230 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



Feed well, and be careful of your whips. 

 I will mention an incident in my driving expe- 

 rience, to let the reader know how much 

 whipping and beating my team get from me. 

 When I commenced driving my two-year-old 

 steers, I cut a beech sprout about half an inch 

 in diameter at the butt end, tapering to one- 

 iourth inch, and tied on a amall lash. Two 

 years and a half after, when I sold them, I 

 bad that same stick in my hand, safe and 

 sound. It was all the stick I used while I 

 owned them. It lasted about six months 

 after that time, when it was accidenrly trod- 

 den on and broken in two, making in all 

 about three year's service. 



It pays to have oxen "handy," so that one 

 can drive at any kind of work. I think Dr. 

 Franklin has written : — 



"He that by the plough would thrive, 

 Himself should either hold or drive." 



But my steers when they are large enough to 

 draw the plough need no other driver than 

 the one who holds. Therefore I think I can 

 alter that couplet a bit — thus : — 



"He that by the plough would thrive. 

 To save expense, thould hold and drive." 



— J. M. D., in Vermont State Journal. 



PR?]SBRVATIOSr OP LEATHER. 



The following valuable hints in regard to 

 the preservation of leather we copy from the 

 Shoe and Leather Reporter : — 



The extreme heat in which most men and 

 women expose boots and shoes during winter 

 deprives leather of its vitality, rendering it 

 liable to break and crack. When leather be- 

 comes so warm as to give off the smell of 

 leather, it is singt-d. Close rubber shoes &\&o 

 destroy the life of leather. All varnishes and 

 all blacking containing the properties of var- 

 nI.^hing should be avoided. 



Shoe leather is greatly abused. Persons 

 know nothing or care less about the kind of 

 material used than they do about the polish 

 produced. Vitriol blacking is used until every 

 particle of oil in the leather is destroyed. To 

 remedy this abuse, the leather should be 

 washed once a month with warm water ; and 

 when about half dry, a coat of oil and tallow 

 should be applied, and the boots set aside for 

 a day or two. This will renew the elasticity 

 and life in the leather, and when thus used, 

 upper leather will seldom crack or break. 



Don't wash harness in water and with soap. 

 No harness is ever so soiled that a damp 

 sponge will not remove the dirt. When har- 

 ness loses its lustre and turns brown, which 

 almost any leather will do after long exposure 

 to the air, the harness should be given a new 

 coat of grain-black. Before using this grain- 

 black, the grain surface should be thoroughly 

 washed with potash water until all the grease 

 is killed, and after the application of the 

 grain-black, oil and tallow should be applied 



to the surface. This will not only "fasten the 

 color," but make the leather flexible. Har- 

 ness which is grained can be cleaned with kero- 

 sene or spirits of turpentine, and no harm will 

 result if the parts affected are varnished and 

 oiled immediately afterward. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



FOOT EOT IN COWS. 



I saw in the Faemee, a short time ago, an aiti- 

 cle in regard to foot rot in cows, and as I have a 

 remedy that I never knew to fail, I will give it to 

 you for publication, hoping that every one that 

 sees it, who has this serious trouble with cattle 

 will try it. 



I take one strand of an inch rope, make it as plia- 

 ble as possil)le, saturate it with spirits of turpen- 

 tine and draw it back and forth between the claws 

 of the foot, pulling the rope at the same time, at 

 each end towards the leg. Then apply more spirits 

 of turpentine to the foot. One or two applications 

 has always etfected a cure for me. 



HOEN-AIL. 



Take two quarts of leaves and stems of worm 

 wood, pour in enough boilicg water to cover it, 

 and let it steep until the strength is extracted. 

 Strain and boil down to half a pint ; then add 

 one-ihird of a pound of fresh butter or sweet 

 cream enough to make that amount of butter, and 

 let it simmer until no steam vs-ill arise ; then strain, 

 and when so cool that it will not burn, tip the 

 cows head so that one ear will be up, and turn one 

 tablespoonful into the ear; then let her have her 

 head to shake, after which do the same with the 

 other ear, and then cut off the tail until it bleeds 

 well. One or two such applications will effect a 

 cure if taken in season. If this medicine is pui in 

 a bottle and *orked up tight it will keep any 

 length of time, and I would advise every one that 

 keeps cows to have it on hand. Another sure 

 remedy is to bore the horns with a gimlet and 

 put a half tablespoonful of pulverized saltpetre in 

 each horn. Sometimes I have effected a cure 

 when I saw the cow as soon as taken, by cutting off 

 the tail and putting spirits of turpentine j ast back of 

 of the horns. 



Now a few words in regard to the symptoms of 

 horn-ail. Animals most always have cold horns, 

 with ears inclined to lop down. Sometimes they 

 will shiver contiimally. with respiration increased 

 sometimes to such an extent that their breathing 

 can be heard several rods. Sometimes they will 

 be so costive that all the purgatives you can give 

 will not cure ; but give them medicine for horn- 

 ail, and they are soon all right. At other times 

 they will be taken scouring, and nothing will stop 

 it permanently until you treat them for horn-aii. 

 If the horn-ail is the cause of the scouring or stop- 

 page, you cure it, and the bnweis will regulate 

 thetuselves. I do not v/ish to be understood that 

 all cases of stoppage or scouring arise from horn- 

 ail, but very many ot them do. 



I have had a good deal of experience with this 

 disease, and am confident that there are more 

 cases of it than cattle owners think, and that many 

 cattle are treated for somethmg else, when horu- 

 ail is the main disease. 



Try the remedies above, if any have occasion, 

 and let us liear of the result. c. a. c. 



West Acton, Mass., Feb. 14, 1870. 



Remaeks. — Dr. Dadd was very severe on what 

 he called the barbarities to which animals were 

 subjected in treatment for "hornail" and "tail-ail." 

 He says that so far as he knows there is no allu- 



