102 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



sum of $25, which was the price asked for a 

 cross-eyed bantam. As voice and gait are the 

 most desirable qualities in fancy fowls, we 

 were not surprised to learn that a Iloudan 

 with a powerful falsetto voice, could not be 

 bought at any price, although Commodore Van- 

 derbilt or Bonner will eventually secure him, 

 even if it takes the New York Ledger or Erie 

 Railroad to pay the bill. — Bos. Spectator. 



HUTCHINS' IMPROVED PUMIQATOK. 



Patented October 23. 1866. 

 This instrument is used for the purpose of 

 blowing tobacco smoke into the wool of sheep, 

 to kill ticks ; also, to destroy lice and other 

 vermin on cattle, planets and trees. 



BELGIAISr DOGS. 



The dogs of Belgium perform so important 

 a part in the every-day trallic of the city, be- 

 ing, in fact, the "beasts of burden" of the 

 common people, that we cannot omit a brief 

 notice of them. All the milk used in Antwerp 

 is brought hither in dog carts, filled with rows 

 of shining brass cans, which are conveyed from 

 house to house until their contents are ex- 

 hausted ; then the milk woman supplies the 

 absence of the weight of the lacteal fluid with 

 her own substantial person, and the little team 

 goes jogging homeward to the country. These 

 carts are sometimes of a very considerable 

 size, and may be seen, filled with barrels, or 

 bundles of wood, under which circumstances 

 the motive po\7cr is increased to six or seven 

 dogs, three and four abreast, tugging and 

 pulling at their great burden, their poor little 

 bodies swaying to and fro in their efforts, and 

 their general appearance and expression — for 

 dogs have expres.'^ive faces — exciting the s^to- 

 pathies of every humane person. When over- 

 come by fatigue, hunger and thirst, they he 

 down in harness and resolutely refuse to move 

 until they are fed; an instance of which we 

 had an opportunity for witnessing one evening 

 as we were riding on the Longchamps. A 

 laden team was coming in from the country to 

 attend the next day's market, when, just as we 

 were passing, a most piteous howl broke from 

 one of the (logs, which was echoed by the oth- 

 ers, and all stooil still in the middle of the 

 road, some crouching on their haunches and 

 some prostrating themselves on the ground, 

 with their tongues lolling from their heated 

 mouths. 'Ihe man who had them in charge 

 cracked his whip in vain, and then, finding all 

 ell'orts useless, unharnessed them, when, in an 



instant, the whole line bounded down the grassy 

 bank of the rampart, and plunged into the cool 

 water of the moat. Here they stood for some 

 moments refreshing their heated bodies, catch- 

 ing at the water with their mouths, and seem- 

 ing to toss it above their heads, when a shrill, 

 prolonged whistle from their master caused 

 them to rush suddenly up the bank, and ere 

 long the team appeared again in sight, trotting 

 merrily onward toward the briclge. Their 

 owner, on the occasion of their hungry de- 

 mands, supplies them with pieces of coarse 

 brown bread, which he carries on the cart, and 

 it is a common sight to see him standing in 

 front of his team, dealing to one and another 

 the mouthful which they eagerly devour. — 

 Correspondence of N. Y. Citizen. 



\^OOL GROWERS' MEETING. 



The annual meeting of the New York State 

 Sheep Breeders' and Wool Growers' Associa- 

 tion was held at Syracuse, Dec. 12, 1867. 



President Randall, on calling the meeting to 

 order, announced the death of Victor Wright, 

 Esq., of Middlebury, Yt., with an eulogy on his 

 character as a man, a breeder of sheep and an 

 efficient friend of the National and other Wool 

 Growers' Associations. 



A resolution was adopted that the usual 

 Fair of the Association will not be held next 

 spring, that members may co-operate with the 

 proposed National Wool and Woolen Exposi- 

 tion. 



The opinion of the convention upon the con- 

 dition and prospects of the business of wool 

 growing in this and in other countries was ex- 

 pressed in a series of resolutions, for which we 

 have not room in our columns this week. 



Hon. H. S. Randall was re-elected Presi- 

 dent; E. B. Pottle, Naples, Corresponding 

 Secretary ; H. D. L. Sweet, Recording Secre- 

 tary ; with the usual Board of Vice Presidents 

 and Executive Committee. 



TaiCHIN.2E3. 



Having had trichina- in my family last spring, 

 and knowing its terrible effects (having lost my 

 wife and one child with it), 1 thought to write 

 an account of the workings of the disease in its 

 early stages ; thinking, perhaps, others may be 

 profited by a knowledge of it, for, if taken in 

 time, it may be cured by active cathartics, of- 

 ten repeated, so as to carry them out of the 

 stomach. I purchased on the 1st of March, a 

 ham of a grocer, of which we all ate raw. I 

 ate a piece about as large as an old-fashioned 

 cent ; the first effects were felt in four or five 

 days in soreness in the muscles, with no pain, 

 except when we moved, then nausea and vom- 



