316 



NEW ENGLAND FARjVIER. 



July 



cereals. There will be much less wheat sown this 

 year than formerly in Iowa. And right here I 

 wish to ask if the Norway oats, which are being 

 so highly spoken of, are one grand humbug, and 

 are the Western farmers being imposed upon by 

 sending them common oats, calling them "Norway 

 oats f" F. Snedioar. 



Fayette, loxca, 1870. 



NEW OATS. — DRY ROT IN POTATOES. — POTATO BUG. 



Please inform me what kind of oats the en- 

 closed are. They yield about sixty bushels per 

 acre. I lind my potatoes are affected with dry 

 rot. Will it do to plant the sound portion ? Last 

 season 1 noticed the tops to be covered with 

 a very small black bug, oval in form, and very 

 sprv. Did they injure the tubers ? 



Shelburn, N. H., 1870. H. T, Cummings. 



Remarks. — The oats you enclosed are probably 

 what are called "The Surprise Oats." We have 

 had several samples sent us from various parts of 

 New England, all of which are very plump, white 

 and heavy. They are represented to weigh from 

 40 to 60 pounds per bushel. The oats which have 

 been cultivated for twenty years past seem, like 

 some other plants, to have greatly deteriorated, so 

 that we need some new and better variety. The 

 "Surprise" seem to promise this. 



It would not be advisable to plant any portion 

 of a partially rotten potato. The minute, black 

 bug of which you speak has been very destructive 

 to the potato, and although not directly causing 

 the rot, greatly enfeebles and injures the crop. 

 Scatter dry ashes, plaster or air-slaked lime over 

 the vines, as soon as the bugs appear. If done 

 two or three times it will check their ravages, and 

 help the crop. 



■WHAT WILL DESTROY WOOD LICE ? 



Will some writer for the Farmer please inform 

 me what will destroy wood lice ? 

 Dover, N. H., April, 1870. J. M. Jenkins. 



Remarks. — If the writer means the common 

 aphis, he may check their ravages, or destroy 

 them by the use of soap suds, tobacco water or 

 whale oil soap. 



If he refers to bark lice, coccida, the question as 

 to what will destroy them and not injure the tree, 

 becomes one somewhat difficult to answer. And 

 even if we could find a remedy that is safe and 

 efficacious, the labor of going over an orchard 

 would be one of considerable cost. 



We have recently seen an account of many ex- 

 periments made by a gentleman, some of which 

 were perfectly harmless to tree and louse, while 

 others did not kill the branches, but utterly killed 

 the foliage as well as the lice. The experiments, 

 however, were continued with all sorts of appli- 

 ances which he thought might destroy the in- 

 vaders, until he hit upon one which he states has 

 proved a perfect remedy. It was the application 

 of fish brine ; the brine, we suppose, from the bar- 

 rel of salted mackerel or other fish. This he di- 

 luted, and with a syringe, cr pop-squirt, as the 

 boys call them, which cost fifty cents at the tin- 

 ners, he syringed the trees when in foliage and 

 blossom, without any ipjury to the tree, but it 



proved to be death to the lice! After this the 

 branches assumed a green, plump and healthy ap- 

 pearance and grew vigorously. 



The meaning of the term coccus is to exhaust, 

 and it seems to us that if some means are not 

 found to check the ravages of these lice, or de- 

 stroy them, they will eventually exhaust every 

 apple tree in New England. Their presence on 

 the trees is sufficient, it seems to us, to prevent 

 their producing fruit, if they are not themselves 

 the cause of barrenness. Please make the experi- 

 ment with care and report to us. 



APPARATUS FOR A SMALL CHEESE DAIRY. 



Please give us an accurate account of the best 

 method, now in practice, for manufacturing cheese 

 where the milk of from four to eight or ten cows is 

 used. As there are not any cheese factories in this 

 section, cheese is made in the good old-fashioned 

 way, which does make good cheese. But, alas ! 

 like the frogs in the fable, though it may be fun 

 for the eaters, it is death to the makers. 



Madison, Me., April, 1870. B. P. J. Weston. 



Remarks. — A few rnonths since, see Monthly 

 Farmer for 1869, page 423, we published direc- 

 tions for furnishing a family cheese establishment 

 of the simplest and cheapest of the "good old- 

 fashioned way;" but our correspondent wants 

 something in advance of this, but not so extensive 

 as the modern cheese factory. Though quite fa- 

 miliar with cheese making in our youth, we pre- 

 sume that our personal experience was with im- 

 plements, conveniences and processes similar to 

 those which our correspondent complains are 

 much more funny to the eaters than to the makers. 

 How far the factory appliances have been or may 

 be simplified and adapted to private dairies we 

 are not informed, but on behalf of Mr. Weston and 

 others similarly situated, we solicit information 

 from those who have tested improvements on the 

 good old way of family cheese making. 



swelling on STIFLE JOINT. 



I have a valuable cow that is troubled with 

 bunches on her stifles and is quite lame. I have 

 applied kerosene and chamber-lye and salt with- 

 out apparent effect. What shaM I do for her ? 



Littleton, Mass., May 6, 1870. i. s. h. 



Remarks. — We mistrust that the leg has been 

 sprained or injured, and that the trouble is in the 

 joint. Sometime when your family doctor is riding 

 by, get him to look at it. It is very important to 

 know the cause and seat of disease. If the bunch 

 is caused by "weeping" from an injured joint, it 

 requires very different treatment from what would 

 be proper in case it is a tumor or sore originating 

 in the skin or flesh. You do not say whether the 

 bunch is hard or soft. If it proceeds from an in- 

 jured joint, it is probably soft, and contains fluid 

 matter, and it may be of the kind called a bursal 

 swelling. These are often opened at the lower 

 part, and after pressing out the fluid, bandages 

 are applied and drawn over the swelling quite 

 snugly. It may be necessary to repeat the opera- 

 tion. 



