THE RUBAI. HEW-YQRKEft. 
ttt 18 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING.—IV. 
PROFESSOR G. E. MORROW. 
Among points concerning which we may 
not. speak with absolute positivenessare these: 
Probably development of any characteris¬ 
tic in the parents makes its transmission more 
certain. Probably a stallion trained to trot 
fast will more certainly beget fast trotters 
than if his speed had been undeveloped. Ex¬ 
cessive development, however, seems unfavor¬ 
able to transmission of the quality thus greatly 
developed. 
Probably there is a tendency to transmit the 
particular condition or peculiarities of the pa¬ 
rents at the time of conception. It is safer to 
breed from mature animals in good health 
and condition than from very young or very 
old animals or those temporarily in bad con¬ 
dition. 
Probably the male and female parents 
equally affect the offspring when a large num¬ 
ber of cases are considered. Some animals of 
each sex have great power to transmit their 
peculiarities; others have very little. Among 
farm animals a male has many more offspring 
than any one female, and this is one reason for 
a common opinion that the male has greater in¬ 
fluence than the female. I have not seen rea¬ 
son to accept the opinion that the parent of 
one sex affects, especially, the form, while the 
other has special influence on the disposition or 
the vital functions. In practice little im¬ 
portance is to be attached to any effect on the 
offspring because the female was formerly 
bred to a male of some peculiarity. It is pos- 
sible.but. not probable, that the former impreg¬ 
nation should affect the offspring from subse¬ 
quent breeding. It is claimed there is proba¬ 
ble danger of this result in the case of dogs. 
As to the other farm animals it very rarely if 
ever is found. 
Probably no means for controlling sex with 
certainty has beeu discovered. Some animals 
produce offspring of only one sex, or with 
only exceptional production of those of the 
opposite sex. In my own observation the 
supposed rule that , with cows, the ova which 
descend at each alternate period of heat will 
produce offspring of the same sex, has ap¬ 
peared to be maintained. Others have not so 
found it. I have seen no rule for controlling 
sex in which I have full confidence. 
Variations of a noticeable character, which 
are produced by accident or by auy physical 
operation performed by man, are not usually 
reproduced, although they may reappear in 
the offspring. 1 have never known of a lamb 
being dropped with a short tail. Blindness, 
lameness, or any blemish caused by accident, 
is very rarely transmitted. 
The readiness with which the breeder can 
secure desired qualities in his animals depends 
largely on the number of qualities he desires 
to modify and on the rapidity with which the 
animals reproduce. It is more than twice as 
difficult to fix two characteristics so they will 
be certainly reproduced than it is to do this 
with one. It is unwise to multiply the num¬ 
ber of points to be bred for. A new breed of 
hogs could be made in a few years, because 
their rapid increase gives unusual opportunity 
for selection. 
University, Champaign, Ill. 
COLDS AND COUGH IN A HORSE, j J 
F. L. KILRORNE. 
A very common disease of horses, especial¬ 
ly during Autumn and Winter, is the common 
cold—by veterinarians called catarrh, acute 
catarrh, coryza—due to a variety of causes 
and usually attended with a cough. While 
certain conditions of the atmosphere arc much 
more favorable to the production of a cold 
than others, it is important to remember that 
nearly or quite all cases are due either to an 
unfavorable condition of the animal's system, 
rendering him more susceptible to the vicissi¬ 
tudes of the weather, or to faults in the care 
and management. Even the unfavorable con¬ 
dition of the animal system may usually be ate 
tributed to faulty hygienic conditions, so we 
may say the primary cause of a cold is usually 
to be found in the dietary and management of 
the horse. This being the case, most colds 
might be prevented by a careful prompt ob¬ 
servance of the known laws of health. This is 
shown by the fact that animals that are 
carefully managed, so as to avoid as far us 
possible the causes that are most liable to 
produce colds and at the same time are kept 
in the best possible houltb, are usually quite 
free from the .disease. In the majority of 
cases where all ..the conditions are carefully 
examined, a cause for the cold will be found 
that might have been prevented by exercis¬ 
ing a little more forethought. 
