160 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



July 



HEDGE FENCES 



Messrs. Editors: — I noticed in your Juno number 

 a communication headed, "Hedges vs. Wire Fences," 

 in regard to which you remarked that you would like 

 to hear from other correspondents on this subject. 

 The writer recommends the use of Italian Privet, Ar- 

 bor Vitee, and Red Cedar, for fences. The Privet, 

 Stc, will make an ornamental hedge around lawns, 

 division for gardens, &c, but the man who 



gloss to the hair of cattle, and softness and pliancy 

 to the skin. 



In all cases of high feeding in winter, particularly 

 when cows have but few roots, shorts or bran are 

 excellent to promote digestion and keep the bowels 

 open. Three pints each of oil and Indian meal, or 

 two quarts of one and one quart of the other, is as 

 high feed in these articles, as cows should ever 

 have. On shorts, bran and roots, they may be fed 

 liberally. Four quarts of Indian meal, in a long run, 



plants Italian Privet, or Red Cedar, or Arbor Vitee, as j m ^ and fl ^ best g0 thatth " 



a hedge to protect his fields or garden from the inroads | neyer ^ co \, er# r 

 of cattle, will learn wisdom from his sad experience, 

 and the cattle will have the benefit of his blunder. 

 In another article a correspondent talks of ' ! the 



sections irhere live fences are a forlorn hope, owing 

 to their destruction by mice" Now, I know of no 

 such place, and if there is such an one, it must be in 

 the "regions of perpetual snow" or some other out- 

 landish " region." I believe that, in any place where 

 trees and shrubs grow, native shrubs can be found 

 that will make good protective Hedges. In England 

 more than a score are used for hedging — all perhaps 

 intermixed in the same hedge. The Alder, the Elder, 

 the White and Black Thorn, the Bramble, and many 

 others I have often noticed in the same hedge. In 

 our country, so extensive, and consequently present- 

 ing such a variety of soil and climate, plants must be 

 used suitable to the locality: and I believe, when pro- 

 per attention is given to the subject, each section will 

 furnish its own hedge plants in abundance. The 

 editor of the Southern Cultivator says that in Geor- 

 gia the Cherokee Rose makes a hedge that is a sure 

 protection against the inroads of man and beast. The 

 Norway Spruce will make a good protective hedge, 

 and the mice never trouble evergreens. 



Now, I will give you my model for a beautiful pro- 

 tective hedge. Plant the Norway Spruce, say three 

 feet apart, and between each plant a Prairie or some 

 other free-growing running rose, and I will warrant 

 a hedge that, for strength, beauty and durability, will 

 be unequaled by any wire or rail fence. Any at- 

 tempts to go through or over it, will be truly a "for- 

 lorn hope." More anon. Rustic. — Rose Lawn, JY. 

 Y., June, 1849. 



FEEDING AND MANAGING MILCH COWS. 



The grasses, particularly the clovers, are the best 

 summer food. When these begin to fail, the de- 

 ficiency may be supplied by green corn, which is very 

 sweet, and produces a large quantity of milk, of ex- 

 cellent quality. The tops of beets, carrots, parsnips, 

 and cabbage and turnip leaves, are good. Pumpkins, 

 apples, and roots, may be given as the feed fails. — 

 Give only a few at first, especially apples, and 

 gradually increase. 



Roots are of great importance when cows are kept 

 on dry fodder. Potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, pars- 

 nips, artichokes, and vegetable oysters, are good. — 

 The last three and cabbage and turnips keep good in 

 the ground through the winter, and are fresh and fine 

 in the spring, before the grass starts. 



Potatoes produce a great flow of milk, but it is not 

 very rich. A little Indian meal is good with them, 

 to keep up the flesh and give richness to the milk ; 

 and this is the case with beets and most kinds of 

 turnips, as they tend largely to milk. A little oil 

 meal or flaxseed is excellent, in addition to the 

 Indian meal, to keep up a fine, healthy condition, and 

 impart a rich quality to the milk, and gives a lively 



Carrots are among the very best roots for milch 

 cows, producing a good but not very great mess of 

 rich milk, and keeping the cow in good health. — 

 Parsnips are nearly the same. Ruta-bagas are rather 

 rich, and keep up the condition. To prevent any 

 unpleasant taste in the milk from feeding turnips, use 

 salt freely on them, and milk night and morning be- 

 fore feeding with turnips. Cabbage turnip, (or tur- 

 nip-rooted-cabbage-below-ground,) has no such effect. 

 It resembles ruta-baga, is raised in the same way, 

 and yields as much or more. 



Some keep cows in the barn, by night, in the warm 

 season. They are saved from storms, and more 

 manure is saved. There should be good ventilation 

 in hot weather. Cows are much better for being 

 kept in the barn nearly all the time in cold weather. 

 To drink freely of cold water, and then stand half 

 chilled to death, is highly injurious. But they should 

 go out a little while daily, in favorable weather, and 

 be driven around gently, for exercise. Inaction is 

 death to all the animal race. 



Cows and other cattle are badly managed. They 

 are not watered, in short days, until ten o'clock in the 

 morning and their last chance for drinking is about 

 four in the evening. Thus they go sixteen hours 

 without drink, and during that time they take nearly 

 all their food, which is as dry as husk. They suffer 

 to a great degree from thirst, and then drink to ex- 

 cess. As a remedy, give cattle a part of their break- 

 fast, and then water them, and water again after 

 finishing their morning meal ; and if kept up, water 

 at noon, and at night. If it be too much trouble to 

 take good care of stock, then keep less, and they will 

 be as productive and more profitable, if well managed. 

 We have fed sheep that had constant access to water 

 within eight or nine rods, and after eating thirty or 

 forty minutes in the morning, they would all go and 

 drink. 



Milch cows are injured by being driven far to pas- 

 ture, especially in hot weather, and still more if 

 hurried by thoughtless boys. — [Cole's American 

 Veterinarian. 



Cure for the Heaves. — Not long since, in con-, 

 versation with a gentleman who was driving a fine 

 horse, he informed me that his horse had recently 

 been cured of the heaves, (with which he had been 

 severely afflicted,) in the following manner : He 

 took a quantity of rye bran, five or six quarts at first, 

 increasing gradually to a peck, wet or moistened it 

 with warm water, and gave it to his horse. He 

 continued this for a few weeks, increasing the tem- 

 perature of the water each day, till in a short time 

 he applied it boiling hot. The horse improved in 

 condition, and was soon entirely cured. n. 



Wisconsin has an area of 31,511,360 acres, and 

 a population not exceeding 300,000 persons. 



