AND SILK MANUAL 



test turnips. Its odor is more penetrating in t}ie 

 o})en air tlian that of sulpliur and sonic other 

 materials used for this purpose. — Silliman^s Jour. 



Rearing Calves. — Extract from a communica- 

 tion from Mr Thomas Midford, Hyde-Park, in the 

 Cultivator : 



E. Holbrook, Esq. can now [)roduce from twenty 

 to thirty calves, (raised with little expense,) equal 

 for agt, size, and condition, and fine symmeiry, to any 

 in the country, say pure De»on, a cross with Devon 

 and Durham and Devon and Alderney, some of wliicli 

 Mr Holbrook intends to send to Albany next fall for 

 sale, when I shall feel honored by a personal intro- 

 duction by Mr Holbrook. 



When the cow has dropped its calf we allow it to 

 suck its mother about 7 or 9 days, always careful to 

 tnilk the cow during the time the calf is sucking, to 

 <iraw off the whole of her milk during this period, 

 in order to promote a large soft fine bag during the 

 summer for the dairy use ; at the end of this time 

 die milk comes away freely, of a good color and 

 quality ; the calf is then taken from the cow, and 

 with the finger learned to drink, allowing it about 

 four quarts of skimmed milk night and morning. 

 The milk should stand about 1'^ hours before it is 

 skimmed, increasing till it is 6 weeks old, from then 

 till 10 weeks old, about 12 quarts per day ; when 10 

 weeks old diminish the milk for two or three weeks 

 and increase then from 12 to 14 weeks. During 

 this period, hay must be j)laced between split sticks, 

 to invite thenj to eat, and which very soon <;ives 

 them what is termed the cud ; likewise place small 

 troughs within their reach, containing wheat shorts, 

 tumeric, powdered yellow resin, and salt — the tu- 

 meric possessing in a mo<ierate degree an aromatic 

 stimulant; the yellow resin a weak diuretic ; their 

 cotnbination prevents diseases to wliich calves are 

 subject, swelled legs,' yellows, &c. 



I mustremai-k, the skimmed milk given to calves 

 should bel)oiled, and stand till it cools to the tem- 

 perature of milk from the cow ; it is much better 

 boiled than warm only. Cold milk will cause a 

 calf to purge. If this is the case, put three spoon- 

 fuls of rennet into the milk, and it will stop it. If 

 bound, a litde pork broth will loosen it- When 

 turned out to pasture they must be provided with 

 an open dry shed, containing hay, &c. to which 

 they will retire for shelter from storms, the powerfid 

 rays of the sun, or for coriiforts, which nature mys- 

 teriously dictates to animals. Symmetry being of 

 great importance, to obtain this we do not allow 



them to struggle through the first winter, without 

 care or attention : but provide them with a com- 

 fortable dry shed, allowing plenty of good straw 

 for bedding — regularly feeding thein with good hay, 

 ruta baga, or small potatoes, with plenty of water 

 atlibertum. We allow to ten calves per day, one 

 and a half bushels of ruta baga, or small potatoes, 

 smashed in a pounder immediately before feeding 

 them, in order that they may not enter their stomach 

 in a frozen state, placing as before, within their 

 reach, tumeric, resin, &c. of which they wijl take 

 no more than nature requires. In the summer we 

 turn them out on rough land ; the winter following 

 they require only ordinary care. 



Smutty Wheat. — From unpublished papers of 

 the Kennebec Co. Ag. Society. Communicated by 

 Elijah Wood. 



Set up a leach sufficient to contain three or four 

 pails of ley of wood ashes so strong as to support 

 an egg — let tliat be put into a large ketttle and boil- 

 ed, and while boiling hot, put into it, by means of a 

 cloth for the purpose, as much wheat as the ley will 

 cover — let it remain about one minute — then take 

 it out, s})read it and expose it to the air, and so on 

 until you have finished the quantity you wish to sow. 

 I would in all cases recommend washing wheat 

 clean before it is prepared in any other way for sow- 

 ingrf Take care to let the wheat remain longer as 

 the ley grows cold. 



Mr Goodale — As the last year's crop of wheat 

 was materially injured by smut and as many farmers 

 are annually injured in the same manner, I have 

 thought fit to point out the several modes by which 

 it can be prevented : — 1st, let the seed wheat be 

 washed dean, and while wet turn it into a ley, boil- 

 ing hot, made with two quarts of unslacked or three 

 quarts of slacked lime in hot water, sufficient to 

 cover a bushel — pursue the same rule for a larger or 

 smaller quantity. I have tried this method several 

 times and it never fiiiled of success. The seed ought 

 to lay in the ley at least 24 hours, and if it stands 3 or 

 4 days no damage will ensue — 2d, if seed wheat is 

 steeped in a strong pickle of common salt about 

 four days before it is sowed it is rarely known to 

 smut, and a little chamber-ley added to the pickle 

 will entirely prevent it — 3d, seed wheat soaked 

 about four days before it is sown, in a strong ley 

 tnade of lime and water is rarely known to smut ; — 

 care must be taken that it remains the whole time 

 under the ley. Wheat will bear a strong ley, but 

 care must be taken not to make it excessively 

 strong. Let the farmers pursue any of the above 



