W2 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



t September, 



LIVE STOCK. 



How to Have Healthy Pigs. 

 Prof. Law, of Cornell University, writes as follows 

 in regard to the proper treatment of swine for the 

 prevention of disease : Keep your hogs clean. Pro- 

 tect them from the hot, reeking bed of manure and 

 close sleeping place, where the emanations from de- 

 composing dung, urine, straw and other organic 

 matter are added to those of their own skins and 

 lungs when huddled together ingreat numbers. See 

 that both food and water are clean, in the sense of 

 being free from disease germs, and from the micro- 

 scopic particles of decomposing organic matter 

 which, within the system as well as outside it, 

 furnish appropriate food for the disease poison, and 

 favor its increase, while they depress its vital powers, 

 and lessen the chances of the virus being thrown off. 

 And it is here that the pork raisers are most fre- 

 quently at fault. Fifty or a hundred pigs are allowed 

 to crowd together in a filthy manure heap, a rotten 

 straw stack, or under a barn, subjected to the drop- 

 pings of other animals as well as their own products. 

 Their feeding troughs and drinking water are so sup- 

 plied that they can get into them with their tilthy 

 feet, and they must devour the most obnoxious mat- 

 ter or starve. If under this abuse disease is devel- 

 oped, the healthy are left with the sick, as " they 

 will all have it anyway," and the result is usually a 

 clean sweep. 



When hog cholera exists, the sick should be placed 

 by themselves under a special attendant, and the free 

 use of disinfectants ; the healthy should be carefully 

 watched, and on the first sign of illness or increased 

 temperature, as ascertained by the introduction of a 

 clinical thermometer into the rectum, they should 

 bo at once taken from the herd and carefully seclud- 

 ed. This, with active disinfection, will enable the 

 owner to cut short an outbreak, and save, perhaps, 

 the great m.ajority of an already Infected herd. 

 Again, the sale of animals from an infected stock, 

 to be removed from the premises alive, should be 

 severely punished, and the disinfection of the build- 

 ings where the sick have been, should be made im- 

 perative. We shall obtain the greatest success with 

 this disease when we treat it as a contagious malady, 

 and wherever it is found to exist, give our main at- 

 tention to prevent the further generation and dis- 

 semination of the poison. 



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Potatoes for Cows. 

 Cows in milk may be fed so much of certain kinds 

 of food as to derange their digestive powers, and thus 

 dry up their milk. The Live Stock Journal states 

 that it has been found that a large feed of potatoes 

 will lessen the percentage of hay digested, but we 

 think the large amount of starch contained in the po- 

 tato causes a looseness of the bowels, and thus im- 

 pairs the digestive function. 



We often fed potatoes to cows in milk with great 

 benefit. Our plan has been to run potatoes through 

 a root slicer and feed four quarts at a time mixed with 

 cut hay and a pint of oil meal or pea meal, or a 

 quart of oats. And since the experiment mentioned, 

 we have again tried this mode of feeding, and fonnd 

 it to work admirably well. 



The ixrtato is a very imperfect food alone, being 

 principally starch, having too litte nitrogen and plios- 

 phate of lime to make milk; but it is the richest root 

 raised on the farm, and when fed in small quantity, 

 raw, will regulate the bowels, and have a very simi- 

 lar effect to gi-een grass. It is a very laxative food 

 in the raw state, and that is probably the cause of 

 its peculiar effect upon the digestion of hay. When 

 the potato is cooked the effect is quite different, and 

 its value is increased. A small quantity of potatoes, 

 say four quarts as a feed, will increase the yield of 

 milk nearly as much as so mnch grain, provided they 

 are fed with other food rich in the constituents of 

 milk. 



The American dairyman is prone to feed one thing 

 at a time, almost wholly, instead of giving variety in 

 food, which will furnish all the elements required in 

 the proper proportion. We found an olyection to the 

 use of oil meal when fed above two poimds per day 

 to a cow, as it is too laxative. We found one quai-t 

 per day the most profitable, and have also found one 

 peck of potatoes per day, in two feeds the most profit- 

 able.— &. 



How to Fit Horse Collars. 



It is very important to have a collar fit nice to the 

 shoulders of the horse. It enables him to work with 

 a great deal more ease, and to apply a great deal 

 more strength. It prevents galling and wounding, 

 as the friction is avoided. Collars are made, or 

 should be, to throw the chief force on the lower part 

 of the shoulders. The horse can apply but little 

 strength on the upper part, and for this rea- 

 son breast collars are coming greatly into vogue, as 

 the strength is exerted on the lower part of the 

 shoulder. 



But we started out to tell our readers how to make 

 a new collar fit the shoulder of the horse. The collar 

 should be purchased of the proper size ; just before 

 putting it on the first time immerse it in water, letting 

 it remain about a minute, and immediately put it on 



the horse, being careful to have the hames so adjusted 

 at the top and bottom as to fit the shoulder, and then 

 put the horse to work. The collar by being wet will 

 adapt itself to the shoulder, and should dry on the 

 horse ; when taken off it should be left in the same 

 shape it occupied on the horse, and ever after he will 

 have a snug-fitting collar and no wounds. 



