1861.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
239 
by two members of the N. Y. State Agricul¬ 
tural Society toward a purse of $50 for a show 
of three-year old steers at the next Annual Ex¬ 
hibition at Watertown, Sept. 17 to 20. It is 
proposed to give three prizes, of $25, $15, and 
$10, respectively, for the best single animals. 
Those having choice beasts of that age, may do 
well to complete the amount and enter for com¬ 
petition. The awards will be made by Judges 
appointed by the Executive Committee. 
-— 4 - ■« — --- 
Live Stock from Vermont. 
C. T. Alvord gives, in the Country Gentle¬ 
man, the following report of live stock sent from 
Vermont to Boston market during 1860: 
Cattle. Sheep and Lambs. Horses. 
January.1,272 4,590 23 
February.1,155 4,359 29 
March.1,031 3,133 87 
April. 606 3,540 94 
May. 605 3,635 44 
June. 754 4,821 86 
July.1,043 7,060 90 
August.1,039 7,755 131 
September.2,424 14,461 85 
October.2,502 9,952 — 
November.2,006 11,502 42 
December.1,830 7,434 — 
Making a total for the year of cattle, 16,267; 
of sheep and lambs, 82,242; and of horses, 711. 
Besides these, large numbers of animals are 
bought in Vermont by farmers in Massachusetts 
and Connecticut, for fattening; and many 
others, particularly horses and sheep, are sold to 
different parts of the Union for breeding pur¬ 
poses. Agriculture is emphatically the business 
of the Green Mountain State. Just now, we 
may add, she is sending stock of another char¬ 
acter to sustain her ancient reputation. Several 
regiments of her “ Boys ” have already passed 
the Agriculturist office on the way to “the war.” 
---—T --- 
What Ails, the Lambs? 
R. Whittemore communicates to the New- 
England Farmer an account of great mortality 
among the lambs of several flocks in the vicinity 
of St Albans, Vt. The ewes were in good con¬ 
dition, but many of the lambs died shortly after 
birth, and those which lived had so little 
strength that they could not stand befbre two 
days old. They appeared to be lacking in 
strength of bone, and their legs and backs grew 
crooked and deformed. One owner of a flock 
thus affected, attributed the difficulty to having 
fed the ewes with buckwheat, as another flock 
which he kept in an adjoining town, had no 
buckwheat, and the lambs were all healthy. 
However, the disease appeared in a flock fed 
with oats and wheat bran, so that the buck¬ 
wheat theory is not sustained. Perhaps some of 
our readers in that vicinity can give further in¬ 
formation on the matter. 
- •-< - > «• 
Scab in Sheep. —Youatt recommends an 
ointment for this disease, prepared of common 
mercurial ointment, and three times its weight 
of lard, for very bad cases. Where the disease 
is light, or has but just made its appearance, use 
five parts of lard to one of the ointment. The 
ingredients are well rubbed together, and the 
scabs are smeared with it. Another recipe for 
this disease is, one ounce of corrosive sublimate, 
four ounces of sal ammoniac, dissolved in four 
quarts of rain water. This is a powerful stimu¬ 
lant, and should be used with caution. Well 
fed sheep, or those that run in dry hilly pas¬ 
tures, are seldom troubled with this disease. 
-—. -—---- 
To Prevent Hens Eating Eggs. —A writer 
the Country Gentleman recommends to saw 
nail kegs in two, and tack a stout piece of cloth 
on one end of each, for a hen’s nest. They are 
nailed up in the barn or hennery, and are readi¬ 
ly found and appropriated for the purpose in¬ 
tended. The laying hen is hidden in them so 
that her companions are not on the lookout to 
devour the egg as soon as laid. Again, it is 
difficult for a hen to stand upon the keg and 
pick the egg, and the moment she hops in, the 
egg rolls against her feet, where she can not 
well reach it with her bill. He prefers the cloth 
bottom to the ordinary head with straw laid in. 
- •» --—- «■- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
A Few Blunders. 
Undertaking too much — Draining — Dahlias—A 
Troublesome Shade Tree—Bean Poles and Pea Brush. 
People don’t like to confess their faults, or 
publish their blunders: it is their good deeds 
and their successes that are proclaimed from the 
house-top. Would not a change of practice be 
sometimes beneficial ? Behold herewith an ex¬ 
ample of humility! 
1. I have blundered, for many years, in un¬ 
dertaking to do too much. I have been am¬ 
bitious of owning extensive lands, and of farm¬ 
ing on a large scale. As might have been ex¬ 
pected, what the work has gained in extent, 
it has lost in thoroughness. In the fresh ardor 
and bracing air of Spring, I have laid out too 
much work—too much for man and woman and 
beast, and then have worried and over-driven 
the whole establishment, and in the end have 
effected less than if less had been attempted. 
2. I lost many years of good farming by 
neglecting to drain lands which needed it. As 
the soil was dry enough in mid-summer, I 
imagined that it did not require draining. So 
I plowed and manured and toiled hard in 
every way except in making a few good ditches, 
and then sat down to wonder at my ill-luck. 
