02 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



tlay, equal to 3 per cent of their live weight. 

 Sheep, too, require about the same amount. 



In some experiments made in consequence 

 of premiums offered by the Worcester Coun- 

 ty (Mass.) Agricultural Society on the econo- 

 my of cutting food for stock, a pair of working 

 oxen belonging to A. H. Hawes, and kept at 

 moderate work, weighing 3134 lbs., consumed 

 75.2 lbs. of hay per day; or 100 lbs. of live 

 weight consumed 24 lbs. of hay per day. A 

 pair of steers, belonging to Harvey Dodge, 

 weighing 2220 lbs., consumed 51.2 lbs. of hay 

 per day, equal to 2.84 percent, live weight. 

 Two dry cows belonging to C. B. Demond,and 

 weighing 1734 lbs., consumed 43.5 lbs. of hay 

 per day, or 2.42 per cent, of their live weight. 

 Two milch cows, belonging to W. S. Lincoln, 

 weighing 1800 lbs., consumed 43.2 lbs. of hay 

 per day , equal to 2. 4 per cent, of live weight. 



Mr. Barnum's elephant, weighing 4700 lbs., 

 consumes 100 lbs. of hay and a bushel of oats 

 per day; 100 lbs. live weight, therefore, con- 

 sume 2.12 lbs. of hay and 0.68 lbs. of oats per 

 day, or, estimating, as Boussingault does, that 

 68 lbs. of oats are equal to 100 lbs. of hay, the 

 elephant consumes 3.12 lbs. of hay per day for 

 each 100 lbs. live weight. To recapitulate, 

 therefore, 100 lbs. live weight of animal re- 



quires of hay per day, in 



Working horses 3.08 



Working oxen 2.40 



Milch cows, (Boussingault' si) 2.25 



Do do (Lincoln's) 2.40 



Young growing cattle 3.08 



Steers i 2.84 



Dry cows 2.42 



Pigs (estimated) 3.00 



Sheep 3.00 



Elephant 3.12 



There is considerable difference in these 

 figures, but certainly not as much as might be 

 expected from such various animals. The ele- 

 phant consumes the most, the working horses 

 and young cattle the next highest amount, then 

 the sheep and pigs, and what is surprising, the 

 large milch cows of Boussingault consume least 

 of all. Working oxen would appear to con- 

 sume less than horses. On the whole, these 

 figures give little indication that large animals 

 consume less in proportion to their weight than 

 smaller ones. — Country Gentleman. 



HORTICULTURAL QUACKERY. 



In the American Farmer for July, among 

 other directions under the head of " Work for 

 the Month," we find the following directions : 



" Examine your peach trees a few inches be- 

 neath the surface of the ground, and wherever 

 you find a puncture, or the exudation of gum, 

 thrust a knitting needle, or a piece of wire, or 



the point of a knife into the hole, work it about' 

 and you will kill the worm; then fill up the 

 hole with a mixture composed of two parts of 

 soft soap, one part flour, sulphur, and one part 

 salt, then paint the trunk of the tree, from 

 the point at tvhich the earth had been dug out 

 to the limbs, throw back the earth that had been 

 dug out, and sow around the trunk of each 

 tree a mixture composed of half a peck of 

 lime, half a peck of ashes, 1 pint of salt, and 

 1-8 lb. of saltpetre, and each year thereafter 

 strew around the trunk of the tree at the 

 ground, half a peck of lime." 



It is to the sentence in italics to which we 

 wish to call attention, as it involves the viola- 

 tion of an important physiological law. Very 

 frequent cases are recorded by our exchanges 

 of the destruction of trees from practices simi- 

 lar to the one here noticed. In reference to 

 this subject, we find the following in the 

 Country Gentleman of the 19th ult. : 



" Some cultivators seem not to be aware of 

 the existence of evaporating pores in the bark 

 of tre'es. We see an evidence of this want of 

 knowledge, in the frequent attempts that aie 

 made to prevent grafts from drying, by merely 

 closing the ends with wax, and other similar 

 attempts. Improper applications to the bark, 

 by closing these pores, frequently causes the 

 death of the trees : instances of which are of- 

 ten seen recorded in the papers. When we 

 see oily substances recommended as remedies 

 to prevent the attacks of insects, &c, we may ' 

 confidently predict the destruction of the trees. 

 As examples, we clip the two following state- 

 ments from exchange papers ; now on the table 

 before us :" 



Sure Cure for the Curcflio. — Mr. Jas. 

 Taylor of St. Catherines, Canada West, hav- 

 ing learned from the Tribune that a Mr. Jo- 

 seph Mather, Goshen, C. W., had found a 

 mixture of sulphur, • lard, and Scotch snuff, 

 rubbed freely upon the body and branches of 

 a plum tree, an effectual remedy against the 

 curculio, writes to that paper that he (Mr. 

 Taylor,) tried it upon some of his choicest 

 trees, and had a splendid crop of plums. But 

 mark the result : Every tree so treated, ex- 

 cept one or two young ones, is now dead ! 

 Sure remedy, that ! — Amer. Agr. 



Tar and Oil for Trees. — The Ozaukee 

 County Advertiser says : 



In the May number of the Chicago Prairie 

 Farmer, an article appears, contributed by A. 

 G. Hanford, Esq., of Waukesha, recommend- 

 ing the use of "tar and linseed oil, equal parts 

 mixed," to be applied while warm to fruit treesj 

 to destroy the "bark louse." While in Wau- 

 kesha, a few days since, we chancedto visit the 



