380 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JCNBS, IS4I. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



MANAGEMENT OF COWS AFTER CALV- 

 ING. 



Mr Editok— Your paper of April 28, contained 

 some questions relalin;r to the management of cows 

 after calving. (The writer would have done well 

 to have said before and after calving, for that was 

 the question at the discussion which he mentions.) 

 I will give you my pnor opinion, founded on an ex- 

 perience — and critical experience — of many years. 



And now to " A Herdsman's" first question : — 

 "Is it advantageous to let cows drink the biestings 

 or the first milk after calving?" I was a farmer's 

 boy, and my father (who was called a very good 

 farmer for that day,) always directed the boys to 

 be sure and lei the cow drink the first milk after 

 calving. His cows, uniforndy, I believe, without 

 an exception, lost thi'ir appetite and lost flesh. — 

 He attributed it to being over-fed. When I com- 

 menced farming for myself, I practiced in the same 

 way, with the same result ; my cows uniformly 

 lost their appetite and flosh. I attended them 

 wholly myself, so that I knew that they had not 

 been over-fed : there must be some otiier cause. 

 Then the question was, what is the cause.' After 

 much thought on the subject, I concluded it might 

 be the drinking the first drawn milk after calving. 

 I stopped giving the milk, and have not failed of 

 having a cow eat all she was allowed to have, from 

 that time to the present, which is more than thirty 

 years. This to my mind is proof conclusive, that 

 ietlino- a cow drink her first drawn milk is not a 

 good practice. I find others who let their cows 

 drink the first milk ; and those cows lose their ap- 

 petite ; but the owners had not thought it was 

 caused by drinking their milk. 



The second question — " Is it beneficial or detri- 

 mental to have cows eat the afterbirth?" — is an- 

 swered by saying it is immaterial : it does neither 

 good nor hurt, if the cow does not choke with it. 



The third question is of more impnrt:ince, and 

 requires a more particular answer : " When the se- 

 cundine adheres and nature is obstructed in her 

 operations, can any thing be given to the cow to 

 remove it?" It is doubtful whether any thing can 

 be uiven that will effect the object. I have tried 

 every thing that I ever heard of, and all to no pur- 

 pose. It would seem that tying a weight to the 

 cord, would not be reconnuonded by any man, who 

 well understood the connection of what sliould 

 come away with what remains. My practice for- 

 merly was, to let the alterpart take its course : if 

 it did not come away witliin twentyfour hours, it 

 would generally remain eight or nine days. The 

 stable would be scented so as to he disagreeable 

 to go into; the cow would be losing flesh, and 

 consequently shrinking in the quantity of milk. 



After going on in this way several years, I got 

 information of a man skilled in the business, how 

 to take away what ougiit to be away, and have 

 since always done it when necessary, and my cows 

 have done as well as when it came away naturally. 

 LOVETT PETERS. 

 Wesihoro', May 17, 1841. 



The above communication details the results of 

 valuable experience, relating to one common prac- 

 tice. Without opportunity for testing satisfacto- 

 rily the correctness of the opinion, we have believ- 

 ed for years that the food which nature prepares 

 for the infant, is not suited to the nourisliment of 

 that animal in which the food is prepared: we call- 

 ed the milk unnatural food for the mother. 



If Mr Peters can describe the process to which 

 he alludes in his reply to the third question, the 

 making of it public is very desirable. — Ed. N. E. F. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



BLIND STAGGERS IN SWINE. 

 Allen Putnam, Esq. — Dear Sir — In your pa- 

 per of May 5lh, I found an article signed .1. M. 

 Hartweil, entitled " Cure for Blind Staggers, &c. 

 in Hogs." I was much pleased to find there was 

 in the possession of any person, the knov.'ledge of 

 a remedy for that very fatal disease, and I frflt very 

 grateful to the gentleman for his promptness in 

 communicating it to the public : 1 treijstired it in 

 my memory, resolved to avail myself of the advan- 

 tage on tlie first occasion. On the 11th of this 

 month, as I was passing the house of one of my 

 neighbors, he called to me and requested I would 

 look at one of his pigs. It was a fine one, of about 

 seven weeks — had been taken from the sow at four 

 weeks old and fed on scalded meal mixed with a 

 few boiled potatoes and milk, with the dish-water 

 of a small family : — it was kept with two otiiers of 

 the same age — the pen was divided into two parts, 

 one for a bed room, the other for an eating room. 

 It opened into a small yard of dry, gravelly bottom: 

 the pen had a plank floor: both pen and yard were 

 kept clean: the pigs were always well supplied 

 in their bed-room wiih clean litter. The piuswere 

 furnished with some clay in one corner of their 

 yard, and twice every week with broken chan;oal. 

 The only objection 1 can think of to the pen is, 

 that the air might not be pure enough, it being un- 

 der the same cover with a privy, and the bed-room 

 too low, not being more than four feet in height. 

