1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:MER. 



517 



a diversity of opinion about it, that I should like 

 to get the opinions of persons who have or have not 

 used it. I have a very large heap and .it must he 

 removed. When wet it is very greasy, but when 

 dry and slacked, resembles sand more than clay or 

 mud. How thick should it be spread on the grass ? 

 "Would it be any detriment to corn land which is 

 now in pretty good heart. John Whatmoiie. 

 Bridy north Farm, Dunleith, III., 1S71. 



Remarks. — The clay dug from a cellar, of which 

 you speak, will probably prove an excellent article 

 for top-dressing grass lands, especially those of a 

 light or sandy character. We are using somethnig 

 of the kind annually for tliat purpose, and for cov- 

 ering the manure in the cellar durhig the warm 

 season. In excavating for a barn cellar, several 

 years ago, large quantities of clayey earth were 

 preserved for these uses. We find it hot only very 

 convenient but quite valuable. 



You will not be likely to spread it too thickly ; 

 but ten to twenty horse loads to the acre, added 

 annually, or once in two years, would be better 

 than a heavy coating at once. By the way, the true 

 value of a dressing of most earths which are free 

 from stones, to grass land, is not generally appre- 

 ciated. A top-dressing of yellow loam even, on a 

 compact soil, will greatly assist a gi"ass crop. All 

 soils, we suppose, contain fertilizing properties, 

 and when applied to the surface, these properties 

 are washed down among the roots and are quite 

 beneticial to the crop. Our advice is to use all j'ou 

 have, and get more if you can. 



Of course the value of all subsoils for surface 

 dressing, depends on their composition. On page 

 523 of the monthly Farmer, 1870, experiments by 

 Mr. Gregory, of Marblehead — the seedsman — are 

 given, in which the hard pan of some old, well- 

 cultivated ticlds proved exceedingly valuable as a 

 fertilizer. Such applications may serve a good pur- 

 pose as a mulch, in addition to its value as a fer- 

 tilizer. 



CANNING OR DRYING PEAS AND CORN. 



Will you please to inform me through your 

 valuable pi^per, to can green peas and corn ? I 

 tried last year and it was a complete failure. 



Mrs. Amos Taylor. 



Ashbi/, Mass., July 14, 1871. 



Remarks. — No, we cannot ; but perhaps some of 

 the good housewives M'ho read the Farmer may 

 be able to do so. But why fuss with canning when 

 the corn at least can be dried so easily ? When 

 sweet com is plenty, or if you have to buy, when 

 it becomes cheap, as it usually does late in the sea- 

 son, boil a whole kettle full as j'ou would for the 

 table, then cut the kernels from the cob, place 

 them on tins, and drj- them by the stove or in the 

 sun. The oftener it is stirred the sooner it will 

 dry. When sufficiently dry tie it up in cloth or 

 stout paper bags. When wanted for breakfast, 

 soak a mess over night in cold milk, if there is no 

 danger of souring; but if there is, heat the milk 

 before pouring it over the corn. If milk is scarce 

 soak it in water. In the morning put it over the 

 stove and warm it, buttering and salting to taste, 



and you have a luxury good enough, and probably 

 equal to that successfully put up in cans, — a matter 

 in M'hich others as well as yourself have made "a 

 complete failure." 



lame pig. 



I have a pig that wants to lie down about all the 

 time, and when it is up seems to be weak across 

 the loins ; keeps hoisting first one hind foot and 

 then the other when eating. It eats some but 

 grows very little. h. s. 



Loivell, Mass., July 10, 1S71. 



Remarks. — If you had the Vjound vohmies of 

 the monthly Farmer for the past four years, you 

 M'ould be aljle to refer to the experience and views 

 of quite a number of farmers -with this trouble. 

 Many think the disease is similar to the gout in 

 man, and that it is caused by high living and lack 

 of exercise, and advise some mild physic, with- 

 holding food and giving the animal a chance to 

 "root hog or die." If the pig cannot have the 

 "liberty of the yard," give him sods, earth, ashes, 

 coals, lime, &c., in his pen, and don't feed him 

 until he can walk up to the trough and help him- 

 self. 



This advice does not exactly agree with that of 

 the veterinaiy editor of the Western Rural, who 

 replies, in the number now on our table, in the 

 following manner to an inquiry sunilar to yours : — 



Hogs are sometimes affected with palsy or 

 paralysis of the hind limbs, and its symptoms are 

 loss of appetite, acceleration of the pulse, and 

 swelled tongue. It is generally caused by derange- 

 ment of the digestive organs, occasioned by the 

 use of unwholesome food, or by a sudden change 

 from dry to succulent food, or vice versa. The 

 disease yields to judicious treatment, such as the 

 removal of the predisposing cause ; good nourish- 

 hig food, gentle purgative medicine, a comfortable 

 pen, and nioderate exercise. Two or three weeks 

 careful treatmciit \x\\\ probably be sutHcieut to re- 

 store them to proper health. 



The difference between,us is not great, however, 

 and you are at liberty to follow either course — 

 if your pig don't get well on his own hook ; which, 

 as a sensible pig, we expect he will do before this 

 sage advice reaches you. 



FIVE cows dead — murrain. 



One of my neighbors within three weeks has lost 

 five cows ; and has now three more that will proba- 

 bly die. In the first place they cease to give milk 

 — then begins a diarrhoea, discharging blood and 

 what seem^ to be pieces of putrid Hesh. In about 

 two days they commence trembling, are feverish 

 and seem to be in intense distress. The animals 

 attacked have lived from three to eight days. 



Can this be murrain ? and will the pestilence 

 spread ? are questions asked but not answered. 

 Anj- light upon the subject through the columns of 

 the Farmer would be read with interest. 



The drought in this region, at this season of the 

 year, is unprecedented, and the hay crop is fully 

 one-third less than an average. P. Johnson. 



Shrewsbury, Rutland Co., Vt., July 11, 1871. 



Remarks. — The sj'mptoms described are similar 

 to those of Bloody Mni-rain, but the disease may 

 have a local cause. Has the drought of which you 

 speak deprived the cows of good wholesome water ? 



