1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



found that she had escaped ; and on Saturday 

 ni^jht, at 10 o'clock, she arrived home, at the res- 

 idoncG of Mr. Ebenczer Smith, of this village. This 

 is indeed a wonderful illustration of the instinct 

 of the cat. — Barnstable Patriot. 



Well done. Major Phinney ! If you had told this 

 story about ajish, it would have been all nat'ral 

 enough, but such a whopper about cats beats 

 all natcr. Well, we can't afibrd to let you "go 

 up to the head" until we have told our story. 



Mr. Charles Blake put a six months' old kitten 

 into a basket one Saturday morning, in the town 

 of Newton, seven miles from Boston, put a cloth 

 covering over the basket, and tied it down. He 

 then carried the basket to the cars, put it under 

 his seat, and when he arrived at the Station house 

 in Boston, opposite the U. S. Hotel, took the 

 basket in his hand and carried it entirely across 

 the city to Quincy Hall, his place of business. 

 There he let the little prisoner out, and she was 

 seen about the hall during the day, but on Mon- 

 day morning on going down to breakfast he found 

 his little friend back to Newton, all hale and 

 hearty, and ready for her cup of milk ! ! She had 

 escaped from the hall, traversed the entire width 

 of the city and seven miles through the country, 

 to the place of her birth ! ! Thank you for that 

 hat. Major ! 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CATTLE DISEASE. 



Messrs. Editors : — Pleuro-pneumonia is rath- 

 er an uncouth phrase to be delivered by children 

 born of Anglo-Saxon parents who had no heredi- 

 tary Greek in their compositions. Pleuro is de- 

 rived from the Greek M'ord pleura, which signifies 

 the side, and pneumonia, from Pneumon, the 

 Greek word for lungs. There is a membrane which 

 lines the inside of the chest and covers the ribs 

 and then extends to and envelops the lungs. ISIan- 

 kind, cattle and other animals are ])rovided with 

 this membrane. When inllammation seizes the 

 membrane that lines the ribs it is called a pleuri- 

 sy, or inflammation in the side, which causes pain 

 in the side, and when it seizes both the membrane 

 that covers the lungs and that which lines the 

 ribs, the disease is called the pleuro-pneumonia, 

 or pleurisy and lung fever. 



Names go for what they are worth, but disease 

 is a reality. From analogy, comparing the cattle 

 distemper with the pleuro-pneumonia which af- 

 flicts mankind, we might suppose that it com- 

 menced with a degree of inflammation which con- 

 tinues for a short time, and then degenerates to a 

 morbid and putrid state of the lungs, which ter- 

 minates the animal's life. Malignant diseases, 

 among mankind, whetlicr epidemic or from con- 

 tagion, are limited. When the ])lague, yellow fe- 

 ver, small pox, or any other desolating disease has 

 p:'evailed for a season, it gradually spends it vi- 

 rus and becomes more mild, so that physicians are 

 often led to suppose that they have discovered 

 some more effectual mode of treatment than at 

 the beginning of the disease. This process of at- 

 mospheric purification continues till every parti- 



cle of the offending- virus is absorbed or expelled 

 from the atmosphere, and the distemper which has 

 caused so much terror and destruction becomes 

 completely extinct. Judging from analogy, Ave 

 may suppose that after a satisfactory number oJ 

 cattle have been sacrificed to propitiate the wrath 

 of the demon pleuro-pneumonia, that the atmos- 

 phere will become purified of all noxious influ- 

 ences, so fatal to cattle, and the plague will be 

 stayed. Silas Brq-wn. 



North Wilmington, June, 1860. ^ 



POSTS nrVERTED. 



t 



"W. H." asks our opinion on the practice of 

 inverting posts. We have full confidence in its 

 usefulness. The conditions necessary to rapid 

 decay, are to be learned at the earth collar of the 

 post ; there where the moisture of the soil and 

 the atmosphere can exercise their joint action, 

 posts first rot, while the part above, as well as 

 below this point, remains sound for a much long- 

 er period. 



When the style of wood is such as to permit 

 the post being turned upside down, the rotting 

 will be much slower, particularly if the butt be 

 cut angular or shelving, so as to pass off water 

 falling upon it. When the post is placed in the 

 same position in which it grew, viz., butt down, 

 the capillary tubes carry up moisture from the 

 soil, and thus it is always moist at or near the 

 earth collar ; when on the contrary the position 

 is reversed, this capillary action does not occur, 

 and with such there will be slower decay. 



There are other methods, however, of preserv- 

 ing posts, all of which, by the by, may be added 

 to the inverting practice. Thus, with the invert- 

 ing practice, a hole may be bored in the top, a 

 small amount of corrosive sublimate ])laced in 

 and plugged ; this will disseminate itself, passing 

 downward through the post, and thus kyanizing 

 the wood by rendering the sap insoluble. The 

 portion of post intended to be placed in the ground, 

 may be stood in a vessel containing a dilute solu- 

 tion of corrosive sublimate, and be kyanized. 

 This operation, however, although it renders all 

 woods as lasting as locust itself, is expensive, and, 

 therefore, can only be appealed to in the vicinity 

 of chemical works, Avhere corrosive sublimate may 

 be had at moderate prices. 



The lower portion of posts may be coated with 

 coal tar, or rosin oil, and then slowly carbonized, 

 by setting fire to this coating. This treatment 

 causes them to last a much longer time. The or- 

 dinary gas tar is frequently used for this purpose. 



Immersion in a solution of common copperas, 

 chloride of zinc, and many other salts, has been 

 used with advantage. 



It is quite strange that while farmers study econ- 

 omy, even beyond their truest interest, in the pur- 

 chase of fertilizing materials, labor-saving tools, 

 etc., still they will fence their farms with chestnut, 

 without the slightest preparation, repeating this 

 expensive operation, as far as the posts are con- 

 corned, at least as often as once in fourteen years ; 

 and this in the face of the fact that with the 

 means we have named, much greater economy 

 may be availed of. 



It has been asserted that the cost of the fences 

 in the United States, is greater than the interest 



