1870. 



^nTEW ENGLAND FAR^MER. 



45 



breeds, or grades from the Holstein bull, on 

 the natives or other cows of different breeds. 

 So far, however, they are claimed to be satis- 

 factory. 



As working oxen he believes they will rank 

 with other heavy cattle, — better in their grades 

 with the lighter and more active breeds than 

 in the thoroughbreds, as with the short-horn 

 crosses. Mr. T. S. Lang, of Maine, says 

 that when in Belgium he questioned the herds- 

 men in two or three estates that he visited, 

 and they assured him that they excelled in this 

 particular ; one of them pointing to the intel- 

 ligent head and eye, and strong, straight, ac- 

 tive limbs, saying, do you doubt it? 



The animal represented by the above en- 

 graving was imported by Mr. Chenery in the 

 womb of his famous cow Texelaar, which has 

 produced 76 pounds 5 ounces of milk in one 

 day — over 35 quarts — and an average of 63| 

 pounds per day for 63 successive days. At 

 three years old Van Tromp weighed 2080 

 pounds ; at four years old, 2310 ; at five years 

 old, 2600; and at six years old 2720 pounds. 

 He was calved March 20, 1862. 



HUSK BEDS. 



There is nothing equal to corn husks for un- 

 der beds ; yet few families have them even in 

 the country, where the trouble and cost of 

 them aie so small. They are always light and 

 easy, and last for a long time. Our family 

 use no others. For twenty years they have 

 done constant service, and are now as good as 

 new ; so that though costing at first about two 

 or three times as much as straw, they are vastly 

 cheaper in the end, besides being a thousand 

 times better. Now is the time, and this is the 

 way to get them : — 



As soon as the husks are taken from the 

 corn, before any mould or other harm comes 

 to them, take the fairest and best of the leaves, 

 free from all stalks, silk, &c., and spread 

 them out to dry in some large, airy room, stir- 

 ring them well every fair day for a month, or 

 till they are perfectly dry. As they shrink 50 

 per cent, in drying it will take twice the bulk 

 of straw to make a good bed. For people 

 who raise them, they are easily got and pre- 

 pared ; for it is a nice little work for children. 

 For people who haven't them, this is the way : 

 Give some farmer lads — who want, and ought 

 to have, some way to earn a little for them- 

 selves — give them a dollar and two bed sacks, 

 to be crowded full in the green state of the 

 pure husks, as just described ; dry them as 

 before named. This will make one bed. As 

 there is some wear out to them, as to every- 

 thing, once in half a dozen years a little new 



will want to be added. Don't split the leaves ; 

 they do not become flat and solid, as many 

 suppose, but curl up and make the mass light. 

 Husk beds have a great medical value. In 

 many cases of injuries and of diseases a hard 

 bed is vastly superior to feathers ; and as com- 

 paratively few families have mattresses, a bed 

 every way as good as these qjay be quickly 

 made for the occasion by putting the feather 

 bed at the bottom, the husk bed above, and a 

 comforter and other thick quilt over this. As 

 a great remedial agent, then, every family 

 should have one husk bed, and one is sure to 

 bring all the others. — Belfast, Me., Journal. 



VIGOROUS PliANTS EXEMPT FKOM 

 INSECTS. 



We have often thought if all the conditions 

 were present to give vigorous growth and 

 health to a plant, that such plant would either 

 not be preyed upon at all by insects injurious 

 to vegetation, or, if they were preyed upon, 

 the plant would be able to resist the attacks 

 made upon it ; and that the depredations of 

 insects are only nature's gentle reminders that 

 something is lacking which the plant needs. 

 In the animal kingdom do we not find lice, 

 ticks, &c., preying upon the unthrifty, while 

 those in a thriving and growing condition are 

 exempt ? 



A Southern planter, writing to the agricul- 

 tural department of the Mobile Register, and 

 giving details of the almost total destruction 

 of his cotton crop by the boll-worm and cater- 

 pillar, closes his article with the following sug- 

 gestive postscript : — 



A corner of the farm, about one-eighth of 

 an acre, was so poor, though guano had been 

 applied, that I replanted it as late as the 2J:thj 

 of June, before I could get a stand, and iti 

 continued so stunted and sorry looking that, 

 about the middle of August, I applied half a 

 spadeful of fresh cow dung to each stalk, cov^ 

 ering with a little earth. Having a good season 

 from thence, the cotton grew off magically, 

 commenced fruiting at once, is now weighed 

 down with bolls, and, strange to tell, not a 

 leaf has been touched by the caterpillar, 

 though they devoured the other to the very 

 rows so treated. Nor has the boll-worm dis- 

 turbed it. I applied fresh stable manure to 

 another poor spot, with like result as to 

 worms, but not as to growth, for the plants 

 fired from the caustic properties of the manure. 

 They fruited extremely well, nevertheless.^- 

 Ciacinnati Gazette. 



Dry Earth kor Poultry Houses. — The 

 employment of dry, pulverized earth as the 

 means of deodorizing poultry houses, appears 

 to be worthy of more attention than it has 

 hitherto received. The fact that from four 

 hundred to five hundred fowls can, by this 

 aid, be kept in one building for months to- 



