532 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



Nov. 



AGKICULTUKAL ITEMS. 



— The Maine Farmer asks, "Is there any consis- 

 tency in paying a premium of five hundred dollars 

 for the fastest trotting horse and only ten dollars 

 for the best wheat field in the county ? There may 

 be, but we cannot see it." 



— A correspondent of the Dixie Farmer gives a 

 report of the sex of the calves raised on his dairy 

 farm this year. The bull used was a two-years 

 old Alderney. The cows were of d fferent grades. 

 Twenty-eight cows produced fifteen males and 

 thirteen female calves; twelve heifers brought 

 nine male and three female calves. 



—Mrs. Jahn S. Jones, of Strafford, N. H., 

 brought fire from Durham sixty-three years ago, 

 and for over sixty-one years that fire was not per- 

 mitted to go out. Unfortunately about two years 

 ago, this sacred fire, as it may well be called, went 

 out and had to be kindled from fire borrowed at a 

 neighbors. 



— Hon. T. S. Humrickhouse, of Coshocton, says 

 in the Ohio Farmer that the old and new clips of 

 wool in that section have been all sold, and that, in 

 consequence of the failure to breed them for the 

 last three years, there are but few ewes under four 

 years old. If this thing is continued much longer 

 — God forbid that it should be — our fine wooled 

 flocks will soon have ceased to exist. 



— The Bellows Falls, Vt., Times says that a few 

 mornings since Dr. 0. F. Woods led his horse out 

 to eat iu the front-yard, when the discovery was 

 soon made that the horse could not eat. An ex- 

 amination showed a shingle nail standing upright 

 inside the lower jaw. It was soon removed and 

 the horse commenced eating all right. The nail 

 must have got in by eating oats or hay, and en- 

 tered the jaw in this singular manner. 



— For worms in calves' windpipes, a disease 

 most prevalent in dry summers, and often occa- 

 sioning great mortality, our correspondent, V. M. 

 Hubbard, Rochester, Vt., communicates to the 

 Woodstock {Standard, the following remedy : — 

 Asafcetida, 3 ounces; aloes, 3 ounces; vinegar 1 

 quart. Boil together till dissolved. Give each 

 calf a tablespoonful in each nostril every third 

 morning, taking care to hold the head well up to 

 prevent waste. 



— Mr. I. Sanborn writes to the Country Gentle- 

 man that the durability of shingles will be much 

 increased by dipping them into gas tar and rosin 

 boiled into a pitch, while boiling hot; they need 

 not be dipped within six inches of the top. A 

 lively hand will do 2000 per day, and boil the 

 pitch. It expels all dampness and fills up all 

 cracks and worm holes, and makes them next to 

 slate. They have been on his house since 1856, lie 

 very close, are sound, and to all appearance will 

 last thirty years to come. 



— The Lewiston, Me., Journal says that E. L. 

 Sturtevant, a graduate of Bnwdoin, class of '63, 

 and a native of Winthrop, is now devoting himself 



to scientific farming in South Framingham, Mass. 

 Mr. Sturtevant has been to Europe this season 

 and imported choice Ayrshire stock, sheep from 

 Scotland, &c. He has on his farm six ir.ilch cows 

 and sends milk to the Boston market. He is ex- 

 perimenting on the ratio of food to milk, relative 

 value of food, &c. He has a farm of about two 

 hundred acres, and raises fruit, hay, grain, &c., in 

 abundance. 



HOilSEMEN ON THEIR DIQKITY. 

 At the Fair of the New England Agricultural 

 Society, last year, there was so mu( h money paid 

 out for "premiums" on fast horses, which were 

 claimed as soon as d<!clared, that the managers 

 were under the disagreeable necessity of inform- 

 ing the exhibitorsjof stock, implements, &e., that 

 only a portion of the premiums awarded to them 

 could be paid, for want of funds. That this should 

 not occur again, due notice was given this year 

 that in case sufficient money was not received to 

 pay all the premiums, those awarded to the ex- 

 hibitors of trotting horses, as well as of cattle, 

 sheep, &c., would be paid jaro rata on the receipts. 

 But this frank and honorable condition was not 

 satisfactory to the horsemen. The Boston "Turf" 

 correspondent of the New Hampshire Mirror and 

 Farmer rebukes the managers in the following 

 dignified manner, in a letter in relation to the 

 Portland Fair : — 



The Races. — The managers of the Fair did a 

 very foolish tiling when they advertised tuat trot- 

 ting premiums would be paid pro rata upon the 

 recci;jts, for turf men object to trotting their horses 

 for the benefit of the exhibitors of sh<;ep and swine, 

 and con.--cquc'htly several first-ciats horses who 

 were booked far Portland remained in thtir stables. 

 Sevcfal of the races were quite exciting, however, 

 and the crowds in attendance were well satisfied 

 with the sport. 



Fruit Growing in Missouri. — We have re- 

 ceived a catalogue of the Bushberg Vineyard, Jef- 

 fei'son Co., Mo., I. Bush &Son, proprietors. Some 

 th rty-eight of the sixty pages are devoted to de- 

 scriptions and illustrations of grapes, with remarks 

 on their cultivation, wine-making, &c. But with 

 all their advantages of climate and soil, horticultu- 

 rists have their troubles there as we have here. 

 Dr. Hull of that county recently remarked, people 

 have gone into the business freely, not knowing 

 the discouragements they would meet with. They 

 have found so many insect enemies to contend 

 with, that many have become discouraged. But 

 still this catalogue is a pleasing evidence of the 

 rapid improvement of this comparatively new por- 

 tion of our country. 



DoMKSTiCATXNG MiNKS. — There is an estab- 

 lishment at Cambridge, N. Y., for breeding 

 mij.ks for their fur. It is said that the cost is 

 very slight, and that the income f>om one 

 mink and her increase will exceed that from a 

 good cow. 



