VOL. XXIX. No. 15 
WHOLE No. 12«3. 
j PRICE SIX CENTS, 
! #«.50 PER YEAR. 
(Entered according t<> Act of Coi res-. In the year lwt. by the Rural PnbHghtng Coynpany, In the office of the librarian of CoOgreaa at Washington^ 
avoidable by proper housing, exercise and 
quiet. Too many pregnant animals should 
not be placed together, nor should one of 
them be placed among a number of males. 
Quiet companions and secluded pastures in 
summer, and roomy boxes, sheds, ote., in 
winter, and more care should be observed as 
the season of pregnancy advances. 
Laxative medicines may be useful some¬ 
times, hut they should always be of a gentle 
nature. With proper food and exercise, 
medicines will be rarely necessary. Cleanli¬ 
ness is very important ; not because bad 
smells have a direct effect upon the uterus, 
but because by long continuance, added to 
nervous excitement, the general health of 
the animal is impaired, and in such eases 
there is always danger of miscarriage. Strict 
attention to the quality of the water is also 
important. A pond iuto which the drainage 
of stables or water closets is allowed to flow 
is totally unfit for cattle. It is no argument 
to say that stock sometimes show an appa¬ 
rent preference for such water as compared 
with that which is known to bo pure. Mr. 
A rmitagk accounts for this by saying that 
“such water is considerably softened by 
alkaline salts which find their way into it, 
and the supernatant portion, wheu removed, 
may appear tolerably clear ; yet it does not 
alter the nature of the fact that it contains 
certain elements which are productive of 
evil consequences, and it would be wrong to 
omit it from the list of causes.” 
To avoid the danger of ergotism, particu¬ 
larly in wet seasons, late mown pastures are 
preferable, because then seeding grasses will 
he impossible. Humid localities are most 
liable to ergot in rye grass, as an Immature 
and imperfect growth takes place under such 
circumstances. The true precaution is to 
mow so late that seeding is impossible at the 
time the breeder desires it for pasture. 
We shall always be glad of any further in¬ 
formation on this subject from our readers. 
BLACK LEG IN CALVES 
let a call suck its mother until it is from one 
to four months old, then kill it, you have the 
finest quality of meat, all made without any 
salt. 
1 have heard persons say, who have been 
in Northern Texas, that Hie finest flavored 
beef they ever ate they have eaten there, 
and the cattle never got any salt; indeed 
they are such strangers to it that they will 
bellow and make more ado over salt than 
over blood. 
As you approach the coast, where salt 
settles on the grass from the vanor off the 
One year ago this spring, we had a year¬ 
ling attacked with what is commonly called 
Black Leg. She was, when found, unable :o 
stand; was lying on her right ride, and 
seemed to be in great agony. She was in¬ 
stantly bled. Next we put half a cup of 
black pepper in a bottle, adding a pint of 
water, giving it to her immediately. In the 
meantime we dispatched our hired man to 
the village (one mile distant) for half a pound 
of saltpeter, half of which we gave her on 
his arrival (putting it in a piece of white tis¬ 
sue-paper and putting it down her throat. 
In two hours from the time we discovered 
her she was apparently as well as ever, with 
t he exception of being somewhat weak. She 
had been kept rather high during the winter, 
had run to grass about two weeks and was in 
excellent order. Wo have since ascertained 
that bleeding and giving saltpeter is a re¬ 
liable remedy In the dairy regions on the 
west side of the Catskill Mountains. 1 be¬ 
lieve Black Leg in most parts of the country 
is considered incurable. This Is what prompt¬ 
ed me to ■*“ rite upon the subject, having fre¬ 
quently heard it remarked and have seen it 
so stated in some of our agricultural papers. 
CVsklll, N. Y. H . s. b. 
Now that the £40,000 cow is dead, and ther 
is no hope that any of our herdsmen will 
have opportunity to see her at exhibitions or 
elsewhere, can you not gratify us by giving 
a portrait of her in your columns i I know 
you will gratify many of my acquaintances 
as well as your obedient servant—c. s. j. 
This is one of three similar requests which 
have reached us. In response we transfer 
the accompanying portrait, from the Live 
ytock Journal. Never having seen the cow, 
we cannot vouch for the fidelity of the por¬ 
trait. We suppose it to have been drawn 
by Mr. Page, who, judging by the amount 
of this class of work he does for .Short-Hom 
breeders, at least satisfies them with his por¬ 
traits. There is a great, difference of opiuion 
among breeders as to the policy of paying 
such a price for such a cow ; but, on the 
principle that a thing is worth what it will 
bring, we suppose the Eighth Duchess of 
Geneva was worth all that was paid for her 
—or would have been hud she lived. 
