62 
for transportation, the immense forests affording cheap fuel, and the remarkable 
.Salubrity of the climate, afford a combination of advantages rarely to be found, 
and could they be properly brought to the attention of practical men would 
result in much advantage to this section.” 
BOTTS IN HORSES—HOG CHOLERA. 
Berkeley county, W. Va.—“<I give you herewith a recipe for the botts in 
horses: To tell whether it is an attack of colic or botts, take some fine salt and 
blow a mouthful into each nostril; if it is colic, water will begin in a few mo- 
ments to drop from the nostrils; if not, it is the botts. In the latter case 
drench with a pint of melted hog’s lard, and in a few hours repeat the dose. 
* * * Four fatal cases of hog cholera have been reported to me 
since my last report. * * * From reliable data I make the following 
estimates of hogs slaughtered the past season in this county, exclusive of those 
killed in towns and villages: hogs slaughtered, 6,816; weight,’ 1,348,344 
pounds; or an average of 197.8 pounds per hog. Average price of pork, $8 50 
per 100 pounds ; giving a total value of $114,609 24.” 
_ A GARDEN OF ACCLIMATION. 
Little Valley, N. Y—<T, notice in your annual report of 1865 that you 
recommend the establishment of a government garden of acclimation, from 
whence the llama, Cashmere g@at, and improved breeds of domestic fowls might 
be distributed to different parts of the country. I highly approve this suggestion, 
and would name several native animals which I think should be among the first 
to claim attention, viz: the American elk or great wapili deer, the beaver, 
the Hudson Bay sable, the mink, and otter. or fifteen years I have been ex- 
perimenting to ascertain if some of our native wild animals could not be domes- 
ticated and become valuable additions to the wealth of the country. I com- 
menced with the elk, and, although attended with some difficulty, for the want 
of experience in the commencement, the result has been a success, having bred 
and raised forty elk on my farm. Four years since I commenced experimenting 
with the mink, and, as with the elk, I found that it required some experience or 
skill to manage the wild ones taken from the woods until they should rear their 
first young, but with the second generation the difficulties were overcome, and it 
proves comparatively easy to raise them in large numbers. The great demand 
forgthese furs has nearly annihilated the race. My success with the mink, and 
the information obtained in relation to the beaver, Hudson Bay sable, and otter, 
gives me great confidence in the ultimate success with these far bearing animals.” 
ELDER SUGAR. 
Dixon, Til“ Last year I had-some very fine asters, and a long, slim, black 
bug destroyed them by eating the flower. In the morning I would kill them, 
and before evening another swarm would literally cover them. I saved a few 
seeds, but do not like to plant them, for fear I might be propagating the bug.” 
[The insect injuring the asters is probably the dytta, a species of the can- 
tharide, and which is very injurious to the aster.| 
“I would say, for the benefit of the Agricultural Department, we have made 
sugar from the box-elder trees. ‘The sap is very sweet, granulates as readily as 
the maple and makes a whiter sugar.” | 
