1S80] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



127 



hours, when it should have a fine froth on the top ; 

 I tiiblespoonful of the water is the proportion (In a 

 iwinn climate) to one pound of (lour; yeast thus 

 |iri'pared is very ijenerally used in Persia, and the 

 w riter lias employed It in India for three years with 

 perfect success. 



Potato Yeast. — Cook and mash six potatoes, 

 and add water enough to make a thin batter ; when 

 cool add a cupful of sugar, a teaspoonful of salt, 

 and yeast enough to make it rise; set in a warm 

 place till li!.'ht ; then put in bottles and set in a dark, 

 cool place till wanted. 



Hop Yeast.— Three large potatoes, one handful 

 of hops; put in a small baf;; put the potatoes and 

 hops into two quarts of water and boil down to one 

 qdart; take out the ba;;; of hops aud potatoes; mash 

 the potatoes fine and" throw back into the boiling 

 water; stir Hour into this while hot until it Is quite 

 stiff; let it stand until it is nearly cold, then add half 

 a cupful of yeiist, half a cupful of sufjar, one table- 

 spoonful of salt, and half a lablespoonful of (jlnsrcr; 

 set in a warm place to rise; when light, put in a 

 covered jar and ]>lacc in a cool place. 



Haki) Yeast.— Stir into a pint of lively yeast 

 enough flour to make a thick batter, and a table- 

 spoonful of salt. Let it raise once, then roll out 

 thin, cut into cakes with a cake-cutter, and dry in 

 the shade in clear, windy weather. When perfectly 

 dry put in a bag aud hang in a cool, dry place. They 

 will keep good six months. One of these cakes dis- 

 solved in a little milk or water is enough for four 

 quarts of flour. 



Parliament Gingerbread. — The old-fashioned 

 Parliament gingerbread, which Is sometimes cut Into 

 human shapes and ornamented with gold and silver 

 leaf, is a good, plain cake for ehildren. Boil for ten 

 minutes two ounces of whole ginger, which has been 

 well crushed, in a gill and a half of water. Strain 

 it, aud let it get cold, and if it has wasted add water 

 to make up the original quantity. Mix a quarter of 

 a pound of brown sutrar, sifted fine, with a pound of 

 flour, a small teaspoonful of carraway seeds and half 

 a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda. Put into this 

 two ounces of butter, aud having well mixed a tea- 

 spoonful of molasses with the ginger water, make all 

 into a paste. Koll it out on a board to the thickuess 

 of rather less than half an inch, and cut into any 

 shape you choose. Put the cake on a floured baking 

 sheet, brush them over with water in which you have 

 mixed a small quantity of molasses, and bake in a 

 moderate oven for a quarter of an hour. When this 

 cake is required of a finer quality, two ounces of 

 candied orange peel, pounded and passed through a 

 sieve, is used instead of the ground carraway seed. 



Live Stock. 



" Free Martin.'' 



Free martin is frequently used in the Farm Journal 

 and other agricultural periodicals. Does the general 

 reader have a clear idea of the true meaning of the 

 word ? 



If not, I think the following will help him, and in 

 the main be found to be correct. When a cow has 

 two calves or "twins," and both are males, they 

 will both be perfct bulls, i. e. capable of procreating 

 or extending their species. 



When they both are heifers, they will both be per- 

 fect cows, i. e. capable of conceiving and bringing 

 forth offspring, not differing from the ordinary cow. 



But if one of the calves should be a male, and the 

 other a female, then the male will be a perfect bull, 

 with all the instincts of a bull and capable of ex- 

 tending his kind— the female will be an imperfect 

 one, so resembling in shape and general appearance 

 a "steer." She is usually of good size, and thrifty 

 but having none of the sexual characteristics of her 

 species and sex, and never becomes in "heat," never 

 suffers copulation, and consequently never Is capable 

 of extending or increasing her kind. This is the free 

 martin. She, as said above, resembles more a "steer" 

 in all her actions aud instincts than a cow or a bull, 

 and makes a capital steer. I remember onco seeing a 

 pair of medium fine oxen (as I thought) hitched to a 

 cart, when the owner remarked that there was his 

 "free martin." "Where?" I asked. "There, on 

 the right," he replied. I then examined them care- 

 fully, and found the owner had castrated the male 

 calf, and had the "twins" broken as oxen. They 

 made a fine yoke. The female in every way equal to 

 the male and being fleshed and marked almost exactly 

 alike, they coulil scarcely be distinguished, and to 

 tell which was the male and which the female, a 

 "personal examination" was necessary. He assured 

 me that the "free martin" was in every way equal in 

 power, docility and endurance to her "brother." I 

 have ever since hoped to get a pair of thcsi "twins," 

 and experiment with them as oxen, but have not 

 succeeded. The strange part of this matter is, that 

 the above phenomena are only applicable to the Bo- 

 vine species. It does not hold good with the man, 

 the ape, the dog or the human species of any other. 



