4866 
eians and boards of health are taken, not to 
prevent a spontaneous development of these 
diseases (an occurrence that is not expected) 
but to remove a medium—filth—that would 
favor the dissemination of the disease 
Kenn when once introduced from with¬ 
out. Individual precautionary hygienic 
measures are also taken that the 
system may lie kept in a healthier con¬ 
dition and thus be the better able to resist the 
attack of any disease germ. Unhealthy, 
filthy surroundings always favor the spread¬ 
ing of these contagious diseases, but they do 
not in any case develop the germ of the dis¬ 
ease. What is true of the sanitary conditions 
for man is equally true of those for animals. 
Veterinarians do not attempt to explain 
the origin of the special contagious disease 
germs now kuowu. Nor do they deny that 
the germs of pleuro-pneumonia contagiosa, 
swine-plague, etc., may not have originated 
spontaneously by some process of develop¬ 
ment. But they do claim that at the present 
time, tin* germs of these diseases are not de¬ 
veloped spontaneously, and are not known to 
have been so developed within the history of 
these diseases. They do not base their claim 
upon pet theories, as in the ease of the above 
writer and others, but upon the facts in the 
case. There is not an authentic instance on 
record in which these diseases have beeu known 
to originate spontaneously, while there are in¬ 
numerable facts to show that they are not so 
developed. 
Pleuro-pneumonia was unkuown in this 
couutry before its introduction into Rhode 
Island in 1343 with an imported Dutch cow. 
It was carrie 1 to the Cape of Good Hope in 
1854and to Australia in 1858, in each ease with 
imported iufeeted cattle, and in both countries 
it was entirely uukuovvn until its introduction 
with these diseased animals. The history of 
the spread of these diseases very plainly indi¬ 
cates that it is only by the movement of in¬ 
fected animals or their products that the dis¬ 
eases have spread from one locality or coun¬ 
try to another. Numerous similar instances 
might be cited with this and the other conta¬ 
gious diseases, if space permitted. If conta¬ 
gious pleuro-pneumonia can now be developed 
spontaneously, why was it not so developed 
m this couutry prior to 1843, and in Australia 
prior to 1358? Perhaps S. H. can satisfactor¬ 
ily answer this questiou. 
The comparison of the above writer, of the 
origin and spread of contagious diseases to 
fire and its origin by chemical action, seems 
to me to be wide of the mark. Chemical 
action between inorganic coustitutents always 
produces inorganic substances or compounds, 
and iu no instance is it kuovvn to produce or¬ 
ganic bodies or life. 
The cause for the prevalent belief “that 
there must be a germ from which everything 
grows” is to be found in the fact that at the 
present time the only known organ of organic 
life is from pre-existing orgauic life, and that 
all newly developed life follows the well- 
established aphorism that “like produces 
like” within the limits of certain laws of slight 
varktion. 
The question at issue is uot so much as to 
whether these disease's can be developed spon¬ 
taneously, bat as to whether they are so de¬ 
veloped. Surely the history of contagious 
diseases very plainly shows that they are not 
being spontaneously developed. 
A VETERINARIAN. 
(il)r-Pcuiliui Dari). 
WINTER WORK IN THE POULTRY 
YARD. 
Those who have to pay the food bills for a 
flock of poultry during Winter arc mostly in¬ 
terested in the quantity of eggs that are gath¬ 
ered daily into the egg basket. During Win¬ 
ter when the ground ceases to supply worms, 
etc., the birds arc dependent entirely upon 
those who cure for them, and such persons 
should be properly qualified by a thorough 
knowledge of the requirements of the fowls. 
Good feeding is indispensable. A large pro¬ 
portion of food is consumed in cold weather 
merely to keep up a normal animal heat, after 
which comes the natural waste of the system 
before any part of the food can be spared for 
forming eggs. This is one reason why hens 
stop laying during very cold spells. As the 
days are very short, fowls should be fed as 
soon as it is light enough for them to see to 
eat. The best way to be early is to scald or 
cook the food overnight, cover it up aud keep 
it iu a warm place till morntug. It can then 
be fed to the flock quite early. Early and late 
feeding gives better results than late morning 
aud too early evouiug meals. Warmth and 
ventilation must receive due care. Provide a 
good dust bath of sand, ashes aud a little 
flowers of sulphur. The box if one is used, 
should be sunk iu the grouud to a level with 
uu-gy - u yy ( JL ) EA' 
the floor close up to a low window so that the 
sun will shine into it. 
