382 



NEW ENGLAND FAR3IER, 



June 13, 1S32. 



Boston, Wednesday Evening, June 13, 1832. 



THE SEASON. 

 The season has at length become more propi- 

 tious. We have had no spring, or rather, spring 

 and summer have formed a union, blended their 

 capital and credit, deposited their zephyrs, aro- 

 matic essences, buds, beauties, &c, in the ware- 

 house of June, and are now going on gloriously, 

 under the sign of the spotless sun and cloudless 

 sky. We never knew such a i^lay as we have re- 

 cently escaped from. 



She csUed out biuls of tender kinds, 



Dame Flora's fascinating nieces, 

 Then loos'd tlie savage northeast winds, 



To tear the pretty nymphs in pieces. 



Old Boreas and May, no doubt. 



Were too much hand and glove together. 



And their conjunction brought about 

 Almost a month of horrid weather. 



We hope there is yet time for most of our crops 

 to come to maturity. Indian corn begins in some 

 places, we are told, to show symptoms of resusci- 

 tation and revivication, and we have made some 

 calculation on its maturation and fructification, in- 

 stead of its threatened annihilation. It may be 

 prudent to plant more potatoes. The Genesee 

 Farmer tells us, that potatoes may be planted at 

 " almost any lime from the middle of Blay to the 

 middle of July, yet, we think that they produce 

 best when planted from the middle of May, or 

 when left from the middle to the last of June. In 

 the first case, the tubers make their growth before 

 the mid-sumtner drought ; and in the latter, after 

 the fall rains have set in. In either case, the po- 

 tatoes will be of bi'tter quality than when grown 

 in the heat of summer, allowing the soil to be suf- 

 ficiently moist." 



Turnips, ruta baga, millet, &c, may be put in 

 requisition to occupy fields intended for Indian 

 corn, should there be a prospect of the latter's fail- 

 ure. " One swallow makes no summer," and the 

 loss of one crop should not discourage a cultiva- 

 tor, for 



"The mouse which has but one poor hole, 

 Is not a mouse of any soul." 



SHEARING SHEEP, Sec. 



jMr Lawrence, an eminent English writer, as- 

 serts, " It has frequently appeared to me, on reflec- 

 tion, that it might be preferable to shear all kinds 

 of sheep unwashed, and to wash them after shear- 

 ing, when it would be much more effectual with 

 respect to their health. Such as were affected 

 with foulness or eruption of the skin, might be 

 washed and scrubbed in a ley of water and wood 

 ashes, in a large tub which would contain three. 

 It would both conduce to the health of the sheep 

 and promote the regular growth of the wool. — 

 Wool would probably keep best in the grease, and 

 dust might be shaken from it. Any difficulty in 

 respect to fixing the price of wool in an unwash- 

 ed state, would vanish in a season or two." 



"Clipping off the coarse soiled wool about the 

 thighs and docks," says Loudon, " some weeks be- 

 fore the usual time of washing and clipping the 

 sheep, is an excellent practice, as by this means 

 the sheej) are kept clean and cool when the sea- 

 son is hot ; and with ewes, the udders are pre- 

 vented from becoming sore." 



In separating for the purpose of washing, the 

 flock is brought to the side of the washing pool, 

 and those lambs and sheep of different kinds, fit 

 to be washed, are put into se])arate iuclosures ; 

 and such lambs as are too young to be clipped are 

 not washed, but confined in a fold or inclosure of 

 any kind, at such a distance from the washing 

 place that they may not disturb their mothers by 

 bleating. 



In performing the operation of washing, it was 

 formerly the method to have the washers standing 

 up to their breast in the water ; but from the in- 

 convenience and danger of it, (the men requiring 

 a large supply of spirituous liquors, and being lia- 

 ble to be attacked with colds, rheumatisms, and 

 other diseases,) various other modes of performing 

 the operation have been proposed. Among others, 

 that of sinking an empty hogshead or other vessel 

 of sufficient capacity for a man to stand in while 

 wasliing the sheep, may be as eligible as any. A 

 boat near a bold shore of a sheet of water, with 

 one end aground, by which the sheep is introduced 

 and put overboard, while the man who washes 

 him remains in the boat and extends his arms over 

 the sides, and thus perlbrms the necessary manipu- 

 lations, furnishes a convenient mode of washing 

 sheep. .\ small perpendicular waterfall, under 

 which sheep are conducted, may likewise be used 

 to advantage for that purpose. 



It was uniformly the practice, immediately after 

 shearing, to smear the bodies of sheep with some 

 ointment, in which tar is the chief ingredient. 

