County, N. Y., sends us an excellent method, 
probably the best, to prevent cows from 
sucking themselves:—Take a half-inch board, 
five or six inches square ; cut a hole with an 
inch and a half or inch and three-quarter 
auger so close to the edge that part of it is 
cut away ; apply this to the cow's nose, 
using the slit to hold it on, and the work is 
done. No cow thus provided will attempt 
to suck herself or any other cow, and Mr, 
Smith assures us it does not interfere with 
her in pasture, 
Enyltsh Short-Horn Snip .—At the recent 
sale of CoL Kingseote’s herd, thirty females 
brought an average of a little over 220 
guineas, the highest price being 760 guineas. 
Several of these were purchased by Mr, 
Richardson of Kentucky, who also pur¬ 
chased a bull, with four Duke crosses, for 
305 guineas. 
of-the-way corners, are hard to find, and 
when flushed fly to the thickest cover, where 
they are hard to kill, as they get under head¬ 
way at once and fly with great speed. An¬ 
other difficulty in finding them is that, when 
alighting after being flushed, they give no 
scent for a time. Whether this retention is 
voluntary or not is uncertain, but the fact is 
given on the authority of Frank Forrester 
and others ; therefore, having flushed a bevy 
and marked the birds down as nearly as 
CONCERNING MEAL FEEDING 
AMERICAN GAME EIRDS.—X. 
THE AMERICAN QUAIL iORTYI VlROINIANAh 
The Quail, called in Pennsylvania and for- 
ier South the. Partridge, breeds from Mas- 
i,chusetts to Texas, and from the coast 
land to high on the Missouri. It migrates 
i far as the northern parts of Canada. 
Description of Adutt Mule. Bill, Bhort, 
>bust, dark brown, the base covered with 
:athera ; iris, hazel; body, short and bulky ; 
iet, grayish blue ; toes, scutellate above, 
Bctinate on the sides; forehead, a broad 
ne over each eye, the throat and foreneck 
'hite ; upper part of head, hind and lower 
art of neck, reddish brown ; upper back 
nd wing coverts, bright brownish red ; 
iwer 'parts of back, light red ; primaries, 
And now comes the Editor of the New 
England Farmer and says he has been mak¬ 
ing an experiment in feeding meal to a cow 
and that on examination he finds the meal 
to be deposited iu the first stomach instead 
SEED-CLEANING EXPERIMENTS 
of going directly to the fourth, as we have 
been taught to believe by the best authorities 
on animal physiology. He refers to the 
theory, in regard to the several stomachs of 
the ruminant, according to which theory It 
is argued that meal to be properly utilized 
must be fed with coarse fodder in order to be 
carried into the first stomach, because here 
it. is mingled with the coarse food which is 
softened and prepared for returning to the 
mouth for remastication. After goiug 
through this process it passes through the 
manifolds into the fourth or true digestive 
stomach and is in proper condition to he 
utilized. On the other hand unless the meal 
is so mixed with lmy it will bo forced along 
so rapidly through the alimentary canal 
that but a portion of ft will have time for 
digestion before it will be passed along be¬ 
yond the reach of the digestive organs and 
of course be wasted in part. The experi¬ 
ment in question seems to show that the 
meal when fed separately goes directly to 
the first stomach. The statement in the 
Farmer is as follows : 
“ She was fed as usual till the morning of 
sale when she received no grain, but her 
regular feed of hay and a few beets. At 
noon she was driven six miles, withoutundue 
excitement, and just before slaughtering fed 
a mess of clear corn meal, slightly moistured, 
which she ate quietly, but with a good appe¬ 
tite. Within ten or fifteen minutes after 
eating the meal, she was passing through 
theregular course necessary for transforming 
live stock into dressed beef for the tabie of 
those who consider they have a right to 
hold the life of an animal as a toy to be 
tossed about at pleasure. 
“ As soon as convenient, the digestive ap¬ 
paratus was examined and the meal which 
had just been eaten was all in the first 
stomach, together with hay iu all stages of 
fineness, and also a few pieces of beet which 
had apparently been swallowed with very 
little, if any chewing. The meal was so 
fresh and lay together so nearly in one mass 
that there could have been no mistake about 
it, aside from the fact that the third and 
fourth stomachs contained no meal at all, 
either fresh or stale. The fourth or true 
stomach was more nearly empty than either 
of the others, and contained only a little 
water, some coarse particles of hay and a 
quantity of weed seeds and apple seeds 
which had not been crushed by mastication.” 
This statement is of interest and is valuable 
as all facts are, in regard to feeding animals. 
We hope other experiments will be made 
which shall determine whether this ease is 
an exceptional one, or whether meal fed 
separately always goes to the first stomach. 
Of late we have had some experiments in 
meal feeding which have been very hard 
upon old theories ; and, perhaps the facts 
above given will lead theorists to investigate 
for themselves rather than to make up 
opinions by process of reasoning. The ques¬ 
tion is a good one for investigation at our 
agricultural Colleges and we trust to get 
more light on it from this source. 
possible, it is better to wait half an hour or 
bo before proceeding to beat for them with 
your dogs. By this time they will give forth 
their scent again and can be found. 
