did it as well as any fowl could do it; but 
when I put corn in front of them they would 
peck at it but could not reach it. I have 
lost a large number of fowls by it. It seemed 
so strange that the fowl could get its head 
down to clean its bill, but not to peck up its 
food. 
If you can judge, from the description I 
have given you, of the nature of the disease, 
and can give me any advice of the best mode 
of treatment, you would greatly oblige—C. 
C. Post, Box 5825, P. 0., N. V. City. 
P. 8.—I would say that it was clearly star¬ 
vation, but I should think it would take a 
longer period Ilian from 24 to 36 hours to 
starve a healthy fowl. 
teen hundred bushels of turnips from an acre 
equal $200 worth per acre of wool at 50 cents 
per pound. 1 advocate mixed husbandry. 
Much of our lands are wild, and sheep will 
subdue it easier and cheaper than by any 
other method. We can grow better crops 
when we keep sheep. They enrich the soil, 
and supply just the necessary aliment for a 
good and healthy growth of wheat. 
M. B. Johnston—I do not think our land 
pays the same percentage as cheap farming 
lands do in any business, be it raising grain, 
cattle, horses, hogs, or sheep. I sheared 
twenty-two head, averaging eight and a-half 
pounds unwashed wool, which sold at forty 
cents, being 83.40 per head. Sheep live one 
BUCKWHEAT FOR FOWLS 
THE REDMOND STEAM PLOW 
L. Wright has recently published the fol¬ 
lowing on this topic :—I am quite puzzled to 
tell why it is so constantly affirmed that it is 
not good food, and that the birds do not like 
it, for my experience is the direct contrary ; 
and not only so, but I have during the last 
few years recommended it to many scores of 
person?, and in no one case have I found 
their experience different from my own. 1 
always find that fowls prefer it to any grain 
they can have, and if a mixture be thrown 
down containing all grains, the buckwheat 
will always be picked up first, maize next, 
and then other com. Fowls that have never 
had it will sometimes stare at it the first 
time, but they quickly begin to pick it up. I 
cannot see that it is at all a stimulating or 
forcing diet, and the mere fact that it is the 
common poultry food in France, and even 
here for pheasants, should be enough to dis¬ 
pel such an Idea. It requires, however, to 
be given with common sense, not owing to 
its qualities, but simply on account of its 
color. If it is thrown upon grass the fowls 
cannot thrive, for the simple reason that the 
buckwheat is so nearly the color of the 
ground that it can hardly be found by the 
birds, and they are really starved. It ha* ( 
sometimes struck mu that perhaps this may 
be the reason of our poultry editor’s ill suc¬ 
cess with it. But if it be thrown on a bare 
place where it can be seen, there Is no difil 
culty, and I have constantly given it to fowls 
which have never seen it before. Buckwheat 
is also capital food for chickens. They will 
eat it at three weeks old, when other grain 
must be cracked for them, and they, too, 
will eat more of it than of any other grain 
except whole grits. Some yearn ago I fed on 
buckwheat meal ground up with husk and all 
for one season, and the chickens did well, and 
grew very large. I should have repeated the 
experiment but. for the difficulty of getting 
the buckwheat ground. Of late, indeed, the 
grain itself has been very scarce and dear, 
owing, no doubt, io the late war ; hence it is 
not at present so relatively cheap a food os 
formerly, but even now 1 think it as cheap as 
barley being a heavier grain. 
We have received from Mr. Owen Red¬ 
mond of Rochester, N, Y., a circular pam¬ 
phlet, describing the machine of which wc 
give a representation herewith. It is a loco¬ 
motive traction engine for soft ground. The 
peculiar feature of it is that a certain number 
of sharp steel spades or flukes are made by- 
means of fixed c 
wins and friction rollers, to 
protrude through the rim of the drive-wheel, 
to enter the ground perpendicularly- as the 
wheel advances, and after holding there till 
the center of the wheel has passed a little 
beyond it, to be withdrawn again into the 
rim by a movement which clears it from the 
hole without any backstraiu. The superin¬ 
cumbent weight of the wheel about the trac¬ 
tor when in the ground serves to prevent it 
from slipping. The owners claim that they 
have tested their machine with a dynamom¬ 
eter up to a draft of 5,500 pounds, equal to 
the drawing of at least eighteen plows in 
ordinary plowing. 
This is a steam motor which, us it does not 
depend on excessive weight for its traction 
power, can be constructed as light as steel 
materials and superior workmausliip can 
make it. It does not seem to have compli¬ 
cated machinery ; and, as it is designed and 
fitted for stationary work as well as hauling 
? it ought to bo in the hands of the skillful 
farmer, a safe, manageable and highly useful 
motive power. Whether it will prove such 
of course remains to be demonstrated. 
