110 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



May 



t 



slopping and feeding grain to railiting cows, is a practice un- 

 known to butter makers there, and that there is nearly ns 

 much butter made in the winter as in the summer. I will 

 just add, in corri)boration of t!ie opinion of the writer's father, 

 that many English agricultu'dsls believe that grass land, if 

 generally pastured, will goon to improve for half a century. 



While you are at the World's Fair, go down to the v.de of 

 Aylesbury. There you may see several thousand acres of 

 the richest grass land in the world, that has been undisturbed 

 by the plow since the days of the Tudors, and much of it 

 docs not show the slightest trace of ever having been culii- 

 vated ; and, though called a vale, the land is as rolling as 

 much of Western New York. I am clearly of the opinion 

 that there is a great many acres of land in this country, tliat 

 would, if it had been cleared olf without plowing and left for 

 permanent pasturage, at this day have been much more val- 

 uable than it now is or can be for many years to come. 

 J. G.— Wayne, Sleub. Co., N. Y. 



We certainly iliink our correspondent mistaken when he 

 says that " seventy-five per cent, of all the English butter 

 that supplies the London market is made from natural grass." 

 This may be true of butter from certain sections. Kye-grass. 

 orchard-grass, or coeksf>ot, and other varieties of grass are 

 cultivated extensively, as well as clover. V'etshes, or tares, 

 lucern, sanfoin. tSoc., are raised in almost all parts of the 

 country for soiling. Hay, in England, i^f cured with much 

 care and labor, and placed in very neat stacks, from which 

 it is cut,- by a knife, in square "trusses," weighing about 

 fifiy-six pounds. We never noticed that English tiay was 

 superior in any way to American. We rather think the but- 

 ler is more indebted to the care of the dairy maid for its good 

 quality, than to any virtues in the hay or grass. Although 

 good butter is always to be found in England, by paying the 

 highest price, yet the traveller will have no difficulty in find- 

 ing that which is inferior at a cheaper rate. 



The propriety of laying down lands to permanenC pastures 

 has been much discussed in England, and this course is more 

 generally adopted, but in Scotland very little land which is 

 capable of being brought under the plow is kept in perma- 

 nent grass. But, in England these permanent meadows are 

 not left unmanured and uncared for, as our correspondent 

 would lead us to suppose. We have seen farmers in Eng- 

 land manuring their meadows with liiinid mmurefroma cart 

 such as is used in watering the streets of our cities. In other 

 cases meadjws in England receive a thorough top-dressing 

 of well-rottej in mure. Tha scarilier, or harrow, is then 

 used, scratrhin:^ the surface, and pannitting the manure to 

 penetrate t'> tlio roJts. Kiier the scirilicr, we have .seen 

 large biin(A<'s of thorns and brambles drawn across the field, 

 to aid in in^^'^rporaiing the rnxmire with the soil. No won- 

 der that land in grass, thus treated, constantly improves, 

 ytatements of the practice of English agriculturists, unless 

 very explicit, are apt to mislead. 



DLSK.AStS OF CATTLE. 

 HoRi» DiSTEMPKR. — Farmers are generally aware of the fact 

 that cattle once attacked with the horn distemper are subject 

 to similar attacks every succeeding winter or spring. I have 

 fourtd by experience, that a dose of soot and salt given occa- 

 sionally, with a little spirits of turpentine between the horns, 

 will prevent an attack. 



Black Ekg. — Many calves are lost every year by this dis- 

 ease. It is generally believed to be caused by change of feed 

 in the spring. I have kept a large number of calves for sev- 

 eral winters past, and have never had one nffected by thi< 

 disease. I raise a large quantity of roots, (principally sugar 

 beet) and feed them during the winter to my young stock 

 The change in the spring is not so great as though they had 

 been kept on dry feed during the winter, and I think calves 

 fed partly on roots during the winter will not be troubled 

 with I. lack leg. 



Many of our cows have been attacked with a disease soon 

 after calving. For a short lime ihey appear well, but soon 

 «rc taken with an infianiuiatory disease, (I suppose.) and 

 most thus ntlarked die, unlnss "helped specifily. 'I'lie licst 

 femedy we hove fnind. is a lablp-spooriful of saltpetre, dis- 

 solved in a pint of whiskey. This remedy is quite success- 

 f"J- U. I). 



POTATO CULTURE. 



