138 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
g^ r- 
moved. In working upon hard roads the feet are 
jarred, and the blows come upon the bone which 
bears the whole weight of the quarter of the horse. 
The membrane which surrounds this bone is in¬ 
flamed, and the horse shrinks when the foot is put 
on to the ground. The cure is hopeless, because the 
seat of the disease cannot be reached. The only 
hope is in rest and cooling physic. To preveut 
this disease, the frog and sole should be kept in 
their natural condition, and high heel caulks should 
be avoided. The Goodenough shoe properly fitted 
is a sure preventive of it. 
-a,- —b»co~—k.- 
A Spout for a Grain or Other Bin. 
The safest place for grain or feed is on the floor 
above the stable. When stored there, no loose ani¬ 
mal can get access to it 
and gorge itself danger¬ 
ously, and more space 
is left in the feed-room. 
If the bin or bins are 
on the upper floor, the 
supply may still be 
drawn on the lower 
floor by using the spout 
here described. This 
may be connected with 
several bins by making 
divisions in it, and pro¬ 
viding separate recep¬ 
tacles below. The feed 
or grain from the bins 
above rests in the re¬ 
servoir below, which is 
always partly full, but 
can never overflow. 
From this it can bo 
measured out by means 
of the measuring box, 
described in the American Agriculturist for Janu¬ 
ary last, p. 16; this holds 3 3 / 10 quarts or 4>/ 2 pounds, 
which is an ordinary feed. This box may be hung up¬ 
on the spout as sliowu in the engraving. Such ar¬ 
rangements as this cost but little, but save much 
room, add much to the neatness and convenience of 
the stable or barns, and are very economical in use. 
Over-feeding Fine Stock for Show. 
ET A. B. ALLEN. 
It is astonishing that breeders will be so foolish 
as to still continue the practice of stuffing, to their 
utter ruin, valuable animals from their flocks and 
herds, simply for the purpose of outsliowing each 
other in monstrous fat at the Agricultural Fairs. 
See, for example, what destruction has resulted for 
years past from this cause in the noble tribes of 
Bates’ and Booth’s Short-horn cattle. It is not sur¬ 
prising that many have died under this practice; 
the only wonder is that a single animal of them has 
survived it, and is still left with sufficient stamina 
to propagate its species. In a late issue, the Lon¬ 
don Agricultural Gazette observes that this lament¬ 
able destruction is going on in other superior fami¬ 
lies of Short-horns, and also in other breeds of cat¬ 
tle, for it says: “ Mr. Outliwaite has lost his cele¬ 
brated cow Vivandiere. She and her calf have 
both died during protracted labor. The North 
British Agriculturist of last week enumerates the 
disasters which have of late befallen prize animals. 
Among them, Mr. Kennard’s Queen Mary, which 
has lost her calf; Mr. A. II. Browne’s-Duke of 
Aosta, winner of many prizes, including the first at 
each of the three national meetings in England, 
Scotland, and Ireland, last season; Lady Pigot’s 
Victoria Victrix, Rose of Wytham, and Moorish 
Captive, all of them ‘ Royal’ winners; the Duke of 
Buccleueh’s prize winning Ayrshire cow ; and Mr. 
Scott’s fine polled Angus bull, Bluebeard. We 
rather suspect, says the Gazette, that the unnatural 
state of feeding in which show-yard animals now-a- 
days appear, has had not a little to do with the 
death of some, if not all the animals particular¬ 
ized.” 
Yes, indeed, you may “rather” more than “ sus¬ 
pect” this, for it is a terrible fact, and no mistake 
about it. I well recollect when present at one of 
the Royal Agricultural Cattle Shows in England, of 
expressing astonishment to a celebrated breeder 
there, that he should sell a lot of his prize animals 
to a competitor. “Why,” I exclaimed, “in a few 
years he will be exhibiting here against you, and 
beat you with the produce of your own weapons.” 
lie gave me a nudge with his hand and a sly wink 
from his eye, and at the same time drily remarked : 
“ Never fear that. These animals have been fed too 
high to make good breeders; the purchaser of 
them can never beat me at a cattle show with their 
offspring.” 
And, still, with such a lesson before us, we 
Americans are so foolish as to continue importing 
prize stock from abroad, and boast of it to the pub¬ 
lic, thinking thereby to be able to sell their produce 
at a much higher price, than such as come from 
animals that have not gone through the injurious 
process of over-feeding, in order to make a foolish 
show of their fine points. 
--» --a©———- «■- 
A Frost Proof or Cool Cellar. 
