1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



191 



dead, while the other, where it has sufficient 

 time for healing, will be found to have formed 

 a perfect gnarl, so tough and sound that it 

 will be next to impossible to split a log of it, 

 stove- wood length. Another proof of this 

 may be made by noting the diiference in the 

 decrease of maples in different sugar orchards 

 where the two modes have been practiced. 



When a tree is tapped with a bit, the spile 

 stops up the best flowing grains. When an 

 incision is made with a large auger or gouge, 

 more grains are opened, and of course a great- 

 er flow of sap obtained. It is a fact, however, 

 that when trees are tapped in this way, the 

 wind dries up the wood sooner than when a 

 bit is used, but this is easily prevented by fre- 

 quent freshing over. 



AGKICULTUEAL ITEMS. 



— The Orleans County, Vt., Agricultural Society 

 has located its annual fair at Barton, for five years. 



— Michigan shipped over 11,000,000 pounds of 

 wool last year. 



— For the past month of January the average 

 temperature near New York city was 18° ; for 10 

 years previous it was 31°. 



— The subsoil and "pan" of the Illinois prairies, 

 according to Dr. McCord, are very rich in all the 

 mineral elements. 



— To prevent buggy peas the Canadian farmers 

 sow as late as will just allow time for their ma- 

 tuity. 



— A correspondent of the Joxirnal of Agriculture 

 says that sweet oil administered to a horse troubled 

 with bots will efifect a cure. 



— To remove any foreign substance from the eye, 

 make a loop of a bristle or horse hair, and insert 

 it imder the lid and then withdraw it slowly and 

 carefully. 



— Mr. Willard estimates that 55,600,000 pounds 

 of cheese will be sent to England from this coun- 

 try in the year ending with May next, or about 

 9,000,000 pounds more than last year. The pro- 

 duction of cheese in this country, last year, he 

 estimates at 215,000,000 pounds. 



—Wet prairie lands have been drained of late at 

 the "West to considerable extent by Mole Drains, or 

 those made by an implement something like a 

 subsoil plough. The Prairie Farmer is informed 

 that in some cases the water washes out the soil 

 under the sod so as to engulph domestic animals 

 who pass over them. 



—A correspondent of the Kansas Farmer re- 

 commends wind mills for "the purpose of banish- 

 ing those pests of the land, called 'steam mills,' 

 which are devouring our fuel in ruinous quantities, 

 and confiscating a fourth of our grain, and com- 

 plaining that they are not making anything even 

 at that." 



— A cattle raiser and feeder of Kentucky re- 

 cently remarked that he considered a thousand 



dollars made with cattle nearly equal to two 

 thousand made with mules, or grain grown and 

 sold from the farm. The great beauty in handling 

 cattle is the condition they leave the farm in ; the 

 pasture all clean, fence-corners all dressed out, 

 and the land becoming more fertile year by year. 



— Prof. Nash says that he once knew of a water 

 pipe being taken up that was laid for a long dis- 

 tance on a dead level, in which there was enough 

 white lead found to paint a small house, inside 

 and out, and if taken internally would kill a small 

 army, and yet the family that used the water for 

 twenty years was perfectly healthy. The poison 

 settled on the bottom of the pipe and was not 

 forced into the house. 



— A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer says 

 that the friction of the stocking on the foot, and 

 not on the boot, makes the holes, and advises 

 washing the feet at least twice a week, and scrap- 

 ing off the rough scurfy skin from the heel and 

 sole. As to the one who darns, let her take the 

 stocking and line it on the inside of the heel, or 

 on whatever part the trouble occurs, with cotton 

 cloth, and she will find at least three-fourths of 

 her darning saved. 



— "The trees, like giant skeletons, 



Wave higti their fleehltss arms and bare — 

 Or stand like wrestlers stripped and bold, 

 And strongest winds to battle dare. 



It seems a thing impossible 



Thai earth its glories should repair : 



That ever this bleak world again 



Should bright and beauteous mantle wear." 



— The New York World estimates the number of 

 workmen unemployed in New York city at 50,000, 

 in Brooklyn at 10,000, and says that the depression 

 in New England throws out of work at least 10,000 

 in Maine, 20,000 in New Hampshire, 30,000 in Con- 

 necticut and Rhode Island, and 100,000 in Massa- 

 chusetts. This may be a high estimate, but the 

 number "out of work" is large in all our cities, 

 and the prospect for the future is far from encour- 

 aging. 



— Several neighboring farmers lately met in 

 Champaign county, 111., to compare results of 

 their farming operations. In respect to corn rais- 

 ing they made an estimate based on the daily 

 wages of men and teams, which seemed to show 

 that at the present time, corn cannot be raised for 

 less than fifty cents a bushel, unless over forty 

 bushels to the acre can be obtained, which amount 

 was considered a full average for the western part 

 of that county. 



— In commenting on the vote of the Illinois . 

 State Board of Agriculture, that no trials of speed 

 by racing shall be allowed on the Fair grounds, 

 next fall, the Turf, Field and Farm wonders 

 where all the old fogies that ^compose that Board 

 came from, and says, "We had no idea that so 

 large a body of old women, in men's clothes, could 

 be scraped together in the healthy, vigorous West, 

 and especially in the enterprising Prairie State, as 

 we find in this Board." If racing is the manly 



