70.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



55 



This seems to prove at least that this suli- 

 stuiice is readily soluble. Moreover, the young 

 plant from stid tluit has been soaked in water 

 will be ciirresiH.ndiugly we.aker and of a paler 

 color than that fioni seed not subjected to this 

 ordeal, and the longer the action. >r the w;iter 

 has continued the nu.n^ evidently will this be 

 the case. Another <ibjreti..n lies in tliefnet 

 that seeds soaked in water very quickly dry, 

 and i-he evaporation of the water leaves Iheni 

 dryer than before. Such seeds, therefore, fre- 

 quently perish in dry soil, or during a con- 

 tinuation of warm weather. The evils th;it 

 result from soaking seeds in pure water may, 

 however, be easily avoided by soaking them 

 I in a solution of chemical salts of a fertilizing 

 nature. In consequence of the quantity of 

 salts the solution contains, it can dissolve but 

 little from the seeds, while on the contrary it 

 completely impregnates them with its fertiliz- 

 ing ingredients, so that tlie young plants from 

 seeds so treated aiipear deeii'ledly stronger and 

 darker in color. Moreover, the seeds are not 

 liable to dry up after having been steeped iu 

 this way, but in consequence of the liygro- 

 metric properties of the saline substances 

 which they contain they always continue 

 moist. Manuring the seed by means of steep- 

 ing is of great importance ; it not only in- 

 creases the number of seeds in the growing 

 plant, but also a most remarkable difference in 

 the proportion of gluten they contain ; that 

 it produces a decidedly quicker and stronger 

 growth of the young i)lant in the first fourteen 

 days is certain, as it supplies it directly with 

 the nutritive substances which are required 

 for its vigorous development at the time it is 

 just beginning to grow, and while its organs 

 are yet unfit to seek nutriment over a wide 

 range of soil. The vigorous development of 

 the plant while young is, moreover, a sure 

 guarantee of its full iierfection and ultimate 

 ripening. To apply manure directly to the 

 seeds in this way preserves them from squir- 

 rels, mice, birds and worms, as they are im- 

 pregnated with substances repungent to them, 

 and it is also a protection for rust and blight ; 

 it is a quicker, cheaper, more efficacious, and 

 less laborious method of fertilizing them than 

 to place compost in the hills or drills, and 

 moreover the weed seeds then get none of the 

 fertilizers which they share with the good 

 seeds when composts are used. Manure for 

 land, except coarse barnyard manure, should 

 be .spread broadcast and harrowed iu, thus 

 enriching all the soil. The roots there have 

 a larger area on which to feed, as they will 

 spread themselves out if properly started, and 

 the soil all around them is in proper condition 

 to nourish them. The Chinese are adepts in 

 the art of agricnlture. and their seeds are 

 manured before planting tliera. It is hoped 

 this brief article will call the attention of its 

 readers to the subject of which it treats ; and 

 if it effects only this object good will grow out 

 of it. Tlte adoption ot the plan it advocates 

 will largely increase the crops of the country 

 at a trifling expense for fertilizers, and the 

 saving iu seed will more than counterbalance 

 this increased outlay ; for when seeds are 

 steeped in the manure here recommended, a 

 bushel of wheat will l)e sufficient where a 

 bushel and a half are required when not sub- 

 jected to sneh treatment. This opinion is not 

 a mere mailer of theory. Imt the result of ac- 

 tual experiments, conducted on a large and 

 small scale, in the Held, and in the house, and 

 confirmed by the experience of many others. — 

 Andrew H. Ward, Jiridf/rwater, Mass. 



SPLENIC FEVER AND HORN AIL. 



The Countrti Gentlernan contains an article 

 on the above "subjects, from a veterinary sur- 

 geon of thirty years' experience, as follows : 



The theories in relation to the late prevail- 

 ing cattle disease are neither warranted by 

 facts nor analogy. One professor tells us this 

 disease is Texas fever, and is transmitted into 

 the system of our cattle by contagion. He 

 claims that the Texan cattle were i)erfectly 

 healthy, and yet they could through conta- 

 gion transmit the disease he calls Texas fever. 

