1870. 



2^W ENGLAND FARMER. 



343 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



A METHOD OF GETTING HAY. 



In these days of high prices for farm labor, and 

 low prices for the products of the farm, any way 

 of producing a desired result by a less expensive 

 process than the usual one, is to be adopted by the 

 progressive farmer without hesitation. 



A process of curing hay has been adopted and 

 followed by several farmers of my acquaintance, 

 which, as far as I can learn, has proved very satis- 

 factory, for several years. 



It may be that this process has been followed 

 very much more extensively than I know of. 

 If so I would like to hear the opinions of persons 

 who have triad it. 



It is as follows : The hay is all cut In the after- 

 noon, when entirely free from external moisture. 

 Next day, after the dew is all off, it is turned. 

 After dinner it is raked, and got in without delay. 

 There is no cocking at night, and opening next 

 day. All such labor is saved. 



One man who has practiced this several years, 

 is justly considered one of the best farmers in 

 town. His stock look well, and produce as much 

 as any. His farm improves yearly ; his buildings 

 are in the best of repair, and he makes an annual 

 investment every year, outside. He considers his 

 hay to be better than when cured the old fashioned 

 way, and it certainly looks and smells as well as 

 anv I ever saw. 



The hay crop of New England is one of vast im- 

 portance. More than any other, it lies at the basis 

 of all farming. According to its increase or de- 

 crease, the increase or decrease of the manure 

 heap, and of the consequent productiveness or 

 sterility of the soil, may be reckoned. And it is 

 plain that any improvement in the manner of se- 

 curing the crop will increase the amount pro- 

 duced. 



The method of curing with salt and lime, which 

 attr.xcted so much attention two years ago, al- 

 though not very satisfactory for the curing of fod- 

 der, has saved me a good deal of labor in curing 

 bog hay for litter. I use four quarts each, salt 

 and lime, to every ton. But how about the other 

 process ? John. 



Franklin, Mass., 1870. 



■WINTERING BEES. — BUNCHES ON CATTLE. 



Will you or some of your friends tell me what 

 is the best way to winter bees ? We have lost 

 quite a n_umber the last winter. And what is the 

 cause ot small bunches on the skin of cattle ? 

 What it is and how to cure it ? A Subscriber. 



South Sangerville, Me., 1870. 



Remarks. — Bees wintered badly the past sea- 

 son in many parts of the country. Jasper Hazen, 

 of Albany, N. Y., gives the particulars, in the 

 Country Gentleman, of the result of the experi- 

 ence of quite a number of bee-keepers of his ac- 

 quaintance. Three different methods were prac- 

 ticed by these men. Some kept them upon the 

 stand, some put the^ in cellars, and others buried 

 them in the ground. The burial process is de- 

 scribed as follows : A trench is dug two feet and 

 ten inches deep, and of length proportionate to 

 number of hives. The hives were kept from con- 

 tact with the dirt by boards and straw, and ven- 

 tilation secured by a pump stock one and a quar- 

 ter inches in diameter. The dirt was then thrown 

 on as a farmer would bury his potatoes. 



Names of owners and other particulars are 

 given, bat the result, in brief, may be thus stated : 



of the 98 colonies left on the stand, 86 died, .ind 

 12 lived ; of the 29 in cellars, 12 lived, and 17 died ; 

 of the 35 buried, 28 lived, and 7 died. 



Mr. Hazen further states that he is informed 

 that Mr. Marsh, of Sharon, Vt., who has buried 

 his bees for a number of years past, has satisfied 

 himself, by careful weighing, that their average 

 consumption while buried does not exceed five 

 pounds per colony. This is making out a strong 

 case in favor of burying bees, and we solicit the 

 experience of other bee-keepers as to the best way 

 of wintering swarms. 



By "small bunches on the skin of cattle," do 

 you allude to those lumps generally found near 

 the back of the animal, which are caused by the 

 larvaB of the gad-fly, sometimes called "grubs," 

 "wormals," &c ? In Webster's large dictionary 

 you will find, by turning to "gad-fly," pictures of 

 the fly that deposits the egg in the skin, and of the 

 larvae, or grub, which finally changes to the fly as 

 it leaves the animal. These grubs may be pushed 

 out of the bunches by a sharp pressure of the two 

 thumb nails, or destroyed by a sharp awl or needle. 

 It is possible that a good suds of carbolic acid 

 soap, well rubbed and carded in, will destroy 

 them. It is said that the fly generally selects the 

 healthiest animals for the breeding place of its 

 young. 



TOO MUCH LAND — FERTILIZERS — SWEET CORN. 



Having taken your valuable paper upwards of 

 two years, and having never seen anything in its 

 columns from this town, I tho-ight perhaps a letter 

 from this region might not be uninteresting to at 

 least some of your readers. I am not much of a 

 letter writer, as you will readily see; nor am I 

 much of a farmer. Yet I take the greatest pleas- 

 ure in reading the Neav England Farmer, and 

 often wonder why it is not read by more village 

 people who have a rod of land to cultivate. My 

 principal business is merchandising, but I have a 

 house and about three fourths of an acre of land 

 about a half mile from my place of business, and 

 if I had ten acres as good as this small lot, I think 

 I would sell out my store and pay my whole at- 

 tention to farming. 



I think one great trouble with farmers in this 

 region is, they undertake to cultivate too much 

 land. They think they must work over about so 

 much every year, whether they have dressing for 

 it or not. So they spread on their manure and 

 make it go over four or five acres, when the quan- 

 tity is hardly sufficient to secure a good crop from 

 t.vo or three acres. I sometimes ask such farmers 

 why they do not purchase phosphate, and their 

 answer generally is that it does not pay, or that 

 they cannot afford it; and sometimes their an- 

 swer is that they bought one cask and it was good 

 for nothing, and consequently they had no faith 

 in patent manures. 



I think, Mr. Editor, there is more or less stuff 

 sold through the country for patent manure that 

 is worthless ; but on the other hand there is much 

 that is good. And if the farmers would all sub- 

 scribe for the New England Farmer, or some 

 other reliable agricultural paper, I think it would 

 be money in their pockets. I have for the past 

 three years used Bradley's Patent Superphosphate 

 of Lime, and have always been satisfied with my 

 crops, and have often astonished the farmers in 

 this vicinity, by telling them what 1 have raised 

 from my farm of three-fourths of an acre. 



