1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Ill 



every limulred, an animal so filling never rises again ; onr 

 only hope, tiierefore. is in ward'iig oti'tlie aitack. far cure is 

 almost impossible. It is eniirely independent, I believe, of 

 any previous course of feeding, except, however, that those 

 cows that are in the higiiest condition vvill be most liable to 

 attack, but is brought on by exposing th* cow to the burning 

 rays of the sun immediately after hiving calved. I am the 

 more conlirmed in this opinion from the fact that although I 

 have knoun many cases, have never known one to occur in 

 cold or cloudy weather, and it is more c juimon in the early 

 part of the season than later in the summer, when the ani- 

 mal frame has become more inureil to the \v^nt. If the weather 

 is hot let your cows be kept in the shade (if they are shut 

 up, the place should be well ventilated.) for at least two or 

 three days after calving. I imagined I relieved a cow that 

 showed strong symptoms of this complaint, by sjirinklinj 

 her copiously with cold water from the he id to the tail. If 

 your correspondent is in possession of any ficts thit conflict 

 with this view of the case, I hope he will publish them. 

 J. Q.— Way?te, Steub. Co., N. Y. 



RAISING CATTLE. 



In the spring of 1 8 18 I planted fifty rods of ground to carrots, 

 from which! obtained 280 bushels. The September follow- 

 ing I purchased ten calves, for which I paid 5c. per lb. per 

 head. The ensuing winter 1 fed them three pecks once a 

 day, one small ear of corn, and wh.U hay and corn fodder 

 they could make way with ; I gave them good pasture 

 through the summer. The next winter I fed them with two 

 quarts of corn-cob meal per day, together with other fodder. 

 They had good pasture through the past summer. On the 

 11th Uecember last, I weighed them and they averaged 

 12:24 lbs. each, the largest weighing li'2;J lbs. 



Upon close calculation, I think a mm had better raise cat- 

 tle in this way than the common way — of not feeding any 

 grain — for the average weight of steers that are one year 

 older, would not be more than llOl) lbs., take the country 

 through, and we have a line stock-growing country in old 

 Jefferson. E. Gore. — Bellville, N. Y, 



Remedy for Botts. — Those who have horses troubled 

 with ijotl.s, will find the following a very good remedy : — 

 Take half a pint of molasses and one pint of new milk, which 

 put in a bottle and shake well together — tlrench with this. 

 Then dissolve a quarter pound of allum in warm water, and 

 in fifteen minutes give this. Physic should be given after 

 this. P. C. 



Juqmrics anli Answers. 



Messks. Editors : — In the October number of the Farmer, 

 for 185U, you published a communication signed Joseph 

 Harris, in which the writer endeavored to show that plow- 

 ing in clover is an actual damage to the wheat crop, and 1 

 was not a little surprised when '-S. VV." endorsed the theory 

 in the succeeding number. Now, if 1 have understood the 

 editor of the Farmer, he has heretofore recommended the 

 plowing in of green clover, and taught the same, as the very 

 best mode of general practice. Indeed, in the same number 

 you gave an account of an uncommon yield of wheat, (sixty 

 bushels to the acre,) said to be raised on poor land manured 

 with lime and ashes and a fine growth oi clover turned under, 

 so 1 think the editor has not given up his old theory, but the 

 wonder is how such a statement as the one referred to, came 

 to be inserted without note or comment. It seems to me to 

 be a mistake which vvill tell against the acknowledged mer- 

 its of the Genesee Farmer. Farmers who have successfully 

 pursued the course of plowing in clover and summer fallow- 

 ing for wiieat, (both of which you lately seem to discourage) 

 will not be easily induced to change it for an opposite course. 

 I have universally observed that where this course has been 

 followed, it has been more successful than any other. With- 

 out disrespect to Mr. Harris, who says he is an English 

 farmer, recently arrived in this country, I would advise that 

 he test the matter a little more fully before prejudging and 

 condemning ihe almost universal experience of others, whose 

 chances to know are probably as good as his. Who does not 

 know that the wheat crop of Western New York would he 

 very much reduced — | rob ihly one-half — if the valuable aid 

 of plowing in clover vv.is dispensed with, yet foreigners set- 

 tling in this country gei^er illy affect a superior knowledge of 

 everything American that is not precisely like the same thing 



in the old country. In regard to this, only two things sur- 

 [irises me ; one i.s that they should leave so good a country 

 as the one they emigrated from : the other is, that they should 

 settle in a worse one, or in one where they are so ignorant 

 as they are in the United States of America. They scarcely 

 wait till ihoy strike our shores ere they endeavor to teach 

 their exploded dogmas. 



