468 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
on the upright; it is screwed firmly to the index, 
so that the horizontal line which is coincident with 
the lower edge of the index near the end, shall be 
accurately at right angles with the upright. In 
measuring a horse, the index must rest lightly on 
the withers at their highest point, the measuring- 
rod standing as nearly perpendicular as possible. 
Feeding Trough for Fowls. 
There have been a great many feeding troughs 
devised for chickens and other poultry, but I have 
Fig. 7.—FEEDING TROUGH FOB FOWLS. 
never seen one so convenient aud practically good 
as that shown in figure 7, devised and used by my 
friend, Geo. G. Curtis, of Gravesend. It is made 
thus : The ends are cut 12 inches square, the upper 
corners taken off to give a pitch to the roof boards. 
Two 6-inch boards form the trough, and rest on 
cleats on the end boards, to which they are nailed. 
The roof is of 10-inch boards, one of which is 
nailed fast, the other hinged to it, so that it may be 
lifted like a lid when the trough is filled or cleaned. 
It has the following advantages: The feed cannot 
get wet; the fowls are not able to stand or sit on 
the edge of the trough, and as the space between 
the edge and the roof is only three or four inches, 
they can not get into the trough, and even young 
chickens are not likely to; it is easy to fill, easy to 
clean out, very substantial, and strong if not made 
of too great length. Six feet long is about right. 
group cause some of the most disagreeable odors 
and tastes found in drinking water. The kidney¬ 
shaped, spiny bodies in the accompanying engrav¬ 
ing represent clusters of these plants found in im¬ 
pure drinking water, and form a scum upon its sur¬ 
face. Each body is amass of jelly, in which the blu¬ 
ish-green cells of the plants are embedded. These 
colonies are very small, and the engraving represents 
them magnified 300 times. Very small plants have 
very long names sometimes: this is the Ccelosphce- 
rium Kuetzingianum. This plant is often found 
with another, which is filamentous, or like the links 
of a sausage, and is represented with it in the en¬ 
graving. These and other plants flourish in warm, 
and especially the hot weather of August and 
September, but may be found to a certain extent 
at almost any season. “ So long as they are living, 
and not exceedingly abundant, they produce no 
perceptible bad effect on the water; but when 
large quantities of them decay, they give rise to the 
‘ pig-pen odor,’ as it is called, which has in recent 
years caused considerable trouble and still more 
alarm.” Dr. Farlow suggests no absolute remedy, 
but states that all water places should be cleared 
of weeds, and other substances upon which these 
plants may lodge. “ Large and deep bodies of water 
are less likely to be affected than small and shallow 
ones, and gravelly bottoms are better than muddy. 
In one respect the fears of the public may be set at 
rest. The theory that certain diseases, as fever, are 
produced by germs of some low forms of plant 
life, whether true or not, has no bearing on the 
present case.” The microscopic plants that make 
the water unfit for family use, do not cause the 
various diseases that have been assigned to them. 
A Barrel Fountain for Pigs. 
Impurities of Drinking Water. 
Professor G. W. Farlow, M. D., of Harvard Uni¬ 
versity, has made an extensive examination into 
the impurities of drinking water, the 
results of which are valuable to our 
readers. Professor Farlow states 
that, under ordinary circumstances 
no direct trouble is likely to arise 
from the growth of the larger weeds 
in our water supplies, provided the 
plants are living and flourishing. The 
disagreeable tastes and odors of many 
•of the waters examined were pro¬ 
duced by small plants of a very low 
order of organization—in fact, mi¬ 
croscopic. There are two groups 
of these microscopic plants—those 
which are grass-green or yellowish- 
green, and the bluish-green cr pur¬ 
plish sort. From a sanitary pcint of 
view, the grass-green plants Lave no 
Injurious effect upon the water in which they grow, 
but on the other hand, the purity of the water is 
indicated by their growing in it. The “moss- 
covered bucket” brings the pure water from the 
well. These green water plants (algae) usually look, 
to the naked eye, like fine threads, some of which 
branch, and others do not; they maybe either float- 
“L. B.,” Omaha, Nebraska, while on a visit at 
Lincoln of that State, gathered, among other valu¬ 
able things for the farm, some ideas on stock mat¬ 
ters of such interest to himself that he ventures 
to offer them to the public through the American 
n 
-CL 
1 —^ ——— 
I— 
A — ---- 
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1 - — 
microscopic plants causing impure water. 
mg on ornearthe surface, or attached to the bottom 
or sides of the pond, spring, or well. The second 
group, the bluish-green or purplish algae, is the one 
that most interests ua, as the members of this 
A SELF-ACTING WATERING BARREL FOR SWINE. 
