220 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
lest barm be done at the outset. There are in 
Switzerland other kinds of cattle than the one we 
have illustrated; these are peculiar to different 
localities ; they are more or less modifications of 
the principal race and of less importance than these. 
Among the Farmers.—No. 41. 
BT ONE OP THEM. 
Money-saving- Implements. 
When money was too plenty, when “ greenbacks” 
were, so to speak, a drug, and used chiefly for spec¬ 
ulation, we were paying §2 and 82.50 a day for day- 
labor, and hardly thought it important to do much 
to save work, and to lighten other labor than our 
own. We wanted machinery to take the place of 
man-power and horse-power, simply because we 
could not get the men—not because we could not 
pay them. Now our circumstances are greatly 
changed. We have more labor than we can pay for 
ready to be employed at low rates, and yet inven¬ 
tion was never more active in devising machinery 
to take the place of labor, or to cheapen produc¬ 
tion. That is the great thing—to cheapen production. 
If butter is to bring only 20 cents per pound, we 
must produce it for half that. If we can calculate 
on getting only 41 cents for our pork, 5 to 7 cts. for 
beef, and similar low rates for other things, we cer¬ 
tainly must raise our corn, and other crops at a pro¬ 
portionately less cost than we have been doing, or 
we shall lose money all the time. The British far¬ 
mers have been in much the same position for some 
time, and the general excellence of their imple¬ 
ments and their lasting character, albeit heavier than 
we like, show how wisely they economize. Last 
year the introduction of a convenient 
Reversible Plow Point 
was a great stride in the right direction. By it, the 
labor of the team in plowing is greatly lightened, be¬ 
cause the share may be kept sharp and true, and the 
point itself always well shaped and sharp enough. 
One share, with several “slips” or points, lasted 
me all summer, and it seems likely to last a good 
part of this year, the points being renewed and re¬ 
versed as often as need be. Ordinarily, we use up 
three shares, at least, in our gravelly soil; common 
shares cut away very fast. W r e do all our plowing 
—that is, both sward and stubble—with one plow 
“194,” and an excellent little plow it is....This 
year the effort is being made to induce farmers to use 
The Sulky Attachment to Plows, 
which is applicable to any plow, and affords a seat 
for the plowman, while he can still have perfect 
control of both plow and horses. At first sight 
this seems like labor-saving at a costly rate, name¬ 
ly, at the expense of the team. If I see a hired 
man add his own weight to a load that is about 
heavy enough, he learns pretty soon that his place 
is on the ground. This plow-sulky, however, is a 
very philosophical affair, not only guiding the plow 
more accurately than can be done by most plow¬ 
men, but making it run lighter, even when carrying 
the plowman’s weight. This seems hardly possi¬ 
ble, yet it is clear when we consider that the plow 
is a three-sided wedge, only one side of which, the 
mould-board, does any efficient service, the sole and 
the land side, only contributing to hold the mould- 
board in position. There is a deal of friction be¬ 
tween the sole, or more correctly speaking—the un¬ 
derside of the plow and the ground, and hardly less 
between the land side and the “land.” This 
sulky attachment to the plow has a wheel under 
the beam, in front, and one running behind the 
plow in the furrows, which take all this ground fric¬ 
tion, and the lateral thrust, made by the single 
large wheel running upon the land, which is in¬ 
creased when the weight of the plowman is upon 
the seat, takes a great part of the friction off from 
the land side. Thus the team is relieved by doing 
away with useless friction. These two advantages 
are certainly proved to be all that was anticipated, 
and perhaps more_Among the untried and yet 
most promising things, as an agricultural help, is 
Ensilage, or the Tanking: of Fodder. 
