278 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



ally roam the orchard and lots, and find insects, 

 worms, ike. In the whiter, deprived of their natu- 

 ral variety of food, they often resort to eating their 

 eggs. Supply this variety, and this bad habit will 

 Le prevented, and perhaps cured. "w. h. av. 



South Windsor, Ct., A^jril, 1867. 



Remarks. — "Another Subscriber" in East Ran- 

 dolph, Vt., writes : "Catch the hen, and with a 

 sharp knife cut otf the flinty point of the upper bill 

 and the hen will not, or cannot, strilic hard enough 

 to break the shell." Rather severe on the biddy ! 



CULTURE OF HOPS. 



I am thinking of setting out a hop yard, and 

 would like to inquire : 



1. What is the best kind of hops ? 



2. What distance ought they to be set between 

 rows and hills ? 



3. How should they be manured. 



4. How should they be poled, with long or short 

 poles ? J. F. D. 



Bradford, N. H., 1867. 



Remarks. — The hop crop has greatly increased 

 latterly. In 1850 the whole crop of the country 

 was 3,497,029 pounds; and in 1860, 10,991,996 

 pounds ! Next to New York, Vermont raises 

 more hops than any other State, producing 638,- 

 677 pounds in 1860. 



1. What is the best variety of hops, we do not 

 know. They take their names from a variety of 

 circumstances, such as the hanging of the fruit, 

 the color of the tme, that is, the climbing stem. 

 The grape-hop takes its name from the manner in 

 which it hangs, the cluster being close together, 

 like a bunch *of grapes. Those named from the 

 vine, are the green, the white and the red. Others 

 are named from places where they have been suc- 

 cessfully grown, and some from persons who have 

 raised them from seed. The plant is usually 

 raised from cuttings in the spring. 



2. The plants are usually placed in hills, at the 

 distance of five or six feet each way, and should 

 be set as early in the spring as the season will 

 permit. 



3. The hop plant loves a rich loam ; the whole 

 yard should be manured and the manure well 

 worked in, because the roots extend themselves in 

 every direction, and often quite deep into the soil. 

 No weeds should l)c allowed to grow, nor the sur- 

 face to become hard. 



In the English practice, the first year's poles are 

 about six feet in length, but twelve feet poles are 

 afterwards used. 



FARMS AND FARMING IN WESTMINSTER, VT. 



I cannot agree with you, and many others, in 

 your atlvice to young men about commencing life 

 in farming. Docs the merclumt get all his cajiital 

 Ijcfore he commences business ? It is not so with 

 our most successful men. If they can l)()rrow 

 money at six per cent, and let it at ton, it is what 

 they are after. So with farming. I know there 

 are sonic wlio arc afraid to risk a dollar in aii}'- 

 thing, iind they had l)ettcr let farming alone and 

 worlc lor otliers. I know men, young men, who 

 arc worth froiri ten to fifieen thousand dollars, 

 that has all been made williiii the same niiuibcr of 

 years, by farming alone, running in debt for all. 



with the exception of their stock ; and that is the 

 way, in my mind, to do. Buy a farm worth not 

 less than ten thousand dollars, if you can get 

 trusted as much. It will require no more to sup- 

 port your famil}', and but little more to keep your 

 team than on a three thousand dollar farm. 



I think the great mass of fanners mow their land 

 too long without plowing. The farmers here, most 

 of them, practice the following rotation : corn, 

 oats, and clover, mowing Init one year. The clo- 

 ver fits the ground in good shape" for corn. We 

 seldom miss of a good crop of com after clover. 

 The crops have doubled here within the last ten 

 years, with those mIio have practiced this method. 



Westminster, Vt., March, 1867. H. c. 



Remarks. — This is a plucky view of the case, 

 and a good view, too, where the person who pur- 

 chases is not "scared at trifles." A large fann 

 can be managed proportionately cheaper than a 

 small one, just as well as other business can. It 

 all depends upon who has it. Advising young 

 and inexperienced farmers to work for wages, is 

 not advising them never to go into debt for a por- 

 tion of the purchase of a farm. 



a prolific bean, 



In 1865 I raised from a single white bush bean, 

 659 in number, besides from 12 to 20 that got out 

 of the pods, and were not counted. In 1866 I 

 planted the 659 beans. The cut-worms took about 

 one-fourth of them, as I judged, and yet from what 

 was left, I gathered 19.^ quarts of good nice white 

 small beans ; or 60,567 beans ; there being 3106 in 

 one quart, from actual count. If over "six hun- 

 dred fold" is not pretty well for old Massachusetts, 

 I should like to know who has done better. 



Bernardston, Mass., Feb. 8, 1867. H. Allbe. 



INDUSTRIOUS HENS. 



I have kept through the winter fifteen hens, and 

 from the first day of January to the first day of 

 April they laid 61 dozen eggs. Did the biddies do 

 well and pav their keeping ? d. f. 



Harrisvilie, N. H., April 17, 1867. 



CARE OF SHEEP AND LAMBS. 



On publishing a few remarks of mine on the. 

 "Use and misuse of Bucks," in Weekly Farmer 

 of Feb. 16, you suggest that by giving my manner 

 of feeding and caring for my sheep and lambs, I 

 might benefit your readers. I will therefore give 

 it as follows : 



I take my lambs from the sheep about the first 

 of September. The sheep have the fall months to 

 recruit in. When they come to the barn, and are 

 put upon dry feed, I give them roots, — rutabagas I 

 like best, — at least every other day, at tlic rate of 

 one ))U>hel to 50 sheep. Clian.<;in'g from green to 

 entirely dry feed induces di^ease. I give a vaiie- 

 ty of feed; hay, straw, (poorly threshed) corn 

 fodder, and a little oats, corn, or other grain, iii 

 meal. I give them salt and sulphur, using about; 

 one pound of sulphur to one bushel of salt, and 

 have no trouble with ticks. About three weeks 

 before latnbing I give them cooked food — potatoes 

 or tiirnii)s — with meal, mixed; or wet meal with- 

 out roots, giving it (piite wet. This feed will make 

 milk for the lambs when they come. 



When the sheep begin to lamb I jjut two or three 

 in a small pen for a few days, and if the liMnf)S 

 need it, I give them a little cow's new milk until 

 they get smart and strong, when I lait them in the 

 yard, lea\iiig the small i)en for others. I increase 

 the wet feed after they lamb, and continue it until 



