1884.] 
AMEEIOAISI AGRIOULTUKIST. 
Ill 
Sore Shoulders in Horses. 
rarm horses are most liable to have sore should¬ 
ers in early spring, when unaccustomed to work. 
If humanity does not lead to care in prevention 
and cure, interest will prompt it, for certainly a 
horse with sound shoulders will do more work 
than if these be swollen and lacerated.—Prevention 
is better than cure. The first point is to secure 
good, well-fitting collars, those of soft leather, of 
equal hardness on both sides. Many collars are 
stuffed more solidly on one side than the other, 
and should be rejected. The horse should be fitted 
to a collar at the shop, as two very seldom have 
shoulders exactly alike. I have often wondered 
that farmers do not have collars made specially for 
each horse. The cost would be amply repaid as 
it is slight compared with the increased service 
that would thus be secured. I prefer a collar 
stuffed with hair. The leather should be kept well 
oiled, especially where meeting the shoulder. 
Pure neat’s foot oil makes the leather soft and pli¬ 
able, and is a good preventive and cure for sore 
shoulders. Cloth collars are now made, and cloth 
pads to cover the entire collar face. I know they 
are good and recommend them to other farmers. 
Early in the spring, at least two weeks before 
plowing commences, begin bathing the shoulders 
of each work horse with strong salt brine. I keep 
in the stalls an old fruit can, and a rag tied to the 
end of a cob; and it takes but a moment to throw 
in a handful of salt with some water, stir it up and 
apply the brine. It toughens and hardens the 
skin and cools it, allaying inflammation. I do this 
each evening; after work begins I first wash off 
the shoulders with clean water. I have never been 
troubled with sore shoulders since I have taken to 
carefully selecting collars, keeping them soft with 
oil, and bathing fi-equently with the salt water. 
The best cure for sore shoulders is rest, and this 
may be secured without stopping work, by remov¬ 
ing the pressure from the irritated spot. One 
method is to cut a long, narrow slit in the hame 
groove opposite the soreness, remove part of the 
stuffing and make a little depression by pounding 
the face over the sore. The slit will not injure the 
collar. Another method is to use pads above and 
below the tender spot, to keep off the pressirre. 
After considerable experience I consider the best 
pad one made by stuffing a coat sleeve with 
nay, about one inch thick between the collar and 
shoulder, but thinner where it passes under the 
hames. Hay works into lumps less than rags, hair 
or wool, and is elastic enough to spring the collar 
from the shoulders when the draft slackens, 
giving them opportunity to cool and rest. J. m. s. 
Dimensions of Cisterns. 
In answer to inquiries about the filtering cistern 
described on page 571, December American Agri¬ 
culturist, we reply: In a stiff clay a small cistern 
of twenty to forty barrels capacity might be safely 
cemented directly on the earth, but in ordinary 
soils and for larger cisterns, a good four-ineh wall 
of hard brick is on the whole the cheapest. It is 
important to make the excavation smooth so that 
the bricks can be pressed, firmly against the earth ; 
otherwise these will be pushed out and the ce¬ 
ment cracked, causing a leak.—As to the dimen¬ 
sions, we prefer a cistern about one-fourth deeper 
below the spring of the arch, than its width inside. 
By this rule a cistern eight feet wide will be ten feet 
deep below the areh. We have always used for the 
top a east iron ring twenty inches in diameter, for the 
man-hole, covering it with a tight fitting cast-iron 
lid. The ring has a flange two inches wide extend, 
ing out over the brick. The capacity of a cistern 
needed to save all the water from a given extent of 
roof, will depend on the total annual rainfall, its 
distribution throughout the year, and the regular¬ 
ity with which it is used. A roof ninety feet by 
twenty feet contains eighteen hundred square feet. 
This is supposed to be the measure of the build¬ 
ing on the ground and not the shingled surface. 
In the vicinity of New York the average rainfall is 
about forty-two inches, or three and a half feet. 
This would give sixty-three hundred cubic feet of 
water (1,800 ft. x 3i=6,300). Since in that climate 
the rain is distributed pretty regularly through the 
year, it would be necessary to only provide stor¬ 
age capacity for about one-third of the rainfall of 
the year, or twenty-one hundred cubic feet. This 
divided by four and one-fifth (the approximate 
number of cubic feet in a barrel of thirty-one and 
Fig. 1.—SIDE OF PIGGERY. 
partition back, when cleaning out troughs and 
supplying feed (slops), as seen in figure 4; and it 
falls back on removing the stick (fig. 4). However, 
the partitions div iding tiie pens and yards can be 
made either stationarj’ or to swing, the latter being 
preferable, as this will allow all the pens to be 
thrown into one large one, and the same of the 
yards. The feed room is provided with a brick 
chimney, an iron kettle, a large wooden box for 
Fig. 2. —END OF PIGGERY. 
a half gallons) gives five hundred barrels, and this 
quantity of water requires a round cistern thirteen 
feat diameter to be nearly sixteen feet deep below 
the arch, or a square one thirteen feet across to be 
nearly twelve and a half feet deep ; or a round one 
fifteen feet in diameter would need to be about 
twelve feet deep. In the Far West — in fact, 
in most places west of the Missouri—the rainfall 
is largely during the six months beginning with 
March, and cisterns need a greater storage capacity. 
