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DOCTORING A MENAGERIE.
DISEASES THAT AFFLICT WILD
ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY.
An Elephant's Turkish Hath—Coaxing
a Tiger to Eat—The Enraged iioa
Constrictor—A Narrow Escape.
“In the past fifteen years,” remarked
the Superintendent of the Central Park
Menagerie to a New York Star reporter,
‘\I have treated almost every species of
animal known to the civilized world, and
in many years past I have performed au¬
topsies upon most of the patients that
have died under my treatment. What
are the most prevalent diseases? That
would be had to decide. Every disease
that a man can have a monkey can have,
but with the latter lung troubles are
more common than any other malady.
The late Mr. Crowley, for instance, died
from a combination of disorders that
were distinctly human in their scope.
He had consumption, a liver complaint,
brought on by injudicious feeding dur¬
ing one of his periods of convalescence,
and a brain trouble that would have
caused insanity in time. His vitality was
something marvelous. Just fancy, all
his antics were done with only the half of
one lung in his chest.”
“Which are the most difficult animals
to treat?”
“Monkeys. You see, they are strong
for their size, and when they arc- cornered
they make a vicious fight; and they must
always be caught before they can be
treated. The monkey always smells his
food before lie takes a mouthful, and
what he doesn’t like he will not eat.
Therefore he must have his medicine
poured down his throat by force. How
is it done? An attendant goes into the
cage with a hag fastened to a ring at the
end of a pole, like a fish dip net. He
corners the sick monkey and throws the
bag over his head; then there is a twist
of the hand, a few squeaks are heard
from the interior of the net, and the cap¬
ture is made. It then takes two men to
make the brute open his mouth. His
hands and feet must be held and the
jaws forced apart. It is hard work, I
assure you. I have spent a whole morn¬
ing, many a time, making a valuable
monkey take its medicine, and it is a
job I never yearn for.”
“How about sick tigers?”
1 “Lions, tigers, panthers, leopards—in
fact, all animals of the cat family—are
easily treated. They are ravenous eaters,
and take medicine with their food with¬
out a second’s hesitation. When a tiger
refuses to eat his regular food we have
to tempt his appetite. This is seldom
hard to do. A tiger will generally eat live
food. We saturate a pigeon or a rabbit
with the medicine and throw it loose in
the cage. If the brute is too sick to
kill his food, we cut the throat of the
victim, after first introducing tlie inedi
cine into the blood. A tiger will always
drink warm blood. We seldom have
much difficulty with these animals. The
adults, as a rule, either die of lung
troubles, brought on by colds, or of en
largement of the liver from want of suf
ficient exercise, or of old age. The last
is the most prevalent cause of death,
Young lions and tigers bom in captivity
are frequently troubled with “rickctts,”
caused by the lack of lime in their bones.
“The only time we have trouble with a
sick lion,” continued the doctor, “is
vvhen we are forced to peform a surgical
operation. The royal beast must first be
chloroformed. To do this we fasten a
large sponge soaked in the drug to the
end of a stout pole, and shove this be
tween the bars of the cage. This makes
the lion furious, and he snaps, growls
and claws at the intruder. But every
times he bites or strikes the sponge he
inhales the fluid, and in about ten min
utes he is generally sleeping like a baby. ”
“Did you ever treat an elephant?”
“Often. As a rule, elephants are par
ticularly docile when they are sick. They
have sense enough to appreciate what is
being done for them, and they often sup
pjement the efforts Iliad of particularly their keepers, sick j
Several years ago a
.elephant ou my hands, ‘Tom’ was his
name, and he had a heavy cold and was ;
threatened with pneumonia. I was se
riously alarmed. Elephants are expen
sive luxuries, and I didn’t want to lose
him. I took his two keepers and two ;
other attendants with me into the ele
phant house. We built a rousing fire in
the stove and put two wash boilers on
top, In these we kept soaking
blankets. We let them boil almost, and
then spread them over Tom’s back. It
was as good as a Turkish bath. Before
this we gave fn him nearly two gallons of
whisky one drink. Did he like the
whisky? He did. Did he get tipsy? He
did not, but he felt happy and playful,
and the treatment pulled him through
safely. I don’t know whether he had a
headache the next morning or not. If
he did, he probably did not know what
caused it.
