vol.. \\ >■<). I. 



AND H () R T I n L T U K A L R E G I S T K R 



Porihe N. E. Firmer. 



REMOVAL OF THE SECUNDINE. 



Ai.Lf.s PcT.vAM, Esq. — Denr Sir — In tlio N. E. 

 FarniiT of llio 3d insL, you sny, that if I can do- 

 Bcnbe the process to wliich I BlUiiled in the third 

 question of ttiy former communication, the making 

 it public 18 desirable. I have a very poor faculty 

 to describe any thing by writing, but nevertholcss 

 I will try. 



In the inside of a womb of a cow, there are 

 many bunches, all round, like buttons, to which the 

 secundinc is attached ; and I cannot describe the 

 manner of the fastening better than by comparing 

 it to cutting a hole or holes in a bag, and slipping 

 it'over a button and sewing it ti^ht around the 

 neck of the button, so that hte button would be on 

 ths inside of the bag. All tliese bunches, knobs 

 or buttons are easily pulled ofl" — hence the danger 

 of any violent means being used, for if those bunch- 

 es are torn otT, there is great danger that the cow 

 would bleed to death — instances of which there 

 have been. All those fastenings should be nipped 

 off with the thumb and fingernails, without any 

 pulling. It is a severe exercise for the hand, and 

 necessarily takes soma little tiine. If it is care- 

 fully done, there is no danger of its injuring the 

 cow ; but if done harshly, there is great danger. 

 Yours, rcspect'ullv, 



LOVETT PETERS. 



June 16, 1841. 



From the Fanner's MoDtblr Visitor. 



HOW DOES CLIMATE AFFECT THE STA- 

 PLE OF WOOL ? 



The manner in which our two distinguished 

 friends. Col. Jaques and Mr Sibley, arrive at the 

 same conclusions from premises directly opposite, 

 puzzles us exceedingly. We have not the ability 

 to explain or defend either position. All we oan 

 do is to express the hope that our readers, who are 

 practical nieft pursuing the successful business of 

 weaning lambs and raising sheep, will not be in- 

 fluenced to chonge a sure course for any untried 

 experiment. 



Our friend Sibley, whose communications on any 

 agricultural subject we shall always prize, because 

 they are the result of experience, has fully proved 

 his doctrines in relation to the management of 

 sheep by his works : we should follow his advice 

 very far on this, as on almost every other point of 

 agricuUdral information. Col. Jaques is, perhaps, 

 more a man of fancy and imagination than theHop- 

 kinton farmer. The essays and the ideas of both 

 gentlemen will amuse our readers, if they do not 

 afford in all cases safe instruction. 



Hopkinton, jV. H, Aug. 1st, Ji?40. 

 Ho."*. Isaac Hill — In the Visitor of yesterday, 

 now before me, I find a very interesting account of 

 Col. Jaques, his farm, and his stock — but more es- 

 pecially interesting is the account of the manage- 

 ment of his stock, and his theory for its improve- 

 ment I will touch only upon his theory respect- 

 ing his flock of South Downs. He states, that "to 

 give them the finer and uniform quality of wool 

 down to the fetlock, and an increased quantity 

 over ilie whole body, he had so disposed of their 

 breeding that they should present their lambs in 

 the fall, instead of the spring." He founds the 

 improvement of the wool of his sheep on the prin- 

 ciple " that the economy and providence of nature 



arc such, that nninmls clothed in wool or fur will 

 increase or diiniiiisli the quantity of either, accord- 

 ing to the climalo, whirli requires more or less 

 wool or fur to warm tlio body." 



It is on this same principle of the "economy 

 and providence of nature," that I found the im- 

 provement of till' wool of my sheep, but my manner 

 of doing it is the reverse of tlial of Col. Jaques. 

 If my views are right, they may bo of some ser- 

 vice to wool growers, who would bo likely to follow 

 a principle lnid down niid reduced to practice by a 

 person of 60 much inlluonce as Col. Jaques. My 

 reasons lor adopting a ditTerent manner of improve- 

 ment, may be seen in the following account. 



