154 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



HORN-AIL IN CATTLE. 



Mr. Editor : I latclj- noticed a very sensible piece 

 in your paper, taken from the Lo-\vell Journal, on the 

 symptoms and treatment of this disease in cattle. 

 I perfectly ajjireo with that writer in regard to the 

 symptoms and the propriety of a good, warm, dry 

 bed, and food of easy digestion, and also nutritious, 

 such as potatoes, oatmeal, &o. ; but in regard to 

 physic, or any purging medicine, I have for twenty- 

 five years past made use of the shrub, or bush 

 ivy, or what some call inercwy, which grows in 

 low mowing land. — Mode of Preparation. Take as 

 much of the herb as will nearly fill a six or eight 

 quart kettle ; boil it, say two hours, and have about 

 two quarts of liquor when boiled, and give a common 

 junk-bottle full at a dose, moderately warm, and 

 repeat the dose in twenty-four hours, and again the 

 next day if thought necessary. Ey this treatment I 

 have never found any difficulty iir restoring the ani- 

 mal to a good appetite and good health in a few 

 days ; but the sooner a sick animal is attended to, 

 the more easy and speedy the cure. 



N. B. Care should be taken in boiling the ivy, 

 and have no persons exposed to the steam arising 

 from it, for fear of poisoning them, if they are easily 

 poisoned by the green plant when growing in sum- 

 mer. 



Farmers should always lay up a bushel of ivy in 

 hay time, when it can easily be saved, and have it 

 ready if they should be so unlucky as to need it in 

 the winter or spring, Avhich is the most usual time 

 for the disease to prevail. 



I have also found a sirup made of the ivy a very 

 effectual preventive against poisoning, when work- 

 ing amongst it in haying time, or any other time of 

 the season. The sirup is to be made as follows : 

 Take one pound of ivy, boil it thoroughly, and have, 

 when boiled, tAVO quarts of the liquor ; add two 

 quarts molasses and two quarts good brandy ; shake 

 it well together ; and before going to work where j'ou 

 arc cxpioscd to the ivy, take about one table spoonful, 

 and repeat the same dose forenoon and afternoon, 

 while exposed to it ; and persons so doing will find 

 but little inconvenience arising from the effects of 

 the poisonous quality of the ivy. 



I have made use of the above sirup for mj'self and 

 boys, and hired hands, who formerly poisoned very 

 easily, for several years, with complete success, and 

 consider it a perfectly safe remedy, 



DAVID NOYES. 



NoiiWAY, March 19, 1849. 

 — Norway Adccrtiser, 



Remarks by the Editor New Enqlaxd Farmer. 



It is an astonishing fiict that poison ivy, {Rus 

 radicaus,) the very effluvia of which Avill poison some 

 persons severely, when passing near, without coming 

 in contact with it, may be taken internally, not only 

 with safety, but as a valuable medicine ; also as an 

 excellent remedy against the effects of its own poi- 

 son ; and Mr. Noyes shows that it may likewise be 

 used as a preventive. 



CULTURE OF PARSNIPS. 



We hope that the farmers of Elaine will pay more 

 attention to root crops the ensuing season than they 

 have for a few years past. Many more roots of all 

 kinds were raised, in this section of the Union, ten 

 years ago, than there are now. Subsequently to that 

 period, potatoes commanding a ready sale and good 

 price for starch factories in the interior, and for 

 shipping or the seaboard, our farmers put their 



whole strength to this crop, omitting, in a great 

 degree, the other roots. Soon after this, the rot 

 commenced, and farmers, as if discouraged, left off 

 planting, not only potatoes in so large quantities as 

 before, but also other roots ; and now there are not 

 so many raised as the wants of the community de- 

 mand. 



We would recommend exj^eriments to be tried 

 with parsnips as a field crop. They should be plant- 

 ed early, in a deep soil. If the ground should be 

 ploughed, and at the same time following the plough 

 with a subsoil plough, no doubt great advantage 

 would be gained. Plant early. This root contains 

 much saccharine matter, is easily raised and pre- 

 served. The whole crop need not be dug in the fall, 

 for it is well known that they keep well all winter, 

 frozen down in the soil, and may be drawn in the 

 spring as they are wanted. When cooked, they 

 make excellent food for swine, and they also make 

 an excellent provender for milch cows in the spring, 

 at a period when something of the sort is needed 

 to give richness and substance to the milk. The 

 principal objection Ave ever heard made to the 

 culture, is the difheulty of harvesting them, or get- 

 ting them out of the ground. 



We are told by some who have travelled in the 

 Islands of Guernsey and Jersey that much account 

 is there made of the parsnip crop for the purpose of 

 feeding their cows, and that the increase of cream 

 and the excellent flavor imparted to it by this food, 

 makes it peculiarly profitable to them. — Maine 

 Farmer. 



THE POTATO DISEASE. 



Although this may seem not to be a fit time or 

 season of the year, I venture to say or make a fev.- 

 remarks on the subject of the potato rot. A^vare 

 that there has been a great deal said relative to it, 

 and various remedies prescribed, still I do not think 

 but what some remarks may be made advantageously 

 on the subject yet. The potato has been too highly 

 cultivated, and has become exhausted through excess 

 of cultivation. Though to some this may seem like 

 strange logic, j'ct, in my humble opinion, it is never- 

 theless true ; and I was confirmed in the opinion the 

 last season by observation and experiment. In one 

 case, in particular, I noticed, Avhile digging the potato, 

 that in one part of the field, where the soil was 

 greatly superior to that of any other part of it, and 

 where the potato has been better and oftener dressed 

 than in the other part, that they nearly all were 

 rotten ; while in the other part of the field, where 

 the soil Avas of an inferior quality, and the potato 

 not half attended to, there none Averc diseased. 

 This, and numerous other cases, make it very evi- 

 dent to an observer, that the root has become sickly 

 and exhausted through excessive cultivation. I 

 conclude, therefore, that the folloAving remarks may 

 be Avorthy of notice in the premises. The ground 

 selected for the potato should be high and dry ; a 

 piece that the A\-ater Avill not stand on after a shower ; 

 Avith rather a light soil. Or, if your land is low and 

 clayey, let it be ridged up by turning two furroAVS 

 tOAvards each other, and plant on those ridges, Avith 

 your hill in such a manner that the Avater Avill rather 

 run from than tOAvards it. After your ground is 

 thus prepared, plant as soon as possible, and as early 

 in the season as practicable, Avithout any regard to 

 the "moon," or any other signs. Keep the ground 

 as free as possible from Avecds, Avithout disturbing 

 the earth close to the hill of the potato. As soon 

 as you perceive the vines begin to dry up or die, 

 dig the potatoes immediately, and before putting 

 them in the cellar, let them get thoroughly dried, and 

 they should be kept so in the bin or receptacle. If 

 those Avhose potato crops have been destroyed will 