“Bears, wolves, kangaroos and camels
generally die from lung troubles. I have
;old you of the difficulty in treating a
bamel. The same is the case in doctor
ng kangaroos and ostriches. Bears and
wolves are greedy feeders,and are treated,
as a rule, without much trouble.”
“Did you ever attend a sick hippo¬
potamus?”
“Only once. Miss Murphy, our female
specimen, had a stomach disorder once,
£ walked to the bars of her cage and held
ip my hand as if I were going to give her
something to eat. She opened her m6nth
so wide that I could almost see the seat
of her complaint. I dropped the powder
iown the cavity and the task was ended.
We have been very fortunate with Miss
Murphy and Caliph, her mate, The
former has been here about four years
ind has been extraordinary healthy. The
Philadelphia gardens have lost three
specimens, and the oldest only lived
three years in confinement. In London
they have been known to live years after •
their capture. They usually die of fatty
degeneration, caused by overeating and
lack of exercise. When it once develops i
there is no cure for it.”
“What are the strangest cases of sick
aess you have ever treated ?” j
“I think a sick boa constrictor was
about the oddest and most unpleasant ease
THE’OGLETHORPE ECHO, LEXINGTON. GA • 1 FRIDAY, YfNUARY 10, 1890.
I ever had. It had a sore mouth and
couldn’t cat. We got the reptile into a
box and pulled its head out through n
hole in the lid by wrapping a piece ol
carpet around its neck. Then by press
lug the head at the angles of the jaws we
forced them apart and rubbed the gums
with ointment. The creature was one ol
thedargest I ever saw. It was very strong,
vicious and exceedingly active. I nevei
saw such teeth and jaws on a snake either
before or since, and I came pretty near
having good cause to remember them foi
the rest of my life. One of the attend¬
ants let his side of the head slip just as I
was finishing my part of the work, and
the monster closed its teeth on my hand,
like the jaws of a steel trap, with a click.
One tooth went through the fleshy part oi
the palm, making about as ugly and pain¬
ful a wound as I ever had. Not satisfied
with this, the snake took advantage
the fright of the attendants and slid about
ten feet of its powerful length out of the
box and on to the floor. If I had n$t
dropped my bottles and forgotten my pain
in encouraging and helping my helpers,
there would have been .serious trouble*. ”
WISE WORDS.
H Economy is the easy chair of old age.
Though creeds are narrow, know that
truth is wide.
No man can fall into contempt bui
those who deserve it.
The darkest cloud often contains the
most fruitful showers.
That an open enemy is to be respected,
a secret one to be suspected.
lie that labors may be tempted by pa< :
devil; but he that is idle is tempted by
a thousand.
Pam if you like, but try to keep youi
breath. Work like a man, but don't be
worked to death.
There is some excuse for the mail \\(ho
has no conscience; it is said that con¬
science only makes a man cowardly.
Calumny differs from most other in¬
juries in this dreadful circumstance; lie
who commits it can never repair it.
Why should we open our hearts to the
world? It laughs at our weaknesses, it
does not believe in our virtues, it does
not pity our sorrows.
Sin never ruins but where it reigns.
It is not destroying where it is disturb¬
ing. The more evil it receives from us,
the less evil it does us.
I think the first virtue is to restrain
the tongue. He approaches nearest to
the gods who knows how to be sihent,
even though he is in the right.
The use of the leaves is ended when
they drop from the bough. They until go to
make new wood mold, but not they
have helped the children of the wood to
weather the cold season,
I never had any faith in luck at all,
except that I believe good luck will well, carry
a man over a ditch if he jumps and
-will p U t a bit of bacon into his pot, if
be looks after his garden and keeps a
pig. Luck generally comes to those who
look after it; and my notion is, it taps
() nce in a lifetime at everybody’s door,
bu t if industry does not open it-awa§ r it
g 0CS .
