368 



NEW ENGLAND FAEIVEER. 



Aug. 



while young, say before they are a year old, 

 but I do not believe in raising calves on a 

 grain or porridge diet. Milk is their natural 

 food, and I believe they should be raised 

 chiefly on butter farms. 



A cow that is poor for butter-making, but 

 good for the cheese dairy, it is well-known, has 

 fat calves. The casein of milk is the part that 

 gives the most nourishment to man or beast. 



I know there is an idea quite common among 

 some farmers and others that skimmed milk 

 will not fat a calf; and many experiments 

 seem to favor the idea. But I think the fail- 

 ures have betn owing to feeding it carelessly ; 

 either sour, too cold or too hot. 



I know my calves are in demand for veal, 

 and are pronounced extra when fed on clean 

 skimmed milk. 



We should not forget to give calves a clean 

 dry bed ; and they should be treated kindly 

 at all times. Then quiet, orderly cows will 

 be the result. 



AGRICULTUKAL ITEMS. 

 — There were shipped from Vergennes, Vt., be- 

 tween March 1st, 1868, and March 1st, 1869, 278,- 

 689 pounds of butter, or 54,000 pounds less than 

 the previous year. 



— It is an excellent plan to keep a lump of com- 

 mon chalk in the feeding trough constantl}', after 

 the calves are a moiit.h old, this will correct the 

 acidity of the stomach and have a tendency to 

 keep them in a healthy stai«. 



—One day this spring, Willie Brewster, of Iras- 

 burgh, Vt., a lad sixteen years ol4, harrowed with 

 a span of horses eleven acres of ground, and after 

 putting up his team went one mile through mud 

 and water on foot after the cows, drove th«m home 

 and milked nine of them. A pretty gooa day's 

 work for a boy. 



— The sunflower is very useful. Its leaves sook 

 become large enough to be used as a covering for 

 young cabbage and tomato plants. Its stem affords 

 an excellent hop or bean pole, and when dead in 

 the fall, if cut up and kept dry, it answers well for 

 kindling wood. The leaves can be plucked off 

 through the summer without injury to the plant, 

 and dried for fodder, or fed green to milk cows or 

 horses. Its seeds make a fine oil, or chicken feed. 

 It is said to be an absorbent of malaria, and is often 

 cultivatt d as a preventive of fevers near dwellings 

 that occupy low places. 



— Mr. Quinn, who was formerly farm manager 

 for Prof. Mapes, advises market gardeners to raise 

 most of their seeds. In an article in the Hearth 

 and Home he says he adopted the plan many years 

 ago of raising the larger part of tho-seeds he needs, 

 and is well satisfied it is the best and most eco- 

 nomical plan. For this purpose the best speci- 

 mens raised should be selected and used. A 

 knowledge of certain laws of hybridization is ne- 

 cessary, but he says, he considers it less difficult 



to raise a crop of cabbage or onion seed, than to 

 ensure the successful heading of the cabbages or 

 the perfection of the onion bulbs. 



EXTKACTS AJSTD KEPLIES. 



LAMBS POISONED BY LAUREL. 



Mr. W. F. Webster, of Warwick, Mass., informs 

 us that he has been much troubled by sickness 

 and loss of lambs in consequence of being pois- 

 oned by laurel. Last spring he tried in a desper- 

 ate case the application of onions as recommended 

 in the Farmer. He had a lamb so near dead that 

 it scarcely breathed, and could no more hold up 

 its head as it lay on the ground, when raised by 

 hand, than if actually dead. He roasted an onion 

 in hot ashes, cut it, and on raising up the fore leg 

 cut a slit into the skin or integument connecting 

 it with the body and put in the half of the onion 

 on each side, at the same time giving the lamb an 

 injection. The lamb immediately revived. The 

 onions were changed for fresh ones and the lamb 

 speedily recovered. If taken in season he has 

 found about a wine glass of old cider an excellent 

 medicine. Castor oil recommended by H. C. Mer- 

 riam, if given in season, we believe is one of the 

 most convenient and efficient remedies known. 



TOBACCO CULTURE. 



In my perambulations amongst the tobacco 

 growers of this region, I notice quite a diffirence 

 in the state of forwardness of the plants in the 

 different seed beds, even where there is great simi- 

 larity of soil and location, of manure and glass 

 used, of care taken to sprout the seed before sow- 

 ing it in the beds, and where all these operations 

 are performed at the same time and with the same 

 anxiety to secure early plants. Now what is the 

 reason that Mr. A. gets plants large enough to set 

 in May, while Mr. B. cannot get them tit to do so 

 before some two weeks later ? 



This is a question of more importance to the 

 grower than at first would be supposed. Two 

 weeks may materially affect the crop in value. 

 We are in the habit of transplanting our plants 

 Irom the seed bed, from the first week in June to 

 tht first of July, but ordinarily the last set, if they 

 do i.ot get pinched by early frosts, turn out a 

 mucn smaller leaf, and of inferior quality, gener- 

 ally thiUi, heavy, unripe, and so can never make 

 a good burning tobacco. These are among the 

 important results of early or late plants. IIow 

 are we to go to work to obtain early, vigorous 

 plants. Can it be done by a proper construction 

 of our seed beds ? We know a cai ptnter who owns 

 and works a small farm. He is an excellent 

 workman at his trade, flimous for close joints. 

 Well, he made a hot bed, and the boards were put 

 together with as much precision .is he would fit 

 ihejuintstoa staircase. 'Ihe resulc was that he 

 roasted his seed. Now if he had set his farm 

 hands to work, with an axe, h.<ramcr and wood- 

 saw, he would have obviated tliat difficulty. He 

 is over nice. His neigiibor gets plants early 

 always, and not over four rods distant. Another 

 sows on to his bed Peruvian guano in such quan- 

 tities that the plants are burned up by it, and only 

 a few make out to live through and tret large 

 enough to transplant until the season has so far 

 advanced that they are of no avail. Anothrr uses 

 fish guano, and tliat, too, kills them We have 

 seen a bed recently with not a plant upon it, all 



