66 



NEW ENGLAND FABMER. 



Feb. 



suffering, often irremediable and ruinous 

 to the community, is the result. The true 

 policy is, to keep just as many animals as will 

 consume the fodder produced on the farm, and 

 no more. But this would not preclude the 

 plan of purchasing fodder — were the money at 

 hand to do so — with the intention of increas- 

 ing the quantity of manure and the productive 

 power of the farm. 



Practices on the farm have greatly changed 

 in this respect, as in many others. We have 

 heard men boast of wintering a cow of com- 

 mon size on a single ton of ordinary hay. 

 Under such a practice, nearly every farm in 

 the neighborhood would lose one or more ani- 

 mals every spring, by some disease induced by 

 want of food and exposure to cold. Swine 

 died, and so did nearly one-half the lambs 

 and calves. Cows and working oxen came 

 out of the winter poor and weak, the former 

 giving but little milk after calving, and the 

 oxen entirely unfit for performing the spring 

 work on the farm. It was a wretched policy. 

 We trust that it is abandoned among all enter- 

 prising farmers. Feed your stock well, and 

 they will feed you. 



New Hampshire State Agricultural So- 

 ciety. — The annual meeting of this society 

 was held in Nashua, Wednesday, 26th ult., 

 when the following board of officers was electa 

 ed : President, Frederick Smyth of Manches- 

 ter ; Treasurer, George W. Riddle of Bedford ; 

 Secretary, Aaron Young of Portsmouth ; Di- 

 rectors, Natt Head of Hooksett, David Gillis 

 of Nashua, Edward Gustine of Keene, War- 

 ren F. Daniel of Franklin, James W. Coggs- 

 well of Gilmanton. It was voted that the next 

 fair be held on the 10th of September, 1867, 

 and the two following days. The treasurer re- 

 ported that there were $978.26 in the treasury, 

 and that the late fair at Nashua, (when the 

 weather was extremely wet and stormy) just 

 paid its expenses. 



Canker-worm in Michigan. — Sanford 

 Howard, Secretary of the Michigan Board of 

 Agriculture, furnishes a valuable communica- 

 tion to the Westerii Rural in relation to the 

 appearance of the canker-worm in Calhoun 

 Co., in that State. Six different orchards 

 !iave been infested, and the insect is extend- 

 iig. It appears there are also some other 

 ,>arts of the State where it has been found. 



AQBICULTiniAL ITEMS. 



— Good fences always pay better than lawsuits 

 with neighbors. 



— In Denmark one cannot cut down his own 

 trees without a permit from Government. 



— The Maine Farmer says the hay crop of ihat 

 State this year was about two-thirds of its usual 

 average. 



— Drained land is generally ten to twenty de- 

 grees wanner in summer, than that in which water 

 stands stagnant. 



— The average yield of wheat per acre in Michi- 

 gan is believed not to exceed ten bushels per acre 

 by a Marshall county correspondent of the Western 

 Rural. 



— To keep warm feet, line your boots with calf- 

 skin dressed soft with the hair on, or with young 

 lamb-skin. Eveiy man should have two pairs in 

 use, and change every day. 



— As layers, we consider the Spanish and the 

 Black Poland Top-knots altogether unrivalled as 

 abundant layers. The whole family of Hamburgs, 

 including the Bolton Greys, arc prolitic, and are 

 known as everlasting layers. 



— It has generally been supposed that there 

 would be great difficulty in rearing chickens 

 hatched in Fcbnaary and March, on account of the 

 cold, but, with proper accommodations or conven- 

 iences, Mr. Bemcnt says he has found it more cer- 

 tain than those hatched in June. 



— To sort potatoes or apples, stand upright and 

 save the backache. It is more healthy. Make a 

 platform 3x3 feet, with sides 4 or 6 inches high. 

 Leave a gap at one comer, to pour out from. Set 

 the fonn on a barrel, or other support, and pour a 

 bushel at a time of apples on it, and sort them 

 standing. It is easier to lift up than stoop down. 



— For the relief, but not complete cure, of the 

 heaves, a correspondent of the Rural American 

 recommends the outside of shell bark, burnt to 

 ashes and mixed with the horse's feed, as much as 

 he can be made to eat, and allow him to eat no 

 dusty hay, especially clover hay. 



— Horseman, spnri' that tree I 



'Tis not A hitching post; 

 Though in its infancy, 



"i'etsoon 'twill shade a host; 

 Then spare, 0, .^paie that tree. 



For ho who placed it there 

 Meant not that it sluinld lie 



By beast of thine gnawed hare. 



—Mr. W. C. Ripley, of Green, N. Y., says that 

 he has practiced with perfect success the following 

 plan for wintering cabbages: "Sink a barrel in 

 the ground to within an inch or two of the top, 

 cut off the heads and till the barrel full, put on a 

 board to keep out water, and that is all the cover- 

 ing that is needed." 



—Mr. W. C. Schofield, of Coventry, Vt., has two 

 Leicester ewes which for the past three years have 

 each brought him two lambs each year. lie sold 

 the lambs for sixty dollars, and the wool for 



