THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
45 ? 
LIVE STOCK NOTES FOR MARCH. 
HORSES. 
Farm work is beginning in the South, and, 
as the days lengthen and the sun rises 
higher in the heavens, the line of this work 
gradually advances northward. Hence, it is 
time everywhere to think about preparing the 
teams for the approaching campaign, aud 
putting them in the highest condition. 
With March spring begins, and spring feed¬ 
ing should begin. Work exhausts aud uses 
up the muscles and food alone cau re¬ 
plenish this waste or furnish the necessary 
store to meet exhaustive work. Oats, bran, 
barley and new-process linseed meal all con¬ 
tain much muscle-forming food, aud are use¬ 
ful feeding substitutes for the season. But 
work also exhausts the carbonaceous ele¬ 
ments of the system, and quickens the respira¬ 
tion. hence a sufficient quantity of com may 
be added to these foods. 
Thoroughly cleanse the skin by the use of a 
hard brush. While the indiscriminate use of 
condition powders is not advisable, there are 
times when n reasonably good compound of 
simple tonics ami alteratives may be Useful. 
One should know what he is giving to his aui- 
mals. The following mixture will bo safe 
under any circuuistauces: Two ounces of 
powdered sulphate of iron, two of ground gen¬ 
tian root, four of sulphur, one pound of salt, 
oue pound of linseed meal, all thoroughly well 
mixed. A heaping tablespoon ful may be 
given three times a week. Neyer give resin 
or saltpeter to ahorse. Careful feeding and 
thorough cleansing are the best medicines. 
Medicines, ns a rule, are in the best place in 
the drug store. A warm bran ami linseed 
mash given occasionally will remedy any bud 
effects from long-continued dry food. 
COWS AND CATTLE. 
Beef cattle should now be crowded with 
food. Spring is a good time to market them, 
and to market fat cattle makes the owner 
smile. But a lot of poor cattle is a damper on 
the spirits of a man and lightens the pocket. 
Food stinted is money thrown away. It. is the 
poorest economy. Manage cattle so as to 
make rich manure. “ Feeding cattle is the 
most important part of agriculture" (Cicero). 
And why i Because it is the basis of the man¬ 
ure heap. It is the food aud not the animal, upon 
which the value of the manure depends. 
Hence, the above quotation may he taken as 
an axiom of agriculture. 
I/>ok out for the larvae of the gad-fly in the 
backs of the cattle. The lumps in which they 
live are easily found. They may be squeezed 
out aud destroyed; and every one killed now 
will prevent a dozen or more larva? next year. 
Use the card daily on all kinds of cattle, aud 
use it all over, especially on the cows. In¬ 
coming cows should be guai ded against cold, 
which might produce garget or caked udder. 
The best condition for them is half-way be¬ 
tween fat and lean. Prepare a roomy, quiet 
pen somewhere for them, where they may be 
kept a few days until the calf appears. Also 
provide a pen especially for the young calves 
aud keep this clean ami dry. Look out care¬ 
fully for lice and other vermin on the calves 
and poor cuttle. These posts are small, but 
make up for this by their numbers, aud when 
neglected, increase very rapidly. Grease of 
auy kind is fatal to them, aud crude petrole¬ 
um is the most effective remedy against them. 
Newly calved cows need moderate feeding for 
a few days. Don’t try to force milk for a 
week or two. Naturally no more tbau three 
or four quarts a day are to be expected, which 
are enough for the calf. At the first, week, full 
feeding for milk may be beguu gradually, but 
a whole month should elapse before the whole 
quantity is given. This will tend to avoid the 
frequent garget. Scours in calves is quickly 
cured by giving doses of oue pint of new milk, 
heated to 100 degrees, every two hours; aud it 
is quickly brought on by overfeeding. 
SHEEP. 
Keep the sheep dry above and under foot. 
A run at large in a field is indispensable for 
them. Keep the ewes with young lambs by 
themselves. Feed some cut turnips, potatoes, 
apples, mangels and some buckwheat meal 
sprinkled ou these with a little salt. It helps 
the milk. If the sheep are rubbing their 
wool off, it is caused by ticks, or by irritation 
of the skin. Too much corn causes this and 
the dropping of the wool. Oats are better 
than corn. Change of food is good for sheep. 
