1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



253 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



SOWING CLOVER SEED. 



I wish to inquire through the Xeic EnnJand Farmer 

 as to the best time to sow "clover seed" with winter 

 wheat ? Last fall, while sowing my wheat, I was ad- 

 vised to sow ray clover seed in the spring, on a light 

 snow, that it might not get so high as to trouble me 

 in harvesting the wheat. I did so, but my seed did 

 not take. 1 desii-e farther iuformaiion. 



Rochester, June, 1S63. A Subscribpik. 



Remarks. — The general practice is to sow clover 

 seed early in April, and it is a good one. The proba- 

 bility is that your seed was not good, as good seed 

 very seldom fails. 



COUGH IN A cow. 



I have a young and valuable cow that has got a se- 

 vere cold. She coughs hard and frequently ; she 

 breathes short and quick, and there is a very bad smell 

 from her breath. If you would inform me through 

 your valual)le weekly journal the best remedy I could 

 apply to Iicr, I would feel indeed grateful. 



East Ahington, Jam 1, 1863. A Reader. 



Remauks. — There are so many causes of cough that 

 it is utterliy impossible to prescribe intelligently for a 

 cow — had we ever so much skill — without seeing her. 

 If not much acquainted with the diseases of anmials 

 yourself, call in the person who is best acquainted. 

 Avoid all severe nostrums and treat her as rationally 

 as you would a member of your family under similar 

 circumstances. 



WETW BOOKS. 



The Natueal Laws op Husbandry. Ky .rusTua Vos Liediq. 

 Edited by .loHN' Blvth, M. D., Prof'ssor of Chemistry in 

 Queeti's College, Cork. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 413 

 Broadway. 



The subjects discussed in this work are — The 

 Plant ; the Soil ; Action of Soil on Food of Plants 

 in Manure ; Farmyard Manure ; the System of 

 Farm-yard MaitUring ; Guano ; Poudiette ; Hu- 

 man E.\creraents ; Earthy Phosphates ; Ground 

 Rape Cake ; Wood Ash ; Ammonia and Nitric 

 Acid ; Common Salt, Nitrate of Soda, Salts of 

 Ammonia, Gypsum, Lime ; Motion of Sap in 

 Plants ; Water Constituents ; Experiments in the 

 Growth of Beans ; Japanese Agriculture ; Anal- 

 ysis of Clover ; Clover Sickness, and its Causes. 



Under a notice of the Impoiiance of Good 

 Seeds, the writer says, — "Poor and sickly seeds 

 will produce stunted plants, which again will yield 

 seeds bearing in a great measure the same char- 

 acter. 



"The horticulturist knows the natural relation 

 which the condition of the seed bears to the pro- 

 duction of a plant, which is to possess all or only 

 some properties of the species ; just as the cattle- 

 breeder, who, with a view to propagation and in- 

 crease of stock, selects only the healthiest and 

 best formed animals for his purpose ; the garden- 

 er is aware that the flat and shining seeds in the 

 pod of a stock gilly-flower will give tall plants 

 with single flowers, while the shrivelled seeds will 

 furnish low plants with double flowers throughout. 



"In the selection of seeds for planting it is al- 1 

 ways important to take into account the soil and 

 climate from which they have been derived. In ' 



England, seed wheat from a poor soil is consid- 

 ered particularly well suited to a rich soil." 



The work is crowded with facts and suggestions 

 of great value to all who cultivate the soil, and 

 which tend to elevate the occupation in the mind 

 of studious and reflecting persons. We look up- 

 on it as a valuable accession to our agricultural 

 literature, and thank the enterprising Publislicrs 

 for placing it in our hands in so beautiful and at- 

 tractive a form. 



We have marked many interesting passages to 

 lay before the reader at a future time. 



/•'or Vie Kew England Parmer. 

 RESTOBATION OF "WORN-OUT PAS- 

 TURAGE. 



Messrs, Editors :— He that can devise the 

 best and cheapest way to restore worn-out pastur- 

 age to fertility is worthy of a medal. A general 

 complaint among farmers throughout New Eng- 

 land indicates a deterioration of old pasture lands, 

 and a great deal of interest is manifested among 

 us for a remedy. The example of Capt. Maiish, 

 Superintendent of the State Almshouse at Tewks- 

 bury, is worthy of consideration, and I believe 

 imitation. Every farmer would do well to read 

 that section of his report to the Inspectors relat- 

 ing to cows and milk. In a recent conversation 

 with that gentleman, he told me that, when he en- 

 tered upon the premises, the pasturage was so 

 scanty and poor that but two cows had been kept, 

 and pretty strong objections were made at any at- 

 tempt to keep more, for the want of pasture or 

 summer feed, but he tried the experiment and 

 succeeded in keeping twenty-five cows, with great 

 benefit to the State and institution, obtaining 

 milk at a much cheaper rate than formerly. In- 

 stead of pasturing his cows, he began upon the 

 soiling system ; he ploughed the old worn-out 

 pasture ground and sowed millet for green feed 

 after grown sufficiently, preferring it to Hungarian 

 grass for that purpose, it being a more rapid grow- 

 er and of larger production, obtaining two crops 

 from the same ground in a season. By this course 

 of management, he restored the old worn-out pas- 

 ture land to productiveness, and his pile of i^a- 

 nure grew in proportion to the cpiantity of millet 

 and other green crops consumed by his stock of 

 cattle. He feeds his cows on chopped hay tmd 

 straw till his green crops are grown. He keeps 

 his cows in their stanchions, with the exception 

 of an hour or two in the yard for exercise and air 

 each day. 



Cows are naturally quiet, indolent animals, when 

 well fed, and endure confinement with apparent 

 indifference, if not satisfaction ; they have no 

 anxiety, like the rest of us, about what they sluill 

 drink, or wherewithal they shall be clothed, which 

 is wonderfuUj' in favor of their lacteal ])roduc- 

 tions. Cows that are fed in the liarn escape tlic 

 incessant teeth-wearing labor, and the annoyance 

 of flies suffered by half-starved animals, while ran- 

 sacking old dried up pasture grounds for a scanty 

 pittance of miserable vegetation, which is so har- 

 dy as to continue after every kind of grass of a 

 nutritive quality is extinct. The labor required 

 to sustain life upon old, dried up pastures, is so 

 exhausting that cows have very little unapprojiri- 

 ated milk for the milker, and cows kept in that 



