THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[January 



ories of all the oldest inhabitants fail to recall 

 the time. We are told from one point in 

 Dakota Territory tliat the mercury was down 

 to forty-eight below zero. This is eighty 

 degrees below the freezing point, a degree of 

 cold seldom found below the Arctic circles. 

 That was the severest temperature repoited ; 

 but the mercury was very low down through- 

 out Miuuesota, Iowa, Kansas, Western Mis- 

 souri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. 

 From as far eastward as Cincinnati tlie report 

 came of twenty degrees below zero, which is 

 fifty-two Ijelow the freezing point. We got a 

 breeze from off this Arctic wave, but it was 

 only a whiff compared with the Western 

 article. 



GIVE OR TAKE— A FABLE. 



A bull and an ass one day, 

 By chance met in a narrow way, 

 Where each against the rock must squeeze, 

 If they would pass along with ease. 

 The bull, though of an iron will. 

 With deferential air, stood still. 

 And said, " Now half of the road is thine, 

 And half the space by right is mine; 

 So let us choose the friendly plan, 

 And move along as best we can." 

 " Not BO," the stubborn ass replied, 

 Who blinded by his foolish pride, 

 Mistook the traveler's civil air 

 For evidence of craven fear : 

 " The right of way is mine alone. 

 And you must back, while I move on ; 

 Or else I'll stand here, as you see. 

 Till you shall starve or yield to me." 

 Now, angered at conceit so great. 

 The bull at once cut short debate. 

 And bowing low his massive head, 

 He tossed the braying quadruped 

 So far upon his airy road, 

 A spreading oak received the load. 

 The ass found all his efforts vain 

 To disengage himself again ; 

 And there he would be hanging still, 

 A mark for crow or raven bill, 

 But then there chanced, from miles away. 

 Some kindly market-boys, that day. 

 To be just where, up in tree. 

 The foolish animal they could but see. 

 They got him down ; and thusly did advise : 

 " Jt's never best to be more nice than wise. 

 The right of way is never yours alone ; 

 Yield ahmys unto others that which is their own. 

 — Bulex and Journal. 



Contributions. 



Brookville, O., Jan. 15, 1884. 

 Editor Lancaster Farmer.— Sir.- In 

 the matter of the Fmuji, which annoy the 

 farmers, Mr. Linnville, did well to invite the 

 attention of them to the origin of smut. The 

 study of cryptogomous plants, is of immense 

 importance to the farmer. There is no 

 species of plants, but what is liable to be the 

 pablum of some one variety of these minute 

 plants. The study of mycology should be in- 

 troduced into every school, where boys are 

 taught with the view of their being farmers. 

 It is one of the most recondite of sciences : 

 more than 150 varieties of smut have been 

 enumerated, and many varieties have not yet 

 been noted. Moulds, mildews, mushrooms, 

 toadstools, rusts, smuts, and bunts belong to 

 the cryptogomous family of plants. Stale 

 bread, and old cheese, and old leather in 

 damp weather, are sometimes covered with 



these moulds. Eusts and smut of cereals be- 

 long to this family. Different parts of the 

 same plants are affected by different varieties 

 of rusts. The stems of the cereals have one 

 kind and the leaves another. Potatoes in the 

 ground are liable to be affected by varieties of 

 moulds— in fact, all the field and garden crops 

 are liable to be, more or less, rusty from this 

 cause in damp weather. I have never heard 

 of their being any smutty wheat in this coun- 

 try. I therefore have had no opportunity to 

 study the natural history of this parasite, but) 

 I think, it is exceedingly doubtful whether 

 wheat becomes smutty from smutty seed ; 

 however, there is one variety of this parasite, 

 whose spores are taken up into the plant In 

 the water absorbed by the roots. If it is true 

 as some writers on this subject aver that the 

 spores of some varieties, insinuate themselves 

 into hard wood and other hard substances, 

 then we might understand how the smut 

 spores could penetrate the chaff surrounding 

 the wheat grain, and make a lodgment on the 

 gram.— C. 6ish. 



ESSAYS. 



*THE BEST METHOD OF WINTERING 

 HORNED STOCK. 



The farmer whose stock will come out best 

 next spring has made preparation months past 

 to that effect ; he has prepared himself with 

 an abundance of first quality hay, and will, or 

 has, put up his fodder in thi' best condition. 



