1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



52,5 



contains stairs to chambers and basement 

 floors, and opens upon a gallery, No. 10, 

 leading to the yard ; under the gallery is the 

 yard entrance to the basement. 



The second floor contains four good sized 

 chambers with bathing-rooms, dressing-rooms 

 and closets. In the attic, which should be fin- 

 ished throughout, will be three large bed-rooms, 

 besides a storage for trunks, &c. The first 

 story is 11 feet high in clear, and the second 

 9^ feet. 



AGRICULTURAL ITEMS. 



— Sheep will not bark trees that are whitewashed 

 with a little sbeep manure in the wash. 



— The maple sugar manufactured in Vermont is 

 nearly equal in value to its products of wool. 



— A coating of three parts lard and one part 

 rosin, applied to farm tools of iron or steel, Avill 

 eflfectually prevent rust. 



— The remarkable fertility of the waters of the 

 river Nile, in Egypt, was ascribed by Baron Hum- 

 boldt to a slime, the product of fish. 



— A proposition to sell all fruits by weight in- 

 stead of by the box, basket or other measure was 

 received with great favor, and passed unanimously, 

 by the American Pomological Convention. 



— The Walter Wood Reaper Factory, at Hoosick 

 Falls, N. Y., empl03's about 400 men, and is capa- 

 ble of turning out 50 machines per day. Sales last 

 year amounted to about a million of dollars. 



— A correspondent of the Iowa Homestead says 

 he presumes that in Van Buren county alone 

 $15,000 would not replace the trees that were de- 

 stroyed by rabbits in that county last winter. 



— J. F. Simmons, of Iowa, writes to the New 

 York Farmers' Club, that his experience in plough- 

 ing in buckwheat as a fertilizer, had convinced 

 him that it was not only an exhausting crop, but 

 that it poisoned the soil. 



— Prof. Swallow says of the white oak and post 

 oak lands of Missouri, that "the subsoil is usually 

 richer than the surface, and deep plowing makes a 

 vast difference in their productive powers. These 

 lands are very superior for fruit culture. 



— The Cotswold ram, and other sheep, which we 

 mentioned a week or two since, as having been 

 purchased in England by Mr. Loomis, of Windsor 

 Locks, Conn., have arrived at his faiin. Mr. 

 Loomis remains abroad until November. 



— An Iowa correspondent of the Rural Atneri- 

 can, lays down land to grass by sowing the seed 

 immediately after harvesting his oats, trusting to 

 the cattle, which are turned in to pasture off the 

 stubble, to tramp in the seed. 



— A correspondent of the Rural World uses a 

 medicine for the cure of slobbers in horses, that 

 though infallible, is not popular because it is so 



simple, handy and cheap. A dose or two of from 

 one to two gallons of dry wheat bran has never 

 failed with him. 



— In reply to an inquiry addressed to the New 

 York Farmers' Club, as to the advantages of the 

 interior of Long Island, for market gardening, it 

 was stated that the Long Island railroad will not 

 take manure as freight, and that ihe general im- 

 pression is, that the soil is too poor. 



— A Wisconsin wine maker was overtaken last 

 fall by cold weather, and some 5000 lbs. of his 

 grapes were frozen up in boxes. Wine made from 

 these grapes in April was "one hundred per cent, 

 better than that made from the same quality of 

 grapes in the fall." 



— Dr. J. A. Warder, alluding to grape soils, 

 states that it is the very common opinion, after 

 many years, experience, of those who have been 

 eminently successful in the culture of the vine, 

 that the clay cannot he too hard and compact for 

 the roots of the grape to penetrate. 



— A mixture of gelatine and glycerine, is liquid 

 while hot, but on cooling it becomes solid, retain- 

 ing considerable elasticity and toughness. The 

 neck of a bottle dipped into this melted compound 

 is covered with an air-tight cap, which can be 

 made as thick as desired by repeating the opera- 

 tion. 



— The subject of destroying wire-worms was 

 discussed by the Herkimer County, N. Y., Far- 

 mer' Club, and Judge Owen said he had tried 

 many things to kill them off ineffectually. Finally 

 he let a field go fallow one year, plowing it three 

 or four times. The worms got starved and left the 

 premises and have not returned yet. 



— T. Jones, South Hadley,Mass., complains in a 

 letter to the New York Farmers' Club of fraud in 

 new strawberry plants. He has now half an acre 

 of i'uncy, high-priced kinds, and the cost of plants 

 and of cultivation has been !^500, while he has re- 

 ceived hai-dly as many cents. Of twenty kinds 

 only two are valuable. 



—The Paris Kentuckian says "Mr. S. W. Teve- 

 baugh, of this county, has shown us some singu- 

 lar gi-ains of corn, in which the grains are doubled, 

 each grain having a separate heart. He acciden- 

 tally noticed a few grains as he was shelling his 

 seed corn last year, which he planted, and they 

 produced ears of com with all the grains doubled, 

 and two stalks to the grain." 



— The influence of food on the quantity of milk 

 is very striking. A half starved cow not only 

 yields but little milk, but what it yields is miser- 

 alily poor. On the other hand, the liberal supply 

 of food rich in nitrogenous and phosphatic ele- 

 ments of nutrition tell directly on the milk. 

 Nothing, therefore, can be more injudicious than 

 to stint dairy cows in food. 



— The chicken cholera that has proved so fatal 

 in many places at the West, is ascribed by R. H. 

 Murray, of Calumet, 111., to a species of putrefac- 



