1865.J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
179 
colt should be castrated, requires observation 
on the subject for many years. 
Gelding renders colts heavier behind, and 
narrower and lighter forward. When a colt is 
so fearless and willful that there arc fears of his 
becoming vicious, immediate castration will 
check the farther development of such disposi¬ 
tion. When a colt is very narrow across the 
breast, and has a small neck and head, unless 
he manifest a very refractory disposition, it may 
be w'ell to defer gelding until he is even three 
years old, in order to improve his form and 
style. Colts usually make faster travellers for 
short distances, if gelded when not more than a 
year old, than if it be deferred; but their pow¬ 
ers of endurance are less! Stallions that have 
been kept for service for several years, and then 
altered, are rendered much slower in gait; and 
those that were difScult to manage, are usually 
rendered much more tractable. Entire horses are 
usually fearless, and not apt to be shy at rust¬ 
ling sounds or strange objects; but colts that are 
gelded very young, if their dams shy at un¬ 
familiar objects, will be liable to lack courage, 
and be always ready to sheer off at the sight of 
black stumps aud such things, or to rnr "way 
whenever any part of the harness or carriage be¬ 
comes deranged, which tendency can rarely be 
counteracted, except by the most careful and 
patient training. Colts should never be castrat¬ 
ed when poor or sickly, nor in stormy weather, 
unless they are kept in a comfortable stable 
until they are entirely healed, as danger of 
inflammation arises from being exposed to cold 
storms and chilling winds. Many times when 
the wound appears nearly healed, a colt will 
swell up and die, in spite of all efforts to save 
him. Farmers cannot be too careful in keep¬ 
keeping horses, after castration, in warm stables. 
Scuffle Hoes, Hoeing, and Carrots. 
A Rhode Island correspondent is enthusiastic 
on Scuffle Hoes, and inspired by the article on 
page 51 (February), sends to the American Ag¬ 
riculturist a long and interesting letter on the 
subject, from which we condense the following: 
“I have several Scuffle Hoes in running or¬ 
der—all handled with old rakestales. The nar¬ 
rowest, which I use but little, is 7 inches long. 
In early spring and after rains, we run them 9 
inches, and for general use, in good hoeing 
weather, we use four 14 inch hoes. In my work, 
which is more gardening than farming, they 
saved more money last year than a mowing, 
machine would upon 50 tons of hay. But any 
one with a garden needs a set of Scuffle Hoes. 
I use them upon gravel walks and roads, plan¬ 
tations of trees and shrubs, and all sorts of gar¬ 
den crops. In field root crops, such as carrots, 
beets, turnips, onions, and parsnips, they are in¬ 
valuable, as also to cut up weeds among young 
corn and potatoes. Among carrots and man¬ 
golds last year, I had no ‘ thumb and finger 
work,’ except thinning mangolds. Soil sandy, 
with plenty of gravel, pebbles and cobble stone 
even after a pretty close picking.. With this 
hoe one can loosen the surface, cut up weeds, 
and give a uniform crumbly appearance to the 
soil—far better looking to my eye than if work¬ 
ed with a rake, and more lasting, and leave no 
foot track upon the ground, the pressure of the 
foot being, as every observant gardener knows, 
all that many weeds need to plant them again. 
The power is applied to the object resisting the 
edge of the hoe—a root of grass, or bit of ma¬ 
nure, com stalk, or cobble stone —from 
the shoulder. My handles are about seven feet 
long. In light hoeing where the ground has 
been properly plowed and harrowed, I grasp the 
end of the handle (which should be a little en¬ 
larged) in the hollow of my right hand, and do 
the cutting almost entirely/rom me. The edge 
toward me, in the short and quick succession of 
from 3 to 6-inch thrusts, necessary to complete 
a stroke, is chieffy useful in breaking the surface 
and jerking the weed-roots to the sun and air. 
If the edge is hung properly to cut with a mo¬ 
tion/rom the body, it will be necessary to stoop 
to bring the'near edge to bear upon the ground 
for the drawing cuts. These tools can be 
used either walking backward or forward. In 
the garden, I often walk backward; in the field 
forward, making a succession of short thrusts. 
In dressing a walk, or a plantation of shrubs 
and trees, beaten down hard by rains, it will be 
found convenient to shorten the hold upon the 
hoe handle, letting the end play under the arm 
—a change which often gives ease and rest—as 
also does changing hands entirely. 
The early clearing of carrots and other small 
plants is apt to be troublesome. I always en¬ 
deavor to plow early—generally, in the field, to 
plow twice—which gives me a chance to kill 
one or two crops of weeds. The single form of 
Share’s Coulter Harrow is a most admirable 
tool for ■working the surface and killing weeds 
upon a large scale. The surface should be rich, 
too, and the seed put in as late as will do, and 
immediately after a working of the ground. If 
the seed-barrow is run crosswise of the harrow 
marks, or if the ground is bushed, the barrow 
will leave a mark easily seen before and after 
the plants are up. I start the Scuffle Hoe when 
carrots are about half up. The hoe can be run 
in a careless manner through between the rows, 
leaving a strip three or four inches wide con¬ 
taining the drill mark—in reality leaving all the 
real work yet to be done. I know of no time 
■u’hen weeds can be destroyed so easily as when 
they are still in the seed leaf—or better yet, like 
threads of silk, before they get to the surface. 
