1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



23 



weighed seventy-seven pounds each, and brought 

 $7.70 per head. Last year my lambs were a little 

 more fashionable and smaller. I sold them for 

 $2 oO, for mutton, after selecting ten of the best. 

 Then I went to Connecticut and bonght of Burdett 

 Loomis a yearling Cotswold buck and raised from 

 sixty ewes, sixty-seven lambs, and I never had less 

 trouble or better success. I saved nineteen bucks, 

 only two of them weighing less than one hundred 

 pounds, and some of them weighing one hundred 

 and tircnty-three, at seven months old. There is a 

 pair of twin ewe lambs in town from my buck that 

 weighed, at six months old, 105 and 110 each. I have 

 sold seven of the bucks for #98, the other twelve, if 

 not sold for stock, are good for 140 or 150 pounds 

 before spring, and will bring fancy prices for mut- 

 ton. This added to the six pounds of wool will 

 give more profit than a large amount of grease 

 from a forty pound sheep or a small fleeced South 

 Down. M. DusTiN. 



West Claremont, N. H., Nov., 1869. 



LAME CHICKENS. 



My chickens as soon as grown lose the use of 

 their limbs. They try to walk, and fall over, try 

 to fly and cannot. They have no use of their legs, 

 — sometimes one, at others both, — grow poor, and 

 have to be killed. I have examined them and can 

 find no cause. Some of my neighbors are troubled 

 the same. If you know a remedy, please answer ; 

 if not, please ask if any one does. Subscriber, 



Haverhill, Mass., Nov. 3, 1869. 



DECOMPOSING BONES. 



I have a quantity of old bones. Are they of any 

 value ? If so, what is the best way to decompose 

 them ? A Subscriber. 



Lovell, Me., Oct., 1869. 



Remarks. — In the article on the Garden in No- 

 vember, in another column of this paper, you will 

 find an answer to your inquiry. Some care will 

 be necessary to success, but bones can be softened 

 in this way. 



BUCKHORN. 



In answer to the inquiry of your correspondent 

 "Essecker," who writes from Danvers, I would 

 suggest that the plant he calls buckhorn may be 

 the osmwida regalis, a fern, quite common in 

 swampy lands. I remember that this was called 

 buckhorn in my native town (Weymouth) when 

 I was a little boy. I do not know whether it is 

 poisonous for horses or not ; but I do know that 

 cattle eat it with a good relish, in large quantity, 

 without any apparent ill effect. My father used to 

 say that itwas as good as English hay for cows. 



Concord, Mass., Oct. 24, 1869. m. p. 



tlemen. It is designed to make use of the premi- 

 um essay in the next annual report of the Associ- 

 ation. 



Cheese.— Gardner B. Weeks, Syracuse, N. Y., 

 Secretary of the American Dairymen's Associa- 

 tion, has issued a circular announcing that the 

 Association offers a premium of one hundred dol- 

 lars for the best original essay on "The Claims of 

 Cheese as a Wholesome, Nutritious and Economi- 

 cal article of Food." The premium will be awarded 

 and the money paid at the Annual Convention of 

 the Association at Utica, N. Y., January 12 and 

 13, 1870. The essays must be forwarded to the 

 Secretary, Syracuse, N. Y., as early as December 

 20, 1869. The premium will be awarded by a com- 

 petent and disinterested committee of three gen- 



VEHMONT DAIHYMBM'S ASSOCIATION. 

 We learn by the State Journal that an as- 

 sociation of the dairymen of Vermont was 

 formed at a meeting of fai mers at Montpelier, 

 Vt., October 27. Hon. R. J. Saxe of Sheldon, 

 was Chairman, and O. S. Bliss, of Georgia, 

 Secretary. The following constitution, re- 

 ported by a committee, consisting of O. S. 

 Bliss, of Georgia, E. D. Mason, of Richmond, 

 and G. C. Chandler, of Montpelier, was 

 adopted : — 



Constitution. 



Section 1. This organization shall be called 

 the "Vermont Dairymen's Association." 



Sec. 2. Its object shall be to improve the Dairy 

 interests of Vermont, and all subsidiary interests. 



Sec. 3. This Association shall consist of such 

 persons as shall signify their desire to become 

 members and pay the sum of two dollars, and a 

 like sum annually thereafter, and of honorary 

 and corresponding members. 



Sec. 4. The payment of five dollars shall con- 

 stitute a Life Member. 



Sec. 5. The officers of the Association shall be 

 a President, three Vice Presidents, (one from each 

 Congressional District), and a Secreiary, who 

 shail constitute the Executive Committee, and 

 have the general oversight of all the affairs of the 

 Association ; also a Treasurer and fourteen Trus- 

 tees, who shall be charged with the interests of the 

 Association in their respective counties, and con- 

 stitute a medium of communication between the 

 Executive Committee and the resident members 

 of the Association. They shall also act as a 

 Board of Appeals on all questions of difference 

 that may arise between the Executive Committee 

 and any member. 



Sec. 6. The Annual Meeting for the election of 

 ofiicers and the transaction of business shall be 

 held on the second Wednesday after the second 

 Thursday in October in each year, at such place 

 as the Executive Committee shall appoint. There 

 shall also be held during each winter, at such time 

 and place as the Executive Committee may desig- 

 nate, a meeting for addresses and discussions, to 

 continue at least three days, which meeting shall 

 be open to all members of the Association. 



Sec. 7. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to 

 prepare an Annual report of the transactions of the 

 Association for the current year, embracing such 

 papers, original or selected, as may be approved 

 by the Executive Committee, and cause the same 

 to be published and distributed to the members of 

 the Association. 



Sec. 8. The Treasurer shall keep the funds of 

 the Association and disburse them on the order of 

 the President or a Vice President, countersigned 

 by the Secretary, and make a report of the re- 

 ceipts and expenditures to the Annual Meeting in 

 October. 



Sec. 9. This Constitution may be amended at 

 any Annual Meeting by a two-thirds vote of all the 

 members present. 



]\Ir. Mason, of Richmond, was called upon 

 for a statement relative to the Dairymen's 

 Association in New York, who gave a favora- 

 ble report of its operations, showing that the 



