1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



31o 



downy hairs the points of which are turned down- 

 wards, leaves pale green, flat, broad, acute, soft on 

 both sides, covered with delicate slender liairs. 

 Infloresence compound panicled, of a greeni>h, 

 reddish or pinkish tinge ; hairy glumes, oblong, 

 tipped withaminute brii-tle. Florets of two paleiE. 

 Flowers in June. Introduced. 



"This beautiful grass gtow s in moist fields and 

 peaty soils, but I have found it on dry, sandy soils 

 on Nantucket, and specimens have been sent me 

 from Boxford and other places where it grew on 

 upland fields, and was cultivated with other 

 grasses. It is productive and easy of cultivation. 

 It is of but little value either for pasture or hay, 

 cattle not being fond of it. When once intro- 

 duced it will readily spread from its light seeds 

 which are easily dispersed by the wind. It does 

 not merit cultivation except on poor, peaty lands, 

 where better grasses will not succeed. This grass 

 loses about .63 of its weight in drying, and the 

 hay contains about 1.92 per cent of nitrogen." 



lost many Iambs by goitre, thought he improved 

 the condition of his flock and avoided the disease 

 by giving them more exercise, and a daily run in 

 an oid meadow, where they could get some grass, 

 on pleasant days in winter. Will some one of the 

 readers of the Farmer tell Mr. Field what to do 

 for his heifer and his sheep ? 



OSSEOUS TUMOR. — SWELLED NECK IN SHEEP. 



I wish to inquire what is the best treatment for 

 a bunch on the upper jaw of a valuable heifer I 

 have, three years old. It is nearly against the 

 front grinders. It is about eight weeks since I 

 first discovered it. Thinking it proceeded from 

 an ulcerated tooth, I attempted to open it about 

 ten days ago and found a substance beneath the 

 skin that seemed like bone, through which the 

 knife refused to pass. Blood flowed quite freely, 

 and I have done nothing since, as I did not know 

 what to do, fearing it was a species of wen, though 

 I never heard ot a wen being on the upper jaw. 

 The bunch is about the size of half a hen's egg, or 

 a little thicker. 



I would also like to inquire in reference to a 

 disease amongst my sheep. For two springs pre- 

 vious to this, some of my sheep have been affected 

 with a swelling under the throat or under jaw, 

 very soft and loose. Two years ago I slaughtered 

 one to ascertain the cause and found it to be a 

 watery secretion, but learned nothing further as to 

 cause or cure. At times it would be large enough 

 to contain a pint, and then perhaps the next day 

 it would be gone, to return on the following day. 

 Can you or any of your numerous readers give 

 me any information on the above queries ? 



So. Scituate, R. I., May 1, 1869. ' J. 11. Field. 



Remarks. — Some years ago one of our corres- 

 pondents, Mr. Milton Smith, of Middlefield, Mass., 

 cured a "wen" on a steer, by extracting an ulcer- 

 ated tooth. But from your description we fear 

 that the bunch on your heifer's jaw is the effect of 

 a bone disease, for which we know of no cure, 

 other than to fatten her for the butchers. 



Neither can we give you much information in 

 relation to the disease among your sheep. Dr. 

 Randall has a chapter on swelled neck in lambs, 

 in his book on Sheep, in which he regards it as 

 analogous to goitre in the human race. A band- 

 age wet with camphor dissolved in alcohol applied 

 to the swelling, was beneficial in the case of lambs, 

 as was also iodine. Among the causes of goitre 

 in people in Europe, the use of snow water, in- 

 suflicient sunshine, emanations from clay soil, &c., 

 have been suggested. A farmer in Michigan, who 



barren fruit trees. 



I have a very thrifty pear tree which is about 

 eiuht inches in diameter, and about twenty feet in 

 height; it blossoms full every spring but bears no 

 fruit. I wish to know what can be done to make 

 it bear fruit ? A. L. Howard. 



Corinth, Vt., April, 1869. 



I have now a number of Baldwin trees, eight to 

 ten inches in diameter, which have never borne a 

 bushel of apples per tree. Is there a remedy ? 



Shoreham, Vt., April 26, 1869. Q. C. Rich. 



Remarks. — Such cases as those mentioned above 

 are not uncommon. The cause of barrenness is 

 probably not always the same. It is not apparent, 

 either, as a tree may stand on the same kind of 

 soil, in the midst of others of the same age and 

 variety, grow well and appear well, and yet pro- 

 duce no fruit ! Who can tell why ? Is it not very 

 much so with animals ? Our experience con- 

 firms it. 



There is a very considerable difi'erencc in the age 

 at which pear trees come into bearing. Some will 

 produce fruit in the nursery when they are but 

 three or four years old ; others not until they are 

 five and six ; while the Dix rarely fruits until it is 

 nine years old. Perhaps the tree to which our cor- 

 respondent alludes is of that variety. This is the 

 case, in some measure, with apple trees. But even 

 when they have reached the age when it ts sup- 

 posed they ought to blossom and fruit, they some- 

 times fail to do so for several years in succession. 



One cause of this is, occasionally, that the tree 

 stands in very rich soil, and acquires a habit of 

 making wood luxuriantly. Like some other 

 things, this habit becomes a second nature, and is 

 hard to be broken up, so that it grows somewhat 

 extravagantly each year, but never puts on its 

 beautiful garniture of fragrant blossoms and deli- 

 cious fruits. When this is the case, cropping the 

 soil heavily for a year or two will divert the sap 

 in a measure from the tree, and it will produce 

 fruit. Another practice is to remove the soil from 

 the base of the tree — a circle large or small, accord- 

 ing to the size of the tree — and fill the excavated 

 place with another kind of soil. If you take away 

 a heavy granite soil, put back a sandy loam, or 

 the reverse. 



The law of nature is, for every living thing to 

 reproduce its kind. It holds good in trees as well 

 as in fishes, who stem the swift currents of rivers 

 and leap over rocks and other impediments to 

 reach a place where they can properly deposit 

 their eggs or spawn, and thus insure a perpetuity 

 of their kind. The law is universal, and when it 

 is not in operation, in tree or fish, there is a cause 

 for it. What that cause is in your trees, no one 



