1909. 
* THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
186 
FISTULA OF RUMEN. 
In October a cow received a cut 
through the left side into the rumen, about 
eight inches in length. This was sewed 
up by a veterinarian, but after 10 days 
the two posterior stitches sloughed, leav¬ 
ing a hole about 1%* inch in length that 
has never healed, although it has been 
sewed up four times since. In healing so 
far the rumen has become attached to the 
skin, so that the hole from the outside 
goes ’ directly into the rumen. This skin 
surrounding the wound is subject to the 
movements of the rumen and this seems 
to be the difficulty in getting the stitches 
to hold. How can this hole be stopped up, 
if at all? J> B - p * 
Connecticut. 
It will be necessary to employ an expert 
surgeon and he will lay open the part, dis- 
soct the skin free from the paunch, dis¬ 
sect away diseased edges of the wound in 
the latter organ, then turn the edges in¬ 
ward and put in sutures such as would 
have been used at first. This done the 
skin wound is made fresh in the same 
way and its edges brought together by 
separate stitches, care being taken to use 
antiseptics and clean instruments and with 
clean hands, and to avoid including any 
diseased tissue or foreign body in the 
closed wound. The cow should be emptied 
by full dose of physic and then should be 
starved for 24 hours or more before the 
operation, so that the paunch will not be 
found distended with food. The operation 
should succeed if performed by a trained 
surgeon. Treatment other than that sug¬ 
gested will fail of success. a. s. a. 
CHRONIC INDIGESTION. 
I have a cow which has a bad diarrhoea 
caused, I think, by eating the oat straw 
which she got from the bedding in the 
horse manure pile, while she had the free 
run of the barnyard when we were mak¬ 
ing repairs. She does not seem to im¬ 
prove, though her appetite appears to be 
good and she chews her cud as contentedly 
as ever. She is dry—coming in in March. 
Her ration for a month past has been a 
fair quality of hay, straight. Can you 
suggest a remedy ? G. a. t. 
New York. 
We beg to suggest that “straight” hay is 
a mighty poor ration for a cow in calf. 
She is expected to maintain her own body 
and have sufficient surplus food left from 
which to form a full-sized, robust calf, 
and this she scarcely can do if fed hay 
alone. It may happen that the hay is fine 
mixed clover and Timothy, which might 
alter the case somewhat, but even where 
mixed hay is fed most farmers prefer to 
add other foods to balance and enrich the 
ration. The hay may be proving indi¬ 
gestible and it will be likely to prove so if 
moldy, or If it is swale or marsh hay. 
Change the ration, and if possible feed 
roots or nice silage in addition to bran 
and grain. If she continues to scour, or 
better still as the first step, we would test 
her with tuberculin, as tuberculosis is a 
very common cause of chronic diarrhoea, 
and in such cases the cow usually eats 
fairly well but rapidly emaciates. It might 
be added in this connection that a new dis¬ 
ease has been recently discovered in 
America, although it lias been known in 
Europe for probably 20 years or more. We 
refer to “Johne’s disease,” otherwise 
known as “chronic bacterial dysentery” of 
cattle. In this disease the animal scours 
persistently, eats fairly well but steadily 
continues to lose weight. The disease is 
due to an acid-fast bacillus taken in on 
food soiled with the manure of an affected 
animal. It therefore is contagious and 
also is incurable. Cases have been found 
in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 
The writer lias made post-mortem examina¬ 
tion of three animals affected with the dis¬ 
ease, and in each found the lining mem¬ 
brane of the small intestine (latter third) 
intensely puckered or corrugated. Tiiis is 
the characteristic post-mortem lesion of 
the disease. It may be that the cow in 
question is so affected. Better consult a 
qualified veterinarian. a. s. a. 
NOTES ON INCUBATION. 
The incubator has been a bugbear to a 
great many people—a mystery to those who 
have never used it, but a great labor-sav¬ 
ing and profit-yielding device if only 
a few simple rules are followed and com¬ 
mon sense is used in its management. 
Eggs for Hatching. —For good results 
the eggs must come from fully matured 
stock, whose health is kept good by plenty 
of exercise in dry, well-ventilated quarters, 
and by wholesome food in variety, includ¬ 
ing grain, meat scrap, green food, shell, 
grit and possibly green cut bone. The num¬ 
ber of females to a male varies greatly 
with different varieties and still more with 
individuals. The Asiatics require one male 
to about eight females, the American va¬ 
rieties one male to about 12 females, and 
the Mediterraneans one male to about 15 
or 20 females. Much, of course, depends 
on the age and vigor of the male bird. The 
eggs chosen for batching should be medium 
In size, *iiape and color. Unusually large or 
small eggs seldom hatch well, and then 
often produce monstrosities or weaklings. 
