170 



gomery, Texas, some died of eating cockle-burs. Lung-fever was noticed 

 in Pike, Ohio, causing a loss of 10 per cent. Some cases of blind stag- 

 gers occurred in Iowa County, Wisconsin. Kidney-worms were trouble- 

 some in Powesbiek, Iowa, and Cass, Missouri. The severity of the win- 

 ter and the short supply of food were the causes of heavy losses in 

 many parts of the country. 



EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 



Destruction of sheep by dogs. — Randolph, Missouri: There is 

 one impediment, and only one, in the v\'i\y of making sheep-raising 

 very profitable in our county. It is explained in the universal cry of 

 " Dogs." At an election in January last, upon the acceptance or rejection 

 of a law taxing and killing dogs, there were printed on the tickets, " For 

 a dog-law," and "Against a dog-law." Upon the same tickets were 

 jninted the names of candidates for delegates to the convention for re- 

 vising the State constitution. But the important question of constitu- 

 tional revision was lost sight of in the bitterness of the contest over the 

 dog-law, which was badly defeated, and that by the farmers themselves, 

 the people of the towns leaving the question to be settled mostly by 

 votes in the rural districts. An old and wealthy farmer, a large sheep- 

 raiser, came to me the morning alter the election, and expressed his re- 

 gret for having opposed the law. His change of feeling was brought 

 about by the fact that during the i)revious night dogs had killed forty 

 of his fine sheep. 



Eesults of swine feeding. — Garland, Arltansas : A pair of China' 

 hogs produced 38 pigs, which sold at $20 per pair, bringing $380. De- 

 ducting $30 for cost of original pair, $23 for corn, and $48 for hotel- 

 slops, total cost, $101, and there remains a profit of $279. 



Hillsdale, Michigan : A neighbor fed G hogs one year old, and weighing 

 1,000 pounds, 25 bushels of ear corn within two weeks, gaining 200 

 l^ounds. 



Profits on milk. — Fairfax, Virginia : From milk sold in the Wash- 

 ington (District of Columbia) market during 1874, the yield of 27 

 cows, I received at the railroad-station $1,000, or $59 per cow. They 

 grazed on 100 acres and consumed the wheat-straw produced on 25 

 acres, fodder from 30 acres of corn, besides 2 acres of broadcast, 15 

 tons of clover-hay, and 100 bushels of wheat-bran and corn-meal. 



Garland, Arkansas : A Durham milch-cow, with calf, cost $50, and 

 consumed, during twelve months, food valued at $73. She yielded 

 during the year 030 gallons of milk, averaging 50 cents per gallon, and 

 worth, in the aggregate, $315. Her calf, one year old, sold for $20. 

 Total receipts, $'o3o ; cost of cow and feed, $123, leaving a clear profit 

 of $212. 



Management op the ryecrop. — Story, Iowa : But little rye is 

 grown here, but there is more money in it than in corn, if pro[>erly 

 looked after. Ten acres sown in the fall (September) make good fall 

 X)asture, and an excellent spring pasture for young calves and lambs 

 until June 1. Then take them off and let the grain head. When it is 

 ripe turn on 20 to 2(5 hogs per acre, and let them eat till they have began 

 to shrink ; then take tLiem off and put them on corn. Two or three 

 bushels per head will make them No. 1 pork hogs. The hogs take 



