26 



THE LANCASTER -FARMER. 



[February, 



and measles. The poison may remain for 

 mouths, even years, in some dry dirt or filth, 

 whicli, when touclied by the hog, conveys the 

 disease. So no animal can be safe e.xcept by 

 the same means as are used to ward off dis- 

 eases among human beings. Remember the 

 symptoms vary in proportion to the amount of 

 poison in the system, so that we may be mis- 

 led if we do not consider this. The ordinary 

 symptoms are slight dullness, wrinkling of 

 the skin of the face, shivering chilliness, loath- 

 ing of food, thirst, heat and redness of skin in- 

 side of fore and hind thighs, and along the 

 belly. Red mottled spots, slightly raised, on 

 breast, belly and ham, which fade on pressure 

 of the finger. Sometimes dark or black spots. 

 Tongue covered with a brownish fur. The 

 animal is sore, and sensitive to the touch. It 

 moves feebly, stitHy, unsteadily, and grunts. 

 There is sometimes a watery mucous flow, and 

 after a cough. Bowels confined at first, become 

 ofteu very loose, and discharges very offensive 

 at the last. Post mortem examination shows 

 various appearances, too many to mention 

 here. A few are specified. Bluish color of 

 skin, which grows deeper in a few hours; fat 

 colored snout blue, with spots; tongue furred, 

 but deep red at base; stomach pink or red; in- 

 testines congested, a deep red or black, ulcers 

 or scales. Spots are common over tlie various 

 internal organs, lilood or mucus in the cavi- 

 ties, spleen, large and dark. 



As to prevention : Knowing how contagious 

 is the disease, such means should be taken as are 

 used in cases where epidemics prevail among 

 human beings. I will just say here that more 

 wealth has been destroyed within the past ten 

 years from letting animals run at large than 

 it would cost to fence up in forty-acre fields 

 the whole United States. That poor man's 

 hog we used to hear so much about some years 

 ago, when it was proposed to have a stock 

 law, has come near to makmg poor devils of 

 all of us. He is a poor man indeed who can- 

 not take care of the few pigs and the cows he 

 has got. It is about time the men who are 

 men in energy and ambition, shall take hold 

 of this thing in earnest, and either have a 

 stock law adopted in Missouri, or else emi- 

 grate to Nebraska, where brains, and not 

 whining, move the law-making power. Hav- 

 ing done this, if you would keep this disease 

 from being introduced, act so in regard to- 

 every movement connected with your hogs — 

 buying, selling, breeding and feeding, as if 

 you feared every other hog about had the dis- 

 ease, and as if the least filth would generate 

 it anew. Consult the nature of the animal ; 

 give it an opportunity to rub itself by having 

 rough parts and corners accessible. Let it have 

 variety in its food, and access to lime ashes, 

 coals, copperas, salt, and a little aloes oc- 

 casionally. Change your pens or yards ofteu. 

 Pure well water, for you know not where sick 

 hogs have been at the stream above. High 

 ground, for you know what deadly effluvia or 

 poison is sucked down the hollows ; keep but 

 few together, and none where that "poor 

 man's" wandering pig may whisper death in 

 a pig's whisper through the rails. At the 

 first sign of sickness in a hog, away with it 

 from possibility of contact with any others. 

 "When sick give it a tablespoonful or less 

 twice a week of the following mixture, viz : 

 Two-thirds nitrate potash, one-third chlorate 

 potash, and a very slight pinch of jalap, twice 

 a week. But if you do as told above, you 

 will not likely ever be troubled. This is a 

 great deal of trouble, but show me a man that 

 ever made money without a world of trouble. 



THE ARABIAN HORSE. 



The first thing that strikes one in the true 

 Arabian, setting aside what may be termed 

 his personal beauty, is great general length. 

 What reach, what stride these horses must 

 have 1 They are born racei\s ! were the thoughts 

 that flashed across our mind. Next to the 

 length, a general appearance of character and 

 of blood, or high breeding, is conspicuous. 