I think there is, easily enough, a difference of 
$10 per acre of carrots, between an early attack 
upon weeds and a late one. I plant some 18, 
20, or 22 inches apart, and at the first hoeing 
take my position between the outside and second 
drill, reaching over a little and hoeing the out¬ 
side of the outside drill, running my hoe quite 
shoal, with short, quick strokes, and cutting as 
close to the drill as possible, If the row is a 
long one, I have no doubt but the position and 
W'ork will be tiresome, but turning at the end 
gives an entirely new position—and the work¬ 
man can change hands if he likes—walking 
back in the same alley, but close to the second 
row, and hoeing the inside of the first—thus 
going round each row and leaving no tracks 
but the ‘ wake ’ of the hoe. If the ground is in 
fair condition, what with the close work and 
the little roll of light earth moved by the side 
of the hoe, the ground up to the drill will look 
as if it had been entirely worked. The hoe 
turned up corner-wise will pick a weed out of 
the drill or knock the soil from a tuft of grass 
or weeds very deftly. By this process the space 
between the drill-marks which is of very little 
importance will be worked doubly in parts— 
allowing all the attention to be concentrated 
upon the drill and the side of the hoe. 
The dextrous use of an ordinary hoe is a mat¬ 
ter of early training and use, which the mass of 
our laborers never get. It is quite as difficult 
to learn as the use of a scythe. The use of the 
Scuffle hoe can be far more readily learned, and J 
if it become rightly understood and appreci¬ 
ated, all the tribes of wheel hoes and hand 
cultivators will be sold for old iron.” 
Pure Water—Health of Stock. 
Our con’espondent, “N. 8. T.,” Essex Co., 
Mass., in the following communication, directs 
the attention of the readers of the. Agrmilturist 
to an important subject. Foul water is the fruit¬ 
ful source of unthrift and disease in animals, 
besides,'it is almost constantly operating, and in 
time will produce effects not perceptible at first. 
“ That farmer who has provided for his barn¬ 
yard a never fiiiling supply of good water, and 
an arrangement by which it is brought into the 
troughs or tubs without pumping or drawing, 
has a convenience, the value of which is not 
likely to be over-estimated ; but it is a matter of 
no small importance that it be given to the stock 
fresh and pure. Because animals drink from a 
filthy trough or a muddy and stagnant pool with 
apparent relish, it does not follow that their 
sense of taste is of a low order and can not ap¬ 
preciate good feeding. Necessity too often com¬ 
pels them to drink anywhere, and whatever they 
can find. Long continued habit deadens or per¬ 
verts the taste. But animals with unvitiated 
taste left free to choose for themselves, will find 
the purest water as quickly as the sweetest 
grass; especially is this true of the horse. Some 
are naturally very fastidious about both food 
and drink, and they often suffer from thirst 
rather than drink from a vessel or at a well they 
dislike. Some men entrusted with the care of 
stock, seeing a horse tasting and sipping, or 
playing, as they imagine, say he is not dry, or 
is whimsical, and bring him back to his stall, 
there to remain till thirst compels him to drink. 
Thus a real cruelty is ignorantly practised 
against a dumb beast, when a few moments’ at¬ 
tention would discover and remove the trouble. 
Fresh, pure ■u'ator means more than simply 
water free from sticks, dirt, or substances which 
are readily detected by the eye. Water exposed 
in shallow vessels to the atmosphere during warm 
weather, quickly loses its fresh and sweet 
taste. Should it remain in a stable twenty four 
hours, it becomes undrinkable from having ab¬ 
sorbed the impurities of the air. Ammonia, 
carbonic acid, and all the gases escaping in the 
stable are absorbed rapidly and in large quanti¬ 
ties by water. During hot weather tliese gases 
are always largely present, even in well regu¬ 
lated barns, and a tub of water exposed to the 
air in the stable yard, or cellar, soon becomes 
charged with them, and is unfit for any animal 
to drink. Besides being of a disagreeable taste, 
it becomes slightly aperient. 
“ A cover that fits closely to the trough or tub 
is of some service in keeping out dust and dirt, 
and preventing contact with impure air, but it is 
impossible to keep water in shallow vessels 
about a barnyard and have it absolutely pure. 
The safest plan of ensuring purity is to draw 
from the fountain head as often as wanted aud 
when the animals have drunk, throw the re¬ 
mainder away. It is a common practice in sum¬ 
mer to keep 'U'ater in the trough to prevent its 
drying and falling into pieces. The more shal¬ 
low a trough is made the less liable it is to dry 
up; but it is better to lose one occasionally 
than always give impure water to the stock. 
Scrupulous cleanliness in the care of all the ar¬ 
rangements for furnishing water commends it¬ 
self to every thinking man who is the owner 
and lover of animals, in proportion as the ill 
efi’ects of neglecting them are understood.” 
