VO. 22. 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



339 



ly put me in possession of a recent, and very 

 valuable English work, on "Cattle, their 

 Breeds, Management and Diseases." I shall 

 make a few extracts, confirmatory of the 

 views held out in thooe essays. 



" The horn of the ox is composed of an 

 elongation of the frontal bone, covered by a 

 hard coating, originally of a gelatinous na- 

 ture. Its base is a process or continuation 

 of the frontal bone, and it is, like that bone, 

 hollow, or divided into numerous compart- 

 ments or cells, all of tiiem communicating 

 with each other, and lined by a continuation 

 of the membrane of the nose." p. 278. 

 "Hence, it happens, that the frontal sinuses 

 extend from the angle of the eye, to the very 

 foramen through which the brain escapes 

 from the skull, nay, as we shall see presently, 

 to the very tip of the horn." p. 275. This 

 is admirably shown by a section of the head 

 and horn, p. 273. [We could not procure 

 the engravings in season.] 



" We have described the horn, at the base, 

 as being very thin, it is quite as much so as 

 the cuticle, or scarf skin, and it covers one of 

 the most vascular bones in the whole body. 

 No where else can the practitioner get so 

 near to the circulating fluid — or to so great a 

 quantity of it. He, therefore, puts his hand 

 on the root of the horn, assured that he shall 

 there have the precise temperature of the 

 blood, and thus be enabled to judge of the 

 degree of general fever, or constitutional dis- 

 turbance." p. 280. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE FRONTAL SINUSES. 



The whole of this cavity is lined by a pro- 

 longation of the membrane of the nose, and 

 when one part of it is inflamed, the whole is 

 apt to be affected. This accounts for the 

 very serious character which nasal gleet, a 

 discharge from the nostrils, sometimes as- 

 sumes m cattle. In the horse we think little 

 of it, except it has a glanderous character, or 

 is connected with considerable cough or fever. 

 But the sooner a gleet from the nose of an 

 ox is examined into, and properly treated, the 

 better, for the inflammation is far more ex- 

 tensive than that which occurs in the horse. 



After a little cough, with slight nasal dis- 

 charge, we occasionally find the beast rapid- 

 ly becoming dull, and drooping, and carrying 

 his head on one side. Either grubs or worms 

 have crept up the nostril, and are lodged in 

 some of the sinuses, and are a source of irrita- 

 tion there; or inflammation, at first merely 

 that of the membrane of the nose, and con- 

 nected with common cold, has extended 

 along the cavity, and is more intense in some 

 particular spot, than in others; or has gone 

 on to suppuration, and mailer is tlirown out 

 and lodged there, and generally, about the 

 root of one of the horns. The veterinary 

 surgeon does one of two things, he either 



opens the skull at the root of the horn, with 

 the trephine, or he proceeds in a more sum- 

 mary, and a better way — he cuts ofl'the horn 

 at its root. More than a pint of pus has 

 sometimes escaped from the orifice; and, al- 

 tiiough there may not have been any suppura- 

 tion, and throwing out of pus, yet the inflam- 

 mation will be materially relieved by the 

 bleeding that neccssarUy follows such an ope- 

 ration. The opening into the sinus, which 

 is thus made, should, however, be epcedily 

 closed, or the stimulous of the atmospheric 

 air will render the inflammation worse than 

 it was before." pp. 275-6. 



This is, evidently, what I have described 

 under the head of ivfiamed horn. His re- 

 commendation to cut ofiT the horn, seems in- 

 consistent with that to close the orifice im- 

 mediately. It is the only case in which I 

 have advised, or admitted the propriety of 

 boring. See Cabinet, p. 211. This is the 

 only disease of the horns mentioned in the 

 book. Hollow horn appears to be unknown 

 to our trans-atlantic neighbors. 



JSew-Garden, 5lh mo. 10th, 1S37. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Agricultural Implcnuciats. 



KG. VII. 



MACHINE FOR CUTTING GRASS AND GRAIN WITH 

 HORSE POWER. 



This machine is extremely valuable where 

 the proprietor has large quantities of grass or 

 grain to cut, (m land sufficiently smooth and 

 clear of stones, and other obstructions, but 

 where there are such obstructions, the power 

 of men can be employed to greater advan- 

 tage. The first cost of a machine, and in- 

 terest upon this, would be too great for each 

 small fanner to own a machiue exclusively ; 

 yet several might combine, and arrange their 

 business so as to keep one in use every dav, 

 during the season of cutting grass and grain ; 

 or a person who understatids how to keep a 

 machine in perfect repair, and use it to the 

 greatest advantage, might find the business, 

 as a constant employment, during the season, 

 a profitable one ; in such case he might fur- 

 nish the machine, and receive a stipulated 

 sum per acre, and the owner of the grass or 

 grain furnish the iiorses, (which are gene- 

 rally idle, or have but little to do during this 

 season,) and be at all other expense, except 

 the machine and personal attendance upon it 

 as aforesaid. 



The average speed of a good maciiiiic, 

 may be stated at one and a half acres per 

 hour, this would be fifteen acres per day, al- 

 lowing ten hours employment each day. 

 The usual cost per acre, when cut by the 

 power of men, including board, will average 



