1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAIi:VIER. 



363 



The object in using rich earth is two-fold ; it 

 both retains moisture and acts as a fertilizer. 

 All kinds of plants may be set in this way. — 

 Western liural. 



JULY. 



BY JOHN CLARE. 



Loud is the Summer's busy song, 



The smallcKt breeze can ttiid a tongue, 



While insects of each tiny size 



Grow teasing with their melodies, 



Till noon burns with its blistering breath 



Around, and day lies still as death. 



The busy noise of man and brute 

 Is on a sudden lost and mute; 

 Even the brook that leaps along, 

 Seems weary of its bubbling song, 

 And, so soft its waters creep. 

 Tired silence sinks in sounder sleep ; 



The cricket on its bank is dumb; 

 The very flies forget to hum ; 

 And, save the wagon rocking round. 

 The landscape sleeps without a sound. 

 The breeze is stC'Pped, the lazy bough 

 Hath not a leaf that danceth now ; 



The taller grass upon the hill, 



And spider's threads, are standing still; 



The feathers, dropped from moorhen's wins 



Which to the water's surface cling. 



Are steadfast, and as heavy seem 



As stones beneath them in the stream; 



Hawkweed and groundsel's farny downs 



UiirutBed keep their seedy crowns; 



And in the over-heated air 



Not one light thing is floating there, 



Save that to the earnest eye 



The restless heat seems twittering by. 



Noon swoons beneath the heat it made, 

 And flowers e'en within the shade; 

 Until the sun slopes in the West, 

 Like weary traveler, glad to rest 

 On pillowed clouds of many hues. 

 Then Nature's voice its joy renews, 



And checkered field and grassy plain 

 Hum with their Summer songs again, 

 A requiem to the day's decline, 

 Whose setting sunbeams coolly shine 

 As welcome to day's feeble powers 

 As falling dews to thirsty flowers. 



BREAKING HEIFERS TO MILKING-. 

 Frye, Jr., -writes as follows to the Lewiston, 

 Me., Journal : — 



All domestic animals require some sort of 

 training- or education. The steer may require 

 more training than the heifer, because the uses 

 are varied to which he has to become accus- 

 tomed to make his labor "skilled" and practi- 

 cable. While the cow may not need to be 

 schooled in these higher branches of practical 

 studies, she should be taught that to stand 

 quietly while being milked, and to "hoist" the 

 right foot and place it back of the other, are 

 virtues to be commended and rewarded by 

 kindness, at least. No animal should ever 

 be allowed to pass their first winter without 

 being thoroughly "halter broke," so they can 

 be led by the horn, or with a rope around the 

 neck, gently and peaceably. Doing this when 

 they are young and easily handled, it saves a 



vast amount of subsequent hard work and per- 

 plexity, and, may be, the animals many kicks 

 and blows. There is a great difference in 

 teachers in this kind of science as well as in 

 the four-footed pupils. Some teachers I have 

 seen did not evince half the sense as the cattle 

 they undertook to train. On the other hand, 

 there are some animals so perverse or non com- 

 pos mentis, that it seems almost impossible to 

 teach them the first rtidiments of good man- 

 ners. Bui, certainly, in most cases there is 

 nothing gained by letting them grow up in 

 these imcouth ways, thinking to take them in 

 band at a later day. Train ivliile young 

 should be the motto of the barnyard. 



INIany an otherwise excellent milker is 

 spoiled for life by harsh treatment. It is 

 better to govern by gentleness and kind treat- 

 ment than by harsh means and fear of the 

 master. A heifer if well broken to the milk- 

 pail, is thereby made worth at least twenty- 

 five per cent, more, — an increase which will 

 pay for much painstaking. The handling of 

 the udder and the process of milking is a 

 very unusual proceeding, and in addition, the 

 teats are often tender, and the bag caked and 

 inflamed so as to be painful under even the 

 gentlest touch. How often when in such a 

 condition from pain and apprehended danger, 

 she almost unconsciously lifts her foot and 

 knocks over the milk-pail, and perhaps hits 

 a well-deserved "thwack" upon the shins of 

 the bungler upon the milking stool, and then 

 kicks and bruises are freely interchanged be- 

 tween the frightened brute and the irritated 

 master. 



First teach all your animals to love rather 

 than fear you. Learn them to welcome your 

 coining, by presents of a nubbin of corn, an 

 apple, a little salt, &c., on all occasions when 

 practicable. Handle them freely, and get 

 them accustomed to your touch, by rubbing 

 and scratching them. Heifers thus accustomed 

 to being handled, will soon come to seemmgly 

 like the operation of milking. I once had a 

 heifer that from having exceedingly sore teats, 

 contracted the habit of running away from me, 

 when m'lked in the yard, before the milk was 

 half drawn. All my endeavors to break up 

 the habit failed till, as a last resort, when she 

 started away from me, I caught up the pail 

 with one hand and seized one hind leg with 

 the other, and held on firmly. After hopping 

 a few steps, and some pretty severe kicks and 

 jerks to free herself were made, all to no pur- 

 pose, she "accepted the situation," and calmly 

 submitted to the process till milked clean. 

 Two or three such lessons cured her entirely. 

 Such usage would probably have frightened 

 her and made the habit worse had she been 

 unaccustomed to being petted and handled. 

 But a few lessons gave her an understanding 

 of what was required, and subsequently any 

 attempt of a repetition of the misdemeanor 

 would be stiddenly checked by merely placing 

 my hand gently upon her leg. 



