ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 165 



promptly. "O dear! shall we ever get done with this 

 lying ?" It is one of the few domestic manufactures which 

 need no protection, and flourishes without benefit either to 

 the producer or consumer. 



CARE OF STOCK IN WINTER. 



PERHAPS no better sign of careful husbandry can be found 

 than in the attention paid to brute animals. We always 

 expect a thriftless fellow to neglect and abuse his stock. 

 When we see them well cared for, we always judge the 

 owner to be a good farmer. Cattle ranging out often 

 have had good picking, and if partly fed at the rack, will 

 come out in the spring well-conditioned. Where hay and 

 grain are a drug, we suppose that all cautions about wasting 

 them will be laughed at. Care and economy are not the 

 peculiar features of western farming ; profusion and easi- 

 ness are the more characteristic. But there are some 

 points of attention to which every farmer should give 

 heed. 



CLEANING THE STABLE. When cattle lie out, this trouble 

 is saved in their case. But it is almost universally the prac- 

 tice to let the manure accumulate in stables for horses from 

 autumn to spring, and sometimes from year to year, until 

 its quantity compels its removal. This is all well enough 

 for the sake of the manure it is sheltered, and its strength 

 preserved. But it is at the expense of the horse. The con- 

 centrated effluvia is bad; and lying down upon manure, 

 night after night, causes the skin to break out in blotches ; 

 and sometimes the whole ham is affected so much that the 

 hair comes off, and the skin is inflamed and covered with 

 running sores. The ammonia of urine (which abounds in 



