1871. 



NEW engl.a:nd farmer. 



.391 



so, we should like to be there to see, because to 

 carry out the -word 'grand' in its true significance, 

 the fail" must be a good, old-fashioned 'cattle-show.' " 



— The Mirror and Farmer says that on opening 

 an ox belonging to Mr. R. B. Currier, Decrfield, 

 N. H., that died suddenly after having worked all 

 day, a piece of very slender steel hoop, from a 

 hoop-skirt, about four and three-fourths inches 

 long was found fast in the case that surrounds the 

 heart, and the end of it pressing against the heart 

 had worn a hole into it as large as a walnut and 

 finally caused death by opening the blood vessels. 

 It is supposed that it was raked up in the hay and 

 so taken into the stomach, and forced its way 

 through the integuments to the heart. 



— A tanner in Wisconsin has sent portions of 

 skins from different sheep which are penetrated by 

 the beards of grain in considerable numbers, and 

 says full one-half of ihe fallen pelts he collects 

 are caused by beards. He finds they affect fine 

 wool more than coarse wool sheep. He thinks 

 these beards cause a great many diseases, such as 

 coughs, rots, &c., and consequently death. He 

 thinks the beards get into the wool by the sheep 

 being around straw stacks, and says they are more 

 common in prairie than timbered lands. 



— The Gardener's Monthly says : — "The pruning 

 of fruit trees when required should be proceeded 

 with at favorable opportunities. We write %vhen 

 ^required, for in our climate more injury is done by 

 the knife than b}' the neglect to use it. Goose- 

 berries, for instance, are usually ruined by pruning. 

 In Europe, it is customary to thin out the center to 

 "let in the sun and air." Here it is the sun and air 

 that ruin them by inviting mildew, and so the 

 more shoots the better. Our countrj' farmers are 

 the best gooseberry growers, where weeds run riot, 

 and grass and gooseberries effect a close compan- 

 ionship." 



Beecher says the best thing is strong tobacco, 

 made quite moist and applied to the part. 



Rainfall in New England.— In a paper on 

 "Meteorology" read at the late meeting of the 

 Vermont Board of Agriculture at Brandon, Yt., 

 Dr. H. Cutting of Lunenburg, said that the rainfall 

 during twenty-four hours is rarely over one inch. 

 Only seven times in twentj' years in Vermont has 

 two inches of rain fallen in twenty-four hours. 

 In the South they have three times as much rain ; 

 while Vermont has three times as many rainy 

 days. On an average, the rainfall of Vermont is 

 forty-five inches, in one hundred and fifty-six 

 rainy days in a year. 



EXTKACTS AND BEPLIES. 



What he knows about Raising Corn. — Mr. 

 David Petit, of Salem, N. J., asserts in the Rural 

 New Yorker that last year he raised more than one 

 hundred and seventy-nine bushels of clear corn to 

 the acre, and says "I will add I know more than 

 two hundred bushels of shelled corn have been — 

 and can be again — grown to the acre ; and when 

 favored with an ordinary fair season a statement 

 will be made at a suitable time, properly attested 

 (as it seems to be necessary for the doubting 

 Thomases,) or to verify the assertion, with very 

 shallow cultivation, too." Great place, the "Jar- 

 sies !" And a great corn raiser that same David 

 Petit ! 



CcRE FOR Wasp and Bee Stings. — It is stated 

 that "a good absorbent" will ease the pain of stings. 

 "One of the best absorbing substances is lean 

 fresh meat. This will relieve the pain of a wasp 

 sting almost instantly, and has been recom- 

 mended for the cure of rattlesnake bites. It has 

 been used with marked effect in erysipelas." Dr. 



"gilt-edged butter. 



Will you or some of the readers of the Farmer 

 please give the process of making and packing 

 "gilt-edged butter" for market. Are there any 

 books on the sulject, and where obtained? By 

 answering these questions you will confer a favor 

 on a young farmer who wishes to make a good ar- 

 ticle or none. n. 



Clarendon, Vt., June 13, 1S71. 



Having seen your remarks on gilt-edged butter, 

 in the Farmer of June 10, I would like to inquire 

 through your paper how it is made, and what pack- 

 ages are used ? We Vermonters try, to say the 

 least, to make good butter, and think we do, but I 

 have never seen any one that could inform me what 

 gilt-edged butter is, or how it is made. 



Noble Grosvenor. 



Vergennes, Vt., June ]3, 1871. 



Remarks.— The term "gilt-edged" was probably 

 borrowed by dairymen from the vocabulary of note- 

 shavers and monej^-changers, who apply the ex- 

 pression to the best notes or securities in the mar- 

 ket, — possibly because some rich individual or firm 

 may have once used writing paper with gold leaf 

 on its edges. But neither gold edges nor superb 

 penmanship are sufficient to constitute what is 

 technically kno\\Ti as gilt-edged paper. Back of 

 any process of manufacture is the reputation of 

 the maker or signer for ability and punctuality. 

 This gives the "promise to pay" its "gilt-edge" — 

 this decides the value of the "paper," or obligation. 



The same principle has followed the transfer of 

 the expression "gilt-edged" to butter. Many peo- 

 ple are more or less tender-mouthed as to butter, 

 of the origin of which they have no knowledge ; 

 and a few are willing to pay an extra price for an 

 article flavored with the good reputation of a well- 

 known manufacturer. We have all heard of the 

 man who always put on spectacles when he ate 

 cherries, because it made them look larger ! And 

 the assurance that the butter which one eats him- 

 self, or oflFers to his friends, was made by an ac- 

 quaintance, — perhaps a fancy farmer, — who is 

 known to be scrupulously neat as well as skilful in 

 every process, has its market value. 



We were told that the highest priced butter al- 

 luded to by us a few weeks since, is made in a 



