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108 



THE GENESEE FARMER, 



May 



BONE-MEAL FOR COWS. 

 [From the Massachusetts Flown;;*. a.] 



Mk. Editor — Sir: Being a reader of your excellent pa- 

 per, I have often seen questions from your correspondents 

 about various subjects connected with agriculture, which I 

 have seen answered satisfactorily. BSy father bats a valua- 

 ble cow, which gives an abundant supply of ri h milk, and 

 which is, in all respects, a good cow. I no iced the past 

 summer, in driving it to and from pasture* th it it would eat 

 bones that she found by the road-side, and also, this winter, 

 I have often found her eating them, and have prevented it, 

 when possible. It does not seem that it is the want of salt 

 — for she has had most of the swill from the house, and also 

 salt, occasionally. If you can tell me the cause, and if 

 hurtful, the preventive, I shall be very much gratified. 



Yours, truly, N. P. B. 



Hopkinton, March 19, 1849. 



It is supposed by many that cows are fcnd of bones be- 

 cause they require something of that nature to restore what 

 they lose when they give milk. Milk is the article that na- 

 ture has provided for young animals whose bones are form- 

 ing and growing ; and it is found to be the best article they 

 can have . 



Now a cow that has come to maturity can afford to yield 

 up some of her milk without injury as her bones are already 

 formed. Yet she may yield such an abundance of milk as 

 to injure her own carcass. We find some cows running to 

 milk, as the phrase is, and becoming poor in flesh while 

 they are yielding large quantities. Such cows are more li- 

 able to suffer from disease or derangement of the system 

 than cows that give but an ordinary quantity and incline to 

 flesh. The garget in particular, which always aff?cts the 

 udder, is always found to be most troublesome in cows that 

 yield large quantities of milk. 



This is the theory — that great milkers injure their bones 

 by parting with too much that is needed to supply the natu- 

 ral waste of bone. Now, as to the remedy — bone meal has 

 been used on the supposition that it might supply the waste 

 <>•' asioned by the great yield of milk. And a number of 

 farmers in Essex county who have tried it have reported to 

 us that they found the remedy effectual. Bone meal is now- 

 kept m Agricultural warehouses for the purpose of restoring 

 cows that hanker after bones. 



No harm will result from eating any bones that are found 

 in the street provided they are well ground by the cow be- 

 fore she attempts to swallow them. Any bones may be 

 pounded fine with a sledge hammer and given to cows. Or 

 the meal may be obtained in this city. — Editor Plowman. 



Remarks : — The above relates to questions of 

 great practical and theoretical importance. The 

 early readers of this journal need not be informed 

 how often and earnestly we have urged upon the at- 

 tention of the Agricultural community, the value of 

 bone earth in all soils, whether used as pastures, 

 meadows, or grain lands. The amount of phos- 

 phates which is annually wasted in the dtmg, urine 

 and milk of animals in this country, is infinitely lar- 

 ger than is generally supposed. The elements of 

 bones are not abundant in ordinary earths ; hence 

 their loss, no matter in what shape, is a serious ca- 

 lamity. In the bread, meat, milk, potatoes and other 

 food consumed by the human family, there is a pro- 

 digious waste of valuable phosphates and sulphates 

 of lime and magnesia, under the present customs of 

 society, without any fair excuse whatever. As the 

 country becomes older and its cities and villages more 

 populous, the necessity for saving night soil increa- 

 ses, whilst the quantity extracted from cultivated 

 lands and lost is equally augmented. Pursue this 

 system of robbing the soil of the elements of bones 

 one or two generations longer, and not only cows 

 but children will have to cat bones to satisfy the de- 

 mands of nature to repair the distorted, enfeebled 

 skeletons within them. When a child, a calf, a colt 

 or a lamb can organise its frame-work out of iron, 

 then it will do to waste the phosphate of lime in tlie 

 excretions of animals. — Ed. Gen. Farmer. 



THE PLOW — ITS HISTORY AND IMPROVEMENTS. 

 BY HORACE L. EM FRY. 



Friend Moore : — I send you herewith brief de- 

 scriptions of some of the modern plows. 



Among the various forms and kinds, I would first 

 describe that called the " Swivel Plow" or by some 

 the " Side Hill Plow" (Figure 1.) This is so con- 

 structed that the mold board is suspended upon pivots, 

 by which arrangement the mold board can instantly 

 be changed to the right or left side of the beam — 

 thereby, forming a perfect plow at the pleasure of the 

 operator, which will turn furrows either way. 



This is an important invention, and the best now 

 in use for the particular purpose for which it was 

 originally designed, viz : for turning furrows down 

 the sides of hills — -thereby requiring less team — do- 

 ing the work much better, and what is most import- 

 ant, this method of plowing prevents all washing of 

 side-hills by heavy rains, fee. This plow has re- 

 cently been so much improved in form as to work 

 equally well on level lands, as the furrows may all 

 be turned one way, avoiding all dead furrows and 

 ridges when desired. It is also useful in working 

 roads, plowing from fences, he, The credit of this 

 invention belongs to J. Rich, and the plow has always 

 been known as Rich's Swivel Plow. The accompa- 

 nying cut is a correct representation of the plow. 



Another plow for the same purpose is in use to a 

 considerable extent in this State, which is formed 

 with a right and left mold-board combined, and the 

 beam so attached to the irons as to be readily made 

 to vibrate from side to side — the main bolt through 

 the beam forming the pivot — when the hind end is 

 moved quite to one side, one mold-board being l 

 in a plane with the furrow, it forms the land-side, 

 while the other mold-board turns the furrow slice, 

 and vice versa. This answers a good purpose. It is 

 however a better plow for ridging and ditching, as it 

 can be made to turn two furrows, one each way, simply 

 by confining the hind end of the beam, midway be- 

 tween the mold-boards. This was invented and pat- 

 ented by Barnaby &l Mooers, of Ithaca, N. Y. 



Another kind of plow for ordinary kinds of work is 

 extensively used and well approved by farmers in the 

 interior of the State, which is known as the " Wheel 

 Ploic. v This derives its name from the fact of its 

 being formed with a revolving landside, thereby pro- 

 ducing a rolling, instead of a sliding friction. In 

 other respects the plow differs little from other kinds 

 in general use. In theory, by the use of the revolv- 

 ing wheel landside, a saving of power is obtained — 

 and in fact it is the case, when and where the bot- 

 tom of the furrow is compact and hard enough to 

 sustain the weight and pressure of the plow upon the 

 wheel, without being indented ; but whenever the 

 earth is mellow, and constantly giving way to the 

 pressure of the wheel, this saving of power is more 

 than counterbalanced by the increased resistance to 

 be overcome. The more complicated construction, 

 and the constant wearing of the axis and revolving 

 parts, lias retarded its very general introduction. — 

 The plow, however, is thought highly of by many of 

 the best farmers in the central part of the State. It 

 is the invention of T. D. Burr all, of Geneva. 



Another kind now in use to a great extent in some 

 sections of the country, is known as the " Self 

 Sharpening Ploic," (fig. 2.1 These are so con- 

 structed that the point and wing, and front or top 

 of share, are three separate pieces — each piece so 

 formed a6 to be capable of being reversed several 



