1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
133 
A Curiously Deformed Woodchuck. 
In some animals, when they live to a great 
age, the teeth become unusually developed, as 
we may see in old swine and in pictures of the 
wild boar. Sometimes an old rat is caught with 
remarkably elongated teeth, but these and other 
rodents or gnawers usually get disposed of before 
they show the deformities of old age. Not so 
with the Woodchuck or Ground-hog of which 
we present a portrait. This specimen was 
caught in North Kingville, Ohio, and we are 
indebted to Mr. F. M. Bugbee for a cleverly 
drawn sketch of the animal. The lower teeth 
are one and three fourths of an inch long. The 
upper teeth are much longer-; one, as shown in 
the engraving has passed through the cheek and 
curved downwards. This tooth measures about 
four inches in length ; the companion tooth to 
this was rather shorter, and had penetrated the 
roof of the mouth. Our correspondent truly 
calls this an “ unfortunate woodchuck,” as in 
this condition it could not have found much 
enjoyment in its raids upon the cabbage-fields. 
West-Highland Cattle. 
Few people who are at all acquainted with 
England and Scotland, or who have read the 
standard literature of these countries, either in 
history or fiction, are unfamiliar with the term 
“black cattle.” They were at one time the 
common currency of Scotland and the boidei 
were received with the greatest favor. Probably 
no single race of cattle has served so useful a 
purpose in the economy of a nation as the West- 
Highland, nor has any other held its own more 
DEFORMED WOODCHUCK. 
successfully iu competition with other races 
than this. Even now it holds a high position 
in the estimation of the farmers of North-western 
Scotland, as being precisely the cattle adapted to 
their mountain pastures. Rough-haired, hardy 
in constitution, active, easily fed, it is particu¬ 
larly at home on its bleak pastures; its straight 
back, short legs, broad chest, breadth of loin, 
depth of rib, and Us square and solid form, 
render it acceptable to those who look for choice 
beef, while its fine eye, short, broad, well-bred 
Walks and Talks on the Farm.—Ho, 112. 
“Why do you recommend piling manure?” 
asks a neighbor. “What possible good can it 
do? Does it add anything to the manure? 
Does it not rather waste a good deal of am¬ 
monia ? ” 
This is too big a subject for me to talk about. 
But I may say briefly that there is no necessity 
for losing ammonia. The truth is that fresh 
manure, either liquid or solid, contains nc free 
ammonia. The ammonia is produced from the 
nitrogenous compounds by fermentation. But 
during fermentation organic acids are also pro¬ 
duced, as well as ammonia, and these acids 
unite with and hold the ammonia from escap ¬ 
ing. There need be no ammonia lost from o, 
well-managed heap of 'manure. There is no 
necessity for adding sulphuric acid or sulphate 
of iron or sulphate of lime to a manure-heap. 
The Deacon and many other good farmers 
recommend applying long, fresh, strawy, or 
“stalky” manure to clay land for the purpose 
of making it more loose and porous. There is 
some truth in this idea. But, for my part, I 
think it is far better and cheaper to make the 
land loose and mellow by thorough cultivation. 
John Johnston, who has a far heavier clay 
soil-than the Deacon, says he has found by ac¬ 
tual trial that one load of well-rotted manure 
applied as a top-dressing to grass land in the 
autumn, and the land plowed up and planted 
to corn in the spring, is worth as much as 
three loads of fresh manure plowed muRr. 
GROUP OF WEST-HIGHLAKD CATTLE. 
country” in the north of England ; the “Rob 
Roys” of those stormy times spent their time 
in “ lifting ” them, and when caught and im¬ 
prisoned hy their brother-thieves, ransomed 
themselves with a hundred head or so of them. 
In later years thousands of droves yearly found 
their way from their rocky northern pastures 
to the graziers of Southern England, and thence 
to the meat-markets of London, where they 
muzzle, and its long coat of hair of rich black, 
red, dun, or brindled color, give to it a value in 
the eyes of those who desire attractive appear¬ 
ance. Their rugged constitution fits them ex¬ 
actly to occupy our great Western plains, and as 
their cross on the Shorthorn makes the very 
best of feeding stock, and produces the very 
choicest beef, it would seem as though that was 
a position destined by circumstances for them. 
Mr. Lawes, on his clayey soil at Rothamsted, 
has grown 30 crops of wheat year after year on 
the same laud. One plot has received 14 tons 
of barn-yard manure per acre every year, and 
yet the produce from this plot is no larger and 
in fact is frequently much less than from a few 
hundred pounds of artificial manures contain¬ 
ing far less nitrogen. 
For nineteen years, 1852 to 1870, some of the 
