336 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



MOWING MACHINES. 



The time is near at hand when the value of these 

 implements of farming is to be thoroughly tested. 

 Thus far, the impression has been decidedly in their 

 favor. We have heard of no one who has tried 

 their use, who has not thought them among the 

 best labor-saving operations about the farm. 



Some object to the large expense in the first 

 instance, as being disproportionate to the benefit 

 to be derived. Wherever there is one hundred 

 acres of grass to be cut, the saving in one season 

 would mori than pay for a machine. There are 

 few hay-growing neighborhoods, where there can- 

 not be found farmers enough to become joint own- 

 ers of a machine, taking their chance to have it 

 when their turn comes. Perhaps the best way 

 would be for one to procure a machine and a team 

 to move it ; and then do the work for himself and 

 others. Manny's machine we have known to op- 

 erate well, and Heath's, we are assured, may be ex- 

 pected to do better. 



H09 CHOLERA. 



The following facts and suggestions in regard to 

 this prevalent disease, from the Edinburg (Johnson 

 county, la.) Local JVews, are worthy of attention. 

 They point the attention of farmers and stock rais- 

 ers to another cause than that ordinarily assumed 

 to exist in such cases. Instead of "cholera," it ap- 

 pears from the statements of the Local JVeu's to 

 be "hog consumption." 



"A new supply of some fifteen hundred hogs 

 were put into the inclosure ready to supply the 

 pens, at the still-house in this place, last week, and 

 were soon attacked with what was supposed to be 

 the disease called 'hog cholera,' since which time 

 they have been dying at the rate of fifty or sixty 

 per day. The first symptom noticeable is a slight 

 cough, which is soon followed by a drooping stiff ap- 

 pearance ; the nose and lips, and sometimes the jaws 

 and ears, turn blue, and swell up, and finally purg- 

 ing, and sometimes vomiting, follows, and death en- 

 sues speedilj'. Hogs, in every stage of the disease, 

 have been killed and examined for the purpose of 

 ascertaining the nature of the disease, and the re- 

 sult establishes the fact beyond scruple, that the 

 disease here is inflammation of the lungs, those in 

 the first stages showing a congested condition in a 

 portion of the lungs, while those further advanced 

 had a more extensive engorgement, and in the last 

 stages of the disease the lungs were dark, dry, and 

 solid, with some ulceration of the lungs and throat. 

 The stomach and intestines show no signs of dis- 

 ease. 



"If this be the disease bearing the name of 'hog 

 cholera,' it is a misnomer, and should be no longer 

 allowed to mislead in administering remedies. — 

 The most of the remedies administered have no 

 doubt been injurious, and hastened the disease to a 

 fatal end. 



"Is not the exciting cause of the disease, in this 

 instance, at least, the too sudden change in the con- 

 dition and food of the hogs? These hogs were 

 taken from the woods or the fields, and driven sev- 

 eral days, and great numbers put together in a 



small inclosure, and fed with corn and slops. — 

 Would not the exposure and fatigue, followed im- 

 mediately by a more stimulating feed than the hogs 

 had been accustomed to, be likely to produce the 

 disease we have in this case ? 



"The hogs in the pens have had no symptoms of 

 the disease." 



A FIRST RATE PUMP. 



The pump, a representation of which we give 

 above, is adapted to be used as a common pump, 

 and also as a force-pump, when occasion requires. 

 The value of a good pump on a farm, cannot be 

 exaggerated, and one which combines the many 

 qualities which the one here shown claims to pos- 

 sess, must be invaluable. The action of the com- 

 mon pump is too well understood to need any ex- 

 planation, and our engraving gives the appearance 

 of this patent so well that any description is unnec- 

 essary. In using the pump, when only the ordi- 

 nary purposes are to be answered, the nut on the 

 top of the air-chamber is loosened. For a force- 

 pump, the nut must be screwed down tight. 



The pump is for sale at the several agricultural 

 warehouses in this city. 



Steam Plowing. — It is stated in recent English 

 journals, says the Traveller, that a locomotive 

 steam plow has been successfully used in England, 

 where it has thus far plowed eight acres a day. Si- 

 multaneously with this English invention, we learn 

 that a steam plow has been used with good success 

 at Francisville, Indiana. The Lafayette, Indiana, 

 Courier says a number of plows are moved at the 

 same time, by the invention, opening the soil to 