 This, however, has been condemned, as causing a 

 waste of wool in carding and manufacturing into 

 cloth. But if the tar is mixed with a sufl^cient 

 quantity of some greasy substance, the benefit may 

 be obtained (which is to preserve against ticks and 

 the scab, as well as to increase the growth of the 

 wool,) without any bad consequence resulting. A 

 writer in Rccs' Cyclo]>cdia, on wool, says much 

 in favor of a composition much used in Northum- 

 berland, England, anfl gives the following direc- 

 tions for making it : " From sixteen to twenty 

 pounds of butter are j)laccd over a gentle fire and 

 melted ; a gallon of tar is then added, and the mix- 

 ture is then stirred with a stick until the tar and 

 butter are well combined, and form a soft tena- 

 cious ointment." Some skill is recpiired in its ap- 

 plication. The locks should be divided, and the 

 ointment applied directly to the skin. It docs no 

 good to apply it to the outside of the wool, but it 

 tmist come in contact with the skin. This is best 

 effected by opening the wool along the neck and 

 hack, and applying the ointment with the finger. 

 In short, you must apply it in such a manner that 

 it will be most likely to spread over every part of 

 the body. The quantity laid on each animal dif- 

 fers in different districts. In the lighter mode of 

 greasing, one gallon of tar and twenty pounds of 

 butter will be sufficient for fifty sheep. In Scot- 

 land, where greasing is applied merely to jireserve 

 the animal from inclemency of the climate, a much 

 larger proportion of tar is used. This would be 

 very injurious to the wool were it any other hut 

 the coarsest kind. To derive the greatest advan- 

 tage from the ointment, both to the wool and the 

 sheep, it should be applied immediately after shear- 

 ing and again on the approach of winter. By the 

 first greasing, the wool will be kept soft and moist 

 during the sultry heats of July and August, and 

 the top of the sta))le will not become harsh and dis- 

 colored. One acknowledged advantage of greas- 

 ing immediately after shearing should not be over- 



looked — it destroys the sheep tick, and has a ten- 

 dency to prevent cutaneous distempers, and to pro- 

 tect the skin against the bite of the fly. 



Mr J. Nelson published a recipe for the scab on 

 sheep, similar to the above, hut which we should 

 suppose might answer a still better purpose ; it is 

 as follows: "Take three gallons of tar and three 

 gallons of train oil, boiled together, to which add 

 three pounds of roll brimstone finely powdered 

 and stirred in." This quantity is sufficient for 

 ninety sheep. It is poured on with a pitcher or la- 

 dle from the top of the back-bone to the tail. 



When the object is solely the destruction of ticks, 

 a strong decoction of tobacco is probably as good 

 an application as can be prescribed. Lambs often 

 suffer much from licks, after the sheep are shear- 

 ed ; as the ticks which are driven from the old 

 sheep lake refuge with the lambs. It will, there- 

 fore, be advisable to apply either the ointment or 

 the tobacco decoction to the Iambs as well as to 

 their elders. And in all cases see that your appli- 

 cation goes to and spreads over the skin as equally 

 as possible, instead of wetting or smearing the out- 

 side surface of the fleece, where it will be of mors 

 harm than benefit. 



DISEASE IN POULTRY. 



Mr Fesse.-jden — I find in volume vii.page 111, 

 of the New England Farmer, soap recommended 

 for the gapes in chickens. I have tried it a num- 

 ber of times in various ways, and cannot find it of 

 any use in that complaint. It is caused by worms 

 in the windpipe ; and it appears to me that we 

 should look for a preventive, as a cure must he very 

 difficult, owing to the seat of disease. We are 

 losing a great proportion of our turkeys and chick- 

 ens with this disease, and will feel much obliged 

 if you will point out a remedy, or solicit one, 

 through the columns of the New England Farmer. 

 I remain, with respect, 



LEWIS BAILEY. 



Someis, West Chester Co., JV. Y. 



Remarks by the Editor. — Several persons hav» 

 assured us, that they have cured fowls diseased by 

 gapes, by taking as much kitchen soap as will cov- 

 er the thumb nail and having mixed it up with 

 some meal dough, giving it to chickens. But as 

 this remedy seems not to be always effectual, it 

 might not be amiss to try the following, recom- 

 mended by a writer in the American Farmer. 



" Take a piece of asafcetiila about the size of 

 a hen's egg, beat it tolerably flat, and wrap a piece 

 of cotton cloth round it, and nail it to the bottom 

 of the trough where the hens are daily watered ; 

 this method is adapted in the sjiring of the year, 

 when the hens begin to bring forth their young 

 broods, and it will be attended with inevitable suc- 

 cess in preventing that destructive disorder." 



If any of our correspondents would be so good 

 as to furnish us with information on this subject, 

 they would oblige the editor and benefit the com- 

 munity. 



MADDER, FRUIT TREES, &c. 



To the Editor of the N. E. Farmer,— 



I shall wish, at some future period, to make 

 some remarks through the medium of your paper, 

 on the cultivation of madder, having been engaged 

 two years past in raising this article ; it requiring 

 three years to come to maturity, I have not dug 

 any as yet; but a neighbor of mine has raised it 

 several years, and has taken up in two years, fifteen 



