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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



BOASTED LAMB AND GREEN PEAS. 



Roasted lamb without green peas is as incon- 

 gruous as roasted turkey or pork, without cran- 

 berry sauce. Still, there may be something in 

 the custom, or in the name, more than there is in 

 the reality. Either would be good, separately, to 

 a hungry man, — the lamb as an occasional dish, 

 and the peas as an every day one during their 

 proper season. 



Few things tend more to health, harmony and 

 economy, than a plentiful supply of fresh, well- 

 grown vegetables, fruits and salads, through all 

 the spring and summer months, and among these 

 green peas take a foremost place. Boiled with a 

 piece of sweet, corn-fed pork, or without the pork, 

 and seasoned with butter, they serve for an excel- 

 lent meal, even without the roasted lamb, if aided 

 by good bread and butter, or an apple or Indian 

 pudding. With such vegetables, the butcher's 

 bill may be kept within moderate limits, the table 

 always supplied with nutritious and healthful food, 

 and the family gathered around the social board, 

 be cheerful and happy. The moral influences of 

 green peas, are by no means to be overlooked. 

 In connection with other seasonable and whole- 

 some diet, they have undoubtedly given a good 

 bias to thousands, which has gone along through 

 life with them to the end. Let us have, then, the 

 green peas, lamb or no lamb, and have them early, 

 and enough of them to fill the plate of every hun- 

 gry boy and girl, whether they come romping 

 from school, field or forest ! 



What variety shall we plant first ? The Early 

 Dan O'Bourke, of course. 



Just as soon as the frost has left the grouud, 

 and the tempering suns of April have evaporated 

 the superabundant moisture, prepare a place in 

 some sheltered spot, if you can, and plant. Make 

 the ground mellow, moderately rich, open trench- 

 es and strew in a little wood ashes or old com- 

 posted manure, sow the peas upon it, and cover 

 them three inches deep. If it is still more, no 

 matter. Now take birch, or any other brush and 

 stick them. The sticks should be branchy, and 

 branching along the rows, rather than into the 

 paths, and their length should be according to 

 the variety of pea planted, — as some kinds like 

 to run much farther than others. If preferred, 

 the sticking may be omitted till the peas come up. 



No weeds should be allowed to grow among 

 them. As they progress, they require frequent 

 hoeing, and the earth should be drawn about the 

 stems a little each time. If the season is a dry 

 one, straw, hay, or any litter spread about the 

 plants will keep the ground moist, and greatly 

 increase the amount of crop, and extend the time 

 of bearing one or two weeks. 



They should be planted pretty thickly. Bridg- 



man says one quart will plant from one hundred 

 and fifty to two hundred feet of row, allowing the 

 largest kinds to average one inch apart, and the 

 smallest two peas to the inch. Deep covering is 

 essential, as they will then root low in the ground 

 and better withstand drought, should it occur. 



The next best pea is the Champion of England, 

 and a splendid pea it is, following on after the 

 Dan O'Rourke. In cultivating, treat it the same 

 as the first described. It is a large, light green, 

 shrivelled pea, mild in flavor, rich, sugary and 

 tender. It is a good grower and continues to 

 bear well under good care and in a moderately 

 rich soil. 



On Butter Making. — The attention of the 

 reader — and especially of every man or woman 

 engaged in making butter — is called to an article 

 on another page, entitled "Butter Making not a 

 Mystery." We know, from a long experience, 

 that the opinions advanced by the writer are cor- 

 rect. If his suggestions were followed by all, 

 there would be little difficulty in prodncing good 

 butter at any season of the year. The proportion 

 now of miserable butter, is fearfully large, and 

 the loss to our farmers is consequently large, — 

 for they cannot command a high price for poor 

 butter. We have no doubt that the reading of 

 the article referred to will result in the produc- 

 tion of many tons of excellent butter. 



For the New England Parmer, 

 SHALL WE PRODUCE OUR OWN 

 SWEETENING P 



Does not this question awaken serious consid- 

 eration at this time in the mind of every reflect- 

 ing farmer, who feels most seriously in his pock- 

 et (if no where else) that sweetening is very ex- 

 pensive, and that behooves him to decide the 

 question with greater care than heretofore, wheth- 

 er the substitutes for its production, which a 

 few years since were discussed, and to a very lim- 

 ited extent experimented with, may not anon be 

 resorted to with good prospect of success ? 



At a convention recently held at Columbus, 

 Ohio, of sorgho cultivators it was the prevailing 

 opinion of the members that it would soon rank 

 among the important interests of the country j 

 that its permanency will not depend upon the 

 question of peace or war with the South. la 

 short, that the most active competition of South- 

 ern cane will not seriously affect the culture of 

 sorgho as the North. It is a well established fact 

 that in many section of the Western States for a 

 number of years past the farmers have raised suf- 

 ficient sorgho to supply themselves with syrup, 

 while others have had a surplus to sell ! Some 

 have even converted it into sugar, as they thought, 

 at paying cost. 



In the manufacture of the sorgho into syrup 

 and sugar, each producer of the cane is not ex- 

 pected to own the machinery requisite for the 

 purpose, but some one makes it a specialty to 

 work up the cane in his vicinity on shares or by 

 purchase. So far as I am acquainted it is gener- 



