1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARTHER. 



245 



ears on that part of the land to which the compost 

 was applied. Does not this show that we have the 

 ingredients for making our own fertilizers ? 



How did U happen that the old man in your 

 paper of January loth, hailed from Brooktield, 

 Mass. ? Perhaps I was thinking of my younger 

 days, when I Avas manufacturing scythe snathes, 

 in Sterling, Worcester County, and wrote, "Mass." 

 I will trv to do better this time. v. b. 



Brookfield, Vt., Feb., 1868. 



LAUREL POISONING. 



About two years ago we published several reme- 

 dies for sheep and lambs poisoned by eating laurel 

 on being turned in the spring, when hungry for 

 browse, into pastures in which this shrub grows. 

 Among the medicines recommended were a strong 

 decoction of bruised white ash twigs, a gag to pre- 

 vent the animal from swallowing the greenish fluid 

 which it is constantly gulping, lard, castor oil, 

 sweet oU, &c. 



Mr. H. C. Merriam, of Lowell, Mass., informs 

 us that he invariably provides a quantity of castor 

 oil every spring for this purpose, and that he finds 

 it entirely satisfactory, if administered in season. 



Mr. William Morse, of Canton, Mass., adminis- 

 ters four or five teaspoonfuls of a mixture of 

 two parts chamberlye, and one part yellow loam, 

 by measure, with success, in case of lambs ; and 

 something like a pint for honied cattle, of which 

 he has had some badly poisoned. In case of cattle, 

 it must be given from a bottle. Yellow sand will 

 not answer. It must be that yellow loam, which, 

 when rubbed in the hand leaves a distinct coloring 

 on the palm. 



FEEC rOR SUCKLING SHEEP. 



Will some of your numerous readers inform me 

 which is the best feed to start the milk in sheep 

 that are having lambs now, but do not have milk 

 enough. The sheep are in good condition. Tur- 

 nips, I have none. G. W. Davis. 



Wait's River, Vt., March 26, 1S68. 



Remarks. — The suggestions of experienced 

 sheep raisers on this point will undoubtedly prove 

 useful to many young and less experienced farmers. 

 Pasture feed is probably the one thing needful. 

 But when this is not to be had, the nearest possible 

 approximation to that is naturally suggested. 

 Roots, browse, early cut hay, &c., have undoubt- 

 edly been thought of by our coiTCspondent. Other 

 things being equal, some cow keepers say that 

 water, sUghtly warmed, will, in cold weather, con- 

 siderably increase the flow of milk May it not be 

 so with sheep ? 



THE SICK ox. 



I have cured several oxen with symptoms like 

 those described by "A Subscriber" in Farmer of 

 January 2-5, by tilling an emptied egg shell with 

 soot from a stone chimney, powdered and mixed 

 in equal quantities with fine salt, and putting it 

 down the ox's throat. Administer one such dose 

 each morning for thi'ee days, then omit for three 

 days, and repeat until you have given it nine 

 mornings. Amos Kidder. 



Alstead, N. H., Feb. 1, 1868. 



labks' fefpttrtmtnt. 



SCHOOL CHILDREN. 



Past my window, cloud or shine. 

 Daily patter little feet, 

 Through the rain, or wind, or sleet, 

 On the cold and icy street. 

 Patter daily little feet. 



First I heard them in the spring, 

 When the golden-vestured hours 

 Brought the first young straying flowers 

 From the Southland's fadeless bowers 

 To this wintry realm of ours. 



Some were rough, and jDrown, ard bare 

 Some were dressed with nicest care ; 

 Some were merry, chubby, fair; 

 Some were slow, and scarred, and spare- 

 Taught too soon life's toil to share. 



But these varied little feet 



Patter up the self-same street. 



Running oft along the edge, 



On the green turt by the hedge, * 



So to feel the soft caress 



Of the violets they press ; 



But the violets I weet 



Tenderest arc to scarred feet — 



Unlike thoughtless human love, 



Soothing least what needs its love. 



Every morn I listen now 



For the sound of little feet, 



'Neath my window in the street; 



And I wish to be a child. 



With heart free as tresses wild 



From the world's restraint and rule, 



Hurrying to the village school. s 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY; 



or, 

 HOW TO ISIAIvE HOME PLEASANT. 



BY ANNE G. HALE. 



[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 

 1866, by R. P. Eaton & Co., in the Clerk's Office of the 

 District Court for the District of Massachusetts.! 



CHAPTER X. 

 WOMAN'S OUT-DOOR WORK— GARDENING- 

 VINES. 



" 'Woman's oiit-door work,' " says a fastidious 

 reader, — "woman's out-door work ?" We are not 

 savage Hottentots, to build the hut, and hunt and 

 fish, while our lords and masters smoke, or sleep, 

 or quarrel ; nor half-civilized Chinese, to delve 

 and dig while John tends the babies, and cooks 

 the rice, and does the weekly mending ; nor yet, 

 stupid, ignorant European peasants, whose un- 

 couth figures and hard features and bronzed com- 

 plexions tell of the degrading toil to M'hich they 

 and their ancestors have been doomed for centu- 

 ries. 



Do not be too hasty, friend. Surely the good 

 housewife even here, in free America, in this age 

 of culture and refinement, has out-door as well as 

 in-door duties to perform. Duties, too, which she 

 may not delegate to others without depriving her- 

 self of large means of intellectual and physical 



