1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



271 



such land as you describe with yellow loam, from 

 a newly dug cellar, &c. Have you a bank of loam 

 or muck near by with which you can make an ex- 

 periment in a small way ? Try some clear, and 

 some composted in the cattle yard or with a few 

 ashes, or any other material in which you have 

 faith, and watch its effects. Mr. Davis, of Fram- 

 inghara, Mass., a successful farmer, — see Monthly 

 Farmer for 1867, page 226,— expressed great faith 

 in the shovel in improving poor meadows. He 

 says that he averages about 20 ox-cart loads of 

 compost to each cow and hog that he keeps ! But 

 he had a bank of good loam. 



REMEDY FOR CERTAIN DISEASES. 



I notice in your last issue, communications in 

 regard to a disease in cattle in some portions of 

 Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, 

 particularly in Mr. Fay's herd. I send you a 

 remedy which I think an excellent and almost 

 sure one, for all diseases of cattle and horses where 

 the symptoms are such as are there described. 

 Get the body of the common tag alder, as large a 

 growth as can be conveniently obtained. Bore a 

 hole lengthwise with an inch or inch and a quarter 

 auger, according to size of stick, sawing it off so 

 as to leave one end solid. Put in common salt 

 and tamp it down hard, leaving room at the top 

 to plug tight with same timber. Place this in a 

 moderate fire until the wood is all consumed. 

 The salt will be left in a hard roll, which may be 

 fed to the stock from one to three times a day, a 

 large spoonful at a time. This will be found bene- 

 ficial to all stock at times, especially to horses 

 when the hair becomes dry and hard to the touch. 



J. L. Baxter. 



East Bethel, Vt., March 24, 1870. 



Remarks. — This is entirely a new remedy to 

 ns. It would seem to be innocent, and, therefore, 

 worthy of trial. We are not certain what the 

 "Tag Alder" is. 



value of saw dust. 



Frievd Brown : — I don't like to trouble thee 

 again, hut what I want to know is, whether there 

 is a sufficient value in pine sawdust to pay for the 

 labor necessary to prevent its heating the manure 

 to hurt ? The wisdom of using or not using, de- 

 pends very much on its manurial value ; its heat- 

 ing so quickly appears to me to indicate consider- 

 able value. 



Please, somebody, give poor farmers the light, 

 and make us thankful once more. 



Abington, Mass., 3d mo, 1870. James West. 



Remarks. — Pure sawdust, from any wood, does 

 not heat readily, but will remain fpr many years, 

 in heaps, in the open air, without much change 

 taking place in it. When it has been used as bed- 

 ding for stock, and received their droppings, it will 

 ferment; but unless highly charged with such 

 droppings, we have supposed it would not rapidly 

 pass into a state of fermentation. The sawdust is 

 not the chief agent in producing fermentation, but 

 the manure itself. 



Mere woody fibre, in all cases, seems to require 

 fermentation or charring to render it nutritious to 

 plants. Sawdust requires as much dung as dust to 

 bring it into a state of fermentation. 



Where sawdust can be cheaply procured in large 



quantities, we think it would be profitable to col- 

 lect it, dry it by spreading in thin layers on the 

 ground. When dry, form it into conical heaps of 

 any convenient size, cover with sods, loam or clay, 

 and leave holes at the bottom on the windward 

 side for lighting the fire, and some still smaller 

 ones at the top, to allow the smoke to escape. 



Kindle the fire at the bottom holes, and allow 

 combustion slowly to proceed until the volatile 

 matter is driven off, when the air-holes should be 

 stopped with earth in order to arrest the further 

 burning of the piles. The operation will be much 

 like that of charring wood for charcoal. 



This charred dust will be very valuable as a 

 bedding for stock and for mingling with any ma- 

 nures, as it becomes a powerful absorbent. In 

 some localities, sawdust is accumulated to the 

 amount of hundreds, if not thousands of cords, 

 and may be had for the cost of carting away. 



raising calves. 



In your last issue, March 26, I saw an article on 

 raising calves that interested me. As I raise a 

 few each year, I will state how I feed them. For 

 the first week I give them about six quarts of milk 

 per day right from the cow. Then I take about 

 one teacupful each of corn meal and cotton seed 

 meal in a pail, after mixing it with the hand I add 

 two quarts of boiling water and about the same 

 quantity of milk, (skimmed, if I have it;) let it 

 cool to a blood warm and feed them twice a day 

 for six or eight weeks, then turn them out, if grass 

 is forward enough ; if not, give them good hay 

 with the same quantity of meal mixed up thin 

 with water. 



feeding cotton seed meal to cows. 



In this connection I wish to say a few words in 

 favor of cotton seed meal as a feed for milch cows. 

 I have used it for three years, and must say that 

 for producing milk, butter or flesh, it is the best 

 and cheapest feed I can get. I have never known 

 a case of swelled udder or garget from its use. 



My method of feeding is to put two quarts of 

 the meal into tubs I use for feeding, and add a 

 pail of water to each tub, stir it up well and let 

 it soak for half an hour; then add the same 

 amount of corn meal, mix it thoroughly and feed, 

 i'his quantity I give to my cows twice each day, 

 after milking, and have given it (during the win- 

 ter or rather when the pastures get short,) for 

 three years, with the most gratifying results. 



I have known milkmen to give six quarts of cot- 

 ton seed per day with four quarts of corn meal to 

 some of their cows, for three months at a time. 

 And one man has fed one particular cow with 

 from four to six quarts of cotton seed per day for 

 five years, and the cow is all right, and giving this 

 winter twenty-four quarts of good milk per day. 

 I have tried corn fodder cut and fed green, and 

 have wilted it and fed it, but could never see any 

 increase in the flow of milk. Still I believe when 

 the pastures get short in August it is a very good 

 thing to feed, — that is, it helps fill them up. 



Cumberland, R. I., March 28, 1870. Senex. 



A MARE that SUFFERS. 



Your columns of "Extracts and Replies" con- 

 tain so much good advice in answer to so many 

 puzzling questions, that I am induced to make 

 another in the list of inquirers. 



I have a fine English mare that appears fre- 

 quently to suffer pain in discharging from the 

 bowels. She lifts a fore foot, trembles and 



