388 



NEW ENGLA]SnD FAR]\IER. 



Aug. 



a time, remove the glass from the lips for a few 

 seconds, then take another swallow; in this way 

 it will be found that the thirst will be thoroughly 

 satiated before half the water has been taken; 

 whereas, if it had been swallowed continuously, 

 the whole contents would not have satisfied the 

 thirst. 



— In reply to questions by a correspondent of 

 the Prairie Farmer, "Wool Grower" says: Breed- 

 ing ewes will fatten well at even eight years of age 

 — if their teeth are yet good. Merinos fatten all 

 the better fur being at least four years old. Much 

 the best plan in fattening breeding ewes is to let 

 them go unbred. Merino sheep have to be fattened 

 in the summer and fall, then grained strongly 

 through the winter to make them keep what they 

 have. Quite old and broken-mouthed ewes can be 

 fattened only on good grass and corn meal. 



— Downing states the curl of peach trees is occa- 

 sioned by the punctures of very minute aphides, 

 or plant lice, which attack the under side of the 

 leaves. It does not materially injure either the 

 tree or the crop, yet it greatly disfigures it for a 

 time. To destroy these vermin he recommends a 

 mixture of whale-oil soap, or strong soft soap and 

 water, with some tobacco stems boiled in it, and 

 the whole applied to the branches from below with 

 a syringe or garden engine. 



— A New Brunswick correspondent of the Coun- 

 try Gentleman furnishes the following account of a 

 strange freak of a swann of bees : "Last fall one 

 of my neighbors discovered, while mowing his 

 oats, a colony of bees, which had tal^n up a lodg- 

 ment on two thistle stalks, and built comb, and 

 bred there till they had a somewhat globular 

 dwelling containing about a cubic foot of comb. 

 They had no shelter whatever except the thistles 

 and standing grain." 



— A correspondent of the Scientific American 

 gives this advice to horsemen : Whenever they no- 

 tice their horse directing his ears to any point 

 whatever, or indicating the slightest disposition to 

 become afraid, let them, instead of pulling the 

 rein to bring the horse towards the object causing 

 its nervousness, pull it on the other side. This 

 will instantly divert the attention of the horse 

 from the object which is exciting his suspicion, 

 and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the 

 horse will pay no more attention to the object, from 

 which he will fly away if forcibly driven to it by 

 pulling the wrong rein: 



— Pliny, the Roman Naturalist, who died A.D., 

 79, thus describes an ancient reaping machine : 

 "As touching the manner of cutting dounc or 

 reaping come, there be diverse and sundry devises. 

 In Fraunic where the fields be large, they use to set 

 a jade or an asse unto the taile of a mightie great 

 wheelcbarrow or carte, made in manner of a van, 

 and the same set witU keene and trenchant teeth 

 sticking out on both sides ; now is this carte driven 

 forward before the ssid beast, upon two wheeles, 



into the standing come (contrary to the manner of 

 other carts that are drawn after; the said teeth or 

 sharp tines fastened to the sides of the wheelcbar- 

 row or carte aforesaid, catch hold of the come 

 ears and cut them otf; yet so as they fall presently- 

 into the bodie of the wheelebarrow." 



— The Utica Herald says, "There is a looseness 

 in the manner in which awards are made at Fairs 

 which needs coiTCction, and which must be cor- 

 rected in some way, or the time will soon come 

 when all awards coming from such occasions will 

 be regarded l)y the public as worthless." This be- 

 ing written in New York applies to our New Eng- 

 land Societies only "so far as it goes." 



— Mr. Wm. Parry, of Burlington Co., N. J., has 

 a farm of 300 acres, thirty of which are planted 

 with the Philadelphia raspberries, twenty with the 

 Doolittle, thirty of the Nelson blackberry, ten of 

 the Lawton, fifty of the Dorchester and about 

 twenty-five of strawberries. In addition he has a 

 large number of acres devoted to experimenting 

 with new varieties of small fruits, and many more 

 as nurseries of ornamental trees. ♦ 



— A correspondent of the Rural World is in a 

 quandary. His name is William Davis, and he 

 says, "last winter I loaned my broad-axe to a 

 neighbor; afterwards four or five different men 

 called for it, at difiercnt times ; I told them yes, if 

 they could find it. B. borrowed it; C. called for 

 it ; G. got it ; H. had it, and W. wanted it. Now, 

 I need it myself— had I better go and hunt it ? 

 if so, where shall I look ? or had I better buy an- 

 other ?" 



— The editor of the Utica Herald recently visited 

 the Markham cheese factory in West Turin, 

 N. Y., at which 5114 pounds of milk per day are 

 received from 250 cows. This factory turns out 

 560 lbs. of cheese per day, and from the whey, 

 which has heretofore been considered of little 

 value, sixteen pounds of butter are made each day, 

 by a process known as the Riggs & Markham. 

 In consequence of the heating of the whey, which 

 is a part of this process, it is claimed that it is even 

 better for feeding purposes, than before the extrac- 

 tion of the butter. 



— After alluding to the fact that neighboring far- 

 mers occasionally exchange work, a correspondent 

 of the Journal of Agriculture thinks it would be 

 well for the men and women folks to do the same. 

 If some men were to do up the cooking, washing 

 dishes, baking, sweeping, dusting, washing and 

 ironing clothes, taking care of the baby and fitting 

 off the larger children for school, they would much 

 better understand the perplexities and fatigue of 

 woman's work, and be more ready by looks and 

 words to express their sympathy for hor, even if the 

 dinner for themselves and men happened to fail of 

 being upon the tal)le at the expected moment. And 

 if women better understood the disappointments 

 and annoyances of bad weather, unruly stock, de- 

 structive insects, and careless help, they might be 

 more charitable for their cross and fretful liusbands. 



