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THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



May 



sheep husbandry. The great and growing interests 

 of wool-producers must be no longer subject to the 

 blood thirsty instincts of thes canine butchers, 

 whose worthless lives are not worth one single 

 innocent gamboling lamb. What more pitiable 

 sight than to see your fields covered with the 

 slaughtered remains of your darling flocks, the vic- 

 tims of a nocturnal raid of murderous dogs. It is 

 extraordinary that the patience of sheep-growers 

 has so long permitted this evil to prevail. 



Dogs have their uses, and there are many noble 

 animals of this species whose lives need not be 

 sacrificed. A dog of decent training aud cultivated 

 breed would scorn to be seen in company with 

 these nondescript curs, to whose low instincts the 

 evil of sheep-killing is referable. The pure blooded 

 Newfoundland, the sagacious St. Bernard, the noble 

 greyhound, and useful hunter's and the shepherd's 

 dog may still enjoy the care and protection of their 

 masters, without the prejudice to our flocks. But 

 the men who foster and multiply those detestable 

 breeds of dogs that pester the community, consume 

 the "substance of the land, " and inflict irreparable 

 damage to the husbandman, ought to be so heavily 

 taxed as to compel them to join in the extermina- 

 tion of their canine favorites. Then each man 

 might enjoy his flocks without hesitation, his sheep 

 be allowed to multiply upon a " thousand hills, " 

 aud mutton and wool become staple productions of 

 all sections of our country. — Working Farmer. 



Care of Dairy Cows. 



A writer comments as follows on one point of 

 this subject : Dairy cows should receive their food 

 at regular intervals; their milk should be drawn at 

 stated hours, and by quiet gentle milkers ; and they 

 should be treated at all times with the greatest 

 kindness. In short, every means in the power of 

 dairy farmers should be used to insure their tran- 

 quility. Harsh treatment also exerts a very injur- 

 ious action on the milk, rendering it less buuttery 

 and more liable to acidity. Respiration is a spe- 

 cies of combustion. At every breath we inhale 

 oxygen of the atmosphere, which unites with and 

 consumes the fatty matter of the food. When 

 cows are worried or driven too rapidly, they breathe 

 more frequently, inhale more oxygen, and more of 

 the buttery portion of their food is consumed, 

 leaving less to be converted into milk. 



It is well known to all experienced dairymen 

 that their cows yield more on pleasant days, or 

 when they have the run of warm well sheltered 

 pasture, than on cold, bleak pastures. — Workiiig 

 Farmer. 



Economy in Wealth 



[From the Scientific American.] 

 There is nothing which goes so far towards plac- 

 ing young people beyond the reach of poverty as 

 proper economy in the management of household 

 affairs. It matters not whether a man furnishes 

 little or much for his family, if there is a continued 

 leakage in his kitchen or parlor ; it runs away he 

 knows not how, and the demon Waste cries 

 "More !" like the horse-leach's daughter, until he 

 that provided has no more to give. It is the hus- 

 band's duty to bring into the house ; and it is the 

 duty of the wife to see that nothing goes wrongfully 



out of it. A man gets a wife to look after his af- 

 fairs, and to assist him in his journey through life ; 

 to educate and prepare their children for a proper 

 station in life, and not to dissipate his property. 

 The husband's interest should be the wife's care, 

 and her greatest ambition to carry her no further 

 than his welfare and happiness, together with that 

 of her children. This should be her sole aim, and 

 the theatre of her exploits in the bosom of her fam- 

 ily, where she may do as much toward making a 

 fortune as he can in the counting room or the work 

 shop. It is not the money earned that makes a man 

 wealthy, it is what he saves from his earnings. — 

 Self gratification in dres^s, or indulgence in appe- 

 tite, or more conipiiny than his purse can well en- 

 tertain, are equally pernicious. 



Surface Mamiring. 



The following article on surface manuring, by 

 Mr. Bright, of Philadelphia, we copy from the Gar- 

 dener's Monthly: 



It will be found especially valuable and those 

 who have been in the habit of plowing in manure 

 will do well to make a change. We have adopted 

 the practice of surface manuring for some years, 

 with satisfactory results. 



The agricultural circles are very much exercised 

 at the present moment with the question, whether 

 it is better to apply manure in a partially rotted 

 state upon the surface of the earth, weeks or months 

 before they are required for crops, or to decompose 

 them in heaps, and plow them in as soon as appli- 

 ed, at planting time. 



The best writers, both practical and theoretical, 

 in England and America, seem to incline to the 

 first-mentioned practic, in reference particularly 

 to grass and grain ; and the best efftcts are shown 

 to have resulted from this method of the applica- 

 tion of surface manure. 



The practice of top-dressing, or of surface ma- 

 nuring, has long been the favorite method employ- 

 de by all inteligent gardeners within the the circle 

 of my acquaintance. We have long ago learned 

 that masses of rich, nitrogenous manures are appli- 

 ed more successfuU (and less injuriously) by 

 top-dressing, either in solid or liquid form. 



Nature never manures her plants with crude 

 masses of concentrated fertalizing substances; but 

 imparts her stimulating and mineral food in a state 

 of the most minute division (almost infinitessimal,) 

 chiefly from the surface of the earth. No wonder 

 so many fruit trees have been killed, so many fruit 

 trees rendered barren by excess of wood, in conse- 

 quence of the too heavy manuring at their roots so 

 universally recomended by writers on gardening 

 and Horticulture. 



The great objection to surface manuring is found- 

 ed upon the probable loss of ammonia, caused by 

 exposure of decaying manures upon the surface of 

 the earth. But this loss has been shown, by sound 

 reasoning and by facts deduced from practical ex- 

 perience, to be much less than commonly appre- 

 hended, while the benfits arising from surface ma- 

 nuring, in other respects, more than counter- 

 balanc any possible loss of ammonia from this prac- 

 tice. 



In the first place, when manures are exposed 