Dock and emasculate lambs when a month 
old. Look out for springing owes, aud put 
them in a safe place at night, aud until the 
lambs come. Take care to close up every 
hole aud crevice into which a lamb can 
creep aud become fast. A safe rule to work by 
is, if there is any possible chance for a sheep 
or lamb to get into mis.'hief, it will get iuto it. 
Feed with constant regularity as to time, but 
change the food occasionally for sheep. 
SWINE. 
Make pigs work for their living. A good 
employment is to mix manure. A large yard 
with which the pens conueet may have a 
manure heap in it and a lot of materials for 
compost. Such a heap will never get. too hot 
in such a yard, as it will be turned over and 
over continually. Young pigs coming in 
March are the most profitable. If well kept 
they may be made to reach MOO to 400 pounds 
by Christmas. Young pigs are often afflicted 
by fits or convulsions, which come on when 
feeding: they scream, failover and kick for a 
time and then recover. This is caused by in¬ 
digestion, over-feeding, too much fat aud 
difficulty of breathing when eating food iu a 
great hurry. For youug pigs a shallow, 
broad trough is the best in which the liquid 
food can only he lapped up and taken slowly. 
Scurfiness is caused by overfeeding and con¬ 
gestion of the skin. Disease in pigs is almost 
always due to this cause. Pigs will keep their 
skin in good order if provided with large rub¬ 
bing posts in the pens or yards. A chestnut 
or oak pod. 10 iuehes iu diameter set up in the 
middle of the pen will make an excellent rub¬ 
ber for them. Give the pigs two or three of 
them. Clean, dry beds, of pine shavings pre¬ 
ferably, are indispensable for healthy pigs. 
Exercise is also needful. A few lumps of 
charcoal will be very useful to correct the very 
common acidity of the stomach. 
i-UisccUfliu'cnts. 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS.— 
LXXVI. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
In Paso del Norte; an antideluvian , orient¬ 
al place; a lazy, dirty, happy, careless , peo¬ 
ple; an astonished smoker. 
The cal's drawn by mules that carried us 
from El Paso in Texas across the Rio Grande 
River to Paso del Norte iu Mexico, are said to 
run over the only international tramway in 
America. However this may be,they transport 
one from the bustle and “go v of a modern 
American town to the land of Abram, Isaac 
and Jacob—certainly of Ananias and Sap- 
phira. It is entirely oriental and 6,000 years 
“behind the times.’’ Here are walled gardens 
in which grow figs, grapes and olives, and the 
adobe houses have flat roofs. We saw natives 
making bricks of straw mixed with mu l and 
placing them to dr}- in the sun—just as the 
Children of Israel did in Egypt, aud we ap¬ 
preciated more than ever before the hopeless¬ 
ness of making bricks without straw. These 
bricks make the coolest of houses iu summer 
and the warmest in winter; but they are 
said to be less substantial than the kiln-dried 
bricks of modern manufacture. But the rail¬ 
way statiou here is built of adobe, and it is not 
only large and high but a very elegant struc¬ 
ture aud finished inside with hard wood. But 
that is American aud ever} thing else in Paso del 
Norte Is Mexican, and Mexican means as 
much Indian as Spanish—a very harmouious 
mixture, evidently. The one-story, flat- 
roofed, thick-walled, small-windowed, adobe 
houses and snops have iu most part earth 
floors, upon which, in the better apartments, 
are spread mats of straw or wool. Some of 
thorn are made to look very white and clean 
externally, by an application of lime probably, 
and more lime might exterminate various 
kinds of pests, one of which is small-pox—a 
chronic malady here, but I never once thought 
of it until we had poked around for an hour or 
two, looking into aud visiting some very filthy 
quarters, where the children wore hatf-uaked, 
the dogs iu abundance and everybody lazy 
and happy! How these creatures manage to 
live is one of the Mexican mysteries. The 
women all go alxiut with a woolen shawl fold¬ 
ed into a triangular shajte and held over the 
head: no further expense for a bonnet. And 
it is not to be wondered at, for even common 
working men pay as high as $25 for a hat—a 
gray felt sombrero, gorgeous with gold or 
silver—aud wear it, too, at their work. 