A good shed, dry and open to the south, 
should be attached to every poultry house 
where many hens are kept, so that they can 
eujoy the fresh air and keep out of snow and 
wet. This reminds me of the bad effects pro¬ 
duced by fowls eating snow or drinking snow r 
water, which frequently causes diarrhea and 
for some reasons the birds that indulge in this 
practice, even when no diarrhea shows it¬ 
self. get very thin and out of comlition. Of 
course, one cannot entirely prevent fowls from 
eating snow, but they are creatures of habit 
to a surprising degree. If we neglect giving 
them fresh water promptly, they will soon 
contract the habit of eating snow and even if 
they are offered water afterwards they will 
care for it less than if their daily habit of 
drinking had uot beeu broken up by careless¬ 
ness. If, during cold weather, one gives them 
water with the chill just off. they will appre¬ 
ciate it, and seldom eat much snow. During 
cold spells when stock are confined, they must 
lie kept scrupulously clean, and a handful of 
air-slaked lime should be dusted around inside 
the houses every day or two, and at night 
when the birds are settled drop a handful un¬ 
der the perches, especially if any stroug smell 
is noticed iu the houses. Every few weeks 
treat the perches to a coat of crude jietroleum. 
See that the nests are clean and inviting. 
Some may say there is a great deal of trouble 
in all this. W ell, there is considerable labor; 
what can succeed without it ! The fowls have 
to be fed all through Winter under any cir¬ 
cumstances, and with too little care no eggs 
RURAL NEW-YORKER No. 2. Side view. 
can be expected. Now, which pays the better ' 
—to have the expense and no eggs, or to take 
proper care and get eggs while they are dear? 
This eau, without doubt, be done by follow¬ 
ing the advice here given: 
Fowls to lay must be iu good condition, 
not fat; but bright, cheerful aud 
lively. If your fowls are out of con¬ 
dition you must keep up this good 
feeding, etc., till they are in good order. 
I hey will soon let you know that this 
is the case by their prating and liveliness 
when they are preparing to lay. I have 
known some parsons whose hens wore out of 
condition from neglect, to start feeding them 
properly expecting them to lay at once. TLiis 
is too much to expect. Anyone accustomed 
to poultry can tell at a glance the condition 
of a flock. There is always a demand for 
fresh eggs in Winter, and anyone having a 
good flock of early pullets and giving them the 
necessary care, can hardly fail of being re¬ 
paid for the trouble. 
W inter Layers. —Strange to say, my 
wife’s hens lay as many eggs in the Fall and 
Winter as they do in Summer. We keep 
about 30—all our own raising—mostly Plym¬ 
outh Rocks. The habit of winter laying may be 
partly bred into them, but they are well cared 
for, bio. They are kept in a corner of the 
barn, oh the same side as the cows and calves. 
Iu the morning they have a mush of meal, 
table scraps and a little bone meal sprinkled 
on top, sour milk in abundance and ground 
oyster shells every other day. For supper— 
for ws feed but twice a day—we give whole 
corn roasted in the stove oven. The hens run 
iu the barn for exercise, and on this feed, 
shell out the eggs. j. h. t. 
Medford, Me. 
Darn} Ijitsbaiitin}. 
THE REFORM OF IRISH DAIRYING.—III. 
PROFESSOR J. P. SHELDON. 
Irish dairy schools; female students; male 
pupils; butler maki ng com pet i tion; cream¬ 
eries; shortcomings of small farm but¬ 
ter ; nocheese worth mentioning. 
Two ways there are, standing out above the 
rest, by which the friends of Irish farming 
hope to accomplish the reform I have alluded 
to in previous articles—the reform of Irish 
dairying, particularly in reference to butter- 
making. 1 hose are dairy schools aud cream¬ 
eries. I have aforetime spoken iu the Rural on 
the subject of Irish dairy schools and have 
had occasion to express a high appreciation of 
the good they are doing. There are two of 
these schools, between which a friendly and 
beneficent, spirit of rivalry and emulation ex¬ 
ists—one of them near Cork and the other near 
Dublin. The former has beeu established 
some years, under the help and patronage of 
leading poisons in the south, and is kuowu to 
the world as the Munster Dairy School. The 
latter is a recent addition to the well-known 
Agricultural College of Glasneviu. Not only 
butter-making on modern principles, by the 
aid of the latest ami best appliances, but also 
the production of milk and the management 
of cattle are taught aud demonstrated at these 
establishments. 
