720 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKE 
a ventilator is passed, which is closed by a 
trap door that can be raised by means of a 
cord reaching down below The walls and 
ceilings should be plastered and a bard finish¬ 
ing coit of plaster of Paris, costing only a few 
dollars extra, will add much to the cleanliness 
Lime wash will bi* always peeling off and the 
scales will fall down upon the milk occasion¬ 
ally. The hard finish is less porous than the 
lime, which is an advantage. A brick, 
6tone, or concrete milk house will be prefer- 
ab’e where the material can be procured 
easily; stone or concrete will be the cheapest 
where the stone or gravel Is abundant, and 
either is better than brick both for Winter or 
Summer use. If the walls are lined inside by 
meaus of furring strips f mr inches thick upon 
which the laths are nailed, a considerable air 
space will be secured and this will help greatly 
to preserve an even temperature in the house 
A section of a house constructed in this manner 
is shown at figure 84S. The outside of the 
milk-house should be painted or washed white, 
as this reflects the heat and keeps the Inside 
much cooler than bare bricks, stone or boards 
would. 
CHURNS WASH 
BOOM, 
R.N'Y, 8c/ 
HAIRY HOUSE.—FIG. 349. 
For a butter dairy, a churning room will be 
required, and this room should be provided with 
a sink and water for washing pans and utensils. 
A plan for an arrangement that has been 
found convenient is here shown. To secure 
drainage, the floor is raised at loaBt a foot 
above the level of the ground, and the surface 
outside should be graded up to the door-step 
which should not be raised more than seven 
inches. It is very inconvenient to have steps 
np to a dairy, because in Winter these are 
slippery with snow and xce, and it is a severe 
tax on any person to carry heavy pails up a 
number of steps. The sink in the churning 
room should be provided with a pump from a 
cistern or well close by; a cistern is the beet 
because it will receive the water from the roof 
and keep the ground dry about the foundation. 
A dram should be provided in the coiner of 
the sink. Above the sink some racks may be 
made to hold spare milk pans, pails, etc. The 
milk-room is reached by a few board steps 
with a rise of not more than seven Inches each. 
The shelves are ranged around the sides and a 
wide, low table is in the middle for the cream 
jais and to do the skimming upon. If deep 
setting is practiced JesB room will be required. 
But it will always be well to 
estimate for the largest pos- * 
sible amount of space and 
room in a dairy, and then . 
make it still a little larger, 
In my experience in plan¬ 
ning dairies for myself and 
others, I have never yet 
found one too large, but 
many that have Boon proved 
loo small. 
goat with kids. Figure 3, is a Hungarian 
goat belonging to Lady Burdett-Coutts and is 
five years old. Figure 4, is an illustration of 
another belonging to Lady Burdett-Coutts, 
with kid. Figure 5 is an Angora goat two 
years old. The foreign species, with the ex¬ 
ception of the Angora, do not seem to have 
been taken up for experiment as yet. There 
are several species of wild goat found in the 
East, and some few domestic animals are 
kuown which somewhat resemble the wild 
ones and a few of them were on exhibition. 
What is expected to be gained by the con¬ 
sideration of the goat at this time does not ap¬ 
pear. If for the purpose of improving or for 
the discovery of some more useful breed for 
practical husbandry, the world will wish the 
British Goat Society all possible success. 
There would seem to be material foundation 
enough in the goat family for some practical 
results; but it ib apparently necessary to cross 
aod breed out some, of the more marked pecu¬ 
liarities of the animal before any favorable re¬ 
sults can be hoped for. Certainly the rougher, 
rockier portions of all countries mav well be 
the home of the goat provided the hair or milk 
or flesh or all these may be made a 60 ut ce of 
profit. The Angora is the most hopeful at 
present, but although experiments are being 
made with It in America, its raising does not 
yet seem to have become profitable away 
from the Pacific coast. 
HORNS CRUMPLED BY ART. 
Thebe is nothing about the dairy cow that 
calls forth so many whimsical notions and 
tastes in breeders as the horns. The breeders 
of Angus and Galloways want a smooth poll— 
no horns at all. The Short-horn or Durham 
breeder and also the Jersey breeder want 
rudimentary, crooked, drooping or crumpled 
horns, like an old snag or guaiJed root, antique 
and all awry, one turning into the jaw-bone 
below or lying back on the neck, the other 
pointing to the stare or reaching out straight 
forward, like the antennae of an insect. The 
Devon breeder wants a bright, white, keen, 
Bcimetar Bhapcd horn—a villainous instrument 
for attack or defence, something that will 
make the blood run cold when the old cow 
shakes her head at you in the open field with 
no friendly hedge or tree in sight. Even the 
Devon does not rank first in horns, however ; 
the Texan steer can give him two in the game 
and lead him by a foot on either horn. Here, 
however, there is some sense in horns, for 
often these cattle have to protect themselves 
from wild beasts, and a 6trong horn is their 
only defence. 
