486 



NEW ENGLAND EARTHIER. 



Oct. 



ry, and that many which as models, or on first 

 trial at actual work, give encouraging promise of 

 usefulness, prove in other hands and on further 

 trial, incflicient and worthless; we were led by 

 what we saw of the Centrifugal Threshing Machine 

 to form and express a favorable opinion of it. 

 Favorable accounts of its operation have also 

 reached us from various sources. We are there- 

 fore di'^appointcd by our correspondent's account 

 of its trial on his farm. Possibly this failure may 

 be explained and accounted for. We certainly 

 hope so, as we have felt much confidence that this 

 little machine would meet the demand that has 

 long existed for something between the slow pro- 

 cess of flail threshing, and the complicated and 

 expensive one of machine threshing, as generally 

 practiced. 



■WORMS IN HORSES. 



Will you please inform me what will destroy 

 worms in horses ? G. o. p. 



Rockingham, Vt., Aug. 8, 1870. 



Remarks. — Mr. Eli Powers of Brimfield, Mass., 

 wrote to the Fakmer last year that he gives pop- 

 lar bark, cut fine, and mixed with feed. This he 

 finds a perfect cure. Mr. L. H. D., of Cornish, N. 

 H., says the best remedy he ever tried is to give 

 his horses plenty of poplar poles to gnaw at their 

 leisure. 



Dr. Law, Veterinary Lecturer of the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College, says, give every morn- 

 ing, one hour before feeding, three drachms sul- 

 phate of iron and two drachms of assafcetida ; and 

 every night, for a week, throw up an injec'ion of 

 one ounce of turpentine, and ten ounces of linseed 

 oil. 



So far as medicine is concerned, we have much 

 confidence in good wood ashes, say a gill mixed 

 with cut feed, every other day. 



But here, as elsewhere, an ounce of prevention 

 is worth a pound of cure. Dr. Dadd says "It was 

 customary in former times to give powerful ver- 

 mifuges for the expulsion of these parasites, but 

 the most rational method of treatment is to im- 

 part tone to the digestive functions, by the use of 

 tonics, stimulants, and alteratives." Horses are 

 often confined too much to dry feed. A few pota- 

 toes, fed to horses two or three times a week, are 

 considered by some as a sure preventive of worms. 

 Try experiments in feeding first, then dose as you 

 think best. 



PRUNING— BARK LICE— QUALITY OF FRUIT. 



I noticed in the last Farmer (Aug. 20) an in- 

 quiry Irom "Backwoodsman," North Montpelier, 

 Vt., as to the "beit way to trim a young orchard ;" 

 also "how he should keep off the the bark lice." 



Your "remarks" as to the true way to prune an 

 apple tree, and in relation to the time it should be 

 done, so well agrees with my own experience of 

 several years in rearing a young orchard, that I 

 will not attempt to add anything to your answer 

 to that question. 



But in relation to the other question "how shall 

 I keep the bark lice ofl ?" which question I have 



noticed has several times been asked In the Far- 

 mer, I will answer" according to my own knowl- 

 edge, having fully tested it. Wash the trees' 

 trunks and branches within reach, with a strong 

 ley of wood ashes, letting the ashes remain in the 

 ley, stirring it occasionally while applying it. Do 

 this in May or June every year. This will serve a 

 double purpose, being good al-so for the health 

 and growth of the tree, as by analyses the wood of 

 the apple tree is shown to contain a large per cent, 

 of potash. The other part of the remedy or pre- 

 ventive is to put the trees in a healthy condition 

 and keep them so by proper pruning, cultivation 

 and care in all respects. This requires time and 

 expense, but it pays in the extra quantity and 

 quality of the fruit. 



In this connection, let me ask, who that has a 

 cultivated taste cannot readily tell a good apple 

 from a poor one — or one that has been grown on a 

 healthy, cultivated tree, from one grown on a 

 sickly, unpruned, uncultivated, neglected tree, 

 not only by its size and fairness, but also by its 

 much better flavor ? The time will come, if it has 

 not already, when purchasers of fruit will be wil- 

 ling to pay prices according to quality, for apples 

 and other fruits as well as for anypther article of 

 farm produce. Why should purchasers of apples 

 pay the same price for the same kinds, when 

 really there is so much diflerence in the quality? 



E. Wyman. 



East Westmoreland, N. H., Aug. 20, 1870. 



harvesting and cooking CAULIF0WER8. 



For the novelty of the thing, I planted this year 

 some cauliflower seeds. They came up well and 

 are doing finely, and I begin to think about the 

 time when they will be fit for use. But neither 

 myself nor my neighbors know how to prepare it 

 for the table, for it never has been raised in this 

 vicinity. Will you, or some of your contributors, 

 please give me the desired information ? I should 

 also like to know how to pickle it. 



Mart T. Standish. 



Cliftondale, Mass., Aug. 23, 1876. 



Remarks. — We are glad to hear that you have 

 succeeded so well with your cauliflowers. It is 

 reported that that old joker, the dictionary John- 

 son, once said, that "of all the flowers in the gar- 

 den, I love the cauliflower best;" a very pretty 

 way of saying, that of all the numerous varieties 

 of the cabbage family, the cauliflower is the most 

 delicately flavored. If the cauliflower is left out 

 too long after the head or "curd" is formed, it 

 sometimes opens, separates into branches, and be- 

 comes coarse, fibrous, strong-flavored, and unfit 

 for the table. It is usually gathered in October, 

 and hung up away from frost. If not fully devel- 

 oped, they are taken up with as much earth as 

 possible about their roots, and reset in earth in a 

 light, dry cellar, or in a box of earth in any light 

 and warm place. Those that have barely blos- 

 somed, if treated in this way, will often grow dur- 

 ing winter, and afford the whitest and most deli- 

 cious "flowers." 



For cooking the cauliflower about as many ways 

 are practiced as in cooking other vegetables. Af- 

 ter trimming off the leaves, let it lie half an hour 

 in salt and water, then boil in fresh water for fif- 

 teen or twenty minutes, or until the fork will easily 

 enter the stem. Milk and water is said to be bet- 

 ter than water alone. Serve with sauce, gravy, or 