NOTES FOR HERDSMEN 
Hay Tan for Calve g.—A farmer who had 
a calf of value and no milk to give it was 
advised to give it hay tea. He did so and 
the calf is reported as doing finely though it 
has neither received hay nor meal since he 
got it. He cuts the best and finest hay he 
has, about two inches long and pours boiling 
water over it j lets it stand, until cooled to 
about the hoot of milk from the cow when 
the tea in given to Che calf and the hay to the 
cow. Bot h calf and cow thrive on this feed. 
We have fed a great deal of hay tea to calves* 
with good results. 
Belief .for Cattle that have Eaten Too Much 
’armer’s 
remedy is to 
■> Hay one.half pint of 
--- >'• Steep a short 
ABORTION IN COWS 
SALT FOR STOCK 
Last week we published an article, from a 
correspondent of the Rural New-Yorker, 
which will have attracted the attention of 
the herdsmen among our readers. Supple¬ 
mentary to that article we publish the views 
of a gentleman of experience in Great 
Britain. Mr. G. Armitagk, in a recent issue 
of the Transactions of the Highland Agricul¬ 
tural Society of Scotland, considers exercise 
as among the more important ways to pre¬ 
serve the health of the animal during gesta¬ 
tion, and as indispensable as proper food in 
promoting digestion and rendering the less 
nutritious articles of diet 
more available during gesta¬ 
tion than would otherwise be 
the case. When very nutri¬ 
tious food is used, It should 
be combined with that which 
is less nutritious and more 
bulk}-. Bran, with hay and 
straw chaff, answers ad- JH 
mirably to reduce the heating f 
qualities of grain, while grass, ' 
clover and roots answer the 
same purpose in their season. jj 
By care in this matter, both ^**®*®® 
constipation arid diarrhea, 
which are very dangerous in 
pregnant animals, are avoid¬ 
ed, and vigor maintained 
without any resort to medi¬ 
cines. 
Acute indigestion gives rise - — 
to constipation, diarrhea, dys- - 
entory, hoven, etc., and these _Jj\ 
to mechanical causes of abor¬ 
tion, which can only be avoid¬ 
ed through an observance of sjp 
the rules of hygiene. 
Mr. Armitage thinks rich 
food and the want of proper _ _ 
exercise, acute indigestion and 
its train of evils, with frights, ' H, 
etc., among the principal 
reasons for abortion. The 
great cause is improper feed- J* 
Big. Avoid this, and two- 
thirds of the difficulties are 
swept away. All the re 3 t are 
Grain. —T. W. Griswold in the Fi 
Union says The most simple 
make a tea of wood soot 
soot to one quart of water, f" 
time to get the strength, and pour down the 
throat through a horn, or a thick glass 
bottle. Tliis will counteract the acid of the 
stomach occasioned by over eating. Oil or 
melted lard I have used with good success 
giving almost instant relief. This last also 
iB most excellent for cattle when choked. 
Killing Lion on Cat tie .—A correspondent 
of the Western Rural says “My remedy 
which has been effectual, is to 
give sulphur, salt, and Avlieat 
bran, mixed, equal parts, 
three times a week on warm 
days. For horses and colts, I 
add saltpeter. 
Moolies, not, “ Woglies.”— 
On page 208, in the article on 
B itot “No Homs for Jo. Watson,” 
SjL the types made our friend say 
' Woolies,” when he wrote 
dfln “ Moolies.” Of course it is 
%Wjn vexatious; but then such 
things help to develop a philo- 
rlj sophicnl state of mind ! 
|f If: _ Lice Remedy for Cuttle .— 
il. C. Young of New Hamp- 
• shire says:—“Take one pint 
of soft soap, one-fourth pound 
black pepper, ten quarts warm 
• /Jr ^ * water, well mixed; wash 
* and card well, will kill lice.” 
||| - Stork for New Hampshire. 
Him ^ ^ Bailev is reported as 
believing “the Deruns the 
p -1 " stock best adapted to New 
1 lampshire, says“ The Ay r- 
wi shire are apt to be mischiev- 
W ous in spring and fall. 
r Feeding Oxen. —D. S. Mil- 
let, says the Shakers feed 
Jpto oxen with hay at -I o’clock, A. 
M.; at 5:30 and 8 P. M., fed 
provender, corn and oats 
ground together ; fed hay at 
noon and night. 
A correspondent of the Cincinnati Ga¬ 
zette says :—1 scarcely ever feed my stock 
any salt ; never give my hogs any, excepting 
what they get in their swill. And no one in 
this neighborhood raises any better hogs than 
I do. T have kept my horses six months at a 
time without any salt, and they seemed to 
do as well and to have less appetite for salt 
at the end of six months than wheu they got 
it twice a week. 1 have three calves (of last 
spring), and they are as fin® and fat as need 
bo. They have never bad any salt. If you 
