1891 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
895 
all this from labor, and not one from capital, is con¬ 
tinued, I am unalterably opposed to any increase, lit¬ 
tle or great, in the expenses of the government. 
Elgin, Mich. c. f. c. 
What are We Going to Do ? 
Postmaster-General Wanamaker says: “Free mail 
delivery in country districts is a success where tried.” 
Now is our time to secure a needed reform. Let us all 
ask our Senators and Representatives at Washington, 
by a personal letter, to grant us the right. Let every 
farmers’ organization in the land pass a resolution 
strongly in favor of this great reform and demand it. 
Let us get up petitions in favor of it and send them on 
to Washington. What will the measure do for us ? It 
will make the farmer’s life “ worth living.” It will 
bring us into closer relations with our fellow beings, 
and give us an opportunity to study and educate our¬ 
selves and our children. It will solve the much 
debated question as to how we shall keep our boys on 
the farm. The city dwellers have free delivery and 
why not we ? Shall more privileges be extended to them 
and none to us ? It will increase the value of our land ! 
It will give employment to some of our people. Let us 
not cease for a moment to press our demand until it is 
secured. It is a great prize and belongs to us and we 
must demand it in a voice loud enough to be heard. 
York Co., Pa. l. w. ligiity. 
“The city of the Dead.” 
In this busy age the dead are too soon forgotten. 
Many of us do not even try to make their last resting 
place bring restful or happy memories. Many a 
country graveyard is neglected—a gloomy, rough-look¬ 
ing place, with broken gates and stone walls, through 
which stray cattle or sheep wander to pasture over the 
graves. It costs but little more, in money and time, 
to turn the gloomy graveyard into a pleasant park 
with flowers, well kept lawns and trees. Who will 
say that such work would not “ pay ? ” If it did not 
return a dollar it would pay 500 per cent in the lessons 
in neatness, reverence and respect it would teach the 
children and young people. Our picture, Fig. 331, is 
drawn from a photograph taken in the Georgia pine 
forests. The graves are covered and surrounded by 
fence rails. It is about the most primitive form of 
“ family burial plot ” that this age can show. 
Live Stock Matters. 
Feeding Idle Horses. 
As feeding is to supply the energy used up in work, 
and to maintain an animal, and to make good the waste 
of heat in winter, several points should be considered 
when the feeding of an idle horse at that season is a 
matter of calculation as to cost and profit. There are 
two main points: first the manner of stabling, and, 
second, the quantity and kind of feed that will be 
needed to sustain the animal in fair and healthful con¬ 
dition. The effect of cold on an animal is an important 
matter, as it relates to the health, the consumption of 
food, and the requisite precautions to be taken to avoid 
loss and any falling off in the condition of the animal. 
The food of an animal produces force, which is of 
three kinds: applied force, which is expended in the 
maintenance of the animal’s, vital functions, all the 
muscular exertion required for the action of the heart, 
lungs and digestive organs, as well as the secretions 
and exertions; reserved force, which is used for any 
exertion in the way of work or exercise ; and waste 
force that is taken up by the loss of heat that is carried 
off by the cold of the season. All this force must be sup¬ 
plied by the food, and it requires careful study to make 
up a ration that will meet all these requirements and 
cost the least money for the effects desired. 
A horse has a small stomach and active digestion. 
The food therefore should be of the highest nutritive 
quality, with as little waste matter as may be. It 
should be as easily digestible as possible. Whole corn 
and cob is not such a food, and on general principles is 
not to be considered either healthful or profitable. 
The feeding value of a food, as estimated by its chem¬ 
ical constituents, is not a safe guide, as the cob, while 
not without some seeming nutritious quality, is hardly 
digestible, and in this respect has about the same value 
as woody fiber in the form of saw-dust. In the experi¬ 
ence of horsemen, the cob has been suspected of dan¬ 
gerous qualities and as productive of indigestion. Cer¬ 
tainly it is not in any way a food that can, under the 
special exigencies of this season, be considered either 
useful, safe, or economical. As a rule, the very best 
food is the cheapest, just as in a strictly analogous case 
the very best coal is the cheapest for the ocean steamer 
where cost is a serious item. 
