No. 7. 



Dogs and Cats. — Fruit Trees. — Artifcial Guano. 



221 



shire to London." We might instance the 

 mutual advantao-e to town and country, of 

 the ease with which milk is brought from a 

 srreat distance into both Boston and New 

 York, but this and other cases will readily 

 occur to the reader. N. P. 



From the American Agriculturist. 

 Dogs and Cats. 



I SUFFER great loss in two kinds of stock 

 here, which, if not of as great value as Dur- 

 ham cattle, are yet even more indispensably 

 useful^^-I mean in dogs and cats ! During 

 the two years and a half that I have resided 

 here, we have not been able to keep a single 

 cat; they have all died in convulsions, and 

 all in the same singular manner. They are 

 attacked with violent shivering, seem in 

 great agony, mewing and struErC'ling, each 

 fit becoming more and more violent, until 

 they die. Can you or any of your corres- 

 pondents give us the cause and remedy.* I 

 have been told that bleeding, by cutting off' 

 a piece of the tail each time they have a fit, 

 will ultimately cure them. I am now trying 

 it, economizing the tail as much as possible, 

 that it may get a fair trial. So far the kit- 

 tens have recovered, when thus treated. 

 Some other cure would be preferable, as a 

 hohtailed cat is rather an unsightly object. 

 Still, better even a bobtailed one tlian none. 



I have also lost several valuable dogs 

 within the past year, in somewhat the same 

 way. Two of those I lost were very valu- 

 able terriers. They begin by going about 

 as if in pain, and evidently not thriving. In 

 a few days they commence with a sharp, 

 keen, constantly reiterated bark, which they 

 keep up, day and night, concealing them- 

 selves in some dark corner for a week or so, 

 when they die. Others have dropped down, 

 when apparently in good health, in a violent 

 convulsive fit, having one fit after another, 

 in rapid succession, until they die. I meet 

 with no loss of this kind, that grieves and 

 annoys me so much as that of a favourite 

 dog, and would be glad to hear of some cure 

 or preventive. 



Thomas Affleck, 



Washington, Miss., October, 1844. 



* We cannot tell the canse of this disease, unless i' 

 be an overeating of rats or animal food, but the reme 

 dy we have generally found successful, was, to admin 

 ister pretty strong doses of warm catmint tea. As a 

 preventive, we supply our cats with all the milk ihey 

 will drink and what vegetable food they will cat, such 

 as bread, potatoes, &c. We also occasionally give 

 them a dish of fresh fish, vvell cooked, of which they 

 are extremely fond. All animals should have a variety 

 of fooU when possible to obtain H.—Ed. Am. Jig. 



From the Farmers' Journal. 



Advantage of planting Fruit Trees on 

 declivities. 



DoDART first observed that trees pushed 

 their branches in a direction parallel to the 

 surface of the earth. If a tree stands on a 

 steep it pushes both towards the hill and to- 

 wards the declivity; but on both sides it still 

 preserves its branches parallel to the sur- 

 face. As there is an attraction between the 

 upper surface of leaves and light, I am also 

 persuaded, though not equally certain of it 

 from experiment, that there is an attraction 

 of the same nature between the under sur- 

 face of leaves and the surface of the earth. 

 This I consider the true cause of the phe- 

 nomenon ; — I had long observed that the 

 most fruitful orchards and most fertile trees 

 are those planted on a declivity, and the 

 steeper it is, though not quite a precipice, 

 the more fertile they prove. It is well 

 known tliat the spreading of trees always 

 renders them fruittul. On a plain they in- 

 cline to shoot upwards; and therefore art is 

 employed by skilful gardeners, and applied 

 in various ways, to check their perpendicu- 

 lar, and to promote their lateral growth. 

 But this point is obtained on a declivity by 

 nature. There a tree loses its tendency to 

 shoot upwards, and in order to preserve its 

 branches parallel with the surface, is con- 

 strained to put them in a lateral direction. 

 Hence an important rule in the choice of 

 orchards and fruit gardens. 



D. J. Walker. 



Artificial Guano. — A recipe was lately 

 presented to the New York Farmers' Club, 

 by Dr. Valentine, for the formation of an 

 artificial guano, that would not cost more 

 than one-fifth of the imported, and equally 

 effective. The following are the ingredi- 

 ents: 



Meadow mud, or street manure, 1 cartload 

 Carbonate of iron, 2 drachms 



Manganese, 2 " 



The old proverb says, "Make hay when 

 the sun shines;" but there is something else 

 besides sunshine necessary to make good 

 hay. The grass must be cut when it is ma- 

 ture, or the animals that have to eat it will 

 have a hard bargain. 



