1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Ill 



supply of salt, I placed it by them, but still they 

 root over the manure like swine, and eat every 

 particle of litter they can find. 



Is it an injury to them, and if so, what -will stop 

 the filthy habit"? Please give me your opinion, 

 and oblige A Subscriber. 



Sturhrldge, Jan., 18G2. 



WATER CISTERNS. 



You occasionally speak of water cisterns in the 

 Farmer. They ought to receive more attention. 

 Our mode of constructing them is to make the 

 top round and the bottom run down to a point 

 like the small end of a hen's egg. The process is 

 as follows : — Dig some seven feet below the frost 

 for the bottom. The part of the country, and the 

 location of the cistern must guide as to frost. Dig 

 through the frost and make a circle 12 inches all 

 around the cistern hole, and then start the hole 

 down some two feet and put on the top ; use flag- 

 ging stone by all means, if they can be had from 

 seven to ten cents per foot, surface measure. 

 Leave the hole open, and then finish digging the 

 cistern. When dug in the proper shape, take two 

 barrels of water cement, and mix one part of ce- 

 ment to three parts of sand, which must be mixed 

 as it is spread, or it will get hard. The mason 

 must use some judgment, and temper the cement 

 according to its strength. Give it two coats of 

 cement, and for a finishing touch, mix some thin 

 to use as a wash ; give the whole one or two coats. 



We build them here on leachy and gravelly soil, 

 and the water in them, from November to the last 

 of May, is as good as any well water. They 

 should be cleansed out once a year in the fall, and 

 always built so that frost will not reach them. 



My estimate for building one of these cisterns 

 is as follows : 



For digging $2,00 



Stone covering 8,10 



Hason worli 3,00 



Two bbls. cement 4,00 



$17,10 



Dalton, Jan., 18G2. T. S. Wilson. 



FINE PIGS. 



I noticed at the Essex Cattle Fair held at South 

 Danvers, in 1860, a Mackay breeding sow and 

 nine pigs, five weeks old, of a litter of sixteen of 

 the somewhat noted stock of Byron Goodell, of 

 that town. Upon inquiry, I found they were kept 

 for breeders, except four, wliich were taken at that 

 age by different individuals of that town, and kept 

 until their average age was fourteen months and 

 three weeks, then slaughtered, and weighed in the 

 aggregate, including fat, twenty one hundred and 

 four pounds ! Some of them not weighing over 

 one hundred and fifty pounds in the spring, being 

 kept light through the winter. These were all fit 

 for the market when not weighing over two hun- 

 dred pounds, dressed. This is a general charac- 

 teristic of the breed. One of the four, fatted by 

 !Mr. Samuel Chandler, weighed six hundred and 

 nineteen, beside the fat. I'he butcher said it was 

 the "thinnest rind" hog he had slaughtered for the 

 season. These were fatted on grain, meal and 

 shorts. The same sow had another litter last 

 April, of eighteen, Avhich were kept for breeders, 

 and will now Aveigh from three hundred and fifty 

 to four hundred pounds each!' 



A NUMBER ONE RAT TRAP. 



As good a rat trap as I have ever used may 

 be made by taking a piece of 3 by 4 scant- 

 ling, say two feet long and about two or three 

 inches from each end, and at equal distance from 

 the sides bore two holes, and insert in an exactly 

 perpendicular j^osition two pieces of broom han- 

 dle or other round stick, and across the centre cut 

 a place deep enough to admit a bit of shingle for 

 a pan. Nail a piece of board a few inches wide on 

 each side, a hole being cut in one of them for the 

 shank of the pan. Next take a piece of scantling 

 of the same length as the other, l)ut a little less in 

 width, so as to drop readily between the side- 

 boards on the first, and bore two holes through it 

 large enough and in a position to play freely on 

 the uprights ; fosten two cords to this and attach 

 them to a roll made to rest on the uprights. To 

 an arm projecting a foot from the centre of the 

 roll attach another cord, and tie the other end to 

 the centre of a bit of wood fitted to notches in the 

 shank of the pan and the side-board in the form of 

 a "figure four," another notch in the shank catch- 

 ing on the inner side of the board. Now turn the 

 roll a few times so as to raise the upper scantling 

 a few inches and apply the catch, and you have a 

 trap which can remain "set" six months, if you 

 please, without weakening any s])rings, and being 

 open at both ends, is not likely to frighten the 

 game. W.Ai. F. Bassett. 



Asltfidd, Jan., 1862. 



SEEDING GRASS LAND IN THE SPRING. 



In the Farmer of Jan. 11,1 noticed an inquiry 

 whether herdsgrass and clover are profitable if 

 sowed early in the spring. In the spring of 1860, 

 I sowed four acres as soon as the frost was out of 

 the ground, on land fitted for mowing the fall be- 

 fore, sowed eight quarts of herdsgrass and five 

 pounds clover seed to the acre, and cut the same 

 year two tons of clean hay, per acre. In 1861, 1 

 cut rather more than in 1860. In April, 1861, 

 seeded three and one-half acres, and put on one- 

 half bushel herdsgrass seed, per acre ; the result 

 Avas not as favorable for spring seeding, owing, I 

 think, to its being so wet through the following 

 month of May. The result was twenty-five hun- 

 dred of hay to the acre. I fitted four acres the 

 past fall for seeding next spring, and I shall prac- 

 tice this way of seeding as long as the result proves 

 as favorable as it has the past two yeai's. 



Waterburij, Vt., Jan., 1862. s. V. 



FOUL IN THE FOOT. 



Can you, or any of your subscribers, inform mo 

 which is the best way to cure "foul in the foot" in 

 cattle. I. F. 



Pittsfield, Jan., 1862. 



Remarks. — See that the feet are kept clean, 

 and try them by pressure with the thumb and fin- 

 ger. K some spots are found very tender, open 

 them so as to let the corrupted matter pass out. 

 Then wash the feet once or twice a day in a solu- 

 tion of blue vitriol. Keep everything clean about 

 the animals, and see that they stand upon a 

 smooth floor — that is, a floor that is not worn in- 

 to ridges, or that has holes in it. 



