1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



101 



WART ON A COLT, 

 Please tell what will take a wart from a colt, 

 and oblipe C. W. Fay, 



East Ilubbardston, Vt. 



Remarks. — Mr, A. Briggs, of Deerfield, Mass., 

 says that potash dissolved to a paste laid upon the 

 wart for half an hour, and then taken off and the 

 pai't washed in vinegar, will cure a wart on man 

 or beast, AVe do not know personally. 



United States Agricultural Society. — At 

 the recent meeting of this Society, the following 

 officers were chosen : — Henry Wagner, Western 

 New York, President ; B. B. French, Treasurer, 

 and Ben : Perlcy Poore, Secretary. On Thurs- 

 day morning, 12th, the Presid(?nt attended the 

 United States Agricultural Society to receive his 

 diploma as an honorary member. The President 

 of the Society, in delivering it, said that it was a 

 strange coincidence that every President of the 

 United States had either been called from the 

 plow, like Cincinnatus, or else retired to it at the 

 expiration of their terms of office. Mr. Buchanan, 

 in reply, spoke of his taste for agricultural pur- 

 suits, though he had but little opportunity to in- 

 dulge in them. He paid a high tribute to the til- 

 lers of the soil, and anticipated his return to 

 Wheatland in less than eighteen months, to enjoy 

 the independence and quiet of rural life. His 

 speech was frequently interrupted by applause. 



Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, of Massachusetts was 

 voted the "grand gold medal of honor," as the 

 founder and constant patron of the society. This 

 is the largest and most valuable medal struck in 

 America. 



owned by the late James Brown, Esq., is on the 

 summit of Wellington Hill, and is considered one 

 of the healthiest spots in the neighborliood of 

 Boston. 



Spontaneous Co:\rBUSTiON of Hay, — "Ome- 

 ga," of Roxbury, in a communication on "spon- 

 taneous combustion in hay," in the Farmer of 

 November last, asks for more light on the sub- 

 ject, although he seems convinced that spontane- 

 ous combustion in salt hay was the cause of set- 

 ting his barn on fire. Mr. Geo. Whitney, of Es- 

 sex, Vt., says in a note to us, — 



"We get in our hay very green up here, and if 

 there is any danger of spontaneous combustion in 

 so doing, we should like to know it. Will you, 

 or some of your readers, tell us ? 



We have no knowledge on the subject ; those 

 who have will please to communicate it. 



Fatal Disease among Cattle. — Oiu- agricul- 

 tural readers will regret to learn, says the Tran- 

 script, that Winthrop W. Chenery, Esq., of Bel- 

 mont, has lost twenty-seven head of valuable cows 

 and oxen within the past six months, by pneumo- 

 nia, or inflammation of the lungs, (an infectious 

 disease, similar to the "murrain," now prevailing 

 in the north of Europe.) Mr. Chenery has im- 

 ported the best Dutch cows that ever came to this 

 country, and it is a public loss that such stock 

 should meet such a fate. The last cow that died 

 this week was the largest animal in the United 

 States, and weighed 3260 pounds ! The skeleton 

 has been presented to Professor Agassiz for his 

 new Museum. Mr. Chenery's farm was formerly 



PBtTNING APPLE TUBES. 



In another column we give an article upon the 

 subject of pruning and transplanting apple trees, 

 and are happy to present it at this early day, in 

 the hope that it may prevent some persons from 

 spoiling their trees by pruning them wlien the sap 

 is freely floiinnrj. We have often called attention 

 to this subject, and in one or two instances have 

 endeavored to show the reasons why spring prun- 

 ing is injurious. It is much more to convince the 

 unbelievers in the orchard, than it is on paper. 



The candid attention of the reader is asked to 

 Mr. Goldsbury's article, and also to what has 

 heretofore been said in the Farmer on the sub- 

 ject. 



Immense Forests. — Spars are sent from Puget 

 Sound to Asia, the Sandwich Islands, Australia, 

 and to the navies of England and France. The 

 Hon. Isaac I. Stevens, Congressional Delegate 

 from Washington Territory, has stated that "with- 

 in one mile of the shores of the Sound, there Is 

 more timber than can l)e foimd on all the tribu- 

 taries of all the waters of Maine." 



Keeping Milk Sweet. — A correspondent of 

 the Homestead found that, in sending milk to 

 market, though it left the dairy perfectly sweet, it 

 was often curdled on delivery to customers. To 

 remedy this, the cans were covered with cotton 

 cloth soaked in salt water. By this method the 

 curdling of the miUi was entirely prevented. 



YOUTH'S DEPARTMENT. 



"THE GRIT BABE-LEGGED LADDIE." 



Sixty years ago, a stout youth of eighteen years 

 old, who had been known among his neighbor- 

 hood as "grit bare-legged laddie," called on a 

 poor village schoolmaster, and said — 



"I would like to attend your evening school, sir." 



"What do you wish to study?" asked the 

 teacher. 



"I want to learn to read and Mrite," replied the 

 lad. 



The teacher looked into the lad's face with a 

 somcv,hat scornful glance, shrugged his shoulders, 

 and said : 



"Very well, you can attend." 



Now, if that bony lad had said to the teacher, "I 

 mean to become a gi-eat inventor, to be the com- 

 panion of rich and noble men, to hold conversa- 

 tion with kings, and to write my name among the 

 great men of the world," I dare say the teacher 

 would have called the boy a fool for cherishing 

 such wild dreams. Yet that poor bony lad, who 

 at eighteen did not know the alphabet, did all 

 those things before he died. 



Who was he ? His name was George Stephen- 

 son, the great railway pioneer ! 



It was not the fault of young George that he 



