1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
293 
dies arc such changes of diet; as will produce 
the desired effects. For instance, raw roots will 
produce looseness of the bowels, and allay 
feverish tendencies in horses, cattle, sheep, and 
swine. So will fresh grass cut and fed with the 
dew on. Boiled fine wheaten flour porridge 
made with water for horses, that will not 
take milk, and with sweet milk for other ani¬ 
mals, will produce the opposite effect. Other 
sanitary effects may be produced by the use of 
articles of food. And we have no doubt with 
care the list of effects produced by different 
kinds and mixtures of articles used as food 
might be greatly extended, so that most ordi¬ 
nary ailments might be checked by early atten¬ 
tion to diet and surroundings. In our own ex¬ 
perience we have found that sick horses turned 
out into a woody pasture almost always got 
well, or improved greatly; that cows and young- 
cattle let alone on a natural diet, with fresh 
water, air and salt, did better 'and got well 
quicker than if subjected to any guess-work 
treatment. However, a good dose of Epsom 
salts and ginger seems to be almost a specific 
for feverishness, (“ horn ail,”) constipation, 
colds, clotty or red milk, etc., with cows, and 
it is well to hold this in reserve, in case a 
change of diet has no good effect. Sick chick¬ 
ens get well in a grassy run among angle worms 
and grasshoppers. Sheep that are snuffling and 
running down in close barn-yards will pick up 
wonderfully if they can get their noses into the 
hedge rows, or have a run in the woods or 
bush pastures. In the variety of herbage and 
twigs they find the best diet. Pining hogs 
will get well in a clover pasture, or on clover 
hay in winter. And they will improve much 
faster if they can live on nuts and roots, having 
the ability to use their snouts as was intended. 
- ■■ nuta ® ->-<*»-. 
Possibilities in Dairying-, 
Very interesting facts were brought out at 
the last meeting of the Board of Agriculture in 
Connecticut, in regard to milk. One farmer, 
from a herd of twelve cows, produced 33,199 
qt,s., or an average of 2,766 qts. per cow, -which is 
over 8 qts. a day for a season of eleven months. 
His average price for milk was 44 cts. per qt., 
Which made $131 for milk; and the calves 
brought $4 each, which made the return for 
each cow $135 per year. In the memorial pre¬ 
sented to the Hew York Legislature bj' the 
State Agricultural Society, the number of cows 
in the State was put at 1,123,000, and their prod¬ 
ucts in cheese at 48,548,289 lbs. = 242,741,445 
qts.; products in butter at 103,097,280 lbs. 
= 1,030,972,800 qts.; products in milk sold, 
84,000,000 qts.,—making 1,357,714,245 qts. 5 
qts. of milk are reckoned for one pound of 
cheese, and 10 qts. for 1 lb. of butter. This, 
divided by the number of cows, would give 1,209 
qts. as the average annual product per cow 
in the best dairy State in the Union. It is a fair 
statement to say, that there is a difference of 
more Ilian one-half between the average prod¬ 
uct of cows in the State, and the product of 
the best milkers, At the meeting referred to, 
E. II. Hyde stated that lie once had a Durham 
cow that produced 55 lbs. of milk, which made 
2 lbs. 15 oz. of butter daily for thirty days in 
succession, and a Devon that made 21 lbs. a 
day. An Alderney cow was mentioned that 
produced 20’| 2 lbs. of butter in 10 days. These 
facts, and a good many others that might be 
stated, show that there is great need of improve¬ 
ment among our dairy stock. It is quite possi¬ 
ble to double the product of milk in a very few 
years, without increasing the number of cows. 
A first step in this direction is to get a better 
race of milkers. Our best dairymen understand 
this, and are aiming at it. They get the best 
native milkers, and breed with a thoroughbred 
bull, from a good milking slock. The grades 
thus produced will generally be good milkers. 
Their offspring will usually be an improve¬ 
ment, and this may be expected for several 
generations. A distinct family of Short-horn 
grades has been produced in East Windsor, 
Connecticut, by this process, within the last 
thirty years. They are great milkers, and sell 
at very high prices. The importance of a 
thoroughbred bull, to secure good milkers, is 
now insisted upon by all intelligent breeders. 
Of course, feeding has much to do with a 
large flow of milk. For three months in the 
year, in favorable seasons, a cow may produce 
nearly up to the limit of her capacity on grass. 
But after this, the grasses become less succu¬ 
lent, or short, and the milk falls off. The feed 
must be generous all through the season, and a 
cow is generally profitable in proportion to the 
amount of food she consumes. The pasture 
must be supplemented by green fodder, rye, 
corn, clover, and in the winter, by roots, grain, 
oil-cake, and other rich food. There may be a 
good deal of high feeding without damage to 
the constitution of the animal, and with decided 
benefit to the character of her progeny. Shel¬ 
ter, also, has an influence upon the productive¬ 
ness of the herd. Cows fed at the stack, during 
the winter, will not give as much milk the fol¬ 
lowing season as those fed in a comfortable 
barn, although tliej' will consume a third more 
hay. Kind treatment and frequent feeding are 
also elements of success in the production of 
milk. Some dairymen, who produce milk for 
market in the winter, feed as many as six times 
in the course of the day, with a great variety of 
food, and keep water constantly in the manger. 
