1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAHMER. 



321 



meat will make hens sing gratefully ; but too much 

 should not be given them. 



OLD AGE AND AGEICl'LTURE — CORN STALK FODDER. 



Please find enclosed two dollars and fifty cents 

 to pay for the Farmer another year. Mj' attach- 

 ment to it increases with my years. I am con- 

 scious that I cannot remain in the material foi'm 

 much longer, but I feel more interested in the im- 

 provement of agriculture than I did in my younger 

 days. I believe in eternal progress, and that so 

 long as I remain here in the body it is my duty to 

 improve this world all I can. if I could say any- 

 thing for the benefit of others I should be glad. 

 I think I have got more than the price of the 

 Farmer for one year, by giving heed to j'our 

 article upon preparing food for stock. I never 

 before turned my corn fodder to much account. 

 This year I have passed it through a hay cutter 

 and moistened it twenty-four hours and mixed 

 some meal with it, and find it has fully answered 

 the purpose of good English hay. Your editorials, 

 extracts and replies and market reports are almost 

 invaluable to me, as I am so decrepid that I cannot 

 get away from home, but want to know what is 

 being done iiljroad. Thomas Haskell. 



West Gloucester, Mass., May 2, 1871. 



•shoeing horses. 



I have for some time been a subscriber and 

 reader of the Farmer, and have occasionally seen 

 articles in it concerning horse shoeing; and I 

 have often thought I would like to express my 

 opinion upon the subject, but not being a news- 

 paper ^vl•iter, have not until now made an attempt 

 to do so. 



I find bj' observation that most of the black- 

 smiths shoe to suit themselves. I certainly do; 

 and have good success. I make my own nails and 

 shoes. I do not like the pressed shoe, for the 

 reason that it is too wide at the toe ; and conse- 

 quently must be narrowed too much at the heel, 

 which contracts the foot and causes corns, and is 

 apt to make the horse lame. Furthermore the 

 nail-holes are too for back toward the heel, and 

 ai'e liable to crowd. 



Now, I am inclined to believe that it is much 

 easier to widen a shoe than to narrow one. My 

 motto is, to have the shoe, when finished ready for 

 setting, so that it will balance on the two nail- 

 holes nearest the heel. When such a shoe is set, 

 the heel or quarters of the foot are left ft'ee where 

 the growth starts. 



Now about paring the hoof. It should be pared 

 at the toe mostlj-, in the majority of cases, but not 

 too thin; set the shoe well Imck, and trim otf the 

 toe. This allows the muscles free and easy action, 

 and the horse to stand square and easy, which 

 gives him a much better appearance than when 

 standing on his heels altogether, with toes turned 

 up at an angle of forty-five degrees, like some 

 horses I have seen in my travels. j. r. l. 



West Braintree, Vt., May 5, 1871. 



SALT. 



No wrong habit or injurious stimulant can be 

 abandoned without feeling at the time a reaction. 

 An account is given in tlie Farmer of April 29, of 

 the lessening the amount of milk obtained by 

 omitting the accustomed use of salt. I think it 

 was caused by the reaction, and only proves the 

 use of salt to be injurious. If we are to judge only 

 bj' objects produced when their use is suddenly 

 omitted, then I could easily prove bj' experiments 

 of only three days, that alcohol, tobacco and opium 

 are among the greatest blessings known to mortal 

 man. If the principle of reaction when we quit 

 injurious habits was well understood, it would 



warn us against the contraction of many bad 

 habits. 



I think we need the salt or some other question 

 to set the people to thinking on this subject. Was 

 the ill results of the experiment caused by the lack 

 of «ec«««ar^yoorf or the reaction from an unneces- 

 sary stimulant ? I think reaction. For salt exists 

 in the living organism in only very minute quan- 

 tities, and from the liberal amount given the ani- 

 mals, I think no deficiency could result from 

 omitting it for three days. The thirst that the use 

 of a little more than the usual quantity causes in 

 ourselves, and the acknowledged injurious effects 

 of too much for animals, suggests that possibly 

 there my be two sides to this question. 



Concord, Vt., May 5, 1871. W. V. Hardy. 



a good cow. 

 Mr. Thomas Eastman, of this place, has a three- 

 year-old native heifer that dropped a calf Decem- 

 ber 8, 1870. Since then up to tlie first of May, the 

 family of two have used all the butter and milk 

 they wanted, and there have been made and sold 

 in the same time 



103 pounds butter, at 40 cents ,$41 20 



378 quarts new milk, sold at 6 cents 22 68 



Her keeping was two quarts meal, two quarts 

 shorts, with all the good hay she could eat daily. 

 If any one can do better let them advertise the cow 

 for sale. 



Great rain in this section. Streams are high. 

 The Connecticut river is rising fast. Distant hills 

 are white with snow. Grass looks well. Some 

 have planted corn and potatoes. Old Ikon. 



West Lebanon, JV. H., May 5, 1871. 



BUGGY PEAS. 



Noticing the request of a subscriber for a remedy 

 for the pea weevil, I will give my experience; and 

 if it will help any one to get rid of the pest, I shall 

 be satisfied. Some twenty-five years since, a sister 

 sent me a package of peas from New Jersey. I 

 took a fancy to soak them in warm water for some 

 time before planting. Before planting I noticed a 

 dark spot on each pea. I examined them, and 

 found a well formed bug in every pea, which I de- 

 stroyed. I do not recollect as any of them were 

 alive. Perhaps they were drowned. I have planted 

 them about every year since, and have never had a 

 buggy pea. Again, I sent to Boston for some peas. 

 Before opening the bag, I took a dish of warm wa- 

 ter and put the mouth of the bag into it, and turned 

 the peas into the water; and the way the bugs 

 scrambled for life was a caution. I examined every 

 pea before planting. I have not had a bug from 

 them. Again, I got some peas from Rhode Island 

 which were recommended because they were not 

 much buggy. I went through with the same pro- 

 cess and have no buggy peas. A brother was tell- 

 ing an old Shaker of my experiment, when he said 

 if "the peas were put in a tight box or bfig and kept 

 over one year the bugs would die, and thus get rid 

 of them. 



If a whole neighborhood would unite to dro\vn 

 or starve the bugs they might soon lie banished. 

 If you should publish this and any should try it, 

 I should like them to give the result. 



Newport, N. II., May, 1871. H. A. Jenckes. 



complimentary. — PROFIT OF FARMING. 



Although I am not a tiller of the soil, just now, 

 I feel a deep interest in that branch of our com- 

 mon business; and I think my interest in farming 

 was greatly increased by the reading of your valu- 

 able paper, the New England Farmer. Your 

 paper has been greatly increased in size and inter- 



