562 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



wards and never upwards, and if two are used, 

 they should be placed as far apart as they can be, 

 and allow the sap to drop into the tub without 

 waste, and not be put in close together, or one 

 right over the other, and pointing from each oth- 

 er. And every bucket which cannot be made to 

 hold, had better be thrown away entirely. 



For gathering, a pine tub, tapering considera- 

 bly towards the top, with a hole large enough to 

 admit a pail near one side of the upper head, and 

 fitted with a tight lid, is most convenient. 



A siphon and large spouts are next required. 

 The siphon should have the short arm long enough 

 to reach within, say half an inch of the bottom of 

 the tub, and the other two to six 

 inches longer, according to the 

 rapidity of ilow desired. A siphon 

 two inches in diameter, and of the 

 length usually required, can be 

 mide by any tinner for about lo 

 cents. With a siphon (Fig. 3,) two 

 inches in diameter, and tapered to 

 one and one-half inches at the 

 outlet, and four inches difference 

 in length of arm, a three and one- 

 half barrel tub can be emptied in 

 five minutes. It must be recol- 

 ^ lected, that, with such a flow, a 



sN. wooden conductor very much 

 Fw. 3. larger than the siphon is required 



to convey the sap to the storage. 



BOILING, CLEANSING, ETC. 



When I say everything should be done prompt- 

 ly, and with scrupulous regard to neatness, it 

 sums up the whole. The bucket, storage, gather- 

 ing tubs, and everything connected with the 

 work, should be thoroughly washed with a cloth 

 and scalded, both at the commencement and at 

 the close of the sugar season ; the sap should be 

 gathered and evaporated with as little delay as 

 possible, and should not be allowed to remain in 

 the pans longer than necessary. No burning 

 should be allowed, no smoke or ashes fall in, and 

 both sap and syrup be strained through a flannel 

 strainer, the latter as thick as it can readily run 

 through. 



With these precautions properly attended to, I 

 consider all additions of skimmed milk, saleratus, 

 and white of eggs, &c., worse than useless. I, 

 however, prefer to keep it stirring with a paddle, 

 after "boiling off," until nearly cold, which makes 

 the grain finer, improves the color, and, to my 

 taste, gives it a better flavor, besides making it 

 much easier to dip out when left moist in tubs, 

 an advantage readily appreciated by those who 

 have had their patience tried in vain endeavors 

 to penetrate the contents of the sugar tub with 

 anything short of an ax, or mallet and chisel. 



While speaking of the care of buckets, I 

 forgot to say that they should be brought in and 

 cleansed immediately, when the sugar season is 

 over, as it not only keeps them neater, but their 

 durability is increased very largely. 



It may not be amiss to inform your readers 

 that the arch described, was built by Mr. M. Bis- 

 SELL, of Wilmington, Vt., and that most of the 

 materials required for the arch and sugar camp, 

 can be obtained in that vicinity, as nearly perfect 

 as all the recent improvements can make them. 



Anhfield, IbGI. Wm. F. Bassett. 



TOP-DBESSING GRASS LANDS IN 

 AUTUMN. 



Our attention was recently called to a piece of 

 grass land upon which some interesting experi- 

 ments had been made in top-dressing. The piece 

 consisted of two or three acres, had been under- 

 drained, plowed, seeded to grass, and the whole 

 of it in every respect treated alike with the excep- 

 tion of the time of top-dressing it. The same 

 quantity and quality of manure was applied to 

 one part as well as another, and yet the difference 

 in the time of applying the manure made a differ- 

 ence of a hundred per cent, in the crop ! 



On one portion of the field, the dressing was 

 applied last fall — but we did not learn whether it 

 was before the ground had frozen or not. The 

 manure was made very fine by frequent overhaul- 

 ing — and spread directly from the cart — not de- 

 posited in heaps. On the remaining portion the 

 dressing was applied in the spring, as early as it 

 was safe for the team to pass over the sward 

 without cutting it up much, and where the dress- 

 ing was applied in the fall, there was double the 

 amount of grass that there was on the spring- 

 dressed portion ! 



We hope many careful experiments of this 

 kind will be made this fall. 



KING-BONE CURABLE. 



Dr. R. Thompson writes to the Ohio Farmer, 

 that to cure the semi-osseous deposit, called ring- 

 bone, the animal must be thrown and well se- 

 cured ; with a strong scalpel make a crucial inci- 

 sion over the highest part of the tumor. Having 

 dissected the four angles of the skin, back to a 

 line corresponding with the base of the tumor, 

 expose the entire surface of the morbid mass to 

 view. The next step in the operation is the re- 

 moval of the unnatural growth by the appropri- 

 ate use of a carpenter's three-fourths or inch 

 gouge ; either manipulated with the hand alone, 

 or assisted by the gentle use of a light mallet. 

 With a proper knowledge of the parts involved 

 in the operation and due care, there need be no 

 fears of opening the articular capsule. Leaving 

 the surface of the bone as smooth as possible, the 

 angles of the skin are brought firmly together by 

 means of a strong needle and cord the size of a 

 slender fishing-line. A few slips of adhesive plas- 

 ter will add much to the security of the dressing, 

 and consequently to the more speedy healing of 

 the wound. To these ends, also, the quietude of 

 the horse will contribute greatly. Over this a 

 few turns of bandage may be thrown and firmly 

 secured. Should the parts become swollen, te- 

 pid water and whisky may be freely applied by 

 pouring every eight or ten hours, until the swell- 

 ing subsides. Whether there is anything new iu 

 this, I do not pretend to say ; but this I do know, 

 that by this safe and simple operation I saw a 

 horse cured of the "ringbone" within the space 

 of two weeks, where previous to the operation 

 he could scarcely mark the ground with the tip 

 of the hoof, so great was his suffering. 



