360 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
country, are kept upon muck less grain than 
this, hut they do not look as we desire our 
horses should—fat, sleek and comfortable, and 
always ready for service. Carrots are very good 
for horses, and instead of feeding grain alone, an 
equal quantity of carrots may be substituted once 
a day with great benefit. Roots have a ten- 
dency to keep the bowels loose, and a horse 
will thrive better and look much better if carrots 
can form a portion of his food. An occasional 
“ bran mash ” is very good for the same purpose. 
To make it, scald four to six quarts of shorts, 
add a little salt, and feed after it has cooled 
sufficiently. Horses should be watered regu¬ 
larly, at least three times per day; our rule is, 
water after eating in the morning, before eating 
at noon, and before eating at night. 
[The address of the writer of the above, has been mis¬ 
laid. It is part of an essay in competition for prizes.— Ed.] 
From a Farmer in Iowa. 
Raising Hogs by Wholesale. 
The Prize Article on “ Raising and Fattening 
Swine” published in the American Agriculturist for 
August, p. 235, is very good for operating on a 
small scale. But, as it is here, where from 50 to 
1000 head are raised by farmers annually, how 
can stys be built for them ? The lumber and'nails 
for such a purpose can not be .afforded; Now 
I am not advocating feeding hogs in their wal¬ 
low, not by any means, nor letting them lie 
without shelter. But these things can be pro¬ 
vided cheaper than by building stys. The writer 
of the prize article discards the idea of giving 
swine any freedom. I have found that in no 
way can a drove of hogs be advanced so fast 
through the Summer, (i.e., taking into account 
the expense, the health of the animals, and the 
quality of the pork,) as by turning them into a 
field of rye in the Spring (sowed the Fall before). 
That will last them until a crop of oats can be 
grown. Then turn them into that field, or if you 
please, on a good crop of clover and timothy, 
in place of the oats. Give them such alot, with 
access to plenty of good water, and if you have 
plenty of corn, a small feed each morning won’t 
hurt them. Let them run thus until October, 
then shut them up and feed on scalded meal or 
corn. In this way I venture to say that by 
Jan. 1st, I’ll have a heavier • lot of hogs, (with 
just as good meat) than the man who keeps 
liis pigs in stys, while mine will cost at least 25 
per cent, less than his, to say nothing of the 
trouble of feeding through the Summer. I do not 
speak at random in regard to these things, for 
I’ve seen both ways tried. Iowa Subscriber. 
A Comfortable. Bed for Animals. 
What man or beast does not enjoy it? Every 
wild animal, from the lordly lion to the insig¬ 
nificant mouse, bestows careful pains upon its 
nesting place. The universal instinct which 
prompts this ease, indicates that it is a matter 
of no small importance in the physical econo¬ 
my. About one-third of an animal’s whole life 
is passed in resting, and nature intended that 
during this time its condition should be most 
favorable for restoring and building up the or¬ 
ganization. In the care of domestic animals, 
kept for profit, this point is worthy of special 
attention. Comfortable bedding directly favors 
the increase of fat and muscle.by helping to re¬ 
tain the animal heat, and also by adding to 
quiet and comfort. In this way a bundle of 
straw upon the outside may be equivalent to. a 
feed of grain inside. Horses are usually well 
cared for in this respect, with a view to keep 
their muscles in good order, as every tyro must 
know that sleeping upon a hard board will 
scarcely give pliancy to the limbs. But good 
bedding is of little less benefit to cattle. If it 
be doubted, experiment for two weeks with 
milch cows; give them comfortable litter the 
first week, and allow them to lie upon the fro¬ 
zen ground the second, then note the difference 
recorded in the milk pail; it will be very great. 
Straw and refuse hay are generally used, and 
are well suited for bedding. Cutting into 
lengths of say six inches, has some advantages, 
though it would hardly pay if required to be 
cut by hand. Where these can not be had 
cheaply, as is often the case in villages, an ex¬ 
cellent substitute maybe found in leaves. They 
possess one advantage over straw, in making 
the very best manure for gardening, when mixed 
with animal excrements. Spent tan bark, well 
dried, is another good substitute, also valuable 
as a mulch. A layer of dried muck, six inches 
thick, serves a good purpose for bedding. It 
is a most excellent absorbent, and will remain 
in good condition for some time without being 
changed. When well saturated'it is just the ar¬ 
ticle for the garden or the field. With proper 
care in furnishing abundant bedding for stock, 
a large accession to the manure heap will be 
made, sufficient of itself to pay for the trouble. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Mules Valuable for Farm Work. 
