458 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



I shall make a similar offer to some of my cor- 1 higher in the scale of existence, would die from 

 respondents in the western States, and ^continue | me re disgust at the treatment it often receives. 



IFFECT 03 



to meet the increasing demand from New England 



Of course the earliest applicants will be sure of ob- 1 . " 



;..,.„ „ . ll ,. , ,j i hect, and mean to 



taming, till all is gone, which would scarcely give •> 



a barrel to a State. Should this all lie retailed, 

 and sowed this fall, and all be saved for seed next 

 harvest, (though it yields "some thirty, some sixty 

 and some an hundred fold,") it will be in a few 

 hands, having small patches, compared with the 

 fields of the union, to which its proprietors must 

 look for the seed of a grass just beginning to be 

 known and appreciated. Years must elapse be- 

 fore the country can be supplied, as it now is with 

 herds-grass and clover seed. My offer invites co- 

 operation and participation in the profits and plea- 

 sure now available. I quote from the agricultural 

 committee's "Report," alluded to : — "If they [a 

 jury of cows] confirm the opinion of Mr. Willard, 

 as to the superiority of the grass, then will the 

 agricultural community owe him a large debt of 

 gratitude for having introduced to notice here a 

 species of grass which is highly beneficial on light, 

 sandy soils, much superior to any other species, 

 and producing most abundantly on land of better 

 quality." Very truly yours, 

 Benjamin Willard.* 



* Will the Maine Farmer please copy. 



But, we have no crotchets to cherish on this sub- 

 avoid a dogmatic and opinion- 

 ated spirit everywhere. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 POTASH ON TREES. 



Mr. Editor : — A few months ago, in looking 

 over the New England Farmer, I was not a little 

 startled by an article from Mr. Coffin, stating the 

 pernicious effect of lye as a wash for trees, as I 

 had just treated about a dozen of mine with a pretty 

 pungent preparation of the same. But though 

 his were killed, mine are doing finely. The lye 

 which I used was so strong as greatly to discolor 

 my hands and nails, and I am quite sure the wash 

 was rather more than a pound of potash to a gal- 

 lon of water. I moistened a spunge and passed it 

 once over the bark — simply wetting it. No doubt 

 the trees would have absorbed more had I applied 

 it, and perhaps to their injury. Was it not too 

 much potash which Mr. Coffin applied rather than 

 the strength? 



I believe in the good effect of potash wash for 

 young apple trees, as it easily erases the moss, 

 prevents its further accumulation, obstructs in- 

 sects, and gives the trunks a good color and healthy 

 appearance. But in future I shall be on my guard 

 as to its strength. l. 



Roxbury, Aug., 1852. 



Remarks. — The decision expressed in the last 

 sentence above is just what we have desired to ac- 

 complish in regard to the use of potash water. — 

 That every body "shall be on their guard," not 

 only as to its strength, but as to its application. 

 How carefully our correspondent used it. " I 

 moistened a sponge," says he, "and passed it once 

 over the bark — simply wetting it." Now that is 

 a sensible use of so caustic a substance, and would 

 rarely, if ever, be injurious in such hands. A tree 

 is not a stock or a stone to be kicked and cuffed and 

 cauterized and scourged with impunity. It lives, 

 breathes and feels, and if it were a step or two 



IMAGINATION ON COWS. 



It is well known to all breeders that try as much 

 as possible to get a pure and well marked stock — 

 now and then a singular exception will occur to 

 throw all their notions and principles into confusion. 

 Several theories have been brought forward to ac- 

 count for this fact. One is that in the various 

 crossings that have taken place, some peculiarity 

 of a forgotten ancestor, after having lain dormant 

 for several generations, has reproduced itself. 

 This is admitted as an undoubted principle in hu- 

 man physiology, and without it sad work would 

 sometimes be made in families. We have in our 

 mind, a family where both the parents are of dark 

 complexion, black hair and eyes, and when one of 

 the children has red hair and light blue eyes. This 

 seeming anomaly is made to be a plain affair, when 

 we know that in the mother's family one of the pa- 

 rents was possessed of a red head with blue eyes, 

 and a portion of the children had a similar com- 

 plexion. The same principle holds good of dis- 

 eases. Certain hereditary diseases may not be 

 visible in an entire generation, and yet make their 

 appearance in the next generation. 



Another theory, by which these exceptional pro 

 ducts are accounted for, is that if a cow or a mare 

 have young by any particular male, the young 

 while in the womb and possessed of a nature, con- 

 stitution and peculiarities similar to and derived 

 from said male, produces a change in the nature, 

 blood, constitution, &c, of the female, to such an 

 extent, that in any after connection with a different 

 male, there is a liability that the taint of the orig- 

 inal impregnation may manifest itself in those suc- 

 ceeding. Facts apparently incontestable, have 

 been brought forward to sustain this position. 

 That all the results as yet witnessed, not assign- 

 able to the first theory we have mentioned, may 

 be to another, should " give us pause" from any 

 haste to adopt the notion. 



The third theory to which we have alluded, is 

 the effect of the imagination on the mother. 



That this is a powerful force in the human race, 

 cannot in the least be doubted. Too many well 

 authenticated instances of monstrous births, as the 

 result of excitement to the mind of the mother, 

 have been recorded in scientific works, to admit of 

 a doubt. Every one has some instance of the kind 

 in mind. 



The imagination of the brute is lower in the 

 scale, as regards power of extent, or quickness of 

 action — but is- not different in every essential par- 

 ticular. Hope, fear, love, friendship, disgust, &c, 

 are as really properties of the mind of brutes as of 

 the human mind, and may be expected to produce 

 the same effects. m 



The memorable instance of the bargain between 

 Laban and Jacob relative to the division of the 

 herds, is in every mind. Jacob was to have as 

 the wages of his labor, all the " ring-streaked and 

 spotted" of the cattle, or the brown sheep of the 

 flocks. Laban, an avaricious and selfish man, im- 

 mediately removed every animal that possessed 

 these peculiarities from the flocks and herds, and 



