1870. 



XEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



135 



clover for hay as it blossoms at the same time. It 

 is entirely distinct from witch grass. From what 

 we know of it, we cannot recommend its cultiva- 

 tion to our correspondent. 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF RYE AND CORN. 



Having raised a quantity of rye last season, and 

 the price being low, I have thought of feeding it 

 out instead of selling it and buying corn, as I 

 could not get as much net for the rye as I must 

 give for corn. 



As I have taken the Farmer for some time as a 

 source of information on farming interests in gen- 

 eral, I would like to inquire what is the relative 

 value and what the effects of rye as compared 

 with Western corn, to feed to cattle, horses and 

 swine. J. Marston. 



East Medway, Mass., Jan. 3, 1870. 



Remarks.— Rye makes good food for cattle and 

 swine. Some years since, we recollect the same 

 state of facts existed as at present. Corn was 

 worth more per bushel than rye. Several farmers 

 then fed rye meal mixed with com meal in equal 

 parts, especially to milch cows, and thought well of 

 the effect. If fed clear to swine, it is apt to physic 

 them. It will do better mixed with corn meal. 

 Its nutritive value is about the same as that of 

 corn, and at the present prices, it will be better 

 economy to use the rye for food, than to sell it and 

 buy corn. We do not know its effect on horses. 



LAME IN THE STIFLE-JOINT. 



Please give me a cure for a horse that is lame in 

 the stifle joint. f. j. 



Ripton, Vf., Jan. 3, 1870. 



Remarks. — Dissolve as much coarse salt as 

 you can in one quart of wai-m water ; when cold, 

 put in a bottle, and add two fluid ounces of strong 

 spirit of ammonia, and one fluid ounce of strong 

 spirit of camphor. Mix, and bathe the joint thor- 

 oughly three or four times a day. 



PRACTICAL SUQQESTIONS. 



[Forniehed for the New England Farmer by Wm, D. 

 Brown, Concord, Maes.] 



— ^The rain that falls on the roof of a bam will 

 water the cattle kept inside. 



— A smart woman with dry wood and soft wa- 

 ter close at hand has her work half done. 



— Green wood cannot be burned. It is better to 

 dry it by the heat of the summer sun, than in the 

 stove. 



— Neighborhoods should combine and buy to- 

 gether a good portable horse power, and then have 

 their wood piles cut up with comfort and dispatch. 



— Good house carpenters are very particular to 

 have nice sharp tools. This is half the secret of 

 their close work and popularity. Many farmers 

 would accomplish more and easier by better tools. 



— Farms soon run down that sell all their hay. 

 Mr. Mechi, the great English farmer, prefers that 

 the products of his farm should go to market on 

 the foot. 



—A liog weighing less than two hundred and 



fifty pounds may be more conveniently scalded in 

 a forty gallon cask filled half full of water, than 

 in a tub. 



— Those who house their carts and wagons in 

 Robin Hood's barn — all out doors — are often seen 

 travelling to the blacksmith and wheelwright shop 

 for repairs. The hubs of wheels are made of elm, 

 which is a poor timber to bear exposure. 



— Every farmer who has paths to make about 

 his premises, or to the schoolhouse and store, 

 should own a good snow plough. It is but little 

 work to make one that, with a good horse before 

 it, will do the work of twenty men. 



— Wooden shod sleds are no longer economical. 

 It will cost less to keep one shod with iron or steel, 

 in the long run. They start easier with a load on, 

 and move with less friction. Old elliptic spring 

 leaves are used for light sled shoes. 



— A harness kept well oiled is easier for the an- 

 imal, is stronger, and don't wear out half as fast 

 as one allowed to go year in and year out without 

 care. Clean the harness with a sponge and castile 

 soap. Apply the oil with an old paint brush. A 

 long tin pan saves the drip. 



— Every farmer should own for convenient pig 

 killing a set of pulleys, and three pieces of spruce 

 or pine scantling, about two by five, sixteen feet 

 long, for shears. The scantling should be con- 

 nected at the top by a bolt, put through a hole 

 bored slanting in the outside pieces, and straight 

 through the central one. 



— You had better not keep stock than allow their 

 manure to be wasted. It must not burn up and 

 fire-fang in great heaps, nor be washed away by 

 water drenching it from the eaves. The liquid 

 portions must be absorbed by something, and the 

 solid kept from heating and exposure. 



AGRICULTURAL ITEMS. 



— ^N. H. Austin, of Tunbridge, Vt., raised the 

 past season 900 bushels of potatoes from three and 

 one-half acres of ground. He also raised 500 

 bushels of ears corn on three acres. 



— S. N. & C. Russell of Pittsficld, have recently 

 purchased 16,000 South American sheep pelts 

 from which they obtained an average of four 

 pounds each of a very superior article of wool, it 

 being very long, fine staple and shrinkage slight. 



— Mr. P. C. Shaw, of Durham, Me., has a cow 

 that the IGth day of February, 1869, became the 

 mother of two fine calves, and on January 10th, 

 1870, three more, all alive and doing well — five 

 calves in ten months and twenty-four days. 



— The Western Farmer says that W. G. Roberts, 

 near Racine, Wis., has established a cheese fac- 

 tory on his farm, expecting to milk 100 cows of 

 his own and to have fiicilities for manufacturing 

 the milk from 200 to 300 cows. 



— A correspondent of the Western Farmer llg- 

 ures a loss of $4.59 per acre on wheat raised in that 



