866 



BOSTON, WEDNKSDAY EVENING, MAY 25, 1836. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY as, 1836. 



FARMERS' WORK. 



After Sheep are washed, and previous to shearing 

 them, they should be kepi some days in a clean pasture, 

 that their woo! may imbibe some of the oil, which is lost i 

 in washing. This will cause the shearing to be done 

 with more ease and expedition, and less oil will be ne- j 

 cessary to prepare the wool for manufacturing. Great 

 care should be taUcn not to cut t\w Sheep in shearing, 

 but if this should happen, Mr Livingston recommends 

 the application of a Utile tar from tiie tar bucUet, which 

 contains some mi.xture of grease, and a little of the dust 

 of charcoal over it. The Farmers Guide advises to use 

 a mixture of tar, fresh butter and sulphur. 



It has been recommended and was formerly the prac- 

 tice by Sheep-owners, immediately after shearing Sheep 

 to smear their bodies with some ointment, in whicii the 

 chief ingredient was tar. This, however, was found to 

 cause a waste of the wool in carding and manufacturing 

 it into cloth, and was, therefore, abandoned. Cut if the 

 tnr is mixed with a suflicicnt quantity of some greasy 

 substance, the benefit may be obtamed without injury. 

 A mixture may be made, which will preserve Sheep 

 against ticks and scab, and increase the growth of the 

 wool without any damage resulting to the animal or its 

 fleece. 



A writer on wool, in Rees' Cyclopedia recommends 

 a composition much used in Northumberland, Eng, and 

 gives the following directions for forming it. " From 

 sixteen to twenty pounds of butter, [probably lard would 

 do as well] are placed over a gentle fire and melted ; a 

 gallon of tar is thnn added, and the mixture is stirred 

 with a stick until the lar and butter are well combined, 

 and form a soft tenacious ointment." Some skill is re- 

 quired in its application. The locks should be divided 

 and the ointment applied directly to the skin. It does 

 no good to apply it to the outside of the wool, but it 

 must come in contact with the skin. This is best ef- 

 fected by opening the wool along the neck and back and 

 applying the ointment with the finger. If is thus applied 

 in a manner, which will cause it to spread all over the 

 body. Tho quantity laid on each animal varies in differ- 

 ent districts. In the lighter mode of greasing, one gal- 

 lon of tar, and twenty pounds of butter will be sufficient 

 for fifty Sheep. In Scotland, where the greasing is ap- 

 plied merely to preserve the animal from inclemency of 

 the climate,a much larger proportion of tar is used. This 

 would be very injurious to the wool, were it any other 

 but the coarsest kind. To derive the greatest advantage 

 from the ointment, both to the wool and to the Sheep, it 

 should be applied immediately after shearing, and again 

 on the approach of winter. By the first greasing the 

 wool will be kept soft and moist during the heats of July 

 and August, and the top of the staple will not become 

 harsh and discolored. One advantage of greasing im. 

 mediately after shearing consists in its destroying the 

 Sheeptick. It also has a tendency to prevent diseases 

 of the skin and secure it against the bite of the fly. 



Mr J. Nelson published the following reccipe for stab 

 in Sheep [N. E. Farmer, Vol. Ill, p. 205] which, per- 

 hap , miglit answer a still better purpose : " Take three 

 gallons of tor and three gallons of train oil, boiled to- 

 gether, to which add three pounds of roll brimstone fine- 

 ly powdered and stirred in.*' This quantity is sufBcient 

 <orninety sheep. It is poured on witji a pitcher or la- 

 dle from the top of the back bone to the tail. 



When the object is solely the destruction of ticks 



strong decoction of tobacco is probably as good an appli- 

 cation as can be used. Lambs often suffer much from 

 ticks, after the Sheep are sheared ; as the ticks which are 

 driven from the old Sheep take refuge in the lambs ; 

 and it will, therefore, be advis.ible to make use of the 

 same applications for the lambs which you apply to their 

 elders. 



A writer for the N. E. Farmer, Vol. XIV. p. 10, says: 

 "If the following simple remedy " (agrinst ticks) " is 

 tried it will be found more efficacious than any tobacco 

 ablutions which have been recommended. Catch the 

 Sherp and open the wool on the back of the neck and 

 shoulders and sprinkle about a tea spoonful of Scotch 

 snuff and every tick on the Sheep will he dead in twenty 

 four hours. As the Sheep are now [July 11th] destitute 

 of their fleeces the lambs ought to be all caught and well 

 snuffed in this way as they will be kepi poor by the ticks 

 which will now leave their mothers and take to them 

 for a warmer shelter." 



Housing sheep at night, and providing for them a 

 shelter during the day from the rain and sun preserves 

 and improves the wool and conduces to the health of the 

 animal ; and in proportion to the regularity of the tem- 

 perature in which the Sheep are kept, and to the regular 

 supply of nourishment which they receive, will the hair 

 or fibre of the wool preserve a regular degree of fine- 

 ness. 



To Friends, Correspondents, S/-C. — A gentleman, who 

 has favored the editor with a letter from Burlington, Vt. 

 requesting information relative to a Factory, which he 

 thinks is situated in Cliarlestown " appropriated to the 

 purpose of hatching ducks' eggs by steam " is respect- 

 fully infc)rrned that we know of nothing of the kind. 

 Such a thing, may, however, be in existence, and, if so, 

 and we can obtain information on the subject, we will 

 forward it to his address. 



