four, put him back into his own place. Keep 
this up till he has served all the ewes, and then 
let him run with the flock for two weeks to 
serve any that may have failed.; ’.This makes 
extra trouble, but it pays well. Home of the 
neighbors will laugh in the Pall, but they will 
keep remarkably quiet in the Spring. Your 
lambs will bo jumping up to take their rations 
without assistance. When you see your neigh¬ 
bor hastening to the bouse with a lamb under 
each arm and upsetting the pantry for a nurs¬ 
ing bottle with which to brace up weak lambs, 
you will have your turn at laughing. A poor 
half-cared for and overworked ram will cause 
weak and spindling lambs. Don’t forget it. 
Washtenaw Co., Mich. w. f. b. 
ANGORA GOATS. 
Tfte American Mohair Growers’ Associa¬ 
tion, organized at Port Worth, Texas, last 
February, will hold its first annual meeting 
at Han Antonio, Texas, Monday/October 4, 
next. The establishment of an Angora Goat 
Breeders’ RegisterJ^to be'considered. 
Angora goats were introduced into Califor¬ 
nia in 184S, and goat raising has attained the 
greatest development there. For the produc¬ 
tion of flocks, they have usually been bred 
on the common goat, as the Merinos have 
been crossed on the eoarse-wooled Mexican 
sheep. There is a considerable demand for 
mohair; but the industry here is in uu exper¬ 
imental stage, and jhas varying fortunes. An 
establishment in California for making robes, 
mats, gloves and whip lashes often uses 30,000 
goat skins in a year—half-bred or high-bred 
Angoras. Considerable interest is taken in Ne¬ 
vada in raising Angoras for meat, skin and 
wool, and there are several large flocks in the 
Territory. They are, as a rule, the offsprings 
of common goats with bucks from California. 
We have an account of a flock of 2,913 head, 
consisting of 1*800 ewes, valued at $2.25 per 
head; 600 wethers, 82.To per head; 500 kids, 
$2.25 per head ; and 12 bucks, $10.50 per 
head Though Texas has started the Asso¬ 
ciation, the Angora goat business there is 
of later introduction; but it is developing 
rapidly. There are a number of flocks now of 
1,00 ) head each, but there as elsewhere, the 
business is very fluctuating. There are also 
some considerable flocks iu the Carolina. 1 ?, 
Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arizona, 
and smaller ‘’bunches’* in other States. 
The present prices of mohair in t.liis market 
range as follows: choice, 55 cents; superior, 
45 cents; fair, 42 cents; ordinary, 40 cents; in¬ 
ferior, from 30 to 35 cents. 4t the Cape of 
Good Hope, where Angora keeping is an ex¬ 
tensive industry, the animals are clipped twice 
a year; but in in this country, they are shorn 
only ouce—early in the Spring, A flock of 
Angora wethers from two to six years old, if 
kept fat the year round, would yield fleeces of 
five to six pounds; but breeding ewes would 
not give over four pounds. 
ijovsnnmi, 
CLEAN THE HORSE’S SKIN. 
It is not enough .that the groom should 
merely clean oil’ the dry deposits that remain 
from the sweating process through which the 
horse may have gone. This, it is true, removes 
the apparent foulness, but it is far from 
meeting the work that comes under the head 
of “grooming.” There is no way Iu which 
one can do the horse more real service iu the 
way of keeping him healthy, than by washing 
his skin with water as hot as the baud will 
bear. Whether this is done immediately after 
a drive when the horse is perspiring freely, 
or when at rest and the skin is perfectly dry, 
a large blanket should be provided to cover 
the animal ami keep it covered during the 
process of washing, keeping it on the should¬ 
ers while washing the hind-quarters, and vice 
versa. 
Provide yourself with a large sponge and a 
piece of good soap, or, instead of this, an 
ouuoe of aqua ammonia. Put tills into a 
quart of water if it be of the highest strength, 
ami into a pint if it lie of low grade, and after 
moisteuiug the hair and skiu with the hot 
water, with a small sponge rub the surface 
over with the ammonia water, seeing to it 
that ft reaches the skin. Then wash the hide 
aud hair thoroughly, scraping the water out 
of the hair with a wooden or other semper hav¬ 
ing u thin, smooth edge. Rub dry with a 
woolen cloth aud cover with a dry blanket, 
keeping the horse out of u current of air, if 
this be cold. Be especially careful if the 
home Is exhausted by having had a hard 
drive. 
