1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMT^R, 



473 



and kneading of the bag, and washing with warm 

 water ; or spirits and water ; or camphor and vine- 

 gar; or soft soap diluted in water; or lime water, 

 about as tliick as white-wash, mixed witli an equal 

 quantity of flax seed oil, well beaten together 

 wiih a knife, as an ointment; ortincture of arnica, 

 M'ith twice as much water, or rum and water; or 

 bitter sweet ointment, or any similar application 

 that requires or encourages much rubbing and 

 working of the bag. To move the bowels, a good 

 mess of potatoes, or garget root, or horseradish, 

 or from four to eight drops of tincture aconite 

 dropped on a piece of bread, and mixed with her 

 feed, or, as was confidently recommended, by Mr. 

 G. W. Steams, of Brookline, Mass., a heaped 

 spoonful of saltpetre well mixed with any "mess" 

 the cow will eat, may be administerea. 



AVAS IT A "FAILURE ?" 



H. Griffln, Esq., Essex Junction, Vt., says: 

 "That winter wheat, that I told you I was going to 

 sow last spring, which was frozen and sprouted 

 before sowing, as well as some I sowed in the field 

 dry, proved a failure." Should Mr. G. sow his 

 spring oats and garden seeds in the fall, we should 

 call it a blunder, not a "failure." Winter wheat- 

 is not to l)e sown in spring. We cannot tamper 

 with natural laws. h. p. 



Brooklyn, L. I., Aug. 23, 1867. 



■WHAT WE WILL DO. 



But though part of our time should be given to mirth. 

 A part, too, we'll spend in improving the earth, 



For we'll rise with the dawn, 



Plant squashes and corn, 



Potatoes and roots, 



And all kinds of fruits; 



Keep bees for their honey. 



And thus save our money 

 To provide us with plenty in seasons of dearth. 



SuBSCaiBER, 



Dedham, Mass., Ang. 7, 1867. 



STEAWnr.KRIES. 



I intend trying to raise a few strawberries, also 

 a few blackberries, in my garden next year, if I 

 can procure scune nice plnnts. Can you iiiform me 

 the lest kinds to cultivate, and how to cultivate 

 the same. Whore can they be obtnined, and at 

 what prices ? What time of year is best to set 

 thi'in ? C". INI. Mansfield. 



West Berkshire, Vt., Aug. 23, 1867. 



Remarks. — In common with many others in 

 this latitude, we have had poor success in ripening 

 the Lawton and other "garden blackberries." 

 Strawberries are as easily raised as potatoes or 

 cabbnges, if you keep the chickens and weeds out 

 of the bed. Hovcy's Seedling is still popular with 

 our maiket gardeners. Probably some of your 

 village neighbors can ^upllly you with plants. All 

 nursery men have them for sale. Spring is per- 

 haps the licst time for transplanting, but then you 

 must wait till the next year for fruit. August is 

 a good time, if rainy, or September will answer. 

 Take well rooted runners in preference to old 

 stumps, and don't let the roots dry. The land 

 should be in good order for a large crop of corn. 

 The rows may be three feet or so apart, and the 

 plants from ten to eighteen inches in the row. 



We have practiced the plan of working up a slight 

 ridge in the centre of the furrow or trench for 

 rows, over which the roots are spread and covered, 

 leaving the plants, if the soil is rather dry, a little 

 below the general surface. A sjjrinkling of ashes 

 is very good. A mulch of leaves, or other mate- 

 rials without the seeds of weeds or grass, applied 

 in the fall, will protect the plants and make a clean 

 bed for the fruit. 



LIME AND SALT FOB HAY. 



Last season the Secretary of the Little Falls, 

 N. Y., Fanners' Club, and editor of" the Utica 

 Herald, opposed very decidedly the practice 

 of using salt or lime in curing hay. lie con- 

 fessed that he Lad bad no experience in liie use 

 of lime, but said that salt injures stock by 

 compelling the animals at times to eat more 

 salt than the system needed. He had seen 

 cows fed on hay salted in the mow, and appa- 

 rently of good quality, which produced very 

 bad results, running the stock down thin and 

 poor, and necessitating an entire abandonment 

 of its use. A correspondent of the Country 

 Gentleman who had abandoned the use of salt 

 after six years' trial, alluded to the above arti- 

 cle as pleasing evidence that one sensible man 

 agreed with him on that subject. 



On the contrary, another writer for the 

 Country Gentleman, stated that he had for 

 some twenty years used about six quarts of 

 salt to a ton of hay, and it was free from must, 

 and was bright and fragrant as tea. One 

 year, his hay being cut without a drop of rain, 

 the salt was omitted, and musty and inferior 

 hay was the result. 



A correspondent of the Western llural 



makes the following statement : — 



My hay was rather moist when I put it in the 

 mow. Isaltcd it, as I always do, and limed it with 

 iiir slacked liuuv, putting on two or three quarts to 

 the ton, at intervals, as when salting hay. The 

 hay when fed out in winter had no must at)oiit it, 

 and was, in quality, equal to any that had been 

 put up. The kind" was, in part, a mixture of tim- 

 othy and redtop, and one lot was made up of tim- 

 othy and clover. 



At a late meeting of the Irasburg, Vt., Far- 

 mers' Club, the following statement was 

 made by Mr. S. K. Locke of Irasburg, who 

 keeps 250 sheep, 20 head of cattle and three 

 or lour horses. 



Some of the hay was put in so green that, 

 under ordinary circumstances it woukl have been 

 nearly spoiled by heating; but he api'licd fVom 

 two to four quarts of salt, and an equal quantity 

 of slacked lime to each ton of hay, and the hay 

 was fdutul uninjured and in good condition, and 

 all the stock did well, and the horses especially 



