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NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



Feb. 



in the opinion of the last Legislature, operates as 

 a public calamity, destroying a vast amount of 

 property and spreading desolation and death 

 through one of tho most lovely and fertile re- 

 gions of the State. The people living in the 

 towns bordering on the meadows that are flowed, 

 have battled with this power for forty years, and 

 have not yet been able to receive a single dollar 

 for damages, although their grass crop has been 

 annually cut off, and sometimes whole families 

 have been prostrated with sickness occasioned by 

 the malaria arising from the rotting masses of 

 vegetable matter lying upon the meadows. 



We also learn that the citizens of Wayland 

 held a town meeting on Monday of last week, 

 in view of the action in this matter. The 

 meeting was a large one, and it unanimously 

 voted to remonstrate against the repeal ; the se- 

 lectmen were authorized to act as agents for the 

 town, with power to employ counsel and do any- 

 thing else which in their judgment they may 

 deem necessary to secure action under the law of 

 last year. 



The citizens of Sudbury, we learn, are to hold 

 a public town meeting in relation to the matter, 

 and the people of all the towns in the Sudbury 

 and Concord E,iver Valley are still determined 

 that this wicked monopoly shall be abated. 



CATTLE DISEASE IN SOUTH APBICA. 

 Below we give an extract from a letter written 

 from South Africa by the Rev. Levs^IS Grout, to 

 a brother in West Brattleboro', Vt. We hope, 

 however, there will be no necessity for any one 

 to avail himself of the information contained in it. 



Umsunduzi, South Africa, Sept. 16, I860. 



Dear Brother : — I see by the papers the 

 same disease which we have had here for six 

 years is now in Massachusetts, making a good 

 deal of commotion, as well it may. Among cat- 

 tle or cows it is very contagious and fatal. Only 

 about one in twenty-five recovers or escapes, af- 

 ter being once exposed with diseased cattle. The 

 few which recover are not liable to the second 

 attack. The only remedy in this co-mtry is inoc- 

 ulation, by which three- fourths, or at least, one- 

 half, are usually saved, about one-quarter dying of 

 inoculation unless the thing is very successfu' 

 In this country those who are obliged to gu 

 about with oxen must first inoculate, so also must 

 those who are surrounded by disease, so as not to 

 be obliged to keep the cows from contact with 

 those that have the disi'ase. The mode of inocu- 

 lating is to make a small puncture or incision in 

 the end of the cow's tail and insert a little of the 

 liquid, or a small bit of flesh, from the lung of an 

 animal which had the disease and died of it, or 

 rather was killed and found to be diseased. 

 Sometimes a thread is drawn through a diseased 

 lung, and then inserted under the skin just so as 

 to be in contact with the blood. Li a few days 

 the tail begins to swell ; the swelling sometimes 



goes up the body so as to cause death. The dis- 

 ease does not show itself under five weeks after 

 exposure. The first sign of the disease is hard 

 breathing, with a turning up and contraction of 

 the nose at each inspiration. I should not inoc- 

 ulate until compelled to do so, either by finding 

 that my cattle had been actually exposed, or 

 were sure to be so, though no time should be lost 

 after an actual exposure ; otherwise inoculation 

 will do little or no good. If the people will set 

 about stopping the disease in right earnest, they 

 can do so, otherwise it will go through the coun- 

 try. The best season to inoculate is in the 

 spring, when cattle are relaxed, as that helps 

 keep the body open and check inflammation. 



Lewis Grout. 



AGRICULTURAL QUESTIONS. 

 By John Dimon, Wakefield, R. I. 



Mr. Editor : — Having decided to spend the 

 remainder of my days on the farm and in the ca- 

 pacity of a farmer — and as it is less expensive to 

 buy the best stock and tools, and to do work in 

 the best manner, and as there are hundreds of 

 young farmers in New England who are in want 

 of a certain kind of agricultural information, I 

 have concluded to send you a string of practical 

 agricultural questions, which I wish you to pub- 

 lish in the monthly Farmer, vi'ith such answers and 

 remarks as the merits of the case require. And 

 by so doing you will confer a great favor — not 

 only on me, but on others in similar circum- 

 stances. 



\. What kind of plow do you consider best for 

 a smooth, sandy-loam farm ? 



Remarks. — Plow for a sandy-loam. land. — We 

 should say Holbrook's Universal plow, stubble 

 mould-board No. 152, and green-sicard mould- 

 board No. 122. This stubble plow has a wonder- 

 ful power of lifting up and disintegrating the soil. 

 We have seen it in use where, if a common- 

 sized man should lie down in the furrow, the 

 next one turned would well nigh cover him over. 

 The sward mould-board is equally effective in 

 breaking up. In skillful hands it may be made to 

 lay the furrow entirely flat, or to give it the 

 slightest lap, if the operator prefers this mode of 

 leaving it. 



2. Where land is rather light and cold, and 

 has not been highly manured, how deep should it 

 be plowed to obtain the best crops ? 



Hoio deep to plow. — Land that has received 

 only shallow plowings for many years should not 

 have the surface turned under deeply at once, un- 

 less a large amount of manure is added. The black 

 soil being low down, atfords no support to plants 

 early in the season, and as they do not find nour- 

 ishment in the new soil, they are not matured and 

 the crop is lost. To answer your question direct- 

 ly, we should say that a depth of six inches would 

 be likely to return the best crops on such a soil, 

 where the manuring is to be light. Will you 

 experiment by plowing at diflterent depths, mak- 



