1870. 



NEW ENGLA2TO FARSIER. 



89 



EXTRACTS AND KEPLIES. 



PLAN FOR A BARN. 



I wish to build a barn next sprinjr, and being a 

 young beginner at building, I wish 'to get a good 

 plan Having read something about building in 

 the New England Farmer, I thought perhaps 

 you could furnish me with some plan or a book 

 that has barn plans. I wish to build one with a 

 cellar under it for cattle, &c., to cost about $1200. 



Westport, Conn., 18G9. Wm. H. Taylor. 



Remarks. — We have published several plans 

 for barns in the Farmer, and we have one now in 

 the hands of the engravers, which will be ready in 

 a few weeks. The design, however, does not em- 

 brace a cellar. This might be supplied by the 

 builder. If some of the readers of the Farmer 

 who have barns that they think will suit our cor- 

 respondent will send us plans we will have some 

 of them engraved. With care in giving the size 

 and proportions of the different parts of the barn 

 an artistic drawing is not necessary. The general 

 plan and arrangement are the essential parts. | 

 Let us have plans and specifications of a few real 

 farmer's barns, such as are yearly filled with hay 

 and grain, which are found to be convenient and 

 comfortable, and which can be built by farmers of 

 ordinary means, and not the mere castles on paper 

 of the architects, which will cost more than the 

 farm would sell for after it was built. 



FATAL CATTLE DISEASE. 



I have recently lost six head of cattle. The first 

 three dropped dead. I did not know that any- 

 thing ailed them. The first one was a calf, six or 

 seven months old, the next was a cow four years 

 old, the next a two-year-old heifer. Soon after- 

 wards a valuable bull died. Chunks of matter 

 run out of his mouth that looked like his litter. 

 The next that died was a yearling heifer. Her 

 manure was black and blood came through her. 

 She was in great distress. I noticed that she was 

 sick at night, and she died the next morning. 

 The last one was a cow. She grew poor for two 

 or three weeks, but I could not discover that any- 

 thing ailed her till a day or two before she died. 

 Clots of blood came through her as large as one's 

 fist. She eat well up to a few minutes before she 

 died. I gave her sulphur, saltpetre, soap and milk, 

 lard, rum, lime, &c., for about two weeks. Some 

 of my neighbors have lost cattle in the same way. 

 Heman Morse. 



Waterhury, Vt., Nov. 23, 1869. 



Remarks. — ^Wc should fear that these animals 

 had access to seme poisonous matter which pro- 

 duced inflammation of the membrane of the gullet 

 and intestines. 



MILK OR PUERPERAL FEVER. 



I wrote you a short time ago, asking a name for 

 a disease in cattle, which I iniperfectly described. 

 In reply you say you think it is puerperal or milk 

 fever, since making the inquiry referred to, 

 there have been two more fatal cases where the 

 symptoms were almost exactly like the case I 

 mentioned. One of the last cases was a very 

 large and valuable cow, owned by Mr. Leander S. 

 Mowry, that calved about noon the 5th inst., and 

 did well so far as anything connected with calving 

 was concerned. By noon the next day she could 

 not get up, nor could Mr. Mowry with any means 



he had at hand get her up. She died that night by 

 10 o'<",lock. With the exception of swelling very 

 much more, slie appeared to be sick just the same 

 as the other. I saw her opened, and with others 

 examined closely every part. There was no in- 

 flammation of the womb, nor was there in the first 

 case, and with the exception of one lung being 

 almost black, I could see nothing amists. The 

 stomach was perfectly natural, and no one of quite 

 a number present could tell what caused her 

 death. The other cow I did not see, but was told 

 her symptoms and appearance on examination 

 after death were nearly or quite the same as the 

 one I spoke of first. Some persons said over-feed- 

 ing was thfc cause; but as one had been fed one 

 quart corn meal per day the past season ; one with 

 two quarts, and the other probably never had any 

 meal, 1 think feed did not do it. As the flow of 

 milk did not cease in either case, I thought it 

 could not be milk fever, as I had always been 

 told the opposite was the case in that disease, still 

 if men of your experience say such is the case I 

 must of course yitld that point. As there is con- 

 siderable anxiety felt in this vicinity in regard to 

 this sickness, hope you will reply once more and 

 oblige Senex. 



Cumberland, R. 1., Nov. 27, 1869. 



Remarks. — These cases of disease demand the 

 careful study of some skilful veterinary surgeon 

 on the spot. If you have no such competent man, 

 call on some intelligent physician. Puerperal 

 fever is believed to be eminently contagious. The 

 fact that there have been several cases, would 

 rather confirm the Idea that that is the disease. 

 The black appearance of the lung complicates the 

 affair, and indicates pneumonia. 



WHITE LEGHORN AND BRAHMA. 



Seeing Friend Shepardson's inquiry about the 

 best variety of hens for laying and chickens, I 

 will give my experience. I prefer the White Leg- 

 horn as they are great layers and non-sitters, if 

 you can give them a good warm place, as the best 

 for eggs alone, and the Pea-combed Ligb* Brah- 

 mas as the best for raising chickens ; but would 

 prefer a cross between these two as the best fowl 

 for all purposes that I have ever kept. The chicks 

 from this cross will mature earlier, and the hens 

 will not want to sit as often as the pure Brahmas, 

 and will lay much better during the winter months 

 than any other breed that I have had any experi- 

 ence with, and 1 have had and tried most all of 

 the manv kinds that now abound. In crossing the 

 above mentioned fowls I have been the most suc- 

 cessful by using a Brahma cock and Leghorn hens. 



D. G. 8. 



Broicnsville, West Windsor, Vt., Dec, 1869. 



SINGULAR EXCRESCENCE ON A COW. 



Not long since I chanced to see a very peculiar 

 mark or malformation on the back of a very nice 

 thoroiight>red Durham cow. The excrescence con- 

 sisted of a horny substance growing on Ijoth sides 

 of the back bone, just in the rear of the shoulders, 

 and covering a .space of a foot square. It is at- 

 tached to the skin and lays down v,-itii its ends 

 somewhat turned up. The scales or flakes of 

 which it is composed arc from half an inch to an 

 inch and a half, or more, in width, and from onc- 

 sixtecnth to one-eighth of an inch thick, and are 

 very stiff, yielding only to great pressure, when 

 the point breaks off. These flakes are sometimes 

 torn off, rupturing the flesh badly, causing it to 

 bleed. One flake as large as my hand laj's close . 

 to the skin or flesh and has the appearance of a 

 scab fastened by the oozing out of matter which 



