322 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



LETTER FBOM THE FAEM. 



Concord, May 6, 1870. 

 The Beason— Wet Weather— Farm Work Retarded- 

 Hot Days and Warm Soil — Appearance of Qraes and 

 Grain— Promise of the Fruit Trees— Laying Land to 

 GraBS— Witt's Breaker and Leveller— Caterpillars- 

 Bark Lice— Carbolic Acid— Potatoes— New Varieties. 



EXTLEMEN : — The long con- 

 tinued wet weather in April 

 has considerably retarded the field 

 work of the farm, this spring. 

 The ground is thoroughly satu- 

 rated with water, even on the high 

 lands, at this time, while the low 

 lands that were ploughed Hst fall, or intended 

 to be this spring, cannot be entered upon with 

 the team. The few hot days, however, which 

 have occurred, have so warmed the inoist soil, 

 that vegetation has been quick. Grj^ss ap- 

 pears well, but few places in our observation 

 having been winter-killed. Winter rye and 

 wheat seem also to be vigorous and healthy. 



All fruit trees promise an abundant blos- 

 som ; plum and cherry trees were in blossom 

 here in the last days of April. There will be 

 quite a full bloom of the apple and pear trees 

 in this region. 



Fields to be sowed to grain and grass never 

 presented a more lively time than at present. 

 All that are drained, or on moderately high 

 land, present scenes of the most lively indus- 

 try. Every available force is called in. The 

 soil is moist and warm, so that grain will ger- 

 minate rapidly that is got in during the early 

 part of May. 



Having ten acres to be sowed to grain and 

 grass, it was ploughed last fall, with the inten- 

 tion to plough again this spring ; this was pre- 

 vented by the rains, so that instead of the 

 plough, Witt's ''Breaker and Leveller'''' was 

 put upon it. The fields are granite soils, some 

 portions of them being quite heavy, and hav- 

 ing many fast and loose stones. Notwith- 

 standing this, the Breaker has so reduced the 

 coarse clod, interwoven with the roots of 

 piper or twitch grass, and so finely levelled 

 and pulverized the soil, that there is a capital 

 seed bed over the whole surface, of from four 

 to six inches in depth. I think there is no other 

 implement which would have performed the 

 same service in the same time. The teeth are 

 lifters, about nine inches long, and are followed 

 by a sort of platform resembling the clap- 

 boarding on a house. 



Caterpillars, and other insects seem to have 



flourished through the winter. The nests of 

 the former are growing daily with the growth of 

 foliage on the trees. The scales of the bark 

 louse on the apple trees can only be numbered 

 by millions. Dr. Fitch says they are the bod- 

 ies of the gravid females, protecting their eggs, 

 which may be found during the winter and 

 spring upon elevating the scales. He says he 

 has counted the eggs, and in some instances 

 found as many as 102 under a single scale, 

 though more frequently from ten to fifcy. In 

 my own examinations I have not found so 

 many, rarely more than twelve. The injury 

 which they do to apple and other fruit trees is 

 sometimes very great. When apple trees are 

 infested by them year after year, to a large 

 extent, the trees dwindle away and die. In 

 speaking of the injury done by these lice, Har- 

 ris says they insert their beaks into the bark or 

 leaves, and draw from the cellular substance 

 t^e sap that nourishes them. 



1 have seen only one remedy stated as an 

 absolui«ly efficient one, and that is fish brine, 

 as stated s-ame weeks since in reply to a cor- 

 respondent. A gentleman states that this was 

 applied, and dutroyed the lice wherever it 

 touched, and withotif, harming foliage or bloom. 

 Enclosed, I send soma samples of the limbs 

 they have infested, — the larger piece was cut 

 from the tree in the early p^rt of the winter, 

 the smaller taken off to-day. Nearly every 

 branch of some quite large trees <?,re as thickly 

 studded with scales as these samplen are. It 

 is said that a wash of two parts of so& soap, 

 and eight of water, mixed with a little ame, 

 and applied with a brush, will destroy theis». 

 Some recommend the use of carbolic acid, but 

 give no formula by which to apply it. This is 

 to be regretted, because this "new thing under 

 the sun," is really working wonders. As a 

 disinfectant it is said to be very efficacious in 

 all contagious, infectious, or epidemic dis- 

 eases. Mr. Secretary Goodale, of Maine, 

 thinks it safe to "assert that for lice, ticks, 

 and other vermin infesting the farmer's do- 

 mestic animals, and for their cutaneous dis- 

 eases, sores, ulcers, and the like, its equal for 

 safety and efficiency has not before been 

 found." I am daily using a soap made by its 

 use, which I will speak of more fully here- 

 after. 



A great change will take place this sprmg in 

 planting the potato crop. Nearly all the old 

 varieties will be abandoned, and new varie- 