 I found the pig with all the symptoms ot the blind 

 staggers, turning round and round, with its snout to 

 the floor and to the side of the pen, as if it was 

 sucking the boards. 1 advised the new rum and 

 pepper internally, with the oil and rubbing for the 

 issues of its less. The pig eat its food well at 

 noon, was said by a little girl to have eat again 

 well at about five in the afternoon, and was found 

 at six or half after six, just before I saw it, affected 

 as I have described. As this is a temperance town, 

 it was difficult to procure new rum — it was, how- 

 ever, obtained and administered with the pepper in 

 about half an hour, and in less than a quarter more, 

 the pig was dead. I have frequently, in former 

 years, had pigs with the blind staggers, and the 

 only cure I liave found has been, to bleed by cut- 

 ting off a piece of the tail and cars, and then turn- 

 inf them out into a pasture, taking care to have it 

 a small and close one, with no water in it, or they 

 may run in and be drowned. The first I had at- 

 tacked in this manner I lost ; but since then, 1 have 

 always effected a cure; but they have never after- 

 ward obtained so great a size as those that had not 

 had the disease. I have never before kn<)wn a 

 pig less than four or five months old, attacked in 

 thai manner. My pigs have never had this disease 

 in the winter, and never only when confined to a 

 sty with or without a yard. If suffered to have a 

 small pasture I do not think they will ever be so 

 affected. I attribute it to costiveness, and believe 

 a little brimstone occasionally, or green grass 

 abundantly supplied to them every day, is the best 

 preventive. The finest and most thritty pigs are 

 the most subject to this disorder. 



I wish you would draw the attention of Mr Hart- 

 well to this case. I am very far from condemn - 

 in" his course of treatment, although I wish he 



had been a little more precise as to the quantity 

 and proportions of his prescriptions, and I hope he 

 will favor your readers with another communica- 

 tion on this subject. A DOWN EASTER. 



We shall be happy to hear from J. M. Hartweil 

 again, and also from "A Down Easter." — Ed. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



TO BOYS IN THE COUNTRY— SPARE THE 

 BIRDS. 



Mil Putnam — As you condescended to permit 

 a small space in the columns of your valuable pa- 

 per, which is diffusing knowledge among scientific 

 and practical farmers of age and experience, to be 

 occupied by a production from the pen of one who 

 is young and inexperienced, 1 will (thanking"!. H. 

 D." for his compliment,) " try again." I send you 

 a few lines addressed to my brother farmer boys, 

 which you may dispose of as you think best. 



lirother Farmer Boys : — The wet and cold of 

 the present season have rendered much of the labor 

 of the farm rather unpleasant and dreary. But not- 

 withstanding all the snow, hail, rain and cold, 

 which liave made the farmer's frock and mittens 

 conifi)rtable garments, even to the middle of Alay, 

 and which have prevented the ladies from coming 

 out decked in the gay colors of spring, lest the 

 storms should mar and soil the work of their fair 

 hands, — notwithstanding the cold and wet, the 

 birds have returned at their appointed time, with 

 their equipages, like implements of husbandry, 

 brightened by tlie rough usage and hard blows to 

 which they have been subjected, to cheer and ani- 

 mate us in our labors with their lively songs, which 

 form a delightful contrast with the pitiful moanings 

 of the east wind, and to assist us in preparing our 

 ground for the seed. Assist us? how can they 

 assist us in preparing our ground? By destroying 

 innumerable insects as they are brought to the sur- 

 face by the operation of the plough and harrow, 

 and which though silent and unseen in their work 

 of dev.-:station, are still the farmer's greatest ene- 

 iry. My friends, let us receive the birds as wel- 

 come visitors to^our fields, and not as soon as one 

 makes his appearance, run to the house for a gun, 

 and by creeping slyly behind some fence or bush, 

 gel near enough to pour upon him the leaden hail, 

 and spoil his fine dress, ivrouglit and colored by 

 the hand of nature, so as to remain unfaded and 

 uninjured through all the rain and hail which the 

 clouds have poured upon him; stop forever the mu- 

 sic of his throat, tuned by his Maker, and prevent 

 him from ever more assisting the husbandman to 

 tree his premises of noxious insects. A certain 

 man on being asked what the birds were made for, 

 answered, to eat the worms and bugs. When ask- 

 ed what the worms and bugs were made for, he re- 

 plied, for the birds to eat. This appears to be rea- 

 soning in a circle, in which we soon come round 

 to the place from which we started. I think that 

 the birds wore intended for ornaments to adorn and 

 beautify the works of nature, and with their beau- 

 tiful plumage, graceful movements and sweet warb- 

 lings, to please the eye and delight the ear of man : 



" To makii all the woods and valleys to ring, 

 And bring the lirst newsol llie earliest spring, 

 Willi iheir loud and silvery notes." 



As the birds require food, it may be that the in- 

 sects were made on purpose for them ; these feed 

 upon the same plants and vegetables which give 



