376 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



care, kept dry and applied to the crops. Nothing 

 could be better for the young orchard. Spreading 

 ashes broadcast over the surface would be moi-e 

 useful than as a mulch for the trees. The roots 

 will soon find it if spread. It is better to use a 

 moderate quantity annually, than to apply a large 

 amount at one time. 



Ashes may be safely used in composts of loam, 

 muck, straw, or dry fibrous materials ; they would 

 tend to reduce them. If in composts where the 

 dropping of cattle are a portion of the material, 

 the ashes should be applied immediately before the 

 composj is to be used, — and the compost be slightly 

 covered by the soil. . The easiest and best way, 

 however, is to apply ashes in a dry state and un- 

 mixed. 



A QUEER AVORM. — THE SUGAR SEASON. — RATS. 



I have for a long time been looking for some no- 

 tice of a worm, which appeared in great numbers 

 all about here last spring. They were found in 

 woods and orchards, mostly near the ground, often 

 in large clusters in ice. Never saw them before. 

 Their general color whitish, from three-fourths 

 inch to an inch in length. "What is that a sign 

 of?" "Sign of suthin'," remarked my sapient 

 wood chopper. 



The sugar season opened here at the same time 

 with Massacliusetts, and was an extraordinary one. 



It will perhaps interest many of your readers to 

 know that there is quite a large section of country 

 where the rat is wholly unkno^^^l. There are 

 plenty south, north and' west of us, but none here. 

 We are not anxious for their company, but suppose 

 that they will come on the railroads if they leam 

 that there is one comer of the earth which they 

 have so far failed to discover and colonize. Hope 

 they don't read the Farmer. j. g. f. 



Stanstead, Can., June 1, 1871. 



Remarks. — We do not recognize the worm from 

 the above description. If his habitat is in the ice, 

 he will not, probably, destroy our field and garden 

 plants and fruits. 



The rats will undoubtedly make you a call one 

 of these days. They may have been waiting for 

 the renewal of the reciprocity treaty ! In the 

 neighborhood in which one of the editors of the 

 Farmer was raised, rats were imknown until he 

 was some twelve years of age. The discovery of a 

 colony in the granary was more interesting to those 

 of us who had never seen a rat than to the older 

 people who had been familiar with them in the 

 sections from which they emigrated. 



WHEN SHOULD A HEIFER HAVE HER FIRST CALF ? 



Will you give us your opinion on this subject, or 

 the opinion of some of your experienced corres- 

 pondents ? Is it best for a iieifer to come in with 

 calf at two years old ? Some say so, and argue 

 that they save a year's keeping, and that heifers 

 thus managed generally make quite as good cows. 

 But does it not take a year's growth out of them, 

 and just at the time tiiej' ought to have it to get 

 properly matured to hear offspring, and will they 

 not last a year longer and make larger and better 

 animals not to l)e allowed to bring a calf till the/ 

 are about three years old ? w. ii. Av. 



Shirky ViUaye, Aloes., 1811, 



EEMAitKs.— In his work on cattle, Mr. Allen, a 



person of much experience, says the time at which 

 heifers should come in depends greatly upon the 

 manner in which they have lieen fed, and the con- 

 dition of flesh they may be in. If they have been 

 fed on good muscle-making food, with growth un- 

 stinted, they may safely be coupled with the bull 

 at fifteen to eighteen months of age; and better to 

 a small bull than a large one. The following par- 

 ticulars, he says, are decided advantages. 



1st. The milking faculties of the growing heifer 

 are more easily stimulated into action than if ne- 

 glected to twenty-seven months or later, (bringing 

 her calf at three years of age,) and thus apt to 

 prove a better milker. 



2d. She is inclined to be more docile and easier 

 handled and managed. 



3d. She arrives at her maturity of production for 

 dairy purposes a year earlier ; and 



4th. A year is gained in her profit. 



We are inclined to think that where heifers are 

 well kept, one coming in at two and the other at 

 three years old, that not much difference will be 

 found in them at the age of four years. Young 

 animals, of good growth and in health, bear the 

 burden of gestation and parturition without much 

 apparent inconvenience or cessation of growth. 

 At three years of age the parts may not be so com- 

 pacted as to offer any obstruction, but upon the 

 whole it is, perhaps, best that a strong and healthy 

 heifer should come in at two years of age. 



CORN AND WHEAT GROAVING. 



I would say to Mr. Jones that it was 7wt "my 

 famous crop of wheat, or rather wheat straw," 

 mentioned in the Farmer of May 27. I quoted 

 from "K. 0." and his "friend," and said so ex- 

 pressly. It was his friend who estimated his 

 "straw at ten tons per acre, at $6 per ton." I 

 think Mr. Jones cannot find fault for my so doing, 

 although I thought it a stupendous exaggeration. 



I based my items of labor in producing both 

 wheat and corn (he gives me no credit on the 

 wheat) at about Long Island prices, which may be 

 in excess of prices in Addison County, Vt. I 

 charged manure to wheat the same as to com, 

 though probably the wheat did not get half the 

 quantity, as is usual with the small grain crops. 



We know, and every farmer should know, that 

 his profit lies in the bushels he can get per acre. 

 The Byficld almshouse in 1847 or 8, took the pre- 

 mium at v^alem, Mass., on 116 bushel. Here was a 

 projituhlc i:Yo\i;\mi if four acres (about the aver- 

 age for New England,) had been cultivated to ob- 

 tain the same result, the farmer would have lost 

 monej-. The principle of great crops is the only 

 true policy "to make farming pay." It is the way 

 to save wages, board, washing and grog of the 

 hired men. When farmers secure their crops from 

 less than one-half of the acres now cultivated, 

 they will find their lands as well as themselves 

 growing rich, and their anxiety about paying hu"ed 

 help much diminished. 



But I have a problem which I wish my friend 

 Jones would solve. We will plough in an acre of 

 green sward, second crop, on good corn or grass 

 soil, and sow on the sod two bushels winter wheat. 

 If a good season, we propose to harvest thirty 

 bushels wheat, more or less, depending on the soil 

 and amount of grass ploughed in. We propose to 

 sell three tons straw at $10, say $30. The whole 