A correspondent proposes to build a cellar, sep¬ 
arate from other buildings, which shall be frost 
proof in winter and cool in summer, and that will 
be also well ventilated. He proposes to excavate 
four feet deep for the cellar, build the walls of 
stone, with an arched roof of brick, covering the 
arch with four feet of earth, and sod over the earth ; 
in the center of the roof he would place a well with 
a glazed sash at the top and bottom for the purposes 
of light and ventilation. He asks how we would 
modify or improve this. We srrggest that in order 
for such a cellar to retain an even temperature 
in winter and summer, there ought to be some 
other protection than the covering of earth, such as 
is suggested in the accompanying engraving. This 
shows an air space between the arch and the cover¬ 
ing of earth, which might be made by laying three 
scantlings or joists lengthwise of the roof and cov¬ 
ering them with boards, and battens to close the 
joints. There would then be anon-conducting air 
space of several inches which would prevent the 
roof from becoming sufficiently cool to cause a frost 
deposite upon the inside of the cellar in extreme¬ 
ly cold weather, which is not at all unusual. The 
moisture would then be deposited upon the boards 
instead of the ceiling of the cellar. To remove the 
dampness thus gathered upon the boards, the gable 
ends of the cellar should have ventilators opening 
into this air space at both the front and the rear; 
these could be opened in the summer time, and 
cause a draft of air through it. This would tend 
greatly to cool the roof in hot weather as well as re¬ 
move the dampness in the space and prevent the 
boards from decaying. The lower sash in the well 
should be hinged at one side so that it can be 
raised by means of a cord and pulley and a weight, 
as shown in the engraving. The ventilators in the 
upper part of the well might be made in the front 
and rear, so that one or the other could be opened 
from without when needed. This will prevent 
dust from blowing in during windy weather, as 
the opening on the windward side can be closed 
at such times. For summer use a covering should 
be placed over the upper sash to exclude the sun’s 
rays, which will materially raise the temperature 
within the cellar. Such a cellar as this would oper¬ 
GRAIN SPOUT. 
ate very well for a dairy, and make unnecessary the 
use of ice, with its accompanying dampness and 
sloppiness, to say nothing of the cost and labor. 
Water on Prairie Farms. 
One of the frequent inconveniences of a prairie 
farm is the lack of a permanent supply of water 
for the stock ; a want which causes the loss of mil¬ 
lions of dollars yearly through diseases and deaths of 
animals. Bad water, such as is necessarily con¬ 
tained in ponds and sloughs to whieh stock have 
access in summer, is dangerous in itself, but when 
it is rendered impure by the evacuations of sick 
animals, it is still worse, and will communicate dis¬ 
ease to any healthy animal that may drink of it. 
Such water has really become a deadly poison, 
which will infect any stream into which it may 
happen to overflow at a rainy time, and thus carry 
its deleterious matter to many other farms. There 
can be hardly a doubt that the origin of splenic 
fever, black-leg, and hog cholera, in some western 
localities, is due to the use of unwholesome water, 
and their rapid spread to the poisoning of the ponds 
and streams by the droppings of the stricken ani¬ 
mals. The water of sloughs is in many places the 
entire dependence of western farmers, and many 
eastern farmers depend in part upon pond water. 
If some means were provided for keeping this water 
pure by removing it from the reach of all unwhole¬ 
some influences, and supplying it to the stock in 
such a way that they could neither foul it nor waste 
it, much good might be done. A correspondent, 
W. B. Parkyn, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, sends us his 
method of doing this, which seems to be well 
worthy of consideration. He says : “ Last August, 
SECTION SHOWING WELL AND SPOUT. 
during a dry spell, my well in the pasture got very 
low, and I had to contrive some plan to furnish 
more water for the stock; I went to the head of a 
slough above the pasture, dug a w r ell, and a ditch 
from the bottom of it out in the pasture. The well 
in the meadow is six rods above the pasture. I dug 
the well and ditch at the same time, so that the 
water would run off and not obstruct the digging; 
the well is 8 feet deep ; ditch 12 rods long ; the well 
is a foot deeper than the upper end of the ditch, 
which I dug as narrow as possible, and yet work 
in it. The well is curbed up with the best pine 
fencing. The curbing is one foot above the sur¬ 
face, so that dirt cannot wash into it. The pipe, 
or spouting, leading from the well down the ditch 
into a large trough in the pasture, is made of the 
same quality of fencing, ripped into pieces 2 and 4 
inches wide, which makes a spout 2 inches square 
on the inside. The pieces of spouting are 16 feet 
long, the ends are mitered together and fastened 
with white lead. A small piece of board is im¬ 
bedded in the mud under each joint. After the 
spouting was all completed, and the water running 
a steady stream (faster than one cow could drink), 
1 filled up the ditch by the use of a team and scraper, 
scattered some grass seed on the earth, put a tight 
platform on the well, and the job was completed 
with about one week’s work of my own hands. This 
was done in August, 1875, and 1 have not pumped 
a stroke for my stock in the pasture since, but there 
has been a continuous stream running ail the time 
in the trough. The trough is about one foot below 
the surface of the ground, I think this is better on 
account of not freezing. The ground on the cast 
side of the trough is scraped out so the cattle have 
easy access to the water. A shallow ditch carries 
the water off from the lower end of the trough, I 
consider this the best improvement I ever made on 
my farm. I think I cau safely say that more stock 
in my neighborhood has been lost by getting into 
open slough wells, than would pay for such a water 
supply as this on every farm around here,” 
