4 
seem that the substances used for food by the 
cattle in this town (Danube,) have been suffi¬ 
ciently well examined to have found any- 
■ thing therein that could be considered to 
cause SO general a trouble. The pastures, 
. woods and cultivated fields, after the grain 
has been cut, and the meadows, after the 
hay was harvested, have been gone over 
without finding sufficient therein to account 
for the trouble during the summer months, 
while the cows were grazing; and the 
standing hay and grain have been examined 
to determine if the offending substance 
; could be found there to account for the 
great amount of disease during the winter, 
but each without success.” 
One great fault or omission in these in¬ 
vestigations, it seems to us, has been in not 
visiting {lie herds when abortions have been 
yairg mmhiinhxv 
is greater than in 1867—the percentage of 
the two years being .06 and .055 respectively. 
The following table from the report shows 
the months in which abortions occur most 
frequently in Herkimer county: 
| ^ October.. 40 
x ay... ST November . ijr, 
. 2 December.215 
. 2 January.!... IS 
September. lb March.. .; 3 $ 
TotaI ...1,044 
In regard to changing cows from farm to 
farm as having a prejudicial effect against 
carrying eulf to full term, the statistics col¬ 
lected show a decided influence in favor of 
raising cows rather than buying them, us is 
so frequently done indiscriminately about 
the country, or from droves. 
The practice of late yearn in Herkimer 
county has been to fill up the herds every 
spring with cows brought from a distance. 
A large number of animals 
uuu soon tinea 01 her milk altogether. In 
another instance a cracked teat not attended 
to became inflamed, and on account of not 
drawing out all the milk, resulted in a 
broken bag, thus permanently spoiling a 
very valuable animal. The udder and teats 
should be carefully examined at every milk¬ 
ing, especially in hot weather, when inflam¬ 
mations from scratches or wounds are apt to 
run high, while the difficulty and trouble of 
milking will often induce hired help to ne¬ 
glect dray, ing ail the milk, which so increases 
the trouble that the cow is permanently in¬ 
jured as a milker. 
X. A. VILLA KD, A. >1. 
Of Littl* Ytu%, ll*BHi>isa Cow 
, EDITOR, 
•'TV, New Yuan 
SECOND CROP OF POTATOES. 
In the Rural of July 17tli, L. H. makes 
inquiry in regard to raising a second crop of 
potatoes from seed grown the same year; 
and in that of Aug. 7th, P. T. Quinn gives 
an experiment, and you say you know of “ no 
physiological reason why potatoes should 
not reproduce themselves the same season.” 
Now “ facts are stubborn tilings,” and the 
absence of facts when they are wanted is 
equally stubborn. In order to get at what I 
want, I will venture the assertion that a sec¬ 
ond crop of potatoes cannot be raised from 
seed produced the same srnson. The reason 
is in the physiology of the potato, and until 
doing nature can he changed all attempts to 
sod a f° rcc a second crop will be futile, 
lesue- I have read and heard much about the 
c fuc- Early Rose, but as yet have never seen one. 
rivato No doubt they arc the earliest variety we 
:rease have, and subject to the same laws which 
table govern all other varieties. Plant them as 
e fac- | early sw you can, and let. them ripen under 
vsdc- tile most favorable circumstances, and I will 
ide; guarantee they will lie in the ground till 
’• November without show ing 1 he least sign or 
■ove. inclination to sprout or produce a second 
i. crop. The mere digging and planting over 
will not Change the case in the least. 
The reason of 3Ir. Quinn’s potatoes rot- 
>d. tin g. probably, was their being transported 
fiotn tbe warm soil ut South Carolina to the 
■- colder soil of New Jersey. Had he laid 
them in Lis cellar, or buried ihrm J n diy 
straw with proper vcntilat inn 1 »r» iriMi]/] ma 
THE SCOURGE OF THE DAIRY. 
The New York State Commission and In- 
vestijjriiloii on Abortion lu Cows—Tho 
Disease Incrcaaiutf-IUport ol Dr. Car- 
inaiilt- 
We are in receipt of the Second Report 
of the Commission appointed by the New 
York Stale Agricultural Society for the in¬ 
vestigation of abortion in cows. The first 
years’ investigation was under the charge of 
Di. D.kLi on, of New York. Tko Commis¬ 
sion'*] appointed for the second year’s inves¬ 
tigation, whose report we have before us, 
is Dr. Carmauit. He was the assistant of 
Dr. Dalton in the first year’s Investigation. 
