AM ERIC AN AGrRICU LTURIST. 
129 
SPAYING HEIFERS AND COWS. 
This is a subject we have had in mind for 
some time past, but have had no opportunity 
to investigate it properly. There has been 
an occasional article published, but there 
seems to be no well-settled opinion, in the 
country generally, as to its practicability, or 
advantages and disadvantages. We shall be 
glad to devote some space to its discussion, 
and will be thankful for communications from 
our readers both for and against the prac¬ 
tice. 
When formerly engaged in raising various 
kinds of grain at the West, we found it prof¬ 
itable to keep from twenty to fifty hogs, or 
enough to glean the stubble fields, and our 
invariable practice was to spay all sow pigs 
not kept as breeders. Of the feasibility of 
this practice we have not the slightest doubt, 
and reasoning from analogy alone, we should 
say that the same practice would be found 
profitable if applied to other kinds of stock. 
In the Agriculturist for February, 1856, we 
published an article from Dr. Heckerman, of 
Tiffin City, Ohio, setting forth in strong 
terms the advantages of feeding young child¬ 
ren with milk from spayed cows. The rea¬ 
soning seemed to be conclusive in favor of 
this course. Since then we have made sev¬ 
eral inquiries for an operator, but have not 
succeeded in finding a responsible one in 
this vicinity who had sufficient faith in the 
practice, and his own skill, to undertake to 
spay a milch cow eight years old and war¬ 
rant the animal to live. If there be any such 
person hereabouts we shall be glad to hear 
of him, both on our own account, and in 
behalf of several others who have made in¬ 
quiries on this point. We think no one but 
a practised operator should undertake the 
work—one who has confidence enough in 
himself to warrant the animal to do well. 
We call for information, not only as to the 
general advantages and disadvantages of this 
practice for heifer calves, but also for milch 
cows of different ages. What has been the 
result of spaying cows from three to eight 
years old 1 If a cow, say six years old, be 
spayed three, six, or more months, after 
calving, will the operation be perfectly safe, 
and how long will the animal continue to 
give her full supply of milk I As this oper¬ 
ation counteracts the breeding instincts of 
the animal, so to speak, will there not be a 
gradual decline in the propensity to secrete 
milk I The following communication is to 
the point. We will find room for any others 
offered, if from those acquainted with the 
matter, and not merely expression of opin¬ 
ion : 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist : 
Spaying cattle is extensively practiced in South¬ 
western Virginia, almost all heifers, except those 
intended for breeding purposes being spayed. It 
is done either the Fall after they are calved, or 
the following Spring ; the Fall is the better time, 
as they are then more easily handled, and seem 
to do better. The plan generally pursued is this ; 
take a stick about two and a half feet in length, and 
of sufficient strength to sustain the calf; bind a 
hind leg to each end of the stick by means of leath¬ 
er straps. Then with a fence as a fulcrum, and a 
ra for a lever, with one end passed between the 
legs from beh ad, the other end pressed down, 
rind the calf e-rung almost off the ground, with 
its back against the fence—after the manner of a 
slaughtered hog—all is ready for the operation. 
The incision is made just in front of the udder, 
and of sufficient size to admit two fingers of the 
operator. Any one who can spay a hog can spay 
a calf, and a careful hand rarely ever loses one. 
It is necessary that they should be gaunted, by 
being kept from food or water for about twelve 
hours previous to the operation. 
It is customary to cut up a small piece of skin 
on the throat or under jaw, which forms a small 
teat when it heals, and- thus indicates that the an¬ 
imal has been spayed. Spayed heifers fatten 
very kindly, and other things being equal, I be¬ 
lieve they are preferred to any other beef by many. 
Mount Zephyr, Wythe Co., Va. B. W. S. 
PUMPKINS. 
“ Some pumpkins" has, in certain circles, 
passed into a proverb, as indicating a person 
of unusal merit. We accept the motto. It 
embodies the popular idea of the value of 
this rustic luxury, whose homely name may 
grate harshly on “ ears polite,” but which 
has still all the merit which the proverb im¬ 
plies. Pumpkins are excellent for pies, as 
everybody knows. Who could keep a New 
England Thanksgiving, even on the banks of 
the Mississippi, without them 1 When dried 
properly they may be kept nearly through 
the year, and they serve instead of succulent 
food when the latter cannot be had. But 
the main value of pumpkins to the farmer, is 
the use he may make of them in the Fall in 
hastening the fattening of cattle. It is a 
long-standing opinion of the oldest farmers, 
that they stimulate growth, and in the early 
stages of feeding are about the best fo®d 
that cattle can have. Such experience is a 
good guide, even if no analysis may be quo¬ 
ted, or scientific experiments tried. 
