1S70. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKVIER. 



361 



scarcely get ; of course I mean that which is good. 

 There is some here from south-western Virginia, 

 bur, they have got tn furnishing an article there 

 that is worthless. "We must have Nova Scotia 

 plaster next year. 



This is an excellent country, bat still food and 

 raiment arenot found without some h'bor and care. 

 We grow 200,000 bushels of wheat, and let nine- 

 tenths of the straw rot wherever it is threshed, 

 and buy bay, often not as good as wheat straw, at 

 $t40 per ton ; and that too where we can make two 

 or three tons of good clover hay per acre. But 

 our people are soon going to learn better. There 

 are a number of tolerably good farmers here now, 

 and they will still increase. Farmers will raise 

 less cotton and more wheat and clover; some now 

 hiive 50 to 100 or 200 acres of clover, and from 

 200 to 400 of wheat. 



We have earlier spring and summer here than 

 you. We have had strawberries ever since April, 

 but they are nearly gone now. These will be fol- 

 lowed by berries" and fruit till December. We 

 have also peas, potatoes and other garden stuff. 

 Our wheat harvest will be on in two weeks or less. 



This section, although devastated, in 1S64, be- 

 yond anything I can describe, by the armies, has 

 more than regained its former prosperity. Car- 

 tersville was more than half burned ; but to-day 

 it has more than three times the population it had 

 before it was burned. The whole country bears 

 the appearance of thrift, prosperity and content- 

 ment. Crops of ail kinds, though later than 

 usual, look tiue. 



The Van Wert railroad is progressing toward 

 Alabama, and aao*h*r is in contemplation — an air 

 line road — trom hci'e to Lynchburg, Va. More 

 anon. " j. h. r. 



Cartersville, Bartow, formerly Cass'TTo., ) 

 Georgia, Jlarj 2o, 1870. S 



Remaeks. — The great increase in number and 

 improvement in appearance of southern agricul- 

 tural papers since the close of the war is evidence 

 of the prosperity of the people. The Southern 

 Cultivator, published at Athens, is an able far- 

 mer's paper and ought to have a larger circula- 

 tion in Bartow county than cur correspondent's 

 figures indicate. We hope that "J. H. II." will 

 not forget his promise of "more anon." 



A SICK HEIFER. 



I had a three-year-old heifer which gave milk 

 last summer and last winter up to the first of Feb- 

 ruary. She had been fed with meal to keep up 

 her milk until that time, when, as I wished to dry 

 her, the meal was discontinued. After which she 

 fell away in tltsh until about the time she began to 

 make bag, when I again put on her feed, in order 

 to get her into condition for another flow of milk. 

 She gained rapidly in tle.>h, and her bag got to be 

 large, aisd she had the appearance of being ready 

 to come in, an event which I expected at any hour. 

 All at once she refused her meal, and began to 

 fall away in condition, and has continued to do so 

 until now. This was about four weeks ago, and 

 she is now quite poor and feeble. Her bag has all 

 gone down, and she has no appearance of ever 

 coming in. About a week since, However, her bag 

 increased a good deal, but it has now all gone down 

 again. She has been carefully watched, and I 

 feel confident that she has made no attempt at 

 calving. 1 have no doubt the calf is alive, but how 

 long either cow or calf will live under such cir- 

 cumstances, remains to be seen. 



1 was brought up on a farm, and have been a 

 farmer on my own hook for thirty-five years, but 

 I never saw, or heard, or read of such a case as 

 this. Can you or any authority which you can 



consult with in Boston inform me of any such 

 cases or the proper remedy for a case of this kind. 



I should state here that the mother cf this cow 

 died two months since with ulceration of the womb ; 

 this organ had eight ulcers four inches iu diameter 

 and four inches thick, making the organ si«teen 

 inches long, eight inches wide and four inches 

 thick. T. L. Hakt. 



West Cormoall, Conn, 1870. 



Remarks. — We have never witnessed such a 

 case as is described above, nor heard of one like 

 it before, and arc inclined to think that if no meal 

 had been fed to the heifer, she would have done 

 well enough. It is not improbable, however, that 

 the cancerous affection of the mother may have 

 descended to the otf^pring. 



If any of our stock-raisers have knowledge in 

 the matter they will confer a favor by communi- 

 cating it to the Farmer. 



CHICKENS CAK'T HATCH. 



I have the full bred Leghorn fowls, have set four 

 hens, but when their time is up they can't hatch 

 them out, for the skin of the egg is so very thick 

 the chick cannot break it. Can you give me any 

 information what the difSculty is ? 



West Medway, Mass , 1870. Joseph Barber. 



Remarks. — We do not think we can. Evidently 

 there was something wrong somewhere in the pro- 

 cess of incubation. Fowls that "st,eal their nest's" 

 usually have "good luck" in hatcliing, if not in- 

 terfeied wiih, and such rests are often on the 

 ground. Possibly there was not sufficient mois- 

 ture in your nests to effect the proper decomposi- 

 tion of the "skin" of the esg, and we would sug- 

 gest the experiment of a nest on good clean soil 

 with a slight covering of fine Lay, straw, feathers, 

 &c. Many fowls, you know^, "feather their own 

 nests." Some of our poultry conveniences and 

 arrangements are too artificial. We consult our 

 own tastes instead cf those cf the biddios. Their 

 instincts and habits are not enough studied or 

 consulted. Our improvements on nature are some- 

 times carried too fi\r. 



Possibly, too, the hen might have been un-well, 

 either from disease or the effects of lice, and 

 lacked the ordinary degree of animal heat, or re- 

 mained off her nest too lor;g. 



"method of getting hay." 

 All farmers are concerned in this subject, and 

 are certainly under obligatior-s to those who are 

 willing to give their expeiicnce and advice. 

 Statements, however, should be explicit, lest they 

 should mislead others. 



The article in your paper from Franklin, Mass., 

 of June 4, is quite too vague in some respects. It 

 tends to results so imlikc the common experiencj 

 of farmers in Essex county, that we need to know 

 a good deal that "John" does not tell us. Thus, 

 must not the grass be dead rijje, to be tit to go in in 

 twenty-four hours, and consequently hard and 

 woody f Other writers go strongly for cutting 

 earlier than formerly. Now, if cut before fully 

 ripe, can it be sately put in the day after cutting ? 

 Again, if the farmer has a hay-makiog crew of 

 workmen, who mow only in the afternoon, how 

 are they to be employed in the forenoon ? Or 

 how can the same men "mow only in the afternoon, 