Abortion in cows, os is well known, has 1 
become a serious trouble among the dairies 
of Central New York. For several years 
past immense losses have been sustained in 
the herds of Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida, and 
the adjoining counties, on account of this 
disease. We say disease, because it has as¬ 
sumed a form that must be characterized as 
each, being entirely different in many rc- 
*pect3 from abortions proceeding from acci¬ 
dent or the more common mishaps to which 
milch 6 lock is liable. 
We were the first to bring this trouble of 
- - every year, 
shipped by rail, are distributed through the 
different towns. February, March and April 
are the months in which shipments arc most 
frequent. The cows are often far advanced 
in pregnancy, and it would be reasonable to 
suppose that the influence would be prejudi¬ 
cial. And we believe the fact has been 
established, though it is not mentioned in the 
leport, that the disease in Herkimer dates 
from the time these shipments began to be 
made. At least we have no record of abor¬ 
tions occurring when stock to supply the 
herds was raised in the county. Another 
point not mentioned in the report, but pos¬ 
sibly having some influence, is that cows 
t aken from their homes and placed in another 
section of the country show much mental 
disquietude during the first summer, and 
almost always yield less milk than in subse- 
cpient seasons. Animals removed in this way 
often exhibit all the signs of home-sickness, 
separating themselves from the rest of the 
herd, and otherwise showing much disquiet. 
We aro convinced they suffer mentally, (if 
we may be allowed the expression,) on ac¬ 
count of these removals, and it is possible 
this mental disquietude may have some in¬ 
fluence in favoring abortions. Wo can well , 
imagine, therefore, that the statistics in lids 1 
HOGS vs. CURCULIO. 
In the Rural of July 31 L. L. Fairchild 
calls for experience and facts under the 
above heading. 
Here is my experience, which, satisfies me 
that hogs are the best plum cultivators 
bought a farm that had some twenty 1 
fine plum trees on it. In spring they would 
bloom full, and when the fruit was about 
half grown all would fall off, which was 
really vexing. I threatened to grub them 
up as curaberers of the ground; but this was 
protested against, saying may be they will 
ripen next year. 
I wanted a lot to feed hogs in, and the 
plum orchard was right where I wnnmd 
nve l>een quite as satis- cIasion wo give tin* affirmative results ob¬ 
it, in getting at conclu- brined by the Commission: 
•ions made; for in this cows which have first calved at 
docs not embrace the under three years of ,*.tg<: arc more liable to 
ceding upon the forage Abort during their «-ft>$cquent pregnancies 
d. Another omission than those which first calved at three years 
rtauce, it seems to us, of or over, in the proportion of five to 
investigation, and this three,- and that eighty-three per cent, of the 
m of water furnished C0 ' vVS raised on the farms reporting them do 
many farms the water calve at under three years of age. 
“ularly so during the I E. That cow 9 subjected to removals at 
• in hot, dry weather, an . y t5me arc liable to abort over those raised 
to drink from sloughs 011 tbo farms in the proportion of seven to 
rv seasons the trouble f °ur mul one-half, and that sixty-three per 
has sometimes been cent, arc thus removed, 
id farms. III. That cows subjected to removals 
om Dr. Carmault’s during pregnancy are liable to abort over 
iis statistics in regard those moved while not pregnant in the pro- 
tetion of milk as the portion of nine to two, and that seventy per 
3e says“ It is de- cent, of those moved yearly are pregnant, 
your commissioner, and seventeen per cent, are moved yearly, 
ition of the separate IV- That arrest of development is the 
nts given by the in- condition immediately preceding the abor- 
approximation to the tion; that an excessive drain upon the eecre- 
they demonstrate an tion of milk, during pregnancy, has a ten- 
wanM more milk per dency to produce arrest of development in 
the whole State deter- the fetus from inanition; and that an ex¬ 
cess of seventy per cent, of milk is demanded 
census tables of t.hc from the cows in tills district where abor- : 
n* 1865 the average tions prevail. 
for the whole State The expenses of the commission for the 
this is to be assumed second year's investigation, as given by Dr. 
.miaid, and that the Carmault, amount in the aggregate to * 
me lain 01 .March 1 planted a peck, or 
perhaps a little more, of the Early Goodrich. 
1 £ ot the first mess on the 28th of May. 
