288 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



that soon breaks through the membrane of 

 the egg, and commences its larva life. Bv 

 the time the sound corn is ripe, the pa- 

 rents are dead ; their remains are dried 

 into almost nothing, the egg-shells are ab- 

 sorbed, and the grain is apparently filled 

 with nothing but white powder. This is, 

 as before stated, the dry helminthes. — An- 

 nual of Scientific Discovery, 1857. 



Lampas in Horses— How Cured. 



BY R. JENNINGS, V. . S., CLEVELAND, OHIO. 



Lampas, as it is termed, is a fulness or 

 swelling of the bars, or roof of the mouth, 

 caused by the cutting of the molar teeth. 

 In all colts, lampas will be found. In 

 many, however, little or no inconvenience 

 may be observable ; while in others, the 

 great tenderness of the parts involved, 

 causes the animal to refuse his food, sub- 

 mitting to hunger, rather than pain ; in 

 consequence of which, he is compelled to 

 submit to an operation as. barbarous as it is 

 cruel, which is no less than burning out 

 the bars with a red hot iron, leaving the 

 mouth sore for some time after. This mode 

 of treating lampas, has been practised for 

 years, and is, at the present day, almost 

 the only course pursued in such cases, not- 

 withstanding it is of no practical benefit 

 whatever; but on the contrary, is often 

 very injurious. Still, the owner will gen- 

 erally ridicule the idea of remedying the 

 evil by any other means. It is an estab- 

 lished fact, that children, during the period 

 of dentition, are subject to the same dis- 

 ease. While some cut their teeth with 

 little or no pain, others suffer severely. — 

 What father would submit to an operation 

 upon his child ? what mother would see 

 her darling babe thus cruelly tortured? — 

 Wo be to the practitioner who would dare 

 to make such a proposition ; yet men will 

 submit their favorite steed to such tor- 

 tures, believing that course to be the only 

 sure means of abating the evil. In this, 

 they are much mistaken. We do not de- 

 ny that a horse thus dealt with, will not 

 regain his former appetite, but we assert 

 that, had not this operation been perform- 1 

 ed, he would have resumed his feeding | 

 equally soon, by means less painful, and I 

 more humane. In the child, the human 

 practitioner seldom does more than lance 

 the gums. This, certainly, is a more ra- 

 tional mode of operating, and my expe- 

 rience teaches me, that my lancing the 



inflamed parts, the swelling soon subsides, 

 and the horse feeds as usual. For this 

 purpose, a common pocket knife will an- 

 swer the purpose very well , after which 

 the mouth should be washed with a solu- 

 tion of tincture of myrrh, two ounces to a 

 pint of water ; this should be repeated 

 twice a day, for three or four days, during 

 which time give bran mashes, flax seed 

 gruel ; and, if to be obtained, new grass 

 would be very desirable. No hay, corn 

 or oats should be given for a week ; the 

 teeth, then, will be in condition to masti- 

 cate such food. By pursuing this course, 

 you save your animal much inconvenience 

 and suffering, without doing him any inju- 

 ry. — Ohio Farmer. 



The Sheep-Shearing" Machine. 



Most of our readers have probably heard 

 something in regard to this machine, though 

 it is very likely that the account of it has 

 been received with some incredulity. That 

 the shearing of sheep can be successfully 

 done, by machinery, is an achievement 

 which affords another evidence that this is 

 an inventive age. We saw this machine 

 in operation at the late show of the N. 

 Y. State Agricultural Society. It was used 

 to cut the wool from a dried skin, the skin 

 having been first moistened, so that it could 

 be pressed over a block in such a way as 

 to present a smooth surface. The appara- 

 tus is a box, about the size, and something 

 of the shape of a common brick. It is 

 fastened to the arm of the shearer, who 

 works the cutting part by moving a lever 

 with his hand, so as to produce a rapid 

 oscillating motion of the knives. The 

 knives are shielded by guards, similar in 

 principle to those which are used for mow- 

 ing machines, and although they can be 

 made to cut very close, it is impossible for 

 them to cut the skin. The machine seem- 

 ed to work more rapidly than shears ordi- 

 narily do, and the wool was cut very even- 

 ly—the staple never being cut more than 

 once. The inventor stated that he had 

 sheared a sheep in twelve minutes, but he 

 did not tell the weight of the fleece, and we 

 are without any means of accurately com- 

 paring this mode with the ordinary way 

 of shearing, as to dispatch. The name of 

 the inventor is P. Lancaster, of Burr-oak, 

 St. Joseph's county, Michigan. The ma- 

 chine .is made by Alexander Allen, of 

 Rochester, N. Y. The price is $10. 



Boston Cultivator. 



