1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



231 



This success in preserving syrup led me to try 

 another experiment with batter. Farmers who are 

 accustomed to keep their butter on hand after the 

 weather has become so warm as to make itdilflcult 

 to forward it tornarket, have found much difficulty 

 in keeping cai^ks in which butter is packed from 

 mildew, occasioned by moisture condensing on the 

 outside of the ca^-k. For two years, I have pro- 

 cured shavings of seasoned wood from a planing 

 machine or turning lathe, and packed my casks as 

 faht as filled, with the butter in them, so as to keep 

 them from the air. When taken out in the fall my 

 casks are clean and nice. Care should be taken to 

 keep the barrels, or whatever is used to pack in, 

 from contact witn the ground or anything moist. 

 E. F. Shekman. 



East Dover, Vt., Feb. 10, 1869. 



CIJLTITATION OF PEAS. — SAWDUST FOR BEDDING. 



I see in a late number of the Farmer that "An 

 Old Subscriber" wishes to know if peas will do to 

 sow alone. They are raised here very extensively, 

 as we get a better crop of wheat after peas than any 

 other crop we put in, and more sure than a sum- 

 mer fallow. Our soil is clay loam and black 

 muck. Sow two bushels per acre the last of 

 March or first of April, cut enough for seed and 

 turn the hogs in the last of July and let them har- 

 vest them, during which they fat very fast. 



I wish to inquire through the Farmer if it will 

 pay to haul oak sawdust one mile to litter the sta- 

 ble to absorb the liquid, or will it be likely to sour 

 the land if too much is put on. I know it pays as 

 far as the stock is concerned, for it keeps them as 

 clean and nice as though they were out at pasture. 



Hudson, Mich., Feb. 15, 1869. L. M. Bkigqs. 



Remarks. — On our hungry New England soils 

 sawdust compost works well. We have used it 

 ourselves to a limited extent; and some of our 

 correspondents have used it largely. Mr. B. F. 

 Kinney used 100 cords in nine months. There is 

 danger of its fire-fanging. After trying various 

 plans Mr. K. found it best to let it remain in as 

 solid a body as possible until he drew it out, put- 

 ting on water enough to keep it from heating too 

 much. In the field he put it in flat heaps, two or 

 three cords in a heap, and a foot thick after it was 

 well trodden down. Mr. A Cross said, "I have 

 used sawdust for bedding for ten years, and would 

 not be without it if 1 could obtain it by going four 

 miles for it." 



DISEASE IN TURKEYS 



I have for many years been a raiser of turkeys, 

 and until withm four or five years, have been suc- 

 cessful ; since that time my turkeys have been 

 affected with what I term a liver complaint. They 

 first refuse to eat, then become stupid, lag behind 

 the fl ick, their excrement very yellow and watery, 

 and in about ten days they die. I have never 

 known but one to fully recover. This year I had 

 forty-five hatched out and raised but six ; most of 

 tlicm died of this complaint. On examination, I 

 find the liver enlarged, and covered with white 

 blisters. I have bought them in New Hampshire, 

 grown and fattened thirty -six miles from here, and 

 they would die of this complaint. Can any of 

 your readers give a remedy ? David Kimball, 



Bradford, Mass., Feb.'IZ, 1869. 



Remarks. — We are sorry to hear of any trouble 

 among the turkeys, as they help us so much in 

 our Thanksgivings. We suspect they obtain 

 something on the premises which acts as a poison 



upon them, and especially as apparently healthy 

 turkeys from a distance are affected in the same 

 way when brought to the premises of the writer. 

 Are your neighbors similarly affected ? 



A PRINCIPLE in breeding. 



I believe that most of our cows are spoiled at 

 the start, for breeding. Many farmers have their 

 heifers come in late, and they couple them with 

 anything that will bring them in milk. I think it 

 all important that the first should be the best they 

 can find, if the cow is to be kept for stock or for 

 the dairv. William F. Loomis. 



Langdon, N. H., Feb., 1869. 



Remarks. — We agree with you that the '[first" 

 should be tj;ie best of its kind. The strong prob- 

 ability is that the first impregnation has an influ- 

 ence on the subsequent progeny of the cow ; or at 

 any rate, just as likely to prevail as anything that 

 follows. So if you employ a diseased and badly- 

 formed animal as a sire, you would scarcely ex- 

 pect anything different, as a certainty. Like begets 

 like. We have neglected this matter too long in 

 all our stock, and especially so in the case of 

 horses, where only one in ten is of good form, is 

 sound and has a fair power of endurance. Scatter 

 your views among your neighbors, and the farm- 

 yards about you will appear better in a few years. 



a diseased calp. 



I have a last years' calf that recently appeared 

 to itch badly ; so much so, that she licked the hair 

 off her sides and back of the shoulders, and be- 

 came a perfect scab. I did everything I could 

 think of to heal it, and am obliged to keep her in 

 the stancheons to prevent her tearing the hide off. 

 There is no appearance of lice, but from her ears 

 to her shoulder is a perfect scab. Can you tell 

 what it is or what to do for it ? I have raised 

 many calves and am at a loss to account for this, 

 unless she had too much cotton seed meal when 

 young. A Subscriber. 



Providence, R. I., Feb. 20, 1869. 



Remarks. — Will you apply a saturated solution 

 of carbolic acid, one ounce in a pint of water, 

 apply once a day with a soft sponge, and see the 

 effect ? If the disease is what is called mange, the 

 scab or scurf will be yellow, somewhat resembling 

 corn meal ; ttie hair will become loose, the eyes 

 dim, the appetite poor, and the countenance lan- 

 guid. Mange is a contagious disease. 



PARIS GOLD MEDALS FOR MOWING MACHINES. 



Will you please inform me through the columns 

 of your paper what mower did really win the gold 

 medal prize at the Paris Exposition ? By so doing 

 you will confer a great favor on the writer and 

 the community at large, as we often see circulars 

 and advertisements of dilf'erent mowing machines 

 claiming to have won the gold medal. 



Lancaster, Mass., Jan. 9, 1869. John Lovell. 



Remarks.— A somewhat detailed statement of 

 the first day's trial of mowers at the Paris Expo- 

 sition, written by a correspondent of the Prairie 

 Farmer, who was an eye witness, was published in 

 the weekly Farmer for July 13, 1867, and at page 

 399 of the Monthly for that year. Nineteen 

 different machines were entered for competition. 



