AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
281 
fined abscesses found, nor was the windpipe in¬ 
flamed but a short distance from the seat of the 
diseased lung. 
Symptoms .—The first symptoms were a lazi¬ 
ness on the part of the animal affected, some loss 
of appetite, a kind of husky grunt approaching to 
a cough, sometimes a slight purging of the bow¬ 
els, and a yellowish colored urine ; then the ani¬ 
mal would become more weak and seem to be 
paralyzed in the small of the back, totter about for 
a short time, and finally lay down and die. 
The treatment was divided into two parts— 
prophylactic (preventive) and curative. With a 
view to the first, the pens were scattered over 
with plaster of Paris and water-slacked lime, 
whilst at the same time, they and the troughs were 
washed with gas tar. 
The curative treatment was the administration 
Of soda-ash and barilla. There is some trouble in 
the solution of barilla, and on this account soda- 
ash should always be used with it About ten 
grains of soda-ash and the same amount of barilla 
should be given to each hog two or three times 
daily, mixed in their food. This should be given 
to the healthy as well as the sick hogs. To the 
well it does no harm; to the sick it is a success¬ 
ful remedy. 
As in the human species, so in hogs—inflam¬ 
mation of the lungs is a most insidious disease, 
going on to the destruction of the patient before 
the mere symptoms give cause of alarm, and in 
many instances hogs which appeared healthy were 
yet seriously affected with lung inflammation. 
The above remedies were used on about three 
thousand hogs, and in the utmost intensity of the 
disease. The number of their deaths diminished 
seventy-five per cent on the second day after their 
administration, and in a short time the disease 
disappeared from the locality. As soon as the 
hogs were manifestly sick they were put in pens 
by themselves, and subjected to the above treat¬ 
ment. Of these about thirty per cent recovered, 
whilst before all died. 
Causes .—It is a disease of general atmospheric 
origin, influenced by special, local, exciting causes, 
such as the sweating sickness, blackdeath, chol¬ 
era, and other epidemics, which at different times 
have devastated, more or less, all parts of the 
earth, and of whose intrinsic nature we know but 
very little. It is not confined to distilleries, but 
has also proved destructive in the country. It is 
not produced by strychnine, or any vegetable or 
mineral poison. 
The disease attended with swollen jaws, the 
proper name of which i3 hog quinsy, prevailing in- 
some parts of the State, has no connection with 
the above, and can be most successfully treated 
by making incisions over the swelling and then 
pouring in a small quantity of salt and turpentine. 
I should be obliged to persons throughout the 
United States, who have observed this disease, 
to examine the blood and the different organs, 
and report to me the results ; should any be in¬ 
capable of making an analysis of the blood, I will 
with pleasure furnish them with the instructions 
how to perform it. 
TRIALS OF SPEED. 
To the Editor of the American A griculiurist: 
I am pleased with the remarks in your paper 
for November, page 247, on Agricultural Shows, 
as conducted of late. I have attended the State 
Shows in this and an adjoining State, and several 
of the County Shows, the present season; and 
am free to say that the all-absorbing topic with 
the multitude, on those occasions, was the race 
course. The best and most successful Show that 
I attended, was in a county where no race 
course was constructed, and where no trials of 
speed are allowed. 
What benefit comes of such trials ! Are the 
animals improved thereby 1 Does any man who 
wishes to buy a horse for his own or his family’s 
use, ever think of putting him to the top of his 
speed 1 Will he think any better of an animal 
for these uses, that will go a mile in 2.40, than 
one that uses 4 minutes in going a mile. Jock¬ 
eys, and jockeys chiefly, are admirers of this extra 
speed. If there were any good in it, there is so 
much more evil than good appertenant thereto, 
that I am glad to find you, as one of the guardi¬ 
ans of the habits of society, have set your face 
decidedly against it. Pardon my presumption in 
thus speaking. I know that the case will be ar¬ 
gued much better by yourself. J. W. P. 
Essex Co., Mass., Nov. 2, 1857. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
Among the contrivances to keep fodder from 
being trodden under foot by cattle when fed in 
the yard, I have found a kind of feeding box like 
the above to answer a very good purpose. It is 
very easily built by any one who can use a saw 
and hammer. It consists simply of four upright 
posts, say five feet in length, with boards nailed to 
them as seen in the engraving. Three by four 
inch scantling is sufficient for the corner posts. 
The eight boards, two on each side, of which 
the box is first made, should be about six feet in 
length and fifteen inches in width. If they can 
not readily be found as wide, use three boards in 
hight, or leave a narrow space between two. 