Being prepared thus far, it is very import- 

 ant that the change from green to dry feed 

 should not be sudden, but, as autumn ap- 

 proaches, stock should be fed mixed feed, i. e., 

 green and dry, and if some succulent food, 

 such as roots, or possibly ensilage, be secured 

 for winter, all the better. In the absence of 

 green food, the next best thing is to scald or 

 soak a fair proportion of the food, so that 

 stock will have no occasion to drink too great 

 an amount of cold water, which in cold 

 weather will chill any animal. Where stock 

 is watered from a well or spring near the 

 stable and well sheltered from cold blasts, the 

 above precaution is not so important, but still 

 I consider it preferable to too much drinkins; 

 but where stock has to go or be driven a dis- 

 tance to drink, and from frozen streams or 

 ponds at that, it is of vital importance that 

 as large a proportion of water should be taken 

 with the food as is consistent with feeding. 

 Careful Attention. 



In these days of sharp competition in stock 

 raising as well as in other business, it is im- 

 portant that it should be conducted with as 

 much economy as possible. 



Any animal that will require the summer to 

 recover the flesh it lost during winter, does 

 not pay its owner for its keeping, yet many 

 animals may be seen every spring that will 

 correspond with said picture, and many more 

 nearly so. The most economical method of 

 raising horned, or any other stock, is to keep 

 them in good growing condition from birth to 

 maturity, and from thence in a good normal 

 condition during winter as well as summer. 



For such whose stock is generally afflicted 

 with hollow horn, or wolf in the tail, the fol- 

 lowing is not only a remedy, but an infallible 

 preventive : Feed regularly with proper 



food, and once a day take what is left in the 

 manger and rub it over the back of the animal. 

 A very small amount of such surplus feed is 

 even better than too much. A hint to the 

 wise is sufficient. 



Feed Heat Producing Food. 

 For winter a much larger proportion of 

 carbonaceous food is required than during 

 summer, and in this section of country we 

 grow nothing that will answer the purpose 

 equal to corn, which is not itself a perfect 

 food, except for fattening, but with a proper 

 proportion of bran, shorts or linseed meal and 

 hay and corn fodder, proper rations may be 

 prepared and such changes made as will keep 

 up a regular appetite without a surfeit. The 

 intelligent feeder will know how to propor- 

 tion rations so as to produce the desired re- 

 sults, whether for milk, butter, fattening, or 

 simply a good healthy growth. Feeding at 

 proper and regular hours is an important 

 matter. Good warm stabling with proper 

 ventilation is another, and it must not be for- 

 gotten that lumber is cheaper than corn, even 

 at present prices, for the purpose of retaining 

 animal heat. Grooming pays as well on cat- 

 tle as on horses. A sufficiency of bedding 

 should always be given. 



Value of Sunshine. 



During warm or moderate days stock may 

 be out the greater part of the day, but as the 

 cold increases the time for out doors must 

 be shortened to a period simply long enough 

 to water and for bedding. Instead of the 

 prevailing custom of cleaning the stables once 

 a week it should be done once a day, and to 

 keep stock clean as it should be the droppings 

 must be removed at least twice a day. 



Tlie large proportion of stock, including 

 milk cows, otherwise well fed and cared for, 

 coming out of winter quarters annually with 

 dung on them from hoof to hip, presents a 

 very unsightly appearance, besides question- 

 ing the cleanliness of the dairy products dur- 

 ing such period. Kind treatment adds largely 

 to the comfort and thrift of animals. 



Although self-interest should prompt own- 

 ers of stock to treat such humanely, the re- 

 verse is in too many cases the rule, for instead 

 of providing comfortable winter quarters, 

 their animals are exposed to snow and storms 

 with only the warm side of a fence or a straw 

 stack for protection, or, if housed, the stabling 

 is in many cases so open and [filthy as to be 

 unworthy the name of stable. 



The latter extreme does happily not hold 

 good as a rule in our county, where farmers 

 generally have good and comfortable quarters 

 for their stock ; at the same time they are too 

 many cases (if not in our county) at least in 

 our State and country at large, that a strict 

 application of the law for the prevention of 

 cruelty to animals would find more guilty 

 than should be found in this enlightened age. 

 We should at least all be law-abiding citizens, 

 but I seriously question any person's religion 

 who does not treat his animals at least 

 humanely, and I have no doubt but that mis- 

 sionaries could find a wide field for operations 

 on this subject. 



Our late issue of the Farmer this 

 month was owing to incontrolable contin- 

 gencies. 



