72 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



Feb. 



asing. The meat must be kept covered with the 

 brine, by a flat stone or wooden follower. To- 

 wards spring the brine must be turned ofiF, boiled 

 and skimmed, and a little more salt added. "We 

 should advise to leave out the saltpetre entirely, 

 as we consider it a rather dangerous article to use 

 with food, and we have never used the potash. 



Meat should not be salted the day it is killed. 

 How long it should lay before being salted down, 

 will depend somewhat upon the state of the 

 weather and other circumstances. The animal 

 heat must be entirely dissipated, and a change in 

 the fibre of the meat be allowed to take place 

 which, in case of steak is often expressed by the 

 word "ripe." This makes the meat tender and 

 rich. 



EXPERIMENT IN SHIFTING SEED POTATOES. 



A friend gave me seventeen potatoes that were 

 raised 200 miles from my farm. They weighed 

 four pounds and twelve ounces. I planted them 

 in thirty-four hills. I took the same number, of 

 the same variety, that had been planted on my 

 farm for twelve years, being careful to select those 

 of the same weight ; planted them in same num- 

 ber of hills, side by side, with the others. Both 

 were treated in every way alike, as nearly as pos- 

 sible. On harvesting the product of each the 

 potatoes produced by the old seed, and those pro- 

 duced by the new seed, were counted and weighed, 

 with the following result : 



New Seed. Old Seed. 



No. Lbs, No. Lbs. 



Large or marketable potatoes, . 428 102 3£0 82 



Small potatoes 630 32 780 61 



1058 134 1130 133 



From the result of this experiment it appears, 

 that while there was only one pound difference in 

 the whole weight, between the produce of the old 

 and new seed, there were twenty pounds more 

 large potatoes from the new seed than fi'om the 

 old ; and that there were seventy-two more pota- 

 toes in number from the old than from the new 

 seed. It would seem, therefore, that it will not 

 pay to change seed for mere weight ; but that it 

 will pay to do so in the increased value of the po- 

 tato for market. John M. Weake. 



Seabrook, N. H., Dec, 1869. 



Remaeks.— "We thank Mr. Weare for this state- 

 ment of the result of his experiment. "We believe 

 that farmers in the vicinity of Boston generally 

 buy new seed every year. What are the advan- 

 tages of doing so ? Have these advantages been 

 demonstrated by careful experiments ? "We re- 

 member of hearing an intelligent man once say 

 that he thought the necessity for changing seed 

 -riginated in the want of care in selecting potatoes 

 for seed. Perhaps the best would be sold or used, 

 and at planting time those unsuitable for seed, 

 cither on account of their small size or immatu- 

 rity, would be used, and consequently the crop de- 

 generated, as corn or other grain would degenerate 

 by the use of inferior seed. Facts, however, are 

 more satisfactory than theorj'. And that stated by 

 our correspondent is a valuable one. There are 

 other points or questions that we should like to 

 see illustrated by similar experiments. "What is 

 the effect on the time of maturity from seed potatoes 



grown in different latitudes ? For instance, will po- 

 tatoes grown in Maine ripen earlier in Massachu- 

 setts or Connecticut, or any other section south 

 of Maine, than those raised at home or in places 

 still further south ? Mr. "Weare did not conduct 

 his experiment to test this question. May we not 

 hope to hear from others on the subject of shift- 

 ing seed potatoes ? 



BEST hens for EGGS AND CHICKENS. 



As I am going into the poultry business some- 

 what extensively I write you in regard to the best 

 kind of hens for laying; also for raising chickens. 

 Please inform me. Loren Shepaedson. 



Guilford Centre, N. H., Nov. 14, 1869. 



Remarks. — "We do not know as we can do any 

 better than to advise you to get the kind that you love 

 best. This was the advice given in a recent com- 

 munication in the Farmer to a man who asked 

 what kind of farm stock he had better buy. It 

 may not be entirely satisfactory, but there is prob- 

 ably more good sense in the advice than may at 

 first sight appear. What suits one person will of- 

 ten displease another, in poultiy, or in stock, 

 farms, houses, carriages, associates, business, lo- 

 cality, politics, and even religion. One person can 

 choose for another in few of these particulars. If 

 we should recommend one of the modem fancy 

 breeds of hens, you might object to the cost ; if we 

 named any other variety, some objection might be 

 urged to that with equal force. There is undoubt- 

 edly a great difference between varieties of poul- 

 try, in some breeds one quality, in other breeds 

 other qualities, are specially developed; but we 

 believe there is a far greater difference after all in 

 the care and keeping which are given them ; and 

 consequently that results depend more on the 

 keeper than on the breed of hens kept. 



HOW TO MAKE APPLE TREES BEAR. 



In answer to the question of S. Fisher "What 

 shall I do with my apple trees," I will give my 

 experience under similar circumstances. I have 

 twenty Baldwin trees of about twenty years' 

 growth. Three years ago they were thrifty, blos- 

 somed well as they had done for several years, but 

 bore little fruit, and that of very poor quality. 

 Manure would not bring fruit. 



In June, 1866, I spread about fifty bushels of 

 leached ashes broadcast over the land, (which was 

 in grass,) then sowed on about one hundred 

 pounds of gypsum. The next season I cut two 

 fine crops of hay, getting, as I estimated, full pay 

 for my outlay and labor in the increase of that 

 crop. That year there were no apples in this re- 

 gion. 



1868, I had two good crops of hay, and on one- 

 half the trees a very good crop of apples. 



Last May, the ground was ploughed, turning in 

 a good coat of stable manure. The trees looked 

 finely and blossomed fairlj. The land was 

 planted to potatoes, with a handful of ashes and 

 plaster in a hill, and yielded, except just under the 

 trees, at the rate of two hundred bushels per acre ; 

 but, best of all, those twenty trees bore one hun- 

 dred and twenty bushels of the finest Baldwins I 

 ever saw grown in New England, together with 

 some thirty or forty bushels which fell off and 

 were made into cider. 



The potato patch extended beyond the ground 



