sore, and the epidermis taken off, you will 
soon effect a cure by applying, three times a 
day, or when the horse lias to work, each 
time the harness is put on or taken off, on 
the sore places, a mixture of pure olive oil 
and lime water, equal parts.” 
MORTALITY AMONG SHEEP, 
and compare the mutton weight for weight, 
without taking into account the differences 
of quality, which we can without incon¬ 
venience admit to be in favor of the English 
mutton, but which is far from being demon¬ 
strated. 
The live weight of a fat South-Down is 
commonly from sixty to seventy kilo¬ 
grammes, [132.0 lbs. to 154.7 lbs.] Upon 
consulting the current prices of mutton on 
the foot for the last fifteen years, I see it is 
one franc fifty-four centimes. [29c, per lcil., 
or about 13c. per pound.] Tins makes, then, 
a value of from one liuudred and seven francs 
eighty centimes [$20,05] at the maximum in 
the market of Paris for each head, and a to¬ 
tal value of one billion four hundred and one 
million francs [$200,586,000] for the entire 
population. 
The Merino sheep, as they are commonly 
found at the present day, weigh from fifty 
to sixty kilogrammes, [110.5 pounds to 
132.6 pounds.] This makes a maxiuni value 
of ninety-two francs forty centimes [$17.19] 
per head, or a total of one billion two hun¬ 
dred million francs, [$223,200,000]—less by 
two hundred and one million francs [$37,- 
386,000] than that of the Engisli sheep. 
By these terms the advantage would be 
incontestably with the last; for on deduct¬ 
ing from the sum of two hundred and one 
million france [$37,386,000] that of one hun¬ 
dred and eight millions, [$20,088,000] repre¬ 
senting the greatest value of the Merino 
fleeces, there would remain st ill a surplus of 
ninety-three millions [$17,298,000] in favor 
of the English mutton sheep. 
These irreproachable calculations show 
how far the conclusion is correct which we 
have drawn from our analysis of the situa¬ 
tion of the market of meat; but it would be 
a gross mistake to infer from what has been 
stated, that it is proper everywhere to re¬ 
place the Merinos by the South-Downs, as 
has been theoretically maintained for a long 
time in Germany and in France; for the 
question is the same in both countries. 
If the Merinos must remain as they are 
now generally, there is no doubt that this 
view would be right, instead of wrong. If 
it were true that the development of their 
aptitude to produce flesh were an impossible 
undertaking, the question ought not even to 
be raised. It is evident that a rational rural 
economy would send them back to mevely 
pastoral regions in their quality as pure and 
simple producers of wool, the flesh being 
only an accessory at the end of their 
career. 
But Is it so? We have seen that it is not. 
It would not be difficult to prove that the 
transformation of Merinos into mutton ani¬ 
mals, with the same degree of perfection as 
the South-Downs, is an enterprise which is 
neither more nor less impossible than their 
substitution... .The only objection which 
could be opposed with any show of reason, 
and which consists in arguing falsely from 
the time necessary to make the flocks attain 
precocity by selection alone, lias at present 
not the least pretence for its assertion. 
Wc can procure in France, with the same 
degree of precocity and in the same condi¬ 
tions, as many Merino rams as South-Downs. 
The former at the same age weigh as much, 
if not more, than the latter ; they give as 
much meat, if not more, and of unquestion¬ 
ably better quality. 
These are facts which 1 have placed be¬ 
yond doubt by incontestable observations in 
my work on Zootechuy. I have cited es 
pecinlly the Merino ewes of eighteen months 
of the flock of Genouilly, so skillfully 
ameliorated by M. G. Gar not, which have 
weighed from eighty to eighty-six kilo- 
nsbantrrn 
orstman 
H. S. RANDALL, LL. D., EDITOR, 
OP CORTtAND VlLt.AOl, CORTLAND COUNTY, N*W YoRK, 
WEANING COLTS 
Wheat for Horses. 
