i54 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



.Dec 7, 182?. 



as early as the middle of October, and continue 

 the operation whenever the weather favors their 

 iseent, which should be carefully watched through 

 '.he winter if there should be a long thaw and par- 

 ticularly in the spring, as soon as t!ie frcst leaves 

 'he ground, not fail to bo ready for them and what 

 IS more, to continue the practice long enough to 

 jirevent the young ones, halclied from eggs de- 

 posited '• under the crevices of the bark below the 

 tar," from ascending, as their parents v.-ere in the 

 first instance. 



It is a practice in this region, as directed in 

 Thacher's Orchardist, page 91, to mix a quantity 

 of Curry-oil or soap grease, no matter aow rancid, 

 with the tar, which serves to render ti,c latter 

 more liquid. If a strip of cloth or comraou brown | 

 paper, 6 or 8 inches wide, is made fast around ! 

 each tree, by a small string above and a large one 

 on- the loiver edge, made of swingling tower' 

 hemp, midway between wliich, the above composi- 

 tion is applied vvilh a painter's brush. The larger 

 .'String will stop the descent of the more liquid 

 parts of the tar, which will remain a longer time 

 .soft on account of its accumulation and a fresh ap- 

 plication is not necessary so frequently as other- 

 ■vise. L. W. B. 



Brislol, R. I. JVov. 39. i 



land, but having resided a number of years in 

 Chili, and travelled much both there and in Peru, 

 can speak with confidence of the good qualities of 

 their liorses. I would willingly exchange ahorse 

 valued at two hundred dollars in Boston, for sev- 

 oral which I have owned in Chili, that cost from 



twenty-five to thirty-five dollars in the interior 



The horses from Wondoza and all parts of the 

 province of Cuyo, are considered much inferior to 

 the Ciiili liorses, and are rarely bought by a na- 

 tive, e.Nccpt with a view of selling tliem to a for- 

 eigner. A RHODE ISLANDER. 

 Providence, Dec. 4, 1897. 



t place in your paper, they may benefit many, be- 

 sides E. S. P. 

 Gilsum, JV. H. Dec. 4, 1827. 



SOUTH AMERICAN HORSES. ' 



Mr Fessenden — I observed in your last num 

 her of the New England Parmer, an extract of a 

 letter from an officer of the Navy, to the Editor 

 of the American Parmer, informing us that the ' 

 horses of Chili and Peru are worth nothing. i 



If the writer of that article had been content; 

 with asserting that Ae had seen no horse worth j 

 jixty dollars, I should have easily credited him, as ' 

 ,! am inclined to suppose his observations have \ 

 ■jeen confined to a few ports on the coasts of those i 

 ■•■ountries ; and the miserable hacks which are let 

 .ind sold to strangers, in Valpsraiso and Lima, 

 would certaii.ly prejudice him against the horses 

 "f the country. 



But the assertion that there is no horse to be 

 i'ound in Chili or Peru, worth one hundred dollars 

 in the United States, is inadmissible by any one 

 who has been in the interior. The climate of 

 Lower Peru is not so favorable to the horse as 

 th.it of Chili — and the armies which have been 

 maintained, and the revolutions which have taken 

 place, both in Peru and Chili, have destroyed vast 

 numbers of fine horses, and have al.so caused the 

 breeding of them to be neglected, as the owner of 

 a fine animal was sure to be deprived of him, by 

 one party or the other. There are still, however, 

 nn many estates in Chili, fine breeds of horses, 

 and a few years of quiet and steady govirn.nent, 

 will make them as abundant as ever. The orirfin- 

 al stock of these horses was the finest of Andalu- 

 sia. They are generally light, but well made, ex- 

 tremely docile, sure footed, fleet, spirited and 

 liardy, performing the most p-iinfiil jonrnies, with 

 the worst usage, and poorest o(" tare — no provis- 

 ion is made for them, and on journips of many 

 weeks they have nothing but the scanty gleanings 

 of grass by tlie road-side * 

 I know nothing of the value of horses in Mary- 



* Tlierc are generally in the neighborhood of cities, large 

 fields of Lucerne, on which tJieir horses are fed Ihroutrhout the 

 year. lu Ihe vicinity of Santiago and Lima, many thousand 

 mules loads of it are cut and daily carried into those cities. It 

 i.i the only grass cultivated from one end of the coast to the oUi- 

 i-r, and was in as geHCr.-tl use a century since as at present. 



DISEASE IN SHEEP. 