The most fruitful causes of colds are to be 
found in sudden changes of the weather, more 
particularly when attended by dampness, and 
the exposure of the animals to draughts of 
air, dampness, or to a suddenly lowered tem¬ 
perature, especially when the horse is out of 
condition, heated or fatigued. This last is 
very important to bear iu mind, because a 
fresh, healthy horse will withstand many 
causes that would readily produce a cold in a 
system already weakened by any cause what¬ 
ever. A damp stable, usually underground, 
or a stable where direct draughts of air can 
strike the animals, drawing iu rain or damp 
snow, and allowing the horse to stand in cold, 
damp, or windy places when wet or heated; 
aud exposure in the field to cold, drenching 
rains, or when there are heavy dews with a 
great difference betweeu the temperature of 
day and night, are. all common causes. Pre¬ 
disposing causes include anything that weak¬ 
ens the general constitution of the animal, as 
unsuitable feeding, hot, close stables filled 
with foul air and gases, and improper care 
and treatment. 
The treatment of a cold depends upon the 
severitv of the case, In mild attacks with 
slight nasal discharge and an occasional 
cough, but ro perceptible fever, little treat¬ 
ment is necessary beyond rest iu a comfort¬ 
able stable, preferably a loose box. Steaming 
the nostrils night and morning by pouring 
boiling water on wheat bran and allowing the 
animal to eat it from a bucket or nose-bag 
while steaming hot, is excellent both for the 
nasal discharge and cough. When necessary 
to make the animal comfortably warm, apply 
blaulcets. If the limbs are cold, nib actively 
for 15 or 20 minutes and then apply warm, 
loose bandages. Daily general grooming will 
also be very beneficial in keeping up a healthy 
action of the skin. 
Where there is marked fever, agents should 
be given that tend to lower the animal tem¬ 
perature. For this prepare a fever-powder 
consistiug of two to four drams each of chlor¬ 
ate of potash and niter, along with 10 to 35 
drops of tincture of aconite: it may be given iu 
a pint of w-ater twice or thrieo daily. If the an¬ 
imal is debilitated or weakened, two ounces of 
minderems spirit or two drams of muriate of 
ammouia or an ounce of sweet spirits of niter 
naav be given with the above. 
Should the nasal mucuous membraue con¬ 
tinue dry aud feverish aud the cough dry aud 
harsh, steam the nostrils more frequently as 
directed above, until a free discharge sets in, 
and then continue less frequently. If the 
throat is sore, as shown by difficulty in swal¬ 
lowing, an external stimulant w ill be desira¬ 
ble, as the ammonia and oil liniment or a 
mustard poultice applied and well rubbed in 
over the whole region of the throat. If the 
cough becomes troublesome mix one dram 
each of extract of lielladonna aud niter with 
sufficient sirup to form a thick paste, and rub 
well upon the back teeth to be slowly swal¬ 
lowed at leisure and repeated three or four 
times daily. 
The diet should be light and laxative in 
Summer, consistiug mainly of green food and 
mashes, and in Winter scalded oats, linseed 
gruels, roots and warm mashes. Allow free 
access to pure, cold water. If the bow'els con¬ 
tinue costive, give copious warm water injec¬ 
tions every three or four horn’s until relieved. 
During treatment the animal should have 
walking exercise for a short time daily w’hen 
the weather is suitable. When recovery is 
slow it may frequently be hastened by mildly 
stimulating tonics, as on ounce each of pow¬ 
dered gentian and sw r eet spirits of niter given 
twice or thrice daily in a bottle of ale or cold 
water. 
(Since a cold can usually be avoided by prop¬ 
er attention to the care of a horse, it saves 
much needless trouble and is safer to take all 
reasonable precautions to prevent colds. 
Stables should at all times be dry, warm, light 
and clean, free from direct draughts of air, 
but at the same time well voutilated. During 
damp, cold or windy weather a horse after ex¬ 
ercise, whether stopped iu the road or placed 
in the stable, should -have a warm blanket ap¬ 
plied. Standing uncovered, even for a few 
minutes, on the road, is often sufficient to con¬ 
tract a severe cold. A blanket for the pnr- 
pose should always be carried at this season of 
the year to have ready for use when necessary. 
Upon putting the horse in the stable after a 
drive, a blanket should usually be applied for 
an hour or two, even if the animal does not ap¬ 
peal’ warm. When exercised so as to be per¬ 
spiring freely or much fatigued it should be 
vigorously ‘’nibbed down”imfcii dry before ap¬ 
plying the blanket. For a horse that is blank¬ 
eted iu the stable or bas been clipped, even 
greater precautions are necessary since he 
will more readily take cold. Horses at pasture 
should be taken up or provided shelter on wet, 
cold or windy nights of Autumn and Winter. 