'
A Speculator’s Nerve.
“You see that rather sleepy-looking
tall man going by,” said a man Journal sitting in
a broker’s office to a Chicago re
porter. The latter saw a man six feet,
two inches tall, rather large hands and
feet, square slightly stooping shoulders,
no whiskers, but a brown, partly cropped
mustache, rather small eyes pretty well
hidden by a large derby hat worn low in
front. He had a long, swinging gait but
did not walk as if in any hurry,
“Let me tell you about a little ijerve
lie displayed once,” said the gentleman,
“He was among other speculators attend -
ing the ‘cali’ ii\the provision market. In
bidding for 250 barrels of pork for a
certain month he accidentally hid $1 per
barrel over the market. The offerings
came freely of course and he kept on
taking the pork until he had bought
about 5000 barrels.
Just then a friend rushed to his ear and
surprised $1 him by telling him he was pay
over the market. The rest of the
trade was amazed. He did not <jL-t ex
cited. He saw he was in a hole but he
did not let any one elst know it. Se at
once began bidding for still larger
amounts, and even put the price »p a
little higher.
Then the trade went wild. They
thought his friend had given him a tip
on a piece of great bull news. lie kept
on buying at his own price. Presently
others began buying. Other futures ad
vanced. The traders climbed o*«r each
other to get this particular future be
cause this tall man was taking it.
Before the call was over he had un¬
loaded most of his purchases and name
out with little loss. He had no news,
He had blundered in paying 81 a barrel
too much. His only way out was by a
big bluff. He frightened the trade into
taking the pork at the advanced figure.
It was a clear case of nerve,
“Who is he? That is Norman B.
Ream, of the Board of Trade. He is
now a millionaire, and not Alittle of his
wealth is due to this same nerve.”
Brotherly Love and Law.
Count Leo Tolstoi, the Russian poet,
has almost entirely given up literature,
and for several years has devoted himself
to manual occupations and the preaching
to the gospel of temperance, patience
and industry. The following rharac
teristic lately occurred to him in Mos
cow:
One day as he was driving through
the streets he saw a constable unmerci
fully dragging along a peasant for some
offence against the city by-laws. The
Count stopped his carriage, got out, and
walked up to the constable, saying: “Can
you read ?” “Certainly.” “Have you
read the Scriptures?” “Yes.” “Then
don’t forget that we are commanded to
love our neighbor as ourself.” The
policeman stared at the Count in aston
ishment, and addressed to him a string
of questions in his turn: “And vou, can
you read?” “Yes.” “Have you read
the police regulations?” “No.” preach.^ “Well
go and read them first and then
MMS ABOUT RACCOONS.
,A CRAFTY ANIMAL VERY DIFFI¬
CULT TO CATCH.
Kie Trap Must, he Baited and Sunk
m the Water—Smokriug\Hiin Out
—His Winter Habits.
“The coon leaves the coldest scent be
hind it of any animal that lives,” said an
old western Pennsylvania trapper to a
correspondent of the New York Sun,
“but it carries the keenest scent in front
of it of any animal. You may track a
coon to his home in the crevice of some
rock, which is a favorite retreat for him.
You may place your trap in front of the
hole, and disguise it as you may, cover it
with leaves a foot deep, if you like, but
that coon will never leave -that hole as
long as that trap is there, He will
starve to death first, as I have proved on
more than one occasion. He can smell
the iron of that trap, and lie seems to
know the danger it threatens him with,
lie knows it will be death to leave the
hole, and he prefers death by starvation
to being trapped. I have tried iron
traps and snares and all sorts of devices,
but could not succeed in foolin g one of
these wise little animals into getting
caught by me until one day a new idea
struck me. It isn’t often you see a coon
in the daytime, unless you know where
to look for them. If there is a creek in
your vicinity in which craw-fish are
plentiful, you will be likely to discover
some epicurean coon fishing for them, if
you hide at the side of the creek and
keep very quiet.
