824 



NEW ENGLAND EARLIER. 



July 



we could sec the place, to a row, whereithe wet and 

 dry work was done. The corn on the wet land 

 was yellow, did not grow as fast as the rest, and at 

 harvest time, the workmen (though not aware of 

 the reason,) noticed the dilfcrence as soon as they 

 came to it— that which was worked wet yielding 

 one-third less. 



— Ohio has not as yet located the agricultural 

 college, for the endowment of whiuh the Congres- 

 sional grant of 630,000 acres of land was accepted 

 by her legislature. Several sections are about to 

 present pi-oposals for its location. 



— For chapped hands and for the removal of 

 pitch or the grim of hard work, and to keep them 

 clean and soft, Mr. J. Weston says, in the Mirror 

 a7id Farmer, that he has never found anything 

 equal to raw linseed oil, a bottle of which he al- 

 ways keeps near his sink. 



— A field badly infested by wire worms was 

 summer fallowed one season by Judge Owen, of 

 Herkimer, N. Y., ploughing it three times, and the 

 worms were cirectually starved out. Alderman 

 Mechi, of England, finds six bushels of salt per 

 acre a sure cure. 



— If a farmer in Wisconsin plants a row of trees 

 along the road, he is exempt from working on the 

 road; wlioever hu:ts one of these little ones is 

 fined $0 ; .and the State Horticultural Society 

 offers a premium of $'100 for the best ten acres of 

 forest trees, and .f -50 for the second best. 



— A hen has the capacity of laying six hundred 

 eggs — and no moi-e. Usually they lay a few the 

 first year ; from three hundred and twenty to three 

 hundred and seventy in the next three years ; and 

 the rest from the fifth to the ninth year inclusive. 

 The true economy, therefore, it will be seen, is not 

 to keep hens after their fourth j'ear. 



— A correspondent of the Rural New Yorker 

 says, a neighbor of his saved a fine litter of pigs 

 from a ravenous sow by the following plan. He 

 took the pigs away and gave the mother a pint of 

 whiskey, which made her drunk, and while in that 

 condition he carefully replaced the pigs, and she 

 was afterwards as good a mother as was necessary. 

 Queer remedy. 



— H. A. Sheldon, of Middlcbury, Vt., informs 

 the Now York Farmers' Club that he suc- 

 ceeded in rai,-ing a large crop of plums last year, 

 by applying to his trees, with a small hand forcing 

 pump, water that had stood in an emptied gas-tar 

 barrel "until it was dark colored as coffee, and 

 pungent as creosote." He repeated it once in three 

 days, but did not find a plum stung after the first 

 application. 



— To those who have worn down their teeth 

 masticating tough beef, the Western Rural says 

 that carbonate of soda will be found a remedy for 

 , the evil. Cut the steaks the day before using into 

 slices about two inches thick. Rub over them a 

 small quantity of soda. Wash the next morning 

 and cut into suitable thickness, and cook to taste. 



The same process will answer for fowls, legs of 

 mutton, &c. 



— If everybody should farm right, and raise 

 large crops, we should hardly find a market for 

 them. But there is no danger. Our productions 

 do not keep pace with our population. Farming 

 is not popular. And those who stick to the land, 

 and bend all iheir energies to increase its prodtic- 

 tiveness, have every prospect of abundant success. 

 Good farming will pay. 



— The New York commission to investigate the 

 causes of abortion among the dairy cows, visited 

 1,577 farms and received in all 4,259 reports, from 

 ten States, expending #6,417.27, and yet, with the 

 best attainable talent, and all this information, the 

 cause was not ascertained. This may be worth 

 thinking about by those who expect an editor to 

 know exactly the cause and reasons' for anything 

 unusual or injurious. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



HORSE FOR GENERAL UTILITY. 



Some of our agricultural societies have offered pre- 

 miums for the "best stock horseof general utility." 

 Will some one give us a description of the breed 

 or animal which answers to that description ? The 

 breeders in Vennont, New Hampshire, Maine anp 

 Massachusetts, should have an idea of all the 

 styles of horses in demand, that they may act in- 

 telligently in their selection of horses to breed from, 

 and a full description of a horse for all work, or of 

 "general utility" would interest many readers of 

 the Farmer, as well as one 



Old Subscriber. 



Plymouth, May 18, 1868. 



Remarks. — The idea which is expressed by the 

 terms quoted by our correspondent, might also 

 perhaps be conveyed by another word — medium. 

 The wealihy land- holders of England ^n keep a 

 breed of race horses that do nothing but race, a 

 breed of hunters that are used only for hunting, a 

 breed of heavy horses that are good only for thQ 

 dray or draft; breeds also for the coach, the farm, 

 &c. But all this is not possible with the one-horse 

 farmers of New England. We require a blending 

 of the various qualities of these Ijrccds into one 

 animal, that may well be characterized asa"horse 

 of general utility," a "horse of all work" or a "me- 

 dium horse." AVe require an animal of fair weight, 

 fair strength, fair si)eed, hardy and gentle. When 

 put before the best carriage he must step off 

 briskly, if not loftily ; when hitched to a plough, 

 cultivator or mowing machine, he must fill his col- 

 lar ; and when put into a team with oxen he must 

 beat time in harmony with their slower motions. 

 Such are a few of the points of the "horse of gen- 

 eral utility ;" and perhaps the Morgans and Mes- 

 sengers of New England till the bill as well as 

 any races in the country. 



poverty and ionorance of farmers. 

 I cannot consent that fanning, as a profession, 

 should be put down in the manner that your cor- 

 respondent Billy Styx, has attempted to do it. 



