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About Laivns .—We have touched
the renewing and improving of lawns
time and time sga’ii, yet every now
and then we are button-holed in the
street with : “I wish you would tell
me what to do with my lawns.” Well,
we ask about it—‘‘Why, somehow the
grass seems to have got thin, and don’t
look good and strong ; the soil is
rather light, although every year I
have given it a top-dressing of ma¬
nure in the Fail and raked it off in
the Spring.” another
Yes, we say, just as many
man Jvoid of the knowledge of the
wants of the grass roots has done.
You have supplied a little stimulus,
and a very little one, to enable the
plant to. make a first start in the
Spring, by reason of the ammoniacal
alkali obtained from the leaching of
the manure during Winter, and as
soon as that is exhausted, which
generally is ere the heated season
comes in, the plant has nothing but
the poor old soil arid its broken roots
to support it. Now, if you would
first sow over your lawn fine Bone
meal at the rate of eight bushels to the
acre, then plaster at the rate of one
bushel to the aero, then cover the
whole half an inch thick with fine
garden soil, leaf mold, or fine chip
mold from an old wood-yard pile, and
then sow clean blue grass seed at the
rate of two bushels to tho acre, and
rake the whole with a fine tooth iron
rake, finish by rolling, and we
guarantee you a lawn that will stay
fresh and green all Summer, no mat¬
ter how dry the season. We hope
some of our button holing friends
will read this, cut it out and keep it.
Wolf Teeth —We copy the follow¬
ing from the American Agriculturist
as altogether the most satisfactory bo
explanation of tho connection
tween the wolf teeth, as they are
called, and weakness of the eyes in
horses : “In reply to many inquiries
as to whether wolf teeth in horses
cause blindness, we explain the mat¬
ter somewhat fully, that our corres¬
pondents may see the matter in its
true light. At the age of five years,
every horse has or has had what are
called wolf teeth. They are pointed
teeth, situated at the sides of tho jaw
towards the front. These teeth are
naturally shed soon after their ap¬
pearance in most cases, but some¬
times remain during a lengthened
period, and as they are followed by
other teeth, it sometinips occurs that
• an interference is occasioned when
they do not Iall out, and they are
crowded in the gums, and cause irrita¬
tion. In eases where, from cold or
neglect, the eyes of the horse are
injuriously affected at the same time
there is trouble with these teeth, it is
very probable that the irritation may
sympathetically increase the trouble
with the eyes. 13ut it is altogether
an indirect influence, and if the eyes
were properly cared for, would never
effect them. Where interference is
noticed, the teeth should be drawn,
not knocked out.
---- —
After the first of January, 1873, the
subscription to the Agriculturist will
be 50 cents. Subscribe now !
*
Young Men, Go to Work .—
Young men go to work ! There is no
time to idle now. You must crave out
your own fortune. Yon have no in¬
heritance on which to depend. You
must reconstruct your own fortunes
by industry, perseverance and toil.
Labor is honorable, and the ignoble
are those who will not work. Get
you a home. Fence a field, and
plough it and plaut it, and gather
around you the comforts of a home.
And when you have made a charac
ter for industry and thrift, ask some
young lady to sharo your home with
you. We say to every young lady,
mark these young men who are loung¬
ing around, attempting to live by their
wits, or on the interest of their debts;
and when they ask you to sharo the
fortunes of life with them, just let
them pass ©u. No young lady can
consent to mrary a young man with
out business, or property, or business
habits, unless she has made up her
mind to sell herself to the lowest
bidder. Young men, go to work ;
while ten men watch for chances, one
man makes chances ; while ten men
wait for something to turn up, one
turns up ; so while ten fail, one suc¬
ceeds and is called a man of luck, the
favorite of lortune. There is no luck,
luck and good fortune most fa¬
vors those who are most indifferent
to fortune. Young meu, go to work,
--% ♦ ♦--
Live for Something. -Thousands of
men breathe, move, and live—pass
off the stage of life, and are heard of
no more. Why? None were blessed
by them ; none could point to them as
the means of their redemption ; not a
line they wrote, not a word they spoke,
could bo recalled, and so they perish¬
ed. Their light went out in dark¬
ness, and they wore not remembered
more than tlie increase of yesterday.
Will you thus live and die ! 0 man
immortal! Live lor something. Do
good, and leave behind you a monu¬
ment of virtue, that the storms of
time can never destroy. Write your
name, by kindness, love, and mercy,
on the hearts of thousands who come
in contact with you year by yoar, and
you will novor be forgotten. No ;
your name, your deeds will be as
legible on tho hearts you leave behind,
as tho stars on the brow of evening.
Good deeds will shine as brightly on
the earth as the stars of heaven.
Letter From John Plowhan
dles.
HORSE-RACING AT FAIRS.