The author above named says that every¬ 
where west of the Delaware the Quail is 
migratory, bur. uoi so in the Eastern States, 
where it remains throughout the year, often 
suffering greatly from the length and sever¬ 
ity of the winters. Roosting on the ground, 
they are frequently deeply snowed under, 
when, a crust forming, they are imprisoned 
and parish miserably of starvation. 5 ears 
ago they were by no means uncommon in 
Vermont, but there are now none in the 
State, unless at the extreme southern part. 
Their disappearance is chiefly due to the se¬ 
verity of our winters, though, no doubt, lack 
of -nrooer protection has had something to 
results :—From this bushel 34 lbs. of No. 1 
or heavy seed wheat were obtained, T3 lbs. 
of No. 2, or middling (light) wheat, 6 lbs. of 
No. 3 wheat (very small, pinched kernels) 
and pink or cockle, 5 lbs. of oats and barley, 
and 1 pound of tangle weed and other foul 
seeds. 
As both the above samples of grain were 
taken from the ordinary crops grown on a 
first-class farm, it will be seen how large a 
proportion of poor, light grain, as well as 
seeds of foul and noxious plants, were being 
raised and propagated by the use us seed of 
the barley and wheat raised. Even if the 
oats and barley and wheat were in every in¬ 
stance cleansed or washed before being sown 
—which, however, is not the ease—the seeds 
of weeds are propagated through the ma¬ 
nure hauled out upon the land, and our fields 
are by this means overrun with useless plants 
and weeds. So if the farmer would not only 
raise profitable crops of heavy grain, but 
keep his farm clean and free from weeds, he 
must be careful to sow only good grain, 
thoroughly cleansed, free from worthless 
and foul seed. 
HOW A TOAD UNDRESSES. 
An eye witness to the process thus 
describes a toad taking off his clothes. 
About the middle of July, I found a toad on 
a hill of melons, and, not wanting him to 
leave, hoed around him. He appeared slug¬ 
gish and not inclined to move. Presently I 
observed him pressing his elbows against his 
sides, rubbing downward, lie appeared so 
singular that I watched to see what he was 
up to. After a few smart rubs, his skin 
began to burst open straight along his back. 
Now, said 1 old fellow, you have done it; 
but he appeared to bo unconcerned, and 
kept on rubbing until he had worked down 
all his skin into folds on his sides and hips ; 
then, grasping one hind leg with his hands, 
he hauled off one leg of his pants the same 
as anybody would, then stripped the other 
leg in the same way. He then took his cast¬ 
off cuticle forward, between his forelegs in¬ 
to his mouth, and swallowed it ; then, by 
raising and lowering his head, swallowing as 
his head came down, he stripped off the 
the skin underneath until it came to his fore¬ 
legs, and then grasping one of these with the 
opposite hand, by considerable pulling 
stripped off the skin. Changing hands, he 
stripped the other, and by a slight motion 
of the head, he drew it from the throat 
and swallowed the whole. The operation 
seemed to be an agreeable one, and occupied 
but a short time. 
IRRIGATION, 
I wish you or some one of your many 
readers would give me information concern¬ 
ing irrigating sixty acres of lard, lying on 
the bauks of the Neosho River, it has a 
gradual slope from the river some three feet 
fall in one hundred rods. I want to know 
the power it will require to raise water 
thirty-live feet high, sufficient for irrigation, 
and the size pump needed.—J. M. Allen. 
The usual, and generally the only practi¬ 
cable method of irrigation is by ditches lead¬ 
ing the water from high points up stream to 
the highest part of the land to be irrigated 
and thence distributing it. To irrigate sixty- 
five acres of land would require an immense 
amount of water—more than could profitably 
be raised thirty-five feet by any power. The 
expense of a raceway for water is consider¬ 
able, and should be borne by all the land¬ 
holders in the vicinity in proportion to the 
amount of land, and the water divided in the 
same manner. This is a paying operation in 
some localities, but whether practicable in our 
correspondent’s neighborhood depends much 
on circumstances. 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Small Farms for the South ,—A writer 
in the Southern Plantation recommends 
small farms, and gives a glowing picture of 
what may doue, with suitable fertilizers and 
labor, on a few acres. We have no doubt 
that he is correct in his views. Diversified 
farming and higher culture are the great 
needs of the South. Too close attention to 
the one staple of cotton has impoverished 
Southern fields and retarded the progress of 
English Sparrows and Gooseberries.— 
Complaint is made in England that the spar¬ 
rows destroy hundreds of gooseberry trees 
by picking off the buds after a snow storm. 
Nor are they known to eat a caterpillar on a 
gooseberry bush. One writer says he has 
known acres of good gooseberry trees de¬ 
stroyed by the sparrows in this way, by 
eating or picking off the buds. 
