78 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



Feb. 



about the pen, for they alwaj-s prefer to jump 

 rather than depend on their wings, when leaving 

 their roost or nest, and arc therefore more apt to 

 get injured than many other fowls. They prefer 

 to use their legs for all purposes of locomotion, 

 and if you give them a chance, always to do that 

 by jiropcr walks and lacidcrs, they will seldom get 

 hurt although ihcy are so heavy and clumsy. 

 When killed for the talile they will always look 

 well, and weigh well, and we have never found any 

 troul)le in eating them. 



We may at some future time say a word or 

 two upon the manner of keeping fowls. The 

 essential rules in our opinion, are few and easily 

 followctl. It is pretty much all summed up in 

 this — they must have a clean warm coop, al- 

 ways clean and fresli water, free and pure air, 

 sound and pure food, plenty of shells and lime, 

 occasionally vegctaljles and meat, and sand baths 

 in abundance. Other treatment is medicinal, and 

 will generally be but little required, if these other 

 rules are strictly complied with. They will keep 

 cleaner and healthier with less care, and do much 

 towards their own support, if allowca to roam at 

 large aliout the grounds. But if contincd in pens, 

 and the pens are always kept carefully cleansed 

 and ventilated, and the droppings often removed, 

 and the earth frequently renewed, they will do 

 well enough anywhere. iNauiRER. 



November, 1867. 



SEASON IN W.\SHINGT0N CO., TT. 



Winter has set in with great severity up here 

 among the mountains. November .5th, the gi-ound 

 was covered with snow followed by the most in- 

 tense cold ever known, perhaps, so early in the 

 season— thermometer fiilling below zero in many 

 places. The snow has not all disappeared since, 

 and we have Ijeen obliged to feed our cattle and 

 sheep almost every day since. This will no doubt 

 be for the benefit of the mowing lands, but some 

 may need more fodder this winter than they anti- 

 cipatcd. Wc had about a week good sleighing in 

 November, since which time we have been obliged 

 to use wheels till yesterday, December 10th, a 

 little more snow allow-s us to venture on runners 

 again. This morning, December 11th, the ther- 

 mometer is twenty degrees below zero. 



Roxbury, Vt., Dec. 7, 1867. W. I. Simonds. 



AGKICULTURAL ITEMS. 



— For chapped hands wash the hands, and with- 

 out using the towel, apply a small quantity of 

 honey once a day and rub in well. 



— In Canada most of their pork is fatted on 

 peas, six bushels of which are equal to ten bushels 

 of corn, and more can be grown from an acre than 

 of corn. 



— Ireland sends large quantities of butter to 

 England. Of 3o00 firkins in the Cork market, 789 

 were of first quality, 1922, second, 729, third. The 

 price of the best was about 35 cents a pound. 



— There has been a considerable falling off the 

 present year in the Irish flax crop. The total acre- 

 age under llax in Ireland in 186G was 263,507 acres ; 

 in 1867, 2.53,105 acres: decrease in 1867, 10,402. 



— "The California Live Stock Assurance Com- 

 pany," is the title of an association recently or- 

 ganized in San Francisco. Geo. Treat is Presi- 

 dent, and W. Augustus Knapp, of San Francisco, 

 Secretary and Actuary. Capital stock, $200,000, 



with 2000 shares of $100 each. It is understood to 

 be the object of the Company to insure animals 

 against death from any cause, to the ext.cnt of 

 three-fourths their actual cash value. 



— As an evidence of the depression in wool and 

 sheep matters, an Ohio farmer recently said: 

 "Three years ago I put )gi2000 into Vermont sheep, 

 and now I cannot get $500 for them. 



— A San Francisco paper looks forward to the 

 time when grapes from California, by the Pacific 

 Railroad, will be retailed in the Atlantic States 

 States for five cents a pound. 



— Our emigrants from the Southern States to 

 Brazil say that the country is good for cattle, sheep, 

 sugar cane, coffee, cotton ; in short, good for every- 

 thing except one's family. 



— A newspaper item says the worst cases of 

 chilblains may be cured by covering the affected 

 part with old linen, either by lining the stockings 

 or otherwise. 



— It may surprise many to learn, what is never- 

 theless a fact, that fully one-third of the whole 

 amount of sugar consumed in the world is manu- 

 factured from beets. 



— The French Minister of Agriculture has issued 

 a decree regulating the practice of surgical oper- 

 ations on the living horse and reducing them con- 

 siderably. 



— The Hardin County, Iowa, Ledger, says that 

 raising sorghum is "played out" in that section, 

 as there is too much work and dirt for the little 

 sweet. This season few crops of it have matured 

 in this section. 



— Dr. Boynton speaks of visiting, while in Texas, 

 the lands of Herbert Langston, a wool grower, 

 comparatively a new comer, who brings with him 

 an Australian experience, which ensures his suc- 

 cess in his chosen business in this country. 



— A joint stock company has been established in 

 Australia with a view of boiling 10,000 sheep per 

 week into tallow. The increase of sheep and cat- 

 tle in Australia has been immense since 1830. 

 Then the number was under 400,000 ; the number 

 is now nearly 35,000,000. 



— Dr. J. R. Nichols, editor of the Boston Jour- 

 •nal of Chemistry, saj's that lard is adulterated to 

 an extent hardly suspected by dealers and con- 

 sumers. He has recently examined specimens 

 which contained 30 per cent, of water, terra alba, 

 parafflne, and other substances. 



— A short time since as some boys were playing 

 hide and seek in the bam of Wm. B. Kennison, of 

 Norridgewock, Me., one of them crawled in be- 

 hind the hay mow to hide, and came upon a hen's 

 nest containing one hundred and eight eggs, all 

 good and sound. 



—The Portland Argus says Maine furnishes 

 beanpoles for all England, and Trenton and Ells- 

 worth are her principal representatives in this 



