NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



19 



le while Ibr our farmers in general, amidsl 

 le nnilliplicity of more important concerns, to 

 ; at the pain's to fatten lurkies on ivalnuts.— 

 lit there are some persons who atteiul to rural 

 ;onomv merely for amusement, »vho may as 

 ell turn their pursuits into that channel as anr 

 her still less protitahle and not m «. i amusing;, 

 ssides, something may be learneu from such 

 •ocesses. even by those who do not adopt them, 

 r. Weston's beginning to iVed his turkics with 

 e walnut each the tirsl morning, two the sec- 

 I, and so on, gradually increasing to a certain 

 antity, and as gradually decreasing after they 

 d received a I'ull supply, may teach ns not to 

 c or surfeit an animal when lirst put up to 

 ten. In "this way we may bring on a fever, 

 otherwise injure the health of the poor thing 

 ich undergoes such operations. Swine, in 

 rticular, we believe are often injured by a 

 change from a very meagre to a very 

 h anil plentiful diet; and when they have be- 

 ne partly lattened they require a less qnan- 

 of I'ood, and food is perhaps more prolilably 

 <towed on the latter stage of fattenmg; or as 

 setter expressed in a late work by Mr. Cob- 

 t, called Cottage Economy : — " \Vhcn you 

 ,-in to tat, do it by degrees, especially in the 

 e of hogs under a year old. If you feed hijr. 

 at once, the hog is apt to surfeit, and then a 

 at lo<s of food takes place. Make him quite 

 by all means. The last bushel, even if he 

 as he eats, is the most profitable."' The 

 e reasoning, if not carried to extremes (for 

 nals may be made too (at either for pleasure 

 rotit) m^\y be applied to turkics aud other 

 is. 



e shall conclude our observations on tur- 

 5, by some further quotations from ftlr. Cob- 

 's work above mentioned. 

 The great enemy to young turkies (for old 

 i are hardy enough) is the wet. In Ameri- 

 where there is always " a wet spell" in 

 I,* the farmers' wives take care never to 

 ! a brood come out, until that spell is pass- 

 In England, where the wet spells come at 

 lazard, the first thing is to take care that 

 ig turkies never go out, on any account, 

 1 in dry weather, till the dew is quite off ike 

 ml; and this should be adhered to till they 



be the size of an old partridge, and have 

 • backs well covered with feathers. And, 

 et weather, they should be kept under cov- 



1 day long. 



' I :\s lo the feeding them, when j'oung, vari- 



''luce things are recommended. Hard eggs, 



fi^ ped line with crumbs of bread, and a great 



other things; but, that which 1 have seen 



and always with success, and tor all sorts 



oung poultry, is, milk turned into curds. 



is the food for young poultry of all sorts. 



! should be made fresh every day ; and, if 



)e done, and the young turkeys kept warm, 



specially front u^'ei, not one out of a score 



die. When they get to be strong, they 



have meal and grain, but still they always 



the curds. 



Vhen they get their head feathers they are 

 / enough ; and what they then want, is, 

 to prowl about. It is best to breed them 

 • a common he-.i ; because she does not ram- 

 ie a hen-turkey ; and, it is a very curious 



:Jl 



lis " wet spell"' as frequently visits us i 

 at least iu the Northern Stales. 



I May as 



thing, that the turkeys, bred up by a hen of the 

 common fowl, do not ihcnisehcs ramble mvch when 

 fhcij get old; and t"or this reason, when they buy 

 turkeys for stock, in .^n1erica (where (here arc 

 such large woods and where the distant ram- 

 bling of turkeys is inconvciiifint,) they always 

 buv such as have been bred under hens of the 

 common fowl ; than which a more complete 

 proof of the great powers of habit is, perhajis, 

 not to be found. And, ought not tliis to be n 

 lesson to fathers and mothers of families ? — 

 Ought not they to consider, that the habits 

 which they give their children, are to stick by 

 those children during their whole lives? 



"The hen should be fed exceedingly •lPcH too, 

 while she is sitting and after she has hatched; 

 for, though she does not give milk, she gives 

 beat ; and, let it he observed, that, as no man 

 ever j'et saw healthy pigs with a poor sow ; so 

 no man ever saw healthy chickens with a poor 

 hen. This is a matter much too little thought 

 of in the rearing of poultry ; but it is a matter 

 of the greatest consequence. Never let a poor 

 hen sit; feed the hen well while she is sitting; 

 and teed her most abundantly when she has 

 young ones; for then her labour is very great; 

 she is making exertions of some sort or other 

 during the whole twenty-lour hours; she has 

 no rest; is constantly doing something or other 

 to provide food or safety for her young ones. 



