MANAGEMENT OF COLTS.-REMEDY FOR THE BOTS. 
375 
And Nourse were born, if not plow-makers, of plow- 
making fathers, and early bred to the business. But 
in tliose days the plow was a very different imple¬ 
ment from what it now is. 
I found them occupying part of an immense four 
story building, using both water and steam power, 
and leasing out the surplus over their own wants to 
other mechanics, so that the whole building is full of 
active machinery. They have invented, patented, 
and have in operation, machinery for making the 
wood work of plows so perfect and complete, that 
the timber is taken as it comes from the saw-mill in 
plank of suitable thickness; for instance, the beam 
of any particular numbered plow is first cut upon 
one machine into suitable length, upon another it is 
sawed the right crook, then it is planed upon a ma¬ 
chine that planes a crooked stick as well as a straight 
one, and almost as rapid as thought. Upon another 
the double tenon is finished as it were by one stroke 
of their saws, on another the corners are taken off, 
and again, every hole is bored, as well as every part 
of the work done so exact to a gauge, that it requires 
scarcely any after fitting by hand, and will suit any 
casting of the size for which it is intended. 
The handles and rounds also pass through appro¬ 
priate machines, and when they finally come to the 
hands of the workman who fits them to the irons, 
he has a set of pattern-irons upon a form where 
every piece being exactly fitted by fixed gauges is 
passed over to another to be attached to the irons to 
which they respectively belong—consequently every 
plow of the same number, no matter when made, 
must be exactly like every other one. 
Such is the perfection of the machinery, that the 
fourteen hands employed in this branch, can wood 
from 50 to 80 plows per day, working eleven hours. 
The castings are made in a separate building, and 
about twenty hands are employed in this branch. 
From the foundry the castings are brought to the 
grinding room and cleansed of sand by vitriol, and 
then polished upon grindstones. This is a tedious 
though important process, as by it the whole of the 
exposed parts are made so smooth that the dirt is not 
likely to adhere, and the plow runs vastly easier. 
The irons are all made of the best quality of soft 
toui;h iron, while the edge of the wing part and base 
of the land-side is made so hard by being chilled in 
the mould, that the hardest steel will not cut it, and 
the point never wears blunt. 
In the blacksmiths’ shop I found eleven men at 
work, some by charcoal and others by Lehigh coal 
fires, blown by one machine which furnishes wind to 
each forge through pipes, and is let on or shut off by 
stop-cocks. 
In the paint shop seven men are employed paint¬ 
ing and varnishing, the latter being preferred by some 
because they can see the quality of the wood—though 
I must recommend paint as far preferable ; and where 
all the work is done by upright men who put their 
names upon every article, buyers need have no fear 
that bad timber is covered up with paint and putty. 
JNever have I spent a day more to my satisfaction, 
than in looking over this establishment for the manu¬ 
facture of that first and most important of all im¬ 
plements—the plow—-and where I found near forty 
different kinds and sizes adapted to all kinds of land 
and work, including five sizes of side hill plows, 
some of which are peculiarly adapted to that remark- 1 
ably light soil found upon the steep side hills of 
Mississippi. Messrs. Ruggles, Nourse, and Mason, 
are also making some excellent cast-iron road scrapers 
(ox-shovels), and several sizes and kinds of culti¬ 
vators and harrows, among which I rank the Geddes 
Harrows as the very best. 
They also make or have made almost every other 
kind of agricultural implement; though as you will 
readily perceive, the principal energies of their active 
minds are devoted to manufacturing the most perfect 
set of plows that human ingenuity is capable of pro¬ 
ducing. There are two other plow establishments in 
the vicinity which in consequence of my feeble health 
1 was unable to \ isit. 
1 am rejoiced to say, that Messrs. Ruggles, Nourse,* 
and Mason, are so constantly crowded with orders 
for their plows, that they cannot accumulate a stock 
on hand, w’hich certainly shows that the spirit of 
improvement is actively at work among my brother 
farmers, who 1 hope will be interested in this visit 
to a Yankee plow factory by their old friend, 
New York , Oct. 23, 1845. Solon Robinson. 
MANAGEMENT OF COLTS. 
Weaning .—Let the colt run with his dam until 
taken into winter quarters in the stable, then tie mare 
and colt in the same stall, but in such a manner that 
the colt cannot suck except when he is loosed for that 
purpose, once a day, until the mare is dried of her milk. 
Feed him pdternately with oats, shorts, or roots, once 
or twice a day, and all the good hay he will eat. 
Give him plenty of exercise twice a day, in leading 
to water; curry or card him clean daily, and let him 
be well bedded with straw. 
Bitting .—Take your colt when he is coming four 
years old, into a square box stable, put the bitting ap¬ 
paratus upon him twice a day, for a half hour or an 
lour (not longer, as it is painful to the muscles), gra¬ 
dually drawing in the nose each time, until it is to 
your liking. When he has become accustomed to it, 
turn him into an enclosure to stand, walk or run. as 
suits his inclination ; then go to him after a half hour 
or so, take off the bitting bridle, and give him an 
apple, scratch his nose, and in a kind voice tell him 
to come along, and he will follow you into the stable. 
Have a trough instead of rack for his feed, and so 
constructed as to oblige him to raise his head a little, 
and curb in his nose, in order to get his food, having 
one apartment for hay, and another for oats and roots. 
Have a high window cut out at one side of the stall, 
where he can stand with head up and amuse him¬ 
self in looking at the other horses and colts in the 
yard. This will greatly relieve the irksomeness of 
his confinement, and make him more gentle. If of a 
bad disposition, however, he may require close con¬ 
finement in rather a dark stable. S. 
Remedy for the Bots.— I have used the fol¬ 
lowing receipt for the bots for a number of years, 
and have never known it to fail in a single instance, 
when given in time. I have known horses in the 
most excruciating agony immediately relieved after 
taking the drench, and commence eating. Previous 
to giving the drench, rub the flanks of the horse with 
spirits of turpentine, then take of linseed oil half a 
pint, molasses half a pint, sweet milk one pint, mix 
well together and pour down the horse’s throat from a 
strong junk bottle. S. J, Jones* 
Shoal Ford, Ala., Oct. 27, 1845. 
