1S70. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEIMER. 



233 



Make the ground mellow by ploughing and 

 mixing as much as possible, and sow as early in 

 April as the soil will permit. Much depends on 

 early sowing. Soak the seed over night in brine 

 of modtrate strength. 



OLD HOrSE PLASTEK — PITCH PINE PINS. 



Please inform me if old house plaster is of any 

 use as a inauure for fruit trees or grass lands ; also 

 if ))itch pine pins are of any use for a manure ? 



Littleton, N. H., Feb. 20, 1870. Subsckiber. 



Remarks. — Old house plaster is quite valuable. 

 Make it fine by pounding, and try some experi- 

 ments with it on grass land, and about fruit trees. 



The leaves of pine trees are valuable as manure, 

 wh'-n they are completely decomposed. Used in 

 moderate quantities as a bedding for stock, they 

 would subserve two or three useful purposes. The 

 cattle would lie easier ; the leaves would act as an 

 absorbent, and when rotted would be useful as 

 manure. 



feeding bees. — WINDOW FARM. — POTATO BALL 

 SEED. 



There are many bees kept in this section, and 

 nearly all that have not been fed are dead. I 

 think ours do as well fed on sugar as honey. To 

 feed them on t»^p of a hive, put a box on wi;hout 

 top or bottom in it, about as large square as the 

 hive and six inches deep; over this put a wire 

 screen the bees cannot get through. Put sugar 

 in an earthen bowl (never use a tin dish) and pour 

 hot water to it, making a thick syrup; let it 

 stand till cool and the undissolved sugar has set- 

 tled. Fill a piece of comb with the syrup and 

 place it in the box, — putting a little rye meal in 

 the box. 



This wire screen allows you to see when the 

 bees need feed, and also allows the vapor from 

 the bees to escape. A tight box on the top of the 

 hive coiifincs the vapor and it condenses on the 

 feed and renders it poisonous. I dislike glass in a 

 hive on account of the vapors condensing upon it. 



The late warm, suuny days have given my win- 

 dow potato field a start. The earth begins to crack 

 open, and I can peak into the hills, and see pota- 

 toes about the size of large peas. I have lately 

 heard of new varieties of potatoes being sold for 

 forty and titty dollars for one potato. Wonder if 

 any of these will prove of a stamp to bring these 

 prices ? All who see my new arrangement for 

 plant boxes want them, and since writing my for- 

 mer letter I have concluded to apply for a patent 

 on thera, and am making arrangemonts to manu 

 facture them to sell. 



I saved quite a lot of potato ball seeds, and will 

 sell them for twenty cents a paper. I have lately 

 been in Grafion County, N. H., and find potatoes 

 badly .sflfected by the dry rot. People who have 

 raised the Early Rose here speak very highly of 

 them. He who originates a superior variety bene- 

 fits the countrv. B. Livermoke. 



Harlland, Vt., March 14, 1870. 



CORN growing in ILLINOIS. 



Your promise of "open ears," induces me to go 

 much more fully into details than I had intended. 



After securing proof seed corn, the next impor- 

 tant consideration to obtain a large yield of Indian 

 corn is to thoroughly prepare the ground — pulver- 

 izing it three or four inches deep. It has been 

 found when both soil and sul)soilare quite clayey, 

 that deep fall ploughing is decidedly better for the 

 corn crop than spring ploughing. 



The desirable quantity of compost manure hav- 

 ing been ploughed under in the autumn, or dis- 

 tributed on the ploughed ground, during the win- 

 ter, move the cultivator about the first of May, — 

 set to run four or more inches deep— and with a 

 rightly constructed implement, a yoke of good 

 oxen, led by a span of good horses or mules, can 

 well cultivate twenty acres a day. If many clods 

 or lumps remain, a heavy roller is the next desir- 

 able implement, to be followed by the many-too;hed 

 harrows. Such a team can well drag over the 

 ground harrows twelve or fifteen feet wide. In 

 about a week further pulverize the ground with 

 similar implements. But if clods are no longer 

 visible, it may be expedient to dispense with other 

 implements than the harrow. Let the ground be 

 well stirred weekly, till past the middle of May, 

 in latitude 42°. 



Experiments have been made that show that 

 seed corn will rot in the ground, rather than ger- 

 minate and grow, when the temperature, where it 

 is deposited, is below 58° of Fahrenheit thermom- 

 eter. But many weed seeds will sprout and grow 

 luxuriantly below 50° No advantage can be de- 

 rived by having corn planted more than six days 

 before the plants appear — even when covered three 

 or four inches deep. Yet, one of the well-to-do 

 farmers of our county told me that in the spring 

 of 1867, his seed corn lay in the ground five weeks 

 before it came up. It is not a very uncommon 

 sight in I linois to see weeds in tne corn hills 

 higher than the ears of corn. In proof of bdd man- 

 agement, many growers of corn here do not har- 

 vest some seasons one-fourth as much sound corn 

 per acre, as do some of their neighbors, from lauds 

 originally of like quality. 



Most Western farmers think it does not pay to 

 hoe corn. For myself, I would not give the oest 

 hand I ever had in mj' employ, his board to hoe 

 corn for me, — provided I have had the manoge- 

 ii.ent of the tieid two years. Yet, the weeds ia 

 some good decree must be subdued. 



Uockford, 111., Feb., 1870. J. Weldon. 



DESTROTING HARDBACK — RECLAIMING A SWAMP. 



I wish to inquire if there is any other way to 

 destroy this bush than by grubbing them up ? 

 Here in western Berkshire county there are hun- 

 dreds of acres of land overrun with it. The bushes 

 get so thick that they run out the grass. 



Much of our land would make good meadow if 

 it was drained. The muck would pay for digging 

 to put in the yard and mix with yard manure. I 

 think there is too little attention paid to reclaim- 

 ing land. I had about sixty acres swamp pasture. 

 I drained it, dug the stumps out, and have got the 

 most of it seeded so as to mow well with the mow- 

 ing machine. One crop of the hay now will pay 

 for all I expended upon it. J. McAllister. 



Lee, Mass., March 7, 1870. 



HENS PULL wool TO GET THE TICKS. 



Having had some experience in raising sheep 

 and hens, I would say to Mr. N. Granger, of Ran- 

 dolph, Vt., that his hens were after tne ticks on 

 his sheep instead of the wool. One day I noticed 

 that my hens were apparently busy in pulling the 

 wool from my sheep. On closer examination, I 

 was satisfied that it was not wool, but the ticks 

 that crawled out near the surface of riie fiecue, that 

 they wanted. Finding that there were many ticks 

 on my sheep, I steeped one pound of tobaci?o 

 leaves to one pail of water, and dipped my lambs 

 in this solution, and let thetu run with the Hock 

 to rub the lye on the other sheep, and in a few 

 days not a tick could be seen. As wool is in such 

 active demand, we ought to save it all, and I think 



