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184: 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



June 



[For the IllinoU Parmer.] 



Vermin on Cattle. 



Dear Fabmer: — I see you have inserted in 

 Ihe April number of the Farmer, an article on 

 the above, taken from the iV^. E. Farmer, in which 

 is given a number of remedies which are most, 

 if not all, good ; but he failed to give what I call 

 the most important and simple remedy. The 

 •writer speaks of any clean oil, well rubbed in, 

 on different parts of the animal, as being good ; 

 I coincide with him in that. He further says — 

 "The reason for covering so much surface of the 

 creature with oil or greate is tbat lice do no 

 breathe through the mouth, but through breath- 

 ing holes or pores in the body, and when they 

 eome in contact with oily substances, these pores 

 are stopped and the lice die." Pretty good; they 

 die, and their death is what we are after — the 

 modus operandi -we care less about. 



Some twe ty-five years ago I had a cow — 

 amoDg many others — that got very poor in mid 

 ■winter, and on good feed. I increased her <eed, 

 but 'twas no go. I caught the cow to mhke an 

 examination, and to my surprise found thousands 

 upon thousands of tht real, blue devils, stowed 

 awHy ia comfortable quarters on different parts 

 of the animal, but more especially about the 

 nose, they were stowed for a hand's breadth from 

 the naked skin of the nose, upwards among the 

 scattering hnirs so thick that they could not lie 

 down, but had to stand on their heads, and there 

 ■was not room for another louse. I asked myself 

 what in the world sends so many of these blue 

 scamps to the nose of the cow ? (Now, I believe 

 the theory is correct, that neat cattle, and even 

 * horses, do not perspire — unless driven or warmed 

 — on the body, except an admixture of an oily 

 matter just enough t keep the hair in good con- 

 dition, but about the nose will stand large drops 

 as limpid as the running stream.) I came to the 

 conclusion that the lice went there to drink, and 

 as laughable as that may appear, I acted upon 

 that hypothesis, and now for the remedy : Icon- 

 eluded to take them hy strategem, the same as I 

 would a re^el fort — cut off their supply of wa- 

 ter. I took common lard— any good grease would 

 do — and rubbed it all around the neck of the 

 animal the width of my hand, and to get rid of 

 them on the nosa, I took them by storm, just by 

 rubbing a 'ittle lard around the nose. In about 

 one week from that time I examined again and 

 found but very few lice ; rubbed a little more 

 lard on the neck, and in ten days more every 

 louse had evacuated, and eince that time I have 



treated them in the same manner when I found 

 them on my cattle, and always with good success. 

 Some that Lave tried it say it fails sometimes, 

 but that is for the want of a thorough applica- 

 tion. In the case of a ooalt, the main sometimes 

 allows them to pass over unless reached and well 

 greased. The application should be repeated 

 once or twice, so that the nits that may hatch 

 will meet with the same fate. Any one that trys 

 the remedy thoroughly, will find it good. 

 Yours truly, 



M. Gremmak. 

 Tishiburn, May 10, 1862. 



— There can be no question as to the value of 

 Dr. Gremman's remedy and the reasons there- 

 for. We have done the same thing when a boy, 

 and found it effective, not on colts, it is true, but 

 on young cattle. The practice of putting a 

 small cord around the neck of animals saturated 

 with anguintum is upon the hypothesis that lice 

 go to the nose and eyes of the animal to drink. 



Many of our readers will thank the Doctor for 

 his plain and simple direction, as well as the 

 reason why there is an occasional failure for want 

 of a second application. Ed. 



-«•»- 



Recipe for Making Rhubarb Wine. 



A correspondent of the Bucks County Intelli- 

 gencer, gives the following recipe for making 

 'American Champagne," or wine from the stalks 

 of the rhubarb or pie plant : 



Cui the rhubarb into small pieces, put it into 

 just enough wa cr to keep it from burning, boil 

 until quite tender, strain through a coarse cloth. 

 To one gallon of this liquid, add two gallons of 

 Wiiti r : to eflch eollnn thiismade, putfonr pounds 

 of sugar , ferment in an open vessel forty-eight 

 hours, then take off the scum, and add one pint 

 of best brandy to every four gallons, after which 

 put it into an air tight cask ; then let it remain 

 six months undisturbed when it will be ready for 

 bottling. In each bottle put one raisin, and seal 

 the bottle well. 



-••»- 



IFrom the Chicago Tribune.! 



Fine Wheat and Rye. 



R. B. Stone, Route Agent upon the Illinois 

 Centra' Railway, has furnished us with some 

 wheat from the field of W. L Pierce, Centralia, 

 Marion county, and some rye from the farm of 

 T. J. Johnson, of the same place. The stalks 

 are fully five feat and a half in height, the heads 

 full and plump and promise a splendid harvest. 

 If these are fair representations of the crop down 

 in Eirypt we may predict a season of unusua 

 plenty. 



