1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



373 



KICKING COWS. 



I have noticed several receipts in your monthly 

 for preventing cows from kicking, some of which 

 may be good, but most of which are worthless, in 

 my humble opinion. If a cow is of a quiet, gentle 

 disposition, she will not kick if she is well used, 

 unless she has sore tits, or the milker's nails are 

 too long, or there is some other iiTitative cause for 

 it. But if a cow, through a vicious disposition or 

 constant bad treatment, once gets in the habit of 

 kiclving, there is but one sure remedy for it, and 

 that is" the trick the Yankee learned the Indian, 

 viz : cut her tail off close beliind her ears ! 



A. J. Aldrich. 



North Blackstone, June, 1862. 



LARGE FLEECES. 



I saw a fleece of wool from one sheep the other 

 day that weighed 29^ lbs. I have heard of one in 

 Dorset, Vt., that weighed 33 lbs. I don't know 

 as these figures are very uncommon, but it struck 

 me they were. 



There is a great drought here, and crops are 

 nowhere. HENRy O. Wiley. 



North Granville, N. Y., June, 1862. 



For the Neic England Fanner. 

 THE GBASS CROPS. 



It seems to be the opinion of the best experi- 

 enced observers Avhom I have met, for the month 

 past, that there will be a small crop of grass, the 

 present season. They reason in this manner, that 

 during the winter and early spring, there was 

 much less rain than usual, that many spots were 

 winter killed, as it is called, by the long continu- 

 ance and close adherence of snow and ice to the 

 surface. Although the fields have a green and vig- 

 orous aspect, it will be found that the grass started 

 thin, and nothing has occurred, or is likely to oc- 

 cur, before the 4th of July to thicken it — when 

 mowing is expected to begin. Combining these 

 and other cosiderations, the farmer can only ex- 

 pect a limited reward for his labor, in these hard 

 times. 



Besides, it will be found that many of the smart 

 boys, Avho would be better employed in handUng 

 the "shovel and the hoe," and in sharpening the 

 scythe, are gone to the marshes about Richmond, 

 and the swamps of Carolina, where, if they escape 

 laying their bones to moulder and decay, they 

 may be looked upon as lucky fellows. Essex. 



June 24, 1862. 



A GOOD "WOOD FOR THE SKUNK. 

 The American Agriculturist takes up the cud 

 gels in defence of the poor, despised, but seldom 

 kicked skunk, and gives him a good notice. Our 

 contemporary says : 



All summer long he roams your pastures at 

 night, picking up beetles and grubs, poking with 

 his nose potato hills where many worms are at 

 woi'k. He is after the grubs, not the tubers. He 

 takes possession of the apartments of the wood- 

 chuck, who has quartered himself and family upon 

 your clover field or garden, and makes short work 

 with all the domestic arrangements of that unmit 

 igated nuisance. With this white-backed sentinel 



around, you can grow clover in peace, and the 

 young turnips will flourish. Your beans will not 

 be prematurely snapped, and your garden sauce 

 will be safe from other vermin. The most care- 

 less observation of liis habits sho\vs that he lives 

 almost exclusively upon insects. While you sleep 

 he is busy doing your Avork, helping to destroy 

 your enemies. In any fair account kept W'ith him 

 the balance must be struck in his favor. Thus 

 among the animals we often find friends under the 

 most unpromising appearances, and badly abused 

 men are not unfrequently the benefactors of soci- 

 ety. 



For the New Ensland Farmer, 

 CANBZER -WORMS— CROPS, &c. 



Mr. Brown : — The canker worms have done 

 great damage in the eastern part of this county, 

 having, in many orchards, completely destroyed 

 all of the foliage, and in such cases the apples 

 have perished with the leaves. They appear to 

 congregate in large orchards the most, scattering 

 trees escaping mostly, or as a general thing. 

 What is the best way to destroy or check them in 

 their ravages for another year ? They have not 

 been in this town in any numbers for over forty 

 years. One of our oldest citizens informs me 

 that the 17th day of May, 1794, was a very cold 

 day, and the night following was so cold that the 

 ground froze quite hard. Previous to that it had 

 been warm, and the trees had blossomed ; the 

 canker worms were then in full blast, destroying 

 everything before them, but the cold and frost 

 killed every one, and left no descendants, so that 

 there were none here for years afterward. 



I first observed them here on the 2d of June, 

 many on the leaves, and others going up on the 

 bodies and the large branches, from one-third 

 to three-fourths of an inch in length. On the 4th 

 of June I took an iron dish and put in one pound 

 of brimstone, and set it on fire under one tree and 

 smoked it completely. I could not kill them un- 

 less I held them almost into the "lake of fire" 

 spoken of by John the Revelator. I call them 

 fire-proof. 



Grass looks about the same as last year ; there 

 will be about an average crop. In many places it 

 was winter-killed. One large former suggested 

 to me that it was owing to cutting the grass with 

 machines — the driving wheel, and cutting-bar dis- 

 turbing the roots and causing them to die. How 

 is that. Brother Mowers ? 



Corn, potatoes and grain promise well thus far. 

 With industry, hope and patience, the husband- 

 man may expect a good reward for all his toil. 

 Would it be profitable to keep a litter of sucking 

 pigs with the sow till they would M'eigh 200 lbs. 

 alive, and sell them at 6 cts. per lb., and feed 

 them corn worth now 65 cts. ? 



In "altering" one a few days ago the intestines 

 came out of the anus in length I should think four 

 or five inches. We held the pig up by his hind 

 legs, pressed them gently back, and with a needle 

 and thread, (linen,) took seven or eight stitches 

 through the skin ; it is now doing well. Another 

 case we had three or four years ago, which was 

 somewhat different. We took an "entire hog" 

 that would weigh about 125 lbs., which had but 

 one testicle that we could find. That was taken 

 out, and the butcher that had it said he would 



