J 76 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[November, 1884. 



tiie it3.n difficulty. Tous it may be with horses, 

 when the shoes arf removed. They will find walking 

 awkward, and the feet may become sore ; but after 

 a lapse of time they will be able to pull over the 

 worst kinds of roads. 



So far as our own opinions are concerned, we have 

 not given the matter a test ; but the experience of 

 those who have tried working horses without shoes 

 cannot be ignored. It will be hard to convince most 

 persons that shoeless horses are able to endure the 

 hard cobble stones, but that horses may walk upon 

 good country roads is within the limit of possibility. 

 It would not he a troublesome experiment if farmers 

 should put the matter to a test by leaving the shoes 

 off one or two for comparison. If we could work our 

 horses anywhere without shoes it would be a great 

 saving in the course of a year, not only financially, 

 but from the inconveniences so often experienced 

 when horses are to be shod during a busy time.— 

 Rural Era. 



Cruelty 



The following is the report of a committee ap- 

 pointed by the British National Veterinary Congress, 

 for the purpose of further considering the subject of 

 cruelty to animals from a veterinary point of view, 

 and publishing a declaration in the name of Congress 

 on certain practices and painful operations relating 

 to and performed on animals— namely whether such 

 practices and operations are sometimes necessary, 

 and, if so, under what modifications or qualifications 

 they may be performed ; or whether they are un- 

 necessary, and therefore cruel : 



Lameness may be painless or painful. Those 

 cases where the lameness passes off with exercise are 

 prima facie cases being accompanied by pain— this 

 specially applies to cases of navicular disease and 

 spavin. In such cases horses ought to be worked, 

 and when worked it is cruelty. 

 Gingering is decided cruelty. 



Wounds are not causes of unfitness for work, un- 

 less pressed upon by harmness, or affected by the 

 movements of the animal. 



The practice called twitching causes acute pain, 

 and is frequently unjustifiable. 

 Burning gums for lampas is cruelty. 

 Knocking out wolf-teeth is cruelty. 

 Extracting temporary teeth, save for surgical 

 reason, is cruelty. 



Docking and nicking horses are cruel operations 

 when done for fashion. 



Marking and branding animals, when necessary, 

 should be performed by the quickest and least pain- 

 ful method. 



Worming the tail, docking and cropping the ears 

 of dogs are unnecessary, and therefore cruel opera- 

 tions. 



Castration of male animals is necessary, but should 

 be performed in the least painful mahner, and by a 

 skilled operator. 



Spaying of female animals is unnecessary, and 

 ought to be abolished. 



Operations of various kinds are frequently per- 

 formed on animals by ignorant persons and much 

 cruelty is caused thereby, which ought to be publicly 

 deprecated and prevented by law. All painful ope- 

 rations not required for the good of the animal ope 

 rated on are of a cruel nature. No operation caus- 

 ing pain to an animal should be performed by an un- 

 skillful person. All necessary operations ought to 

 be performed in a scientific raauner, and by the most 

 humane methods, in order thereby to prevent the in- 

 fliction of unnecessary pain. 



Weight of Sheep. 

 But few farmers are aware of the heavy weights 

 sometimes attained by the large breeds of sheep. 

 Some of the breeds, as managed in England, exceed 

 300 pounds. The average weight of ten months' 

 lambs, at Smithfleld, England, in ISS-t, shows that 

 the growth of those lambs from the special breeds 

 is very rapid. The lambs of the Hampshire, and 

 Wiltshire Downs averaged 204 pounds ; cross breeds, 

 188 pounds ; Oxfordshires, 178 pounds ; Cotswold, 



176 pounds ; Shropshire, 153 pounds; Southdowns, 

 161 pounds ; Leicester, 129 pounds. At the age of 

 twenty one months, the weights were as follows : 

 Hampshire and Wiltshire Downs, 293 pounds; 

 Oxford, 292 pounds; Lincoln, 283 pounds; Cots- 

 wolds, 283 pounds ; cross-breeds, '^.70 pounds ; 

 Kentish, 253 pounds; Leicesters, 244 pounds; 

 Shropshires, 239 pounds ; Southdowns, 216 pounds. 

