482 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



hay. There is as much deterioration in cutting 

 meadow hay late, as upland hay. In either 

 case the. bfst time to cut hay is when the juices 

 are beginning to harden. 



Every good farmer will aim at the improve- 

 ment of his lands every year. Unless he does 

 so, bushes will grow larger from year to year, 

 rooks will appear more numerous on the up- 

 land, the pastures will furnish less feed, and 

 in a few years there will be a general aspect 

 of decaj' on the farm, the fences and the build- 

 inas. Neglect will tax us heavily, while thrift 

 will add to our resources without our scarcely 

 knowing it. Then again, whenever we make 

 uny real improvement, it stimulates us to do 

 ^omrtbing more. We feel encouraged by 

 what we have done, and engage in something 

 <lse with the greater pleasure, no matter 

 whether it be clearing up a meadow, building 

 a new fence, or preparing for the next year's 

 crop. — Maine Farmer. 



MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY. 



A good deal of experience has taught us 

 that success in the poultry-yard depends as 

 much upon good general management as upon 

 any other one thing. When the eggs of any 

 hens indifferently are kept for the purpose of 

 raising young chickens, and when little atten- 

 tion is paid to the particular hens reserved for 

 laying, it will in general be found that the 

 profits are small, and the quality of fowls 

 raised rapidly deteriorates. 



In addition to the usual plan of selecting 

 only the best formed and quietest hens for 

 breeding purposes, we have found it of advan- 

 tage to pay considerable attention to the age 

 of the fowls which we retain. For the pro- 

 duction of eggs for domestic consumption, we 

 never keep hens beyond their second year, 

 but for raiding chickens we have found it to be 

 poor policy to employ eggs laid by hens of 

 lesa tlian two }ears old. We have always 

 found that the chickens from the older hens 

 are more easily raised, have stronger consti- 

 tutions^ and turn out every way better than 

 those laised from eggs laid by very young 

 pullets. At the same time such old hens do 

 not lay as many eggs. The eggs, conse- 

 quently, cost more, but this extra expense is 

 but a small item on the number of eggs usu- 

 ally enij)loyed for hatching. 



In order to have eggs during winter, be- 

 sides the usual appliances of meat, lime, sand, 

 bones, &c., we always make sure of having 

 some very early chickens. The pullets of 

 these will commence to lay in October or No- 

 vember, and will lay throughout the winter. 

 Next season we draft a few of the very best 

 of these and keep them as breeders, the bal- 

 ance being fattened and killed off as soon as 

 they have positively ceased laving. At this 

 time it is woriderful how rapidly hens take on 

 /at. We often see accounta of hens not laj ing 



because they are too fat. When considering 

 the ease with which hens ia^ien as soon as they 

 cease laying for the season, we have often 

 thought that the true way to state the case ia 

 that they fattened because they did not lay. 

 At this age they are delightfully tender and 

 juicy, and we would about as soon think of 

 fattening a cow that gave twenty quarts of 

 milk a day as to think of fattening a laying 

 hen.— Co. Oent. 



TEXAS CATTLE DISEASE. 



Large numbers of cattle from Texas have 

 been recently brought into Illinois, Missouri, 

 Indiana, &c., and there is considerable excite- 

 ment among farmers there in consequence of 

 the disease which they communicate to the 

 other cattle. In Illinois, Missouri, and Kan- 

 sas there are stringent laws against their intro- 

 duction into these States, and it appears that 

 the people are'determined that these laws shall 

 be enforced, and the ftu-ther importation of 

 these cattle prevented. The Chicago Repub- 

 lican gives the following account of the dis- 

 ease: 



This malady is peculiar to this Texas breed. 

 The disease seems to have acquired a home in 

 the constitution of animals bred and reared 

 there, and lurks in them in a latent form until 

 favorable circumstances develop it, when it be- 

 comes both contagious and infectious. It is 

 similar in character to the cattle plague of Rus- 

 sia and the rinderpest of England. Animals 

 affected by it become dull, stupid, stiff, separ- 

 ate from the herd, are not inclined to eat, are 

 seized with trembling, cramping, staggering, 

 falling, and the joints become compressed. 

 Some become perfectly blind. The blood be- 

 comes very black and thick ; the heart is only 

 slightly affected ; the lungs appear perfectly 

 sound and healthy ; the second stomach is very 

 much contracted, with the fecal matter dry, 

 hard, and compact; the paunch, or first stom- 

 ach, is almost empty ; the bowels are contract- 

 ed, nearly empty, and extremely costive ; the 

 bladder generally contains but a small quanti- 

 ty of thick, highly- colored urine, sometimes 

 discharging a considerable quantity of bloody 

 urine. 



The theory of careful observers who have 

 watched to discover the manner in which this 

 disease was communicated so certainlj', and 

 with such fatal effect to oiu" own herds, is that 

 our grasses have the effect upon the Texas 

 stock to eliminate the poison through their 

 kidneys and bowels, and perhaps through the 

 lungs, which being doposited in the pasture, is 

 left ready to infect the first herd which follows 

 after them. Our Northern cattle, not being 

 acclimated to the disease, are readily suscepti- 

 ble to the infection of the poison, and suffer 

 accordingly. 