Merely cleaning the dried sweat from the 
hair of a horse is a suml l item in the process 
of thorough grooming and eleaniug. It 
should bo remembered that it is the skiu, and 
not the haii 1 that carries on the process of 
eliminating such secretions as the body re¬ 
quires relief from; that is, such as escape 
through the pores of the skin. The intestinal 
tract and the kidneys and bladder present but 
a limited surface for the elimination of refuse 
from the body, as compared with the skiu, 
yet, when a horse gets sick how ready men 
are to say, “give him a physic”—salts or aloes 
or “give him a diuretic”—niter or pumpkin 
seed tea. An ounce of prevention is, as often 
stated, worth a pound of cure, and if, in con¬ 
junction with care in feeding—feeding enough 
and not too much, and of the l ight kind—that 
portion of the duties of the stable that comes 
under the head of grooming be carried out 
as here indicated, we would not so frequently 
as now need the internal agents referred to. 
WESTERN. 
HORSE JOTTINGS. 
While we are importing every year great 
numbers of draft homes aud an occasional 
Thoroughbred from Great Britain, couldn’t 
we secure the balance of the trade in our favor 
by exporting more horses than we do? Eng¬ 
land imports aunually 20,000 homes; at pre¬ 
sent most of these come from Ir land. In 
spite of the excellent native breeds —Clydes¬ 
dale, Hhire and Suffolk—man}- draft horses 
—Normans or Percherons - are imported from 
France, besides some lighter horses for other 
purposes—some of them for the army. There’s 
an English Commission now in Cauadn in¬ 
quiring into the adaptability of colonial-bred 
horses for cavalry remounts; it wouldn't be a 
bad idea for the members, even for curiosity’s 
sake, to visit Illinois and Kentucky, where 
they would see thousands of animals excellent¬ 
ly adapted for cavalry or artillery purposes. 
August is a favorite month for shipping live 
stock, as the weather is likely to lie unusually 
favorable. The last week in the month there was 
a brisk trade in Clydesdale horses uorth of the 
Tweed. Half a dozen pedigree Clydes were 
shipped from Liverpool for Peter Blundell, 
Washington. III. T wo were shipped to George 
Murray, Polo, 111. Four went to Mr. Snaggs, 
Brantford, Ontario, Can. One of the largest 
shipments of the season, 44 head, left Glasgow 
for Norris & Clark, Lamoille, 111. Of the lot 
31 were pedigreed stallions, between four and 
five yearn old, reported to be an excellent 
lot. Over Trill pedigreed Clydes have been 
exported since the opening of the year.—the 
largest figure yet reached. Powell Brothers, 
Springboro, Pa., have made two large ship¬ 
ments, one iu August. Clydes seem to stand 
ocean travel exceptionally well, nearly 300 
having been landed in Montreal in August 
with the loss of only one animal, which was 
sickly when embarked. 
PIG CONSIDERATION. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Sows eating their pigs; habit due to an un¬ 
healthy condition; predisposing causes; 
prevention: treatment of a sow in slow or 
unnatural parturition. 
There is always trouble with sows eating 
their pigs in the Winter and early Spring, aud 
very little trouble when the sows are out on 
the ground, or have plenty of succulent food. 
I have never hail any trouble in Summer. 
The past Spring there was more complaint 
thau usual on account, I suppose, of the cheap¬ 
ness of corn. It was fed bountifully because 
cheap and handy, and it made more fever 
amongst sows, and so more of them were in¬ 
clined to eat their pigs. The best remedy for 
this kind of t rouble is care and consideration 
beforehand. Light aud laxative foods should 
be given up to the time of pigging aud after¬ 
wards, because the best to cool the blood aud 
keep the whole system in good order. A sow 
never kills and eats her pigs when in her right 
mind. The evil is always due to an unnatural 
condition of body aud miud. In other words, 
a sow to do such tilings is crazy or frenzied 
and ferocious with pain or fright. There are 
vaiious reasons for this excited condition. 
Fever, constipation, fright, hunger and thirst 
will produce it. The most natural cause is 
the pain of parturition. A weak, squealing 
pig often excites the SOW anil makes her wild. 
When such is the case the pig should be taken 
out of the pen and kept out. If a sow shows 
excitement when disturbed, she should have 
food put within her reach and be left alone. 
