1879 .] 
461 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
Oostiveness is a dangerous condition, because the 
system becomes overloaded with effete matter 
which is not carried off by the bowels, and the 
blood may become poisoned. In feeding this, or 
any other concentrated food, caution should be ex¬ 
ercised lest too much be given. One ounce daily 
is enough for a young calf; two ounces for a year¬ 
ling ; two pounds for a cow, or four to six pounds 
for a fattening steer at the tinish. It is safe to 
mix cotton-seed with bran, which will tend to neu¬ 
tralize the costive effects of the former food. 
Restoration of River Banks. 
One of the greatest victories of scientific engi¬ 
neering, is to compel natural forces to repair the 
injuries they have done, or to serve the purposes 
Fig. 1.— position or piles. 
of mankind in other useful ways. One of the most 
remarkable engineering achievements of any age, 
is the opening of the principal mouths of the Mis¬ 
sissippi River, by compelling the river to doits own 
dredging, and to take up and carry out to the Gulf 
of Mexico, millions of cubic yards of mud and 
sand, which the waters had previously brought 
down. This great work was done by constructing 
long lines of willow work on each 6ide of the 
channel, and sinking them in mud and securing 
them there. By this means, a broad, shallow, slow 
moving current, which had deposited an enormous 
amount of sediment for many years, was confined 
to a narrow channel, and the increased velocity of 
the water consequent upon this confinement scoured 
out the bed of the river, and moved the sediment 
miles out to sea. Where formerly only small sloops 
could float, now the largest ocean ships and steamers 
can pass in and out, and a mtst important highway 
for the commerce of the great West has been 
opened. What the river has been compelled to do, 
could have been done in no other way. In another 
instance which is noteworthy, because it can be 
applied, in hundreds of cases, to smaller streams 
which have washed out their banks, and threaten 
to do further damage, the same river, the Missis¬ 
sippi in its upper portion, was made to fill in a large 
washout, to restore what it had taken away, and 
repair its own mischief. At a bend of the river, 
the banks had been undermined, and high bluffs 
only remained, which were continually falling and 
being carried off. It was desired to carry a rail¬ 
road along the river bank, and the engineer in 
charge devised the following plan : The washout 
formed an extensive curve, which had cut in 200 
feet from the original bank. To have filled the 
whole of this, would have been an enormous ex¬ 
pense, and no material but stone could have with¬ 
stood the rapid current. A straight row of piles 
was driven in the line where the bank was desired, 
from one end of the long curve to the other, and 
stone was dumped around each pile. This arrested 
the current, and the muddy waters lost their velocity 
so soon as they met the obstructions. The sand 
and earth which were suspended in the water, were 
deposited so soon as the current slacked, and in a 
few weeks, the whole washout was filled up. This 
having been done at the June freshet, when the 
water is unusually high and muddy, a bank, which 
was several feet above low water, was formed be¬ 
hind the piles and stone, up to the bluffs, and when 
the river fell to its lower stage, it was easy to com¬ 
plete the work. In this way a large expenditure 
was avoided, and an embankment was made much 
more solid, than could have been done by filling in. 
At figure 1 we give an illustration of the manner of 
arranging the piles; the piles being represented by 
the dotted line, and the washout being behind them. 
There are numerous cases, in which streams have 
injured their banks, and have carried away val¬ 
uable ground. The mischief may be remedied in a 
similar manner to that here related, instead of the 
niore costly plan of building timber and stone 
breastworks, which, after all, do not replace the lost 
ground, and only prevent future damage. In like 
manner a washout may be arrested, as soon as it 
has begun, and further mischief prevented. At 
figure 2 a plan is given, for the arrangement of lines 
of posts to obstruct the current, and cause a filling 
in of a washout; posts 6 feet long or more, as may 
be required, or rails will answer in many cases, are 
put down in pairs, 2 feet apart, where each dot is 
marked. There should be a row on the original 
edge of the stream, and cross rows from this to the 
bank ; the spaces between the poles are filled with 
brush, as shown at figure 3, the brush being placed 
,<=». across stream, as shown by the arrow, to 
I a offer the greatest obstruction. The posts 
! may be 20 feet apart, and the brush may 
f be cut in 10 or 12 foot lengths. It is not 
/ jjl'i, necessary, and might be objectionable, to 
13 || entirely close the space with brush, and 
W || fence out the current; the object is to ad- 
|j mit only a part of the water, and retard 
| the current, so as to cause it to drop its 
• 1 load of sand or mud. The spaces will be 
| half closed if 10 foot brush is used, with 
| 20 foot spaces. The brush is held down, 
3 by driving a few hooked poles (figure 
1 4), into the mud between the branches 
If here and there, by which it is kept from 
j washing away. A few loads of stone drop- 
Fio- 4 ped * n the rows around the poles, would be 
’ useful. As the deposit accumulates, more 
brush may be laid down in selected places, and 
held by the hooked poles, as previously described. 
