46 



BUG 



BUL 



snow is so deep that th^y cannot 

 wander in pursuit of it. Late in 

 autumn, and early in spring, much 

 hay may be saved by turning out 

 cattle to browse. In the former 

 part of summer, when the young 

 shoots are in the most tender state, 

 some cattle will even grow fat up- 

 on browse. Salt hay is found to 

 give cattle an extraordinary appe- 

 tite for this kind of food. 



BUCK WHEAT, Folygormm, 

 a dark coloured grain, shaped like 

 the seed of onions, but much larg- 

 er, and of a dark brown colour. It 

 yields plentifully, and is said to be 

 t)etler than barley for fattening of 

 hogs and poultry. It should not 

 be sown in this climate, till after 

 the middle of May. One bushel is 

 enough to seed an acre, if sown 

 broad cast ; less than half that 

 quantity, if drilled. 



In the State of New-York, farm- 

 ers sow it with their winter wheat 

 about August. It affords them a 

 ripe crop in the fall, and is no dam- 

 age to the crop of wheat which 

 grows with it, and succeeds it. — 

 When the plants are green, they 

 are large, sappy and soft. Euro- 

 pean writers, therefore, greatly re- 

 commend sowing it for a green 

 dressing, and ploughing it into the 

 ground, in its most green and juicy 

 state. 



In light lands buck-wheat may 

 be raised to great advantage as a 

 lucrative crop. When green it is 

 a fine feed for milch kine. It fat- 

 tens pigs with great economy, and, 

 passed through a mill is, with car- 

 rots, a good feed for work horses. 

 The seed is excellent food for 

 poultry. 



It is said in Dr. Willich's Do- 

 mestic Encyclopasdia, that " hogs 

 feeding upon buck-wheat, are very 

 liable to scabby eruptions." 



BULL, the male of the ox kind. 



The marks of a good one for 

 propagation, according to Mor- 

 timer, are these. He should have 

 a quick countenance, his forehead 

 large and curled, his eyes black 

 and large, his horns large, straight 

 and black, his neck tieshy, his 

 belly long and large, his hair 

 smooth like velvet, his breast big, 

 his back straight and flat, his but- 

 tocks square, his thighs rour\d, his 

 legs straight, and his joints short. 



One good bull will answer for 

 a large number of cows. But to 

 mend our breed of cattle, more 

 attention should be paid to the 

 properties of bulls. Those calves 

 which are not large, or not well 

 shaped, should be castrated while 

 they are young, that a mean race 

 of cattle may not be propagated. 

 Neither should the practice of 

 suffering bulls that are too young, 

 to go to the cows, be continued. 

 For either the cows, through the 

 insufficiency of the bull, will go 

 farrow, which is a great loss to 

 the farmer, and a breach upon 

 the dairy ; or at best, the calves 

 will be small, and scarcely worth 

 rearing ; as some of our best 

 farmers are now fully convinced. 



Sir John Sinclair observes, " A 

 bull may be first used at fourteen 

 or eighteen months. He then 

 shows most vigour, and more en- 

 ergy may be expected in his pro- 

 duce. At two or three years old, 

 they frequently become ungover- 

 nable, and are killed. Many con- 



