7i4 
September 28 , 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SHORT TALK ABOUT HORSES. 
I have a horse with a hard bony enlargement on his 
hind foot between the hoof and pastern Joint, which I feel 
sure is a ringbone. It is growing, and causes lameness at 
times. How should I treat it? J- s - M - 
When a ringbone is located on a hind foot there is 
some hope of benefit from treatment, but when it is on 
the forefoot unnerving is usually the only cure for the 
lameness. The reason is that two-thirds of the horse’s 
weight is carried by the fore feet, hence they receive 
most concussion, and the concussion occurs as an almost 
direct blow. The hind feet, on the contrary, bear up 
but one-third of the animal’s weight and strike the 
ground a slanting blow. Shorten the toe of affected 
foot and put on a shoe having heels but no toe calking. 
After removing hair from coronet (hoof-head) have 
the ringbone thoroughly punctured, fired by a veteri¬ 
narian ; then apply a strong blister and tie the horse 
up short in stall for six weeks, during which time lie 
is not to be exercised or allowed to lie down, as abso¬ 
lute rest is needed to insure anchylosis (union) taking 
place between long and short pastern bones. If the 
firing cannot be done then treat by blistering the coronet 
every three weeks with a mixture of one dram of bin- 
iodide of mercury and two ounces of cerate of can- 
tharides. Rub the blister in for 15 minutes by the 
watch; wash i’t off in 48 hours and then apply lard 
daily. The operation of firing should be postponed 
until after fly time; otherwise the animal will suffer 
acutely, and indeed- this applies if the blistering is done 
without the firing, as in either case the six weeks’ 
rest should be given. A horse soon learns to sleep in 
the standing position. 
Feeding A Driving Horse. 
Is it right usage for a horse to be harnessed and driven 
four miles and return over high hills on three quarts of 
oats when site has eaten every spear of hay or straw given 
her the night before? They are city women who own her, 
and think they know all about horses. She seems to he 
always desperately hungry and I say it is because they 
are feeding her some very poor, coarse old stack hay, so 
slu lias to leave a lot of sticks and stalks, and there is 
no nourishment in it. IIow much good hay should a horse 
have a day? w> 
Three quarts of oats three times daily is somewhat 
light feeding for an ordinary driving horse, if hard 
work has to be done, and especially so if the hay is 
poor. The best of Timothy hay should be fed, and the 
mare will require from 10 to 12 pounds of it, and most 
of this should be fed at night after the grain has been 
masticated. But a pound or so of hay should be fed 
at noon while the mare is cooling off if she has been 
driven, and always the drinking water should be given 
before feeding and not soon after a meal. From 12 to 
15 pounds of grain will be needed if the mare is worked 
hard, but six to 10 pounds will suffice if she is little 
used and the roughness is first class in quality. Allow 
her free access to rock salt. 
Horses Bolting Grain. 
When fed whole grain my horses bolt it without chew¬ 
ing. I am thinking of doing without the thrashing ma¬ 
chine this year and feeding the oats in the ear. Would 
that be advisable? Will some one who has had experience 
advise me? B - 
Ontario. 
We would not advise doing away with the thrashed 
grain for horses that are worked, but idle horses may 
take sheaf oats with advantage as a part ration in 
Winter, along with good hay, fodder, roots, silage, or 
such foods as are used in different localities. When 
a horse bolts his grain the first step should be to see that 
his teeth are in proper order, as sharp points or other 
irregularities may be making it impossible for him 
properly to masticate his grain, and may easily be set 
right by judicious use of the veterinary rasps sold for 
the purpose. Next it is important that the horse should 
be allowed a sufficient length of time in which com¬ 
fortably and properly to masticate his food. If he is 
rushed into and out of the stable at noon he soon 
learns to bolt his food, as the habit comes from hurry 
and hunger. In addition to allowing ample time for 
grain eating discourage bolting by feeding the grain 
from a box with a very wide bottom, so that it will be 
thinly distributed, under which circumstances the horse 
will find it impossible to grab a full mouthful to be 
bolted unmasticated. Putting some cobblestones in the 
feed box also helps to prevent bolting, and another ex¬ 
cellent plan is to mix some hard peas, horse beans or 
even shelled corn with the oats, as the horse will chew 
well to enjoy the flavor of the added grains, and inci¬ 
dentally grind his oats thoroughly. The objection to 
feeding sheaf oats in place of oats is that a horse has 
a small stomach, the capacity of which is but three and 
one-half gallons or thereabout, so that he needs con¬ 
centrated food in small quantities often when at hard 
work. Oats have to be fully masticated in the mouth 
where they are drenched with the saliva, which acts 
upon the starchy matters. The oats then pass to the 
stomach, where they remain for hours for full action 
of the gastric juice, which acts upon the protein con¬ 
stituents ; then the partially digested food passes slowly 
along the many feet of small intestines, after meeting 
the digestive fluids of the duodenum, and gives up 
most of its nutrients to the absorbent organs during 
the journey to the large intestine. On the contrary, 
hay, straw and fodder, after partial mastication in the 
mouth, pass quickly through the stomach and are stored 
THE MAIL CARRIER’S ASSISTANT. FlO.349. 
in the large intestines (caecum and colons), and if fed 
with oats or iust after oats tend to force the grain out 
of the stomach undigested. Theoretically a horse should 
therefore be fed hay first and then oats or other con¬ 
centrates, and as water passes through the stomach to 
the caecum it should be given always before feeding. 
Curing A Balky Horse. 
