1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



165 



10 inches square, and be thorouglily mixed with 

 the soil. 



2. Farmers, such as wc have spoken of above, 

 vary in their practice, sowing all the Avay from one 

 bushel and a half to three bushels per acre. There 

 is no -well-settled rule about it. If the oats are to 

 ripen and be harvested for their seed, a less quan- 

 tity may answer than if they are to be cut green 

 for fodder. 



3. It is not the practice to seed land with red- 

 top, or "Bent Grass," alone. Four quarts of tim- 

 othy, three or four pecks of redtop and 8 or 10 

 pounds of clover seed, make a judicious seeding 

 for an acre. 



4. The Sweet German. 



5. Prune gi'ape vines in November. 



6. Oyster shell lime may be purchased of Mr. 

 James Gould, Boston, at 50 cts. per cask. 



7. Keep the parts affected perfectly clean when- 

 ever the mare is not at work, and rub with some 

 soft, clean oil, and give her two table spoonfuls of 

 Epsom salts twice in the course of eight days. 



SnAnXG THE nOKNS OF STEERS. 



Mr. Clark Hill wishes to know how to match 

 steers' horns. The position of horns may be 

 changed by scraping them. If it is desii-ed to 

 turn the horn up, scrape on the under side ; if to 

 turn the horn out, scrape on the inside, and vice 

 versa — as that side of the horn scraped grows 

 faster than the other, thereby changing the course 

 or direction of the horns. But this is a slow pro- 

 cess, and I wiU give you a more efiectual method 

 of matching steers' horns. You may be aware 

 that horns, when young and growing fast, are ten- 

 der, and may be turned in almost any direction 

 by gently pulling them. Now, then, take a ball 

 and screw on to the horn tight ; then take a 

 small pulley, make it fast over the head in the di- 

 rection 30U wish to turn in the horn ; then take a 

 small cord, make it fast to the horn, pass it over 

 the pulley, and tie on a weight ; taking care not to 

 put on too much weight, which would turn the 

 horn too short. About the weight of a brick is 

 sufficient for a two-years old steer. Whenever he 

 is put into the barn, hitch on the cord and let 

 the v.-eight be pulling, and in the course of two 

 or three months there will be a decided change in 

 the position of the horn. C. 



Groton, N. II., 1802. 



Remarks. — N. S. Waterman, Orange, Vt., 

 suggests the same mode, and says that oiling the 

 scraped portion will facilitate the process. Mi". 

 J. M. Fuller, of Faiiiee, Vt., gives the same di- 

 rection. 



PARSNirs for cows in certain cases. 



I frequently hear of covv's not doing v/ell after 

 calving. I have a cow that dropped her calf Feb. 

 3, but retained the after birth. I tried a number 

 of things but to no effect, until the 7th, when 

 one of my neighbors passing by, told me to give 

 her four quarts of parsnips. I did so, and in less 

 than twelve hours it Avas di-opped. I have siace 



learned it had the same effect upon others. INIany 

 valuable cows have been lost and others ruined, 

 by forcing the after birth away or by letting it rot. 

 I was informed by the same person that one of 

 his neighbors, in order to liave his cows do well, 

 gave them parsnips a number of weeks before 

 their time was out, and the next morning he found 

 thev had dro])t their calves. S. II. WllEELER. 

 Maso7i Centre, N. II., 1802. 



COTTON CULTURE — BORDERS. 



Will you please to state in your next number of 

 the Fanner the modus operandi of the Cotton 

 Culture ? Having received seed from the Patent 

 Office, I desire to know how to plant and care for 

 the same ; I have got the necessary improvements 

 for starting the seed under glass, if it must be so. 



Please state how to prepare the ground in bor- 

 ders for starting grape cuttings, rose cuttings, &c. 



Subscriber. 



Reil\rks. — In the Southern States, cotton 

 seed is sown in rows commonly four to five feet 

 apart, and eighteen inches apart in the rows. If 

 the crop is kept clean and the soil light, it will be 

 likely to flourish better. It ought to be sowed as 

 early as it can be, and escape frost. Two or three 

 plants in a hill or cluster, is enough. If the plant 

 grows rank, when it is up two or three feet high, 

 cut off the top, as is sometimes done with the to- 

 mato, and this will throw the growth into the pod, 

 and sensibly increase it. 



To prepare borders for grape cuttings, &c., 

 make a deep, fine soil, to which add manure plen- 

 tifully, and let a portion of it be slaughter-house 

 manure. Dig this in deep, and until the Avhole — 

 soil and manure — is thoroughly mixed. 



RED OAK SAWDUST. 



I am using red oak saw-dust to bed my cattle 

 with, my muck being frozen, but my neighbors 

 say I am all wrong, it being so soui- it will spoil 

 my manure, spoil my crops, spoil my land ! Will 

 you, or some of your correspondents, enlighten 

 me upon the subject. I use lime and salt in my 

 compost, and shall use the saw-dust until I learn 

 something more about it. I used the ash saw- 

 dust last winter with good effect. A. F. 



West Baldwin, Me., 1862. 



Remarks. — We have no doubt that even the 

 red oak sawdust is valuable, as you use it. I\Iixed 

 gradually with the droppings of the cattle, or com- 

 posted with lime and muck, it has considerable 

 value in its mechanical effects upon the soil, as 

 well as for its nutritive properties. 



now TO SET FENCE POSTS. 



Please to tell farmers who are so often inquir- 

 ing how to set fence posts so as not to have them 

 heave out by frost, to sharpen the end, make a 

 hole with an iron bar, drive the post in, and it will 

 stand fast fur ever in anv wet land. 



East Burl^, Vt., 1862. S. Walter. 



