1^ 
AMERICAN AQRICULTURIST. 
[Januaet, 
a frame over the door. When stock stand in 
their stalls facing a barn-floor or large feed- 
room, if their mangers are not boarded up tight, 
light' may be admitted through windows above, 
or in the barn-doors. But if they stand with 
their heads to the wall, light may enter at any 
l)art of the stable, except in front of them. 
Farmers often saw round holes through the 
boards of frame stables before each horse, which 
are closed by slides, and these allow pure air to 
enter as well as light. This is a poor plan, but 
better thau nothing. Tliere should be windows 
at the ends or rear, enough to make the whole 
stable as light as a family sitting room. They 
should be capable of being opened for free air 
in summer, and situated so that draughts of air 
will not fall upon the bodies or legs of the ani- 
mals, but circulate above their backs. Per- 
fect ventilation must be otherwise obtained, 
when the weather is so cold that the windows 
must be closed. When window glass has been 
broken out, wooden panes are often inserted, 
and cobwebs and dust too frequently intercept 
the light. For the benefit of the eyes of all 
animals, stable windows shovdd be well glazed 
and frequently washed. Most of the stables in 
the country are not provided with suitable win- 
dows, while a large proportion liavc none at all, 
the stables being almost as dark as midnight. 
Light and sunshine in winter are essential to 
healthy vital action of all our animals. But the 
desirable quiet of fattening animals is better at- 
tained in dark apartments, and no perceptible 
bad effect upon their health is noticed in the 
few months of stall feeding, which usually pre- 
cede their sale for slaughter. 
I 
The Best Horse Stable. 
The best for us and for our horses, is the best 
we can afford. If one can do no better bj' his 
horses than to give them an open shed, then of 
course the open shed is the best stable his horses 
can have. So if we can not all afford the very 
best, yet if we know what that is we shall come 
nearer to it, with what moans we have. 
It is probable that a horse will take more 
comfort and do better in a box stall, or "loose 
box" 10 feet square, (10 x 8 will do very well,) 
than in any other stall. The floor of such a stall, 
if made of 3 x 4 joists set edgeways, '| , of an inch 
apart, and level, over a grouted and cemented 
floor, inclining toward a drain to carry off the 
urine, will always be dr)', and if covered with a 
foot of straw will be very soft and comfortable. 
The droppings may easily be removed with a 
fork. There should be abundant light, free ven- 
tilation, and a feeding box and manger. The 
manger ought to extend from the floor about 
3 feet high, having tight sides, the top protect- 
ed by an iron rail, or one of wood bound with 
iron, being two feet from the head of the stall ; 
the front side should be set in 6 inches at the 
bottom, that is, be 18 inches from the head of 
the stall. Insitle the manger a tight false bot- 
tom, 1 foot from the floor, should be placed. 
This box is to hold dry fodder, and there should 
be an iron follower (to lie on tlie hay) 3 feet long 
and 14 inches wide, made of two rods of half- 
inch iron, the one toward the front turned at 
each end, so as to form with the other piece a 
jiarallelogram, of the length and width named. 
There should be two cross-pieces welded in 
a foot apart, and the ends should extend 
towards the rear six inches, and each form 
a hook, by which the follower may be huug on 
the back of the manger box. There should be 
an opening at the bottom at one end of the 
manger, so as to sweep it out easil}'. Between 
this and one side of the stall should be set a box 
for grain and cut feed, capable of holding about 
a bushel. This should be at the same level with 
the top of the manger, and may well be of the 
same width, and about 1 foot in length, and 1 
foot deep, the front and rear sides sloping to- 
ward the centre a little. To prevent the hoi'se 
throwing his feed out, a single rod of iron may 
be hinged to the back of the feed box to fall 
across it and rest in a slot in the front. The 
manger and feed box should be made of 2-inch, 
oak stuff and very strong. There may be, also, 
an arrangement for feeding without entering 
the stall, and for a breeding mare it is quite an 
advantage to have an outside door open into a 
small yard, where in comfortable weather she 
can move about and take an airing at pleasure. 
Feeding Grain to Stock Profitably. 
There is a class of farmers, and perhaps some 
among them read the American Agriculturist, 
who still question whether it will pay to feed ani- 
mals the grain which they themselves raise. 
They have not satisfied themselves by their own 
experience in making beef, mutton, or pork. If 
grain be properly fed to animals of a good 
breed, there is no doubt about its being usually 
a pa3'ing operation ; but fed out unground aud 
irregularly, if the animals are ever so good, it 
seldom pays. There is a difference, also, iu the 
manner of computing the gains which usually 
accrue from the grain consumed by animals. A 
good portion of the profits of converting grain 
into meat of any kind, cannot be realized by the 
sale of the meat; for many times an animal 
will not sell for as much money as the grain 
and hay it has consumed while fattening. In 
view of this fact alone, feeding grain appears to 
be a poor practice. Iseverthcless, multitudes of 
the best farmers of our country sell but little 
grain, others sell none at all, while manj- pur- 
chase much more than they raise on their own 
land, and feed it all to stock of some kind, and 
yet derive a paying profit from the business. 
