1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
539 
Ailing Animals. 
ANSWERS BY DR. F. L. KILBORNE. 
Horse Goes Blind; Heifer with Three Teats. 
1. I have a seven-year-old horse which 
had a bunch grow on the upper jaw, about 
half way between the nose and eye, and 
after a while the eye began to contract 
and then went blind; now he is blind in 
both eyes. Can you tell the cause, and Is 
there any remedy? 2. I have two heifers 
which came in for the first time last year, 
and each has only three teats; there being 
no sign of milk in the other one. Recently 
another heifer calved for the first time, 
and she has only three teats. I know of 
no reason for this. Can you suggest any 
remedy? w. a. w. 
West Hartford, Conn. 
1. The swelling of the face may have 
been due to diseased teeth, or to some 
disease of the bone. It is undoubtedly 
now too late to apply any remedy to 
save the eyes. It would be well, how¬ 
ever, to take the 'horse to a veterinary 
surgeon for examination. 2. Unless the 
three heifers are of the same family, and 
inherit a tendency to develop only three 
teats, or rather only three-quarters of 
the udder, I cannot suggest any cause 
for your having three heifers with same 
peculiarity. There is no remedy beyond 
stripping and kneading the dry quarter, 
with the hope of stimulating the secre¬ 
tion of milk. 
Cow Feverish and Off Feed. 
during very hot weather, especially in 
the sun. It will be better during the 
Summer entirely to replace the corn 
with bran and oats. If the labored 
breathing occurs only when heated, it is 
due to the prostration resulting from 
the heat. 
Cow Out of Condition. 
One year ago we were obliged to remove 
a dead calf from one of our cows. The 
cow’s time was out. During the Fall and 
Winter the cow ate well, and gave a good 
quantity of milk, but was thin in flesh. 
Since the middle of May her appetite has 
been poor, and she is losing flesh. She is 
also stiff in her knee, and gambrel joints, 
the latter being slightly swollen. The 
muscles about her loins appear contracted. 
Her coat is smooth and shiny. She is 
kept in the pasture during the day, and 
stabled at night; chews her cud all right. 
She gives a small amount of milk but is 
supposed to calve early in September. Is 
milk suitable to use? h. m. n. 
Worcester Co., Mass. 
I am unable to form an opinion, from 
your description, as to the nature of the 
trouble in this case. I can, therefore, 
only advise you to call a qualified vet¬ 
erinarian personally to examine the cow. 
It would be better not to use the milk 
until after the cow has been examined, 
and her milk pronounced wholesome. 
MY FRIEND , THE DAIRY COW. 
Part III. 
there are nearly always enough really 
good cows to lay the foundation for a 
future herd that will repay tne work 
and thougnt put an it. Better start with 
a few really good cows built on dairy 
lines, than have a large number of such 
as just about pay for their feed and 
keep. It repays us over and over again 
to use a sire that we are sure comes 
from the best purebred dairy stock. 
Take very little notice of the fancy 
points, dots or spots on the skin, black 
or white tip of the tail, etc., but if his 
dam, and grand-dam, and his sire’s dam, 
and other progenitors were heavy milk- 
el's with high butter test, we can safely 
bank on him. For more than half the 
good qualities in the future herd we 
must depend on the sire. If we give our 
thought and attention to this line of 
work we can really do wonders in a 
short time. Let me cite an historical 
example, in 1786, in northern England, 
the Colllngs brothers purchased a bull 
for $42, and with him some fairly good 
cows such as mat section of country 
then afforded. This bull is known in 
history as Hubback. For a quarter of a 
century they worked along definite, 
carefully-planned lines. They put a lot 
of brains into their work. October 19, 
1810, at a public sale, they sold a direct 
descendant of Hubback, the bull Comet, 
for a little more than $5,000. This is 
at a cost little in advance of the grocery 
price, and the farmer gets the middle¬ 
man’s profit and finds a market for 
everything he can raise that is fresh and 
nice and good to eat. This butter usual¬ 
ly brings 25 to 30 cents a pound the 
year round. This happy system en¬ 
courages' lively competition to hold 
trade, as you know how a woman will 
praise or blame anything she thinks 
enough of to place on her table. In a 
measure you hold her reputation as a 
cook in the hollow of your butter-ladle, 
and woe to that man who does not cater 
to her whims. Betwixt the silo and this 
city demand one’s farm is stripped of 
every eatable thing. Selling only fat- 
and-water crops and returning manure 
enriches the farm as well as the pocket- 
book. e. h. c. 
To the discussion on egg-eating hens, 1 
would say that I have seldom had much 
trouble when they could get out of doors 
or had earth floors, while another flock, 
fed just the same on a board floor, was 
very bad. e. s. b. 
We are sometimes asked where the hay 
exported from this country goes to. Last 
year 64,916 tons were sold abroad. Great 
Britain took 38,603 tons; Hawaii, 10,196 tons; 
British Columbia, 4,170 tons; Mexico, 3,286; 
Cuba, 3,910, and Porto Rico, 1,289. We 
formerly sent more hay to Cuba, when the 
Spanish army was quartered there. 