Rut corn is an excellent food for a horse under cer¬ 
tain circumstances. It is a concentrated food, it has a 
large proportion of carbohydrates, which supply the 
required heat, and is suitably deficient in the albumi¬ 
noids that are not wanted by an animal that is resting. 
Again, its starchy character is such that when in the 
form of meal it is masticated, it becomes a plastic and 
solid mass that is not readily attacked by the gastric 
fluid, and is thus not easily digested and is likely to 
produce an attack of colic, which, while it may not be 
dangerous, yet takes tip so much of the reserved force 
of the animal as to cause a loss of food. The corn, 
then, should be coarsely ground, and if fed with cut- 
hay will be still more safe and profitable to feed. A 
horse of 1,000 pounds needs, in addition to 15 pounds 
of good Timothy hay, not more than 10 pounds of corn, 
coarsely ground ; and this allowance of grain may be 
considered as equal to 50 per cent more of whole grain. 
This supplies about 20 pounds of dry substance con¬ 
taining of digestible matters 14 pounds carbohydrates, 
a pound and three-quarters of albuminoids and half a 
pound of fat; which is ample for a horse of that weight, 
and even for one of 1,200 pounds kept in a warm stable 
without work, but having sufficient exercise to keep 
the blood stirring and maintain a healthful consump¬ 
tion of food. 
A stable may be warm and yet well supplied with 
fresh air. A sufficient supply of oxygen is indispensa¬ 
ble for the proper change of the carbohydrates of the 
food into heat. In a close, warm, impure atmos¬ 
phere, loaded with carbonic acid, this oxidation can¬ 
not go on, and the animal becomes listless and sleepy, 
and the food is wasted. Therefore ample ventilation 
must be provided, and a temperature of not less than 
40 degrees will be far better for the horse than one of 
60 with less fresh air. So long as the stable does not 
freeze, the temperatm-e will be safe. The heat given 
out by a horse of 1,000 pounds will be sufficient to 
maintain a temperature above freezing in a space of 
1,200 cubic feet, which is not too much for a stable 
warm enough for the lodging of a horse at any time. 
If it is thought proper to grind the corn as fine as to 
A Primitive Rural Ground. Fig. 331. 
make it completely digestible it may be mixed with 
the cut hay moistened so that both may be masticated 
together. ’ h. stewart. 
“ The Best Milkers Make the Best Beef.” 
Mr. Thomas McFarlane tells us in a late Rural 
that “cows good for the pail and butter tub, will not 
prove good for the butcher’s block.” I have fattened a 
great many cows for the family beef and can truly say 
that those which had been the best milkers, and had on 
that account been kept the longest, invariably made 
the tenderest, juiciest and sweetest beef. I have fat¬ 
tened yearling and two-year-old steers, old oxen, 
young cows not worth keeping for dairy purposes, and 
old cows which on account of their excellence in the 
dairy had been kept until their teeth were so poor that 
they could scarcely eat hay, and invariably the best 
milk and butter cows made the best beef. 
A neighbor once sold me an old cow for beef, saying 
she had been the best butter cow he had ever owned 
and he had kept her too long. I commenced feeding 
her as much pumpkins and meal as she would eat up 
clean, and her flow of milk soon jumped up from a few 
quarts, to a 10-quart pailful of rich quality. The 
other cows being nearly dry, I changed my mind about 
drying her off and continued to feed her all winter as 
much meal as she would eat, and after she was turned 
out to grass in the spring, I kept up the feeding and 
milking until she was killed in the fall. She was 
fattened and milked for more than a year, and gained 
slowly but steadily in flesh, which was well marbled 
and the best we had ever eaten. There was not much 
leaf tallow, which at that time was valuable, but is 
now of no great consequence. I think her milk paid 
for all the grain fed, and she did not eat much hay. 
Some feeders may doubt that good milkers can be 
fattened and milked at the time of fattening; but I have 
done it with another good cow since that first experi¬ 
ment. 01 course it takes a longer period to put on the 
flesh; all the conditions must be favorable, and the di¬ 
gestive organs be kept in perfect health. 
Animals of the same breed, age and degree of fat¬ 
ness will, from some unknown cause, vary in the qual¬ 
ity of their flesh. Potatoes of the same variety grown 
in the same hill will vary in mealiness and flavor. 
Apples from the same tree and from the same limb, 
will differ in tenderness and taste, those growing in 
the shade not being so highly colored or well-flavored 
as those having more sunlight. j. w. ingiiam. 
