1866 .] 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
431 
at ouce, and tlie most stringent quarantine or 
isolation enforced, and all the movements of cat¬ 
tle by rail or on foot stopped, almost entire ex¬ 
emption has followed.—Tliis disease may never 
reach America; but the lesson should be under¬ 
stood and heeded. There are other diseases not 
so bad, but perhaps bad enough to make it worth 
while to imrsue the same remedy. One of these 
is the Texas Murrain, which has of late spread 
itself through parts of Missouri, Kansas, and 
we believe somewhat in Tennessee and Ken- 
tuckj'. The State Governments should act 
promptly, if the Legislatures are not in session, 
and by the most stringent measures put an end 
to a plague which may sweep otf 30 to 50 per 
cent, of the herds of their respective States. 
The Missourians have, in many cases, very prop¬ 
erly made laws for themselves and their own 
neighborhoods, and ordered back those herds, 
enforcing these orders with their rifles. So the 
cattle have gone round through Kansas or 
Kentucky. We get Texas cattle now and then 
in our Eastern markets. AVho knows but we 
may get the murrain upon our farms, with the 
Western store cattle we buy for feeding? We 
commend the question seriouslj^ to all farmers. 
To enforce our opinion of what is the only 
safe way of dealing with such diseases among 
cattle, we give a picture at the head of this ar¬ 
ticle, of what is proved to be the certain cure 
for the RincUrpest, if dexterously applied—an 
implement which has become of historical in¬ 
terest from the role it has played in England the 
past year. If danger attends treatment—kill. 
Fig. 8.—INNER RACK. 
(made of wire or slats), keep the hay out of the 
troughs, and may be lifted out, or made to lean 
Fig. 3.— WIRE RACK. 
back out of the way if desired. The roof may 
be lifted off at any time by one man with ease. 
Portable Sheep Rack. 
In our last volume, p. 369, (December), we 
gave a description of the sheep rack invented 
and used by Mr. N. B, Pearsall, of Otsego Co., 
Cow Stables. 
Fig. 1,— SHEEP RACK. 
N. Y. Mr. P. made this patent and free to the 
public tlirough the A'/nerican Agriculturist, not 
in consideration of the exclusive right to make 
and use granted to him and Ids 
years by the Government. 
assigns for 17 
The inventor 
suggested its 
use as a double 
rack, and on 
looking over 
the advertise¬ 
ments in some 
of our English 
exchanges,we 
find figured a 
rack set on 
low trucks, 
and roofed, 
which for some purposes might be very con¬ 
venient. Prom the same we take a hint in re¬ 
gard to wire hay racks. We therefore combine 
these with Mr. Pearsall’s double rack, and trust 
the suggestions may prove of value to sheep 
raisers. The cuts make clear the construction. 
The outer racks have 6-iuch spaces, and 6-inch 
pales. The troughs are for grain or roots, and 
will catch all the hay seed. Tiie inner racks. 
3.— CROSS SECTION. 
The well being of cows, and the ability to get 
the greatest amount of milk, depends in no 
small measure on the comfort of their quarters; 
but the comfort of the dam is vastly more im¬ 
portant to ensure fine offspring. Some months 
since we took some measurements in the cow 
stables of a noted breeder of Shorthorns, .and 
give the following outlines, 
figures 1 and 3, partly from 
memory. The cows stand in 
two rows facing the outside of 
the building. The entire floor 
is of brick in one stable (fig. 
1), and of stone in the other 
(fig. 2), laid in cement upon the 
ground. The cows stand in 
double stalls, S'ja feet wide in 
fig. 1 — 6‘|2 feet wide in fig. 2, 
each tied near the dividing 
partitions. The feeding troughs are of the 
width of the stalls, 2 feet wide and 15 inches 
deep, made of 2-inch plank. In front of 
the stalls is a passage 3 feet wide for feeding, 
and at the rear a gutter laid in brick .and cement, 
14 inches wide in fig. 1,12 inches wide in fig. 3. 
The floors of the stalls being made slightly 
slanting to the rear, to allow the liquids to flow 
off) The diflerence in the appearance of these 
stables is much greater than appears from the 
sections, the one represented in fig. 3 being 
Fig. 3. 
much more cheaply constructed throughout, and 
intended for milch cows. The feeding troughs 
in this stable are not fixed in the posi¬ 
tion shown, but capable of being mov¬ 
ed to the rear to accommodate the 
I length of different cows, and should 
I be so placed that the droppings will 
all fall into the gutter. In fig. 1 the 
troughs .are stationary. The floor be¬ 
tween the gutters in each stable is wide en*ugli 
for a cart w.ay, and ventilation is abundantly 
provided for. The floors are daily 
strewed with gypsum, the manure all 
being removed to a shed at a distance 
from the stables. Cows in such spa¬ 
cious quarters are vastly less liable 
to disease, their calves are healthy, 
and their milk is incomparably better 
than that of fhose represented in fig. 3. This 
is a sketch of the cows in one of the best milk 
stables we know of near New York. The cows 
stand on the ground, are confined by stanchions, 
fed from half-barrel tubs, or have their hay or 
green fodder throwm to them on the floor. The 
space allowed each cow is about 3 feet. These 
stables are cleaned out daily, and the cows have 
an hour or two to run in a large yard. Never¬ 
theless there is more or less of fever and disease 
prevalent, as indicated by the lack of sprightli¬ 
ness in their looks, here and there a gaunt ani¬ 
mal wdth staring coat and hot breath, and the 
stump tails W'hich several have. These are the 
tw'o extremes of stable tre.atment. The best is 
Fig. 3. 
none too gooel for a choice herd ; the second 
(fig. 2) cheap, good enough for milch cow's, for 
the milk consumer, and the profit of the owner. 
A Great Invention in Bee-Culture.—How 
to Empty Combs. 
The Bee papers of ^ ’rope and this country 
are filled with accounts, <f a discovery of an Ital¬ 
ian Apiarian, of a method of emptying combs 
of honey without injuring them. The process 
is exceedingly simple and consists only in slic¬ 
ing off the caps of the cells, and then causing 
the combs to revolve on the periphery of a wheel 
or cylinder, which empties one side of honey- 
then the other side is turned and emptied. Li¬ 
quids upon bodies wdiich are wdiirled or revolved 
tend to fly off by what is called centrifugal force. 
In this case the revolution is so graduated that 
only the honey flies off, and dead bees, bee- 
bread, etc., remain behind, so that not ®nly is 
the comb saved, but the honey is purer and bet¬ 
ter than that strained. The temperature requi¬ 
site to success, is about 80° Fahrenheit, wdiich is 
gained in a w'arm room, or on a summer day. 
The value of this invention maj’’be the better 
appreciated, wdien it is knowm that it requires 
the consumption by the bees, of 15 to 20 pounds 
of honey (estimates vary), to make 1 pound of 
wax, consequently, that the comb requires for 
its construction the use of just about aS much 
honey as it wdll contain wdien filled. It may be 
found that in the economy of bee life, it is essen¬ 
tial for the bees to make or excrete a certain 
amount of wmx in order to remain in good 