 Another claims the disease to be "splenic 



fever." A third claims the disease to be 

 "tick fever," and says iu his rei)ort that the 

 kidneys are congested, caused by impregna- 

 tion with virus, and this virus is furnished by 

 the liver in the shape of bad blood. When 

 this leaebes the kidneys it is congested and 

 furnishes venous blood, instead of water for 

 the bladilei-. "When this stage is reached, he 

 says, there is no possil)le cure, and solemnly 

 asserts this trouble is caused by a tick. With 

 a wash he had invented, he was going to en- 

 tirely eradicate this disease from the .systems 

 of the afflicted cattle. The above professional 

 writers were unanimous in their opinions, 

 that the disease was very contagious and fatal 

 in results. 



I herewith present my pathological diagno- 

 sis as to the character of the late cattle dis- 

 ea.se, and the cause producing it, and let my 

 opinion stand upon its merit. The disease is 

 zymotic, comprised in that class of diseases 

 which are epidemic, endemic, communicable, 

 inoculable, and cajiable of propagation from 

 exi.sting invisible foci or generation, induced 

 by a .specific material or poison, or by the 

 want of, or bad quality of food. This class 

 includes four orders — miasmatic, enthetic, 

 dietic and parasitic diseases. Zymotic prin- 

 ciples—certain matters which of themselves, 

 or by their transformation, propagate zymotic 

 diseases, one of which may be accurately 

 termed " typhine "—belong to the malignant 

 typhoid type, and it is with this that these 

 cattle were attacked. A germ was trans- 

 mitted into their systems, or an invisible par- 

 ticle or molecule which becomes detached 

 from the existing living matter. In other 

 words, the germs are supposed, under very 

 favoring circumstances, to be fully capable of 

 development into new forms, and to excited 

 changes in the animal body, of a fermentative 

 or putrefactive nature. The Texan cattle, to 

 which this disease was attributed, it was said, 

 were all healthy in every particular. In this 

 normal condition of health it v{as impossible 

 for them to transmit this disease to our native 

 cattle by coming in direct or indirect contact 

 with them, which would be absolutely neces- 

 sary were this disease contagious. It is lioth 

 possible and probable that the Texan cattle 

 leave behind them germs or molecule, and 

 these remain in a morbific state, while ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere and other elements, 

 hut through molecular attraction they are 

 taken into the lungs of our native cattle, 

 through the respiratory organs, while running 

 in the same pasture fields where the Texan 

 cattle had previously been, and by this means 

 the germs or molecules come in direct contact 

 with the circulation of the blood, being taken 

 up by the minute capillary blood-vessels, 

 thereby inoculating the system with the virus, 

 and producing the malignant type of typhoid 

 fever, develojied in these cattle. The' trans- 

 mission of this disease from one animal system 

 to another, must be accomplished by inocula- 

 tion, not by one animal coming in "direct or 

 indirect contact with another and taking the 

 breath. Hence you will please note this dis- 

 ease is infectious, but not contagious. 



I will also briefly touch upon what some 

 have called hollow-horn, which, as a disease, 

 never existed. The horns are composed of 

 a horny cone, covering a porous or cellular 

 bone. This porous bone is full of blood-vessels. 



The functions of the secretive glands are 

 mncli affected by disease ; the secretions are 

 sometimes suspended in febrile diseases. 

 Where an active inflammation is set up in the 

 animal system generally, the circulation of 

 blood and the secretions are greatly disturbed. 

