THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



401 



ciety's Journal, (page 494,) to the cormorant or 

 gull manure occurin^ in ininnuise quantities on 

 some islands lying oH the coast of Peru, termed 

 "•ruano," and used with the n)o.st striking eflecis 

 in'^Peru for manuring the maii?e-lif!ds ; he thought 

 it might interest the members ol' the Society lo 

 know that two cargoes were ihen on tlie way 

 Irom Peru to Liverpool, and that their arrival 

 might be expected in the course oi" six weeks. 



GREEN CROPS, PLOUGHIKG WITH COWS. 



Extracts from Mr. Valcourt's Criticism on Mr. Black- 

 er's Essay on Green Crops and Stall Feeding there- 

 on (which has been translated nito French.) 



From the London Farmers' Magazine. 

 i n the essay I have just read with much interest, 

 I find Mr. Blacker has touched the target at the 

 circumlerence, but not at ilie centre, point blank ; 

 he has only glanced at half the advantages to be 

 derived by the sma^ll Irish farmer irom the house- 

 iieeding of cows. The milk is an advantage; 

 the dung is still greater; but the third — which 

 Mr. Blacker has not mentioned— is the labor, 

 though moderate, which the cow performs when 

 harnf'ssed wilh a collar — not with a yoke; lor 

 two cows, harnessed either abreast or one helbre 

 the other, will draw his horse-hoe, his harrow, 

 his roller, or dung-carr. A cottier who has only 

 /bur, or even three acres, will have plenty of Ibd- 

 der for two cows in the stable to do his tillage, and 

 draw his manure, his crop, and his firinsr. Mr. 

 Blacker will see, in the east and south of France, 

 cows thus harnessed. In the south they are all 

 yoked ; but in the east and in my province o! 

 Lorraine they have oidy a collar, which answers 

 much better. It is true that a cow whicli works 

 constantly eight or nine hours a day, stops giving 

 milk ; but, provided she works only Irom two 

 to lour hours a day, and that not every day, and 

 that she is well led, she will give almost as much 

 milk as if she did not work at all, and she will 

 give more milk after having a day's rest : and a 

 cottier who has only four acres will not have occa- 

 sion to employ two cows daily. When a pony 

 rests, it does not bring any thing in ; whereas, 

 when a cow rests, its milk increases. It has been 

 observed in Lorraine, that cows are more active 

 than oxen ; and that, harnessed with collars, they 

 walk as quick as horses. The cottier, when he 

 sees the icork two young cows can do when kept 

 well in the stable all the year round, will take 

 care to provide plenty of good nourishment for 

 them both winter and summer ; for, when poorly 

 fed, they neithe'* can work well nor give plenty of 

 milk OT manure J and a cow, wilh a suitable sad- 

 dle, can carry considerable weight — for their legs 

 are short and thick, and their spines strong. But, 

 to leed cows well, the cottier must, as soon as he 

 has a yard of ground vacant, dig it, manure if, 

 and transplant on it (summer or winter) cabbages 

 or other plants, according to the season ; and, at 

 the same time, as much care must be taken of 

 the dunghill as of the cow — for manure is the 

 foundation of all productive agriculture in Europe. 

 For this reason the cottier's wife should let no- 

 thing be lost which can increase the dunghill. 

 The children of the cottier, so soon as they can 

 Vol. IX. -34 



walk, should be accustomed to carry something to 

 the dunghill ; it would be an occupation for them ; 

 and they should be praised, and told — " You 

 have worked well ; here, my child, is the best 

 potato (or you, because you brought enough to 

 bring up lour potatoes." And let every child 

 have its own bit of garden. L. Valcouut. 

 Paris, Rue Louis-le- Grand, No. 16, 

 August, 1840. 



THE WIRE WORM. BENEFIT OF TRAMPLING 

 WHEAT. 



In October, 1836, finding that the wire worm 

 was very fast destroying the wheat plant, and it 

 being drilled, 1 had it trodden by men, one man 

 treading two ranks at a time firmly into the 

 ground; the expense was 2s. 4d. per acre, and 

 it was quite efl'ectual in stopping the ravages of 

 the wire worm. A week or two after, the wheat 

 in an adjoining field began to show the ravages 

 of the wire worm, and I pursued the same plan 

 with similar success. In February 1839, the 

 wheat in a piece of down land which had been 

 pown late in October, was becoming thinner very 

 fast, the ground being in a very hollow state after 

 the fi-osi, the young backward plant appeared 

 to be losing its hold and dying away ; I then sent 

 a number of women to tread it, and I never saw 

 a piece of wheat improve faster than it did after 

 the treading ; I had not only a very good crop of 

 corn lor the season, but also more straw than in 

 anv other piece in my occupation. In the spring 

 of 1840, finding the wheat in the down land losing 

 plant again, in consequence of the cold weather, 

 I tried the same plan, and there was a speedy 

 change for the better in the a^ipearance of the 

 wheat afterwards ; the plant continued lo flourish, 

 and at present I have a good crop of wheat on 

 land on which I never saw a eood crop before. 

 The remarks I have made apply to hill land, al- 

 thousrh I have no doubt that the spring treading 

 would be found highly beneficial in all soils, when, 

 in consequence of fi-ost or long continued dry 

 weather, the land is in a light pulverized state." — 

 From the annual report of the South Wilts and 

 Warminster Farmers'' Club. 



THE SCOUR IN CALVES, &C. 



From the London Farmers' Magazine. 

 Observingin this month's number aquery, whe- 

 ther any cure can be found for the scour in calves, 

 I may observe that about a year ago I had a 

 valuable calf taken with it, and tried the remedies 

 mentioned by your correspondent — caiicu, laud- 

 anum, &c. as i had often done before, but this 

 time without success. In a k\v days it died. 

 Some weeks after, another, for which 1 had given 

 six guineas, was taken with the same complaint, 

 and by the advice of an eminent veterinary 

 surgeon who was visiting me, I gave it nothing 

 but small and repeated doses of Epsom and 

 Glauber salts in equal quantities ; half an ounce of 

 the two in a little warm water, repeated two or 

 three times a day, according to the violence of 



