90 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



has dried on and become hard. The cause of this 

 strauiie phtnunicnon is uiilinown to any person who 

 has ever !-een ic. Can yciu, Messrs. Editors, or any 

 ot your readers, account for it or prescribe a 

 remedy ? Zen. 



Livermore Falls, Me., Nov., 1869. 



E.r.MAi<KS. — Malformations are not uncommon 

 in either animals or vegetables. Darwin remarks 

 thut "all who have studied monstrosities believe 

 that thi y are f;'r more common with domesticated 

 than with wild animals or plants." Thtir causes 

 are little understood. Why some people have six 

 fingers or an extra toe or otlier peculiarity or 

 "mark" is not easy, even for the learned, to say; 

 nor is easier for them to say when the cause that 

 produced these anomalies occurred. We don't 

 know even the cause of warts, and we cannot tell 

 the cause of the malformation described by our 

 correspondent. Can any reader of his article give 

 the desired information ? 



DESTROYING ALDEKS. 



I would like to know how to kill alders. 



Thomas Wilson. 



North Becket, Mass., Dec. 13, 1869. 



Remarks. — Another correspondent, "Farmer," 

 makes a similar inquiry. The old rule, when peo- 

 ple hud more faith in the moon than they have 

 iK)w, was, we believe, to cut aiders in the old of 

 tfle moon in August, if you wished to have them 

 die dead. But, whether you have faith in the 

 moon or faith in nothing, we will recommend the 

 last of August as the proper time to cut alders. 

 Cut them close to the ground, or, better, into the 

 mud, so that the scythe may pass over the stubs. 

 Burn them whon dry. The next summer mow 

 the grass, weeds and alder sprouts that may spring 

 up, and the alders will be to blame if they trouble 

 you much afterwards. If you can flow the land 

 on which the alders grow, and keep it flowed all 

 Eummer, you may kill them in that way. 



SODA ASH. 



What is soda ash ? Where manufactured, and 

 what, ii its coiiimerci.il value ? p. c. t. 



FitUfietd, N. H., Dec, 1869. 



PlEmarks. — Soda Ash is crude or impure car- 

 honatt of soda. We cannot say where it is manu- 

 factured. I.s commercial value is given weekly 

 in the rAiiMrR. in the "V^ hoksale Prices," under 

 the heading of "Drugs and Dyes." The quotations 

 last week were 3J and 3:^ cents per pound. We 

 have cxpcrimfnied with compo-ti:g it with muck 

 on a ."mall scale, when the cos-t was considerably 

 higher than now, and our impression was that it 

 v/as too cosily for extended use as a manure. 



INDIAN COUN. 



I propose to give an account of a crop of corn 

 raised by me this ye<ir, which is not exactly a 

 fdliuro, nor jet a great succes-, but one that may 

 perh-ips be improved upon by surnc of your read 

 ers. Failiucji in (jrming wlicri fairly reported 

 are soineiimes as pr< titaiile to others as succe-ses. 

 The best crops that I have ever raised, or seen raised 



in my neighborhood, — and our soil is naturally very 

 pood for corn — is atiotit 50 bushels of shelled corn 

 to the acre. Reports have been circulated of late 

 years of between one and two hundred bushels to 

 the acre, while with us 40 bushels are accounted a 

 fair crop. Consequently the framers of these re- 

 ports are very much ahead of us in the art of ex- 

 aggeration, or we are much behind them in the sci- 

 ence of agriculture. 



I planted 27 quarts of corn on about three acres 

 of land where potatoes grew last year; all but 

 about one fourth of an acre being sward, broken 

 up ]a«t spring. The manure was ail ploughed in. 

 The corn on the sward land was much inferior 

 to the rest, not starting as early nor making as 

 rapid growth. On the old ground, the mimure 

 was drawn on in December, and laid in heaps of a 

 suitable size f u- spreadmg all winter. On that the 

 corn was earlier and much better than that where 

 the manure was drawn on in the spring. Not 

 having kept an account of the cost of raising corn 

 before, I had supposed that the cost was less and 

 the protits greater ; but thus the account stands : — 



Drawing 85 loacs of manure, 4 cattle and man 



b% diys, $10 50 



Spreading 3>^ days 8 i5 



Piougbiug, 4 cattle, 1 man and boy, 3}^ days 6 25 



Harrowing, 4 cattle and man, 2 days, 9 00 



Planting, t men 2'^ days 7 50 



Cultivaiing,man, horse ard boy, twice lengthwise 



and ouce cr> sswiee, '2^i days 9 37 



Hoeing once, 1 man. 5 days 7.50 



tlouuhing, both ways witb ehovcl p'ongh, horse, 



m ID and hoy, 3J^ days 14 12 



Manure, 30 cords $5.00 per cord, eptimating »ne- 



fourth taken up L^y the com crop 37 60 



Interest on land 1"* 00 



Taxes 3 tO 



Total expense $135 99 



The crcp atr ounted to ISO brshels sh^lTed corn 

 measured in the bin by taking the cutic feet, 

 allowance beiLg made for tbriukage, at $1.45 

 per bushel $158 60 



Leaving a balance of profit on 3 acres $ 52 51 



I charge nothing for harvesting, husking, &c., 

 nor give any creuit for three tons corn fuuder and 

 about 3l) Ijushels ears refuse corn. 



Epping, N. H„ Dec , 1869. M. J. Harvey. 



EARMING BY A CRIPPLED SOLDIER. 



Tn answer to your correspondent, "A Scrubber 

 of Bush and Brier," in Weekly Fakmbr, Nov. 6, 

 Monthly, page 574, 1 will give the experience, not 

 of myselt, buiotoueof my neighitor-?, with whise 

 circumstance, I am nearly as well acquainted as if 

 it was my own experience. 



At the first battle of Bull Run, a man wh^m I 

 will call Sanford was wounded and honorably dis- 

 charged. He had nine hundred dollar.-, and with 

 SIX hundred he bouglit twelve acres of land, simi- 

 lar to that of your correspondent. He had o:.o 

 cow, and wi'h the remainder of his nionev he 

 bought another cow, a horse, and a second hand 

 wai'on and ijarness, and nsoved on his place in the 

 spring. The land was fjrmerly a good strong soil, 

 very srony, and had bten run preity hard. There 

 was the matiure Irom three head of cattle and one 

 Iwrse on the pl-ice, whi-h he spread on a sni dl 

 piece after ploughing, and planted to com, rai-ing 

 a pretty fair crop. aIjouc one-half acre arounil ihe 

 builduigs he jjlarited to carrots and other mots, 

 and al.-^o one-half acre to eairots on n y land on 

 shares. These roots were a great help towards 

 wintering his stotk. He also raised one acre of 

 potatoes on his o*\n land, which he also uted in 

 wintering his stock. 



Being partial y crippled he could not command 

 full wag<.s, but whenever he liud a ch.ue.tr he 

 worked out, taking whatever he could earn, and at 



