1861.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
15 
of heat, or we must burn more fuel to get heat 
to supply the waste. To keep our bodies Warm, 
we must either put on warmer non-conducting 
clothing-, to retain the heat of the system, or we 
must consume and digest more food (fuel) and 
breathe more ah into the blood, to produce more 
internal heat to supply the waste. 
If a horse is covered with a warm blanket to 
prevent the heat escaping from the surface, he 
will require less food to keep up the supply 
within, than if left uncovered in the cold air. 
If he is put in a warm stable he will need to eat 
much less food than if in an open stable, or in 
one where are open cracks, and drafts oi cold air 
through doors, open spaces in the floors, parti¬ 
tions, and ceilings. Stop up the cracks, and 
close up the needless openings, and you will 
find your money in it When you have extra hay 
and oats to sell or buy towards Spring. 
Cattle, sheep,- and other animals, left out in 
the cold, must have much more food (fuel) than 
if kept in warm close stables. They will eat 
less on the lee side of a building of' shed, than if 
exposed to currents of air that carry off the heat 
of the body rapidly. The less the food required by 
any animal to keep' up the interned warmth, the more 
will there be stowed away in the form of incredsed 
fat and flesh, which is so much profit. Sheep kept 
at a haystack in a bleak field, will eat more (at 
the cost of the owner) but they will not groio 
more. The rapid internal fire required to sus¬ 
tain a life lieat, weakens the 1 System, as is tod 
frequently shown by running' noses, and weak¬ 
ened bodies, in or before Spring. 
Hogs kept in a warm pen with a good bed of 
straw, instead of in a cold pen, will use up less 
food for fuel, and store away much more fat, 
from the same number of bushels of corn. In 
one case they may be kept at a loss, and in the 
other pay a fair profit. The same reasoning 
applies to all animals—the human animal not 
excepted. Give all animals a warm habitation, or 
shield them from cold, and you will save food 
that would otherwise he required to keep up the 
animal lieat. On the understanding and applica¬ 
tion of so simple a principle, often depends the 
success or failure of many—of most men. 
Tim Bunker on Cattle Disease. 
“ Guess she’s got the cattle disease, by the 
looks on her,” said Uncle Jothani Sparrowgrass, 
as he looked into .Jake Frink’s yard last April, 
at'one of the sorriest cows ever seen in Hooker- 
town. She was down and unable to get up, had 
lost her calf, and was very much down in the 
month. 
“ What kind of disease is that ?” asked Jake, 
solemnly, evidently prepared to hear the worst. 
“ Cattle disease! you fool,” exclaimed Ben 
Jone3. “ She is one of the cattle, and, of course, 
if anything ails her, she’s got the cattle disease.” 
“ I rather think it’s the crow ail,” suggested 
George Washington Tucker, as lie joined his 
neighbors in the cow yard, to sympathize with 
Jake in his affliction. “At any rate, the crows 
will have a meeting on her case fore long, see if 
they don’t.” 
“Dreadful cavin in for’ard of the hips,” re¬ 
marked Seth Twiggs, as he scratched a Lucifer 
on the wall, and lit his second pipe. “ I shouldn’t 
wonder if it was the cave, a disease they’ve 
had in llookertown this twenty year.” 
“ It looks to me like the cattle disease they 
are having up in Massachusetts. The eyes are 
glassy, the hair stands on end, and the breathing 
is fast,” remarked Dea. Smith. 
“ They call it the pleuro-pneumonia, I believe,” 
added Mr. Spooner, who reads agricultural pa¬ 
pers ifs well as theology. 
“ life it killed many cattle’f'’ asked JkKewith 
a troubled countenance. 
“ It has taken off a good mahy hundreds, and 
is spreading into this State, said the pastor. 
“ Then she’s got it,” said Jake, “ and I shall 
lose her in spite of all doctoriii Salt wont save 
her.” 
“ The croWs will, though,” said Wash. Tucker, 
who clung tio the crow ail, as the only theory 
that cleared up the mysteries of her case. 
“ I guess 1 Site’s got the Slink-fever,” suggested 
Kiel- Frink, who had stopped his coal cart, to' 
see what the trouble' was. “ They have had it 
a good deal on father's farm ever since I can re¬ 
member. Cows lose their calves, grow thin with 
a cough, and die.” 
“ How jest tell us, neighbor Frink, what that 
are cow has been fed on, for I don’t want to 
feed mine the same way,” said Seth Twiggs. 
“ Well, she' Kalnt been 1 fed high at all. She 
aint pizened with oil iti’eal, or any of them feed- 
in stuffs they bring up'from the city. You see, 
Tin father short on’t for fodder and stable room, 
and I kept the ole cow on butts and swale hay 
all the fore part of Winter, and foddered her at 
the stack. She’d allers wintered eout Wei! enfif, 
afid I thought she was so tuff, she wouldn’t 
mind it. I put her on to oat straw about the 
middle of the Winter,- and ha ve kept her in the 
yard ever since, but fuissin don’t seem to : agree' 
with the ole critter. She allCrS 1 was kontrafy, 
blame her. Guess she’ll die jeSt eout of spite.” 
“ Rather high feed,” suggested Twiggs, look¬ 
ing across that pile of skin and bones at me, as 
if I was authority in the matter. 