I 10 m that time we used them vervfreqtient- 
ly—nearly every day—until the 7th of July, 
when we dug them. I estimate that In this 
time we used two bushels. On the day wo 
dug them, July 7th, we got very nearly eight 
bushels—giving about forty to one in "all." 
On the 13th ot March I planted two and a 
Jiftii pounds of tUc Ilurlson. They seemed 
slow in coming up. 1 did not use any of 
them. The Monitor was much earlier than 
the Harison. The drouth in July found tho 
foimei quite mature — the latter, numerous 
but much smaller. Tim dry weather having 
damaged the vinca so much, and there being 
indication ol the Hanson talcing the second 
growth, I dug them on the 17th of July. 
Tiie Monitor \ ielded thirty-two pounds, tho 
Harison about eighty pounds. 
The Early Goodrich we all regard the best 
potato we have ever tasted. The Monitor is 
excellent, coarse but mealy, and though 
stronger than the Goodrich,"is mild enough 
to be very palatable. The Harison is close, 
tough, solid. The vine of the Goodrich was 
smallest; of the 3Ionitor next, and of the 
Harison, largest. A 
North Carolina, 1SG9. 
icotiuiy, is 01 value. The inspec¬ 
tion was made for the purpose of determin¬ 
ing whether the introduction of a deleterious 
substance into the food of the cows could be 
the cause of Die trouble. 
3Er. Austin began his examination on 
July Sth, and continued it until Sept. I 8 tli. 
lie reports upon four hundred and forty- 
nine plants, growing spontaneously in the 
town, and of these specimens ha\e been 
preserved to tho number of three hundred 
and sixty--ix, and placed in the agricultural 
rooms at Albany. lie reports also upon the 
I itirued to Chew.-A writer to the 
Dixie Fanner vouches that a person in his neigh¬ 
borhood has exhibited this season. wheat and 
chess growing from the same root. “ The bunch 
or stool on exhibition was carefully taken up, 
•and all the soil washed from the roots,so as to 
give everyone that examines, the opportunity of 
judging lor himself. The stool, or bunch, con¬ 
sists of elxstalk3—three of them wheat, and three 
chess—all of them tolerably well developed. No 
one that has seen this stool, or those exhibited 
by the samefrlond, last summer, hasn remaining 
doubt of the assertion, that, under certain cir¬ 
cumstances, wlie.it frequently turns to chess.” 
vestigations and the bearing which they 
may have in discovering the cause of this 
terrible scourge of the New York dairies. 
on lii« plants found. The Commissioner 
says he is unable to find iu the list pre¬ 
sented any plant in itself healthy which 
there ia a reasonable probability has been 
the cause of abortion, affecting, as it does, 
so large a number of farms. The possibility 
that some plants may lie diseased, and in 
this condition be eaten by cows and cause 
abortion, engaged the attention of the Com¬ 
missioner, and specimens of the affected 
plants were forwarded to 3Ir. Sprague of 
Boston, for examination, who conferred with 
To Destroy Canada Thistle*, 
•A Canada farmer 
gives his experience in destroy Ing the thistle that 
so much abounds in the Dominion, in this wise : 
After the land was well saturated with moisture, 
I put women to draw them by hand, defending 
the hand with stout gloves, with a piece of oid 
sacking sewed over the palm, to prevent the 
plant from si ipping when t he gloves became wet. 
IVith a very Jittlo care, the thistle may Lie drawn 
with six or eight inches of the root; and I was 
rid of the nuisance in two seasons, which had lor 
many previous years bid defiance to repeated 
mowings and cuttings under the surface tilth a 
spud. 
The Borers—ft, W. H., Honesdale.—The grub 
you describe is the poach borer. Pull tiie earth 
away from the crown of the tree, watch for the 
wounds the grub makes, and with a sharp wire 
tlig him out. ft is the only elToctua! way we 
know of for getting rid ol the depredator. 
- < *-♦ » 
Striped Dug on Squash.—A correspondent in 
No. 30 of the Rural says the “striped bug” will 
not disturb the bush squash. They may like 
mine better than his; but they destroyed three 
vines for me, and molested my cucumbers but 
very little.—S. D. Sweet, Council Bluffs, Iowa. 
Mr. J. L. Russell of Salem, upon their 
classification. 
Though the record of abortions is for the 
year previous to that in which the botanical 
examinations were made, yet the general 
conclusion of the commission is that neither I 
to the plants .themselves nor to their being J 
affected by parasitical growth can the nbor- 
tiuu 9 be attributed. He says:—“It would ! 
