Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 355 



and talked of with contempt ; but now tlie bulk of our food-producers 

 are book-farmers. I hardly know a man of any repute in his county 

 or any fame in his State as a model farmer, or even a good money- 

 making manager of a country estate, who does not take the papers, 

 (some of which are represented here every week), or read the current 

 agricultural books. Who can speak of kinds or species, of staminate 

 and pistillate — and the fruit-grower must know of these things if he 

 knows his business — and not refer to such authors on botany as Pro- 

 fessors Lindsay and Gray ? 



If he know how his crops grow has not Johnson helped him to such 

 knowledge ? If he speaks of breeds and species intelligently he owes 

 something to Darwin. If he can manage a garden for profit he has 

 learned to set his shoes in the foot-prints of Peter Henderson. 

 Science is a closer attendant upon practical agriculture than many 

 persons fancy. 



Journals that devote much space to sound rural teaching count 

 their subscribers by hundreds of thousands. The rank and file of our 

 plowmen are desirous of being taught how far to plunge the steel 

 beneath their surface and how to stir deeply without great cost, what 

 lime will do, what profit there is in buying ashes or marl, or fish, or 

 bone, or plaster. What is science but knowledge reduced to system 

 and ticketed with suitable names — knowledge that can easily be 

 talked about and readily understood ? The possession of a" single 

 fact or truth, as for instance the circumstances under which the appli- 

 cation of lime would be improper., may often save a farmer the worth 

 of a good agricultural library, or the subscription price of a dozen 

 rural journals. 



Cattle Strangey Affected. 

 J. B. Thadaway, Chiltonville, Mass. — About two miles to the 

 south of me is a farm on which it is not possible to keep a cow over 

 two years without their becoming sick and useless, the first sign of 

 which is shown by their hoofs growing to an incredible length ; they 

 soon lose appetite, pine away, and unless taken to some other locality, 

 die. If taken away, they at once improve, and soon recover. There 

 are other localities near the Cape where a similar trouble prevails on 

 a neck of land near the Barnstable Marshes, where it is thought to be 

 occasioned by the water drank. In this case,, care has been taken to 

 prevent the animals from drinking any water but that taken from a 

 well or cistern. The remains of two that died were buried carefully 



