830 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
Spayin 
j a Mare. 
Dr. Dadd, V. S., juj;t informs us that he has 
recently performed tli : novel operation of spay¬ 
ing a mare, (removmgl the ovaries). The mare 
Avas six years old, and belonged to Charles II. 
Ballard, of Hartford, Tt. We believe this is the 
first case of the land la this country, if indeedit 
is not the first one ever tried, and Mr. Ballard 
is entitled to much credit for offering so valua¬ 
ble an animal for the joenefit of science, as it has 
been generally supposed that an operation of 
the kind would prove fatal. The animal was 
under the influence of sulphuric ether, and the 
operation proves enl irely successful, ten days 
having elapsed since! it was performed. The 
object'to be attained in this particular case, was 
to render the mare more docile, as she had here¬ 
tofore been nearly unmanageable during her pe¬ 
riods of heat. Physiologists are of opinion that 
removing the ovaries, if successfully performed, 
will render the animal mild and gentle. 
Save the Leaves. 
If Bro. Jonathan were as saving of manures, 
as John Bull is, he Would be a better farmer. 
No one knows until he has seen it, how* careful 
English and European farmers and gardeners 
are of everything which can be converted into 
liiuwii'o. And this is one ground oi then supe¬ 
riority in agriculture. 
Noav, let us repeat, what we have often said, 
that few things are more valuable for fertilizing 
purposes than decayed leaves. They are hardly 
inferior to barn-yard manure. Gather them up, 
now, this very month of November, before they 
are covered by the snow. They are abundant 
everywhere, lying in heaps and windrows in the 
forest and by the roadside, and by the fences in 
every yard. The 1 wood-lot should not be strip¬ 
ped clean of them 1 ; but doubtless every farmer's 
land contains more of them here and there, than 
lie can find time "to cart home. Gather them up, 
by raking, or by sweeping with a large birch 
broom. Stack them and pack them in the large 
wagon, adding side-boards as high as conve¬ 
nient: you will hardly get too heavy a load. 
Cart them home, and use them as bedding for 
cattle and horstes; use them for compost in the 
stable-yard; vis's them to protect tender grape 
vines and shrubs and plants in Winter. Straw¬ 
berry patciies will fairly sing for joy under such 
a feathery blanket. By all means, save the 
leaves, and use them. 
A Leak in the Stable. 
Not a leal hi the roof, though that would be 
)ad, but in the floor, which is worse, and many 
caks too, leaks between every plank! Why 
ihould this be allowed ? Why not make the 
loot- tight as possible, and have one gutter near 
he heck, of the stock, to carry off the urine into 
i tank hel ow, or into a heap of muck or other 
ibsorbcnt ? Or, in place of this arrangement, 
lave (he floors well covered with litter, of straw, 
peat, tan-bark, saw-dust, plaster, or any dry 
ibsorbent material. Any body can see that this 
tvould save nearly all the urine for useful pur¬ 
poses, an 1 would make the air of the stables 
pleasant and healthful to the stock and their 
owners. 
The importance of this economy will appear 
when we reflect that the liquid voidings of a 
cow range from nine hundred to twelve hun¬ 
dred gallons a year, according to the age and 
size of the animal; and of a horse, from eleven 
to fourteen hundred gallons, which are worth 
more, pound for pound, than the solid excre¬ 
ments. 
As we have often said, the Chinese, and Ger¬ 
mans, and other European farmers, save this por¬ 
tion of their manure with far greater care than 
we do. Thejr would as soon let silver coins slip 
through holes in their pockets, as this manure 
leak through holes in them stable floors. Doubt¬ 
less, American farmers waste millions of dollars 
annually in this way. Friendly reader, . how 
much do you waste ? 
Treatment of Muck in the Stable and 
Afterwards. 
Of all methods of using muck, which we have 
tried, we are best pleased with it as an article of 
bedding for cattle. This, we think the best and 
most rapid way of manufacturing it into manure. 
In addition to the liquid manure and a portion 
of the solid which it receives, it lias the heat of 
the animal while lying down, and this, with 
well fed cattle is a large part of the time. It 
has all the qualities of a good bed, dryness, 
softness, cleanliness, until it becomes saturated 
with urine, when it is time to throw it out, and 
put in a new charge. An allowance of a half 
cord to the animal, will become saturated in 
about two weeks, if the stall be Occupied all the 
while. 
A correspondent asks if tlic muck should be 
taken from the stable to the compost heap, or 
to the field, for plowing in ? Either is a safe 
practice. We are governed entirely by circum¬ 
stances, in the disposition of the muck after it 
leaves the stable. In the Spring, during the 
planting season, we fork it over, make it as fine 
as possible, and plow it in. Nothing is lost by 
this method. If not wanted for immediate use, 
w r e remove it with the solid droppings of the 
cattle to the compost heap, where we mix it 
with two or three times its bulk of muck or peat. 