Choice of Incubators. —There are many 
good makes of incubators on the market to¬ 
day, and also a few poor ones. It is not 
generally good policy to buy the cheapest, 
for even though it might give good hatches 
at first, the chances are that it would not 
be durable. The best way is to find out 
from your neighbors the machines that 
have worked* the best, send for a few cata¬ 
logues and then use your own best judg¬ 
ment in the selection. Almost any of the 
medium-priced machines will give excellent 
hatches if the operator knows his busi¬ 
ness. 
Location of the Incubator. —The in¬ 
cubator should be placed in a room with 
as nearly uniform a temperature as pos¬ 
sible and not heated by a stove. The air 
should be pure and the room should have 
no cold drafts. A dry cellar is about the 
best location on the average farm, although 
it must be remembered that few insurance 
companies will insure a building witli an in¬ 
cubator in it at the same rates as with¬ 
out one. Having purchased the machine 
and decided on its location, the directions 
which come with it should next be care¬ 
fully read and the incubator set up where 
the sun cannot reach it. It should then 
be carefully leveled. 
Starting and Regulating. —After set¬ 
ting up and leveling, the next thing is to 
fill the lamp and start the machine with¬ 
out any eggs in so as to regulate it. The 
machine should be regulated by means of 
the weight or the set screw, so that the 
damper will be about one-quarter inch 
above the chimney when the thermometer 
registers 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the 
flame is at about a medium height. The 
incubator should be run on this trial un¬ 
til it varies but a little in 24 hours. After 
having regulated’ the machine and got it 
under control of the eggs may be put in. The 
eggs should be put on their sides, and the 
thermometer hung over the center of the 
tray, with the bulb about on the level with 
but not quite touching the eggs. As before 
stated the machine may be started at 100 
degrees Fahrenheit. As the germs develop, 
heat is given off by the eggs and the 
temperature will run up to about 102 de¬ 
grees in a couple of days. The tempera¬ 
ture should be held between 102 degrees 
and 103 degrees during the rest of the 
period. Great variations in temperature 
may take place without greatly affecting 
the hatch, although the more uniform the 
temperature the better the chances for a 
good hatch. 
Turning and Cooling the Eggs. —The 
eggs should be turned once or twice per 
day during the first 18 days of incubation. 
After that they should not be taken out of 
the machine. The eggs need not, and in¬ 
deed, should not be turned entirely over 
each time, but should be rolled only part 
way over. The eggs should be cooled as 
often as turned, and the two processes can 
take place at the same time. Ordinarily 
if the eggs are cooled for five minutes it is 
enough, but 10 or 15 minutes is not too 
long a time. The eggs should not be placed 
in a draft while cooling. 
Ventilation and Moisture- —In most 
machines there are some means of ventila¬ 
tion, either through a burlap bottom or 
through a small opening. A little ventila¬ 
tion is necessary and if the machine has no 
special means of getting pure air then care 
should be taken that some fresh air is ad¬ 
mitted when the eggs are taken out to be 
cooled and turned. For the best hatches 
there should be some moisture in the air 
surrounding the eggs, otherwise the moist¬ 
ure of the eggs evaporates too rapidly and 
the chicks will stick in the shell. Moisture 
is admitted in several ways, one of the 
most satisfactory of which is to place a 
damp sponge in the nursery tray. Other 
methods are to sprinkle the eggs slightly 
with tepid water just before returning 
them to the machine after cooling, or to 
turn them with wet hands just before re¬ 
placing. Still other methods are to place a 
pan filled with water underneath the in¬ 
cubator or pouring water on top of the 
lamp reservoirs. This makes the air in the 
room humid, and consequently the air taken 
into the machine by ventilation is some¬ 
what moist. During the last few days of 
incubation it is an excellent plan to place 
in the nursery tray a basin filled with 
sand and moistened with water. The water 
evaporates, but the sand prevents the hatch* 
ing chicks from getting into it. Moisture 
is especially important during the hatch to 
prevent the chicks from sticking in the 
shell. 
Testing the Eggs. —The eggs should be 
tested at about the fourth and eleventh 
days, and again on the fifteenth day of in¬ 
cubation. Testing is done by holding the 
eggs between the eye and a bright light. 
A device for testing can easily be made by 
taking an ordinary small wooden box and 
cutting in it a hole about the size and 
shape of an egg, then padding the edges 
with cloth. In order to make a test place 
a lamp in the box and hold the eggs close 
to the opening. The contents of the eggs 
can then be seen. At the first test a 
developing egg shows a dark spot for the 
heart and one for the head, with red 
streaks radiating out from them. Infertile 
eggs show nothing but a dark mass, while 
dead germs show more or less development, 
but do not look alive. Only the live germs 
should be kept; the infertile and dead 
germs can be used for cooking and as food 
for young chicks. At the second test on 
about the eleventh day the live eggs should 
show considerable development and all 
those not showing this should be taken out. 
as they are degrl and. being left in, would 
decompose and foul the air in the machine. 
