206 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[JtTKE, 
More Pcrchrron Hordes. — It is al- 
ways gratifying to have an opportunity to examine fine 
imported stock when it arrives, and the more so when 
the importations arc made in consequence of the inter- 
est in any class of stock excited by the Agriculturist. 
Two- of our subscribers have just imported some fine 
Percheron stallions, John J. Parker, of Westchester, 
Pa., secured the services of a friend to select for him as 
ifne ahorse as he could find. He is entirely satisfied with 
the purchase— a five-year-old, dapple gray, over 1" hands 
high, weighing 1,630 pounds, and gentle as a kitten, 
named "Prince Imperial. 11 E. W. Shippen, a farmer, 
of Meadville, Pa., was so much interested in Percherons, 
that he went to France, traveled through the Perche 
country, and attended the great fair at Bornay, where he 
bought three noble horses. One, a light bay, named 
" IJjircourt," took the first prize at the fair; the other 
two are dappled grays, — one of them the winner of the 
third prize at the same fair. They are all young, all 
gentle and kind, and all used to hard work, as shown by 
the old harness marks. There is a great demand for 
large horses, for carriage and express nse s and heavy 
teaming in the great cities, and this demand will continue 
or increase. At the same time, the speed, toughness, 
endurance, and style of the Percherons are of more value 
than weight Bimply. 
Prolapsus Uteri, in Cows.— " Falling 
of the withers" is the term by which that protrusion of 
the internal organs of animals which sometimes follows 
parturition is known among fanners. It is a very dan- 
gerous thing, and in most cases, so far as we can learn, 
terminates fatally under the common modes of treat- 
ment which suggest themselves to farmers. Having 
quite a file of letters asking about it, and telling almost 
uniformly of the death of the cows, we consulted Dr. 
Liautard of the New York College of Vet'y Surgeons, 
and his instructions arc to proceed as follows: First 
wash the parts with great care and the utmost delicacy 
of touch, using blood warm water (100° F.) and a soft 
sponge; when perfectly clean replace the protruding 
organ, passing it back gradually until all is returned and 
pushed well within. Then provide a narrow stall where 
the cow will be obliged to stand or lie with her head 
lower than her hind quarters. Watch her carefully and 
if the prolapsus recurs, repeat the operation, not neglect- 
ing washing with tepid water as described. Then, punch- 
ing the holes with a sharp awl, take two or three stitches 
in the vulva with silvered wire of the size of bell wire, 
cutting off the wire for caeli stitch, and uniting the ends 
by a twist at one side. In case silvered wire can not be 
got, strong silk twist may be used, each stitch being tied 
separately and the thread cut. An opening at the lower 
end big enough to insert two fingers must be left for the 
passage of urine. The sewing is not a very painful 
operation to the cow. She shonld, however, be supported 
by a snrcingle passed under her hams and tied by ropes 
to a beam forward and above the animal. The family 
physician, if a humane man, would advise in such a case. 
Am. Rjiiryracn's Association. — The 
fourth annual report of this Society, accompanied by that 
of the Ohio Association, has been received from the 
Secretary, G. B. Weeks, of Syracuse. These reports are 
not only what is implied by the name, but reports of the 
advance of knowledge on dairy matters in this country, 
and as such of great value to all engaged in the dairy 
business. They may be had of the Secretary for the an- 
nual membership fee, $1. An octavo of 133 pages. 
>ot " Blog- Chol<ra."-No doubt several 
diseases of the bowels, or in which the bowels are affect- 
ed, pass under this name. A cure for one may not affect 
the others. "S. 0.," of Delaware, has used copperas, 
and found ',[ to y 2 pound, dissolved in hot water and 
added to a barrel of swill, an efficient and safe astringent 
in a case of long-continued scours accompanied by vomit- 
ing, in hogs. His brother used it with the same effect. 
This may be a very valuable remedy for this disease, 
which is not Ilog Cholera. 
Xo Pn'Tcnt si Cow Kicking. — " C. 
R. D M " of East Hampton, Mass., writes : "Some one 
says: 'Tie the hind legs together/ That may do it, but 
I prefer to use a strap buckled tight around the cow, just 
forward of the hips and bag. It is impossible for any ani- 
mal to kick, to do any harm, if so fixed, and they will not 
try it many times. I cured a very vicious one in that 
way some years since,— one that it would have been 
almost impossible to have tied around the legs." 