"As to fatting turkeys, the best way is, never 

 to let them be poor. Cramming is a nasty thing, 

 and quite unnecessary. Barley-meal, mixed 

 with skim-milk, given to them, fresh and fresh, 

 will make them fat in a short time, either in a 

 coop, in a house, or running about. Boiled car- 

 rots and Swedish turnips will help, and it is a 

 change of sweet tbod. In franco they some- 

 times pick turkeys alive to make them tender; 

 of which 1 shall only say, that the man that can 

 do this, or order it to be done, ought to be skin- 

 ned alive himself" 



From the American Farmer. 

 SALIVATION OF HORSES. 



Moorfield, (Fa.) July ), 1G23. 



Mr. Skinner — Some of your correspondents 

 have expressed their opinions of the cause of 

 the salivation of stock during the summer; as 

 it affects horses in particular. As it seems to 

 be a question of some considerable difficulty, 

 and as there are a variety of conflicting senti- 

 ments upon the subject, I will submit to you 

 my opinion also; having repeatedly observed 

 its effects, and as often endeavoured to ascer- 

 tain the cause. 



The supposition that appears to me most pro- 

 bable, is, that it is produced by the mouhl on 

 the grass, to which it is extremely subject. 

 An attentive observer may, about sunrise, fre- 

 quently perceive streaks of blue mould on the 

 grass, and by reviewing it more closely with a 

 magnifying glass, he can distinguish two com- 

 plete rows of mushrooms, or fungi, one on 

 each edge of the spear grass. As the sun rises 

 over the horizon, he discovers these to ripen, 

 open at the extremity, and expose a small clus- 

 ter of four or five seeds, afier which they soon 

 disappear. About this period the blade is de- 

 stroyed, and it becomes visible by the grass be- 

 coming dry — the mould is not so easily discov- 

 ered in clover as in spear grass ; the former 

 resembling it in color more than the latter. 1 



have for some lime been impressed with the 

 belief, that the salivation of stock is caused by 

 their feeding upon this mould, or rather llio 

 grass, after the fungus had matured ; and 1 have 

 been almost confirmed in my opinion by the re- 

 sult of a practice we have pursued of conlining 

 our labouring horses on newly mowed meadows, 

 from which the old grass is entirely removed. 

 Bv adopting the above course, the salivation is 

 eirectually prevented, or at least considerably 

 abated, in addition to tbe above practical proof, 

 I have observed that our brood marcs and young- 

 er horses, which are generally pastured upoii 

 our most barren lands, where the grass is not 

 so luxuriant in its growth as to produce the 

 mould, are scarcely ever affected with the 

 above mentioned malady. 



Respectfully yonr's, 



ABEL SEYMOUR. 



(jip- This subject really df^mands the fullest 

 investigation. Is it not an evil of comparatively 

 modern date ? Is it not aggravated by wet wea- 

 ther, when vegetation is more luxuriant? Why 

 is it produced by second crop clover hay, and 

 not by first? Do not neat cattle and other ru- 

 minating animals suffer with it, although tbe 

 effect is not exhibited by salivation, as iu the 

 case of horses ? We ask this question because 

 the editor is now in his native Calvert County, 

 where he has been struck with the extraordin- 

 ary low condition of neat cattle, both cows and 

 oxen. He never saw weather more favorable, 

 or grass more abundant in the pastures, imd yet 

 the cattle as well as horses, are extremely re- 

 duced in flesh, while the latter only are slabber- 

 ing at a degree that one would suppose would 

 exhaust them unto death. — Ed. Jlmer. Farmer. 



A burlesque upon Duelling was practised at 

 Chelmsford one evening last week ; the parties 

 were a Waster Carpenter and a learned gentle- 

 man of the Comb, who has recently removed a 

 Latin inscription from over his door, which 

 conveyed a meaning too much the reverse of 

 what he practises, " Alwa3 s at home." A dis- 

 pute arose, we are informed, between these two 

 heroes, " which was the best beer — that which 

 had undergone fermentation, or that which had 

 not." The frequent tasting of both got the bet- 

 ter of the senses of the disputants, and from 

 high words they proceeded to practise high 

 notions. Nothing short of pistols would suffice ; 

 they were procured, but the Knight of the Comb 

 prelering powder to lead, so managed to bribe 

 the seconds, that the deadly part of the charge 

 was not introiluced ; whilst the Knight of the 

 Chisel was not in the secret. To carry on the 

 joke, the former feigned to lament (what both 

 may one day regret in earnest) that he had not 

 taken leave of his wife and family, and urged 

 the necessity of a few minutes for purposes, kji- 

 fortunately directly opposite to his intentions, 

 after which the comlJatants took their ground 

 in the room. The Carpenter having the privi- 

 lege of firing first, his opponent fell, when at 

 the instant, the belter to keep up the farce, the 

 lights were put out, the Carpenter received a 

 cooling glass of water in his face, and both 

 were left in the dark to reflect upon their folly. 



The crops in Virginia, North Carolina, and 

 the middle and eastern states are said to be 

 unusually good. 