“The coon is particularly fond of craw¬
fish. The way he fishes for them is to
wade in the creek, generally going down
stream. The crawfish live under tire
stones on the bottom. The coon feels un¬
der each stone he comes to with his fore
paws, thrusting one under on one side and
;he other on the other side. It is a comi¬
cal sight to see a coon fishing for craw¬
fish. lie keeps his head high in the air,
moving it up and down and to and fro,
ais eyes evidently gazing at nothing,
every business sense seeming to be concentrated on
the beneath the water. You can
tell in a second when he has fastened on
i crawfish, for the expression on his face
changes instantly from the dull, vacant
stare to one of brightness and animation,
fie draws the crawfish out of the water,
md, standing on his hind feet, rolls it
smartly between his paws. This crushes
the shell and claws of the crawfish, and
makes the sweet meat more accessible.
The coon eats his capture with great rel¬
ish, and then begins the search for another
one.
( l While watching a coon fishing in this
way one day I got the new idea of trap¬
ping for coons. I thought that by plac¬
ing a steel trap under the water in the
-reek where coons did their fishing they
could be deceived, and more than likely
caught. I tried the experiment. I sank
two traps at different places on a favorite
crawfishing route for coons, and the same
afternoon found a coon in each trap. And
that is the only way you can trap a coon.
“Coons are very fond, of corn, and so
are squirrels. Farmers often charge
damage done to their corn to coons when
it is the work of squirrels, and vice
versa. There should be no mistaking
the work of a coon in a cornfield. He is
i most wantonly destructive pest. He
will strip an ear, eat a portion of it, tear
it from -the stalk, and so on until he is
satisfied. He destroys fivefold more than
he eats. Squirrels are not one-tenth as
destructive as coons. The farmer may
tell what kind of squirrel has been help¬
ing himself to his corn if he is observant.
The gray and black squirrel eat the whole
of the grain, while th* saucy little red
squirrel nips out the heart and throws
the rest away.
“I often hear hunters talk about
smoking coons out of hollow trees where
they have been located. If they say they
have done the smoking by burning straw
or leaves or substances of that kind, I
don’t believe them. Coon hunters in
western Pennsylvania know by long ex¬
perience that there is o»ly one thing, the
smoke of which will fo,-.-ce a coon to beat
a retreat from his hollow tree. You may
burn leaves or straw kill the cows come
home, but you won’t get your coon. You
can hear him sneezing every little while
like a man with the hay fever, but that
is all the effect the smoke will have on
him. If you want to get your coon by
smoking him out, of the tree, you must
take what we call a sulphur match over
in western I ennsylvaniit. The coon
hunting sulphui match in made by melt
mg down a quantity of sulphur in a
saucer and saturating a strip of muslin a
few inches long and an inch or two wide
in it. When you run you,- coon into a
hollow tree all „ you've got to do , is . to put
your snlpnur match at the bottom of the
hole and light it. It won t be burning
ten seconds before Mr Coon will pop out
of his hollow as il he'd been shot from a
catapult. and then u you don t get him
its vour fault.
“I never read anything about the
habits of the coon vet that didn t say
that the animal lays up stores to subsist
on during the winter, and I never met
anybody who professed to know any
thing about coons that didn t hold the
same thing. A coon depends ou stores
it collects to see,it through winter just
about as much as the bear does, and
everybody knows that the bear goes to
sleep in his hole when the weather drives
him in, and doesn’t generally wake
until spring, and so he can t eat much.
The coon does the same thing, except
that he will wake up now and than on
some fine day and take a little stroll
through the country. When he goes to
his winter home he rolls himself with his
nose between his hind legs, and very
close to his hams, at that, and gives him
self up to oblivion. When he comes out
in the spring he's as thin as a shadow,
I’ve cut down dozens of coon trees in
the winter, and always found the coons
in that rolled-up position, with not a
vestige of anything to eat in the hole. If
a coon comes out on a winter’s day and
•he ground is all covered with snow, he
will accept the inevitable and walk on
the snow to his destination, but if the
snow is in patches, or lies in scattered
banks, the coon will follow the leading
of t-hc bare ground around the patches of
jsnow, keeping shy of all contact with
t fiem, although such a course may lead
• him miles out of his way. The coon is
an interesting creature, and is worthy oi
a good deal of study.”