Tins Oneida Community Circular of a re¬ 
cent date says“ For the past month our 
horses have been fed wheat instead of corn. 
One bushel of wheat is mixed with two of 
oats, and the ground product fed with cut 
hay. The experiment was tried because 
corn was as high priced as wheat. Wheat 
has now risen fifteen cents per bushel, and 
consequently corn will be used again, 'flic 
horses are, however, stronger and sleeker 
when fed on wheat. If barley does not 
command a good price next fall, the experi¬ 
ment will be made of feeding It to the horses, 
in imitation of the Arabic custom.” 
ENGLISH AND MERINO SHEEP: 
Relative Profits — A French View of the 
Subject. 
staring coat eyes nearly closed, and a 
watery matter exuding therefrom, with a 
body shaped like a squash seed, which, but 
a few weeks before, while running with the 
mare, were possessed of a sleek, shining coat, 
eyes bright, and body as round as a barrel. 
Now the question arises, what is the cause 
of tins? I answer, in nine cases out of ten, 
it is improper weaning. Nearly every colt, 
in a farming community is allowed to run 
with its mother until about four or five 
months old, when, to suit the convenience of 
the owner, it 19 turned into some distant 
field out of sight, and if possible, out of hear¬ 
ing of its mother, there to run and whinney, 
and worry, until it brings upon itself a fever 
which weakens the constitution, closes the 
pores of the skin, and, in brief, the whole 
organs of digestion become more or less dis¬ 
eased. All of this can be avoided by a little 
care in weaning. 
My way of weaning is this:—When my 
colt is four and half or five months old, I put 
a strong leather halter upon him and place 
him in a stall, and put his mother m an ad¬ 
joining stall with a partition between, so ar¬ 
ranged that they can see each other, and if 
possible, get their heads together. The first 
day I let the colt nurse twice; the next two 
days once. 1 feed the marc upon dry hay 
and dry feed, and about half milk her two 
or three times a day until dry. The colt I 
feed upon new mown grass or fine clover 
hay, and give lnm a pint of oats twice per 
day, and in about two weeks 1 have my colt 
weaned, ami my mare dry, with my colt 
looking as fine as ever. When lie is one 
year old, he lias as much growth, and devel¬ 
opment of muscle, as one two years old 
weaned in the first described manner. When 
the mare becomes dry colt and mare may he 
turned out together again in pasture. 
C. D. Smead. 
The last number of the Bulletin of the Na¬ 
tional Association of Wool Manufacturers, 
contains a review of a work on the Natural 
History and Zootcchny (a modern name of 
the science of the culture of animals) of 
Sheep, by Andre Sanson, ex-Cliief of Ser¬ 
vice at the. Veterinary School at Toulouse, 
France, member of various learned Societies, 
and author of a treatise on Zootcchny. The 
work under review, says tile Bulletin, is pub¬ 
lished as one of the series of the Library of 
the Cultivator, a work conducted under the 
of the French Minister of Atrri- 
Brulsed Heel. 
E. W. Pertn asks some of our correspond¬ 
ents to tell him how to treat a horse with 
bruised heel. The first thing to do is to 
give the horse rest with his shoes off, and 
keep him on the ground or some soil sub¬ 
stance, The farrier should clean the foot. 
The following has been commended as a 
good application, to be rubbed upon the 
wall sole and frog of the foot Two parts 
of whale oil and one part tar, mixed. 
auspices 
culture. 
Among the portions of it translated and 
quoted by the Bulletin, is the one subjoined. 
