1867 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



139 



EXTBACTS AND KEPLTES. 



PROFITABLE UENS. 



I have five hens that laid, on an average, three 

 eggs a day through the fall. About the" tirst of 

 December I removed them to a new house 12 by 6 

 feet, and 4 feet Ligh, which is "airy, dry and sun- 

 ny, and protected from winds and dampness." 

 Have Ubcd a "variety" of food : "boiled potatoes, 

 mashed with com meal ; diy corn, oats, barley and 

 scraps ;" clams and clam shells, "gravel," and 

 "ashes in one corner of their house." Results : — 

 Have had ))ut three eggs since they have occupied 

 their new house. Whose hens can beat mine ? 



My Farm, Ct., Jan. 21, 1867. Experior. 



Remarks. — The "old speckled hen" of the song 

 is seldom equalled by any of her prosaic descend- 

 ants, though furnished with the nicest apartments, 

 and allowed to fare sumptuously every day. Mr. 

 Bement puts SO to 100 eggs as the average produc- 

 tion of hens per year. Possibly your hens thought 

 that, after manufacturing "three eggs a day through 

 the fall," they had as good a right to the holidays 

 as Congressmen, or their master's family. 



I her head well in cold water, and she soon got well. 

 But although he was also washed, he continued 

 poor and weak all summer. He had more milk 

 ' than she did, and run in the same pasture with 

 ' her. In the tail, when I put them in the barn, she 

 j was in good condition, but he was poor. I gave 

 him extra feed and cave, and he ate well and 

 chewed his quid naturally. When he drank, how- 

 ever, something troubled him. The diiHcultv I 

 i think wa^ in his throat, as he always drank vcrj- 

 , slowly, and often choked. He grew poorer all 

 I the time, and died a week ago. He ate hay and 

 turnips well the day he died. 



No one here ever saw anything like it before. 

 Can you or any of your readers give me any infor- 

 mation as to the nature of his disease ? 

 Jaffrey, X. H., Jan. 23, 1867. A. B. Davis. 



MAXrRING LAND FOR GRASS — GREEX OATS OR 

 HUNGARIAN GRASS FOR FODDER. 



I have a piece of pretty good com land which I 

 design to seed down to grass next spring. I have 

 no barn manure to spare to put on it. Will 300 

 pounds of flour of bone and three bushels of salt 

 per acre, be sufficient dressing to make It produce 

 a fair crop of hay, say average a ton per acre for 

 four or five years ? The land was broken up and 

 manured in the hill, and planted with potatoes last 

 spring. 



Which will be most profitable for fodder, oats 

 cut in the milk, or Hungarian grass ? j. p. 



Southampton. X. H., Jan., 1867. 



Remarks. — The above are difficult questions to 

 answer. If the land was highly manured and well 

 tended when planted with potatoes, we should 

 think that 300 pounds of bone and three bushels of 

 salt, per acre, would give a yield of one ton of hay 

 per acre, for three or four years — perhaps longer. 

 If the bone and salt were composted with one cord 

 of good muck, and spread evenly over the land in 

 March or Api-il, we should expect a larger crop 

 and one that would continue longer. 



We have no exact data upon which to form an 

 opinion with regard to the comparative value of 

 oats cut while the seed is in the milk and Hunga- 

 rian grass. While we know that both are excel- 

 lent, we shonld select the grass, if taking a choice. 



A SICK CALF. 



Last spring a gentleman in Agawam, Mass., gave 

 me a full blooded Durham bull that was three 

 weeks old. He was large, but not very active, be- 

 ing very weak in his back. A few days after I had 

 him, a bunch appeared on the right side of his jaw 

 or check. Though kept in a warm place, he 

 coughed and shivered most of the time. The 

 ■weight of one's hand on his back would make him 

 crouch nearly to the ground. He drooled much. 

 His eyes were heavy and run. Wliat passed him 

 was white and frothy. He drank milk well, but 

 could not odt. He was put it a pen with a heifer 

 calf of aliout his own age. She soon showed the 

 same symptoms, but in a milder form — both her 

 checks being swelled. I took her away and washed 



PACKING CABBAGES FOR -WINTER. 



I saw in your paper directions for keeping cab- 

 bages. I have tried all ways recommended, but 

 yours, and also a way of my o^vn. It strikes me 

 yours is the most economical, if not the best in 

 other respects. Will you please to answer me 

 through your paper, the following questions : Do 

 you wet all the straw in packing,"or only the bot- 

 tom ? Do you head up the barrel entirely to ex- 

 clude the air ? Do they wilt any, packed that way ? 

 Which is best, straw or hay ? " Phineas Pratt. 



Deep River, Mass., 1866. 



Remarks. — The above got mislaid or it would 

 have been attended to before this time. 



Wet every layer of straw, and cover the barrel 

 with a layer three or four inches thick. They do 

 not need to be headed. 



The plan in a cheap and excellent one. We have 

 barrels of cabbages in that condition now. 



We prefer straw for packing, though hay an- 

 swers well. 



FEEDING BEES. 



A neighbor had a large colony of bees that came 

 out in September, 1862. They were hived in a nail 

 keg which they tilled three-fourths full with comb. 

 Frost occurring early, the bees had but little hon- 

 ey in the comb. Now here Avas a dilemma. A 

 young Italian queen, for I had reared it, and prob- 

 ably a hybrid in the old hive. The original colo- 

 ny was in the Langstroth hive. I put ^hem in a 

 good warm bee-house and took the super, or cap, 

 oft' from the Langstroth hive, and set tne keg on 

 the honey-board, with holes open under the keg. 

 I expected that the bees above would go below, 

 but the swai-ms in the spring were separate, and in 

 good condition. I bored a hole in the top of the 

 keg and put on a small box of honey, which the 

 bees took as needed. 



Did the warm breath of the bees below contain 

 nutriment for those above ? My experience is that 

 when bees are kept at the right temperature, they 

 consume but very little honey unril they com- 

 mence rearing young. C. G. McN. 



Big Spri>ig, Johnson Co., lotca, Jan. 21, 1867. 



FILMS ox EYES. 



Thirteen years ago, having a horse that had a 

 film commence on the eye, I tried the fresh butter 

 remedy, but to no purpose, as she became entirely 

 blind. Last October one of my horses scratched 

 his eye badly. It wept very freely, and finally a 

 film grew all over it. Several remedies were re- 

 commended ; among them the fresh butter pre- 

 scription, but I used none of them. The eye was 

 carefully washed in cool water several times a day, 

 and in a short time his eye was well, though a scar 



