1870. 



NEW ENGLAXD F.\K]VIER. 



327 



them no chance to burrow, and if they should, 

 the sun will soon drive them from their place. 

 They universally select their position in the day- 

 time and commit their depredations at night. In 

 shallow covering the seed gets warm and starts 

 much quicker than when covered deep. 



— The Homestead says that very little, if any 

 money, has been made this season by the cattle 

 feeders of the Connecticut Valley, and some have 

 lost money in the business. If tobacco was as 

 low as other farm crops, feeding cattle would be a 

 poor business, but most feeders expect to more 

 than make up on their tobacco what they lose 

 fattening cattle. Those that have fed sheep are a 

 great deal better suited with what they have done 

 than the cattle men. The price has nearly doubled 

 since last fall, and a fair profit has been realized. 



— In speaking of the arrival of six thorough- 

 bred pedigree animals recently bought of H. G. 

 White, Framingham, Mass., by Mr. Levi A. Dow, 

 of Waterville, and Charles Shaw, of Dexter, the 

 Maine Farmer says, "we have never known a time 

 in the agricultural history of our State, when her 

 farmers and breeders were showing so much ac- 

 tivity and intelligence in carrying forward their 

 operations as at present. We have in Maine gen- 

 tlemen of character, intelligence and wealth who 

 are engaged in breeding thoroughbred animals of 

 all the types now held in esteem for the various 

 purposes, — Devons, Herefords, Short-horns, Jer- 

 seys, Ayrshires." 



— An exchange says a Pennsylvania merchant 

 agreed to take a farmer's oats at forty cents a 

 bushel if the latter would let him tramp the meas- 

 ures when filled. The farmer agreed to it. The 

 buyer paid for sixty bushels and next day went 

 after them. The farmer filled the bushel, and the 

 merchant got in and tramped them down ; where- 

 upon the farmer poured the oats so compressed 

 into the bag. The merchant protested, and de- 

 manded that the measure should be filled up after 

 tramping. The farmer informed him that there 

 was no agreement of that sort, but that he might 

 tramp down the oats to his heart's content after 

 they were measured. 



—A farmer named Chilson, living near Girard, 

 Ohio, thinking to rid his cornfield of a trouble- 

 some ground hog, managed to administer to the 

 quadruped a do&e of strychnine which killed him 

 nearly instantly. The carcass was suspended to a 

 tree, where the crows soon espied the savory bit, 

 and proceeded to appease their appetites. After 

 partaking of the meal, the crows would fly a short 

 distance, as if in agony, and fall dead to the 

 ground. The bones, being thoroughly stripped of 

 the flesh, remained exposed to the bleaching in- 

 fluence of sunshine, rain and frost for nearly two 

 years, when, falling to the ground, a highly-prized 

 dog masticated parts of them, and died ten min- 

 utes afterward. We copy the above to show the 

 danger of using this poison. 



lSrE"W PUBLICATIONS. 



HARRia ON THE PiG. Breeding, Rearing, Manage- 

 ment and Improvement. By Joseph Harris, Moreton 

 Farm, Rochester, N. Y. Illustrated, hew York: 

 O. Judd & Co. Boston : Crosby & D^imrell, 100 

 WaEhington St. 18V0. 12mo, 250 pages. Price $1.50. 



"A farmer's son, and myself a farmer, all my 

 sympathies are with the farming class, rather than 

 with the consumers," is one of the prefatory sen- 

 tences of this volume. When all our agricultuial 

 books are written, and all our agricultural papers 

 are edited by men who can truthfully make 

 that remark of themselves, book and paper farm- 

 ing will be more popular than at present. By his 

 contributions to agricultural papers during the 

 past twenty years, Mr. Harris has given the far- 

 mers of this country opportunity not only to form 

 an opinion of his ability as a writer, but of his 

 success as a farmer. He is an earnest advocate of 

 high farming and choice stock. Still he says "the 

 introduction of better breeds of pigs will in itself 

 do little towards improving our farms ; but the 

 farmer who once uses a thoroughbred boar and 

 adopts a liberal system of feeding, will find that he 

 can produce better pork at a far less cost than when 

 he uses a common boar ; and he will be likely to 

 study the principles of breeding with an interest 

 he has never felt before. The introduction of a 

 thoroughbred boar will lead to the introduction of 

 a thoroughbred ram and a thoroughbred bull of a 

 good breed, and this in conjunction with cleaner 

 culture and a more liberal feeding is all that is 

 needed to give us better and cheaper meat ; and at 

 the same time we shall make more and richer ma- 

 nure, and be enabled to grow larger and far more 

 profitable crops of grain." 



Of the different breeds of pigs in the United 

 States, he says he knows of none of them that pos- 

 sesses the smallness of ofikl, perfection of form, 

 early maturity and fatteningqualitiesof the York- 

 shire, Essex, or Berkshire. The Chester County 

 Whites he calls a capital sort of common swine. 

 But we must content ourselves with marking 

 portions of the volume for future use, and calling 

 the attention of those interested in pig-raising to 

 "Harris on the Pig." 



The Gentleman's Staple Guide : containing a fa- 

 miliar description of the Amirican Stable; the most 

 approved Method of Feecint;, Grooming, and Gfn' 

 eral Management of Horses; lo^tther with Directions 

 for the Care of Carriagts, Ilariiess, &c. By Kobert 

 McClure, M. D., V. 8., Author of "Diseases in the 

 An'erican Stable, Field, ani Farmyard." 1 hiladel- 

 phia : Porter & Coates, Boston : Lee & Shepard. 

 1870. 12mo., 184 pages. 



The name of the author and the title-page in full 

 are a sufficient indication of the contents of this 

 book. Dr. McClure needs no endorsement from 

 us, and his books need none of our recommenda- 

 tion. This volume will aid us in answering some 

 of the many questions which are asked in relation 

 to the construction and management of stables. 

 On another page we give an extract from Dr. 

 McClure's remarks on the floors of stables, which 

 is a good answer to the inquiry of "E. T." in the 

 last Farmer about concrete floors for horse sta- 