If any body wishes the mule for a saddle- 
beast, he is welcome to his choice, and he will 
have good company and good examples before 
him. In Persia, Syria, Spain, Italy, and indeed 
in nearly all semi-tropical countries, these ani¬ 
mals are often used for riding. For rough, 
mountainous regions, they are invaluable, being 
so sure-footed. By a little training,' too, they 
can be brought into a very agreeable gait. A 
foreign writer says: “ In Bagdad, most of the 
learned and holy professions prefer the ass, as 
do all the ladies. They are of a particular 
breed, and often bring fifty pounds sterling, 
($250). The favorite color is spotless white; 
they are magnificently caparisoned, and have 
their nostrils slit, which is said to make them 
long-winded. Surely, their wind is long enough 
when they bray! The bray is not much ad¬ 
mired, generally, but the author of a scarce 
tract on the nobleness of the ass, (1595,) after 
giving us all its sweet notes, concludes by de¬ 
claring that the continued braying of five or 
six asses forms a melodious kind of music, 1 a 
song of world without end.’ ” 
But it is with mules, as draft animals, that 
we have now especially to do. They are some¬ 
times from fourteen to sixteen hands high. They 
are stronger, surer-footed, and more durable 
than common horses. They are subject to com¬ 
paratively few diseases. The expense of shoe¬ 
ing them is slight. They will live and thrive 
upon one-third less than horses, and eat content¬ 
edly the cheapest and coarsest kinds of food. 
Yet, it is a little remarkable that the ass is quite 
fastidious about his drink, preferring only per¬ 
fectly pure water. Hence the meaning of a 
passage in an ancient classic: “ Thersites, would 
that-the fountain of your mind were clear again, 
that I might water an ass at it.” 
Much has been said about the obstinacy, stu¬ 
pidity, and viciousness of the mule. But wheth¬ 
er these alleged vices are not owing chiefly to 
the ill-usage he gets, is perhaps an open ques¬ 
tion. Mules are seldom known to die, or to be¬ 
come old; we never yet met with one called 
much over ten years of age! At least, their 
age is seldom thought of in purchasing; for 
they are serviceable for thirty years or more. 
We are glad to see that they are being used 
more and more for farm work. Non Equus. 
Harness for Oxen. 
In reply to an inquiry about harnessing 
oxen, in the October American Agriculturist , I 
send an account of what I have seen. For 
more than a generation the people of Sel-' 
kirk settlement, 500 miles or so Northwest 
from Saint Paul, have used one-ox carts, 
the ox being harnessed between shafts, as 
nearly after the manner of horse harnessing 
as the shape of the animal will admit. The 
carts are of very rude construction, no iron 
entering into their composition, and no lubri¬ 
cator being used, and yet each ox transports a 
load of 800 pounds from Selkirk settlement to 
St. Paul, at the rate of 20 miles or more per day. 
They usually go in long trains, 80 or 100 carts, 
and the creaking of the ungreased axles, wood 
running in wood, can be heard for miles. With¬ 
in two weeks past there has arrived in Denver, 
from Council Bluffs, a train of 12 carts on the 
same plan, but built in the best manner, with 
thimble-skeins, each cart bringing through 1200 
pounds. This is much better than can be done 
with 4-wheeled wagons, for in that way. 4000 is 
all that three yoke: of good cattle can manage. 
Colorado Territory. E. K. WOODBURY. 
Wintering' Bees in a House. 
The method of wintering bees practised 
by Mr. Hogan of Dupage Co., Ill., is thus de¬ 
scribed in the Prairie Farmer : He builds a 
house of suitable size to contain his stocks, 
Something like an ice-house, of joists, clapboard¬ 
ing the outside and lining the inside with match¬ 
ed siding, leaving a space of four inches all 
around. This is filled with chaff (spent tan- 
bark would do as well), and the hives are ranged 
four tiers high all around the inside. To venti¬ 
late it, he constructs an air tube from the out¬ 
side under ground to the center of the house, 
where it is admitted through a perforated board 
or plate of metal. At the top a passage is made 
for the heated air to escape. The whole is ar¬ 
ranged to exclude every particle of light. The 
hives are left open as in the Summer. The heat 
generated by the bees is sufficient to keep the 
air warm enough for their safety and comfort. 
[Some thirty years ago a farmer of our ac¬ 
quaintance in western New-York, built a house 
very similar to the above, using lath and plaster 
inside, instead of the double walls. His bees 
had been prosperous previously, in straw hives 
set on rude stands, and protected on the back 
and above with boards. He moved his ninety 
hives into the new house, and for a short time 
they did well. But they soon began to' rob 
each other; the moths got in, but they were 
carefully cleared out several times; the bees 
gradually died off from some undiscovered 
cause, and the third year only half a dozen 
swarms remained alive. These were put back 
into the old position, where they maintained 
their own for three years longer, when the whole 
died out. The high hopes of the farmer of suc¬ 
cess m bee-keeping were dashed to the ground. 
He made his bee-house an addition to his dwell¬ 
ing, and until his degtli always insisted that 
though fond of queens, bees were too democratic 
to thrive in a fine house.— Ed. Am. Agriculturist.] 
