240 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



which Jersey cattle are noted, I should say, gen- 

 tleness, quietness, both in the pasture and in the 

 barn, a constant and regular flow of milk, many 

 of them milking the whole year (which I very 

 very much doubt the profit or utility of) but 

 think it would be better to let them go dry from 

 six to eight weeks. It not only gives them time 

 to recruit themselves, but their calves are much 

 stronger for it. They are also noted for the rich- 

 ness of their milk, the fine yellow color of their 

 cream and butter, and for its fine flavor. 



Fine-Wooled Sheep in Illinois. — The ed- 

 itor of the Prairie Farmer says that in a trip 

 through Du Page and Kane counties he scarcely 

 saw a farm but had its small or large flock of 

 sheep. Barns costing twenty-five hundred dollars 

 were not uncommon. 



"There can now be found in Northern Illinois 

 as good sheep as are to be found in Vermont. In 

 fact, the celebrated sheep that carried off the great 

 prize at the Hamburg fair last year, have be«en 

 outdone in yield of wool by sheep owned by Mr. 

 Kelley, — who has just sheared a part of his flock, 

 intending to take them to the great exhibition in 

 Ohio in September next, the rules requiring that 

 they should be sheared on the 3d day of May. 

 The sheep are those that were shown at the Illi- 

 nois State Fair, at Decatur, last fall, and received 

 the first prizes as best pen of ewe lambs, best pen 

 of yearling ewes, and best pen old ewes, and 

 sweepstakes of nine ewes and one buck ; the buck 

 being a lamb of 13 months old." 



When to Cut Wheat. — A club of ten farm- 

 ers in Chester county, Pennsylvania, made exper- 

 iments in cutting wheat. Their conclusion was 

 that the* best time to cut wheat was "when the 

 grain can be pressed between the thumb and fin- 

 ger, and leave nothing but the husk and a thick 

 pulp, without any fluid around its edges." The 

 reason and the rule are thus stated by a Gettys- 

 burg farmer in the Qermantovm Telegraph : 



Wheat is composed of gluten, starch and bran. 

 Gluten is the nourishing quality of the grain, 

 makes the flour stick together in the hands of the 

 baker, and gives weight to the grain — and there 

 is the greatest quantity of gluten in the grain just 

 when the straw is yellow two or three joints from 

 the ground, the head turns downward, and you 

 can squeeze a grain between your fingers without 

 getting any milk from it. Every day the wheat 

 stands after this tinge of its ripeness, the gluten 

 decreases in quantity and the bran increases in 

 thickness. 



New Code of Maine Laws. — By a law of 

 this State any person who shall, to the acceptance 

 of the Selectmen, place a trough by the roadside, 

 into which a stream of water shall be constantly 

 kept running, is entitled to an annual deduction 

 of $3 from the amount of his yearly taxes. And 

 by another law, towns and cities are authorized to 

 give bounties to farmers and other citizens who 

 shall plant out and protect shade trees by the 

 road-side. 



DEATH OF DISTINGUISHED AGRICUL- 

 TURISTS. 



Within a few weeks past several men, whose 

 names have long been familiar to the readers of 

 agricutural papers, have departed this life. 



Brig. Gen. James S. Wadsworth fell at the 

 head of his division May 6th. He was President 

 of the New York State Agricultural Society in 

 1842 and 1843. Was a man of great wealth and 

 equal benevolence. Lived on one of the most 

 beautiful farms on the Genesee River. 



Dr. Eva Pugh, President of the Pennsylva- 

 nia Agricultural College, has also been taken from 

 us. Like many other distinguished scientific 

 men, he was from the humbler walks of life — hav- 

 ing been originally a blacksmith. He devoted all 

 his spare time and earnings to the improvement of 

 his mind. He was at length enabled to go to 

 Europe to complete his chemical studies. After 

 he had spent some time in several of the most cel- 

 ebrated laboratories on the Continent, he spent 

 two years with Mr. Lawes on his experimental 

 farm at Rothamsted, engaged in investigations in 

 regard to the absorption of atmospheric nitrogen 

 by plants. Returning to this country he was 

 elected President of the Agricultural College of 

 his native State, and soon gave it a character pos- 

 sessed by no similar institution in this country. 

 He was a man of unbounded energy and perse- 

 verance, and thoroughly acquainted with the sci- 

 ence and practice of agriculture. His loss is irre- 

 parable. 



Charles B. Calvert, President of the Mary- 

 land Agricultural College, died at his residence, 

 at Riversdale, May 12th. He was a large and suc- 

 cessful farmer, prominent in every agricultural im- 

 provement, and his loss will be severely felt, not 

 only in his own State, but throughout the whole 

 country. 



Rev. C. E. Goodrich, of Utica, N. Y., well 

 known for his experiments on potatoes, and for 

 the number of excellent seedlings he has pro- 

 duced, died at Utica, May 11th, aged 62 years. 



Tenant Farming. — The ambition of the Amer- 

 ican farmer is to own the land he cultivates. He 

 scorns the position of tenant, and if obliged to 

 rent a farm for a few years, seldom thinks of mak- 

 ing any considerable outlay for improvements, es- 

 pecially for those of a permanent character. In 

 England, where long leases are taken, large sums 

 are expended by the tenant for such purposes. 

 An instance of very liberal improvements made 

 by a tenant is mentioned by a late Scotch paper 

 in an obituary notice of Thomas Logan, of Wood- 

 end: 



Mr. Logan entered on a new lease of the farm, 

 formerly leased by his father, at Whitsunday, 

 1859. During the first year he limed 700 acres at 

 a total cost of £3500 ; in the same year he drained 

 600 acres, the drains 3 feet deep and 30 feet apart, 

 at a cost of £2520. 



ISF* Coal oil dropped upon the nests of caterpil- 

 lars when the "varmints" are inside is said to be 

 a safe, sure, and speedy means of accomplishing 

 their destruction. 