But why have not these excrescences of 
civilization been bred off long ago? Of what 
earthly use are horns on a cow ? The younger 
and weaker members of the herd are victims 
embryo calf cr pierced udder as the sad re¬ 
sult of too much horns on the head of the 
boss cow On bulls Ihesc horns are doubly 
dangerous. Hogs, sheep, horses and human 
beings are the victims of these desperate and 
armed beasts. Polled bulls are as quiet as 
young heifers or old cows. It is the sense of 
power for mischief that instigates the evil dis¬ 
position of a bull. 
In producing new breeds of sheep the folly 
of horns has been recognized aud they have 
been left off, though in this instance there is 
some canse to leave them on as a protection 
against the ravages of dogs. But why should 
STOCK NOTES. 
STOCKMAN. 
they be left on our improved breeds of cattle ? 
The average Jersey cow has, as said before, 
only a rudimentary horn and it grows in any 
direction if left to itself, aud Is so soft she is 
almost certain to lose part or the whole of it 
before she has reached maturity. The shell 
often slips off so easily that it is impossible to 
tell how the accident could have occurred, and 
the cow’s beauty is marred for life. This very 
softness of the horns makes it an easy matter to 
train them in any shape desired. The breed¬ 
ers on the island of Jersey have taken advan¬ 
tage of this, and often, if not always, put 
clamps, such as are figured above, on the 
horns to give them a uniform and crumpled 
direction. 
This instrument is made of iron, consisting 
of a pi ite that fits against the forehead. The 
rings slip over the points of the horns, and the 
other end of the bar pas es through staples in 
the plate, Blidtng backward and forward with 
the ends turned up and pierced by holes in 
which a thread is cut. Through these ends a 
long-threaded bolt screws, to constantly short¬ 
en up the rings. They are put on and screwed 
tightly, but not enough to hurt the animal. In 
three or four days they will be found to have 
become quite loose from the effect of the horns 
growing toward each other. The screw must 
then be tightened again or the clamps will 
drop off, and, if the animal is at pasture, be 
lost. They are tightened by passing the point 
of a nail into the hole in the end of the bolt 
and sciewiDg it up. In a few weeks the most 
stubborn horns can be bi ought Into the most 
graceful curves or “bug -haped." In connec¬ 
tion with the clamps a coarse, balf-rouud rasp 
should be used to take off all the rough, thick 
parts of the horn. Sand-paper aud glass are 1 
THE GOAT. 
An effort has been made 
in England for some time to 
bring the goat forwaid as an 
otj ct for greater considera¬ 
tion in agricultural circles, 
and, besides the British Goat 
Society, of which Lady Bur¬ 
dett-Coutts is putronne6s, 
the manager of the Alexan¬ 
dra l'alace, a place of pub¬ 
lic entertainment, recently 
arranged au exhibition of 
some one hundred fine speci¬ 
mens of British and foreign 
goals, an illustration of some 
of which we have re-engrav¬ 
ed from the London News. 
The illustration is of five 
of the animals on exhibi¬ 
tion. Figure 1, is the com¬ 
mon domestic goat, four 
years old, of which species one or more may 
be seen upon the small estaleB of most of the 
peasantry in the highlands of all the European 
countries, serving to supply milk and often 
meat. Campbell In the poem of the “ Sol¬ 
diers’ Dream ’’ of being at home again, has 
this suggestive line— 
I heard my own mountain goats bleating afar!" 
The same species imported into America is 
the companion of the poor family from 
New Foundland to Central America, and is 
oftentimes the greatest blessing of the occu¬ 
pants of those poor hovels. 