Though the circumstances of sheep hus¬ 
bandry in France and Germany are so differ¬ 
ent from our own, that most of M. Sanson’s 
calculations and comparisons are in a great 
measure inapplicable here, the article con¬ 
tains some very suggestive facts, which will 
be new to most of our readers. For the con¬ 
venience of a portion of these, we have given, 
in brackets and foot notes, the French 
weights and values used in the text, in United 
States denominations. M. Sanson says: 
“ The question is nothing lefts, in fact, than 
that of causing the Merino race to disappear 
from the regions which it now occupies in 
the two countries of France aiul Germany, 
and to replace the Merinos by the Euglisli 
sheep, who are reputed to he the best pro¬ 
ducers of mutton. We ought, before any¬ 
thing else, to measure the extent of the sac¬ 
rifice to he made by France, at least, suppos¬ 
ing that we must resign ourselves to it, in 
view of the more advantageous ulterior re¬ 
sults which are pretended by those who ad¬ 
vocate the specialization of aptitudes. 
It is reckoned that France is in possession 
of about thirty million sheep of different 
races. The last statistical returns make the 
number much lower. But, utter all, it is 
much les9 the numlier of head which con¬ 
cerns us than the total weight of all the exist¬ 
ing sheep. Be it as it may, numbers of 
rigorous exactness arc not indispensable for 
our reasoning. In estimating the total num¬ 
ber of sheep in France at thirty millious, we 
take the mean between the numbers of tin- 
last two census. Of this number we esti¬ 
mate that there are about nine millions of 
pure Merinos, or grades of different degrees, 
producing the wools which are of the high¬ 
est value. 
Let us see, now, what is the comparative 
value of their fleeces. The mean yield of a 
fleece from Merino sheep in France in the 
grease, is between five and ten kilogrammes* 
[11.05 lbs. and 22.1 lbs.;] we will call it 
seven kilogrammes [15.47 lbs.] In general, 
this fleece yields, when fully cleansed, about 
thirty per cent. [4.64 lbs.J of scoured wool; 
and the price of this wool oscillates be¬ 
tween seven and nine francs, [$1.30 and 
$1.67 per kil., or 58 cents 9in., to75c. 7m. per 
pound,] according to quality. Wc put it, at 
eight francs] [$1.‘49] to ho within the limits 
of moderation [or about 67c. 3m. per pound.] 
This makes a value of about seventeen 
fraucs [$3.16] per fleece, and for the number 
of fleeces produced annually, a total value 
of one hundred and fifty-three million francs, 
[$28,458,000,] which might rise to two hun¬ 
dred and twenty-one million [$41,106,000.] 
Let us suppose that the production of 
these fleeces had given place to the produc¬ 
tion of the common or coarse fleeces fur¬ 
nished by the sheep specialized as the pro¬ 
ducers of mutton, the so-called English 
Inqulrif-M for Horsemen.— H. Ramsey nsks limv 
a colt three years old can be broken of the habit 
of sucking his sheath. 
KIND OF SWINE TO BREED 
Every man familiar with the Western hog 
markets will appreciate the soundness of the 
following views of a correspondent of the 
Rural Messenger:—“ Breed the hog that ma¬ 
tures early, and by this 1 mean a hog that, 
will begin to fatten as soon as you begin to 
feed, and will grow and thrive as long as you 
are disposed to feed him. I think no argu- . 
menl is needed to prove to any one tluit this 
kind of hog will be the most profitable, if not 
the only kind that will be profitable fit fill. 
Time was when we had no market for pork 
except at a certain season of the year, and 
farmers made their arrangements to only 
have money once a year. But all these 
things have changed. Money and flit hogs 
are in demand every day in the year, Hence 
the necessity and importance of having the 
hog that matures early. In order to do this, 
we must get rid of the idea that we can find 
a breed that, will, in the proper time, make 
hogs to weigh five to six hundred pounds. 
“I have no doubt but there are several 
breeds that will do this, if you keep them 
long enough, hut the question is whether it 
is better to raise (or attempt to raise) one hog 
that will reach six hundred pounds, or two 
that will weigh three hundred pounds each ? 
