[August, 
296 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
sheep, and those that were affected we drew out, 
and put in a field by themselves. These we 
dressed again the next day, and the others in 
two or three days. We cured every sheep, and 
banished footrot from the flock.” 
“What did you dress them with?” I asked, 
“ though I suppose tliat is not the essential 
point.”° “No,” he replied, “the point is to 
dress the whole flock, whether they have the 
footrot or not, and another essential point is to 
pare off the hoof, so as to lay bare all the af¬ 
fected parts. Nothing can cure the footrot 
without this being done. I used blue vitriol 
ground into powder, and made into a salve with 
tallow ; and if the weather is very hot, use bees¬ 
wax instead of tallow. Rub this salve between 
the claws with your finger, and all over the 
foot, being careful that no part escapes. Those 
affected are treated in the same way, only that 
more pains are necessary to get the salve in di¬ 
rect contact with all the diseased parts. Two, 
or at most three, dressings will effect a cure.” 
How to Replace a Horse’s Shoe. 
Much time is often lost at inconvenient seasons 
because a shoe needs replacing, and every thing 
must stop while a journey is made to the black¬ 
smith’s. If one of the boys could nail on a 
shoe, without endangering the safety of the 
horse’s foot, this loss of time might be avoided. 
To replace or fasten a shoe that has just been 
cast, or is about to be, the following tools are 
required : A light hammer, a piece of iron on 
which to trim the nails, or clinch them (an old 
hammer-head of two or three pounds’ weight is 
good), a pair of pincers, a thin, long- 
punch, and some horseshoe nails. 
These nails should be kept ready 
prepared; the preparation con¬ 
sists in beating out the point sharp 
enough to penetrate easily, and 
giving it a little bend; also trim¬ 
ming the head. Figure 1 shows the 
common nail, and fig. 2 the same 
made ready for use. The hammer 
must be only a little heavier than 
a tack hammer, or it will bend, 
and not drive the nail, and it must 
be used with light, sharp blows. 
Let us commence now to put on 
a shoe. The old one is to he removed, if not al¬ 
ready off,and the old nails drawn out; if any frag¬ 
ments remain, drive them out with the punch. 
This is important; apiece left in might work 
through, the crust into the foot, and lame the 
horse, and he would then have the founder, or a 
sprain, or be lamed in the stifle, and it might be 
recommended to blister him, or to fire him, or to 
Figs. 1 and 2. 
Fig. 3. —RIGHT. 
Fig. 4. —WRONG. 
torture liim in many ways; all of which may 
be avoided, if care he taken not to leave pieces 
of nails in his hoof. Then take.the horse’s foot 
between the knees; place the shoe, and set a 
nail so that the turned point will pass out¬ 
wardly, an inch and a half at least, above the 
edge of the shoe; hold the fingers on the hoof, 
where the nail should come through, and if it 
does not come out just right, draw it and try 
again ; don’t drive it too far before stopping. 
There is no danger of hurting the horse, if you 
stop in time; and after one or two trials, you 
will hit the exact spot; practice will soon teach. 
Avoid driving any nail too 
low down; they should all 
come out evenly. If one is 
driven too low, a piece of the 
hoof will either split off at 
once, or it will break off soon. 
Figure 3 shows how the nails 
ought to be placed, while fig¬ 
ure 4 shows them badly placed, 
but as they may very often be seen. As the 
nails are driven through, turn them down until 
all are in ; then, with the pincers, nip them off 
an eighth of an inch from the hoof. Put 
the iron block under the head of a nail (first 
turning round and taking the horse’s foot in the 
lap over one thigh), turn the point downwards, 
and clinch it into the hoof; proceed thus all 
around, and the job is finished. The horse may 
now go to work, and that shoe will last until 
there is an opportunity for the blacksmith. 
