AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
291 
the aforesaid dose, he was dead—no mal¬ 
treatment by the M. D., for “ me ipsum ” was 
the Doctor. 
My residence in the south has been very 
near fifty years—I do not say I had had a 
residence elsewhere though—with much ex¬ 
perience among working men, black and 
white, or vice versa. Had I a family of chil¬ 
dren, large and small, I would provide fruit, 
not only as a luxury, but as a remedial 
agent. Fruit preserves the regularity of the 
bowels, it keeps them in a soluble condition, 
it provides the acids and sweets mixed in 
the very best proportions. I would do it for 
a higher purpose—that the appetite might be 
preserved from a desire for liquor ; for with 
an abundance of our luscious fruits, we can 
not desire the less—spirits that are injuri¬ 
ous. 
I have eaten ripe peaches, even with a dose 
of calomel in me, often, and yet I never ex¬ 
perienced harm. 
Would it could be that every owner of an 
acre of land would plant one or more fruit 
trees. Melacotune. 
I send you other specimens of the Alfalfa, 
alias Lucerne. Since writing to yon, I see 
others are calling Alfalfa by its proper cog¬ 
nomen. I would I had fifty acres of it. m. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
NAPAUL OR HINDOO BARLEY. 
I inclose a green head of the beardless 
barley , by which you will perceive “ that it 
is so.” Mr. J. B. Garbu, of Columbus, Pa., 
and Mr. T. E. Wetmore, of North Canon, 
Kent Co., Michigan, are the only persons I 
know of who have any of this new kind of 
grain. It was brought from the interior of 
Hindostan, by a traveler, and called “ Napaul 
Barley.” I have called it “ Hindoo Barley.” 
There are several hindrances combined to 
give me a less product than I had antici¬ 
pated—ground-worms and a cold, wet and 
backward spring, as well as a bad selection 
of ground. I shall not offer it publicly for 
sale by the bushel, or even quart. I have 
only my second crop, growing from a few 
kernels—less than a teaspoonful. 
J. w. BRIGGS. 
West Macedon, N. Y., July 9,1855. 
PHYSIC TO COLTS AT WEANING. 
Many persons are of opinion that it is un¬ 
necessary to administer phisic to foals and 
young horses; but a few observations will 
dispel that notion. After a foal has been 
weaned and deprived of its mother’s milk, 
the liver very frequently assumes an inactive 
sluggish disposition. The coat indicates this 
by its harsh unhealthy appearance, and the 
animal gives evidence of being what is 
termed hidebound. Very often the legs will 
fill from an irregularity of the circulation, 
consequent upon the state of the liver. In 
such cases one or two mild doses of aloes be¬ 
come indispensable. Diuretics are of no 
use under these circumstances, their action 
being on the kidneys and urinary passages, 
which are not the seat of disorder. For 
foals recently weaned, one drachm of aloes 
with an equal portion of ginger and of soap 
is the proper quantity ; but if that does not 
relax the bowels sufficiently, the proportion 
of aloes may be increased on the second oc¬ 
casion. A slight dose only is required, be¬ 
cause the aloes being supposed to act pri¬ 
marily on the liver, it is merely necessary 
to stimulate that organ to its healthy action. 
The only restriction necessary in the diet is 
substituting bran mashes for hay during the 
twenty-four hours preceding the time of ad¬ 
ministering the medicine, and carefully pro¬ 
viding the animal from the effects of rain; 
otherwise, if the weather be favorable, no 
danger need be apprehended from the usual 
enlargement in the paddock or field during 
the operation of the physic, while the exer¬ 
cise will assist the desired result. Foals 
which have been fondly treated when with 
their dams, and subsequently, will not occa¬ 
sion much trouble in administering the ball. 
When they are weaned a light head collar or 
halter should be put upon their heads, and, 
being accustomed to that, the ball may readi¬ 
ly be given by placing it on the end of a 
piece of whalebone or cane.— Mark-Lane Ex¬ 
press. 
THE FARM ELEPHANT: 
In reply to our inquiries, some time since, 
as to the amount of provent required per day 
by Mr. Barnum’s Farm Elephant, he has 
sent us the following interesting note, with 
a postscript respecting soaking potatoes in 
copperas water. 
THE FARM ELEPHANT-COPPER-BOTTOM POTATOES. 
Bridgeport, Ct., July 7,1855, 
Sir —In answer to your inquiry in regard 
to the diet and weight of my working ele¬ 
phant, I would state that he eats on an aver¬ 
age one bushel of oats and one hundred 
pounds of hay per day, Sundays and all! 
His weight is 4,700 pounds. He will accom¬ 
plish any kind of work set before him, and 
uses ten times better judgment than three- 
fourths of the “ help ” which I am obliged to 
employ on my farm. Above all things, he 
is not an eye-servant. Once set him at work 
piling wood, picking up stones, or any thing 
else, and you can leave him without fear of 
his playing “ old soldier ” in your absence. 
