60 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



vot. r. 



"When the hog roams at large, he has a chance 

 of being his own physician — in the fields or 

 woods in which he may graze, he finds nu- 

 merous herds and other substances which 

 serve as medicamebants to correct the enerva- 

 ting effects of his exclusive vegetable diet ; 

 and it is, therefore, but reasonable, when he 

 is cut oft' from these, that he should be fur- 

 nished with substitutes to keep down the 

 basieful ■eff'ects of the crudities of those sub- 

 stances which he receives into the stomach. 

 All vegetable bodies which are edible, are 

 charged with more or less of acidities, the 

 ■which, if permitted to remain uncorrected, 

 will prey upon and vitiate the digestive or- 

 gans. At this point then, nature must be 

 assisted, and it may easily be done. Rotten 

 wood, charcoal, or chalk, if placed in a con- 

 venient part of the pen will be readily par- 

 taken of by its tenants, and will preserve 

 them in health. In addition to these it will 

 be found serviceable to mix moderate portions 

 of flour of sulphur and copperas occasionally 

 with their messes. 



If the hogs he confined in a pen altogeth- 

 er, they cannot be kept with too much regard 

 to their comfort and cleanliness, for although 

 when permitted to range, they luxuriate in 

 mud and filth, under the former circumstan- 

 ces, their bedding should be frequently chan- 

 ged, and their bodies in warm weather re- 

 ceive the benefit of periodical ablutions. 

 "With these precautions, and properfeed, to be 

 given at regular intervals, there is no ques- 

 tion but they will not only thrive well, but 

 prove a profitable stock to any farmer who 

 may try the experiment of thus raising them. 

 Farmer & Gardener, 



Farmers' "Work. 



Culture of Turneps. — If a top dressing of 

 quick lime, soot or ashes, be applied to tur- 

 neps, soon after they make their appearance 

 above ground, their growth will be forward- 

 ed, and it is said they will be secured against 

 the fly. Some advise and it may be well, if 

 the time and labor can be spared, to leach 

 soot, and sprinkle the plants with the liquor. 

 M'Mahon, in giving directions for the culture 

 of turneps, says: "The plants should he 

 left from seven to twelve inches apart ; this 

 must be regulated according to the strength 

 of the land, the time of sowing, and the kind 

 of turneps cultivated ; strong ground and 

 early sowing always producing the largest 

 roots. 



The width of the hoe should be in propor- 

 tion to the medium distance to be left be- 

 tween the plants, and the distance should 

 be according to their expected size. 



The proper time for the first hoeing is, 

 when the plants, as they lie spread on the 

 ground, are nearly of the size of the palm of 

 the hand ; but if weeds are numerous and 

 grow rapidly, they should he checked before 

 the plants have attained that size, lest being 



drawn up thin and slender they should ac- 

 quire a sickly habit. 



Soiling laboring oxen and horses. — Instead 

 of turning oxen and horses, which you have 

 occasion to use frequently, into a large pas- 

 lure, in which it is difficult to find or to take 

 them, you may do better to so/7 them. By 

 soiling, we mean to keep them in stables, 

 stalls, yards, &c., and mowing and carrying 

 10 them grass and other green or dry food. 

 You should in such cases, take care that they 

 have always water at hand, and plenty of 

 litter to absorb the liquid manure, unless you 

 have reservoirs. &c., to prevent its waste. — 

 Arthur Young declared, that " Lucerne is the 

 best plant for soiling, and an acre of it will 

 go farther than any thing else." But clover 

 or any other grass, green or dry, oats or In- 

 dian corn, cut up near the roots, cabbages, 

 &c. &c., may often be economically disposed 

 of in feeding cattle and horses, whose servi- 

 ces are needed for the prosecution of the dai- 

 ly and hourly labor of the husbandman. 



Fallen Fruit. — Be very careful to gather 

 all punctured or decayed fruits, whether on 

 your trees or on the ground, and give them to 

 your swine. If you do not, the worms which 

 such fruits contain, and which have been the 

 cause of their premature decay, will make 

 their escape into the ground, and you will 

 find the evils, which wait on their visitations, 

 will increase on you another season. 



Grafted Trees. — Look over your fruit 

 trees, which were grafted last spring, or bud- 

 ded this summer, and sufli"er no shoots from 

 the stocks to remain, lest they rob your 

 grafts of their nourishment. 



Worms in the Head of Sheep. — There exists 

 in some parts, if not in all parts of the coun- 

 try, a species of fly, which naturalists denom- 

 inated Oestrus avis, or sheep but, of the same 

 genus though of a diff"erent variety with the 

 fly which deposits eggs on the hair of dorses 

 and causes bots in those animals. This fly 

 attacks sheep from about the middle of Au- 

 gust, to the middle of September, deposits 

 esr<rs in the nostrils of the animals, and caus- 

 es those ivorms in the head, which so frequent- 

 ly destroys them. The Mechanic's Gazette 

 recommends as a preventative, " covering the 

 nostrils of the sheep with a gauzy substance, 

 through which the animals can breathe, and 

 kee|)ing it in its place by some adhesive 

 substance. We doubt however the practi- 

 cability of keeping a gauzy substance in its 

 place by any adhesive matter. 



Another precaution, which sheep owners , 

 assure us has been found eff'ectual, is to keep 

 the noses of sheep constantly smirched with 

 tar from about the middle of August to the 

 latter part of September. If the sheep swal- 

 lows some of the tar, so much the better, as 

 it prevents or cures the rot and confirms their 

 health. In order the better to eflect the 

 smearing of the sheep's noses, the following 

 process has been recommended : 