The drive-wheel, together with the cylin¬ 
ders and gears, arc connected to a circular 
frame of wrought iron which turn3 freely- 
against friction rollers in the outer frame¬ 
work of themuchine. The steam pipes have 
swivel joints exactly over the center of the 
wheel. A hand-crank turns the whole cen¬ 
tral frame in any direction, and guides the 
engine. It would seem to be a device well 
adapted to the work of steam plowing, which 
is so much needed in our country at this 
time. The successful introduction of this 
system of doing farm work would go far 
toward solving lioth the labor question and 
the transportation trouble—in the one case 
by enabling the farmer to 
KINSEY, ROCHESTfR,N.Y 
8TMAM PLOW. 
month easier than cattle, and will paw and 
obtain their own forage until the snow is so 
deep they cannot wallow through it. I 
think it pays as well as any other business, 
even if the dogs do thin them out faster than 
the butchers. 
Mr. Myers— Sheared seven and a-half 
pounds of washed wool from one half-grade 
Cotswold. It pays as well as anything else. 
R. H. Randall cited a case of a farmer sell¬ 
ing the wool of a Merino and Ootawold at 
the price of forty-five cents per pound, the 
buyer sending samples of each to Chicago ; 
and he was advised to buy- all the long wool 
he could at ninety cents a pound. 
THE REDMOND 
If any of our experienced readers can give 
our correspondent information, we shall be 
glad to print it. 
POULTRY NOTES, 
“ No Such Thing «s Chicken Cholera."— 
We saw an item under the above caption 
from a lady- in our own State, and think it 
very- strange. The statement I deny as being 
true. There surely is such a thing as incura¬ 
ble chicken cholera. I don’t say- but what 
hers may have died from the effects of lice. 
But if she, or any one else, will cut one open 
that has hud the cholera they will find the 
liver two or three times as large as com¬ 
mon, and literally a clot of blood. Such 
chickens are generally not affected with lice. 
Please tell the lady so.—L. E. O., Rockville, 
Park Co., Ind. 
Buff Cochins to Washington Territory.— 
Mr. Robert Creswell shipped from Long 
Island to Walla Walla, W. T., a trio of Buff 
Cochius which arrived safely-, being about a 
month on the way. The express charges 
were $27.25. The man who purchased them 
said he did not mind the charges for he had 
all the eggs they could lay the following sea¬ 
son engaged at $1 each. 
get along with 
less manual labor, und in the other by-cheap¬ 
ening production to leave a profit over even 
low prices. 
The parties who have been engaged for 
some few years in bringing out this inven¬ 
tion are soliciting those who are interested 
and disposed to help in providing for steam 
agriculture to send for their circular, and 
all such should address Mr. Redmond ns 
above. 
LATE CHICKENS THE BEST LAYERS 
A correspondent of the Country Gentle¬ 
man writes :—After repeated experiments 
during the past twenty-five years in hatch¬ 
ing chickens, I am fully convinced that fowls 
hatched in the month of July make far bet¬ 
ter lay-era than those hutched at any other 
season of the year. Early hatched chicks 
commence laying in September, and contin¬ 
ue until cold January weather, when they 
discontinue until spring. On the other hand, 
when hatched in July or August they begin 
lay-ing in February and com inuc until Octo¬ 
ber. I find July- chickens will average fifty 
to seventy -five more eggs yearly- than those 
hatched in March. My- method, therefore, is 
to hatch 100 clucks in August for my own 
use. As soon as the cocks can be selected 
from the pullets, they are converted into pot- 
pie giving the pullet s all t he room. The pul¬ 
lets are then well fed, and are soon large 
enough to care for themselves. 
FALL MANAGEMENT OF LAMBS 
M. N. Russell, Jefferson Co., O., writes 
the Germantown Telegraph :—In order to 
have lambs go into winter-quarters in good 
condition it is important that they should 
receive proper attention in time. Not only- 
should they have good pasture to run on, but 
they should be fed a small quantity of grain 
at least once a day-. Oats or ry-e is preferable 
to corn : and if inclined to scour, a little 
wheat bran is an excellent thing to give 
them. 
