172 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



AriiiL 



Lonfj feed is not masticated tlioroughly. Cattle 

 are apt to get too iiiiuh into tlicir nioiitlis at once, 

 and so nia~iticMtii)ii is iinpurt'ort ; ami if uiaxtiavtion 

 is iuipei-foct, digestion will also be imiu'i-t'ect. 



I admit tlmt the advantages of cutting feed are 

 not .so marked in cattle as in horses. Tliat the 

 horse should have his feed cut is an almost aliso- 

 lute necessity. The practice that S(miic have, of 

 giving clear meal ami clear hay, is like giving a 

 man clear bread and clear Initter. s. 



Townisend, Mass., 1871. 



DISEASKD HENS. 



I would like to inquire through your valuable 

 paper, in regard to a disease that has shown itself 

 among my hens. They are sick for a week or two, 

 then die. I'lion exandnation I find their liver 

 three times the usual size. Can you give me any 

 cunse or cure for the disease ? A Reauek. 



Haverhill, Mass., 1871. 



Remarks. — We have experienced nothing of the 

 kind. Will some of our learned poulterers reply ? 



FKOZEX^CUEAM. — WA.SHIXG AXD ■\VORKING HITTER. 



Having been much interested in the articles on 

 liuttor making in your good paper, I venture for 

 the first time to write a word for an editor's eye. 

 After over twenty years' experience in making 

 butter in winter, I can say that freezing cream 

 does not prevent the butter conung. If I have 

 cream enough to churn, without keeping it too 

 long, I ^vouid not freeze it. But if I have but little 

 milk, I practice Mrs. Whatmore's plan of heating 

 it, then skim, i)ut the cream in the coldest iilace I 

 can tind, and when I have enough to churn place the 

 cream in a warm room until thawed, and scald the 

 churn. If the crean; is not warm enough, I put in 

 hot miik or water, and the Imtter will come. The 

 buttermilk and the Initter, too, will be perfectly 

 sweet. I would not put saltpetre in cream unless 

 I had kept it nutil it was bitttr. 



In summer, 1 wash the butter in the coldest water 

 I can get, washing all the buttermilk out, then 

 work in carefully one ounce pure salt to one pound 

 of butter, and make into pound lumps or pack into 

 stone pots imnunliatcly. If it is worked again 

 next day, you only get the salt out and spoil the 

 gi-ain of your butter, — making it greasy. 



ISpertcer, Mass., March, 1871. mks. e. s. s. 



RAISING CALVES. 



I claim to be a member of the big Fanners' Club, 

 that Vi. T., of Addison County, Vt., speaks of, and 

 I wish to make a IV'W rcnnirks about raising calves 

 and corn. ' I allow the calf to suck until tlic ndlk 

 is (it to use, anil lh>n learn it to drink. I give it 

 milk warm from the cow a few tinn's, and then a 

 tea nuide from early cut hay, with one quart of 

 new milk at a feed. Wheii it gets a little older, I 

 put in a handful of oat meal, increasing the quantity 

 as it grows older. When it gets so that it eats hay, 

 I stt>p giving nnlk, and in a few weeks stup the 

 tea. I then give it warm water with oat meal, 

 until it goes to jia^ture. As soon as the nights 

 become cool in the fall, I put the Cidves in the 

 barn. The lirst winter they are fed on good early 

 cut hay and roots, if 1 have them, ifnot, Igive 

 them a little meal. Under this system, I have 

 large, thrifty yearlings. They generally come in 

 when they are two years old, and make the best of 

 cows. I raise none but those from thoroughbred 

 bulls. 



RAISING CORN. 



After the ground is ploughed I cart on the ma- 

 nure that the cattle have made through the winter. 

 It is put in hcajis of live bushels each ; the heaps 

 being one rod apart each way. It is then spread 



and harrowed in. I usually furrow both ways. I 

 l)ut a small handful of hen manure in the hill, to 

 give the corn a start. I cultivate as soon as it is 

 uj) I'nough to see the rows. In a few days it is 

 cultivateil again. I stir the ground often \vith the 

 cultivator, and use the hand hoe as little as ]ios- 

 sil)le. As soon as the corn is glazed I cut it up at 

 the ground and stock it. In a short time it is ht to 

 harvest. I have not failed of raising large crops of 

 corn by the foregoing process. C. B. RAniiiUN. 

 West Berlin, Mass., Feb. 15, 1871. 



WHAT AILS MY MILK ? 



If will sour, I)nt it will not thicken. It is set in 

 the same place that I usually have set it in winter, 

 and I never was troubled in this way before. Can 

 the Farmer give any reason for it so doing. 



A Constant Header. 



Remarks. — The probability is that the place is 

 not qiute warm enough. Some changes may have 

 taken place, such as the absence of tire in a certain 

 room, or cracks in the closet which admit cold air 

 and ix'duce the temperature lower than it was hist 

 winter. Try a portion of the milk in a warm jjlace. 



COLORING BUTTER. — PREVENTING LICE. 



For coloring butter why not urge farmers to raise 

 large quantities of orange carrots ? These fed 

 liberally to the cows, will make butter of excellent 

 and uniform color. To put carrot juice or annotto 

 into cream expecting good butter, is what I call a 

 miserable subterfuge. 



Aiu>tlicr thing. Good haj' and meal enough will 

 kill lice oi; cattle. I have noticed that lice take 

 wonderful courage if they get on a 7^00;' animal. 

 Hence I prefer to forestall the lice l)y stall feeding 

 the animal. Dana Burbank. 



North Powfret, Vt., 1871. 



TIN SAR-BUCKETS. 



The sugar season is coming and it is thought 

 will be a hivoral)le one. Persons who have sugar 

 orchanls, should make their own sugar, and use 

 tin sai)-biickets. They are light, easily packed, 

 traus])ortcd and stored, need no soaking in the 

 sijring, kcc]) the saj) clean and pure, do not leak in 

 dry weather, and withal are cheap, costing only 

 30 to 3-5 cent.-! each. Trv them 1 Roy. 



Dairymen's Convention. — The . fifdi annual 

 meeting of the Northwestern Dairymen's conven- 

 tion met in Elgin, 111., Jan. 24. Mr. 0. S. Bli.ss of 

 Georgia, Vt., was present and was elected an hon- 

 orary meml)er of the association. In connection 

 with dairy nuitters generally, the subject of grasses 

 for pasture and hay and their culture was dis- 

 cussed. The following resolution was adopted : — 



'■'Hesolveft, That the use of all coloring matter in the 

 maiiufiicture of cheese .ind butter is expensive, usehss 

 iviij pcrhap!* injurious, and should tln-icfore be wholly 

 discontinued." 



Immense Loss of Cattle by Disease in Eng- 

 land. — It appears from tabular statements taken 

 from Morton's Alnumac, that the loss from lung 

 disease, and foot and mouth disease, in England, 

 during the last thirty years, is estimated at 5,549,- 

 780 head of cattle, and valued at/b;/r hundred and 

 eighteen million, eighty-four thousand, and two 

 hundred and seventy dollars ! 



