216 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



inclining outwards to such a degree that a bucket 

 of fourteen quarts capacity will waste all over ten 

 quarts. Other buckets small at the top, are seen 

 in about the same condition, careened up by the 

 wind in exposed positions, with the sap dropping 

 rapidly ou the top hoops and dripping from the 

 bottom. 



I do not tap a tree in the smaller dimensions of 

 its body, but in the larger parts, near its base, 

 where observation shows that less grains are cut, 

 and experience fully proves that the wound will 

 heal much quicker, and where, if necessary, I can 

 insert two spouts, with less detriment apparently 

 to the tree than one several feet higher. 



I use Sumac or other wooden spouts. For the 

 benefit of others, I will give my method of fitting 

 them : — With a common plane and a hard wood 

 stick three inches long, one inch thick and one 

 and a quarter wide, I make a spout sharpener. In 

 the first place I work a hole through one side of 

 the stick of the size and taper I wish the end of 

 the spout to be when finished. I then plane down 

 one edge of this stick so as just to cut into the hole. 

 It is then placed on to the face of the plane with 

 the hole over the cutting iron, so as to work like a 

 pencil sharpener, and screw it firmly to the plane. 

 Now, by putting the end of an old spout into this 

 hole and giving it two turns it is fitted perfectly. 

 New spouts, after being roughly sharpened, are 

 finished in the same way. An active man, or even 

 a boy can finish from thirty to torty in a minute, 

 in the most perfect manner imaginable. They are 

 75 per cent, cheaper than any so-called, "Im- 

 proved Sap Spouts," require only half-inch hole 

 by five-eighths deep, and when necessary one turn 

 of the tapping bit (a tapering bit) will rim the en- 

 tire surface, which give a fresh flow of sap. 



"VVe all have our preferences, but let us avoid 

 hasty conclusions and not buy new things merely 

 because they are new or novel, nor leave the "good 

 old way" until we are sure of a better. If there is 

 any way that is better in all respects, let us have 

 it. 0. C. Wait. 



West Georgia, Vt., March 3, 1870. 



TOP DRESSING LOW LANDS. 



I top dress low lands by carting dirt into the hog 

 pen under the barn in summer, and draw it on to the 

 land in the winter, on snow. For this purpose 

 I fix boards on the sled beams, between the caps, 

 and some on the sides with cleats on the ends to 

 put the head and tail boards in. I spread it from 

 the sled. I find this much better than to draw it 

 on when the ground is thawed. 



LOADING LOGS ON SLEDS. 



To load logs on the sled, I put bolt rings in the 

 fore and hind beams of the sled, horizontally ; the 

 rings inside the caps, and hang down before the 

 fore beam and behind the hind beam. Then on 

 these beams pin bunks. Then I take and lay skids 

 before and behind the bunks on the sled, hook 

 chains in the rings, draw them over the ends of 

 the skids, bring them together near the logs to be 

 rolled on. To roll on the top logs, put the chains 

 round the logs on the sled, hitch them tight in the 

 rings, lay the skids on the logs and hitch chains 

 into the chains that are round the logs on the 

 sled, and roll on with the oxen as at first. This I 

 find much better than a single chain. 



Groveland, Mass., Feb. 22, 1870. E. Rollins. 



BLOODY MILK CURED BY COPPERAS. 



I had a cow which gave bloody milk every sea- 

 son for three or four years and could find no rem- 

 edy that did any good until some one told me to 

 give her a tablespoonful of copperas at a mess for 

 three days in succession. I gave it, and she never 

 has been troubled since. Her udder was so 



swollen that it was almost impossible to get near 

 her to handle it, but in one week it was entirely 

 well. D. T. Clouqh. 



Thetford, Vt., Feb. 22, 1870. 



Remarks. — We should consider an ordinary 

 tablespoonful of copperas a large dose to be given 

 at once to a cow, but it seems to have operated 

 well in this case. 



BUTTER FROM ONE COTV. 



There is a Jersey cow in Wenham, Mass., owned 

 by a widow lady, seventy-four years old, who takes 

 all the care of the cow and her milk. This cow 

 dropped her calf in February, 1869, and is to 

 come in again in April, 1870. Besides furnishing 

 the family with milk, 360 pounds of first race 

 butter have been made, up to this time, and now five 

 pounds a week are made from the milk of this cow. 

 Five quarts of her milk have made a pound of 

 butter. She is fed two quarts of meal a day, with 

 dry hay. l. 



Topsfield, Mass., March 7, 1870, 



CORN COBS. 



I am of the opinion that they are not worth the 

 cost of grinding, which is five or six cents per 

 bushel. I have never tried any experiments my- 

 self, but have in my mind a farmer who having 

 some doubts in regard to the use of cobs for stock, 

 got five or six bushels of clean cobs ground and 

 led to his horse. He found that his horse would 

 not eat the cob meal till he mixed one or two 

 bushels of corn meal with the five or six bushels 

 that his cobs made. l. t. 



Concord, Mass., March 9, 1870. 



pig raising. 



In May, 1868, 1 bought a sow pig for $5. She 

 was half blood White Chester County and half 

 Mackay. April 15, 1869, she had a litter of pigs : 

 raised six ; sold four of them, when four weeks 

 old, for §26 ; kept two to fatten, the dressed 

 weight of which at seven months old, was 516 

 pounds, and sold for 15 cents per pound — ;f77.40. 

 Sept 14, she had a second litter, raised twelve; 

 sold nine for $49.00, and kept three, now worth 

 $r)Q. Commenced to fatten the sow December 1, 

 dressed weight February 5, 1870, 506 pounds. 

 Sold at 15 cents, amounting to $75.90 — making the 

 total amount of income $278.30. c. e. w. 



Bellows Falls, Vt., March 5, 1870. 



CHOKED CATTLE. 



A year ago last fall, while driving a drove 

 of cattle to Brighton, a heifer got choked witli 

 an apple, and was so far gone that she could 

 hardly stand. I got a pint of soft soap at a house 

 near by, which was rather thick, and I added a 

 little water, and poured it down her throat. la 

 five minutes she was well. I have never known 

 this to fail of removing the obstruction either up 

 or down in short time. William W. Cross. 



Bridgton, Me., Feb. 28, 1870. 



INFALLIBLE CURE FOR LICE. 



Having read a great many remedies for the pre- 

 vention and cure of lice on cattle, I wish to sug- 

 gest for the benefit of the readers of the Farm e a 

 a receipt that is safe and infallible. In the first 

 place before your stock comes to the barn for the 

 wintei", see to it that they are fat ; then during the 

 winter months take a little pains from day to day 

 to keep the tallow gradually increasing around 

 their kidneys, and you never will be troubled with 

 lice. I am a young farmer and inexperienced in 