When a sow strikes her jaws together iu au 
angry manner, she must not be disturbed. 
Home sows are much move sensitive than oth¬ 
ers, A good dose of raw linseed oil would be 
good to gjvo u sow whose foaces show dryness 
or constipation. A bountiful feeding of thiu 
slop would till the stomach and allay hunger 
aud thirst. 
Unnatural parturition is one cause of 
frenzy. I lately had a case of this kind 
In the morning a favorite sow was found to 
have had pigs all of which were dry, showing 
that they had been burn some little time. 
As soon as I approached the pen, the sow got 
up and was uneasy and went tramping around 
the inclosure. Fearing she would step on the 
pigs, I got into the pen aud picked them all 
up and put them into a basket and took them 
out. She id not appear in the least disturbed. 
She was given a little drink, after which she lay 
down and was soon up again. She thrashed 
around, all day growing more and more un¬ 
easy without passing anything. After din¬ 
ner an effort was made, in the most quiet way, 
to give the pigs to her. The instant she heard 
them she sprang up and would have killed 
them had she been given a chance. The pigs 
were taken to another sow, and her own were 
kept away, while the. litt le strangers got some 
suck. Just before night, the sow, having 
been in great pain all day. a rope was put 
over her snout at the end of a fork and she 
was secured and thrown upon her back. She 
fought aud struggled,and in the struggle a fine 
pig was born. Her hind and fore legs were 
each bound together with a strap, and then 
made fast to staples iu the floor. The rope on 
her snout was tied so that she could not throw 
her head around. A board was nailed down 
across the pen and fitted down closely to her 
shoulder and another to the ham These 
boards did not touch her belly but they pre¬ 
vented the least struggling aud made it im¬ 
possible for her to get up. The pigs were 
now put to her breasts which were leaking the 
milk, and she was left until the next forenoon 
undisturbed. At this tune no more pigs had. 
been born aud the placenta was discharged, 
and the sow was taking to her pigs. She was 
now released and and everthing was all right. 
She had gotten over the pain caused by her 
not being able to give birth to the pig. I shall 
always confine a frenzied sow the same way. 
and when one is not able to have her pig it 
would Vie a good [flan to turn her for a few 
minutes on*her back to cause the unborn pig 
to change its position and so relieve the 
mother, or to raise her up behind aud let her 
walk on her fore feet. This will change the 
position of the young and work a natural 
presentation. 
hog cholera questions. 
Dr. F. S. Billings, of the University of 
Nebraska, to which the State Agricultural 
College is an adjunct, has been appointed to in’ 
vestigate hog cholera in that State, and asks 
the farmers to send to him, at the University 
at Lincoln, information as to the number of 
hogs they raised last year; was any hog chol¬ 
era among them; their market value at death; 
the breed of the diseased animals; whether any 
breeds arc more liable to the disease than oth¬ 
ers; are “scrubs” more susceptible than pure- 
breds; when is the loss the greatest : what ef¬ 
fect has the weather on outbreaks, especially 
as to severity • are outbreaks earlier on high 
dry land than iu low wet places: how did it 
get into the herd; does the term indicate one 
or more diseases; if more, why; was the herd 
affected iu ISS4; were the hogs kept in the 
same place both years; has sex or age any in¬ 
fluence for or against the disease; will hogs 
that have had the disease have it again next 
year, if allowed to live. These are suggestive 
queries to hog owners in all parts of the coun¬ 
try where hog cholera is o. er prevalent; aud 
where is it not t What do our readers think 
of them ? 
&I)C poultry 
KILL THE LICE. 
The hen houses must be cleaned out during 
September if the heas are to be kept through 
the Winter. They arc fairly alive with lice 
now. No wonder the heus waut to roost in 
the trees, it is unfortunate in some respects 
that more human beings cannot be made to 
endure the torture from these creeping hor¬ 
rors. They would lie far more merciful to 
their stock if their flesh could honestly creep 
at the memory of these filthy vermin. Lum¬ 
bermen. war prisoners, aud others who are 
forced to live in lice-infected places, all say 
that nothing so tends to destroy health and 
comfort as lice. No more horrible punish¬ 
ment would lie possible than to force a man 
to live iu a lousy room. Constant torture, 
sleeplessness, insanity, death would be the re¬ 
sult. Whut right has man to inflict this 
dreadful punishment upon the dumb animals 
that are placed in his charge? He has no 
right; he transgresses both a human and a 
moral law when he neglects to destroy the 
vermin On his cattle or turns the heus into a 
lousy house for the Winter. Wo sav stop now 
aud clean out the hen-house, or else kill every 
hen on the place before cold weather sets in. 