Tub Hatch. —At the end of the 
eighteenth day the incubator should' be 
closed and should remain so until after 
the hatch. First, however, plenty of moist¬ 
ure should be added, preferably by means 
of the basin filled with moist sand and 
placed in the nursery tray. On the twenty- 
first day the chicks should be hatched. 
They should be left in the incubator until 
dried off, and then removed to a brooder. 
Great care should be taken that they are 
exposed to no drafts while still moist, for 
a chill means weak sickly chicks, subject to 
bowel trouble. The chicks need no food for 
the first 48 hours out of the shell. 
C. F. B. 
Two Paint Reasons 
for Farmers 
4 
There are two reasons why a farmer should use paint. 
The first is that it makes his farm look better. 
The second (and most important) is that it makes his build¬ 
ings and farm implements last longer. 
Using paint rightly doesn’t mean using it often. If you use the 
right paint and apply it properly, you will not have to use it often. 
Economy in painting comes from using paint that does the 
work best, that goes on easiest, covers most and protects longest 
—not paint that is cheapest per gallon. 
The second economy is using the right paint for the purpose 
—not the wrong paint. Using one paint for all purposes is false 
economy. Using a cheap paint for any purpose is false economy. 
The best investment for the farmer is to get just the right 
paint for the purpose. Painting will then protect and will re¬ 
quire renewal only at long intervals. 
Sherwin-Williams Paints and Varnishes are the best for the 
farm because they are the best for any paint or varnish purpose. 
A Free Book That Will Help You 
The booklet, "Paints and Varnishes for the Farm,” sent free, will tell the farmer a 
great deal about an investment in paint, and the nearest Sherwin-Williams dealer will 
be glad to supply the paint. 
Sher win - Williams 
PRODUCTS FOR FARM USE 
! — for prolonging the life of barns and other 
» l ‘ ‘ 
S W P. (SHERWIN-WILLIAMS PAINT, PREPARED) —for preserving good 
buildings. 
S-W CREOSOTE PAINT 
S-W COMMONWEALTH BARN RED f rough exteriors. 
S-W BUGGY PAINT—for refinishing the carriage. 
S-W WAGON AND IMPLEMENT PAINT—for preserving farm machinery. 
S-W E"NAMEL LEATHER DRESSING —for renewing carriage tops and aprons. 
PAEIS GREEN (—f or preven ti n g destruction of crops by insects. 
S-W ARSENATE OF LEAD ) 
S-W MEDICINAL LINSEED OIL — for treating and conditioning of horses and 
other live stock. 
The Sherwin-Williams Co, 
LARGEST (BECAUSE BEST) 
PAINT AND VARNISH MAKERS IN THE WORLD 
Address all inquiries to 635 Canal Road, N. IV., Cleveland, Ohio 
Haul Bigger Loads 
but don't put more work on your horses 
The h Empire Farmers’ Handy Wagon 
fitted with “Good-Roads” Steel Wheels 
you can haul from 26 to 60 per cent heavier loads 
without causing any heavier draft. 
Tests have shown that on a clay road 
in deep mail a team will draw a ton 
and a half on the Empire Farmers’ 
Handy Wagon and do It easier 
than the same team will draw an 
even ton on an ordinary wagon. 
Send for Free Book telling why | 
*“ Good - Roads * Steel Wheels; 
Make All Roads Good.” 
I EMPIRE MFC. CO., Box 618 , Quincy, 1 
0 
NE HORSE TREAD POWER, running order, 
well preserved. <J. A. Chapman, Ferrisbur’gh, Vt. 
PERFECT POTATO 
PLANTING 
Every fanner knows the importance 
of proper potato planting. Here’s a 
machine that does It perfectly. Has 
none of the faults common with com¬ 
mon planters. Opens the furrow 
perfectly, drops the seed 
coiicotly,covers it uni 
f o, . and best of all 
neve, bruises or 
punctures the 
seed. Send a 
postal for 
o-r f>ee 
book. 
K 
(ImprovailRobuinfl) 
Potato Planter 
No Misses 
No Doubles 
No Troubles 
BATEMAN MFG. CO.. Box 102-P, GRENLOCH.N. J. 
FREE BOOKS 
and 
Farm Paper 
Free 
ohnDeere 
Li£kt Draft Plows 
Standard For Two Generatioil^ 
T R A D E 
MARK 
^^RITE for our handsome booklet. It 
is printed in colors and shows beau¬ 
tiful photos taken in many parts of the 
world. There are pictures of plows used 
in foreign countries as far back as 5000 
years. The highest type of modern plows, 
both walking and riding, are also shown. 
This Book FREE 
If you are interested in farming, we 
will mail you our 16-page farm paper for 
one year absolutely free. Fine illustra¬ 
tions, valuable information. There is no 
other paper like it. 
Write for Free Booklet No.29 
and get the paper free for one year. We will also 
send full information about JOHN DEERE plows. 
By actual tests the lightest draft plows made. 
Finest finish, longest life. Simply give number ot 
the booklet and mention this paper. 
DEERE & COMPANY, Moline, Illinois 
