1875.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



101 



SHORT-HORNS OR DURHAM CATTLE. 



"Old Sam," the t'iiiespecinioai)f Short-Horn 

 bull whost". iiortrait wo nivc i>n this pii^'', was 

 justly n^Hairlcd as a iiiaKiiilirinl aiiiiiial, and 

 was one of the three celehraled liidls which 

 stood at the head of the ureat stock farm of 

 Col. \V. S. Kinji, at lAiidale, near Minneap- 

 olis. "Old Sam" was bred by Mr. K. H. 

 Crabb, at (ireat Hadiloii, Chlcnisford, Essex, 

 P'tit^land. He was a noted animal, taking 

 many fu'st prizes, amiin;i tliem the fnst at the 

 great St. Louis Fair, in lS7i) and 1S71, "fur 

 best bull of any a)je or breed." He was .sold 

 to a fjeiillenian in California, three years a(;o. 



The Short -Morn iir Hnrham is bi.'c< inline; the 

 favorite breed in the Wist. Tlie model of this 

 breed forms a solid rectaniileor paiallelopipe<l, 

 when the head and leL;s are removed, leavini; 

 no unlilled space and much solid meat, wilb 

 little otfal. Of this breed "Allen's .\merieaii 

 Short-Horn Herd Book" says: "They are, as 

 a race, j^ood milkers, remark.ible in the rich- 

 ness of its ipiality, and the ipiantity is fre- 

 quently surprising. For beef they are unriv- 

 alled. Their ca- 

 pacity to aecu- 

 midaie tiesh is 

 enormous, and 

 they feed with 

 nkindlinessand 

 thrift never wit- 

 nessed in our 

 native breeds. 

 In milk, instan- 

 ce.s havt^ been 

 frequent in 

 whicli they have 

 given '24 to 'M'l 

 quarts a day, on 

 grass pa.sture 

 only, for weeks 

 together, yield- 

 ing 10 to 15 lbs. 

 of butter per 

 week. Cows 

 liHTe slaughter- 

 ed 1200 to 1500 

 lbs. neat weight 

 with extraordi- 

 nary proof, and 

 bullocks up- 

 ward of 2.5(J(i 

 ll)s." The Short 

 Horn crosses 

 with native 

 stock are much 

 prized, proving 

 good milkers, 

 easy keepers, 

 and prolitable 

 animals for 

 beef, and in the 

 hands of ordi- 

 nary farmers 

 prove better 

 than the pure 

 breed of Short- 

 Horns. The im- 

 provement of cattle has made great progress 

 in this country during the past twenty-five 

 j'ears, and then^ are few neighborhoods where 

 traces of impr.oved blo(Hl may not be found ; 

 indeed, the h 'gb prices for cattle and their 

 products whi(-li have prevailed since l.S.lObavc 

 done much to stiiiuilatc breeders to improve- 

 ment ; but much still remains to be done in 

 this direction among the farmers of Lancaster 

 county. In a future issue we will give a his- 

 tory of the various lireeds and their origin ; 

 and we woidd esteem it a favor if such of our 

 readers as have experimented with improved 

 stock would give us brief statements of the 

 results of their experienc<\ and their views as 

 to which breeds they tind best adapted to this 

 locality and most profitable for milk, yoke and 

 shambles. There are many fine specimens in 

 our county, no doubt as worthy of ilescription 

 and illustration a.s those inctined in agricul- 

 tural publications, and we hope before long to 

 be able to furnish engi-avings of some of them. 

 Our friends can help us to make this dejiart- 

 ment of great interest and value to the farmers 

 and dairymen, if they will resiMjnd to this in- 



vitati<m. The leading aim of TitE Lancas- 

 TKU F.VllMKi! is to develiip our local resources 

 and let the outside world know what a great 

 county we live in. 



SOMETHING ABOUT HORSES. 



AVe clip the following from a I'aris U'Uvr 

 entitled "Tlie(irand City to a Stranger, " as 

 containing matters of interest to dealers in 

 live stock : 



"JJifore concluding my letter I must tell 

 you of a little sample of American enterpri.se 

 that recently came under my observation. 

 jVmong the throng at the Longchamps races 

 on Sunday last were two Iowa farineis from 

 the Western jiart of that Slate. They were 

 dressed as if they bad but just come from the 

 field or stable, and thi'ii' slouched hats bore 

 bayseiMl on tluir brims; but there were proba- 

 bly few persons present who watched the races 

 or studied tlu' points of the raci'rs with a more 

 keen and intelligent interest than they. Their 

 business in France was to buy a few of the 



OLD SAM," A NOTED SHORT-HORN BULL. 



