Milch Cows and Calves.

At an International Agricultural Exhibition held some years ago at Hamburg, an extraordinary cow, the property of Count Pinta, of Silesia, took the prize offered for the best milch cow. This cow, on the 115th day after calving, after having traveled five hundred miles to reach Hamburg, yielded 334 quarts of milk in one day, which gave 3lbs. 13oz. of butter. The following extract gives his mode of treatment of cows and calves, for which he was distinguished.

"The new born calf is sprinkled with meal and laid before the cow, which latter remains chained to her post, which then licks the calf all over. The calf is then taken away from the cow, and brought back to sucking only three times a day, at milking time. So the calf acquires from the first day the habit of regular meals punctually given.

After the calf has done sucking, the cow is stripped clean. In other cases part of the milk is first taken, and then the last milk allowed to the calf. Which of these two modes is adopted depends upon the yield of milk and its richness. I once lost a valuable calf by allowing him the last milk, this containing too much fatty matter.

"In consequence of their abundant allowance of feed, my cows bring large calves, which, at the age of three weeks, after being fed nothing but the milk of their mother, will average 150 to 160 pounds, live weight, (165 to 176 pounds English.) There will also occur many twin births, which shows that rich feeding does not diminish the generative

power.

"At the age of three weeks, the calves are removed to a calf-stable, and there receive a drink three times a day, at the same time they used to suck; in the meantime they are allowed hay.

"The first peculiarity now of my mode of feeding is this, that into the drink of the calves I mix a great deal of linseed.

"Another point of high importance is to take prevention against diarrhea. Now looseness of the bowels originates in most cases from acid formed in their stomach. I therefore suspend between every two calves a piece of chalk. Sometimes a calf will not touch the chalk for months; at other times they will eat up the whole piece in a few days.

"I also shear all my cows and calves. One girl will shear two cows or four calves in a

day. The shearing helps to keep the skin clean, and greatly increases both comfort and appetite of the animal.

"Another point of great importance is to have the organs of secretion fully developed at the time of calving, especially at the first calving. Our physicians will prescribe fennel tea to women lying-in; this induced me to try fennel tea also on my cows. Upon one ounce of fennel I poured three quarters of a quart of boiling water, let it stand five minutes on a hot plate, then strained it, and gave it to the cow luke warm. The cows are not all fond of this drink; I therefore sweeten it and give it out of a bottle. I give this drink immediately after calving, three times a day for two days, or six times in all. I give the same drink thereafter once a month; in case of costiveness I give it oftener, with the best success.

"It is of great importance to allow milch cows a sufficiency of fatty matter in their feed always. I prefer linseed to any other ingredient."

Culture of the Tomato.

Every one who plants a garden must have experience of the difficulty of dealing with tomatoes as usually grown: they spread over space where they are not wanted; they hug the ground with such persistence that nothing can keep them from it; they rot both when it rains and when it does not rain; and at about the end of September they come to an absolute end of all production. The consequence is that most people choose to purchase such as the market affords, and to pay for defective and unsatisfactory tomatoes at a high price because an ordinary garden does not afford room for them. Having gone through an ample experience of this sort, I by accident attempted a mode of cultivation two years ago which has far exceeded my expectations in obviating the difficulties referred to, and in giving an ample supply of tomatoes so far superior to those usually sold, as to bear no comparison with them.

This mode is a right training of the vines on a high wall-a wall facing south in my case, but one facing east I think will do, while one facing north certainly will not do. Strips of lath nailed on posts or stakes, say eight inches from the surface of the wall, suffice to keep the vines within the enclosed space, but they must also be frequently tied to the lath,

or to nails driven in the face of the wall.Some trouble is requisite when they are growing most rapidly, but it will repay all the trouble well; being sure to keep the vines from falling or blowing down by whateyer driving-tying or lath-may be necessary. I have had no serious difficulty in this respect, nor will any one who ties the vines frequently in July and August: using some soft flax twine, or strong cotton strings.

The result is that the vines grow and bear from the earliest time that any can be produced, until absolutely freezing weather comes in November. I have had them in profusion and in perfection on the vines in two years as late as the middle of November-the fall of

both 1865 and 1866 being favorable as regards late frosts, or the delay of absolute freezing

weather. And it is remarkable that the tomato plant under such circumstances continues to produce as abundantly to the last as could be desired, without check by any frost or chill that does not absolutely freeze the

vines.

The fruit of the tomato is peculiarly an air fruit, requiring the fullest sun, and the most free circulation of air to perfect it. In the shade or near the earth the fruit does not set, and if set, does not ripen. Under the best conditions for the vines in this respect the production is so much greater as to pay for all the trouble of attaining them, even if a wall or trellis were to be erected exclusively to produce tomatoes. And those growing them for market purposes would be as well repaid as private cultivators. I can count up already about eight bushels as the produce of sixty feet of wall, and but twelve inches of earth surface at the foot in which they are planted, a brick wall three feet in width coming next. The vines have in three cases ripened fruit largely at a height of six to seven feet, and the bearing season has begun, or the production of ripe tomatoes, about the 10th of August.