Others attempt it and fail because they feed 
poor stock, not well purchased nor selected, or 
because they do not feed with proper system, 
nor preserve with sufficient care the solid and 
liquid manure of the fattening animals. In fact, 
it is in the manure alone that the greater part of 
the profit of fattening beef, sheep and swine 
consists, to most of the farmers of the United 
States, and the rest of the ciciUzcd worUi. The 
more manure, and the better saved, the fgreater 
the profit, even in Illinois. 
The way to begin is, to get good animals and 
to put them iu fair order on grass. Heat can be 
made on grass in warm weather more econom- 
icall}' than on any other feed. Those persons 
who attempt to make beef of poor cows and 
bullocks, or mutton of poor sheep, by feeding 
hay and grain, without commencing on grass, 
will never make out well. 
When one intends to prepare a lot of bul- 
locks or sheep for marketing in the spring, he 
should commence feeding a small quantity of 
grain per liead as soon as grass begins to fail, 
for in passing from grass to hay, thej' should not 
be allowed to lose au}' of the flesh or fat that 
has accumulated during the grazing season. If 
by irregularity of feeding, or by exposure to 
storms, or by short allowances of feed, an ani- 
mal is required to use up a pound of fat to 
maintain the heat and to supply the natural 
wastes of the bodj-, it will take sevcr.al days 
to replace the small amount that has been lost 
by this bad management. Every animal should 
be fed enough to keep it improving a little every 
clay. Some bullocks require more meal than 
others, and the same is true of sheep. A dry 
cow, or a bullock three or four years old, de- 
signed for beef next Mayor June, should receive 
not less than two quarts of Indian corn meal, 
or its equivalent in some other grain, during the 
months of December and January. After this, 
the quantity may be increased at pleasure, and 
should always be increased from month to 
month, according to the feeding capacity of the 
animal, the calculation being to finish off the 
fattening with ten to twenty days grazing, with- 
out reducing the quantity of grain. In addition 
to this amount of meal, they should have a fod- 
dering of hay, once daily, and one of cornstalks, 
and a few hours daily in a yard with access to 
good straw. If a farmer has a power cutter, it 
is far more economical to chaff the ha)', straw 
and cornstalks, wet it, and mingle the meal with 
it. Feed prepared in this manner, is better for 
sheep as well as neat cattle and horses. The 
use of oil-meal for beef animals must be regulat- 
ed on the s.ame principles, as a substitute for 
part of the meal. Wethers and dry ewes should 
receive nearly or quite one pound of Indian 
corn or corn meal per head daily, or what is 
better, half a pound of oil meal and half a 
pound of corn or of barley meal mixed. It is 
folly to attempt to make meat in cold weather, 
without complete protection from cold and wet. 
•-. ««« — >— 
A Needed Eeform and its Profitable 
Practice. 
A correspondent in Rhode Island, whose good 
common sense in farming matters leads him 
into uncommon good practices, gives us an ac- 
count of his procedure in a matter in which re- 
form among farmers is especially needed, not 
only for their own comfort, but for the profit of 
all whose lands will not be injured b}' enrichment. 
Alluding to the well known fact, that the agricul- 
ture of the Chinese differs from ours essentially in 
their employing few or no beasts of labor, and 
hence, being deprived of their manure, the 
people economize with care and collect from 
every source the material which we so much 
neglect under the name of " night-soil," he says : 
"I sympathize with Liebig's Chinaman who 
applies to each guest for a fertilizing souvenir. 
That is, I respect the latent motive, the mani- 
festation of which is open to criticism. But how 
can we judge severely the t.aste of our antipodes 
in their most necessary economy, or say, that is 
made public which should be hidden, when 
notoriously our own country and village privies 
are so indelicately conspicuous. I came into 
the management of such a one a few j-sars ago. 
No one could enter it without being exposed to 
the view of passing travellers. Other circumstan- 
ces combined to render it about as unmanageable 
a nuisance as could be contrived. I resolved to 
move it, and a shaded angle formed by carriage 
house and wood-shed, which stood at right 
angles to each other, touching at the corners, 
seemed the most desirable place for it. The 
buildings were under-pinned at this point about 
three feet higli, making two sides of the vault 
all above ground. A few bricks made another 
side, and the back was closed by a light, flat 
stone, easily movable. Having cut an opening 
in the carriage room of the size of the front of 
the privy, it was moved to its place, and then 
an entry was partitioned off in the carriage house, 
opening out-side, and large enough to hold a 
bin that would contain a cartload of peat. Iu 