In the fall of 18"J1, I bought a small numbur of 

 full blooded Merino sheep, for the purpose of in- 

 creasing my Hock aiij raising fine wool. For a 

 number ot years I allowed the buck to go with the 

 flock the year round, in order that my lambs 

 should come in tin; winter, supposing birth at that 

 season would have a natural influence in produ- 

 cing a more abundant quantity, and a much finer 

 quality of wool. In breeding in this way, with 

 the nicest care as to male parentage, I found all 

 my young sheep bore wool of an inferior quality to 

 my original stock. I had nearly made up my 

 mind that our country was not suited to the growth 

 of fine wool, and that in the course of time the 

 offspring of fine Spanish sheep would become as- 

 similated to, and lost in, our native breed. From 

 conversation and reflection on the subject, I con- 

 cluded to change my course, and let the month of 

 May be the yeaning month, and a few years only 

 were needed to produce a change for the better, as 

 apparent as day from night. All agree that a cold 

 climate is calculated to produce a finer, softer and 

 more abundant covering for the animal creation, 

 than a hot one ; and for that reason a lamb that is 

 dropped in May, or the fore part of June, will pro- 

 duce more and better wool than one which comes 

 in the fall or winter. By allowing the male to go 

 to the female in December, we have the whole of 

 the winter for the formation of the animal, and 

 with all the other parts, every fibre of the wool is 

 formed, and the lamb is fitted for a cold climate 

 with a fleece of the finest and warmest kind. Af- 

 ter the perfect formation and production of the ani- 

 mal, the heat of our summer produces no change 

 in the quality of the wool, or if any, it is so slight 

 as to be wholly unperceived. Sheep that are at 

 all tin.es kept in a perfectly healthy condition, 

 continue to produce wool equally fine, soft and 

 beautiful, year after year, till visited by old age, 

 and then, like the hair of an aged person, it be- 

 comes in some degree more harsh and rigid. By 

 providing for the birth of lambs in the fall, gesta- 

 tion is going on during the heat of summer, and 

 nature, true to her work, prepares the lamb with a 

 hairy, coarse covering, suited to a warm climate. 

 STEPHEN SIBLEV. 



From the Farmer s Cabinet. 



POTATOES. 



"Let A'atuTc huie htr perfect work." 

 Mr Editor — Had your correspondent C. (p. 

 290, No. 0, for April,) lived a century ago, his pro- 

 posal to deprive the potato plant of its seed-ves- 

 sels to strengthen the root, would have been in 

 season; for the wise folks of that age supposed 

 that "art could im^rorc nature;" but such a scheme 

 as thiit which he advocates, is now quite out of 



dale, fur it is found that nature is in every thin;; 

 perfect, and all thiit ninn can do is to iiwi't her by 

 bringing within her roach the muturiaU for hor 

 work, er removing out of the woy those obstacles 

 that would impede her progress. The in^ilnnce 

 which he cites, of an experiment made by .M. /cl- 

 ler. Director of the Agricultural Society of Darm- 

 stadt, is only the repetition of the old btory, which 

 has conio regularly up and gono regiilurly down 

 for the last age : the plan has been advocated and 

 abandoned limes and often, and wise men have at 

 length come to the conclusion, that Nature know* 

 best how to do her own work. Anjaccount of M. 

 Zeller's experiment of removing the potato blos- 

 soms, is going the round of the agricultural papers, 

 and the difference in favor of the operation is gene- 

 rally made to appear, as stated in the Cabinet, viz: 

 as 470 to 37; but the latter number is evidently a 

 misprint : it should be as 470 to 4.37, and so it is 

 slatrtd in the New England Farmer, one of the 

 best agricultural journals in the United States. 



A. 

 P. S. — Is it not time, now-about, to revive again 

 the hilling of corn ? 



GALVANIC PLANT-PROTECTOR. 



It appears by a late English paper, that a gal- 

 vanic battery has been successfully employed to 

 guard the Dahlia against slugs and snails. Most 

 of our rerders will get a correct idea of this appa- 

 ratus, from a tin basin, six inches in diameter, with 

 the bottom out The material, howerer, must be 

 zinc, surrounded by a band of {copper one inch 

 wide, neatly fitted on the outside near the rim, and 

 held up by dots of solder. It is pressed into the 

 ground so that no insect can crawl under it, and 

 its effect is thus described : 



"The mollusca may crawl up the zinc with im- 

 punity, but on coming in contact with the copper, 

 will receive a galvanic shock, and immediately 

 turn away or fall to the ground. I have repeated- 

 ly watched them, and have observed they were ex- 

 tremely cautious in approaching a second time. — 

 The apparatus acts in wet or dry weather, and is 

 therefore always in action." 



We ought to mention, however, that the upper 

 edge of the zinc has an indented flange, turned 

 horizontally outward, just above the copper band. 



We have thought of applying this apparatus to 

 the plum tree, &.C., to protect the fruit against the 

 curculio. Insects that fly into the trees, of course 

 will not be interrupted ; but the curculio, like the 

 snail or the slug in England, is decidedly a crawl- 

 cr. To prevent the hogs from interfering, a guard 

 of thorns or briers may be useful; or perhaps it 

 may be found to act several feet up the trunk, 

 where rags or tow may be stuffed in between the 

 tree and the magic circle. — J^'ew Gtneace Far, 



The beautiful shade trees before your dwellings 

 which shield you from the heat of summer, and 

 shed an air of fragrance and beauty around tiie 

 spot on which they stand, and your fruit trees, 

 from which you have so often regaled yourself, 



WERE PLA^TED BY OTHER DANDS. 



It must be the destiny of the very best and rich- 

 est countries to degenerate, whenever successive 

 croppings of even the richest soils shall be pur- 

 sued, unless the requisite means are adopted for 

 renovation. 