As every practical economy in producing this indispensable vegetable is really demanded to secure good fruit and enough of it, I trust some of your readers who have been annoyed as I have been by the old mode, will try the wall; and by a little expenditure of labor, secure a result practically ten times as great in this item of private gardening.

P. S.-The above manuscript, mislaid at the date of its writing, may now be supplemented

by a final paragraph, stating what the experience of this year was. It was that the vines continued green and productive to Nov. 13th; yielded a full supply for daily use to that time; that on Nov. 13th, over two bushels of well grown tomatoes, green and ripe, were picked from perhaps sixty feet of wall, and that of these two bushels, fully half-a-bushel remain all sound and mostly well ripened to-day, December 17th. All of the quantity picked November 13th ripened well, and being used as raw tomatoes.-Gardener's Monthly.

Garget.

One of the common disorders in cows is garget, a disease very difficult to manage, although the country is full of remedies that are said to be infallible. In ordinary cases ordinary remedies will appear to cure; in fact light attacks will pass off frequently without any thing being done; but when inflammation suddenly sets in and extends through the whole bag, the udder becoming hard as a stone, the milk drying up so that but little can be drawn off, and that coagulated into a mess of bloody matter, there is work to be done if the original good gualities of the cow as a milker

are retained.

*.We have tried for garget physicking, bleeding, roweling, feeding garget root, saltpetre, &c., thoroughly, sometimes having good success, and at others no one remedy nor all together would effect a cure. We were never able to allay the inflammation in a severe case only by hot applications to the udder, and have had the best success by using strong soap-suds, hot as could possibly be applied with the hand, three or four times a day, giving the udder at the same time a good rubbing, and feeding the cow an ounce of saltpetre morning and evening.

Talking with an old dairyman a few days ago, we were told that he never failed to cure the most severe cases by smearing the bag with soft soap. If the soap is new and very strong it will remove the hair, and perhaps the skin with it, "but this," said he, "will come right again in a short time, and I consider it of but little consequence compared with the value derived from a speedy cure of the disease."-Ohio Farmer.

There are sixty-four cheese factories and branches in Oxford Co., Ontario, (C. W.)

A Dog Tax.

The New York Times calls attention to the number and value of the sheep killed by dogs in the United States during the year of 1866, as estimated by the Commissioner of Agriculture. The subsistence of the whole number of dogs in the United States, as heretofore stated in the colums of the "Turf, Field and Farm," costs about fifty millions of dollars annually. The value of the sheep killed by them annually is estimated at two millions of dollars, swelling the total loss to fifty-two millions of dollars. Well does the Times remark: "These are startling figures to an overtaxed community, and should command the attention of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Fifty-two millions per annum lost by dogs, to say nothing of the frightful deaths from hydrophobia which they occasion! We say lost, for with the exception of a very few terriers, sheep dogs, pointers and hounds, they furnish little in the way of set off to the enormous charge resulting from their depredations and consumption of food. Not five in a hundred are of any value. The efficiency of the watch-dog is rendered of but little avail against professed burglars, who use chloroform or strychnine when a regular job presents itself, the former of which they administer even when a door is interposed between a burglar and the more respectable animal.

"What shall be done to save the community from this annual severe loss? A tax by the General Government would afford some remedy, taken from some raw material necessary to our over-burdened manufacturing industry, and put upon each dog. We have been told that such a tax would cost the party which imposed it a great many votes, but we think that more would favor than would object to such a tax. In some States, Virginia, for instance, a State tax on this animal has, we think, been constantly prevented, on the ground that they are to be regarded in the light of ferae naturæ, and consequently not as property. But we are inclined to think that the influential gentlemen in Virginia who owned fox-hounds, and who resisted such a tax, would readily find out that they constituted property if a neighbor should interfere with the sport in which they delighted to engage by destroying the hounds which they followed in the chase." The suggestions of the Times are pertinent, but we think it goes out of the way to attack fox-hounds, as witness the following extract:

"The situation in Virginia is now favorable to the experiment of this national tax, as there are but few now to engage in the pastime of fox-hunting, and the majority will doubtless prefer that the rich fields of Virginia, now so largely uncultivated, may be devoted more universally to sheep than ever before. The two animals, the common dog and the sheep, can scarcely exist together; sheep owners all over the country are complaining loudly of the havoc among sheep which they occasion."

