1871.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



699 



prompted by our curiosity and gratitude for so 

 beautiful a present, admitted that the donor was 

 his better half, and that to her was due the credit 

 for its excellence and for the tasteful style in which 

 it was put up, each pat being surmounted by a neat 

 stamp of a pineapple or a swan. The color, the clean, 

 sharp grain, and a])ove all the flavor, were such as 

 are seldom combined in butter — more is the pity. 

 It needed but a taste to show how appropriately 

 our friend had chosen her emblems for stamps — 

 for surely the sweetness of the fabled song of the 

 dying swan, and the exquisite aroma of the pine- 

 apple, were equalled in degree b}^ the fine qualities 

 of this crowning triumph of the dairy. But how- 

 ever skilful the dairy-woman, "gilt-edged butter" 

 cannot be produced without the co-operation of 

 the dairy-man, and such butter, — we will not say 

 "fancy," for this is the real — shows that Mr. Owen, 

 though an "old salt," has an aptitude for other call- 

 ings. 



But, seriously, we cannot refrain from again call- 

 ing the attention of our reatlers to the pi'ofit which 

 lies in improving the quality' of the butter which 

 comes to our market. Much of the vast amount 

 which our dealers handle is only second rate, and 

 still more of even a lower grade, while there is al- 

 ways an eager demand for a choice article, at a 

 price enough higher to reward any extra pains in 

 producing it. The difference in profit is best 

 shown by comparing the figures of the past week : 



Inferior and baker's, '^flE) 10(ij14c 



Common • • , , Ugl8c 



Fair to good 23ia27c 



Choice and L'xira 28(g34c. 



With higher rates according to customers and 

 quality. Is further comment necessary ? 



COAL ASHES. 



Can any good use be made of coal ashes on a 

 small farm ? A Reader. 



Wellesley, Mass., 1871. 



Remarks. — Yes, it will make a good hard path. 

 As a manure, however, coal ashes is not very pow- 

 erful, though there is great difference in different 

 lots, owing to the character of the coal of which 

 they were made, and to the amount of wood ashes, 

 &c., that may be mingled in the heap. Coal ashes 

 on light sands which hold neither water nor ma- 

 nure is beneficial by occupying the cavities between 

 the grains of sand, thus making the soil more re- 

 tentive ; and on stiff clay soils it is beneficial by 

 preventing too great a degree of cohesion, — some- 

 thing like the man in the story, who blowed on his 

 fingers because they were cold, and on his porridge 

 because it was hot. Coal ashes may also be used 

 as an absorbent in the privy and elsewhere. If 

 you have the Monthly Farmer for last year, turn 

 to page 211 and read an excellent article by Prof. 

 S. W. Johnson on coal ashes. 



A DOSE OF GARGET ROOT — OTHER TREATMENT. 



Will you or some of your correspondents inform 

 me what is the proper dose of garget root — 

 {^Fhytolacca decandria) — and how admuiistered to a 



cow for the cure of garget ? Is there a better rem- 

 edy known than the above for the disease ? 

 Addison County, Vt., Oct. 16, 1871. Jones. 



Remarks. — We never weighed or measured a 

 dose of poke-root, but would describe the amount 

 we use as a slip about as long as one's finger and 

 half as thick, put into a potato and fed every other 

 morning for several days. 



A feed of half a pint of beans once or twice a 

 day, has proved beneficial in some cases, as have a 

 mess of tomatoes. A free use of warm water ap- 

 plied with a large rag or sponge, wet blankets, &c., 

 is made by some. Mr. Allen, author of "Ameri- 

 can Cattle," says he has had the most gratifying 

 success in the use of luke warm water applied to 

 the udder in an oil-cloth or India rubber bag, made 

 to enclose the udder, flaring at the top, and held in 

 place by straps or cords over the back. When the 

 application is completed the udder should be' 

 slightly chafed with a dry cloth, and rubbed with 

 a little lard, and the animal kept warm and com- 

 fortable. 



If there is an inclination to constipation, he pre- 

 fers an injection of about three pints of luke warm 

 water, simple water, to the use of purgative medi- 

 cines. If the first injection does not operate in an^ 

 hour or two, it shows there is much internal heat, 

 and another should be given. 



See remarks on "Bloody Milk," in Farmer of 

 last week. 



beans for bloody milk. 



Some time since I wrote you respecting a cow of 

 Mr. Stoddard troubled with the red water. He 

 tried your prescription, but did not perceive any 

 change in the cow. Two weeks later we received 

 another prescription from a subscriber. Mr. S. 

 began to try that but while doing so the cow got to 

 some beans and ate all that she wanted. Soon 

 after there was a great alteration in her appearance, 

 and she is now to all appearance as well as ever. 

 She runs and plays, while before she could hardly 

 get to the barn. Mr. S. thinks it was the beans 

 that did the cure, but it might have been some of 

 the other medicine. Henry Miller. 



Westfield, Vt., Oct. 17, 1871. 



Remarks. — Beans are among the remedies often 

 recommended for garget, and as red water is fre- 

 quentlj' a symptom or effect of the garget, we see 

 no reason to doubt that they might be beneficial in 

 cases of red water. Messrs. Whittemore & Belcher 

 inform us that they often sell bone meal to far- 

 mers as a remedy for bloody water in cows, and 

 that instances of its beneficial effects have fre- 

 quently come to their knowledge. 



WHY IS HAY EXCLUDED FROM PREMIUM LISTS ? 



Said Mr. Scammon^ of Scarboro, Me., at a meet- 

 ing of the Maine Board of Agriculture, "The base 

 of all successful farming is the manure heap, and 

 the base of the manure heap is the farm stock ; ' 

 and, he might have added, the base of farm stock 

 is grass. But in looking through the lists of pre- 

 miums awarded by numerous agricultural socie- 

 ties, not once did we find a premium paid for hay. 

 Premiums were paid for almost everything else, 

 from a rag mat to a trotting horse. Why is it that 

 hay is ruled out of the list ? It is really the most 



