200 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



one brood in a season ? Indeed, any informa- 

 tion as to the culture of the bird will greatly 

 oblige A Subscriber. 



DISEASES IN HORSES. 



Case of Champ, or Spasm. — I was request- 

 ed, a short time ago, to visit a horse, said to be 

 the subject of "stifle lameness." The patient, a 

 grey gelding, aged eight years, Avas put up at the 

 stable, on the evening preceding my visit, appar- 

 ently in ])erfect health ; early in the morning, ere 

 I was called, the "feeder" observed that the horse 

 was incapable of moving the near hind limb, and 

 it appeared to be, as I was informed, "as stiff as 

 a crowbar." 



On making an examination of the body of the 

 animal, he appeared to be in perfect health ; yet 

 he was unable to raise the limb, in the slightest 

 ^gree, from the stable floor. The case was ac- 

 cordingly diagnosed as cramp of the flexors. 



Treatment. — The body and lower parts of the 

 limbs were clothed with blankets and flannel band- 

 ages, and the aff'ected limb was diligently rubbed 

 for half an hour with a portion of the following 

 liniment : — Oil of Cedar, 1 ounce ; Sulphuric 

 ^ther, 2 ounces ; Proof Spirit, 1 pint. 



In the course of a few hours after the first ap- 

 plication, the difiiculty had entirely disappeared. 



The owner informed me that the horse had, on 

 the day prior to the attack, been exposed to a cold 

 and continuous rain storm, and probably this op- 

 erated as the exciting cause of the spasm. — 

 American Stock Journal. 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



THE DAY AFTER MARRIAGE. 

 The departure of a son from beneath the pater- 

 nal roof does not present any spectacle of desola- 

 tion. Masculine life has, from infancy, an indi- 

 viduality and independence, an exotism, so to 

 say, which is essentially wanting in female exis- 

 tence. When as on abandons his parents to cre- 

 ate for himself a separate interest, this separation 

 causes but little interruption in their mutual re- 

 lations. A man marries, and still retains his 

 friendships, his habits, and his filial affections. 

 Nothing is changed in his life ; it is only an ad- 

 ditional tie. His departure is consequently a 

 mere separation ; while the departure of a young 

 girl, to become a wife in a few hours, is a real de- 

 sertion — a desertion with all its duties and feel- 

 ings still fresh about it. In one word, the son is 

 a sapling which has always grown apart from the 

 trunk, while the daughter has, on the contrary, 

 formed an essential portion of it, and to detach 

 her from her place is to mutilate the tree itself. 

 You have surrounded her youth with unspeakable 

 tenderness — the exhaustless tenderness of your 

 paternal and maternal hearts, and she, in return, 

 has appeared to pour forth upon you both an 

 equally inexhaustible gratitude ; you loved her 

 beyond all the world, and she seemed to cling to 

 you with a proportionable aff'ection. But one 

 day, one ill-omened day, a man arrives invited 

 and welcomed by yourselves, and this man of 

 your own choice carries oft' to his domestic eyrie 

 your gentle dove, far from the soft nest which 

 your love had made for her, and to which hers 



had clung. On the morrow you look around you, 

 you wait, you seek for something which you can- 

 not find. The cage is empty ; the tuneful linnet 

 has flown ; silence has succeeded to its melodi- 

 ous warblings ; it does not come as it did only on 

 the previous morning, fluttering its perfumed 

 wings about your pillow, and awakening you by 

 its soft caresses. Nothing remains but a painful 

 calm, a painful silence, a painful void. 



THE WAY THE ENGLISH BRING UP 

 CHILDREN. 



The English bring up their children very dif- 

 ferently from the manner in which we bring up 

 ours. They have an abundance of out-door air 

 every day, whenever it is possible. The nursery 

 maids are expected to take all the children out 

 airing every day, even to infants. This custom 

 is becoming more prevalent in this country, and 

 should be pursued wherever it is practicable. 

 Infants should be early accustomed to the open 

 air. We confine them too much, and heat them 

 too much for a vigorous growth. One of the 

 finest features of the London parks is said to be 

 the crowds of nursery maids with their groups 

 of healthy children. It is so with the prome- 

 nades of our large cities to a great extent, but is 

 less common in our country towns than what it 

 should be. In consequence of their training, Eng- 

 lish girls acquire a habit of walking that accom- 

 panies them through life, and gives them a much 

 healthier middle life than our women enjoy. They 

 are not fatigued with a walk of five miles, and 

 are not ashamed to wear, when walking, thick- 

 soled shoes, fitted for the dampness they must 

 encounter. Half of the consumptive feebleness 

 of our girls results from the thin shoes they wear, 

 and the cold feet they must necessarily have. 

 English children, especially girls, are kept in the 

 nursery, and excluded from fashionable society 

 and all the frivolities of dress, at the age when 

 our girls are in the very heat of flirtation, and 

 are thinking of nothing but fashionable life. 



COOKING HOMINY. 



After the hominy is well washed, instead of 

 putting it into an open pot or kettle to boil, as is 

 the usual practice, get a tin kettle of the size 

 wanted, put the same into a common iron pot 

 that will hold about one-third more, which will 

 leave a space around the tin to be filled with wa- 

 ter. Then put the hominy into the tin kettle 

 with a suitable quantity of water, fill the pot 

 pretty full of water, put the lids on the kettle and 

 the pot, and let the hominy boil upon the stove, 

 stirring it two or three times while boiling. By 

 so doing, it will be found that the quality of the 

 article will be much improved ; more than half 

 the usual work of stirring and tending will be 

 saved, together with a large part of the work in 

 cleaning the kettle after using, which has hereto- 

 fore been the chief objection to cooking this dish. 

 The tin kettle should be kept from touching the 

 bottom of the pot, by means of a large wire 

 crooked for the purpose, and laid in the bottom 

 so as not to have the tin and iron come in contact 

 while boiling. By this means, none burns to the 

 kettle, and the burnt flavor, which is so noticea- 

 ble in that cooked in the old fashioned way, is 

 entirely avoided. — Boston Cultivator. 



