330 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JtJLY 



the winter. It is just about as bad in the middle 

 of the mow as it was on the top. Sometimes I 

 throw down a couple of hundred and shake it up 

 to get the dust out, and it fills the barn full; the 

 floor of the hii^h beams is covered with dust. 



I have a cellar under the barn where I keep all 

 my manure, that is open on the south side. The 

 leanto runs the whole length of the north side of 

 the barn and it has been lull of cattle all winter. 

 Can you or any of your subscribers told me what 

 makes the hay so dusty, and what I can do to pre- 

 vent its being so next winter ? o. b. h., jr. 



Shretcshury, Mass., AprilZQ, 1870. 



Remarks. — We can think of no reason for the 

 dust in the hay, except that of raking it up with 

 an iron-tooth rake. On light, dry lands, the use 

 of the horse rake scratches the surface and causes 

 a good deal of dust to rise. If your land is not 

 of this character, and you did not use an iron- 

 tooth rake, we are at a loss to know what caused 

 the dust. The inquiry is an important one and 

 deserves investigation. We shall be glad of more 

 information in particulars. Was your hay put 

 into the bam without sufiacient drying ? 



CORN, -WHERE BriLDINGS WERE REMOVED. 



I wish to inquire through the Farmer what I 

 can do on a piece of land where I have removed 

 some old buildings, — two barns and a house ? I 

 removed them in the winter of 1869. Last summer 

 I planted the land where the buildings stood with 

 com, which came up nicely, and grew some, then 

 it died or remained very small. Before planting I 

 removed all of the manure, and some four to six 

 inches of the dirt. Now what can I put on that 

 laud to make it fertile, or must I take off some 

 more of the soil ? A. H. Davis. 



Marshfield, Vt., April, 1870. 



Remarks. — The want of growth, it seems to us, 

 may be imputed to the poorness of the ground 

 after four to six inches of the soil was removed. 

 The wife of the editor who is sitting by, and who 

 listened to the reading of the above letter, says, 

 "refer the gentleman to the sixth verse of the 

 thirteenth chapter of Matthew, for the reason why 

 his corn did not grow." 



PREPARATION OF BONES WITH VITRIOL. 



Please inform me through the columns of your 

 valuable paper how to use oil of vitriol in the 

 preparation of bones to be used as a fertilizer this 

 spring. 



Remarks. — Without a mill to grind bones fine 

 we are inclined to the opinion that it is not advis- 

 able for farmers to meddle with vitriol. See, 

 however. Monthly Farmer, 18G9, pages 290 and 

 338. 



STRAWltERUIES AND RASPBERRIES. 



Having cultivated small fruits for market for 

 the last ten years, 1 feel called upon to say, after 

 reading the statements of Mr. J. Fleming in the 

 Farmer, of April IG, that he must have been very 

 unlucky it" he does not get a paying crop of straw- 

 berries more than two years out of five. Of course 

 some years are more favorable than others ; but 

 I have never found the year that they did not pay 

 as a market fru/ I3ur, certainly, I should not 

 depend upon the ocmiy Lind and Triomphe de 

 Gaud. The latter is not a paying variety and the 



former only for a few early berries. I have tried 

 nearly one hundred varieties, reserving the most 

 profitable and ploughing under the balance. I 

 would give you my experience in the varieties, 

 but fear I should occupy too much space ; but 

 should any one care to know what I have culti- 

 vated, and what I do now cultivate, I will inform 

 them cheerfully. And as to getting fifty-two quarts 

 of raspberries from forty-eight plants I think it 

 rather small. My plants give me four to six 

 quarts each, and sometimes more, and sell at from 

 thirty to fifty cents per quart. If new beginners 

 will get the best varieties, and give good cultiva- 

 tion they will find both strawberries and rasp- 

 berries will pay. Marion Fruit Gardens. 

 Marion, Mass., April, 1870. 



muck on the farm. 



I see that Mr. 0. J. Upham is out against muck. 

 I cannot find it in my heart to believe that he 

 wishes his remarks to have any influence on the 

 mind of any man against muck on land, but I am 

 led to think that he is a drummer for some patent 

 manure merchant. Farmers here all know that 

 most muck as it is dug from the pit is like any- 

 other unfermented vegetable matter, but when it 

 is thrown out and exposed to the air, frost and 

 heat of the sun, and is well rotted, it possesses 

 every ingredient necessary for vegetation. But 

 muck from some swamps that are always drained 

 needs only to be shoveled out and carted and 

 spread on to the land. If Mr. Upham will come 

 to my place I will clear all the fog off his brain by 

 showing him land that will yield one and a half 

 tons to the acre now, that did not give five hun- 

 dred two years ago, and prove to him that the in- 

 creased crop is owing to top dressings of muck 

 right from the meadow, or I will back down and 

 pay his fare. Come from the 20th to the 25th of 

 July, and he may not have to use guess work any 

 longer. I mean what I say, and say what I know. 



Brookfield, Vt., April, 1870. V. Baker. 



SUPPOSED case of HORN-AIL. 



Last summer I had a very sick cow. She gave 

 very little milk, breathed very heavy, and dis- 

 charged at the nose. The neighbors called it horn 

 ail, and thought she would die. I took about a 

 large spoonful of ground mustard and half a pint 

 of vinegar and turned it into her ears warm. She 

 bio wed the worst stuff out of her nose I ever saw. 

 I continued the operation every day or two for a 

 week, giving her night and morning, three large 

 heaping spoonfuls of Schovill's condition powders, 

 put in a bottle of warm water and turned down 

 her throat. She was kept in the barn nights and 

 came out all right. Every morning she sweat like 

 a horse. Whether the powders, or the vinegar and 

 mustard, or nature itself did the cure I can't say. 



Fairfax, Vt., April 28, 1870. N. 



ERADICATING SWEET FLAG. 



Some months since, some one asked in the 

 Farmer how to kill out sweet flag. If the ground 

 is dry enough for a team to walk, plough the 

 ground. Once ploughing, which need not be very 

 hard for a team, will nearly if not quite kill it. 

 If too soft for a team, spade it over, and with a 

 little hoeing the work is done. 



Henry A. Jenckes. 



Newport, N. H., April 18, 1870. 



MR. BUTTOLPH's barn. — THE SPRING IN WASH- 

 INGTON COUNTY, VT. 



I like the plan of Mr. Buttolph's barn in Far- 

 mer of April 30, very much, except that the sta- 

 bles and feeding passages are too narrow by at 