Agriculturist. Mr. B. writes : “ Mr. C. N. Baird, Re¬ 
ceiver of the U. S. Land Office, called my attention to 
a device originated by himself for watering hogs, of 
which I give you a rough sketch.” The main tank, 
A, is supplied by a windmill and pump. A barrel, B, 
is sunk nearly to its top in the ground, at any de¬ 
sired distance from the tank, with which it is con¬ 
nected by a small iron pipe (7, C, passing from the 
bottom of the tank to the bottom of the barrel. 
A float, F. is attached by a chain, cord, or wire to a 
lever valve at the bottom of the barrel. When the bar¬ 
rel is full of water, the float is raised to the surface, 
closing tbe valve and stopping the flow of water. 
As the water is drunk, the float drops and opens 
the valve as shown by dotted line in the accom¬ 
panying engraving, when a supply of water comes in 
and again the float is raised. By packing the barrel 
and pipe well with mulch when setting, the effects 
of cold are almost entirely avoided. The cost of 
this handy watering barrel is not over five dollars. 
With this apparatus an unfailing supply of clear, 
pure water is furnished. He has never had a case 
of cholera or other disease among his hogs, aud 
volunteers the opinion that filthy food and quarters, 
and especially lack of pure water in abundance, 
is the main cause of hog diseases. Mr. Baird ob¬ 
jects to running streams for water supply for stock. 
A Muzzle foar Biting Horses. 
There has been a nuomber of inquiries of late as 
to an easy and effectual method of curing the habit 
of biting in horses. This dangerous habit is 
taught the horses by thoughtless owners or driv¬ 
ers, by playing with them when colts, or teasing 
them when full grown. A sharp cut with a whip 
across the horse’s nose whenever he bites may serve 
to break him of the habit; but when the case is 
worse and incurable, a muzzle of some sort had 
best be put upon the horse. A muzzle for this pur¬ 
pose may be made of strips of light hoop iron or 
of leather. A band is made to encircle the muzzle, 
to which strips of the leather or iron are fastened, 
and the whole buckled to the headstall, as shown 
in the accompanying engraving. At the bottom 
of the muzzle a round piece of leather should 
be fastened by rivets to keep the strips in place. 
A Salt Trough for Slieep and Goats.— 
Mr. J. G. McArthur, Meridian, Miss., sends a sketch 
and description of a Salt Trough for small farm 
stock, and wishes to give the readers of the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist the benefit of his invention. Mr. 
M. writes : “ I have resorted to various expedients 
to place a constant supply of salt within easy reach 
of my stock without having it wasted and defiled 
by their feet and droppings....I think that I can 
now consistently and confidently exclaim Eureka !” 
The following are the dimensions of the Salting 
Trough as used by Mr. M. The sides, A,A, are 12 
inches wide and 28 in. long, with the upper end 
pointed for the roof; B,B,9 inches wide and 14 
inches long with fork for trough; C, the trough 
made by placing two 6-inch boards together and 
resting in B,B. A 6-inch board, E, is fastened to 
the center of A,A, and 6 inches above the center 
of the trough to prevent young animals from get¬ 
ting into the trough. Two 3-inch slats, four feet 
long, F,F, are nailed horizontally to A, A, to pre¬ 
vent the frame from turning over. Two 3-inch 
slats, ff, Q, are securely nailed to the edges of A,A, 
A SALT TROUGH FOR SMALL STOCK. 
and rest upon F,F, as braces to strengthen the 
frame. The roof is made of two 8-inch boards, 
extending 4 inches over the end as gables. 
Fodder Corn: Amount per Acre.— Accord¬ 
ing to Goffart in his work on “Ensilage of Maize,” 
the minimum yield has been 15,000 kilogrammes 
per hectare ; it has risen in 1875 to a maximum of 
150,000 kilogrammes upon a field of thirty-six acres. 
The average yield has been, during six years, about 
90,000 kilogrammes the hectare.” The minimum 