Cleanse the Manger. 



The mangers of horses, cows and oxen, when sup- 

 plied with cut fodder and meal, frequently become 

 offensively sour in consequence of the decomposition 

 of the wet meal that adheres to the corners of the 

 feed boxes. This is apt to be the case especially 

 when animals do not lick the corners entirely clean. 

 If a small jiortion of feed is allowed to remain in the 

 manger only a portion of a warm day, it will become 

 sour, and the offensive effluvia will taint the entire 

 manger, so that an animal will often refuse to eat his 

 accustomed allowance, unless compelled by keen 

 hunger. The true way to manage mangers is to 

 scrape the corners clean at least twice a day, re- 

 moving every particle of rejected food. Then if the 

 manger does not smell as a butter bowl, let the 

 corners be washed out with hot water, wiped clean, 

 and a handful of caustic, of slacked lime be sprinkled 

 in the manger. If mangers are kept clean they will 

 seldom become offensively sour. If an animal leaves 

 a portion of his feed, a new mess should never be 

 given on the rejected feed. — M«u< York Herald. 



Stumbling Horses. 



The best horse, indeed, may stumble. If it arises 

 from a heavy fore-hand and fore-legs being too much 

 under the horse, or being too narrow in the breast, 

 no one can alter the natural shape of the ■' critter." 

 A young, overgrown animal, and one of spirit, if not 

 properly broken in, will commonly stumble. If it 

 arises from tender-footedness, knock-kneed, or with 

 feet turned in or out, you will find it a difficult mat- 

 ter to remedy. A tight rein is a caution that should 

 not be omitted. In purchasing a horse — I say the 

 best horse may stumble ; but if he has scars, or the 

 hair be broken on his legs, and if he springs out 

 when he stumbles as if he feared a whip or spur, you 

 may beware of a stumbling jade and perpetual 

 faller. Show me a big horse and I will show you a 

 stumbler. In the majority of cases tripping is found 

 to be practiced by young, overgrown horses before 

 they have arrived at maturity. A known stumbler 

 should never be ridden, but should be put to slow 

 and heavy work. 



^ 



Full Feeding. 



No profit can result from keeping a common dairy 

 of cows in the scant mode of fee<]ing. Full and 

 generous feeding, on a varied diet the year round, so 

 that the cow will give milk nearly the year through, 

 is the only profitable dairy management. The cow 

 can make milk only from her surpus food. 



Her system must be supported before she can 

 secrete milk, and the beef animal likewise can only 

 lay on flesh and fat from extra food. Full feeding, 

 with other judicious management, will bring full re- 

 turns and a pleasant account at the end of the year ; 

 poor feeding only loss and; disappointment. — Live 

 Stock Journal. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL. 



How the Price of Cows has Risen. 



An old cattle dealer gives the following prices paid 

 by him for milch cows, in Montgomery county. Pa.: 

 In 183.5 and previous years he paid an average price 

 of fl.S to 24; in 1835 and 1836, $20; in 1837 and 1838 

 «32; in 1839, $38; in 1840, $30; in 1841 and 1842,^19; 

 in 1843, ?32; thence up to 1S49, 832 to |2.5; in 1849, 

 1850, 1851, 1852 and 1853, $25; in 1854, $28 (highest 

 $40, lowest $22;) in 1855 and 185li, $30; in 1857, $34; 

 thence to 1860, $29; in 1860 and 1861, $-35; the next 

 three years, $65, (some good ones going over $100;) 

 and since then prices have been as high or higher, 

 and market good. The prospect now is for a de- 

 cline for some time. 



A Lamb with a Cow for a Mother. 

 A short time ago a fine Cotswold ewe belonging to 

 Major McDonald, of Daviess county, gave birth to a 

 buck lamb, immediately after which she died. About 

 the same time a young heifer on the Major's place 

 dropped a calf which died. The Major's son, after 

 consulting "Randall's Sheep Husbandry," placed the 

 lamb with the heifer, first holding it up to the cow's 

 udder until it sucked. The result of the affair is that 

 the heifer at once adopted the lamb, and it is now fat, 

 thrifty and vigorous, being about seven weeks old 

 and weighs oyer fifty pounds. — Sedalia (Mo.) Bazoo. 

 ^ 



Age of Sheep. 



A sheep's front teeth the first year .are eight in 

 number appearing all of a size. Second year two 

 middle ones are shed out and replaced by two much 

 larger than the others. Third year two very ismall 

 ones apjicar— one on either side of the eight. At the 

 end of the fourth year there are six large teeth. Six 

 years all begin to show wear— not till then. 



Bot and Bot Flies. 



The following valuable article from Prof. C. V. 

