1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR]MER. 



147 



lar fabric is referred to in the Scriptures, "And 

 thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a 

 covering upon the tabernacle." (Ex. 26 : 7.) 



Some attem])ts have been made to establish 

 the Thibet and Angoi'a goats in this countiy, an 

 account of -which at some time might be interest- 

 ing. G. L. Streeter. 



Salem, Jan., 1862. 



THE HOKSE-HAXE. 



In Professor Agassiz's interestiiig paper on 

 "Methods of Study in Natural Histoiy," the sec- 

 ond of the series in the Atlantic Montlihj, -we find 

 this anecdote of an animal knoM-n to almost all 

 country boys : 



A gentleman from Detroit had the kindness 

 to send me one of those long, thread-lilve worms 

 {Gordiufi) found often in brooks, and called horse- 

 hair by the common people. When I first received 

 it, it was coiled up in a close roll at the bottom of 

 the bottle, filled with fresh water, that contained 

 it, and looked more like a little tangle of black 

 sewing silk than anything else. Wishing to un- 

 wind it, that I might examine its entire length, I 

 placed it in a large china basin filled M'ith water, 

 and proceeded very gently to disentangle its coils, 

 when I perceived that the animal had twisted it- 

 self around a bundle of its eggs, holding them fast 

 in a close embrace. In the process of unwinding, 

 the eggs di-opped away and fioated to a little dis- 

 tance. Having finally stretched it out to its full 

 length, perhaps half a yard, I sat watching to see 

 if this singular being that looked like a long, black 

 thread in the water, wovdd give any signs of life. 

 Almost immediately it moved towards the bundle 

 of eggs, and, having reached it, began to sew itself 

 through and through the little wliite mass, passing 

 one end of its body through it, and then returning 

 to make another stitch, as it were, till the eggs 

 Avere at last completely entangled again in an in- 

 tricate net-work of coils. It seemed to me almost 

 impossible that this care of offspring could be the 

 result of any instinct of affection in a creature of 

 so low an organization, and I again separated it 

 from the eggs, and placed them at a greater dis- 

 tance, when the same action was repeated. 



On trying the experiment a third time, the bun- 

 dle of eggs had become loosened, and a few of 

 them dropped off" singly into the water. The ef- 

 forts wliich the animal then made to recover the 

 missing ones, winding itself round and round 

 them, but failing to bring them into the fold Avith 

 the rest, because they were too small, and evaded 

 all efforts to secure them, when once parted from 

 the first little compact mass, convinced me that 

 there Avas a definite purpose in its attempt, and 

 that even a being so Ioav in the scale of animal ex- 

 istence has some dim consciousness of a relation 

 to its off'spring. I afterAvards nuAvound also the 

 mass of eggs, Avhich, Avhen coiled up as I first saAV 

 it, made a roll of Avhite substance about the size 

 of a cofi'ee-bean, and found that it consisted of a 

 string of eggs, measuring more than tAvelve feet in 

 length, the eggs being held together by some gel- 

 atinous substance that cemented them and pre- 

 vented them from falling apart. Cutting this 

 string across, and placing a small section under 

 the microscope, I counted on one surface of such 

 a cut from seventy to sevent)--five eggs ; and esti- 



mating the entire number of eggs according to the 

 number contained on such a smface, I found that 

 there Avere not less than eight millions of eggs iu 

 the whole strinjj. 



For tlie Neio England Farmer. 

 BREEDS OF STOCK. 

 In times gone by, I haA-e taken an interest in 

 breeds of cattle, and all discussions that tended to 

 illustrate Avhat classes of cattle Avere best suited to 

 the farms of New England. This inquirv Avill de- 

 pend somewhat upon the uses to be maile of the 

 cattle. If they are to be fed for the stall, this is 

 one tiling ; if they are to be kept for dnirv pui-- 

 poses, this is anothei-. On most of our"iarms 

 neat cattle are kept for the milk they \d\\ jield — 

 therefore those Avhich 3'icld the greatest quantity, 

 the quality being equally good, are to bo pre- 

 ferred. So far as I have seen, and I haAC seen 

 many herds, I have never seen any that Avould 

 yield more milk at the same expense of feed, than 

 our NcAv England stock, sometimes c-alled na- 

 tive. For tliis reason, I have ever been an advo- 

 cate of om- native stock, and shall not be disposed 

 to abandon them until others are proved to be 

 superior. I know there are here and there to be 

 found choice animals of the imported breeds — 

 such as the Durham, the Devons, the Ayrshires, 

 the Jerseys, the Herefords, Szc, AA-luch have done 

 great things. But I have never seen any consid- 

 erable number of such animals on any one farm — 

 and know not noAV Avhere they are to* be found. I 

 had supposed om- friends Howard and Sheldon, 

 could tell us all about these animals. Certainly, 

 no men among us haA'e had more extended oppor- 

 tunity for observation. Mr. Howard has visited 

 the best herds of England and Scotland for the 

 express purpose of learning ail about them — and 

 ]\Ir. Sheldon has been a man of practical experi- 

 ence, ever since I Avas a boy, and there is no one 

 Avho AviU deny him the credit of being a shrcAvd 

 observer — of animals and men. 



The real question is, hoAv shall we select a stock 

 of cattle suited to our farms ? I say, choose those 

 Avhich yield the best product on the same expense 

 of feed. And from the best cows raise your OAvn 

 calves, ahvays taking care to use bulls that sprung 

 from good coavs. For in rearing stock, quite as 

 much depends upon the sire as upon the dam. I 

 remember this Avas the opinion of my old master 

 Pickering. j. av. p. 



Feb. 10, 18G2. 



EooT Cutter and Cleaner. — A writer in the 

 Covvtry Gentleman says : 



When potatoes are fed whole, or other roots are 

 cut coarsely, the animal is obliged to hold its head 

 so high to keep the root in contact Avith its teeth, 

 that gravitation alone Avill pass it to the gullet, 

 and ordinarily it Avill pass thence unmasticated, if 

 not too large ; but if cut properly and mixed Avith 

 cut stalks, straAV or hay, as they always should be , 

 they Avill be eaten Avith the head down, as in eat- 

 ing grass, and consequently be more thoroughly 

 masticated and mixed Avith other food, and all dan- 

 ger from choking is AvhoDy avoided ; hence the 

 preventive that I have used for five years, and re- 

 commended to others to use, is, to cut u]) the 

 vegetables as finely as possible with a good root 

 cutter and cleaner. 



