68 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



SEPT. 1, Ig4I. 



REMEDY FOR TUB GLANDERS, fee. IN 

 HORSES. 

 Seeing in one of iho numbers of the Farmer's 

 Register, an account of a fatal disease prevailing 

 amonw the horses in some of the lower counties 

 which I supposed to bo the glanders, or blind stag 

 pers, from the manner in which they are affected 

 I am induced to communicate to my brother far- 

 mers through your valuable paper, a remedy that I 

 have never known to fail of i-flVcting a cure, if 

 practiced in time. Whether the ijlanilers, and 

 what is called the blind staggers, is the s;ime dis 

 ease or not, they are certainly nearly allied. Th' 

 head i.s the scat of the disease in both ca.=e8 ; it 

 commences with violent inflammatinn of the head, 

 and soon matter forms in the glands between the 

 nostril and brain. The disease prevailed in this 

 neigl'.borhood some twenty years ago. The first 

 horse I had ever seen with the disease, belonged 

 to my father, who hi;d lost several previous to the 

 one tlien sick ; the horse was then on his broad- 

 side, !ind was given up ns a hopeless case. I had 

 heard that bori:ig into tin; scull with a gimlet, 

 would relieve them. I procured a large ten-penny 

 gimlet, and just between the eyes of the horse I 

 bored in about three inches. This gave vont to 

 tlie matter which had formed in the glands, the 

 horse appeared to be relieved from pain, and by 

 introducing a probe for a day or two, the horse 

 was upon his feet and feeding, and in a few weeks 

 was entirely recovered, and was a serviceable liorse 

 for some years. The next case was a riding horse 

 of my own. Such was the violence of the pain, 

 that he would thrust his head against ihe side of 

 the stable and boar with his weight for a minute, 

 then stagger about until he became too weak to 

 stand. 1 tiicn proceeded to bore with a ton-penny 

 gimlet as described in the other case, and in a few 

 weeks the horse was well. 



Jf'orms in Children While I have my pen in 



my hand, I will give you another fact which may 

 profit some of your readers. I took charge of my 

 estate twentyseven years ago, having from that 

 tiiiie until now, from thirty to si.\ty in my family, 

 [the writer is a slaveholder,] and within tliat time 

 have not lost one child under twelve years, (either 

 black or white,) with the exception of one a few 

 liours after its birth, and I attribute it principally 

 to the following remedy, which keeps them free 

 from worms: take the fat of old bacon sliced and 

 fried in a pan until the essence is all out of it, 

 t"ke out the rind first, then put in as much worm- 

 seed (vulgarly called Jerusalem oak,) as is neces. 

 sary, as much sugar or molasses as will make it 

 palatable, give it three mornings in succession. 

 The children will eat it freely — some you will 

 have to restrain from eating too much. Incredible 

 OB It may appear, I have known us many ns one 

 hundred and twenty or thirty large worms come 

 from a child of three or four years old. I usually 

 give the medicine spring and fall. I am satisfied 

 that if the above remedy was more practiced In 

 families, that it would be the moans of preserving 

 the lives of many children, for if worms are not the 

 immediate cause of disease with cliildren, thev 



greatly aggravate disease-ol any other character. 



Fiirmtrs' Register. 



ICE HOUSES. 

 A correspondent has addressed to us inquiries 

 rolating to the use of tan in fitting up ice-honscs 

 In answer to his inquiries, we re-publish from vol. 

 X. page ]2;) of the N. E. Farmer, the following 

 communication : 



Mr Ffsse.vden — Your correspondent C, whose 

 communication was given vol. x. page ]:{, of the 

 New England Farmer, complains of not being nble 

 to keep his ice thro!i;:h the summer, and imputes it 

 to tiie soil on which his house is located. I have 

 an ice-house which is built on the same kind of 

 soil which he describes, say a gravelly knoll. I 

 dug a pit sny from 8 to 12 inches larger than I in- 

 tended the frame. I dug it about 8 (cet below the 

 surface, and with the gravel which came out of the 

 pit, I raised it about 2 feet. My frame was 10 

 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 10 t'cet deep. I plank- 

 ed it up with two-inch hemlock planks, and filled 

 the space on the outside, which was from 8 to 12 

 inches, with tan, and rammed it down as fast as I 

 planked it up, till I came to the top of the frame. 

 I then put on rafters of joists 4 or .5 inches Sfjuare, 

 and linc.'d them and filled the space with tan as 

 tight as it could be rammed in, and then shingled 

 the roof. The ends were boarded up, with a door 

 at each end, for the convenience of filling the house. 

 My house holds about (! cords. I fill it with square 

 pieces of ice, as close as I i;an pack them. I put 

 nothing between the layers of ice, nor on the sides, 

 nor do I break any in pieces to fill up the spaces, 

 except broken pieces that will not make good stow, 

 age. I have filled the house to the top of the 

 frame. I then fill the roof with shavings, and ram 

 them down as tight as I can. I have had no diffi- 

 culty in keeping my ice, and have spared as much 

 as we have used, and have often ice in the house 

 when we clear it for filling afresh. I think shav- 

 ings are bettor than straw, as they will not rot so 

 soon by the dampness. I go to the ice-house at 

 any time of day when ice is wanted. My ice- 

 house has no drains to it. Under the plank at bot- 

 tom, I rounded out a place lengthwise, about a foot 

 deep, sloping towards the middle like an egg cut in 

 t"u lengthwise, which I think is sufficient to re- 

 ceive all the water that will waste from the ice. 

