FEB 6 
THE RUSAL HEW-YOBKEB. - 
LIVE STOCK NOTES FOR FEBRUARY. 
February is the most rigorous month of 
the year for tho stock. The hardships of the 
winter are concentrated in this month. Those 
animals which have been pinched and wasted 
by the cold have now become thoroughly 
weakened by want and exposure, and scarcely 
any amount of food and care will restore them 
to good condition until tho warm weather 
comes. 
HORSES 
begin to feel tho effects of dry feeding and the 
skin shows indications of disorder. Pimples 
- and blotches show' tho unhealthy state of 
this most important excretory organ, and the 
hair stands on eud and has lost its luster and 
smoothness. Now is the time w'hen judicious 
feeding will avert more serious trouble here¬ 
after. Warm bran mashes, linseed-oil meal 
added to the food,a quart daily,and scalded oats 
given warm, will soon remedy this congestion 
of tho skin and restore the general health. 
Dry feeding provokes indigestion, and indiges¬ 
tion encourages the increase of intestinal 
worms. These pests will quickly succumb to 
daily doses of an ounce of salts and dram of 
powdered sulphate of iron. The salt is a great 
aid to digestion, and the iron strengthens and 
purifies the blood and destroys the internal 
parasites. 
Much trouble occurs just now from wounds 
of the coronet caused by the sharp calks need¬ 
ed because of icy roads. It is not unusual for 
these wounds to give rise to inflammation which 
spreads to the bone, and causes ringbones. 
Hence calk wounds should not be neglected. 
Apply some active liniment to them as soon 
as possible, and keep tho horse up, if the 
wound is serious, until it is healed. Thorough 
carding and brushing arc now 7 indispensable. 
A sort of perfunctory cleansing of the skin 
may he passed over at other times, but now 
the skin should be t horoughly cleansed and 
freed from all obstacles to the change which 
occurs at this period. The hair falls off and 
the coat is renewed. A clean skin and the 
healthful excitement of friction with a hard 
brush or a card,will greatly aid this seasonable 
change. 
Brood marcs should now be carefully treat¬ 
ed. Bran is a healthful food for them and the 
foal wall be benefited by it. The mare should 
not be tied in a close stall, but given plenty of 
room in a loose one, where she eau move about 
freely. Exercise is indispensable for the wel¬ 
fare of the mare aud the colt. Oats will be 
better for her than corn, and if oats cannot be 
conveniently procured, as in the Southern 
States, the corn should be reduced to one half 
the regular quantity und wheat brau given to 
make up the allowance. 
Colts should be allowed a gradual addition 
to their grain food. If no hay but clover can 
be given them, it will be better to add some 
straw to it. Feeding clover hay to horses or 
colts is apt to cause irritation of the skin and 
produce surfeit, which may cause eruptions or 
induce the animals to rub the skin raw 7 . Or¬ 
chard Gruss hay is excellent feed for the 
horses and comes next after fully matured 
Timothy. 
COWS AND CATTLE. 
Cows that are soon corning in, in two 
months or less, should have no grain food. If 
they have been kept so far in good condition, 
good sound hay or clean coni fodder free from 
smut or mold will be sufficient. Nothing 
that, will prematurely stimulate the milk or¬ 
gans should be given until the cow is safely 
over calving. As the cold of this month 
strengthens, milking cows will need a little in¬ 
crease of food, and corn meal will be the best 
kind of grain food for this emergency. See that 
tho cows have clean Jitter and dry beds. 
Nothing else is more disagreeable to see than 
hard patches of dry manure on a cow’s flanks, 
coming off with the hair and leaving bare skin. 
Cattle arc exceeding low-priced just now, 
but that is all the more reason why the young 
stock should be pushed ahead to make up in 
weight for the low market value. Recent 
tests go to prove that cheap bran is a better 
food than dearer coni for fowling cattle; and 
when cattle are fed for the manure brau is 
worth more than twice as much as com. Give 
no smutty corn fodder to cattle, and especially 
to cows in calf. Western farmers who teed 
stock in the stalk fields should beware of the 
too prevalent smut which is highly injurious 
to the cattle. Now is the time when the cattle 
gad fly larva- may be destroyed. The grubs 
may be easily squeezed out of soft tumors on 
tho backs or the animals. If every grub could 
be thus destroyed the numbers of this injuri¬ 
ous insect would be greatly lessened, and in 
time it would bo exterminated. Young calves 
should have the warmest pens aud the best 
feed in this month. If they are stunted now, 
all that has been given them so far will have 
been lost or neutralized. Look out for lice 
and fleas upon all the stock. 
