412 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
The next question is : " Can I as well afford 
to buy all the corn I feed to my hogs as to raise 
it?" — Probably not, because you cau not spare 
the read}' money to buy it with, because you 
have laud that }'ou can most profitably use for 
corn-growing, and because if yog are well 
situated for the business you have implements 
aud teams that you cau most profitably apply 
to its cultivation. At tbe same time, if you can 
make pork at a profit by feeding them witli corn 
you could sell for 50c. per bushel, you cau make 
the same profit by feeding them with corn you 
buy for 50c. per bushel. 
He also asks: " If shoats are to be fattened 
at 18 mouths old, will it pay to feed them during 
the first winter all the corn they will eat, or 
would you give just enough to keep them grow- 
ing ? " — Peed them not only all they will eat if 
they have a liberal supply, but all you can induce 
them to eat, by stimulating their appetite with 
a variety of other food. The more grain auy 
store animal eats in the winter, the more profit 
■will it make from the green fodder of the fol- 
lowing summer. Feed your young shoats all 
the corn you can, and then look to see them 
thrive like weeds on their cheaper summer feed. 
Of course, to get the full benefit you should 
properly house the pigs, and the corn should be 
ground, if practicable, aud in auy case it should 
'be soaked or cooked. 
On reading over the above, I am reminded 
that it is odd business, this answering of ques- 
tions by unknown correspondents. I do not 
know Mr. Scarboro, nor his farm, riorhis market, 
nor his qualifications for feeding hay or corn, 
nor auy of the circumstances on whicha reliable 
answer must be based, and there are always 
ten chauces to one that if I did know them, the 
answers would be very much modified. Ou 
the other hand, to withhold an answer would 
seem ill-natured, aud the best any of us cau do 
is to reply to all inquiries according to such 
light as the letters containing them may give, 
and to hope that if the answer is not useful to 
the questioner it may be so to other readers. 
The question of abortion in cows has inter- 
ested me very much, since I have lost half a 
dozen thorough-bred calves (and to a greater or 
less extent the use of their dams as milkers), 
but all my investigation has failed to throw 
much light on the subject. The first case was 
that of a cow I had bought over a month before 
in Massachusetts, aud was keeping on a farm a 
mile away. After she had beeu there more than 
a month she aborted with a seven-months heifer- 
calf. This was the first case in the neighbor- 
hood. Soon after this I traded for a common 
cow, which I found had calved too early, aud 
she came direct to Ogdeu Farm. Then the 
ball opened, and within the next two mouths 
we had lost eight more calves, some from com- 
mon cows. 
There. would be two or three abortions within 
as many days, and then not another case for a 
fortnight; then it would breakout again, and 
two or three more would go. Sometimes it 
■would be animals standing side by side, aud 
then in remote corners of the stable (100 ft. x 
40 ft.). It took all ages alike, from 2 years old 
to 12 years old. Some families, of which I had 
three or four, would lose one, and in another 
family all three aborted. The Massachusetts 
cow was with very few other animals, and was 
fed exclusively on dry hay and a little corn 
meal aud bran. The others were (most of them) 
kept on steamed food. 
Some with whom I have discussed the matter 
say that abortion is caused by, " sliukweed" in 
the ha}', but they have failed to convince me 
that we have any weed in our meadows which 
has this effect. I have lately seen it stated that 
the difficulty is the effect of an iusect which 
penetrates to the womb, creating an irritation 
that leads to the expulsion of the foetus; the 
cleanings of the cow contain these insects, whose 
germs float in the air, find entrance to the parts 
of other cows, and there develop into perfect 
insects, and cause them to abort. Concerning 
this theory we cau only say, " Not proven," and 
even if it were well established, it would suggest 
nothing in the way of prevention that we do not 
already follow — the isolation of the cow, and 
the immediate removal and burial of the foetus 
and after-birth. Yet, in spite of these precautions, 
the disease seems to follow itsown filful course. 
It is a well-known medical fact, that ergot of 
rye (spurred rye) stimulates the action of the 
womb and hastens birth. Many cases are cited 
where cows have aborted very soon after hav- 
ing eaten the heads of rye straw, and it surely 
would be unwise under any circumstances to 
allow an in-calf cow to have access to auy form 
of ripe rye. Tet this theory does not satisfy all 
the conditions of my case, for the Massachusetts 
cow did not see a spear of rye for over a month 
before she lost her calf. The animals at Ogdeu 
Farm were fed more or less on early cut rye, 
and it was steamed before it was given to them. 
However, I shall not take even this chance 
again. Possibly some of the usual meadow 
grasses may be subject to the same disease with 
rye, and ergot is formed upon them. 
