170 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[J ONE, 
wants, and they will continue useful many years 
after they would otherwise have been laid aside. 
A writer in the Ohio Farmer well says that 
“the last part of a horse’s life may be more 
profitable, if rightly used, than the first part. 
There is more comfort and less danger in work¬ 
ing old horses. We understand them, and they 
understand us, and we should be as willing to 
conform to their nature, as they to conform to 
our wishes. It would be more humane, as well 
as more profitable, to use them as they should 
be, as long as it would pay, and then take them 
out and shoot them dowu. But the practice of 
many is to knock them about as much as they 
will bear and pay well, and then trade them off 
to some more inhuman wretch than themselves.” 
Cost of Keeping a Horse. 
In the March Agriculturist a request was made 
for information on this subject, and we have re¬ 
ceived several responses which are interesting 
and instructive. W. M. W. of Middlesex Co., 
N. J., reports the expense of keeping one horse 
(worth $180,) for 1860 and 1861, as follows: 
1 860 . 
23% bushels of com at 72%c. per bushel. $17.04 
33)4 bushels of oals at 37c. per bushel. 12.47 
6831 pounds of hay at $15.14 per tun. 44.24 
Shoeing, . 2.54 
Total cost for one year.$76.29 
1861 . 
15 bushels of corn at 60>^c. per bushel.$9.06 
36% bushels of oats at 32c. per bushel.11.79 
5500 pounds of hay at $13.33 per tun.36.68 
Shoeing. 2.45 
Total cost for one year.$59.98 
R. G. of Warren Co„ N. Y., reports as fol¬ 
lows : I have kept horses for the last 40 years, 
and find that the expense varies much accord¬ 
ing to the use, or labor required from them. A 
horse can be kept in ordinary order for doing 
light work, and nothing more, on the following: 
2d 6 months—1 tun hay . _ 
“ 12 weeks pasturing at 25c. per week. 
“ 45 bushels oats at 50c. per bushel... . ! 
Shoeing for the year, $6; Grooming, $6. 12.00 
Depreciation 10 per cent., and interest 7 per cent... 17.00 
Total cost per horse for one year.$95.00 
Samuel Simpson, New-Haven Co., Conn., 
writes: “ I have kept from one to three horses 
the past 26 years, part of the time owning land, 
and raising their feed; but will give a statement 
of the expenses for two horses kept from May 
1856 to May 1861, five years, during which time 
I bought all their feed. They consumed about 
5 tuns of hay annually, at $15 per tun. 
200 bushels of oats at 50c. per bushel.. 
1 tun of straw for litter. 
Shoeing. 
Add interest on $300. 
Total. 
Sold the manure annually for. 
.. $75.00 
..100.00 
. . 8.00 
.. 10.00 
.. 18.00 
.$211.00 
Net cost of the pair per year. 
Net cost of keeping a single horse per year. 
.$191.00 
.. 95.50 
During the whole 26 years I have never had 
a horse die, and in a majority of cases have re¬ 
ceived more than I originally paid, when I dis¬ 
posed of them. As a general thing I have 
driven my horses myself, and have been care¬ 
ful to see that they were well taken care of.” 
These accounts and estimates show very 
nearly the cost of horse keeping, at the differ¬ 
ent prices of provender specified. It is proper 
to add the interest on the cost of the horse, and 
the depreciation, where these items are omitted. 
Ten per cent will not more than cover the risk, 
and depreciation, taking the average. It would 
have added to the interest of these statements, 
if the weight of the horses had been named. It 
usually costs more to keep a heavy horse than 
a light one, and for many purposes the light 
horse is the better animal. This item of economy 
is generally neglected, but worth looking after. 
Unruly Milch Cows. 
It is no wonder that some cows are fractious, 
they are treated so roughly. Why kick, pound, 
and bawl at them? It only makes matters 
worse. It makes the timid ones shyer, and the 
spirited ones ill-natured. We urge kindness not 
only as a matter of humanity but of profit and 
patriotism—aye, profit to your heart, profit to 
your pocket, profit to your country. It is vain 
to try and whip or frighten a cow into quietness 
and docility. So treated, she dreads and hates 
to see the milk pail and stool coming, and will 
prepare herself for a battle. How can she stand 
patiently and give down her milk, while expect¬ 
ing to receive hard thumps ? 
Suppose her to be treated kindly—a little 
salt or some other relish given to her a few times, 
kind and soothing words spoken, and a little 
caressing made with the hand. If somewhat 
restless at first, keep your temper, and follow 
her up with daily kindness. The result will 
surely come. She will soon know what to ex¬ 
pect from her milker, and will show her likings 
by unmistakable signs. No person who can not 
control his passions, and speak low, and be al¬ 
ways gentle, should be allowed to milk a cow. 
It is of importance, too, to milk at regular hours. 
There should seldom be a change, of milkers. 
A successful dairyman once observed to an 
agricultural editor, that one of the secrets of his 
success lay in the kind treatment he gave his 
cows. They were driven to and from the wa¬ 
tering place, leisurely. No dogs were allowed 
to distress them. No hired man was suffered 
to beat or to scold at them; whoever did so, was 
discharged at once. The cows were well fed, 
and allowed to take then 1 own time in all their 
movements, especially in warm weather. Be- 
3,ng so treated, and milked regularly and clean, 
he believed that from fifty to a hundred more 
pounds of cheese could be made per season from 
each cow, than if they had been kicked and 
frightened, and otherwise roughly handled. * 
Diseases of Calves—Scours. 
