1876.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
255 
miles is the perfectly safe limit. When off forag¬ 
ing, if they come upon familiar ground, they will 
go back to their old home, and only strengthen 
some of the stocks still upon the ground. 
Milk-Fever in Cows. 
We have h;ul some excellent cows die of milk- 
fever in this vicinity within two or three years. All 
were butter cows. I am strongly inclined to the 
opinion that this disease, which I suppose is fatal 
in 50 per cent of the cases which occur, if not in 
more, is a malady having its seat in those fat-se¬ 
creting cells which produce the butter globules. 
It seems almost as if there were this ever present 
danger to rich milkers, which places a limit upon 
the excessive production of butter. I have prac¬ 
ticed for years upon the theory that a cow could 
hardly be in too good flesh to come to calving, and so 
after the milk was dried, used to begin feeding, and 
have never had a case of fever. 1 would do the 
same now with common cows, with grade Short¬ 
horns or Ayrshires, or Devons, or Dutch cows, or 
with any full bloods which do not yield particularly 
rich milk, but not with Jerseys or Guernseys, for 
many of these possess such a tendeucy to butter- 
production, that the risk would be too great. The 
ordinary cow calving in thin flesh, is weeks or even 
months in coming up to her normal condition, in 
quality of milk and in flesh ; if well fed before she 
calves, and especially if really fat, she gradually 
“ milks down ” as to flesh, as the term is, but gives 
back every ounce of meal in butter. It seems as 
if it was the conversion of this fat, already stored 
in the system, into butter, which gives rise to the 
fever, perhaps because it takes place, or begins to 
take place abundantly, as soon as the new milk 
begins, or should begin to flow, when the glands are 
in the most sensitive condition. Fortunately heifers 
with their first calves are free from danger from 
milk-fever, for this reason we may, I assume, always 
know if a cow is likely to have it, for she is in dan¬ 
ger if she be a very rich milker—a real butter cow. 
Such a one must be kept thin until after calving; 
then, or after ten days, she may be fed liberally, 
and upon the richest food that she will digest. The 
milk of cows which are in danger of milk-fever is, 
as a rule, too rich for their calves, if they “ come 
in ” fat, and even if they do not, the milk some¬ 
times becomes too rich after a few days of good 
feeding. There is therefore less reason for wanting 
very rich milk at first, and such cows, if they are 
healthy in other respects, quickly recuperate with 
such care. A cow may be moderately thin, and yet 
in an excellent condition of health, and this should 
be, as I now view it, the aim of Jersey and Guern¬ 
sey breeders, and of all who have cows giving over 
say 8 or 9 pounds of butter a week. 
It would be very useful if owners of cows which 
die of, or which have the milk-fever, would send 
to the American Agriculturist, statements in regard 
to the size of the cows, and the richness of their 
milk, their age, and the amount of butter they have 
been known to give in any definite period. It 
would be well also to know how near to the time 
of calving they were milked, and in what condition 
they were in as to flesh. 
I have known of several cows that had the fever, 
after being milked right up to calving, and this 
has very likely an important influence, and certain 
it is that large swollen udders, accompanied by in¬ 
flammation, (garget), frequently precede an attack. 
When this symptom exist*, every effort should be 
made to prevent or reduce fever; for example, a 
loosening diet, (linseed-meal, bran, or potatoes), 
mild purgatives, if necessary, frequent bathing and 
kneading of the udder, drawing the milk if it accu¬ 
mulates, and keeping the cow in fresh air, but out 
of drafts, in a warm box in winter, and in the pas¬ 
ture by day, and in a yard with a good deep open 
shed in summer. If a cow approaches calving on 
a grass diet, care should be taken that she does not 
get fat, for some of the best butter cows will fat¬ 
ten rapidly when they are not milked. 
