NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



77 



atlriilion. Tlio one i«, the most proper 



of ll)e venr to turn the liiicks into tin- 



k — llie otlior is, tlie slienr.nsj of liiml's. On 



former suliject in\ |.f,icticp difters from most 



icrs. I iiin :in a<lvociite for raising early 



lis. The practice of kcepins: the bucks 



y till the fore part of Noveml>cr, I believe 



nicioiF, and one cause why so many Hocks 



eiicrate. It is unnaturnl. Trovidcnce has 



ited out the best season for animals to breed ; 



hat lime the females are in season, and 1 



lot bclirve we shall gain any thing by alter- 



thc course of nature. We sufl'er every oth- 



anininl to take its own course. My argu- 



ts in I'avor of the practice of suffering the 



ks to lie with the flock during the whole 



on. are the following: — When the bucks are 



leH into a tJock late in the season, so many 



a are in season at the same time, that the 



pring are feeble. The cold winds and fre- 



nt storms of the spring, together with tlu 



culty of keeping sheep confined at that time 



he year, I have found more destructive to 



bs than the cold nights of winter. It is also 



e difficult to keep late lambs over the next 



ter. Early lambs are also apt to have lambs 



first year. My practice is to keep sheep 



tered from rain by open sheds, and shut up 



sheep and lambs about one week in a warm 



le ; and when they are a month old, they 



eat hay with the flock. But the sheep 



;t be continually kept up with corn and suc- 



nt vegetables, or they will neither give 



k ior their lambs, or bear fine wool. 



'here is one more benefit which arises from 



practice of raising early lambs, which is, 



opportunity it gives for shearing them in 



summer. 



up their milk so early in the f;ill, that they were 

 not profitable, while others, with the same keep- 

 ing, gave milk in jilenly until late in the season. 

 I likewise have often heard my neighbors ob- 

 serve, thdt some of their cows, though very 

 good in the fore part of the season, dried up of 

 their milk so early, that tliey were un|>rofita- 

 ble, and they should have to put them »lV; 1 ac- 

 cordingly found it expedient to find out the 

 cause, if possible : and when I brought to ininil 

 the ways that some of my young cows had been 

 kept and milked, I attributed the cause to the 

 milking of them the first season they gave 

 milk ; and by many experiments since, I have 

 found that young cows, the first year they give 

 milk, may be made, with careful milking and 

 good keeping, to give milk almost any length 

 of time required, say from the lirsl of May lo 

 the first of February following, and will give 

 milk late always after, with cnreful milkmg. 

 Hut if they are left to dry up oi' their milk ear- 

 ly in the fall, they will be sure to dry up of their 

 milk each proceeding year, if they have a calf 

 near the same season of the year ; and noth, ng 

 but extraordinary keeping will prevent it, and 

 that but for a short time. I have had them dri- 

 ed up of their milk in August, and could not by 

 any means make them give milk much past thai 

 lime in any proceeding year. In 1820, I had 

 two heifers, which had calves in April, anti aftei 

 getting them gentle, I set a boy lo milk them 

 for the season, (which is often done the firs; 

 season, on account of their having small teats :) 

 he was careless, and dried them both off in Au- 

 gust. Although 1 felt satisfied 1 should lose tb- 

 greater part of the profit of them afterwards, 

 yet 1 look it upon me the following year t< 

 milk them myself, and give them good feed, but 



have had two years' experience in that | to no purpose. I could not make them give 

 ctice, and am much pleased with it. My milk much past the time they dried the year !■« 

 )l Bveraged, when washed perfectly clean, fore. I have two cows now that were milkei; 

 nty ounces to the hunb, and sold for fifty the first year they had calves, until near tin- 

 ts a pound. The fleeces of the yearlings, j time of their calving again, and have continuei 



been well washed on the sheep's back, 

 raged about two pounds and a half The 

 )l was the best 1 ever sheared. It was of 

 rt staple, but even, and exceedingly fine and 

 It is well known to growers of fine wool, 

 '. the fleeces of yearling sheep are not good, 

 ause the outer ends of the wool arc coarse 



dead. Hence it is necessary to clip such 



to give milk as late ever since, if we will milk 

 them. 



From the Boston Recorder. 

 LIGHTNING RODS. 



