1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
457 
burgh, St. Paul, or Denver ? Their distribution 
by natural methods is extremely slow, as this 
case shows. By the artificial process it can be 
greatly hastened, as has been demonstrated in 
the Connecticut. If Congress will furnish the 
funds there is very little doubt that all the peo- 
ple of the Mississippi Valley will be eating fresh 
shad in less than fire years. 
The Labor Question in American Agri- 
culture. 
Indeed we need not confine our discussion to 
the agriculture of America alone, for the same 
causes which are threatening the stability of 
labor in this country, are operating in Europe 
as well. Their operation is natural, and the 
causes themselves are to be encouraged and sus- 
tained — which makes the problem a very difficult 
one. The growing prosperity of the world and 
the more active demand for labor in manufac- 
tures and kindred employments, are sufficient 
to account for much of the scarcity of farm 
hands, but this might be to a great extent met by 
an advance in wages, to draw out the idle men 
from towns, which, though serious, would be 
of secondary importance, compared to the need 
of going without sufficient labor at any price. 
The real causes of the revolution that is slowly 
but very surely undermining the supply of 
farm hands, are the cheap newspaper and the 
common school. Formerly the man who was 
contented to work, year in and year out, as 
hired man on a farm, and had plenty of compe- 
titors for his place — the horizon of his life and 
thought was the "pays bleu," the blue country 
that bounded on every side the outlook from 
his township's hills — and he sought his soundest 
wisdom at the corner store, and his only sug- 
gestion of fane}' in the staid sermons at the 
country church. The few strangers who came at 
odd times across his vision were too infrequent 
and too different from his standard of excel- 
lence, to awaken any emotion but curiosity or 
contempt. The district school had taught him 
only the 3 Rs, and even they had been allowed 
to fall into much disuse. He knew nothing 
better than his life, and he wanted nothing 
better. He was a steady, honest, hard worker, 
with the sort and amount of common-sense that 
are needed to enable a man to trundle along 
through the uneventful life of a country neigh- 
borhood ; with no knowledge of and no respect 
for any further intelligence. He was exactly 
the stuff for a good farm laborer. If he was 
Irish, lie seemed not more disposed to roam 
nor to dissipate his usefulness in foolish ven- 
tures than if he was " native and to the manner 
born." Most of us can remember when such 
bands were plenty, when they were glad to get 
a good place, and zealous to keep it. Those 
were good times for the employers, but we shall 
never see them again. 
The later generations of the race have been 
inoculated with the poison of unrest. The 
scales have dropped from their eyes, and they 
have learned the great lesson that the world 
does not revolve around their own small village, 
and that there are better men than they in the 
world, and better opportunities to achieve suc- 
cess ami happiness than their fathers dreamed of. 
It would be idle to discuss the advantage or 
disadvantage to the world of this wide dif- 
fusion of intelligence — our duty is only to con- 
sider its effect on agriculture. It has broken up 
or is breaking up, in all the civilized world, the 
old, reliable system of farm labor. Men who 
take and read a newspaper, and have their 
minds stimulated to an interest in the affairs of 
the world at large, gravitate toward each other, 
by a natural law, and the towns grow at the cost 
of the country. Pages might be written about 
the why and the wherefore of this tendency 
of men into whose minds the dawn of the new 
day has broken, but we could not change the 
fact. Our old race of farm laborers is going to 
drop away from us, and we must bestir our- 
selves to meet the new state of things — gradually, 
of course, as the change will come. 
The extension of the use of machinery and 
artificial power will help us more than we now 
imagine, and, for one or two generations, we 
may find our relief in the employment of Chi- 
nese, but if we care for the interests of posterity, 
we must consider some reorganization of our 
system of agriculture which will allow of a con- 
centration of the workmen into communities 
where they can enjoy the advantages they crave. 
Straw for Bedding. 
In some parts of the country straw is so 
abundant that it is left in the fields where 
thrashed and set fire to. Even in the wheat- 
growing sections of this State there are many 
farms where straw is scattered about the yards 
all winter for the mere purpose of rotting it into 
manure. In other parts of the State it is so 
scarce that the cattle must lie on the bare 
boards, or be bedded with sawdust or shavings. 
We believe there are few farms where straw 
need be wasted. "We propose to say nothing 
in regard to the demand which exists for it to 
make paper or for bedding in the cities, except 
to remark that in some cases it might be more 
profitable to sell the straw and buy bran or 
grain rather than to waste the straw at home. 
