376 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
they left their winter quarters. I regret that I 
did not, for the sake of the experiment, give a 
few of the yearling ewes a little grain during 
the same period. But still the facts as they 
stand, forcibly illustrate the advantage and 
economy of feeding a little extra food. I pre¬ 
sume the sheep ate no more nor no less grass 
than they would if they had had no grain; and 
that the extra growth of 3 lbs. per week is due 
to the 7 lbs. of grain and oil-cake. I confess 
the thing hardly seems possible, but such are 
the facts as revealed by the scales to-day. It is 
true that a period of four weeks is altogether 
too short to settle any question of this kind. 
The lambs have done equally as well, or bet¬ 
ter. The whole lot , during the month, have 
gained a trifle over 4 lbs. each per week. They 
have had rich grass, and from 3 [ 4 to 1 lb. of 
grain and oil-cake per day. Two twin ewe lambs 
weighed, one OS 1 ^, and the other 105'| 2 lbs. 
One of the ram lambs which a month ago 
weighed 95‘| 2 lbs., now weighs 115 lbs.; one of 
the ewe lambs that a month ago weighed 91 lbs., 
now weighs 108 lbs. The butchers as they ride 
past, cast longing eyes at these lambs, and one 
of them a short time since offered me $10 ahead 
for them. Of course I have no intention of 
selling thorough-bred lambs to the butcher; but 
I do not see why I cannot raise nearly as good 
grade lambs that would afford a very handsome 
profit at such prices. These lambs are less than 
six months old, and have had probably 100 lbs. 
of oil-cake, or its equivalent in oats, bran, etc., 
costing, say $2; the manure from which would 
be worth at least 75 cents. So that I really do 
not see why it will not pay to raise good lambs 
and feed them well. I believe it makes compar¬ 
atively little difference which of the mutton 
breeds of sheep we select the ram from, 'provided 
he is only thorough-bred. The most important 
point is good and regular feeding. And this is 
equally true of cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry. 
How to give a Horse or Cow an Injection. 
An injection of warm water or warm soap¬ 
suds, accompanied by blanketing and hard rub¬ 
bing, is almost sure to relieve the colic in horses. 
An ounce of aloes, dissolved in a quart or two 
of warm water, injected into the rectum, re¬ 
moves the long, pale worm (Teres lumbricus ) 
which often troubles horses. Pin worms are 
removed by the same treatment or by injections 
of Linseed oil. Costiveuess is relieved by co¬ 
pious injections also. In coiic, dysentery, and 
some other diseases, cattle require clysters, or in¬ 
jections, to be administered. The giving of in¬ 
jections to animals is often neglected, because 
farmers have no syringe at hand adapted to the 
purpose, and know of no other way of giving 
them. A few weeks ago Dr. Busteed, of the 
N. Y. College of Veterinary Surgeons, was de¬ 
scrying to us the very simple arrangemeut 
Fig. 1. —INJECTION APPARATUS—TIN. 
which we show in the engraving, fig. 1. He has 
used this for twenty years in this country, not¬ 
withstanding the claim by Prof. Gamgee that 
the idea of so simple an injection p : pe origin¬ 
ated with him. Tliis is a simple tin pipe turned 
at a right angle, 5 or 6 inches from the outer end. 
There is a moderate taper towards the small 
end, and at the end an accumulation of solder 
forming a smooth enlargement, so that there 
will be no injury to the horse by the end hurt¬ 
ing the delicate membrane of the rectum. In 
use the pipe is inserted, the angle turned up, 
Fig. 2. —INJECTION APPARATUS—WOOD. 
the funnel placed in the end, and water poured 
in slowly so as not to carry air along with it. 
A pailful of warm water may be thus inject¬ 
ed. Shortly after this conversation with Dr. 
Busteed, a horse of the writer was attacked with 
violent colic, and at that time not having a reg¬ 
ular injection pipe, we took a glass tube a foot 
long, inserted it and closing the left hand over 
the end of the tube and the end of the funnel at 
the same time, found no difficulty in giving an 
injection, which relieved the horse, except the 
waste of some of the water and getting a little 
more than was agreeable into one’s sleeve. 
