•70 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



WTien the season is through, gather your uten- 

 sils, and scald and scrub every one perfectly clean, 

 if you wish to continue making good sugar in the 

 future. In this order, the evaporating pans are 

 excepted, which should be put away in a dry 

 place with the glazed coating on them, which is 

 the best protection from rust. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 

 WHY DO CATTLE EAT THEIR CKIBS ? 



I hereby renew my subscription for the Month- 

 ^rrmer, for another year, and in doing so, I 

 to make one or two inquiries, 

 lat makes my cattle inclined to gnaw their 



and the corners of the barn, and really eat 

 ■ 5 of dry boards, when they can find them ? 



have done so for several seasons, in the lat- 

 irt of the winter, and in doing so, they lose 

 appetite for their fodder, and become thin by 

 ring time. Last year I wintered fifteen head 

 ttle, of all ages, from last spring calves, to 

 iws and oxen, and they all incline to do so, 

 ut an exception. One of my oxen would eat 



piece of board as greedily as he would an 

 f corn. One calf gnawed quite through the 

 31 of his crib, which was two inches thick, 

 ome of them are beginning to do so this year. 



next inquiry is, what will cure them of this 

 ler ? If you, or some of your knowing ones, 

 .ell me, I will be very much obliged. We 

 pretend to know much up this way, but some 



yes, the most of us, know enough to get a 

 , and by farming, too, and I think if all 



take the N, E. Farmer, we should have the 

 5 of knowing much more than we do now. 

 Jesse R. Fitts. 

 idia Village, N. H., Dec, 1862. 



MAUKS. — We know of no certain cause, or 

 y, of the evil our correspondent speaks of, 

 h other complaints have often been made. 

 IS often gnaw their stalls, but we have never 

 1 neat cattle to do so. The cause, we think, 

 lie in one of two things ; the want of a suf- 

 '■ amount of nourishing food, or in the ir- 

 •rity in which it is given. It may not, how- 

 ever, be either of these. It may be caused by the 

 quality of the water they drink, or by some lurk- 

 ing seeds of disease inherited from their ancestors. 

 When cattle gnaw bones, we give them bone 

 dust as a remedy. If they gnaw your boards, per- 

 haps they would relish sawdust, and let the boards 

 alone. If cattle are fed principally on meadow 

 hay, it may prove unsatisfactory, and lead them to 

 gnaw any thing they can reach, until it becomes a 

 habit which it is difficult to eradicate. 



Our correspondent should look at every possi- 

 ble cause, and when he has found the true one, it 

 may not be difficult for him to prescribe a remedy. 



DISEASED SHEEP. 



I am keeping 290 sheep, and many of them are 

 afflicted with soreness about the mouth, appearing 

 upon the outer surface of the lips. It is a disease 

 which, for a life-long experience in sheep-keeping, 



I have never before witnessed. Can you, or some 

 of your correspondents, account for it, and pre- 

 scribe a proper remedy ? Geo. French. 

 Sutton, N. H., 1863. 



PUMPKINS AND APPLES FOR SWINE. 



In your paper of November 1, I find an article, 

 in regard to the value of apples and pumpkins for 

 cattle, in which the writer approves of their use, 

 and by actual experiment proves their value. 



The middle of April last, I bought a couple of 

 spring pigs, of the Mackay breed, at four dollars 

 each, brought to my door. They proved to be 

 large eaters, and the milk of my three cows soon 

 seemed insufficient for them, and for a short time 

 I seemed undecided what to do, as meal was too 

 expensive to feed to pigs, with the prospect of 

 only six cents per pound after they were slaugh- 

 tered. But the last of August and during Sep- 

 tember, I made my boys gather all the apples, 

 both sour and sweet, and I gave them from a peck 

 to half a bushel per day. The last of September, 

 my small apples and windfalls growing scarce, I 

 commenced feeding them with the same quantity 

 of pumpkins ; neither apples or pumpkins were 

 cooked, but fed raw, and I will say that I never 

 saw pigs gain so fast in my life. I slaughtered 

 one the first of November, which weighed 260 

 pounds. The second I slaughtered the 29th day 

 of November, and the weight was 302 pounds. 

 The article in your paper of November 1, before 

 alluded to, said that, "some say that the seeds of 

 pumpkins must be taken out, or they are an inju- 

 ry to cattle." I would say, in i-elation to this, that 

 I noticed in feeding my pumpkins to my pigs that 

 they would eat the seeds first, when not very hun- 

 gry, and I believe that they are the best judges ot 

 what they like best, and what is good for them. 

 Don't you ? J. N. Smith. 



South Walpole, Dec. 15, 1862. 



Remarks.— Certainly. We have fed large 

 quantities of both apples and pumpkins to swine, 

 upon which they gained rapidly. We never suc- 

 ceeded, however, in making swine eat uncooked 

 pumpkins to any extent. Boiled and mixed with 

 boiled potatoes and a little meal, they make nu- 

 tritious and excellent feed. 



A COMPLIMENT, AND A TURNIP CROP. 



As I have been a constant reader of your paper 

 for the last five years, and have received a great 

 deal of benefit, especially from its cattle and other 

 market reports, which are worth more, weekly, to 

 any farmer than the subscription price of your pa- 

 per, I have noted down a turnip crop that I raised 

 last season, and what I am going to do with it. 

 If you think it woi-thy of circulation, please print 

 it, and I will try again. 



HOW I RAISED A GOOD CROP OF TURNIPS. 



I procured three-fourths of a pound of English 

 Globe turnip seed, and the second time of hoeing, 

 sowed it broadcast before using the cultivator, 

 then hoed out my corn, and awaited the result. 

 When it came harvesting time, I found a crop 

 that looked about right. Harvested them, and 

 had five hundred and sixty bushels of as hand- 

 some turnips as I ever saw. I think it a very 

 cheap way of raising root crops. The cost of 



