374 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



"And on the hill the golden rod, and the aster in the 

 ■wood." j 



%he Golden Rod is also a beautiful flower, whieh ^ 

 should Iio more highly appreeiated. There are 

 many garden flowers that are not halfas charming. 



In ever}- country garden there is a spot where a 

 "wild garden" could be planted, and great pleasure 

 reaped from it. I have mentioned but a few of the 

 flowers that could l)e obtained. In May, one can 

 find at least thirty dilferent kinds of flowers, all of 

 which are lovely. The orchis, which blooms in 

 July and August, is far more beautiful than half 

 the flowers that are cultivated. It can be found in 

 rosy lilac, lemon color, orange color, white and 

 pink. It grows in marshy ground, by the side of 

 running brooks, and on the edges of the forests, 

 and will bloom under your care, if its tastes are 

 consulted. The wild violets, though they lack the 

 fragrance of the English violet, are very pi-etty, 

 and the}' are to be found in blue, yellow, white, 

 and, once in a while, pink. All are desirable for 

 home culture. s. o. j. 



PREPARATION AND USE OF MICK. 



If it will be of any advantage to "Young Far- 

 mer," or anybody else, I will cheerfully give my 

 experience in using muck. When I was a l)oy 

 and young man, my father used to dress his grass 

 land in the spring with pure stable manure ; using 

 the best he could getout of his yard. When there 

 was rain enough, it would do very well ; but some- 

 times the atmosphere would get more than half of it. 



I abandoned the practice years ago. For ten 

 years or so, I have used muck. I draw it out in 

 the fall, leaving it about one and a half feet deep, 

 so that it can freeze and thaw entirely through. 

 The action of the atmosphere has a very benefi- 

 cial effect upon it. The next fall, I buy wood 

 ashes when I can get them, and mix six bushels 

 with a cord of muck. The ashes and muck are 

 mixed by ploughing, — repeating the operation at 

 intervals, three or four times before using, and 

 then spreading it on the land in three or four weeks. 



I prepare it in the same way, and spread and 

 harrow in. For corn I formerly used salt with muck, 

 but do not know whether or not it did good. 

 When I could not get ashes I have used lime, but 

 I do not consider it near so good, and very oiten I 

 have used lish guano. You can add to the mass 

 any good fertilizer you may have. 



I do not know but that my grass land produces 

 as well under my treatment as it did under my 

 father's. This grass land is so situated that it can- 

 not be ploughed. I si)read on eight or ten loads 

 to the acre. Of course more would l)e better; and 

 also more ashes with the muck would be lietter. 

 My grass and tillage lands are dryish with a por- 

 ous soil. 



FAILT'RE OF CROP OF GRASS FIRST YEAR. 



I want now to refer to another sulyect. Writers 

 in the Farmer, long ago, said they could get good 

 crops oi' hay the first year without seeding with 

 grain. That was just what I wanted, and so I tried 

 it. Seeding nearly an acre of good land to clover, 

 herdsgrass and red top, I expected to cut a good 

 crop of lj;iy ; but the grass would not grow. It 

 amounted to jiretty good feed in the fall. If I had 

 sowed oats the crop would probaldv have been 

 worth ^-.jO. Ikit this I will say, the hay crops that 

 followed for two years were much the best that I 

 ever got on the same laud. Two years ago, I made 

 trial again on a small piece of laml, the best on the 

 fann, with the same results. This couvinced me 



that sauce for the goose is not always sauce for the 

 gander; that is to *ay, no general "rule will ayiply 

 in all circunistanres and conditions, or, in orlier 

 words, what is good practice on one farm will not 

 prove so on another. Elijah Guxx. 



Montague, Mass., May 26, 1871. 



ZONALE OR HORSE-SHOE GERAXIVMS. 



I have been much interested in S. O. J.'s articles 

 on "Window Gardening," and I wish to thank her 

 for the information given on the cultivation of 

 plants. 



I always search every newspaper for articles on 

 gardening, and have taken great pleasure in such 

 articles when found. I wish to inquire of S. O. J. 

 if what she calls Zonale Geraniums are what is 

 commonly known as the "Horse-shoe Geraniums." 

 I have asked a number of my friends if they were 

 acquainted with Zonale Geraniums, and they have 

 said they knew not what they were. I am sure I 

 should like them, as S. 0. J. says they are never 

 infested by insects, and will bloom ten months out 

 ol twelve. My verbenas have nearly died out 

 from the elfects of green lice. I have tried shower- 

 ing in warm water, but the lice stick so closely to 

 the leaves that it nearly ruined my tall plants try- 

 ing to wash them off, and I find it impossible to 

 get rid of them. s. a. r. 



Remarks. — The Zonale Geraniums are of the class 

 formerly called "Horse-shoe" — the dark chocolate 

 zone of the leaf giving the name. They are a decided 

 improvement upon the old fashioned varieties, and 

 are found in every shade from the richest scarlet 

 to the purest white. No garden is complete with- 

 out them, and they require but little care. During 

 six months of the year they can remain in sandy 

 soil, in pots or boxes, in the cellar. In the middle 

 of May I planted out eight roots of all shades from 

 scarlet, salmon, pink, and white, which were put 

 into the cellar in October, and had not been 

 watered once. The cellar was perfectly dark and 

 damp, but was frost proof. They are all covered 

 with leaves now, and will soon be in full bloom. 



Should S. H. R. desire it, when the Zonale Gera- 

 niums in my possession, are more fully gro\vn, I 

 could send her cuttings by mail with pleasure. 



Green lice can be killed by smoking the plants 

 with tobacco. A good way is to hold a lighted 

 cigar under the plants, and the smoke will stupefy 

 them so that they will fall off, and can then be 

 brushed up and destroyed. s. o. j. 



t"SE OF SALT. 



In an article in the last Fakmer, a correspondent 

 says that the use of no injurious stimulant and the 

 practice of no wrong haliit can lie al)and(mcd with- 

 out experiencing the inconveniences of a reaction 

 of the system, and would account for the ill ettects 

 of withholdhig salt from men and animals on the 

 same principle. To this I would reply that the 

 taste tox salt is natural to both man and licast, 

 while the taste for stimulants is artificial or ac- 

 quired. In their native state, animals lick salt with 

 the greatest relish, but, wiser than men, they re- 

 fuse to meddle with tobacco, alcohol or opium. 

 The desire for salt is not therefore a reaction of the 

 system, but evidence that salt is a requisite of the 

 animal economy; a necessity to health, though 

 perhaps not as food. 



Mr. Hardy's argument may be ingenious, but it 

 is unsatisfactory. The lessening of milk, the in- 

 crease of parasites and of disease consequent on 



