294 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



JFliereas, During the past year this disease has spread from 

 the licrd of Winthrop W. Chencry, of Belmont, an importer of 

 cattle from Holland, where it is prevalent to such an extent that 

 several hundred animals are known to have contracted it ; and 

 the only means of preventing its ravacjes is the slaughter of an- 

 imals which are either diseased or have been exposed to the in- 

 fection : 



Resulred, That this Board communicate at once to the proper 

 authorities at Washington a statement of the facts elicited by 

 the inquiries and examinations of the State Commissioners up- 

 on the Cattle Disease, together with a petition that some suita- 

 ble action be forthwith taken by the General Government to aid 

 in the suppression of this alarming evil, and that an effort be 

 made to secure the passage of a law by Congress, as soon as 

 possible, to cause that nil cattle arriving in United States ports 

 be inspected by an officer appointed for the purpose, before such 

 cattle are allowed to be landed, and that all cattle from districts 

 where pleuro-pneumonia is known to exist, be subjected to quar- 

 antine. 



The above were unanimously adopted, and the 

 Secretary was instructed to forward the action of 

 the Board to Rithai'd S, Fay, a member now in 

 Washington. 



After the passage of a resolution of respect for 

 the memory of the late Hon. Benj. V. French, the 

 Board adjourned. 



From what has been said to-day by persons 

 from the infected localities, it is quite evident 

 that many new cases have appeared, and that the 

 calamity is being extended over still wider terri- 

 tory. 



We have reports of the appearance of the dis- 

 ease in various new sections. It is said that one 

 case occurred in Sandwich — an animal that was 

 bought at Brighton, for beef, being found to be 

 badly affected. 



iofr the Neic England Farmer. 



poke: ahd beef scraps as manure. 



By pork and beef scraps, I mean the refuse of 

 the manufacturers of lard and tallow, consisting 

 of pressed masses of animal fibrine, commonly 

 known as "cheeses." The value of these scraps 

 as food for hogs and poultry is well known to 

 most farmers ; those who have used them for 

 these ])urposes will tell you that no food will pay 

 so well for equal outlay. The secret of their use 

 is the secret of the success of many poulterers 

 who supply the city market with early chickens. 

 The scraps are prepared for use by first pulveriz- 

 ing them to the requisite degree of fineness, by 

 breaking or grintling, and then softening them in 

 water by simply soaking, or by boiling with corn, 

 meal, beans or other food. Have any of our 

 friends accurately tested their value as a manure? 

 Peruvian guano is now bringing over sixty dollars 

 by the ton, and but few of our artificial fertilizers 

 are afforded at less than forty dollars, while beef 

 scraps can be procured at from thirty to thirty- 

 five dollars, and pork, which, for manure pur- 

 poses, I am inclined to believe is inferior to beef, 

 at forty dollars. If these scraps are chemically 

 examined — for all manures now pass through the 

 laboratory of the chemist on their way to the far- 

 mer — we find nothing in their composition that 

 forbids their economical use as a manure at the 

 above rates. Being a mass of fibrine, gelatine 

 and animal oils, they must be exceedingly rich in 

 nitrogen, that sine qua non of invaluable man- 

 ures, and contain, in a highly concentrated form, 

 the various elements necessary for vegetable 

 growth. 



Last spring I procured a small quantity of 

 these scraps with reference to experimenting on 

 them. I selected squashes as the crop, but ow- 

 ing to the effects of a pretty liberal use of fish 

 manure, scattered broadcast and harrowed in, the 

 expeiiment resulted in nothing satisfactory. 

 About sixty hills were selected and manured with 

 equal values of various kinds of manure, but 

 though the hills were 8 by 14, yet such was the 

 stimulating effects of ^the fish manure, that the 

 vines formed so impenetrable a net-work, as to 

 set at defiance all attempts to determine the dif- 

 ferences of the yield. As far as an appreciation 

 towards the result could be made, the hills ma- 

 nured with tlie scraps appeared to give results at 

 the least equal to those from the hills treated with 

 various other manures, such as guano, hen man- 

 ure, stable manure, superphosphate, unleached 

 ashes, &c. Will any of our brother farmers take 

 up this matter, and favor the community with the 

 results of accurate experiments ? If such a re- 

 source can be made economically available, we 

 shall all be gainers by the knov/ledge of it. I 

 procured my scraps of Mr. Oscar Foote, North 

 iSIarket Street, Boston, and prepared them by 

 first pulverizing, and then soaking them in water 

 until putrefaction began. I would advise adding 

 a very large quantity of water after putrefaction 

 has somewhat advanced, about a proportion of 

 ten to one, and then after a thorough stirring 

 pouring into muck or some compost. A cob mill 

 would be excellent for pulverizing the scraps, and 

 from their concentrated nature, I infer that they 

 Vt'ould require to be made very fine to prevent in- 

 jury to the vegetable rootlet. 



Ja:mes J. H. Gregory. 



Marblehead, Mass., 1860. 



Tan Bark for Potatoes. — This subject is 

 brought before the farmers of England, by a com- 

 munication in the Mark Lane Express. Mr. R. 

 B. Bamford claims thirty-five years' experience 

 in this matter ; and has issued a pamphlet giv- 

 ing his method of using it, v,hich is briefly stated 

 in the following : Ho does not cut his potatoes 

 for setting, but sets them whole, and the largest 

 he can select. The rows are thirty inches apart, 

 and the potatoes are put nine inches from each 

 other in the row. The land is plowed only eight 

 inches deep, treads the manure firmly in the fur- 

 rows, puts in the tubers, and covers them in with 

 tan refuse, nine inches deep, instead of earthing 

 up. In this way he reports that in 1857 he raised 

 675 bushels of potatoes — not a rotten one among 

 them — to the acre, with nothing but Avaste tan 

 as a covering. This is of great importance, the 

 tan refuse being of little or no value, and if it 

 be put to so important and advantageous a use as 

 in this case, it should be widely known and prac- 

 ticed. 



The Tea Plant. — The progress of the exper- 

 iment in acclimatizing the tea plant, so far as 

 heard from, is favorable, and there is reason to 

 believe that it can be grown in the open air, south 

 of the northern line of North Carolina and Ten- 

 nessee. Eighteen thousand plants have been sent 

 into this southern region, and eight thousand more 

 have been distributed to persons in the northern 

 States owning green-housCs, as obiects of curiosity. 



