18 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JlItiT 25, IS'iS. 



pvery new cnutitry, and takfi another deep draft of 

 its itivinforatiii!^ mountain breezes, we tlirow aside 

 our gloves and put on our froclt again, and whistle 

 to our team to go ahead. 



(Kor the New England Parmer. 1 



Rochester, .V. H. July -..'I, 1838. 

 .Mr. Bbbck — Nine or ten cows have died with- 

 in a few weeks in my immediate neighborhood, 

 and many more in otlicr parts of the town, and 

 thinking it possible that you or your correspond- 

 ents may know the nature of the disease and the 

 remedy for it, I will give you all the account I can 

 of it. The disease appeared in tliis town two 

 vears ago, when several horses and cattle died. 

 All tlie cattle on on^^jrm died in the course of 

 the summer and a fe^^n the adjoining farms 



ferior to that of England ; but now, he says, it is 1 tuit, are alone sufficient to stimulate tlie agricultu 

 manifestly superior. This is ascribed mainly to rist to extend his inquiries into the same field of in- 

 the inHuence of the Highland Agricultural Society, teresting and useful discovery. 



to the interest which the nobility and gentlemen of | "The diseases of plants, whether arising frorn a 

 wealth have taken in ditfusing agricultural science, I superabundance or deficiency of juice, from its im- 

 and promoting agricultural improvement, and the ! pure (pialities, or from e.xternal causes, though at 

 establishment of museums for the exhibition of ag- - ~- ■ > -j '■ 



ricultural products, and models of agricultural im- 

 plements. 



Among these writers is a Mr Handley, who has 

 addressed a very able letter to Earl Spencer, who 

 seems to be regarded as the pioneer in this praise- [ them, notwithstanding the numerous nostrums quo- 

 worthy project. The following extracts from tliis I ted as infallible, 

 letter will not fail to interest the reader. " Plow they are originated or propagated is still 



"Science—by which is to be understood, that matter of doubt; yet this knowledge is essential 

 knowledge which is tounded upon tlie principles of to the cure. The preparation and choice of seeti. 



vatfious times treated of by practical and scientific 

 writers, are as yet very imperfectly understood. 



" Mildew, rust, smut, and a variety of diseases 

 familiar to every farmer, continue prevalent, and 

 batflc all attempts to guard successfully against 



nature. Illustrated by demonstration-is the pilot the manures applied their nature and quantity, 



me summer anu u i.w ... ... ^.y.. ^ -, that must steer us into those hitherto unexplored Und tlie culture of the soil, are probably all, more 



Last summer it prevailed again on the same farm, ^eaions, where I am well convinced a mine of wealth or '^ss, intimately connected wiUi their existence, 

 and in its vicinity, and this «cek one cow died on | i.^tjn ;'„ ,^^6 for British agriculture. Chemistry, [ and, if carefully and scientifically considered, might 



botanv, entomology, mechanics, require but to be furnish the remedy. 



-' "•' - "The rotation of crops and their comparaUve 



tendency to exliaust the soil on which they grow ; 

 their effects upon each other, in either furnishing or 

 extracting the nutriment requisite for their succes- 

 sor ; the theory of their excrementitious operation ; 

 the facilities they respectively afford to the propaga- 

 tion or destruction of noxious weeds ; the still more 

 important investigation as to the value of different 

 plants and grasses as food : the most advantageous 

 methods of cultivating them; their power to with- 

 stand seasons ; the disposition of seed grown in 

 southern latitudes to retain its propensity to early 

 vegetation and maturity, though sown in the north ; 

 tlie benefits derivable from change of seed under 



the same farm. The past spring it appeared on a 

 farm more than two miles distant from the place of 

 its first appearance, and two oxen, one horse, and 

 one cair,Jbur or five months old, were lost It also 

 appeared in the month of June on another farm, 

 two mitee distant from either of the others, where 

 eight or ten village cows wore pastured, and five 

 of tliem died within twO' weelcs. The others have 

 been taken from the pasture, some of them have 

 been sick and recovered. It has also made its 

 appearance lately in several distant parts of the 

 town. 



As nobody here is fartiliar with tKe dis'eases of 

 cattle, I can give you no very definite symptoms j 

 of the disease. The animals usually die within j 

 twelve hours after it is perceived tliey are sick. 

 Cows suddenly fail of giving milk, are seized with 

 trembling or violent twitchings, and soon die. 

 Oxen that work well pM daT are found dead tlie 

 next morning ; some live much longer. One was 

 sick a week or more, with all tlie symptoms of the 

 others, and got well. Several have been opened 

 and all that "can be discovered appears te be a dis- 

 ease of the melt. The melt is greatly enlarged 

 and mortified, and it is supposed that the cattle are 

 seized with a violent infiammation of tlie melt, 

 which runs pn to mortification, and produces death. 

 Last year, a man who assisted in skinning a cow 

 that died of this disease, had soon after a violent in- 

 flammation in his hand, which extended to his shoul- 

 der, producing severe suffering and considerable 

 danger, but which finally subsided. This year 

 similar effects have, in one instance, been produced. 



invited, to yield a harvest of valuable information 

 to guide and to warn us. 