About two weeks ago my cow became 
sick and her milk stopped entirely. She 
had been giving 5% and six quarts a day. 
I milked her in the evening and the next 
morning she did not give any and has not 
given any milk since. I do not know 
much about a cow, so I thought a good 
dose of Epsom salts would be beneficial, 
which I gave her without any visible bene¬ 
fit. Next day I was told that the cow was 
poisoned by eating ivy and sumach, which 
she had been eating considerably. She 
broke out about the shouldei^s, and I 
thought perhaps this was right. I gave 
her some sulphur in her food, without any 
benefit. She did not care to eat, but drank 
some, breathed heavy and fast, had an 
occasional cough, and was very feverish 
all over. She could not stand the heat; if 
I tied her out she would pant and run 
water from the mouth, and her eyes were 
running. She feels a good deal better the 
last day or two, but her milk does not 
come. She was a new milch cow a year 
ago, and I am told they do not usually dry 
up for three years. I have had her about 
seven months. a. h. 
Long Island. 
The cow is suffering from some dis¬ 
turbance of the digestive system. Give 
one of the following powders in her feed, 
or by drench if she will not eat it, night 
and morning: Epsom salts, 16 ounces; 
nitrate of potash, four ounces; gentian 
and ginger, of each eight ounces; mix, 
and divide into 20 powders. She will 
probably return to her milk in part, but 
not as fully as if she had been fresh but 
a short time. If she fails to come to ber 
milk, fatten for the butcher. 
Overheated Mare. 
In The R. N.-Y. of September 16, 1899, 
you replied to a query of mine regarding 
a mare that had been overdriven, and had 
become “thick-winded.” You then said: 
“Nearly all thick-winded horses are either 
roarers or have the heaves.” She is not 
affected with the latter, and I hardly think 
you would term her a roarer, as the un¬ 
natural sound uttered when driven is ab¬ 
sent. I was under the impression that she 
had quite got over the respiratory trouble, 
as there was little or no indication of it, 
until one day last week, when the heat was 
intense, and her breathing was very hard. 
The weather has continued excessively hot 
and dry. A peculiarity I notice about her is 
that she sweats but very little, and only 
about head and shoulders, although she 
drinks water freely. Her feed consists of 
hominy (ground corn), with a little bran, 
with unthrashed oats. Not being worked 
during the latter part of the day she may 
graze where she pleases. She is in good 
condition for work. Would you recom¬ 
mend treatment? r. 
North Carolina. 
An animal or person that has once 
been overheated, is very liable to con¬ 
tinue to suffer from the heat, whenever 
the weather is very hot. This appears 
to be the case with this mare. Medic¬ 
inal treatment would be of little benefit 
in a case of this kind. The mare should 
be kept cool, and should not be worked 
The mission of the dairy cow is to 
turn the cheap roughage of the farm 
into a condensed, readily salable and 
profitable commodity. Inasmuch as she 
does this, we may consider her a ma¬ 
chine (but don’t forget that she is also 
a mother, and upon her motherhood 
hinges our profit), and the one that 
turns out the largest product at the 
lowest cost is the most profitable cow. 
Combined machines never were a suc¬ 
cess, not even in cows. The cow that, 
makes you a handsome profit by the 
pail will not be a success along beef 
line's. A first-class dairy cow is one 
trained from calfhood up to utilize large 
quantities of roughage and put all sur¬ 
plus feed by way of the udder into the 
pail. Two of the most prominent points 
in the feature of the dairy cow are her 
very large abdomen and large udder. 
The former is necessary to enable her 
to consume, digest and assimilate large 
quantities of cheap, coarse fodder; the 
latter to enable her to elaborate and 
store large quantities of milk. Decently 
and respectably to feed an ordinary cow 
on the farm one year will cost from $25 
to $35. The average cow produces less 
than 150 pounds of butter per year. The 
average net price the farmer receives for 
it is about 16 cents per pound. Now 
take your pencil and figure. But you 
say that these general averages are de¬ 
ceptive; so they are indeed. When I 
started I purchased such cows as I 
could pick up, in fact, the best I could 
get. Profits seemed meager. I invested 
in a scale, a little $2.40 platform scale, 
and a Babcock tester. I placed the scale 
very conveniently in the stable, with a 
ruled monthly milk sheet and half a 
dozen lead pencils. Each cow’s milk 
was weighed and noted daily, and a 
carefully-taken sample tested weekly, 
and to my astonishment one-third of 
those cows were not average cows, but 
below the average. They were boarding 
at my expense. Some others made me a 
handsome profit; they were rough-boned 
and unshapely animals, and I had not 
held them in very high esteem, but since 
I discovered that they were not only 
paying their own way and that of a lot 
of loafers, but still had a little left over 
for my share, their beauty increased 
wonderfully in my eyes. Before testing 
them I named one Bare-Bones, another 
Bankrupt. 1 promptly changed their 
names to Bonanza and Sterling. 
