Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-08-22
weeds, and farmers should inform them
selves of such methods. --

selves of such methods.
Professor A. ]. Cook, after trying py-
rethrim without success, found kero-
sene an effeetual remedy for the squash
bug. The kerosene was well mixed
with five times its bulk of soapsuds, or,
better, with the same proportion of sour
milk, and driven with force on the bugs
with Whitman's fountain pump. Merely
sprinlSling does not answer, as the heavy
wings shield the insects.
Every year, especially in droughts,
there is more or less talk about irriga-
ton. For most crops it will not pay
unless water is above the land to be If
rigated, and can be turned on rather
than drawn on by teams. 1t requires
about eighty barrels of water to properly
irrigate an acre. To draw this on with
teams would tramp the land at one wa
tering so as to do nearly as much harm
as good.
All the potato diggers yet invented
rely for doing perfect work on having
the potatoes planted not very deeply and
hilled up. This brings the tubers some.
what nearer the surface and greatly les
sens the labor of digging, The practice
of level culture for potatoes has for this
reason made slower progress among far
mers. Many who hill up potatoes leave
their cornfelds as level as possible.
A Lowell correspondent writes as fol-
lows; dogs troubled with mango should
be washed with warm water and CASTLE
soap. Twice week sprinkle on the
parts affected teaspoonful of dry sui
phur and rub it thoroughly in through
the hair. Continue this for some weeks,
as the sulphur will keep off feas, which
are so troublesome to some dogs" We
have used carbolic acid soap for similar
purposes with the best of results.
Small or newly set garden plants or
vegetables, which need watering in dry
and hot weather, may be more injured
than benefited if the operation is not
properly performed. Merely wetting the
surface of the earth forms hard crust as
soon as it becomes dry. Covering the
surface an inch and half deep with fine
broken manure will prevent crust, and
the earth will remain moist much longer.
Newly transplanted plants will do much
better with this mulching Country Gen.
tLen'G11. - e
An exchange says: We have mentioned
on q former occasion that for many years
we have found nothing so effectual in
preventing cut-worms from destroying
! young cabbage plants as wrapping around
the stems, as they are set out, the green
leaf of some coarse weed. By the time
the leaf rots, the cabbages are beyond the
reach of the depredators. Burdock leaves
are just the thing, if the owner is 50 for
tunate as to have any growing along his
fences. Green leaves are much better
than the paper which has been recon-
mended for this purpose.
The factory system has worked a rev
olution in cheese making in this country,
but it has not done so much for butter
making. The bulk of COW butter is still
made on farms, and there is one reason
why it probably will continue to be-
The skim milk is of great value for feed
ing pigs and for other purposes, while
the whey from cheese is worth little OF
nothing. The dairy system of butter
making will probably insure better and
more uniform product, but there is an
other difficulty to be taken into account,
which is the loss from churning tho
cream from a great number of cows to-
gether.
Although analysis does not indicate it,
coal ashes have great practical value in
growing fruits and vegetables. They
change the mechanical condition of tho
soil for the better, whether it be light OF
heavy, and one of their best effects is in
diminishing the ravages of insects. Trees
planted in beds of coal ashes are invari
ably healthy. Squash vines grow with
less liability of attacks from the borer
and radishes are grown free from mag
gots. These well-attested facts show
that coal ashes are far too valuable to bt
thrown away, as they often are. 1t may
not pay to apply them to grain crops
but in the orchard they are almost a
COOL as dressing of manure. Fo
cherry and pear trees coal ashes are bette
than manure.