When an animal has been unavoidably ex¬ 
posed, a severe cold may frequently bo warded 
off by thoroughly “rubbing down” at night, 
applying a blanket and giving a hot. mash with 
two ounces of ginger or 25 to (JO drops of tinc¬ 
ture of aconite with an ounce of niter. 
In such cases special care is ueeded for the 
next two or three days that a fresh cold is not 
added to a system already weakened by the 
first attack. 
Notes from the Western New Tori' Farm. 
SHEEP BREEDING.' 
WHEN TO COUPLE. 
W hat time in Spring should the lambs be 
dropped? What shall guide us in tho selection 
of the ram? How many ewes should he serve ? 
How long can a ram be profitably used in the 
same flock? These questions cover the ground 
of inquiry in a score or more of letters recently 
received, which show the wide and growing 
interest in sheep husbandry, and which can be 
answered only in a general way. 
Thf. Common Practice, no matter what the 
latitude, is to have the lambs dropped at just 
about the time the sheep are turned out to pas¬ 
ture, the belief being that the grass exerts a 
loosening and cooling influence upon the ewes, 
and that less loss of lambs will occur aud that 
the lambs will then do their best. While it is 
a fact that the grass does have this effect ami 
that sheep wintered iu the usual methods, in 
open yards with nothing to eat except dry hay 
or corn fodder aud straw and in many cases 
mostly straw, and with a very scanty supply 
of water and no grain, will not be in very ro¬ 
bust condition nor give a great abundance of 
milk, it is no less true that when, as Is com¬ 
monly the custom, they are turned abruptly 
from the yards and dry feed to the fresh grass, 
the first effect is, by its laxative influence on 
the bowels, very weakening and the ewes are 
less able to bear the strain of parturition than 
before the change was made. Besides, at this 
season the weather is very changeable: the 
brightest morning is liable to be fol¬ 
lowed by a snow or hail storm, or, 
wbat is fully as bad, by a cold rain or a 
piercing cold wind, aud, further, when the 
sheep are out in the fields they cannot be as 
closely watched, and if, as is often the case, 
a ewe needs assistance, she is not seen iu time, 
aud, if seen, is not easily accessible to the 
shepherd. The result is the loss of the lamb 
and too often of the mother also. That this 
plau is not a success is evident from the very 
large proportion of “dry ewes” found iu every 
flock so treated, and from which we select in 
making up our flocks for winter lamb raising, 
aud, yet, as bad as it is, this method is to be 
much preferred to having the lambs come 
amid the snows and blizzards, or during the 
pinching nights of the earlier Spring with the 
sheep running in open yards sheltered only by 
the fleece or the remnant of the straw-stack. 
This is abundantly proven by the scores of 
lambs whose dead carcasses bleaehiug on 
fences and in tree tops are signs of the idiocy 
or cruelty of the owner, which should consign 
him to the asylum or gaol. 
When sheep are treated in Winter and 
Spring as above, the better way is to postpone 
the lambing season until after the sheep have 
been to grass several weeks or until the 
system has become regular after the change 
and the ewes have begun to gain a little iu 
flesh; iu this latitude not sooner than the 
last of May. If the sheep are then, as they 
should be, yarded every night and on stormy 
days, and, better yet, given a moderate ration 
of grain, there need not bo n loss of two per 
cent of the lambs, and the lambs will start off 
to growing at once and be larger when Sep 
tember and weaning time come than those 
coming earlier, under adverse circumstances. 
* * * 
The Less Common Practice, but by 
far the better way, is to have tho sheep 
warmly housed, and the Iambs come very 
early, as early as the last of March or first of 
April. Among the advantages of this method 
are the following: The sheep nre then under 
the constant supervision of the shepherd aud 
are easily caught iu case any one should need 
assistance in parturition; they can be fed so 
as to control the conditions of the system, so 
as to have them most favorable to both mother 
and offspring; there is no danger whatever 
from storms, cold or wind either to the ewes 
or lambs; the ewes ore stronger, the lambs get 
started in growth, and the ewes recover from 
the severe strum and when turned to grass, 
both are in condition to thrive right along. 
