41S 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



GKAVEL lU OXEN — A REMEDY. 



During the latter part of March I had a noble 

 ox taken suddenly sick, giving signs of great pain 

 and an evident desire to discharge urine. Fre- 

 quent ])ulsations of the urethra (always observable 

 when cattle are voiding their urine) were noticed, 

 which continued for several hours, the ox frequent- 

 ly lying down or standing in a stretching posture. 

 After twelve hours, the pain with M'hich he was at 

 first taken appeared to somewhat abate, but there 

 was no discharge of urine. Various remedies 

 were administered, such as spirits of nitre in large 

 quantities, and liquor of pumpkin seeds, but of no 

 avail. He remained standing until he drew his 

 last breath, when he fell to the ground. Not a 

 muscle was noticed to move after his fall. 



Upon a post mortem examination, the cause of 

 his death was very apparent. It was, as I had 

 supposed, an obstruction of the urethra. A stone 

 had formed in the bladder, and then passed down 

 the natural channel of discharge, until it reached 

 the cod ; here it became lodged, shutting up all 

 passage for the escape of urine. The stone, which 

 was of an oval, oblong shape, was not larger tlian 

 an ordinary cranberry bean. It is composed of 

 lime, similar in appearance to the crust collected 

 on the inside of tea-kettles, but was covered with 

 a membraneous substance, doubtless formed after 

 it became lodged, in consequence of inilammation 

 taking place. 



Since losing my ox, I have learned of several 

 that have died of the same disease. Also, of two 

 cases where cures have been effected in the follow- 

 ing way : When you are sure there is an obstruc- 

 tion, the animal should be thoroughly examined 

 by feeling the whole length of the urethra, if pos- 

 sible, to ascertain vhere the obstruction is. But 

 if you fail to find where the obstruction is located, 

 make an incision into the urethra where the pul- 

 sation I have observed is observed. If then the 

 animal does not discharge his urine, you may be 

 sure the obstruction is higher up, and so large 

 that it cannot pass down the natural channel. This 

 may be removed by inserting a catheter and crowd- 

 ing it back. If the difficulty is below the incision, 

 the animal may ever after continue to discharge 

 the urine from the orifice made, without any det- 

 riment to the health of the animal. There is a 

 case of this kind near here, which has been in this 

 situation for three years. — J. I. Knapp in Rural 

 jSleiu- Yorker. 



"Nothing to Do." — We have for several years 

 known an elderly farmer, whose fields are level 

 and well adapted to the use of the mowing ma- 

 chine, but who could not surmount the idea that 

 machinery is a plague on the farm. So at early 

 dawn he has bent over the scythe on his broad 

 acres, until he has acquired a bend in his back 

 that no medicament can cure. This year, the 

 pressure was too strong for him. He heard the 

 "clack" of machinery all about him, and saw his 

 neighbors clearing their fields at the rate of two 

 acres to his one. He could stand it no longer. 

 A Wood machine was purchased, and proved a 

 good one, and now he may be seen early in the 

 morning under his beautiful trees, feeding the 

 poultry, or slowly following liis fine cows as they 



niljble the sweet grass on the roadside, on their 

 way to pasture. He is in no huiTy, not he. He 

 sits twice as long at the breakfast table as he did 

 last year, and thinks the food tastes better than 

 it did then. He rises early, to be sure, and his 

 practiced eye scans everything, and sees that all 

 is right. The horses are hitched to the machine 

 about nine, and, presto, before twelve there is as 

 much grass down as all hands can take care of. 

 He thinks he can earn more in the time which he 

 has to bestow upon his stock and his care of "lit- 

 tle things," than he ever did in the mowing field. 

 Indeed, it seems, he says, as if he had "nothing 

 TO IX) !" 



BENEFITS OP AUTUMN PLOWING. 



The tillage and drainage of the soil are very 

 closely related to each other. So indeed are the 

 tillage and manuring the soil. And these, not 

 merely as cause and eff'ect are related — though 

 drainage does enable tillage, and tillage does alter 

 composition — but as being operations of the same 

 class and kind. And thus Mr. Bailey Denton, 

 thougli engaged in a lecture upon land drainage, 

 could not help referring to the steam plow — as the 

 great tillage implement of the future. And we 

 had from him, too, the striking fact bearing on the 

 composition of a fertile soil, that in a state of per- 

 fect tilth one-quarter of its bulk is air. 



Mr. Smith, of Lois-Weedom, says that in all 

 clay soils containing the mineral elements of grain, 

 perfect tilth dispenses with the need of manure ; 

 and tliere cannot be a doubt that a deep and thor- 

 ough tillage enables soil to draw immensely on the 

 stores of vegetable food contained in air and rain, 

 ^lessrs. Hardy again say that perfect tilth dispen- 

 ses with the need of drainage, and there can be 

 but little doubt that deep and thorough tillage fa- 

 cilitates the operation of whatever drainage may 

 exist, whether it be natural or artificial. 



In both these cases the usefid lesson is well 

 taught, that it is true economy rather to put the 

 cheap and copious storehouse of Nature's agen- 

 cies to its fullest use, than by laborious and costly 

 artificial means to imitate expensively their opera- 

 tion. 



Such a lesson applies, beyond the advantages 

 of tillage to the methods by which tillage is ob- 

 tained. Among the eariiest suggestions of culti- 

 vation by steam power was that of reducing by 

 its means the soil to tilth at once. The land was 

 to be torn down as the deal is torn down at the 

 saw-mill ; though before the machine it may have 

 been as hard and firm as wood, behind tlie tool as 

 it advanced at work it was to lie as light and fine 

 as sawdust. But it has at length been found that 

 it is better because clieaper, and more perfect, too, 

 to leave this last refinement of the tillage process 

 to the weather, which does it Avithout cost. The 

 land is now torn — smashed u]) — or moved and 

 thrown about by plow or grubber in great clods 

 and lumps. This is best done in dry autumn 

 weather, and thus it lies till spring. Certainly no 

 climate is better adapted for cheap tillage than 

 the English — the rains and frosts of winter follow- 

 ing a dry September and October must i)cnetrate 

 and thrust asunder the clung and hardened masses 

 of the soil. No two particles shall remain adher- 