powerful but hardy and compactly built fyvm 

 hor.ses for which Normandv is justly celebrat- 

 ed. Lighter in the leg than tlu^ English cart 

 horses, of which such magnificent specimens 

 may be .seen in Liverpool, the Normandy 

 hor.ses are superior to the latl(M- in activity and 

 hardiness, and but little iiderior to them in 

 size and strength. Of this noMi' variety of 

 the (Mpiine sitecics our two Iowa farmers had 

 bought nine liin; stallions, one of them four 

 and the other \\\i'. They had .seen some speci- 

 mens of the stock which had been imported 

 .several years ago, and had also seen the stock 

 obtained by crossing them with the native 

 breed. The result of consiili lable study and 

 attention was to decide them to make an im- 

 Iiortation on their ownaccomil; so, without 

 knowing a word of the French language, they 

 came over here, spent several weeks in travel- 

 ing hither and thither in Xormandy. attending 

 horse-fairs in the towns and visiting farmers 

 in the country, until they at length succeeded 

 in selecting the number they desired. When 

 I saw them they were alwut to start fi>r Iowa, 

 and were sanguine of doubling their money on 



their iiureba.ses, in which case they intend re- 

 tnrinng for another lot. They hold that tlie 

 introduction of a larger breed of horses will 

 conduce to the improvenn-nl of Western agri- 

 culture, the lightness of the American hoi-sc 

 being, aciording to them, the caus<' of .shallow 

 jilowing. If this opinion be correct — and it 

 seems probable enough -the enterprise by 

 which they seek, quiti! legilimal^dy, to line 

 their pockets, will not Ix^ without a certain 

 degree of public importance." 



A NEW HORSE DISEASE. 



A new horse disca.se ha.s made its appear- 

 ance recently at the lielh-fonlaine car stables, 

 St. l^oiiis, .\Io., and causc-s agood deal of alarm 

 and discussion among horse owikm-s and deal- 

 ers. It is dillicult to .say whether there are 

 any grounds for apprehending that the disease 

 will become general. Experiments ar<> being 

 maile to lest the contagiousness of the dis<-;i.se 

 and post-mortems have been made to discover 

 the cause of the di.sejLse. Several horses have 

 ■ died in variou.s 



partsof the city 

 and in two ca,s- 

 es the symp- 

 toms were in 

 some resp(H3ts 

 similar to those 

 of the new dis- 

 ea.se. There is 

 quite a differ- 

 ence of ojiinion 

 among veterin- 

 ary surgeons as 

 to the nature, 

 cause and treat- 

 ment of the dis- 

 ease. A Uipul- 

 lirnn reporter 

 called uiM)n Dr. 

 Harvey, an En- 

 glish Veterinary 

 surgeon, Xo. 14 

 South Fifth St., 

 to a.scertain if 

 lie had known 

 in England any 

 disi';i,se similar 

 totlieone which 

 had attacked 

 the hor.ses at 

 the liellefonl- 

 ainestables. He 

 said he had vi.s- 

 ited the horses 

 at that placf, 

 anil their disor- 

 der reminded 

 him of a disea.so 

 known in Eng- 

 land as gastri- 

 tis, or acute 

 intlanima t ion 

 of the .stomach. 

 At one time the 

 British army lost a large numWr of horses by 

 it. The disease was caused by a bitter and 

 lioisonous herb, called "yew." When fre.sh 

 or green thehoi"s<'s would not eat it on account 

 of its extreme bitterness, but when dried they 

 would eat it readily. He had seen the .Siime 

 disease caused by May-we<'d and water-parsley. 

 The symptoms were precisely the .siime as 

 tho.se manifested at the car staliles. In answer 

 to an iiKiuiry, the doctor .said he thought the 

 disi'a.se was iiroduced in the |»resent I'a.si'S by 

 some vegetalile poi.son mixed with the hav or 

 other food, or by musty hay. The inllannna- 

 tion of the brain and .sjiinal cord, he consid- 

 ered, was due almost entirely to the presence 

 of poisiinous matter in theslnmach. Dr. Swift 

 contended from the first that the disiaMr wa.s 

 cerebro-.s|)inal meningitis, and to show his 

 confidence in its non-contagion.sness, and his 

 disbelii'f in the "poison" theory, he has been 

 in the habit of putting his buggy horse- in one 

 of the .stalls of he IJellefontaine stables and of 

 feeding him with the same food eaten by the 

 horses affected. The iwst-raortem held by 

 several scientific physicians cenfirms this view. 



