1867.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
137 
tor}- gland, but an inflection of the skin, the 
canal Trails being like the adjacent skin, and 
really forming a curious little sack, lined with 
hairs, and secreting; a sort of yolky, gummy 
substance. Its use seems to be to provide an 
elastic cushion to spread the toes apart, and per- 
haps also a viscid secretion to protect the tender 
skin between the toes, where it is so easily 
Fig. 1. — Morni or biflex canal. 
washed away, and where abrasions and slight 
injuries are liable to occur. Were the skin be- 
tween the toes formed to exude enough of this 
secretion, it would, of necessity, be more tender 
and liable to injury and disease than it now is. 
"We know of no disease of the Biflex Canal, 
except stoppage at its mouth, which causes 
inflammation and swelling, and similar inflam- 
mation caused by some foreign substance being 
introduced. Instead of lancing and tiying to cut 
out the "worm," as some people think it is, the 
sensible treatment is to procure a fine pointed ear 
syringe, and, after opening the mouth, wash it 
out with castile soap and warm water, and grease 
the parts with tar mixed with lard. This Biflex 
Canal has been charged with being the cause of 
the rot, and though this view is generally scouted 
at now-a-days, we are by no means sure that it 
may not be guilty sometimes, to a certain degree ; 
for certainly any cause which will render the 
skin harsh and inflamed, or subject to injury 
It is easily cured by cleaning and greasing the 
parts, and putting the sheep on dry pastures. If, 
however, it is neglected, it is liable to intro- 
duce hoof-rot — the subject of another article. 
If we examine the internal structure of the 
foot we find that the horn is attached to the 
sensitive portion above, at the crown of the 
hoof and at the sole, by what is called a papil- 
lated surface. Lower down we find that the 
horn on its inner surface is split into an almost 
infinite number of delicate leaves or. lamella. 
Between these leaves of hoof are sensitive leaves 
of the vascular membrane which covers the 
whole surface of the horn. These two sets of 
lamella?, or leaves, are as if we were to take 
two books and lay the leaves of each, leaf for 
leaf, between those of the other. The structure 
is very beautiful and easily seen in the hoof of 
a horse, which, after the flesh has decayed, may 
be washed out and will show the horny lamella? 
-very clearly. The sensitive lamella? are seen in 
figure 3, as also the papillated structure at the 
crown and sole. From this papillated surface 
the hoof grows, and it is an inflammation of 
this which constitutes the hoof-rot. The same 
membrane — full of the papilla? by which horn 
is formed — covers the whole foot and secretes 
horn at all points ; where it is the thickest and 
most vascular, as at the crown and sole, there 
most horn is formed, but on the lamella?, little. 
Adobe and Concrete Buildings. 
Fig. 2. — BIFLEX CANAI 
STRUCTCKE OF FOOT. 
from long grass or vines of any kind caught 
between the toes, puts the foot in the best con- 
dition to be poisoned by the virus of the hoof- 
rot coming in contact with the inflamed part. 
Fouls. — When this condition of inflamma- 
tion of the skin in the cleft of the foot, from any 
cause, becomes established, and a wet soil keeps 
the hoofs moist, and greasy or yolky matter 
from the Biflex Canal is constantly washed out, 
the then disease known as " the Fouls " occurs. 
The name adobe is applied to building mate- 
rial in the form of bricks, hut unburned. It is 
not necessarily clay, but it must be of a clayey 
or loamy nature, and so firm when dried in the 
sun as to be easily handled, and to sustain con- 
siderable weight without crushing. This is dis- 
tinguished from concrete by its containing no 
lime or cement, and being always used in the 
form of bricks. The concrete is a mortar of 
sand and lime, usually hydraulic lime or cement, 
in part at least, especially such as is used for 
foundations, in which the proportion of cement 
preponderates. This is laid up in the walls as 
it 13 to remain, and the largest possible quantity 
of gravel and larger stones is worked in. ■ The 
present high price of building mate- 
rials leads farmers to look anxiously 
for some good substitute for stone, 
brick and wood. The need for the 
dissemination of knowledge on this 
subject is great, especially throughout 
the Prairie States. A correspondent 
in Iowa pleads for information, defin- 
ite and full, about adobe building, 
which we shall try to give, and would 
be glad to give also particulars of the 
experience of any of our readers who 
have tried, and either approve or 
condemn this material. Our cor- 
respondent writes as follows : — 
"The high price of the material 
would be but a small evil, provid- 
ed we could obtain it. The fact is 
that now throughout the Northwest 
wc go without farm buildings nearly 
altogether. Tumbledown stables, made of poles 
and straw, ornament at least one-half of the 
farms. The sides, which are (if straw, slip down 
and are not repaired, letting the cold wind in 
without hindrance, and the water drips through 
the covering for days after every rain. Even of 
those well-to-do farmers who have barns not 
one in ten has shelter sufficient to protect all 
of his domestic animals. I sometimes dream 
of warm stables, tilled with rows of contented 
cattle, nice and cosy, with the straw up to their 
knees, but alas! save only the 'straw up to 
their knees,' I fear it must ever be only a dream 
throughout all Prairiedom. If j-ou would take 
hold of the matter and show us what to do, and 
how to do it, you would in that particular alone 
confer an immense blessing upon the country." 
A Simple Ventilator. 
— & 
" H. TV. P." sends us a drawing of a 
simple apparatus, devised by the writer (and by 
others, very possibly), to be fastened with small 
screw-bolts to the back of a stove — in this 
case a sheet-iron air-tight — for the purpose 
of introducing to the room, a constant supply of 
fresh warmed air in 
winter. It works ad- 
mirably. The box is 
9 x 10 x 2i inches, 
made of sheet-iron. 
The pipe of zinc, 4 
inches diameter, with 
a damper, descends 
beneath the floor, and 
thence runs under the 
floor and through the 
north wall of the 
building, to secure 
the force of the pre- 
vailing north-westerly winds. A west wall 
would, no doubt, be equally well. A strong 
current of air rushes in, is thrown against the 
back of the stove and the underside of the 
stove pipe, whence, perfectly warmed, it diffuses 
itself through the room, is cooled by contact 
with walls and windows, descends to the floor, 
and is drawn off by the draft of the stove, or 
through an opening in the chimney near the 
floor, thus giving place to a new supply. Tight 
double windows render the system more com- 
plete and add vastly to economy and comfort. 
SIMPLE VENTILATOR. 
Home-made Baskets, 
I observe your call for information as to how 
willow baskets are made. Having often, when 
a boy, seen my father's plowmen make baskets 
for farm purposes during the long winter even- 
ings, I will endeavor to tell you how it was done. 
The willows were never peeled, but were 
soaked in water in a long pig trough. The 
Fig. 1.— noors. 
hoops, ribs and handles were generally made of 
split ash. Two ash splints were bent into 
hoops and placed one within the other, but at 
right angles, as shown in figure 1, a and i<. If 
the two hoops are round, of the same size and 
Cross in the middle, the basket will be round — 
that is hemispherical. If the inner hoop, which 
forms the top of the basket, be the larger, tho 