 The head is not particularly small or short in 

 proportion to the size or height of the horse ; 

 it is not a small, neat, pretty, meaningless 



head. The frontal bones and the parietal 

 bones or walls of the skull above are large, 

 bold, often prominent, and the brain cavity is 

 capacious and well developed, giving an ap- 

 pearance and power almost human. The 

 nasal bones, on the other hand, are fine and 

 subservient to the frontal, and of a delicate 

 and graceful outline. The orbits of the eye 

 are large and prominent. The eye is full, 

 large and lustrous ; it is very beautiful ; the 

 beauty is not so much dependent upon the 

 size of the eye as derived from its depth and 

 expression ; and when the animal is excited it 

 displays much fire. The lids are particularly 

 fine, and the lashes long and silky. The lace 

 is lean and full of fine drawing. The muzzle 

 is particularly flue, the lips long and thin, the 

 upper lip well cut, the lower lip small, com- 

 pressed and terse. The nostril in a state of 

 repose, very long, beautifully curled, delicate 

 and thin ; when the horse is in action or ex- 

 cited the nostril opens very wide, and gives a 

 bold, square appearance to that part of the 

 face. The lower jaws are fine and clean, the 

 upper part of the lower jaw toward the neck 

 is very deep, and the jaws are set wide apart. 

 The cheek bones are sharply cut. The ears 

 are well cut, pointed, and well placed, and 

 when pricked point inward in a peculiar man- 

 ner which is considered a mark of great beauty 

 and a great sign of high breeding. The neck 

 is of moderate length and of a graceful curve 

 or gentle arch from the poll to the withers ; it 

 is a muscular, light neck, and the splenius 

 muscle is well developed. The junction of the 

 head and neck is very graceful. The head is 

 well set on. The withers are sufficiently high 

 and run well back, but are not too thin. The 

 back is short, the loins are powerful, the croup 

 high, the haunch very fine, the tail well set 

 on, and the dock short. The quarters are 

 both long and deep ; the gaskins are sufficiently 

 full and muscular without being heavy, pon- 

 derous or vulgar ; the thighs are well let down, 

 the hocks are clean, well-formed, well-placed, 

 large, and near the ground. The shoulders 

 well-placed, long, and of a good slope, and the 

 base of the scapulae broad and well developed; 

 the arms are long, lean and muscular ; the 

 elbow is well developed ; the trapezium or 

 bone behind the knees is prominent. The legs 

 are short, deep, and of fair bone, tendons and 

 ligaments large and well strung ; the fetlock- 

 joint is large and bold ; the pasterns are large, 

 long, sloping and elastic ; the feet wide and 

 open, and low rather than high at the heels ; 

 the chest is deep and capacious ; the ribs are 

 arched (and in this point the Arabian differs 

 considerably from any other horse) ; he has a 

 fine barrel ; he is short above but long below ; 

 he stands over a deal of ground. Thejine 

 shown from the withers to the setting ofthe 

 tail is short as compared with the ground-line. 

 The skin is fine, soft and delicate ; the hair 

 short, soft and silky ; and the skin is seen 

 through the hair to a greater degree than is 

 seen in other horses of high blood. The mane 

 and tail are long and fine. The whole of the 

 hinder parts, from the haunch to the heels, taken 

 collectively or in detail, display great length. 

 His general appearance indicates the highest 

 breeding and nobility. He is of high courage, 

 easily excited, and of a nervous temperament, 

 but his fire and courage Ave tempered by his sa- 

 gacity. The Arabs are very particular about 

 three points in connection with the head of 

 their horse. The djebheh, which is a forma- 

 tion of the frontal and parietal bones, if not 

 pecidiar to, is most marked in, the Arabian 

 horse; it can scarcely be too large or too bold. 

