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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



see, as much chess on the land sowti with clean 

 seed as on that sown with the foul. Where I have 

 winnowed my wheat I find f;rass sprinijs up very 

 thick from seeds droi))>i'd, but though the ground 

 may be covered with chess, none gi-ows. For these 

 reasons I conclude that chess does germinate and 

 grow lilvc the seeds of other plants. 



M. L. GOODELL. 



South Amherst, Mass., Sept., 1S71. 



Remarks. — Most of the men who are learned in 

 the science of botany deny that wheat ever turns 

 to chess. They claim that wheat and chess are 

 as distinct in their vegetable characteristics, as 

 cattle and sheep are in their animal diversities. 

 They say that as like produces like, it is as absurd 

 to believe that chess grows from stunted wheat as 

 to believe that by any process of stinting or abus- 

 ing a calf it will become a lamb. On the other 

 hand farmers have observed facts which satisfy 

 many intelligent minds that the wheat plant, under 

 some circumstances, developes itself in the form of 

 chess. There has been a great amount of discus- 

 sion in agricultural papers on this subject with 

 the usual result of such discussion — both parties 

 remaining "of the same opinion still." The bota- 

 nist, Darlington, ridicules the American belief in 

 the change of wheat to chess, by saying that in the 

 old world farmers believe that wheat sometimes 

 changes to rye, at others to barley, as well as to 

 chess ; and that in its turn chess becomes oats ! 



A few years ago some speculator advertised and 

 sold at a high price certain grass seed called Wil- 

 lard's Bronius. Manj' farmers were induced by 

 the Norway-oat style of puffing adopted by the 

 "agent" to try it, among others the managers of 

 what was then called the State Farm of Massa- 

 chusetts at Westboro, all of whom raised a nice 

 crop of chess ! We suppose therefore that our 

 sensible correspondent must be mistaken in his idea 

 that chess seed — Bromiis secaUnus, of the bota- 

 nists — does not germinate and grow like that of 

 other plants. 



WINTER SUCCOTASH. 



Can you or any of your readers give through the 

 New England Faumeu, a good recipe for succo- 

 tash for winter use ? T. L. Webber. 



Dedham, JJass., Sept. 1871. 



Remarks. — We 'gave directions a few weeks 

 since for preparing com for winter, by boiling, 

 cutting the kernels from the cob and drj'ing them, 

 and now will some of the good cooks that read the 

 Farmer, reply to the above inquiry. 



cure for foot rot in cows OR SHEEP. 



Put a tablespoonful of ))ulvcrized blue vitriol in 

 half a pint of kerosene oil and mix well. Apply 

 a little of this to the affected i)arts once a minute 

 for ten minutes. One or two such applications 

 will cure the worst cases in cows or sheep. 



A Subscriber. 



Starkshoro, Vt., Sept. 13, 1871. 



passion-flower. 

 I notice in most of florist catalogues the Pas- 

 sion-flower advertised as rare and tine. It grows 

 wild hereabouts, and produces a singular and 



beautiful flower. I will send a few seeds to any 

 that will enclose a few cents for postage, and to 

 pay for collecting the seed, &:c. The seeds should 

 he sown, I imagme in the fall, as it seems to pro- 

 pagate itself. Sam'l Clarke. 

 Hick's Wharf, Va., Aug. 27,1871. 



Remarks. — This is not hardy in our New Eng- 

 land climate, and will not flourish here as it does 

 in East Virginia, as an out-door plant. 



AVIRE FENCE. 



I would like Jome information through the col- 

 umns of your paper in reference to the utility of 

 wire fence. Is it efficient against cattle and horses ? 

 What is the best mode of construction and the 

 cost ? Where can the material be obtained ? 

 Would it be a profitable investment ? 



Geo. Walter. 



Woodstock, Vt., Aug. 29, 1871. 



Remarks. — Some twenty years ago there was 

 much said in the agi'icultural papers of New Eng- 

 land about wire fences. Near Boston, where fenc- 

 ing stuff is expensive, where no stock is allowed to 

 run at large, and where, in fact, but little is kept 

 any way, wire was experimented with considera- 

 hly. A railroad, over which we pass frequently, 

 put up quite a strip of wire fence on one side of the 

 track, using a large "wke, frequent posts, and the 

 best workmanship in the wu-e fence line we ever 

 saw. After a year or two, boards were nailed on 

 to those posts without removing the wires ! All 

 the cheaper structures that we have seen have 

 proved failures as a fence. 



If 6thers can make a more favorable report we 

 shall be glad to publish it for the benefit of Mr. 

 Walter and others who have fences to build or to 

 support. 



SEASON and crops IN ILLINOIS. 



We have had and are having an unusual dry 

 season. There has been no rain of any account 

 since the first of June. Wells are dry, "the feed is 

 all parched up, and cattle suffer a great deal. Oats 

 and wheat were good, but the corn crop in this 

 county will fall far behind an avei-age, for the dry 

 weather and chintz bug have used it up. Some of 

 the fields are black with the pest, which have so 

 far injured the corn that it will hardly make good 

 fodder for cattle, Init we have to feed it to them 

 now, as grass is all dried up. Farmers are getting 

 their ground ready for fall wheat, but will wait for 

 rains before they sow. V. B. Reynolds. 



Greenville Co., III., Sept. 8, 1871. 



Basswood for Pimp Logs. — The Rochester, 

 N. Y., Rural Home says that Mr. George W. Root, 

 a successful farmer of York, Genesee County, who 

 keeps 80 or 90 head of cattle, from 300 to 400 sheep, 

 merinos and Leiccsters, which clipped over six 

 pounds of wdol the past season, and who sold his 

 lambs at three months old for .$4 each, carries 

 water to every field on the farm in logs, and also 

 to the house, stables and yards. The logs, of 

 which there arc 300 rods, are basswood saplings cut 

 on the farm, and although they have been down 

 over nine years are to all appearances as sound as 

 when laid. Mr. Root claims that basswood is the 

 best timber for this purpose, as it soaks full of 