Another capital negative quality is, that he 
don’t pick up his duds and start for home 
exactly at six o’clock in the afternoon, as 
many other farmer’s “ assistants ” do. He 
is willing to labor till sundown, and even 
later, if work is pressing. On the whole, he 
is a very honorable, industrious, intelligent 
and well-behaved farmer ; nevertheless, I 
can not conscientiously recommend ele¬ 
phants as the cheapest workies on a farm. 
They can not work in cold weather, and of 
course would eat themselves up, trunk and 
all, in a single winter. Truly yours, 
P. T. Barnum. 
P. S.—Do let me improve this opportunity 
to caution my brother farmers against “ be¬ 
lieving all they read in the papers.” About 
planting time I read in a newspaper that a 
sure preventive of the potato rot was to soak 
the seed potatoes in water with an ounce of 
sulphate of copper to the gallon. I tried it, 
and it did prevent mine from rotting and 
from chitting! After they had been two 
weeks in the ground my man dug them up, 
and found them sound inside, but as dry and 
hard as a bone on the outside, with not the 
slightest prospect of their ever exhibiting any 
natural signs of life. They were perfectly 
“ copper-fastened !” Luckily I only experi¬ 
mented on a small portion of my potatoes, 
and discovered the joke in time to remedy it 
by planting potatoes in their natural state. 
New-England Farmer. p. t. b. 
To Make Corn Oysters. —I take three 
dozen eai - s of Indian corn, six eggs, lard and 
butter in equal portions for frying. The corn 
must be young and soft. Grate it from the 
cob as fine as possible, and dredge it with 
wheat flour. Beat very light the six eggs, 
and mix them gradually with the corn. Then 
let the whole be well incorporated by hard 
beating, add a spoonful of salt. 
Have ready in a frying pan, a sufficient 
quantity of lard and fresh butter mixed to¬ 
gether. Set it over the fire till it has boiled 
hot, and then put in portions of the corn 
mixture, so as to form oval cakes about three 
inches long,- and nearly an inch thick. Fry 
them brown, and send them to table hot. In 
taste they will be found to have a singular 
resemblance to fried oysters, and universally 
liked if properly done. They make nice side 
dishes at dinner, and are very good at break¬ 
fast.— Farmer and Mechanic. 
MUCK OPERATIONS. 
FARM OF HENRY L. JOHNSON. 
Perhaps no farmer in the State of Con¬ 
necticut has used swamp muck or peat more 
extensively or more successfully than the 
gentleman whose name stands at the head of 
this article. Visiting him a day or two since 
we took occasion to obtain some facts in re¬ 
lation to the amount, manner and result of 
his operations, which may not be entirely 
uninteresting. 
Mr. Johnson’s farm is situated about two 
miles above Jewett City, on the line of the 
Norwich and Worcester Railroad. His 
house is located in a most beautiful, retired 
spot, a little distance east from the old Nor¬ 
wich and Providence turnpike, and in itself 
and surroundings is a model of combined 
utility and taste. Some one has said— 
“ show me a house, and I will tell you the 
character of its inmates.” We believe the 
assertion founded in truth, and venture that 
this beautiful New-England home is but 
the natural represention of all that is noble 
in the puritan sons of the soil. 
The farm contains about 250 acres, two- 
thirds of which are under cultivation, mow¬ 
ing, plow land or pasture. The soil is a 
sandy loam, not naturally remarkable fox- 
depth or richness. Mr. J. keeps but little 
stock, and depends for his fertilizing in the 
main, upon a peat bog, or muck hole, a few 
rods from his house. His usual practice is 
in the fall to throw out from two to three 
hundred loads of this decayed vegeta¬ 
ble matter, taking it from the surface 
to the depth of from six to eight feet.— 
This is allowed to remain, or at least 
a portion of it, in the heap where first throwxx 
out, till the next spring, when it is distribu¬ 
ted over his barn-yard, hog-pen, around his 
sink-drain, and in every other place where 
there is anything in the shape of ammonia 
for it to absorb. In the fall it is carted fx-orn 
his yards to the fields which he proposes to 
plant the next season, and placed in heaps. 
In the spring following, it is dug over and 
usually spread from twenty to thirty loads 
to the acre, though sometimes put in hills. 
If spread, Mr. J. usually uses some ashes, 
guano or phosphate to start the plants. From 
fifteen to twenty aci-es are annually dressed 
in this manner. 
The average yield of this farm for the 
last eight years, as near as can be estimated, 
has been—G to 800 bushels of potatoes, 500 
bushels of oats, 250 bushels of rye, 80 bush¬ 
els of beans, and lately quite a quantity of 
turnips. 
Mr. J. employs, besides himself and son, 
two men from six to eight months in the 
year. 
In remarking upon the value of this “ de- 
posite ” Mr. J. said—“ that he could not 
carry on his farm with profit to himself, 
were he deprived of this resource for fertil¬ 
izing and we do not doubt, but that the 
muck—dug from the swamp, from two to 
three hundred loads a year, has made him a 
richer man by thousands of dollars than he 
would have been had it remained in its 
meadow bed. 
But he is xxot the only man who has such 
a “ mine ” on his farm. Almost every culti¬ 
vator of the soil, can find some kinds of 
