448 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Sept. 



— if one could only find the man who buys it. 

 Some say it is Avorked by a factory in Edin- 

 burgh, some in Paris, but I have never found 

 the man who could tell which. 



I had been led to expect great things of the 

 ■wool and woolen tarifi" passed last winter. I 

 expected more from it for the reason that it 

 went into effect immediately. We see now 

 how much it affects the price of wool. Old 

 sheep men tell me that I ought not to expect 

 much from it this year, from the fiict that the 

 country was filled with woolens, previous to 

 its passage. They say, hold on until next year 

 and then you will see. I shall "hold on," be- 

 cause I have to, but I don't expect to see any 

 benefit from the tariff, because I calculate 

 there will be no tariff of that sort a year from 

 now. 



Next winter the free trade interest in Con- 

 gress will say, "We passed this tariff last win- 

 ter particularly to help the wool-grower ; it has 

 not benefited him the "first continental." Mr. 

 McCulloch will say, just so, gentlemen, nor 

 have I been able to get any revenue from wool 

 or woolens. 



Well, I have got sheep to sell, and so have 

 nine-tenths of the sheep owners in Illinois. If 

 we can sell out, or give out, or kill out, or let die 

 out, of sheep, I suppose it will be all the better, in 

 a year or two, for those happy wool growers 

 who, it seems to me, keep sheep, not because 

 they find them profitable, but because they are 

 fascinated by, and in love with the stock. — 

 A. B. H., Shelhy County, 111., July, 1867. 



Remarks. — The tariff was opposed mainly 

 on the ground that it would prove burdensome 

 to the consumer by raising the price of cloth- 

 ing, «fec. We do not understand how its fail- 

 ure to verify these fears can add force to that 

 argument in favor of its repeal. 



TOPPING COKN. 



While we have no doubt that the corn is in ■ 

 jured by this practice, we do not hesitate to 

 recommend it. We lose something in the 

 weight of kernel, but gain in thefodder; and 

 materially in managing the future harvest ; it 

 is worth while, perhaps, to go a little more 

 particularly into the matter. 



The leaves of plants perform two important 

 functions : evaporation, which principally is 

 effected by the lower surface, and by which 

 the water that has been absorbed by the roots 

 and absorbent vessels is carried off in part, 

 leaving the residue in the form of concentra- 

 ted juices ; — and, second, respiration, by which 

 carl)onic acid is taken into the circulation of 

 the plant and performs an important part in the 

 conversion of the proper juices, and in prepar- 



ing and maturing those elements which consti- 

 tute the nutritious quality of the fruit. This 

 process must of course cease when the parts 

 which perform the office are destroyed. It 

 would seem that such must be the effect pro- 

 duced by topping corn ; and though the proper 

 process may still go on by means of the few 

 leaves that are left below the topping, yet it 

 will be feeble and partial, the corn will ripen 

 by evaporation merely ; or rather, both the 

 evaporation and the respiration will be dimin- 

 ished, to the consequent injury of the grain, 

 which will have less of the nutritious property, 

 and less weight ; will be more liable to ferment, 

 and to lose more in weight by the end of win- 

 ter. By the process named, the proper secre- 

 tions of the plant are in ripening rapidly con- 

 verted into sugar ; and so far as the topping 

 checks the respiration, it would also diminish 

 the saccharine quality and render the corn less 

 agreeable to the taste, as well as less nutritious. 

 But after having tried both ways, we incline 

 to the opinion that the loss is less to top it, 

 than to suffer the top to stand, and dry up and 

 realize the inconvenience in harvesting. 



AGEICULTUEAIi ITEMS. 



— The regular apple-bark lice liave been found 

 upon pear trees in Illinois. 



— Two correspondents of the Boston Cultivator 

 say they have each milked twenty cows in an hour. 

 One averages five minutes to each cow. 



— Budding will be timely as soon as you can 

 procure well formed buds, and the bark of the 

 stock parts freely from the wood. 



—The Farmer's Advertiser says that a gi-indstone 

 will grind cast ii-on faster without water than when 

 is is wet. 



— The keeping of goats among cattle is recom- 

 mended by Dr. G. M. Brown, of Cumberland, Va., 

 as a prevention of infectious diseases. 



— Farmers in Missouri contribute liberally for 

 the establishment of manufactories in their neigh- 

 borhoods. 



— The State of North Carolina offers for sale all 

 her puljlic swamp lands, which consist of about 

 one million and a half of aci'cs. 



— Mr. J. Fanium, Uxbridge, Mass., advises tlie 

 New York Farmers' Club to apply air slacked 

 lime to plants, when the dew is on, instead of 

 plaster, &c., for striped bugs, rose bugs, &c. 



— Col. Bainbridge who has an apple orchard in 

 Dc Soto, and is one of the most extensive fruit 

 growers in Missouri, after having been troubled 

 much by borers has found an ettcctual remedy for 

 botla the apple and poach borer, which is, to make 



