530 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



history of the cow previous to April is unknown 



to me. She is a good milker, about eight years old. 



Melrhse, Mass., Sept. 20, 1869. 8. 



Remarks. — You have given a correct descrip- 

 tion of a disease too well known among dairymen 

 as the garget. In our younger days poke or gar- 

 get root was the common remedy. A bit of the 

 root, the length of one's finger and half its thick- 

 ness, was put into a potato and given every other 

 morning. A farmer in Roxbuiy, Mass., told us 

 last year that he finds a few messes of beans, half 

 a pint at a time, once or twice a day, a sure cure. 

 Tomatoes have also proved beneficial. Others 

 treat a gargety cow much as they do theriaselves 

 for a cold — keeping her in a stable with a warm 

 dry bed, with a nourishing but light diet. The 

 doctors recommend doses of twenty grains of 

 Iodide of Potash, given three times a day in her 

 drink. One ounce makes twenty-four doses of 

 this size. 



SOURING OF PORK BRINE. 



Will the Editor, or some of the readers of the 

 Farmer, tell me the cause of pork brine souring, 

 and what will prevent it? I salted one-half of a 

 pig last fall, using Liverpool salt, and about four 

 weeks ago the brine began to sour. There is nearly 

 a peck of salt in the bot om of the barrel. The 

 barrel had been used before, but appeared to be 

 sweet. Some say it will sour in a brown ash bar- 

 rel ? Is taat the cause ? J. L. M. 



Jay, Me., Sept. 10, 1869. 



Remarks. — It is the first instance of souring of 

 brine that we have heard. Only one reason occurs 

 to us that should cause it, and that is the use of 

 Liverpool salt. Packers in this region never use 

 that salt for pork. Some years ago the United 

 States Government instituted experiments in the 

 use of salt for packing meats, and the report was 

 that Liverpool salt is unfit for preserving pork. It 

 will answer for beef, we think it stated, but not for 

 pork, as it is said to contain too much of the sul- 

 phate of lime. Use good rock salt, such as is 

 called "coarse fine," and the brown ash barrel will 

 be harmless, probably. 



swamp muck and stable manure. 



Will you inform me through the columns of the 

 Farmer whether it will pay to draw swamp muck 

 a disance of three miles, at a cost of ten cents per 

 load ? Can draw fifty bushels per load. 



Which would be the most profitable, the muck 

 drawn that distance, or stable manure a distance 

 of six miles, at a cost of one dollar per load ? 



WUliston, Vt., Sept. 5, 1869. Onyx. 



Remarks. — If your statement is understood 

 correctly, it is that the first cost of the muck is ten 

 cents, to which is to be added the cost of hauling ; 

 and the first cost of the stable manure, one dollar, 

 beside expense of transportation. By way of re- 

 ply, let us ask you a question. If you have expe- 

 rience in the use and results of good muck, do 

 you think that good stable manure is worth ten 

 times as much per cord, or load, as good muck, 

 with the cost of three additional miles to be added ? 

 With a great deal of experience in the use of muck 



on various soils, we do not hesitate to say that we 

 should decidedly select the muck if it is of good 

 quality. Still as we should favor a mixture of the 

 muck and the manure, why not try some of both 

 together, say one cord of manure to two or three 

 of muck, well mixed ; and with each separately, 

 and benefit the readers of the Farmer by report- 

 ing the result of your experiments. 



foretelling the character of the sugar 



SEASON. 



For many years I have been trying to find out 

 some way or rule by which I could tell, in advance, 

 the probable yield of maple sap, — whether large 

 or small. With all farmers who have large sugar 

 orchards this would be an important item, could a 

 rule be found to this end ; for fixtures and help 

 would be secured accordingly. 



Some winters when we have had but little snow, 

 and the ground has been frozen to a great depth, 

 I have noticed that in the spring following, we had 

 a heavy flow of sap, and a large quantity of sugar 

 was made; again, I have noticed that when we 

 have had a large quantity of snow, and the groimd 

 but little frozen, the spring following would be an 

 excellent sugar season. 



Up to the present, I have not been able to deter- 

 mine, in advance, the yield. Presuming that other 

 sugar-makers are as ignorant upon this point as 

 myself, I wish to call the attention of all inter- 

 ested in this matter to an Indian vn\& on this point, 

 which I learned a few years since, and have since 

 carefully noticed, and thus far without a failure, 

 in my locality. The statement of the rule or law, 

 is this : If the maple leaves ripen and turn yellow, 

 and the buds perfect themselves so that the leaves 

 fall ofi" naturally, without frost, then there will be 

 a good flow of sap the following spring; but if 

 there is a hard frost that kills the leaves, and they 

 fall off prematurely, before the bud is perfected, 

 then we may look for a poor yield of sap. In 

 other words, the flow of sap will be more or less 

 abundant in proportion to the ripeness of the tree 

 before frosts the previous autumn. I invite the 

 observation of sugar makers as to the correctness 

 of this rule in their localities. 



Timothy Wheeler 



Waterbury Centre, Vt., Sept. 25, 1869. 



KEROSENE FOR LICE ON CATTLE. 



The use of kerosene oil for the destruction of 

 lice on cattle has been condemned by some of the 

 writers for the Farmer. Used as has been stated, 

 it may justly be condemned, and every body cau- 

 tioned against it. But I have used it with perfect 

 safety and with entire success. To one pint of 

 lard oil add a single table spoonful of kerosene, 

 and after mixing them well together apply one- 

 half of it to a common sized animal with a sponge 

 or rag, rubbing it in well from head to tail, and 

 in three or four days use the other half in the same 

 way. In these proportions I will warrant the 

 ointment safe and sure. F. G. Holden. 



North Orange, Vt., 1869. 



foot-rot ( ?) IN PIG8. 



Last spring a farmer in this vicinity had a litter 

 of seven or eight pigs. When a week or two old 

 they showed signs of disease in their feet and legs, 

 which seemed like the foot rot in sheep. He did 

 nothing for them, and they began to die off. After 

 losing three or four, his wife began doctoring them, 

 using various kinds of herbs, without success, till 

 there were but two left. Then she thought of tar, 

 and spreading tar on pieces of cloth she wrapped 

 them on the pig's feet, and in a few days they be- 



