208 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



And now I want to tell you how much I lose in 

 raising my own cows. Within twenty years I 

 have raised seventy-one cows ; all but four have 

 been milked and proved. But four of them have 

 failed of making good cows. I have about come 

 to the late Mr. Jaquith's opinion, "that a cow can 

 be raised to order." I choose to have a calf to 

 raise born in November to January. I let them • 

 take from the cow 4 quarts milk per day, 8 weeks 

 — 56 days. 



4qt3. per :lay is 224 qts., at 3 cts. per qt., is $6,72 



2 lbs. shorts per day, 127 days, at l.j cts. per lb., is 3,81 



1 cwt. hay, at 80 cts 80 



2f) weeks' pasturing, at 10 cts. per week 2,60 



This brines up the first year, ,tnd for the second year 



I give 20 cts. per week, 52 weeks, is $10.40 



$24,33 



Now there is no more expense, for the calf is now 

 a cow and will pay her own way, and at 3 or 4 

 years old will soil for from $40 to $60. I have 

 raised calves without any milk, but I find it best 

 to begin with a good calf, keep it well till it be- 

 comes a cow, and then keep well ; and I can get 

 what I call good pay for all given calves and cows, 

 and $20 or more than that on each calf, and about 

 t^at yearly on each cow. If a young man can do 

 as well as an old one, I cannot see why he may 

 not live by farming. Otis Brigham. 



Westbormgh, Feb. 9, 1860. 



For the Ncnc England Farmer. 



"ONION IN THE HUMAN EAR." 



Your correspondent, from "Brooksville," in a 

 recent number, offers some recommendations aS 

 to the insertion of the heart of the onion into the 

 ear, as a curative for that painful ailment, the ear 

 ache. He states, that when afflicted, he resorted 

 to this remedy, inserting the onion heart in his 

 ear ; and thus it remained, baffling his efforts to 

 withdraw the same, for nearly a twelvemonth ; 

 occasioning deafness and great inconvenience, un- 

 til, amid much suppuration, it at last evolved itself. 

 As a remedial agent, in a process subject to such 

 required duration, and painful contingencies as 

 this, your correspondent could not wish others to 

 adopt it. His meaning, I think, he does not cleai-ly 

 state. Placed in a cotton bag, and laid flat on 

 the ear, the application of onion in pain has been 

 found beneficial. But an insertion of even a por- 

 tion of the same, or of any article, (save a trifio of 

 some delicate wash, by a proper ear syringe, and 

 even this to be in the hands of a physician,) is 

 ever fraught with the most dangerous conse- 

 quences. Experimentally I speak on this sub- 

 ject, and would caution all persons against adopt- 

 ing too readily any such hazardous processes. 

 When one fully understands the delicate arrange- 

 ment of that wonderfully and fearfully constructed 

 organ, the human ear, the slightest invasion of 

 which is oft times "beyond the reach of the heal- 

 er," he would not hesitate a moment, I think, as 

 to an endurance of a continued aggravated pain, 

 rather than lend himself to the adoption of even 

 a questionable remedy. Far better is it, as I deem 

 it, in most cases of suffering, patiently to bear 

 tliose ills we have, than fly to others that we know 

 not of. 



"Felix quern faciunt, aliena pericula cautum." 



Febi-uary 14, 1860. Oak Hill. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 IMPROVED CHURN DASH. 



Messrs. Editors : — When we study into the 

 philosophy of churning cream to make butter, the 

 idea suggests itself at once, that the agitation of 

 the cream is all that is necessary to accomplish 

 the object. Having experimented u])on a variety 

 of churns, 1 finally concluded that the old dasn 

 churn would answer my purpose best for churning 

 the cream of a few cows. I went to the cooper 

 and bought a churn Avith a dash, made round, 

 adapted to the churn, with holes through it, as tlte 

 fashion was at that period. After using it a few 

 years, dreading churning day as 1 should any oth- 

 er necessary evil, I had a dash fixed to the handle 

 in the form of a cross, which was a relief, in a de- 

 gree, of the hard labor required to churn with tlie 

 round dash. Ijast fall, as good luck sometim'^s 

 happens, the cross-dash gave out I thought a« 

 long as there was no particular virtue in the shape 

 of a churn dash, and all that was wanting to make 

 butter come, was something to agitate the cream, 

 I took a narrow piece of white oak plank just 

 wide enough to admit the handle, made a hole 

 with an auger and inserted the handle, which con- 

 stituted my whole dash. For the relief of the dos- 

 sal muscles in elevating the dash, I beveled off the 

 upper surface of the naiTow dash to let it slide 

 through the cream more easily. I hare used this 

 little simplified dash Avith decided relief to the 

 operator, not requiring, I should think, more than 

 half the muscular power to perform the opei-ation 

 that the old dashers did. 



The cream, after being prepared by scalding 

 the milk, has come to butter within from five to 

 fifteen minutes, since we have used the improved 

 dash. The most laborious part of churning with 

 the old dash was raising it, which would lift the 

 churn from the floor, cream and all, at every 

 stroke, unless held down. I n:iake no pretension 

 to being the first in improving the churn dash, 

 but to those who have not tried it, I would recom- 

 mend the narrow dash as a labor-saving improve- 

 ment. There may be plenty of churns Avith the 

 narrow dash in the mai-ket, if not, I am surprised 

 to think what stupid creatures we are, not to have 

 thought of such a simple alteration. 



Noiih Wilmington, Feb., 1860. S. BrowN. 



For the New Engla-ad Farmer, 



COST AND PROFIT. 



Mr. Editor : — ^I have carefully perused the 

 articles in your paper, headed "Is farming prof- 

 itable f by Mr. Pinkham, of Chelmsford ; alao 

 one by Mr. Bailey, of Newbury, Vt., "7s stock rais- 

 ing profitable'?'^ and I should like to inquhe of 

 those gentlemen, whether about tliree-quarters of 

 the amount which they put down as the cost of 

 raising corn, cattle, sheep, &c., does not go into 

 their own pockets ? That is, supposing they do 

 the ordinary amount of woi-k which a farmer per- 

 forms. If all his work is charged to the cost of 

 the crops, he certainly should have credit for the 

 same amount as money earned. If it costs a far- 

 mer but three dollars per ton to get his hay, and 

 that hay must all be consumed on the place, I 

 think it is hardly fair to charge it at $8 to $L0 

 per ton) in estimating the cost of cattle, unless the 

 farm is credited for the ditfereure. as raQfit^ o. 