Eds. Genesee Earner : — Many years since I discovered 

 that new potatoes invariably set above the tubers, or seed 

 planted, and in accordance with my knowledge of that fact, 

 I commenced planting the potatoes as deep in the ground as 

 I ever designed they should bo at any lime during the sea- 

 son of cultivation. The practice has thus far fully answered 

 my expectations. I have for the past ten years invariably 

 raised very good crops of fair sized potatoes, while many of 

 my neighbors, tilling the same kind of soil, who have pur- 

 sued the old method of hilling and tillage, have had lighter 

 yields and smaller and inferior potatoes. 1 have found that 

 the seasons of severe drouth have not as seriously alfocied 

 my crops as those of others. I prepare the land for potatoes 

 the same as for corn. I plant in hills three feet apart, and 

 usually with a spade dig as deep as the ground has been 

 plowed, and. if a sod, I cut through it. The tops are longer 

 in coming out of the ground, but as soon as out, I pass 

 through the rows with a cultivator, and with a hoe clean 

 the hills. When hoed, I put the same composition in the 

 hills that I use fjr corn, which greatly bene.'iis the crop. 

 I endeavor to keep the ground clean during tlie season. I 

 have usually planted about the lir.?t of May, and dug and 

 housed as soon as they were sutliciently ripe, and therefore 

 have lost but few by the rot. 1 doul>t not that if fu-mers 

 would, where their soil admits, practice the losel mode of 

 culture, both with corn and potatoes, that they would gen- 

 erally be much belter repaid for their labor. But enough 

 upon this subject. 



Now a icord about Sowing Piaster. The use of it is rapidly 

 increasing in the country, and consequently the best method 

 of sowing should be adopted. [I may not be known by all 

 of the readers of ihe Farmer who use it, that sowing from a 

 wagon is the quickest, easiest, cheapest and best method, 

 where sown by hand. Place the barrel, or barrels, in a 

 wagon, taking out a head. A man will sow it about as fast 

 as horses usually walk, if he has a person to drive. By this 

 means a ton can be very accurately sown in a few iiours 

 without much fatigue or sulfering from the dust. Okvnge 

 H. Wait.— WUloughby, Ohio. 



FOOT-ROT IN SHEEP. 



Messrs. EDiTORS : — The following is an infallible cure for 

 Foot-Rot in Sheep, if faithfully applied, and the sheep put 

 into pasture that is not infested with the »lisea>e. M^ike 

 1 gall, of strong tobacco water by boiling 1 lb. of good toli:icco. 

 skim out the tobacco leaves, and while lioi, add 1 lb. of blue 

 vitriol, i lb. of copperas, and .4 lb. alum — if partly pulver- 

 ized it will dis.^olve the boiler. Afier it is cold, add half a 

 pint of spirits of turpentine. 



To work to advuui.ige, it needs two men. One catches 

 the sheep, sets ii on its rump belvvecn his I'ecl. with the back 

 of the head up ag.iinsi his breast. Seating himself on a low 

 bench, with a .sharp knil'e he clears the hoofs of the fore feet. 

 paring off all the loose hoof, and applies the medicine with 

 a sm.ill brush that will work between ihe claws, as it must 

 l)c applied ihorouglily belween iheui, an J on the outside to 

 the top of the hoof. Tiie oilier is seated so as i < conveni- 

 ently attend to the hind feel. Thus two men will doctor 

 from iifty to one hundred sheep in aiiay, which must be done 

 three times a week, it is no doubt highly contagious after 

 it is once seated. If one is Lame, the whole liock must be 

 doctored. It is allowed by many experienced shepherds that 

 the disease is often produced by nogleciing to clean and trim 

 the feel in the spring when warm wcal.'ier (ir»t commences, 

 ill March or April, the shell of the hoof growing down below 

 the sole of the fool and turning under, where dirt accumu- 

 lalca, and also between the claws, creating a fever and gen- 

 erating the loathsome disease, wliicli^ when il once gets in- 

 to a llock, is hard to remove, being so contiigious, and yet 

 in a single sheep it is easily cured. See '•Americ.in Shep- 

 herd," liy L. \. M,, page 3Ud. A Shepheru ok Steuben. 

 —Heading, N. Y, 



'•CALF FEVER." 



Some time since I noticed an article in the Farmer, from a 

 cflrresporident, asking for information upon what he ealleil 

 the "calf fever." I was in hopes that some one cfSmpeteril 

 to the task, would take the matter up and give us some lii;hi 

 upon the subject. Hul as that is not the case, I will oiVer 

 my opuij.in. The "cilf tevcr."' I iliink. is the same com- 

 plaint that in England is emphatically called ihe •• f:il|.' 

 irom the fact, I presume, that in ninety-nine coses out of 



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