SELECT SIFTINGS.
Mexican railroads have mahogany ties
and stations of fine marble.
A Maine man has invented a machine
that makes mustard plasters.
Banana trees flourish and their fruit
ripens in the open air of Jacksonville,
Fla.
The inventor of the stylographic pen
is reputed to have made $1,000,000 out
of it.
The smell of finely scraped horseradish
* s sa * d to iin effectual cure for head¬
ache.
In Madagascar you cun keep house,
live well and have three servants for
about seventy cents per week.
Professor Frank Stouch has taught
23,(585 persons at Reading, Penn., how
to dance. It took fifty-three years to do
It was on Watling Island, in the Ba¬
hamas, that Columbus first set his foot,
after weary weeks of almost hopeless
groping across the Atlantic.
An Allentown (Penn.) tailor has in¬
vented a “shoulder protector,” to pre¬
vent the powder on the girls’ faces from
soiling the young men’s coats.
“Cocoanut Day” is celebrated in most
parts of India during the full moon in
August. On that day numbers of nuts
are thrown into the sea as an offering to
the Hindoo gods.
Next to England, little Holland is the
greatest colonial power in the world.
The Dutch colonies have an area of nearly
80,000 square miles, which includes some
of the finest colonial possessions in the
world.
The Lewiston Journal says it would
seem as if uobody need go with an empty
stomach in Maine when sun-dried apples
are selling for four cents a pound in the
country stores and there’s a mineral
spring on every hillside.
A Buffalo (N. Y.) paper says Niagara
River, below the falls, is unusually low,
and, what is more singular, the waters
have been gradually falling for the past,
three or four years. It is still from 150
to 200 feet deep, and is not likely to dry
up yet awhile.
The first lighthouse on this continent
of which there is any record was built at
the entrance of Boston Harbor in 1715,
at the expense of the Colony of Massa¬
chusetts Bay. It was supported by a
lighthouse due of one pence per ton on
all vessels passing.
Two maudlin miners lying on the road 1
-
side at Easton, Penn., were mistaken for
a bear by a passerby, and the alarms was
spread through the country. The dogs
of a hunting party got on the scent of a
skunk and ran it out, and the hunters
were very mad when they found there
was no bear.
It is now a French law that every child
born in France of a foreign father like¬
wise bom in France is a French citizen;
while the child born in France of a for¬
eigner, no matter where born, is a French
citizen if domiciled there at the time of
his majority, unless he formally decline
to be so regarded.
The London road car-drivers have a
grievance which approaches the ludi¬
crous. if they do not wear high hats
they are suspended for a week. Re¬
cently a driver’s hat was blown off and a
cart went over it, so that he was obliged
to resort to a low felt hat for the re¬
mainder of the day. For this heinous
crime he was stopped and suspended for
one week.
On British railways it is unusual for a
freight train to exceed fifty tons, and a
mineral-train seldom comes up to 200
tons. In llin United States, on the con¬
trary, trains of nearly 1000 tons are run
icgularly, the wagons employed being
capable of carrying from twenty to
twenty-five tons each, or about three
times the quantity usually carried by En
glish trucks,
—
A Mexican Scrape.