SHEEP. 
Indiscriminate physieing of sheep is ruinous 
to them. They don’t, want sulphur, or pine 
brush, or hemlock boughs—only good clover 
hay, and a moderate feed daily of mixed corn, 
rye and buckwheat. Dry quarters are indis¬ 
pensable to their health. Look out for early 
lambs. Watch the ewes closely every day, 
and when tho udder is springing and other in¬ 
dications of lambing are seen, put the ewo in 
a pen by -herself. Lambs are sure to be lost 
by neglect of this precaution. 
Newly born lambs sometimes starve because 
the ewe’s teats are closed by the glutinous 
colostrum or new milk, or the} 7 die by 
the closing of the bowels by the glu¬ 
tinous discharge. Both of these dangers 
should be averted by watchfulness and care. 
When an urunotherly ewe gets over the first 
24 hours with her lamb, the t rouble is over 
aud she becomes reconciled and even affec¬ 
tionate. This is most common with the young 
cove and these should lie held until the lamb 
sucks a few times and is strong enough to get 
its milk from the ewe. Tho ewes aud their 
lambs should be kept apart from the rest of 
the flock. Ram lambs should be docked and 
emasculated when a week old. They suffer 
little by the operation at this time. The tail 
may be dipped with the shears, mid the whole 
of tiie scrotum may be removed by the same 
method in a second. A pinch of sulphate of 
copper on the wound causes rapid healing. 
SWINE. 
Many pigs are killed by over-feeding. This 
is the greatest fault of feeders who try to push 
them on too fast. If cooking food pays for 
any animals it will certainly pay for swine. 
Bows bred this month will have pigs in the 
best season of the year—at a time when live 
mouths’ feeding should easily make them 
weigh 150 pounds each by the, holidays, und 
make the most profitable pork. Young pigs 
need no more than one pound of meal daily 
with two quarts of skimmed milk. It is a 
good plau to measure out food for them and 
not give it ad libitum. 
A lot, of pigs, with a large yard attached to 
the pen, may be made to furnish a ton of 
manure ,a month to ofteli pig if sufficient ma¬ 
terial is given. We have found dry or half- 
dried swamp muck with the manure from the 
horse stables the best materials for this pur¬ 
pose. No better manure For use in lulls or for 
a garden cau he had than this. It is a part of 
the profit to be mude from pigs to turn them 
to account in this way. It is a good time now 
to consider how a good clover pasture can be 
provided for the pigs; or, if this cannot be 
done, how a crop of roots or other green feed 
may be grown for them. If no other provi¬ 
sion can be made, a field may be divided into 
two or three lots by portable fences, and the 
land plowed and sown with rape; or one part 
with rape, another with peas, and the other 
with turnips. Each is fed off in turn, and ns 
one is fed down the laud may bo sown again 
with some other crop. It is quite evident that 
some settled provision must b% made for feed¬ 
ing pigs in a reasonably healthful manner to 
escape the prevalent diseases to which they 
are subject. 
Para lysis of the hiud quarters is exceedingly 
common, and is the result of nervous disorder 
seated in tho spinal cord, from which the ner¬ 
vous system of the digestive organs and lum¬ 
bar muscles proceeds. Sometimes this origin¬ 
ates from disorder of the kidneys, by which 
the blood is loaded with urea or its products, 
and iullamumtion of the spinal nerve is pro¬ 
duced. This is wholly duo to wrong feeding, 
and il ls indispensable that, the right and health¬ 
ful methods of feeding should be studied and 
practiced. 
.POULTRY, 
Warmth and g-od feeding are productive of 
eggs and profit. Warm food given each morn¬ 
ing stimulates the hens to lay eggs. A mess 
of small potatoes baked tn the oven os soon as 
the breakfast has been prepared, aud given 
hot, will be very acceptable and will cause the 
hens to sing their morning lays. Early layers 
will be early brooders und a warm corner 
should be provided for the liens to make their 
nests in. Glass-covered coops are useful for 
early broods. Young chicks need but little 
food at first, but this should be the most nu¬ 
tritious. Crushed wheat is excellent l'oi them. 
