40 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan, 



apple as our most profitable sort for shipping. 

 The demand for winter apples has been such that 

 this year the Golden Sweet crop is quite thrown 

 in the shade. The market is still active, and will 

 continue to be, for sometime, we presume, con- 

 stantly advancing prices, for good, sound winter 

 fruit. 



Potatoes have long been a prominent article of 



If a horse was in the same condition as a po- 

 lype, with no organ of vision, who shuns light, 

 a dark stable might prove to be his earthly par- 

 adise, but as the horse has special organs of vis- 

 ion, evidently susce[)tible to the influence of light, 

 and the integrity of his organism, or a part of 

 the same depending entirely on the admission of 

 light, it is absolutely necessary that stables should 



export, probably in value this far exceeds any be constructed accordingly. — Amencan Veteri- 



other. The towns which particularly enjoy this 

 trade and make preparations for it, are those sit- 

 uated upon tide-water. We cannot come at any 

 reliable estimate of the quantity or value of po- 

 tatoes annually exported. It will be larger than 

 usual this year. Our imports in this line are 

 small in comparison, if we do not include sweet 

 potatoes. In early spring considerable quantities 

 of Bermuda potatoes are imported, at a cost of 

 two to six times as much, bushel for bushel, as 

 we can get for those we export. 



Certain localities also derive great profit from 

 certain peculiar articles of export, for instance : 

 Stonington, and some towns in its neighborhood, 

 export poultry in great quantities ; Hartford 

 and Middlesex counties in our own State, and 

 the river counties in Massachusetts, export to 

 bacco, both in the crude state and manufactured, 

 in value to a very large amount ; Wethersfield 

 has long been famous for its speciality, onions, 

 and should now be equally so for garden seeds, 

 for these enterprising seed gardeners send their 

 precious crops by tons almost to all parts of the 

 Union, — Editorial, in Homestead 



LIGHT IW STABL"raS. 



Stables should be so constructed, by the inser- 

 tion of windows in various parts of the building, 

 that they should be "light as day." A "dark" 

 stable is only a suitable black hole, — prison-house 

 for such a vicious specimen of the equine race 

 as the notorious "Cruiser;" it is also the very 

 worst location for any kind of animal. Sir A. 

 Nylie (who was long at the head of the medical 

 staff in the Russian army) states that cases of 

 disease on the dark side of an extensive barrack 

 at St. Petersburg, have been uniformly, for many 

 years, in the proportion of three to one, to those 

 on the side exposed to a strong and uniform light. 

 Humboldt has also remarked that, among bipeds, 

 the residents of South America, who wear very 

 little clothing — thus allowing the cutaneous, as 

 well as the orbital surfaces, to receive a free ray 

 of light — enjoyed immunity from various diseases 

 which prevailed extensively among the inhabit- 

 ants of dark rooms and underground locations, 

 and so excellent an authority as Linna?us con- 

 tends that the constant exposure to solar light, 

 is one of the causes which render a summer 

 journey through high northern latitudes so pe- 

 culiarly healthful and invigorating. Dr, Edwards 

 has also remarked that persons who live in caves 

 or cellars, or in very dark or narrow streets, ai'e 

 apt to produce deformed children ; and that men 

 who work in mines are liable to disease and de- 

 formity. 



Light, therefore, is a condition of vital activity, 

 and in view only of preserving the sight of a 

 horse, it is absolutely necessary that while he be 

 the habitat of the stable, his optics shall have 

 free access to the sun's ravs. 



najry Journcd. 



EBGOT AMD HOOF AIL. 



FRtEND Harris : — In my last communication 

 for the Cultivator, (June 1st,) I mentioned hav- 

 ing purchased five head of cattle, diseased from 

 eating the ergot of hay, for the purpose of exper- 

 iment. Three head were considered hopeless, 

 one old cow was much enfeebled, scarcely able 

 to rise, and most of the time refused to set one 

 hind foot to the ground. Two two-year old steers, 

 much shrunken in muscle and bowels, and very 

 lame. Two one-year old steers not quite so bad. 

 I commenced treating them all with diuretics and 

 alteratives, medicines internally, and applying 

 antiseptics to the lame feet. I used different 

 articles of the same properties on different ani- 

 mals with the same results. The cattle all soon 

 exhibited a favorable change of symptoms, which 

 continued until they were turned to grass, since 

 that time they have done as well as any other 

 cattle in the same herd. Nearly all lost one, and 

 [some both shells of the hoof off one foot, but not 

 until a new one had nearly grown out. They all 

 appeared to feel well, and playful as any cattle 

 after treating them ten days, lameness excepted. 



It has been stated in the prints that the ergot 

 is the cause of cows casting untimely calves. This 

 is not my experience ; on the contrary, all the 

 calves of such diseased cows appear healthy al- 

 though not strong, and have taken the milk up 

 to the time of the death of the mother, without 

 inconvenience. Many new ideas have suggested 

 themselves to me while treating the above cases ; 

 one I will here suggest for future observation : 

 Does the ergot so affect the urinary organs, that 

 the urine, coming in contact with the hind feet, 

 causes gangrene and sloughing of the same ? It 

 has been observed that those cattle that run out 

 to stacks, and not stabled, were less liable to 

 lameness, although their systems suffered equal- 

 ly. Those that run out appear to be more affec- 

 ted in the nervous systems, stiffness of the 

 joints, &c. 



I have had opportunities of knowing that the 

 ergot is more abundant than usual in all the 

 northern counties in Ohio. I have seen several 

 small meadows that I would not think of cutting 

 for fodder. However, the people are mostly 

 aware of its existence and its effects on cattle ; 

 some, no doubt,will be careless, others indifferent, 

 and others over nice respecting the use of it. 

 This must necessarily be the case as long as some 

 are trying to investigate, and apprise the people 

 of the danger, while some of our learned scientif- 

 ic M. D.'s deny its bad effects on cattle. Some 

 of us, if not all, are certainly behind the times. 

 This matter should have been settled years ago ; 

 however, caution is advisable at this time of 

 gathering in our hay. We would suggest the 

 leaving of the worst spots, threshing before 



