114. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
TApbil, 
just protruding through the skin. I have seen 
hundreds of them on the back of a single ani- 
mal ; and I have seen leather that was made of 
the skin of an animal that was afflicted with 
the warbles, that ajipeared like perforated tin. 
My opinion always has been, that such maggots 
— to say nothing of the great annoyance by the 
severe bites of the flies — are quite as injurious 
as lice. My practice always was to kill every 
Gad Fly, if possible, as soon as I would a snake. 
Then, the backs of my cattle were carded fre- 
quently, and as soon as a maggot's head ap- 
peared through the skin, it was drawn out 
with a pair of tweezers. In warm weather, 
when cattle were not handled much, we would 
thrust a needle into the heads of the maggots, 
before they had worked through the skin. Gad 
Flies are usually not very numerous ; therefore, 
if a little pains be taken to kill every one, and 
if the maggots are all destroyed before they 
leave the cattle, they will not be a source of 
serious inconvenience to them. In case maggots 
are removed in wet and cold weather, the ani- 
mals should be protected from cold storms, be- 
cause it might prove injurious, if much rain 
were to fall before the deep holes close, from 
which grubs had been withdrawn. S. E. T. 
Spaying^ Cows. 
This delicate operation may be successfully 
performed liy any man of nerve and caution. 
The best time is within si.Y weeks after calving. 
It is necessary to study carefully the relation of 
the parts, and the feeling of the ovaries in place, 
in a slaughtered animal ; and well, also, to 
practice the administration of chloroform, till 
familiarity with this desirable preliminary is 
gained. Tlie cow must be firmly held, so that 
she will stand, if possible, and should have fast- 
ed twenty-four hours. The incision is made in 
the loin, just iu front of the haunch. Such 
incisions, where the skin is loose, are made by 
first shaving off the hair, an inch or more wide, 
on tlie line of the proposed cut; then making 
a fold of the skin, at right angles to and across 
tlie middle of the shaved place, the operator 
grasps this in his left hand, on one side of the 
line, and gives into the right hand of an assist- 
ant a simihxr grip of the fold on the other side, 
leaving the shaved line exposed. Then a quick, 
strong stroke with a sharp knife across the fold 
will, if properly directed, make an opening 
through the hide of about the right length 
(five inches), clean and true. Should an artery, 
or large vein, be cut, it must be taken up 
(the end found, drawn out and tied with a 
thread), or, if a small one, twisted up so as to 
stop the flow of blood. Cutting through into 
the cavity of the abdomen, the hand is intro- 
duced, and the ovaries felt for, found, and 
worked off with a strong thumb nail. A " steel 
thumb-nail " is sometimes used to advantage. 
Care should of course be taken not to tear the 
parts, nor to make the incision too large, nor 
too low. If too low, the contents of the 
abdomen will interfere. So, also, if the intes- 
tines are full, they wdl fill up the abdominal 
cavity, and seriously embarrass the operation. 
When the ovaries are removed, the wound is 
wiped with a damp cloth, and closed with 
sutures — which are single tied stitches. Stout 
linen thread is used, well tallowed, and a curved 
sail-needle, new and bright. The sutures are 
placed an inch and a half to two inches apart, 
and tied loosely, only so as to bring the lips of 
the wound together ; they will swell so as to 
close perfectly. It is well to leave the lower 
part of the wound sufliciently open to allow 
pus to discharge freely, and always encourage 
the wound to heal from the top downward, for 
the same reason. Protect with a greased linen 
cloth laid over the woimd, and a blanket or 
sheet, according to the weather. The cow 
should be kept stabled, and her diet should be 
simple, and loosening rather than heating, con- 
sisting of roots, with cut and soaked hay, or 
cut grass in the spring, and with a warm, thin 
mash of wheat bran now and then, perhaps. 
A Cheap Stump Machine. 
Inquiries are made for " a cheap stump ma- 
chine, such as a farmer can make with the ex- 
penditure of a few dollars, and with which he 
can extract stumps that a yoke of oxen can not 
remove with a straight pull." The accompany- 
ing illustration represents a very convenient and 
efficient stump puller, for such stumps as are not 
very firmly rooted, and especially for those of 
which the small roots have decayed. It will be 
seen by the engraving that a strong . chain is 
first placed around the stump, with a rolling 
hitch, and the other end is then fastened to the 
large end of a stiff pole, 20 or 30 feet long, and 
a team is hitched to the small end, and driven 
in a circle around the stump until it is turned 
or twisted entirely loose. About the only ex- 
pense of such a stump pidler will be a strong 
chain, with two very heavy hooks. When the 
stump is a small one, let the chain be passed 
twice or thrice around it, before it is hitched to 
the pole. By cutting off a portion of the large 
lateral roots, a green tree of large size may be 
uprooted in a short time, especially where the 
principal roots do not strike very deeply. 