I should like to hear some of S. W.'s reasons for believing 

 " the system still persisted in (plowing in clover) is attend- 

 ed with the steadily increased diinunition of crops." Such 

 is the very reverse of my own experience, and if any plausi- 

 ble reasons can he given for such speculations, I should 

 like to see them put forth in the Farmer, or some other agri- 

 cultural pr'ut. 



I noticed m your paper of January last, a communication 

 concerning horse-rakes, and would ask you if the rakes then 

 recommended are the best in use. If so, tliey are far from 

 being perfect, 'i'lie wire-tooth rake is too weak for heavy 

 grass, and good only for gleaning, while the wooden turn- 

 over rake is absolutely too provoking for a christian to use, 

 if he would avoid profane language. They are hard to hold 

 and awkward to turn over : they also tangle up the hay, so 

 that you must lift the whole rake full, with a fork, at once, 

 or spend some time in pulling it apart. If you have any 

 other kinds, please give us engravings of tbem, and their 

 prices now as well as any time, so that we can kn^w what 

 we wont and where to get it. Give engravings of all kinds. 

 Also, if it would not be out of place, give us an engraving of 

 Mr. Strektkr's barn you praised so highly in your August 

 number, with a description of the same. Anti-Hum bug. 



The writer of the above shows more feeling than the top- 

 ics discussed call for ; but we will let»that matter pass. It 

 is our practice to permit farmers to express their views on 

 all questions like the plowing in of clover, or feeding it to 

 domestic animals and turning under the manure made from 

 it, instead of the plants, with the utmost freedom in the pa- 

 ges of this journal. There are soils so rich in vegetable 

 mould, that the dung and urine derived from a ton of any 

 forage plants, are better for a crop of wheat than the plants 

 without passing through the bodies of animals. We have 

 so often explained the philosophy of this, that we supposed 

 every reader of the Farmer understood our views upon the 

 subject. No one proposes to grow clover or grass and wholly 

 remove the crop with the expectation oi improving the land 

 thereby. The only debateable point is that of feeding grass 

 or hay and turning under the manure, or turning under the 

 plants without feeding. In a majority of cases, the soil is so 

 poor that the latter is the better treatment for the land. In 

 our •• Study of Soils" — a work now in press — this interest- 

 ing topic is discussed at length. 



Eds. Gen. Farmer . — Although a stranger to you personally, 

 yet as those wdiose attention is directed, in no small degree, 

 to agricultural pursuits, perhaps "mutual favors will beget 

 mutual benefits." Living at some distance from market, I 

 have been convinced for a long time that a small capital can 

 be better invested than in raising wheat and corn. Accord- 

 ingly, among others, I have had my attention directed to the 

 cultivation of Mustard and Flax seed. So far as I am able 

 to inform myself, I have become satisfied that a mustard crop, 

 where it hits, is profitable, and perhaps more so than any 

 that can be raised. But how to make it hit is the difficulty. 

 On turning to the Prairie Farmer for information on this sub- 

 ject, the editor very clearly intimates two things :— first, that 

 if you succeed in raising a crop you will not find a market 

 for it ; secondly, that the crop (based upon past experience) 

 will prove a failure. On recurring to other works, and par- 

 ticularly to the Patent Office Report of 1848, I find the same 

 discouragements held out. After giving the cases of those 

 who had tried to raise this crop, without success, it concludes 

 by saying that, with one exception, no person could be found 

 who had attempted to raise a second crop, and that the per- 

 son who made a second attempt, wound up his experiment 

 by assigniug over his property for the benefit of his creditors. 

 Now after all this, we do know of one individual who has 

 been uniformly successful in raising this crop ; but as to the 

 secret of his success, if there be any, the public are inacces- 

 sible. Will you, then, do the writer of this the favor to an- 

 swer the following interrogatories : 



What kind of seed should be used, and how much to the 

 acre ? 



