618 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



weed. Remedies were administered, but the 

 horse died. 



At that time I had two horses, one of which 

 sickened, refused to eat or drink, became stupid, 

 giddy, staggering; muscles rigid, and in a few 

 hours the animal became as inflexible as a statue 

 and died. The other horse would pick out the 

 hay and eat it, and leave every stock of the horse- 

 tail nniouched. 1 have seen other horses reject it. 



Prof. Bajes says he Ibund nothing poisonous 

 in it. But that does not prove that it will not kill 

 a horse. This plant may not be injurious to all 

 horses. In localities where it is abundant, colts 

 may to far habituate themselves to it that they can 

 eat it with apparent safety, as a man by use can cat 

 opium enough in one day to kill several men who 

 had never used it before. I have long believed 

 that the bad condition in which we see many 

 horses in the spring of the year is in a very great 

 measure owing to this noxious weed being mixed 

 with the hay. Tlie old saying, '-What is one's 

 meat is another's poison,'' may apply in this case. 

 Some horses may havj a constitution and a power 

 of digestion, sufficient to overcome its deleterious 

 effects. But it will require more than one analysis 

 to prove that this plant is not injurious to some 

 horses. Thousands of farmers and other people 

 feed hay to their horses that they knoio is mixed 

 with this unwholesome weed! I have heard them 

 say, " VV^ell it never killed any of my horses !" If 

 not it was acting as a slow jjoisoii and in time would 

 tell to disadvantage. All the science in the world 

 cannot make out but what this plant ii destructive 

 to iha horse— poison ! Is there an antidote ? My 

 experience convinces me that a perfect one can be 

 had by the use of "water pepper," "smart-weed," 

 — Poljigonum Hydropiper. I have known several 

 valuable horses cured by giving them smart weed, 

 — all the hor^e would eat, green or dry. Now is 

 the time to cut it. Don't wait till the frost de- 

 stroys its virtues. It should be cured like hay. 

 Give your horse a pound of it every week, and 

 you will find him much benefited by it. I should 

 almost as soon think of keeping a horse without 

 oats as without smart weed. 



There are several other plants beside horse-tail 

 that are poisonous to horses. Among which are 

 "Water Hemlock {Phellandrum) (Cicuta?) Black 

 Bryony, {Tamus) and Yew-tree, (Taxus). For the 

 last three poisons use smart-weed and powerful 

 cathartics. Dr. Boynton. 



Lawrence, Mass., Sept. 6, 1869. 



THE growth or PLANTS. 



Editoes of the New England Farmer : — The 

 following interesting item has been going the 

 rounds of the press this summer: — 



NovEt. BUT TOO Effective Method of Raising 

 Beans. — Uowa Kmt a ntw uod ch ap method of rais- 

 ing that liuportant ariicle, the bean, has been discov- 

 er -d. To cave po es, suiifljwer seeds were planted 

 ■with the bf auB. 1 h j sunflowers came up first, and the 

 bea 8 in lime twined beautilully around the stalks. 

 But theeu: fl jwers beat the beans atgro-^ing, and soon 

 li.erallj raised the beans, roots and -M, high and dry, 

 from etie to five feet above the ground. 



After I had enjoyed the reading of this several 

 times, it occurred to me to test its truth. Select- 

 ing a thrifty sunflower in my garden, I tied a 

 string round the stalk just above where a leaf 

 grew out, so that it could not slip, and attached a 

 stick just swinging clear of the ground at its lower 

 end. Siace then the sunflower has grown about 

 three feet— has got its full growth, in fact— and 

 vet the stick has not been raised in the least. 

 But if the sunflower stock did not go up at that 

 particular point where I happened to tie the string, 

 why should it at any other point; or, in other 

 words, how could the beans, in the above story, be 

 pulled out of the ground ? 



This story, however, had reminded me of an old 

 query. When I was a boy and lived on the banks 

 of the Saco river, I used to hear the comparative 

 heights of memorable freshets settled by reference 

 to spikes driven into trees growing by the river's 

 edge. I asked if those spikes in thrifty trees 

 might not be carried above their original height 

 from the ground, but my father and all the old 

 river men said no. I confess, however, that I al- 

 ways had my doubts. But if the law of growth 

 in sunflowers and trees is the same — and why 

 shouldn't it be ? — this little experiment would 

 seem to prove that my father and the river men 

 were right, and that the above bean story is a 

 humbug. c. 



Boston, Mass., Sept. 7, 1869. 



Remarks. — With opportunities for watching the 

 growth of trees and other vegetables constantly 

 before us, it is singular that such paragraphs as 

 the above, and that other of a tree which grew up 

 through the hole in an old millstone until it filled 

 it and then gradually raised the stone from the 

 earth and wore it like a crinoline about its trunk, 

 should be sufficiently credited to obtain so general 

 circulation. 



a sick cow. 



Can you or any of your correspondents tell me 

 of a remedy that will cure my cow ? She became 

 sick early last spring, and bloated badly from 

 eating potatoes. She has now so far got over her 

 sickness, that she eais well and appears weil, with 

 the exception of being bloated very badly every 

 night. In the morning there is no appearance of 

 bloat. In rainy weather, when she eats wet grass, 

 she bloats worse than when she eats it dry. 



Lunenburg, Vt., 1889. c J. c. 



Remarks. — We know little of the proper rem- 

 edies for sick cattle, but would suggest in this 

 case to feed the cow on cut feed ; that is, hay cut 

 and mingled with a moderate amount of corn, oats, 

 or barley meal, — adding a little salt thiee times a 

 week. Old potatoes should be fed out in very 

 small portions. "We have known horses killed by 

 eating them in the spring. 



NORWAY OATS. 



I forward you a sample of Norway oats, grown 

 in afield of three acres which harvested 220 bush- 

 els of very heavy and clean oats. The seed used 

 was direct from the proprietor and originator. Col. 

 D. W. Ramsdell of Chelsea, Vt., and ju^t 165 lbs. 

 were sown. The heads are but a fair sa\»iple of 

 nearly the whole field, and were cut at different 

 stages while maturing. The two which are fully 

 ripe contain 140 and 150 well-developed grains in 

 each head. The green ones show the manner in 

 which they grow. We found beside an ordinary 

 yield that the grain stood up better than any of 

 our common oats and that we could get as good a 

 "stock" from them as Ir an wheat or rye, which is 

 a most valuable acquisiwAj in any grain for far- 

 mers to sow. 



Other parties have advertised Norway oats, both 

 "white and black," and sold them as genuine seed. 

 In Pennsylvania the swindle has been operated to 

 some extent, by parties, I am sorry to say, who 

 publish an agricultural journal, as well as by our 

 own people here in Vermont. h. c. p. 



Hartford, Vt., Sept. 7, 1869. 



Please find enclosed a head of Norway oats, grown 

 on my farm, that, I think, beats all you have pub- 