This practice on a small scale, in principle, at 
least, is ancient. I remember seeing in the Bavar¬ 
ian Palatinate, many years ago, and in some parts of 
Switzerland, also, tanks like tan-vats, conveniently 
near to the stables, altogether below the surface of 
the ground, water tight, and covered with substan¬ 
tial lids, which were strong enough to sustain the 
weight of a man, at least. My recollection of these 
tanks is, that they were 8 or 10 feet long, and about 
5 in width, and perhaps 6 feet deep. I was told 
that partially dried grass, weeds, leaves, etc., with 
some grain straw, were packed down as tightly as 
possible, and allowed to ferment, the fermentation 
being checked by water, which did not entirely stop 
it. More fodder was packed in as the mass settled, 
and finally, the vat was filled with water, and closed 
down as nearly air-tight as possible. 
Here we had all the conditions supposed to be 
essential to the successful tanking, or Ensilage, of 
Fodder, as practised by Mr. Goffart, in France, or 
Colonel Morris in Maryland, besides the additional 
security of the water, which, in the case of tanking 
corn fodder, cut up when green and juicy, would 
rarely ever be necessary, if at an. 
The process, and the tanks or silos, have been so 
well described in the American Agriculturist that all 
its readers must know in general about them. The 
present season will afford to the skeptical, and to 
the “old fogies,” abundant demonstration of the 
usefulness and profit of the practice. The use of 
tanked green fodder will enable us to make milk 
and butter as profitably at one season as at another. 
It will probably enable us to save one-third of the 
cost of fattening beef in winter. The effect of a 
moderate quantity of green feed in both milk and 
beef production, is well known. This gives roots 
their value as winter feed—making grain go much 
farther than it otherwise would. Roots are a form 
of green fodder, in which a small percentage of 
nutritive matter is combined with an enormous 
quantity of water. In the tanked fodder (call it 
“ensilaged fodder” if you will), we have a larger 
percentage of nutritive matter which has under¬ 
gone a partial cooking process, thus enhancing its 
digestibility, and which has not destroyed the color¬ 
ing and flavoring qualities of the fodder. The fact, 
if substantiated, that it may be so preserved as to 
Impart Color to Butter, 
makes the practice a very attractive one to gilt- 
edged butter makers. How far this has been tested 
I do not know, but it is certain that the chlorophyll, 
the constituent of grass, and green fodder general¬ 
ly, which imparts color to butter—is not destroyed 
by the tanking process. 
Butter Flavoring Principles. 
Whenever hay is so preserved as not to lose its 
green color, it imparts a better and more grassy 
flavor, as well as a higher color, to butter. This is 
accomplished by cutting very young and storing 
without thorough drying. I have seen clover-hay, 
or rather clover not half cured, stacked up between 
layers of cut straw, which opened out in February 
and March as fresh, sweet, and green, as if it had 
been cut but a day or two before, the blossoms re¬ 
taining their looks and fragrance. It is important 
to know if, with the slight modification of color 
which the tanked fodder undergoes, it may not also 
be true that those equally fugitive qualities which 
give flavor to butter may not also be preserved. 
Soiling in Summer and Tanked Food in 
Winter 
will be productive of the best crop a farmer can 
raise, namely, manure. Whatever system increases 
that, is a boon. We all know that when cattle are 
soiled the manure pile grows faster in summer than 
in winter, and the continuation of soiling by means 
of the tanking system through the rest of the year, 
will give both bulk and value to this product of 
the farm upon which every thing else depends. 
The Lung Murrain. 
We reduce every thing to science now-a-days. 
