542 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Deo. 



upon vegetation, varies greatly at different 

 times. Sonietimes a slight fro^t destroys all 

 vegetable lil'e, while another year, a frost in 

 which the temperature is considerably lower, 

 appears to do but little injury. There was a 

 smart fro^t the present season, September 28, 

 which we supposed would effectually destroy 

 all the vines, but much to our surprise the 

 tomatoes and beans and grape vines continued 

 fresh and green, and we frequently heard the 

 remark, IIow little injury the frost has done ! 

 Thtre could be no mijtake about the severity 

 of the cold. There was not only frost, but a 

 freeze. We actually saw ice made on the sur- 

 face of water standing bj'^ the house. 



Thinking of the subjpct, it occurred to us 

 that the frozen articles had thawed under cov- 

 er, with a partial exclusion of the I'ght. A 

 heav)' damp cloud hung over the surface of 

 the earth like a thick blanket, and shut off the 

 rays of the sun, and continued till sometime in 

 the afternoon. The morning was cold and 

 chilly, and the thrawing took place gradually, 

 and. under just that combination of circum- 

 stances that would be most likely to prevent in- 

 jury from the frost. If the sun had shone out 

 bright and clear the next morning, the bean 

 and tomato leaves would have turned black, 

 the com leaves white, and the injury would 

 have been much greater than it proved. 

 A change of wind that cendensed the vapor 

 and suspended it near the surface of the earth, 

 saved the plants. 



Light especially when imparted by the direct 

 rays of the sun, is an agent of great power, 

 and although we have lived in it all our days 

 and bathed in an ocean of light, how little do 

 we know of its properties and powers. It is 

 the great organizer by which nature builds up 

 all her living organizations, and it is also adis- 

 organizer, by which organisms are reduced to 

 their elements, to be again used as materials 

 for building up other organisms. It is one 

 of the forces of nature, and the more we un- 

 derstand the laws by which it is governed, the 

 better shall we be able to subject it to our 

 service. 



ABOKTION IN COWS. 

 A searching investigation with regard to 

 tlu! cause of abortion in cows has been carried 

 on during the past season by a Commission 

 appointed by the New York State Agricultural 

 Society. They have examined the vegetable 



growths on a great number of farms, especial- 

 ly with reference to ergot and the plants on 

 which it is found. It is to be hoped that 

 something definite will result from this careful 

 investigation. The veterinary editor of the 

 North British Agriculturist says stagnant or 

 foul water is injurious to all animals It 

 causes blood poisoning and thus leads to many 

 febrile complaints. It brings on abortion in 

 other animals as well as cows. Two winters 

 ago three fine mares belonging to a somewhat 

 careless and untidy farmer slipped their colts 

 shortly after Christmas. The mares had been 

 tolerably well kept, and not too hardly worked, 

 but had been watered for several weeks at a 

 pool, by the side of which a large manure 

 heap had been foolishly placed, and into 

 which the highly colored organic matters freely 

 found their way. Some ewes watered at the 

 same pool cast their lambs, while another lot 

 of ewes kept two fields distant, managed ex- 

 actly in the same way but enjoying a purer 

 supply of water, carried their lambs to the full 

 period. Since better care has been taken to pre- 

 vent the water supply from being contaminated 

 by the manure heap, neither mares nor ewes 

 have suffered abortion. 



INFLUENCE OF THE MOON. 



Young plants, like human babies, must 

 have plenty of rest. If they shoot up from 

 the seed in the waning of the moon, they en- 

 joy the repose of the long, dark nights ; if in 

 the growing moon, their young life, over-stim- 

 ulated by the light, perishes or suffers deterio- 

 ration more or less. 



The latest observations make it certain that 

 the sun-heat reflected from the full moon's 

 face is sufficient to dispel clouds, and it must 

 modify therefore, notably, the climate of the 

 kitchen garden. 



One of the most brilliant astronomical dis 

 coveries of the last ten years is that of the so- 

 called eleven-year cycle, during whi<h Jupiter 

 and the other planets alternately co'lect upon 

 one side of the sun, and then at other tiun-s 

 disperse themselves around it, produring in 

 the one case an abundant supply of spots upon 

 the sun's disc, with a corresponding lowering 

 of the climate of the earth, and in the other, 

 the dispersion and disappearance of spots, 

 and a higher mean temperature of the earth. 

 — Lesley's Lectures. 



— It has been said that migatory ))irds prepare 

 for long journeys by purgation brouglit on by eat- 

 ing the seed of a weed common on its feeding 

 ground. 



