No. 1. Seed Corn — Sow Pure Seed— Disease of Cattle, Sec. 



33 



If you sprout your seeds C v>re putting them 

 into the ground you will prt^erve them from 

 the fir^t cause of failure, but il'you pulverize 

 your soil thoroughly and press it in this state 

 with hoe, spade, or roller, upon the seeds thus 

 sprouted, the root stem will soon and surely 

 derive sufficient moisture from the soil. 



In a few instances I have found my neigh- 

 bors blaming the seed as useless, particularly 

 of onions, carrots and parsneps, when I have 

 obtained a little of the same seed, and found 

 it to sprout quite well. You may easily save 

 yourself from such reflections, or from the 

 temptation to blame others, by steeping the 

 suspected seed in warm or tepid water from 

 six to twenty-four hours, according to the size 

 and hardness of the seed, and then sitting it 

 away in a warmish place for a day or two. — 

 If good it will sprout in this time; if kept 

 warm in a darkish place, and it does not sprout 

 in this time, the seed is faulty. — lb. 



Seed Corn< 



A correspondent says — 



Several circumstances incline me to the 

 belief that corn which has been sprouted — 

 no matter in what steep — is safe from the 

 ravages of the red or wire-worm. It has been 

 fashionable to steep in a strong solution of 

 copperas, and to ascribe the safety of the 

 seed in this slate, not to the change which 

 fermentation has produced in the germ or chit 

 which is usually first attacked, but to the 

 change in the taste from the copperas. We 

 have known corn soaked in simple water — in 

 water alone — to escape from the attacks of 

 the worm as well as that soaked in a copperas 

 steep. Until this matter is made more certain, 

 however, I would hold it bad husbandry to 

 neglect the copperas, as in addition to the 

 change produced by heat and moisture, we 

 have also the disagreeable taste communicated 

 by this salt. — lb. 



Sow Pure Wheat— Remedy for Smut* 



Chauncey Goodrich, Esq., of Burlington, 

 Vermont, says, — "In your last number I no- 

 ticed three communications on the culture of 

 wheat; although they are all valuable, per- 

 haps t may add a little to them. As to smut, 

 I believe if clean seed is sown, the follow- 

 ing preparation of it is an infallible remedy 

 — also that it will soon eradicate all smut from 

 foul seed. Soak the seed twenty-four hours 

 in a strong brine, strong as it can be made, 

 letting it cover the grain — drain it off and 

 stir in fresh air slacked lime until it is dry, 

 when it may be sown. It is still better to 

 have the wheat spread on a floor when the 

 lime is stirred in, and let it be until fully dry, 

 as the lime will adhere better to the grain. — 

 Wheat so prepared should not be passed 



through a smut mill, as the brine would then 

 be sure to destroy a part, and if soaked too 

 long, nearly all. Atiotheradvantage of .soak- 

 ing in brine is, that it is so much heavier than 

 water, that oats and all light seeds will float 

 on the surface, and may be taken off. I have 

 known this practised twenty years on my fa- 

 ther's farm, and by others, and never saw any 

 smutty wheat from clean .seed so prepared, 

 even when adjoining fields would contain 

 so much as to almost ruin the grain. — lb. 



Diseases of Cattle"lts Remedy* 



Numbers of cattle, during the last winter, 

 died from over- feeding, or other obstruction 

 of the intestines: the symptoms were a pro- 

 truded size from swelling, sometimes very 

 suddenly. A sure remedy has been found by 

 the formers in Bradford, Hillsborough, and 

 some other towns in this state, by mixing a 

 quantity of apple cider with old cheese made 

 from the milk of the cow — say half a pound 

 or more of cheese grated in a pint of cider. 

 This mixture, poured down the throat of the 

 swelled animal, has been known to effect a 

 cure by carrying off" the swelling in a few 

 minutes. — lb. 



Salt for Killing AVhite Weed. ' 



When the white weed has not become too 

 plenty upon the farm it can be eradicated and 

 its spread prevented by a little care and at- 

 tention, and " an ounce of prevention is worth 

 a pound of cure." Many who have small 

 patches upon their farms dig up all they can 

 find, but still some of the roots are left, and 

 spring up the next summer to the no small 

 annoyance of the farmer who supposed that 

 he has rid himself of the pest. Mr. L. Whit- 

 man of this town informs us that he followed 

 the plan of digging until he was tired of it, for 

 there would always some of the roots escape 

 and show themselves the next year in spite 

 of him. He then prepared a strong solution 

 of salt in water and poured it upon spots 

 infested with the white weed. This efl^ected 

 a cure. If you have any of this weed begin- 

 ning to show itself on your premises ^pic^Ic it 

 down. — Maine Farmer. 



Snmach for Tanning. 



It is well known that the sumach which 

 grows wild in this state is useful for tanning, 

 but that it imparts like hemlock and oak bark, 

 a dark color to the leather, while the species 

 of sumach brought from Europe or Asia is 

 used for tanning sheep skins, and as we are 

 informed, tans the pelt without imparting any 

 coloring, and therefore leaves it perfectly 

 white. Is there not some other vegetable 

 substance growing abundantly among us that 



