226 
GREAT MILKING COWS. 
vouring the carcass, drinking the blood, the 
only part agreeable to his palate. When 
pressed with hunger, he destroys every other 
creature he can master, and it is believed that, 
during the year, he consumes, at least, thirty 
times his own weight of animal food, which, in 
cultivated countries, renders his injurious char¬ 
acter more apparent, from the large number of 
domestic animals he necessarily must slay. In 
winter, when the ground is covered with snow, 
and he finds his prey to be scarce in his nat¬ 
ural haunts, he becomes exceedingly bold, in¬ 
trudes into the sheep folds and pigsties, and 
even into villages or populous towns, in quest 
of food. 
In several states of the Union, laws have 
been enacted and bounties offered for the des¬ 
truction of wolves, varying in amount according 
to the age and sex of those killed. 
Hence, when considerable havoc has been 
made among sheep and calves, a general turn¬ 
out of a neighborhood is summoned, who pro¬ 
ceed to the wood or swamp where the wolves 
are supposed to harbor by day, armed with 
guns, pitchforks, or clubs. They then separate, 
surround the swamp, and travel towards the 
centre, lessening the circle as they proceed, 
and searching every hollow log and dense 
clump of bushes or ferns, as they proceed, until at 
last they dispatch the object of pursuit. But the 
more ordinary method of capturing wolves is in 
winter, by means of a steel trap. It has been found, 
however, that the most successful method of 
destroying them is, to drug small sausages with 
strychnine, or nux vomica, and hang them on 
the boughs of trees, at such a height, that the 
wolf must leap to obtain them. Under thes cir¬ 
cumstances, the animal swallows the bait at 
once, and has not time to find out that it con¬ 
tains any suspicious admixture, which he often 
does, if the poison be applied to the carcases of 
sheep, horses, &c. Another mode of poisoning 
them is this : The kernels of nux vomica are 
grated lor powdered, then mixed up with three 
or four times their bulk of fat, or grease, and 
honey, (wolves are very fond of the latter,) and 
made into balls about as large as a hen’s egg. 
These are placed in the woods, covered with a 
piece of flesh or tripe, and some offal is hung 
on a tree near the spot, to attract the wolves by 
its scent. The poison once taken, is sure to 
prove fatal, before the animals can proceed 
many rods. 
GREAT MILKING COWS, 
Mr. Sheafe’s Herd of Shorthorns. —It is very im¬ 
portant to farmers generally, and especially to 
those engaged in the dairy, to keep such cows 
only as are good milkers. It costs no more, and 
frequently not so much, to support a good milk¬ 
er as a poor one; and the profit on the one, is 
often double, if not thrice as great as on the 
other. In Mr. Sheafe’s herd, advertised to be 
sold on the 29th of August next, will be found 
the desired qualities of deep milking and good 
butter cows, as well as aptitude to fatten and 
make good flesh the moment the}^ are dried off 
for this purpose. Cream Pot, one of the founders 
of this herd, gave, in her prime, and in the best 
of the season, 36 quarts of milk per day, which 
made at the rate of 18 lbs. 6 oz. of butter per 
week. Lucilla gave 29 quarts per day, and 
made 15 lbs. 3 oz. butter per week. Celeste, 
Venus, Beauty, Phoebe, and Dahlia gave from 
25 to 33 quarts of milk per day, and their de¬ 
scendants, now principally forming the herd, 
are nearly as promising. The heifers and cows, 
from three years old and up, now give from 15 
to 27 quarts of milk per day, in the best of their 
season. These quantities have not been guessed 
at, but were made subject to actual measure¬ 
ment in our presence. 
Complaint is occasionally made against short¬ 
horn cows, that they run too much to fat, at the 
expense of their milking qualities. We can¬ 
didly acknowledge, that, in consequence of some 
of the English breeders caring more for beef 
than milk, they have bred for the former rather 
than for the latter quality. The result is, that 
those who have purchased and imported with¬ 
out inquiry, have occasionally met with disap¬ 
pointment. They thought, as a matter of course, 
that they had only to get a shorthorn cow to be 
sure of a good milker. Wherever shorthorns 
have been bred with reference to milking qual¬ 
ities, no other breed of cattle has ever equalled 
them; at the same time, when dried off to fat¬ 
ten, nothing takes on flesh so rapidly as they 
do; nor is their flesh of so good a quality. We 
are now speaking of well-bred shorthorns, not 
the coarse grades, which, in such numbers, are 
called so by the public at large in England and 
this country. 
Carbonate of Ammonia in the Atmosphere.— 
Graeger says, that 5,000,000 lbs. of air contain 
3 lbs. of carbonate of ammonia. Kemp obtain¬ 
ed at the rate of nearly 39 lbs. from the same 
quantity of air. Fresenius could detect but 
one half the proportion found by Graeger. The 
atmosphere yielded, in the experiments of Fres¬ 
enius, 70 per cent, more ammonia at night than 
through the day. The proportion of ammonia 
in the atmosphere is undoubtedly very va¬ 
riable, dependent upon a great variety of cir- 
stances. 
If you can create a spirit of emulation, (or at 
least content,) among your laborers, you will 
secure much more work, with less trouble to 
yourself, and really less injury or effort to them. 
Whenever the mind is at ease, the sufferings of 
the body are small. Carry an agricultural paper 
or book to the field, with your lunch, and 
take a bite from the former to replenish the 
mind, as you do from the latter to strengthen 
the body. 
Plant Something. —If you have no garden 
spot, dig a hole in the pavement and plant a 
vine or rose bush, or fill a tub or box with earth, 
and plant it with flowers; or manure it with a 
sixpence’ worth of guano, and raise a dollar’s 
worth of cucumbers or tomatoes. 