And In answer to this I hold that fifty bogs 
can be produced that will weigh three hun¬ 
dred pounds each at one year old, easier and 
with less feed than twenty-five can that will 
weigh six hundred pounds. Now if this be 
true, then the argument is vastly in favor of 
the fifty, three hundred pound hogs, as that 
size, if they are fat and smooth as they ought 
to he, will command as good a figure in the 
market as uny other. 
“ I am in favor of the farmer producing 
the hog that will give him the best returns 
in the shortest time, and to do this, dreams of 
mammoth hogs by the score must be aban¬ 
doned, unless you seek notoriety, and not 
money.” 
SHALL WE BREED GOOD HORSES? 
A Roy Twenty Yenvs Olil to bo Heard. 
I noticed in a late Rural New-Yorker 
an article liy L. D. S., which discusses, sub¬ 
stantially, the question whether farmers shall 
breed nice horses. L. D. S. answers No. 
Allow me to ask, where were Dexter, and all 
such horses bred and raised ? In the city, iu 
some rich man’s parlor? anti on pie and 
cake? Or were they raised on milk, grass, 
&c. ? I am a boy, twenty yearn old; and I 
want to advise the boys, not the men. L. D. 
S. may advise the latter. 
Now, boys, let us make all the improve¬ 
ment, wc can, and thereby render fanning a 
pleasure, rather than a slavish hardship. LeL 
us make improvements in our stock. If we 
are not able to get. all we want to start with, 
let us get that which is good, if we get less. 
For instance, get a good gaited mare, used 
with a horse that can trot in 2:30, or better 
if you can, and when your colta get old 
enough, if you cannot break them as they 
should be yourself, let some one who does 
know how, break and drive them. Keep 
them until you know what they are going to 
make. (I would not buy an unsound mare; 
for her offspring will be likely to bo more or 
less unsound.) Thus you cannot fail to get 
a fast colt once in a while. 
So of other stock—cattle, sheep, swine and 
fowls. If. is more profitable to grow nice 
stock, and we can make more from it. than 
by raising com and oats to sell. Wc can 
raise just as nice stock on our farms as can 
be raised in New York city, ami at much less 
expeuse; and pure-bred stock will command 
a high price, no matter who owns it. 1 have 
raised pure game fowls the last eight years, 
and the call for them increases every year. 
It does not, by any means, follow that be¬ 
cause we are fanners we must tread in the 
same old tracks our forefathers made. We 
can have what they could not, eveu if they 
had desired. t. d. k. 
ptttrmn 
ITALIAN BEES. 
In the Rural New-Yorker of July 2d, 
we noticed an article headed “ Vicious 
Italian Bees," and as your correspondent 
wishes the experience of others with Italian 
bees, wo give ours. We have kept them 
since their first introduction into this coun¬ 
try, and have always found that pure Italian 
lices make more honey ami are easier to 
handle, not being so irritable as the black 
bee. The bees we have the most trouble 
operating with is a hive of /m//"-bloods. We 
are stocking all our hives with Italian queens 
this season. On the 29th of June we intro¬ 
duced one to a hive of black bees that had 
cast a swarm ; also one to a hive of pure 
Italians that had been deprived of its queen. 
With the black bees wc had to use smoke 
until the hive was closed, but did not find iL 
necessary with the Italians. Subdue your 
bees before you commence taking out frames, 
and then, if careful, you will seldom have 
trouble. Success In handling bees depends 
upon the skill of the operator, as they will 
not civilly put up with jarring of combs or 
crushing of bees. J. W. Moore & Co. 
Rochester, Pa., 1870. 
meat, of excellent quality. 1 speak know¬ 
ingly, for 1 have eaten it. 
With such Merinos the question under 
examination has altogether another aspect. 
We should have no longer to mark a deficit 
iu comparing the Merinos with the English 
sheep. We learn With surprise that with 
the production of meat, at least equal, they 
preserve their superiority as producers of 
wool, while giving an assurance of at. least 
an excess of one hundred and eight million 
fraucs [$20,088,000] of annual revenue as 
calculated above. 
