396 



NEW EXGLAXD FARMER. 



Aug. 



or three weeks old, •when the roots can be in- 

 creased again. At laicbirg time be sure and 

 make no charges, but feed the same amount, 

 as also the same kind of grain at each feeding. 

 I have seen very bad effects at that time from 

 ovtT-feeding, as also frcm changing from one 

 kind of grain to another. 



At lambing time, above all things be sure 

 and keep ycur sheep quiet, and it should be 

 the wcrk of one person only, who understands 

 his business, to see to thera. as the ewe some- 

 times needs a little help in lambing ; and the 

 Iamb, in its first and second nursing. — Jurian 

 Winne, in Country Gentleman. 



POOH AND GOOD TOOLS. 



Every man and team on the farm costs me 

 at least $750 a year ; and I question if one 

 farmer in a hundred duly appreciates how 

 much he loses from having poor horses, and 

 in not keeping them in vigorous health and in 

 condition to do a maximum day's work. Do 

 not many of us from having inefficient horses, 

 poor ploughs, dull harrov/s, rusty cultivators, 

 shaky wagons, and other imperfect implements 

 and machines, lose from one-third to one-half 

 the whole cost of man and team ? And be- 

 sides this, do we estimate how much we lose 

 by getting behind with our work from these 

 and similar causes ? I had an old mowing ma- 

 chine that I got with the farm that "for the 

 sake of saving it" I used for two years. Di- 

 rectly and indirectly I have no doubt that ma- 

 chine cost me $1,000 ! It cut just as well as a 

 Wood's or a Buckeye, but it was a one-wheel 

 machine with a wooden cutter-bar. We split 

 the bar and had to repair it ; then we broke 

 the k^ife and had to take it to the blacksmith 

 shop to have it welded. He "burnt" it, and 

 broke it again. Then I sent to New York for 

 a new knife. This cut off the finger of the 

 only man who knew how to operate the ma- 

 chine and laid him up for several days. The 

 consequence was, we did not get through hay- 

 ing until after wheat harvest. And you can 

 imagine what kind of hay I had to leed out 

 the next winter. Now I have two new mow- 

 ers that a man cannot break if he tries ; and 

 in looking back I can hardly believe that I was 

 ever so foolish as to waste time in tinkering an 

 old worthless machine. — J. Harris, in Am. 

 Agriculturist. 



BUBSOILINQ. 



I have seen a great deal in your paper on 

 subsoiling, but your correspondents acknowl- 

 edge that they have very little experience in 

 the matter. According to one of them the 

 farmers of Maine have only to provide them- 

 selves with a subsoil plough and go into the 

 co-operative system to renovate their ex- 

 hausted soils. Believe me, these revolutions 

 in agriculture cannot take place thus rapidly. 

 I have had considerable experience in sub- 

 soiling, and I never saw it have the slightest 

 effect either in the present crop or improve- 

 ment of the soil, unless accompanied with un- 

 derdraining, except in isolated cases. For 

 instance, the lower part of a field that has been 

 constantly under the plough accumulates, by 

 washing, a large quantity of rich soil that has 

 been thoroughly exposed to the atmosphere. 

 On such a soil the writer has seen the sub- 

 soiled land clearly defined in the next grain 

 crop. One can easily imagine that clay land 

 naturally underdrained, as underlain with plas- 

 ter, rock or coal mines, would be benefited 

 by the subsoil plough, but under ordinary cirt 

 cumstances the writer believes that the attemps 

 to renovate a worn out soil by these meane 

 without underdraining, would be both a wast- 

 of time and money. The writer has been 

 constantly employed In both draining and sub- 

 soiling for the last seven years and conse- 

 quently can speak somewhat advisedly. — Cor. 

 Maine Farmer. 



Glycerine and Yolk of Egg. — The Phil- 

 adelphia Journal of Pharmacy has made 

 known a formula for a preparation which is 

 likely to prove valuable for external use. 

 Four parts, by weight, of yolk of egg are to 

 be rubbed in a mortar with five parts of gly- 

 cerine. The compound has the consistence 

 of honey, and is unctuous like fatty substances, 

 over which it has the advantage of being easily 

 removed by water. It Is unalterable, a speci- 

 men having laid exposed to the air for three 

 years unchanged. Applied to the skin, it 

 forms a varnish which effectually prevents the 

 action of the air. These properties render 

 It serviceable for broken surfaces of all kinds, 

 particularly erysipelas and sore nipples, and 

 for cutaneous affections, of which it allays the 

 itching. 