 Here we notice that the Southdowns fell but little 

 below the Leicesters at twenty-one months, and 

 exceeded them at ten months. The above showing is 

 a creditable one for the Southdowns, and confirms 

 their position as one of the best breeds that can be 

 used for improvement.— Farmer and Dairyman. 



Working Horses Without Shoes. 



We believe that a good deal of money is worse 

 than wasted in the needless shoeing of farm horses ; 

 for the shoe being unnatural is always accompanied 

 with more or less risk, especially in the hands of 

 ignorant or careless farriers. Bad shoeing and trot- 

 ting on hard pavements are among the most frequent 

 causes of lameness in all cities ; and it is not at all 

 unusual to see valuable horses in all large cities 

 sacrificed after a short period of abuse, for a small 

 fraction of their worth when sound. Such horses are 

 often young, spirited, and valuable animals, and 

 need only a little careful handling to recover the use 

 of their feet in many instances. The best treatment 

 for such cases is to knock off the shoes, and turn the 

 horses into pasture lor a few weeks, when they will 

 often recover sufficiently to work without shoes. 

 Shoeing is far less needed thanl^most persons sup 

 pose ; if the horse is worked on the farm, and does 

 not have to travel much on very stony or veay hard 

 roads, he will do better without shoes for at least 

 eight months of the year ; if the roads are quite 

 hard, macademized, or stony, as they are in the 

 neighborhood of the writer, horses with good sound 

 hoofs will do a great deal of work without shoes, 

 and suffer no injury. One of the ablest physicians of 

 iMiddlesex county, who has a large practice, and is 

 obliged to drive his horses sometimes pretty hard, 

 finds they do better without shoes, although he 

 lives in a district where the roads are very hard 

 Of course, the hoof must be sound, and if accus 

 tomed to shoes must be accustomed to going without 

 them by degrees, but when used with some care 

 there is no difficulty in driving most horses as much 

 as they ought to be driven over roads of average 

 hardness without shoeing at all, for at least eight 

 months of the year; if the work is on pavements, the 

 case is different, especially if drawing heavy loads 

 upon the pavements, when the shoe with calks is 

 needed to enable the horse to hold on and to prevent 

 slipping. In winter when the roads are icy, the 

 sharpened shoe must be used to prevent slipping, 

 but on ordinary snow, until it becomes icy, there is 

 no occasion for shoes in winter any more than in 

 summer. The saving is not only in blacksmiths' 

 bills, but in the greater health and soundness of the 

 horse's feet. There are many chances to pick up 

 valuable horses in our cities, made lame by bad shoe- 

 ing, which only need to have their shoes taken off' 

 and rest for a few months to make valuable animals 

 — JV. Y. Wif7iess. 



Remove Warts. 

 A corrsspondent of the Germantpwn Telegraph 

 says : " Fresh, clean hog's lard rubbed three or four 

 times on any kind of warts on horses or cattle, will 

 remove them on three or four applications. I have 

 removed the warts time after time, and have never 

 been able to find the wart for the fourth application. 

 If I should send the Latin name for lard and tell 

 men to pay fifty cents to the druggist for about two 

 ceuts< worth of good lard this remedy would be 

 oftener used." 



Literary and Personal. 



A MERINO sheep breeder is of the opinion that the 

 wool of a pure bred merino should not average over 

 three inches in length. It should be of clear white 

 color, and weigh about seven or eight pounds to the 

 fleece. We often read of fleeces that weigh from I Independe°nt of ■„■. 

 twenty to forty pounds, but such fleeces will, in 8-paged demifolio 

 , „„ p^^ ^^^^ I matter. 



scouring, diminish all of J 



Interesting documents, Issued by the depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



The Northern Sugar Industry.— A record of 

 its progress during the season of 1883, by H. W. 

