418 



NEW ENGLAND FARJIER. 



Sept. 



was full one-half chess, the largest proportion of 

 any piece I have ever raised. If you or any of the 

 readers of the Farmer, can assign any sure pre- 

 ventive, so we can rid ourselves of the evil, a great 

 favor will he conferred on me as well as the pub- 

 lic in general. 



Also a cure for the curculio is greatly wanted. 

 I have a few fine trees that blossomed full, set the 

 frnit well, and I flattered m.yself I should have a 

 fine crop, liut they are all gone. If some one will 

 be kind enough to find a sure remedy, and make 

 it known it will be a great favor. 



A Subscriber. 



Shoreham, Vt., July 7, 1867. 



Remarks. — These are hard nuts to crack, and 

 a great many wiser heads than ours have failed in 

 the attempt, after cracking their own fingers badly. 

 Column after column, and page after page, of our 

 agricultural publications have been filled by prac- 

 tical farmers and theoretical writers on the chess 

 question, and still it is far from being settled in 

 the minds of many. The amount of foul seed 

 which we have seen separated by Mr. Adams' im- 

 proved wmnowing mills, from what was called 

 clean seed, is one of the facts which incline us to 

 • the opinion that chess, like other plants, is brought 

 ,'forth "after his kind." If this theory is correct, 

 the seed of the chess which grows in the field of a 

 Subsciiber. was either sown with the wheat, or, 

 like that of white clover, it "sprang from the 

 ground." 



In this connection we copy from the Country 

 Gentleman the following inquiry and answer. 



I have a piece of wheat, sowed last fall on rich, 

 heavy, clay soil. I find it full half chess, growing 

 with the wheat on the same roots. I send j'ou a 

 sample. I don't have to look to get it. It seems 

 to be all so. I have often read of wheat turning 

 to chess l)ut have never believed it until now. 

 Can you give an explanation ? P. P. S. Greenfield, 

 Jilass. [A very little examination will show our 

 "correspondent that, though the wheat and chess 

 stalks in this case were growing up so closely to- 

 gether that their roots are somewhat intertwined, 

 each has its own distinct and separate root, jubt as 

 plainly as if they had grown a rod or more apart. 

 With a very little care the stalks may be separated 

 without breaking a fibre, which certainly does not 

 look to us as though they grew "on the same 

 roots," but rather as if the little chess .'■eeds had 

 been deposited with the seed wheat, and in very 

 near conjunction to the kernels of the latter.] 



In relation to the curculio, we have repeatedly 

 publi^hed all that we know, if not a little more. 

 We refer our correspondent to the Weekly Far- 

 mer of June 15, for an article of more than a col- 

 umn, on the habits of this little fruit killer, and 

 on the best known remedies for its ravages. 



BIRDS and peas. 



Will yon inform me and my neighbors, through 

 the coltmins of your very valualile paper, if there 

 is any way to protect peas from tlic ravages of the 

 birds; and what kind of birds it is that are so 

 bold and greedy ? They have t ikeii erenj early 

 pea, and iironiise to be thus failliful with the later 

 crop. I'lease give us a remedy against >io annoy- 

 ing an evil, and oblige your correspond(nt. 



July 8, 1867. Montague. 



Remarks. — Kill a large cat, skin her, cover the 

 inside of the skin with soap that has arsenic in it, 



to prevent it from decomposing, stuff the skin, put 

 glass eyes into the eye-holes, and set her up as 

 crouching and stealthy as you ever saw a cat that 

 was watching a bird. Put her up among the pea 

 vines, and twice a week change her position ; if 

 that does not keep off the birds, w^know of noth- 

 ing that will but powder and shot ! 



The depredators are, mainly, the gold-robin, 

 (Baltimore oriole,) the common robin and cedar 

 bird. The first is the most destructive. They all, 

 however, leave us a fair share of the crop. We 

 must plant liberally so as to compensate them for 

 their music and other benefits which they confer 

 upon us. 



Doves are very destructive to peas, when they 

 are only an inch or two high, by working about 

 them with their bills and pulling them up. 



MANCHESTER, MASS. 



This is one of the quiet towns which nestle 

 among the rocks of our iron-bound coast. The 

 business of the people of this place was formerly 

 almost wholly fishing. About fifty jears ago a 

 cal)inet shop or manufactory was opened here, and 

 the business has gradually increased, until it has 

 Ijecome the leading interest of the people of the 

 place, who now number about sixteen hundred. 

 Soft wood lumljcr is obtained from Maine and New 

 Hampshire, and hard wood from the West. The 

 business appears to be reasonably prosperous, and 

 the prospect for the future good. 



Between the rocks which occupy a large part of 

 the surface, the soil appears to be very good ; and 

 here and there are to be seen the gardens apd or- 

 chards of sume of the more enteri>rising inhabi- 

 tants, Mr. J. Godsoe, who has been a constant 

 reader of the Farmer, for quite a number of years, 

 has set a very good example of what enterprise 

 and industry can do to make a plear-ant home on 

 this rocky coast. In 1831, he began where he now 

 lives, then a waste piece of land, with no neighbors. 

 Now there is quite a street, lined with good houses 

 and gardens. Mr. Godsoe has a very fine apple 

 orchard which looks quite thrifty, although this 

 year there will not be a large crop. Mr. G. has 

 improved his ground so that he has a fine garden, 

 with the choicest variety of grapes and other 

 fruits. He has also a fine grapery with forty vines 

 in it which presented a most neat and pleasant 

 appearance, as the vines were very fiourishing. 

 Mr. G. takes great pleasure in the care of his 

 grapery, and he may very justly feel proud of it. 

 His house is most jileasaiitly 'situatt'd, and his 

 buildings are comfortable and connnodious. 



Mr. Killem has recently l)uilt a new grapery, 40 

 by 28 feet, and costing about J^SOO. It is con- 

 structed in the most thorough manner and of the 

 best materials, the glass being from England. 



w. 



OLD PASTURES. 



Much has been said and written about old pas- 

 tures. I have one which has not liecn jilowed for 

 over thirty years. I commenceil on it last spring 

 i)y removing the stones and laying ihein as I drew 

 tiiem into wall ; took extra ))iiins in jilowing and 

 harrowing, and sowed 1', bushels of India wheat to 

 the acre; Inirrowcd again, then put on 'iuO pounds 

 of plaster and rhe sanieof ])lu)spliate of lime to the 

 acre. When the wheat arrives to a cerlain growth 

 I iniend to roll it, plow it in and stork it this fall, 

 say the last of August or the first of Sciiicnilier. 



Now I want to know what kind or kinds of grass 

 seed I had bettrr sow. Clover docs well here for 

 about two years, then it disappears. Had I better 



