210 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



For the New England Farmer. 



THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY THE LT. E. 

 FARMER, MARCH, 1860. 



Page 110 — "^ Silver Pitcher given to a Far- 

 mer.'" — The presentation, to a farmer, of a mas- 

 sive silver pitcher and a pair of goblets, embel- 

 lished with appropriate agricultural emblems, in 

 recognition of his services to the agriculture of 

 New York, and as a testimonial of the apprecia- 

 tion of his services in the cause of agricultural 

 improvement, is a fact quite noteworthy, not 

 merely as something new and without precedent, 

 but also as suggestive of some gratifying, stimu- 

 lating, and encouraging reflections. Without at- 

 tempting at all to guess at the reflections it may 

 lead to in the minds of others, I will briefly note 

 two of the more prominent which it has provoked 

 in my own mind. First, then, it has appeared to 

 me that this fact might serve to abate, or to abol- 

 ish entirely, the common notion that farming is a 

 mere work of routine, requiring little or no exer- 

 cise of mind, or judgment, or skill, or knowledge. 

 In tiie case of Mr. Johnston there is proof in 

 abundance that there is room in the ai-t of farm- 

 "ing for the exercise of all of these ; and that it 

 was the exercise of these in a pre-eminent degree 

 ■which attracted the notice, and commanded the 

 respect, admiration and gratitude of the agricul- 

 tural fraternity generally, and of the presenters 

 of the testimonial especially. Let this testimoni- 

 al serve always, then, as a memorable proof that 

 there is room in farming for the exercise of the 

 most estimable faculties of the mind, and for the 

 practical application of almost every kind of 

 knowledge. And, secondly, let this testimonial 

 be to every farmer a stimulus and incitement to 

 do his best to improve the art and operations of 

 farming. The eyes of his brethren are upon him, 

 and he will be rewarded by their respect, as well 

 as his OAvn. 



Morn Ail. — The remarks made on this subject, 

 at page 118, in reply to the inquiries of Jer. Eddy, 

 are very sensible, and such as we would like to 

 reach the eye and the intellect of every man who* 

 owns an animal with horns. Perhaps not every 

 man, but certainly a large majority of those who 

 bave the care of neat cattle, entertain just such 

 notions, and favor just such barbarity and absur- 

 dity in practice, as the hints and cautions in these 

 "remarks" are leveled against. That is, the ma- 

 jority of farmers seem to believe very readily, 

 when there is anything wrong with a cow or an 

 ox which they cannot understand, and which is ac- 

 companied with either unnatural heat or coldness 

 in the horns, that said cow or ox has got horn-ail 

 or hollow horn, and farther, that the best thing to 

 be done is to bore a hole in the horn and pour in 

 tu»pentine, camphor, or some other material of an 

 irritating quality. 



This absurd notion and this barbarous practice 

 need, to say the very least, to be reconsidered. 

 For in these days of boasted light, and knowledge, 

 and intelligence, when boys and girls study phys- 

 iology, and when all have abundant opportunities 

 to know that cold feet and a hot head are mere 

 eymptoins of some disordered state of the stomach, 

 or some other remote portion of the body, it is 

 truly marvellous that so many should be found 

 who assent to or believe that coldness or heat in 

 the horns is a disease in and of itself, and not 



merely a symptom of some disease affecting some 

 one important organ or the system generally. I 

 would like to put the question to some of those 

 who believe in the existence of disease in the 

 horns or in ihe tail, and who call it horn-ail or 

 tail-ail, why they believe as they do, and why they 

 do not consider that heat or coldness in the horns 

 are much more likely, like cold feet, or a hot head, 

 or pain in the head from a disordered stomach, to 

 be mere symptoms of some disease in a more im- 

 portant part of the system, than proofs of a dis- 

 eased condition of the horns themselves. I would 

 like to ask them what they themselves would 

 think of a physician who, in treating the diseases 

 of the human body, should mistake the pain in the 

 right shoulder which usually accompanies disease 

 of the liver, for a distinct and independent disease 

 of itself, and should call it shoulder-ail, and treat 

 it by local applications, without any reference to 

 that morbid state of the liver, of which it is real- 

 ly and truly only a symptom. 



It seems that even a very slender knowledge of 

 physiology, and a very slight acquaintance with 

 the ordinary phenomena of disease in human 

 beings, might suffice to make any one somewhat 

 suspicious that there was a want of sense, and of 

 soundness of thinking, in the opinions prevalent 

 about what gets the name of horn-ail or hollow- 

 horn. And certainly, the truth is, that when the 

 horns are either unnaturally cold or warm, the 

 disease is in the brain, or stomach, or bowels, or 

 lungs, or in the system generally, and not in the 

 horns at all. More Anon. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ON PRUWrNQ PINE TREES. 



Messrs. Editors: — Wishing to impart, as 

 well as to derive interest and profit, from the vis- 

 its of your useful journal, please accept the follow- 

 ing reply to the inquiry of "N. B. Saffbrd." 



I owned a lot in Lancaster, similar to the one 

 he describes, though probably a few years older. 

 After some experiment as to the time of pruning, 

 I become satisfied that it should be done when the 

 tree would not bleed, if at all. As to thinning, I 

 knew they could not half become trees of adequate 

 size and height for profit. The question with me 

 was, will the wood pay for thinning ? Now, if so, 

 I should gain more by the growth of the lot, than 

 to wait longer. Of course, a gain without loss, 

 was a safe business for a young man, who could 

 find no one that could advise in the case, from 

 knowledge. Having settled both questions in my 

 own mind, as to the profit of thinning and trim- 

 ming, for the benefit of the lot, I determined to 

 go ahead, and with some select active hands, with 

 keen light axes, vre improved the autumn and 

 winter, on bare ground, or little snow, in trim- 

 ming, as high as we could reach, those left at a 

 distance of five or six feet apart, say nine or ten 

 to a square rod. We cut roads wide enough for 

 a sled and pair of horses, and drew the saplings, 

 twelve feet long, buts to the road, each side. We 

 went over twenty acres and cleared the ground. 

 They grew rapidly, and I am able to say, fully jus- 

 tified the measure. The part of the lot we left was 

 subsequently cut over, all at once, ten years after, 

 and was far behind the other, both in growth and 

 beauty. BENJAMIN WiLLARD. 



Lancaster, Mass., 1860. 



