1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



453 



and that it is doubtful whether the organ affected 

 is reached by boring the horn and administering 

 medicines in that way. The pith of the horn is 

 exceedingly sensitive, and when air is admitted 

 there must be acute suffering. 



We give the prescription of our correspondent, 

 but cannot forbear to caution our friends against 

 any harsh experiments with the animals under 

 their care. Our opinion is, that it never becomes 

 necessary to bore the horn for the disease in ques- 

 tion. 



RETROSPECTrV'E GLANCES. 



Mr. Editor : — I am truly glad that you have 

 revived your custom of looking hack occasionally, 

 as well as forward. It is one of the most useful 

 exercises that can be indulged. If in passing 

 along, we have stepped into a hollow, or hit the toe 

 against a stub — on retracing our steps, we shall be 

 quite likely to notice the obstacle in the way, and 

 to avoid it. Knowledge is always valuable, when 

 it does not cost too much ; and that which is elic- 

 ited by our own experience, will be the most per- 

 manent. Every man's thoughts are more or less 

 crude at first; if worth preserving at all, they should 

 be preserved in the best form. Never can they be 

 mended quite so well, as just after being uttered, be 

 fore they have had full time to cool. Further, the 

 very thought that they will be reviewed with care, 

 will tend to perfect them. We are always proud of 

 our own offspring, and ashamed to have it appear 

 abroad, to a disadvantage. 



August 1, 1857. 



TO KILL LICE ON POULTRY. 



Let me inform the readers of your very useful 

 family paper, of a very effectual destroyer of that 

 pest to poultry, lice, which is Prof. Mohr's fly pa- 

 per. After two years' efforts by whitewashing, 

 painting and syringing, I have found they would 

 again return in July. This year I have made the 

 experiment with the insect paper, and by tying it 

 on the roosts and putting in each nest, a half-sheet, 

 I have soon dispelled them. L. M. Hill. 



August 10, 1857. 



HORN AIL. 



Your correspondent, Ezra Eldredge, wishes to 

 know what will cure the horn ail. About a spoon- 

 ful of spirits of turpentine put on the top of the 

 head, between the horns, and rubbed in with the 

 band, will usually cure the horn ail in fifteen min- 

 utes. 1 have tried it a great many time, and when 

 tried when the disease first comes on I never knew 

 it to fail. It is rather a harsh application. If the 

 creature is much affected she will rear, bellow and 

 blow her nose or sneeze as though her head was on 

 fire. If nothing ails her head it will have no effect. 

 Let her have a good smooth open space to exercise 

 herself in. Yours, E. Emerson. 



Hollis, ^r. H., July 25. 



CUTTING BUSHES. 



Can you or any of your subscribers inform me as 

 to what time of the year it would be necessary to 

 mow bushes in order to kill them ? 



Paivtucket, July 27. A Subscriber. 



WARTS ON HORSES AND CATTLE. 



Wash them with a strong l6y made of pearlasfc 

 and water, thrice a day. 



SCRATCHES ON HORSES. 



Wash with strong soap suds, then with strong 

 copperas water ; repeat this thrice a day until cured. 

 For a daily drink give sassafras or spice wood tea, 

 or a little saltpetre dissolved in his drink, greasing 

 after with hog's lard : but by all means keep the 

 horse's foot clean. Isaac M. Bradt. 



Bunker Hill. 



GUANO AND ONION MAGGOTS. 



I saved my bed of onions after they were half 

 eaten by the maggots, by sowing on the rows a 

 good sprinkling of guano ; and it has proved the 

 best thing I have used on cucumbers, &c., to keep 

 off the bugs. X. 



Hollis, JV. H., 1857. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ONION AND OTHER CROPS. 



Notwithstanding the various maladies of smut 

 and worms, that have threatened the onion, the 

 present prospect is that there will be a full supply 

 for all necessary purposes. To be sure some fields 

 have been thinned one-half, but what remains will 

 have better room to grow, while there are other 

 fields that promise in the best manner, 500 bush- 

 els to the acre, at least estimate. Never have we 

 known vegetation more progressive than at the 

 present moment. Corn has attained its full height, 

 and we cannot imagine any reason why it will not 

 put forth ears, all that can be desired. We have 

 seen some hills of the Sorghum that begin to wake 

 up a little ; but we have seen none, that give assur- 

 ance that it is, in any point of view, to be com- 

 pared with our Yankee crop of Indian corn. I 

 would as soon think of abandoning the cod-fish in 

 our bays, as the corn-crop on our hills. These 

 standard products are altogether preferable to mod- 

 ern inventions. s. D. 



August 5, 1857. 



Be Kind to your Horses. — I have in the 

 course of my life seen a good many horses ; some, 

 too, that were called ugly horses. Now it is my 

 opinion that there is no use of owning what might 

 be called a real ugly horse. Use the whip and 

 spur less, and in their place put kindness. Three 

 grains of kindness are worth all the whips and 

 spurs in the world, in breaking a colt. There are 

 a great many horses injured for want of kindness. 

 This I am sure no one will pretend to deny. For 

 instance, a man has a colt to break. The colt has 

 never been handled. The man, with several oth- 

 ers to help him, drives the colt into the stable. 

 He then forces a bit into his mouth, and if there 

 is one among them that dares, he jumps upon his 

 back well armed with a stout whip, and very often 

 a spur; these he does not forget to use. Heelings 

 to the colt's back as long as he is able, but is final- 

 ly thrown off. He tries again and again, until, com- 

 pletely exhausted, the colt is obliged to yield ; that 

 is, for the time being. Is this the way to break 

 colts ? No, to be sure it is not. The golden rule 

 would apply as well here as anywhere. So be 

 kind to your horses, my gentle friends, — Ohio Culr- 

 iivator. 



