1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



457 



enormous net-work in the water, and catch as in 

 a seine all the matter which floats down the 

 streams when the tides and floods go down. 

 Shell- fish are often found among the roots, ac- 

 counting for the stories of some of the earlier 

 discoverers of America, who said the oysters grew 

 on the branches of trees. Sometimes the roots 

 have no home in land or water, but take them- 

 selves to some strong and healthy trees, where 

 they creep through the crevices of the bark into 

 the wood, and feed upon the very life of the tree. 

 These plants are called parasites. A stately palm 

 is often seen covered with the creepers of a para- 

 site, which at last eats out its very life, and the 

 noble tree dies in its treacherous embrace. Roots, 

 wherever they are, in the dark earth, or under 

 the restless waves, or on the bark of a foreign 

 tree, are always at work, and rough usage does not 

 quickly destroy them. A common maple tree 

 may be turned bottom upwards, the roots in the 

 air, and the branches in the ground, and it will 

 yet live. The first orange trees in Europe, which 

 are in the city of Dresden, came as ballast, with- 

 out root or branches, in the hold of a German 

 vessel. A curious gardener, anxious to know 

 what the new wood was, planted them, and, 

 through mistake, planted them upside down. But 

 in spite of this sad treatment, the brave little 

 trees have grown and flourished beyond all other 

 orange trees on the continent. Do not even the 

 roots in the earth seem to say — "The hand that 

 made us is divine ?" 



For the New England Farmer . 

 CRAMP IN CO-W— WA.RTS ON 5:OESE. 

 Mr. Editor : — In the Farmer of August 3d, 

 Mr. Gates wishes to know what to do with what 

 he calls cramp in cattle. In the first place, every 

 man who has to do with horses and cattle, should 

 always have on hand a few medicines, as a valu- 

 able life may be frequently saved by having things 

 handy. Some time ago I named a few remedies 

 which it would be well for the farmer to have on 

 hand — aconite, arnica, nux vomica, &c., — what is 

 called the mother tincture. 



Now for Mr. Gates' cow. First, if she is fed 

 high, cut this down to grass, and see that she has 

 plenty of good, clean, soft water. Put her in the 

 stable nights, with free circulation of air, but so 

 the patient gets no chill, until she gets well. I 

 should keep her out of all rain and storm, and 

 by all means keep her skin clean and open. 

 Second, medicine. Put a teaspoonful of the 

 tincture of arnica into a quart of water, and bathe 

 the parts affected, night and morning, and at the 

 same time give the cow internally tea drops of 

 aconite, each morning, in her drink ; and if not 

 every way better in a few days, give her ten drops 

 of arsenicum at night. This course, with such 

 treatment and care as otherwise would suggest 

 itself, followed a few weeks, I should expect to 

 cure the cow with cramp. 



In the same paper with the foregoing, Mr. 

 Jameson wants something which will cure warts 

 on a horse. This is a frequent disease with both 

 horses and cattle. It is a disease of the skin — 

 but nature is evidently making an eS'ort to get 

 rid of some constitutional trouble. In your re- 

 marks to Mr. Jameson's inquiry, your sugges- 

 tions are good. Where the warts are large, the 



quickest way to get rid of them is by the knife, 

 or ligature. I have often removed them by rub- 

 bing them with whale oil, morning and night ; 

 this will cure nine cases out of ten ; keep the 

 skin clean and open by the use of card and brush; 

 at the same time feed well, — and to remove the 

 constitutional disease, I have never found any- 

 thing equal to sulphur and arsenicum, in doses of 

 ten drops each night, alternating. These doses 

 are for adults. External applications will do for 

 the young as well as old. 



At a future time I will give the readers of the 

 Farmer a list of a few simple remedies which 

 every humane man who has the care of horses or 

 cattle, would do well to keep on hand — the whole 

 costing not more than two or three dollars — and 

 a general plan for their use, Mr. Common Sense 

 being the doctor. N. Q. T. 



King Oak Hill, 1861. 



■WHEN TO GATHEB CROPS. 



This is an important topic. To cut grass when 

 it is "ripe," and grain when ready to shell out, is 

 far from economy. Careful observation and ex- 

 periments, as Avell as chemistry, teach us that all 

 grass and grain crops, to be consumed as food for 

 man or beast, should be cut down before maturi- 

 ty. Many of the roots, also, are better for pre- 

 mature gathering. Potatoes may well be ripened 

 in the ground ; and, were it convenient to make 

 the separation, we should say let grain, designed 

 only for seed, remain upon the native stalk, in 

 the field, until nearly ready to fall off. As we 

 have said, experiments carefully made prove 

 conclusively that wheat, for example, if cut six 

 to twelve days before full maturity, yields not 

 only a greater bulk and weight, but more and 

 better flour, than if allowed to stand until "dead 

 ripe." We have frequently published the direct 

 trials which have established this fact, and will 

 not take space to repeat them here. Let us look 

 a little into the reasons for such a result. It will 

 not be disputed that a pound of gum, or sugar, 

 or starch, is better food than the same amount 

 of wood or woody fibre. Much the largest pro- 

 portion of the nourishment of wheat or corn, or 

 other grain, is derived from the starch it con- 

 tains. More than three-fourths of the entire 

 bulk of wheat flour, for example, is really pure 

 starch. The same may be said of corn meal. 

 But all grains contain more or less of woody 

 fibre, in the shell. 



Wood, sugar, starch and gum are composed of 

 precisely the same elements, and these are nearly 

 in the same proportion. The difference in form 

 and properties is chiefly in the arrangement of 

 the elements. Yet wood is nearly indigestible, 

 and of course fails, in part, to yield nourishment, 

 while sugar, starch and gum are easily digested, 

 and almost their entire elements furnish nutri- 

 ment. 



Examine grain in the milk, and it will be found 

 to consist almost totally of starch, gum and sugar, 

 the abundance of sugar giving it a sweetish taste. 

 Let this grain ripen, and the starch, gum and 

 sugar are hardened, and in part changed to 

 woody fibre, that is, husk or bran. But cut the 

 grain while scarcely out of the milk state, and 

 you stop the natural change into woody matter, 

 and thus secure a large proportion of the desired 



