1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
221 
bungling or ineffective manner. When done quick- 
ly and well, it is almost painless to the animal, but 
as usually managed, the operation is made a tedious 
aud painful one. An instantaneous method of in- 
serting rings is shown in the accompanying illustra- 
tion. The rings can not work out, while they pre- 
vent the animal from using its snout mischievously. 
The ring is shown open at fig. 2, and closed at fig. 3. 
it is placed in a pair of pincers, fig. 1, with which the 
sliarpened points are instantly forced through the 
cartilage of the snout, and locked so that the ring 
can not work loose. The animal is held meantime 
by the holder, fig. 4, into the loop of which the upper 
jaw is inserted, and the harder the hog pulls back- 
ward, the more securely he is helil. This ingenious, 
effective, and verj' useful contrivance is made by 
Chambers & Quiulan, of Decatur, 111. 
Storing Brewers' Grains. 
The constant increase in the consumption of bar- 
ley and other grain by brewers, makes the waste of 
material very noticeable. The beer takes away only 
a small portion of the grain used. The residue, 
known as brewer's grains, is a valuable article of 
food for stock, and should by no means be suffered 
to go to waste, though at present it is only partially 
CSLLiS AKD H01TSE :FOB STORLNO OKAINS, 
utilized. We have seen the grains thrown out of 
country breweries in large quantities, and finally 
used as manure. In this case much of the nutri- 
ment they contain is wasted. The use by brewers 
of corn-meal and rice is increasing ; these nutritive 
substances, where they are used, add considerably 
to the value of a given bulk of the grains. The 
chief difficulty experienced by those who feed 
brewer's grains is, that unless properly preserved, 
they rapidly sour and spoil, and during the summer, 
when brewing is active and grains most plentiful, 
they are not much in demand for feeding. But 
they may be very cheaply preserved in large quanti- 
ties for many months. The most convenient 
method of effecting this, is to store them in a deep 
cellar or pit, walled up with stone and rnortar, or 
cement. Where there is a basement barn, this pit 
may be made at one end of the building, and 
covered with a roof, as shown in the oiigi-aving, 
which represents a section of the building and the 
cell ir or pit. The pit may be at least Vi feet deep, 
with a cle-in cemented floor. The grains are packed 
closely in the pit, until the level of the ground is 
nearly reached. Then a covering of closely fitted 
boards should be laid upou them, and plenty of 
Btr.iw, chaff, sawdust, or other such matter thrown 
over to exclude the air. The mass in this condition 
sonrs very slowly, but at the same time ammonia 
is formed in it, which corrects the acidity to a great 
extent, .ind it is found to be a very palatable food 
for COW9 and pigs, in the winter or summer. At 
some seasons grains may be purchased very cheap- 
ly. In a recent instance an Association of Farm- 
ers purchased several thousand bushels of grains, 
and stored them in the manner here described, 
disposing of them afterwards at cost to the mem- 
bers, aud at a handsome advance to outsiders. 
The Flushing of Drains. 
In some cases the sediment deposited iB draiue, 
must be removed, or the tiles will choke in time 
and become use- 
less. This de- 
posit may gener- 
ally be removed, 
and the drains 
cleared by flush- 
ing them. In all 
systems of drains 
there should be 
inspection weUs, 
or places called 
silt boxes, fortL 
collcction of the 
sediment. These 
are earthen pipes 
or wooden boxes, 
sunk from the 
surface a few 
inches below the level of the drains, as shown 
in the accompanying illustrations. These are 
closely covered to prevent access of anything 
that might obstract the drains ; the drain-pipe en- 
ters the box at one side, aud issues from it on the 
opposite side. To remove sediment that gathers 
in these boxes or wells, a sand pump or a box- 
auger is used, such as is shown at figure 1. By 
boring into the sedimeut in the same manner that 
an earth q^ger is used to bore post holes, the sand 
or mud enters the box of the auger, and is drawn 
out. If round earthen pipe is used for the wells, 
the auger may be made to fit it closely. Then when 
it is desired to flush the drains, the auger is put 
down to the bottom of the well, and left there. 
