THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



271 



SPIRIT OF THE AGRICULTUKAL PEESS. 



Wateij on Stook Fakms. — Mr. Stuawn, the 

 great Illiaois fanner, gives the following method 

 in the Farmers' Advocate for keeping water on a 

 stock farm: Dig a basin five or ten rods square 

 and ten feet deep, upon a high knoll. Feed corn 

 in the basin to your hogs and cattle until it is well 

 puddled by the tramping of their feet, which will 

 make it almost water-tight. He says the rains of 

 a single winter sufficed to accommodate several 

 hundred head of cattle, and that it had been dry 

 but once in twelve years. 



Milk becoming Thick while Sweet. — A wi'iter 

 to the Boston Cultivator states that a few years 

 since he fed a cow on "cut feed" mixed with 

 Indian meal. After she had eaten two or three 

 bushels of meal, the quantity of milk became less 

 and the quality richer, and in a i&V7 minutes after 

 the -milk was drawn it became thick, like jelly, 

 yet remained perfectly sweet. He says he " cut 

 short " the meal, and there was no further trouble. 



To Remove Houses from a Building on Fire. 

 The great difficulty of getting horses from a stable, 

 where surrounding buildings are in a state of con- 

 flagration, is well known. Wilkes' Spirit of the 

 Times says a gentleman whose horses had been in 

 great peril from such a cause, having in vain tried 

 to save them, hit upon the experiment of having 

 tliem harnessed, when, to his astonishment, they 

 were led from the stable without difficulty. 



Cashmeke Goats in Kejjtuckt. — R. "W". Scott, 

 of Kentucky, informs the Ohio Cultivator that G. 

 W. Ogden, of Fayette Co., has a flock of eighty 

 Cashmere goats, grades and full bloods, male and 

 female. He was astonished to see "how rapidly 

 the short-haired scrub is transformed into the fine 

 wool-bearing Cashmere — four or five crosses ap- 

 pearing to make them in all respects equal to pure- 

 bred animals from imi)orted stock." 



SooTJES IN Calves. — Nothing is so good to stop 

 this complaint — says the Mass. Ploughman — as loam 

 from the field. Calves should be weaned on hay ; 

 but they should always have sods of earth beside 

 them in the barn. This is new to us. Carbonate 

 of lime, it is well known, will check the scours ; 

 and perhaps it is this ingredient of the loam which 

 renders it efficacious — and if so, pulverized lime- 

 stone would be most efitctive. 



To Remove Warts. — A correspondent of the 

 Nev) En-gland Farmer says that potash dissolved to 

 a paste and laid on the wart for half an hour, and 

 then taken ofi", will cure a wart on man or beast. 



To Keep Potatoes in the Cellar. — A corres- 

 pondent of the New England Farmer says: Put 

 them in a pile as deep as you can conveniently, 

 lie has for three or four years noticed that where 

 they were deepest they kept the best. Last autumn 

 he put out 125 bushels in one bin, and tilled them 

 2^ or 3 feet deep. They have decayed but -little, 

 and he found more rotten ones near the top than 

 anywhere else. 



Slobbering in Horses. — A correspondent of the 

 Boston Cultivator cures this disease by the use of 

 saltpeter. A tablespoonful to a dose he has foimd to 

 cure the worst case he ever had, and has not found 

 it necessary ever to give the fourth dose. He gives 

 a tablespoonful in the morning, and in three days, if 

 the horse is not free from it, repeats the dose. 



Onions for Cattle. — A write)' in the Homestead 

 has great faith in the efficacy of a peck of onions 

 for ridding cows or oxen of lice. He claims to have 

 found them an infallible remedy in his practice. 

 They also give tone to the stomach, and are especi- 

 ally valuable in hot weather, when working cattle 

 will ie in the shade at noontime, and refuse to eat 



Sand foe Horse's Beds. — Mr. Small, of Dun 

 dalk, a veterinary surgeon of considerable experi- 

 ence, states in the Southern Homestead that sand is 

 not only an excellent substitute for straw for horses' 

 beds, but superior to straw, as sand do«s not heat, 

 and saves the hoofs of horses. He states that sand 

 is exclusively used for horses' beds in his repository. 



Inflamed Udder. — A writer in the N. E. Farmer 

 says that he finds by trial that lamp-oil is an excel- 

 lent remedy for inflammation or hardness of cows" 

 teats and bag. He had a cow whose teats were so 

 hard and feverish, that no milk could be got from 

 them at night ; but by applying lamp-oil they would 

 be soft and well in twenty-four hours. 



Black Hogs not Subject to Mange. — A writer 

 in the Southern Planter., describing the difterent 

 varieties of swiije, says he never knew black hogs 

 to have the mange ; while white ones are very sub- 

 ject to it, and sometimes die of it. Is this a fact ? 



To KEEP Rats from Grain Stacks. — The Ohio 

 Farmer says: "Put in a few garlicks among the 

 sheaves when stacking grain, and rats will not trou- 

 ble it." We have frequently seen tliis recom- 

 mend. Is there any truth in it? 



Sheep for Wool and Mutton. — J. S. Tibbitts 

 says, in the Michigan Farmer., " If wool alone was 

 my object, I would breed the Spanish Merino; if 

 mutton solely was my object, I would breed either 

 the South Downs, Leicesters or Cotswolds." 