Pumpkins are of easy culture. Plant 
them with corn or potatoes, or “ stick ” 
them in the corn hills a few days afterward. 
If they die, little labor is lost. If they come’ 
forward and do well, you have a great addi¬ 
tion to your food for cattle in the Fall, at al¬ 
most no extra expense. In good seasons, 
five to ten wagon loads an acre is no uncom¬ 
mon yield. 
The conditions favorable to a good crop, 
are, new land, or turf newly turned over; 
early planting to escape the bugs ; a warm 
genial soil; a rather damp season, and good 
culture of course. 
Planted with potatoes, or by themselves, 
they have more sun, and succeed rather bet¬ 
ter than when planted among corn. But 
they have been, thus far, so capricious that 
they are rarely planted alone. If seed is to 
be saved, pumpkins should never be planted 
near squashes, melons or cucumbers. They 
mix so that you cannot predict what the 
seed will produce the next year. We know 
of but two varieties,—the common one, 
! ound everywhere; and the “ mammoth 
; pumpkin,” which sometimes weighs over 
j 300 pounds. Get the seed of some experi¬ 
enced farmer, who has a real taste for pump¬ 
kins, and you will not go far amiss. Plant 
the so 'd persevcringly, especially on new 
land or the sod, along with corn or potatoes, 
and you will have a crop, often enough to 
repay four-fold for your trouble. 
In the Fall select the fairest and ripest for 
drying, and feed the rest to cattle that arc 
being fattened, or to store cattle. Break or 
chop them into tolerably small pieces. They 
will thus be eaten easily. 
They are not reckoned good for milch 
cows, being supposed to diminish the quan¬ 
tity of milk. They may be kept in the cel¬ 
lar for Winter use. But they are easily 
frozen, and it will be the best economy to 
feed them mostly out before Winter closes 
in. 
When you have a good crop of large fair 
pumpkins, it is well to dry as many as you 
can. They will bring a good price at the 
nearest large town. There are plenty ol 
village and city people who would gladly 
buy, at almost any price, a supply of nicely 
peeled, clean, well-dried pumpkins. In but 
few places has this been offered as a 
market article. W 7 e suggest a trial of this 
the present year. If you get the villages 
and city folks to buy and try your dried 
pumpkins, instead of the little 25 cent, cans, 
both you and they will afterwards tisank us 
for these suggestions. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING OF BEES. * 
As June is the season for natural swarming, 
it is also the best time for making artificial col¬ 
onies, by driving out a portion of the bees from 
their hive. This plan has many things to re¬ 
commend it, and the bee-keeper should make up 
his mind at an early day whether to adopt it or 
not. The following are some of the advantages : 
1. It secures a regular and rapid increase of 
hives or stocks, while the non-swarming plan 
does not provide for any increase at all. 
2. It saves one the disappointment and loss ol 
time which result occasionally from an unac¬ 
countable refusal of the bees to swarm at the 
proper season. 
3. It enables the bee-keeper to choose his own 
time for swarming, instead of waiting for weeks 
to accommodate the bees, or losing them when 
he has gone to market or to church. 
4. It obviates the danger that two or more 
swarms going out the same day, will unite. 
5. It enables those who wish to sell the in¬ 
crease of their stocks, to furnish strong swarms 
at any time which may be agreed on. 
6. It is in fine a great saving of time, trouble 
and vexation. 
Precaution. —Never attempt to force a swarm 
until the drones have made their appearance. 
Usually it is best to do it only when the bees are 
collecting honey freely. 
How to do it. —We prefer altogether the pro¬ 
cess detailed by Mr. Langstroth, which is sub¬ 
stantially as follows : About the middle of u 
day when the bees are abroad in great numbeis. 
gently lift the hive to be operated upon, carefully 
turn it upside down, and put it on the ground 
several feet from its usual stand. Put over it a 
box ol as nearly the same size as possible, which 
has slats within for convenience of clustering 
and holes covered with wire-cloth for ventilation ; 
taking care to cover all the cracks and entrances 
with paper or cloth, so that not a bee can escape. 
Next, place an empty hive on the stand as a 
decoy to catch the bees returning from the fields. 
*See Notes upon Books, for a notice of Mr. Langstroth’s 
New Work, and for additional information upon the 
Italian bee we give from a work not referred to by Mr. h. 