Figure 2 , represents another domestic 
VAltlETlES OF THE GOAT.—FIG. 351. 
to these cruel instruments, aud dealers in 
hides tell us that all pelts are injured more or 
less, the damage amountirg to millions of 
dollars in the aggregate—by the marks or 
scratches that each animal receives some time 
in its life-time from the horns of another. This 
ir a source of great perplexity and often of 
contention between buyers of hides and the 
tanner. Who has not made a visit to the 
stable and found the worst cow in the herd, as 
it always happens, loose and raking the Bides 
of her helpless companions that are chained 
up powerless to protect themselves, their 
sides reeking with blood and perhaps a dead 
too slow; a rasp will do the work in one- 
eighth of the time. A heavy, coarse horn on 
a Jersey is a great blemish. With persistent 
rasping the coarseness can soon be entirely re¬ 
moved. ThlsiBonlya “fancy” point, but it goes 
a long way iu making a sale to the average 
buyer. 1 have known it to add more than 450 
to the value of a young bull and twice this 
amount to a heifer. The buyer may know 
how it is done and, In fact, see the clamps on 
the animal; but the pretty horns will still tempt 
him to buy. Care must be taken not to screw 
the clamps too tightly or they will break the 
bone of the horn. L. 8. LLahdin. 
The Hereford is now favored with a boom. 
I have had some hot discussions with friends 
of the Short-horn, in defending this breed 
which has been unjustly neglected, while the 
Short-horn has been enjoying its much inflated 
prosperity. The Hereford lsau ancient family. 
It partakes with the Devon the honor of an 
old-time pedigree and history, and it bears its 
escutcheon, like the Devon, in its distinctly 
marked family features, which are reproduced 
with the greatest faithfulness. 
The Sbort-horu Is a made-up breed in 
comparison with the Hereford. It is faBt 
becoming more distinctly marked in col¬ 
or, as the frequent roan becomes more 
fashionable; aud the best families become 
more thoroughly intermingled with the 
rank and file. But it does not seem so well 
suited to bear the hardships of the plains 
as the Hereford, and the persistent work of 
the friends of the latter, notably of Mr. 
Miller, of Beecher, Illinois, has brought the 
meritorious white faces into popularity, and, 
as might have been expected, they are more 
than holding their own. 
Beef and mutton are fast becoming the 
popular alimeDt. Our large foreign popula¬ 
tion, unused in their former homes and poorer 
circumstances to so expensive a food, are 
greatly increasing their consumption of meat. 
It is a fortunate thing, for it is a matter of 
history that the beef-eaters, the best fed peo¬ 
ple, have led the world In war aud peace. And 
if the general consumption of beef and mut¬ 
ton will bring the United States into the posi¬ 
tion of the first nation of the world, or rather 
keep it there; or if, to take it the other way, 
the first nation of the world must eat the most 
beef and mutton, then there is a promising 
outlook for graziers and shepherds. 
The gentle sheep has always been a wealth 
producer. The latter end of Job “ was blessed, 
for he had 14,000 sheep," which would mean to 
one of us an income of just as many dollars 
per year, if not twice as many. What an in¬ 
vestment for capital, that brings in 50 or 60 
per cent, yearly, with almost the certainty 
that appertains to U. S. four-per-cents. A 
flock will easily increase 60 (o 70 per cent, 
yearly, and half that will be compounded after 
the second year. This rate of increase is 
enormous and sufficiently points to the vast 
profits that are made from successful sheep 
rearing. _ 
One of the greatest difficulties in keeping 
sheep arises from the attacks of the liver fluke. 
Upon wet lands and in very wet seasons, the 
- - danger is greatly increased. 
The past year has seen the 
English flocks reduced at 
least one-fourth by this des¬ 
tructive parasite. Only one 
known breed la proof 
against this pest of marbh 
pastures and low lands. 
This Is the Romney-Mareh 
sheep, and it is curious that 
none of our speculative 
breeders has as yet made 
this sheep fashionable. Its 
value is not only in its 
adaptation to low landp, 
but it yields excellent mut¬ 
ton and a fleece greatly in 
demand for mohair and other 
lustrous fabrics. 
Marsh lands are remark¬ 
ably prolific in grass. To 
make such lands serviceable 
for sheep culture would be 
a vast advantage and econo¬ 
my. In that part of England 
where the Romney-Marsh 
sheep are kept the marshes 
are ditched, and even diked, 
to keep out the tide water; 
and on these exposed lauds 
these hardy Bheep feed in 
Summer and Winter. Some 
of these pastures are so lux¬ 
uriant aB to carry 14 sheep to 
the acre. What a sheep this 
would be for those of our 
farmers who think this ani¬ 
mal is well provided for on 
the lee side of a 6traw stack! With this even 
they might secure their mutton. 
Another breed that seems desirable for our 
purposes is the Dorset sheep which in England 
bears lambs twice in the yeur and has the habit 
of breeding at whatever time of the year may 
be desired. For market lambs what could be 
a more appropriate sheep than this ? And yet 
this has been neglected. 
Just at this season the wide-awake farmers, 
who keep their farms rich and make money in 
each hand, are picking up a few ewes from 