 Riley to the Scientific American we give our readers 

 this month for its thorough explanation and timely 

 suggestions on the subject of bot and bot flies : 



" A correspondent, engaged in the tanning business, 

 asks why 'wormals' get into the backs of cattle, and 

 how they undergo their transformations ?" 



Almost all cloven-footed animals, and many other 

 herbivorous species, are infested with bots. These 

 are legless grubs which fall into three categories : 

 1. Gastric, or those which are swallowed by the 

 animal infested, and which live in the stomach in a 

 b.ath of chyle. 2. Cervical, or those which crawl up 

 the nostrils and inhabit the frontal sinuses. 3. Cu- 

 taneous, or those which dwell in tumors just beneath 

 the skin. They are all the larvaj or early state of 

 two-winged flies (diptera) belonging to the family 

 a'slrtdie, characterized by having the mouth parts 

 entirely obsolete, and popularly called gad flies or 

 bot flies. In the first series, of which the horse bot 

 {gastrophilus equi) is the most familiar example, the 

 eggs are hatched by the female fly to the hairs of the 

 body, and principally on those parts of the body 

 within easy reach of the animal's mouth. The egg 

 opens with a lid, and the young maggot upon hatch- 

 ing clings to the tongue as the animal licks itself, 

 and is thus carried into the fore-stomach, to which 

 it holds tenaciously by a series of spines around the 

 body, but principally by a pair of sharp hooks at the 

 head. When fully grown, they leave their post with 

 the fieces, burrow in the ground and undergo the 

 final transformatioft. In the second kind, of which 

 the sheep bot {icstrns oxis) will serve as an example, 

 the egg generally hatches within the body of the 

 parent, and the young grub is deposited alive on the 

 slimy nostrUs of its victim. 



By means of a pair of long and sharp hooks at the 

 head, and of bands of minute spines on the venter, 

 the young grub works its way into the sinuses of the 

 head, and when full grown permits itself to be 

 sneezed out, when it also burrows into the ground 

 and transforms. In the third kind, the parent lays 

 tlie egg on those parts of the body which cannot 

 well be reached by the mouth of the animal attacked, 

 and the young grub, which soon hatches, burrows 

 into the flesh and subsists upon the pus and diseased 

 matter which results from the wound inflicted and 

 the irritation constantly kept up. The well-known 

 wormal or ox bot (hypoderva hovis), so common 

 along the backs of our cattle, and especially of year- 

 lings and two-year-olds, and dreaded as much by the 

 tanner as by the animal it infests, is typical of this 

 kind. Residing in a fixed spot, we no longer find in 

 this species the strong hooks .at the head, and the 

 spines around the body are sparse and very minute, 

 the parts of the mouth are soft and fieshy. 



"All these bot larvae breathe principally through 

 two spiracles placed at the blunt and squarely clock- 

 ed end of the body, and in the ox bot these are very 

 large and completely fill up the hole to the tumor in 

 which the animal dwells. When ready to transform, 

 it backs out of its residence, drops, and burrows 

 into the ground, and there, like the other species, 

 contracts' and undergoes its final change to the fly. 

 The eggs of this ox bot are olliptic-ovoid, slightly 

 compressed, and have at the attached end a five-rib- 

 bed cap or stout stalk with which to strongly attach 

 them to the skin of the back. 



"The gastric bots are best prevented by proper 

 grooming of the horses to remove the eggs or nits 

 from the forelegs and flanks. Horses, too, that are 

 properly stabled and kept in the shade during the 

 hotter summer months are less frequented by the 

 IJarent fly. Scarcely any mode of drugging will dis- 

 lodge the bots when once they are attached to the 

 stomach, without injuring the parasitized animal. 

 Cervical bots are also with dilHculty dislodged , except 

 when they are full grown and ready to naturally let 

 go their hold. Animals msiy, however, be measurably 

 protected, by enabling them to bury their noses when 

 the parent fly is seeking to deposit. This they will 

 iu.stinctively do, if portions of their pasture be turned 

 up and the ground kept loose. The cutaneous species 

 may be removed by pressure of the thumb and finger, 

 or destroyed by the application of kerosene. If re- 

 moved while small, the wound in the skin heals up, 

 and no hole will occur in the hide. 



The Potato Bug Abroad. 



G . W. Smalley writes to the Tribune, from London, 

 concerning our old friend, the potato bug : 



Next after Gen. Grant, the greatest American 

 celebrity of the London season Is the Colorado beetle. 

 He Is not invited out to dine with dukes, but his 

 movements are watched with an attention most flat- 

 tering to him, and his appearance at Millheim on the 

 Rhine produced intense alarm on the Thames. Fol- 

 lowed as it was, yesterday, by an announcement that 

 he had been seen in Dublin crawling ashore on a 

 cable, the alarm became a panic. This morning the 

 panic is abated, on the assurance of an eminent en- 

 tomologist that the Dublin insect was not a Colorado 

 beetle at all, but only looked like him. Long before 

 his, however, extraordinary precautions had been 