A good milker wants water every hour in the 
day, and she secretes milk much better for hav¬ 
ing it constantly before her. If this course of im¬ 
provement be entered upon, more capital must 
be invested in manures, barns, provender, and 
stock, but there can be no doubt that the returns 
will be far more satisfactoiy. 
Salt Mud as a Fertilizer, 
Large quantities of mud accumulate in the 
bays and coves along the sea-shore, made up of 
the wash of rivers, of decayed manure, vegeta¬ 
tion, and in many cases also, of animal remains, 
shell-fish, and very minute organisms. It is 
found in many places of great depth, and so 
soft that an animal would sink out of sight in 
it. It is very fine, and of great value as a fertil¬ 
izer. Hear the shores, this'mud is laid bare at 
every low tide, and it might be easily secured 
by the use of wheelbarrows and planks. In 
deeper water, eel grass strikes its roots into it, 
and the mud is pulled up in large quantities, 
with the eel grass rakes. Much of the virtue 
attributed to the grass, which is generally used 
by shore farmers, is doubtless due to this mud. 
More of the mud and less of the grass would be 
better policj'. We have seen the mud applied 
as a dressing for corn and potatoes with the 
best results. It is an excellent top-dressing for 
grass, often doubling the crop the first season. 
An analysis of this article, made by Prof. John¬ 
son, shows that the organic matter contains 
nearly 4 5 | 2 per cent of nitrogen, or nearly double 
the amount found in good peat. The mud 
should be weathered a few months before it is 
applied. Summer is the best time to 1 secure it. 
Canada Thistles in the West. 
Canada thistles have been discovered in the 
West, notwithstanding their existence has 
been doubted by some of our cotemporarics. 
The legislature of Iowa passed the following 
law in regard to them, at its last session : “ That 
if anjr resident owner of any land in this State, 
after having been notified in writing of the 
presence of Canada thistles on his or her premi¬ 
ses, shall permit them, or any part thereof, to 
blossom or mature, he or she shall be liable to 
a fine of five dollars and costs of collection, for 
each offence.” True, they may not know the 
plant in that enterprising State, but it is just 
possible that there may have been some one in 
the legislature of sufficient botanical knowledge 
to save the body from the folly of passing a law 
against a foreign plant. A writer in the Jour¬ 
nal of the Hew York State Agricultural Society 
mentions a farmer who has cut Canada thistles 
from ilie 15th to the 25th of August for the last 
four years, and thus destroyed them. The rea¬ 
son he gives for this is that at this season the 
stalks are hollow, and the rain and dew settle 
in them, and they rot to the roots. The experi¬ 
ment of cutting them at this season ought to 
be made. It will be enough for most farmers to 
learn that the practice is successful. The policy 
adopted by the State of Iowa is a good one, and 
ought to be adopted by all the States where 
this plant has made its appearance. The law 
also ought to hold railroad and other corpora¬ 
tions, and the town authorities, responsible for 
the thistles growing outside of private property. 
The American Marten. 
The Weasel family, to which the Marten be¬ 
longs, includes several of the most voraciously 
carnivorous animals of the world,—among them 
those which the Marten most closely resembles, 
namely: the Mink, Weasel, Ermin, Sable, and 
Ferret, all of which produce beautiful and valua¬ 
ble furs. Were the Lions, Tigers, and Leopards, 
half so ferocious and voracious, the countries 
where they abound would be hardly habitable. 
The American Marten (Mustela Americana) is 
found in the United States,in northern Hew Eng¬ 
land and Hew York, in Michigan, and the Lake 
Superior region, and westward, but it abounds 
in Canada, and northward, the fur bearing the 
name of Hudson-Bay Sable. The Marten 
measures about 17 inches to the tail, which is 
about 10 inches long; the fur is fine, of a red¬ 
dish yellow or brown, clouded with black, the 
legs and tail shading from dark brown to nearly 
black. The throat and breast to the fore legs 
are yellowish. This species so closely resem¬ 
bles, both in appearance and habits, the Pine 
Marten (Mustela Maries ), of Europe, that it has 
been regarded as identical. Its habits are very 
similar also, but it is not found so much in in¬ 
habited districts, and on this account we do not 
hear of its depredations in poultry yards and 
sheep-folds. The Marten is a great climber, be¬ 
ing aa-much at home in trees as the squirrels. 
It is cautious and crafty, taking birds of all 
kinds, rabbits, and even squirrels, cither by 
stratagem or pursuit. The position of a Marten 
in the trees is often indicated to the hunter by 
the chattering flock of small birds which fol¬ 
low it in all its movements, as they do hawks 
and other foes. The fine engraving on the next 
page is by a German artist, Carl Dei leer, and 
though representing the European Marten, is 
an excellent picture of our native animal. 
