1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



523 



order to remove the dandrifF or scurf, wherever 

 there is any appearance of mange. After that, 

 the horse should be washed with strong soap and 

 water as far as the disease has extended ; and, 

 when he has been thoroughly dried, the ointment 

 should be well rubbed in with the naked hand, or 

 with a piece of flannel. More good will be done 

 by a little of the ointment being well rulibcd in, 

 than by a great deal being merely smeared over 

 the part. The rubbing should be daily repeated. 

 During the application of the ointment, and as 

 soon as the physic has set, an alterative ball or 

 powder, similar to those recommended for the 

 other affections of the skin, should be daily given. 

 If, after some days have passed, no progress should 

 appear to have been made, half a pound of sulphur 

 should be well mixed with a pint of oil of tar, and 

 the affected parts rubbed, as before. On every 

 fifth or sixth day the ointment should be washed 

 off with warm soap and water. The progress to- 

 wards cure will thus be ascertained, and the skin 

 will be cleansed, and its pores opened for the more 

 effectual application of the ointment. 



The horse should be well supplied with nourish- 

 ing, but not stimulating food. As much green 

 feed as he will eat should be given to him, or, 

 what is far better, he should be turned out, if the 

 weather is not too cold. It is necessary, however, 

 to be assured that every mangy place has been 

 anointed. It will be prudent to give two or three 

 dressings after the horse has been apparently cured, 

 and to continue the alteratives for ten days or a 

 fortnight." 



After a cure has been effected, the blankets, har- 

 ness, currycomb, rack, manger, and everything 

 about the horse must be thoroughly purified with 

 a solution of chloride of lime. 



SICK TURKEYS. 



In addition to my inquiry of August 26th, regard- 

 ing sick turkeys, I would like to ask if the disease 

 I refer to is not what is recorded in the hen books 

 as "Shooting Red," or tlie time when the turkeys 

 head turns to a red color, and the turkey begins 

 to come to maturity. The hen books give very 

 little information on this disease and the remedy. 

 Can you or some of your subscribers give me 

 more light on this subject ? g. e. h. 



Shreicsbury , Mass., Sept., 1867. 



Remarks. — In a long experience in raising tur- 

 kies, we never met with a ease of the shooting red, 

 and must, therefore, call upon some of our better 

 informed correspondents to come to the assistance 

 of "G. E. H." 



BEES AND PEACHES. 



One of my neighbors has made complaint that 

 my bees are destroying his peaches, and that I 

 keep so many bees that they cannot get enough at 

 home and have to go abroad to get their living! 

 The peaches alluded to, wither and rot and fall to 

 the ground. There are plenty of Jiees owned in 

 the neighborhood, and I consider the accusation 

 absurd, that tny bees are the sole perpetrators of the 

 deed, providing that bees are iiyurioiis to peaches! 

 for I think that they are as likely to go quite a 



distance from the hive to gather sweets for their 

 sustenance as to remain near at home. 



Will you please to inform me through the 

 Farmer whether bees are or are not injurious to 

 peaches ? j. a. r. 



Brookfield, Mass., 1867. 



Remarks. — We have watched the action of bees, 

 wasps, hornets and other insects upon fruit for 

 many years, but have never known them to injure 

 it while in a perfectly sound state. If the skin of 

 the peach is broken by a blow, or by cracking, 

 and the juice flows out, the bees soon know it and 

 will help themselves to a meal ; so will wasps, 

 hornets, flies, and probably other insects. We do 

 not know that bees have the power of perforating 

 the skin, if they would. 



THE SEASON, CROPS AND INSECTS, IN WORCESTER 

 COUNTY, MASS. 



The first crop of hay was a maximum yield, and 

 notwifiistanding the rainy season, was secured in 

 fair order. The second crop, or rouen, is abun- 

 dant, beyond all precedent within the memory of 

 an old man. Oars, above medium. Barley good. 

 Early sowed spring wheat, first rate, a'<, usual; 

 late sowed, worthless, as usual. Corn, below me- 

 dium, and has been considered rather late, but 

 with the fine weather, it is now rapidly passing the 

 boundary of danger from frost. Potatoes are be- 

 lieved to be a complete failure on all wot land, 

 and they do not promise more than half a crop 

 on such lots as have not yet been visited by tho 

 rot. It is the general opinion of farmers that the 

 rot of the tuber Avill yet be as universal as is the 

 blight of the tops, from which no potato field es- 

 capes. 



Small fruits have I)een most abundant. Peach- 

 es few ; pears are plentj^, but crack badly, and lack 

 their usual flavor. The crop of apples is, perhaps, 

 a one hundred per cent, improvement on last year, 

 but is still one of the smallest. 



Canker worms have lieen about us for a few 

 years past, but this year they were in diminuendo. 

 The tenisof caterpillars were few and far between. 

 The Turkish curculio, in spite of all our jarring 

 and other warfare, offensive and defensive, was 

 present in sufficient numbers to destroy, as usual, 

 nearly all the plums, and to disfigure what few 

 apples we have. The white grubs, or larva of the 

 Dor beetle, have seriously injured many corn 

 fields, while a certain odious and odorous little 

 animal is now doing good service in removing the 

 grubs from the corn hills. I. B. Hartavell. 



WilkinsonviUe, Mass., Sept. 13, 1867. 



GRATTING THE GRAPE. 



Your Campello correspondent wishing to know 

 how and when to graft his grape vines, I will give 

 him my method, as follows : — Cut tlie scions late 

 in the fall, and keep them in damp sand in the 

 cellar thnnigh the winter ; in the spring, after the 

 vines have commenced growing, and the buds 

 have burst open, remove the earth from around 

 the stock, and cut it off about one inch below the 

 surface and split it as in cleft grafting ; take scions 

 with two buds, and sharpen them in the form of a 

 wedge, m such a luauner as to liriug the lower bud 

 one inch above the stock when it is inserted, then 

 insert, and as they will not need any binding, re- 

 place the earth so as to leave the lower bud ^ms^ 

 beloto the surface ; keep it moist by mulching or 

 frequent watering. If suckers come up from the 

 root, pinch them back as often as they appear. 



B. L. Stetson. 



South Hanover, Mass., Aug. 26, 1867. 



