1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



605 



misicefolia, which had grown in a pot in his 

 hot-houf;e. The plant, little more than an 

 indi in height, was already provided with 

 fertile tlowers and also bulblets. He re- 

 marked that it was a common impression that 

 when land was j)ut down in grass the ragweed 

 disappeared, but that after an unlimited num- 

 ber of years, when the ground was broken up, 

 the weed reappeared, as supposed from the 

 development of seeds which had long re- 

 mained in a dormant condition. If such pigmy 

 plants as the one exhibited can perfect seeds, 

 it is evident that a multitude of them might 

 perpetuate themselves among the grass un- 

 noticed from year to year, until under fa- 

 vorable circumstances a crop is produced, 

 which becomes conspicuous from their size. 

 Thus their occurrence may be explained with- 

 out the necessity of an indefinite extent of 

 vitality. — Ag. Department Report. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



MAKING HAY. 



I wish you to inform me the best way to get my 

 hay. Sliall I cut it after the dew is off, and get it 

 in the same day, or cock it up and get it in the 

 next day, provided it is fair ? Please inform a 

 constant reader of your paper. 



CUTTING OFF THE TAILS OF COWS. 



I have two heifers, one two years old, the other 

 three years. The two-year-old makes four pounds 

 butter per week ; the three-j^ear-old, five pounds* 

 ])er week. They have been fed on good hay and 

 grass, and no other feed. One of my neighbors 

 tells me if I cut off their tails they will do better. 

 How nuu'h shall I cut off? They are just as they 

 were made. The flies are now beginning to trouljfe 

 them, and my man says their tails must be cut otf, 

 as they swing round in his face w'hen milking. 



I. E. M. 



Ashland, Mass., July, 1811. 



Remarks. — This and one or two other papers 

 were mislaid, or would have been attended to at an 

 earlier day. We think the practice of cutting 

 grass in the morning, drying it in the sun three or 

 four hours, then cocking and let it stand over night, 

 is a good one. If fair the next day, shake it out, — 

 not merely turn it over, — and get it in at noon or 

 immediately after. 



You have some very promising heifers, and are 

 so, probably, because they have been humanely 

 treated. As to their tails, the first inquiry we 

 would suggest is, "What were their tails made 

 for ?" The reply will undoubtedlj- occur to you. 

 First because that caudal appendage adds greatly 

 to the beauty of the animal, — as the last touches 

 of light and shade finish off and give grace and 

 strength to a beautiful picture. The second reason 

 would be that the animal should have the power 

 of driving off insects that annoy it, sometimes 

 puncturing the skin to such a painful extent as to 

 drive the poor beast to madness ! Would you de- 

 prive your pet heifers of this power ? Tie "your 

 mail's" hands behind him with an iron-grip, and 

 place hun on his back with his face iu the sun for 



a couple of hours, where the flies congregate, and 

 when he comes out of it, ask him if he would have 

 the tails of the heifers cut off? • 



We have seen a gad-fly, CEstnis bovis, attack a cow 

 in order to pierce the skin and deposit its eggs. 

 In a moment she would seem beyond all control, 

 and her extreme terror and agitation would seize 

 the whole herd. She would run and bellow to 

 some distant part of the pasture, or into the water 

 if any were near. "Such is the dread and appre- 

 hension in the cattle, for this fly," says Mr. Clarke, 

 "that I have seen one of them meet the herd, when 

 almost driven home, and turn them back, regard- 

 less of the stones, sticks and noise of the drivers; 

 nor could they be stopped till they reached their 

 accustomed retreat in the water." Should you 

 like to see one of your handsome heifers, with a 

 gad-fiy after her, and only a stump of a tail to beat 

 him off with ? No, we trust not, — humanity for 

 bids it. 



Milk the cows in the bam, when it is a little 

 dark, or tie the tail to the leg while milking, if 

 nothing better can be done, but do not nuitilate 

 the poor animal, and deprive her of the power of 

 protecting herself against the pinching and blood- 

 seeking insects that persecute her. 



HAED LOOK FOR FARMERS — CROPS IN MAINE. 



We are having rather hard times in this part of 

 the country about this time. Last summer and 

 fall it was very dry, and no grass was left on the 

 ground last fall. The past spring and first part of 

 the summer it was very dry, and the hay crop 

 must have been quite snort at the best. And now 

 the grasshoppers, like the locusts in oriental coun- 

 tries, are sweeping all before them. We have 

 never seen anything like it before. Our grass is 

 trimmed of all, or about all, of its leaves, and, in 

 many places, of its heads. Our grains have been 

 served in the same manner in many places, leaving 

 nothing but the bare straws for us. Many have 

 cut all their grain before ripe for fodder or have 

 turned their stock into it to get a part before the 

 hoppers shall get the whole, and others will be 

 obliged to do the same. As to hay, we shall get 

 about one-third of a crop in this section, on an 

 average. Men who used to cut about forty tons of 

 hay will cut this year some ten or twelve tons, 

 such as it is, and our grain is nowhere. Our p.as- 

 tures are all eaten and dried up. l. 



tiouth Sangerville, Me., July 26, 1871. 



Remakks.^A private letter from Vermont is 

 equally gloomy. The writer says "farmers in this 

 section wear a sad countenance. Taxes are enor- 

 mously high, and so is labor; hay crop about one- 

 half; pastures so dry that the grasshoppers suffer ; 

 the reports of stock and produce markets are really 

 awful; too few of us have sheep to be cheered by 

 the advance in wool ; and those who owe for farms 

 and stock recently purchased are in a sad condi- 

 tion." 



CANKER WORMS. — DUTCH COWS. 



I am a mechanic, and on a very small scale, a 

 farmer also, cutting hay enough to winter a horse 

 and a cow. I have a good young orchard, and 

 one-half of my trees blossomed full this year. I 

 can say the same of but few orchards in this 