A Complete Frame Piggery. 
BY W. W. 3IAUGHLIX, BOYD’S STATION, 3ID. 
The piggery shown in figures 1 to 6 is fourteen 
by forty feet; corner posts, fourteen feet ; higlit 
of first story eight and one-half feet; second story. 
Fig. 3.—GROUND PLAN OP PIGGERY. 
five feet from floor to top of wall plate.—The first 
floor has two thicknesses of inch boards,a foot wide, 
the lower boards running lengthwise of the build¬ 
ing and the upper ones crosswise. The walls also 
are two layers of similar boards, the outside ones 
perpendicular, and battened with inch strips three 
inches wide. Second story floor is one thickness of 
narrow inch boards, tongued and grooved. Stairs to 
second story three feet wide. All the doors are bat¬ 
tened. One twelve-light window' in gable end, and 
one in feed room.—Each pen has a window oppo¬ 
site it, across feeding 
hall (shown in figs. 1 
and 3) and a sliding 
sash at the rear, seen 
in fig. 3. Between 
each pen and its yard 
is a batten sliding 
door, two and a half 
feet wide, four feet 
high ; and at the out¬ 
side of each yard is a 
door three by six feet 
either on hinges, or to 
Fig. 4. SECTION OF TROUGHS. Hight of yard 
fence, six feet. From each yard to its pen is an 
incline of two-inch plank, with inch strips three 
inches wide well nailed on to prevent pigs from slip¬ 
ping.—-The feed troughs run across at the front. 
The partitions, flvefeethigh, between the pens and 
over or in front of the troughs, swing as seen in fig. 
5. The hinged stick, A, fig. 6, props the swinging 
mixing feed, slop barrels, etc. The entry doors to 
this are made wide, to admit a slop barrel on a 
wheelbarrow.—If the yards are planked on a level 
with the floors the incline can be dispensed with. 
Materials and Cost. 
Timber : Sills, 6 by 8 inch, four.two 40feet long (or shorter 
ones spliced), and two 14 feet=432 feet. Four corner posts, 
4 bj’ 4 inch, 14 feet loug=75 
feet.—Plates, 3 by 4 inch, two 
40 feet (or shorter ones spliced) 
and two 14 feet long=l08 feet. 
Five pieces for swinging par¬ 
tition posts, 4 by 6 inch, 8 feet 
long=80 feet.—Ten posts for 
outside partition walls, 4 by 4 
inch, 8 feet long=107 feet.— 
Fourteen fence posts, 4 by 6 
inch, 8 feet long=224 feet.— 
Forty-two floor joists, 2 by 8 
inch, 14 feet long=882 feet.— 
Forty-two rafters, 2 by 4 inch, 
11 feet long=S08 feet.—Twenty- 
one pieces,2 by 4 inch, 8 feet 
long=112 feet.—Eight pieces, 
4 by 6 inch. 14 feet long, for 
joist beains=224 feet.—Twen¬ 
ty-seven pieces for ledgers and 
frame rails, 2 by 4 inch, 16 feet 
long=238 feet.— Total framing timber, 2,848 feet (board 
measure) ® $14 per 1,000 feet, $39.87. 
Rough boarding, 1 inch thick ; 968 feet sheathing; 1.120 feet 
flooring (1 foot wide, 14 feet long) ;3,220 feet weather-board 
ing; I,3l2 feet for swinging partitions, fence, troughs, etc,; 
12f batten pieces 1 by 3 inch, 14 feet long (434 feet); 76 pieces, 
3 inches wide, 8 feet long, for braces for swinging partitions 
(203 feet.)— Total, 7,257 feet @ $17 per 1,000 feet, $123..34. 
800 feet dressed lumber, 1 by 4 or 6 inches, tongued 
and grooved, for doors and 2d floor, @ $20per M. 16.0!) 
5,000 shingles, @ $3.90 per M. 19 50 
" ■ ... ' ■ * 3.00 
7.50 
5.25 
26.30 
5.00 
10.00 
110.48 
Fig. 5. 
2 windows, 12 light, 8 by 10 inches. 
10 windows, 6 light, 8 by 10 inches (sliding sash). 
3 doorframes, 3 feet by 6 feet 8 inches. 
Bricks for 8 by 8 inch flue, etc. 
Hardware, sash hinges, nails, etc. 
Materials for and painting. 
Carpenter work. 
Total cost of Piggery. 
$366.24 
Influence of Placidity on the Secretion 
OF Butter Fat. —During the remarkable public 
test of the Jersey cow, “Value 2d,” when she 
gave over twenty-five pounds of butter in seven 
days, it was found that one day she produced one 
pound less butter than upon the preceding and fol¬ 
lowing days. This, of course, led to enquiry and 
speculation as to what could be the cause. It was 
Fig. 6.— FRONT OF TROUGH. 
found that, after being turned out as usual, to 
spend the night in a small pasture with two com¬ 
panions, threatening clouds came rolling up with 
muttering thunder, and so, rather than expose 