The Mexican is a daring rider, aud when ho 
is fully equipped, liis dazzling outfit costs 
from four to live thousand dollars. It is a 
curious fact that flue, brilliant aud costly 
dress was almost entirely monopolized by men 
until a few centuries ago, and it is of very 
recent date, comparatively, that the develop¬ 
ment of what we call civilization has trans¬ 
ferred the hulk of finery to women. But the 
male Mexican who is stall uu antique, retains 
the barbarian's love for splendor—the dazzling 
sombrero, the brilliaut sorape, the elaborate 
bridle aud whip, aud the ingenious feather 
ornamentation of his trappings. The dress of 
the women is quite without ornament so far 
as I saw—they go barefoot, live with pigs aud 
dogs—rap a pig one moment with a spoon and 
use it the next to beat up their supper. 
We went to the old Mission Church, think¬ 
ing all the way of Cortez, and how at every 
bait he planted the cross, and this church was 
one of the products of the conquest of the 
Tbltecs and Aztecs. We passed donkeys in 
the street laden with bundles of wood, and 
walked through a plaza bordered with a paved 
walk and some trees newly planted. There 
were also some seats provided, which would 
have ample time to fall into decay by the 
time the trees would afford shade. But Mexi¬ 
cans undoubtedly congregated there at night 
and smoked. One sat directly opposite me in 
the tram-car and smoked his cigarette iu ray 
face as unconcernedly as if he were emitting 
an odor as fragrant as that which comes from 
the isles ot Araby the Blest. But I presently 
gave him a punch with my sun umbrella and 
frowned so angrily at him that he ceased to 
smoke and undoubtedly occupied himself for 
the remainder of the ride in wondering how 
any bumun being could be such an unmiti¬ 
gated crank as not to like tobacco smoke. 
After all, if one moves about much in this 
world, he will come to the conclusion that 
while there are a great many excellent peo¬ 
ple in it, there are very few gentlemen. Gen¬ 
tlemen never smoke where they can possibly 
give annoyance to others, whether to men or 
to women, and women who allow men to 
smoke in their company in a public place are 
not thoroughbred ladies. 
(To be Continued.) 
NOTES ON R. N.-Y. TOPICS. 
The Worden Grape has been well discussed 
in the Rcral, but two of its features have 
scarcely been mentioned. One is the complete 
ripening of all its leaves aud wood before the 
October frosts. This gives it extra hardiness 
and is a vet more distinctive mark of its dif¬ 
ference from the Concord. The other is the 
earlier loss of its flavor, which I think at 
first better than that of Concord. Both re¬ 
quire more gentle handling than eggs if we 
wish to keep them, but the Concord keeps 
decidedly the better. 
As to glanders: Have nasal injections of 
sulphur flowers or of sulphur in some soluble 
form, as sulphate of potassium, ever been tri ?d t 
Sulphur snuffed up the nostrils checks ca¬ 
tarrh promptly, it is thought by lulling 
baeteroids which cause it. 
A. B. A. should try dry sawdust as a closet 
absorbent and deodorizer. It has the great 
merits—for field, meadow, orchard or garden 
use—of being both light and readily divisible. 
Road dust or sifted soil is apt to dry into re¬ 
fractory cakes, almost as impermeable to the 
benefits of air circulation as they are unbreak¬ 
able by ordinary meaus. Sifted coal ashes 
come next in ease of spreading, aud are close 
at haud under all our grates in a perfectly 
dry, absorbent condition. Few have auy use 
at all for them other thau this very beneficial 
one. w. 
heard of—far better than the old-style hot 
brick or hot-water jug. 
Benefits of Drainage.— Pamphlet from 
the New York State Drain Tile Works. Jack- 
son Brothers, Albany, N. Y., proprietors.— 
There is an excellent essay on drainage iu this 
pamphlet It contains as much information 
on the subject as the text book that we re¬ 
member to have seen in use at au agricultural 
college. Every farmer should read it. Thou¬ 
sands of fields return small profit for the labor 
and manure spent upon them, simply because 
they are too wet. Good tiles would sap the 
damp poison out of them. This is the oldest 
'Continued on next page.) 
iftiscellaneaus 
Perfect-Fitting* Corsets 
JAMES Me € It EERY & CO. 
still continue to sell tlieir 
old and favorite French 
CORSET C.P CORSET 
which, after many vears of 
experience, they deem 1 o he 
(in every sense) flie most 
perfect of all imported Cor¬ 
sets, and which are at the 
present time almost exclu¬ 
sively sold by the leading 
housesofParis and London. 
