vol,. XXI. NO. 46. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



368 



From the Amoricon Agriculturist. 



FARM-DOGS. 

 This may be deemed by many, a em.ill siilijcct ; 

 ut I apprehend in a great many cases, jl is in 

 Toctice, found large enough to produce infinite 

 nischicfand inconvenience. The American peo- 

 le are probably more miscellaneous in llie choice 

 f their dogs than any other, and nothing is more 

 ommon than to find attached to a fiirni-hnnse, and 

 o pretty much every other house too, for tliat mat- 

 er, in this country, an overgrown and ungainly 

 Jose, Lion, Watch or Tiger, and in more than half 

 he cases, not worth in his whole life the food he 

 ats in a week. 



In a " democratic" country like our.s, it may be 

 bought impertinent to criticise the public taste in 

 he question of a dog ; but nevertheless, as they 

 ire usually considered, and in frequent instances 

 eally are, an indispnsable adjunct of one's cstub- 

 islitnent, it may not be amiss to ascertain what in 

 ruth is the best species of animal for the farm. 

 Do not imagine that I am a doghater, and that 

 ,hese interesting, as well as useful creatures at- 

 ,raet none of my esteem. The first live thing that 

 t ever owned in early boyhood, was a puppy, and 

 faithful and favorite dog has been among my 

 :ompanions more or less ever since. 



But I am by no means an indiscriminate admi- 

 rer of the race. An uncouth brute without breed- 

 I detest. No one better likes a true bred, sa- 

 gacious animal than myself. For guarding purpo- 

 Tses, large dogs are required, and none, perhaps, 

 will better answer than the Newfoundland, which 

 unites the generosity, ingenuity, and intelligence 

 of the race more than almost any other; while the 

 hound, setter, pointer, and the numerous kinds of 

 Spaniels, furnish to the sportsman all the requisites 

 I for his varied pursuit. The bull-dog and mastiff I 

 . have little affection for. Their savage, cruel, and 

 ferocious disposition need only be called in requi- 

 sition when the midnight robber or the determined 

 burglar are to be repelled, and for common farm 

 uses are little to be desired. The common cur of 

 the country, running through all sizes and grada- 

 tions, and into the limits of almost every other 

 breed, is, on the whole, a pretty good animal, and 

 answers a tolerable purpose ; but the very best 

 farm dog I have yet seen, is the Terrier. These 

 are of great variety, but the size I jirefer is not 

 larger than a fox ; and in sagacity and fidelity they 

 are equal to any except the Newfoundland, and in 

 courage Ihey hive no equal. To all vermin they 

 have a natural, and most destructive hatred ; noth- 

 ing escapes their vigilance. 'I'liey see at night 

 nearly as well as the owl, and their watchfulness 

 and wonderful activity are perpetually on the alert. 

 No buildings need be infested with rats, if they 

 can get under them, nor the fields with mice, wca- 

 zels, polecats, minks, or other noxious animals, if 

 two or three of these useful creatures be near ; for 

 if kept in pairs, or more, they will hunt for days 

 together, away by themselves, and destroy thou- 

 sands of mischievous depredators. For squirrel 

 and raccoon hunting and duck-shooting, the rough- 

 haired Scotch terrier is equal to any other ; and in 

 a chase, within sight of the game, few dogs are 

 their equal. 



I now own a terrier that I have had for five 

 years past ; raised him from a puppy ; not cropped 

 either in the ears or tail, for this I detest, and it 

 greatly retards their activity for a farm dog, and I 

 have never yet seen his equal. In his labors of 



watchfulness, he is now atJonded by two of his 

 sons of the same stock, and all vermin and mis- 

 chievou.'! animals are effectually kept at a distance. 

 Hundred-) nf racoons, foxes, and minks have tiiey 

 destroyed, besides whole hecatombs of field mice, 

 rats, and squirrels. Tlioy out little, are out of the 

 way. light, ai,'ile, and altogether are the best dogs 

 I know. They are to be found in almost every 

 village and prinoi|)al town in the country ; but 

 care should bo taken to get those of true breed, or 

 as near to it as may be. There arc many varie- 

 ties, but the rough-haired, medium sized, are the 

 kind I prefer. 



Those who are curious and particular in their 

 dogs, need but try the terrier, to bo convinced of 

 their value. My old dog, Peterkin, has caught 

 many a wounded duck in the broad river, ir, lair 

 diving; and sivimming with heavy ice running in 

 the current, he has nosed out and killed several 

 minks under water; has swam across the Niagara 

 river where it is half a mile wide, with a strong 

 current, time and again, and was never whipped 

 by another dog in his life. 



L. F. Allex. 



THE SEASON. 

 To show that the backwardness of vegetation this 

 spring is far from being unprecedented, and that 

 there is no good reason for the fears e.Tpressed by 

 many, of an unfruitful season, we republish from 

 the N. E. Farmer, of May .30, 1838, the following 

 article furnished by the late Hon. John Lowell — 

 whose contributions to the columns of this paper, 

 will long continue to be recurred to for instruction : 



R;xbury, May 21, J 838. 



