290 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JUNB 



specte, your own example is the most efficiont 

 teacher, and that the lessons they are thus 

 taught, will make the deepest impression upon 

 their minds." 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



CALVES TAILS AND WIND SPAVIN. 



Mr. Editor : — Does it benefit calves to cut ofl', 

 their tails? (a.) 



Can you tell the cause and cure of wind-spavin 

 on horses' legs? (6.) 



Will you, or some of your correspondents, an- 

 swer the above? L. B. Pkttingill. 



Weston, Vt., May, 1855. 



Remarks. — (a.) The cutting off of the tails of 

 calves or cattle is a cruel and barbarous custom, 

 conceived in ignorance, and the practice is contin- 

 ued because our fathers did it. It disfigures the 

 animal, and subjects it to annoyance and suffer- 

 ing from insects in the hot season. So the old 

 and foolish notion prevails that cattle have the 

 tail sickness, tliat the end of the tail bccomos soft 

 and the only cu'-e is to chop off the end of that 

 useful and graceful appendage, leaving an un- 

 sightly stump which any cow would be ashamed 

 to wear, even if her owner ie not ashamed to see 

 it. 



(b.) Spavin is occasioned by straining the ten- 

 dons or little vessels which contain a liquid or 

 mucous to enable the tendons to slide over each 

 other easily. These vessels are enlarged by vio- 

 lent exercise, too ; one of them may frequently 

 be seen on the inside of the hock at its bending, 

 considerably increased in size. Spavin is of two 

 kinds, bog-spavin and blood-spavin, and is diffi- 

 cult to cure. A close bandage continued for a 

 long time, will sometimes effect a cure, but if the 

 horse has a hard pull again it is apt to return. 

 Bleeding is resorted to by some, bat is a danger- 

 ous and not often successful remedy. We would 

 recommend frequent bathing of the enlarged 

 parts with very weak, cold, arnica water, and to 

 give the animal fair treatment, both in the car- 

 riage and in the field. 



But preventive is better than cure. Spavins 

 are usually the evidences that the horse has had 

 a hard master — but not always. 



HOPS. 



Mr. Editor : — I am a constant reader of the 

 Farmer, and have had an eye, and some years a 

 hoe, to the hop business for more than twenty 

 years. 



I have the Farmer of Feb. 3, in which you 

 state, in answer to "Culture of Hops," that the 

 cost of raising and curing a pound of hops is 

 about five cents. The hop folks of this county 

 must disagree with you as to the cost of hops per 

 pound. Your remarks agree with my own views. 

 About twenty years ago, 1 sold my hops in Mon- 

 treal, for two years in succession, at six and a 

 half dollars a hundred. We think hero that 

 hops cannot be afforded less than ten or twelve 

 cents per pound, at the least. 



Remarks. — The cost per pound was stated by 

 us at five cents, as estimated by practical grow- 

 ers in this and other States. The cost must, 

 of course, vary according to circumstances, as 

 value of land, location, labor, the amount of man- 

 ure required, &c. We do not think the business 

 profitable Vv-hen the prices are less than ten or 

 twelve cents per pound. The price has averaged 

 more than fourteen cents for the last fifty years, at 

 times, however, falling so low as six or seven 

 cents, and once as low as five cents per pound, at 

 which it is a losing business. 



RED RUSSETS. 



We have received from Hervey Tufts, Esq., of 

 Manchester, N. H., a boxofajtples which he calls 

 the Red Russet— and the name is appropriate — 

 which are now this tenth day of May, as hard, 

 plump, and fair probably, as they ever -were. 

 The color is a dark red, but bright on the sunny 

 side, and covered with minute grayish dots. 

 They are of medium size, stem slender and about 

 an inch long, calyx small and in a shallow basin. 

 They have a pleasant, sprightly flavor, and we 

 should pronounce them, judging from the speci- 

 mens before us, apples worthy of extensive culti- 

 tion. We should be glad of a few of the scions. 

 The tree upon which they grew is a very old one, 

 supposed to be a seedling, and is on the farm of 

 S. W. Mansfield, Esq., of New Ipswich, N. H. 

 The tree was called an old one forty years ago. 



white thimbleberry. 



Mr. Editor : — Knowing you to be interested in 

 all matters pertaining to horticulture, and seeing 

 an inquiry in one of the Farmers, in regard to 

 the white blackberry, 1 would announce a new 

 fruit of which I claim to be the originator ; it is 

 the white thimbleberry; if you, or any pf your 

 correspondents, have ever seen any of this excel- 

 lent fruit, I should like to know it. 



A Reader of the Farmer. 



South Reading, May, 1855. 



ticks on sheep. 



Will you tell us the best way to kill ticks on 

 sheep and lambs without injuring the animal ? 



Deerfield, N. H., 1855. A Subscriber. 



yeB,sir. In the first place keep the sheep in 

 healthy condition by plenty of good food, say 

 clover hay cured with the leaves on, a few tur- 

 nips, beets or carrots cut fine, and an occasional 

 feed of grain or beans, — allow them a free choice 

 to remain under cover or to go out doors as they 

 please, and then, if they are infested with ticks, 

 put a little yellow snuff close to the skin on va- 

 rious parts of the body, or a little linseed oil, but 

 do not use spirits of turpentine or mercurial oint- 

 ment only as a last resort. There is an ingenious 

 little article for sale to fumigate or smoke the 

 sheep and kill the ticks by blowing strong tobacco 

 smoke among them. 



