64 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



I should prefer to have the question enter into the 

 discussions at the State House. J. a. b. 



Jan. 22, 1852. 



For Ike New England Farmer. 

 BLOODY MILK. 



Mr. Brown : — Sir, — I beg to tender my grate- 

 ful acknowledgments for the attention paid by you 

 to my note of the 8th of Sept. last, in which I 

 stated that my cow had, since the month of July 

 last, been giving bloody milk, &c, &c. 



I was induced to take that course in order to ob- 

 tain information that I thought was much needed 

 here, and perhaps in many other places where the 

 New England Farmer is read — especially as I had 

 made many unsuccessful experiments — and, as 

 I found on inquiry for a cure, that some of my 

 neighbors had lost the use of some valuable cows 

 from the same cause. 



I beg now to state for your information, and for 

 the benefit of your readers, that shortly after I 

 wrote you at that time, I, thinking that the disease 

 proceeded from a cold taken by being left in my 

 field during a heavy rain-storm, rubbed her bag a 

 few times effectually with the "Cramp and Pain 

 Killer" made by Curtis and Perkins, of Bangor, 

 Me. ; and I have every confidence in saying that 

 that, and that alone, effected an entire cure in the 

 course of three days — and I unhesitatingly recom- 

 mend all persons under such circumstances, to 

 make use of a similar application. 



Therefore, if you should think this worthy of a 

 place in your paper, you will please give it public- 

 ity. I am, gentlemen, 



Your very obedient, 



J. E. Upijam. 



Harvey, County of Albert, N. B., Jan. 5, 1852. 



QUANTITY OF FLAX-SEED FOR AN 

 ACRE. 



The quantity of seed proper for an acre may vary 

 according to the object. If the crop is destined 

 for seed it is probable less than a bushel might give 

 as large a yield as more, but if lint or fibre is the 

 object, mere seed would be required. We notice 

 in the report of a discussion at a late meeting of 

 the Council of the Royal Ag. Society, Mr. Mar- 

 shall, M. P., said — "With regard to thick and 

 thin sowing, that question had reference to the 

 object of the cultivator, namely, whether a fine 

 fibre and little seed were required, or a coarser 

 fibre with a full crop of seed. On the banks of the 

 Lys, in Belgium, where the finest flax had been 

 grown for centuries, and used for making the finest 

 lace, they practised thick sowing, 3 1-2 bushels per 

 acre, and obtained about 14 bushels of seed per 

 acre ; but the stems were long and straight, with- 

 out branches, and the longest fibre was obtained. 

 In Ireland and Russia thin sowing was practised, 

 from 2 to 2 1-2 bushels per acre, and from 1G to 

 20 bushels of seed were obtained ; but the stems of 

 flax branched out more, and an inferior fibre was 

 the result. — Cultivator. 



Interesting to Farmers. — We examined yester- 

 day a very ingenious invention at the seed store of 

 Mr. S. N. Wickersham, on Smithfield Street, by 

 which clover seed can be gathered at a very trilling 

 expense. The following is its description: 



"It takes the seed from the field, leaving the 

 straw or grass all standing. It weighs two hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds, is drawn by one horse, and 

 gathers from ten to twelve acres per day. The 

 fingers or teeth, catch all the heads, the revolving 

 knives cut them off and throw them back into the 

 box, thus diminishing the labor three-fourths, and 

 saving all the seed. This machine comes so low 

 that every farmer will have it, and pays the manu- 

 facturer 300 per cent., well worth speculators look- 

 ing after — and is offered for sale, or exchange for 

 real estate, merchandise, or horses, by the whole 

 Union, by the State or by the County." — Pitts- 

 burg Gaz. 



HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 



Towards the close of autumn the whole insect 

 world, particularly the tribes of beetles, is in motion. 

 A general migration takes place ; the various spe- 

 cies quit their usual haunts and betake themselves 

 in search of secure hybernacula.* Different spe- 

 cies, however, do not select precisely the same time 

 for making this change of abode. Thus many lady 

 bugs, field bugs and flies, are found out of their 

 winter quarters even after the commencement of 

 frost; while others jpiake good their retreat long 

 before any severe cold has been felt. The clays 

 which they select for retiring to their hybernacula 

 are some of the warmest days of autumn, when they 

 may be seen in great numbers, alighting on walls, 

 rails, pathways, &c, and running into crevices and 

 cracks, evidently in search of some object very dif- 

 ferent from those which ordinarily guide their 

 movements. 



The site chosen by different perfect insects for 

 their hybernacular is very various. Some are con- 

 tent with insinuating themselves under any large 

 stone, a collection of dead leaves or the moss of tho 

 sheltered side of an old wall or bank. Others pre- 

 fer for a retreat the birchen or ivy-covered inter- 

 stices of the bark of old trees — the decayed bark 

 itself, especially that near the roots — or bury them- 

 selves deep in the rotten trunk ; and a very great 

 number penetrate into the earth to the depth of sev- 

 eral inches. The aquatic tribes burrow into the 

 mud of their pools. In every instance the selected 

 dormitory is admirably adapted to the constitution, 

 mode of life, and wants of the occupant. 



* Winter quarters. 



The Automaton Tree. — This ingenious piece of 

 mechanism, the counterpart to that which was ex- 

 hibited at the World's Fair, may be seen at Tut- 

 tle's Emporium, Broadway. It is a very perfect 

 imitation of the hawthorn in blossom, the branches 

 of which are peopled with humming birds, and 

 others of the feathered tribe. When the machine- 

 ry is put in ojicration, the tree jureseuts a most 

 animated appearance, the birds commence flying 

 from branch to branch, without any perceptible 

 agency, while their motions are so natural as 

 easily to deceive the spectator with the belief that 

 they are really alive. The mechanism is perfect, 

 and the singing of the birds well imitated. — N. Y. 

 Evening Post. 



Hf* A writer well remarks that men arc often 

 capable of greater things than they perform. They 

 are sent into the world with bills of credit — and 

 seldom draw to their full extent. 



