1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



343 



their work. We made careful use of it last 

 year, and found it efficacious in some degree, 

 but not a certain preventive . Carefully search- 

 ing for the leaves containing eggs or worms, 

 picking them into boxes and crushing them 

 under the feet, accomplished more than any- 

 thing else resoi-ted to. But that process was 

 tiresome, and to some is a disgusting one, 

 and unlets the bushes were quite vigorous, the 

 leaves could not well be spared. Carbolic 

 acid in solution was tried, but did not prove 

 satisfactory. That is also poisonous, and 

 therefore a dangerous article to have about. 



The carholate of lime is another article 

 used to destroy the currant worm. It is in 

 the form of a fine Hour, has a disagreeable 

 odor, and we should think would be quite ob- 

 jectionable if any portion of it should touch 

 the fruit. Dr. E. Worcester, of Waltham, 

 Mass., informed the Editor of the Boston 

 Journal of Chemistry, that "he tried this 

 powder in many instances last summer, and 

 found that while it was fully as effectual as 

 hellebore, it was less disagreeable, less costly 

 and perfectly safe. The method of using it 

 is to sprinkle it over the vines as soon as the 

 worm makes its appearance. One or two ap- 

 plications was found sufficient. Neither the 

 foliage nor the fruit, he stated, was injured 

 by the carbolate of lime." 



Last year the worms appeared with us on 

 the 22d May, and continued until the first of 

 June, though greatly reduced in numbers at 

 the latter date. They came twice afterwards 

 before the middle of July, but not in such 

 force as on the first time. 



The Editor of the Canada Farmer stated 

 last summer, that he counted on the under 

 side of a single leaf 221 eggs of the Saw-fy ; 

 the same branch had ten other leaves with 

 about the same number of eggs on them. He 

 thought it safe to say that from this one 

 branch at least 2000 worms would have been 

 produced ! 



In the Eeligious Magazine for March, 



1871, the Rev. E. H. Sears, after relating 



several experiments to destroy the currant 



worm, which proved ineffectual, says : — 



"Soon after these disastrous expei"iments I- was 

 on a visit to a friend who is an amateur gardener. 

 I was surprised to find his currant bushes green 

 and flourishing and pretty well loaded with clus- 

 ters, while looking over the fence into his neigh- 

 bor's garden, the bushes were stripped entirely 

 bare. 'How in the world did you save them ?' 

 was a very natural, and in my case a very eager 



inquiry. Take a pound of copperas and dissolve 

 it in seven gallons of water, and sprinkle it over 

 the bushes with a watering pot. My bushes were 

 getting covered with the worm, but one application 

 dosed him effectually. I advised my neighljor 

 over the fence to do tlie same, but neighljov's wife 

 objected, fearing the copperas would poison the 

 currants, and so he sprinkled them with lime ; and 

 you see the result. My friend found a second ap- 

 jilieatioii necessary a lew weeks later when the 

 l)est ri'-apiieared; and the result was a large and 

 beautiful crop of ripe currants." 



As the currant is among our best fruits, we 

 are confident that the space occupied in stat- 

 ing the above, will be well employed. 



For the Xew England Farmer. 



FEED FOR MILCH COWS. 



Millet— Hungarian Grass — Early Cut Hay— Corn fod- 

 der, in connection with Grain and Dry Hay — Vari- 

 ety of Feed— Preferences of Different Animals — Es- 

 timate of Profit and Loss of a Dairy — Age of Cows 

 Management of Cows and Calves— Product of Col. 

 Warring's Jerseys and Natives. 



In the last Farmer I see that a corres- 

 pondent from Blue Hills, Mass., thinks my 

 cows have strange eccentricities, because they 

 did not seem pleased when I gave them a 

 feeding of dried millet and Hungarian grass. 

 He thinks he would make heef of such cows. 

 I can tell him it would not take long to do 

 that. 



I finish cutting my first crop of hay about 

 the first week of July. I feed such hay, with 

 as much grain as I dare to, all the year round. 

 I raise no corn fodder for -winter use, nor 

 straw of any kind ; and do not have more than 

 a ton of poor hay to feed, with thirty tons of 

 the best early cut hay and rowen. Cows fed 

 •in that way make beef very easily. I would 

 prefer such hay all the time, if I could raise 

 enough of it. 



But as an acre of land, well manured, will 

 produce more feed in corn than in grass, and 

 as grass must be renewed occasionally, I raise 

 some com fodder every year for feeding 

 green in August and September. My cows 

 never have refused to eat it, nor have they 

 ever given a less quantity or a poorer quaUty of 

 of milk while being fed on it. They get their usual 

 ration of grain and some dry hay all through 

 the season of feeding green corn. They like sweet 

 corn much better than the large southern kind. 

 Dr. Loring advises us to raise millet instead 

 of corn for feeding green. He has been 

 jntched into so many times on that subject, 

 that I should not wonder if he hated the sight 

 of cornf odder even worse than his cows do. 



I raised a piece of millett and Hungarian 

 grass last year, not expecting it would take 

 the place of comfodder, but as an experi- 

 ment, to learn its value as a crop for soiling 

 and for winter use. As a summer feed, I 

 could not learn its value, for my cows would 

 none of them eat it, if they could get anything 

 else. I had very hard work to use up a cart 