 Wiley, Chemist. Bulletin No. 3. 



An investigation of the composition of American 

 wheat and corn. Second report, by Clifford Richard- 

 son, Assistant Chemist. Bulletin No. 4. 



Report on the Condition of the Crops, the yield of 

 grain per acre, and on the rates of freight of trans- 

 portation companies. October, 1884. Bureau of 

 Statistics, new series, Report No. 12. Combining 262 

 royal octavo pages, 10 folding is othermal charts, 

 and scores of statistical tables ; besides five full page 

 plates of sugar factories and their concomitants, five 

 illustrations of machinery, and three of microscopic 

 objects. The officials who are instrumental in get- 

 ting up these reports are certainly not drones— we 

 believe they earn their compensations— that they are 

 not generally read is not their fault, but rather the 

 fault of those for whose benefit the information they 

 contain is collected, compiled and published. 



Pleasant Valley Nurseries.— John Collins, 

 proprietor, Norristown, New Jersey. A very lively 

 illustrated octavo catalogue of small fruits, with 

 embellished covers and 26 pages, embracing lists of 

 varieties and wholesale and retail prices. Beautiful 

 colored illustrations of " Marlboro Raspberry," 

 " Early Cluster Blackberry," and the " Comet 

 Pear." Besides plain cuts of the " May King Straw- 

 berry," " Rancocas Raspberry," " Poughkeepsie 

 Red," and "Ulster Prolific Grapes;" "Japanese 

 Chestnut," " Kieffer Pear," and "Russian Mul- 

 berry." 



Green's Fruit Grower.— A quarterly, 8 pp. 

 folio, devoted to the orchard, the garden and the 

 nursery Rochester, N. T. 50 cents a year. In 

 quoting or making selections from the columns of 

 this journal, one somehow feels a confidence in its 

 worth that few other journals in the same specialty 

 cam give. 



Student's Farm Journal.— Edited by the Agri- 

 cultural and Horticultural Association of the Iowa 

 Agricultural College. Published at Ames, Iowa, 

 monthly, at 50 cents a year, and worth a dollar at 

 least. A fairly printed and cleverly filled eight page 

 quarto, that has just entered upon a career of pro- 

 gressive usefulness; No. 2, Vol. 1, having reached 

 sanctum, and it looks as if it might be the har- 

 binger of a prosperous future— perhaps not pecu- 

 niarily prosperous— and become a prosperous diffuser 

 of useful knowledge. We do not think, however, 

 that we would trouble ourself much in advertising a 

 man who asserts that " All the blockheads are on 

 the farms." Indeed, 'tis a pity they are not all 

 there. They might be made- useful members of so- 

 ciety, instead of the Dudes and Drones that aspire 

 to official stations. 



The Matrimonial Times.— Devoted to the inter- 

 ests of those who desire to extend their acquaintance 

 or correspondetice. Published monthly by a " com- 

 pany," at 50 cents a year. No. 88 Court street, 

 Boston, Mass. How to make $31,676 in 3 years for 

 $2, and "failure impossible," is one of the prominent 

 advertisements, which may, or may not, refiect the 

 character of the matrimonial engagements securel 

 through the official influence of this journa"i. Some- 

 body has suggested that we would have far more 

 successful times in this country if the State, and 

 United States governments, were run by contract by 

 some responsible company; and, if so, why might 

 there not be more happy and successful marriages 

 than there are now, if that relation between the sexes 

 were conducted on business principles through the 

 instrumentality of a responsible company or Bureau? 

 9 chses of desertion; 15 cases of adultery; 5 cases of 

 assault and battery; 7 of fornication and bast-irdy; 8 

 applications for divorce, and 2 murders occasioned 

 through jealousy, before one court in a district of 

 less than 100,000 population, would seem to imply 

 an opening for some improvement on the old system. 

 )nial specialty, this neat 

 much interesting reading 