Csilvcsfof Very Rich Cows, 
may be fattened in some cases faster upon half 
skim-milk, than upon the whole milk of their 
dams. It is well known that great milkers, though 
the milk be so poor in cream that it is hardly worth 
setting for skimming, will often fatten two calves 
at a time. The calf needs a portion of cream or its 
equivalent, and if to about three quarts of new 
milk from its dam, all the sweet and warmed skim¬ 
med milk it will drink be added, it will usually 
thrive much better than upon very rich milk ; and 
I have frequently supplanted cream with oil-meal 
reduced to a thin mucilage, and been complimented 
upon the excellence of the veal by the butcher to 
whom the calves were sold. All calves will not do 
so well as this indicates, and with many the whole 
milk seems essential to thrift and rapid fattening. 
The Woolen Interests. 
One of those strange and unnecessary periodical 
panics, which so seriously affect, and for a time 
prostrate, the wool-growing' and woolen manufac¬ 
turing interests, seems to be approaching. The 
first symptoms of the outbreak are occurring in 
California, that home of alternate flush times and 
panics—-of the most sanguine expectations, or the 
most reekless hopelessness. We read of flocks be¬ 
ing sold for one dollar per head, or slaughtered by 
the deluded ovmers for their pelts and tallow. It 
is to be hoped that this absurd feeling may not 
spread. It is the most ruinous thing in all our ag¬ 
ricultural affairs, this eager haste to abandon a 
pursuit at the first fear of a falling off in profit; for 
there is no question of any loss in the business. 
Wool does not bring so good a price as formerly, 
and instead of taking the bad seasons with the 
good, and awaiting the surely coming turn in busi¬ 
ness, farmers throw away their flocks and abandon 
sheep-keeping. The consequence will be, a scarci¬ 
ty by and by, and then the pressure will come upon 
the manufacturers, who, from the lack of material 
for their factories, will be obliged to pay exorbitant 
prices, or seek foreign markets. The high prices 
will then put farmers iu a fever again, and at length 
the usual revulsion will come once more. So oc¬ 
curs this childish or foolish alternation, which brings 
disaster, and prevents proper regard being given to 
the improvement of our flocks. Had not a few men 
in Vermont preserved the blood of our Merinos 
pure, and kept their flocks intact when others 
Slaughtered them for their pelts, where to-day 
would have been the American Merinos ? Extinct! 
and all the labors of those patriotic and thoughtful 
men who first introduced the Spanish Merinos into 
America would have been in vain. Until this 
senseless and destructive habit eau be cured, and 
farmers learn to stick.to a chosen line of business, 
through fair weather and foul, we can never hope 
to become independent of foreign nations, either 
for our stock or for our wool. Neither can our 
woolen manufacture become a steady business, but 
will always be injured and discouraged by alternate 
prosperity and reverses. Wool can bo grown at a 
profit for 30 cents a pound, when mutton can be 
sold at present prices, aud where pastures are so 
cheap or costless as in the far West, half this price 
will pay a fair profit to the shepherd. Instead of 
abandoning the pursuit, it would be a profitable 
thing to do to improve the flock and make each 
sheep produce more wool and mutton, which, if 
sold for a less price, will bring just as much money. 
Wool manufacturing will then be put upon a steady 
basis, and farmers can afford to laugh at tariffs. 
Artificial Incubation and Rearing of 
Chickens. 
Various methods of hatching eggs by artificial 
heat have long been in use. The oldest method 
known, one in which the heat of oveus is the agent 
employed, has been in use amongst the Chinese, 
and the Arabs and Egyptians, for many centuries. 
With the Arabs, the heat of fermenting horse-dung 
has also been made use of for an unknown number 
of years. This process was made the subject of 
an English patent about a century ago, and a small 
book, descriptive of it, was published at the time. 
