514 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



thing else, in the open air, they die. I think Mr. 

 Alley will admit that if bees will live as long as 

 the honey lasts brood will not be reared without 

 "bread." 



Supposing all the rye meal was fed in spring 

 that could l)e of any use ; and suppose, again, that j 

 the old stocks would put in enough of it to last 

 them until another spring, what are the young 

 swarms to do for pollen when the usual supplies j 

 fail ? Since we cannot feed rye meal at any time 

 but in early spring, (at, least I am not aware that 

 we can,) we want a substitute for pollen that may i 

 be fed to them at any time when honey can, — in 

 early spring, summer, autumn, or midwinter. 1 

 Without it, we are unable to preserve many swanns 

 in seasons of scarcity. f. 



Mast Yard, N. H., Sept. 1, 1867. 



VALUATION FOR TAXATION. 



We have received from a subscriber in West- 

 field, Mass., a communication in which he com- 

 plains that the assessors of the various towns and 

 cities in the State, instead of taxing property at 

 its fair cash value, as required by their oaths of 

 office, seem to have fallen into the false notion that 

 the city or town that can make the lowest return, 

 and thus cheat the most, is doing a nice thing, and 

 favoring the tax-payers. The conscientious asses- 

 sor who wishes to discharge his duties in accord- 

 ance with the plain letter of the law, and his oath 

 of office, is told by the large property holders, 

 that if he puts in the property at a fair cash value, 

 his city or town will have to pay more than its 

 share of the State and county tax ; for, say they, 

 other cities and towns do not assess their property 

 for more than one-half its value. The small es- 

 tates of the farmer and the mechanic, says our 

 correspondent, are genei-ally taxed at about their 

 real value, and why should the man who puts his 

 money into expensive dwellings, or business 

 blocks, or factories, claim exemption from the de- 

 mands of the law ? This subject should be agi- 

 tated, until assessors are made to feel the disgrace 

 if not the penalty of falsifying their oaths to please 

 dishonest tax-payers. 



eight such loads per acre, and that would require 

 ten bushels of lime. We think it better to use 

 lime moderately and often, rather than to apply a 

 large quantity at once. 



Question 2. If the land is good, and liberally 

 manured, your practice of using a small quantity 

 in the hills, for the purpose we suppose of giving 

 the corn an early and vigorous start, is just what 

 we should recommend. 



Question 3. Either of the articles which you 

 enumerate would make an excellent dressing for 

 wheat, and would tend greatly to secure a crop. 

 The ashes or lime would probably be the cheapest, 

 and, perhaps, the most sure. 



COMPOST OF LIME AND MUCK — SUPERPHOSPHATE 

 — LIME AND WOOD ASHES. 



I wish to inquire what quantity of lime should 

 be used in composting muck, to broadcast on grass 

 grotmd or on land intended for grain. I have 

 used Coe's phosphate of lime on corn, at the rate 

 of about one hundred pounds per acre, and have 

 received great benefit from its apijlication. Would 

 more ))e advisable, where it costs $3.50 per 100 

 lbs., I)y the barrel ? I would also like to know if 



fihospiiate of lime and wood ashes or common 

 ime sown broadcast on wheat land would make a 

 good drcssinc. Henuy Humphrey. 



Corinth, Vt., Aug. 25, 1867. 



Remarks. — Any quantity of lime, from five to 

 twenty-five bushels, or more, per acre, would do 

 no harm. The limit, it seems to us, must be de- 

 termined l)y the cost of the lime, as, if you use it, 

 you wish to use \t profitably. Five bushels of lime 

 to one cord ; that is, 100 bushels of peat, would 

 make a top-dressing that would be sensibly felt. 

 That would make four loads of about twenty-six 

 bushels each. You would be likely to use at least 



CROPS IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASS, 



We have lost considerable here from too much 

 moisture. Potatoes rot badly ; squash in most 

 cases a failure ; meadow grass in many places not 

 cut ; mildew on the leaves of shrubs and fruit 

 trees common. Apples are more plentiful than 

 last year, l)ut not a quarter crop. Pears blighted 

 in leaf and fruit; grapes badly mildewed in leaf, 

 and some in fruit. The northeast rains seemed to 

 injure the grape leaves very much. 



My Concord vines in fruit have a very heavy 

 crop of fine grapes, and with the exception of a 

 few bunches, are free from mildew ; so of my Hart- 

 ford Prolilic vines. Adirondac, Allen's Hylirid, 

 Underhill's Seedling, Roger's Hyl)rids, Nos. 3, 4, 

 15, 19, lona, Creveling, Diana, Ir-abella and every 

 variety I have, both standard vines and nursery 

 stock, have been injured by mildew in the leaf to 

 some extent, except the Concords in the nursery. 

 The new growth is good and free from disease, and 

 I shall probal)ly lose neither fruit nor vine. The 

 Concoi'd, and Hai'tfords, and Isabella, are as vig- 

 orous as ever, and promise a large yield of fruit. 

 John Fleming, 



Sherborn, Mass., Sept. 9, 1867. 



AN expert BERRY'-PICKER. 



The berry-pickers, comprising both young and 

 old, have become a numerous and respectable 

 body, and among them ai'e not a few of your fair 

 and intelligent readers. Why should not some re- 

 cord of their successful laljorsfinda place in your 

 columns. We were favored with an accurate ac- 

 count of berries i)icked I)y Miss Ellen M. Welling- 

 ton, of Ashby, in 1865, which we think it would be 

 hard to beat, though we were told by the young 

 lady herself that she could have done even better 

 had she renlly tried. In one day she picked thirty- 

 eight quarts of iilucberrics ; the next day sixty 

 quarts and a pint. These were sold at the door 

 for four cents per quart. In July, the same year, 

 she picked 583 quarts of blueberries and whortle- 

 berries in twenty -three days which were sold at 

 the door for $37.37. She picked in all, that year, 

 tliirty-two l)ushcls and twelve quarts, which were 

 sold'to the collectors for $72 02. The next year, 

 1866, she picked and sold, as before, whortleberries 

 and liluebcrries to the amount of $50.25 w. 



Sept. 7, 1860. 



SWEET tomato PICKLE. 



Will you please reprint for the benefit of your 

 readers"tlic following, which I have found by re- 

 peate<l trials to be the best receipt of the kind that 

 has yet met my notice. 



Slice one gallon of green tomatoes, and put a 

 handful of salt to each layer of tomatoes. Let 

 them stand twelve hours, then drain oil the liquor, 

 and add to them two green peppers, and from two 

 to four onions sliced. Take two quarts strong 