 I remain, with respect, 



Your most obedient servant, 



A SinscRiBEii. 



Mciljord, Oct. 28, 1631. 



Horn Distemper. A correspondent of the Bos- 

 ton Cultivator says a spoonful of boiling hot brim- 

 stone, put into the cavity just between the horns, is 

 the best application for this disease. 



If every farmer would cultivate no more land 

 with an exhausting crop than he could well man- 

 age — if he would never plant upon jiloned ground 

 with the view of taking more of the original stami- 

 na from the land in the present crop than he com- 

 municates to it — we should see much lees of what 

 is called poor land. From what we daily see in 

 travelling the country, we are inclined to the be- 

 lief that there is much less difTerencc in the quality 

 of land than there is in the treatment of it. (Strong 

 land with a hard pan, yields more when it is first 

 cleared and will last longer than lighter lands; 

 but when both shall be reduced by several exhaust- 

 ing crops, it begins to be generally conceded that 

 the lighter land for many purposes is more valua- 

 ble than the stronger, heavier lands. Pursuing a 

 regular rotation of crops with efTeclual manuring, 

 it is even thought the lighter land will give most 

 profit, and that the crop through tlie extremes of 

 drought and wet, will be most sure. — rarmer's 

 .Monthly I'isilor. 



.ui 



l;0t 



From the New Hampshire Sentiucl. 



HOOF AIL. 



Mksshs EniTons — An article appeared in the 

 columns of your paper, in April last, requesting in. 

 formation in regard to a disorder which has been 

 prevalent for some time past among cattle general- 

 ly termed the Hoof-ail. It is truly a very bad dis- 

 ease, and calls for the attention of every one "!io 

 is engaged in agricultural pursuits, and has a -; ck 

 of cattle under his care. That cattle are su' ■■i^t 

 to disease, as well as the human species, I tiuiik 

 will be readily admitted by every one who dikes 

 the matter into consideration. We find, by re- 

 curring to the past history of our countrv, that 

 the human family do not live to attain to so rrcat 

 an ago, generally speaking, ot the present da\ 

 enjoy uninterrupted good health, as they fun 

 did, when the country was new. And may l^ 

 draw the same inference in regard to the 

 creation ? Are they as hearty and robust, do tiiey 

 thrive and do as well at the present day, as they 

 did when the country was new — when our pastures 

 and mowing lands abounded with white clover, and 

 grasses of a similar nature? We- tliiuk thov do 

 not. 



The writer of the article above alluded to, it ap. 

 pears, wished to know if the lameness among caU 

 tie at present, is the Hoof-ail, so termed, and ■ 

 produced by a substance on the grass called 

 got. That there is an excrcsence to be found 

 tached to the grass of that kind, and its poisoning 

 qualities producing the lame disease, we cnniuil " 

 deny, although I have never seen any thing of tllll 

 kind growing out of the same. One thing, howo' 

 er, is certain, that there is something which tl 

 cattle get that produces the disorder alluded to.-4i 

 We give our views on the subject, and the cnlighf 

 ened public may make such comments on tlicui a 

 they may deem most proper. 



From partial experience and observation, I fidj 

 that where pastures having June grass growing 

 tliem are fed so short that it canhot attain to mui 

 height, and where it is cut early for hay, this lami 

 ness is not so prevalent among cattle. I ha' 

 some of the June grass on niy farm, and have i 

 years past had two of my cows troubled wiili th 

 Hoof-nil. One of them was very lame, and 1 drii 

 her, (for she gave milk, and I never knew of oi 

 aine that did not,) and she soon got well. Tl 

 other was taken lame in the fall, and so continm 

 through the winter, growing worse all the time, 

 milked her during that period, thinking I woi 

 see the result. In the spring I took a parcel 

 bones boiled soft in weak ley made from as 

 pounded those that were not fine, and gave them 

 her, ond she ate them ; 1 likewise gave the rest 

 my cows some, and occasionally saltpetre mi: 

 with salt The lame one soon got woll, and 

 well ever after, while I kept her. In short, I w 

 sny that I think, by giving milch cows, in 

 spring, a plenty of bones boiled in weak ley, a 

 wards enough salt, with once in a while some s 

 petre pounded fine and mixed with it, say a ti 

 spoonful to a cow, and cutting the liay very ei 

 where the June grass grows, keeping the paiti 

 fed short in summer, and the cattle in warm 

 bios through the winter, properly tended, iheH 

 ail will not bo very troublesome. The synip 

 preceding this malady seem to be, a loss of apj 

 tite, growing poor, going stiff, gnawing boi 

 sticks, &c. A board well soaked io the etali 



ft. 