“How,” said I, “the difficulty with this cow 
is starvation and exposure. If I was here sit¬ 
ting upon a crowher's quest, I should find under 
oath, that this animal died of hunger and cruel¬ 
ty, administered by Jacob Frink, of Hooker- 
town.” 
This conversation of my neighbors last Spring, 
shows the secret of a great deal of the disease 
among cattle in all the northern states. I have 
no doubt that they had something a little extra 
up in Massachusetts', perhaps an imported dis¬ 
ease, that was wisely checked by stringent leg¬ 
islation in that and other states. The stock in¬ 
terest is so great in this country, that we can 
not well be too vigilant in guarding it. But I 
think starvation and exposure kill more cattle 
every year, than the lung murrain did. This 
disease is around in almost every neighborhood, 
and thousands are slain by it, and other thou¬ 
sands are so damaged, that they are of little or 
no profit to their OAvners. It is not thought con¬ 
tagious, and yet it is wonderful, how it goes 
through a whole herd, and spreads from farm 
to farm. Yet nobody is alarmed, because he is 
familiar with the disease, and knows the remedy 
is of easy application. 
How, Mr. Editor, I want' to have my say on 
.this subject, and you mustn’t put the stopper on 
till I have it out. You see, now is the time to 
prevent this disease. If you neglect cattle till 
they get down in the yard, like Jake Frink’s 
cow, it is too late, or if it isn’t too late, it will 
cost all they are worth to get them up into good 
flesh again. You see folks are greatly mistaken 
about what constitutes the value of an ox or 
cow. I take it, it isn’t the breath of life in the 
carcass that makes a cow or ox worth having. 
But this seems to be the popular notion, that a 
cow is a cow, whether she have five hundred 
pounds of good wholesome flesh between her 
skin and bones, or the skin and bones have 
come together pretty much like a collapsed 
steam boiler. Men calling themselves farmers, 
and living in a farming conimdiiity like Hook¬ 
a-town, seem to think that a poor half-starved 
COW in the Spring is in just aS good condition to 
give milk, and make butter and Cheese,- as one 
well fed. They think all the hay and irieiti they 
can cheat their cattle out of ill the Winter,- is so 
much dear gain. They keep animals out of 
doors, at the stack-yard,- (Rough all this cold 
storiny -leather, that tire 1 expected to bring 
calves next- April. They lid upon the frozen 
earth,- and often up'ofi the Show, with the ther¬ 
mometer at zero of bclo'w. They are fed upon 
coni Stalks, and Often 1 upon poor hay, without 
meal of fOofs. Hofv t Mi not particularly sav¬ 
age in my- diisjiositiofi', but I should like to have 
these improvident sto'ck owners spend- just one 
night, at the Stack yard, with their poor shiver¬ 
ing cattle. I rather guCss they Avould build 
barns or sheds,- and make them comfortable. 
A coav kept in this way, comes out in the 
Spring in poor flesh, too’ weak to bear a good 
calf, or to make good veal, if the calf is doomed 
for the butcher. Half tbO Summer is spent in 
recovering the flesh she has lost during Winter. 
A feAt years of such ffeatrnent AVeakens her vital 
force so that she is liable to die a hardening - , 
long before she beeofii’eS' ah old cow. Is it any 
wonder that cattle become diseased under such 
treatment, that the ribs stick out, and the hair 
sticks up, and the crbffs scent their prey? We 
have got laws that fine' then heavily for abusing 
dumb animals wffff the whip. We ought to 
have others that Avill prevent them from tortur¬ 
ing their animals with frost and liuhger. 
My remedy for cattle disease' 1 Is first, good 
warm stable®- They caff be made tight, and at 
t he safi'16 time he' Avel! ventilated, so that the 
thermometer Avill not sink much below the freez¬ 
ing point. Without good stables, no amount of 
feeding can keep the animal comfortable, or 
make it profitable to the OAvner. 
And secondly, good feed, and plenty of it, 
good timothy or clover hay Avell cured—corn 
meal, oat meal, linseed oil cake meal, or cotton 
seed meal, with the roots— carrots, beets, and 
turnips—are articles that should enter into the 
bill of fare. As a rule, the more a cow eats, the 
more profitable she is to her owner. You might 
as Avell think of having meal Avhen you don’t put 
corn into the hopper, as milk and butter Avitliout 
plenty of fodder. There is nothing like having 
a good lot of flesh and fat to start upon in the 
Spring, if you Avant to make a good dairy, and 
keep your cattle clear of disease. 
Yours to command, 
Tiaiotixy Btjxker Esq. 
Honkerlown, Dec., 1860 . 
Eats Afraid of Powder. 
H. II. Ballard, OAven Co., Ky., Avrites to the 
American Agriculturist that with’ 4 lb. of gun- 
poAvder he can keep every rat from his prem¬ 
ises for a year. “ The poAvder is not used to 
drive a bullet or shot through the animals, but 
is simply burned in small quantities, say a tea¬ 
spoonful in a place, along their usual paths, and 
at the holes where they come out, with proper 
precautions to prevent accidents from fire.” He 
says he has proved its efficacy by repeated tri¬ 
als. The rat has a keen sense of smell, and if 
he lias sense enough to Iciioav that he is not 
Avanted, when he perceives the odor of the burnt 
powder, the remedy Avill be of great value. Let 
our readers experiment and report, if the value 
of this method can be redfied. 