Mr Frs9E.»iDEK — Permit me to ask for a little 

 information through the raedinm of your interest- 

 ing paper. There is a complaint attending sheep, 

 which I have frequently observed among my own, 

 and heard of among others, but have never-known 

 it designated by any name, except once, when a 

 distinguished breeder and shepherd termed it the 

 " stretches," which to those much acquainted 

 with sheep, will probably be a sufficient descrip- 

 tion. The sheep mostly or entirely refuses food, 

 generally lies down more than usual, and frequent- 

 ly appears uneasy and agitated with pain, often 

 extending its fore feet as far as it may from its 

 hind ones, and stretching itself to the utmost. — 

 The.'e appearances continue sometimes for several 

 days together, and it not seldom happens that the 

 same sheep is attacked in the same way several 

 times, and that too, perhaps, in one season. II 

 have oftcner seen wethers attended by this eviu 

 than any other class of sheep, although I suspect 

 no sheep are exempt from the disease, whethei 

 old or young, fat or lean, male or female. I have', 

 never observed a case of the kind excepting in 

 the cold season, which, however, is the period 

 when we should be the most likely to notice it, is 

 they are then under constant inspection, so that 

 possibly it may occur at other times. I have 

 thought it a complaint of the intestines, and have 

 ^een one case to confirm this opinion, so far as it 

 was decisive of anything. 



I lost, two or three winters since, a fine wetliei, 

 strongly exhibiting all these symptoms, refusing 

 food alir.cst entirely, I think about a week, when 

 he died. I administered such remedies as ny 

 ignorance v/oiild permit, but they gave no relief, 

 and appeared only to torture the afflicted animal. 

 After his death, I examined him. to find if I couid 

 what occasioned it ; and soon discovered in tl.e 

 small intestines a cause sufficient for the effec:. 

 A substance about the shape and size of a conr- 

 mon sausage, had completely closed the passage, 

 one end of it adhering to the gut all round, ard 

 pushinrr itself along in it three or four inches. ;n 

 an unconnected manner, excepting that it about 

 filled it. This substance,. I think, contained i 

 matter between yellow and green, along through 

 the centre ; indicating, I conclude, that it would 

 have been an nicer when matured. But whether 

 any thing like this, in any degree, is the usual 

 cause of the complaint under consideration, I 

 i shall not presume to determine. 

 I I can only say, that I discerned no difference 

 between this case and others, except it.« lonj con- 

 ' tinuance, while the sheep was living. Should any 

 of your practical correspondents know the n:iture 

 I of this disease, or an effectual remedy, or a sure 

 I preventative, by transmitting this knowledge for 



POMACE, 



Mr Fessexde.v — Seeing in your paper ni' the 



th of November an article relative to the dispo- 

 I sll ot apple pomace, which from my own experi 

 1 ehce 1 think incorrect, I have thought proper to 

 (ffer a few remarks on this subject. 



I have for eight years past made from 150 to .300 

 Ikrrels of cider annually, and have disposed of my 

 )omace in the following mariner : my piggery is 

 lituated near my cider mill house, and consists of 

 wo apartments, each sufficiently large to contain 

 hy pomace, and other substances intended to make 

 nanure, for one year. Here I throw my pomace, 

 vhen sufficiently pressed, for my hogs to work 

 j3ver, which gives them constant employment, and 

 j[ am of opinion that they gel considerable nutri- 

 ment from it. The next season, after the frost is 

 put of the ground, I throw in some loam, and in 

 the summer, at leisure times, I continue to throw 

 in weeds from my vegetable garuen. My hogs 

 keep continually rooting this compost over, and 

 causing the pomace to decompose, which, at the 

 end of fifteen or eighteen months, makes excellent 

 manure. 



The ne.\t season for making cider, my pomace 

 is thrown into the other assortment, which passes 

 through the same process. I usually keep six or 

 eight hogs, whioh are divided and kept in these 

 apartments. My mill house, and other accommo- 

 dations attached to it, consists of a building 80 ft. 

 long and '■2S ft. in width. The water spouts of this 

 building have conductors to carry the water into 

 each of these apartments, which are kept contin- 

 -ually moist, and which I think very important for 

 my hogs to wallow in, in the iieat of summer, as 

 well as to decompose the pomace. I take out of 

 one of these apartments upwards of 25 ox-cart 

 loads of excellent manure, every spring. I hive 

 given my low mowing land a lop dressing of this 

 manure, and have taken the same year, a crop of 

 hay equal to SJ tons to the acre, and a crop of 

 rowen equal to 1 ton to the acre. This manure I 

 consider worth to me from 25 to $30, besides the 

 service the pomace is to the hog?. 



Before the adoption of this plan I used to throw 

 my pomace into my pastures, upon rocks, and re- 

 ceived little or no advantage from it. 



I have not written the above rtith a disposition 

 to differ from any person in opinion, but with a 

 view to general utility, upon a subject apparently 

 triflinir, yet connected as it is with he numberless 

 Items that engage the attention of farmers, it may 

 serve as a spoke to support the firm wheel of Ag- 

 riculture. A PARMER. 



JVurfolk county, Dec. 4, 1827. 



Roman Cement. — It has been discovered that 

 the property this cement possesses, of setting un- 

 der water, belongs to most calcareous stones 



To this effect, the stone must lose 8, 12, or .30 per 

 cent, by calcination. What agrees with Ibis idea 

 is. that chalk, feebly calcined, gives a mortar of 

 this kind. Experiment has led to the presumption 

 th t Roman cements owe their property to a sub- 

 iiarbona'.e of lime produced by fire on the natural 

 carbonate. If this he t' ue, Roman cement may 

 be made in almost every place where limestone is 

 found. — Bait. American. 