The variousad jnstmentsot 
this Corset insnr aperfect 
fit a graceful fi ore, and 
great comfort to the 
wearer 
Sold at the Lowest Possible Prices. 
Mail orders promptly tilled. 
J AM E S MeCREE R Y & CO., 
Rroadwayand 11th St., 
New York. 
BUCKEYE 
Made in 
Junior 
LAWN 
MOWER 
Foxir 
es: 10, 12, 
and 10 inch 
cut. Most reliable 
Mower in us e. Eas y 
to work. Strong 
and Durable. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Some New Harrows. —Circulars and pam¬ 
phlets from the Thomas Harrow Co., Geneva, 
Also Manufacturers of the Buckeye Hose Keel 
ami l.uwti Sprinkler. Iron Turbine inti En¬ 
gines, Bnckeve Force Pomps and Buckeye 
Iron Fencing Semi for illustrated Circulars to 
H IST. FOBS iV CO.. Springfield, O. 
N. Y.—Praise from us as to the excellence of 
the Thomas Harrow and the reliability of its 
makers, is unnecessary. The tool is found 
everywhere and all who use it know that the 
manufacturers fully keep their promises. 
Farmers who have used the old harrow for 
years will be glad to learn that two uew and 
valuable machines have been placed on the 
market by the Thomas Harrow Co, A uew 
style spring-tooth wheelbarrow promises well. 
It cau be adjusted to run to any required 
depth. It is thus suited to all soils. It is made 
iu three sections, so that when desired the 
middle section can Ire taken out aud the re¬ 
maining two sect ions converted into a walking 
or riding cultivator. Au improved reversible 
harrow has a simple device which enables the 
teeth to swing from a perpendicular to a 
slanting position by simply changing the 
draw-bar from the front to the back side. All 
farmers who farm to make a profit, should 
read of these new tools. Send for the cata¬ 
logue. 
Incubators, Brooders, Egg Testers, etc. 
Catalogue from the Centennial M’Pg Co., 
Rye, N. Y —It will surely pay auy poultry 
man to study into the claims made for the Ceu- 
teuuial Incubator. One thing we like about 
this catalogue is the idea which is frequently 
expressed that while the maker of an incubator 
can furnish all the mechanical parts needed, 
ho cannot supply the brains needed to work 
auy machine successfully. Having seen the 
brooders made by this firm in operation, we 
can recommend them. The foot warmer de¬ 
scribed iu this catalogue would lie a boon to 
all who suffer from cold feet iu winter. It is 
the handiest thing of the kind we have ever 
(,^ g .,. S MSSS. R | CHM0ND 
CHAMPION 
FENCE 
MACHINE 
For illustrated circular 
and Price List, address 
WAYNE ACRiCUL T’L. CO. Richmond, Ind. 
RUPTURE 
Positively cured by our -Medi¬ 
cated Electric Soft Pnd Truss. 
\vU hour use of knife or needle. 
A perfect retainer. No pain. 
l\o loss of time. These are 
facts which we agree to verify or forfeit 
£1,000. Cures guaranteed on accepted cases 
or money refunded. For circulars, price 
list, rules for measurement, and instruc¬ 
tions for self treatmeut, address 
SANITARU H, Hoorn 4. 77Mj K. >lnrket St., 
Indianapolis. Indiana. 
WELL DRILLING 
Machinery far W'ellsof any depth, from 20 to S.000 feet, 
for Water, Oil or lifts. Our Mounted Steam Dnikiig and 
Portable Horse Power Machines set to work in 20 inmutes. 
Guaranteed to drill faster aud with less power than any 
ether Specially Adapted to dnPlng Wells in earth or 
rock 30 to 1.000 feet. Farmers and others .-.re making £85 
to £40 per day with our machinery and toots Splendid 
business for " inter or Summer. We are the oldest and 
largest Manufacturers in the business Send 4 cents in 
Stamps for illustrated Catalogue D. ADOKSS8. 
Pierce Well Etenvntor Co.. \en York. 
F REIT-GROWER S. GA RDE,\ ERS, 
^Truckers, Florists , Amateursand Coun¬ 
try Gentlemen are invited to send five 
stamps for a number of THE AMERICAN 
GARDEN , the Illustrated Magazine of Hor¬ 
ticulture. Price reduced trom S'd to St t with 
R. N.-Y., $2.50. IE. H. LIBBY, 47 Dey'St., 
Xew„Y<3vk, 