The foregoing is a statement of my not very 
lucid opinions and conjectures, and of the meager 
help I have thus far beeu able to get from books, 
all of which is very far from teaching us how 
to prevent abortion. My friend, Mr. Samuel 
J. Sharpless — one of our oldest breeders of 
Jerseys — sends me the following "prescrip- 
tion which is highly recommended as a tonic 
to prevent abortion. I always keen it on hand, 
and when a cow or calf seems out of condition, 
I give it for a week or more, and always with 
good results" : 
2 oz. Sulphate of Iron, powdered, 
8 " ground Ginger. 
8 " ground Fenugreek. 
8 " ground Caraway. 
4 " ground Gentiau. 
Dose. — Half a table-spoonful of the mixture 
daily, with bran or other feed. It is best to 
commence with a teaspoonful, until the animals 
become accustomed to the taste and smell. 
I have no doubt this tonic is a capital thing to 
keep on hand to give in all cases of low condi- 
tion, aud it is quite likely that a low condition 
always precedes abortion, whether we recognize 
it or not. 
Mr. Charles Sharpless, who has hael some ex- 
perience with aborting cows, gives a sensible- 
looking hint concerning their after-treatment. 
In the case of common cows there is no question 
that the correct thing will be to fatten the animal 
for the butcher, and to have no more of her. 
But C. S.'s advice should be followed with val- 
uable thorough-breds. It is, not to let the cow 
take the bull until at least five or six months 
after her abortion, and in no case, even if you 
lose a year, before the month of November. 
He thinks that in six months' time the cow will 
be fully " healed," aud that if she does not take 
the bull until November, she will be safely out 
at grass before the dangerous period arrives. 
This is usually at about seven ^months, but I 
have had two cases much younger than this. 
I fancy December would be even 3afer than 
November. 
If a cow commences to spring bag before her 
full time, or if she gives any other indication 
of premature calving, she should be at once re- 
moved as far as possible from all other pregnant 
animals, and kept away from them fully a month 
after the dropping. 
As the season progresses I am more aud more 
satisfied with the condition of the only field 
that was finally laid down to grass a year ago 
last spring. We bad two good crops of hay 
and oue of soiling grass over very nearly the 
whole field, aud much of it is now (Sept. 27th) 
ready to be cut again, if it were necessary. 
Those parts which are the least good, are now 
dressed with the scrapings of the barn-yard, 
and tbe whole tract will have a coaling of one 
ton of fish-guano aud oue cord of coarse stable 
manure per acre. By the time the growth cei 
there will be a thick mat of grass for winter 
protection, and if we don't gut 30 tons of good 
hay (in two cuttings) as the crop of 1873, from 
9i acres, I will agree to be honest about it and 
own up. I don't warft to be too hopeful and 
claim more for the farm than it can fulfil: 
from present indications it will cut enough hay- 
in 1874 to satisfy any hopes I have ever enter- 
tained for it. 
I do not care to extend a general invitation 
to visitors to come to Ogden Farm, for the 
double reason that I am so coustaulh- occupied 
with various duties, aud so much away from, 
home, that I am unable to give them much per- 
sonal attention, and that it really offers little 
entertainment to repay the cost and trouble of 
a visit. 50 acres of grass — most of it newly 
seeded — aud ten acres of corn-fodder and roots 
are all that are to be seen in the fields. The 
barn is large and good, and it contains a fine 
herd of Jerseys, and some useful machinery and 
fixtures. The dairy is original, aud may be in- 
teresting to butter-makers. At the same time, 
I think that most of those who come here are 
disappointed to flud it a very plaiu, every-day, 
working farm, with nothing about it in any 
way ornamental or elaborate. At the same 
time it may not be amiss to say to all who do 
come, that I shall be absent, in Europe, until the 
middle of January, and that when I am here 
they had better call first at my office, in the city, 
instead of driving directly to the farm. 
Oue word, too, to correspondents. I suppose 
I ought to be glad to write long letters to all 
inquirers, and I should be if I had the time for 
it, but what with my writiug for the Agricul- 
turist, my paid services as an agricultural engi- 
neer, and the management of my business as a 
farmer and gardener, I find it simply impossible 
to do much gratuitous work; and when an 
enthusiastic and ambitious young farmer asks 
me, as one does to-day, to "answer my request 
iu full," which is, " I have a farm of 70 acres, 
aud I will ask you how I shall farm it to keep 
the most stock and make the most money, and 
at the same lime keep improving my farm in 
value and richness," I can only advise him to 
take as many back numbers of the Agriculturist 
as he can find time properly to read during the 
coming winter, to gain such wisdom as he may 
from their perusal, and then to add to it the vast 
fund of information that can be obtained only 
from well-considered experience ; and I hope 
lie will be in no wise offended by my inability 
to aid him further. 
