1868. 



XEW ENGLAND F^iRlMER. 



161 



But we believe that farmers generally find that 

 sheep are more liable to become "cloyed," or over 

 fed on beans, than on almost any other grain, and 

 that great caution is therefore necessary in feeding 

 beans to sheep, especially at the commencement, 

 as they eat them with great avidity. It is well to 

 mix them with more bulky food, — shorts, oats, 

 buckwheat, &c. But, properly fed, beans are the 

 food for sheep, both for fattening and for the 

 growth of wool : and if they are often injurious to 

 breeding ewes that fact ought to be known. 



MORE ABOUT TAPPING AND SPOUTS. 



Though your correspondent, Mr. Field, discards 

 metalic spouts, they are in common use in this 

 section, and if you find any better sugar than is 

 made in Brookfield, I would like to share with 

 you in a good feast. Another correspondent, 

 L. M. Hunt, says that tapping trees in a circle 

 will girdle the tree in time. Undoubtedly correct. 

 But let us take a tree one foot in diameter, and al- 

 low an inch of boring each year, and you girdle 

 the tree in about thirty-six years, provided it did 

 not increase at all in circumference. But in that 

 time the tree may become two feet in diameter. 

 In that case you may go round again. Then take 

 a tree two feet in diameter and put two tubs to a 

 tree and two spouts to a tub, and you girdle the 

 tree in about eighteen years ; but in that time it 

 will not have half doubled its diaimeter. Now sir, I 

 think we are becoming a set of robbers, in one sense. 

 We are taking all we can get, and return nothing; 

 and if we goon half a century longer in this un- 

 righteous manner, we shall tind our ship wrecked 

 on the shoals of want of maple sugar. I say, give 

 me a pod bit, say two inches long, three-fourth by 

 three eighths inch, with spout of sheet iron, with 

 one end ground sharp ; pare off the rough bark and 

 bore one inch deep ; then drive in the spout below 

 the hole — careful not to drive into the wood ; then 

 drive the nail with head on one side only, just 

 above the hole and hang on the pail. "When ne- 

 cessary, I would go round with my bit and rim 

 out as I thought best. V. Baker. 



Brookfield, Vt., March 2, 1868. 



TO PREVENT DARK AND WAXY SUGAR. 



One of your correspondents, "A. B." wishes to 

 know why he makes "dark and waxy sugar." One 

 great reason I suspect is, he does not" keep his 

 tubs and other fixings clean, for the sap is alike 

 free from impurity in all trees. I have an orchard 

 on ground such as he describes, and another four 

 hundred feet higher ; and with the same care the 

 sugar is of tlie same quality. I have tubs older 

 than he speaks of, yet I had orders last season for 

 this spring's sugar. My practice is to scald and 

 scour the tubs both before and after using. The 

 barrels too, should be scalded and (cleaned. This 

 last may be done by putting a chain inside and 

 shaking tlie barrel well. Care should be taken 

 that smoke does not come above the sap. It is my 

 habit to strain the sap through flannel as it i's 

 gathered, and it should be boiled down as soon as 

 possible. Cleansing the syrup, when boiled dov\n, 

 is another important item in making good sugar. 



Hunderland, Mass., March 3, 1868. z. m. h. 



AMOUNT OF SEED FORPOTATOES. — WHEAT RAISING. 



Last season I experimented a little on the amount 

 of seed to be put in the hill for potatoes, and found 

 that potatoes cut two eyes to apiece and two pieces 

 in the hill, gave as much by measure, as where 

 planted a whole potato in the hill, while the whole 

 potato lor seed, gave a third more in number, — 



there being many small ones. This held good 

 with five difftrent varieties on ordinary soil, alike 

 as to quality. 



I think that if the farmers of New England 

 would exert themselves to raise their own whtat, 

 we should soon see flour quotations down to living 

 prices ; or even if they would do as well in this 

 line as the farmers have done in a small school 

 district in this vicinity, who raised nearly three 

 hundred bushels, or about enough to supply the 

 wants of the district. a. 



Washington County, Vt., 1868. 



RED WATER IN CATTLE. 



Give the animal, in common cases, one table- 

 spoonful of copperas and two of saltpetre, and in 

 severe cases, double the dose, giving it from three 

 to five days, once a day, in the morning; then 

 wait a few days and if the disease is not entirely 

 cured, repeat the doses. I once cuied an ox by 

 four closes, that had been troubled for over a year. 



Brookfield, Vt., Feb., 1868. l. w. b. 



Remarks. — Prof. Gamgee of the Edinburgh Ve- 

 terinary College calls this a "disease essentially 

 attacking the poor man's cow," and says it is 

 often checked by a change and improvement of 

 diet. Mr. Flint recommends as a purgative one 

 pound of Epsom salts, half an ounce of ginger, and 

 half an ounce of carbonate of ammonia. Pour a 

 quart of water on the salts and ginger, stir thor- 

 oughly, and, when cold, add the ammonia. Re- 

 peat, if necessary, once in six or eight hours till 

 it succeeds. 



a sick ox. 



Several years ago I had an ox that showed sim- 

 ilar symptoms to those described by a corr spon- 

 dent in Farmer of Jan. 25. While examining 

 his head I looked into his nostrils, and saw some- 

 thing so far up that I could not reach it with my 

 hand, but with the help of pincers 1 got hold of 

 it, and M'itli considerable difficulty I drew out a 

 branch of a tree, covered with small twigs, and 

 over one foot in length. How long it luid been 

 there I know not. The ox must have got it in his 

 head while in the pasture, probably feeding where 

 I had previously cut wood. The stick went up butt 

 first, so that it was impossible for the ox to get it 

 out without help. The stick was all covered with 

 pus or matter. Immediately after it was extracted 

 the ox got well. Hikam French. 



Eaton, Compton Co., Province ) 

 of Quebec, Feb. 4, 18G8. S 



HOLSTEIN OR DUTCH CATTLE. 



I own several Holstein cows raised from stock 

 imported by the late Hon. William Jarvis, for- 

 merly Consul to Spain, and P. W. Jones, Esq., 

 Amherst, N. H. I also own Jersey and Ayrshire 

 cows. From my own experience and personal 

 observation, I do not hesitate to state that the 

 quality of the milk of the Holstein cows is equal 

 and that the quantity far surpasses either of the 

 others, although as a breed they may not at pres- 

 ent be considered quite as popular, t recently had 

 the pleasure of seeing eight Holstein working cat- 

 tle, raised and owned liy P. W. Jones, Esq., Am- 

 herst, N. H., the smallest of which girted seven 

 feet; and at the same time a cow owned by the 

 same gentleman which gave at two milkings 36 

 quarts. I consider them a tough, hardy breed of 

 cattle, and all qualities considered, the most pro- 

 fitable breed we have. C. H. Tilton. 



Ashland, Mass., March, 1868. 