The female students, as a rule, confine them¬ 
selves to butter-making and general dairy 
management, though there are exceptions to 
the rule. It is known that on the small farms 
in Ireland the women have more to do than 
the men with the management of cows, so that 
it is well even for female pupils at the school 
to go in for the whole curriculum of the place, 
in view of possibilities in the future: and it 
may be said, in fai t, that all dairymaids 
would he the more capable if they understood 
something about the management of the cows 
that give the milk. I am acquainted with in¬ 
stances in which workiugmeu’s wives have 
the management of a cow or two on their own 
allotment of land, and it is almost invariably 
the case that such cows make a much better 
return in milk than they would if ruder and 
rougher man had been their keeper. 
The male students or pupils of the dairy 
schools are chiefly interested iu the manage¬ 
ment of cattle and land, though no doubt, 
some of them will pa}’ diligent attention to the 
tuition which is offered to them in butter¬ 
making. and this with the view of becoming 
managers of creameries, or being the better 
able to superintend dairies of their own. 
Be the object' of the pupils what they may, 
it is certain that the Irish dairy schools im¬ 
part sound tuition to the pupils. On several 
occasions I have bad the privilege of officiat¬ 
ing as a judge at daily shows held under the 
auspices of the Royal Dublin Society’ and the 
Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland.whereat 
butter-making competitions have formed the 
most attractive, and, at the same time, the 
most useful features iu the display; aud I have 
been struck with the marked skill and singu¬ 
lar deftness of those who bad passed through 
the schools, when compared with those who 
had not. So long as butter continues to be 
made in farm-houses, in Ireland, the daily 
schools may continue the excellent work on 
which they are engaged, and we may safely 
come, to the conclusion that farm-house butter- 
making will never die out in that country. 
The large dairies of 5l > to 100 cows, or upwards, 
can afford tlie services of skilled dairymaids, 
and it is for such dairies that a brisk demand 
exists for girls who have been trained at the 
dairy schools. Daughters of large farmers find 
no loss, but rather a gain, of dignity in beeom 
ing pupils at the schools, and 1 discern in this a 
principle very promising indeed for the future 
of Irish dairying. 
The factories or creameries are advocated 
ou behalf of the small farmers who are so 
numerous iu Ireland, aud who have no suit¬ 
able conveniences for making butter as it 
ought to be made, and not for the large farms 
where modern arrangements and appliances 
have been adopted. An Irishman is an Arab 
iu his love for a horse, and. therefore, the con¬ 
veyance of milk to the factory is known to 
be a feasible thing. The chief difficulty lies 
in getting the farmers to give the new system 
atrial: though, so far as this is concerned, 
there is less stupidity among Irish than among 
English farmers. The small farmers who fill 
one, two or three firkins a year, have been 
getting about eight to 12 cents a pound for 
their butter, while the large farmers have 
been getting twice, or more than twice, as 
much; and it is the object of the promoters of 
the creamery system to do away with this 
disparity aud to place the small farmer more 
nearly ou a footing of fiscal equality with the 
large one, so far as the price of butter is con¬ 
cerned. 
Irish butter is seldom wanting in quality, 
body* and color; but it is sadly wauting in 
uniformity. It needs making in a manuer 
which modern practice has perfected, aud ou 
a large scale, either in creameries or on large 
farms. I he small farm system is hopelessly 
out of the running, so far as the race for pop¬ 
ularity in butter-making is concerned, and the 
sooner it is merged iu the creamery system the 
better for all concerned. Ireland will remain 
a great butter-producing country, aud I have 
a sort of conviction that her climate and soil 
are such that she can produce the best butter 
iu the world, if only she makes it on sound 
principles and iu a careful and cleanly mau- 
uer. There is, indeed, no great obstacle iu 
the way; and Ireland, if she will, may win 
back bet- ancient reputation for butter. Cheese 
is made only to an extent which deserves no 
mention, in Ireland, but it is at the same time 
true that the couutry will produce cheese of 
very fine quality and character. Cheese- 
making. however, has never beeu a recognized 
industry in Ireland. 
Origin of the Cheese Mite.— It has long 
been supposed, says the Popular Science News, 
that the minute animals carried about by the 
common lly were parasites drawing their nour¬ 
ishment, from him aud in part repaying him 
in his own coin for the annoyance lie indicts 
upon the human race. We are now to be 
denied this thought of revenge. According to 
the study of P. Meguiu, a French uaturalist, 
these animals are nothing but the common 
RURAL NEW -A ORIvER POTATO No. 2. Front new. From Nature. Fio - . 456 
(See page •GO.) 
R./vsr 
From Nature. Fig. 457. (See p. 840.) 
