224 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



May 



were the last and strongest of his cattle of that 

 age. Nothing was discovered when the skins 

 were removed ; the carcases showing a healthy 

 condition next to the skin. What was the dis- 

 ease ? ' F. 

 Mast Tard, X. H., March 4, 1868. 



Remarks. — Who can answer that question? 

 W^ere they poisoned by bad water, or by any im- 

 proper food, such as rusty straw, &c. 



CUTTING OATS GREEN. 



At a recent meeting of the Waitsfield, (Vt.) 

 Farmers' and Mechanics' Club, 0. E. Wilder 

 stated that last summer he cut an acre of oats soon 

 after they were headed out, and this winter he fed 

 them to 10 cows, lasting them for their entire feed, 

 three weeks and four days — nearly equal to thirty- 

 six weeks for one cow. The cows meanwhile in- 

 creased in their milk, when naturally they would 

 have decreased on ordinary fodder. The land 

 was seeded to grass, and he intends to put what 

 grows on the same piece next year by itself, and 

 feed it to the same number of cows, and note the 

 result. He thinks that he cut the oats a little too 

 early, and that if they had been left till full in the 

 milk thej' might have been better. He also be- 

 lieves that the fertility of the soil was not exhaus- 

 ted nearly as much as if the oats had ripened. 

 More of us, I think, will try cutting oats for fod- 

 der next summer. Ned. 



West field, Vt., 1868. 



Remarks. — Wc have cut oats for fodder several 

 times, and when we have seen how much of the 

 straw was left among the orts by the cows, we 

 have almost every year concluded that we did not 

 cut them early enough. 



WASTE FROM WOOLEN MILLS. 



I should like to know how to make a good ma- 

 nure of the dye-stuflf or picker-waste that comes 

 from woolen mills. "W. 



Blackstone, Mass., Jan. 18, 1868. 



Remarks. — The waste of woolen mills is con- 

 sidered a very valuable material in the compost 

 heap. Mr. T. S. Lang of Vassalboro', Me., uses 

 the ashes and waste from an extensive mill in his 

 neighborhood. From notes of a visit to his farm, 

 published some time since in the Maine Farmer, 

 we learn that after being mixed with muck it is in 

 this case saturated with the contents of the privies 

 connected with the mills. Where this cannot be 

 done it is formed into composts of thin alternate 

 layers with loam, turf, &c., or left in heaps to heat 

 and decompose. The "dye-stuff or picker-waste" 

 may be less valuable than that usually known as 

 "wool waste." 



LAMPBLACK. 



1 have a lot of lampblack not suitable for the 

 purposes intended. Can I use it to any advantage 

 in mv garden ? If so. how shall I apply it ; 



Medford, Mfiss., Feb. 10, 1868. A Reader. 



Remarks.— It is not often that -the farmer has 

 an opportunity to experiment with lampblack as 

 a fertilizer. In Europe, where everything of a 

 vcgctalile or animal origin is more carefully 

 saved than here, soot which is probably something 

 like lampblack, is regarded of much value as a fer- 

 tilizer, and it is also used to protect plants from 



insects. It is said that as high as $45 per load has 

 been paid in England for soot for the purpose of 

 killing insects. Three or four qiuirts of soot dis- 

 solved in a barrel of water is said to be about equal 

 to guano as a liquid manure, especially for flowers. 

 About eighteen bushels is said to make a valuable 

 dressing for an acre. Whether lampblack would 

 prove equally valuable for these purposes, we can 

 not say. But as lampblack "consists of finely di- 

 vided carbon, more or less mixed with the various 

 compounds into which the elements of vegetable 

 substances resolve themselves when submitted to 

 the process of destructive distillation," we think it 

 must be valuable in the compost or manure heap, 

 in which form, perhaps, it may be most convenient- 

 ly applied. 



the greatest amount of cow feed. 



I am a "Mechanic" having i acre of good land, 

 which has been planted to potatoes five or six 

 years. Having a good cow I want to lay this 

 land down to grass this spring. I want to get the 

 greatest amount of good feed for next winter. 

 Now, Mr. Editor, how should you manage it if it 

 were yours. Do you bind the Monthlj' Farmer ? 

 What is the cost of binding ? Please name the 

 handsomest evergreen bush, and you will oblige 

 A Reader of the Monthly. 



East Ahington, Mass., Feb. 22, 1868. 



Remarks. — The greatest amount of feed can 

 undoubtedly be obtained by the "soiling" plan — 

 that is, by raising "cow corn," rye, oats, roots, &c. 

 It is estimated that one acre thus managed will do 

 as much as from three to seven in pasture. Being 

 a mechanic you and your boys need the out door 

 work. Suppose you buy the little work on Soiling, 

 by Mr. Quincy, of A. Williams & Co., and see what 

 you think of it. The Monthly is neatly bound 

 for 75 cents. Tastes differ as to evergreens ; but, 

 if it were dear-bought and far-fetched, what would 

 be more beautiful than a white pine ? 



SPRUNG KNEES. 



For sprung knees in a horse, we use equal parts 

 of common soft soap and water applied warm and 

 well rubbed in, and rub the legs dry. One should 

 spend half an hour three times a day in this way 

 for ten days, letting tlie horse stand in the stable 

 or pasture without using. In this way we have 

 known a badly sprung knee to be nearly straight- 

 ened to its original place, after which it was 

 washed for two or three week -, three times a day in 

 a decoction made by steeping the inner bark of 

 white oak (taken from a young growing tree) until 

 the water was of a reddish hue, and mixing the 

 oak juice with the best of brandy, at the rate of 

 two parts of oak juice to one of brandy; and 

 rubbed freely. z. 



Reading, Mass., March 10, 1868. 



itch in pigs. 

 Having a lot of young store pigs troubled with 

 the itch and scurvy, which kept them miserably 

 poor, I gave them two or three doses of stone 

 Ijrinistone, grated fine — the powdered being too 

 weak, — in some skim or sour milk to ensure their 

 eating it. A day or two before giving thcni the 

 brimstone I grease them well along the ijack, all 

 over the head and ears, and behind the fore legs. 



