300 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
soon as unharnessed, go to the trough and 
imbibe from one to three buckets without 
any bad effect. Some horses need more 
water than others ; the kind of work, the 
temperature of the atmosphere, and the na¬ 
ture of the food, whether it be wet or dry, 
all tend to diversify an animal’s want. The 
domesticated horse requires a bountiful sup¬ 
ply of good water ; his body is composed of 
seventy-live per cent, of the same, and he 
can no more exist without it than he can 
without food. 
Consider for a moment the condition of 
the people of this city during the present 
sultry season; thirst almost amounts to a 
disease ; to allay the same, they are con¬ 
tinually imbibing water, rendered cold, hot, 
sour, sweet or alkaline, just as fancy dic¬ 
tates, or as fashion prevails ; cold ices and 
other fixings are called into requisition to 
smother the fire of thirst that rages within; 
everybody partakes freely, the young and 
the aged, the exhausted and vigorous, the 
laborer, exhausted by a hard day’s work, 
and the rich man, of no work, each and all 
are doing their best to see the bottom of the 
pitcher, and to pitch their bodies into the 
watery element; yet, after all, how’Tew 
persons complain of any bad effects from 
the same. 
Enquire into the history of some of the 
acute maladies that are supposed to arise 
from water-drinking, and it will be found 
that many of the sufferers have a peculiarity 
of constitution which renders them amena¬ 
ble to the laws of primogenial disease, 
which, although latent under ordinary cir¬ 
cumstances, can, by disturbing the life 
forces through neglect, cruelty and over¬ 
work, be developed at almost any time of 
life. 
At this stage, our argument as regards 
what water “ will not do,” ends. We have 
at the commencement admitted that under 
certain circumstances, if a horse be permit¬ 
ted to imbibe too much, it may injure him, 
but this is rather a faulty assumption, be¬ 
cause no one can ever determine the pre¬ 
cise quantity suitable to meet the wants of 
all animals, and therefore the assumption 
falls to the ground. We shall bring this 
article to a termination by offering a few 
practical observations on watering horses. 
Horses should, in warm weather, be wa¬ 
tered often, say two to three quarts every 
three or four hours, provided the horse be 
at work; should he be in a cool stable en¬ 
joying a sort of lazy life, he will require 
less, and three times per day will be often 
enough to supply his wants. 
“Strange water," as it is termed, is not 
good for horses; yet, when given in small 
quantities at a time, seldom, if ever, does 
harm. 
Stagnant and filthy water is always more 
or less injurious, and should never be offered 
to so noble an animal as a horse. 
On the road, a horse may be watered 
often, provided he have but a small quantity 
at a time ; if he obtain more, it occupies 
space in the abdominal cavity, and in rapid 
motion interferes with the physiological 
action of important viscera. 
Watering immediately after a full meal is 
a practice highly censurable; for at such 
times water retards digestion, and the food, 
instead of being digested, is apt to undergo 
a process of fermentation.—[Ed. American 
Veterinary Journal. 
ABOUT FATTENING IIOGS. 
We have written so much on this subject 
that we can hardly say a word now that will 
not savor of repetition. To our new read¬ 
ers we say in brief. 
First—Let the fattening of swine be at¬ 
tended to early. When cold weather comes, 
a large amount of food is required to 
keep up the warmth of the animal, which in 
milder weather would be converted into lard. 
This rule holds good in fattening any ani¬ 
mal. So also a warm pen and but little ex¬ 
ercise will promote the accumulation of fat. 
Second.—Keep the pens clean. We have 
reasons, from experience as well as theory, 
for saying that hogs will flesh up much fast¬ 
er on the same amount of food in a cleanly 
pen than in one kept in a filthy condition. 
Third.—Feed the coarser kinds of food 
first, such as mast, peas, barley, &c. These 
give bulk to the animal. Finish off with 
corn, which contains a larger supply of oil or 
fat producing elements. This food rapidly 
fills with fat the chinks of the large frame 
grown on the coarse food. The following 
humorous article from the Rural New-York¬ 
er, contains several valuable suggestions, 
such as we have often inculcated, done up in 
a lively style. 
The first requirement to success in this 
department of farm economy is—a good ana¬ 
tomical structure on which to build the flesh. 