Elegant Apples. — We received two or three weeks 

 since, choice specimens of several varieties of fine ap- 

 ples. They were from our highly esteemed friend and 

 excellent cultivator, Gorham Paksons, Esq. by the hand 

 of another gentleman, Mr|JoNATHAN Winship, to whom 

 we have often been indebted for similar favors. The va- 

 rialies were " The old fashioned Kentish Pearmains, 

 Maryland Pip lins, Hubhardston Nonsuch and Golden 

 Pippins, ' all excellent and meriting our grateful ac- 

 knowleilgments. 



Giant Asparagus. — Mr Samoel Pond, of Cambridge 

 port, has favored us with a sample of his new kind of 

 asparagus, whicli in size and flavor exceeds any thing of 

 the sort which ever pleased the pallate of a man of taste. 

 The best manufactures of our author's shop, or author- 

 ship, are at the service of Mr Pond in return for the fore- 

 going favor. 



ftloRE SEVEN YEARS PoMPKiN Seeijs have been re- 

 ceived from the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, M. C. 



We are. under pre-eminent obligations to that gentle- 

 man's reiterated favors, and will distribute his donations 

 according to genuine republican principles ; to wit, 

 small parcels to each of a good many capital cultivators, 

 so as to effect ' the greatest good to the greatest number.'' 



Canada Thistle.— Either of the two following meth- 

 ods^methods whicli have the sanction of both philoso- 

 phy and experience — will, if thoroughly carried out, ef- 

 fectually destroy the thistle ; and to one or the other of 

 these ways, farmers who wish to rid themselves of this 

 nuisance, may resort with confidence. The first meth- 

 od is by summer fallowing We do not mean fallowing, 



as it is generally practised ,viz : ploughing up the ground 

 twice or thrice in the season perhaps ; but commencing 

 with the plough as soon as the thistles show themselves 

 in Ihe spring, and repeating the operation as often as 

 they appe ir above ground, which in the fore part of the 

 summer will bo as often as once a fortnight. The only 

 rule is to keep them constantly under ; none must be al- 

 lowed to shoot ; and if this system is faithfully adhered to, 

 the thistles will soon be at an end. We know this meth- 

 od requires considerable labor and care, and prevents the 

 use of the land for a spring or summer crop; but these 

 are minor considerations compared with the certainty of 

 destroying the thistle. 



The other cfi'cctual method, and iho one which we 

 would advise in most eases to be pursued, is to jdough 

 the thistle ground thoroughly, if in the fall so much the 

 better, and in tho spring, after the necessary preparation, 

 plant the ground with potatoes or corn. These may be 

 hoed in the usual manner two or three times, only tak- 

 ing particular care that not a plant escapes the hoe, and 

 pulling by hand those that grow in the hills, so that in 

 no case a shoot shall be left above the surface of the 

 earth. After the corn and potatoes have attained some 

 size, their growth has a tendency to check the thistle, 

 and the scattering plants that appear must be exterminat- 

 ed by going over the ground as often as their springing 

 up shall render such an operation necessary. To cut 

 these scattering thistles, and the deeper they can be cut 

 the better, an instrument made something like a chisel, 

 with a long handle, will be found very useful. The 

 greatest danger to be apprehended in this mode of de- 

 stroying the thistle is, that some plants may be over- 

 looked in the hills, and by thus giving the roots time tc 

 recruit nearly or quite undo all that has been done. Wt 

 wish here to repeat, and impress upon the mind of everj 

 farmer who engages in the destruction of the Canadi 

 Thistle, that the grand seeret lies in adopting a plan 

 operation which shall give them no resting place, ni 

 breathing time. No halfway measures can be eftectaal 

 ploughing, if not often repeated, only scatters them thi 

 more, and hoeing will be equally useless if not carefuU" 

 persevered in. The method of destroying by plantini 

 and repeated hoeings has this advaniage, that while i 

 well performed it is equally successful with summer fal 

 lowing, the crop will in most cases pay the extra expens' 

 incurred, while naked fallowing returns little or nothinj 

 for the additional work expended. 



The time however to attack the thistle is on its first ap 

 pearance, and never to wait until the horizontal shoot 

 are formed, and the train laid for a century of evils. Th 

 seedling thistle is as easily destroyed as any weed of th 

 garden or field ; and even after it has begun to sprea' 

 for a single season or so, no great effort is required to kil 

 them, tint when a farm is half covered, and plague spot 

 of an acre or two abound, then they cannot be put dow 

 without great care and labor, in all evils precaution I 

 better than care, and we advise farmers, one and all, m 

 to overlook the first appearance of the thistle ; let lb 

 spot where they are discovered be carefully marked, an 

 by occasionally visiting the spot, and cutting them heloi 

 the surface of the earth, or pulling them by hand, whic 

 may then easily be done, one season will be the last. Th 

 evil produced by the Canada thistle is great; it is aU 

 rapidly increasing, and unless extra exertions are usei 

 will soon become most formidable. It is not howcvf 

 hopeless, and in this case as in all others, " nil despa 

 undo'" should he the motto of every farmer. — Gen. Fa 



Texas. — The last mail fully confirms the intelligenc 

 that the Mexican army had been defeated by Gen Hou 

 ton,Sante Anna taken, and Gen Cos and about 500 nu 

 killed in the battle. 



