DOMESTIC ANIMAL8. 69'< 



n. Amount Neeessai-y.. — One of our own stockmen says: "Salt should 

 be furnished to all animals regularly, A cow, an ox, or a horse, according to 

 size, needs 2 to 4 ozs. daily. Salt increases the butter in milk, helps the diges- 

 tion and nutritive processes, and gives a good appetite. 



Remarks. — What more can be asked of any one thing which costs so little? 

 I have seen dairymen who keep salt, in some covered place, where all the stock 

 can lick it at their pleasure, and claim great advantage by it. The Swiss plan, 

 for milch cows, is, no doubt, the best one; for twice a week, the custom of 

 Americans, is not often enough to insure all the advantages to be derived from 

 it, if given daily, or at least every other day. But the daily plan is undoubt- 

 edly the best, as the Swiss put it, lest they drink too much water for the day. 



III. Salt, Amount Necessary for Different Kinds of Stock. — The French 

 government, according to their custom of testing all such points scientifically, 

 appointed a commission to examine into, and experiment if necessary, which, 

 reported upon the amount proper for different kinds of stock, in ordinary con- 

 dition, as follows: " For a working ox or a milch cow, 3 ozs. daily; for fatten- 

 ing stall-fed oxen, 3J^ to 43^ ozs., according to size and fatness; for fattening 

 hogs, 1 to 2 ozs.. for store sheep, J^ to ^ of an oz.; fattening sheep, double 

 the amount; for horses and mules, 1 oz," 



And a private dairyman tound, after many trials, that with 3 ozs, of salt 

 daily, his cows gave the most milk. And the noted French farmer and chem- 

 ist, Boussingault, to test it thoroughly, "Fed 6 steers for 13 montlis, in 2 lots, 

 the food being the same for each lot; but to one lot he gave 1% ozs. of salt 

 daily, to an animal, and to ihe other lot none. A remarkable difference was at 

 once manifest. The first lot were all sleek, smooth-coated and in perfect con- 

 dition. The other became rough, mangy, and ill-conditioned, and weighed at 

 the end of the test 150 lbs. less tlian those that had been supplied with salt." 



" Many other similar results," says the Michigan Farmer, which gave the 

 above facts, " might be cited; but there ought to be sufiicient to induce those 

 who still doubt the f alue of salt for all kinds of farm stock, to test it for them- 

 selves." It closed as folio wa 



" Not only is salt an agreeable and needful article of food, but is in some 

 diseases almost a specific remedy. For those parasitic diseases to which sheep 

 are subject — such as the liver-rot (flukes in the liver), verminous bronchitis, 

 (worms in the bronchial tubes),and worms in the stomach and intestines — salt is 

 an unfailing remedy, as well as an effectual preventive. The irritating worms, 

 which sometimes infest the rectum, of horses are removed at once by an injec- 

 tion ot a solution of 1 oz. of salt in 1 qt. of water. But it is as a constant addi- 

 tion to the food that it is most useful as a preservative of the health of our 

 domestic animals," 



2. Salt and Ashes for Stock off Their Peed, —The Maine 

 Farmer, says that one of their substantial subscribers recommends with neat 

 stock (young, growing stock), — then why not good for cows when they get-off 

 their feed? — chewing wood, bones, etc., to mix leached ashes, 1 qt., with the 

 same amount of salt, and feed to a dozen head once a week, especially in the 