It can be coarsely ground in a coffee mill and 
an ounce is sufficient for a day's feeding for 
a whole brood. This food is placed out of the 
reach of tho hen, which can have other und 
less costly food. Warm scalded bran is ulso 
good food for young chicks and is also egg- 
cotupolling food for the hens. The common 
vice of the season, viz, egg-eating,is avoided by 
giving the liens warm food aud pleuty of 
crushed, fresh bones, procured from the butch¬ 
er. Tho soft rib bones, which contain much 
vascular tissue, make the best for this use. 
Borne chopped cabbage, turnips or apples will 
also be useful. 
Changes in the premium list of the Kansas 
City Fat Stock Show have been made. No 
premiums on cattle three and under four 
years will he given. It is claimed that proof 
has been offered that it is not profitable to 
raise cattle of this age. A premium will be 
offered involving quality of meat as affected 
by food. Stockmen who desire further in¬ 
formation regarding these ehai ges should send 
for a copy of the circular to 
Columbia, Mo. ,t. w. sanborn. 
fyt |) on Urn Oxu'i). 
POULTRY NOTES. 
Eggs for Hatching.—I have watched my 
hens carefully during the laying season, and I 
am satisfied that it pays well to select eggs for 
hatching with care. I always take, eggs of 
medium size, as uiy experience teaches me that, 
they produce the strongest and best formed 
chicks. 1 would as soon set a pointed egg ns 
an ovul one provided there was no decided ir¬ 
regularity in the shape. I have found that 
very large eggs, or those badly shaped, always 
produce badly shaped chickens. 1 can’t see 
that pointed eggs indicate weakness or a ten¬ 
dency to disease, for the reason that some of 
my very best hens always lay pointed eggs. I 
have noticed, from time to time, rules for 
selecting eggs that will produce pullets. They 
have all failed in my practice. I have noticed, 
however, that where the cocks are excep¬ 
tionally vigorous, there is a large proportion 
of males. 
Value of Hen Manure.— II. B. L. wants 
to know' what hen manure is worth. 1 find 
that its value depends greatly upon the crop 
for which it is used. For melons I do not 
know of its equal as a fertilizer. Whether 
there is something in it that escapes the ana¬ 
lyst. I cannot say, but for quick-grow ing plants 
it beats anything 1 have tried. I scatter sifted 
hard coal ashes under the roosts, so that there 
will be about an eveu quantity of ashes and 
droppings. 1 put the whole in a dry place 
until planting time. Wbon the ground is 
ready, I add one-third unleachod wood ashes, 
dampen, mix it well, and as soon as fermenta¬ 
tion begins I put two quarts of the compost to 
u hill, mixing with the soil, and forminga hill 
about 15 inches in diameter. I have planted 
two acres of melons in one season, andjiave 
never found any fertilizer to equal this com¬ 
post on free soil. j. p. 
Kingston, N. J. 
ventilating hen house. 
A plan sometimes employed in securing pro¬ 
per ventilation for a hen house, that has a high 
situation, is shown at Fig 88. A trench is 
dug down the hillside, so that a pipe can be 
laid below the frost line. The air passes in at 
the opening, up tho pipe, and into the house. 
This is better, it is claimed, than letting frosty 
air directly into the house. 
Pain) J^uslrmtonj. 
DAIRY NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 
PROFESSOR J. P. SHELDON. 
Recent dairy novelties; invention ahead of 
practice; brains always needed in the 
dairy; the Laval Cream-separator; the 
Turbine and hand-power separators; but¬ 
ter-milk extractor; a centrifugal milk 
tester. 
The year l88fi has been prolific in new in¬ 
ventions. or in adaptations of old ones for use 
in the dairy. The ugo in which our lot is cast 
has been, in respect, of such matters, far more 
iutorestiug than all previous time; and by 
“age” 1 mean this second half of the 19th. 