“There’s a genuine Mexican serape,”
and the tawny-mustached ex-Congress¬
man f rom the Rio Grande shook out, as
b( , spoke) the crimson and blue and gold
etn hroidered folds of one of those unique
f rori tier blankets of which nearly every
body has read and which so few New
Yorkers ever saw. It was a present to
Colonel Ochiltree from a Mexican lady
who had spent three years iii beautifying
the „ lowin „ expanse of finely woven wool
and gjlk with her owlJ nee dlc. A scrape
guch as that is about four feet wide and
sev( . nfeetlon the delicate threads of
ld and stripesof roya l purple am ,-rim
soa wb ; ( . b nm through its scarlet expanse
meeting in the centre and at regular in
tervals in picturesque designs of quaint
con g<rmotion and tasteful arrangement,
The stuff ;tsc i f , a s it leaves the Mexican
j is llot as as si) k nor as light,
but it i 3 a thing of beauiy and a delight
both to the si „ ht and th(: touch, The
materials and thc dye3 are all native M-xi
can products . Worn over her head, the
senorita peeps through the folds of the
geraT)e j ri a bewitching wav and finds
' good looks, while
th ,. n 1 enhancinr , her
the senor, with his swarthy face and neck
ha]f bllried ; n thc game folds, and wear
jj. as a c ; oak ra ther than as-a hood and
shaw , combinedj shows the serape to be
eaua jiy picturesque as a masculine gar«
meat.—New York World.
A Terrible Death. ■■
“I once attempted suicide by mor
phine,” said an old man. “It must be a
terrible death. The taste of the mor
phine comes to your mouth all the time,
and the gases from your stomach suffo
cate you. There is a ringing and roar
ing in your ears, and your head is al
most splitting with pain. The floor seems
sinking beneath you, and the effect is
terribly painful. Give rne drowning oz
: the rope another time.”— St. Louis Star*
! Sayhi/jts. - -«
THE FARM AND GARDEN.
SCATTEH Tin; MANURE.
Tn using manure for fruit trees or small
fruits it should l>e well scattered. The
roots extend long distances from tree
trunks and hence it is absurd, as some
growcFs do, to pile most of the manure
against the trunk. Spread it evenly on
the surface or work it in the soil. The
same rule applies to small fruits. The
roots tiavel long distances, even though
in many cases they are almost invisible,
—New York Herald.
SECURING HOOD SEED OATS.
1 lie price of oats is now very low, but
in most, eases they bring proportionably
all they are >rth as compared with
other feed, Never before were there so
many poor light outs, or oats that, had
been injured in miring, as this season.
There is likely to he difficulty nexi sea¬
son in getting good seed oats, and it is
well to secure oats that arc full weight
and not musty for seed. At the best
oats in our climate tend to run out, on
account of hot, dry summers, and if
poor seed be sown the deterioration is
more rapid. 1( may pay seedsmen this
year to vrocurc oats from Nova Scotia or
some other portion of'Canada, provided
they are there exempt from the failure
that attaches to most oats grown in the
States.— American' Cultivator.
COLT TRAINING WITH OLD TEAM.
From the first, in all breakings, the
colt should be with a steady old horse
until it has become used to the bit and
tractable, or, which is better, if possible,
driven between two team horses. Years
ago, says.I. II. Andre in the New York
Tribune , 1. used to take a colt to pasture
in the evening with the team, and it was
returned to the stable in the morning
when the team was brought in. It was
a nervous, self-willed animal, and liad
the appearance of being a hard one to
break to ride under ordinary circum¬
stances. When old enough to ride the
bridle was put on. It was led out of the
stable and placed between the team
horses and close together. 1 mounted its
back without saying a word. All were
started for the pasture together, and the
colt was easily broken without any trou¬
ble or using extra time. A frisky colt
will pay scarcely any attention to any¬
thing if driven with a steady old horse;
whereas if alone, under the same circum¬
stances, it might take a fright not easy
to forget.
FOR EGGS IN WINTER.
“To get many eggs in winter one must
give the hens sonic care and attention
and furnish them with warm and com¬
fortable quarters. The pullets that were
hutched early and the yearlings of last
spring will he the best layers. After
fowls pass their second year as a general
thing they are not profitable as layers.
Better kill them oil than to keep old
fowls. It is also a good thing to change,
either by buying or exchanging eggs for
a setting, or by introducing some good
fowls from a neighbor s llock. loin
duec laying give plenty of meat scraps
and some green lood. See that 1hey
have gravel and plenty ol pure, water,
and while they may run out freely dur
ing pleasant days be careful and keep
them housed up in bold, stormy weather.
