1880.] 
AMERICAN AGrRI'C ULT URIST. 
187 
Salt for the Live Stock. 
There are some who claim that the well known 
liking of our domestic animals for salt is due to 
: education, that it is an unnatural appetite, that in 
a state of nature animals do not have salt, and 
assert their belief that it does more harm than 
good. It would be a sufficient answer to these 
persons that our animals are not in a state of 
nature, and what the pre-historic cow and horse 
had, or did not have, has nothing to do with what 
shall be given to their descendents. Those who 
A HANDY SALT DISH. 
write and talk so earnestly against salt are not 
many, and are usually people of notions, which 
they mistake for ideas. The great majority of 
cattle raisers and farmers are fully convinced that 
salt is necessary for the best health of farm animals, 
and practice what they believe. The amount of 
salt required is small, and it should be given at 
frequent intervals. If a little could be given each 
day it would be best, and if with the food, as we 
are accustomed to take it ourselves, it would be so 
much the better; but such a method is hardly 
practicable. Supplying salt once a week will 
answer, and this is the usual interval between salt¬ 
ings, if salt is given at all. Some special day or 
time in the week should be chosen as that for 
salting the domestic animals, and then it should not 
be allowed to go past without dispensing, what 
some one has termed, the “seasoningof the week.” 
An engraving of a handy salt dish is given here¬ 
with, which, simple as it is, better answers the 
purpose than any other that we have used or seen 
used. It consists of a low box made of hard 
wood with a thick bottom, and a handle made of 
hickory—a piece of heavy barrel hoop will do— 
nailed upon the sides as shown in the engraving. 
In dispensing the salt to stock in the open field, it 
should be so placed that all the animals can get 
their fair share, and again it should not be thrown 
upon the ground where it is largely lost, or if eaten 
it must be with a quantity of earth. Flat troughs 
should be provided even for economy’s sake. 
Scrofulous Diseases in Domestic Animals. 
An observing friend had a fat cow slaughtered, 
and finding in the lining of the cavity of the ab¬ 
domen a large quantity—nearly a bushel—of strange 
objects, sent one 
of them, which is 
shown in the en- 
graving. It 
proved to be a 
collection of Tu¬ 
bercular Tumors, 
of a kind often 
found in animals 
inclined to scrofular diseases. They are due to a 
constitutional disease that is too widely preva¬ 
lent in all kinds of our domesticated animals. 
Scrofula may be inherited, or it maybe developed 
by the conditions of life that have an influence in 
lowering the vital powers—such as protracted de¬ 
rangement of the digestive organs, however caused 
—deficiency in the quality and quantity of food, 
TUBERCULAR TUMORS. 
impure water, damp, filthy stables, defective ven¬ 
tilation, exposure to cold and wet and other un¬ 
sanitary conditions. Animals in confinement are 
more liable to scrofulous disease then those of the 
same kind in a state of nature. Dr. Aitken says: 
“ The stabled cow, the penned sheep, the caged 
lion, tiger, or elephant, 
are almost invariably cut 
off by scrofulous affec¬ 
tions, no doubt due to de¬ 
ficient ventilation, and the 
abeyance of normal exer¬ 
cise of the pulmonary 
function.” When the 
constitutional defect is in¬ 
herited, the ordinary ex¬ 
citing causes of disease 
are liable to develop it, 
and it may assume a va¬ 
riety of forms according 
to the organ where the 
disease is localized. The 
heredity of the disease is 
often not suspected from 
the varied forms it as¬ 
moved. By starting the horse the sled is drawn 
from under the manure and the sled is empty, and, 
with the standards replaced, it will be ready for 
another load. “ There is no trouble in turning ns 
with the common long sled, and no second hand¬ 
ling of the manure, to say nothing of the cheapness 
Fig. 2.— METHOD OF USING THE SI.ED. 
sumes in different generations. The lungs of the 
parents may be affected when the disease is known 
as consumption, and the offspring may be affected 
with scrofulous swellings, marasmus, or wasting— 
or chronic bowel complaints. The disease may not 
show itself in the acute form for several genera¬ 
tions, and may be even unsuspected until after 
death, when it may be recognized by tuberculous 
tumors that, as in the case under consideration, 
have not reached the stage to produce serious con¬ 
stitutional derangements. A careful selection of 
breeding stock should be made to avoid any hered¬ 
itary tendency to the disease. When fully de¬ 
veloped, the acute scrofulous complaints do not 
yield to any treatment, but run their course with the 
most unfavorable results. Prevention, by the ob¬ 
servance of the best sanitary conditions, is the only 
means of counteracting the constitutional defect. 
We cannot too strongly insist upon pure air fur¬ 
nished in abundance to all of our domestic ani¬ 
mals confined in barns, stables, etc., and fresh 
water and wholesome food at all times and places. 
A Manure Sled. 
A sketch and description of a manure sled comes 
from H. H. Cooper, Lancaster Co., Pa., who thinks 
is “the handiest and cheapest sled he has ever 
seen.” It is very simple in its construction, as 
and simplicity of the arrangement,” We are not 
aware that this simple farm implement is patented. 
Handle for a Cross-Cut Saw. 
Mr. E. M. Goodale, York Co., Me., sends draw¬ 
ings of a handle for a cross-cut saw that is coming 
Fig 
AA/Vn/ 
1.—A CROOKED SAW-HANDLE. 
Fig. 1. —THE MANURE SLED. 
shown in figure 1. The runners, a, a, can be of any 
desired length from 4 to 6 feet, and may be made of 
3 by 4 pine scantling. The upright pieces, 6, set 
in loose sockets in the rear ends of the runners, and 
can be easily removed. The chain for the attach¬ 
ment of the whiffletree is secured to the forward 
ends of the runners by staples put in at au angle of 
45 degrees. The ends of the two runners are kept 
about 20 inches apart, by means of a spreader, c, 
placed between, and fastened to the ends of the 
chain. The manure is loaded upon these two run¬ 
ners, being piled up in a rather narrow ridge, (fig. 
2). When the place is reached where the manure is 
to be deposited, the two standards, against which 
the manure is pressed somewhat tightly, are re¬ 
into very general use in that locality. The handle, 
as shown in figure 1, consists of a “ natural crook” 
from a branch of some hard-wooded tree, in the 
form an inverted V, one arm of the crook being 
fastened into the saw clasp, while the other, which 
is in an inclined position, furnishes the handle for, 
the operator. Figure 
2 shows the method of 
procuring the handle 
from the fork of a 
small tree, or from the 
junction of one branch 
with another on a large 
tree. The use of this 
haudle, our correspon¬ 
dent claims “ saves 1 lie 
muscles of the shoul¬ 
der, as a person using 
the handle can stand 
upright and saw, while, 
with the straight han¬ 
dle the elbow must be 
kept level with the 
work.” Any device 
that will make easier 
the. work of sawing- 
logs with a cross-cut 
saw will be welcomed by the many who have 
more or less of this shoulder-aching work to do. 
Fig. 2.— SELECTING THE 
NATURAL CROOK. 
Revival in tlie Sheep Interest.— There are 
at present more calls for the names of raisers of 
pure-blood sheep, than for a long time. A short time 
ago, a gentleman wished to know- where he could 
purchase several car loads of the best Merinos, 
mostly rams, for shipment to the Southwest. Not 
only is there a revival as regards the number of 
sheep to be raised, but a strong tendency to grow 
only those of the best breeds. The “boom’ ’ in sheep¬ 
raising, as the slang of the day has it, is a healthy 
one, and one to be encouraged, moreover it seems 
likely to last for an indefinite period of time. 
