1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



129 



what is worse an apparent want of any desire for 

 agricultural reading on ihe part of many. Please 

 tind enclosed my third year's subscription. 



Winter here set in, with plenty of snow, about 

 the tenth of November, and there has been no 

 thawy weather until yestcrda}', when it rained 

 moderately. The crops have been good this sea- 

 son with tiie exception of oats. c. 



Shelbuni, N. H., Jan. 5, 1869. 



A cow THAT GIVES NO MILK. 



I have a Short-horn heifer. She calved when two 

 years old, did well.showed herself asuperior milker; 

 isafineanimiil,of purcblood. I was at consideral^le 

 expense to expose her toone of the best bulls in the 

 State. Last March she dropped a well-formed 

 heifer calf, apparently well. The cow's l)ag was 

 much swollen, but yielded not one drop of milk. 

 Various expedients were resorted to, but in vain. 

 Milk of another cow was given to the calf, but the 

 third day it died. The inflammation of the cow's 

 udder yielded to applications, and the swelling at 

 length subsided. Bat 7io milk. She run in the pasture 

 during the summer, got fat and seems as well as 

 ever. She is now with calf again. Most that I 

 have consulted, say kill her; yet I find no one who 

 has had a similar case. She is too valuable an ani- 

 mal to sacritice if she can be made available as a 

 breeder and milker. 



Please give me the benefit of your experience in 

 this matter. R. B. Hubbakd. 



Amherst, Mass., Dec. 3, 1868. 



Remarks. — It is not unusual for a cow to do 

 well one season after having done very poorly the 

 year before ; but in this case the cow's bag was 

 much "swollen," and ^'inflamed." The inflammation 

 undoubtedly changed the glandular tissues so that 

 no milk was secreted. The udder is sometimes 

 trodden upon or is injured by jumping over a wall, 

 or bars; inflammation takes place, and no milk is 

 secreted in one quarter of it. Suchcases are not un- 

 usual. The tissues become hardened, or hcpatized 

 as we say of the lungs. It is very dcubtful wheth- 

 er she will give milk hereafter. Please let us 

 know. 



CONSTRUCTION OF CELLAR WALLS. 



A young farmer wishes to know how he shall 

 construct a cellar wall so as to turn frost. The 

 thing is easy to be accomplished, at least with us 

 here in cold Canada. It is no wonder that Jack 

 Frost enters the cellars and makes fearful havoc 

 with the potatoes, apples, &c., where cellar walls 

 are laid as some are in Orleans County, Vt., where 

 the writer visited last fall. Before he knew how 

 these walls were constructed he could but admire 

 the beautiful granite underpinning of the liou^e^. 

 But good looks arc hardly an equivalent lor I'rozcn 

 vcgetaliles, which may certainly be expected under 

 the circumstances. In the first place a rough dry 

 wall was laid from the bottom to the surface ; then 

 the frame was raised and blocked up at a desiral)le 

 height; then commenced the operation of la\ii]g 

 the underpinning, slabs of beautiful granite of all 

 lengths up to ten feet, and in many cases longer, 

 being used. The ends and upper edges of these 

 slabs were made straight, so as to conform to the 

 sill and to each other. They were then put into 

 place, and raised even with the sill, by chinking 

 up from the under edge, one end at a time, loving 

 under the middle of the stone a space sometimes 

 large enough to admit the passage of a cat or a 

 dog, which was also afterwards chinckcd up. Of 

 course a large amount of banking must be re- 

 oirircd to keep out frost with such a wall. Now 



the true way, in laying the foundation for a new 

 house, or relaying the wall of an old one, is to 

 commence at the bottom and lay from eight inches 

 to one foot of the thickness of the wall in mortar, 

 till within one foot of the surface, and then it 

 should be all laid solid, or with a space for dead 

 air according to the fancy of the builder. In 

 either case where a wall is built any considerable 

 distance above the surface, the frost will accumu- 

 late on the inner surface of the wall on that part 

 laid above the ground, but this will do no injury 

 unless your roots lay immediately against the 

 wall. In the majority of cases the potato bin may 

 be made in some corner less exposed than others, 

 as there arc such in most cellars in our uneven 

 country. The idea of using mortar from the bot- 

 tom is to keep the small stones in their place and 

 to afford less chance for rats to work. 



The writer has often seen walls built as above 

 stated, from four to five feet above the surface 

 without any injurious effects whatever, and will 

 guarantee that if our young farmer will build ac- 

 cording to the above suggestions it will save him 

 the trouble of banking every year to save his veg- 

 etables from frost. It may be that lime is cheaper 

 with us than it is with you, — being here from 12^ 

 to 20 cents per bushel, in silver; but never mind 

 that; we don't calculate on buildins every year. 



Brome, P. Q., Dec. 23, 1868. J. H. Hastings. 



QUERIES ABOUT A BULL. 



To the Editor of i/te Neic England Farmer : — I 

 have read with pleasure what has been published 

 in the Farmer, for the last few years, in refei-ence 

 to the raising of stock, and of the different breeds 

 of cattle. P'or my part, as a source of profit, I 

 prefer the good native sto«k, and I always take 

 particular pains to avoid the Herd Book in select- 

 ing cows for my own use — that is, for raising milk 

 for market. I have found the Herd Book a very 

 useful volume when I have purchased cows to 

 sell to those who believe in high sounding titles 

 and jaw-breaking names. I have sold a good 

 many cattle at satisfactory prices, which have 

 proved excellent milkers, though I believe I never 

 owned' a pedigree cow which gave a larger quan- 

 tity of milk than some of my herd that cannot 

 boast of an illustrious ancestry. Now as there is 

 quite a difference of opinion among the farmers 

 hereabouts in regard the raising of a bull calf of 

 mine for stock purposes, I want your opinion on 

 the matter. The calf is a splendid looking animal, 

 and can boast of an illustrious ancestry and an 

 uncontaminated lineage. Three different Herd 

 Books register his ancestors, who originated in 

 Holland, Scotland and England, and are among 

 tne renowned bai'ons, dukes, duchesses and dow- 

 agers who have been the pride and boast of our 

 stock raisers for many years. He was got by a 

 Dutch bull (pure blood) out of a heifer, six years 

 old, who was got by an Ayrshire bull (pure blood) 

 out of a Durham cow, ten years old, (pure blood) 

 all of which are registered in the Herd Books; so 

 tliat he would be one-half Dutch, one-quajter 

 Ayrshire, and one-quarter Durham. The question 

 to be decided is, — whether the butcher shall have 

 him, or whether he had better be raised for stock 

 purposes ? Our club of six is equally divided, 

 and you are called in, as umpire;, to decide whether 

 he goes to the slaughter house or the stock pen. 



Marion, Mass., Jan., 1869. Abraham Rogers. 



Remarks.— Send him to the— butcher! When 

 you come to the conclusion to improve your stock 

 do just as yoii please. Our suggestion would be, 

 however, to take pure blood on both sides. If un- 

 like each other, then you would have what are 

 Called "half bloods," but if sire and dam are of 



