1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



279 



a pound. A little for trial may be sent by mail at 

 eight cents per pound, for postage. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH FERTILIZERS ON TOBACCO. 



I tried an experiment last season with seven 

 different fertilizers on tobacco, and the result was 

 that sea fowl guano yielded the largest quantity 

 and the best quality leaf. The land was all ma- 

 nured alike, divided into seven portions and the 

 fertilizers used in the hills, the same quantity in 

 each plot. R- A. Belden. 



Northfield, Mass., April 12, 1871. 



AGRICULTUBAL ITEMS, 



— In California, poplars grow from ten to fifteen 

 feet in a single year. 



— ^Essex County, Mass., raised 25,000 barrels of 

 onions valued at f 100,000, last season. 



— Rutland County, Vt., possesses 17 cheese fac- 

 tories, averaging 350 cows each. 



— Grasshoppers have made their appearance in 

 Maine. 



— Mr. S. A. Hamilton, of Garland, Me., has a 

 pair of three-year old Hereford and Durham steers, 

 well matched, and weighing 3800 pounds. 



— Wisconsin has 100 cheese factories within its 

 limits, the most of which are situated in the Green 

 Lake country, near Ripon. 



— The Michigan Agricultural College has 146 

 students, of whom eighty are freshmen. Of the 

 new students, seventy-five per cent, are farmers' 

 sons. 



— R. W. Haines, M. D., recommends, in the 

 Rural New Yorker, for calves and pigs scouring, a 

 teaspoonful of calcined magnesia in sweet milk 

 thickened with com meal. For a calf heap the 

 spoon, for a young pig less. 



— Several extensive hog growers of Henry Co., 

 111., say that feeding steamed food is a perfect pre- 

 ventive of the hog cholera, and that no one there 

 this season, who fed steamed feed, has lost a hog 

 by the cholera. 



— The Iowa Agricultural College entered on its 

 third year March 8. The Homestead says the 

 Freshman class numbers about 75, the Sophomore 

 40 and the Junior 32, a total of 147, of whom 30 

 are ladies. 



— The marsh of 150 acres in Lenox, Mass., which 

 Albert Belden is draining, was once a lake, and, 

 doubtless, a favorite haunt of the Indians, as Mr. 

 Belden has already discovered three of their canoes 

 — one two feet below the surface of the bed of the 

 main channel, and in a perfect state of preservation. 



— E. Wilson wi-ites the Rural Nexo Yorker that 

 for twenty years he has removed films from cattle 

 and horse's eyes without failure. Apply clean lard, 

 warm or cold, which ever way it can be got into 

 the eye best. Its application will cause no pain, 

 and should be applied until the film is removed. 



— The average weekly pricS of eggs in Chicago 

 for the past five years is stated at twenty-two cents 



a" dozen, by the Prairie Farmer; as greater num- 

 bers are received during the time of low prices, the 

 average price for all received is put at seventeen 

 cents. 



—The dairy business in Medina County, O., says 

 a correspondent of the Ohio Farmer, is playing the 

 mischief in that county, by lessening the nimiber 

 of farms, and consequently diminishing the num- 

 ber of farmers. The big fish are eating up the 

 little ones. 



— Everything that is liable to generate gas and 

 foul odors should be removed from the cellar on 

 the approach of warm weather, and the room well 

 ventilated. Strewing lime over the floor and white- 

 washing the walls, is a good means of disinfecting. 

 A little care at this time may save many doctor 

 bills. 



— Mr. Meehan, in the Weekly Press, says that 

 botanists have no lietter reason for saying that In- 

 dian com is indigenous to this country than that it 

 was found here when the country was discovered 

 by the white man. Assuming that America was 

 known to the Chinese long before, he thinks that 

 it is to them that we are indebted for our com, as 

 it has certainly been known in China for a thou- 

 sand years. 



— The Farmers' Home Journal speaks of a field 

 of thirty acres of wheat which suddenly changed 

 from a fine vigorous appearance to a sickly yellow. 

 Some attributed it to the fly, but no signs of its 

 presence could be found. On pulling up a stalk 

 its tap root was found to be full of little worms, 

 about as thick as a sewing needle. An examina- 

 tion of other stalks disclosed the presence of the 

 same worms, and it M^as concluded, veiy naturally, 

 that the sudden and unfavorable change in the ap- 

 pearance of the wheat was due to these worms. 



—The Oshkosh, Wis., Times reports that a hop 

 grower near that city a year or more since, sent 

 eight bales of hops to a commission firm in Phila- 

 delphia. A few days since he received a statement 

 showing they had been sold at prices ranging ft-om 

 one to six cents per pound, the total receipts being 

 P5.05. The charges were .f23.69 for freight and 

 drayage ; ^8.00 for commission ; .f 7.20 storage and 

 insurance, making a total of p8.89, leaving a bal- 

 ance against grower of .f 13.84, to which is to be 

 added ^10.00 paid for the packing. 



—A correspondent of the Germantown Telegraph 

 says, the natural soil of a large portion of the 

 American gardens could be improved and made to 

 yield heavier crops by an admission of sand. In 

 many sections M'here clayey soils prevail, gardens 

 thus treated would be rendered more friable and 

 could be worked much earlier in spring. Also 

 that many garden-soils which are naturally light, 

 sandy, or gravelly, frequently do not possess suffi- 

 cient strength to retain for any length of time the 

 manure applied to them ; hence, an application of 

 heavy loam will be found beneficial in more than 

 one point of view. 



