330 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



I have seen enough of its workings among dif- 

 ferent flocks, and the flocks so variously treated, 

 that I am satisfied that housing, feeding and pet- 

 ting has nothing to do in causing this diflScuIty. 

 Here is a question for the learned and scientific to 

 meditate upon. What is it that causes this dis- 

 arangcment in the natural production of the ewe, 

 and not in other female animals ? Brother shep- 

 herds, that have experienced losses of this kind, 

 pleaic communicate your ideas to the public, and 

 perhaps you w^ill spare me tne troul)le of writing 

 again. J. N. Smith. 



Oak Forest, West Addison, Vt., May 7, 1867. 



Remarks. — We warmly sympathize with broth- 

 er Smith in his trials. Have had no experience in 

 raising full blood merinos, but have had no simi- 

 lar difficulty with high grades. The subject you in 

 troduce is important and we trust will be well- 

 ccnsidcrcd and light thrown upon it by breeders. 



With Mr. Smith's letter, came two samples of 

 wool ; one from a full blood Leicester buck, not 

 yet shorn, who is one year old. The wool is eight 

 and one-half inches long, soft and silky. The 

 other is from a merino buck, three years old, the 

 growth of one year, and from a fleece which 

 weighed twenty-two lbs. It is three inches long, 

 and has a beautiful curl. 



TROrBLE WITH COWS AFTER CALVING. 



Many cows are rendered nearly worthless by 

 not cleaning well. This they seldom fail to do 

 when at pasture. My practice, therefore, is to 

 feed potatoes, and as much salt as they will eat fur 

 three or four weeks before calving, when they are 

 kept up to dry fodder. I also apply some of the 

 first milk to the small of their backs, well rubbed 

 down. With these precautions I seldom have a 

 cow fail to do well. V. M. Hubbard. 



Rochester, Vt., May 12, 1867. 



Remarks. — Another correspondent, "M. Q.," of 

 Warwick, Mass., writes that although some of his 

 neighbors have been much troubled in this way. 

 he has never had a cow that did not do well, nor 

 does he remember that his father ever had one. 

 A neighbor of his who fed a good deal of poor 

 meadow hay but no roots, had eight cows one 

 spring which had to be doctored, and all of them 

 were found to be very costive, and feverish with 

 chills. Tl'.e members of the Irasburg, Vt., Farm- 

 ers' Club, and other readers of the Farmer will 

 thank our correspondent for the following detail 

 of the management of his dairy : — 



I have been in the habit of feeding oat, barley, 

 •and wheat straw to cows when dry, with one peck 

 of turniiis or beets daily, which keeps them in a 

 Uealthy condition. About three weeks before 

 calving I give them good hay with one quart of 

 oat and corn meal, daily. At the time of calving 

 I give them warm mush of oat and r3'e meal with 

 half an ounce of saltpetre, one teaspoonful cayenne, 

 and my cows never have any chills or milk fever, 

 which are so common. 



curculio. 

 Is there any way to stop the most fatal depreda- 

 tions of these insects ? They have become so numer- 

 ous, that I seriously contemplate cutting down my 

 orchard unless sonic remedy can be found. I be- 

 lieve there is no hope of his leaving our orchards, 

 like the canker worm, and most other insects, even 



for a short period. They have been steadily in- 

 creasing in my orchard for twenty years, till not 

 one apple escapes their sting, and I have seen a 

 dozen marks on a single fruit. I shall try the 

 sawdust this j'car and keep oflf all the creeping 

 things, but as the curculio can readily fly, I have 

 but little hope of success. Who can tell how to 

 stop or destroy the curculio in any way or manner 

 possible ? Thomas Ellis. 



Rochester, Mass. Feb. 2.5, 1867. 



Remarks. — Catching them by jarring upon a 

 sheet and grinding them to powder between the 

 fingers, we believe is the best prescription within 

 the knowledge of our scientific educators. Not- 

 withstanding the wide scope of the investigations 

 of our entomologists we are still wofully ignorant 

 of the tactics of this band of guerrillas. Who will 

 track them to their winter quarters ? Perhaps they 

 may be caught napping. Wide awake, they are 

 hard customers. 



keeping off the crows. 



One or two articles have appeared in the Farm- 

 Er within the past year conmiending very highly 

 the tarring of seed corn, in which opinion we should 

 have fully concurred from the occasional use we 

 have made of it previous to the last season. 



We planted a three acre lot in an out of 

 the way place, a favorite haunt of these black 

 pests, and thinking to make about a sure thing of 

 it had the seed tarred l)eforc planting. We expect- 

 ed the crows would try the corn, but were disap- 

 pointed to find that the black varmints did not 

 leave off trying it. Some one also recommended 

 deep covering. Now as if to have revenge on us 

 for spoiling the corn for their eating, these scamps 

 wcTit through a large jiart of the field occasionally 

 boring down with their lulls, as they are wont to 

 do, but in most cases only puljing up the young 

 blades of corn. We replanted the lot after be- 

 ing thus badly damaged, and used lines, which 

 the crows, though very numerous, seemed to re- 

 spect. We have used lines many years as a pro- 

 tection, and always so far with success. Though 

 we should scarcely credit the fact, if we had not 

 proved it by experiment. it. 



Stoiighton, Mass., May, 1867. 



RAISING LAMBS. 



I ^Tote to the Farmer last year, in relation to 

 my poor luck in raising lambs, and promised to 

 do the same this year. Last year, and two years 

 ago, I used the same buck, and lost one half or 

 more of my lambs. The first year 1 fed no grain ; 

 the second year I fed grain, and my ewes had 

 milk enough and owneil their lambs" well. This 

 year I used a dirtercut liuck. My sheep look well, 

 ami now I have forty-five lambs and have lost six. 

 1 thought my better success was inconseciuencc of 

 the change of the buck, but some of my neighbors 

 ascribed it to one thing, and some to another. 

 The man who is raising lambs from the buck- that 

 I used the two first years, is having even better 

 success than I am. I \vould like to know where 

 the fault was last year. 



What is it that ails lambs that apjjcar lame in 

 their legs, or back, and finally all over, and in two 

 days time get so they cannot get up ? The largest 

 and fattest ones in tlie (lock are thus atlected. 



Roxbury, Vt., May II, IHC)7. Young Farmer. 



UWAUF apple trees. 



Some fifteen years ago I became convinced that 

 grafting upon the natural Ijrnnch was very injuri- 

 ous to the slock, as the heart becomes dead, and 



