418 



NEW ENGLAND FARiVrER. 



Sept. 



in about a week. If not, apply a second cord in 

 the same way round the diminished neck of the 

 tumor. 



CULTURE OF FLOWERS. 



I think T do not hate flowers. I rather love an 

 orderly flower garden, or the beauties in a hot 

 house, or good specimens upon the window seat. 

 I admire, in a degree, the zeal displayed by the 

 bu>y houGe-keepcr who with all her cares, never 

 fi riets the thirsty soil in the box where stands 

 her favorite plant. 



But my wife is rather enthusiastic in her love 

 for fljwers, and the catalogues of flower seeds and 

 bulbs have by the illustrations and descriptions 

 brouaht a large variety to her acquaintance. Her 

 lady llriends also have plants that are propagated 

 by "slips; these have been brought home and put 

 into dirt in boxes, bowls, pans, hanging pots, &c., 

 60 that the windows are filled, the stands, tables 

 and writing desk loaded. 



Our winters are so severe that nearly all plants 

 are banished to the cellars during that season, 

 but early spring causes them to appear again. 

 This spring soon after they began their growth 

 they were badly infested with lice. My wife 

 wished me to smoke them out. Now it makes 

 roe sick to smoke. Shall I kill myself to kill the 

 litr'e bugs ? I think not. 



Then new dirt must be had to sow seed in. I 

 turned that jab over to my little boy who with his 

 liu.le wheelbarrow and shovel prospected in every 

 direction, —here for sand, there for black loam, 

 hither and yon for manure, muck, scrapings of the 

 liainyard, &c. But the best seemed to be the re- 

 mains of a compost heap. This, however, soon 

 began to show signs of animal life. Little white 

 worms, a fourth of an inch long, that would curl 

 themseR'es up, then suddenly open and dart an 

 inch or more ; tawny ones, half an inch long and 

 capable of growing longer ; a species of wire worm ; 

 ants, little light red fellows, very busy digging 

 pits and tunnels, appeared in the mass. As it was 

 likelv that the diet of worms was vegetables it was 

 det^ifable to destroy them; so several pans were 

 filled with dirt and put mto the stove oven to bake. 

 In this way the soil was prepared for the seeds, 

 which wtre sown and covered over with sand to 

 prevent the surface from hardening, so the deli- 

 cate sprouts could burst from the tiny seeds. 



Ttien what anxious watchings for a show of 

 springing vtgetution ! Wtiat deuatings whether it 

 were weeds or flowers that were appearing to view. 

 After several day's doubt in respect to the char- 

 acter of one specimen it was triumphantly de- 

 clared to be a plant, because there was a bug on 

 it! As the plants grew tae number of boxes, 

 basins, pans, bowls and cups increased; small bits 

 of green were transplanted and gradually hardy 

 kiniis were exposed in the open ground. Still for 

 a time the cold nighis rendered occasional pro- 

 tection necessary. One morning after a lengthy 

 search I found my hat out in the garden over a 

 plant. Probabiv, however, the beauty of sum- 

 mer and fall will moie than repay the labor and 

 care of the spring. Let us hope so ! 



If corn received such care a hundred bushels 

 per acre would doubtless be the result. J. 



CHOPS, COLLEGE, THEORY AND PRACTICE IN THE 

 CONNECTICUT VALLEY. 



Nearly all the crops are looking finely in this 

 vicijity. Corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, bioom corn, 

 grass, (excepting old fielus) are promising more 

 man an average yield. Oiher sections near, com- 

 plain that grass is light, corn small and potatoes 

 bmaller. It is possible we are blessed and in a 

 biate of grace, in consequence of the Agricultural 



College being located in our district. One great — 

 not peculiar — benefit we have already received iu 

 the shape of a prediction or promise. One of the 

 students of the college says, "Wait a few years, 

 and we will <e/^ you how to raise fifty bushels of 

 corn to the acre on your plain lands." This fel- 

 low must be brother to the one who tells us how to 

 milk a cow properly, by directing to "take hora of 

 the teats, and with an uplifting of the hand, atid 

 a pressure, and a down pulling, imitating the suck- 

 ing of a calf, you will draw the milk." Now real 

 farmers, those who make farming their business, 

 are just tired of such telling. If we need aid, it is 

 in showing us how large crops can be raised at a 

 profit. We are heartily sick of these advisers, 

 these talking and writing farmers, whose whole 

 knowledge of the business is derived from books. 

 These professors, these doctors, these merchants, 

 these priests, whose experience consists in seeing 

 other men work, or, like Ex-President Fillmore, 

 who, when in the field with the workmen, bound 

 one bundle of wheat, and ever after felt and said, 

 "I too am a farmer," assume to be competent to 

 criticise and advise in all departments of farming. 

 The agricultural papers are doing a good work in 

 teaching the farmer that his profession is an art 

 and a tr.ide; that it must be acquired by hard 

 work ; that theory alone will not make a man a 

 farmer; that doctors and politicians, and pro- 

 fessors of chemistry, are not as competent to ad-. 

 vise the farmer, as are experienced farmers them- 

 selves. They are learning through the agricultu- 

 ral papers to have confidence in themselves and ia 

 each other, and not to be dissatisfied with their 

 profession. h. s. 



Leverett, Mass., July 4, 1870. 



HAT CROP IN BARRE, MASS. 



The farmers in thi^ region who have well ma- 

 nured their grass fields, — and there are many here 

 who have them under high cultivation, — sre real- 

 izing large crops of hay this season, fully equal- 

 ing that of former years ; while on the other hand, 

 those that have paid too little attention to their 

 manure heaps ftdl behind the average hay crop 

 this year. It is really marvelous that even some of 

 our intelligent farmers who are shrewd and ob- 

 serving in other respects, neglect the study of this 

 important branch of agrii:uiture — I mean the sub- 

 ject of manures — and depend more upon the extent 

 of their meadows, than the manner of their culti- 

 vation. In this respect this class might well take 

 pattern from the English farmer or of our city 

 vegetable farmer, whose seven acres, or less, yield 

 a comfortable subsistence lor a family. It is easy 

 to fancy how awkward such a farmer would feel, 

 if by some sudden transposition of the enchanter's 

 wand he could be plumped down bodily with all 

 his household goods, on a western prairie farm 

 covering thousands of acres, into which the good 

 fairy had thrust in the seed, and was now bearing 

 immense waving fields of wheat. 



Caleb Russet. 



Barre, Mass., July 4, 1870. 



ox wounded by a MOWING MACHINE. 



I have an ox that was cut with a mowing ma- 

 chine about ten days since. The wound is some 

 three or four inches above the fetlock, and the 

 cord is apparently about half cut off; being cut 

 more on one side of the leg than the other. A 

 mass looking like proud flesh about the size of an 

 English walnut projects from the wound. The 

 leg is some swollen. The ox walks, but is 

 very lame. At fir.^t I closed up the wound, and 

 put on a tarred bandage, which after about three 

 days I took off and applied cold water, then a lini- 

 ment of myrrh, camphor gum and alcohol. In 



