116 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



JLvRCH 



water, bring down the temperature of the water to 

 110 degrees, and then pour into the bowl a spoon- 

 ful of the kerosene, and apply a liglited match. 

 If it takes fire, the article should be rejected as 

 dangerous ; if not, it may be used with a confident 

 feeling of its safety. 



— Hon. N. S. Townshend, of Ohio, took samples 

 of the Leicesters, Lincolns, Cotswolds, and crosses 

 of these with the South Downs, to Boston, to get 

 the opinions of the manufacturers. They placed 

 very different values upon these samples of long 

 wool. The value r.mged from 50c to $1 per lb. 

 It was not the length nor the fineness that governed 

 the value ; it was lustre, brightness, that more than 

 all else determined the value. Across of the pure 

 long-wooled sheep with the South Downs destroy- 

 ed the lustre. In manufacturing alpaca goods the 

 lustre is the chief quality. 



— In speaking of the different families of Short 

 Horns in England, Mr. Sanford Howard, says in a 

 communication to the Countnj Gentleman, "I went 

 to England a firm believer in 'Bates blood.' I 

 spent some two or three daj^s at Weatherby, look- 

 ing at the best Bates herd in England— Captain 

 Gunter's. Then I saw Richard Booth's, and at 

 once gave up my Bates fancy. I could not do 

 otherwise, as the difference in the two tribes is 

 very strikingly in favor of the Booth. It is true 

 that there ai-e a few persons in England who pay 

 large prices for Bates cattle ; but the general pub- 

 lic sentiment is largely on the side of the Booths. 

 The special merits of these cattle consist in strong 

 constitutions, capacious chests, well-placed shoul- 

 ders, smooth shoulder points thoroughly fleshed 

 over, full chines and crops, round and deep fore- 

 ribs, straight, broad and very thick fleshed backs. 



The following practical suKgeetlons, part of a com 

 munlcation recently written for the Farmer byWm. 

 D. Bfowu, of Concord, Maes., are placed here as ap 

 propriate to the "Agricultural Iti m" column. Leaf, 

 flower, and fruit of a coming season are wrapped up 

 in the little buds now on our trees; so, snugly in- 

 closed in these terse sentences, are the thouiiht, expe- 

 rience and observation of an active life. 



— Too many barns are deficient in windows. 



— Money invested in needed tools pays a high 

 per cent. 



— The more comfortable you can keep your ani- 

 mals the more will they thrive. 



— A good cow is a valuable machine ; the more 

 food she properly digests the greater the profit. 



— A few roots, daily, to all the stock, are as wel- 

 come as apples to boys and girls. 



— Iron shoes on sleds last a life time. They are 

 really cheaper in the end than wooden ones. 



— All animals arc fond of sunshine. Let them 

 bask in it, if possible 



— Replace all the bars, where you often pass, by 

 strong gates, and then wonder that you didn't do 

 to before. 



— A borrowed tool, if broken, should be prompt- 

 ly replaced by a new one. A nice sense of honor 

 in such matters is much to be commended. 



— It seems strange that housekeepers don't buy 

 pails and tubs with brass hoops and trimmings. 

 They cost a little more at first, but last wonder- 

 fully. 



— Build safe, easy stairs wherever needed in 

 barns, and save breaking your bones climbing 

 dangerous ladders. 



— Give a quart of meal daily to each of your 

 young animals, and you will soon be praising 

 them to your neighbors. 



— Where a watering tub is needed abroad, it 

 should be a deep one and set partly in the ground. 

 It will not freeze then in the coldest weather so as 

 to I'rive much trouble 



Scoured Fleeces. — A brief report of the 

 committee appointed by the New York Sbetp 

 Breeders' and Wool Growers' Assoc^lion ojt 

 the scoured fleeces of last spring's exblbiiion 

 is published in the Rural New Yorker. The 

 tables have not been elaborated as in 1865, 

 but the following abstract of those given may 

 be interesting to many of our readers : — 



Breed and Sex. 



Merino ram . 

 Merino ram . 

 Merino ram . 

 Merino ram . 

 Merino ewe . 

 Merino ewe . 

 Cots wold ram 

 Cots wold ram 

 Leicester ram 



W't of 



scoured 



wool. 



7.84 

 6.6 

 5 15 

 6.23 

 4.i3 

 5 37 

 10.37 

 11.62 

 8.44 



As the weather was very wet during the fair 

 at which these sheep were shorn, the fleeces 

 were weighed, when perfectly dry, about two 

 months afterwards. 



Old Times in Illinois. — Some of the cor- 

 respondents of the Prairie Farmer are in- 

 dulging in reminiscences. One man bought 

 some rough split-bottom chairs at 50 cts. each, 

 when he was married in 1828, and paid for 

 them in No. l»fall wheat, at 25c per bushel. 

 Corn was then from si.\ to ten cts. per bushel, 

 and no market for potatoes at all. Another 

 early settler says his f;ither sold 2000 bushels 

 of corn and hauled it two miles, for five cents 

 a bushel, and took one-half in whiskey ! 

 .\nother took a two-horse wagon load of pork 

 twenty miles and sold it for $1.25 in cash, five 

 pounds of coflee and calico enough to make a 

 dress for his wife. 



