376 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[OCTOBEU, 
A Muzzle for Crib-biting Horses. 
Crib-biting and wind-sucking are vices to 
which a great many horses are addicted, and 
Fig. 1.— Cl'.IE-BITEB MUZZLED. 
which are incurable by any means except 
mechanical one.?. There must be either some- 
thing to prevent the horse seizing the crib or 
post with his teeth, or everything must be re- 
moved from li is reach by means of which he 
can exercise his vice. All the methods which 
have been tried heretofore, by rubbing acrid or 
distasteful matters on the crib, have not been 
successful, as they are rubbed off aud are not 
permanent. But a muzzle such as we figure on 
this page is effectual if properly made and 
rightly fitted ou to the head-stall. It is made 
of quarter-inch galvanized 
iron wire, with interstices 
sufficiently large to allow 
the horse to reach his feed 
without difficulty, so that 
it may remain permanent- 
ly attached to the head- 
stall and will be always in 
use. This is the greatest 
requisite to success in the way of cure. When 
the horse attempts to seize hold of anything 
with his teeth he is prevented from so doing by 
this muzzle, and after some few attempts he 
will abandon the labor as an unprofitable one. 
Fig. 2. — MUZZLE. 
How to Empty a Cesspool. 
The cesspool is the great domestic difficulty; 
and to judge by the numerous inquiries which 
come to us as to how to manage them, the dif- 
ficulty would seem to be a very general one. 
It is one to he met and overcome, for by lapse 
of time the trouble increases. Probably the 
most serious part of the difficulty is that which 
is least observed, and consists in the danger to 
health and life in infecting the air we breathe 
and the water we drink with poisonous germs, 
which are imperceptible to any of our senses, 
and therefore the more seriously dangerous. 
Deodorizing is not always disinfecting, and the 
presence of the most destructive poison may be 
quite unsuspected in the atmosphere or in fair- 
looking and sweetly-tasting water, but yet it 
may be there. This matter is gradually becom- 
ing better understood, so that the peculiar class 
of diseases arising from the presence of contami- 
nation of this character is looked upon as avoid- 
able and disgraceful, as much so as the cuta- 
neous diseases caused by personal uncleanliness 
which years ago carried no such significance 
with them. No cesspool can remain within a 
distance from a house or well that is convenient 
for its use without the greatest danger, or the 
certainty of disastrous effects sooner or later. 
It is time now that this old-fashioned and bar- 
barous plan was abolished. No deep cesspools 
should now be made, for we know better, and 
know, too, how to do without them. The 
closet and the receptacle shoidd be altogether 
above ground, and should be arranged iu such 
a manner that the deposits can be removed 
easily every few days. Such a closet may be 
built in the form illustrated on this page (fig. 1). 
The size or material of the closet may be what- 
ever is convenient. The needed things are 
those appertaining to the system itself. These 
are the receptacle, which may be a box on 
wheels (as shown at a), the door (J), which 
closes in the space beneath the seat (c), and 
opens upwards to permit the removal of the 
box for the purpose of being emptied. The 
earth-chest (<7), provided' with a scoop, and 
which contains a supply of pulverized dry 
earth, to be filled in through the door (e), which 
opens on the outside. These parts are all that 
is necessary to the successful application of the 
new system, and iu the majority of cases 
existing buildings could be modified to suit it. 
Fig. 1. — EARTH-CLOSET. 
But how to get rid of our present accumula- 
tions is the more serious question. Utilize 
them. And do so in the following way : Re- 
move the building. Draw to the spot several 
loads of earth from a plowed and harrowed 
field. Throw into the vault a sufficient amount 
of this earth to solidify the upper part of the 
contents. Then with the scoop shown in fig. 2 
take up the mixed soil and earth and deposit it 
in a heap or into the box of a sled, by which it 
may be immediately removed to a convenient 
spot for use as manure. Then throw in more 
earth, and repeat until the bottom is reached, 
when the old vault may be filled up with stone 
or gravel. The scoop is made of sheet-iron, 
bent into the shape of a double shovel, so that 
it may be operated at either end ; it is suspended 
on to a common hail of stout iron rod, which 
Fig. 2.— CLEANING OUT A CESSPOOL. 
is affixed to the end of a pole or staff by a ring 
on which it oscillates. "When it is thrust into 
the earth aud soil one edge engages with the 
handle (as is seen in fig. 2), and it works simi- 
larly to a shovel. As soon as it is drawn up, it 
swings suspended, and balances itself without 
spilling its contents. By this process this ob- 
jectionable job may be performed without any 
unpleasant effects, aud should the earth not suffi- 
ciently deodorize the soil of the cesspool, a few 
pail fuls of water in which 1 lb. of copperas to the 
pailful is dissolved, will effectually accomplish it. 
To Make Cider-Vinegar Eapidly. 
" J. B. W." writes that he has several casks 
of cider which he can not make into vinegar 
fast enough, and he asks how he can hasten the 
process. As there are probably many others 
just now in his predicament, we describe and 
illustrate a plan which has been found to 
decidedly hasten the production of vinegar from 
cider. It is to elevate the barrels upon a frame 
sufficiently high above ground to admit of a 
keg being placed under the faucet, with a frame 
of laths made in the shape of a funnel placed 
iu it. The frame is loosely filled with beech or 
birch shavings, and a stream of cider is allowed 
to run out of the faucet into it and amongst 
the shavings. Here it is separated into a great 
many small streams aud very thin sheets, and a 
large surface is thereby exposed to the air, and 
the process of souring is very much hastened. 
A further hastening is caused by putting into 
the barrels a piece of brown paper covered 
with brewer's yeast, and by proceeding in this 
manner vinegar can be made in warm weather 
QUICK VINEGAR-MAKING. 
iu a few days. A faucet should be put into the 
keg about the middle, and as the keg becomes 
filled the cider should be drawn off and returned 
into the barrel. As a matter of course this re- 
quires attention, but a child is able to manage 
it, and if the keg is replaced by a tub or half- 
barrel, attention is only required twice a day. 
The bung-holes of the casks should be open, 
and should be covered with a piece of gauze or 
mosquito-net to keep out flies and moths. The 
whole arrangement is shown by the cut above. 
• i ■»■ • . 
Lap-Streak Boats. 
To judge by the number of inquiries as to how- 
to construct boats of various kinds, we should 
suspect that many farmers or farmers' boys do 
manage, in the midst of their hurried work of 
plowing, sowing, or harvesting, or so soon as it 
is over, to get some share of recreation. Those 
who have lately desired directions for building 
skiffs or boats for hunting in shallow water, 
will find them in full in the American Agricul- 
turist for August, 1871, page 297. We now, in 
compliance with numerous requests, give direc- 
tions for building lap-streak keel-boats, suitable 
