1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



177 



bloom again. I ciiU it a free bloomer; it is about 

 three feet tall, with Ijlossoms on the top, but no 

 branches. I send you a leaf and blossom, and 

 would like to know the name of it. Romeo. 



South Hanson, Mass., Feb., 1871. 



Remarks. — The best remedy for the green lice 

 is frequent showering with wanu water — not too 

 warm to injure the plants. Spriug and summer 

 showers will drive them away. They thrive on 

 the hot, dry temperature of our "sitting" rooms. 



If "Romeo" will dip the plants into warm water, 

 shaking them up and down in it, most, if not all of 

 the troublesome pests, will be destroyed. 



Verbenas are always much troubled with para- 

 sites. I have taken a chicken's wing, spread a 

 newspaper down, and set the pot upon it, and have 

 brushed otT every tinj' "nit." 



Tobacco smoke is so offensive to me that I have 

 never tried its narcotic etFects. It does not kill the 

 aphis, only stupefies it, and unless it is followed up 

 with a good washing, all the green pests revive and 

 are as lively as e'^er. The leaf and blossom en- 

 closed are evidently from an Euphorbia, and I 

 should judge it was of the Jaquixiflora species. 

 It has long clusters of bright orange scarlet flowers, 

 and is verj' attractive. 



"Romeo's" protection against the frost is worthy 

 of imitation in the arctic regions of New Hamshire. 

 I shall certainly adopt it. s. o. J. 



POTASH FOR THE SOIL OF ORCHARDS. 



In answer to an inquiry from one of your read- 

 ers, "What is good for apple trees ?" you say use 

 ashes or its equivalent in potash. Now what I 

 want to know is, what is its equivalent in potash ? 

 and do you regard the same strength from potash 

 a§ good as the same strength from ashes ? 



Rip Van Winkle. 



Remarks. — One hundred pounds of good hard 

 wood ashes, would yield about ten pounds of pot- 

 ash. But the ashes would yield some half dozen 

 other articles, in small portions, all of which would 

 be good for trees. We suggested potash because 

 that — properly diluted and applied, — can always 

 be obtained, and is belter than anj' other one thing. 

 If good peat were saturated with potash water, it 

 would make an excellent top-dressing for orchards, 

 or indeed, for any of our crops. 



The value of ashes is so well understood now, 

 that nearly all farmers are seeking for them, and 

 consequently they bear a high price. 



SHEEP RAISING AND FATTENING. — FOOT ROT. 



I am one of those that are foolish enough still to 

 tiy to make a living by keeping sheep. I keep a 

 large ized, long stapled variety of tine wool sheeji. 

 Started with 409 last winter and come out with 408 

 at shearing time. Sheared 2593 pounds of fleece 

 wool, and two fleeces unwashed and oi pounds tags 

 besides. The wool brought about $2.69 per head. 



I feed my lamlis, excepting a few kept for breed- 

 ers, so that they go to market when one year old. 

 The}' liring me seven cents per pound after being 

 sheared. I raised a few over 200 the past year. 

 Sold some culls ; saved 25 for breeders, and have 

 160 feeding for market. With the luck I usually 

 have, they will bring $4.60 to igo.OO per head. My 



breeding ewes have at the rate of ten quarts per 

 day of oats or corn to each one hundred. My 

 feeding lambs, 27 to 30 quarts per hundred a day. 



If a,\\y of your correspondents will tell us how 

 to do better and keep our manure at home, they 

 will do at least one suljscriber a favor. 



The foot rot is the continual curse of this coun- 

 tiy to sheep raisers. I hope the cattle disease will 

 be subdued so that it will not prove a like curse to 

 cattle raisers. c. c. c. 



Centre White Creek, iY. Y., Feb., 1871. 



Remarks. — Whether or no any one undertakes 

 to tell j'ou how to manage better than you do, we 

 may assure j^ou that more than "one subscriber" 

 would thank you for further details of the plan you 

 are "foolish enough" to adhere to. Coming events 

 may demonstrate that there is less folly in your 

 course than in that of many farmers who have be- 

 come so wise as to quit trying to get a living by 

 keeping sheep. 



WHY DO CATTLE EAT BOARDS ? 



Being a reader of your valuable paper, I would 

 like to inquire through its columns the cause of 

 cattle eating Ijoards ? A neighbor is wintering six 

 (•<nvs and four calves; when they find pieces of 

 hoards six inches and more m length, they will eat 

 them, and will gnaw the boards on the fence. 



The cattle have plenty of salt, and bone meal oc- 

 casionallv. If you know of any cure I would like 

 to know "it. D. I. Peach. 



Wells River, Vt., Feb., 1871. 



Remarks. — ^Ve have underscored the words 

 "plenty of salt" and "bone meal," in order to give 

 them emphasis, because the lack of those two arti- 

 cles are so many times said to cause cattle to chew 

 boards, bones, &c. 



There are plenty of cases recorded, where cattle 

 are al)undantly supplied with salt and bone meal 

 and yet they continue to gnaw bones, chips, old 

 shoes and other things. 



The theory that the soil upon which cattle feed 

 has been exhausted of its bone-making elements, 

 does not seem satisfactory, and is not probably the 

 cause of the morbid appetite which induces the 

 gnawing. 



If l)one-chewing were ai\ evidence of exhaustion 

 of the soil, cattle on the prairies of the West would 

 not be found chewing bones ; but this we are told 

 does occur there as well as in New England. 



During the period of gestation, there may be 

 some exciting cause for a cow gnawing almost any 

 thmg. But why it should take place in calves, 

 who can tell ? 



The same cause may operate with colts as with 

 young children— gnawing something may give re- 

 lief to the gums. 



Is it probable that animals who always feed upon 

 the spontaneous growth of the soil ever gnaw 

 bones, boards, old leather or anything else than 

 tender, succulent, vegetable growth? We rather 

 think it is not. 



It must be remembered that our domestic ani- 

 mals are not existing in their natural condition ; 

 that they are deprived of their liberty ; that they 

 are protected from the elements at one period, and 