For such heavy work verj' strong hooks are 
required, as they will usually break first. A 
large hook of the best form which will be equal- 
ly as strong as the chain, is shown in the illus- 
tration. But very few blacksmiths know how 
to make a good hook. Procure a bar of the 
best Swede's iron, one inch thick by two and 
a half inches wide, and draw the end to as short 
a point as can be made, and admit a bending 
of the right shape ; aud make the inside circle 
of the hook just large enough to hook on to the 
middle of the chain. Bevel off the back side 
of the hook at the widest place so that it will 
be not less than three inches wide where the 
greatest strain comes. Hooks usually break a 
little beyond the middle of the turn towards the 
eye ; here they shoidd be wide aud strong. 
Orchard Grass. — {Dactylic glomerata.) 
The excellence of Orchard Grass, both for 
grazing and for hay, has not only been very 
much underrated, but a great many farmers 
do not even know the grass when they meet 
with it. In the Agriculturist for March, figures 
and descriptions were given which will enable 
any careful observer to recognize this species. 
In some localities, good farmers esteem it as 
superior to almost any other grass. Wherever 
Red Clover and Timothy flourish well. Orchard 
Grass will not fail to be most luxuriant. As 
Orchard Grass will mature about the same time 
with early Red Clover, we have always found it 
very much superior to Timothy (Phleum pratense) 
to sow with clover, whether for grazing, for 
feeding green as soon as large enough to mow, 
or for early haj'. For a number of years the 
writer has tried various kinds of grasses, in 
Central New- York, to obtain such as would 
afford early pasture, as well as excellent hay, 
and has found that Orchard Grass and early 
Red Clover, when sown in about equal quanti- 
ties, would always be fit for pasture, or for 
mowing, from eight to twelve days earlier than 
any other mixture experimented with. It is nu- 
tritious, well adapted to .all soils that will pro- 
duce good crops of cereals, and in orchards, or 
shaded fields, it is superior to any other grass 
that we are familiar with. When farmers wish 
to feed a few bullocks for early beef in spring, 
or wethers, or dry ewes, for early mutton, if 
the soil be not wet, and is in a good state of fer- 
tility, and the Orchard Grass and Red Clover 
have not been eaten off late in autumn, it will 
be fit to graze very early, besides which, two 
good crops may be mowed in a season, and it 
will also furnish much fall feed in addition. 
Another consideration in favor of Orchard 
Grass is, it will endure the drouth of summer 
with much less injury than almost any other 
kind of grass. When Timothy has ceased to 
grow, Orchard Grass will continue to send up 
new spires until the moisture of the soil ap- 
pears to be entirely exhausted. As Orchard 
Grass is disposed to grow in tussocks, if it 
be sowed alone there will often be spots of bare 
ground between the tussocks. But, if some 
Kentucky Blue Grass seed and Red Clover be 
sowed, the entire soil will soon be covered 
with a swarth turf, and the quality of the 
Orchard Grass will be much better. 
In some parts of the country, there exists 
more or less prejudice against Orchard grass, 
for both pasture and hay, on account of its 
coarseness. But this is the fault of the farmer, 
not of the grass. If the soil is kept in a good 
state of fertility, and there is not an excess of 
water in it, and Kentucky Blue Grass and Red 
Clover be sowed with it, the Orchard Grass will 
not grow so rank and coarse. 
As DxTLL AS A Hoe.— Why should the hoe 
be made the whipping post for so many blunt- 
edged scythes, axes, knives, and other tools? 
As dull as a hoe I Many a farmer works the 
year through with a hoe whose edge is thicker 
than an old-fashioned copper, when a few min- 
utes turning of the grindstone would put it in 
good working order. A sharp hoe saves time 
aud strength, and does one's work better than a 
dull one. No farmer will mow ordinarily 
longer than a day, without grinding his scythe;* 
why not always keep an edge also upon the hoe ? 
It behoves us to ever pay respect to old age, 
because we are all desirous of attaining to it 
