1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



465 



Strawberries, Worn-Out Lands of New Jersey, 

 The Consumption of Milk, Cotton in Missouri, On 

 the Destruction of Noxious Lisects, The Pear Or- 

 chard, Farming in the New England States, Indi- 

 an Corn, Hop Culture, Sorghum Culture and Su- 

 gar Making, On the Recent Progress of Agricul- 

 tural Science, Reclaiming Salt Marshes, On Food, 

 The Houses of New England, Dairy Farming, Se- 

 lect Breeds of Cattle and their Adaptation to the 

 United States, The Grapes of North America, On 

 Grape Culture, Fruit Culture, Something of the 

 Philosophy and Chemistry of Manures, and an ar- 

 ticle on Entomology. 



Some of these articles are highly interesting, 

 and would be instructive to most of us, and the 

 whole volume is, perhaps, as applicable to the gen- 

 eral wants of the country as one could be made. 

 At any rate, we do not know who could have done 

 it any better. 



DOGS versus WOOL. 



That many farmers have been and are now de- 

 terred from sheep l)reeding and wool growing, 

 from the fear of dogs, we have no hesitation in 

 saying. Why, then, should so many worthless curs 

 as are found through the country be suffered to 

 remain as a sort of incubus to this important 

 farming interest ? There should be an enumera- 

 tion of all the dogs in every townsliip in the State, 

 and the supervisors of roads and township audi- 

 tors, who are here appraisers of damages to sheep 

 by dogs, should be empowered and compelled to 

 destroy all dogs not claimed by responsible own- 

 ers. In Paris the police are provided with meat- 

 balls containing strychnine, which they quietly 

 offer to the dogs running at large ; in this Avay an 

 immense number of dogs are destroyed. Put a 

 high tax on the dogs ; men who have valuable 

 dogs would be perfectly willing to pay $o,Q{) a 

 head tax. Tax them high or kill them. Wool is 

 high in price, flax is high, and cotton is very high ; 

 the latter is a tropical plant, and its cultivation is 

 not understood here. Then why attempt its culti- 

 vation Mhen we have both wool and flax, both 

 valuable textiles in demand, both adapted to our 

 climate, and the growth of both understood by 

 our people, but much neglected by them ? Bring 

 out the wool growers and the flax growei's, and 

 clear out the dogs. Read the following from the 

 Maine Farmer on the subject : 



"The Dog Tax. — One of the most beneficent 

 things connected with the tax bill just passed the 

 House, is the tax of one dollar per head on dogs. 

 If it will have the effect in any degree to abate the 

 dog nuisance, which costs the country millions of 

 money every year in the destruction of sheep, and 

 the discouragement of the business of wool grow- 

 ing, the Congress which passes it. will be the ben- 

 efactors of their country. A Missouri paper gives 

 the following statistics, in connection with the 

 subject, v.'hich will be of interest to our readers : 



"One dog for each family in the United States 

 would be a very moderate computation. This 

 would give us in round numbers probably eight 

 millions of dogs, each of which consumes annu- 

 ally food sufficient to raise a pig worth a dollar. 



The cost, therefore, of feeding the dogs in the 

 United States is $8,000,000, which amount may 

 be considered nearly, if not quite, a dead loss to 

 the nation. 



"A much more important question to consider, 

 however, is, How many millions of dollars are an- 

 nually lost by the sheep, and otlier domestic ani- 

 mals killed by dogs. This question cannot be 

 solved until the attention of the census takers or 

 assessors shall be directed to the matter. Ohio 

 has already made the experiment, and it was 

 found that the loss in that State of the sheep 

 killed and injured by dogs in 1801 amounted in 

 value to $96,795 9.5. ' 



"The extensive wool growers in some portions 

 of the country, Avho keep choice breeds, have esti- 

 mated their individual losses at several thousands 

 of dollars annually, notwithstanding the utmost 

 care to prevent them. The havoc made by a single 

 dog who has become addicted to sheep-killing, is 

 astonishing ; and when two or three dogs asso- 

 ciate for the'i- H'ork, as often happens, one or two 

 visits will be sufficient sometimes to destroy a 

 large flock of sheep. 



"Cattle and hogs to a great extent are bitten 

 and destroyed by mad dogs. The danger and loss 

 of human life by the same cause is not inconsid- 

 erable, and is well worth consideration. At the 

 same time nineteen-twentieths of the dogs are 

 utterly worthless to their owners. 



"A still more important injury which the coun- 

 try sustains by dogs remains to be considered. 

 Thousands of farmers have abandoned raising 

 sheep on account of their destruction by dogs. 

 Others in nearly all places, aie deterred from en- 

 gaging to any considerable extent in this import- 

 ant and profitable branch of industry for the same 

 reason. Of the great loss which the country sus- 

 tains in this way there can be no doubt. The 

 number of sheep in many of the older States has 

 largely decreased annually. Those States are now 

 waking up to the importance of adopting measures 

 to decrease the number of dogs, and of obtaining 

 a revenue from them to remunerate sheep owners 

 for their losses. Under these circumstances we 

 have become large importers of woolen goods and 

 even wool. Instead of drawing on factories of our 

 own for a supply of clothing for our immense 

 army, we were obliged to import from Europe. 



"In the West there is everything to favor, and 

 nothing except dogs to prevent, producing im- 

 mense quantities of wool, and ))roducing it very 

 cheaply. We have also every facility for manu- 

 facturing it in our midst. Such manufactories 

 would increase our population, and would consume 

 a large proportion of our surplus grain and pro- 

 visions which now have to seek distant markets 

 at a loss." — Evans's Rural Economist. 



Ax Excellent Suggestion. — The New York 

 Post suggests that the assessors, assistant asses- 

 sors and collectors, whose appointment is pro- 

 vided for in the Tax Bill, and who will number 

 some thousands, be selected from the ranks of our 

 disabled soldiers. Men who return to their homes 

 incapable of further military service are now visi- 

 ble in every loyal city and township, equally inca- 

 pacitated for active business. Maimed, crippled 

 and destitute, many of these brave heroes are un- 

 able to procure remunerative employment. With 