Razor breeds shave their owners and the 
community at large. Long-legged, slab- 
sided animals may answer for the purpose 
of “ making good time ” on the way to the 
trough, but for filling pork barrels they are 
totally inadequate. If a farmer has no other 
cribs in which to place his corn, two or three 
pigs of this description will allay any anxie¬ 
ty on that score. Furthermore, the only ears 
to which a hog should run, are ears of corn, 
these appendages may give to the donkey a 
grave look—but on a pig! Good breeders 
deliver us! 
Having briefly stated what we do not want 
we may as well give our beau ideal—there 
is a beau ideal in the form of a pig —and we 
doubt not it would be an object of as intense 
interest, when well portrayed by the brush 
or the chisel, as anything in the higher walks 
of art. First, swine should be small boned, 
and compact; the back uniformly broad and 
rounded along the whole body. The touch 
on the back firm but springy ; legs short; 
loin and breast broad ; neck short, thick and 
deep ; cheeks rounded and well filled out; 
face not dishing but straight; nose fine ; 
eyes bright; ears well set, thin and soft to 
touch; head small in proportion to body. 
This is a description when fat—and can only 
be manufactured by getting the right mate¬ 
rial to construct it with. Get a pig of this 
formation—call the breed what you like—and 
you will have profitable porkers. 
The pig is omnivorous—will eat any¬ 
thing and everything that is edible. Regu¬ 
larity is the prime object. Give them their 
meals at stated periods—not fill them one 
day and starve them the next. We have 
read of those who followed the last men¬ 
tioned plan but it was for a purpose—to “ get 
a streak of lean and a streak of fat,” and one 
thing their hearts desired they got—the lean 
streak. Judgment ought to be used in this 
matter. A hog can squeal off an ounce or 
two of fat in a short time. Those having a 
taste for that kind of music may indulge, 
“ we’ll nono of it.” Give them no more 
food than they will readily eat from the 
trough, over feeding is almost as much of an 
error as too little. Clean water will be an 
acquisition to the sty—if a running stream 
could be conducted into their feeding quar¬ 
ters they would derive much benefit there¬ 
from. 
Let there be a variety of food, at least in 
the early stages of fattening. Corn, pota¬ 
toes, peas, beans, parsnips, pumpkins, car¬ 
rots, cabbage, turnips; etc., will all be found 
useful. In feeding roots it will be well to 
mix two or more varieties—pigs are some¬ 
times dainty in taste—what one relishes 
another may not care about. 
If you have any number of swine a steam 
ing apparatus will be found both convenient 
and economical. It prepares the food to be 
more readily acted upon by the digestive 
organs, and whatever will tend to this ob 
ject, diminishes the necessity of an expendi¬ 
ture of vital force to its accomplishment, and 
of necessity enables the animal to thrive 
more rapidly upon a certain quantity. Let 
the food be given warm—at the tempera¬ 
ture of the body. Cold or frozen food in 
cold weather must, from the nature of things, 
be attended by a loss of energy and vitality 
on the part of the animal to which it is fed. 
Their bed, as well as board, is a matter of 
consideration. Plenty of straw or coarse 
hay should be given them. It will pay bet¬ 
ter in the pig-pen than to sell it in the 
market. 
Keep your pigs clean. Pigs as well as 
children will exhibit their bringing up. Un¬ 
clean swine are the victims of a perverted 
taste—nature never made them thus. “ As 
dirty as a hog ” is an epithet often applied 
to those Slovenish in matter and manners, 
and inferences may be rightly drawn when 
hogs en masse "are included—but as far as 
yours are concerned if it means anything, let 
it be that a man as clean as your swine 
would be a respectable looking individual. 
A hog whose rearing has been what it 
should, will never forget his education, will 
always walk in the way he should go, and 
on points of principle will oft-times shame 
his possessor. __ 
An old miser owning a farm, found it im¬ 
possible to do his work without assistance 
and accordingly offered any man food for 
performing the requisite labor. A half 
starved man hearing of the terms accepted 
them. Before going into the fields in the 
morning, he invited his help to breakfast; 
after finishing the morning meal, the old 
skin-flint thought it a saving of time if they 