Mn. Wii.Lis — I see in the Recorder frequent 



accounts of damage done to buildings, and lives 



ces, before they can be manufactured into lost, by lightning; and also frequent recom- 



cloth. This evil is wholly remedied by mendations to the people to secure their biiild- 



aring the lambs. ings by proper conductors. All this is very 



Che time lor shearing lambs is generally sup- well; but people will never be persuaded to 



ed to be about the first of August ; but if 

 lbs are allowed to fall in the winter, I think 

 t aimo-.f a month too late. They ought to 

 sheared as early as possible, that the suc- 

 ding fleece, may have more time to grow, 

 I that the lamb may be eased of his " cum- 

 load," before the hot weather is in a 

 asure jiast. 

 submit these remarks with diffidence, as 1 

 not much accustomed to writing; and espe- 

 Uy as my ideas, in one particular, differ from 

 ■se of most of my brethren in the profession. 



From the same. 

 ON THE MA.NAGEMENT OF COWS. 

 By R,nssELi. Woodward, of Suffolk. 

 Having formerly kept a lir?e number of 

 ,vs, 1 observed njany acooogst them that dried. 



erect Lightning Rods, till they are in some 

 measure convinced of their utility. The pop- 

 ular opinion is, that a conductor for lightning, 

 instead of security against, only .serves lo invite 

 the bolt ; and that there are more buildings in- 

 jured by lightning that have conductors, than 

 Ihere are that have not, in proportion to the 

 whole : and this opinion is probably not alto- 

 gether ill founded. 



1 have for several years been in the habit 

 of examining all the conductors I conveniently 

 could, and 1 find the greater part of them very 

 defic'eut in one way or another. 



Thf greatest deficiency 1 have noticed is in 

 the want of a free communication with moist 

 earth. When a rod is in all other respects per- 

 fect, and deficiert in th.s, so far fi'vri Ueia^ a 

 ^ilejiiard, it only increases the danger it was 

 inleuded to avert. 



1 have known, and by good authority have, 

 heard of several buildings, having conductors, 

 but which did hardly touch the earth, being 

 damaged by lightning. Among the many i.s the 

 meeting house in Heading, Mass. In the course 

 of the present Slimmer the ligbfningcaine down 

 the rod, and went ofl'near Ihc bottom into, and 

 danipged the house. This was undoubtedly be- 

 cause, by reason of the rod not going more 

 than two inches into the ground, the electrical 

 fluid could not pass ofl' as fast as it was received, 

 an<l the rod became overcharged. 



Lightning rods are generally made and put 

 up by persons wholly unacquainted with the 

 |)rinciples of electricity, and what is necessary 

 to constitute a safe conductor. 



I shall, therefore, endeavor to give some di- 

 rections tor the information of those who are 

 unacquainted with the subject, and who have 

 not the means of information. 



The rod should be made of round, smooth 

 iron, at least three quarters of an inch in diam- 

 eter, and when it can conveniently be done, in- 

 stead of linking, should be smoothly welded to- 

 gether; but when by reason of ils length or 

 otherwise it is inconvenient to weld the whole 

 rod, let it be smoothly connected, by screwing 

 the end of one part into the end of another. 

 There should be five or more points, one in the 

 centre, perpendicular, and the other oblique, 

 rhey should be filed to a sharp, slender point, 

 and tipped with silver. The points should be 

 elevated at least five or six feet above the 

 highest part of ihe building. The bottom of 

 be rod should go into Ibe earth six or se\en 

 eel, and terminate in a bed of two or three 

 ushels of wet charcoal. The wet coal cover- 

 id with earth will probably retain dampness 

 iona;er than any other substance. 



A conducior constructed and p«t up agreea- 

 bly to the above directions, will perfectly se- 

 cure a building for twenty feet on every side. 

 When a building is more than forty feet long, 

 for pp,rl"ect security, there should be two or 

 more rods, calculating one rod for every forty 

 feel. 



The whole exp(inse of one rod for a two sto- 

 ry building, iniluding the silvering the pointe 

 will not exceed j^50. 



From the National Intelligencer. 

 ELDER. 

 [Sanilniciis, Linn.'] 



Tlie virtues of this shrub, which is found in 

 abundance in our fields, and is now in full bloom, 

 are not sufficiently known among us. In conti- 

 nental Europe it is valued and is used with suc- 

 cess in many diseases. Chaptal, Parmeniier 

 and others, in their admirable Dictionar\ of 

 natural history, applied to the arls and to do- 

 mestic economy, say, that from Hippocrates 

 down to . the present day it has been employ- 

 ed in medicine, and its virtues and ^iroperties 

 unequivocaJlj confirmed by time and experi- 

 ence. 



Its flowers are resolutive, anodyne, and emol- 

 lient. Infused and drank like tea, they provoke 

 and est.iblish pei-spiration in certain fevers, 

 colds, and catarrhs ; fried with eggs they are an 

 agreeable purge ; applied as a lomentation in 

 ca^es of erysipelas, they reduce the heat and 

 irritation, and prove excellent in all disorders of 

 the skin. Warmed and applied to the forehead 



