376 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Aug. 



says he believes the king-hu-d guilty of taking only 

 drones, and asks, "If he devours workers as well 

 as drones, why docs he not visit the apiary long 

 before noon and fill his crop with them ? But in- 

 stead he waits until afternoon ; if no drones are 

 flying, he watches quietly till one appears, although 

 workers may be out by hundreds." He adds he 

 has shot them after seeing them devour a goodly 

 number, but in every instance the bees found in 

 their crops were so crushed that it was impossible 

 to determine whether they were the remains of 

 workers or drones. 



SEASOX AND CROPS IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS. 



We have had a very wet and backward spring, 

 but now 



"The sky is clear, the woods are bright, 



The fields are fresh and green, 

 And summer, in her robes of light, 



lieigus o'er us like a queen." 



"Wheat, oats, corn, &c., look splendidly, although 

 the latter is a little backward on wet land. The 

 crows have been somewhat mischievous, and we 

 find it hard work lo frighten the black varmints. 

 The weather has been favoraljle for grass and there 

 is a prospect that we shall cut a heavier crop than 

 we have for several years. Rye is a very little 

 winter killed, but in most spots it shows a very 

 wry face. From present indications I think we 

 shall have apples, peaches, pears, and plums in 

 abundance. chiel. 



tShelbunie, Mass., June 17, 1867. 



CROP OF WHEAT IN ST. GEORGE, VT. 



In reply to our request for further particulars in 

 relation to the crop of 41.^ bushels of wheat raised on 

 a little over one acre of ground in St. George, Vt., 

 mentioned in the Farmer of June 15, we have re- 

 ceived the following brief statement : — 



The land on which the wheat grew, is about 

 eighteen rods long by ten -wide. The ground was 

 plowed in the spring of I860, but neitlier planted 

 nor sowed until September or October, when it 

 was sowed to winter wheat. The crop was har- 

 vested in August or September, 1866, and threshed 

 in March 1867, and the grain then measured. The 

 result was forty-one and a half bushels of good 

 plump kernels and some shrunken wheat, as we 

 Yankees call it. L. 



67. George, Vt., June 15, 1867. 



REMOVING WARTS ON COWS' TEATS. 



I should like to inquire what is the quickest 

 and easiest way of removing warts from cows, 

 teats ? Also should like to know the philosophy 

 of planting potatoes near together. I know one 

 man in this town who makes the hills two feet 

 apart and gets first rate crops. Whv is it ? 



Ashbi/, Mass., 1867. J. N. Davis. 



Remarks. — Tie a horse hair tightly around the 

 wart, and after a day or two, take a piece of caus- 

 tic potash, and draw it about the wart once each 

 day, until the wart is eaten away. Or, shave the 

 end of the wart until the slightest blood appears 

 and then touch it with the caustic. The caustic 

 may be found at drug, stores. 



We do not quite understand what our corres- 

 pondent desires to learn about the potatoes. The 

 usual way of planting is two to three feet apart, 



each way, in hills. Some persons, hmvever, plant 

 in drills, and place the seed only a few inches 

 apart, thinking they can obtain a larger crop by 

 this mode of planting. 



training and trimming of the TOMATO. 



Please give in your next issue the best mode of 

 training and trimming tomato plants. 



Webster, Mass., June 16, 1867. A. G. Sibly. 



Remarks. — Last week we gave a cut illustrating 

 a simple means of training the tomato by means 

 of three hoops attached to three stakes. We now 

 present a trellis, which may be made by firmly 



setting two stakes four feet in length, three or four 

 feet apart, on a line with the plants, and nailing 

 lathes or sticks, nine inches apart on the stakes, 

 to which the plants are tied by any soft string. 



Mr. Burr, in his valuable book, the Vegetables 

 of America, says that when the two first trusses 

 of bloom have expanded over each shoot, the 

 shoot should be stopped by pinching off" the por- 

 tion which is beyond the leaf above the second 

 truss, and no more lateral shoots should be suffer- 

 ed to grow ; but the leaves must be carefully pre- 

 served, especially those near the trusses of bloom. 

 The number of shoots on each plant will vary ac- 

 cording to the strength and vigor of the particu- 

 lar plant; ))ut three or four will be quite enough, 

 leaving about half a dozen trusses of fruit. The 

 ripening of the fruit may be hastened by setting 

 the plants against a south wall or close fence, and 

 liberally watered if the weather be dry. 



The Gardener's Chronicle gives the French 

 method as follows : "As soon as a cluster of flow- 

 ers is visible, they top the stem down to the clus- 

 ter, so that the flowers terminate the stem. The 

 effect is, that the sap is immediately impelled into 

 the two buds next below the cluster, which soon 



