814 



NEW ENGL.VND FARMER. 



July 



days, injurious sixty days, and harmless one hun- 

 dred and sixty-three days. If there is one reason 

 for killing him, there are three for sparing him. 



— Market gardeners, who use the most effective 

 manures without regard to cost, are small pur- 

 chasers of guano and the bi-chemical fertilizers. 

 They depend on compost made of vegetable refuse, 

 thus creating a condition of soil similar to that of 

 fresh cleared and heavy timbered lands. 



— A correspondent of the Bee Journal plants cat- 

 nip along the fences and in out of the way places 

 where weeds ordinarily grow, for forage for bees. 

 He says the bees work on it in all kinds of weather. 

 A slight frost does not kill it as it does other flow- 

 ering plants, and it is in bloom from the time it 

 first makes its appearance until killed by the frost 

 in the fall. 



— To keep up the fertility of our pastures it is 

 evident that we must do our best to check the 

 growth of such vegetation as is rejected by stock 

 as well as that which would injure stock, if it were 

 eaten. But it is not enough to destroy the useless 

 and injurious plants ; we must encourage the 

 growth of the valualtle ones. How shall these ob- 

 jects be accomplished ? 



I believing that friction excites a healthy circulation 

 j of the blood, which takes away the diseased and 

 I refuse matter which causes the swelling. 



BXTKACTS AND REPLIES. 



BUNCHES ON THE THROATS OF OXEN. 



I have a pair of valuable oxen that have large 

 bunches or boils between the windpipe and jugular 

 V(.in ; not attatched to either, but simply in the 

 flesh, and are sore. Otherwise well and hearty 

 1 have not had them but a short time, and have 

 not worked them. The bunches are located where 

 the bow could not have been the cause of them. 

 Will you please to inform me through your valua- 

 ble paper what*to do tor them. 



April, 1869. Young Farmer. 



Remarks. — From the indefinite description given 

 above, we can form no satisfactory opinion with 

 regard to the nature of the disease. We should 

 think it was an enlargement of the glands rather 

 than boils. Take one ounce of iodide of potash, 

 dissolve in two quarts of water. Give each of 

 them one gill twice a day, in their food or drink. 

 When the feed becomes good, turn out to grass. 



An English vetermary surgeon describes a tu- 

 mor that is common on the necks of cattle in that 

 country, which commences in one of the thyroid 

 glands, and slowly hut gradually increases in size, 

 feels firm when grasped, but unlike those on your 

 oxen, evinces little tenderness. The swelling con- 

 tinues until it maturates and discharges some- 

 times by more than one opening. But this dis- 

 charge effects only a partial and temporary relief; 

 and he says that he has often found it necessary to 

 remove them by cutting them out very carefullj\ 

 In their first stages he thinks they may be dis- 

 persed by the use of '-iodurcts." Some rub on a 

 salve of soot, spirits of camphor, turpentine and 

 soltsoap; others soap, salt and tar; while others 

 still have faith in the efficacy of rubbing alone. 



meadow soft grass, or velvet grass. — Holcus 



Lanatus. 



I send to you three heads of a kind of grass that 



I have noticed among my hay for a few years past. 



I understand that it used to be called by the old 



farmers "Qusiker's 



grass," anu"Khode 



Island grass." 



Will j'ou tell me 

 its true name, and 

 also where 1 can 

 find the seed ? i 

 think it is a good 

 kind to sow upon 

 low ground. 



H. A. King. 

 East Taunton, 

 Mass., May, 1869. 



Remarks. — The 

 common and sci- 

 entific names of the 

 grass received are 

 given at the head 

 of this article. In 

 his valuable book 

 on "Grasses and 

 Forage Plants," 

 Mr. C. L. Flint 

 gives the annexed 

 illustration and the 

 following descrip- 

 tion of the Meadow 

 Soft Grass, both of 

 which we copy by 

 his permission. 



"It has its spike- 

 lets crowded in a 

 somewhat open 

 panicle, and an 

 awn, with the low- 

 er part perfectly 

 smooth. The ge- 

 neric characters 

 are, two flowered 

 spikelets jointed 

 with the pedicels, 

 glumes boat-shap- 

 ed, membranace- 

 ous, inclosing and 

 exceeding the flow- 

 ers ; lower flower 

 perfect, its lower 

 palea awnless and 

 pointless, upper flower staminate only, l)e:aing a 

 stout bent awn below the apex. Stamens three; 

 grain free, slightlj' grooved. 



"This species grows from one to two feet high, 

 stem erect, round, root perennial, fibrous, leaves 

 four or five, with soft, downy sheaths, upper sheath 

 much longer than its leaf, inflated, ligule olituse, 

 joints usually four, generally covered with bofc 



Meadow Soft Grass. 



