S86 



NEW ENGLAND FARjMER. 



Aug. 



persons kept a cellar window open to air their cel- 

 lars and to keep tbem cool ; shutting them only in 

 coldest weather, when there was danger of freez- 

 ing. So I concluded that too warm cellars and 

 had air have much to do about I'otting potatoes. 

 If this is the cause thousands upon thousands of 

 bushels of potatoes might have been saved this 

 winter. One person says the cellar to keep pota- 

 toes must be dark, cool and well ventilated. I 

 hope others will inquire into the cause and give 

 us their conclusions. B. Livermore. 



Enfield Centre, N. H., April 10, 1870. 



to keep crows from corn. 



The recommendation in the Farmer of lines to 

 keep crows from corn-fields, reminds me of my 

 experience with them crossed all ways ; also, with 

 images, old boots, shingles, strips of white cloth, 

 paper on rocks, &c., all of which have proved to 

 be useless with me. The best thing I ever tried 

 was to take into the field an empty barrel, a spoon- 

 ful of powder, a piece of paper and a match. Place 

 the paper on the ground, pour the powder on the 

 paper, covering most of it with dr j' dirt, light the 

 paper as a slow match, invert the barrel over the 

 powder, and hold it till about two minutes after 

 the flash, then right up the barrel, and it will give 

 off a stench for a week or two that is so offensive 

 to the corn pullers that they will keep their dis- 

 tance. Scribbler of the Bush and Brier. 



Milford, y. H., Jims 1, 1870. 



KILLIXG APPLE TREE WORMS. 



I kill them in an old-fashioned, but a very good 

 way, and as they are more than usually plenty 

 this season, a description of it may be of use to 

 some one. Take a pole suited to the height of 

 your trees, tie a small swab on the small end and 

 saturate the swab with water to prevent burning. 

 Then dip the swab in spirits of turpentine, or 

 alcohol will do, if you can get such as will burn, ( ?) 

 touch the swab to some live coals or match, and 

 apply it to the nest. If those that are not killed 

 gather and spin a new web, apply again. It will 

 cost but a few cents, and, if you have no better 

 way, try it and save your fruit. C. B. Fisk. 



Brookfield, VL, June 4:;h, 1870. 



CURRANT WORMS. 



By sprinkling my bushes twice with an ordinary 

 waterpot, one table spoonful of AVhite Hellebore 

 to a gallon of water, I have killed all the worms 

 on my bushes, which are now looking finely. On 

 a row of currants ten rods long I used half a 

 pound of the Hellebore, which can be obtained of 

 any druggist. John Wayland. 



istoicc/htoti, Mass, June 3, 1870. 



MAKKETINO ■WOOIi— "WOOL HOUSES. 



For five or six years past commission houses 

 have secured the handling and sale of a large 

 proportion of the wool clip of the country. 

 The theory upon which they claim to do busi- 

 ness is a good one. They claim that by ag- 

 gregating the clips of large districts in one 

 city, crone house, buytrs are more certainly 

 attracted ; and that by assorting the farmers' 

 wool into the several grades sought by differ- 

 ent manufacturers, and also by keeping it uni- 

 form as to condition, a better price can be 

 obtained for it, than the grower can hope to 

 get at home. A very fair basis for an honest 

 business, as any one will readily admit ; but 



somehow or other the wool houses have be- 

 come unpopular with wool growers. They 

 find that manufacturers, who generally are 

 shrewd business men, have taken advantage of 

 the opportunity, and dropped into these wool 

 houses about once a month, and sometimes of- 

 tener, and bought their stocks in small install- 

 ments, instead of taking a year's supplj'' at 

 once, as formerly, thus in reality forcing the 

 growers to carry the manufacturers' raw ma- 

 terial until such time as the latter was ready 

 to pay for it and work it up. No one could 

 find fault with either the manufacturer or mid- 

 dle-man for this ; for the former was only do- 

 ing what any business man would do — using all 

 honest means to make his business profitable — 

 and the latter could not rightfully be blamed 

 for not selling wool faster than buyers would 

 take it. But the result was that the grower 

 generally waited for his money from three to 

 nine months — and then was called upon to pay 

 a neat little bill for storage, insurance, &c., 

 into the bargain. 



Other facts tended to render the wool com- 

 mission houses unpopular with their consign- 

 ors. Prominent among these is the rule of 

 making time sales. From one to four months' 

 time is generally given, without interest. 

 These time sales require the grower not only 

 to carry the raw material until the manufac- 

 turer is ready to use it, but until he has had 

 nearly or quite time sufficient in which to place 

 his goods upon the market and get his pay for 

 them. This feature we deem a fault of the 

 commission men ; for until wool houses be- 

 came so numerous, manufacturers, as far as 

 our information goes, never asked for or ex- 

 pected credit in purchasing their raw material. 

 It is a concession begotten of competition 

 among commission houses, rather than of the 

 necessities of the manufacturer ; is an unnecas- 

 sary hardship upon the grower, and should 

 be discountenanced by such men and firms as 

 wish to be considered as acting in the interests 

 of the producer. We think the experience of 

 a majority of wool-growers is that they are 

 better satisfied with the sales they make them- 

 selves, than those made for them by others. 

 This is natural — and herein wool-growers are 

 in no wise different from other folks. Our 

 advice to our correspondents, and others seek- 

 ing like information, is to put their wools into 

 the best condition possible under the circum- 

 stances. If they have a really good chance to 

 wash it, and then can keep it from dust till 

 shorn, we would say wasli it ! If you cannot 

 do it just right, shear it without washing. Put 

 it up well and honestly ; pile it in a clean, dry- 

 place in the barn or some out-house, and wait 

 awhile for a buyer, keeping yourself well in- 

 formed the mean time as to the wool and the 

 woolen goods market, so as not to be "caught 

 napping" by a buyer when one comes round. 

 If you need money, and really want to sell 

 when you get a fair offer, take it. 



Our advice would be to ship to no man or 