I do not know whether it applies to triplets or 

 quartets in the cow or not. On dissection, rudimen- 

 tary organs of both sexes are found. Perhaps this 



article will excite the curiosity of some of your read- 

 ers enough for them to try the above experiment if 

 they should be so fortunate or unfortunate as to be 

 presented with a pair of such "twins" by some 

 favorite cow. — Alabama Farm Jourtial. • 



Dogs and Sheep. 



In wool-growing distrlits there Is usually a gen- | 

 eral outcry at^ainst the ravages of dogs among the 

 sheep. .\t almost every session of our Legislature 

 petitions pour in "for the protection of sheep and 

 the tuxinir of dogs." It docs not seem sulllciently 

 known that si me species of domestic dogs are beaels 

 of prey, and will commit Iiavoe in a flock of sheep 

 whenever a fair chance otters. The consequence of 

 this is that ii farmer, whose hope is in his sheep for 

 the wool they yii'Id and the price they will bring In 

 the meat market, may have all his profits swept 

 away by the ravages of scallawag dogs, whiidi are 

 worthless for any purpose, not kept at his own place, 

 but belo!iging to some thoughtless or reckless neigh- 

 bor. A dog is considered by many farmers as a good 

 safeguard against thieves. But all professional 

 burglars arc familiar with the means of silencing a 

 dog with poisoned meat, so that while these dogs are 

 often dangerous to an indiscreet visitor, they are 

 harmless to an expert thief. 



Certainly the loss sustained by the sheep farmers 

 from the depredations of mongrel dogs surpasses a 

 thousand times over any value that these dogs can be 

 for the protection of other property. Any one of tlie 

 main reasons of many farmers selliug olf their sheep 

 is their inability to get any protection against these 

 dogs. A Virginia paper estimates the annual loss to 

 that State by ibe destruction of sheep by vicious dogs 

 at ?l,nOO,00() ; and if that be so in Virginia what 

 must it be in such States as Pennsylvania and Ohio. 

 The Virginia paper calls loudly upon the Legislature 

 of that State to levy a severe tax on dogs, and for- 

 bid every dog owner to allow his dog on the highway 

 or on the premises of another person under penalty. 

 It further demands that if the dog be caught at 

 large the owner be put under bonds for the conduct 

 of the animal. These may seem to be severe re- 

 quirements, but they fairly represent the indii;natiou 

 of the sheep farmers and wool-growers. The loss 

 of so much valuable stock without a justifiable cause 

 is enough to excite the indignation of anyone ; but 

 indignation has been vented on the subject a long 

 time without producing any apparent efleet on the 

 dog owners, and it is clear that a penal statute is the 

 only remedy ; but as to its exact provisions we shall 

 not undertake to give an opinion. That these stric- 

 tures will apply to all dogs we do not say ; but if the 

 question is the saving of the sheep or the saving of 

 the dogs, save the sheep. 



Facts About Shoeing Horses. 



A writer in the New York Herald states some facts 

 about how horses should be shod, which are worthy 

 the consideration of blacksmiths, and farmers as 

 well : 



Most of the horse-shoers of the country prepare the 

 foot, fit a shoe, aud secure it to the hoof in the same 

 manner that a wood butcher fits a shoe to an old 

 wood ox-sled. The mechanism of a horse's hoof is 

 one of the most wonderful and ingenious structures 

 that can be found in all the works of the Creator. 

 Beneath and in the rear of every hoof there is a frog, 

 which is a tough and elastic pad for preventing in- 

 jury to the animal whenever he plants his foot sud- 

 denly on any hard substance. Large rolls or cylin- 

 ders of India-rubber are placed beneath railroad ears 

 to prevent injury to any part of the car or cargo with 

 which it is loaded. The frog beneath the foot of a 

 horse is designed to subserve a similar purpose. But 

 the manner in which most horses are shod lifts them 

 up, as it were, on short stilts, so that the frog cannot 

 perform its appropriate functions. If we look care- 

 fully at the young horse when he is trotting or run- 

 ning, it will be perceived that every foot is brought 

 to the ground in such a manner that the frog receives 

 the powerful blow. By this means all injury to the 

 animal is prevented. Science teaches us to permit 

 the frog to develop and expand downward. But 

 most lilacksmiths seem to thiid; that the all-wise 

 Creator made a great mistake when he formed the 

 hoof's of horses. Hence they fall at the frog with 

 red-hot burning irons, with edged tools, and with any 

 other appliance that will enable them to remove the 

 extraneous excrescnee. Illustrious ninnies 1 Why 

 not shave and burn away all the tough callous adi- 

 pose tissue beneath their own heels, and allow the 

 bare bones to rest on a plate of Iron inside of their 

 own boots and shoes. 



Sawdust for Bedding. 



