240 



THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



UoG CnoLERA. — A correspondent of the Ameri 

 am AgricuUurht says tliat this disease should be 

 caJled "stoppage of tlie issues." There is on the 

 mside of the fore leg of every liog, opposite the 

 knee joint, three small ducts or pipes, which con- 

 nect directly with the lungs of the animal. In 

 every healthy hog there is a continual discharge, 

 from these issues of a tliick offensive matter, caus- 

 ing the hair to look greasy around them. If these 

 issues get stopped, as they often do, the hog will 

 die in a short time, unless they are opened, Avhich 

 is done by inserting a wire the size of a knitting 

 needle into the issues from ten to twelve inches, 

 taking care not to punch tlirough the membranous 

 lining near the lungs. After the openmg process 

 is done, anoint the inside of the leg with salt 

 grease, and rub with a corn-cob until the skin looks 

 very red, and in nine cases out of ten, if done in 

 season, the cure is eifected. Hogs that are con- 

 fined in small pens, or together in large numbers, 

 are most hable to this disease, and they have never 

 been known to be affected by it where they have 

 plenty of room and free access to a brook or rivu- 

 let, of clear running water. Is this so ? 



Millet fok Food. — A correspondent of the 

 Southern Homestead says that in Germany millet 

 is extensively used as food for man. It is first 

 hulled by a small machine with two iron rollers, 

 one of which 'is turned by a crank, and the seed 

 falls into a box like a chess box in a fanning mill. 

 After the seed is cracked, and the hull and chaff , 

 separated from it, tbe grain is boiled in milk like 

 rice for puddings, &c. It requires but a small 

 quantity to be used at a time, as it swells or thick- 

 ens up exceedingly. It may be seasoned with 

 Matter, sugar, &c., the same as for rice. 



"Weeds — Their impoutaxce. — The Valley Farm- 

 er says weeds are a blessing, and cause materially 

 ibe fruitfulness of the land, and that, were it not 

 for them, the land would not be half cultivated, 

 nor the surface of the ground be broken during the 

 growing period of gai'den vegetables, and farm 

 crops. 



UxDEnDRAiNiNG "Water Meadows. — It is said 

 that at the home farm of the Dnke of Newcastle, 

 thirty acres of water meadow have been broken 

 np within a few years, and after being thoroughly 

 drained, were again laid down to grass on the most 

 approved principles. Those meadows now produce 

 fonr crops of green fodder annually, where but a 

 .short time ago there was nothing to be seen but 

 coarse sedge grasses and rushes. The progress of 

 improvement has been so marked that forty acres 

 more are now being pat into the eame condition. 



Farming in England and France, — Sanforo 

 Howard, of the Boston Cultivator, is now visiting 

 Europe, and mjikes the following comparisons be- 

 tween these two countries. In England the fields 

 are mostly square, divided by green hedges, and 

 each is devoted to a particular crop. In France, 

 the land is cultivated in narrow strips, without 

 fences, except by the roads. It is not uncommon 

 to see strips of wheat, oats, lucerne, clover, and the 

 different kinds of vegetables, each of a rod in 

 width, along-side each other, and all belonging to 

 the same person. In England, the numerous flocks 

 and herds add beauty to the landscape. In France, 

 you may travel for miles without seeing a sheep or 

 cow. England strives to produce all the meat she 

 can, and by so doing increases the fertility of her 

 soil. France keeps the smallest number of domes- 

 tic animals she can get along with, and consequently 

 decreases her productive powers. England raises 

 turnips and other root crops largely. France raises 

 hemp, tobacco, and the cereal grains. The crops 

 of the two countries show the immense superiority 

 of the English system. The very grass of England 

 is more luxuriant. 



A "Weed Laav. — The Ohio Farmer calls for the 

 passing of a stringent law to compel the destruc- 

 tion of noxious weeds by every person on the land 

 he owns, before the seeds are ripened, the penalty 

 of non-performance to be a fine to go to the school 

 fund. The same paper says that traveling thresh- 

 ing machines are "evil monsters" — they distribute 

 vile seeds everywhere ; and that the farmer who 

 employs them regularly, will soon find that by 

 their free carrier system he will get weeds aruong 

 his grain. 



A CriiE FOR SuEEP-KLLLiNG DoGS. — The Wiscon- 

 sin Farmer says it intends to persist in asking for 

 an anti-dog law ; and, till it is passed, recommends 

 farmers who are troubled by dogs killing their 

 sheep, to get a dime's worth of strychnine and pnt 

 it into a gash cut in a mouthful of fi'esh meat, ta 

 be left where the dog is likely to get it. He is not 

 likely to be troublesome again. We knew a gen- 

 tleman who tried sprinkling some strychnine Oil 

 the skinned body of a sheep left in the field, andi 

 the next morning there were thirteen dogs lyiflfi 

 dead around it. 



Hungarian Grass. — Hon. A. B. Dickinbo] 

 writes to the Country Oentleman that the " H 

 garian grass of last year, and the honey blade 

 of this yewr, is nothing more than what was knowfei 

 as millet, forty years ago — what was cultivated 

 barn yard or summer grass seventy-five years siaoi^ 

 and 'the meanest grass of all that grow.'" 



