fited by its use. The value of lime, salt, etc., 
in this connection is oftentimes exaggerated 
by practical men from a misunderstanding of 
controlling conditions. 1 have known cases 
where hay, apparently green, was preserved 
perfectly by judicious packing when stored, 
and other cases where, under seemingly ex¬ 
actly the same conditions and treatment, it 
was absolutely spoiled. The conditions in the 
one case were favorable, and in the other un¬ 
favorable. Salt Is a well-known preservative, 
and in the matter of hay possesses an advan¬ 
tage over lime, in that it attracts sufficient 
moisture to admit of handling without waste, 
even after long storage. Small quantities of 
both lime and salt would doubtless be relished 
by stock and do them good, though careful 
farmers prefer to control the use of these ma¬ 
terials by the stock more directly. The con¬ 
clusion seems to be that, while the use of lime 
does not add to the feeding value of Ihe bay, 
it may, under certain conditions, aid in its 
preservation. At the present time, however, 
definite knowledge as to these conditions is 
not available. The question is an interesting 
one, and worthy of careful study by the prac¬ 
tical farmer 
H. A. W., Fluvanna, N. Y.—I know a far¬ 
mer who uses his bull as recommended to cut 
the feed with a tread power, also to do the 
churning; and he is quite bandy with harness 
and collar, the same as the horse in thills. I have 
seen a friend who had a heavy bull, and al¬ 
ways under perfect control. The more we 
handle and work them the less danger there is 
from a vicious temper. 
J. H. W., Sterling, III.—In the Insecti¬ 
cide issue of the Rural no remedy is men¬ 
tioned for scale. If the kerosene emulson is 
used about June 10, or when the young scale 
first come out, I think it will be found that it 
will kill them all. For the melon and squash 
beetles, as well as the 'striped bugs, I 
used, during the past two years, Vick’s Excel¬ 
sior Insect Powder, applied with a pair of bel¬ 
lows, and I have had no trouble; but perhaps 
every year it might not do so well, as we all 
know such insects are worse some years than 
others. 
DEHORNING CATTLE. 
Prof. C. S. Plumb, in a late bulletin issued 
by his college—an adjunct of the University 
of Tennessee--gives some very interesting and 
valuable information in regard to dehorning. 
Method of Fastening.— A steer two years 
of age was cast upon a level piece of ground, 
and the feet were firmly fastened together at 
the hock joints with a stout rope three-eighths 
of an inch in diameter, one'rear foot being 
laid over and fastened upon an opposite front 
foot, and over this latter was placed the re¬ 
maining rear foot; beneath the other fiont 
foot, the last to be put in place at the point 
where the feet came together, after tying, a 
rope about 20 feet in length was fastened at 
its middle by taking one turn about the feet, 
or through the other rope. One end of this 
rope lay from, and at right angles to the 
steer’s body, the other end extended directly 
over the body. 
The head was in a strong running-noose, 
rope halter. The rope was carried behind the 
ears, so as not to interfere with the saw. The 
side of the head was held close to the ground, 
with one horn uppermost. Unless the soil 
chanced to be turfy, a handful of straw was 
placed beneath the head to keep it clean and 
to prevent dirt or rubbish of any kind from 
getting into the cavity of the horn. 
As thus fastened, a steer of ordinary 
strength or docility was sufficiently bound 
not to cause trouble during the process of de¬ 
horning. However, when the animal was vi¬ 
cious and struggled violently, a two-inch 
plank about 12 feet in length was laid across 
the neck, one end being held to the ground, 
and the other pressed down so as to bear firm 
ly upon the neck. The rope halter was then 
wound once about the plank, and the animal’s 
head drawn securely and closely to it. In this 
position, movement is almost impossible. This 
method was sufficient to enable them to dehorn 
with ease the wildest animals on which they 
operated. The above plan of fastening was 
satisfactory in every way, and will serve every 
practicable purpose for dehorning when done 
on a small scale. 
Yet for rapidity of work this was not 
entirely satisfactory. Should a stout, vicious 
steer be a subject for operation, difficulty 
may be experienced in fastening the legs. 
In such a case, the end of the rope halter 
should be passed through an iron ring 
fastened six or eight feet high, and drawn up 
taut, thus raising the head as high as possible. 
THE RURAL. MEW-YORKEfc 
JUNE 2 
A stout rope should then be fastened below 
the bock joint of the left rear log, and another 
rope at the same place on the front, left leg. * 
The end of the rope on the front left leg should 
be thrown directly over the shoulders and be 
brought back Ik neath the belly, and held 
loosely. The rope attached to the rear leg 
should be pnsxed under the belly, and the end 
carried over the back to the left side again. 