 The shape and size of the djebheh gives a 

 large brain cavity. It adds also to the beauty 

 and nobility of expression; and here, as in 

 other points of the Arabian, usefulness and 

 beauty are combined. It is usually somewhat 

 different in the horse and mare; in the latter 

 it is rounder and more prominent, often strik- 

 ingly so, and descends in a graceful and easy 

 line to the nasal bones. The mitbth is the 

 graceful curl of the windpipe (which is toler- 

 ably detached from tlie neck) as it rufis in lie- 

 tween the jaws, which gives a fine carriage to 

 the head, allows it to be brought in, and 'Will 



enable the horse to extend the head almost to 

 the same line with the neck and the ears, 

 which, to be perfect, should turn inward in 

 the manner already described. lathe mares 

 the ears are longer and more open, in the 

 horse smaller and more pricked. There are 

 a few other points that struck us as worthy 

 of observation. As a rule, the point of the 

 hock (os calcis) is large, well defined and pro- 

 minent, often to such an extent as to lead 

 many at first sight, to suppose it was enlarged 

 from accident. The tendon runs down in a 

 well-defined way, and, as it were free from 

 the hock and giving a particularly clean look 

 to that joint. This formation, I venture to 

 submit, acts in the horse with an advantage 

 similar to that gained by a well formed heel 

 and arched instep in the human subject. 



We were struck by the general development 

 of the fetlock joint, pasterns, and feet, all of 

 which are pre-eminently good; it is not suf- 

 ficient to say the pasterns are long and 

 elastic; all these points appear larger and 

 stronger and more adapted for use than those 

 of other horses; the feet are strong and open, 

 and placed more in advance ofthe leg than is 

 usually seen in other horses, and the upper 

 and lower pastern bones by their direction 

 and conjunction with the foot (os pedis) ap- 

 pear to act with greater advantage; there is 

 great depth of leg at the sessamoid bone, and 

 the head of the shank bone is also large. 

 There is a marked combination of strength 

 and elasticity in all these complicated joints 

 which is peculiar to the Arabian horse, which 

 gives great freedom besides more easiness in 

 his paces, which enables him to grasp the 

 ground and to gallop down hill as easily as on 

 the flat, and moreover, we thought, accounts 

 for his tjeing so sound. Again, although the ■ 

 hind leg of the Arabian may be deeper below 

 the hock than the fore one is below the knee, 

 we noticed that there was not so great a diff- 

 erence in size between the hind and fore legs 

 as is often to be seen among our race horses. 

 On reflection, this struck us as an admirable 

 adaptation of parts to the respective and dis- 

 tinctive kinds of work they have to perform; 

 for strength and depth in the fore legs are evi- 

 dently required to receive the weight of the 

 horse and the force thrown upon them by the 

 impetus given by the hind extremities when 

 the horse is in rapid action. And if any part 

 of the Arabian horse could he said to be ex- 

 aggerated, it would be the length of his 

 haunch and hinder parts generally (necessary 

 for high speed), but which we thought is am- 

 ply provided for and counterbalanced by the 

 formation of the various parts of the fore 

 legs, as I have endeavored to describe; indeed 

 throughout his whole form it is the natural 

 appearance of the horse, the beautiful balance 

 of power and symmetrical adaptation of parts 

 that cause the Arabian to be so perfect an an- 

 imal. It must not, however, be supposed 

 thai in every true Arabian all these points 

 are to be seen to perfection, but in some they 

 are to be found, and these must be considered 

 perfect animals; yet in all these points they 

 are to be recognized in a greater or less degree, 

 and beyond those in other horses. — Fraser''s 



Magazine, 



^ 



BAKED CORN AND EGGS. 



B. r. J., the Illinois correspondent of the 

 Cmintry Oentleman, writes to that paper as 

 follows : The steady cold weather since the 

 middle of November, and some tasks begun 

 and finished, have kept me so constantly at 

 home that I have been able to give an hour or 

 two every day to observing the effects of some 

 kind of food for the winter production of eggs. 

 I had heard it repeatedly said that for produc- 

 ing eggs, for stimulating the appetite of horses, 

 swine and cattle, "olf their feed," and for 

 other unmentioned purposes, there was noth- 

 ing like a daily ration of parched corn. Hav- 

 ing been so much of the time absent during 

 October and November, my fowls had little 

 else but corn; and the time having come for 

 winter-laying, and they not responding, about 

 the first of December I began giving a daily 

 ration of baked com, and with the happiest 



