THE FARMER'S MAUAZliNE. 



333 



pure-bred shorthorns as ia ordinary dairy stock ; and I 

 believe for this reason — the former will be put to the 

 bull at any time of the year, and the cows are in various 

 stages of gestation ; the dairy cows, on the contrary, are 

 generally bulled in the month of July, so that they may 

 calve in the spring, and their calves have the advantage 

 of fine weather and abundance of skim-milk. Many of 

 the dairy cows will be in the same stage of pregnancy, 

 and if, as I suspect, cows are more liable to cast calf at 

 a particular period of gestation, the disease rapidly 

 spreads through the herd, should an unlucky cow set 

 the example. I have observed that cows are most sub- 

 ject to slip their calves from the 32nd to the 38th week 

 of their pregnancy ; at this period, therefore, they can- 

 not be kept too quiet, whether they arc in the homestead 

 or in the field. I have many times bled cows, and given 

 them laxative medicine, when the first signs of slinking 

 appeared ; but only in one case have I successfully 

 checked the disease. The heifer in question, which 

 threatened to slink a month before she was due, ulti- 

 mately calved eighteen days before her time ; the calf 

 lived, and both did well. In the above case, I bled the 

 heifer at once, gave her a mild dose of physic, bran 

 mashes and warm drink, and kept her in a quiet and 

 retired place until she calved. As this heifer had cast her 

 first calf when only four months gone, the danger was the 

 greater of her slinking a second time. I extract from 

 " Skellett on the Parturition of the Cow " the symptoms 

 of slinking, which I have found very correct : — " When- 

 ever a cow shows any symptoms of slinking, the first 

 step should be to separate her from the rest of the herd, 



and to cut off all communication that may endanger this 

 accident spreading. The first symptoms of slinking are 

 known by the udder suddenly filling, giving a flush of 

 milk, by the shape showing a red appearance, and 

 turning loose and flabby, and the ligaments or couples 

 on each side the rump giving way to a certain extent. 

 When these appearances take place, the cow, after re- 

 moving her to a place by herself, should be narrowly 

 watched, in order to give every assistance, as well as to 

 prevent the accident, if possible." Cows in-calf should 

 at all times be kept quiet. I do not advise their running 

 in rich feeding pasture, up to the knees in grass. I con- 

 sider second-rate pasture good enough for breeding cows ; 

 and if they have to traverse the field for their food, so 

 much the better. A constant supply of pure water in 

 the field is indispensable. When the herd is turned out 

 to grass in the spring, the yearlings should be put into 

 one field, heifers from two to three years old into another 

 field, cows in-milk into a third, and the dry in-calf cowa 

 into a fourth. Nor should the cattle on any account 

 be collected into one pasture when the owner or his visi- 

 tors wish to inspect them. The utmost vigilance on the 

 part of the men cannot prevent fighting and accidents 

 when this is done. 



Owing to the great heat which at times prevailed in 

 the summer of 1857, I deemed it advisable to house the 

 cows during the day, and the animals were thankful for 

 the shelter. This course would probably be preferable 

 to providing a shed in the field, for the cows to run 

 under, as the flies might torment them, and cause the 

 strong or vicious cows to gore the weak ones. 



THE VARIOUS USES AND SUPPLIES OF BEANS AND PEAS. 



Large as our production of leguminous seeds is, it is 

 yet insufficient for our wants; and as the extra demand 

 just now for beans, for horse fodder, draws attention to 

 the statistics of production and consumption, we shall 

 endeavour to collect some of the facts for general infor- 

 mation. 



We have at least the statistics for Ireland and Scot- 

 land to refer to, if we have not those for England ; and 

 from these we learn that the acreage and produce, 

 in quarters, of beans and peas, in the last two years, 

 were as follows—- 



IRELAND. 



Acreage. Produce. 



1856 16,034 53,945 



1857 13,586 44,046 



SCOTLAND. 



1857 42,873^ 129,720 



The comparative yield per acre last year was 25.9 

 bushels in Ireland, and 24.2 in Scotland. In the pre- 

 vious year the yield in Ireland was higher, averaging 

 27 bushels to the acre ; and in 1855 the average for 

 Scotland was also as high as 285 bushels to the acre. 



The extent of land under culture with beans and peas 

 in Scotland seems to have varied but little in the last 

 four years, averaging about 43,000 acres. In Ireland, 



however, it seems to be decreasing. The pulse crops 

 are generally reckoned uncertain ; but whether the 

 reason that Arthur Young gave long ago, that the crop 

 is worse cultivated than others, holds good still, we 

 will not take upon ourselves to pronounce upon. The 

 weather and seasons have much to do in this as in other 

 crops. 



While the gardener has paid considerable attention 

 to the improvement of peas and beans for the table, by 

 the introduction of new species and varieties, the field 

 culture has been very much neglected, and the mixture 

 of seeds is highly detrimental. As a farinaceous seed 

 for the food of man, the kidney- bean or haricot is con- 

 sidered by the French and Spaniards to be far supe- 

 rior to any other legume, and next, if not of equal, im- 

 portance with wheat. In several European countries, 

 in North America and the Central American States, 

 kidney beans are not only used in the green state to a 

 much greater extent than in this country, but are cul- 

 tivated in the fields, and by every cotttager who pos- 

 sesses a piece of garden- ground, for their ripe seeds, of 

 which they make various kinds of dishes, and consider 

 them of as much importance in their domestic econo- 

 my as the cottagers in this country do potatoes. 



As food for man, peas and beans are highly nutri- 



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