It undergoes fermentation, and becomes a more 
valuable manure, we have no doubt, than that 
taken directly from the stables. The ammonia 
is more equally distributed through the mass, 
there is more of it, and it is in a much finer con¬ 
dition. But the labor of handling is considera¬ 
ble. Which ever course is pursued, we always 
think money is made about as fast as a farmer 
can expect, when he is handling muck. We 
are confident the man who follows it up ten 
years, will come to the same conclusion. * 
Choice of Cattle for Feeding. 
THE HEAD AN INDEX OF THE QUALITY OF AN ANIMAL. 
Fattening an ox, and building a barn, are two 
very different operations—depending on princi¬ 
ples entirely dissimilar. Some by their prac¬ 
tice appear to think that they are quite alike. 
There is the ready framed timber—the carcass 
of the animal—to be increased in size. Hay, 
grain and roots are the materials to be added. 
All that is needed is to introduce food, let it be 
worked over in the animal’s mouth and stomach, 
and the building will be completed—just as one 
would deliver to the carpenter so many timbers, 
boards, and shingles, and in due time find his 
barn finished. But it quite often happens that 
though grass and grain, hay and meal, are given 
without stint, the expected plumpness fails to 
appear; and instead of rich juicy cuts of beef, 
packed under a sleek mellow hide, there results, 
a coarse, ill-favored, leggy non-descript, with 
bones like a mastodon, and gristle and hide like 
a rhinoceros. 
Now the carpenter has just one thing to ac¬ 
complish, and his tools are fitted for it, and 
therefore we employ him with a reasonable 
certainty that his work will be done; but an 
ox carries on more than one trade. He not 
only makes beef, but bones and gristle, and hide; 
besides which, he uses up not a little food on 
his own private account for keeping warm, and 
also keeping up his spirits, that he may indulge 
his wild vagaries of frisking and restless roam¬ 
ing, and exercising his horns on the neighboring 
fences and his owner’s patience at the same 
time. Some animals excel in one of these de¬ 
partments, some in another. 
One contentedly chews his cud, while anoth¬ 
er is seeking mischief; one turns his food to fat, 
another can produce little but bone and muscle. 
It would be nonsense to give materials for the 
barn to the wheelwright or the cabinet maker, 
and it is no better judgment to select animals 
for fattening without reference to their aptitude 
for that purpose. All beef is made from cattle, 
but all cattle will not make beef, and it is a 
waste of money to feed grain to bone-mills. 
These ideas were suggested by the following 
valuable hints on choice of animals for fatten¬ 
ing, contributed by Mr. Hedley, to the Newcas¬ 
tle Club, and published in the Agricultural 
Gazette, England. He says: “In my close 
identification with fat cattle for several years, I 
have always found that the best animals havo 
the most massive heads, most capacious chests, 
and strongest spines. I have, therefore, evolved 
a few rules to go by in the purchase of lean 
ones, and scarcely with one exception I have 
found them to be applicable. The head of any 
of our bovine races ought to have the first con¬ 
sideration ; this is the true index to the vital 
acumen, and even bodily construction, and will 
be found to foreshadow all of good or bad that 
may be accomplished. Tlitis an animal possess¬ 
ed of a broad, full, spacious skull, with strong 
evenly-bent deflective horns, will be found' to 
have a thick neck at the ^ thorax, and 
strong nervous system; while one with long, 
narrow, contracted skull, and puny, abruptly 
bent horns, will be characterised by weakness, 
wildness, and slowness to fatten. A small, dull, 
sunken eye betokens hardness of touch and in¬ 
aptitude to fatten; and a bright, large, open soft 
eye, vice versa. A starting, dark, fiery eye often 
accompanies a small forehead and hereditary 
wildness, and when combined with small droop¬ 
ing horns, and a chin with no loose skin hang¬ 
ing from it, is a very despicable animal indeed, 
weak in constitution, predisposed to lung dis¬ 
ease, and sterile in fattening propensities. 
Animals with weakly-formed heads, have al¬ 
ways small loins, and the width of these parts 
will always be found in an exact ratio with the 
strength of the head. The nose* instead of be¬ 
ing long and fine, as Virgil, Aristotle, and sev¬ 
eral other naturalists recommend it, ought in my 
opinion to be thick, strong, and near the car as 
possible, if only in proportion to t he size of I lie 
frame. Thickness of nose and thickness of 
chest are often twins, and so arc thin, meagre, 
irregular noses and consumption. Small, snipy 
noses oft sniff the air into frames of small ca¬ 
pacities, and are joined to mouths that can crop 
but very small morsels at a time. These obser¬ 
vations I have found to be applicable to any of 
the kinds of cattle shown at Newcastle market. 
But besides the shapes of animals, the ago and 
class must always have especial consideration, 
and be adapted according to food and situation; 
otherwise, the realization of remunerative profits 
will be uncertain.” 
