78 
[March, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Elooded Stock—Present and Prospective 
Prices, etc. 
If, from want of information or from preju¬ 
dice, any one still doubts the value of improved 
Wood in stock of any kind, over that of the “ old- 
fashioned” or “native breeds,” the simple mar¬ 
ket quotations of the cattle, sheep, and swine 
sales in New-York City^, for the last two years, 
will show him the difference. We set aside all 
the ornamental appearance of the quadrupeds—- 
which, by the way, any one with an eye in his 
head, or a soul in his body, would count as 
worth something—and only take into account 
the simple economical value of well bred over ill 
bred animals. We do not propose to enter 
into particulars, even. Just go up to the Bull’s 
Head on cattle-sale days, and see the quick, lib¬ 
eral prices paid for beeves, high up in Short¬ 
horn, Devon, or Hereford blood, and then 
the slow, lagging, higgling prices for which the 
“ dung-hills,” “ scallawags,” and common stock 
are offered , in many instances without buyers. 
And yet, with the breeder, the grazier, and the 
feeder, both descriptions of beasts have run side 
by side in the pasture and feed yard. One, from 
its nicely and skillfully adjusted anatomy, has 
the faculty of taking on flesh readily, kindly, 
and in the most valuable parts for good quality 
of meat; the other, from its ill-adjusted anato¬ 
my, has not such faculty. And the better beast 
has, in all probability, eaten less food, while tak¬ 
ing on a third more flesh than the poorer one. 
‘So with sheep as with cattle; the same also 
with swine—poultry even. The war, with its 
deranging influences on sundry of our economi¬ 
cal products, has reduced the values of purely 
bred stock to almost nominal prices, and hun¬ 
dreds, perhaps thousands, of young thorough¬ 
bred bulls have been made into steers for the 
shambles, instead of being purchased and dis¬ 
tributed over the country for stock purposes; 
and multitudes of equally well-bred South-down 
and Cotswold rams, as wethers, have shared a 
like fate. So, too, with young boars, while the 
spaying knife has been busy among the breed¬ 
ing sows—all turned off for market purposes, 
and food consumption. 
We Americans are a wonderfully spasmodic 
people in thought and action. Nearly thirty 
years ago we imported Sliort-horns from Eng¬ 
land, and sold them at a thousand dollars each 
for breeding and improving purposes. Ten 
years afterward, descendants of the same 
stock, equally well bred, could be bought for a 
hundred dollars each, or less. And so it went 
on for ten years more. Beef had risen in our 
sea-board markets. Then came another furor. 
Our native-bred Short-horns and Devons could 
not supply the demand, and by careless breed¬ 
ing, at low prices, their quality had in many in¬ 
stances deteriorated. Hence new English im¬ 
portations, and a furor of demand far exceeding 
any previous rates in price. A freshly imported 
bull sold in Kentucky for $6,000, and he never 
got a calf! Sundry other bulls sold for $2,000, 
to $3,000, and sometimes more; and cows from 
$1,000 to $2,000 each ! And now, just as good 
animals sell for $100 to $300 each, while the 
New-York market price for beef has not fallen 
more than 20 per cent, over the highest prices, 
in first quality cattle ! Yet the better ones pay 
well at their present selling prices, and the 
“scrubs” scarcely pay for rearing, feeding, and 
getting to market. The same comparative story 
may be told of sheep and swine. Two years 
ago wool was a drug, and sheep hardly worth 
the asking. Wool was worth 20 to 25 cents a 
pound, for common quality, and the finest 
scarcely 40 cents. Now, one can scarcely ask a 
high price enough for sheep, for all the world 
wants them ; and common wool is worth just as 
much as any other, and sixty cents a pound! 
Every body is after sheep, and putting away 
cattle. Yet, dairy products—butter and cheese 
—are high, and milch cows worth something. 
We have no advice to give, but having told a 
few facts, sensible men can draw their own 
conclusions. If we had fine stock of any de¬ 
scription, we should cherish it. We would keep 
every good breeding female, and make steer, or 
wether , or shoat , only of such males as we could 
not sell; for there is a time coming, and at no 
distant day, when blood stock will be in demand. 
Black Rock, Erie Co., N.Y. L. F. ALLEN. 
Hints on Feeding Horses. 
The following extract from a valuable prac¬ 
tical address delivered bj' an Agriculturist subscri¬ 
ber in England, (G. P. II. Paty, M. A.,) before 
the Farmers’ Club at Bideford, Devonshire, con¬ 
tains hints on winter-feeding of horses equally 
applicable to this country. It will be remem¬ 
bered that corn, in England, signifies grain of 
any kind; and chaff, means cut hay or straw: 
“ Hay and oats will always form the staple 
of horse food here, but variety is without 
doubt as pleasing to the horse as to man, and 
there is little trouble in varying the regular diet 
occasionally. Ha}', whether meadow or clover, 
and oats and beans should possess the same 
good qualities. They should be bright in color, 
sweet in smell, and free from any mustiness, and 
should not be used in the same year in which 
they are grown. A good many of the oats 
brought into this market will be found to weigh 
less than 36 pounds a bushel. I have grown the 
black American oat to weigh 40 pounds a bush¬ 
el, and the white Canadian oat to weigh nearly 
46 pounds a bushel, and as comparative weight 
in grain is a decisive test of quality, the superi¬ 
ority of this class of"oats is obvious. Good food 
will be found the cheapest, and those who use 
inferior fodder under a delusive idea of econo¬ 
my, will find that they only gain a loss by doing 
so. Beaus may be considered the chief horse- 
corn next to oats, and when bought at a reason¬ 
able price, and given to the horses with a recol¬ 
lection that one feed of beans may be considered 
nearly equal to two feeds of oats, will be found 
a useful change. That mixture of barley and 
oats known here as dredge, is also often used 
for horses, but I have not used it myself, from 
an opinion that oats and beans are preferable. 
