280 



NEW ENGLAND FAEI^IER. 



June 



annual number of lambs will be over twenty-four 

 millions. 



— Soaking cows' teats for a few minutes in a very 

 strong decoction of white oak bark; also rubber 

 rings that fit tight enough to stay on, are recom- 

 mended by the New York Rural to prevent cows 

 leaking their milk. 



— The Maine Farmer says that Warren Percival, 

 Esq., of Vassalboro', who has the best herd of pure 

 Durhams in the State, gives special prominence to 

 the development of the dairy qualities of this fa- 

 vorite breed. 



—A correspondent of the Mirror and Farmer, 

 has heard that chewing the centre seed-stalk of 

 common plantain will ctfectually cure the hanker- 

 ing for tobacco, in those who wish to abandon the 

 miserable habit of chewing. 



— A correspondent of the Country Gentleman 

 recommends boring an inch or half inch hole, say 

 six inches deep, in the end of posts to be set in the 

 ground and fill it with crude petroleum, and when 

 the wood has absorbed one filling, to fill again and 

 plug it up, when the post may be set in the ground. 



— The Tribune reporter of the New York Far- 

 mers' Club, says that abortion in cows is confined 

 to dairy sections where the calf sucks little or 

 none, being killed or disposed of nearly as soon as 

 born, and asks, Does not nature indignantly refuse 

 to be a party in a transaction which cruelly disre- 

 gards her instincts and longings ? 



— A correspondent of the Country Gentleman, in 

 Champaign Co., 111., says that the cattle, the lands 

 and wealth generally of Central Illinois, are fast 

 being gathered into the hands of a few rich men. 

 The Alexanders, who bought Mr. Sullivant's farm 

 of 23,000 acres, now own some 1600 head of fat 

 cattle, and are buying up every "bunch'' to be had 

 of the smaller farmei'S. 



— "Ramie" is a new Southern staple from Java. 

 It will grow in the southern half of Georgia, will 

 yield five crops a year of 800 pounds each ; twenty- 

 four hours after being cut it is laid out in long 

 bands of pure white floss, ready to spin. It is 

 planted like sugar cane ; once planted, always is 

 planted, grows twenty feet high, sells for twice the 

 price of cotton, and is stronger and finer. 



— Merchants find it necessary to employ travel- 

 ling agents to solicit business. The Connecticut 

 Board of Agriculture lately resolved, "That we 

 recommend to the Agricultural Societies the prac- 

 tice of securing contributions of stock and manu- 

 factures by personal solicitations of breeders and 

 manufacturers, and devoting some time previous 

 to the days of the Fair to this object." 



— Mr. J. Clay, of Buxton, Mc., who recently 

 visited the West, makes the following estimate for 

 tlie Maine Farmer of the cost of a prairie farm. 

 One hundred and sixty acres will cost at $o, the 

 lowest estimate, $800. To fence this with posts 

 and boards (and it must be fenced to save the 



crops) will cost $1 per rod, making for fencing 

 $640. Then it will cost as much or more, to build 

 a house and barn there as here, say $1500 — mak- 

 ing the whole cost $2940, before a single furrow of 

 the tough sod is turaed. 



— Some six years ago, a correspondent of the 

 Maine Farmer had one buck of coarse wool, and 

 one of fine. The fine wool sheared 3| lbs., long 

 wool 7 lbs. unwashed. Since that I have made 

 another trial of fleeces, both washed, with this re- 

 sult : tine, 4| lbs. ; long wool 5 ll)s. The long wool 

 was nice and clean, the fine wool I could not get 

 clean. It cost me two dollars more to keep the fine 

 wool buck, while the fine wool lambs were not 

 worth as much as the others by about one dollar a 

 head. 



— A gentleman in Montreal whose interest in ag- 

 riculture induced him to purchase a farm on one 

 of the islands of the St. Lawrence, after three 

 years experience, arrives at the following conclu- 

 sion, as stated in a letter to the Canada Farmer, — 

 a conclusion which has been forced on many other 

 amateur farmers. He says, "I am well aware that 

 to make a good farmer requires an amount of 

 knowledge and application which people who have 

 given the subject no attention little dream of. 

 The profession of a farmer ought to rank higher in 

 public estimation than it does ; for surely the pros- 

 perity of our country is bound up with it." 



— Mr. McCombie, an experienced grazier and 

 feeder, near Edinburgh, says, any one who turns 

 cattle out to grass that have been fed through the 

 winter upon cake, corn, brewers' wash, grains, or 

 potatoes, and kept in hot stables or close straw- 

 yards, will be miserably disappointed in any ex- 

 pectation of profit. The mode of feeding has been 

 unnatural, and before the animal begins to improve 

 three months will have passed. A few weeks 

 feeding of cake or corn may not absolutely ruin a 

 beast for grazing ; but the less artificial food they 

 get during the winter, if afterwards to be grazed, 

 the better; and when kept upon the food above 

 specified for several months, they are perfectly un- 

 fit for grazing. 



For the New England Farmer. 



KOTATION OF CROPS. 



A discussion by tlie Irasbiirg, Vt., Farmers' Club, March 

 25, ISO", reported by the cjecretary, Z. E. Jameson, 

 Esq. 



The President remarked upon the impor- 

 tance of the subject. Z. E. .Jameson said that 

 when he commenced farming, he plowed up a 

 piece of pasture land and put on, first, a crop 

 of oats ; second, a croj) ol' oats, and third a 

 crop of oats ; each crop without manure, yield- 

 ing forty bushels per acre. With the third 

 crop, sowed grass seed. The Iburtii crop was 

 sorrel, and then sorrel with weeds anil poor 

 grass until tiie ground was plowed again. 

 'J'his land has been occupied l)y lioed crops 

 [How long ?] and is to be seeded to grass this 