This process has again been revived, with the addi¬ 
tion of improved appliances, which have been re¬ 
cently patented in this country. The Chinese 
method was, and still is, to place the eggs bedded 
in sand in baskets or wooden boxes in low sheds of 
straw, plastered with clay, and having floors of tile, 
beneath which a small fire is kept burning. The 
heat is regulated by the sensations of the attendant 
only, and it is therefore not unusual for many eggs 
to be either under or over-done in the process, and 
lost. After a few days the eggs are examined, and 
the unfertile ones picked out and rejected. When 
the period of incubation is nearly ended, the eggs 
are removed from the sand, and placed upon shelves 
covered with cotton, but without fire underneath, 
until the chicks appear. The Egyptian method is, 
to lay the eggs upon mats covered with bran iu an 
oven about four feet high, and the heat is applied 
from flues above the ovens, in the floor of a vaulted 
chamber, which has au opening in the floor leading 
into the oven beneath, another in the vaulted roof 
for ventilation, and a door in the front for entrance 
and egress. The eggs are examined after six days 
by being held before a bright light, when those that 
are failures are readily detected aud thrown out. 
Travelers who have visited these Egyptian ovens, 
speak very forcibly of the unsavory character of 
the atmosphere in the apartments connected with 
them, in which the attendants live, aud eat and 
sleep. The undesirableness of such an apartment 
can be easily imagined. In the loth and 16th cen¬ 
turies two of the French Emperors undertook the 
business of poultry raising on the Egyptian plan, 
but further than that Francis I. bought and paid for 
1,300 eggs, history does not mention how the specu¬ 
lation resulted. Many persons since have followed 
the royal example without, so far as recorded, get¬ 
ting much beyond this result. After this, a French 
nobleman tried an improved plan, more closely ap¬ 
proaching the natural method, in so far as he used 
feathers as the bedding material, with lamps as the 
heating apparatus. History records this as a de¬ 
cided failure. Following this, was an attempt 
made by Reaumur, the inventor of the thermome¬ 
ter which bears his name, and a scientific man. 
His method was to place the eggs in drawers ar¬ 
ranged over a baker’s oven, but afterwards stoves 
were used for heating. Although Reaumur invent¬ 
ed a thermometer, yet he used the very rude test 
of the melting of a mixture of butter with half its 
bulk of lard, kept iu a small bottle, to determine 
the proper heat to be maintained. After this, the 
philosophers took up the business, and discussed 
and experimented over it until hot water was sub¬ 
stituted for dry heat, and the air surrounding the 
eggs was kept moist by the evaporation of water 
supplied in pans. Reaumur’s efforts, however, 
seem to have almost exhausted the subject; for he 
used fermenting manure and tan-bark, taught 
capons to brood upon eggs aud nurse the chicks, 
and to cluck and scratch like hens, and also invent¬ 
ed artificial mothers of furs. Then came M. Can- 
telo, who was very successful as an exhibitor, no 
longer than 30 years ago, who used a sort of spring 
bed of canvass for the eggs to lie upon, and the 
heat from a current of warm water flowing over 
glass immediately above the eggs. He it was who 
discovered that the proper heat to hatch eggs was 
nearly 106 degrees. Of late years there have been 
many efforts to perfect a method of artificial incu¬ 
bation, and to get rid of the hen, which unfortunate¬ 
ly is too fussy and too slow for our advanced ideas. 
Now that poultry bears so high a price, and young 
chickens for broilers are worth more than full 
grown fowls, it is very desirable to have some way 
of improving upon the slow and unsatisfactory 
methods provided by nature. The most promising 
of all the methods, old or new, with which we have 
become acquainted, are those which we here illus¬ 
trate and describe. One is the invention of Mr. A. 
Corbett, in which the old-fashioned heating materi¬ 
al, horse-dung, is used. The apparatus consists of 
a rounded box (fig. 1) made of laths, having a door 
in the front and a movable cover at the top, in 
which is a ventilating flue having a graduated open¬ 
ing closed by a slide. This is placed in the center 
of a pile of horse manure, which raises the neces¬ 
sary heat in a short time. When this has occurred, 
the eggs, arranged in wire sieves or frames, are 
placed in the box, and the cover is put on. The 
heat is carefully regulated by the ventilating slide 
when shown to be necessary by a thermometer laid 
