496 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



the steeple of the "Boston Meeting-house;" but 

 as we have the promise of a stateraeut of the erop, 

 which is a good one, after threshing, we will now 

 merely remind the wheat-raisers in other parts of 

 New England that they may look out for a "grist" 

 from the tide-water farmers of the old Bay State. 



TURKEY DISEASE. 



Can any one tell me, through the Farmer, 

 what it is "that causes young turkeys, from two to 

 three months old, to lose their appetite, droop 

 about for a day or two, and then die. I have a 

 flock of turkeys that went along well until two 

 months old, but since that they die off every few 

 days ; can any one inform me what is the cause, 

 and if there is any remedy, what it is ? g. e. h. 



Shreivsburt/, Mass., Any. 26, 1867. 



Remarks.— In connection with the foregoing 

 inquiry, we take much pleasure in pul^lishing the 

 following interesting communication from a cor- 

 respondent in Illinois. Although the flesh of fowls 

 is heir to a great variety of ills, it is possible that 

 the presci-iption of Mr. Whatmore for chicken dis- 

 ease, may prove efficacious for the sick turkeys. 

 chicken disease. 



Having lost several hundred chickens by the 

 complaint which for two years has been making 

 sad inroads amongst the ponltry in this part of the 

 country, I have studied the disease by opening a 

 great many. I have examined the throat, craw, 

 liver, gall, heart and gizzard, and invariably'found 

 them healthy, and of good color ; but the guts 

 were always cramped and contracted, and hard, 

 like a piece of English whip-cord, or the fourth 

 string of a flddle. I therefore conclude that the 

 disease is a kind of fever. After trying a great 

 many remedies, I made a strong decoction of white 

 oak and hazlcnut leaves, boiling them together in 

 a large iron pot. When cold, this is put in pans 

 for tiie chickens to drink, adding to it a little asa- 

 fcEtida and black pepper, prepared by putting ten 

 cents' worth of asafoetida into a two-quart bottle, 

 and filling up the bottle with water in which a 

 good supply of ground black pepper has been 

 boiled. After putting a little of this into each 

 pan, it should be well stirred with a stick. When- 

 ever a chicken, young or old, sickens, I pour down 

 its throat ahoutateaspoonful of the asafoetida, one 

 or two days. The chickens wont drink the decoc- 

 tion if they can get other water, which must be 

 kept from them. Since I have used the decoction 

 my dead chickens wont average three a week ; 

 while before I buried eight and ten in one day. 

 Any person wishing further information can have 

 it l)y sending a ready directed envelope, stamped, 

 with paper, for a reply. Address 



John Whatmore. 

 Bridgnorth Farm, ) 



Dunleith, ill., Au{i. 26, 1867. ) 



A CLAY soil benefited BY SAND. 



I have just read in the Farmer, an account of 

 the results of applying clay to sandy soil. In the 

 fall of I860, I had occasion to make some ditcaes 

 in a low, sandy soil, on the bank of a river, which 

 overflows every spring. I spread the sand from 

 these ditches on a white clay meadow, tcu loads 

 to the acre. It unfortunately froze up in iiiics, so 

 that I could not si)rcad it until spring. The grass 

 started early on the edges of the heaps, liut for tlie 

 year 1866 iVlid not perceive much benelit. This 

 year, however, the grass started early, grew luxu- 

 riantly, t*id produced twice as much as adjoining 

 land, where it was not applied. After it was cut, 



and until the present time, there is a large increase 

 of the second crop. The land contains a large per- 

 centage of mica, which is known to be rich in pot- 

 ash. H. A. Sheldon. 

 Middlebury, Vt., Aug. 22, 1867. 



superphosphate on new and old land. 



Why does plaster and superphosphate show more 

 marked effects on what we term l)rukcn-ui) ground 

 than on old ground, or ground that has been cropijed 

 one year ? If superphosphate is a manure, why 

 do wc not realize the same beneflt on Ijoth ? Who 

 can tell ? W. B. Weeks. 



Gilford, N. H., Aug. 26, 1867. 



Remarks. — Is it a fact that superphosphate does 

 show "more marked etfects" on new land than on 

 old ? Such has not been our experience. Would 

 not the same result be noticed on such lands 

 from the use of common manure ? The new ground 

 has elements of production of which the old has 

 been partially exhausted, and it is probably the 

 influence of those elements that gives the crops on 

 the new ground their better appearance. 



Superphosphate is certainly a manure. Any- 

 thing is a manure that causes plants to grow, 

 which makes land productive, although it may do 

 it indirectly, by stimulating other substances into 

 action. Plowing, hoeing, and stirring the land in 

 any way, is manuring, in one sense. To cultivate 

 by manual labor is to manure, because it develops 

 by culture. 



application of manure — WINTER WHEAT — 

 SPRING WHEAT. 



I take a great interest in reading the Farmer, 

 and particularly the column of ''Extracts and 

 Replies." I wish to ask you or some of your 

 correspondents, which is the best time to get out 

 manure ? — to get it out green in the spring and 

 plow or harrow it m, or do as I have been in the 

 habit of doing for a few years past, which is as 

 follows : — 



Let the winter's stock remain in the cellar until 

 I dig my potatoes, then draw out and plow in as 

 soon as convenient. The next spring plow again 

 and plant corn. Manure in the hole with hen ma- 

 nure and night soil, well mixed with muck or 

 loam. I bed" my cattle and horses well with pas- 

 ture brakes, then tie the cows up all summer and 

 bed with muck. Hogs run on the manure and 

 keep it down. By the time I draw it out it gets 

 well rotted and smells as though it would make a 

 good crop of corn, which I hardly ever fiiil of 

 getting. _ 



Should I be likely to get a good crop of wmter 

 wheat l)y plowing in a good second crop of clover 

 now, and sowing after a few days, — the land gave 

 spring wheat last year, — or had I better grow grass 

 another year ? 



After reading your article on green mannrhiff, a 

 few weeks since", I was led to make this impury. 

 We get very good wheat by plowing in the fall 

 and harrowing, then sow as soon as the frost is 

 out in the spring without plowing. By answering 

 the above questions you will oblige a young far- 

 mer and perhaps many others. s. s. 



Laconia N. II., Aug. 26, 1867. 



Remarks. — The practice of applying manure 

 which you describe is a good one. In the (irst 

 place, if the manure is kept in a compact form in 

 the cellar, and is covered with peat or loam, it 

 sutfers no special loss, and in that condition is 