 Hence it is easy to account for the horns 

 appearing hollow. But as soon as the cause 

 producing the disturl)ed circulation and secre- 

 tions is removed, the organs possessing blood 

 and serum, and the other organs possessing 

 other fluids, are relieved, and all symptoms of 

 disease and distress pass off, and the system 

 is soon restored to a natural condition. There 

 is no inflammation of any important internal 

 organ that is not rapidly accompanied by 

 fever ; and that fever and the degree to whicli 

 it had reached, are easily ascertained by the 



heat of the breath, the dryness of the mouth, 

 and the great development of heat at the base 

 of the horns ; also by the redness of the eyes, 

 the frequency and hardness of the pulse, the 

 loss of appetite, and often the cessation of 

 rumination. Ilenct^ the horns would appear 

 liollow, as the porous or cellular Ixnie would 

 be deprived of proper nourishment. I think 

 I have presented suflicient facts to prove 

 hollow horn is no disea.se by itself, but is pro- 

 duced by sympathy and deprivation of proper 

 nourishment, while the sy.stem is attacked 

 with febrile disease. 



CRANBERRY CULTURE. 



A despatch from Berlin, AVisconsin, dated 

 December '28tli, says : Berlin is sneeringly 

 dubbed the Cranberry City by the newspapers 

 of rival towns, and at picking time the visi- 

 tor is impressed with the thought that it is no 

 misnomer. All other busine.ss interests then 

 seem subservient to this, for the harvest is of 

 no mean import anee to a river town of ."5,000 

 inhabitants, the annual shiiunents sometimes 

 reaching the a.stounding figures of .35,000 

 bushels from the large marsh of Sackett 

 Brothers, whose united annual expenditures 

 are not far from SKW.dOO. 



When the picking begins, in October, the 

 whole country round turns out en masse, for 

 cranberry time is a succession of gala days, 

 men, women and chihlrcn pouring towards 

 the marshes in what seems an endless stream 

 of humanity, all eager to earn the excellent 

 waL'Ps that are always paid. The noisy throng 

 is largely made up of Scandinavians and Ger- 

 mans, liy whom portions of the country are 

 thickly settled, the men in quaint garments 

 of sombre homespun, high boots and awkward 

 blue caps, and smoking the ubiquitous huge- 

 bowled porcelain pipe from the Fatherland; 

 the women with gay-colored shawls tied over 

 the head and falling on the shoulders, short, 

 stiff dresses and wooden shoes. Children of 

 all ages accompany them, looking curious 

 enough, dressed in pre(!isely the same sombre 

 attire as their parents, which gives them the 

 appearance of veritable Liliputians. Most of 

 the pilgrims towards the cranberry ISIecca go 

 on foot, but some ride on hea^'y farm wagons, 

 canvas-covered and drawn by sleepy oxen, 

 with whose small pace the phlegmatic farmer 

 seems quite content. It is this willingness to 

 make haste slowly but surely in the race for 

 wealth that has made substantial farmers of 

 these. 



Coming to America with a few dollars, and 

 liurchasing sandy farms on which the restless 

 Yankee has starved, and which he is glad to 

 sell for a mere song, these emigrants lead a 

 life of frugality and self-denial which brings 

 them a reward in causing the desert to blos- 

 som as the rose. It is a saying hereabout 

 that what the Norwegian farmer cannot sell 

 he feeds to his stock, and what they will not 

 eat he gives to his family : of course this is 

 an exaggeration, but the writer has visited 

 the log houses of some of the less well-to-do 

 people and has found their diet to consist 

 Inrgrply nf black rye bread and thickened sour 

 milk, all the rest of the farm products going 

 to market. This frugal mode of living seems 

 to have the double eflect of benefiting the 

 family health and of gradually filling the do- 

 mestic exchequer. The women work in the 

 fields with the men, and are models of physical 

 rojjustness, never requiring a physician. A 

 dentist has never yet been known to operate 

 upon the molars or bicusi>ids of these people, 

 whose teeth would excite the envy of a pam- 

 pered child of fortune. 



Here and there among the prospective 

 pickers are a bevy of American girls who 

 leave home comfort and plenty to "rough it" 

 on the marshes for a week or two. Bands of 

 Winnebago Indians occasionally file past, 

 gayly attired in bright colored Government 

 bl.-inkets. the lazy warriors or bucks mounted 

 on ponies, the squaws trudaing along the 

 sandy roads canning the "impedimenta," 

 with the pa]ii)ooses strapped into a frame- 

 work borne u|)on the back with tiie other 

 burdens. These Lidians are the children and 