But few sheep are killed by well-bred foxhounds. The common curs, aided by the Newfoundland dog, are chiefly responsible for all depredations of this character. The Newfoundland dog, noble as he is in many particulars, is fond of sheep blood, and to gratify his love for such blood, he often becomes a night prowler. But the vagrant curs, the bastard without name or lineage, the offscourings of canine breeds, are the most uncompromising foes of sheep. They skulk about at night, like the cowards that they are, and select the most defenceless members of the flock to wreak vengeance upon. These mongrels are of no earthly benefit, and they should not be permitted to live. Let the General Government place a high tax upon such curs, and perhaps they will not be fostered to the extent they now are. Farmers will not feed the lazy, worthless brutes, when they are made to pay for the privilege of feeding them. But while attempting to exterminate common curs, we should encourage the general introduction of improved dogs. We should make a distinction between the two. People will have dogs about them of some kind, therefore it is policy to take measures to introduce canines of some practical value, in the place of the mongrel curs which are neither ornamental nor practical. If we were consulted we should say encourage improved dogs by exempting them from tax. We trust that Congress will give attention to this matter, for the law, to be effectual, must be national in character.— Turf, Field and Farm.

The editor of the "Southern Ruralist" says: We have tried trenching for pear trees, for grapevines, for asparagus, for strawberries, for this thing and for that, and if we have ever been benefitted by it, we don't know it, and don't believe it. Nay, we know that in several instances it has been a decided injury.

a practice which has the advantage of producing a good crop of grass from the seeds of clover and timothy or other grass, sown with the wheat.

The fertilizers of the market are substituted for this, when it is not practicable. Of Peruvian Guano, or any other that may be equal to it in value, not less than two hundred pounds should be used, sown broadcast. If sown with the drill, in immediate contact with the seeds, one-half the quantity is of equal value, so far as the crop of wheat is concerned. Of course, other fertilizers are to be used in increased quantity, proportioned to their diminished value.

The seeding should be done, if practicable, with a drill having a guano attachment which deposits the fertilizer with the seed. The Bickford & Huffman Drill is of long and well established character. The grain passes through pointed tubes, which run into the soft surface earth, depositing and covering it. The Star Drill deposits the seed, and ploughs it under with a three inch furrow, and it is claimed for it, that putting the seed in with perfect uniformity, and every grain being perfectly covered at the right depth, much less may be used. It ploughs in the seed, and rolls the surface, leaving the grain properly covered at the bottom of a moderate furrow, the sides of which fall in gradually, ensuring protection to the roots under the most adverse circumstances. Any good drill will economise seed and fertilizer, save labour, and. do the work better than it can be otherwise done; and its cost will be well repaid in a single crop of forty acres.

The first ploughing for wheat should be as deep as the nature of the ground will admit. At the time of seeding, it should be as shallow as will suffice for the proper covering of the seed.

The proper time of seeding in the latitude of Maryland, is from the middle of September to the middle of October. As we go South the time may be lengthened to the month of December.

Opinion varies much as to quantity of seed per acre. One bushel with the drill and one and a half broadcast, may be considered the average allowance, increasing these quantities somewhat for late sowing.

The labor-saving implements appropriate to wheat cultivation, are the drill as named above, the reaper with rake attached, which

lays the cut grain in readiness for binding, and the thresher. Good threshers now in use, are set upon a wheel-carriage for convenient locomotion, and thresh and clean the grain at the same operation.. There is a convenience in this which commends it to many, while others prefer to clean separately with the wheat fan. Drills, reapers, threshers and fans, are all brought to a degree of perfection in operation, that leaves nothing, almost, to be desired.

Location of the Grounds of the State Agricultural and Mechanical Association.—At an adjourned meeting of the Trustees of the funds appropriated by the State and the City Council, held on the 14th May, the property on Herring Run offered by Wm. McCann was selected for the purpose of the Society's Exhibitions, and a Committee authorized to make the purchase at the price for which it had been offered, twelve thousand dollars. It contains 72 acres, is accessible by turnpike and the Philadelphia Railroad, and has many advantages which adapt it to the purpose of the Society. This purchase will leave funds enough in hand to put the grounds in complete order for Exhibitions.

At a meeting of the Woolen Manufacturers' Association of the Northwest, held at Chicago, Feb. 15, 1868, it was decided to hold an Exposition of Wools and Woolen Goods at Chicago, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 4, 5 and 6, 1868. It is the design of the Exposition to make such an exhibition of all the classes of wools produced in the West, and of all the manufactured products of these wools, as shall fitly show the present magnitude of the wool and woolen interests of the West, and shall best advance their future prosperity, and by bringing together representatives of the wool growers and wool workers to enable them to harmonize conflicting views and to agree on such course as shall best advance the interest of both parties. It will also prove of great advantage to parties exhibiting, in affording opportunities for effecting sales.

Parties desiring to exhibit wool are requested to send statements of the number and kind of fleeces or samples they propose exhibiting, to G. E. Morrow, office of The Western Rural, Chicago, Ill., to whom all correspondence concerning the wool department of the Exposition may be addressed.