NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



167 



merits, and they will thus gather round their food as 

 soon as thrown in. Many species of fish subsist 

 entirely by suction, as the shad, the sucker, &c. ; 

 and it is policy to have separate ponds for such of 

 these as may be wanted for use. Others, and bj' far 

 the larger pai-t, are predatory, and subsist almost 

 entirely on other fish, as the pike, pickerel, &c. ; and 

 these require a stock of smaller fry to supply them 

 adequately with food. 



Some experiments have been made with the shad 

 and other salt-water fish in acclimatizing them in 

 fresh water, and with entire success. A friend, who 

 has several fish ponds on his estate on the Hudson, 

 says they have bred with him the second year they 

 were placed there. He occasionally supplied them 

 with salt, when they would come about the deposit, 

 and seem to enjoy the brackish water while the salt 

 remained. When deprived of this, some of the 

 original shad died ; but whether owing to this or 

 some other cause, it is not certain. The younger 

 ones seem to thrive in water entirelj' fresh. He has 

 also domesticated several kinds of fresh-water fish, 

 some of which have been imported from the Euro- 

 pean waters, as the carp and tench ; but most of them 

 are the best varieties from our inland lakes. Some 

 of them have become such pets, and so familiarly 

 answer to his call, that he has a great repugnance in 

 preparing them for his table, though his friends, to 

 whom he frequently sends them, have no such 

 scruples, and pronounce them delicious. He tells a 

 good story of harnessing a nine-foot sturgeon, trans- 

 ferred from the river to his domains. He has 

 properly adjusted straps, so fitted as not to interfere 

 with his fins, to which a ring and trace is attached 

 with a light cork buoy, so as always to be within 

 reach. "When disposed for a sail, he gets into his 

 canoe, and quietlj' affixes a tow-line to the buoy ; 

 and as soon as the sturgeon feels a jerk, off he darts 

 with railway speed, and whirls him round and round 

 the pond till exhausted, when he rolls over on his 

 back and halts. He is then disengaged from the 

 canoe, and, after recovering from his sweat, bounds 

 into the air six or eight feet, and ofif he darts for the 

 C][uiet depths of the pond. Some honest Dutchmen, 

 in his neighborhood, thinking this too good fun to 

 be monopolized, tried the experiment with an un- 

 tamed sturgeon in the Hudson ; when, after a short 

 time, he plunged downwards, drawing under the 

 boat, men and all, who came near being drowned. 

 They cursed their neighbor and his craft, and have 

 never been known to attempt the experiment since. 

 — Ainerican AgricuUui-ist. 



FLAX. 



The attention of farmers in one of the agricultural 

 districts in Elaine, has lately been turned to the cul- 

 tivation of fiax, in consequence of an ofi'cr on the jiart 

 of some capitalists to establish works in the neigh- 

 borhood for rotting and dressing the flax. One con- 

 dition on which the promise to establish such works 

 Avas based was, that the farmers should agree to 

 sow not less than one hundred acres. These works 

 promised to pay twelve dollars per ton for the straw. 

 Another inducement for its cultivation is a guaranty 

 that the seed will readily sell for a dollar a bushel. 



We do not know at what price the straw could be 

 sold for in this valley. It would certainly be a valu- 

 able material for making paper, and a farmer at our 

 elbow says that five dollars per ton for it would pay 

 well. The seed would meet a ready sale in St. Louis, 

 in any quantities, at a price varying from eighty-five 

 cents to one doUir per bushel. The demand for 

 linseed oil is very great, and is every year increa=ing ; 

 and a gentleman of this city, who consumes a large 

 amount annually in the manufacture of white lead, 

 assures us that the manufacture of linseed oil in this 



city is a profitable business, and would be much 

 more so, if the amount of flax seed brought to this 

 market was great enough to permit the manufacture 

 of oil on a much more extended scale. 



AVill some of our agricultural brethren give us 

 their experience in flax-growing — its cost, its prod- 

 uct in seed and straw, and the expense of rotting 

 and dressing ? If the straw was dressed for the use 

 of paper-makers only, it would require no very com- 

 plicated or expensive machinery. — Vallej Farmer. 



RULES IN RAISING POULTRY. 



1. All young chickens, ducks, and turkeys, should 

 be kept under cover, out of the weather, during rainy- 

 seasons. 



2. Twice or thrice a week, pepper, shallots, shivcs, 

 or garlic should be mixed up with their food. 



3. A small lump of assafcctida should bo placed 

 in the pan in which their water is given them to 

 drink. 



4. Whenever they manifest disease, by the droop- 

 ing of the wings or any other outward sign of ill- 

 health, a little assafffitida, broken into small lumps, 

 should be mixed with their food. 



5. Chickens which are kept from the dunghill 

 while young, seldom have the gapes; therefore it 

 should be the object of those who have the charge 

 of them, so to confine the hens as to preclude their 

 young from the range of barn or stable yards. 



6. Should any of the chickens have the gapes, 

 mix up small portions of assafcctida, rhubarb, and 

 pepper, in fresh butter, and give each chicken as 

 much of the mixture as will lie upon one half the 

 bowl of a small teaspoon. 



7. For the pip, the following treatment is judi- 

 cious : Take off the indurated covering on the j^oint 

 of the tongue, and give, twice a day, for two or three 

 days, a piece of garlic the size of a pea. If garlic 

 cannot be obtained, onion, shallot, or shives will 

 answer ; and if neither of these be convenient, two 

 grains of black pepper, to be given in fresh butter, 

 will answer. 



8. For the smtffles, the same remedies as for the 

 gapes will be found highly curative ; but in addi- 

 tion to them, it will be necessary to melt a little as- 

 safcctida in fresh butter, and rub the chicken about 

 the nostrils, taking care to clean them out. 



9. Grown-up ducks arc sometimes taken off rap- 

 idly by convulsions. In such cases, four chops of 

 rhubarb and four grains of cayenne pepper, mixed 

 in fresh butter, should be administered. Last year 

 we lost several by this disease, and this year the 

 same symptoms manifested themselves among them ; 

 but we arrested the malady, without losing a single 

 cluck, by a dose of the above medicine to such as 

 were ill. One of the ducks was at the time para- 

 lyzed, but was thus saved. — Selected. 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL IMPROVE- 

 MENT. 



We have been favored, by Dr. Joseph Stone, with 

 an agricultural address delivered by him before the 

 Ilardwick Lyceum, from which we make the follow- 

 ing extract : — 



But when the rapid progress in the mechanic 

 arts, in our manufactories, and in the application of 

 steam to stationary machinery, and for the purposes 

 of locomotives, are considered, it will at once be seen 

 that, in rapidity of progress, agriculture has by no 

 means kept pace with the subordinate occupations 

 which it sustains. 



Perhaps a reason for this may be found in the fact 



