424 



NEW ENGLAND F.\K^IER. 



Sept. 



the men taking out all jewels and other val- 

 uables it may contain. The men, about 

 two hundred in number, thus engaged, gain, 

 each, about four francs or eighty cents per 

 day, which, I believe, is all the compensation 

 they obtain. 



A large amount of the night soil from the 

 balance of the houses of the city, including 

 generally what is called "New Paris," is man- 

 ufactured within the city limits — yes, even in 

 this cleanly city, where not even a sheep can 

 be slaughtered without subjecting the butcher 

 to severe punishment ; and, in reality, it is no 

 nuisance ; its odor is not perceptible twenty 

 yards away. The refuse is taken by scaven- 

 gers, the owners of houses paying them for 

 the work, in closely-covered, sheet-iron jars 

 placed in the cabinets of the houses, and con- 

 veyed to this factory. Here the solid is sepa- 

 rated from the liquid matter ; the solid part is 

 thoroughly mixed with lime slaked by 50 per 

 cent, of its own weight of liquid (urine is pre- 

 ferred to water for this purpose) ; a sort of 

 basin is formed by this pulverized lime, into 

 which the jars are emptied, and the work of 

 mixing commenced. In five minutes the work 

 is completed, the offensive odor gone, and the 

 manure dry and ready for shipment. The 

 process is patented on the continent and in the 

 United States. 



The product finds a ready market. It is con- 

 sidered especially valuable for all root crops, 

 and particularly lor l)cets. For wheat and the 

 small grains generally, it is not directly applied. 

 These crops follow beets manured the previ- 

 ous year, with good results. It is applied, it 

 is said, at the rate of about fifty bushels per 

 acre. The average amount produced at this 

 establishment is about five hundred bushels 

 per day, or 150, OUO bushels per year of say 

 300 working days. 



It has been estimated that if all the waste of 

 Paris could be thus utilized, it alone could 

 fertilize nearly 300,000 acres of land, and 

 that all the cities and towns of France could 

 keep up to the maximum of fertility over 

 8,000,000 of acres. 



DAIRY COWS. 



Select and keep the very best only. A good 

 cow, well kept, is profitable. Poor cows are 

 unprofital)le. ISIy own experience in selecting 

 cows for dairying or furnishing milk to sell, is 

 to select good wedge-shaped animals, heavy 

 hind quarters and tapering towards the head, 

 with light heads, long faces, and usually small 

 wax-colored horns ; also, slim necks, small 

 tails, capacious udders, running well forward, 

 milk veins large, teats good size, rather long 

 and set well apart. I ctare not for breed or 

 color. It is ail hunil)ug for dairy pra/it. 

 (Breeding stork is another story.) I think it 

 would generally pay well for large farmers, 

 say those who keep from twenty to thirty cows, 

 to raise some five to eight or so of their best 



heifer calves each year, from their very best 

 cows, and from a bull which you know to be 

 from a good milking family. By so doing, 

 and by selecting the best only to keep from 

 the heifers you raise, (when they have their 

 first calf.) you will in a few years have a better 

 herd, and a better paying herd of cows than 

 you will be able to buy. As to color, I care 

 but little about it, so long as a cow has a good 

 yellow skin, a stripped hoof and a wax-colored 

 horn. If her hair is soft and silky, I care but 

 little about the color of it. I have noticed 

 but little, if any, difference in the quality of 

 milk between "Old Brindle', and "Little Red," 

 while the "Roan cow" makes as good a calf 

 as either, and holds her milk as late in the fall. 

 The boys think "Old Topsy," the brown cow, 

 will beat the whole flock ; but for the "season 

 through," I should as readily bet on "Annie 

 Laurie," the pied cow. So you see that color 

 is all a fancy, save in the color of the teats. 

 I should prefer colored to white, as being less 

 likely to chap or crack. 



As to the profits of a cow, much depends on 

 the milker. Some men are rank poison to 

 stock any way ; and such should never attempt 

 to milk. A good milker will always treat the 

 cow gently and pleasantly, milk fast and tell 

 or listen to no stories while milking, and be 

 sure to get the last drop in the udder every 

 time. 1 consider a cow in her prime (all 

 things considered) from five to ten years old. 

 Some cows hold out much better than others, 

 as with men and horses ; and are really as 

 young to all intents and purposes at twelve 

 years, as others are at nine or ten. Never 

 keep a cow through the winter after she gets 

 to going down hill, or kill a superior cow on 

 account of her age, if her teeth are good, and 

 she is all right, without any signs of deterio- 

 ration. Cows should be milked regularly, and 

 by steady milkers. — John Dimon, Pomfret. 

 Ct. , in Farm and Fireside. 



NO PRESENT RESULTS FROM THE 

 NEW WOOL TARIFF. 



The recent tariff has not yet advanced the 

 prices of wool, and the reason is obvious. 

 From the time of the first concerted action ot 

 the manufacturers and wool-growers for a re- 

 vision of the tariff, fifteen months elapsed ere 

 it was consummated, when it might and should 

 have been within the first three months. This 

 unaccountable delay afforded ample opportu- 

 nity for the importation of vast (juantities of 

 both wool and woolens, and a perfect glut in 

 our markets existed at the time of the passage 

 of the act in March last. Other causes have 

 existed to prevent the effects of the tariff thus 

 fiir, and cannot j)robably be suddenly re- 

 moved. The farmers' crops of last year were 

 more or less sliort throughout our whole coun- 

 try, thus causing a depression of business gen- 

 erally, for it always follows that when the 

 great farming interests of the country are 



