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THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



173 



foaling. In the year 1856, one of the same 

 mares was put once again to a horse, and 

 brought forth her foal in 12 months and I 

 day, at the age of 15 years. These per- 

 sonal observations coincide with the investi- 

 gations of Tessier, the naturalist, in show- 

 ing the inconstancy of the period to which 

 the mare, in common with some other an- 

 imals, carry their yoang. The investiga- 

 tions of the latter inquirer led to the follow- 

 ing conclusions: 



"In 277 mares, with foal for the first 

 time, 23 foaled between the 287th and 

 329th days, average 322 days; 226 between 

 the 329th and 360th days, average 346 

 days; and 28 between the 360th and 419th 

 days, average 372 days; average of the 

 whole, 347 days; difference between the 

 extremes, 132 days. 



"In 170 mares which had foaled before, 

 28 foaled between 290th and 329th days, 

 average 321 days; 128 between 329th and 

 360th days, average 341; and 14 between 

 the S60th and 377th days, average 370; 

 average of the whole, 341 days; so that be- 

 tween the shortest and the longest period, 

 there was a difference of 97 days, more than 

 one-fourth of the mean term." 



-«•»- 



Animals Sometimes Get too Mneli Salt. 



Necessary as salt is to the healthy con- 

 dition of most animals on a farm, and 

 though there are probably more who give 

 too little than there are who give too much 

 of this article to their stock, yet there are 

 times, and seasons, and conditions of an an- 

 imal when salt is administered in too large 

 quantities. A brief indication of some fo 

 the occasions when animals get more salt 

 than is good for them may be of service to 

 some, who may never have had their atten- 

 tion directed to the mode in which this sub- 

 stance operates. 



1. Animals sometimes get too much salt 

 in consequence of having been long deprived 

 of it, and then having access to it in too 

 large quantities. Disease, and even death 

 has resulted from this cause. Cases of this 

 kind have been put upon record, and may 

 have come in this way or otherwise to the 

 knowledge of the reader. The mode of 

 preventing such mishaps consists in keeping 

 salt, with the addition of leached ashes, a 

 little sulphur, perhaps, within reach of stock 

 at all times, or in feeding it more frequent- 

 ly, or in giving it in small quantities after 

 long abstinence. 



2. Another occasion when salt is given 

 in too large or improper doses is when an- 

 imals are first turned out to grass. As 



scouring is a natural and common conse- 

 quence of making this change it only ag- 

 gravates the matter to give them salt in 

 liberal doses. Dry hay, or bran or meal in 

 a dry state, with a very small dose of salt, 

 would be a better corrective; while making 

 such a change slowly and gradually, not 

 suddenly, would be the proper preventive. 



3. Some give salt to their milch cows 

 when feeding them on turnips, in order to 

 correct the peculiar taste which they are apt 

 to communicate to the milk and batter. 

 Now, if the turnips are given in such quan- 

 tities as to produce more or less scouring, 

 the administration of salt will only aggravate 

 the evil, and diminish the secretion of milk. 

 Indeed; according to the authority of 

 Stephens, in his Farmer's Guide, it is the 

 large amount of common salt in turnips, as 

 also in mangel wurtzels, which causes cows 

 fed exclusively upon them to fall off. in milk. 



4. It is the opinion of some at least, that 

 stock put up to fatten will lay on fat much 

 faster without salt than with it. This 

 fact, if fact it be, is attempted to be ac- 

 counted for by theorizing in this way. Salt 

 increases the secretion of the bile, and, as 

 bile is composed of fat, oil, gum, and other 

 carbonaceous matters, all of these which are 

 carried off in an excess of bile are just so 

 much taken from the materials from which 

 the fatty parts ol the animals are built up. 

 In a word, it is supposed that the more bile 

 an animal secretes and passes out of his sys- 

 tem, the less fat it will produce. When the 

 secretion of bile is so great as to produce 

 scouring, fat will not be produced of course: 

 but if saltcomes short of this result, are 

 there facts suflficient to support the above 

 theory? v ■ 



A Trap for Catching Sheep-Killing Dogs. 



Make a pen offence rails, beginning with 

 four, so as to have it square, and as you build 

 it draw in each rail as you would the sticks 

 in making a partridge trap, until your pen is 

 of sufficient height, say five feet. In this 

 way yon will construct a pen that, when 

 finished, will permit a dog to enter at top at 

 pleasure, but out of which he will find it 

 difficult to escape, should he have the agility 

 of an antelope. All that you have to do to 

 catch the dog that has killed your sheep, is 

 to construct the trap, where a dead sheep 

 is left, as directed, as soon as possible after 

 an attack has been made on your flock, put 

 a part or the whole of a sheep that has been 

 killed in it, and remove the balance to some 

 other field. In a majority of cases the 

 rogue and murderer will return the sue- 



