58 



SILK MANUAL. AND 



fully stocked, it would have exceeded ten hundred 

 pounds per acre. 



The expense of scraping the brush for the seed 

 was thirtythree cents per hundred pounds. The 

 brush was sold at 8i cents per pound. The crop 

 of seed was light and poor ; fifty bushels to three 

 acres, worth 16i cents per bushel, or $8,33 to an 

 acre. 



Summary expense of cultivation of one 



acre as above, - - - 28,68 



Scraping 1000 pounds, - - 3,30 



Board of man 5 days, - - 1,07 



Rent of land, say $16 per^acre, - 16,00 



49,05 



Sale of brush, 1000 lbs. at SJ c. 85,00 

 Seed upon one acre, - 8,33 



93,33 



Nett profit on one acre, $44,28 



The sale of the brush at 12 cents per pounds, 

 the present jirice, would have enhanced the profits 

 forty dollars, and made them $84,28. This is 

 very remarkable, and certainly aflTards ample en- 

 couragement to labor. That it can be often done 

 is not to be expected ; and yet there is nothing 

 extraordinary in the process. The uncertainty of 

 the seasons is something, and the fluctuations in 

 the market prices of broom are great. The 

 amount of crop, though large, was not more than 

 can usually be commanded by good and gener- 

 ous cultivation. Many of our lands, besides the 

 alluvial meadows, are capable of producing good 

 crops ; and the great yield of 150 bushels of seed to 

 the acre mentioned above, with broom, of course, 

 in proportion, was produced in one of the most 

 rough and rocky towns in the commonwealth, and 

 on land which owed everything to good manage- 

 ment. I hope the length of these details may be 

 excused. H. C.]— JV. Y, Farmer. 



Meadowbanks, 1th May, 1835. 



CURE FOR THE SCAB IN SHEEP. 



I feel a reluctance thus publicly to appear in 

 print : and had it not been that tlie communica- 

 tion to which I am about to allude (I presume) is 

 signed with a real name, I might not have troubled 

 myself to expose some of its errors, and save my 

 brother farmers from loss and disappointment. 

 Although I thus write, I could wish more of the 

 correspondents of the " Farmer" would favor its 

 readers with their real names, more particularly 

 on all jsractical operations, inasmuch as it would 

 give more respectability and weight to their com- 

 munications. 



Mercurial Ointment for the Scab on Sheep, is 

 almost universally known by Flock Masters in 

 Britain, to be a cure for the disease if apjiied to 



the infected parts, but it is of so objectionable a 

 nature, that but comparatively few resort to its 

 use ; and however safe Erastus Crafts may speak 

 of " its entire efiicacy" from his own experience, I 

 can testify that in the moist atmosphere of Eng- 

 land, such a free use as he recommends, would 

 most certainly produce salivation, and probably 

 death ensue. Lest any of the readers of the 

 " Farmer" should make a rash use of this violent 

 specific, induces me to put them on their guard 

 and to recommend if they do use it, that they first 

 apply a small portion to the diseased parts, rub- 

 bing it in well with the finger ; and between tlie 

 shoulders on the centre of the back between the 

 l)ins, rub in well a piece about the size of a hick- 

 ory nut; by so doing it prevents the sheep biting 

 or licking the parts anointed, which it will endeav- 

 or to do, caused by the irritation produced. If 

 the sheep succeeds in getting but a small portion 

 of the ointment, it so irritates the mouth as gen- 

 erally to induce cold, and oftentimes woi'^e con- 

 sequences; I have known instances with this use 

 of the -ointment, produce on the sheep's back a 

 perforation of small holes. On all occasions of 

 using Mercurial Ointment, dry weather should be 

 selected. Erastus Crafts says "October is the 

 best time to apply the ointment." It may suit this 

 climate, but in England it would generally be 

 thought too late in the year. Before concluding, 

 I must advise the readers of the " Genesee Farm- 

 er" to be very cautious how they apply this rem- 

 edy to ewes in lamb, for if they are not, they will 

 find the ewes will cast their lambs from the 

 eflJects of Mercurial application. 



It is a true adage, " One mend-fault is worth 

 two find faults," and by thy permission will act on 

 it, and give a recipe that I have found excellent for 

 the cure of scab, and it may be safely used at all 

 times and under all circumstances. It is also 

 beneficial in destroying lice and ticks on sheep, 

 and will not for a length of time leave a stain on 

 the wool or carcass. It seems almost unnecessary 

 to remark that immediately after shearing is the 

 best and most effectual time to dress for scab, it 

 being then easily perceived, but it is too often de- 

 ferred to a season of the year when it can be at- 

 tended to at cost of less valuable time. This de- 

 lay causes the disease to spread in the flock and 

 when the time does come to endeavor to effect a 

 cure, it ma}'^ be the trouble is increased ten or more 

 times to what it would have been had it been at- 

 tended to seasonably. 



Well boil one pound of tobacco in a gallon of 

 beef brine or chamber lye. After straining it, 

 dissolve one ounce of corrosive sublimate, and add 

 to it also half a pint of each spirits of turpentine 

 and train oil ; to be applied by irritating the dis- 

 eased parts and then pouring a portion from a 

 bottle through a quill in the cork, and also by part- 



