When a cow has a depraved appetite, and chews coarse, indigestible things, or licks the ground, it indicates indigestion, and she should have some physic. Give one pint and a half of linseed oil, one pound of Epsom salts, and afterward give in some bran one ounce of salt and the same of ground ginger twice a week.
Asiatic breeds of fowl lay eggs from deep chocolate through every shade of coffee color, while the Spanish, Hamburg, and Italian breeds are known for the pure white of the eggshell. A cross, however remote, with Asiatics, will cause even the last-named breeds to lay an egg slightly tinted.
In setting out currant bushes care should be exercised not to place any buds under ground, or they will push out as so many suckers. Currants are great feeders, and should be highly manured. To destroy the worm, steep one table-spoonful of hellebore in a pint of water, and sprinkle the bushes. Two or three sprinklings are sufficient for one season.
Mr. Joseph Harris, of Rochester, makes a handy box for protecting melons and cucumbers from insect enemies. Take two strips of board of the required size, and fasten them together with a piece of muslin, so the muslin will form the top and two sides of the box. Then stretch into box form by inserting a small strip of wood as a brace between the two boards. This makes a good, serviceable box, and, when done with for the season, it can be packed into a very small space, by simply removing the brace and bringing the two board sides together. As there is no patent on the contrivance, anybody can make the boxes for himself.
Mr. C. S. Read recently said before the London Fanners' Club: "American agriculturists get up earlier, are better educated, breed their stock more scientifically, use more machinery, and generally bring more brains to bear upon their work than the English farmer. The practical conclusion is, that if farmers in England worked hard, lived frugally, were clad as meanly as those of the States, were content to drink filthy tea three times a day, read more and hunted less, the majority of them may continue to live in the old country."--N. E. Farmer.
TIMBER TREES.
A paper was read by Sir R. Christison at the last meeting of the Edinburgh Botanical Society upon the "Growth of Wood in 1880." In a former paper, he said, he endeavored to show that, in the unfavorable season of 1879, the growth of wood of all kinds of trees was materially less than in the comparatively favorable season of 1878. He had now to state results of measurements of the same trees for the recent favorable season of 1880. The previous autumn was unfavorable for the ripening of young wood, and the trees in an unprepared condition were exposed during a great part of December, 1879, to an asperity of climate unprecedented in this latitude. This might have led one to expect a falling off in the growth of wood, and it appeared, from comparison of measurements, that, with very few exceptions, the growth of wood last year was even more below the average of favorable years than that of the bad year, 1879. Thus, in fifteen leaf-shedding trees of various species, exclusive of the oak, the average growth of trunk girth in three successive years was: 1878, 8-10ths; 1879, 45-100ths; 1880, 3-10ths and a half. In four specimens of the oak tribe, the growth was: 1878, 8-10ths; 1879, 77-100ths; 1880, 54-100ths. In twenty specimens of the evergreen Pinaceae the growth was: 1878, 8-10ths; 1879, 7-10ths; 1880, 6-10ths and a half. After giving details in regard to particular trees, Sir Robert stated, as general deductions from his observations, that leaf-shedding trees, exclusive of the oak, suffered most; that the evergreen Pinaceae suffered least; and that there was some power of resistance on the part of the oak tribe which was remarkable, the power of resistance of the Hungary oak being particularly deserving of attention. In another communication on the "extent of the season of growth," Sir Robert stated, as the result of observations on five leaf-shedding and five evergreen trees, that in the case of the former, even in a fine year, the growth of wood was confined very nearly, if not entirely, to the months of June, July, and August; while in the case of the latter growth commenced a month sooner, terminating, however, about the same time. Mr. A. Buchan said it was proposed that the inquiry should be taken up more extensively over Scotland.