176 



THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



SPIRIT OF THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. 



Cheese per Cow.— A correspondent of the Country 

 Gentleman states that his dairy of 24 cows averaged, last 

 year, 650 lbs of cheese per cow. 



Depth of Grass Roots.— In reply to an inquiry as to 

 how deep grass roots will penerate, the editor of the 

 Irish Farmer's Gazette says " some have been found at a 

 depth of twelve or fourteen feet." 



Plant Beans. — The Maine Farmer seconds our ad- 

 vice to raise beans and adds: "We know of instances 

 where corn and beans mixed and ground have been fed 

 to milch cows with the very best results. Sheep too, can 

 consume them with profit." 



Lambs Killed by Swallowing Wool.— A correspondent 

 of the Irish Farmers' Gazette says he has lost quite a num- 

 ber of lambs this spring from their eating small particles 

 of wool. He finds the wool in the stomach and bowels 

 with the milk curdled round it. 



Sheep Eating Each Others Wool. — A correspondent 

 of the Country Gentleman has two flocks of sheep, in one. 

 of which the sheep have the habit of eating each oth- 

 ers wool to such an extent that they will soon "strip 

 one another naked." The other flock is free from the 

 unfortunate and perplexing habit. He wants to know the 

 cause and cure. 



Buckwheat. — A correspondent of the Country Gentle- 

 man in Clinton, N. Y., says he has a field of ten acres, a 

 part of which has been sown annually with buckwheat 

 for the last thirty years without manure, aud the other 

 part nearly as long. It averages from 25 to 30 bushels 

 per acre. He uses the buckwheat principally for feeding 

 milch cows, three parts buckwheat meal and one part 

 corn meal. 



A correspondent of the Maine Farmer says a cow be- 

 longing to Mr. E. Ramsdell, of Canaan, dropped a calf 

 this spring that weighed, when four hours old, 121 lbs. 

 Its girth was two feet nine iuches, length three feet five 

 inches, and stood two feet eight inches high. The same 

 paper states that Mr. J. 0. Payne, of China, has a cow 

 which dropped a calf this spring weighing 136 lbs., and 

 girted three feet. 



Washing Sheep.— The Boston Cultivator thinks that 

 so long as the rules which generally govern purchasers 

 prevail the practice of washing sheep will be less followed 

 than it has hitherto been. One reason assignid for this 

 is that the sheep can be shorn earlier. More wool is ob- 

 tained from shearing early in May, whereas the water is 

 frequently too cold to wash the sheep with safety till the 

 last of May or the first of June. 



Soaking Seed Corn. — A correspondent of the Boston 

 .Cultivator says that Mr. Cobb, of Newton, Mass., has for 

 two years past soaked his seed corn in a solution of chlo- 

 ride el' lime aud copperas, in equal parts. He thinks a 

 pound .cf each enough for twenty acres, though if the 

 eolutio* is stronger it will do no harm. He uses hot 

 water enough to cover the seed when soaked, and lets it 

 Roak twenty-four hours. Last year Mr. C. planted half 

 an acre of.cern with seed thus prepared, on the 16th of 

 June, where 'She birds had destroyed the first planting. 



The corn on the fourth day was an inch above ground, 

 and on the fifth day it had three leaves. It assumed a dark 

 green color and grew rapidlj', so that at harvest it was 

 only three days later than that of the first planting. 

 When seed is so prepared the birds disturb it but little. 



Bees and Ashes. — L. A. Jenkins says, in the Wisconsin 

 Farmer, that bees dislike ashes so much that they will 

 leave their hive when it is placed near an ash heap. 



Unruly Cattle. — We find the following in the New 

 York Methodist : — " An ox or cow that is accustomed to 

 throwing fences, may be prevented doing so by taking a 

 large wire and bending it in the shape of a bow; then 

 bend the points in the shape of a fish-hook; tie two 

 strings to the wire, place the hooks in the nostrils light- 

 ly, and tie one string to the point of each horn. This 

 will prevent the most unruly ox or cow from throwing 

 fences." 



Transporting Bees. — A correspondent of the N. E. 

 Fanner gives the following directions for transporting 

 bees: — "Spread down a sheet and set the hive on it; 

 then bring up the corners and tie over the top, or invert 

 the hive, and put over the bottom a piece of muslin 

 eighteen inches square, fastened at the corners with car- 

 pet tacks. A wagon with elliptic springs is best for con- 

 reying them. In all cases, the common box hive should 

 be bottom up, to avoid breaking combs. When moved 

 late in the season, they should be set several feet apart." 



How to raise Pumpkins. — T. S. Colton, of Wisconsin, 

 writes the Farmer how he raises pumpkins. He says : — 

 "Take the poorest land in the corn-field; plow deep; 

 mark 12 feet each way; dig holes \\ feet deep; fill with 

 well-rotted manure; cover with earth 12 inches; then 

 plant. When they begin to run, thin out, so that but 

 two or three remain in a hill. The 25th of May is early 

 enough to plant. One acre cultivated in this way will 

 produce more than ten acres with com. Last season I 

 had 31 pumpkins from one sprout — averaging 20 lbs. 

 each, or 620 lbs. from the vine ! " 



A Cross Between the South Down and Long Wools. 

 — A correspondent of the Maine Farmer says it is "uni- 

 versally known that he prefers a cross between an im- 

 proved South Down ram and a large long wooled sheep. 

 He had 40 such ewes last fall, and now (April 21,) thirty 

 of them have 40 lambs bj r their side, and teu more- to 

 lamb. One pair of twins weighed, when dropped, 18 lbs; 

 and a single one, dropped the day he wrote, weighed 11£ 

 lbs." A cross between a thorough bred South Down and 

 common long wooled sheep is undoubtedly good. If both 

 were thorough bred we should prefer to keep them pure. 



Horses will be Wanted. — The Wisconsin Farmer 

 well remarks, "it is inevitable that horses should be in 

 greater demand than for years before the war. Immense 

 numbers will be killed, crippled, and used up, while the 

 uses to which they have been accustomed to be put, will 

 be in no respect, diminished. It would be well to breed 

 extensively, and from horses of the best blood. The 

 policy which prompts so many of our farmers to employ 

 cheap 'stock horses,' is of the same class with that which 

 would recommend an inferior quality of seed because of 

 a less price. It costs no more to raise a fine animal than 

 a mean and worthless scrub." 



