NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



299 



running or jumping over dikes, &c. The animals 

 however continued to stroll out to the fields to- 

 gether ; and one day the gentleman, suspecting all 

 ■was not right, resolved to watch them, and, to his 

 surprise, found that the moment they were unob- 

 served, the greyhound took up the iron ring in his 

 mouth, and carrying it, they set off to the hiks, and 

 began to search for hares as usual. They were fol- 

 lowed, and it was observed, that, whenever the 

 pointer scented the hare the ring was dropped, and 

 the greyhound stood ready to pounce upon poor 

 puos the moment the other drove her from her form, 

 but that he uniformly returned to assist his com- 

 panion when he had accomplished his object. — 

 Yankee Farmer. 



REMEDY FOR LICE ON ANIMALS. 



Farmers often incur serious losses among domestic 

 animals, (especially the younger portion,) through 

 the fatal instrumentality of lice — as they are called 

 in common parlance. From some cause or other, 

 they suddenly appear in countless numbers upon 

 some favorite calf or calves, or colt or colts, and, 

 despite of washings and rubbings and sundry other 

 means resorted to, the afflicted animal generally 

 sinks under an affliction, insignificant in detail, but 

 powerful in the aggregate. Many are of the opinion 

 that there has no harmless, yet efficient remedy, as 

 yet been discovered. Tobacco juice, it is known, will 

 kni vermin ; but it will also almost as surely kill the 

 subject, by having its baneful properties absorbed 

 into the system. I am happy to inform your readers 

 that a remedy possessing every requisite property 

 has recently come to my knowledge, which I here- 

 with communicate. It may not be new to all, but 

 of one thing I am certain, I knew nothing of it till 

 made acquainted in the following manner : — 



Last spriag I purchased a beautiful water-spaniel 

 puppy, and took him home to raise. He had not 

 been in my possession long when I noticed he kept 

 up an almost incessant scratching, v/hichl attributed 

 to fleas. A neighbor of mine, however, being present 

 one day, hinted that my dog was probably more or 

 less affected with lice. I examined, and, to my utter 

 astonishment, I found him literally covered with 

 them. My friend told me what to do to rid him of 

 them, that he had tried it, and knew it to be harm- 

 less, yet effectual. It was simply to rub him well, 

 two or three times every tlu-ee or four days, with 

 melted hog's lard. I did so, and in two weeks' time 

 there was not one of that vast army of vermin left to 

 tell the tale ; and what is more, it had no bad effect 

 upon my dog. 



The philosophy of it, I believe to be something 

 like this : Naturalists assert that some animals 

 inhale air, not by means of lungs, but through the 

 pores of the skin, and that the louse belongs to this 

 species. Assuming this to be true, I suppose that 

 the remedy used was absorbed into, and completely 

 filled up, the lungs or respiratory apparatus of the 

 vermin, and effectually closed up the avenues of life, 

 and thus produced devastation and death to count- 

 less thousands. M. H. A. 



PiTTSFiELD, III., 1849. 

 — Philadelphia Dollur Ncicspaper. 



MICROSCOPE DISCOVERIES. 



Dr. Carpenter noticed particularly the formation 

 of the great beds of chalk, several hundred feet thick, 

 which substance is composed entirely of minute 

 shells that are invisible to the naked eye. The dif- 

 ferent cellular structure of shells, and the peculiar 

 organization of the teeth of animals. Dr. Carpenter 

 could trace, even the invisible fragment of a shell or 



of a tooth, the class, and sometimes even the species, 

 to which the fragments belonged. Referring to the 

 general cellular structure of all organizations, he 

 says that this structure could be seen alike in the 

 leaf, in the bones, iu the muscles, and in the blood; 

 That all life seemed to originate in single cellular 

 developments, but notwithstanding this apparent 

 similarity in the original cells, there 'n an inherent, 

 though as yet undistinguishable difference, which 

 determines the structure of the plant and of the 

 animal. The bodies of the animalcules which inhab- 

 ited the shells composing the chalk are still enclosed 

 within them, being the mummies of a former world. 

 — Scieiitijic American. 



TO CURE SWELLING OF THE THROAT 

 IN HOGS. 



In order to contribute to the usefulness of your 

 valuable periodical, and to inform the ])ul)lic of what 

 I find from experience to be an infallible cure for a 

 certain disease with hogs, viz. : the swelling of the 

 throat, I herewith send you a recipe for the disease, 

 with a desire that "you publish the same in your 

 work if you deem it of any import, and the same 

 meets your approbation. 



Take of molasses one half a pint, and a table 

 spoonful of hog's lard ; to this add of brimstone a 

 piece an inch in length. Melt it over the fire, and 

 when cold or in a liquid state, drench the hog with 

 it ; and nine times out of ten it will be fovind to have 

 the desired effect. My hogs were affected with this 

 disease during the past year, and I found the cibove 

 to be effective when all things else failed. — Farmer's 

 Register. 



SEPTEMBER. 



Be most exceedingly careful to gather all the ap- 

 ples, pears, cherries, &c., which fall prenraturely 

 from your trees, and are technically called windfalls, 

 and boil them for your swine : bury them a little this 

 side of the centre of gravity, or so dispose of them as 

 to destroy the worms they contain ; otherwise the 

 plague of wormy fruit will, for aught that I know to 

 the contrary, be entailed on you and your heirs for 

 aye. Your hogs will fatten the faster if you give 

 them every day or two a little charcoal. They will 

 take quantum sufficit of it as a medicine to neutralize 

 the acid of their stomachs, and you have only to 

 place it where they can get at it, and every hog will 

 be his own doctor, and charge nothing for his fees. 

 If you feed your hogs with old corn, you will soak, 

 boil, or grind it, otherwise a part will not be digested. 

 Their food will go the farther if permitted to fer- 

 nrent till it has a sweetish taste, but should be given 

 to them before it becomes decidedlysour. You may 

 as well have a hole in your pocket for your money 

 to escape from, as a drain to lead away the wash of 

 your barnyard. True, it may spread over your grass 

 land, and do some good, but it will give a flood of 

 manure to some j^arts ; a scanty rill to other parts, 

 and some will go to enrich the highway, &c. — Se- 

 lected. 



ALPINE PLANTS. 



Alpine plants are not, as commonly supposed, of a 

 hardy nature, but the reverse. On the Alpine moun- 

 tains they are deeply buried in snow during the win- 

 ter — covered, as it were, with a i^ile of warm blankets, 

 and thus effectually secured from the frost ; and when 

 the summer arrives, which is both later and much 

 more rapid in its advance than with us, they are sud- 

 denly exposed, not to a temperature such as that of 

 our spring, but to heat equal to that of the hottest 

 of our dog-days. 



