278 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



fear for the result. These remarks have become in a 

 degree necessary, from the fact that some of our kind 

 and valued friends have taken exceptions to our re- 

 marks upon sheep in No. 3. Hereafter, if any one 

 thinks he sees us departing in the shghtcst degree 

 from our "platform," we shall feel obliged if he will 

 call our attention to it. — Wool-Grower. 



REVIEW OF WOOL MARKET FOR JULY, 

 1850. 



Never in the history of the country has the wool 

 trade taken such a course as it has this season. The 

 whole clip has gone out of first hands, and is held by 

 more purchasers than in any previous year. It has 

 nearly all left the west, and this state, and has gone 

 directly to the mills. There are no large stocks in 

 New York or Boston, and, with but two exceptions, 

 the dealers in Philadelphia have none on hand. Nor 

 is this all. There is no wool to go to these points. 

 No stocks can accumulate, because there is no wool 

 in the country to be sent forward. It has been pur- 

 chased and sent forward, and is pretty equally dif- 

 fused among the manufacturers. There is not a 

 million of pounds of wool west of this city for sale ; 

 nor is there in this state, west of Utica, half a million 

 of pounds to come upon the market. Still the man- 

 ufacturers have not, upon an average, a stock of avooI 

 to last them over four months, if they run to the full 

 capacity of tlicir machinery ; and it will not be in 

 their power to supply the deficiency from foreign 

 ■wool. It cannot be had, for all the wool markets 

 have experienced an advance, and the staple has been 

 taken up, with great rapidity, for the French and 

 English markets. The question comes up, then. 

 What will the manufacturers do ? We see but one 

 course. They will be compelled to stop their mills, 

 or work only a part of their machinery. In either 

 event it will produce a good result. Their goods will 

 become scarce, and they will be enabled to get a ma- 

 terial advance, which will in some degree compensate 

 for the high prices paid this spring for wool; for they 

 all complain that their wool has cost them nearly or 

 quite twenty per cent, more than they expected, 

 when the market opened. — Wool-Grower, 



BREAKING IN HEIFERS. 



S. P. C, of Clockville, N. Y., gives us the follow- 

 ing information relative to his mode of " breaking in 

 heifers," through the Kural New-Yorker. There is 

 a great deal of good sense in it. 



•' The cause of heifers or cows being refractory is, 

 generallj', fear. This, I presume, will be readily 

 admitted, and I submit it, whether a " good switch" 

 and " loud words " are an efficient remedy ; or will 

 they not have a tendency to increase that fear ? 



•' Now, the great rule which has always governed me 

 in breaking in my heifers, is kindness. Always from 

 calves treat them with kindness, handle them, curry 

 them, and be with them often, and they will grow up 

 perfectly docile and harmless. They will never kick 

 nor run from you, but will apparently care as much 

 for you as for their offspring. They will not unfre- 

 quently come to you to be milked ; and I once had a 

 cow that would, at milking time, follow me to any 

 part of the yard for this purpose, and she must al- 

 ways be the first cow milked. If this notice was re- 

 fused her, she would apparently feel quite indignant. 

 I once purchased a valuable cow very cheap, from 

 the fact of her being bad to milk. She had been 

 whipped, until it was acknowledged that whipping 

 did no good. The first time I milked her she started 

 several times — would run a short distance, and look 



around, apparently in the greatest fear. I would go 

 up to this cow, pat her gently, speak kindly to her, 

 and frequently, during the day, card her. She soon 

 seemed to lose all fear, would start less frequently, 

 and in the course of two or three weeks was as gen- 

 tle as any cow in my herd, and a woman could milk 

 her with perfect safety. I had not had the cow more 

 than a year, before I was offered for her three times 

 the price she cost me. 



" I never had a heifer show the least sign of kick- 

 ing at her first milking, although they will not al- 

 waj^s standstill. I never use a whip, or any thing 

 else, for the purpose of breaking them in, that will 

 have the least tendency to frighten the young animal. 

 A good card is much more effective, is much easier 

 used, and is much more agreeable to the animal, as 

 any one who will try it M'ill readih^ acknowledge. 



" I should particularly like to have some of the ad- 

 vocates of the cut and slash doctrine come and see my 

 herd — see the perfect docility of every animal — 

 their universal good temper — and then say which is 

 the most effective, kindness or brutal force. Every 

 animal in my herd is perfectly gentle, and can be 

 handled as well in the lot as in the yard. The only 

 difficulty I have with them, is, when I occasionally 

 curry them, the master animals seem very jealous, and 

 will not permit their inferiors to enjoy the luxury 

 without some molestation." 



GREEN VEGETABLE MANURE. 



This has been used for upwards of two thousand 

 j'ears, and in countries where the art of culture has 

 been most attended to. Various crops have been 

 sown with no other view than to be buried in, when 

 fully grown, to render the soil fit for crops of more 

 importance. Every species of vegetable, in a green 

 state, acts more or less as fertilizers, some probably 

 more than others, according to their power of drain- 

 ing organic matter from the air, and inorganic from 

 the subsoil. It is, therefore, no detriment to the soil 

 to be covered with M-eeds, providing they are not al- 

 lowed to seed, and that the)' be dug into the ground 

 instead of being hoed down and raked off, which lat- 

 ter process is a direct robbery of the soil. Green 

 vegetable manure is most effective on light, sandy 

 soils, and least so on peaty lands. It is surprising 

 how much valuable manure is wasted in gardens, by 

 carrying it to the compost hea]!, instead of at once 

 burying it in the soil ; and how much is lost or neg- 

 lected in woods and waste places, from mere indolence, 

 or from want of knowing that rampant nettles and 

 rank-growing plants constitute a great amount of the 

 food of plants. Tree leaves and the mowing of lawns 

 are valuable manures, and far too seldom turned to 

 useful account. For using green vegetable manure, 

 it should be applied as soon as possible after it is cut. 

 — North British Agriculturist. 



TO PROTECT PLUMS. 



I notice in the farmer's column of the 25 th num- 

 ber of the present volume of the " Newspaper," an in- 

 quiry in regard to preserving plums from the curculio 

 or other insects. Having had some little experience 

 in the culture of plums, I will say a word on the 

 subject. Some seventeen years ago, I bought a farm 

 on which was a fine plum orchard. Some of the 

 largest trees, the first year, had a great quantity of 

 plums set on them. When they had got about half 

 the natural size they began to i'.iU off, »a:id not one 

 on the whole of my trees ever came to maturity. 

 Such as remained on until they should have been 

 ripe, were a hard substance, and the gum exuded 



