1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAE]\IER. 



285 



tivator and hoe to stir the surface and keep weeds 

 down are sufficient, without deep trenching around 

 the hill. When the manure is ploughed in, the 

 roots diverging from the hill get the benefit of it. 

 A shovel full in a hill, acts upon a limited surfiice 

 only. So it is with corn, the roots do not gtay in 

 the hill where the shovel full of manure is dropped, 

 but they seek from afar the nourishment with 

 which to give you the "full corn in the car." If 

 the farmer would, as was said by one of your late 

 correspondents, plough in his manure at the second 

 ploughing, say four or five inches deep, his land 

 would be pulverized and made more mellow, and 

 his corn would show the result at hari^est time. 

 Here again experiments are wanted. Plant alter- 

 nate rows of com, in hills, in the usual manner 

 and in drills, and report the yield of each in the 

 Fakmer. H. Poor, 



Brooklyn, L. L, April 25, 1868. 



FOOT DISEASE IN SHEEP. 



Can you or some of your readers tell me what is 

 the matter with my sheep, and what will cure 

 them ? In about one week after I bought them, 

 they began to be lame, and small round sores be- 

 tween the toes appeared, that soon spread over all 

 the space between the toes and up as high as the 

 issue. I have doctored them for the foot-rot, and 

 have used Whittemorc's Patent Foot-rot Medicine 

 once; hot tar, once; powdered blue vitriol, tur- 

 pentine, white lead, and vinegar, twice; pure 

 nitric acid, three times; blue vitriol, vinegar and 

 turpentine, three times; white lead, blue vitriol, 

 (powdered,) turpentine, linseed oil, five times. 1 

 began doctoring in November, and in March the 

 flock was nearly well, but now there is hardly a 

 sound sheep in a flock of eighty. Two have died. 

 The disease has not worked under the hoof. I 

 have acted on the best advice I could obtain. 



Ascutneyville, Vt., Aptil 15, 1868. D. f. a. 



CORN COB MEAL. 



A few years ago, after having perused a long 

 treatise in favor of cob meal as a feeder, I con- 

 cluded to try it, although at the time I placed no 

 confidence in it as a food ; for I could not see how 

 a dry cob, with no taste or smell, could possibly be 

 nutrition!-', — scientific researches and analysis to 

 the contrary, notwithstanding. Fearing the ridi- 

 cule of my neighbors, I loaded into my wagon 

 about twelve bushels of cobs, minus the corn, and 

 a few bushels of clear corn, and started for a grist- 

 mill eight miles from home, when there was an ex- 

 cellent one within about one and a Italf miles. 

 When I arrived at the mill and told the miller my 

 object, my mortification was still more increased 

 by being informed that the toll for grinding the 

 cohs would have to come out of the corn, as the 

 cobs were useless to the miller. However, I was 

 not going to give up the trial, after having come 

 that distance, without satisfying myself; so I had 

 my cobs ground, paid my toil out of the com and 

 went home. 



That night I fed my cattle a good ration of 

 gi;ound cobs, but instead of eating'it they turned 

 up their noses in unfeigned scorn and lowed lus- 

 tily for something better. This, too, was a damper 

 on my feelings, but I suppressed my chagrin and 

 consoled myself with the thought that not being 

 used to the food they would not eat it until they 

 knew what it was. So I mixed a little corn-meal 

 with it and tried them oti that. I found from sev- 

 eral trials that they would eat it that way ; but the 

 only trouble was that I could not mix more than 

 about a pint of the cob meal with a peck of the 

 corn meal, or they would not touch it, so I gave 

 up the cherished idea of feeding cob meal and re- 

 turned to the trodden path of my forefathers. 



Afterwards, however, I tried feeding meal, made 

 of the corn and cob ground together, to my horses, 

 the result of which nearly proved disastrous to 

 my team, as it caused such a stoppage of the 

 bowels and urinary organs as to be nearly fatal. 

 The moment I stoi)r)ed feeding them on this mix- 

 ture and resumed the clear com meal they were all 

 right again. 



I was at one time speaking to the proprietor of a 

 line of stages that formerly run between Burling- 

 ton and Montpelier, in regard to the effect of this 

 meal on my horses, and he told me "they had lost 

 more horses in that way than any other." There 

 seems to be an acid in the cob that contracts the 

 intestines and bladder, and in that way causes the 

 stoppage. My experience, which they say is the 

 best teacher, has led me to e«chew the use of cobs 

 entirely as food for my stock, and should advise 

 all who feel interested in the welfare of their cattle 

 to do the same. Nix Cobbs. 



North Underhill, Vt., April, 1868. 



XICE ON CATTLE. 



A thorough washing of cattle in water in which 

 potatoes have been boiled, with a sprinkle of ashes 

 under them occasionally, I will warrant to prevent 

 their ever being troubled with Uce. I think hens 

 should never be a' lowed to roost with cattle. 



Port Kent, N. T., Feb., 1867. J. C. Miller. 



CURATIVE MEDICINE FOR FOWLS. 



Indian meal, lard and cayenne, mixed of suita- 

 ble consistency to be administeredby putting the left 

 forefinger into the biddy's mouth and force a pellet 

 of the dough into the throat; then gently work 

 it towards the crop. I knew it to cure a pullet in a 

 cold night, that failed to roost, and one whose 

 claws were drawn up, and thus made helpless, and 

 a rooster that kept putting his head to the gi'ound. 

 and going heels over. These cases were cured in 

 an hour. C. Nembysee. 



York County, Me., April, 1868. 



AGBICULTUKAL ITEMS. 



— The Contoocook Agricultural and Mechanical 

 Society will hold its next fair at Hillsborough 

 Bridge, September 16 and 17. 



— The London dairymen have decided that the 

 most profitable cows are graded short homs, not 

 because they give more milk, but because when 

 past milking, they make most beef. 



— The veterinary editor of Wilkes^ Spirit of the 

 Times recommends the following for scratches in 

 a horse : Take sulphate of zinc, one drachm ; gly- 

 cerine, two ounces ; apply every morning. 



— A correspondent of Wilkes' Spirit urges that 

 early breeding has produced the deterioration in 

 horses rather thnn in-nnd-in breeding. He advises 

 never to breed a mare to a stallion under six, and 

 never before the mare is five. 



— Mr. E. Borland, of Sherwood, N. Y., writes 

 to the New York Farmers' Club that his cows 

 were bitten by mad dogs, and about two weeks 

 afterward he found greenish lumps in the milk, 

 about the size of peas, and holes were continually 

 eaten through the pans. 



— In selecting cows for dairying, or furnishing 

 milk for market, the Farmer's Cabinet directs as 



