1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



233 



fields that once produced timothy and clover now 

 only produce white top. So far as my knowledge 

 extends the general complaint year after year, is 

 that the white top increases. Now this can be 

 remedied only by restoring the phosphate again to 

 the soil. Nature's laws cannot be violated with 

 impunity, for the sins of the fathers will speedily 

 be visited on the ehildi-en to the third and fourth 

 generation. 



BKADLEY'S XL SUPERPHOSPHATE. 



Last season I purchased two barrels of Bradley's 

 XL Superphosphate and applied it to different 

 crops with the best results. Three dollars' worth 

 applied to aliout one-third of an acre of sod land 

 broken the fall previous, and sowed with half a 

 bushel of wheat, without any other manure, pro- 

 duced a tine crop of wheat as ever I raised. Its 

 phosphoric acid probaljly furnished the material 

 for a full and plump berry, besides forwarding the 

 crop some six days — quite an item in many sea- 

 sons. I also used it on beans, sweet com, onions, 

 cabbages, and most garden vegetables, with fine 

 results, — forwarding the crops a full iveek. 



To produce the largest crop of wheat to the acre, 

 I should, with the light I now have, sow 300 lbs. 

 of Bradley's XL, covering it immediately with the 

 harrow after sowmg the seed, for it will not l)ear 

 long exposure to the air without loss of some of its 

 valuable qualities which may escape into air. I 

 have bought again this season more than I did last, 

 and am going to use it in the same way, believing 

 that with it our hills can be co\ ered with beautiful 

 crops of (/rain. 



Now Mr. Bradlej- is a gentleman personally un- 

 known to nie. I have no interest in the sale of the 

 Superphosphate. I make this statement in justice 

 to a valuable manure, which if kept up to the 

 standard of that made last year, will in my opinion 

 prove a lasting benefit to New England. 



i). L. Harvey. 



Epping, K. II., March, 1871. 



EARLY SPRING. — CANKER WORMS. 



It is hai'd for us to realize that spring is here. 

 March seems to have forgotten how to reign, and 

 instead of cold winds and driving snows, we have 

 wann sunny days, and singing birds. More than 

 a week ago the robin heralded the coming of spring 

 from the tree top; the blue bird caroled of it in the 

 vale; and the swallow twittered it from the eaves 

 of the friendly 1)arn. Already the farmer is turn- 

 ing the cold damp soil up to the sun and air, and 

 the impatient ones are planting peas in sunny 

 spots. The bark upon the peach and pear trees 

 begins to brighten up, and the buds upon the lilac 

 are large and full. The grass is showing green in 

 many places and the roads are fast lieconiing dusty, 

 not having lieon nearly as muddy as usual. Wild 

 geese have been going l)y, sounding their curious 

 note out upon the air, but generally keeping them- 

 selves out of sight. The Merrimack has been clear 

 of ice nearly two weeks. It went out very quietlj', 

 without any rise of water, but within a few daA's a 

 slight fre^iicr has disturljcd its smooth flow,' and 

 some drift wooil has floated by. 



Such skating as there has been upon its frozen 

 face the past winter, has not been seen here for 

 years, and the boys mourned bitterly as their 

 favorite play-ground slowly drifted out to sea. 

 Two or three unpretending ice boats made their 

 dehut during the season. Four or five boys per- 

 formed the feat of skating to the city of Haverhill 

 and back again in half a day, a distance of eighteen 

 miles, stopping there two hours or more — pretty 

 well for boys, the youngest being only eleven. 

 Many olistructions have been removed fi'om the 

 river within six months, and the good woi'k is to be 

 continued this spring. Navigation will thus be 



much improved and its blue waters will be parted 

 by many vessels and boats. 



There is much fear felt among us, that the canker 

 worm has found its way across the river from 

 West Newbury, where it has made fearful ravages 

 in years ]iast. Fanners that have tarred their 

 trees or used printer's ink report the going up of 

 the moth a number of days ago. Is it not very 

 early ? 



The season is not quite far enough advanced to 

 ascertain the prospect for fruit, but let us sincerely 

 hope it will he good, and that the canker worm 

 may be kept away from us, for it is a sad sight to 

 see fair orchards blighted as by the scorching 

 tongue of fii-e. J. B. Sawyer. 



West A7nesbury, Mass., March 18, 1871. 



CLUB-FOOT IN CABBAGE. 



I wish to inquire whether there has been found 

 anything that would prevent the small white mag- 

 got from eating the roots of cabbages, and thus 

 cause tliem to clump-root. h. c. c. 



Warehai7i, Mass., March 3, 1871. 



Remarks. — Mr. Henderson says in his book on 

 "Gardening for Profit" that on land along the sea- 

 shore where there is an admixture of oyster and 

 other shells, cabbages arc raised in the highest 

 pei-fection, and that on sucTi soils they have been 

 raised, in some instances, for fifty consecutive years 

 perfectly free from any club-foot. It is supposed 

 that the lime in the soil resulting from the gradual 

 decay of the shells, is fjital to the larv;e of the in- 

 sect which produces the disease in the roots of the 

 cabbage. The same gentleman gives an experi- 

 ment he made in growing cabbages on a lot, one- 

 half of which was heavily manured with stable 

 manure, the other half with flour of bone at the 

 rate of 2000 pounds to the acre. On the manured 

 part the cabbages were badly affected ; on the part 

 to which the flour of bone was applied the plants 

 were healthy. He has also used Ifme. This was 

 expensive and only partially successful. Cabbages 

 should not be gi'own two years in succession on the 

 same land. Leached ashes have also been i-ecom- 

 mended— a dressing "one inch thick" well spaded 

 in. But we hope friend C. will not ask us to tell 

 him where he is to look for the ashes, for we don't 

 know. But these are among the things that "have 

 been found" to prevent the club-foot, and we give 

 them for what they are worth. 



cattle eating boards. 



Though not in the habit of writing for any paper, 

 I will try to relate my experience with this trouble 

 with cattle. 



Some forty years ago I purchased a small farm 

 of twent.y acres that was badly worn out. It was 

 part sandy, part swampj', with plenty of bushes. 

 The pasture was plain land and l)usliy. I cut about 

 four tons poor meadow hay. My cattle did well 

 until I subdued the bushes in the pasture. Soon 

 afterwards they commenced eating boards, &c., 

 and become ravenous for pine boards. The barn 

 was an old one, and some of the boards loose. 

 These they would tear oft' with their horns, and 

 chew them up. This continued till about eight 

 years ago. At that time I bought a pasture of new 

 land, including some ten acres of wood and about 

 six acres of land from which the wood had been 

 removed. A part of this lot was bushj' and some 

 of it was low, damp land, with wild grasses, and 



