1870. 



NEW ENGLAKI) FARMER. 



345 



less in agriculture, or words to that effect. I say, 

 from long experience and observation, that there 

 is no good soil without it; and where it is ab- 

 stracted by long tillage it must be added. No fer- 

 tilizer is of itself useful till it is decomposed and 

 mixed with other materials. 



The beautiful gardens near New York, in New 

 Jersey, owe half their fertility to being on oyster 

 shell beds. There is an oyster shell bed ten miles 

 from me where corn has been planted for twenty 

 years in succession, holding good without any 

 other manure. The upper part of New Jersey 

 owes half its ftrtility to burning their rocks and 

 liming their lands once in seven years. Those 

 shells spoken of had been doubtless partly burned, 

 but if they were wholly burned they would be 

 four times as valuable. Doctor N. makes me 

 think of another doctor, who thought there was 

 no harm ia kindling a fire on a carpet, because it 

 is the nature of fire to ascend upwards. 



Lime cleanses the soil, prevents weeds, kills in- 

 sects, makes fair fruit and vegetables and is indis 

 pensable. Wtiere oyster shell beds are or where 

 bone dust is used, cabbages will grow twenty years 

 in succession, while in other places they cannot 

 often be ri^i^ed more than one year. Feter Hender- 

 son, who has been made rich by gardening, the 

 author of Gardening for Profit, will tell you the 

 same. I have known the use of lime on land from 

 boyhood, and am now about 86. Lime is the great 

 thing wanting to bring back the fertility of worn 

 out soil. It enters in some shape into all grain, 

 seeds, veaetables or animal life. 



Deep River, Conn., 1870. Phineas Pratt. 



SAW DUST BEDDING. 



During the past year, I have been doing a fair 

 business in supplying stables with saw-dust for 

 bedding, and I would like to give the saw-dust 

 ball Of some of your correspondents one more 

 turn. Without particular reference to its value 

 for mauute, as that is a secondary consideration 

 with stalile keepers, which is the cheapest and best 

 bedding, rye straw at $25, oat straw at $1,2, meadow 

 hay at Ift'lo, or saw dust at $i a cord ? 



Massachusetts, 1870. ANONYMors. 



Remarks. — If you throw its effects on the ma- 

 nure out of the question, the cheapness and efiB- 

 ciency of sawdust as a bedding is a point which 

 must be determined by the experience of stable 

 keepers, and we refer your inquiry to them. 



DUSTY HAY. 



I suspect that your correspondent G. B. H., Jr., 

 who complains of dusty hay, has a tight barn, and 

 that after the cold weather began he kept his doors 

 and windows closed, thereby causing tlie moisture 

 from the brtatti of his leanto, full ot cattle, to settle 

 upon and around his hay, which would make it 

 musty. One spring, several years ago, the writer 

 was exatniuing the hay in a large new barn, and 

 found it. all mure or less musty. Upon inquiry, 

 he was told that as soon as the cold began tUe fall 

 before, the ventilator was closed, and that in the 

 coldest weather, (there being a large stock of cattle 

 in the baru) the sides and tops of the mows, and 

 also the sides and top of the barn were covered 

 with a thick coat of frost every morning. To my 

 mind, that solved the question. 



As to me dust gathered by iron-tooth rakes, we 

 think, as a farmer once said, he intended to have 

 men smurt enougli to shake the du-^t all out of the 

 hay, when sprcaaing it the second day. 



Hay well dry will keep well in a tight barn 

 without ventilation ; but with a large stock of 

 cattle in tue iiarn it is necessary to have some 

 kind of ventilation. In old times, before it was 



thought necessary to have barns made tight, the 

 cracks between the boards gave sufHeient ventila- 

 tion and there was less complaint of musty hay. 

 Reading, Mass., May 21, IStO. A. g. 



TWIN CALVES. 



Will anybody be so kind as to inform me 

 whether twin calves make as good cows as those 

 that are not twins ? Albert S. Hathaway, Jr. 



East Wareham, Mass., 1870. 



Remarks. — We have heard it said that twin 

 heifers were not as likely to do well as others, but 

 we have no facts bearing on the question, and are 

 disposed to think there is no ground for the opin- 

 ion. Shall like to hear from those who have been 

 more close observers than ourselves. 



tables' Otparlment. 



CARNATION "QEN. GRANT." 

 The beautiful picture on our next page, re- 

 produced from Hovey's new Catalogue of 

 Plants, represents one of the latest acquisi- 

 tions for the flower garden. It is white, and 

 produced in clusters, and blossoms through 

 the season. Breck gives the following inter- 

 esting description of the Carnation : — 



There is no flower more desirable in the 

 flower-garden than the Carnation. A well- 

 grown, superior variety, cannot be surpassed 

 in elegance, beauty, or odor, by any other 

 flower ; yet we scarcely ever see it in perfec- 

 tion. Its cultivation in our climate is attended 

 with many difficulties, which may account for 

 its rarity. Our winters are too severe, and 

 springs too changeable, to keep it in perfec- 

 tion in the open ground ; and then our sum- 

 mers are too dry and hot for the full develop- 

 ment of its beauties. Seedlings stand the 

 winter and spring without difficulty, with a 

 light covering of leaves and evergreen boughs, 

 and flower very well ; but then not one plant 

 in a hundred will be considered worth saving 

 by the florist, although they will all be inter- 

 esting as single, semi-double, or irregular 

 flowers, and riehly repay all the labor. Val- 

 uable varieties are generally propagated from 

 layers, which often keep very well in the open 

 ground by letting them remain with the pannt 

 plant, and covering them with leaves and pine 

 boughs ; but the most certain way is, when 

 the layers have taken root, to pot them, and 

 at the approach of winter put them in a frame 

 where they may be kept with perfect safety, 

 provided air is given them in mild weather, 

 and they are not exposed to the sun when in a 

 frozen state. The mice are very destructive 

 to all Pinks ; therefore the frame must be tight. 



the propagation of the Carnation by layers 

 is a very simple operation. When the plant 

 is in perfection of bloom, Uy around it one 

 and one-half or two inches of compost, first 



