518 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



ago of 135 acres. It had kept about 10 cows anrl a 

 team when I bought it. It will now keep some lo 

 cows and ttam. I have bought only about .^'Jo 

 worth of manure, but use muck, ashes, leaves 

 from the woods, &c., keep my stables well littered 

 with straw, muck, sawdust and leaves scattered in 

 barn-yard, hog-pen, &c. I intend to improve my 

 farm so that it will keep 30 head of cattle in less 

 than ten years, without much aid from commer- 

 cial manures, with the exception of buying occa- 

 fcionaily a ton of plaster. A. M. Stevens. 



IVilliamstown, Mass., Sept., 1870. 



Remarks. — In order to get a good pasture, it 



must be seeded with a variety of grasses, so that 



some of them will start early in the spring, and 



others succeed them through the summer. If 



there is but a single variety, that comes on, ripens, 



■where not kept down by the stock, and the feed is 



gone. Now, sow the following, per acre : — 



Sweet B rented Vernal, 7 fts, bloseoms in April & May. 

 Orch ira GrasB, " " '• May & June 



Ki-piop, 2 " " " June & Jay. 



Hurdegrasa, 3 '' " " June & July. 



White clovfr, 4 " " " Miy toSept. 



Kentucky Blue Grafs, 4 " " " June & July. 



Some persons sow other varieties, such as Mead- 

 ow Ffxtail, Italian Rye Grass, &c., but the above 

 will answer very well. 



Thanks for your good opinion of the Farmer, 

 and we sincerely hope you may succeed in your 

 efforts to make farming a profitable and honorable 

 vocation. 



DROUGHT IN SOMERSET COUNTY, M4.INE. 



GENTLtiMEN : — Farmrrs in Somerset County are 

 very much discouraged. They are terribly dried 

 up; scarcely any rain since May. In some places 

 rbe land is dry as an ash-heap three feet deep. 

 Gi-iiin exceedingly light. The potato crop is a 

 failure. There is a great famine among stock- 

 rai'iers in conscquente of the extremely small 

 crops of hay. The grasshoppers are eating every 

 green thing. In some sections the)' have destroy- 

 ed acres of corn and beans. I saw one piece of 

 beans, some two acres, with no" a leaf or stem, 

 and tho pods were green. Apple trees are treated 

 in like manner, especially young trees. Fields and 

 pastures are grubbed down smooth, so that there 

 is nothing for cattle but t,rowse, and little of that. 

 Many farmers have fed all their corn fodder, and 

 some have made large holes in their hay mows. 

 Others are selling stock at panic prices. -For in- 

 stance, cows for $20 to $25; yearlings at $7 and 

 $S per head. I saw a pair of six feet four iuch 

 oxen, very good beef, sold for $75, — and so it goes. 



Brooks, springs and wells never before known 

 to go dry, have tailed, and water is drawn from the 

 larger streams I'or family use. * 



A great amount of suffericg has occurred toman 

 and beast this summer, to say nothing of the in- 

 convenience, in consequence of the drought, and for 

 aught I can see, it is likely to increase. Extensive 

 and damaging fires have occurred. Thousands of 

 acres of timber have been destroyed, and other 

 property as well, the past summer. One thing the 

 fanner has to console bim, he can fill his cellar 

 with apples, if not with potatoes. Fruit was never 

 more abundant, and generally of excellent quality. 

 Then let baked apples and miik supersede boiled 

 potatoes and tried hog. Zen. 



Upringvale, Me., Sept., 1870. 



Remak-ks. — This is certainly a gloomy account 

 o' the condition of things among our friends in 

 Maine. VV'e hope it is not «> bad throughout the 



State. Consolations may be gleaned in very try- 

 ing circumstances. One is in a firm and abiding 

 faith that all events over which man has no con- 

 trol will be conducted for the best, and that a calm 

 and hopeful resignation to them will afford more 

 comfort than any repining. Our correspondent 

 has found another, and a good one, in the baked 

 apples and milk, one part of which, the apples, are 

 abundant. Fed moderately to the cows, this will 

 increase the flow of milk, and thus both apples 

 and milk may be plentiful. . 



THREE RECEIPTS. 



I send you three receipts. The first two 1 have 

 many times tried without fail; the third but one 

 year, with perfect success. 



SCRATCHES IN HORSES. 



For full-grown horse, feed one table spoonful of 

 sales and one of sulphur three mornings in succes- 

 sion ; then after three, feed again, if needed. 



FOR LICE ON COLTS AND CALVES. 



Mix a little sulphur with salt, and feed on the 

 ground before cold weather; you will not be 

 troubled in winter with lousy calves. 



TO PROTECT FRUIT AND SHADE TREES FROM MICE. 



Take tarred roofing paper, cut crossways of the 

 piece, which is about two feet wide, strip fifteen 

 inches wide, wrap lengthwise around the tree, 

 which will cover it two feet high ; and put it on io 

 a warm tall dav, as it is had to handle when cold. 



Shoreham, Vt., Sept., 1870. e. b. d. 



THE AMERICAN BEAUTY APPLE. 



I send you two apples taken from the farm of 

 Petf r Wayland, in this neighborhood, called the 

 American Beazity. I know not whether it has at- 

 tained any notorieiy abroad, but think not, as I 

 have never seen any of them in the markets in any 

 of our lar?e cities. It is much cultivated here, 

 and the original tree where I obtained this fruit is 

 often visited by strangers who have been charmed 

 with the beauty of the truit. 



PiCase examine, and pass your judgment upon 

 its mprits or demerits. R. G. W. Parker. 



Pratt's Junction, Sept., 1870. 



Remarks. — Very beautiful specimens ; are solid, 

 weigh half a pound each; bright red, with russet 

 dots. Warder states it is a winter apple, and good 

 in quality. 



Cr6pS in WEST VIRGINIA — REMEDY FOR SHEEP 

 POISONED BY LAUREL. 



Messrs. Editors : — We have had a very good 

 season, taking it all together. In the spring it was 

 too wet, then for a short time too dry, and after 

 that very tine. 



Wheat ahuut two thirds of an average crop ; rye 

 one-half; oats extra; also corn the same. Hay 

 hardly an average crop, — too wet in the spring. 

 Fruit ahnut one-fourth of a crop, and indifferent. 

 Wheat flour at one mill, 4 cents per lb, when others 

 are out. The other two, 3^ cents per lb. No old 

 corn to be had. New, about 50 cents per bushel; 

 rye, $1 per bushel ; oats, 35 cents per bushel ; but- 

 ter, 16 cents per lb; bacon, 20 cents per lb; eggs, 

 10 cents per dozen; chickens, $1.50 per dozen, 

 and dull. 



I have seen in your paper a number of cures for 

 sheep when they get poisoned with laurel. When 

 I was a boy, my father was driving his sheep in the 

 spring fromSomers, Conn., to Worthington, Mass., 