Don t allow them to runout on the snow
or in rain-storms. They must he kept
out of windy weather and cold draughts
if they are to ley eggs in the winter
months. IT they can he allowed to run
in tin- animal stables in 1 lie daytime it
will increase the egg-production, and a
roosting-place where they get
warmth from the stabled animals, wher
ever it is all practicable, will have a good
effect on their living. They want a
ficicney of food of a mixed character,
mostly hard grains of different kinds,
but not so much as to make them fat.”—
New York World.
I TILIZINU lM'MPKINS.
Pumpkins are a valuable and nutritious
food for cows, if they are only rightly
spread before them. The orthodox way
of feeding them ig to draw u wagon-load
into the pasture, and scatter them pro
miscuously about in a parti illy crushed
condition, for the cows to light and choke
over.
It always pays to feed intelligently, and
we might add, humanely, and we append
away of offering pumpkins to cows that
wi; believe to be more efficacious than the
manner described. Gather only ripe,
sound pumpkins; the green and decayed
ones discard; knock off the hard stems
and. handle; with a pitch or dung-fork.
Near the pasture fem e build a plank
bottomed pm. or a large, ua low dry
goods box would do, and into this dump
a part of a load of «elec:ea pumpkins.
Now, go into them with a sharp spade;
and chop then, quite finely. Most of the
entrails and seeds will slough and rattle
off, and the meaty blocks of the fruit,
shovel over the fence into a long station¬
ary trough, for the cattle to partake of
leisure.
Koots, such as mangels and rutabagas,
can advantageously be served the same
way, and if fed in winter, your chop
ping box can he placed in the cellar or
stable.
The seeds of pumpkins act too vigor¬
ously on the kidneys to be beneficial to
cows, hence care should be taken that
they be excluded from their menu.
At this thru; of the year it is the en¬
deavor of dairymen not so much to in
crease their milk flow as to maintain its
previous quality. Meadows are annually
leached, through their depletion of after
math, for this, when some substitute
should be provided, Our experience
with pumpkins as a cheaply produced
food has been satisfactorily in the ex
treme, and we recommend their more
extensive cultivation, Those varieties of
the fruit that yield most proiifiely, and
produce the firmest, sweetest meated
pumpkins, are the ones to plant. If
planted in a field separate from corn they
do far better than when shaded by the
ma i Z( ,
Dairymen, do not despise the pump
kiu because it is ubiquitous. Cultivate
it well and feed it intelligently, and you
will be satisfied with the result. — Prairie
Vanner. .
3
GREEN MANURING.
The necessity for. restoring some of
the fertilty to our soils which are
cropped each year is apparent even to
* he most casual thinker. If the soil is
i »ot to hi’ absolutely impoverished, there
must be a returning to as well asatak
>»S from it of the elements of fertility,
This is a self-evident truth, and requires
no proof or illustration to make its estab
} isJ fit® »meut most complete. natural, Green most feasible crop feeding and
' s
most economical method by which to rc
turn the plant fo'od that is taken from
our fields by continual cropping. Barn¬
yard manure will always, of course, re¬
main the farmer's chief reliance for cn
ricliing this land, but green manured
crops will be found to be a valuable and
inexpensive adjunct to this.
Their effects upon the soil are remarka¬
ble, their vegetable or organic matter
rendering it at once friable, active and
fruitful. The green crops most profita¬
ble to be employed for this purpose are
those denominated “air-feeders,” those
possessed of the power to absorb the ele¬
ments of organic life from the air, such
as clover, buck wheat, rye, peas, beans,
etc. Clover undoubtedly stands at the
head of the list. It contains u large pro¬
portion of potash, lime, magnesia, nitro¬
gen, chlorine, and carbonic, phosporic
and sulphuric acid. Its great value as a
munurial plant lies in the fact that its
leaves and stems absorb the largest part
of its fertilizing gasses from.the air, and
take only a comparatively small portion
from the soil. It is a voracious “air
feeder. - ’ Moreover, its long, thick roots
draw the fertilzing saline and mineral
elements of the sub-soil up into the sur¬
face soil, and render them available ns
plant food. It is a cheap and most avail¬
able agent to supply soils with necessary
nitrogen, which lias been well denomi¬
nated one of the “scarcest and dearest of
mammal elements.”