When ready to be thrown, a man on each 
rope should pull firmly, and the animal will 
be cast. The baiter rope should be loosened 
at the moment the other ropes arc pulled, to 
enable the animal to drop freely to tho ground. 
After falling, the feet may be safely tied. 
In order to save time an attempt was made 
to fasten a steer to a post, binding the fore 
head stoutly to it, but however securely Ihe 
head was fastened, the leverage of the body 
and neck enabled the animal to move the 
horns somewhat., so this was discarded as un¬ 
satisfactory. Further, this method of fasten¬ 
ing enabled the animal to lunge more or less, 
unless the body was securely bound. 
While various methods are in operation for 
fastening animals to be dehorned, one rarely 
meets with descriptions of these in the papers. 
The method adopted was entirely satisfactory. 
Yet it is true that, if dehorning is to be done 
on a large scale, as on a Western ranch, a 
quicker process than this, that will secure the 
animal equally well, must be adopted. In 
this work but four men were found to be abso¬ 
lutely necessary. 
Tools Essential. —In the first work that 
was done in dehorn ng, a saw made for 
this special purpose by Mr. H. H. Haaff, Chi¬ 
cago, Ills., and sent us by him, was used. This 
instrument is entirely made of iron, the back 
and handle being cast into one piece. It is 
constructed on the same principle as is the 
meat saw, and has an extreme length of 16 
inches. The blade is very narrow (one-eighth 
inch), and contains nine teeth to the inch. 
One end of this blade fits in a groove, and may 
be fastened there by an immovable pin. The 
other end of this blade is placed in a groove 
in a round pin that passes through a hole in 
the end opposite the handle. By means of a 
set-screw on the end of this round pin contain¬ 
ing the end of the saw, the latter may be 
tightened to a certain degree. Prof. Plumb 
found this saw satisfactory, and yet unsatis¬ 
factory. The end of the blade held in the 
the round pin could not be much tightenedi 
so that it would easily turn in the wrong di¬ 
rection while operating. Possibly this end 
was intended to have a certain amount of 
play to prevent the breakage of the blade in 
case an animal struggled violently. However, 
it was sometimes very unsatisfactory, and in 
one case the veterinary surgeon had much 
difficulty in guiding the blade through the 
horn to the point to which he wished to carry 
it. 
A meat saw was then obtained that consist¬ 
ed of three pieces— viz.: handle, back, and 
blade, fastened in grooves in the hack. This 
proved unsatisfactory on trial, as the blade 
was not fastened sufficiently taut to keep it 
from diverging from its proper course in 
going through the horn, and there was no 
method by which it could be tightened and 
controlled. 
Another meat saw w T as secured, made on 
much the same principle as Mr. Haafl’s, only 
much larger, with a blade about one aud-a- 
half inch wide, and having a set-screw on a 
pin that held one end of the saw. This pin 
was not round, so that the end of the saw 
could not turn, yet the set-screw enabled them 
to tighten up the blade as much as they pleas¬ 
ed. This saw worked most satisfactorily; 
first, because the blade could be properly 
guided; second, because of its much greater 
length than Haaff’s saw, the horn could be 
cut off with more sweeping and effective 
strokes. It has been mentioned that a fine 
cross-cut hand saw would do for dehorning. 
If the steel is of first-class quality, and the 
saw to be used is such as is used with mortar- 
boxes, having a very stiff back, there seems 
no reason why such a tool will not do very 
good work. 
The other tools necessary besides a saw, are 
ropes or straps for binding. A strong five- 
eighths-inch hempen or cotton rope, 20 feet in 
length, and another of three eighths-inch, pre¬ 
ferably cotton, 10 feet long, will be all that 
are necessary beyond the rope halter. How¬ 
ever, if very ugly animals are treated, it will 
be well to have a strong half-inch rope, in 
length 15 feet, to assist in throwing. 
Removing the Horns. —Having the animal 
securely fastened, the saw should be placed 
close to the base of the horn. Supposing the 
animal to be standing erect, with head in pro¬ 
per position, the saw blade should pass from 
the upper side, down laterally, or as close to 
the skull as possible without cutting the skin, 
excepting perhaps one-half inch or less at the 
base of the horn, of the flesh which extends 
up it to a more or less extent. 
