an ant's nest, a curious scene will often arise. A 

 solitary ant will perhaps discover it, and eagerly 

 attempt to draw it away. Not being able to ac- 

 complish this, it will go up to another ant, and, by 

 means of the antennal language, bring it to the 

 caterpillar. Still, these two, perhaps, are unable 

 to perform the task of moving it. They will sep- 

 arate and bring up reinforcements of the com- 

 munity by the same means, till a sufficient num- 

 ber are collected to enable them to drag the cater- 

 pillar to their nest. — Once a Week. 



CHURNING IN WINTER. 



The frequent inquiries for a sure method of al- 

 ways churning butter as quickly and of producing 

 as good an article in winter as in summer, we can- 

 not well answer, for the substantial reason that we 

 knew of no such method. Good mixed feed for 

 the cows, keeping the milk and cream from freez- 

 ing, and bringing the cream to a proper tempera- 

 ture before beginning to churn, comprehend about 

 all we can say on the subject. 



A subscriber, a lady, at Locust Valley, Queen's 

 Co., N. Y., communicates to the American Agri- 

 culturist her method of making butter in winter, 

 which she thinks far surpasses any other plan 

 which she is acquainted with. She writes that 

 "by this method the full quantity o£ butter is ob- 

 tained, the quality is equal to that of grass butter, 

 the buttermilk is rich and remains sweet for drink- 

 ing or culinary purposes, such as making rice 

 puddings, and the process is certain and simple, 

 and attended with little trouble. It is as follows : 

 The cream is skimmed each day, and placed at 

 once in a kettle, and the kettle put into hot water 

 (to prevent scorching,) and put over the fire. 

 The cream is allowed to scald, without boiling. It 

 is then put into a vessel and set aside ; each day's 

 cream being in like manner scalded, and added to 

 the mass, until enough for a churning is obtained. 

 The churning is commenced immediately after 

 adding the last day's cream, which brings the 

 whole to a proper temperature, without thinning 

 by the addition of hot water." 



Winter the time to Think. — Winter is the 

 time for farmers to think — spring, summer, and 

 fall to work ; and the three latter seasons' labor 

 will be to little profit, if the time of the first shall 

 have been misspent. All the plans of the next 

 season's operations should be laid and well con- 

 sidered during winter. All improvements, all 

 designs for new operations ; all the work to be 

 done, should then be considered and prepared for ; 

 so that, when the time for work arrives, he will 

 have nothing to do but to "go ahead." Then he 

 has no time to think ; but if he has been wise 

 dining winter, he will have no need of it. It is a 

 pitiful sight to look at in the spring, when all na- 

 ture is in an ecstacy of delight, to see a farmer 

 flying about "like a hen with her head cut off'," 

 trying to do a thousand things at once, not know- 

 ing which to do first, running here and running 

 there in search of rusty implements, some of which 

 require repairs, 8Qme can't be found, the plowing 

 season passing away, the planting season rapidly 

 advancing, and he not prepared for anything. O, 

 it is pitiful ! — Excliange. 



