328 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



by the fowl striving often to wipe it away on 

 its feathers. 



Poultry thus afTeeted should at once be 

 placed in a coop by themselves. Make a 

 strong brine in an old cuj), or some other 

 suitable vessel, and wash the head at least 

 twice a day, using a soft rag. Sud'er the 

 brine to go into the eye, as it seems to arrest 

 the formation of the hard tough matter al- 

 luded to. It sometimes occurs that this for- 

 mation has already taken place bcff)re the 

 disease is discovered. In such cases 1 sharpen 

 a piece of chip, and by carefully inserting it 

 between the eje and the lid remove it en- 

 tirely. If not removed by an operation, 

 though the eye become cured, there will al- 

 ways be an unsightly protuberance. If the 

 head and gills have warts on them, the scabs 

 should be removed by the finger nail, or by a 

 pocket knife, previous to washing. I do not 

 remember of ever losing but one case, under 

 this treatment, though I have often had to 

 feed them by hand for two or three days, on 

 account of blindness from swelling ; and this 

 case was so far gone when I took it in hand, 

 that ulcers had formed in the windpipe. In 

 addition to the above treatment, the nostrils 

 must be kept free of matter by pressing with 

 a rag outward along the beak. — //. D. Mc- 

 Millan, in Rural Carolinian. 



For the New Kngland Farmer. 



PLASTER— MUCK— PLOUGHING IN 

 MANURE. 



I see by an extract from the Maine Farmer 

 that "W. S. N." is looking for light on the 

 subject of Plaster on sandy soils. Perhaps I 

 can throw a few rays on his path, and perhaps 

 not, by relating a circumstance which took 

 place several years ago in this county. 



A Mr. Scott, (I do. not give true names,) 

 owned a farm of which the mowing and tillage 

 was sandy and sand, underlaid by coarse gravel 

 and stones, and rather inclined to leach. Long 

 continued cropping, without adequate returns, 

 had so exhausted the soil that twenty-five acres 

 of mowing cut no more than twelve or fifteen 

 tons of ha}' or fod<ler of rather poor ([uality. 

 So Scott said publicly, "I'll fix the old place 

 and shave some fool when I sell." Conse- 

 (juently he purchased and applied some 300 to 

 500 pounds of plaster to the acre (broadcast,) 

 the effect of whith was, when haying came, 

 there were from one to two tons to the acre, 

 of nearly clean timotliy. Scott knowing that 

 one Carter, in an adjoining town, wished to 

 purchase a farm, called upon and induced him 

 to examine his place while the crops were 

 growing. Carter, who had worked on clay 

 land, came and was in ecstacies at the idea 

 that sandy land would grow grass to that ex- 

 tent, and [)nnliased the farm, paying certainly 

 a third mon^ than its real value. Scott g-^th- 

 ered his crops, sold them off, gave possession 

 the coming spring and left. 



The first year after entering upon his new 

 farm. Carter cut perhaps 1500 jioiuids of hay 

 to the acre, and the ne.xt, 1000 pounds, or so, 

 and in four years, eight or ten tons were all 

 that could be procured on the entire premises. 



By the above 1 am of opinion that it will 

 not pay to apply plaster on sandy land and 

 sell the produce ; still, I am inclined to believe 

 that, judiciously applied and the product care- 

 fully worked uj) for manure and returned to 

 the soil, plaster will in the end benefit all dry, 

 thirsty soils, in this section. At any rate, I 

 have just about such a soil as I have described 

 and am intending to use 1500 or 2000 pounds 

 of plaster this season, on eight or ten acres. 



I should be v( ry much pleased to see double 

 the amount of agricultural matter in the Far- 

 mer, and you may consider this as my first 

 contribution towards the extra page, which I 

 hope the proprietors will be compelled to fur- 

 nish in order "to keep the docket clear." I 

 want this, if for no other reason, to drum the 

 idea into people's minds that nuick will ben- 

 efit land. I have been digging a little this 

 spring, have applied some to potatoes in the 

 hill, the rest is going into the barn-yard and 

 pig pen to be worked over. "Some of my 

 neighbors say Ihat black stuff will sour and 

 spoil your land." I tell them I am going to 

 sour the entire farm before I quit. 



Allow me to say a word in regard to ploughing 

 in manure, and I will stop. I have derived 

 great benefit by ploughing under long, strawy 

 manure on dry sandy upland, at the rate of 35 

 two-horse loads to the acre, and have obtained 

 250 bushels of potatoes per acre, where two 

 years before I did not cut over half a ton of 

 hay, and the year before that only 15 bushels 

 of India wheat. Still I should apply all fine 

 manure to the surface and harrow thoroughly, 

 if I was looking for one good crop, and then 

 part of another. Jones. 



Addison County, Vt., May, 1871. 



Heaves in Horses — A "Veterinarian" 

 writes the i?«>'aZ Neiv- Yorker: — "Heaves are 

 caused by the enlargement, and often rupture 

 of the air cells of the lungs, and are incurable ; 

 for no medical skill can rebuild or repair the 

 broken down structure of the lungs. Much 

 can be done for the relief of the animal, how- 

 ever, by the feed, which should be nutritious, 

 and lie in little compass, as bulky feed dis- 

 tends the stomach and presses upon the lungs. 

 Plenty of grain and little hay, with the dust 

 well shaken out, and a little water sprinkled 

 on, with steady work, or exercise, mIU do as 

 much to relieve the horse, and make him use- 

 ful, as anything." 



— A lady in Dorchester, N. H., during the illness 

 of her husl)and this spring, tapped their sugar or- 

 chard, cut her wood, gathered the sap, and made 

 alone four hundred pounds of sugar. 



