1870. 



2^W ENGLAND FAEMER. 



407 



Now, friend Brown, I am almost seventv-two 

 years old. An accident to my foot has laid me 

 aside and made me a great sufferer for the last six 

 months. My life is barely spared. I can just 

 hobble a little on crutches ; yet, perhaps, my expe- 

 rience may do some one some good, and if you 

 think so, this is at your disposal. If you will call 

 and look at my hay, and see how bright and cool 

 it is, and don't say it looks full of promise for a 

 full pail of milk next winter, I will take you into 

 my carriage and carry you all over the State farm 

 (i/oM open the gates for us), back to supper and 

 give jou a box of strawberries for the good wo- 

 man. Your friend, iiiLMER Bkigham. 



Westhoro', Mass., June 20, 1870. 



Remarks. — It gives us pleasure to hear from 

 our old friend again, but mingled with regrets that 

 his activity is somewhat lessened by a painful ac- 

 cident. But impeding his locomotive powers, 

 does not seem to check the activity of his mind 

 and observation. We very well remember the 

 wide meadows, and our anxiety that they should 

 become sources of profit, instead of the home of 

 frogs and almost worthless grasses. That accu- 

 mulating years may sit lightly upon our friend, 

 and a clear faith and calm serenity of mind cheer 

 the pathway of his life, is our heartfelt and sincere 

 wish. 



H0K8E FEVER, WITH DESTRUCTIVE CHANGES IN 

 THE BLOOD. 



I have a horse, which on being turned out to 

 grass, swelled up all around the throat and jaws, 

 and remained so a few days ; after which the swell- 

 ing left the throat and settled into the lower part 

 of the head, filling the mouth very full and hard, 

 so that she eats with great dilliculty. She had the 

 horse distemper last winter. Do you think it the 

 effect of that remaining in the system, or has she 

 eaten poison ? She is apparently well in every 

 other particular. She eats as much as she can, but 

 grows poor. Her eye is bright and clear. 



If you can inform me in regard to this com- 

 plaint, you will confer a great favor on a poor boy 

 who works hard and is unable to lose the value of 

 the horse. A. c. 



Woodstock, Vt., June 24, 1870. 



Remarks. — From the frequency of such cases, 

 this year, in horses that have had the distemper, 

 we incline to the opinion that the trouble in this 

 case is the result of the distemper, and we refer 

 cur correspondent to an article by Prof. Law in 

 the Farmer of May 7. In addition to which we 

 copy from Dr. Law's answer in the New York Tri- 

 bune, to an inquiry in relation to the treatment of 

 a horse which was, we judge, in about the same 

 condition of that of our Woodstock correspondent. 

 He says, when the tongue and pharynx are 

 affected, as in the above cases, it may be occasion- 

 ally sponged with a lotion of one part of muriatic 

 acid mixed in 15 parts of water, and applied by 

 means of a sponge firmly tied to the end of a 

 whalebone staff; or in place of muriatic acid, a 

 solution of an ounce of carbolic acid in a pint of 

 water may be employed. Similar lotions may be 

 applied with active friction over the swellings 

 when they appear externally. Stimulating febri- 

 fuge medicines, such as two ounces of sweet spirits 

 of niter, may be given thrice daily to aupport the 



animal in its great prostration, and for the same 

 reason one drachm of iodide of iron and four 

 drachms of powdered gentian may be given daily. 

 Half-drachm doses of carbolic acid, given twice 

 daily, have appeared to be of benefit in counter- 

 acting the zymotic changes in the blood. The 

 diet throughout must be nutritious and laxative, 

 and special manifestations or complications of the 

 disease must be combatted as they appear. Thug, 

 colic, bleeding from the nose, bowels, or kidneys 

 sweating of blood from the engorgements in the 

 skin, cracks and unhealthy wounds in the bends 

 of the joints, mortification of the skin in patches, 

 imminence of suffocation from swelling of the nos- 

 trils, engorgement of the larynx, or lungs, &c., 

 have to be promptly met in different cases." 



POKE AND HELLEBORE TOR THE CURRANT AND 

 CRANBERRY WORM. 



Mr. Ormsby, in your last issue, gives an account 

 of his successful use of a decoction of Poke root, 

 in exterminating the currant worm. We have no 

 doubt of the truth of his statement. 



In your remarks following his statement, you 

 say that "white hellebore, carbolic acid, and pre- 

 parations which have been used, are somewhat 

 costly, and some of them rather dangerous "oi- 

 son." Now I wish to inquire if the American Hel- 

 lebore, which is sold at the shops under the name of 

 White Hellebore, is not the same thing as Indian 

 Poke, Poke root, and Swamp Hellebore ? There 

 can be no doubt about this. So that whatever dan- 

 ger attaches to the use of the Hellebore, attaches 

 to the use of the Poke root. The change of name, 

 we take it, will not alter the nature of the thing. 

 A very small quantity of the powdered Hellebore 

 or Poke root is suflScient. With a half pound of 

 it, dusted in the morning, from a tin box, with a 

 lid perforated with holes, we completely expelled 

 the first crop of worms from a long row of currant 

 bushes. Now, June 25, a new crop of worms is 

 beginning to appear. We shall repeat the same 

 treatment. 



Tell "Farmer's Daughter" to try powdered Hel- 

 bore on the cranberry maggot ; or if she prefers, a 

 decoction of Poke root. r. 



Concord, Mass., June 25, 1870. 



Remarks. — The common Poke or Garget, with 

 dark-purple juicy berries — Phytolacca decaridra, — 

 which we supposed Mr. Ormsbee used, belongs to 

 a different order of plants from Indian Poke, or 

 Swamp Hellebore, — Veratrum viride, — from which 

 the American Hellebore is made. 



TOBACCO. 



The tobacco crop has seldom been in so forward 

 a state as it now is at this season. Ten years ago 

 we had many growers who contended stoutly 

 against transplanting before the middle to the 25th 

 of June, but I notice that these same growers are 

 very apt to set earlier now, if the plants can be 

 obtained in season. The present year has been a 

 very favorable one for the production of plants. 

 In fact the eff^jrt was to get the land fitted tor the 

 plants, rather than to wait for the plants. About 

 the same amount of land is planted to tobacco as 

 last year, perhaps a little more. The amount 

 grown in Western Massachusetts, is about all that 

 can be conveniently grown here, unless we con- 

 trive some way of increasing the amount of ma- 

 nure. Where commercial fertilizers are used too 

 freely, the leaf is not so good ; it does not hajadle aa 

 well,— feels haxsh and stiff. 