How to Dress a Beef. 
A fat beef may always be prepared for domestic 
use at this season. To sell a cow or steer for $15, 
and pay 15 cents a pound for beef, is not a money¬ 
making business, yet this is done very frequently. 
The value of the hide, tallow, heart, head, and liver 
of a beef will amount to a large portion of the price 
that can be usually obtained in country places for 
an aged cow or young steer, and if well fed, the old 
cow will often produce as good beef or better than 
the steer. Farmers would oftener consume their 
own animals, instead of selling them, were they not 
deterred by the want of knowledge of the manner 
of slaughtering and dressing a beef animal. There 
is a way of slaughtering that is not butchering , and 
it may be done painlessly by taking the right course. 
The bam floor or a clean grass plot in a convenient 
spot will be a suitable place for the work. To fas¬ 
ten the animal, put a strong rope around the horns, 
and secure the head in such a way that it can not 
be moved to any great distance, and in a position 
to allow a direct blow to be easily given. The 
eyes may be blinded by tying a cloth around the 
head so that there will be no dodging to avoid the 
stroke. The place for the stunning blow is the 
center of the forehead, between the eyes and a lit¬ 
tle above them. The right place is shown at a, fig. 
1. The best method is to fire a ball from a rifle 
in the exact spot, and this may be done safely 
when the animal is blinded, by holding the weapon 
near to the head, so that a miss can not be made; 
otherwise a blow with the back of an axe made 
when the striker is on the right side of the animal, 
and the head is fastened down near the ground, 
will be equally effective. So 600 n as the animal 
falls, the throat is divided with a cut from a long, 
sharp knife ; no jack-knife should be used, but a 
long, deep, sweeping stroke which reaches to the 
vertebras as the head is held back. This divides all 
the blood vessels, and death is almost instan¬ 
taneous, but at any rate painless. When the car¬ 
cass has been freed from blood, it should be turned 
on its back, and the skin divided from the throat 
up the brisket, along the belly to the legs, and up 
the legs to the knees, where the joints should be 
severed, taking care, however, to cut off the hind 
feet below the hock joints about 2 or 3 inches. The 
skin is then stripped from the legs and belly, and 
Fig. 1. —THE PROPER PLACE TO STRIKE. 
as near to the back as may be by turning the car¬ 
cass. The belly is then opened, and the intestines 
taken out; the brisket is cut through, and the 
lungs and gullet removed. It is now necessary to 
raise the carcass. This is done on the rack (see fig. 
2,) the forward legs of which are placed on each side 
of the carcass, and the gambrels are placed upon 
the hooks shown in fig. 2. The legs of the rack are 
then raised as far as possible, and as the carcass is 
lifted, the hinder leg is brought up to hold what is 
gained until the carcass is clear of the ground ; the 
hide is then wholly removed, the carcass washed 
and scraped from anything adhering, and then di¬ 
vided down through the back-bone, leaving the 
eides hanging. As a matter of safety from dogs or 
other dishonest animals, it is well to have the work 
done in the barn, laying down a quantity of straw to 
protect the floor, if thought necessary, as the beef 
should remain at least 12 hours to cool and set. 
Small Artificial Ifi.sla-Fonds.— “ T. R. C. ’’ 
of Keyser, W. Ya., informs us that he has “about 
an acre of low land, nearly water proof, with a 
spring near by yielding water enough to fill an inch 
pipe; and wants to know if it is available for a 
fish-pond, and what quantity of fish could be raised 
in such a pond.” He labors under a very common 
Fig. 2.—RACK FOR A CARCASS OF BEEF. 
impression, judging by the number of letters we 
receive, that a big business in fish culture may be 
done with a very little water. Fish culture is doing 
wonders in re-stocking our larger streams and 
ponds, but it has not yet enabled the most skillful 
I pisciculturist to grow fish on dry land. Seth Green, 
