166 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



best on the foot, while the toughest resembled 

 North Devons. He thought North Devons and 

 Ayrshircs might be selected through the country, 

 from wliich a good stock might be reared in a very 

 few years. lie did not think that imported cattle 

 would do so well as the second, third or fourth 

 generation of their descendants. 



Mr. Russell, of Pittsfield, was of the opinion 

 that it would require a long period to get up a 

 race, and referred to an improved breed of sheep 

 which had been in the course of breeding by a 

 gentleman in Germany since 1811. They now 

 surpass anything in this country for wool. He 

 thought that failures to secure good stock were 

 often produced by the sires, and should prefer 

 those which come from good milking stock. Until 

 a good race of milkers is produced, he thought 

 the best course to be pursued, was to purchase 

 native stock, selecting the best animals and reject- 

 ing all which did not prove good. He was now 

 pursuing this plan, and thought that in eight or 

 ten years he should have a better dairy stock than 

 he has ever had. 



even the above-named small dose. A larger quan- 

 tity could be used at a dose with safety. 



Any one acquainted with the effect of iodine 

 on the human system, knows its tendency to pro- 

 duce an absorption of the mammoe. Dr. R. 

 Coats, Philadelphia, reports a case in the "Medi- 

 cal Examiner," of the complete absorption of the 

 female breast from iodine ; but the mammoe recov- 

 ered their original developments after the lapse of 

 a year. Iodine is principally employed in diseases 

 of the absorbents and glandular systems. (See 

 U.S. Dispensatory.) 



Hydriodate of potash can be procured of arty 

 apothecary, and dissolved so as to allow 10 grs. 

 to each spoonful of water, increasing the doses 

 till it gives effect on testing the urine. 



Dedham, 1854. Ebex Wight. 



Boston Cultivator. 



GARGET IN COWS. 



Messrs. Editors : — At the solicitation of a 

 friend, who has saved a valuable cow from the 

 hands of the butcher, I am induced to make known 

 through your columns a remedy for the Garget. 

 Some years since, I met with a fine imported Dur- 

 ham cow, on the way to the butcher, the owner 

 parting with her in consequence of her being 

 afflicted with the garget. The owner had ti'ied 

 all the usual modes of eradicating the disease, af- 

 ter which he put her under charge of a distin- 

 guished Veterinarian, who, after a six-months' 

 attendance, discharged her as incurable. , 



Deeming her a good subject for a treatment 

 with iodine, and not knowing whether it had 

 been used in the case, I purchased lier at wliat 

 she was worth for beef. At that time she gave 

 but a few drops of milk at a time from one teat, 

 the other three having ceased to yield any — the 

 udder and teats were swollen and hard. I deter- 

 mined to make use of iodine in the form of hydrio- 

 date of potash, being solvent in water, and if it 

 failed to exhil)it its effects on the system, I would 

 resort to an ointment, (20 grs. iodine to 1 oz. 

 hogs lard,) applied externally, to the udder and 

 teats. I commenced by giving 10 grs. of hyd. 

 potash in a table spoonful of water, three times a 

 day, mixed in a mash of sliorts or meal ; and 

 though the dose was unusually small for a cow, 

 still as it was giving unmistakable signs of effect,* 

 I did not increase the dose. In seven days she 

 gave milk freely from each teat, and in three 

 weeks she was discharged as cured. The result 

 in the foregoing case was so favorable, that I ad- 

 vised my neighbors, who had cows afflicted with 

 the garget, to make trial of the same remedy. I 

 have known of its trial in at least forty cases, 

 and in every one the cure has been effected with 



* IlydrirKlate of Potanh passes quicklj into the secietiona, ea- 

 pecially the urine. It may be detected in the latter by first ad- 

 ding to the cold secretion a portion of starch, and then a few drops 

 of nitric nctd, when a blue color will be produced. 



For the New England Farmer. 



IMPROVED SUPERPHOSPHATE OF 

 LIME. 



Mr. Editor : — Having during the winter of 1851 

 -52, noticed several articles extolling very highly a 

 fertilizing compound under the above title, and 

 being in want of a concentrated manure, I was in- 

 duced to make a trial of the same, in order to 

 test its fertilizing qualities, believing that if it 

 possessed one-half the virtues which it is claimed 

 to be endowed with, it would be just the thing I 

 wanted. I accordingly sent for, and obtained a 

 bag of it. 



Well , my first operation was in the garden , where 

 I applied it freely to all sorts of vegetables, from 

 the aristocratic corn-stalk down to the humble 

 squash-vine, skipping alternate rows and hills, 

 but never could perceive any difference in the 

 growth. 



Sometime in July I inverted a piece of sod 

 which I sowed to turnips, and topdressed with the 

 compound, omitting a strip across the centre of 

 the piece, and although superphosphate of lime is 

 known to be a favorite manure for turnips, there 

 could not in this case be any difference discerned 

 throughout the season, either in quantity or qual- 

 ity, between that portion which was topdressed, 

 and that which was not. It is also said to be an 

 excellent topdrcssing for grass lands ; accordingly, 

 after haying, I selected a piece of land, warm and 

 dry, but so reduced in fertility as scarcely to jjay 

 for swinging the scythe over it. Two square rods 

 were marked off, on one of which I sowed ashes 

 at the rate of 40 Ijushels to the acre; and on the 

 other sowed compound (for in truth I know not 

 what else to call it) at just double the cost. The 

 past season the ashed rod was marked by a luxu- 

 riant growth of clover and grass ; the other by 

 — four stakes — and nothing more. 



Notwithstanding my experiments thus far were 

 attended with results so unfavorable, I resolved to 

 make another trial the following season on differ- 

 ent soils and crops. Accordingly I ajjplied it at 

 the first hoeing to my corn- and potatoes on alter- 

 nate rows ; and afterwards to common turnips, 

 ruta bagas, and carrots, on reclaimed meadow 

 land, with no l)etter results than the previous sea- 

 son. Now I am driven to the conclusion that my 

 soil must be very ungrateful, or, that the manu- 

 facturers must be deficient in conscientious scru- 

 ples. The use of portable, or concentrated man- 