It is essentially desirable not to remove the 
horn from an animal that is very much ex 
cited, as such are much more difficult to I 
handle. Until the work of the saw begins, 
moving about the animal should be done quiet¬ 
ly. In sawing, the strokes of the arm should I 
be firm, rapid, and long as possible, and great 
care must be taken to keep the blade in the I 
desired line, so that the lower pait of the base 
of the horn will not.be left moreexposed from 
the head than at the point where sawing be¬ 
gan. Keep the upper part of the horn close 
to the stump, until entirely separated. By 
doing so the saw will be kept more firmly in 
its course, the animal will be given less pain, 
and blood will be less likely to bespatter the 
person doing the work. 
As has been stated, the mest satisfactory 
position for the animal found is that of lying 
down and being firmly tied. In this position 
with clean turfy sod, or straw beneath the 
head, the upper horn is sawed off. Then, by 
means of the long rope, fastened to the feet, 
the animal is easily turned upon the other 
side, and the remaining horn removed. 
Effects Upon the Animal System. The 
following notes are quoted from the records 
made of two animals that were dehorned 
Jan. 6. “A cow ten years old. The horns 
were sawed off as close to the head as possible, 
without cutting into the flesh at the base of 
the horn. The animal apparently suffered but 
little, and bled.but a comparatively small 
amount. From each horn spurted a tiny 
stream of blood a distance at least five feet, 
and in its motion could be discerned the pulse 
beat of the animal. In about five minutes the 
spurting entirely ceased, however, and but 
little blood passed off.” 
In the case of a two-year old steer, “the ani¬ 
mal bled profusely, and suffered more than 
the cow mentioned above. This w'as evident¬ 
ly owing to a layer of fleshy matter about the 
external, basal part of th$ horn, that was 
about one third of an inch in diameter where 
the saw passed through. In both cases the 
horn was hollow, but the shell of the cow’s 
horn was much thinner than that of the steer’s 
which was quite thick. The steer, after being 
unbound, remained lying down, making no 
attempt to move, nor would he for about a 
minute. However he recovered rapidly from 
the effects of the operation.” Neither of these 
animals gave any cry of pain. On January 12, 
Prof. Plumb’s class in agriculture was taken 
to a farm, and assisted in dehorning two 
steers. One animal, four years of age, made 
no cry when sawing off one horn, but bellowed 
loudly, as though suffering, when cutting the 
second one. The other animal made no cry. 
On February 24, a steer 22 months old, while 
being dehorned, bellowed somewhat and 
trembled violently for a time after the opera¬ 
tion. 
On March 2, the horns were removed from 
four steers three years of age that were un¬ 
dergoing a feeding experiment. 
Steer No. 1: Bled slightly, and did not bel¬ 
low. They were 20 minutes doing the entire 
operation, from the time of taking the animal 
from the barn till its return. The animal 
was unruly. 
Steer No. 2; Bellowed somewhat, and bled 
to a medium extent. Complete operation 
lasted 18 minutes. Animal unruly. 
Steer 3: This animal bled 1 adly, and bellow 
ed loudly as though in severe pain or fright. 
Steer 4; Did not bleed very badly or bel¬ 
low. The entire operation, from first to last, 
occupied 10 minutes. 
The above four animals were strong and 
healthy, ranging in weight from 1,000 to 1,200 
pounds. All of them had horns of good size 
at the base, covered with a more or less 
amount of flesh. 
As before stated, they were a portion of six 
animals undergoing a feeding experiment for 
beef production. Without hexe taking the 
kind of food into account, the following fig¬ 
ures are presented: 
weights of four steers. 
March. 
No. 1 
No. 2. 
No. 3. 
No. 4. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
1 
1,200 
1,170 
1,030 
1,155 
2 
1,205 
1,175 
1,032 
1.156 
3 
1 202 
1,175 
975 
1,125 
4 
1,205 
1,180 
1,000 
1.100 
5 
1,210 
1,175 
980 
1,080 
6 
1,215 
1,180 
990 
1.085 
7 
1,210 
1,185 
992 
1,075 
31 
1,255 
1,220 
1,035 
1,140 
An examination of these figures gives the 
following results: No. 1 fell off three pounds 
the day after the operation, but the next day 
resumed his weight of the second day, and 
from then made a continual gain to the end 
of the month. No. 2 neither gained nor lost 
in weight for one day, and thereafter made a 
steady gain. No. 3 shows a heavy loss on the 
third, a noticeable increase the next day, fol¬ 
lowed by another decrease on the second day 
after being dehorngd, and thence after a con¬ 
stant gain. No. 4 shows the most striking loss 
in weight between March 2d and 7th of the 
four animals, dropping from 1,156 to 1,075 
pounds. 
All of the above animals received the same 
kind of grain food, but 1 and 2 were fed si 
lage, while 3 and 4 were given wheat straw, 
and this may account for the change in wt ight. 