The drain is thus stopped, and if this is done v.heu 
the water is in fuU flow, it is backed up until the 
drain-pipes are all filled, and the water rises in t!ie 
soil. When a sufficient quantity has accumulated 
to cause a rush of water, the obstacle is removed, 
and an active flow through the di-ains results, 
which eames the sediment along with it, and dis- 
charges it at the outlet. There are various ways of 
stopping up the drains for this purpose. For square 
wooden boxes, solid wooden plugs may be used, 
as in fig. 2, or if the wells arc round, a round plug 
may be fitted to the drain, which operates as a 
water cock ; this can be opened or closed, as in fig. 
3 ; or the plug can be raised or depressed, shutting 
or opening the drain, as in figure 4. 
Dipping Sheep. 
The dipping of sheep in spring, for the purpose 
of preventing and curing scab, 
is a practice that should never 
be neglected. If only to pre- 
vent or eiu'e this troublesome 
disease, it would be indis- 
Xiensable ; but it is otherwise 
serviceable, as a dip of a proper 
kind tends to promote the 
health of the skin, and to re- 
medy the irritation so usual at 
the commencement of the 
warm season. Such a dip 
cleanses the skin from the ac- 
cumulations of yolk and other 
secretions, which have gather- 
ed during the growth of the 
fleece, and thus is beneficial to 
the health of the sheep, and 
consequently to the quality 
and quantity of the wool. 
Furthermore one of the most 
troublesome parasites to which 
sheep are subject, is the tick, 
and this insect with its eggs, 
which are laid in the wool, may be destroyed 
by the use of a proper dip at a proper tempera- 
ture. There are various compounds for dipping 
purposes, that are unobjectionable, but all those 
which contain arsenic should be avoided. They 
are under certain circumstances injurious to the 
sheep, and have often seriously poisoned those who 
handled them, especially if they had scratches oi 
cuts upon their hands or arms. The carbolic dip 
is perfectly safe, as is also that made with tobacco 
and sulphur. The last mentioned dip is generally 
used by the large sheep owners on the plains ; onti 
of these uses 30 lbs. of cheap plug tobacco, and 5 
pounds of sulphur, to 100 gallons of water. The 
tobacco is infused in hot water, and the liquor 
drawn off into a properly prepared tank, when the 
sulphur iu flue powder is stirred into it. He dips 
every sheep immediately after shearing by plung- 
ing it into the bath for two minutes ; it is then 
released into a draining pen, the floor of which 
drains into the dipping vat. The temperature of 
the dip, by additions of hot liquor, is kepit up to 
120°, so that the ticks and their eggs may be de- 
stroyed. This is rat'ier severe upon the sh "p, but 
only for a short time, and no evii effects have in 
any easi. foUowed thi- hot bath. The sheep are 
driven one by one along a fenced path, to the 
brink of the dipping tank, and are push into it, 
plunging at once to the bottom over head and ears. 
Some of the liquor gets into the noses of the sheep, 
and causes them to stagger about for a short time 
after they come out, but this is found to be aa 
excellent remedy for those troubled with catarrh 
or grubs in the head. The cost of the dip is two 
cents per sheep, and the estimated profit rsulting 
from the two dippings given each season, iu Jitra 
Fig. 3. Fig. 4. 
value of wool alone, is 20 cents per sheep. The 
Bufferings of sheep and lambs from ticks alone, 
render it very desirable that very animal should be 
dipped twice each year ; that i' immediately after 
shearing, and again before winter. In small flocks, 
where there is no scab, ticks are partly banished by 
dipping the lambs only. The ticks congregate 
ui>on the lambs, leaving the newly shorn sheep, 
upon which only the eggs are left. But to make a 
perfect clearance of eggs as well as ticks, both 
sheep and lambs should be dipped. A dipping tub 
for use with small flocks, may easily be made of 
A Tins AJtBANGED TOR DIPPISQ SHEEP. 
half a hogshead, boarding up each side, as shown 
in the engraving. The spaces boarded off, may be 
