16 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
$1.00 to $2.50. Cross and Silver or Black Fox 
skins are much more valuable. Those of the 
cross bring $5.00 and upwards, according to 
quality, while the genuine well cured Silver 
or Black s kin s frequently sell for $50 to $100, 
being always scarce and of the highest price. 
A Bite, or Luncheon for Horses. 
It frequently happens that a farm team 
must stop work in order that the driver may 
attend to some matter, and such times may 
be profitably spent 
by the horses if they 
are provided with a 
lunch in the way of 
a bite of grass or of 
grain. The work 
horses in cities are 
generally in better 
condition than those 
upon the farms, and 
this is largely due to 
the frequency and 
regularity with 
which they are fed. 
Wherever the cart- 
_. . horse goes, the lunch 
° goes with it, and the 
careful driver sees that the spare time is oc¬ 
cupied. Figure 1 shows the form of a feed 
bag veiy generally used in cities. It is made 
of heavy canvas, with a strap or cord to 
fasten upon the horse’s head. A circular 
opening is provided as a breathing place in 
the front, near the bottom, which is covered 
with wire gauze. The feed is put into this 
bag, and, when occasion allows, it is buck- 
Fig. 2.— A HANDY LUNCH BOX FOB HORSES. 
led in place. A movable feed-box is shown in 
figure 2. This consists of a box so raised 
upon legs that the horses can eat from it with 
ease. The feed-box is kept by the driver in 
the yard, the store basement, or other handy 
place, where it can be brought out when de¬ 
sired, and the team 
can eat from it while 
in the harness and 
hitched to thewagon, 
etc. Figure 3 shows 
the form of a bridle 
especially adapted 
for horses that are 
to be fed while in 
the harness, on short 
notice. The bit is 
fastened to the rest 
of the bridle by 
means of two short 
straps provided with 
buckles. By means 
of these buckles the 
bit can be easily and quickly removed from 
the horse’s mouth, without taking off the 
bridle. It is a sort of halter-bridle and is 
shown in place upon the horse in figure 4. 
With feed bags or a box, as above described, 
Fig. 3.— HALTER BRIDLE. 
and the bridle here given, a team can take a 
lunch comfortably and with profit to the 
owner. With 
some such con¬ 
trivance farm 
horses, away 
from home at the 
usual nooning, 
can be given 
their bite and 
thus avoid the 
ills that result 
from irregularity 
in feeding. There 
is no question 
that double the 
effective work, in the long run, and double 
the length of years may be obtained from a 
healthy horse by intelligent care and feeding. 
Fig. 4.— HALTER ON HORSE. 
How to make a Flat Bottom Sled. 
Mr. “ F. A. B.,” Trumbull Co., Ohio, sends 
sketches and description of a sled with a flat 
bottom, which can easily be made on al¬ 
most any farm. The materials needed are : 
Two runners, 2 by 6 inches, with a raise of 5 
Fig. 1.— FLAT BOTTOM SLED. 
inches in 2 feet and 8 inches, to make the 
front; two pieces, 3 by 4 inches, 8 feet long ; 
three planks, 2 by 12 inches, 3 feet long ; and 
two pieces, 3 by 4 inches, 2 feet long. Four¬ 
teen half-inch bolts will be needed, 1 / s by 8 
inches, and two ‘/ 2 by 6 inches. Hew the end 
of the 3 by 4 piece to fit the upper side of the 
runner. The planks are placed one a little 
back of the bend, one near the back, and the 
other midway between them and bolted fast. 
The two short pieces are hewed off at the 
ends and bolted on to receive the tongue. 
The runners should be short, with two-incli 
strips of well-seasoned wood, so put on that 
the grain runs downward and backward. 
Two-inch holes 
are bored in 
the ends of 
the planks for shape of runner. 
stakes. The planks may be strengthened by 
nailing an old horse shoe around each stake 
hole. The sled complete is shown in fig. 1 ; 
fig. 2 gives the manner of shaping the shoes. 
A New Milk Tester. 
The quality of milk, that is, the amount of 
butter it contains, is an important matter, 
not only to the consumer, but to the pro¬ 
ducer who converts his milk into butter. 
The consumer needs to be protected against 
adulteration, the dairyman wishes to know 
which cows make a proper return for the 
food they consume, and there are other cases 
in which it is important to know the real 
quantity of milk. The specific gravity of 
milk, as tested by the Lactometer, formerly 
relied upon as a test, is subject to so many 
errors that, while it is a help, it is by no 
means accurate. The so-called “creamom- 
eters,” while they give the percentage of 
cream, ignore the fact that all cream does 
not contain the same proportion of butter. 
As we were gradually settling down to the 
conclusion that there was nothing short of 
analysis—the actual separation of the butter- 
fat of a known portion of milk, and weigh¬ 
ing it—could give results even tolerably ac¬ 
curate, here comes so high an authority as 
Dr. Voelcker with an instrument which he 
has found to give better results than any be¬ 
fore attained by any method short of analy¬ 
sis. In the last number of the “ Journal of 
the Royal Agricultural Society of England,” 
Dr. Voelcker, the chemist of the Society, has 
a paper “On a New Method of Testing 
Milk,” in which he describes a new instru¬ 
ment, Feser’s Lactoscope. This instrument 
takes advantage of the fact that the more 
butter-fat a sample of milk contains, the 
more opaque it will be. The engraving 
shows at A the Lactoscope of half its actual 
size. It is a glass tube, smaller at the lower 
end, where it is closed, and with an opening 
at the top. Within, at this lower end, is 
fixed a small tube, X, closed at both ends; 
this is of milk-white glass, and marked with 
black lines. The larger part of the tube is 
graduated ; at the left-hand side is a scale of 
cubic centimeters (the decimal measure), 
and at the right-hand a scale showing the 
percentage of pure 
butter-fat. To use 
the instrument, the 
milk to be tested is 
sucked up into the 
pipette B. When 
this is filled up to 
the line upon the 
stem, it holds a 
cubic centimeter, 
and this quantity 
of the milk is 
transferred to the 
instrument. The 
lines on X can not 
be seen through or¬ 
dinary milk. Com¬ 
mon water is now 
gradually added, 
shaking at each 
time, until the 
black lines at X 
can be plainly seen. 
The point at which 
the mixed milk and 
water stands on the 
right - hand scale, 
when sufficient wa¬ 
ter has been added 
to make the lines 
visible, shows the 
percentage of but¬ 
ter-fat in the milk. 
In this paper Dr. 
Voelcker gives a 
number of tests PR0F ' EESER ’ S lactoscope. 
made with this instrument, as compared with 
results obtained by analysis, and though they 
are not exactly the same, the agreement is 
very close. The Doctor sums up by saying : 
“ In most cases it shows without much 
trouble in a few minutes an approach to the 
real proportion of butter-fat in milk, suffi¬ 
ciently near to enable an observer at once to 
form a pretty good estimate of the compara¬ 
tive value of different samples of milk, etc,” 
and recommends it to the attention of all 
interested in dairy matters. The instrument 
is the invention of Prof. Feser, of Munich, 
and having sent for the instrument, we shall 
be able to know more about its working. 
