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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



at any time when fancy suggests it, affords us the 

 opportunity of asking again, what this blood-let- 

 ting and mutilation are for ? It is said the end 

 of the animals' tail is soft, and therefore, un- 

 healthy. Is it so ? We are inclined to think it 

 will be found diseased when it it is as hard as a 

 rake tail and as unbending as a hoe handle. It 

 was made soft and flexible, or it would not have 

 answered the purpose for which it was intended 

 It is just as sensible to cut off a teat, or an ear, 

 as the tail. If the animal is sick, administer prop- 

 er remedies, but do not deprive it of those parts 

 of its body which its Creator intended should be 

 used as one of its means of protection, as well as 

 give it those fair proportions which make it pleas- 

 ant to the eye of man. 



So of the barbarous custom of bleeding cattle 

 in the spring. What is it for ? Cattle are not 

 usuflly sick in the spring, that have been well 

 fed and tended during the winter, and if they 

 have not received this treatment, and are thin 

 and lousy and weak, do not deprive them of what 

 little vitality they have by bleeding them '. but 

 rather administer in liberal doses, good red-top 

 hay, a few sliced roots daily sprinkled with a 

 quart of sweet corn meal, and let the patient par- 

 take freely of good cold water, and bathe fre- 

 quently in the warm beams of the sun, and out 

 of the wind. Then apply gentle friction frequent- 

 ly with a soft card and brush, and you Mill soon 

 become sensible of a rapid improvement. That 

 gallon of blood ivhich you did not take away, has 

 been stimulated to action by your generous diet, 

 so that the hair has become sleek, the skin soft 

 and eyes bright, and every part of the animal 

 would say to you if it had a tongue — "I thank 

 you, sir ; I thank you, sir ; I had no blood to 

 spare, I merely wanted something to eat." 



BUCKWHEAT AND CLOVER ON SANDY LAND. 



I have a piece of plain land that I wish to 

 break up next spring, as it is infested with that 

 plague, the ox eye daisy. I should like to sow 

 buckwheat. Will it do to sow clover with the 

 buckwheat, harvest the buckwheat, and plow the 

 clover in another year, and repeat ? AVill it ex- 

 terminate the daisy ? R. Butler. 

 Spencer, Mass., 1858. 



Remarks. — The operation you describe will 

 probably keep the daisy down, so long as you 

 continue to cultivate — but would not exterminate 

 the seed. If you get a good crop of clover, it 

 will be much better to cut it and let it wilt be- 

 fore plowing it under. The principal value which 

 the clover contains, is in its sugar and starch. 

 When it is plowed under in its green state, it 

 •goes into rapid fermentation and decomposition, 

 and the sugar and starch are thrown off in the 

 form of gas. But if wilted, the process will be 

 slow, and all that is valuable in it secured to the 



fatal disease among cattle. 



As I have a disease amongst my stock, I would 

 like some information, what it is, and the cure for 

 it. I have lost four cows since they came up to 

 hay ; the ones that have died all ran together in 

 the fall feed, in which there was some swamp. 

 Those that did not run in the same mowing, are 

 now well. In the first place, their bags are hot 

 and their milk dries up ; they are dumpish, run 

 at the eyes and nose a corrupted matter of a yel- 

 lowish color ; their eyes turn white when they 

 are first taken, but before they die they are blood- 

 shotten. They live three or four days, and some- 

 times a week, from the time they are taken, and 

 then die. The same disease is amongst other 

 stock in the neighborhood.; there has been fif- 

 teen head of cattle that have died near by me 

 within a short time of this disease. 



Windham, Dec, 1858. Benjamin S.Bemis. 



Remarks. — We cannot tell from the symp- 

 toms described, what the disease is that is tak- 

 ing off the cattle at such a rate. Perhaps some 

 of our readers may recognize it, and be able to 

 recommend a remedy. 



SOUTH DOWN SHEEP. 



Mr. E. K. Danfortii, of South Newberry, 

 Vt., wants to purchase some pure South Down 

 Sheep. 



floors of horse stables. 



Will you, Mr. Editor, or some of your corres- 

 pondents, inform me whether the floor of a horse 

 stable should be level or incline ? If incline, how 

 much ? w. D. L. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE WORLD OF THOUGHT. 



The intelligence of man, which forms his 

 crowning excellence, is an emanation from the 

 Divine JNlind, and thus of characteristic cl'^vnents 

 and always active. Ever during his conscious 

 existence are its powers employed in thought ; 

 thought succeeding thought without perceivable 

 connection, yet each suggested by its relation to 

 the one preceding. The ti ains of ideas or thought 

 depend much on the culture and development 

 of mind, with its habits and peculiarities, and 

 circumstances in life. 'The thoughts of the ig- 

 norant man are grovelling ; tending to animal- 

 ism. Nature, in all her glorious forms, he ad- 

 mires only as ministering to sensual wants. 

 Thought is limited to the narrow circuit which 

 forms his sphere in life. But the educated mind, 

 on thought's airy wings, finds throughout Na- 

 ture's limitless domain, beauty and happiness. 



No two minds are alike constituted, nor there- 

 fore of the same thoughts. But this difference, 

 with the degrees of mental culture, the influence 

 of various occupations and circumstances in life, 

 forms a world-wide diversity. A case of murder 

 presented to a lawyer, physician, and clergyman, 

 would suggest to each a train of thought in har- 

 mony with his profession. And any subject, pre- 

 sented to a number of persons, will be viewed by 

 each from his own stand-point, appearing in differ- 

 ent form and arrayed in different colors. To this 



