1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



19 



AGRICUIiTURAL ITEMS. 



— In 1860 the live stock of Connecticut was val- 

 ued at #11,311,079; in 1868, at #13,012,699, and in 

 1869, at #24,687,141. 



— One of the Sandwich Islands claims to have 

 tte largest orchard in the world, some of the trees 

 bearing fifty barrels of apples. 



— The Champaigne County, 111., correspondent 

 of the Ccuntry Gentleman says that nine-tenths of 

 the "drive wells" put down in that section for the 

 purpose of watering stock, have proved failures. 



— Tennessee is wool-growing. One thousand 

 sheep passed through Nashville for Warren county 

 the other day, and were quickly followed by three 

 thousand more. 



—The New York Farmers' Club says that a cel- 

 lar that cannot be drained may be made as tight 

 as a jug by covering the sides and bottom with 

 cement, and then adding a coat of the plastic slate. 



— Dr. Randall, Cortland Village, N. Y., is pre- 

 paring and will soon have ready, blank petitions to 

 Congress for the signatures of wool growers, which 

 may be had by addressing him as above. 



— Col. Alexander writes to a Glasgow paper that 

 the Paris police are furnished with lactometers, by 

 which milk is tested as it is brought into town. If 

 found watered, it is thrown upon the road and 

 imprisonment follows. 



— There is a colony of Japanese in California, 

 who, it is said, will give their attention to the cul- 

 ture of the tea plant and of silk. They think that 

 the soil and climate are well adapted to the tea 

 plant. 



—The Deerfield, N. H., Farmers' Club met Nov. 

 12, and reorganized, The officers for the year en- 

 suing are : — President, E . P. Chase ; Secretary and 

 Treasurer, H. 0. Walker ; Directors, J. Chapman, 

 J. Dearborn, and J. K. Gerrish. 



— A correspondent of the New York Farmers' 

 Club having asked how to clean cucumber and to- 

 mato seed, was told to spread on a piece of paper 

 in the sun to dry. They will be clean enough for 

 home use ; for commercial purposes, it is neces- 

 sary to wash out the pulp and dry them. 



— Fred Boetner and his wife, of Otisco, Mich., 

 raised and harvested seventy-five acres of grain 

 the past season. From these acres they obtained 

 1252 bushels of wheat, 1,035 bushels of oats, and 

 64 bushels of barley. He and his wife did all the 

 labor except a portion of the threshing. 



— Prof. Johnson says, in the Western Rural, that 

 marls, like the purer limes, act more energetically 

 if aided by the occasional addition of other ma 

 nures ; and like them they finally exhaust a soil 

 from which successive crops are reaped without 

 the requisite return of decaying animal or vegeta- 

 ble matters. 



—Mr. Rodolphus Thompson, of Jay, Me., has 

 manufactured 7000 pounds of cheese and 600 



pounds of butter from the milk of thirty-two cows 

 the past summer. He sold over 6000 pounds of 

 cheese at 18 cents a pound, and considered it more 

 profitable than butter at 50 cents. 



— Rev. Mr. Dunham, Bryant's Pond, Me., raised 

 this season from a single pea the following re- 

 markable crops : Twenty-five were grown at the 

 first crop, and two thousand nine hundred and 

 forty at the second ; making in the whole, by ac- 

 tual count and measurement, 2965 peas, or three 

 pints ! 



— A correspondent of the Country Gentleman, 

 who has recently travelled through northwestern 

 Ohio, northeastern Indiana and southern Michigan, 

 says, be the cause what it may, — wet summer, 

 luxuriant vegetation, insufl3cient drainage, or all 

 combined, — certain it is that the ague and kindred 

 diseases, have prevailed to an extent unheard of 

 in these late years, and have demoralized farming 

 this fall more than did the short crop or the heavy 

 freshets of the spring time. The many shivering 

 forms, despondent hearts, pinched-up faces, and 

 do-less hands, account for the general backward 

 state of farm-work in the sections visited. 



— The quantity of milk drawn from a cow per 

 annum, depends more than some imagine upon 

 the milker. The best cow in the world may soon 

 be spoiled by careless and irregular milking, 

 whereas an ordinary animal may be made to yield 

 much more of the delicious beverage than usual, 

 by the right performance of this simple operation. 

 To find a good cow is not an easy thing — but more 

 easy than to find an accomplished milker. 



— A correspondent of an Eastern paper suggests 

 the following plan, to prevent the sagging of gate 

 posts : "Set the hanging post three and a half 

 feet in the ground, tramp well at the bottom, on 

 the side opposite the gate ; then dig a trench six 

 inches deep from one post to the other; in this 

 put a three-by-four scantling, or a pole of white 

 oak, black mulberry, or some other lasting timber, 

 seeing that it just fills the space between the two 

 gate posts and cover with earth, and the gate will 

 stand as you hang it until the posts rot oflf." 



To Manage a Rearing Horse. — When- 

 ever you perceive a horse's inclination to rear, 

 separate your reins and prepare for him. The 

 instant he is about to rise slacken one hand 

 and bend or twist his head with the other, 

 keeping your hands low. This bending com- 

 pels him to move a hind leg, and of necessity 

 brings his fore feet down. Instantly twist 

 him completely round two or three times, 

 which will confuse him very much, and com- 

 pletely throw him off his guard. The moment 

 you have finished twisting him round, place 

 his head in the direction you wish to proceed, 

 apply the spurs and he will not fail to go for- 

 ward. 



