654 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVCER. 



Dec. 



cerned ; but it is probably well known that it lacks 

 flavor. The distinguishing characteristic of the 

 batter from the Brittany cow is a certain sweet, 

 delicate, nutty flavor, in which it is as much ahead 

 of any Jei sey cattle I ever saw, as the Jersey but- 

 ter is ahead of any other in looks." , 



SHARP STICKS UNDER MUCK. 



Our correspondent, Norman Call of Allenstown, 

 N. H., has been at work, as have many other far- 

 mers this dry fall, on his muck bed. The muck is 

 nearly foar feet thick, and solid enough to bear 

 up a team, and it lies on a bed of white sand. We 

 find the following statement in the Keene Republi- 

 can: 



In the course of the digging, large numbers of 

 sticks, about two inches in diameter and from six 

 inches to two feet long, have been found on and 

 driven into the sand. The wood can be easily 

 distinguished by tbe eye, as maple, hemlock or 

 oak, and the remaikable part of the story is that 

 eacb and every stick Is sharpened at eacb end, as 

 if by a tool with a poor edge. One of these sticks 

 was driven into tbe solid sand a foot and a half, 

 six inches beitg in the muck. On being taken up, 

 the wood becomes very dry, cracking badly length- 

 wise and growing as light as charcoal. 



The questions, Who sharpened these sticks, and 

 for what purpose were they driven into the sand 

 60 long ago as to allow of the accumulation over 

 them of a stratum of muck four feet in thickness, 

 are asked, but not answered. 



AGRICULTURAI. ITEMS. 



—In Connecticut and New England generally, 

 that of 1870 has been the hottest July for 92 years. 



— The California steam plough is one of the at- 

 tractions at the Cincinnati Industrial Fair. 



— An exchange says Mr. Frank A. Danforth has 

 engaged 5030 buehels of cider apples at 20 cents a 

 bushel, delivered at the mill at Norway, Me. 



— Prof. Rilgard of Mississippi says that cotton 

 seed takes nine times as much nutriment from the 

 soil as the lint. 



— In Marshall County, Kansas, a field that re- 

 ceived no rain from sowing to reaping, yielded 31^ 

 bushels of wheat per acre. 



—The beet sugar business prospers in Califor- 

 nia. That State has 400 acres in beet and a fac- 

 tory costing $20,000. 



— S. F. Browning of Northfield Farms, Mass., 

 has raised 65 bushels of wheat this season on a 

 trifle less than two acres of land, after tobacco. 



— Frizes and medals amounting to $8,505 were 

 cfiFercd by the New York State Agricultural So- 

 ciety this year. 



— On a ranch on Carson river is to be seen a 

 herd of 20 camels, all of which but two are native 

 Culifornians. 



—The St. Joseph (Mich.) Herald says :— "The 

 destruction of potatoes by the potato bug has been 

 so complete that potatoes have retailed in St. 



Joseph at $1 80 per bushel. At least one-half the 

 whole crop of Western Michigan has been de- 

 stroyed." 



— The estimates of the Agricultural Bureau 

 place the present year's wheat crop at 210 000,000 

 bushels— 48,000,000 less than that of la&t year. 



— A Connecticut man writes the Country Gentle- 

 man that two applications of salt water cleaned 

 his hogs of ticks, with which they were covered 

 this summer. 



— Tennessee is becoming a great potato growing 

 State, and has a very large crop this year, which 

 is also of fine quality, the potatoes in some fields 

 averaging a pound apiece. 



— The Briggs Brothers, of Marysville, Cal., have 

 cultivated the present season about one hundred 

 and fifty acres of castor beans. Somebody has 

 got to sufi'er. 



— A farmer of Goshen, Conn., one of the best 

 dairy towns in the State, doubted if the cows in 

 that town would average two quarts of milk to a 

 milking, during the latter part of the late drought. 



— The New York Horticulturist says we have 

 never discouraged the planting of fruit, but the 

 indications at present show that it is sometimes 

 slightly overdone. 



— Ploughing up potato fields late in the season, 

 will be the means of killing a great many potato 

 beetles by freezing; the ground in some sections 

 is full of them already. 



— A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer says 

 an individual is travelling through Iowa, claiming 

 $5 of farmers who have drive-wells, as license for 

 using the patent. 



— On one farm in Scotland, which does not ex 

 ceed five hundred acres, there were over four 

 hundred miles of drains, several years ago, and 

 the work was not then regarded as complete. 



— A horse owned by the Belfast and Rockland 

 Stage Company, Maine, travelled from Belfast to 

 Rockland and back, 56 miles, every day for six 

 consecutive days. He was thus driven to decide 

 a wager on his endurance. 



— A correspondent of the Southern Cultivator 

 recommends cobs as manure. He furrows out his 

 ground, places three cobs at the distances he 

 wishes his hills, say three feet apart, hauls on the 

 earth and plants corn over the cobs. 



— Hon. Judson Lee, who was raised a farmer's 

 son on the Pelham, Mass., hills, but was after- 

 wards Mayor of the city of New York and mem- 

 ber of Congress once remarked, "My father left 

 me an independent fortune — fifty cents in money, 

 and industrious habits." 



—Mr. I. T. Tillinghast of Factory ville, Penn. 

 recently undertook to watch some bees working 

 freely on white clover, with the view of ascertain- 

 ing how rapidly they gather honey. Selecting a 

 bee that looked quite empty, he watched her just 