Salt and Water in Pastures. — If 
animals at pasture can drink whenever they wish, they 
will never take a great deal at. a time, but if they drink 
only twice or three times a day, they will frequently swal- 
low surprising quantities, and we cannot believe this is 
healthy. The earac thing is true of salt. Animals will 
Tick salt once or twice a day, or every day or two, if it is 
always within their reach, but if given salt occasionally 
they must not be allowed to take all they wish at once. 
Secret IVests, spoken of in the April Agri- 
culturist, arc those which are made so as to be easily in- 
spected and yet in which the hen is, as she believes, 
secure from observation. They are usually covered boxes 
with openings for the hens toward the wall, and with 
doors or lids in the rear to ta"ke out the eggs. 
Name the State. — A large number of let- 
ters are received in which there is no clue to the Stale in 
which the writer lives. We frequently wish to address a 
person by letter, and often the reply will depend npon 
knowing whether the query comes from Maine or New 
Mexico. In the case ufletters from small towns, stamps 
are not used for the postmark, and as the postmaster 
seldom writes on the name of the State, the post- 
mark is of no use in informing ns where the letter is from. 
Protecting- 4*un Barrels from 
Rust.- * k G. W. H." says: "After cleaning the barrel 
and wiping it dry, lay it across the top of a stove until it 
is hot enough to melt beeswax, which must be nibbed 
all over it. Place the barrel in a cool place, so that the 
wax may harden, after which polish it with a piece of 
flannel. This leaves a very thin coat of wax, which will 
protect the barrel from rust for months. 
Caut-IEook for Stones.— Thos. Tear, 
of Lake Co., O., says he 
finds "■ a cant-hook ex- 
ceedingly useful to han- 
dle large stones with. 
Yon can catch on to some 
corner of the stones and 
roll them out of their bed 
and upon a stone-boat 
with ease. It saves a 
great deal of hard lift- 
ing. 1 ' — It is very useful 
for many other purposes, 
bnt to be an efficient 
stone lifter it must be 
made strong, and furnish- 
ed with a ring or cross 
piece at the end of the 
handle. It is better, also, 
to have it iron bound at 
the point, to save wear. 
The engraving here given 
shows the manner of con- 
structing a cant-hook for 
method of applying it. 
this purpose as 
How to fljse Lime as }I;innrc, — 
"K.C.F.," Eddysville, Ky. "We have more faith in 
large doses of lime than in small. One hundred bushels 
per acre will often so change the character of the soil 
tli.it the beneficial effects will be observed for twenty or 
thirty years. A convenient way to apply the lime is to 
plow the land and then as the lime is drawn from the 
kiln put it on the field in heaps 20 feet apart each way, 
and a bushel of lime in each heap. Then cover the heaps 
with a few inches of soil, and as sonn as the lime is slak- 
ed, spread the whole evenly over the land with a shovel, 
and harrow or plow it in, and sow the crop. This gives 
about one hundred bushels per acre, and as none of the 
lime has to be thrown more than 10 feet it is easily 
spread. We should prefer to use the lime on a summer- 
fallow for wheat, as this afTords more time to attend to 
it. But it may be applied to any crop. If your land is 
drained, naturally or artificially, and is well summer-fal- 
lowed and then limed as above, you may expect good 
wheat and good clover, and no matter how much it is 
" worn," when you have once got good clover you can 
easily make your land bring large crops. 
isolation of Crops in Virginia. — 
Mr. N. 15. C. asks our opinion as to whether stock rais- 
ing could be made profitable in his section of Virginia, 
where clover is the only thing to be depended on. To- 
bacco was formerly the principal crop, and has done much 
towards reducing the fertility of the land. Pea-nuts 
have been tried, but he thinks the land too stiff for this 
crop. lie also asks our opinion of the following rota- 
tion : Seven fields, 20 acres each. Corn, oats, wheat, 
clover, wheat, clover, clover. "This would give always 
two fields of wheat and three fields of clover. Would 
the three fields of clover support 30 head of cows and 
the calves necessary to raise to maintain the herd ?" — If 
the land is much run down it would not support this 
amount of stock. Better try half the number to start 
with, and increase as the fertility of the land increases. 
