516 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



"ringing" on one or two branches tliat may be 

 spared from the tree. Remove a ring of Iiark from 

 some limb, say an inch through, the present month, 

 to form buds for next year; and just before l)lus- 

 soming next spring remove a ring of bark from 

 anotlier limb to set the fruit. Tlie ring of bark 

 should be narrow, — say one-sixth of an inch, and 

 be careful not to injure the wood under the bark. 



MILLET AND HVNGARIAN GRASS. — BAM WITH GATE 

 ACROSS A liROOK. — A UORSE WITH LONG FRONT 

 TKETH. 



Sirs, please inform me through your paper 



1. M'hat are the comparative merits of millet and 

 Hungarian grass ? 



2. W^hat is the best way to construct a dam with 

 a gate across a brook that is ten feet in width ? 



3. I have a horse \Tlu)se front teeth seem so long 

 that the back teeth or grinders fail to meet, hence 

 the horse eats hay with ttifliculty. What shall I 

 do for it ? riease inform an Old Suhsciurer. 



Natick, Mass., June, 1S71. 



Remarks. — 1. We are not able to give you ex- 

 act comparative merits between Hungarian grass 

 and millet. But if your wish is to know which we 

 should recommend to be cultivated as fodder— not 

 for seed — we should say, and say it from an actual 

 experience hi the cultivation of both, take the 

 millet. With us it has been a more certain and 

 profitable crop than the Hungarian grass. 



2. We have little experimental knowledge about 

 building dams and setting gates iu them. Where 

 the banks of the stream are of gravel or sand such 

 dams are usually made of that material, with some 

 framed work for the flume or gate. But if we had 

 a quiet little brook, and wished to avoid the labor 

 of carting or wheeling gravel, we should not hesi- 

 tate to tongue and groove two-inch plank and drive 

 them into the bottom of the brook, side by side, 

 lind .'.T^ert the gate in other grooves n)ade by nail- 

 in" strips cv.pon the planks which are to hold the 

 gate in place.'" Practical advice, however, is safest 

 for you. "^ 



3. About the hot"^es' teeth. Get a person who 

 has the nippers, and who knows how, and he will 

 cut off the front ones without pain to the horse, so 

 that he can eat comfortably again. 



on mowing, ploighing and sowing buck- 

 whi:at. 



I wish to make an inquiry through your paper, 

 whether I can improve a piece of wom out land 

 cheaper Iiy ploughing it as soon as it is mowed, — 

 for I wisli"to save what little gi-ass there is, — then 

 sow on liiickwhcat, .and as soon as it gets large 

 enough [ilough it under ? It is some distance 

 from the buildings and I want the manure for 

 other lanil. / 



1 am iiiucli interested in your paper, especially 

 that part relating to the use of muck as a fertilizer. 

 I have had some experience with it by the way of 

 putting it in the hog yard, then putting in the snds 

 from the kitchen and chamber slops, making a 

 phosphate equal to Bradley's or any other. I have 

 an acre of corn with no other manure, that is equal 

 if not superior to any in town. 



There are several other points I should like to 

 talk with you upon, but dare not for fear I shall 

 say something that will not be just right. One is 



about a cultivator that I have just made, that is 

 superior to anytliing I ever saw of the kind. 

 Chester, Vt., June 28, 1871. J. J. Miner. 



Remarks. — Success in the operation which you 

 describe would depend upon two conditions. 

 First the presence of plenty of moisture in the soil, 

 and some^«e manure, which the sprouting seeds 

 could laj' hold of at once. Your work would be 

 done in the midst of the hottest season, and when 

 the soil is usually quite dry. A little manure, even, 

 would be serviceable in such a case. Ashes would 

 be excellent. With these conditions satisfied, 

 there can be little doubt but what you would im- 

 prove your land by the plan you propose. The 

 grass roots decayed, and the green crop added, 

 would give a fair manuring. 



Tell us all about your new cultivator, and any of 

 your farm operations. We are interested iu them. 



THE riVE-SPOTTED HAWK MOTH. 



Enclosed I send you an insect of a kind I never 

 saw before, neither did any of my neighljors. 

 Will you please inform us through the Farmer 

 what its name is, its habits, &c. ? 



Luneiiburg, July 10, 1871. H. G. Ballou. 



Remarks. — The butterfly was received in good 

 condition, and is the perfect state of the very large 

 green caterpillar, Avith oblique whitish stripes on 

 each side of the body with a kind of thorn upon 

 the tail, which you have occasionally seen upon 

 your potatoes, tomatoes, &c. Mr. Harris in his 

 Treatise on Insects says, it attains its full size from 

 the middle of August to the first of September, 

 then crawls down the stem of the plant and Ijuries 

 itself in the ground. Here, in a few days, it throws 

 off its caterpillar-skin, and becomes a chrysalis, of 

 a bright brown color, with a long and slender 

 tcaigue-case, bent over from the head, so as to 

 touch the breast only at the end, and somewhat 

 resembling the handle of a pitcher. It remains in 

 the ground through the winter, below the reach of 

 frost, and in the following summer the chrj'salis- 

 skin bursts open, a large moth crawls out of it, 

 comes l^tlie surface of the ground, and mounting 

 upon some neighboring plant, waits till the ap- 

 proach of evening invites it to expand its untried 

 wings and fly in search of food. It measures 

 across the wings about five inches ; is of a gray 

 color, variegated with blackish lines and bands ; 

 and on each side of the body there are five round, 

 orange-colored spots encircled with black. Hence 

 it is called by English entomologists S2)hmx quin- 

 qyemaadatusf the five-spotted Sphinx. Its tongue 

 can be uhrolled to the length of five or si.x inches, 

 but, when not in use, is coileii like a watch-spring, 

 and is almost entirely concealed, between two large 

 and thick feelers, under the head. 



cellar DIRT FOR GRASS LAND. 



Will the editor or some of the numerous readers 

 of the Farmer please give me their experience 

 through the Farmer, whether the clay dug out of 

 a cellar would be beneficial to grass land, or would 

 it be injurious ? In this neighborhood there is such 