Early lambs are usually in demand for slaugh¬ 
ter at a price that pays several times the profit 
on the later ones, and even if not so wanted 
they will be much larger in Fall ami iu better 
condition for winter feeding, aud will com¬ 
mand for this purpose at least a half dollar 
more per head than the later ones. But if 
wanted for neither of these purposes, they will 
stand wintering much better, and will each 
give a fleece of a pound more wool. Besides 
all this, the lambs will be in weaning condition 
so much the earlier that the ewes, being re¬ 
lieved from their support, will get in much 
better condition for the succeeding Winter, 
or if wanted for the market they will be in bet¬ 
ter flesh and at an earlier date. 
The barns for this purpose should be warm 
and dry, but need not be expensive or large. 
They can be made of stone, beards and paper, 
or, in the Far West, of poles and the straw 
that otherwise would be burned. They need 
not even be large enough for the entire flock, 
as the pregnant ewes may be sorted out from 
time to time, as they come near the end of 
their period, and put into the warm quarters, 
and the older lambs with their mothers re¬ 
moved to others not quite so warm. Besides 
the warm quarters, if the best results are de¬ 
sired, some sort of succulent food must be 
provided. Silage will answer; rutabagas or 
carrots are good; if nothing else is available, 
it will pay to feed a few potatoes at this time, 
even if they are selling for a half dollar per 
bushel. But nothing else that I have ever 
tried is quite so good or can be so cheaply 
provided as mangels of some variety; they 
are easily and cheaply grown; they keep 
better than any other root and the sheep 
like them well. This succulent, food should be 
ted for at least two weeks prior to the birth of 
the lamb, and should be continued until the 
ewes are turned to grass. It will pay every 
sheep feeder to give it to his whole flock at 
least twice a week during the whole Winter, 
and better if fed every day. It has a wonder¬ 
ful effect in keeping the bowels open and regu¬ 
lar ami iu keeping down any tendency to 
feverishness, and it adds greatly to the power 
of the system to digest and assimilate the dry 
food, and with a breeding ewe insures a full 
supply of milk and that of the best kind for 
the newcomer. 
In addition to their other food, pregnant 
ewes should have daily a little gram. If a 
gill is fed each day it will be no more than 
three pocks for the Winter, and its cost will 
be returned in the growth of wool and carcass 
of the ewe, in the increased strength and rapid 
growth of the lamb aud. again, largely in the 
increased value of the mauure. When fed for 
this purpose aud to this amount only, almost 
any grain may lie selected that is cheapest; or 
a mixture containing any one of tho grains 
and bran aud oil meal would be capital, and 
the quantity could probably bo increased 
without additional cost, and when such is the 
case it should be done. 
* * * 
The Coupling of Ewes and Rams then 
is a matter to be decided after carefully con¬ 
sidering the advantages aud disadvantages of 
those methods of lamb raising anil chousing 
which will be followed, remembering that the 
average period of gestation in the ewe is from 
150 to 153 days, or, in round numbers, five cal¬ 
endar mouths. If then the lambs are desired 
at or soon after the middle of March, the time 
for putting tho ewes and rams together would 
be the fifteenth of October. If, on the other 
hand, the lambs are to come after turning to. 
grass at the very last of May,the putting in of 
the rams must be deferred till the last of De¬ 
cember, and so of auy intermediate time. I 
would advise either the oue or the other of these 
extremes. 
* * * 
We have now (November 15) got our sheep 
into the barns and are sorting out such of the 
ewes as have failed to get with lamb. To 
do this wo put the rams for a short time each 
day intoeaeh pen,having first, applied Venetian 
red to their breasts. When we wish to carry 
these ewes over for next year’s use we have 
them served with Shropshire or Hampshire 
bucks; but when we wish to sell them to our 
neighbors for store stock, we apron some 
common ram so that be paints the ewe with¬ 
out service. As soon as a ewe Is In either case 
painted she is thrown out. A week of such 
treatment sorts out 1*8 per cent, of the unim¬ 
pregnated owes. J. S. WOODWARD. 
:unmj. 
THE ORIGIN OF CONTAGIOUS DIS¬ 
EASES. 
S. H., in an article in the Rural of Nov. 
20th, gives his views as to a possible origin of 
contagious diseases of man and animals, and 
as is commonly done by writers holding simi¬ 
lar views, misrepresents the positiou taken by 
veterinarians and physicians with reference 
to the origin of contagious diseases, Tho very 
worst of sanitary conditions has never been 
known to produce the much dreaded Asiatic 
cholera, small-pox, yellow-pox, etc; ami all 
precautionary sanitary measures by physi- 
