THE GENESEE FARMER, 



15 



which 10 are set apart for young rabbits separated from 

 their dams, 14 for the adults, 12 for the males, and the 

 rest for doe rabbits aud other purposes. Pixel makes 

 this calculation: Out of 270 rabbits born every month 

 the average number of deaths is 12, so that there re- 

 main for sale 258, which- can be disposed of for 22 cents 

 each, making $56.76, or $681.12 a year. This sum is 

 increased to .$931 by the sale of the manure. The ex- 

 pense of producing 25S rabbits is estimated at $274, so 

 that a clear profit remains of $657. As rabbits can be 

 fed in great part on the refuse of the farm house and farm 

 yard, it is thought that peasants might, like Pinel, breed 

 them with advantage. 



Ventilating Stables. — The Irish Farmers' Gazette says, 

 "The best mode of ventilating stables or any other build- 

 ings is to make provision for the admission of pure air 

 from the exterior, and the escape of the foul and exhausted 

 air from the inside, which ascends to the upper portion of 

 the apartment. To do this, make apertures in the outside 

 walls behind the horses, about 2| feet from the external 

 surface, with a descending flue to within inches of the 

 floor, where there must be an aperture at the inside. 

 These apertures and descending flue are for the admission 

 of pure air; both the outside and the inside apertures 

 should be guarded with close grating. For the escape of 

 tho foul air, a horizontal shoot must be put up over the 

 horses' heads, close to the ceiling, made of perforated 

 zinc, open to the external air at both ends, which should 

 be guarded by a valve that may be opened or shut at pleas- 

 ure, so that if the wind blows against one end it may be 

 shut and the other end opened. By this plan a constant 

 circulation may be maintained. 



Cider for Dyeing Purposes. — The Marie lane Express 

 says : " We are threatened with a cider famine, not from 

 the failure of the anples, but because they are likely to 

 be applied to a more profitable purpose, so far as the 

 growers are concerned, than to making a household bev- 

 srage. It seems that the Manchester dyers and printers 

 have discovered that apple juice supplies a desideratum 

 long wanted in making fast colors for their printed cot- 

 tons, and numbers of them have been into Devonshire 

 and the lower parts of Somersetshire buying up all the 

 apples they can get, and giving such a price for them as 

 in the dearest years hitherto known has not been offered. 

 We know of one farmer in Devonshire who has a laro-e 

 orchard, for the produce of which he never before re- 

 ceived more than £250, and yet he has just sold it this 

 year to a Manchester buyer for £360. There can be no 

 doubt that the discovery will create quite a revolution in 

 the apple trade." 



Kindness to Animals. — The New York World well 

 remarks: "Gentleness, like charity, is twice blessed— 

 the effects of which on the animals around the homestead 

 are scarcely less noticeable than upon the family of your 

 household. No man can be truly kind to the latter with- 

 out letting his cattle feel the influences of his spirit. Soft 

 words and kind looks turn away wrath among cattle as 

 among mankind. Harshness has its curse in the hatred 

 which the " brute beasts" feel, though they can not utter 

 their scorn, except in occasional kicks or bites,- and bv 

 general " ugliness," as it is sometimes called. An ear of 



corn, or a little salt, or a lock of hay, or even a kind look 

 or gentle action, such as patting your horse, lias influence* 

 more or less in making your appearance always a source 

 of pleasure to the animals around yen. It is a cheap 

 luxury, this rendering even the brute beasts comfortable 

 around your homestead." 



An Agricultural Missionary. — The Journal d' Agri- 

 culture Pratique says the Agricultural Society of Flemish 

 Prussia has created a professorship to carry healthy ideas 

 concerning agriculture into the villages. The German 

 professor is to. commence his operations by making him- 

 self acquainted not only with public functionaries, but 

 also with practical farmers. He is to gather information 

 on every subject in connection with the details of farm- 

 ing, and with regard to the different races of animals in 

 the various departments. This agricultural missionary 

 is also charged by the Society to get up clubs, schools, 

 etc., etc., and to embody the results of his observations in 

 a clear and concise manner in a daily journal. 



Sand on Gr^ss Lands. — The Maine Farmer states that 

 the Hon. Mr. Hager, of that State, had spread some sand 

 that was brought as ballast in one of his ships from 

 Galveston, Texas, on his grass lands, and found it to be 

 quite beneficial. It does not follow from this that this 

 particular sand possesses a high fertilizing value. Ordi- 

 nary soil frequently has a good effect on grass land, act- 

 ing perhaps as a mulch. 



Lambs for the Butcher. — The New York Tribune says 

 truly that if a South "Down ram is crossed upon selected 

 ewes of the common stock of the country, lambs may be 

 obtained of an average value to the butcher of 25 per 

 cent, higher than lambs of the same age, from the same 

 stock, of the native breed. Where South Downs can not 

 be obtained, the Leicesters will do nearly or quite as well. 



American Plows, — A correspondent of the London 

 Mark lane Express says: "The Americans have driven 

 our plow-makers out of the Australian, Indian, and colo- 

 nial markets, owing to their lighter and cheaper articles. 

 Unless our makers bestir themselves here, by ushif steel 

 instead of heavy castings, they will be likely to be ' beaten 

 on their own ground.' " 



The Potato Crop in Scotland. — The Scottish larmer 

 says: "In all the best potato growing districts the crop, 

 as a whole, is a sad wreck. On the rich black loams in 

 the north and west of Scotland— more especially those in 

 the neighborhood of the towns, and which were highly 

 manured— the disease appeared early. The crops that 

 were not speedily sent to market soon became entirely 

 unfit for any purpose. In numerous instances, on reten- 

 tive soils, it was never gathered, but plowed under. In 

 the same districts, where the land is poorer, on peaty and 

 moory soils, and particularly when there was no great 

 forcing with nitrogenous manures, the larger portion of 

 the crop is yet sound, though the tubers are small and 

 watery. Indeed, the crop is so inferior in quality that 

 it will be only fit for seed. It is well known that unri- 

 pened potatoes produce more vigorous shoots than those 

 which are dry and starchy. We have little doubt, there- 

 fore, that good seed will not be quite so scarce a commo- 

 dity as was at one time expected. 



The North British Agriculturist (Edinburgh) says that 