Oil cake in small quantities, say two or three 
pounds a week, will be much liked by the horses, 
and I think it exercises a decidedly good effect 
on their coats. Turnips, carrots, of which most 
horses become immoderately fond, mangold 
wurzel when they will eat it, trifolium iucarna- 
tum, and early, vetches, will afford a sufficient 
range to enable the food of the horse to be va¬ 
ried from time to time. The question of crush¬ 
ing corn for horses is constantly brought before 
us by. advertisements. Its necessity, for young 
horses at least, is to me doubtful; and the evi¬ 
dence of the stock authority on the subject, as 
quoted in the advertisements—a London Omui- 
bus Company—is entirely vitiated by the fact 
that in the experiment in question, crushed corn 
and chaff were used against whole corn and hay, 
thus only proving the general advantage of 
comminuted food, and not the special advantage 
of crushed corn. By feeding horses regularly, 
and mixing chaff always with the corn, I think 
you will ensure its being properly ground, with¬ 
out the intervention of any other mill than that 
provided by nature. When the chaff and corn 
are given to the horses, enough water should al¬ 
ways be sprinkled over the feed to moisten it, 
and lessen the horse’s desire to drain the bucket 
to the bottom. I.am strongly in favor of the 
use of chaff for horses, but I would recommend 
any one who uses it to discard all idea of cutting 
it by hand, and to arrange for the use of either 
water or horse-power, according to circum¬ 
stances. Fifteen pounds of chaff a day, in the 
proportion often of hay and five of straw, with 
a peck, say nine or ten pounds, of good oats, 12 
pounds of carrots, and a small allowance of hay 
at night, will form good winter feeding for a 
horse in full work; but the quantity, of course, 
must be suited to each horse’s wants, remember¬ 
ing always that a horse that is regularly well 
fed will require less and do better than a horse 
that is stinted at one time and over-fed another.” 
“Scratches” in Horses. 
This disease, called also “grease” in England 
and in some parts of this country, often attacks 
the heels and legs of neglected horses, and 
though easily prevented, is difficult to cure, if of 
long standing. It commences with inflamma¬ 
tion of the oil glands of the skin about the hind 
feet. These vessels, named sebaceous glands, 
supply a fluid to soften the skin and prevent 
its cracking. These glands are especially need¬ 
ed and very active about the hind feet of the 
horse, where, by frequent exercise of the parts, 
the skin is subject to almost constant alternate 
wrinkling and expansion. The toughest leath¬ 
er would soon yield under such treatment, un¬ 
less kept well softened by oiling. The oil glands 
may become inflamed by sudden cold, as when 
a horse after exercise over wet roads is allowed 
to stand in the stable without cleaning and dry¬ 
ing the hair about the feet. The animal being 
warm, moisture rapidly evaporates and carries 
with it the heat from the neighboring parts; con¬ 
gestion ensues, and inflammation commences. 
It may be slight at first, but by neglect it will be 
likely to extend and affect the surrounding sur¬ 
face and also the deeper seated structures, re¬ 
sulting in a disorder disgusting in its appearance., 
and painful to the horse. Or it may be caused 
by standing on a filthy stable floor in wet straw 
and excrements, the moisture from which not 
only produces cold, but from its nature irritates 
the skin, thereby inducing the disease. 
As it progresses, the hair drops off, the heels 
swell, the skin assumes a glazed appearance, is 
covered with pustules, and emits an unctuous 
discharge which soon becomes very offensive. 
Unless properly treated, the leg half-way to the 
hock is crusted over with thick, horny scabs, 
divided by deep cracks, when the affection is 
scarcely curable. Prevention is found in clean 
stables, and in thorough drying and rubbing of 
the legs after the horse has been used. Close 
clipping of the hair which ordinarily grows 
long about the legs, deprives these parts of their 
natural protection, rendering them more liable 
to the scratches, and is therefore objectionable. 
If the disease unfortunately appears, Herbert 
recommends to clip off all the hair from the af¬ 
fected parts, and thoroughly cleanse them with 
warm water and Castile soap. Then apply a flan¬ 
nel bandage evenly over the limb, and frequent¬ 
ly moisten it with warm water, allowing it to 
dry on the part. To soften the skin, apply an 
ointment of one drachm of sugar of lead in an 
