1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



319 



weighed twelve and a half pounds, dropped by a 

 yearling ewe. 



— A regulation recently adopted in relation to 

 the market in Havana requires the daily attend- 

 ance of a veterinaiy surgeon at the slaughter 

 house, to inspect evei-y animal bought to be slaugh- 

 tered. In view of the late disclosures in relation 

 to the trichinous disease, should not some meas- 

 ures be adopted in this country for the safety of 

 those who use pork as a food ? 



— Owners of horses arc indebted to the Veterin- 

 ary Department of the Prairie Farmer for the 

 statement that, "Strangulation of the intestines by 

 pedunculated tumors, or hypertrophied appendices 

 epiploicce, is among the lesions to which the intes- 

 tines are liable." Webster's Unabridged is among 

 the premiums offered for subscribers to the 

 Monthly Neav England Farmer. 



— Richard McGraw, of Livonia, Mich., gives the 

 following as a preventive of gi'ixb in the head : 

 Take a feed trough ; put tar in it ; take salt and 

 sulphur; put it over the tar. The preparation will 

 prevent the CEstrus Ovis from laying its eggs on 

 the membrane of the nose of the sheep. It will 

 also kill ticks, so that sheep which use it will not 

 have a tick on them. 



— A man out west got ready to plant his potatoes 

 before the moon showed the right sign, and so one 

 day he went very quietly into the field and did up 

 the joli in good order, being careful to finish at 

 night before the moon got up to see what he was 

 about. The result was he had a good crop, and 

 now brags how nicely he "come it" over that po- 

 tential orb. 



— The Prairie Farmer has not the shadow of a 

 doubt of the ultimate success of the beet sugar en- 

 terprise in Illinois and other Western States. 

 About 100,000 lbs. of sugar of an excellent quality 

 has been manufactured in Chatsworth, 111., the 

 past season, demonstrating that beets grown there 

 are as rich in sugar as those produced in the best 

 sugar districts of the Old World. 



— The city of San Jose, California, is entirely 

 out of debt, with a surplus fund of $50,000 ; a 

 school fund interest of nearly $100,000 ; is laying 

 out and planting with trees, &c., a splendid and 

 spacious public square ; has a "foundry" which 

 supplies the city with water, and farmers with 

 their implements, even to steam engines for har- 

 vesting, of which thirty were in operation last fall 

 in the valley; a large silk factory has been com- 

 menced, and extensive preparations are being 

 made for feeding the worms in its vicinity. 



— At a late discussion of the Little Falls, N. Y., 

 Fanners' Club, Mr. Wliitman said, I wish to raise 

 a good crop of herds grass, and do not care to sow 

 clover. It is difficult to cure. But when I get 

 ready to raise clover I shall do so, but that will 

 not be until cotton cloth is cheaper. I want a hay 

 stool standing two inches from the ground, and a 

 hay cap. Then I can put my clover upon the stool, 



and cover it with the hay cap, and let it cure out. 

 In this way the leaves arc saved and good hay 

 made. 



— The Illinois Legislature at its last session 

 passed a laAV providing that any person bringing 

 into the State seed of the Canada thistle, in the 

 packing of goods, grain or grass seeds, or other- 

 wise, and permitting the same to be disseminated 

 and vegetate, shall be liable to a fine of $100; and 

 any person allowing this thistle to mature and dis- 

 seminate its seed upon his lands shall be subjected 

 to a penalty of $15. 



— Horace Greeley, after visiting Vineland, N. J., 

 at his own expense, made a speech on his return 

 at the American Institute Farmers' Club, in which 

 he said that "any acre of that land requires forty 

 tons of marl, and to this should be added $100 

 worth of other manures." He complains that he 

 was reported as saying that "little manure is re- 

 quired." The Club appears to be backing down 

 from its endorsement of Vineland. 



— The editor of the California Farmer had the 

 pleasure recently of shaking the hand of an ad- 

 miring visitor of California, who had the pleasant 

 remembrance of the warm pressure of the hand 

 of Gen. George Washington. The gentleman's 

 name is J. Harrod, of Dutchess county, N. Y., 

 who at the ripe age of eighty-two years, and in 

 the enjoyment of good health, was on a visit to 

 friends in California. 



— The Iowa Falls Sentinel learns that provisions 

 are getting very scarce in Hancock and Wright 

 counties. That about one-third of the people of 

 Hancock and Wright counties now lack seed wheat, 

 and a few of them are already living on short ra- 

 tions. The unusual amount of plowing for wheat 

 done last fall indicated an unusual harvest this 

 season, but now for want of seed it will scarcely 

 reach an average. And the hardship is still worse 

 in view of the rapid immigration to that section. 



Milk Sickness. — The Medical and Surgi- 

 cal Reporter states that the affection of cattle 

 known as milk sickness, is caused by eating 

 the white snake root, Eiipatoritim Ageratoi- 

 des. This discovery seems to have been made 

 by three separate observers, at about the same 

 time. One of them Mr. William Jerry, of 

 Edwardsville, 111., in 1860, gathered this plant 

 by mistake for the nettle, and ate it as boiled 

 greens On the day following, he was sud- 

 denly seized with violent trembling, prostra- 

 tion, and faintness, and on the next day with 

 vomiting, and violent retching. He did not 

 fully recover in five years, and in the mean 

 time tried the plant on domestic animals with 

 similar results. Dr. j\.mos Sawyer of liills- 

 boro, 111., Mr. R. N. Lee of Nokomis, Dr. 

 McPheters of St. Louis, Botanist, and Mr. 

 Enno, chemist, all coincide in the opinion that 

 milk sickness is caused by this hitherto unsus- 

 pected plant, which animals are said to like 

 when it is in bloom. 