Buckwheat is also a valuable mammal
green crop. It is a rapid and hardy
grower, and can be successfully grown
on the same plot year after year, without
materially exhausting the soil. Two
crops of it can be grown and plowed
under on the same ground in one season,
and the ground seeded down with grass
or a grain crop in September. It should
he grown far more extensively than it is,
its grain making a complete poultry food,
while its cultivation is strongly recom¬
mended as an eradicator of Canada this¬
tles, witchgrass and other foul and ob¬
noxious weeds. It also has a high hy¬
gienic value as a purifier of the air, tak¬
ing uj* the effluvia and miasma rising in
the air from foul sink spouts and other
slovenly spots about the farm or out¬
buildings. Let us raise more buckwheat.
The seed costs but little; it will grow
upon any kind of land, from drifting
sand to impact clay; it gives a good crop;
its straw contains considerable quantities
of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, phos¬
phoric and sulphuric acid, and when
plowed under it. decomposes rapidly,
loosens the soil and makes a first-class
manure.
The pea is of great value as a luanur
ml crop, even after the fruit has been
gathered and the vines are fully ripened,
'['hey eon tain a very largo proportion of
potash, lime, chloride'of magnesia, soda, carbonic
a cid and sodium, besides sill¬
phuric and phosphoric acid; and when
|,] owe «l under, it puts the soil in (he best
possible condition for other crops, es¬
pecially wheat and grass.
Rye is also a most valuable munurial
crop, but on the score of economy is not
so profitably used for this purpose, its
;. (,|. a in being too valuable to ho econoini
a || y sacrificed as manure,
European agriculturists also employ
j turnips, corn, vetch and mustard as green
j niimuritil crops, the turnip being rated as
the best, as it grows in the cool and
moist climate of England to the greatest
perfection. But this, like the vetch, is
a precarious plant in the hotter and
dryer climate of New England.
The proper time to plow down green
crops, to renovate the soil, is in the
warm weather of summer, when they
j arc (hen just take coming quick into decay flower. from They their
on a
j m , IIU turcd condition when the sun has
; its greatest power to aid in the process
I „f fermentation and decay. Let our
. farmers try the practice of green manur¬
ing, and the results achieved will be sure
| to induce them to continue it as a set
tied policy in their farm operations.—
| American Cultivator.
j
farm and harden notes.
I Co](1 stabl(iS m be cheaply made
! wamun - by lining them with building
!
.
j As a matter of fact profit is impossible
i without ,/ lc feeding in any and every
j I soasoll of t c ycur .
! Ari . _ Jl0rs,! . ,lkfi .
iin
: < h,ki ' 8een a dald 3Colded
! ’ unlil it could not comprehend
wkilt was wanted of it.
An eminent authority has said that
grasses are social in character—that they
thrive best where they have close neigh
, hors of different varieties,
Plants should not be watered with very
! cold water, It should stand in the sun
| and become before as warm being as applied. the atmosphere in
I summer
Tlie old idea that young cattle and
j colts must winter at straw stacks in open
fields to make them tough happily has
gone, much to the comfort of the young
j animals.
I If we might turn to profit all the loss
suffered by American farming by weeds
I farmers could well afford to pay all the
j I taxes, reserving to themselves the blessed
i privilege of unlimited grumbling as a
partial compensation.
j j after A fanner year fields who so is much content obstructed to plow year by
I' i stones that his work is seriously retarded
s patient for this world, and might
! have higher rank if he would remove the
j obstruction and so prove his growth in
! grace,
j A farmer labors hard, early, late, per
sistently. lie gives little time to mental
: culture; to silent eommunings that ele
j va * e spiritual nature still less. In
old age he has wordly wealth, with men.
] tal and spiritual povertj.^This is not tht
best success.