1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



449 



caterpillars in that they have "a greater num- 

 ber of feet (twenty-two) than the young of 

 butterflies and moths, which have, at most, 

 eighteen pairs," and for which they are some- 

 times mistaken. 



Lettuce. — Seed may still be sown in cold- 

 frames. Remove that sown last month into 

 the frames just before severe weather, or it 

 may be protected with clean litter that will 

 hold snow to help protect ; but it should not 

 be used where water will be liable to stand and 

 freeze. 



Parsnips. — These are best left in the 

 ground through the winter to freeze and 

 sweeten. A few may be packed in sand in 

 the cellar, if wanted for winter use. 



Spinach. — Thin out the young plants where 

 necessary, and give slight protection before 

 hard frosts. This is best wintered same as 

 cabbage plants. 



Do any trenching, draining, &c., needed, 

 and do not forget to add to the compost heap 

 everything that can be converted into plant 

 food. Manure, good seed and culture are the 

 three essentials to growing vegetables or any 

 crop. W. H. White. 



South Windsor, Conn., 1870. 



For the New England Farmer, 



"WORMS IN HOBSEB. 



A writer in the Farmer wishes to know 

 "what will destroy worms in horses." Having 

 tried other remedies without success, I gave 

 my horse, more than one year ago, two doses 

 of linseed oil, one pint at a time, on succeed- 

 ing mornings, and he has not been troubled 

 with them since. Try it. Writing of worms 

 reminds me of a fact related to me recently. 



Shall "Worms Destroy this BodyP" 



A relative, having occasion to take up the 

 bodies of two children buried about three 

 years previous, found the coffins in a good 

 state of preservation, but, on opening them, 

 discovered the corpses to be only a mass of 

 crawling, small, white worms, one-half inch or 

 more long ! As the coffins were perfectly 

 tight, it is a question where the worms origin- 

 ated, — in the body, or from germs in the air 

 inclosed in the coffin. 



Hair Snakes, 



A young man found, last week, a hair snake 

 in his milk pail, and wondered where it came 

 from. I told him there must be a cricket in 

 the pail. He turned off the milk and found 

 tbe cricket, as I said. These snakes come 

 from crickets. 



An Egyptian Plague. 



The present season will be remembered, not 

 only for the hot weather, but also for the 

 plague of flies. Having tried various remedies 

 offered by the fly physicians, and the matter 

 growing no better, but the worse rather, I set 

 up the old-fashioned fly trap with much better 



success . 'S very clap of this mitrailleuse brought 

 down scores and hundreds at once, but perhaps 

 the usual crowd of mourners or substitutes 

 win follow. These pests have been so annoy- 

 ing to cattle, that in some instances I have 

 noticed the skin had cracked open and was 

 peeling off the fore legs of some cows. 



About Coloring Butter. 



Butter-makers who are not so fortunate as 

 to have a supply of that "meanest of fodder," 

 — as Dr. Loring calls it — sowed corn, find it 

 necessary, (on account of the jirought,) if 

 they would receive the best price for tbeir 

 butter, to color it. This is commonly done 

 by the use of carrots, but some use annatto. 

 The latter is used by all cheese-makers in the 

 manufacture of cheese, and in a conversation 

 with Mr. X. A. Willard, who is high author- 

 ity in dairy matters, he said, since the demand 

 was for jellow butter, there was no objection 

 to the use of annatto for coloring butter, pro- 

 vided a pure article was obtained and used in 

 right proportion. Why should it injure butter 

 any more than cheese? "Annatto," says Mr. 

 Willard, "is made from the seeds of a plant 

 which grows in Brazil. The pure article in 

 mass is of a dark red color, not bricky, but of 

 a clearer shade. It has a taste and smell like 

 the extract of licorice. The dark, black look- 

 ing should be avoided." 



For three ten-quart pans of cream, take a 

 piece of annatto about the size of pea, dissolve 

 it in a little warm water, and pour it into the 

 cream when you begin the churning. Those 

 who try this method with success will not be 

 likely to grate carrots longer. A writer in 

 the Rural Neiv Yorker say. "Carrots contain 

 large quantities of nitrogen, and the use of 

 them for coloring butter is very dangerous.'''' 



Dairy Prospects. 



The drought being so severe and general 

 over the whole dairy regions, dairy products 

 must advance in price. If farmers will hold 

 their butter pnd cheese till cool weather, they 

 will realize better prices than they have re- 

 ceived for some years, — at least, so thinks 



Essex, Vt., Sept., 1870. Roy. 



Vitality of Seeds — In some remarks on 

 this subject, the Ohio Farmer says, a gentle- 

 man, upon whom we can rely, tells us that in 

 early times, there was a wagon road through 

 a certain piece of thick hemlock woods, in 

 Ashtabula county, over which hay was drawn 

 from one farm to another. Afterwards, this 

 road was abandoned and shut up, and forty 

 years later the forest cut down ; and as soon 

 as sunlight came upon the earth here, a beau- 

 tiful growth of timothy came up the entire 

 length and breadth of the old road. It is 

 stated that people acquainted with this circum- 

 stance generally believe that the hay seed 

 scattered there nearly a half century before re- 

 tained its vitality. 



