1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



469 



kicking. Let us be careful with our cows, and not 

 act witliout thinking. 



—A correspondent of tlie Rural American gives 

 the following directions for making cheap "hoxcs" 

 to put around vines to keep otF hens and bugs : go 

 to the woods, cut down Ijiisswood, measure off 

 six feet, cut ruund the tree, split open the bark on 

 top, pcal the bark off, and take it to the house ; 

 saw across, in pieces aljout six inches long; bore 

 a small hole close to the edge where split open ; 

 tie a string to keep it fron rolling up, from heat of 

 the sun, and the boxes are done. 



—Dr. Hull, of Alton, Illinois, who recently vis- 

 ited the southern portion of the State known as 

 Egypt, found orcharding carried on to an extent 

 that bids fair to overstock the whole West with 

 fruit. He passed from orchard to orchard— two 

 to twenty thousand trees were common ; one man 

 had planted 15,000 pears the past spring, and 

 would plant 30,000 more this fall. Strawberries 

 had paid enormously ; 250 bushels to the acre, 

 netting §5.75 per bushel, was not an exceptional 

 case. 



—After the Solons of the New York Farmers' 

 Club had gravely decided, at a recent deljate, that 

 the only practical means of protecting fruit from 

 the fiital sting of the curculio was to jar them 

 upon sheets and destroy them piecemeal, Mr. Rob- 

 inson said: "Nothing but thunder and lightning 

 would jar my apple trees, for they are fifty feet 

 high. Nor could I hire help enough for .$200 to 

 catch the curculio among the thick grass, §100 

 worth of which would be destroyed ; but even if I 

 should go into all this business, I do not see what 

 good it would do, for they would coine from my 

 neighbors' trees, and then where would I Ije ?" 



—In a note to the New York Farmers' Club, Mr. 

 Storrs Burrows, of Oneida County, N. Y., says 

 the past May was the worst lor the farmer in 47 

 years ; the greatest number of rainy days and 

 the least sunshine in any May since 1820. It has 

 thundered three different days. White frost the 

 10th, 16th, 21st, and 27th. Snow the 14th. On 

 the 4th, ground froze sufficiently hard to bear up 

 ahorse. We have had 7 and 46-100 inches of 

 rain ; 4-100 of snow. It rained from the 5th to the 

 9th, from the 13th to the 15ih, from the 17th to the 

 20th, and from the 22d to the 31st, every day. 

 Cows : re not giving more than two-thirds of the 

 usual quantity of milk. Our cheese factories com- 

 plain of lignt yields. 



EXTRACTS AND HEPLIES. 



GRAFTING THE GRAPE VINE.— EGGS ON SQUASH 

 VINES. 



How shall I graft my grape vines ? When and 

 where shall I cut off the top ? When set the sci- 

 ons and how many buds on them ? Will the eggs 

 that are on the niidcr side of squash vines mature 

 if scraped off with the nail on to the ground ' 

 How prevent maggots from destroying squash 

 vines ? How get rid of witch (or joint) grass in 

 the walk, border and lawn ? One of my neighbors 



says, keep it from going to seed and it will die, like 

 asparagus, and that it will not come up from the 

 seed, but neither seem reasona'ile. Unc more, 

 when and how set slips from ciin-ants ? 



A New SinsciaiiKii. 

 Campello, Mass., Aug., 1867. 



Remarks.- We have never grafted the grape 

 vine, and shall be glad to have some ex; eiienced 

 person enlighten uur correspondent. 



We think scraping the eggs of the squash bug 

 from the under side of the vine, and dropping 

 them upon the ground, would destroy them, as 

 being attached to the leaf is their natural po.^iion. 



We cannot inform you how to prevent the mag- 

 got from entering and destroying squash vines. 



See recent discussions on witch grass in the 

 Farmer. 



To multiply currant bushes, cut slips of the ncAV 

 shoots next spring, and insert them in moist soil 

 to the depth of six to ten inches, leaving two or 

 three buds out. It is better to dig a hole with a 

 trowel than to make one by thrusting a stick d<jwn, 

 because that makes the sides of the hole very 

 hard, and young roots will not strike into the soil 

 so readily as when it is lighter. 



CLAY ox sandy AND GRAVELLY SOIL. 



A neighbor of mine, Mr. H., has a piece of land 

 of a gravelly and sandy soil. It is warm, quick 

 land, and will produce good corn and grain by 

 IJUtting on a large supjily of manure every year. 

 I have been acquainted with the land tor twent}-- 

 five years. Near it there is a Ijank of clay, which 

 is very convenient for carting. For the last six 

 years Mr. H. has licen dressing this hungry soil 

 with this clay, with remarkably good effect. He 

 says he had rather have a hundred loads of clay 

 than a hundred loads of manure on that land. 

 The manure may prc/duce the largest eroi) one or 

 two years, but the clay is more permanent in its 

 effects, and in four or live years will produce moi-e 

 than the manure. 



I saw the land and examined the crops on it 

 last week, and believe Mr. H. is correct in his 

 statements. The corn had been badly injured by 

 the worms, but the oats were splendid. He said 

 that he could keep the land in good heart with the 

 clay dressing. It should Ite plowed up in the fiiU 

 and exposed to the operation of f lost during win- 

 ter. It then becouies tine, is easily slioveleil, and 

 readily mixes with the soil. He tips up a load in 

 a place, spreads and plows it in. As there is plenty 

 of such light soil in New England, and as I be- 

 lieve such beds of clay or other suitable material 

 are more frequent than is generally supposed, I 

 have thought this statement of my neighbor's suc- 

 cess in the improvement of his field, might benefit 

 others. Wherever the situation is such that twenty 

 loads per day can be carted by one team, such 

 dressing will prove a good investment. We can- 

 not much longer subsist without replenishing our 

 lands in some way. O. Foster. 



Tunbridge, Vt., Aug. 11, 1867. 



Remarks.— Such brief hints from actual farm 

 practice are the cream of our agricultural papers. 

 Much has been written about manures, and much 

 more must be written before the subject of plant 

 nutrition is fully understood. The mechanical 

 effect of a dressing of heavy soil upon a light one, 

 or of sand and gravel upon a heavy soil, is more 

 readily understood than is the chemical effect 



