1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARJilER. 



421 



by the use of the best pump in the world ? Where 

 the banks are sandy or gravelly a large amount of 

 water can sometimes be got rid of by conducting 

 it to a hole or well dug for its reception. But are 

 you sure it cannot be drained ? 



AGRICTJLTUKAIi ITEMS. 



— There are complaints of more than usual loss 

 of lambs this season in New York. 



— Five cows recently died in Belmont Co., Ohio, 

 from drinking brine emptied from a meat barrel. 



— A writer in thQ Journal of Chemistry says that 

 a ton of tobacco exhausts the soil as much as four- 

 teen tons of wheat or fifteen tons of corn. 



—During the month of April nearly 5000 cattle 

 were exported from Canada to Buffalo, the duties 

 on them footing up $19,000. 



— Green paint in powder scattered through the 

 rooms of a house will expel all kinds of insects ; 

 so it is said. 



— William P. Hayden informs the Maine Farmer 

 that equal parts of garget root, alum and tobacco, 

 steeped together, will cure the snifiQes in sheep. It 

 should be forced up the nostrils with a syringe. 



— Some farmers who have had trouble in getting 

 single men as hired help, are finding out that it 

 pays to build plain, but comfortable cottages, for 

 tenants, and hire married men. 



— As we consume every kind of woolen fabric, 

 from horse-blankets up to superfine broadcloths, 

 so do we require every kind of wool, from the 

 coarsest up to the finest. 



— It is said an Ethan Allen colt, after having 

 been pronounced worthless as a trotter, was sold in 

 Boston, five years ago, for $120. The purchaser 

 has recently been offered 12,000 for him. 



— It is said that it takes 100 pounds of green 

 clover grass to make twenty-five pounds of hay, 

 while 100 pounds of witch- or quack grass will 

 make forty pounds of hay. 



— Mr. Meeker, agricultural editor of the "kew 

 York Tribune, recently stated that strawberries 

 have not averaged over twelve cents per quart, in 

 that city this season. 



— The average life of a mowing machine is five 

 years ; some T^ill use a mower or a reaper twenty 

 years ; but the average number of farmers buy a 

 new machine once in five years. 



— It is said that Bonner feeds his horses from a 

 box sitting on the floor, as he believes it is natural 

 for them to take their food from a level with their 

 feet. 



— Less than one year since a North Carolinian 

 commenced a cheese factory. He has now 180 

 cows, and has made and marketed over 8000 lbs. 

 of cheese. 



— The Dixie Farmer publishes an article on the 

 prevention of weevil in wheat. It is done by salt-' 



ing as the grain is put up in the bin— a half pound 

 to the bushel. 



— The Irish Farmers' gazette says the subject of 

 selling adulterated fertilizers attracts no little at- 

 tention in that country, and adds that a large pro- 

 portion of the Peruvian guano sold in Ireland is 

 made up of chalk, clay, marl, powdered bricks 

 and washed out phosphate guanos. 



—Mr. Knox, the famous fniit grower of Pitts- 

 burgh, Pa., does not cultivate his strawberries deep- 

 ly, but very slightly to kill the weeds. Manures 

 freely, but does not believe in underdraining. Does 

 not like to keep a bed over four years. Uses light 

 coating of straw for mulch. 



— Shirley Hibbard tells us that in London all 

 the honey made by the city bees is more or less 

 contaminated ^vith soot. One cup of honey gath- 

 ered in 1858 was so discolored with soot that it 

 took two months to settle,, and then the bottom of 

 the jar was coated with a black deposit, although 

 the honey itself became comparatively clear. • 



— The Arabs, the most careful of their horses of 

 all people, do most of their horse-feeding at night. 

 They say that feeding in the day time does not 

 impart so much vigor and elasticity to the animals 

 as night mastication does. Their saying is that 

 "barley at night goes to the buttock — in the morn- 

 ing to the manure." They afibrd water too very 

 sparingly during the day time. 



— Since the railroad was opened through to St. 

 Albans, there has been shipped to Bdston from that 

 place over 38,000,000 pounds of butter and over 

 18,000,000 pounds of cheese, which brought about 

 $14,000,000. The sales of butter and cheese, in a 

 single day, at St. Albans, often amount to from 

 $20,000 to $30,000; and per year not less tl^an 

 $1,500,000. 



— The Ecoiiomist, (New York,) states that the 

 imports of foreign wool at New York for the first 

 half of the calendar year are only about half the 

 quantity and value of those for the same period of 

 last year. "For the first six months of 1867 we 

 imported 13,000,000 lbs., valued at $2,233,000, 

 against 6,700,000 lbs. this year (1868,) valued at 

 $1,105,000." 



— Up to June first, three cows belonging to Dea. 

 Abiel Peabody, of Weston, Vt., which came -in 

 during the month of February, had produced 325 

 pounds of butter sold ; two calves sold for $22 ; 

 one calf raised and worth $25. The cows are a 

 mixture of Durham, Devon and native blood. Mr. 

 Peabody adds, as the result of his experience and 

 observation, that "six good cows well kept will 

 produce more than twelve common cows poorly 

 kept." 



— An Iljinois correspondent of the Country Gen- 

 tleman believes that the climate in the praiile sec- 

 tions is changing ; that the heat is becoming more 

 oppressive and the cooling breezes less frequent. 

 Before cultivation, says he, "the sloughs remain 



