16 
[January, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
wlio are kept poor by keeping a lot of poor 
lrorses and keeping them so poorly that 'when 
wanted, though they lie idle one-third the time, 
they cannot do more than half a good day’s work, 
thus doubling the wages of the man that drives 
them, and otherwise entailing great loss by caus¬ 
ing the farmer to get behindhand with his work. 
Good horses, well kept, thoroughly groomed, 
and worked steadily, would save millions of 
dollars to the farmers of the United States. 
Fig. >.— WATER FOUNTAIN. 
Poultry-Yard Conveniences. 
This season is one of more or less leisure, and 
we may employ ourselves profitably in getting 
up convenient arrangements for our stables and 
poultry yards. Poultry yards are apt to lack 
good watering fixtures. Open troughs are 
scratched full of gravel and otherwise defiled. 
Small basins will not hold water long, and re¬ 
quire frequent refilling. We give an engraving, 
(figure 1,) of a large jug, which is filled with 
water.and inverted, the mouth being placed in 
a basin, which should be also previously filled. 
The jug is supported by a stool, having a hole in 
it, into which the jug will fit, while it cannot go 
through. It is most convenient to have the 
basin so small that it will go through the hole. 
Besides, the smaller the basin, the less liable it 
is to get dirty, and the less is the evaporation. 
Any potter can make such a “jug fountain” as 
is shown in figure 2, and similar ones may be 
bought at agricultural stores. When the jug is 
first shaped, a hole is made at the bottom, and 
a little basin formed and attached upon the out¬ 
side surrounding it. With a tight stopper, this 
the following expedient. A barrel is sawed into 
two tubs, and an earthen jug placed in one of 
the tubs, the bottom of the jug and that of the 
tub being in contact, or nearly so, and the 
mouth of the jug close to the rim of the tub. 
The jug may be fixed in position by a few 
sticks, nailed across the tub inside. The tub is 
then stuffed full of horse litter and manure, and 
strips nailed across the top to keep it in. When 
this is done we fill the jug with water, put in a 
cork, and invert tub and all. (See figure 3.) 
Then the cork is withdrawn at the same time 
that a small pan is slipped under. The pan re¬ 
mains full during the day, and, if set in the sun, 
will not freeze so much as a film of ice upon 
the surface, even out of doors, except on the 
severest days. At night the pan should be 
withdrawn, and the water allowed to flow out. 
A simple contrivance for feeding ducks and 
not allowing chickens to share their food, 
was shown us the other day at the yard 
of a subscriber, and we have had it engraved 
(fig. 4). The food was placed in a square, flat 
pan, in which a few bricks were laid, filling the 
middle of the pan, to prevent the food being 
shoved beyond the reach of the ducks. Then a 
box was turned over the pan and contents, and 
supported upon a brick at each corner. After 
a little experience the ducks learned to run 
their flexible necks under and fill themselves, 
while the disconsolate liens could get nothing. 
Ducks will increase rapidly in weight if they 
have all the soft food they can eat. The best 
place for them to pass the nights in winter is 
upon a fresh manure heap, under cover. 
If one wishes to feed chickens and not ducks, 
Mules for Farm Work. 
@«Si8t 
Fig. 4. — FEED BOX FOR DUCKS. 
holds the water until the fowls drink it all up. 
There is almost always some difficulty in 
keeping fowls supplied with water in cold wea- 
th«r. We have had no trouble since adopting 
Fig. 3.— WINTER WATER FOUNTAIN. 
a convenient way is to lay a board or two, to put 
the feed on, upon two barrels or wooden horses. 
A neat contrivance is shown in figure 5, for 
feeding fowls or chickens after they can fly. A 
hopper is placed within a box, two or more 
sides of which are of upright slats. The mouth 
of the hopper being very low, so 
that but little grain can flow out at 
a time. This is covered by a mov¬ 
able roof, and the whole is placed 
upon a table, the legs of which, if 
surrounded with tin for eight or ten 
inches, or other support, will secure 
the hopper aud its contents from 
the depredations of rats and mice. 
In figure C (upon the next page) 
we have represented a rustic, bark- 
roofed duck coop, which might be 
used either to confine an old duck 
and her brood at night, provided 
the slat-work was so close as to 
prevent the entrance of rats or 
weasles, or to confine a hen with a 
brood of ducklings, in which case 
the openings would need to be larger, and 
the coop would have to be shut up at night by 
a close front. There is more danger to young 
ducks from rats, than from any other cause. 
There is a growing interest among farmers in 
the Northern States in the subject of substitu¬ 
ting mules for horses, for the ordinary work of 
the farm and road. It seems to be universally 
conceded that they are much less subjected to 
disease and better able to withstand the ex¬ 
tremes of heat and cold than horses are. Their 
feet and legs are especially tough, and a lame 
Fig. 2.— WATER FOUNTAIN, 
mule is a rarity. Another idea in common 
about them, but which is erroneous, is that they 
require only scant rations of poor food and that 
they need but little care. It is true that they 
will keep alive on wonderfully little food ; and 
that grooming is less important for them than 
for the nobler animals; but not even a mule can 
make bricks without straw. With them as 
with horses, muscular action involves a destruc¬ 
tion of muscular tissue, and the loss must be sup¬ 
plied by the products of digestion. We have 
known a mule to eat a spoke out of the wheel 
of an army wagon and to make up for the want 
of forage by a diet of fence rails; but he did’nt 
grow fat on it and was very likely, after a few 
days of such regimen, to find his last resting- 
place in a ditch beside the road. 
If any farmer thinks to circumvent the laws 
of nature by getting a mule to do hard work on 
a diet of bulrushes and rye straw, he will miss 
his calculation. But if, on the contrary, he will 
deal out corn with a liberal hand, he can get 
an astonishing amount of hard work done six 
days in the week, fifty-two weeks in the year, 
for more years than he is likely to follow farm- 
Fig. 5.— FEEDING HOPPER FOR CHICKENS, 
ing; aud a vigorous and frequent application of 
the curry-comb and brush will produce the good 
result that a clean skin and a brisk circula¬ 
tion of the blood effect in all domestic animals. 