Some farmers seem to suppose that they must 
get rid of their straw during the winter. We 
know many farms where straw is thrown a foot 
deep at a time about the yards in winter and 
early spring, where not a handful of straw could 
be found in June ! We hope all the readers of 
the Agriculturist will avoid this mistake. There 
is not a week in the year when straw can not 
be used to advantage on a farm. 
Where straw is fed to horses, cows, or sheep, 
we would not be sparing of it. Put enough 
into the racks for them to pick out the best, and 
use what they leave each day for litter. What 
we object to is scattering a great layer of straw 
about the yards two or three times during the 
winter. Better litter the yards every day where 
it is necessary. In the case of sheep, there is 
nothing more injurious than to compel them to 
lie on a mass of fermenting straw. Sheep are 
very fond of having a clean bed of straw to lie 
down upon. We have often observed sheep in 
winter standing about uneasily, and when a 
little clean straw was spread under the shed or 
about the yard they would very soon lie down 
and chew the cud of contentment. 
The great point in littering sheep, then, is to 
give little and often — the less the better, pro- 
vided it keeps the sheep out of the mud, and 
gives them a dry, clean bed to lie upon. A 
sheep must be very tired before it will lie on 
a dirty bed. Another point to be observed is 
either to change the position of the racks oc- 
casionally, or to be careful every day to scatter 
the straw that is pulled out. Unless this is done, 
there will soon be a thick layer of straw on the 
side of the rack, which will be liable to ferment. 
It is sometimes a great convenience, and we 
think economical, to cut the straw into chaff, 
not only to feed, but for litter. We think it 
absorbs more liquid, and the soiled portions can 
be removed more readily from the rest of the 
bedding, or at any rate with less waste of straw. 
Wintering Cowi. 
An ordinary-sized cow will eat about 200 lbs. 
of hay per week. In the dairy districts of this 
State it is estimated that it requires two torn of 
hay to winter a cow. Where hay is worth $20 
per ton at the barn, as it is where we reside, 
the expense of wintering a herd of cows take 
a large slice out of the profits of the dairy. 
But with us, while hay is comparatively high, 
grain is cheap, and corn-stalks and straw abun- 
dant and of good average quality. Cows also 
sell for an unusually low price. We do not 
advise those of our readers similarly situated to 
buy cows and winter them in hopes of making 
a good thing out of it by selling them at a high 
price in the spring. They may or they may not 
make money by the operation. But we think 
we are perfectly safe in recommending those 
farmers who have plenty of straw and stalks 
not to sell their cows; and if they will need 
more cows next summer, we think they can buy 
now and winter them over to good advantage. 
A cow will eat say three bushels of chaffed 
hay per day. So far as bulk is concerned, we 
must not vary much from this standard. In our 
own case, however, we would feed 2$ bushels 
of chaffed straw and stalks, half a peck of 
bran, and half a peck of corn-meal per day. We 
think a cow can be wintered better and (with 
us) far cheaper than on hay alone. If you have 
plenty of clover-hay it may take the place of 
the bran. But do not try to winter the cows on 
straw and stalks alone. It is very poor economy. 
» • — — ♦— ■ ' ■ 
A New Sensation.— Horse Disease. 
If, two months ago, any one had predicted 
that the streets of New York; Boston, and other 
cities were to echo to the cry of the ox-driver, 
and that horses would be for a time removed 
from the streets, he would have been received 
with contempt. But nevertheless, in 1872 the 
unwonted sound has been heard, and the strange 
sight has been exhibited of express and other 
wagons slowly moving behind ox-teams, which 
were urged along by the usual noisy epi- 
thets and maledictions of their drivers. A 
strange disease had suddenly stricken down the 
greater part of the horses and rendered them 
unfit for work. It originated in Canada, and in 
a few days had spread as far as New York 
and Philadelphia, and it may, before these 
lines can reach the readers of the Agricul- 
turist, have spread south and west over the 
whole country. If the conditions are favor- 
able, not only is this highly probable, but 
other stock may be affected also. But it is 
quite needless that serious apprehension should 
be felt. Fortunately the disease, although so 
sudden in its attack and so widely spreading, is 
comparatively harmless if rightly treated. 
Its first appearance is made known by the 
following symptoms: A depressed condition of 
the animal, roughness of the coat, drooping 
head, watery eyes, and disinclination to exer- 
tion. On the first appearance of these symp- 
toms, the animal should be cared for, kept dry, 
warm, and well bedded and blanketed, and fed 
with slightly-warm bran-mashes, scalded oats, 
and chopped and moistened hay. A little sweet 
spirits of niter, or a light dose, say a teaspoon- 
ful, of powdered saltpeter, may be given. Some 