For many years, I published in the New Eng- 

 land Farmer, a comparative statement of the sea- 

 son, but for the last two or three years I have sus- 

 pended it, believing that it was read without inte- 

 rest, or not read at all. But many persons have 

 expressed a regret at my omission of the publica- 

 tion, and this year, in particular, I have been so 

 surprised, at the shortness of people's memories, 

 and at the peevish co;nplainls of the coldness and 

 backwardness of the spring, that I have resolved 

 to renew my old practice. I have been asked this 

 year, often, "Is not this the coldest spring you ev- 

 er knew ?" My answer has been, JVo. " Did you 

 ever know a spring so backward ?" Yes, many. 



I will state my present opinion of this spring 

 and its prospects. During 32 years' residence as 

 a cultivator on this spot, I have never known a sin- 

 gle spring the promise of which was so fair to the 

 farmer, the market gardener, and the pomologist, 

 or raiser of fruits. Every plant has gone through 

 the winter well, and the fruit trees are loaded with 

 blossoms. The season is among the late ones, 

 and therefore hailed by the cultivator as propilious. 

 We dread premature heat and an early blossoming 

 of the trees. It would be tedious to copy all my 

 record for 32 years, I shall therefore select exam- 

 ples of late and early seasons, and compare them 

 with the present one. 



The following trees began to blossom on the 

 days set under their names in the year here under 

 stated : 



Peach. Plum. Pear. 



! Let me here remark, that I have milcd that in 

 j 1817, which was an rarty year, there were daily 

 I frosts), which killed clover, and the shootd of ill 

 the forest and fruit Ireen, from the I3th to the 20lh 

 [ of May inclusive. 



j The same was true in 1824 : (yhcrrieg blossom- 

 j ed on tlio 1st of May; plums, pears oiid peaches 

 I on the 4lh ; but I have minuted that on the Cth of 

 I the same month, the shoots of all tender trees were 

 'killed by f nisi. Every careful ob.server knows (hat 

 'it is no trifiing frost which can nlfect trees. 

 ' The earliest season I have recorded, was that of 

 I 1827. In lliat year, apricots flowered on the J2lh 

 j of April; peaches on the lUlh; cherries on the 

 . 2rst; plums on the 2ntli ; yet in the same year, 

 ; apples did not open till the 12th of Moy, owing lo 

 j a spell of cold weather, which chocked the How of 

 the sap. 



1 I will hero repeat, what I have often remarked, 

 I that all the seasons, early and Into, tire nearly on a 

 I level on the lOlh of June. The vegetation is so 

 much more rapid, when checked in the early months, 

 that it overtakes the seasons which opened prema- 

 turely. It is very familiar to every one, that in 

 Russia and Canada, the seasons are as forward as 

 ours, by the beginning of July. 



JOHN LOWELL. 



To the above, the editor of the Farmer adds the 

 minutes of the season of 1829, as follows — remark- 

 ing that it " was considered a very late season": 



" 1829 — Asparagus cut May I. 



Apricot blossomed " 3. 



Cherry " 0. 



Pear " 14. 



Apple " 15. 



1843. The cherry, this season, began to open 

 its blossoms in Mr Pond's garden, Cambridgeport, 

 on Sunday, May 7. And he states to us that on 

 the 15th of May last year, his trees were little if 

 any more forward than now. 



The grass looks remarkably well and is as for- 

 ward as in the average of seasons. The season is 

 not very remarkably backward ; but the snows of 

 March, and the rains of April, kept the farmers 

 from their field work, so that farming operations 

 are as backward as we have ever known them. — 

 Ed. N. E. F. 



Cherry. 



1813, May 20 



1815, " 10 



1816, " C 



1817, " 6 



1818, " 17 

 1838, " 15 



May 5 



May 14 May 22 



JHfiple. 

 May 14 

 G 



— May I 



May 21 " 24 



May 15 " 15 " 14 May 17 



The Past nirtter— Starving Cattle.— The past 

 winter will long be remembered as one of extraor- 

 dinary severity. At any rate, wo hope farmers 

 will remember it; so that such an amount of dis- 

 tress and starvation among cattle may never again 

 occur. The scenes which we have witnessed, and 

 the accounts which we have read of suffering in 

 Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other parts, 

 have been sad in the extreme, and we cannot help 

 thinking that the farmers have been much to blame 

 in this matter. Land is so plenty, and fodder co 

 easily obtained in summer, that no farmer should 

 attempt to keep stock at all without providing them 

 a sufficincy, even for the severest winters. In 

 Ohio, the farmers generally undertook to winter 

 twice as many animals as they should have done, 

 rather than sell them at the low prices offered in 

 the fall. The consequence has been, many have 

 lost the whole, or nearly so, besides witnessing the 

 painful spectacle of creatures, which looked to 

 them for support, starving to death around their 

 dwellings. Such things ought not to be. — JVtw 

 Genesee Far. 