A Fruit Ladder, 
In previous numbers we have given designs 
for ladders which are self-supporting, aud allow 
ORCHARD-LADDER. 
one to gather the fruit without resting at all 
upon the tree. We now illustrate a very 
simple ladder, which may be used upon old 
trees, and is much to be preferred to the or¬ 
dinary form, as it may be set among the limbs 
without injuring the branches, or knocking off 
the fruit spurs. It is light and portable, and so 
simple, that the engraving does not need any 
explanation. All choice fruit should be hand¬ 
picked, and it is best to use a deep fruit basket, 
with a hook attached to the handle, to allow it 
to be suspended from a limb, in a convenient 
position. A deep basket is not liable to be upset 
by being unequally balanced. » 
----—- 
A Fumigator for Plants and Poultry. 
Mr. A. M. Halstead brings us a drawing of an 
implement, which he finds very convenient 
where tobacco fumigation is to be applied local¬ 
ly: A is a cylinder, made of tin, 7'/ a inches 
long, by I 1 /, in diameter; a a, is another cylin¬ 
der, 2 inches diameter, 8 inches long, placed 
outside the first, and the space p' p between 
the two filled with plaster. A is a cap, or 
cover, fitting over the open end of the cylinder, 
likewise having Va inch thickness of plaster, 
kept in place by an inner disk ©f tin. Through 
this passes a tube (G), connecting with I , which 
is an India-rubber bulb, such as is used for syr¬ 
inges. D is a spout, extending 4 inches beyond 
the outside of the cylinder, the outer orifice be¬ 
ing about y 8 inch in diameter. H is the handle. 
The inner cylinder, A, is filled, or partially so. 
with tobacco ; a coal of fire dropped in, and the 
cap put on. This cap must fit tight. The bulb 
I" is then worked with the hand, and forces the 
smoke from the spout in a dense jet. In smok¬ 
ing house-plants.I take a large-sized paper bag, 
inflate it, and place it over one or more plants; 
fill the bag with smoke, and let it remain so for 
a few' minutes. Insect life is by this treatment 
speedily and thoroughly extinguished. 
For poultry, visit the lieu-house, after the 
fowls have gone to roost, and, inserting the 
nose, or spout, of the fuinigator under the feath¬ 
ers, in all parts of the body, puff the smoke 
through them, only being careful not to let the 
fowl inhale it, as it may produce insensibility. 
For sitting hens—inject the smoke into the 
feathers, and also into the straw or hay, and 
the cracks of the nests. I have cleansed nests 
by this mode, that w’ere fairly.alive with lice, 
either killing them, or driving them away. 
..— --►—«*- 
Salt-Marsh Mud as a Fertilizer. 
The application of salt-marsh mud as a top¬ 
dressing for grass land, undertaken hy J. D. 
Fish, of Stonington, Connecticut, has proved 
so satisfactory, that it is to be renewed again 
the present season. A steam-digger was used 
in the fall of 1869, and a large quantity was re¬ 
moved from the bottom of a salt-marsh pond 
to the adjoining meadows. It was dumped 
directly from the bucket of the digger into the 
cart, and drawn off by teams, and dropped in 
heaps where it was to be spread. It cost about 
60 cents a load of a ton and a half. Beneficial 
results soon appeared upon the grass where it 
was spread. The first crop, it w r as estimated, 
was increased a third, or more, by the applica¬ 
tion. This May the effect was still more 
marked, and the contrast between this meadow, 
and the adjoining lands not treated with this 
fertilizer, is very striking. The line where the 
dressing stopped, is very distinct. All over the 
meadow the grasses are well set; the white and 
red clover have come in abundantly, and the 
lierd’s-grass is well rooted. A few acres of bet¬ 
ter land and grass were treated the same 
season with a dressing of rock-weed, which is 
considered one of the best fertilizers drawn from 
the sea. About the same value in money per acre 
was put in the rock-weed as in the salt-marsh 
mud. The yield of the land dressed with the 
weed was much less the first season, and this 
spring there is four times the grass upon the 
land dressed with the mud. It is estimated that 
a heavy dressing of stable manure, costing twice 
as much, would not have put the land in so 
good condition as it now is. If the season is 
