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2^W ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



root two drachms. Mix with molasses suffi- 

 cient to form the ball. Give no food for four 

 and twenty hours. Give small quantities of 

 water frequently after the recovery of the 

 animpl. The animal should be fed very spar- 

 ingly and not exposed to the hot sun." This 

 writer says that the plant was called Poljpod 

 by some of his neighbors. 



How then shall we account for the fact that 

 hay containing more or less of this weed is 

 fed every year, and still so few horses are 

 made sick by it that many farmers, even in 

 sections where it grows in considerable quan- 

 tities, have no faith in its injurious effects.'' 

 Possibly in ordinary seasons there may be 

 sufficient succulent or laxative properties in 

 the hay, or other food, to counteract the con- 

 stipating effect of this weed. We should be 

 pleased to publish a more full expression of 

 the views of Dr. Weeks, or others of the 

 readers of the Farmer, on this point. 



THE CHEESE PLY. 



The only excuse for skippery-cheese, of 

 course, is want of care. Cheese in hot weath- 

 er should be closely examined every day. 

 They require to be turned once a day in order 

 to facilitai e the curing process. The ban- 

 dages and sides are to be rubbed at the time 

 of turning in order to brush off or destroy 

 any nits of the fly which may happen to be 

 deposited about the cheese. If there are 

 cracks in the rind or if the edges of the band- 

 age do not tit snugly, they should at once be 

 attended to, since it is at these points that 

 the fly is most likely to make a safe deposit of 

 its eggs. The cracks and checks in the cheese 

 should be filled up with particles of cheese 

 that have been crushed under a knife to make 

 them mellow and plastic. When once tilled, 

 a strip of thin tough paper oiled and laid over 

 the repaired surface will serve as a further 

 protection of the parts. The cheese in the 

 checks soon hardens and forms a new rind. 

 Deep and bad looking checks may be repaired 

 in this way so as to form a smooth surface 

 scarcely to be distinguished from the sound 

 parts of the cheese. 



Some dairymen think that a darkened cur- 

 ing room is best for cheese, and at the same 

 time is the best protection against the fly. 

 We think this is a mistake. Cheese cures 

 with the best flavor when it is exposed to light, 

 and besides it can be examined more minutely 

 from time to time, and freed from any depre- 

 dations of skippers. 



August and September are generally the 

 worst months in the year to protect the cheese 

 against attacks of the fly. Some years the 

 trouble is greater than others, and various 



means have been resorted to for the purpose 

 of avoiding the pest, such as rubbing the 

 cheese over with a mixture of oil and cayenne 

 pepper. These things generally do not 

 amount to much and are not to be recom- 

 mended. Whenever a lodgment of skippers 

 has been made, they must at once be removed. 

 Sometimes it will be necessary to cut down 

 into the cheese and remove the nest with the 

 knife, but if the colony is young and small in 

 numbers, a thick oiled paper plastered over 

 the affected part so as to exclude the air, will 

 bring the pests to the surface when they may 

 be removed. The oiled paper should again 

 be returned to its place and the skippers re- 

 moved from time to time, until all are de- 

 stroyed. 



If skippers begin to trouble the cheese, the 

 best course to be adopted is to commence at 

 once, and wash the ranges or tables on which 

 the cheese are placed with hot whey. This 

 will remove all accumulation of grease and 

 nits about the ranges, giving a clean surface 

 which does not attract the flies. If the cheese 

 also are washed in hot whey and rubbed with 

 a dry cloth, the labor of expelling the trouble 

 from the curing rooms will be greatly facili- 

 tated. We have seen this course adapted 

 with entire success in many instances, when 

 much time and labor had previously been em- 

 ployed without effecting the desired object. — 

 X. A. Willard, in Western Rural. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HORSE-TAIL, FOX-TAIL, COLT'S-TAIL. 



Perhaps I might say a word, partly in an- 

 swer to a short article which appeared in the 

 Farmer of July 31, in regard to the result of 

 the analysis of the herb known as fox-tail, or 

 colt's-tail, by S. D. Hayes, chemist, Boston. 

 He found nothing "poisonous" in the weed, 

 and hence the conclusion that the horse may 

 eat it without any deleterious effects upon the 

 animal economy. 



Having resided a few years in the valley of 

 the Connecticut, where the weed grows in 

 abundance, I instituted a few experiments 

 which led me to believe that it has, at least, 

 very powerful therapeutic or symptomatic, — if 

 not poisonous, — effects upon the horse. My 

 attention was first drawn to the subject by the 

 peculiar sickness of my own horse, resembling 

 megrims, or bhnd staggers, with the premon- 

 itory symptoms of apoplexy, i. e., giddiness, 

 staggering, loss of appetite, head depressed, 

 and in a half-unconscious, or stupid state, 

 balancing from one side to the other, &c. I 

 was also informed that some of my neighbors' 

 horses were, and had been, affected m like 

 manner, and, as was thought by some, from 

 eating the "colt's-tail." One farmer in par- 

 ticular, who owned an island in the river on 

 which the weed grew luxuriantly, had suffered 

 considerably. I immediately examined my 



