558 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



fended if they had been told by the judges that 

 their butter was not sweet, when its origin (sour 

 cream,) could have been declared by the sense of 

 smell alone. Mr. White's dairy woman very mod- 

 estly attributed the superior quality of the butter 

 to the breed of cows — Jerseys ; but a few moment's 

 conversation convinced us that she, rather than 

 the Jersey cows, was entitled to the credit. Were 

 Mr. White obliged to change diiry woman we 

 think it doubtful that the reputation of his Jersey 

 cows would be sustained. 



We happened to be upon the ground while they 

 were trying to make th; ir oxen pull a drag loaded 

 with pig iron. Why they were doing it was more 

 than I could discover. Big oxen and little oxen 

 all had to pull the same load, or the crowd did not 

 cheer. It could not have been to test the compara- 

 tive strength of the oxen, for the drag was on un- 

 even ground, requiring much more strength to 

 move it in some places than in others. When on 

 the summit of a little mound well grassed, it was 

 easily moved. When i i a hollow, four oxen were 

 required to draw it out. Nothing was determined, 

 so far as I could learn, but the patience of the ox 

 beneath the tortures of the goad. 



There were several addresses delivered during 

 the brief time I was there, which drew crowds of 

 attentive listeners. f. 



Mast Yard, N. H., Oct. 7, 1870. 



SELLING UAY AND STOCK TO PAT DEBTS. 



I noticed in my last week's Farmer an inquiry 

 about selling hay and stack to pay debts. Having 

 been "thiough that mill" myself, I will relate my 

 own experience for the benetit of the inquirer. In 

 ■the first; place, I would say that no one is more 

 opposed to selling hay than myself, and yet I have 

 done it to pay oti' debts. Where one is so badly 

 in debt as not to be able to put his fences in suffi- 

 cient order to keep his neighbor's cattle from feed- 

 ing his mowing, it is as bad for the land as selling 

 hay. la the year 1860, I bought a farm of C. O. 

 Perkins, Esq., containing two hundred, acres. I 

 paid a fe«v huudred dollars down to bind the bar- 

 gain, and had sixteen years to pay the balance in. 

 In 1863 I sold all my stock and hay at auction and 

 paid lor the farm. But where a man has other 

 debts beside that for the purchase money of the 

 farm, he will find that as soon as he sells, Tom, 

 Dick and Harry will demand payment, and he 

 may be worse off than he was before. Thus, cir- 

 cumstances alter cases, and every one must act 

 accordingly. Hoping that if your correspondent 

 sells off his stock and hay to wipe out his indebt- 

 edness, he will have as good luck as I did, I re- 

 main the well-wisher of every farmer who is strug- 

 gling under a heavy load of "annual interest." 

 Michael McNeenet. 



Bedcet, Mass., Oct. 17, 1870. 



CONSTRUCTING DRAINS. 



Much of what will in future be our most valu- 

 able grass lands are at present lying in a compara- 

 tively worthless state for want of suitable drainage 

 to render them available. Oa a soil suitably under- 

 drained, or of itself dry, irrigation will produce 

 great results; while on land ot itself wet, it is but 

 adding fuel to the fire. Yet we sometimes see 

 fields under irrigation which were too wet before 

 to produce enough to compensate for the labor of 

 harvest. Why is this ? 



Inasmuch as others have set forth their method 

 of constructing drains, I will cast in my mite on 

 this subject, which is becoming more generally 

 and bi.t LT understood each year. In sections 

 where stone are scarce, tile may be resorted to, 

 and will forma durable drain; but where stones 

 are plenty 1 prefer using them, thereby "kill- 



ing two birds with one stone." Brush, boards, 

 poles, &c., b*ing perishable materials, we prefer 

 stone to any of these. We know of stone drains 

 laid twenty years ago which are still as good as 

 new. Thty were constructed after this simple 

 manner. Commence the ditch so high above where 

 the water appears on the surface that it will enter , 

 at the bottom. Open, at least, three feet in depth 

 to two feet wide on the top; then fill by throwing in 

 small stone promiscuously to within fifteen inches 

 of the surface, and if flat stone can be obtained, 

 cover with these, and a little straw or leaves to 

 keep the loose dirt from sifting in between the 

 stones until it becomes settled. Cover all nicely, 

 and a durable drain is constructed. C. B. Fish. 

 Brookfield, Vt., Oct. 14, 1870. 



pipes for AatJEDtTCTS. 



In deciding what kind of pipe to use for aque- 

 ducts many things must be taken into account. 

 Having occasion to lay one some time since, I was 

 sorely perplexed to know what to use. 



An old lead pipe which was laid more than 

 thirty years before, had wasted away until it was 

 so thin as to be worthless. Indeed, the part that 

 was in the well had entirely disappeared. This 

 confirmed my impression that lead pipe might be 

 poisonous, and induced me to look for a substitute. 



I had a very small supply of water, though it 

 was lasting, and as it was to come to both house 

 and barn, and the fall was great, it must be con- 

 veyed without waste. These considerations led 

 me to discard wood, as I feared water might escape 

 at the connection, under so much pressure. 



Several patent pipes passed in review, but on in- 

 quiry I found they had not proved satisfactory. 

 At length I concluded to try either "Livermore's 

 Continuous Cement," or the tin-lined pipe, manu- 

 factured at New York. Both I supposed harm- 

 less, but fearing the cement might burst under the 

 pressure, or be so porous that water would work 

 through it, the tin-lined pipe was used. 



I have since noticed that Dr. Nichols, of the 

 Journal of Chemistry, &SSQTIS that wherever this 

 kind of pipe is joined by soldering, or there is any 

 defect in the tin lining, it will waste away rapidly 

 under strong galvanic action, and that in some in- 

 stances holes have been entirely eaten through the 

 pipe in a period of six months. He regards it as 

 even more injurious than lead. Concerning these 

 objections I know nothing, but if I were to lay 

 another should connect the ends by what plumb- 

 ers call a wiped j Mnt. In my own case the corro- 

 sion may have ueen going on more slowly. I can 

 only say it has been in use three years and for 

 aught I know is bound. 



The Livermore pipe, where it has been properly 

 laid, on a good hard bottom, below frost, and the 

 water has not been let on too soon, has, so far as 

 I know, been entirely satisfactory. h. 



New Hampshire, 1870. 



HOOVE IN CATTLE. 



A mode of cure from the Southern Cultixmtor, in 

 the February number of the Monthly Farmer, 

 brings to mind a remedy suggested by Dr. Allen, 

 (well known in his day in the western part of 

 Massachusetts,) which, it is presumed, must be 

 much less disagreeable as well as less distressing 

 to the suffering animal. 



Some forty years ago my father, seeing a 

 bloated ox released from the yoke in front of his 

 office, offered to treat the case, as no person pres- 

 ent had any means of cure to propose besides the 

 barbarous and ineffectual mettiods then usually 

 resorted to. Acting upon the suggestion of Dr. 

 Allen, he pulverized a lump of pearlash the size 

 oi a hen'a egg, dissolved in water and adminis- 