A correspondent of the AgricutlarM writes : We 

 have tried for two years dry sawdust in the 

 cows' stable, and on the whole like It better than 

 any beddins we have ever tried. It makes a more 

 comfortable bed, completely absorbs the urine, and 

 the cow is kept clean with less labor than when any 

 other is used. The objection to salt marsh sods, 

 dried, or to headlands and dry muck, is, that they 

 soil the cow and make it necessary to wash the bag 

 before milking. Straw, of all sorts, sood becomes 



foul, and without more care than the ordinary hired 

 man Is likely to bestow, soils the cow's bag also. Dry 

 sawdust is clean, and makes a soft, spungy bed, and 

 Is an excellent absorbent. The ban is kept clean 

 with the aid of a coarse brush without washimj:. A 

 charge of tifleeu busliels in a common box stall, or 

 cow stable, will last a month. If the manure, drop- 

 ped upon the surface. Is removed dally. The porous 

 nature of the material admits of perfect drainage, 

 and of rapid evaporation, of the li(|uid part of the 

 manure. The sawdust Is not so perfect an absorbent 

 of'animonia as muck, but Is a much better one than 

 straw that needs to be dried dally in the sun and 

 wind, to keep It In comfortable condition for the 

 animals. In the vicinity of saw and shinu'le mills 

 and slili>yards the sawdust accumulates rapidly, aud 

 is a troublesome waste that mill owners are glad to 

 gel rid of. It can bo had for the carting. But even 

 w here It Is sold for one or two cents a bushel, a'.com- 

 moii price, it makes a very cheap and suljstantial 

 bedding. The saturated sawdust makes an excel- 

 lent manure, and is so fine that it can be used to ad- 

 vantaire in drills. It Is valuable to loosen compact 

 clay soils, and will hell) to retain moisture In thin 

 sandy and gravelly soils. There is a choice In the 

 varieties of sawdust for manure, but not much for 

 bedding. The hard woods make a much better 

 fertilizer than the resinous timber. To keep a milch 

 cow In clean, comfortable condition we have not 

 found Its equal. 



A Knowing Sheep. 

 The (iroton Journal, some Ume ago related the 

 following story, which certainly goes far to prove 

 that a sheep can do some close thinking. A. H. 

 Clark has a sheep which during the summer was 

 pastured with some calves in an apple orchard ad 

 joining the house. There weie several trees in the 

 orchard well loaded with early fruit, the trees 

 being about six inches In diameter One evening Mr. 

 Clark heard considerable noise in the orchard, and 

 upon investigation found the sheep and the calves 

 quietly eating apples under one of the trees. In a 

 few minutes all the ajiples were eaten, when, to his 

 surprise, he saw the sheep back off several yards 

 and then butt the tree with full force, bringing down 

 a quantity of fruit. The animal proceeded to eat as 

 before, and when the supply gave out the sheep re- 

 plenished it as before. This was continued at inter- 

 vals. So persistent was the sheep In his novel mode 

 of tree-shaking that Mr. Clark was obliged to pro- 

 tect the trees, lest the continual bruising of the bark 

 should cause permanent injury. 



Breeds of Pigs. 

 There is a great deal of difference between the 

 Small White Yorkshire and the Jersey Keds. The 

 former are much finer in the bone and in the flesh. 

 They are fatter and have a much thinner skin. Their 

 average weight Is one-half less, or perhaps it will 

 be nearer correct to say one-third less. Two or two 

 and a half Small Yorkshires can be kept and fatted 

 on the same amount of food required for an average 

 Jersey Ked. The Jersey Reds are probably the most 

 growing breed of hogs we have, and require a longer 

 time than the Yorkshire to mature. They have more 

 lean mingled with their fat than the Yorkshires. The 

 objections to both these breeds— or the "demerits," 

 as our correspondent puts it— are that the Yorkshires 

 are loo fat and the Jersey Kcds too coarse. The ad- 

 vantages are that the former will keep easily, ma- 

 ture quickly, and fatten young, while the latter grow 

 fat and large, and have a long body, which makes a 

 large proporlion of [wrk. They have strong appe- 

 tites and are greedy eaters.— Tiurai New Yorker. 



Poultry. 



The Messina QuaiL 



The following is a good description of the Messina 

 quail now beine Imported into many of the Slates by 

 sportsmen. The habits and appearance of the bird 

 are as follows : In size It Is about one-half as largo 

 as the European partridge {pcrdii ciuerta,) and 

 three-fifths as large as our "quail" (partridge) 

 (ortyt virginianus^ Is very compactly built, with 

 great speed in running, and a powerful and long 

 continued flight, enabling it lo cross large bodies of 

 water in Its migration. The bill is longer and more 

 slender than in our orlyx rin/iniantiit. The color la 

 brown, striped with reddish yellow on the upper parts 

 of the body, the head is darker than the back, the 

 throat reddish-brown, and the region of the crop 

 reddish-yellow. A pale yellowish line passes from 

 the base of the upper mandible over the eye and 

 down the sides of the neck across the throat, wliere 

 It is banded by two narrow dark brown lines. The 

 blackish brown primary quills are spotted with 

 reddish yellow in such a manner as to form stripes. 

 The first quill has also a narrow yellow border. The 

 reddish yellow tall feathers have while shafts, and 

 arc spotted with black at their edges. The length 

 is TVj inches, and expanse of wing 13 Inches. The 

 tail is IX inches long. This is the male. In the 

 female all these colors are comparatively indistlpct. 