What used to be called Lung Murrain is now 
Pleuro-pneumonia bovina —a startling name, to be 
sure, but none too much so. Lung Murrain is a 
disease both infectious and contagious in a high 
degree, affecting neat cattle only ; it is often very 
fatal, and although not at once destroying the use¬ 
fulness of the animal, and causing little alarm, 
gradually, though sometimes rapidly, renders use¬ 
less a portion of the lungs. The part of the lungs 
thus affected is, in the cases which recover, en¬ 
cysted, and shutoff from the rest of the system. It 
may remain so, as I understand it, a long time, but 
whenever the animal gets a severe cold, lung fever 
or anything of the kind, the disease will break out 
again, to such an extent, at least, that it may be 
communicated to other cattle in the same stable or 
pasture, or even in adjacent fields. This is what 
makes the disease so hard to manage—it is this 
that makes a rigid quarantine of infected herds, and 
the ultimate slaughter of every exposed abimal, 
the only safe course. The existence of this malady 
in the “ swill milk stables ” of the vicinity of New 
York, has long been known, and the danger to the 
agricultural community, often pointed out by the 
agricultural press. So long as it was only the farm¬ 
ers who were hurt, or likely to be, no body cared, 
but the moment the mercantile interests, shippers 
and ship owners, and the “cattle trade,” the rail¬ 
roads and all concerned in the traffic in cattle, were 
affected, the whole country was aroused, the States 
of New York and New Jersey, and the General 
Government, all took prompt action, and are doing 
no half-way work, so far as I can see. Certainly, 
New Jersey has a well organized, prompt, and kind 
force of inspectors and officers. They respond 
quickly to any calls made upon them, their ex¬ 
aminations are very thorough, and they maintain 
rigid quarantine wherever necessary. They have 
killed but very few cattle so far, and put cattle- 
owners to just as little expense and trouble as is 
consistent with the safety of the herds of others. 
The Murrain has been Spread 
chiefly by cattle dealers, in bringing cheap cows 
from the city and its vicinity into the couutry. 
These cows may have been sold cheap, just because 
they were known to have the disease ; or to have 
been exposed to it, or possibly they may have been 
sold innocently. It would continue to spread thus 
were it not for the vigilance of the inspectors. My 
own farm is only six or eight miles from the nearest 
point where the disease is known to be, and I feel 
that the only security I have, is in interesting my 
neighbors to absolutely prohibit all driving of cat¬ 
tle along the roads, and to prevent wandering cattle 
from pasturing in the woods which are unfenced. 
This is the only way in which neighbors can pro¬ 
tect themselves. Cattle having the Murrain in its 
first inception, if in good condition, may be proper¬ 
ly killed. The beef is not affected, and neither is 
the milk. The disease is entirely confined to the 
lungs until it is considerably advanced. During 
this period the animal can hardly be termed sick; it 
will cough a little, but eats well; is clear-eyed, and 
shows no other sign of disease. I believe the doc¬ 
tors do not consider that there is danger of spread¬ 
ing the disease through marketing such beef and 
milk. This is fortunate, if true, for many of the 
sick cows are in the hands of very untrusty people, 
who will sell the milk and market the beef to the 
last minute. I hope the Inspectors will be vigilant 
in this respect, for the present season’s work must 
be the last, or there will be little hope of thorough¬ 
ly stamping out of the disease. 
Disease among Turkeys.— A correspondent 
complains of a diarrhoea among turkeys in his part 
of Massachusetts which prevails so generally, that 
many have been obliged to give up the raising of 
this kind of poultry. He says : “ The symptoms 
which I first notice are these : The appetite falters 
and they stand around moping only a little at first, 
but more as the disease advances. From 3 to 5 
days after the first indications a diarrhoea com¬ 
mences, the appetite fails, and they sit on the 
ground in the coldest place they can find. They 
gradually waste away and die in about 10 days. 
Sulphur and a little saltpetre will sometimes check 
the diarrhoea, but does not remove the cause. It is 
very rare that one is saved by any treatment, and if 
left alone they invariably die. The young ones are 
attacked from 6 to 8 weeks old, until they are grown 
up. On examination the disease seems to be in the 
intestines, on the part between the gizzard and 
vent. The diseased parts are very much swollen 
and inflamed, very tender, nearly decayed, and 
smelling badly. The liver is 2 or 3 times the usual 
size, and the gall very large.” VVe should be glad 