Another plan quite similar and superior in 
some respects, is shown in 
figure 2. Here a wooden tube 
is represented, any tube with 
a smooth, rounded end, will 
do; a rubber tube is slipped 
over it and a funnel inserted 
in the opposite end of the rub¬ 
ber tube. In case a mass of 
fceces or any obstruction should 
interfere with the free flow of 
the water, the funnel may be 
lifted as high as the rubber tube 
will permit, and this will cause 
quite a pressure of water—suf¬ 
ficient probably to overcome 
all obstructions. Usually, how¬ 
ever, no pressure is required, 
and the flow is perfectly free, 
followed by a discharge of 
wind, dung, and urine, and by speedy relief. 
If a piece of strong, thick-walled rubber tube 
can be obtained, no wooden or tin pipe is nec¬ 
essary, for this tube, if well greased, is stiff 
enough to enter easily. The same instruments 
may be used for cows—and in the same way. 
Every farmer ought to have something of the 
kind, and probably fig. 1, which is easily made 
at any tin shop, and not likely to be taken away 
or used for any other purpose, would be the best. 
The Straw Crop—Rye. 
The demands of the market change very great¬ 
ly the relative values of crops. When straw 
was worth $3 to $5 a load it was of little mo¬ 
ment whether rye stood three or seven feet high ; 
in fact, it was an advantage to have short straw, 
as it saved labor in handling both in the field 
and at thrashing. We used to leave rye stub¬ 
ble as long as possible, and make good work, 
in order to be able to rake arid bind without 
waiting for the weeds and grass at the huts to 
dry, to have the straw free from weeds and weed 
seed, and to have the sheaves of conven¬ 
ient size. We formerly burned over the stubble 
fields, and thus killed the weeds, destroyed the 
weed seeds, and manured the land with ashes 
at one operation. It is a rare sight nowadays 
in the Eastern and Middle States, to see a stub¬ 
ble field burnt over. We cannot afford to doit. 
Straw is worth 10 to 20 and even 30 dollars a. 
ton, and a few weeds in the bats will not usually 
make half the proportionate difference in price-- 
that their presence adds weight. Straw is large¬ 
ly employed in paper making, and for this pur¬ 
pose it is of no consequence to have if long or- 
straiglit; and paper mills, both at the East and- 
at the West, make a good market for the straw 
of the vicinity. The demand for straw for sta¬ 
ble litter in our large cities is very great in the 
livery, car, omnibus and express companies’ sta¬ 
bles. We estimate that it averages not less than 
five pounds of fresh straw to each horse daily. 
That which brings the highest price is hand¬ 
some, straight straw, sold in ordinary bundles, 
which must be strongly bound. The straw 
peddlers of the large cities, at least those in 
the vicinity of Hew York, rebundle the straw, 
putting it in little handfuls, which may, per¬ 
haps, weigh three pounds, and which sell at 8 
cts. each, or equivalent to over 50 dollars a ton. 
•-— --—a®*—-- «-- 
Ice-house and Summer Hairy Combined- 
Perfect control of the temperature of the dairy 
is a great step gained towards making the best- 
butter. It is only by means of ice, or very cold 
spring water that we can keep the most de¬ 
sirable temperature in very warm weather.— 
During most of the year there is little difficulty 
in maintaining sufficient coolness. In winter 
the problem is how to keep a dairy warm enough 
and not get it too hot. This is the battle 
with the weather that we wage almost the year 
round. In former years we have given nu¬ 
merous plans for ice-houses, both large and 
small, with cool rooms or refrigerators attached. 
We have lately had our attention called to the 
desirableness of a combination of the dairy and 
ice-house, and present the following plan which 
we deem entirely practical. 
The plan proposes an ice-house above ground 
and a dairy half below; the ice room half cov¬ 
ering the dairy, and the rest of the dairy being 
covered by a cool room, which forms the en¬ 
trance to the ice-house. The exterior walls of 
Fig. 1. —ELEVATION OF ICE-HOUSE AND DAIRY. 