A scale and Babcock tester are won¬ 
derful eye-openers. Mine cost me $11. 
I have not time to make calculations, 
but believe it was worth nearly as many 
hundreds to me. In an average herd, 
such as is usually found on the farm, 
simply one of many examples that might 
be cited. With a good sire those best 
common cows have given me within one 
decade a herd that averages above 350 
pounds of butter per year. Any farmer 
can do as much by a little patience and 
intelligent perseverance. L. w. ligiity. 
BUTTER TRADE OF INDIANAPOLIS. 
Butter is supplied to many hotels and 
groceries, and to a large family trade, 
through contracts for the year with vil¬ 
lage creameries and private dairymen, 
and is often shipped half across the 
State. Many families receive prime 
fresh butter once a week from farmers 
who keep a few cows and have learned 
to make a clean, grainy, well-flavored 
article. This is delivered by “route” 
from spring wagons on a given day, rain 
or shine, and is confining and often un¬ 
pleasant. The overflow goes to friends 
of patrons and to groceries. This sys¬ 
tem is very popular and has the follow¬ 
ing advantages: Only the finished pro¬ 
duct is sold from the farm. The skim- 
milk is worth 20 cents per 100 pounds for 
pigs, and is a better food to give with 
corn to make a balanced ration than un¬ 
skimmed milk. 
A ton of clover hay is worth $5 or 
more as a fertilizer, which is about its 
market value on the farm as cattle food. 
If you sell 20 tons for $120, you must 
part with $120 worth of fertilizer. This 
20 tons of clover hay will furnish the 
coarse food for cows to make one ton 
of butter. Butter being pure fat is 
strictly an animal food, and contains 
only a trace of fertility, while for human 
food it is worth $500. And 85 per cent 
of the fertilizer value of the clover may 
be returned as manure to the fields. An¬ 
other very profitable feature of this 
route delivery is the market afforded for 
the overflow of the farmer’s garden and 
poultry yards. A wagon will take or¬ 
ders on one trip for maple molasses, 
eggs, dressed chickens, buttermilk, pot 
cheese, vegetables, etc., to make a load 
next week, when he renews orders for 
the next. The consumer thus gets the 
most delightful fresh butter, eggs, etc., 
Horse Owners! Use 
GOMBAULT’S 
Caustic 
Balsam 
1 Safe Sptedy and Positive Care 
The Safest, Rent BLISTER ever used. Takes 
the place or all liniments for mild or severe action. 
Removes Bunches or Blemishes from Horses 
» n <J rfiUIfA SUPERSEDES ALL CAUTERY 
OR FIRING. Impossible to produce scar or blemish. 
Every bottle sold is warranted to give satisfaction 
Price fl. 50 per bottle. Sold by druggists, or 
sent by express, charges paid, with full directions 
for its use. 8 cnd for descriptive circulars. 
THE LAWRBNCE-W 1 X.LIAMS CO.. Cleveland O. 
Cream Separators. 
De Laval " Alpha " and "Baby ” Separators. 
First— Best—Cheapest. All Styles—Sixes 
Prices, SSO to S800. 
Save HO per oow per year. Send for Catalogue. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO., 
Randolph and Canal Streets, I 74 Cortlandt Street 
CHICAGO | NEW YORK. 
SHARPLES 
Cream 
Separators* 
| Farmers 
should realize 
* that all the 
fertilizing val 
'lie of milk 
(the part that 
lifts the mort- 
, gage) is in the 
skimmilk, not 
i in the cream. 
Fresh, warm, 
Iskim milk _ 
from a Sharpies Farm Sep 
J arator is worth full 22c per 
L hundred for feed. Stale, sour 
milk loses its value. The 
i difference is profit or loss in 
the business. Then Sharpies Sep- 
, arators make better butter, more 
of it. Get our catalog No, 25 It 
t gives the points. 
P. M. SHARPLES, 
Wemt Chaster, Pa. 
■ THE SIIAItPLES CO., 
2S So. Canal St., Chicago, XU. 
The Improved U. S. Separators 
Have excelled in the past, and with their “ New Century ” improvements are 
Note their capacities and prices : 
Capacity 150 to 175 lbs., $50.00 
“ 225 to 250 “ $65.00 
“ 275 to 300 “ $85.00 
“ 350 to 400 “ $100.00 
“ 450 to 500 “ $125.00 
“ 650 to 700 “ $165.00 
further in advance than ever 
No. 9. Low Frame 
No. 8. “ “ 
No. 7. High “ 
No. 6. 
No. 5. “ “ 
No. 3 } 4 . “ 
We furnish a complete line of Dairy and Creamery Apparatus. Cata¬ 
logues free for the asking. 
VERMONT FARM MACHINE CO., Bellows Falls, Vt. 