Mr, Editor .—I rejoice exceed¬
ingly to see by tho premium lists of
many of our principal State Fairs
that agriculture is this year goiug to
have a better showing at the Agricul¬
tural Exhibitions, and that the horse
racers, jockeys and sporting men
generally will be allowed to find
other more profitable fields presented for their
peculiar industry than those
by our fair grouuds. Hitherto the
racing was the great feature. Tho
premiums offered were generally ap¬
portioned in the proportion of $1500
for the race-horse which could come
out first in the ‘‘best three in five.”
and $2 for the best bale of clover hay,
and this apportionment was made by
the managers of agricultural socie¬
ties professing to be earnestly de¬
sirous to promote the interests of ag¬
riculture! The money was offered
by the thousand for the encourag
meut of professional gamblers, horsc
jockeys, pool-sellers, and their disre¬
putable followers and associates, and
was offered by tho single dollar for
khe encouragement of those processes
which may best restore our waste
lands and renew our wealth and pros¬
perity. It was a scandal—a crying
shame—as well as an outrage against
the morality and religious convic¬
tions of the people.
The excuse was that if there is no
horse-racing there will be no crowd
and if there is no crowd there will be
no receipts of money to pay expenses
and provide the ines,ns for future
fairs. I always believed that the ex¬
cuse was fallacious, and that like all
dodg-s and subterfuges, it was repre¬
hensible both in morals and policy.
I believe that the people will attend
a purely agricultural exhibition, and
that thousands who have stayed away
from a race-course will go to a f.iir
ground. At a’l events, 1 am glad
that the question will be tested eon
clusively. If those most interested
will not support a bona fule agricul¬
tural fair, where everything to be
seen pertains either directly or iudi
roctly to agriculture, aud can ouly b;
induced to attend when the “principal
feature” is a horserace, and agricul¬
ture is only a side show, the sooner
the fairs are discontinued the better.
They are no longer useful, aud it is
plain that those lor whose benefit they
arc designed do not appreciate their
value. To do evil that good may
come is as false in practice as ia re¬
ligion. The good never conies. No
man will become a better, more intel
ligent or more scientific farmer by
anything lie will see or hear at a
race-course.
The opportunity is now offered to
farmers and those interested in agri¬
culture to sustain their best.friends
aud promote useful enterprises by
their presence aud their money at
these lairs, whore they will find noth¬
ing to (fiend the eye or the car,
where every object is intended to in¬
struct and improve them, and where
the all-pervadiug purpose is to ele¬
vate them to a position of material
independence and assured prosperity.
Yours Respect fully,
John Plowhandlks.
--»*•>«-
To Preserve Field Peas from
Wevil .—Many years’ experience has
satisfied m<* of the efficacy of “spirits
of turpentine” for the preservation
of peas and beans from wevil. For
the gardeD, put the peas and beans in
a common glass bottle, with a few
piece* of paper saturated with spirits
of turpentine, and cork tightly.
Last year I preserved my field peas
perfectly sound and bright, by plac¬
ing strips %t paper saturated with
turpentine in the bottom of a fl >ur
Barre), then a bushel of peas and
again strips of paper as above, until
the barrtd wa» full. The peas when
taken out to plant, late in Juno, were
sound and no sign of the wevil about
them ; a few not used in planfc ng My are
still free from wevil at this date
invariable success with spirits of
turpentine, in the preservation ot
peas and beans, justifies me in ^re¬
commending the above method. Care
should be observed not to pour the
turpentine on the peas, or they will
not germinate.— Cor. Fild and Fac¬
tory.
--• -
To Prevent Sows Destroying
Their Young. —The monthly report
of the Depatmenfc of Agriculture con¬
tains the following : It is well known
that sows not unf^picntly attack and
devour their own young ; or if pre¬
vented from this, will not let down
their milk, so that the young pigs
necessarily die for want ot nourish¬
ment. When this state of things is
not caused by a diseased condition ol
the uterus, it is said that tho sow can
be brought to terms by pouring a
mixture of ten to twenty grains of
spirits of camphor with one to three
of tincture of opium, into the car.
Tiic sow will immediately lie down
on the one side of the car to which the
application was made, aud remain
quiet for several hours in this posi¬
tion without interfering with her
pigs; and cn recovery from the stupor
will have lost her irritability in ro- #
gard to them. The experiment h is
been tried in Germany many hun¬
dreds of times, according to one of
the agricultural journals, without any
injurious effects. It is also s\id that
tho eating of pigs by the parent sow
can be readily prevented by rubbing
them all over with brandy, and
making tho same application about
the nose of the sow herself.
-•.«.«
A Contrast and a Moral — A
greater contrast cannot bo imagined
than a hard-fac.cd, closed fisted, sag ici
ous man of money and what is trailed
a fast young man. When old Money¬
bags, plodding to his counting ro mi,
meets one of these young swells per¬
haps driving fine horses, a cigar in his
month, and other insignia of young
bloods about him, he feels a contempt
for him that language is in idequate
to express, lie considers him the
greatest fool in the world—not because
ho is a profligate sinner—but because
lie is throwing away money and time
in such an unprofitable way.
The only consolation he has in the
spectacle is the suggestion it makes
of his own superior wisdom. Yet he
is as great a fix)l in his own fashion as
the other. Haw did the fast youth
obtain the cash he is scattering about
so lavishiy ? From some old father,
who had made gold his god, like old
Money-Bags, only to have his deity
chopped into current coin by his
children. He layeth up riches and
knoweth not who shall gather them !
—--#-» «- .
Frost bitten Combs —Fowls that
have become exposed and had their
combs and gils frost-bitten, may be
cured by applying to the parts effected
glyceriue two or three times a day .
In a few days the comb will assume
its natural color aud healthiness
.