EUREKA MOWER, 
A. W. H. asks if the Eureka Mower is a 
better machine for cutting grass than a side- 
cut machine ; if so, why- ? To which I an¬ 
swer, it is more desirable for the following 
very important reasons :—More grass can bo 
cut with the same power in a given time ; 
the grass after being cut is not run over by 
the machine, consequently cures much soon¬ 
er—a very important item. You cut back 
and forth on the same side, and if you stop 
at any time your werk is finished thus far ; 
also, avoid going up and down hills, which 
on many farms is quite a consideration. I 
have cut all my- grass, about sixty acres, 
with a machine cutting six feet, and not over¬ 
taxing my team ; some of it fine meadow 
bottom, and other yielding tw-o ton9 per 
acre ; and in every position d jiug as good 
work as any machine I ever saw. 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Tuos. H. Bedell. 
A small portion of salt should be put 
in their feed, which will give them abetter 
relish for it, By- pui-suing this course they 
will grew very fast, and small, weak lambs 
will become strong and thrifty, and when 
winter sets in they will be so trained to eat 
that it will be a pleasure to tend them. They 
should be sheltered from the cold rains that 
very frequently come during the fall months, 
when a little nice hay should 1*0 put into the 
racks for them to pick at. 
As a general rule it is better to have lambs 
iu two flocks, as the strong ones will crowd 
the small ones out if left together. An old 
pastill e field of blue grass and timothy is 
better for them to run on than meadows, as 
there is inclination to scour. Clover pastures 
should always be avoided. I have found 
from experience that it is much easier taking 
lambs through the winter that were well 
taken care of immediately after being sepa¬ 
rated from the ew-es than those that were 
left in a manner to shift for themselves. 
FOWLS DYING 
SHEEP IN THE WEST 
The following is from the proceedings of a 
Farmers’ Club in Wisconsin : 
Mr. Bogan—My experience is, I make as 
much from twenty ewes as from any- other 
kind of stock or business. I never winter 
any- sheep except ewes. I always get my 
ow-n price for fat sheep. The butcher makes 
me an offer. If it is my- price, all right; if 
not, I tell him w-here he can find them w hen 
he is ready to pay the price asked. He is 
always sure to be around when he wants to 
piece out. W ould keep small flocks in this 
locality. 
Mr. Huntley-—I take issue with Messrs. 
Hart and Bogan. I claim it con be and has 
been made prefitable on high-priced lands. 
I served my apprenticeship as a farmer in 
Addison county, Vermont, among the popu¬ 
lar Spanish Merinoes. The farmers there 
stuck light to their business, and made it a 
trade, aud they- all have money iu ttie bank. 
Ten tons of corn to the acre in good corn 
districts—let the farmer work it into wool 
aud mutton, and compare notes with another 
farmer that lets his hogs work themselves 
outside the whole crop before they are ready 
for market. In England laud is worth a 
fabulous price, and farmers continue the 
business there, and make it profitable. Fif- 
N0TE8 AND QUERIES, 
Wind-Mill Power. —Will you, or some of 
your readers who have had experience with 
wind-mills, answer the following questions 
through the Rural New-Yorker ? 1st. Is 
a wind-mill a convenient and practical power 
for running a straw- and hay-cutter i 2d, 
What would be the cost of a mill of a two 
or three horse power * 3d, Where are they 
manufactured, with name of firm manufac¬ 
turing t 1 would like to hear the ideas of 
some pne who has had experience in the 
steaming of food for cattle, whether it is 
profitable where cattle are kept for common 
‘ ' ’ ■ 1 * • Chas, 
Sheep Husbandry Abhuad,— From statis¬ 
tics relative to the production of wool it 
appears in round numbers Great Britain and 
Ireland grow- more wool than the United 
States, although there are more than thirty 
States and two of them ore larger chan the 
former countries. In fact it is stated that 
the Colony of Australia so recently populated 
grows as much wool us the .States viz.: 180,- 
000,000 lbs., while Great Britain and Ireland 
produce 260,000,000 lbs. In England a nu¬ 
merous well-fed flock of sheep is considered 
to be essentially necessary for the well doing 
of every upland farm and it, is gener ally seen 
that those who keep the most sheep and feed 
them highly enrich themselves and their 
land. How is it so many farmers in America 
keep no sheep ?— A Working Farmer. 
dairying—butter and cheese making, 
B. Van Slyke. 
Ditching by Steam Power.—In North Ger¬ 
many the extensive low lands are being re¬ 
claimed by the use of steam ditching ma¬ 
chines, each of which cuts a canal 20 feet 
w-ide and 6 feet deep, and from 100 to 120 feet 
long every- ten hours. The peat thus exca¬ 
vated is delivered on the surface of the 
ground alongside the canal, where it is dried, 
cut into bricks and sent to market. It makes 
an excellent fuel. 
