1870. 



JTEW ENGLAND FAII:MER. 



175 



bathing with cold water two or three times a day 

 until the preternatural heat disappears, and then 

 apply common iodine ointment twice a day, rub- 

 bing it in with the fingers. If there is no unnat- 

 ural heat the gland is congested, and the ointment 

 of iodine may be used without the previous bath- 

 ing. The ointment can be obtained of any drug- 

 gist. 



A CALF ■WITH THE 8COUH8. 



I have a calf that is nearly a year old that has 

 the scours, and is poor, and has been so for some 

 time. Plea&e tell me what will be good to relieve 

 and build him up. I have been giving him oats, 

 but he will not- eat enough to do him much good. 



Benton, Me., Feb. 9, 1870. w. M. 



Remarks. — Card your calf twice every day, 

 and feed him well cooked potatoes, with a little 

 sweet milk added, if he will eat it as well, and a 

 little cayenne pepper. If he continues to scour 

 with this feed, give him some astringent, like a 

 decoction of hemlock or white oak bark. If he 

 has vermin, destroy them with carbolic acid or 

 some other efficient remedy. 



HELIEVINO CHOKED ANIMALS. 



Sometime since I read the description of an 

 apparatus for relieving choked animals, which in 

 the main was correct. Having, seen a similar 

 contrivance kept and used in the old country, I 

 think I ean suggest an improvement on the broom- 

 handle or wooden rod, recommended for forcing 

 down the obstruction. Wet, roll, and sew to- 

 gether a strip of sole leather of the desired length, 

 and wide enough to be about an inch in diameter 

 when finished, then get the tinman to rivet on 

 to each end of the leather tube, pieces of lead so as 

 to form an oblong hollow ball, soldered together, 

 about an inch and a half in diameter, with one 

 hole at the end of the ball and two or more holes 

 in its side, through whitth the creature may breathe 

 or gas escape, and you will have a flexible rod of 

 sufficient strength to effect the purpose. In the 

 one that I saw there, one of the end bails was left 

 a little flaring, something like a tunnel, to fit more 

 firmly to the obstruction in the throat, so that 

 either end could be used as seemed most efficient. 



B. Connelly. 



Careyville, Mass., Feb. 9, 1870. 



C0T8W0LD SHEEP. 



Some time in November, 1868, 1 made mention 

 of the eflbrts of T. W. Gordon, Farmington Falls, 

 Maine, to improve his flock of sheep by the pur- 

 chase of a thoroughbred Cotswold ram, of Burdett 

 Loomis, of Connecticut. He then set himself to 

 work to procure a flock of large sheep. After an 

 extensive ride, and paying from five to seven dol- 

 lars per head, he succeeded in obtaining some 

 forty-six that suited him. 



Last summer he raised forty four lambs, of 

 which he sold nineteen this last fall for $190; 

 having twenty-five left, for some of which he has 

 relubtd $20 each, scarcely oneof which will weigh 

 less than 100 pounds. The wool on many of these 

 lambs tuoasures tight to nine inches in length and 

 is of excellent quality. 



The buck sheared 10^ pounds when a year old. 

 La^t spring, when two years old, he sheared 13^ 

 pounds ot clean wool, — not grease or tar, — and he 

 weighed 300 pounds. Mr. G. has had extensive 

 expi rience with sheep, and is, perhaps, as good a 

 judge of them as any other breeder in Maine, and 

 here perhaps lies the secret of his success. Good 



judgment in making selections for breeding is of 

 as much importance as good care after selcctmg. 

 Mr. G. informed me that he visited Canada last 

 fall for the puipose of purchasing thoroughbreds ; 

 examined many of the best flocks in the Domin- 

 ion, but found none equal to the flock of Mr. Loo- 

 mis. He found many flocks in Canada being 

 thinned out by a disease called the "scours," 

 which is slow in its progress, but very fatal. Mr. 

 G. says his sheep are as docile and peaceable as 

 any flock in the State, and manifest none of that 

 roving disposition sometimes attributed to long 

 wools by another class of breeders. They gave 

 him no trouble last season, and he anticipates none 

 the coming season. He is now well satislied that 

 Cotswolds and their grades are the most profitable 

 sheep for wool and iwutton. They are tough, 

 hardy, easily raised and yield much larger re- 

 turns than others. Zen. 

 Springvale, Me., Jan. 22, 1870. 



MANURING FOB GKA8S. 



During the recent discussion in the Fakmer of 

 the value of corn stalk fodder, it seems to have 

 been generally admitted that when sown broad- 

 cast or too thickly in rows, the fodder is of mfe- 

 rior quality. May not the same principle apply 

 to grass growing ? Do not farmers miss it by put- 

 ting their whole stock of manure on to their land 

 at once and stocking down to grass, and thus get- 

 ting some three or four tons of what they call hay 

 to the acre ? Would it not be for their interest to 

 put on say one-third to begin with, and repeat it 

 once in two years, and obtain from one and a half 

 to two tons to the acre of good hay, such ai their 

 cattle would eat all up ? In the first case they 

 have no manure to replenish their land in case of 

 winter kill ; in the last case ihey would have their 

 manure to spread with a sprinkling of seed, then 

 brush it over and all is right. Don't all speak at 

 once, but consider the matter. V. Bakee. 



Brookfield, Vt., Feb., 1870. 



THE MOTHERS. 



Perhaps in no country and in no age have the hab- 

 its of a people changed as greatly as have those of 

 the people of New England during the past sixty 

 years. Enjoying a happy, preen old age, I know 

 a lady in Berkshire county, Mass., who when nine 

 years of age, spun tow yarn of sufficient fineness 

 and evenness lor the fiihng of a web of pocket- 

 handkerchiefs ; at fifteen she spun a week for a 

 neighbor for sixty-seven cents, with which she 

 bought the stockings in which slie was married, 

 and which she has lent to six other brides for the 

 same purpose. She is expert in weaving diaper, 

 coverlets, blankets, carpets, &c., also, with her 

 needle as tailoress, dressmaker, and embroiderer, 

 &c. She is a good dairy woman, and understands 

 every process of butter and cheese makmg, from 

 milking cows to serving as commute on the 

 award of premiums at the agricultural fair. She 

 is the mother of eight children, four boys and four 

 girls. "The fathers, where are they i" and the 

 mothers, where are ^Aey/ i. 



Cheshire, Mass., Jan., 1870. 



HOLDING ON TO THE FARM ANOTHER TEAR. 



Six months ago I had about decided to sell our 

 farm ; but purchasers for farms ot 300 acres or 

 more with good buildings, pleasantly located on 

 the Connecticut river, are not near as numerous 

 as for farms valued from $30U0 to $.3000. As I do 

 not find the right man to buy, I must be niaking 

 preparation for the campaign of the coming sea- 

 son. And the first requisite to a successful prose- 

 cution of agricultural UiUor is a good selection of 

 agricultural papers; with these and a suppiy of 



