178 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



exposed to them at another ; that they arc fed upon 

 diy and harsh food, ijnd instead of taking it at 

 such times as tiieir nature suggests, must take it, 

 ■water inchidcd, when man prefers to present it. 



Is there not, then, some reason for supposing 

 tiiat the singular appetites noticed may result from 

 this change of their normal condition into an arti- 

 fi'jial one; into one where certain elements are 

 needed for certahi animals, which all our care and 

 all our philosophy fails to supply ? 



AVhy does the horse, when ploughing in the 

 spring, i)liingc into the furrow and eat a pint or 

 more of the fresh, mui.st earth ? AVhy the ox fre- 

 quently turn his head aside and lick the upturned 

 furi'ow with apparent relish ? What ploughman 

 has not often witnessed these things ? And yuo 

 who can tell the why and the wherefore ? 



We can only say this — cattle and horses that 

 liave much aceesK to the ground, and especially ro 

 a meliow soil, are less addicted to hoard and bone- 

 clie wing than those that are confined to the stall 

 and cowyard, and seldom tread upon the Ijare earth 

 in the winter. 



If not allowed a range heyond the barn yard, we 

 are inclined to think that a- few buckets of fresh 

 earth, thrown into a box where each animal should 

 have its tuni at it, would do more to check the 

 habit of chewing than all the nostrums of the 

 apothecary's shop. 



But, those who are wise in this matter will 

 please communicate. 



GALLED XECK OF HOUSE. 



Please inform a young fanner what will cure a 

 liorsc That has been chafed on the neck by the col- 

 lar, -^xhile in the harness. It appears in the form 

 of little boils. After standing in the barn the neck 

 becomes quite stitf. j. h. k. 



Barre, Yt., Feb. ,5, ISll. 



Remarxs. — We appi-ehend that something raore 

 than a mere harness gall or chafe is troubling your 

 horse, or th.it you liave continued the chafing 

 process longer than you ought to have done. A 

 iaw days' rest, or some change in the harness so as 

 to relieve the sore spot, with a wash of aloes and 

 myrrh, or even of some ordinary healing herbs or 

 bark, is generally sufficient to effect a cure in or- 

 dinary cases. But the 1>oils you mention indicate 

 a Ijad state of the system, which you should in- 

 quire into. 



MVCK WITH MANUUE, AN1> MUCK ALOXE. 



Having seen different oi)iTiions expressed in the 

 Faiimek with regard to the value of muck, I 

 will .^iive you a little of my experience. I have on 

 my t\irm"a plenty of nice Idack muck from one to 

 three feet deep, quite free from sticks and roots, 

 easy to drain ami handy to the barn. ^ai'Jy "i the 

 fall before rains come, I draw enough of this muuk 

 into the ttam cellar to cover it about ten inches 

 deep, and under the stable where the manure will 

 fall on it nearly two feet. The young cattle and 

 sheep run on this through the winter. In the 

 spring I draw the manure from under the stable 

 and spread it on greensward, and plough it in for 

 potatoes. 



After spring's \vork I plough up the muek and 



manure remaining in the cellar, break up the 

 chunks with an old ax, shovel it over, and mix it 

 up the 1)est I can, and let it lay until September ; 

 then use it jirineipally for toii dressing or to ])loiigli 

 in, as I like. I cannot see why it is not as good as 

 though it was all manure. It certainly brings up a 

 good crop of gi'ass. 



To prepare nuiiiure for corn, I put eight or ten 

 loads of muck in the hog yard in June, let the 

 hogs run on it t!irou.i;h tlie summer, anil in the fall 

 put in three or four loads of manure from the barn 

 yard, with some refuse straw, &c., and with three 

 or four hogs to woriv it over, it makes excellent 

 manure for corn. One year ago last spring I did 

 not have finite maimre enough to tinish a piece of 

 com, so I took some inuck ft-om the barn cellar, 

 without mixing any mannrc with it, to linish the 

 piece, putting it in the hill and hoping it would 

 prove a good siil)stitute for lueuiure. But in this 

 case I was disappointed, for I only got pig corn 

 where the nuick was, while the other ])art of the 

 field vvas gootl for the season. This is good evi- 

 dence that muck in its crude state is not very val- 

 uable. 



We had snug winter weather, with snow enough 

 for sleighing till ai>out the middle of January, 

 when our sleighing went off, and up here in Ver- 

 mont, where the snow is usuall}- two or three feet 

 deep at this time in the year, we have not enough 

 for sledding. 



Hay is spending well this winter, and the indus- 

 trious wide-awake farmer who cuts his hay early, 

 has no cause to complain but what his haj' is good 

 and spends well this year. C. M. Fisheu. 



Cabot, Vt., Jan., 1811. 



TWENTY-nVE YEAUS' EXPERIENCE WITH COWS A?fD 

 BUTTER MAKING. 



We have had twenty-five years' experience in 

 keeping cows and making butter. The first cow 

 we owned ^\■as speckled, and supposed to have been 

 part Durham. She was an extra cow, giving over 

 forty pounds of milk a day in the best of the season, 

 with only pasture feed. Her milk was as good as I 

 ever tasted. Her butter come very quickly after 

 putting the cream in the churn, but could not Ijring 

 it l)y stirring it with a paddle in the cream pot. 

 We have had in all proliably aliout twenty of her 

 descendants, and have never had any difficulty 

 about churnini,'- the cream of any of them. With 

 the cream of one of them it was only necessary to 

 stir it a few times round the pot with the paddle to 

 produce butter. But this cow gave inferior tasting 

 milk. In the best of feed she would average one 

 and a half ])ounds butter per day for several weeks 

 at a time. The cream on her milk would rise very 

 much sooner than on that of other cows, and if not 

 skimmed at the proper time there would be white 

 specks in the butter. 



Rly next cow was a large red one that gave good 

 milk, but when she was drying off I never could 

 bring the butter. I did not then know anything 

 about heating the cream. 



Next came a Ijrown cow, whose mother was a 

 prize annual. She gives good milk, but her cream 

 requires two hoiu's' time, through the year, when 

 (•hnriied alone; lint if her cream is mixed with 

 "\Vhiteface's" it comes sooner. 



"Whiteface" is only three years old, and is a de- 

 scendant of a family of great milkers. She is a 

 good one herself, and her cream requires but a few 

 minutes stirring to make butter. 



So nmch for the cows. Now for their treatment, 

 which has been as nearly alike as ]:)ossil)le. They 

 have only pnsture in summer, and hay with some 

 roots in winter. I liave set tlie milk in both cold 

 and warm rooms. 1 cannot make as good Ijutter 

 when the cream is raised in a cold room as when 

 in a warm one. 



And now let me add, for the benefit of young 