At length, my eyes got open, and the land got 
a thorough draining, and presto ! how the soil 
warmed up, and how the crops augmented, and 
that with less labor! Surely, I shall never 
blunder so again. 
3. I once bought a dozen of the finest dah¬ 
lia tubers that the market afforded, and, fbr the 
first year, had a grand display. Some of my 
neighbors seeing their brilliant show, begged me 
to divide a few roots with them when the next 
Spring should come around. At the appoint¬ 
ed time, I began benevolently to “divide” 
them. And this is the way it was done : I broke 
off the tubers close up to the .point of junction 
with the crown, leaving none of the neck of the 
plant on the tuber. My neighbors, ignorant as 
myself, set them out with great care; but, to 
their disappointment, got no dahlias from them. 
I also packed up a small box of the same tu¬ 
bers, and sent them by express as a present to a 
friend in a distant State. Imagine my chagrin, 
when that friend wrote, acknowledging my 
good intentions, but informing me that I had 
not sent him anything that would grow. My 
eyes were again opened, and since then, I have 
been careful to secure a bud at the collar , as well 
as a tuber for any plant. 
4. I once planted a Silver Abele on one side 
of my front yard, and a yellow Locust on the 
other. They grew rapidly, and made a fine ap¬ 
pearance for several years. At length, I had 
occasion to dig some post holes in the neighbor¬ 
hood of one of these trees, and to trench the 
ground for flower beds near the other. Lo! 
what an army of little abeles and locusts sprang 
up. This was the beginning of much trouble. 
Whenever and wherever a root of one of these 
trees was hit by a spade, it has sent up suckers, 
and oftentimes without such provocation. They 
shot up in flower-bed, foot-path, and lawn, just 
where they were not wanted. After two years 
of great impatience, the vow was made to exter¬ 
minate these trees, root and branch. The work 
cost no little time and money, but it has taught 
me not to plant such trees in laWns or near flow¬ 
er gardens, or in any ground that is cultivated. 
5. Blunder fifth respects bean poles and pea¬ 
brush. The brush ought to be cut in the Win¬ 
ter, at the time of wood chopping, and then 
stacked away under cover. But I have, for 
many years, neglected this matter until the peas 
were up, and then, nearly all the brush in the 
neighborhood has been gathered and burned in 
the farmer’s annual bonfires. And when, after 
scouring the hills and valleys, I have collected 
a little, it was left out all Summer and Winter 
to rot, whereas it should have been housed as 
soon as the peas were ripe. And my bean poles 
testify against me. They should be gathered up 
early in the Fall, and put away under cover. 
Let no one be so simple as to suppose I make 
any such blunders now-a-days! Otherwise I 
should not be so free in confession. If rightly 
improved, even mistakes may be profitable, but 
it doesn’t pay to repeat them too often. Learner. 
A Beginner’s Troubles. 
Raspberry Cidtivation—Planting Trees in Holes— 
Treatment of Osage Orange Seed. 
“ Mr. Editor : I want a little advice. Two 
years ago, I began to take your paper, and ever 
since then my zeal in gardening has increased. 
My success has, on the whole, been satisfactory, 
but now and then a failure has discouraged 
me; and I come to you for advice. 
1. Getting some plants of the Brinckle rasp¬ 
berry, and wishing them to have a nice, shel¬ 
tered place, I set them on the south side of a 
tall privet hedge, at the distance of two and a 
half feet from the hedge. But, sir, they have 
made only a weak growth, and yielded only a 
stray berry or two. What can the matter be ?” 
[Reply : The sunny side of a fence or hedge 
is not as good for raspberries as a partially 
shaded spot. The finest berries of the field are 
generally on the shady side of fences, or of 
wood-lots. But the chief difficulty in your case 
doubtless was the neighborhood of the hedge. 
The privet has large masses of hungry roots, 
which exhausted the soil, leaving little food for 
your berries.] 
“ 2. As you have always recommended trench¬ 
ing the soil, and digging deep holes for planting 
trees, I followed your advice, two years ago, in 
setting out a pear orchard. The subsoil being 
a stiff clay, I dug holes two feet deep, bringing 
the red bottom soil to the surface, and putting 
the surface soil and some good manure into the 
bottom of each hole. The trees were set out in 
the Fall. As soon as the heavy rains came on, 
the water settled in the holes where the trees 
stood, making a sort of soft pudding, in which 
the trees swayed about at pleasure. In the 
Winter, when the ground froze, a sort of tunnel 
was formed about the stem of each tree, into 
which Jack Frost came and went as he liked. 
Next Spring, about half the trees were dead, 
and the remainder are now only just alive. 
Now, as all this came from trying to be 
thorough, and following your advice, what 
have you got to say ?” 
[Reply. Are you sure the Agriculturist advised 
you to dig holes for trees in that way ? No, sir. 
Any body ought to know that if he sunk such 
pits in stiff clay or hard pan, they would hold 
water like a bucket. If you buried your good 
soil at the bottom, and put the tender roots of 
