1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



most favorable, conducing to the most perfect 

 digestion and assimilation. This result, long 

 known to practical men, is explained by chem- 

 ists as resulting from a substance called pec- 

 tine, which operates to coagulate or gelatinate 

 vegetable solutions, and thus favors digestion 

 in all cattle. The juices of fruits contain a 

 gelatinous substance termed pectine, which 

 forms the basis of the various jellies. Horses 

 are especially benefited by the use of carrots. 

 Mr. T. H. Leverett of Keene, N. H., in 

 an article in the Report of the Agricultural 

 Department for 1863, says : — "My experience 

 in feeding carrots to cattle is, that when fed 

 a peck each day they never eat any less 

 hay for it ; their appetites are sharper, more 

 regular, and the cattle look and feel a great 

 deal better; their hair is more glossy and 

 sleek. My horses are doing better this winter, 

 as I am feeding them with less grain than ever 

 before, and give them a pint of meal morning 

 and night with dry hay, half a peck of carrots 

 at noon and a little hay." 



NE-W PUBLICATIONS. 



The Horse in the Stable avv> the Field: His 

 M;in; g-euient in Health and Di ease. ByJ.H Wal h, 

 F.K.C.H., ("Btonehfiige;')' author of •lirliith Hural 

 Sports," &c., Iftc From the l.ist London iiditon. 

 V iih Copious Notes aid Addi'ions, l)y Kob it Mc- 

 Clure, W. D., V. 8. ; fculbor ot "Dibtasf siu the Amer- 

 ican tjtable, Field and Farmyard," and an Kssay on 



, the Amuican Trotlii ^ Horse, and Bi ggtttions on th" 

 Breeding and Tr. lining of Trotter . By Elwood 

 Harvty, M. D. llluslrated with over Eighty Ejgrav- 

 ines. fhiladelpLia: Porttr & (Joates; Boston: A. 

 Williams & Co. 510 pages. 



The climate, soil, vegetation and stock diseases 

 of Great Britain are so different in many respects 

 from those of the United States that English agri- 

 cultural and veterinary books need careful revis- 

 ing to be safe guides for practice here, however 

 popular they may be at home. Yet many of our 

 American reprints of English works of this kind 

 have been very intfficiently edited, often perhaps 

 from motives of economy on the part of puljlish- 

 ers. This volume, however, bears marks of care- 

 ful revision. A history of the horse, and of ditier- 

 ent l)retds, remarks upon his action, on the prin- 

 ciplts of breeding, stable management, anatomy, 

 phys'iol'gy, &c., occupy the first 300 pages, and 

 some 150 pages are devoted to diseases and their 

 treatment, wiih a chapter on shoeing. In a notice 

 of tliis part of "Stonehenge" on the Horse, Dr. 

 Paaren, veterinary editor of the Prairie Farmer, 

 says "the treatment recommended by himisi-ound, 

 scieniitic, and we believe succe.ssfal, being written 

 by a practical man, and not copied from other 

 books." The essay on the American Trociing 

 Horse contains information that wiil be interei^ting 

 even to those who object to the "agricultural horse 



trot." A list of imported horses, is also given. 

 The paper, print, cuts, index, &c., are workman- 

 like, and altogether we regard it as a most valua- 

 ble work. 



Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural 

 Society with Keports of the State Uorticulural boci- 

 ety, aid toiidensed Reports on the inltrimlional Ex- 

 hibhions of 1862 and 1867. Vol. Vll. 1S61 to lbb8. 

 Prepared by J. W. Uoyt, Secretary. 



This volume covers a period of eight years in 

 the history of the Wisconsin State Agricultural 

 Society, and serves to connect the six preceding 

 volumes with those which are to follow. The So- 

 ciety held no exhibitions during the years 1861, 

 1862 and 1863. A list of premiums awarded at the 

 several fairs of the other five years is given, with 

 some of the addresses delivered on those occa- 

 sions, but very little from the farmers themselves 

 of Wisconsin. Of necessity this volume is devoted 

 more largely to the dry facts of the history of the 

 Society than is usual in an annual volume. Still 

 we think the space devoted to the details of two 

 European tours, and to the lengthy addresses of 

 gentlemen from other States, might have been 

 more appropriately occupied by the "transactions" 

 of the members of the Agricultural Society of 

 Wisconsin, both in their associate and individual 

 capacities. We look to the reports of the ditii. rent 

 State Societies for information on the agriculture 

 and condition of the people of those States, and 

 not of Europe. The success of a Secretary or of 

 a presiding officer of a farmers' associati jn de- 

 pends on his skill in di-awing out the members, 

 setting them to work, getting them to write 

 or speak, and reporting their doings, rather 

 than on their skill in talking and writing them- 

 selves. To this criticism, which we hope friend 

 Hoyt will take in as kind a spirit as it is given, the 

 reports of much older societies are as obnoxious 

 as the one before us. Even the "Transactiuns" of 

 the great agricultural society of the great State 

 of New York have been interlarded with Euro- 

 pean essays. A local report or a local newspaper 

 is valuable less for its size than for the amount of 

 local intelligence it contains. 



The report of the State Horticultural Society, 

 which forms a part of this volume, is capital. It 

 furnishis just that information which the horti- 

 culturist interested in Wiscou-in desires in relation 

 to the fruits adapted to its climate and soil, and 

 the modes of cultivation most successful there. 



— S. N. Watson gives the following, in the Maine 

 Farmer, as his method cf preventing smut in 

 wheat : make a strong pickle of »alt and water in 

 a tui) ; put in half a bushel of wheat and stir 

 smartly, when atjout all foul stuti' will ri^e to the 

 top. Skim this off, and place a basket over an- 

 other tub, and dip out the wheat to drain. Then 

 put into a box and turn in dry ashes; stir so that 

 the ashes shall touch every kemel; ihen put in 

 plaster to make it sufficient y dry to sow. The 

 same pickle will do for the whole lot. 



