232 



F A R M E R S ' REGIS T E R 



[No. 4. 



have endeavored in vain to induce persons having 

 the means to make the trial. Indeed I have not. 

 been able to find any one who could perform the 

 operation. As you have the American Fanner 

 to refer to, I have thought it unnecessary 10 copy 

 the article. By the way, I laid almost forgol to 

 state the cause of my pleasure on reading your 

 article: it was with the very excellent directions 

 given in it by M. Levrat ibr performing the oper- 

 ation, which, will enable almost every one, of nerve, 

 to spay a cow. 1 should much prefer throwing 

 the cow down on her right side, with her head 

 declining upon the side of a moderate hill obliquely 

 downwards, her back towards the declivity. But 

 probably the best fixture would be the gallows, or 

 frame, in which the smiths sling oxen for the pur- 

 pose of shoeing. 



Much of the advantage of spaying will of 

 course depend upon the previous manage.ment ol 

 the cow. A good cow, of almost any breed, may 

 be secured by proper management with ihe first 

 and second calf. The young cow should have 

 plenty of good pasture, pure water, and salt, reg- 

 ularly; then, if she be not allowed to suckle her 

 calf, alter the udder shall have become healthy, 

 (generally three to seven days after calving,) il 

 she be regularly and thoroughly milked at six in 

 the morning and six in the evening,' I would be 

 willing to warrant her to become a first rate cow 

 when she has her third calf. It is as important 

 that a cow be milked regularly as to time, as it is 

 that she be properly fed. Nature accommodates 

 herself to all our practices, provided they be not 

 unreasonable; but she will not, be trifled with. 

 Therefore, if a cow be allowed to suckle her calf, 

 she gets in the habit ofsecretinga certain quantity 

 of milk every half hour or so; and when the calf 

 is weaned, we cannot correct the habit so as to 

 adapt it to the required milking every twelve 

 hours: therefore, the calf should not. be allowed 

 to run with the cow at all; nor to suck her, after 

 her udder is in order. Neither should we be care- 

 less as to the times of milking. The day should 

 be equally divided, else between the morning and 

 the night milking, there will be fourteen to sixteen 

 hours, and between the night and the morning 

 there will be only eight to ten; and the conse- 

 quence will be, that nature will be baffled in her 

 regulations of the animal's habit, and she will be 

 injured as a milker. Now, if a cow has had all 

 this previous care and attention, she will, four 

 weeks after her third calf, come to the pail with a 

 full bag of milk, and may then be secured as a 

 permanent milker by spaying; as I verily believe, 

 both from the facts stated by "Viator," and the 

 experiments of M. Levrat, and from the reasona- 

 bleness of the theory. I hope some of your friends 

 will try it. 



When I began to write, I only intended to in- 

 form you where to find the record; but my pen 

 has run wild. When I get upon a subject of this 

 kind, I never know when to stop. 



GIDEON B. SMITH. 



like an ill weed, and about two weeks since pre- 

 sented a luxuriance of growth exceeding any thing 

 of the kind we ever saw. The clover had the ap- 

 pearance ol' tall pea vines, so rank had it shot up. 

 If anthracite ashes have such virtue, it would be 

 well for the public generally to understand it." 



From the New England Fanner. 

 SCRAPING FRUIT TREES. 



East Hartford, June 15//;, 1535. 



Dear Sir — I have for the two last years scraped 

 my apple and pear trees towards the latter part of 

 June or commencement of July, and think from 

 the experiment it is much the best season to 

 scrape the rossfrom the body and large limbs of 

 fruit trees, I have ever tried. I prefer to scrape 

 them with a hoe soon after a rain, as they scrape 

 much better when moist. 



It is well known that many apple trees bleed, 

 (urn black, and are much injured, when scraped 

 in the spring season. I knew it was the rule 

 with some farmers (if they had a tree in their 

 orchards that was unthrifty, or was not good to 

 bear) to peel off the whole bark from the body of 

 the tree during the longest days in June, and that 

 a new bark is soon restored at that season. If the 

 trees are scraped abundantly, and some of the 

 bark entirely torn off, they heal immediately and 

 do not bleed. I cut several decayed limbs from 

 one tree two years since, which healed overmuch 

 better than when trimmed in the spring. I think 

 the fruit on those trees scraped in the above man- 

 ner much improved in size, as well as in the gen- 

 era! appearance of the trees. 



ANTHRACITE ASHES. 



The Philadelphia United Slates Gazette says, 

 "a lot of land, clay and sand, was covered over 

 with ashes from anthracite coal, and clover seed 

 sown upon it in abundance. The clover after 

 waiting a little while longer than usual, sprung up 



"FLORIDA COFFEE." 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Early in May last I bad an opportunity, for the 

 first time, of seeing some young plants of what 

 has been called "Florida coffee," from which I 

 was satisfied that, it is not okra, and thai it is 

 probably a species of cassia, several of which are 

 natives of the southern states, and are particular- 

 ly abundant in Florida. This opinion I expressed 

 at the time in a letter to you: and I perceive from 

 an article in your June number, that it is confirm- 

 ed by Mr. Herbemont, who states that is a cassia. 

 When the plants which Mr. H. is cultivating shall 

 have been fully developed, he will no doubt, be 

 able to ascertain the species, and thus we shall ar- 

 rive at a knowledge of the true nature of the plant, 



II. E. C. 



June 20th, 1S35. 



COTTON SEED AN ARTICLE OF FOOD. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



It was formerly said that in some of the south- 

 ern states the negroes were fed on cotton seed. In 

 this there was no truth whatever. I was there- 

 fore not a little surprised when I read (in the En- 

 cyclopaedia of Plants,) that cotton seed are used 

 in the south of Europe, by the poorer class, as an 

 article of diet. As they have none of "Follett 

 and Smith's Hulling Machines," it would be cu- 

 rious to know how they dispose of the outer co- 

 vering of the seed. 



II. B. C. 