At this season, the most common and often fa¬ 
tal disease of young animals—colts and lambs as 
well as calves—is the “ scours” or diarrhoea. It 
manifests itself in two forms, the white, and the 
yellow. The white scour, as the white is gener¬ 
ally called, is caused by indigestion and the de¬ 
composition of milk in the stomach; the yel¬ 
lows, by an excessive flow of bile. A heavy 
damp state of atmosphere is particularly con¬ 
ducive to the generation of this disease. In lo¬ 
calities where the land is either low, wet, or bad¬ 
ly drained, or subject to be flooded, the attacks 
are always characterized by greater severity. 
Some particular grasses, the changing of the 
pasturage of the mother from a dry upland to 
either young clover or to low meadows, the 
removing of the calf from the care of the mother 
to a strange cow, feeding the calf on stale scald¬ 
ed milk after the cream has been taken from it, 
without adding a corrective substitute for the 
essential principles so abstracted, all exercise 
an injurious influence on the health of the calf 
by causing relaxation of the bowels or scouring, 
which, if suffered to continue unchecked, will 
inevitably result in the loss of the animal; nor 
is exposure of young calves, and other animals, 
to wet or cold weather less fatal in consequences. 
Tuv. disease, if taken in time, is not of itself 
dangerous—death, in most cases, resulting from 
the extremely emaciated condition to which the 
system of the animal is reduced for the want of 
proper care, in due time. “ An ounce of pre¬ 
vention is worth a pound of cure;” therefore, the 
rearers of young stock should provide good, dry 
pens for their calves, especially those intended 
for the butcher, and, with respect to those set 
apart for rearing, they should, whenever the 
weather will permit, be tinned out during the 
day into a well shaded pasture, taking particular 
care to house them early —before the dew falls. 
The treatment of this disease, in its early stages, 
as a rule, is confined to very simple remedies; 
first, administer £ oz. of Epsom salts with a very 
small quantity of ground ginger, dissolved in a 
little fine flour gruel; by this means the stomach 
and intestines are cleared of all foreign or acrid 
matter. After allowing time for the medicine to 
operate, (8 to 10 hours,) give the following: Pre¬ 
pared chalk, 1 oz.; extract catecheu 2 drachms; 
opium powder, 1 drachm; peppermint water 
£ pint; one tablespoonful three times a day. It 
will rarely be necessary to continue the use of 
this mixture for more than two or three days. In 
cases of great prostration and debility, tonics 
and stimulants should be given without delay; 
in such instances give: tincture gentian, 1 oz.; 
essence of ginger, £ ounce; peppermint water, 
4 ounces; one tablespoonful twice a day. Dur¬ 
ing the time that the cases are under treatment, 
good, well boiled wheat flour gruel should be 
given twice a day. This will also often check in¬ 
cipient diarrhoea without the use of other medi¬ 
cines. # 
A “Commentary” on Roots. 
By Timothy Bunker Esq., Hookertown, Conn. 
“ I should like to know what upon airth you 
dew to your cattle to make ’em look so slick ?” 
said Jake Frink as he looked into my yard on a 
bright April morning. 
“Dew to ’em, you fool,” exclaimed Tucker, 
“he stuffs ’em with ilemeal, and corn, just as 
you would a sassage.” 
“I’m mighty glad I don’t have the bills to 
pay,” said Jones. “ That animal has cost fifty 
dollars this winter, I’ll bet a shad; and ’twouldn’t 
sell for that neow.” “ Don’t be so sure of that,” 
said Seth Twiggs, as he joined the company al 
the gate, and looked admiringly at Cherry, who 
had dropped her third calf a few days before. 
“ I am in want of a new milch cow, and will 
take her at that price without the calf.” 
“ You will have to add ten more to get her, I 
guess, even if I want to sell,” I remarked very 
quietly, as I showed a pail half full of milk after 
the calf had taken all he wanted to suck. “ But 
you see I never sell a new milch cow. Making 
butter and cheese is my business, and milk is 
my stock in trade. A shoemaker might as well 
sell his leather, or a tanner his hides, as a farm¬ 
er sell a new milch cow. The dairy fanner, 
who has his eye teeth cut, will sell cows only 
when they are well fattened, or at the close of 
the milking season.” 
“But s’pose he has mor’n he wants,” said 
Seth inquiringly, as he loaded his pipe. 
“He has no business to be in that fix,” I re¬ 
plied. He raises a given quantity of hay, and 
rough fodder, corn stalks, straw, pumpkins, 
roots, etc., and he ought to know just how 
much it will take to bring them out in good con¬ 
dition in the Spring. If he has only fodder 
enough for twenty head of cattle, he makes a 
great mistake if he keeps twenty one, and is 
foolish if he attempts to keep five and twenty. 
With food enough, he will make a profit on 
each; with too little, he will loose on every one.” 
“ 1 Loose every one,' you ought to have said,” 
