436 



BOTS IN HORSES. 



The following is the substance of a note from Brevet Colonel J. Hamilton to 

 Professor Towueud Glover, entomologist of this department, dated at Raleigh, 

 North Carolina : 



" I observe in your report for 1864, that you say that no very certain means 

 of ridding the horse's stomach of the bots has yet been published. Since receiv- 

 ing the following from Dr. Gee, of Florida, I am glad that I have had no oppor- 

 tunity of trying it, but it has the air of efficacy, and I certainly shall on the first 

 opportunity. You are aware that it is hard sometimes to distinguish between 

 an attack of the bots and one of the colic ; this remedy, however, is equally effi- 

 cient for either. The reason that a bot can resist the action of agents adminis- 

 tered is his power of drawing his head into the walls of the stomach by his tent- 

 acles. But he cannot resist the chloroform. A table- spoonful of chloroform 

 screened by a couple of spoonfuls of any good mucilage will make him let go 

 his hold on the stomach even after having bored nearly through." 



PROBSTIER OATS. 



This variety of oats is thus referred to by a correspondent: "I commenced 

 with five quarts, from which I gathered two and a half bushels. Through the 

 carelessness of a servant, one bushel of this was fed to the horses. Hence, one 

 and a half bushel was sown broadcast on about half an acre, on the 6th day of 

 April last. From this I have received twenty-nine and a half bushels of splendid 

 grain, weighing thirty pounds to the bushel. The stravs^ is decidedly superior 

 as forage, it being better supplied with leaves, and the stalk is by ffir less brittle 

 than the common varieties. Indeed one could not well imagine the difference 

 in favor of the former, after passing through the thresher. While the common 

 varieties are broken into shreds, the other is merely bruised, with a very large 

 per cent, of the leaves remaining to the stalk." 



LARGE AND SMALL POTATOES. 



From the weekly journal of the Agricultural Society of the Grand Duchy of 

 Baden we condense an analysis made by Dr. Neesler to determine the relative 

 nutritive value of large and small potatoes. For the purpose named, potatoes 

 of three sizes were selected, the largest being about two inches in diameter, the 

 smallest about the size of walnuts, and tlie third a medium between the two, 

 yielding the following percentage of starch: large size, 17.2; medium, 15.2; 

 smallest, 14.6. 



• * • • « * * 



CHEAP BEEF SUPPLIES. 



South America is becoming a strong competitor with. more cultivated countries, 

 not only in wool production, but in meat supplies. The South American pam- 

 pas have long been the home of immense herds of cattle. Columbus, in one of 

 his New World voyages, brought specimens of European stock. Importations 