The frame should be sufficiently high to prevent 
cattle from stepping over the sides. To guard 
against this, as well as strengthen the whole, it is 
a good plan to nail narrow strips of plank flatwise 
across the upper end of the posts. These are not 
shown in the engraving. Next nail two boards 
diagonally upon each side, extending from the top 
of the posts to the bottom of the box as represent¬ 
ed in the cut, leaving a space of about two feet 
between them at the centre of the frame, on 
a line with the upper board. These boards 
strengthen the whole and make four feeding places 
for the cattle. The rack is now complete. Stand 
it in a dry part of the yard and throw in a fork full 
of hay, straw or corn stalks, and four animals will 
soon take their places upon the different sides. 
The posts and slanting boards prevent any tyran- 
ical ox from driving away his next neighbor, while 
the width is such that the opposite animal can 
not be reached. Whenever desired, the frame 
can be lifted and set in another part of the yard. 
Unless the ground : s dry it is well to lay a few old 
rails in the oottom. In a large yard four, 
six or eight or more can stand in the different 
parts, and with proper use they will last for sev- 
al years. T. C. 
Kennebec, Me., Not. 3. 1857. 
The Crescent. —It has been asked among 
other curious questions, why the Mahomedans 
carry the crescent or figure of the moon upon 
their shields! When Philip, King of Macedori, 
approached by night with his troops to scale the 
walls of the city of Byzantium, the new moon 
shone out unusually bright, and discovered his 
troops to the besieged, and they were able to 
meet and repulse them. The crescent, or shape 
of the new moon, was afterwards adopted as the 
favorite badge of the city. When the Turks took 
Byzantium, they found the crescent in every pub¬ 
lic place, and believing it to possess some magi¬ 
cal power, adopted it themselves, and it has since 
retained its place on all their shields. 
VISIT TO A PENNSYLVANIA 
FARM. 
Tired of City Life—Chinese Sugar Cane — Refine¬ 
ment among Farmers—Description of a Poultry 
House. 
[The writer of the following coifimunication will be 
recognized by many of the former readers of the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Farm Journal.— Ed.] 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
A visit made a few days since to the farm of 
M. W. Baldwin, the great locomotive builder of this 
city, has given new life to my farming notions, and 
affords ample material for new and lengthened 
dreams of what I shall do when kind Providence 
smiles upon my efforts to get away from this din 
of cart wheels and brokers’ tongues, into a more 
quiet and honest atmosphere, where the fruits of 
one’s labor is ever before him in the substantial 
staples of human existence unprotected by lock 
or bar, instead of a piece of paper three inches by 
six promising to pay at some future day, three 
other promises to pay—which may be all right, 
provided no fright dims the sight of our “ necessa¬ 
ry institutions,”—inducing them to say, we can 
not pay, ’till things clear away—though if you 
want food, we’ll mark your check good; for we 
want to assist, but to open our fist it is not our 
intention—unless the people say, you must and 
shall pay ; and to put that day very far away we 
confide in om - Legislature. 
The chief object of our visit to Mr. Bald¬ 
win, being to witness the manufacture of the 
“ Sorghum Syrup,” we repaired immediately to 
the field where the cane was growing, and where 
also the mill was stationed for pressing out the 
juice. Here we found the farmer, J. F. I.ukens, 
overseeing his men and busily engaged in select¬ 
ing the best seed for sale and planting next year. 
He soon introduced us to the whole modus operandi , 
and although by no means complete in his ar- 
rangments for “ boiling down,” yet such is his 
entire success, and so strong his faith in its be¬ 
coming an economical and even profitable crop of 
our States, that he anticipates providing himself 
another year with all the equipments necessary to 
an easy and expiditious manufacture of the syrup. 
The result of his experiment is about four hun¬ 
dred gallons of syrup from the acre, which he is 
now disposing of at 75c. per gallon, less 10c. per 
gallon for commissions ; and about sixty bushels 
of selected seed. It will be of immense service to 
your readers to keep them thoroughly posted up 
as to all the merits and demerits of the subject, 
which will be developed by this year’s experi¬ 
ments ; for from present appearances it would 
seem that a large amount of capital will be in¬ 
vested another year for making the syrup, unless 
some counteracting evidence appears in time to 
prevent the outlay. 
Having satisfied our curiosity here, we proceeded 
to view other portions of the farm and the build¬ 
ings, all of which spoke well for the superintend¬ 
ence of Mr. Lukens, whose kind and gentlemanly 
attention and freedom of converse, added greatly 
to our pleasure and knowledge. And by the way 
