1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



247 



with forty or fifty trees, without crowding. All 

 the different varieties of the apple may be made 

 dwarfs by working on the Paradise or Doucin 

 stock — the former are smaller and bear soonest; 

 the latter are larger and ultimately afford the 

 heayiest crops. Among the handsomest gi-owers 

 as dwarfs, are Red Astrachan, Jersey Sweet, 

 Porter, Baldwin, Dyer, Summer Rose, Benoni, and 

 Bough." 



Our own experiments with the dwarf apple tree 

 have not been very favorable. They grew sprawl- 

 ing, and without careful trimming, became un- 

 gainly looking things. Perhaps ours were not on 

 the right kind of stock. 



We can furnish the whole of the new series of 

 the Monthly Farmer, four volumes, for 1867, 1868, 

 1869 and 1870, for $8.25— either volume $2.25. 



THANKS TO CARRIE — WHITE SPECKS IN BUTTER. 



Through you I wish to thank "Sister Carrie" for 

 her very useful letter upon butter making. It is 

 directly to the point and has been of service to me. 



In your last issue we noticed an article in regard 

 to the great dikinniu of the Aairytnen of Vermont 

 (women would prulialily have had no such trouble) 

 in respec to "white specks in butter." 



Not being of a scientific turn of mind I cannot 

 explain through what chemical process the "Ver- 

 mont cream passes to form white specks in the but- 

 ter, but a very common-sense view was given by 

 an Irish dairywonian, who on hearing the article 

 read, exclaimed, "Great fools ! if they would put 

 no sour milk in their cream, the white specks would 

 . not trouble them in the butter." 



Please to restate the receipt for taldng the pine 

 taste out of barrels, which was given a few weeks 



ago. MRS. T. G. 



Deerfield, Mass., March 29, 1871. 



Remarks. — Pine is not generally regarded as a 



suitable wood for dairy utensils, and we are not 



able to refer to any receipt lately published in the 



Farmer for removing the pine taste from barrels. 



Possibly the following is what is referred to : — 



To Cleanse Musty Barrels or Casks.— Put a 

 quarter of a peck of unslacked lime in the bung hole of 

 the barrel, into which pour a gallon or two oi' boiling 

 water to slack the lime, then put in the bung and shake 

 the cask well so tbat the contents of il will come in con- 

 tact witli all of the inside. Let it stand a day or two, 

 after which rinse out well with plenty of cold water. 

 If the barrel or cask la still musty, the same operation 

 must be repeated, and a strip of cloth dipped into melted 

 brimstone and hung down in the bung hole, set fire to 

 and the bung slightly driven in. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SPECIAL MANURES. 



When I wTOte you last I told you we had four or 

 five agricultural papers in Georgia, and it appears 

 we have at least six now. I think this shows at 

 least, that there is a great deal of hiquiry into the 

 science of agriculture. Men are experimenting, 

 trying to learn what kind of manures and fertili- 

 zers will enalile them to realize the largest crops 

 at the least expense. Some are using all their en- 

 ergies to manufacture, gather and save manures 

 for the coming crop, myself included in this class. 



I began experimenting in a small way on my 

 wheat crop last fall. The first I sowed without 

 any manure the 8th of October, on wheat stubble ; 

 the second lot was soaked in blue vitriol twenty- 

 four hours and dried with plaster. On a portion of 

 this — some of the very poorest — was sown 125 

 pounds of dissolved bones, guano, salt and plaster. 



The wheat on the portion manured shows now to 

 the very line, and is far better than the rest, sowed 

 the 21st of Octoljer on oat stubble. I sowed a third 

 lot on cotton ground, seed prepared as the second 

 lot, in plaster, and sowed also 300 pounds of dis- 

 solved bones and the ashes, &c., in which they 

 were dissolved. This was sowed from the 18th to 

 the 21st of December, and did not come up until 

 the latter part of January, but is gi'owing finely 

 now. 



On a portion of my first sowing I hauled out in 

 January four wagon loads of rich mould that had 

 been mixed one or two montlis with fifteen bushel 

 of lime and one of salt; on another portion I sowed 

 at the rate of half a bushel of plaster and four 

 bushel of ashes early in December; and still on an- 

 other portion, in the fore part of February, I hauled 

 out five wagon loads of ashes and l:)rick dust on 

 about an acre, and a small portion is left -without 

 anything being added to the soil, which is poor. 



On my second lot I sowed about the first of Feb- 

 ruary, at the rate of two bushels of salt ; on an- 

 other portion 300 pounds of dissolved bones and 

 ashes, and a small part of that on which I had 

 sown fait. By the side of this I sowed ten bushels 

 brick dust and all the ashes I could gather with it, 

 and two bushels good fresh ashes, with half bushel 

 plaster to the acre, and again \>y side of this I 

 sowed forty bushel of the same dust and ashes 

 with a bushel of plaster and bushel of salt, and by 

 the side of this again, brick dust and the ashes 

 burned with it abotit the same as on the first lot. 



There was a triangular piece of this second lot 

 on which there was sown with the wheat and 

 ploughed in with it some of the fertilizer first 

 named, that was also sown with salt and another 

 with dissolved bone and ashes. 



I do not expect to follow out the results of these 

 experiments so jiarticularly as to measure the 

 ground and the wheat on each separate part, pos- 

 sibly on none of them, but I do intend to watch 

 the effects very closely all through the season and 

 still more particulaiiy at harvest, and have no 

 doubt I shall be able to gain some knowledge that 

 will be very beneficial in the future. 



I think this is the kind of knowledge that will 

 make farming pa}' here equal to anywhere else. 



Cartersville, Geoi-gia, March 24,1871. J. h. r. 



Remarks. — In a private note, the writer of the 

 above communication says that as it refers mainly 

 to experiments yet incomplete, he does not suppose 

 it will be considered worth publishing. We think, 

 however, the Northern farmer will take an inter- 

 est in the efforts of his Southern brethren to in- 

 crease his crops, and to make poor land yield more 

 luxuriantly, and we hope by publishing the fore- 

 going now to increase our correspondent's obliga- 

 tions to communicate the knowledge he obtains by 

 the result of his experiments. 



CORN ON manure AND ON SUPERPHOSPHATE. 



I propose in this paper to give you an account of 

 the tillage and production of two fields of coiti in 

 my neighborhood that came under my observation 

 during the last year. 



The land of both fields was very similar in kind 

 and quality, — warm sandy loam,— just the right 

 kind to produce a good crop of corn with liberal 

 manuring. Both pieces of land had been pretty 

 severely cropped and were in a low condition and a 

 poor state of tilth. Both pieces were well ploughed, 

 planted about the tenth of May, and well tended 

 during the summer. 



One piece, the lightest and if any thing rather 

 the poorest soil, was manured with a common bam 

 shovelful of compost to the hill, made up of some 



