62 



NEW ENGLAND FAEilER. 



Feb. 



formed bad been in use Jiffy years, and were 

 still quite good. But in order to withstand 

 the "tooth of time" so long, the bark ought to 

 be removed, and the sticks laid up so firmly 

 that they will not fall, and remain on the 

 ground half the time. 



AJ30UT Pruxixg. — It has long been a prac- 

 tice among farmers to commence pruning apple 

 trees in February, mainly, we suppose, be- 

 cause there is leisure time. There are some 

 reasons why this should not be done. There 

 will not be sufficient action in the tree to har- 

 den the surface, where a limb is taken off, be- 

 fore the sap ascends in the spring. When 

 this action does take place, the sap flows out 

 and spreads over the surrounding bark, and 

 by some chemical action which takes place in 

 it, is changed to a poisonous fluid, which 

 greatly injures the tree. It is very unsafe to 

 prune before the middle of June. Soon after 

 the leaves fall in Autumn, and in mid-Summer, 

 are the safe times to do this work. 



Roots for Stock. — Where roots are stored 

 up for use, it will be well to begin feeding 

 them out in February. A root-slicer is a most 

 convenient article. It will slice a bushel in 

 two minutes, when turned briskly by a man, 

 and leaves the pieces in thin slices as long as 

 one's fingers, each slice being cracked in many 

 places. In this condition, all the domestic 

 animals can eat them wilbout danger of getting 

 choked. 



Tools. — No delay is safe now, in seeing 

 that plows and all other farm imrjiements are 

 in order to be used. 



Fux. — Short and boisterous as the month 

 is, there is usually considerable fun in it. The 

 l-i-th. is Valentine's Day, when there is some 

 latitude likely to be given both to tongue and 

 pen. In London, 200,000 letters, beyond the 

 usual daily average, pass through the Post 

 Office ou St. Valentine's Day. "Two hundred 

 thousand two-pences," said a gentleman, and 

 was going to cast it into shillings and pounds. 

 "Why, papa," said his daughter, "that's just 

 the number of young folks there must be in 

 love with each other — that's the way to reck- 

 on !" 



The privilege allowed to tongue and pen on 

 this day ought to be used with much discre- 

 tion. They sometimes awaken emotions, and 

 excite hopes, that can never be realized. A 



general excitement prevails among young peo- 

 ple, all breathing the spirit of the poet, — 



'•Outstrip the winds my courier dove I 

 On pinions fleet and free. 

 And bear this letter to my love 

 Who's far away from me." 



The old English books are full of the customs 

 practiced on St. Valentine's Day. Sonnets 

 and larger poems have been written without 

 number, and jovial games, stories and witti- 

 cisms are plentifully recorded. It was a gen- 

 eral holiday, and served to drive off grim care, 

 and refresh both body and mind for future la- 

 bor. 



"I'll be yours, if you'll be mine, — 

 I am your pleasing Valentine,'' 



was upon a thousand tongues, and in ten thou- 

 sand billets-doux. 



THE DAIRY IH" MICHIGAN. 



We think there is sound sense in the follow- 

 ing suggestions, by X. A. Willard, in the 

 Rural New Yorker, to farmers who are now 

 changing from the sheep business to that of 

 the dairy. During the war we frequently 

 heard the remark that prices for sheep and 

 wool could never again be as low as formerly. 

 But they have been low for two or three years. 

 What assurance have we that the products of 

 the dairy are safe from a similar deprecia- 

 tion? 



F. M.Holloway, Hillsdale, Michigan, writes to 

 the Germantown Telegraph tliat the falling off of 

 the wool clip of the State last year was about 300,- 

 000,000 pounds, and he thinks that next year will 

 show a like result. 



He says every pound of wool grown in Michigan 

 costs fifty cents, as farmers have learned by bitter 

 experience, and they will no longer hang their 

 hopes upon a delusive tarilT for relief— that four 

 pounds of butter or six pounds of cheese can be 

 made with less expense than a pound of wool 

 can be grown, and that the dairy interest is 

 therefore taking its place. The pork interest 

 is also spoken of as unprofitable, as Michigan far- 

 mers cannot compete with the corn regions South 

 and West. 



We are rather surprised to hear this statement 

 fron Michigan, and we hope the dairy will not 

 disap-joint Michigan farmers ; still, success in the 

 latter b-isiness depends upon skilful management 

 and experience ; and it is not well for fiirmers to 

 be constantly changing from one kind of farming 

 to another, simply because prices happen to be 

 low one ycai and some other business just at that 

 lime appears i.ioro profitable. It always takes 

 time and a good Ceal of experience to learn a busi- 

 ness thoroui'hly, and when one becomes proficient 

 in a certain branch iw should have good solid rea- 

 sons for abandoning it for that with which he is 

 not fivmiliar. 



We do not wish to discourage any one from en- 

 tering upon the dairy business, but rather to give 

 caution that too high hopes should not be enter- 

 tained, and that an inexperienced person will not 

 be likely to realize a fortune from the dairy the 

 first or the second year of his trial ia it. 



