1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



48r? 



the owner to make a tea of white pine 

 boughs, while I told him to boil com cobs, 

 and give her the broth. He gave her both, 

 and the cow got along nicely. 



And this brings me to the much mooted 

 question of the value of corn cobs. If you 

 have to pay toll for grinding them, they may 

 not pay. But they may be used more eco- 

 nomically. I once knew a widow lady who 

 was remarkable for the good condition and 

 fine appearance of her cattle, and for the small 

 amount of hay she used in wintering them. 

 She boiled all the cobs she could collect, and 

 gave the tea or broth to her two cows and 

 to her weak or sick sheep and lambs. In case 

 of sickness, her favorite medicine was Harlem 

 Oil, or Medicamentum. So successful was 

 she that the neighbors used to say that she 

 would take a dead lamb, and after bringing it 

 to life, it would start off bleating, "Medica- 

 mentum and corn cobs cured me." 



I once tried the experiment by boiling three 

 times a day a pailful of cobs, sprinkling on a 

 little salt, and about two tablespoonfuls of meal 

 to each painful of cobs, and gave them to the 

 cow warm. With the cobs and 1400 pounds 

 of bushy hay during the winter, she came out 

 fat enough for beef. For sick cows or sheep, 

 I do not know of anything better than the 

 broth of cobs to give them a start. 

 Ked -Water. , 



If I had a creature troubled with Red Wa- 

 ter, I should give it cob broth and white pine 

 tea. 



Sick Hogs. 



I agree with Mr. Whatmore that chamber 

 lye is good for a hog, especially when applied 

 as a wash, but sour buttermilk is better. For 

 a sick hog, pulverized blood-root is a good 

 remedy, given freely; also garget or poke 

 root. 



Grub, or Dung "Worm. 



How shall we get rid of the grub or dung 

 worm ? I am trying an experiment by satu- 

 rating my manure heap with gas water. I am 

 of the opinion that enough of this runs into the 

 Merrimac river to kill all the worms for five 

 miles, on both sides, below Manchester. 

 Banking up Apple Trees. 



I have been banking up apple trees with 

 good results. I have one that came up in the 

 bottom of. a potato hole, that I am filling up 

 gradually, and It grows vigorously. 



Norman Call. 



Allenstown, N. H., 1868. 



Cherry Poison. — On last Saturday, says 

 the Intelligencer, published at Horse Cave, 

 Mo., while Mr. F. M. Richie, who lives 

 eight miles from our town, was ploughing near 

 a wild cherry tree that stood by a cross fence, 

 Bome of the limbs of which were in his way, 

 he trimmed off a mere armful and dropped 



them across the fence into the pasture of Mr. 

 B. F. Thompson, in which was one of his fine 

 milch cows, and also one belonging to Mr. 

 James Bishop. On Sunday morning these two 

 cows found the cherry limbs and eat the leaves 

 off them, and in less than half an hour, or 

 before they had walked twenty steps from the 

 limbs, they both died. 



AGRICULTURAL LABOR. 

 After alluding to the auspicious opening of 

 the exhibition of the New England Agricultu- 

 ral Society at New Haven, and to former 

 expressions of his views on various agricultu- 

 ral subjects, the president, Dr. Loring, in his 

 address, spoke as follows : — 



The application of labor in its various 

 branches constitutes, in reality, the wealth of 

 a nation. Nature presents her riches for 

 man's necessity, comfort and enjoyment ; and 

 only asks him to use his industry and skill for 

 the utilization of what she so bountifully be- 

 stows. Mines and forests and virgin soils all 

 wait for his vitalizing hand. It is labor in all 

 Its diverse channels which domesticates the 

 untamed products, bringing their ores and 

 minerals forth from their gloomy beds Into all 

 service of grace and use and beauty, — con- 

 verting the forests into cheerful and splendid 

 abodes, and making "the desert blossom like 

 the rose." Subservient labor here, free and 

 enlightened labor there, gives to each sphere 

 in which it is employed, character and thought, 

 and social and civil condition. With us it Is 

 the application of independent and aspiring 

 labor, which forms the most Important problem 

 now occupying the best thought of the times. 

 Subservient, exhausted, ignorant, wearied la- 

 bor cannot, in this country, be longer profita- 

 ble or useful. Whether applied to manufac- 

 tures, or the mechanic arts, or agriculture, it 

 must now perform the largest amount of work 

 in the shortest space of time, to be accordant 

 with the necessities of this era. Slow, toil- 

 some, tedious effort In the business of convert- 

 ing the raw material Into articles of use and 

 beauty cannot be profitable to either the em- 

 ployer or the employed. It Is rapid and eco- 

 nomical production by machinery which ena- 

 bles us to compete with other countries where 

 labor Is cheaper than In our own ; and It Is 

 the skilful useof machinery here which enables 

 the laborer to accomplish his task, with the 

 assurance of an ample reward, and of leisure 

 sufficient to give rest to his mental and physi- 

 cal faculties. A half century ago hard labor 

 accomplished in many hours what Is now per- 

 formed in fewer minutes. And as the pecu- 

 niary necessities of the laborer have increased, 

 so have his opportunities for a more ample . 

 compensation been Increased by placing in hia 

 hands well-constructed and Ingenious ma- 