Nothing is worse than to overstock. If you understock, 
the clover can at any rate be used for plowing uuder as 
mannre. Corn, oats, wheat, is a profitable rotation when 
the land is rich enough to produce large crops. But on 
poor land we should expect ?mall crops and still smaller 
profit. If the land is " stifl"," far better summer-fallow, 
than pnt in so much corn and oats. It will be better for 
the land and more profitable for yon to have one field of 
wheat that produces 30 bushels per acre than two fields 
producing 15 bnshels- per acre. 
^Vliat to B>o -\vitBa ISones Tvlirn 
tlicrc is no Mill to Grind tlicm.— " J. D. G.," 
Centre Co., Penn. Probably the best thing to be done 
with them is to sell them. Theyare worth more to the 
makers of animal charcoal than they arc to you. There 
is no way of using them as manure to the best advantage 
without grinding them. But if you cannot either sell 
them or get them ground, dig them in around yonr grape 
vines or fruit trees, or break them as fine as you can 
with a large hammer, and make a compost of them with 
manure, sods, etc. The fermentation will decompose 
the organic mattcrof the bones, and the ammonia formed 
from it will be retained in the heap, while tin: bones will 
be softened and rendered more available as manure. To 
dissolve them put them in a heap ; after breaking them 
with the hammer, and moistening them with all the water 
they will retain, pour on about 20Ihs. of sulphuric acid to 
each 100 lbs. of hones. By turning over the heap occasion- 
ally, the bones will be more or less decomposed. We 
have tried this plan, but never with entirely satisfactory 
results. "We do not think the benefit generally equal to 
the trouble and expense. It is difficult to make a super- 
phosphate without grinding the bones. 
Poiatoeson £>raincu Land. — Thomas 
Tear, of Lake Co., Ohio, says he has been nndcrdraining 
and finds it very expensive work, costing him $70 per 
acre. This is too much. But he finds it not altogether 
unprofitable, for he says, "onapiece that I nndcrdrained, 
I raised last year 400 bushels of potatoes per acre with 
ordinary culture. Previous to this I have never been 
able to raise more than 200 bushels per acre on undrained 
land. At 35 cents per bushel, the excess of the Jirst crop 
alone would have paid all expenses — and one hundred 
per cent on each following crop. 
Resources of the Conn try. — The 
following may be taken as the type of many letters: 
" Would you like to have a description of the resources 
of this country J" Yes; but to agree to pnblish it, No. 
We have every desire to aid in the development of every 
part of our common country, and especially those por- 
tions which need settlers and offer excellent inducements 
to them. We have published one or two communications, 
which have called out many others, and we now might 
each month nearly fill our paper with letters advocating 
this or that particular section. It will be seen that a 
journal which goes to every one of the United States and 
every geographical division of the globe cannot devoto 
its space to advocating the claims of any one township. 
Letters giving information with regard to favorable 
localities for settlers arc of use to ns, as we often by this 
means place parties in correspondence with each other. 
We cannot advocate the claims of Virginia and ignore 
those of Minnesota; these older States must not take 
preference to the newer Territories of Idaho and Wyo- 
ming, which arc pressing their claims upon ns. Let our 
friends. North, South, East, and W r est, see that we cannot 
be the American Agriculturist and advocate the claims 
of one portion of our wide country and neglect the rest. 
2>isinlec(in^ Powders and □>«•<> 
dorizers. — There are many recipes for disinfecting 
powders for use in stables and privy vaults. Carbolic 
acid, charcoal dust, chloride of lime, plaster, copperas, 
and many other materials, are frequently used for this 
purpose ; one of the best of all disinfectants is I he surface 
soil that lies at every man's door, made thoroughly air- 
dry, and sifted tli rough a coarse sieve, to remove sticks 
and pebbles. It is cheap, easily obtained, and when cn- 
richecfrby the deodorized substances, forms an excellent 
manure. 
Trouble wish a Cistern. — "P.,"Ln- 
conia, N. II., complains that he had a cistern lined with 
hydraulic cement, and that the water is impure from 
disintegrated cement. The cement was probably of poor 
quality. There is no trouble if good cement is used. 
Salt Muck.- 1 E. F.," Cape May Co., N. J. 
There is an article on the nse of salt murk in the Ameri- 
can Agriculturist for August, 1S»I3. Prof. Johnson, of 
New Haven, has investigated the matter, and we shall 
have the results in one of his forthcoming works. 
Oats or Corn.— Edwin Roberts, of Jeffer- 
son Co., Wis., wishes to know the comparative value of 
corn and, oats as feed for the horse; their comparative 
