200 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



April 



times will cure. "UTiere cattle have had it two or 

 three years, it is harder to cure ; but add to the 

 above ointuu'iit one-third as much strong tobacco 

 juice and I have never known it to fail of curing. 



Two i:o(>d Cliestcr County hogs have recently 

 been killed in this town — one by Geo. Carpenter, 

 732 pounds, one by Jesse Dort, 643 pounds. 



N. 0. Hayward. 



Gilsum, N. H., March, 1871. 



KELIKVING CHOKED CATTLE. 



A COW was recently choked by a piece of cabbage 

 stump. One of the" neighbors, after pressing ex- 

 ternally on the windpipe, said the piece was lodged 

 just l)cIow the gullet. Others thought it must be 

 lower down. So a whip stock with a ball on the 

 lower end was pushed down her throat as far as 

 possible, perhaps three feet. Then a rake handle 

 was used, and entered the throat as far as a strong 

 man could force it. Not removing the obstruc- 

 tion or relieving the cow, she was killed, and the 

 piece was found where the neighbor referred to, 

 said it was. Two other cases near here were simi- 

 larly fatal. In one the gullet was supposed to be 

 the oljstruction, and it was smashed, and the pas- 

 sage to the stomach broken through by the force 

 used to push the piece down into the stomach. A 

 farmer said to me, he could relieve any ordinary 

 case of choking at once, by holding open securely 

 the mouth of the animal while his son passed his 

 hand do\m the throat and removed the olistruc- 

 tion. Is there a safer or more certain method of 

 relief ? 



WHITE SPECKS IN BUTTER. 



At the late Vermont Dairymen's meeting the 

 cause of white specks in butter was brieflj' dis- 

 cussed. As usual, when this subject is up, there 

 seemed to be a diversity of views. These specks 

 appear more common in the warmest weather of 

 summer and the coldest of winter ; caused, I have 

 thought, by the high temperature of the air, in 

 both cases, while the cream is rising. In summer 

 a warm current of air or \\ind passes over the sur- 

 face of the cream, and these specks, a cheesy sub- 

 stance, arc formed, {hoiv, science should explain) 

 and in winter, the milk is set too near the fire, and 

 a like result follows. If the milk is properly 

 cooled at or l)efore setting in summer, and the 

 right temperature of the room maintained at all 

 times, in both summer and winter, I think the 

 specks will not appear. If this view is incoiTCCt, 

 will somebody tell us what is the cause. Roy. 



HOAV LONG A WAGON WILL LAST. 



Mr. Eollin's statement about an aged wagon that 

 had been used some forty years interested me 

 much. I have worn out two new wagons in thirty 

 years and am building my third one this winter. 

 I think Mr. Rollin's \vagon must have been housed 

 most of the time. He also said he has had the tire 

 set twice on the hind wheels and once on "the fore 

 ones. I find that I wear out three sets on the fore 

 wheels where I do two on the hind ones. 



S. Denham. 



South Hanson, Mass., Feb. 18, 1871. 



MILKING COWS TILL THEY CALVE. 



A "Young Farmer" in your paper asks what is 

 the foundation for the belief that it hurts cows to 

 milk tliem up to the time of calving. From my 

 experience of fortj' years as a farmer, I would an- 

 swer, that a cow so milked will almost invariably 

 become full of garget; she will have a small and 

 inferior calf; it will cost more to keep her, and at 

 eight or nine years old she v,-ill be used up as a 

 good milker. While a cow in the prime of life, if 

 kept properly and allowed to run diy two or three 



1 months in which to recruit, will come in naturally, 



^ remain healthy, and last much longei". I have 



I known a large number of high priced cows spoilt 



j by this practice. I remember one owned by a 



neighlior, which was considered the liest cow ever 



owned in this ncighl)orhood, which was spoilt by 



so milking. At seven j'cars old, her udder became 



so full of garget that a hole rotted through on the 



side of the udder, and one-q arter turned inside 



out. D.^KlMBALL. 



Bradford, Mass., March, 1871. 



rSE OF CARROTS FOR COLORING BUTTER. 



I have used carrots for coloring butter for years 

 through the winter season, and think there is 

 nothing that excels them for making butter look 

 nice and giving it a good taste. 



For cream enough for eight or ten pounds of 

 butter, I take two or three good sized orange car- 

 rots, scrape off the outside, then wash clean and 

 grate them, then add fi-om a i)int to a quart of 

 new milk, right from the cow; then stir it, strain 

 through a cloth strainer and add the liquid to the 

 cream before churning. Mrs. J. B. Jacobs. 



Wilhhoroiifjh, A\ Y., Feb. 28, 1871. 



MILK CLOSET. 



In reply to the inquiry of "A Farmer's Wife," 

 of Heath, Mass., in Farmer of Fel). 11, I would 

 state that I have a wide door, which I leave open 

 about an inch. It has a wooden button to fasten 

 it, which I keep always tumed, so that the door 

 cannot shut close, and sometimes at night I leave 

 it wide open. Carrie. 



Worcester Co., Mass., Feb. 11, 1871. 



AGilICUIiTIJB.AL ITEMS, 

 — It is surprising in what a poor soil a weed will 

 thrive and rear its vigorous progeny. 



— The average yield of corn to the acre through- 

 out the Southern States last year was twenty-six 

 and a half bushels. 



— A Mississippi planter has raised fifty-two bales 

 of cotton from fifty acres of land by Swedish 

 labor, with which he is much pleased. 



— Twenty-three sheep of a farmer in Greenfield, 

 Mass., have had thirty-four lambs this spring — 

 eleven pairs of twins. 



— The lands of the agricultural college of Mis- 

 .souri comprise 240,000 acres Some of them will 

 be for sale or lease by the 1st of March proximo. 



—Mr. W. Bartholomew, of Sheftield, Mass., 

 worked up about 19,000 bushels of apples in his 

 cider mill this fall and winter. 



— It is stated that the location of the farm of the 

 Vermont Horse Stock Company is practically set- 

 tled in Shelbum, Chittenden County, Vt. 



— An Iowa paper tells of a smart wife who helped 

 her husband to raise seventy acres of wheat. The 

 way she helped huu was to stand in the door and 

 shake a broom at him when he sat doA^m to rest. 



— A Scotch farmer says that long experience has 

 convinced him that fdr most purposes on a farm, 

 gas lime is equal to quick lime, and it costs less 

 than half. 



— A hog raised in Illinois was recently butchered 

 by Mr. Squires, of Boston, that v/cighcd, dressed, 