Bradford Co., Pa. 
Forkfuls of Facts. 
Why I Chose Guernseys. —For my business—that of 
making butter—I could see only two breeds I cared to 
try—the Guernsey and Jersey—and for my purpose 
and surroundings I chose the former, and have had no 
cause to regret my choice, although I would never try 
to dissuade a man from investing in good Jerseys, if he 
is prepared to care for them. As to my grade heifers I 
can judge as yet only from their looks, as they will be 
only two years old this spring ; but they are very prom¬ 
ising indeed. The young grade calves are greedy 
feeders and excellent growers, making splendid veals ; 
but making veals is a very lazy method of dairying, 
especially at present prices for butter. This reminds 
me of the question now being discussed in The It. N.-Y. 
in regard to “beef” and “milk types.” From my ex¬ 
perience and observation I believe the best plan is to 
let Nature take its course, and if a heifer begins to 
assume the “beef” form, urge her on with plenty of 
carbonaceous food to her proper place, the ‘ ‘ block. ” 
A. L. WALES. 
High stepping horses are in great demand and doz¬ 
ens of curious contrivances are resorted to to make 
horses “ pick up their front feet.” The latest is a 
pair of spectacles devised by a London dealer, of which 
we are told : “ The frames are made of stiff leather, 
quite inclosing the eye of the horse, and the glasses 
employed are deep concave, and large in size. The 
effect produced is to give the ground in front of the 
horse the appearance of being raised ; the animal, 
therefore, steps high, thinking he is going uphill, or 
has to step over an obstacle in front of him. If the 
system is persevered with when the animal is young, 
the effect is said to be marvelous.” There is no doubt 
that many horses are near-sighted. If their eyes could 
be properly treated many faults of shying and blunder¬ 
ing could be remedied. 
Importance of Good Ewes. —It is a very strong 
recommendation in favor of purebred rams that any in¬ 
telligent farmer can trust to the breeding of the ram 
alone to raise the quality of his flock. It will readily 
be admitted that any improvement in the good qual¬ 
ities of the flock may be reached more certainly and 
economically by the use of the very best rams to be 
obtained, and no breeder can afford to use any other ; 
for the best are none too good. Every breeder of stock 
of any kind should have a well defined object in view, 
and every animal in the herd or flock should be of a 
type best adapted to aid in reaching the desired point; 
yet we often find farmers content with any type or 
breed, if it is only a sheep. With our high-priced 
lands and our modes of farming, it will be impossible 
to compete successfully in growing wool with sections 
of the world where land is worth only a few dollars 
per acre, and where sheep may be pastured nearly the 
entire year. Our main object, then, must be -the pro¬ 
duction of mutton ; but we may at the same time pro¬ 
duce a good fleece of wool which will go far toward 
paying all the expenses of keeping the animal. For 
present use we must depend on the flocks of our coun¬ 
try for ewes to breed from ; but only the best ones 
should be kept as breeders, and all of inferior quality 
should go to the butcher, no matter how low the 
price they may bring. Then after selecting the best 
ewes in the flock as breeders, put the very best Shrop¬ 
shire ram to be found with the flock and always keep 
about three-quarters of the ewe lambs as additions to 
the breeding flock, and in this way build up a style and 
quality of flock that will satisfactorily settle the ques¬ 
tion as to whether sheep pay. frank d. ward. 
Genesee Co., N. Y. 
Eating Horse Flesh.— Hippophagy is a word not 
often met with in our literature. It means the art or 
practice of feeding on horse flesh. The French equiva¬ 
lent of this word is very common in France where the 
practice of eating the flesh of horses and mules is 
increasing. In Paris and its suburbs 16,446 of these 
animals were consumed in 1887, and from 1866 to 1889 
the total was 275,600. In other departments of France 
the number of horses consumed for every 1,000 inhabi¬ 
tants was about 25 each year. In Vienna, about 4,000 
horses are sold as food each year ; in Berlin, about 
6,000, and in Amsterdam. 2,500. Horse flesh is also 
used for human food in Denmark, Sweden, Switzer¬ 
land and parts of Italy. In Paris the price is about 
half that of beef. It is eaten chiefly by the poor and 
middle classes, who pronounce it a cheap and whole- 