Take a hoe and a shovel and clean out every 
ounce of manure. Take water as hot as you 
can get it, and with an old broom or mop swab 
out every crack and coiner of the place 
Burn up the old nests. Spray kerosene into 
the cracks and edges. Put two good coats of 
whitewash all over the inside. Take out the 
perches, scrape them off and pour kerosene 
along them. It will pay to dig out the earth 
at the bottom of the house and put. fresh dirt 
back. Put in pure sand, if you can get it. 
Don’t neglect this now. It is a combination 
of business and morality. You will get more 
eggs to pay for it, and your conscience will 
be lighter. po ultryman. 
A GOOD CHICKEN COOP. 
I have found the coop shown at Fig. 373 
indispensable in raisiug chickens where rats 
and minks abound. It is 14 feet long, 4 
feet wide. 5 feet high at the back and 
feet high in front, and is divided into four 
parts. The roof is shingled and a space two 
inches wide is left at the highest point of the 
roof over which are placed two fence boards, 
nailed together at right angles, to shed the 
rain. This forms a ventilator. A door opens 
into each part to facilitate cleaning. The 
front, which should face south, has a board 
nailed under the eaves and one two inches 
above the bottom and 1 iet ween tbes£ is l ^-inch 
nusb wire screen. Exits are sawed out for the 
hens. At the left of each exit are long, nar¬ 
row places for chicks to run out, which are 
closed at night with heavy scantling, or 
boards kept m place by stakes at each end. 
The exits are closed with boards to fit. 
Boards about three inches wide are placed on 
a level with the earth entirely around the coop 
to prevent the hens from scratching under. 
The coop makes an excellent roost ing place for 
" weaned” chicks; 50 nearly grown may be ac¬ 
commodated till placed in winter-quarters. 
My single coops are all constructed on this 
plan. "Without some such convenience I 
presume I could not raise 20 per cent, of my 
chicks on account of common rats and minks. 
Wilmington Co., ID. grace steves. 
Jr 
* 
xffrm (l 
CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS. 
People in this couutry need to take an edu¬ 
cation on the subject of stoves. During the 
rainy season we sit shivering around open 
fire-places. There is only one side of us—the 
one nearest the fire—that can be kept com¬ 
fortable. These big fire-places should all be 
closed, up and stoves put in their place. No¬ 
body knows how the health and comfort of 
our people would be improved if such a 
change could be made. Most of the folks here 
have their wood-piles right out in the weather. 
They cut up a few sticks at a time as needed. 
We are using more coal now, but most of that 
stands right out in the rain, We need wood¬ 
sheds and stoves here the worst kind. 
Lowndes Co., Miss. a. k. w. 
The best way to reach the hearts of chil¬ 
dren—and some men—is through their sto¬ 
machs Some people save all the eggs, butter 
aud chickens to sell, and live on pork and 
beaus from January l to December 81. They 
thiuk the little bank account that comes from 
this saving is a big thing. They would make 
more iu the end to sell the pork and beans and 
have chicken three days out of seven. The 
children will be healthier aud better satisfied 
to stay on the farm. It is a good thing to re¬ 
member every birthday by roasting the fat¬ 
test goose or turkey on the place. Lot all the 
birthdays from father's down to the baby’s be 
remembered in this way. Associate happiness 
with a good dinner if you want your children 
to be home folks. K. c. 
Peoria, IU. 
How do you eat grapes? It seems to me 
that most people only half eat them. They 
just pull off the skin and swallow the pulp aud 
seeds whole. I claim that in this way they 
don’t half eat grapes. There is no more 
reason why we should swallow the seeds 
of grapes than the pits of cherries. 
These seeds are said to act upon the 
kidneys and that a few of them will do no 
harm. I am satisfied that where grapes are 
eaten iu large quantities the seeds may prove 
very harmful. It is with eatiug grapes as it 
is with eating bread aud butter; most people 
eat it so that the butter comes against the roof 
of the mouth, when to got the .best taste it 
should be put against the tongue. H. c. 
Bergen Co., N. J. 
For a long time I have advocated a plan 