We see by the above that this subject is 
worthy of the most serious meditation of the 
sheep growers iu France and Germany. Sci¬ 
ence, as we have attempted to interpret it, re¬ 
quires us to have the Merinos in possession 
of the lands which they now occupy in all 
of western Europe. It would be a grave 
error to drain the source of wealth which 
their fleeces present from the moment that 
it is demonstrated that we can attain the 
end in view -without sacrificing them and 
without greater difficulties. The German 
States are as rich as we arc in Merinos. 
Prussia especially, so attentive to all pro¬ 
gress, has nearly eleven millions, pure and 
It is a fortune which we must 
Hog Fever in Ohio. 
W. J. Edwards, Shelby Co., O., writes 
the Ohio Farmer June 13“ The hog fever 
is raging in Shelby county; some of the 
farmers are paying $25 a piece for pigs at 
the age of six weeks, in order to procure 
good stock.” 
Soap nml nog Cholera. 
J. T. Busty, Lancaster, O., writes the 
Ohio Farmer that, he had known hogs said 
to have this disease, dissected, and the 
stomach, bowels and liver found to be full 
of worms three and four inches long, the 
ends of them being pointed and sharp, and 
of a hard, rough, wiry appearance. In one 
instance the cavity of the gall was crowded 
full of these worms. His Poland pigs were 
attacked with cholera. Caught the pigs, 
placed them on their hacks—one boy hold¬ 
ing the legs and the other the ears—and gave 
each pig a tahlespoonful of soft soap morn¬ 
ing and evening for three days. The second 
day he observed in their droppings long 
stringy substances, which he found to he the 
skins of what he supposed to be worms, 
which was proof to him that tlie soap lmd 
the desired effect. He also put soft soap 
into the swill fed bis other hogs, which 
has improved their appearance very much. 
THE BEST BEE HIVE 
A correspondent asks, “ Which is the 
best pattern for a bee hive? Is King’s pat¬ 
ent equal to the others?” Not being practi¬ 
cal bee keepers, we cannot say. And there 
will be found almost as many different opin¬ 
ions among practical bee keepers concerning 
the merits and demerits of different hives, as 
there are hives. It seems to be generally 
conceded by the most skilled apiarians, that 
a moveable comb hive of some sort is essen¬ 
tial to the greatest success. There are doubt¬ 
less several that are of superior excellence. 
Quinbv’s, which lias been advertised in the 
Rural New-Yorker, is recommended, and 
is not patented, wo believe. Mr. Q. is a prac¬ 
tical bee keeper, and can, doubtless, give our 
Correspondent good and reliable advice. 
HORSE NOTES AND QUERIES, 
Collar Botl« ou Horses. 
A “Veterinarian” writes to the Chi¬ 
cago Tribune as follows, in answer to a 
question as to the cause of swellings and 
collar boils on horses: — “The swellings 
and collar boils yon complain of are not 
caused by feeding salt and ashes, though 
the latter seems to me to be useless. These 
swellings occur most frequently in spring 
time, and especially then, wheu the horse 
either is rapidly improving or falling off in 
flesh, thus rendering the collar either too 
narrow or too wide. Have the collar uiways 
well fitted to the horse’s neck, keep your 
harness clean and smooth, and lake care 
that the traces or tugs are exactly the same 
length, and you will have no cause to com¬ 
plain, As long as the skin on those swell¬ 
ings is not sore, yon may use cold fomenta¬ 
tions. As soon, however, as the same gets 
Honey Proapecw,— A correspondent sugrpests, 
and we second the motion, that Rural apiarians 
report the honey crop prospects, condition of 
bees, and such other matters as will interest the 
craft, for publication In this department of the 
Rural New-Yorker. 
crossed 
preserve by ameliorating, and not by de 
stroying.” 
