1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FAllMER. 



218 



quart from the whole stocks up to this time. His 

 liecs cousiiiiie more honey from 20fh of March to 

 20th of ^Iciy tlian they ilo from Novcnilier 1st to 

 20th of March, in his cellar. He docs not carry 

 his bees out of cellar, before middle of March. 

 He docs not feed his l)ees while in the cellar, nor 

 disturb them in any way. Does his feeding in the 

 fall. 



— A firmer on the prairies of Southern Wisconsin 

 informs the American Fanner that rabbits are in- 

 creasingly numerous on those prairie tarms, and 

 very destructive ; and strange as it may seem, wild 

 geese in large Mocks are great depredators in the 

 corn liclds iu the fall, and on the wheat fields in 

 the spring. 



— The Tribune say B that W. S. Carpenter, of New 

 York, has transmitted to the Paris Exposition, one 

 hundred and lifccen varieties of Indian corn, each 

 of whiih has a name. The most remai'kal^ie ear 

 in this collection contains 1,290 grains, arranged 

 in twenty-two rows, and is known as the "Western 

 Gourd seed." 



— According to a statement in the Wisconsin 

 Farmer the Colorado potato bug is moving East- 

 ward at the rate of 25 or 30 miles a year. The 

 line of march, somewhat crescent shaped, had 

 reached Madison, Wis., last summer. Dr, Fitch 

 estimates the Eastern progi-ess at fifteen miles per 

 year. 



— A correspondent of the Countnj Gentleman 

 saj's that a chilled lamb requires a greater degree 

 of heat than is usually sujiposed. He places them 

 near or under a stove that heats the zinc so that 

 you cannot hold j-our hand on it, with a good fire 

 on, so that the heat from stove is uncomfortable to 

 your hands as you turn and handle the lamb. 



— A correspondent of the Rural New Yorker, 

 who tried the horizontal method of training hops 

 with short jjoles, on ten acres last year, is now sub- 

 stituting long iiolcs. He says the labor of training 

 the vines is very great, as they will not run an inch 

 around a twine horizontally, and when grown in 

 that way the vines are so thick and shaded as to 

 lessen the crop and increase the labor of picking. 



— The Maine Farmer says that H. G. Abbott, of 

 North Vai-salljoro', has for several years been mak- 

 ing experiments in sheep-rearing, in the eflbrt to 

 obtain a medium breed between the Spanish and 

 natives, so as to comljine a good quality of wool 

 with good mutton, each point being about equal in 

 value. He has succeeded in producing a flock of 

 very line appearance and quality. 



— Mrs. Tuppcr, of Brighton, Iowa, says that she 

 has wintered her bees successfully for six winters 

 in a dry and moderately warm cellar, where the 

 thermometer usually is about 20° above the freez- 

 ing point. Here they are pei-fectly quiet, not a 

 sound comes from them ; they seem to remain tor- 

 pid. A hive weighing 60 pounds iu the fall of 1863, 

 wintered out of doors, weighed only lo- pounds 

 the 1st of April, while twenty kept in the cellar the 



same three months lost on an average only five 

 pf)unds each. Again, six hives wintered out of 

 doors lost an average of 29 'i potmds each in three 

 months, while twenty in the cellarthc same length 

 of time lost an average of only o ?i pounds. 



— The California Agricultural Society requires 

 that a first-premium work-horse shall be between 

 fifteen and sixteen hands; quick, lively ears; 

 broad between the eyes ; round barrel ; short loins ; 

 well up in the shoulder; deep chested; square 

 quarters ; fiat legs ; short between the knee and 

 pastern, and hock and pastern; hind legs well 

 under him ; speed equal to eight miles an hour on 

 the road, and at least three miles at the plough; 

 with sufficient blood to insure spirit and endurance. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES, 



LICE ON PEAU TREES. 



I have at last discovered what I have long been 

 lookingforin the Faemeu, viz : a remedy to destroy 

 lice on young pear trees. To a pail full of warm 

 water, put a hantlful of whale-oil soap, stir it until 

 it is dissolved, and when cold, take a lirush, — an 

 old shoe brush is just the thing, as the bristles 

 must be stitt', — and brush the trunk and branches 

 and you will i)e rid of the lice. The trees will 

 thrive and look healthy. Even as a fertilizer, the 

 soap and water will pay. The best time to use it 

 is on a spring morning when the bark is covered 

 with nloi^ture. F. Weis. 



Dorchester, Mass., Feb., 1867. 



Remarks. — From frequent personal notice of 

 Mr. Weis' fruit trees and currant bushes, we know 

 that he has good success in their culture, and our 

 readers will appreciate the information he imparts 

 regarding the bark-lice. Mr. W. will understand 

 that we arc always glad to receive practical hints 

 on any subject pertaining to agriculture or horticul- 

 ture, and if he does not find so many such as he 

 would like in the Farmer, it is simply because our 

 practical readers neglect to impart the secret of 

 their success. 



THE CORN CROP. 



The large amount of land in Massachusetts, ly- 

 ing almost useless, and the high price of corn, 

 tempt me to write. A few make money on vege- 

 tal ile farms. The same men might grow corn to a 

 profit, had they the trade as well Icanied as they 

 have that of raising garden vegetaljles. A man in 

 the prime of life, with one hired man for the eight 

 summer months, will be al)le to do the work on a 

 farm, large enough to raise from six to eight acres 

 of corn, with a )no)icr jiioportion of liarlcy, oats, 

 potatoes, and roots siifiioicnt for the neces.sities of 

 the stock ; allowing a proper rotation of crops, his 

 hay crop may be abundant; his loam and muck 

 deposits, with proper and careful management, 

 will supply the needed balance of manure. 



One yoke of oxen, and one horse, will do all tlie 

 work on such a farm, if properly used, and the 

 tools used are of a iiro)ier make. 



One advantage of this system of operations is, 

 the men have all the time for work, through the 

 day, and the night for rest; whereas, on the mar- 

 ket farm, several hands are necessary, and a num- 

 ber of horses required to transport the crop to a 

 market. Much of this is done in the night time, 

 which adds to the wear of both man and beast. 

 Farmers and gardeners ! please discuss this sub- 



