1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



if there is mucli milk, draw it off clean thrice daily, 

 at first. Give little more than gruels for the first 

 two days, but increase the amount of nutriment by 

 degrees, so that she may have her full diet at the 

 end of the first week. 



The treatment of puerperal or milk fever should 

 consist of purgatives of Glaubers, Epsom or Ro- 

 ohelle salts; ice bags to the head; damp sheets 

 laid over the body and covered by dry ones; 

 sponging the surface with tepid water ; copious in- 

 jections of warm water ; and if the secretion of 

 milk has ceased, warm fomentations to the udder. 



Dr. Dadd recommends the following aperient for 

 keeping the bowels in a proper condition. Ro- 

 chelle salts, four ounces; manna, two ounces; ex- 

 tract of butternut half an ounce. Dissolve the 

 above in three quarts of boiling water, and when 

 cool, give the whole at a dose. J. ii. s. 



ASHES WITH CHIP MANURE. 



In reading your valuable paper, I find that last 

 fall I made a mistake, and now wish to know how 

 to rectify it with least loss to myself. The ti-ouble 

 is this : — Last fall I put into my hog yard some 

 hundred and fifty bushels of rotten chips, &c., and 

 then on the top of them I put some thirty or more 

 bushels of wood ashes, spading the mixture well. 



I now learn that I have made a loss on these fer- 

 tilizers, and wish to know the best method to pui'- 

 sue in their use. I designed the mixture as a dress- 

 ing for my corn field. Must I be cai-eful about 

 mixing ashes with other manures ? Will it always 

 cause an escape of the gases and a consequent loss ? 

 Please give me the desired information as the sea- 

 son for planting is at hand. S. T. Watkixs. 



Peru, Mass., April 17, 1871. 



Remarks. — If the ashes have driven off the am- 

 monia and other gases from the mixture, we know 

 of no wa}^ of enticing them back to the compost. 

 Having been thoroughly mingled with the chip 

 manure we doubt whether the ashes have caused 

 you any serious loss, and hope that the result of 

 your dressing will not disappoint your expecta- 

 tions. We submit your question to the readers of 

 the Farmer who are versed in chemical science, or 

 to those whose experiments have demonstrated the 

 reasons for the general opinion of the impolicy of 

 mixing unleached ashes with manure. 



REDirCING BONES. 



Last year I collected a lot of bones and reduced 

 them in the following manner. Put them into a 

 large arch kettle or boiler, with an equal bulk of 

 good hard wood ashes ; then poured in water 

 enough to make a thin mortar, and boiled the mass 

 from one to two hours, when the bones become 

 completely dissolved or broken down with the ex- 

 ception of a few hard shin bones. The mass was 

 shoveled into a box and allowed to remain a week 

 or so, when the remainder of the bones completely 

 disappeared. Before using, I dried it off with dry 

 loam and plaster, and ground it fine with a hoe. 

 A little was used in the hills of different crops with 

 excellent results. 



► Now, brother f^irmers, collect the old bones 

 about your premises and manipulate as above di- 

 rected,] and apply it in the hill of anything you 

 choose, remembering to kick a little soil over it be- 

 fore you drop the seed, and in the fall you will 

 find this receipt worth at least one year's subscrip- 

 tion to the New England Farmer. 



Stock of every description is looking well this 

 spring. The prospect for a good hay crop is not 

 very flattering. The new pieces were all killed by 

 the drought last summer or the freezings and thaw- 

 ings of the winter. Grass in the pastures looks 

 quite gi-een. and young sheep and weathers now 

 get their living. Hay sold at auction, April 22, for 

 #17.50 a ton ; corn, #1.03; wheat, f 1.95, but it was 

 nice seed wheat ; cows from $30 to #'60 ; and seven- 

 feet working oxen, §175; Orono potatoes are worth 

 one dollar a bushel ; Early Rose, for seed, two 

 dollars. 



I am glad the time has come when we can get 

 superphosphate for a reasonable price. I saw Geo. 

 Upton's advertisement of the Brighton Phosphate 

 in the New England Farmer, and have ordered 

 and received one-half ton. I shall make an im- 

 partial comparative trial beside other fertilizers, 

 and give the result to the readers of the Farmer, 

 without fear or favor. S. C. Pattee. 



Warner, JV. H., 1871. 



TIME TO SET OUT PEARS, QUINCES AND ROSES. 



Is the present a good time to set out pear trees ? 

 Will it do to transplant quince trees now ? When 

 is the l)cst time to set out rose bushes ? Would it 

 be ])riilitalile for a new beginner to study books on 

 gardening, and which is l)est ? Georgie. 



Dedham, Apiil 21, 1871. 



Remarks. — If you have not done it before, pear 

 trees, quince and rose bushes may be transplanted 

 the first of May, especially if they were taken up 

 before and the roots kept covered with soil. We 

 think you will find it profitable tp study books a 

 little, especially if you practice pretty hard at 

 the same tune. Cole's Fruit Book, which possi- 

 bly, you will find in your library, is a good book 

 for beginners. Thomas' Fruit Culturist, a larger 

 book, is also good. 



ENGLISH BENT — AgrosUs alba {f) 

 Enclosed find specimens of grass which by many 

 farmers here is supposed to be the orchard grass. 

 It ripens between the June grass and redtop. I 

 find it makes good hay, and that it thrives on the 

 edges of reclaimed meadows. Is it the true or- 

 chard grass ? If not, what is it ? Lewis Bemis. 

 Rock Bottom, Mass., April, 1871. 



Remarks. — It is not the orchard grass, but be- 

 longs to the same family as the redtop. Being un- 

 decided as to the name of the variety we consulted 

 C. L. Flint, Esq., author of "Grasses and Forage 

 Plants." He has little doubt that it is the Agros- 

 tis alba, or, as it is variously known among far- 

 mers, English Bent, White Bent, Dew Grass, 

 Whitetop, Bonnet Grass, &c., but from the ab- 

 sence of flowers, &c., and from the condition of the 

 specimens, which were evidently taken from a mow 

 of last year's hay, he was not entirely satisfied as 

 to its identity. 



cooking food for STOCK. 



One of the most definite and satisfiictory state- 

 ments I ever met with in print or otherwise, was one 

 recently published in the Farmer, of an experi- 

 ment on feeding twenty hogs, copied I believe from 

 a western paper. 



What I had proposed to say in reference to this 

 important subject, is that boiling corn renders it 

 equal to, or better than meal. I have many 

 times fed to my horse, corn boiled say from fifteen 

 minutes to a half an hour, or until the com is pretty 