century, of which more than one-fourth has 
yet to run. The stream of Inventions still 
rolls on, though one would have thought the 
source of it might well be woakeuiug from 
exhaustion of possibilities. Wo may question 
whether progress in the dairy has kept paeo 
with progress in dairy inventions, and regret 
that the users of improved dairy equipments 
are lagging behind the makers; and this 
firings us to a recognition of the two facts that 
dairy managers can no longer complain 
about a waul, of quality, handiness, and adap¬ 
tability in dairy equipments, and that equip¬ 
ments alone, however excellent they may be, 
do not guarantee the production of first-class 
cheese or butter. These new or improved 
dairy paraphernalia lessen manual toil and 
make dairy work a much pleasanter thing 
than it used to be,hut they do not relieve dairy 
managers of the need to employ skill, care, 
ami energy. Dairy work, in fact, cannot lie 
made mechanical like the weaving of silk or 
cotton, or the making of pins, ami dairy man¬ 
agers will forever have need to nso their 
brains as much as or more than they erst¬ 
while ilid, though no doubt they will use their 
hands all the less. 
Be all this as it may, several very interest¬ 
ing aud valuable inventions or adaptations 
have, in the year so lately dead, been added 
to the already formidable list of mechanical 
appliances for the diary. The celebrated 
Laval cream-separator, which was almost, if 
not. quite, the first in the field, and the sole 
agents for which, in Great Britain, are the 
well known Dairy Supply Company, of Lon¬ 
don, has received two very important devel¬ 
opments, which will carry it into t ousandsof 
dairies where steam engines or water power 
were not available. The one modification is 
known ns the “Turbine," the other as the 
“Hand-power" Separator. The former has, in 
the base of it, at the foot of the vertical shaft 
which carries the drum, an adaptation 
of tho well known mechanical device called a 
turbine, and this, driven by a jot of steam, op¬ 
erates the separator. Engine aud belt are 
both dispensed with, and the separator can be 
used by any one who has a steam boiler. The 
idea is a most valuuble one, and will probably 
supersede the old arrangement, of engine aud 
driving belt. The hand-power machine is, as 
its name suggests, a separator within the ca¬ 
pacity of one mail’s power. It will separate 85 
gallons per hour; aud there is a smaller one, 
probably within the power of a strong lad or 
of a muscular young woman, that will separ 
ate 25 gallons per hour. These machines will 
no doubt find their way into many butter¬ 
making dairies, forthe price is moderate, viz., 
in round figures,*80 and $ 100,respectively. The 
firm 1 have mentioned have also introduced 
u machine of French invention, called the Dtf- 
lai tense. and its function is to extract butter¬ 
milk or water from butter which, being still 
in a granular condition, lias just been taken 
out of the churn. It is on the centrifugal 
principle, the butter, having been placed in 
the drum, which is lined with a linen cloth 
and perforated, is whirled round at a prodig¬ 
ious speed, and the moisture is driven out by 
the rapidity of the revolutions. The machine 
is of two sizes, the one for mechanical and the 
other for manual operation. 
Yotunother adaptation of an existing ma¬ 
chine is Messrs. Freeth and Pocoek’8 Centrifu¬ 
gal Milk-tester. Bannister aud Wain’s 
Cream Separator lias an attachment for test¬ 
ing the cream volume in a number of samples 
of milk, simultaneously. The bottles contain¬ 
ing the milk are whirled round in a horizontal 
position ut. a great speed, and the skim-milk 
collects at the outer end of the bottles, while 
tho cream, being lighter, is found at the inner 
end. The milk-tester I have mentioned as a 
novelty is a small edition, so to speak, of that 
1 have briefly described, and, testing four 
samples at a time, and in a very short time, is 
adapted for hand power. This instrument 
will be of great value to the managers of 
cheese factories and creameries, of large milk- 
dealing establishments, aud of other places 
which receive milk from various dairies. It. 
will, Indeed, if need be, become useful to many 
farmers who wish to determine the compara¬ 
tive vuluu of sumples of milk from different 
cows, with a view to butter-making. All the 
machines I have mentioned in this article are 
calculated to tie of great, service to dairying, 
in one way or another, and in a few years’ 
time they will probably be found in use in a 
large number of places where milk is wont to 
be handled. 
fieIfo Crops. 
TOBACCO RAISING IN NORTH CAR¬ 
OLINA.—HI. 
M. B. PRINCE. 
There is probably no other cultivated crop 
—watermelons, perhaps, excepted—with which 
the novice has so much difficulty in deciding 
when to cut. If nil ripened at one time this 
obstacle could be easily overcome; but usual¬ 
ly the first cutting takes only a plant here and 
l here, so that cutting is often continued every 