Is there such a thing ns a permanent rare for balky 
horses? Two years ago I loaned team to a neighbor, and 
since then one of the horses balks, sometimes when hooked 
up to empty wagon only. Three years previous to that 
LINCOLN RAMS IN OHIO. Fig. 350. 
time, I worked the horse regularly, and never knew him 
to balk. I have had no experience with balky animals, 
and would appreciate being told how to go about it to 
break up this bad habit, if possible. J- J- s. 
Plans galore have been suggested for the cure of a 
balky horse, but no one scheme seems to succeed in all 
cases, and some cases prove incurable, especially if long 
established. It often is a comparatively easy matter 
to start a balky horse by picking up a fore foot and 
tapping the shoe or frog with any hard object to divert 
his attention; tying a piece of string around his foreleg 
or ear; holding up a foot for a few moments; remov- 
STIRRING THE APPLE BUTTER. Fig. 351. 
ing the harnes and putting it on again; allowing the 
horse to “stand at ease” for a time, or coaxing him 
with a lump of sugar, an apple or carrot. It is an 
altogether different proposition to cure the trouble, and 
the following plan doubtless will succeed as well as 
any other we happen to know: When a horse balks 
obstinately unhitch him, remove harness and put on a 
halter with rope attached. B^end the horse’s head 
around toward his flank and bring the tail well for¬ 
ward to meet the head, then tie the halter shank (rope 
or strap) with a slip knot to the long hair of the tail 
so as to keep the head pointing as directly backward 
as possible. Now take the whip in hand and cause the 
horse to move, which, perforce, he will do in a circle, 
and keep him at it until he is giddy and staggers, when 
the rope may be pulled loose before he falls. Repeat 
this treatment each time he balks, and he will become 
very tired of it in time, and perhaps quit his foolishness. 
Another plan is to throw a balky horse with side lines 
and hold him down until he is ready and willing to get 
up and go about his business. A few other plans 
come to mind, but these should succeed if the horse in 
question is not beyond hope. 
DENATURED ALCOHOL IN NORTHWEST. 
1 am convinced that if alcohol can be made at a 
reasonable price there would be a large demand for 
the same in this western country, where there is no fuel 
readily available, and hard coal must be shipped f i om 
the East; gasoline has become so scarce and is sold at 
■ such a high price that it is fast becoming prohibitive. 
There is a much greater demand for gasoline in power 
engines in the Western than in the Eastern States. 
Again, if the law as now amended is such as to permit 
farmers without undue restrictions to manufacture 
alcohol from farm and waste products, etc., as seems 
to be at the present time the case in Germany, I see 
no reason why in a few years’ time the industry should 
not become of considerable importance from the estab¬ 
lishment of farm stills. It is true that it is practically 
impossible at the present time to find appliances suitable 
for the use of alcohol, although some of the engines are 
now produced for .that purpose, and it will not be long 
before stoves and other appliances will find their place 
upon the market, at least, that is my personal opinion. 
In fact, we have already ordered one such stove or 
heater for experimental use at the station, and we have 
installed here a small experimental still for the manu¬ 
facture of alcohol, in order to test the problem more 
fully. As soon as the Department of Internal Revenue 
promulgates its regulations, so that it shall be known 
what kind of a still may be satisfactory, then there are 
onie hopes that if these regulations are not hedged 
ibout so as to make unnecessary burdens, manufac- 
urers will put upon the market a still adapted for the 
tse of individual farmers or for a community. It 
,eems to me that then such stills will be like the New 
Ingland cider-mill, not an uncommon thing throughout 
he Northwest, especially in the Dakotas, where theie 
s a large amount of grain (at times injured by frost), 
icreenings and other products which could be readily 
inverted into alcohol, to be used for fuel and light 
purposes. 
xt_ r nmmicQinnpr 
E. L. LADD. 
WHEN TO MAKE CUTTINGS. 
When is the best time to take cuttings from bushes, to 
put in the ground for getting roots, currants, gooseberries, 
Rose of Sharon or roses. H * K ° - 
Hawthorne, N. J. 
Make cuttings of gooseberries and currants when the 
plants have matured the shoots of the present year and 
are dormant and clear of leaves. Cut them about 10 
inches long, cutting just under a bud at the bottom and 
about half an inch above a bud at the top. Insert 
them in the soil in rows their full length, so that the 
bud at the top will be about level with the surface. 
A slight mulching of straw or leaves between the rows 
to prevent too hard freezing will be of advantage. 
Cuttings of nearly all the Spring-flowering shrubbery 
can be treated in the same way. But in your climate 
it is hardly practicable to root rose cuttings in the open 
ground. You can, however, put them in sand in a cold 
frame with glass sashes and root them, so far as the 
hardy Hybrid Perpetual class is concerned. In a shaded 
frame in late Summer and early Fall you can root 
cuttings of Tea roses from the half ripened wood. 
Make the cuttings of shoots that have just formed a 
bud and use the lower half of these shoots. Cut right 
under the lower eye and leave a full leaf of the upper 
bud and about half an inch of wood above it. Insert 
the cuttings in rows thickly in the frame and place a 
whitewashed sash over. Keep the sand always wet, 
and if the wood was in the proper condition they 
should show white roots in about four weeks, when 
they should be potted in small pots and can be packed 
in a frame in coal ashes covering the pots, and the 
frames protected during the cold nights of Winter with 
straw mats. I have grown and wintered Tea roses in 
this way, and planted them in the Spring in the open 
ground, where they soon made fine plants. But all the 
Tea rose family are better rooted in the greenhouse 
and kept in a cool greenhouse during the Winter. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
