V,i 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:\rER. 



March 



be sterile ; while by disintegrating them they will 

 become fertile, and their ])o\ver for absorbing and 

 comliining with niaimrial snl)stances greatly in- 

 creased. Therefore it is that the same quantity of 

 manure, the same season, and the same kind of 

 land, yields far greater rctums where the land has 

 been deeply and thoroughly pulverized. 



LAMBSKTNS FOR LADIES' OVER- 

 COATS. 



In a climate like that of New England, warm 

 out^ide garments are indispensable both to com- 

 fort and health. These are too often sought in 

 fragile and very expensive materials, when articles 

 which are quite as handsome, cheaper, and stronger, 

 may be found much nearer at hand. 



The sack coats, as tlicy are called, now so f:\sh- 

 ionable, are among the most convenient, comfort- 

 able", and reasonable garments ever introduced. 

 Some of them, made up of expensive materials 

 and burdened with a pi-odigality of trimming, are 

 as costly as they are showy, and confer no more 

 warmth than one of less pretensions. A corres- 

 pondent of the New York Tribune gives the fol- 

 lowing process for preparing lambskins for clothing 

 material : — 



"Make a strong suds with hot water ; let it get 

 cold, and wash the skins, sqcezing them carefully 

 to get out all the dirt from the wool; wash the 

 soap out with clean, cold water, and cover them 

 with water for twelve hours; then hang them over 

 a pole to drain ; when partially dry, stretch them 

 carefully on a board, and when a little damp, 

 sprinkle on them an ounce each of pulverized salt- 

 petre and alum ; lay the tiesh sides together, and 

 hang in the shade for two or three days, turning 

 them over every day, to Ining the under skin up- 

 pei-most, till they are perfectly dry; then scrape 

 the flesh side till all scraps of flesh are removed ; 

 rub it with pumice or rotten stone and with the 

 hands; then lay tlie cloak i)attern down on the 

 flesh side of the skin, trace it round with a pencil, 

 and cut it out with a sharp knife; overcast the 

 edges together on the wrong side, and line with 

 quilted sillc. No coihir, fur, or trimming is worn 

 with an astrachan or lambskin cloak." 



The wool of Cotswold, Leicester, and other long- 

 wooled sheep, prc])ared in this way, and trimmed 

 with some bright material, will be found comfort- 

 able, and will greatly resemble the "Astrachan" 

 sacks which are now considered so desirable. 



of facts the Commissioners were unanimously of 

 the opinion that the disease was easily prevented, 

 provided that prompt sanitary and rAtrietive 

 measures were adopted. 



The following prescription for daily dishifection 

 of the cattle-yards was presented by Dr. Morris, 

 and received the approval of the Commissioners, 

 most of whom had tried it : — 



Ten pounds of copperas, 60 gallons water, and 

 one-half gallon 30 per cent, carbolic acid; total 

 ex])cnse 26 cents per barrel for the preparation. 

 Thu solution must be stronger if it is to be api)Iied 

 on'ly twice a week, and the composition will ac- 

 cordiiigly be thus: Ten pounds co])peras, 20 gal- 

 lons of water and one-half gallon of 30 per cent, 

 carbolic acid. 



Farmers' Clubs and other agi'icultural associa- 

 tions were requested to aid in efforts to avert the 

 evils now threatened. The following resolution 

 was adopted : — 



liesolvcd, That a cominittee be appointed to piilili?h 

 the lieHt remedies for the cure of animals afflicted by 

 contasfiotis or infectious diseases, and their proper 

 treatment when attacked by such complaints. 



CoMMissioNEKS ON Cattle DISEASE.— The Com- 

 missioners appointed l)y the Governors of several 

 States met for comparison of notes at All)any, Feb. 

 9. There were present from 



Nev3 I'orA— General Patrick, Doctors Moreau, Morris, 

 aud Lewis F. Allen. 



Maxmckmeits—Dr. E. F. Tliaycr and Levi Stock- 

 bridge. 



Connectintt—'E. II. Ilydc, T. 8. Gold, and H. L. 

 Stewart. 



Uhode A/f/nrf— Dr. E. M. Snow, Samuel W. Church, 

 and Edwin iJurling. 



Maine— H. L. Uoodale. 



Dr. Tliayer was appointed chairman, and Mr. 

 Stockbridge secretary. " 



After a full interchange of views and statement 



Great Crops of Corx. — Mr. A. J. Straiglit 

 sends us a copy of the Richland, Wis., Sentinel, in 

 which he pul)lishes a statement claiming to have 

 raised the past season on twenty-five acres an 

 average of "fully one hundred and thirty bushels 

 of shelled corn per acre." He says the corn can 

 be seen and measured at any time. So we con- 

 clude it has not been shelled yet, and he does not 

 inform us by what principle of estimation tlie 

 amount of the crop was ascertained. Farmers in 

 New England have raised over one hundred l)ush- 

 els per acre by estimation, but we never saw one 

 hundred bushels of com shelled from the ears that 

 grew on a single acre, and we M-ould willingly 

 travel one hundred miles to see that amount of 

 corn on the stalks growing on one acre of land. 



THE STOCK YARD OF AMERICA. 



Dr. Latham contributes to the Omaha Her- 

 ald, an article on cattle-raising in Texas, from 

 which we make extracts as follows : Texas is 

 triilv the cattle-hive of America. Wliile New 

 York, with her 4,000,000 inhabitants and lier 

 settlements two and a half centuries old, has 

 748,000 oxen and stock ; while Pennsylvania, 

 with more tliaii 3,000,000 people, lias *721,000 

 cattle; wliile Ohio, with 3,000,000 jjcople, 

 has 749,00(.) cattle ; wliile Illinois, witli 2,S00, 

 000 people, has 867,000 cattle; and while 

 Iowa, with 1,200,000 people, lias 686,000 

 cattle ; Texas, not 40 years of age, and with 

 her 50,000 people, had 2,000,000 head of oxen 

 and other cattle, exclusive of coavs, in 1867, 

 as shown by the returns of the county asses- 

 sors. In 1870, allowing for the dilFerence 

 between the actual number of cattle owned 

 and the number returned for taxation, there 

 must be fully 3,000,000 head of beeves and 

 stock cattle. This is exclusive of cows, which, 