Further, the rough food had been changed 
but recently preceding dehorning, 1 and 2 
having been changed from straw to silage, 
and 2 and 3 from silage to straw. Hence 
these figures must be taken with considera 
tion, and may not mean that the animals lost 
flesh from having undergone dehorning. 
None of the four bad much appetite for 
either water or dry food at 6 p. m. of March 
2d, the day of dehorning, and No. 3 seemed 
somewhat indisposed for several days after. 
As late as April 1st one horn of this animal 
gave off a slight translucent, mucilaginous 
substance. It was further noted that those 
animals which appeared to suffer most from 
dehorning, handled the head carefully about 
the manger at first, and would shake it slight¬ 
ly at times during the three or four days suc¬ 
ceeding the operation, as though it irritated 
them. 
However, from the experience already had, 
the amount of suffering depends, Professor 
Plumb says, very much upon the age of the 
animal, and the character of the horn. 
In no case was any substance placed over 
the part of the horns left on the head. As 
soon ns the horns were removed, the animals 
were returned to their stalls. The cavities in 
the stumps if left to thimselves gradually fill 
up, first with blood and serum, and later with 
bony tissue, and the hail’s about the horns 
gradually cover the stumps. 
The veterinary surgeon in attendance din ing 
the dehorning of the four animals under ex¬ 
periment, was requested to give his profession¬ 
al opinion, iu writing, concerning the general 
physical effect upon the animals, from thus 
sawing off the horns. Ilisletter wasas follows: 
“Knoxville, Tenn. 
As I am called upon to give my opinion as 
to dehorning cattle, I will say the operation 
of amputating the horns is very painful and 
not infrequently followed by evil results. It 
is surely a cruel practice, excepting for dis¬ 
ease, fracture, faulty direction, deformity, 
and to diminish damages from vicious catile. 
Respectfully, 
A. D GALBRAITH, D. V. S.” 
A review of the preceding matter indicates, 
1st, the most desix able method of fastening an 
animal for dehorning, so as to keep it satisfac¬ 
torily quiet.is to cast it, bind the feet firmly 
together, and hold the head in a halter close to 
the ground either by the hands, oi* by placing 
a plank across the neck; to then remove the 
horn uppermost, and by means of a rope of 
sufficient length, fastened whei’e the feet come 
together, to turn the animal upon the other 
side, and remove the remaining horn. 
2d. For l’emoviug the hoims, an ordiuai’y 
meat saw, with a set sci’ew in the end of the 
blade furthest from the handle, that will enable 
the blade to be tightened, but not to turn from 
side to side, is perfectly satisfactory. A strong 
I running-noose rope halter, and about 20 feet 
I of five-eighths and 10 feet of three-eighths inch 
rope are also necessary. 
3d. The horns should be removed as close to 
the head as possible, without cuttiug the skull 
pi-oper. It is best to cut down from one-fourth 
to one-half inch of flesh, at the base of the 
horn The sawing should be done rapidly, 
and with long sweeps of the arm if possible. 
4th. Animals one and two yeax-s of age ap¬ 
pear to suffer considerably in dehorning. The 
painful effects decrease with increase of age, 
so that an animal 10 years old may suffer but 
very little. This is owing to the layer of flesh 
surrounding the base of the hoim, which is 
much thicker in young than in old animals. De¬ 
horning causes an abnormal increase of pulsa¬ 
tion and temperature, which extends over 
several days. The appetite is also affected dur¬ 
ing the 24 hours succeeding the operation 
5th. Dehorning is more especially to be re¬ 
commended for those animals that are of vic¬ 
ious temperament, that are what are termed 
“masters;” to be applied to bulls, and to beef 
animals that are to be kept quiet and closely 
stabled or shipped. 
6th. From evidence quoted from other 
sources, it appears that dehorning is not 
necessarily a cruel pi-actice, but may be con¬ 
ducted to promote ends that are both humane 
and desii’able in live stock bi-eeding. 
Ohio Station Report. —Prof. W. J. Green, 
of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, 
in a late bulletin says that, 1, the Station is 
prepared to test new varieties and strains of 
varieties of fruits and vegetables, and such 
tests will be so conducted as to protect the inte¬ 
rests both of the originatoi-s and disseminators 
of such varieties and of the general public. 
Full particulars respecting this work will be 
sent on application. 2. Of the newer varie¬ 
ties of strawberries thus far tested at this 
Station, the following have given the most 
promising results, viz : Bubach, Gold, Jessie 
and Ohio. The following seem worthy of 
further trial, viz.: Itasca, Jewell, Ontario 