" What has been the course adopted by our en- 

 terprising manufacturers .' Had they been satisfied 

 with the inventions which chance or the intelligence 

 of their artizans might have discovered, in vain 

 would they have struggled for the proud ascendancy 

 which they now hold in the scale of the manufac- 

 turing world. How truly has it been said, tliat a 

 Manchester manufacturer, who had been absent 

 from England for the last seven years, would be 

 ruined, if, on his return now, he endeavored with 

 his former processes, to compete with the almost 

 ments of his indefatigable and iiitelli 



daily improveiiicmo >j» ..lo u,u>.,i.o>^^«.^ -. , •, , r- "i *• „j :™ 



aent rivals. How manv thousand acres of land I all circumstances ; the rules for selecting and im- 

 " mild the bleaching operations of Manchester alone proving new varieties a subject so ably treated by 



require — what enormous capital would lie stretched 

 for weeks unproductive on the sward — and how im- 

 possible would it have been to have completed 

 the accumulated orders from foreign customers, 

 had not chemistry furnished a cheap and rapid sub- 

 stitute?" »###»* 



The writer then adverts to the still disputed and 

 unsettled questions^ whether it is better to apply 

 manure in a fermented or unfermented state ? What 

 are the principles upon which lime proves benefi- 

 cial to lands ? That nothing has been definitely 

 settled upon the latter point, is evidenced by the 

 fact, that " vast sums of money have been, not only 

 uselessly expended, but much labor has been-thrown 

 away, in anticipation of beneficial results from the 

 use of lime, which had the subject been belter un- 



If you or any of your correspondents can aid us derstood, might have been saved, but positive injury 



in curing this disease, or in guarding against, you 

 will greatly oblige me and others. 

 KespectfuUy yours, 



A. S. HOWARD. 



[Will some of our correspondents give their at- 

 tention to Mr Howard's communication, and if the 

 disease and its remedies arc known, inform us that 

 we may give it publicity in the Farmer .' By so 

 doin"' an important service will be rendered. 



J. B.j 



has resulted, which in thousands of acres has proved 

 irredeeiHable." The same uncertainty is then point- 

 ed out in regard to the operation of gypsum, of salt ; 

 and also in many other interesting and imix)rtant 



Col. Le Coutier ; and the habits, modes of growth, 

 and peculiarities of weeds, which affect agriculture, 

 and the most effective means of extirpating them ; 

 with many other similar subjects which it is unne- 

 cessary to enumerate, come within tlie legitimate 

 range of the botanist's inquiries, and would render 

 his co-operation invaluable to the agriculturist. 



" Entomology, and that branch of Zoology which 

 appertains to worms, furnishes another subject for 

 scientific research, most interesting and important to 

 agriculture. 



" Lastly, I would refer to the benefits which would 

 accrue to agriculture, were tlie meclmnism of our 

 implements more scientifically attended to. Me- 

 chanical men, po.ssessed of talent competent to the 

 production of the highest class of machinery, can- 

 not be expected to draw upon their invention, unless, 

 as in manufacture, they are stimulated to exertion 

 by the assurance, that success in the improvement 

 ! of old, or the invention of new machines, would 

 ensure their reward, from premiums or general de- 



branches of agriculture, which can only be settled 1 Pand. Were such the ca.se, it may be safely pre- 

 by chemical and philosophical research. <licted, that the construction of even our snnplest 



implements, which in fact constitute the inechiinisra 



ADVANTAGES OP SCIENCE. 

 The British Farmers' Magazine abounds in com- 

 munications yrging the establishment of a national 

 agricultural institution. Scotland is particularly, 

 referred to as affording a striking illustration of the 

 utili'y of such associations. Forty years ago, says 

 one of these writers, Scotch husbandry w.is far in- 



by chemical and philosophic 



"Bo<a)ii/" continues Mr H. "by which I 



would be understood to mean, not tliat branch of 

 the science which is confined to nomenclature and 

 classification, but wliich treats of the structure, the 

 economy, the properties, uses, and diseases of plants, 

 a correct knowledge of which tends to increase their 

 number, and improve their quality, ofiers to the 

 farm not less valuable truths than it imparts to the 

 garden. The important labors of Mr Knight, for 

 instance, uniting as ho does the ablest practice with 

 the most profound science, and who has successfully 

 cultivated the principles of the philosophy of vege- 

 tation, and thus improved the practice of horticul- 



of agriculture, would not be left to the contrivance 

 of vUlage smiths, but would command the attention 

 of men whos? intelligence would lead them to cal- 

 culate the nature and amount of the various and 

 frequently conflicting* forces to be overcome, and 

 whose mechanical skill would give to every imple- 

 ment its most effective shape. — Cultivator. 



Our farmers have begun to cut tlieir grass. There 

 is an abundant crop, and but little stock to eat 

 Hay will consequently be cheap and stock high, 

 Buring tlie coming fall and'winter. — Maine far, . 



