34 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



FOOT ROT IN SHEEP AND CATTLE. 



A. B. Dickinson, of Steuben County, New York, 

 delivered an address some two years ago before 

 the Courtland County Society, in which, among 

 other things, he spoke of his mode of curing the 

 foot rot in sheep, and foul in the feet of cattle. He 

 said, "I have had some experience for twenty-five 

 years, with what I once considered as one of tlie 

 most injurious diseases to cattle, and more especial- 

 ly to sheep. I now regard it as of little conse- 

 quence, and I will trouble you with one of twenty- 

 five years' operation, and to that end will take the 

 year in which the disease was most malignant, 

 which was in 1850. I purchased in that year more 

 than 30,000 sheep and not less than 1,000 head of 

 cattle upon my fariu. During the pasturing seasons 

 more than one-half of all my sheep were affected 

 with the rot, and because they were thus diseased, 

 I purchased so largelj\ Men came all the way 

 from Ohio to sell me their sheep, expressly on this 

 account. My remedy is simple and plain, and my 

 cure equally sure. 1 fenced a three-cornered field, 

 and at the pointed corner I made a lane. In this 

 lane, or neck of the field, I set a trough twelve 

 feet long, twelve inches deep, of the same width, in 

 which I fasten some scantling, substantially flaring 

 out, then cover the scantling with boards, so that 

 only one sheep or steer can go through the lane at 

 a time. In a trough I place 50 or 100 pounds of 

 blue vitriol, fill and keep it as full of water as it 

 should be, covering the liquid over with straw, and 

 set the sheep or cattle marching through. By lead- 

 ing a tame ox, the rest will follow. A good shep- 

 herd-dog will drive through 10,000 in one day. 

 This vitriol will kill the disease. It makes or replaces 

 hoofs, or parts that have rotted of. — Mich. Fanner. 



For the New England Farmer. 



AN ANSWEE TO 'TOOE FAEMER." 



Mr. Editor : — In the articles which I have writ- 

 ten for the JVew England Farmtr, I have always 

 endeavored to have the truth as their basis, either 

 what my own eyes have seen, or ears heard ; well 

 knowing that anything to be of value, must have 

 this for its foundation, or it is worthless for all the 



my whole farming operations were confined to less 

 than one acre of land, and for the past five years, 

 to about two acres. But on these two acres I pre- 

 tend to show what can be done on a more extended 

 scale, and to deduce from my management of the 

 same, what can be accomplished by every farmer in 

 New England. At a future time, I propose to give 

 the readers of the Farmer the management of a 

 two acre farm, with some of its products, though 

 but imperfectly cultivated to what it might be, as 

 most of the work is done by myself and two young 

 lads, the oldest not yet fourteen. In this commu- 

 nication, I purpose to answer the "query" of "Poor 

 Farmer," "By what course you have arrived at 

 that position in life, which you seem to have at- 

 tained ?" In order to do this satisfactorily, I may, 

 perhaps, be permitted to give a rapid sketch of my 

 personal history, and if, in doing this, the answer 

 is not fully given, it must remain unanswered. My 

 father, before his death — which occurred when thir- 

 ty-seven years of age — was a man in easy circum- 

 stances ; but a long sickness, and a wife and four 

 young children, exhausted his means, and my moth- 

 er at the age of twenty-eight found herself a wid- 

 ow without resources, and four dependent children, 

 the youngest not a year old ; the writer, the next, 

 between seven and eight. I may safely say, that I 

 cannot remember the time when I was not obliged 

 to work, though at this period of my life I perhaps 

 relished work as little as any boy of that age, at 

 the present day. But work I had to, like or dis- 

 like ; and I have yet to learn that it was not a ben- 

 efit to me. From the death of my father until 

 fourteen, my work was first closing shoes mostly ; 

 sometimes, in the summer season, riding horse to 

 plow at six cents a day, and dinner found ; which I 

 have done many a day. When ten years of age, I 

 was put to learn the trade of a shoemaker, which I 

 accomplished thoroughly, and at the present time, 

 under a sufficient stimulant, I presume I could cut 

 and make a respectable-looking boot or shoe, either 

 sewed or pegged, though I have not tried my hand 

 at it for nearly twenty-five years. During these 

 seven years I had attended school but irregularly, 

 though from no fault of my mother. I knew a lit- 

 jtle of reading, writing, spelling, and not but a little 

 of arithmetic. These were the only studies, except 



