THE CULTIVATOR. 
cellar under the center of the house; three registers, 
one each in dining room, parlor and nursery, would 
supply the first story. The smoke pipe for the furnace 
should be made 12 inches in diameter, and pass through 
the wall into the cellar hall, thence up through the 
first and second floors of the hall into a large sheet-iron 
dumb stove ; tkence to the chimney near the chamber 
ceiling. From my knowledge of the immense amount 
of heat usually lost through the smoke-pipe of a fur¬ 
nace, I do not hesitate to express the opinion that this 
arrangement of pipe would thoroughly warm the halls 
and chambers, inasmuch as -all the heal thus generated 
must ascend to the upper hall, and then pass through 
the rooms around said hall, before escaping. 
In regard to the external construction of this house, 
any one who adopts it will be likely to exercise his 
own taste. I think it would look well to be built with 
walls 28 feet high or over, roof nearly flat, and to 
project say four feet, w'ith broad frieze and large taste¬ 
ful brackets. Those who like the Gothic style could 
build with walls of less height, and with four or eight 
gables ! 
In regard to cost I cannot speak advisedly, but am 
of the opinion that it can be built at any cost from two 
to four thousand dollars, according to the style adopted, 
the kind of materials used, and the place where built. 
I believe this plan to be alike superior for the large 
mansion or the modest cottage, and if any of the sub¬ 
scribers to your valuable and useful paper shall be 
benefitted by it, I shall not have labored in vain. 
1 Respectfully yours, S. II. Mann. Beloit , Wis. 
- » « » - 
Hoof-Ail—Management of Stock. 
Messrs. Editors Co. Gent. —I was much pleased 
with the sensible remarks of your correspondent, Mr. 
Dickinson, on “Hoof-ail in Cattle,” in your paper of 
26th Nov., and sincerely hope that they will promote 
the cause of humanity they are so well adapted to serve, 
by leading farmers to devote more attention than is 
usually given to the comfort and warmth of their stock 
during the severe cold of the North American winter. 
By referring to your paper for May 17th, 1855, you 
will see that I then advanced a similar explanation of 
the pathology of Hoof-ail as it occurs in America, to 
Mr. Dickinson’s, predicated upon an account of the 
symptoms given by another of your correspondents in 
a previous paper. At that time I was not aware of 
the influence attributed to “ergot” in producing this 
disease in this country, but from what I have since 
heard and read, especially from your remarks in the 
Country Gentleman of 10th September last, I must 
allow that there is a privna facie case made out in its 
favor, and certainly enough to warrant hay in which 
it is abundant, being looked upon with great suspicion 
and distrust by stock owners. 
It does not seem to me, however, that the two ex¬ 
planations offered, of the cause of this disease, viz., 
cold, and the ergot in the hay, are at all antagonistic 
of each other, but rather that when it is particularly 
prevalent, both may be acting in concert, although 
each, taken by itself, may be adequate to the produc¬ 
tion of the effects witnessed. We are all too apt in 
pathological investigations, especially those not con¬ 
versant with the phenomena of animal physiology, to 
look for a cause, and to rest satisfied when we think we 
have discovered that, instead of’ keeping constantly 
before us all the causes by which the condition we are 
investigating can be produced. And hence we often, 
while removing one source of evil, leave others of 
nearly equal magnitude in operation, and the benefits 
we anticipated, being for this reason not forthcoming, 
we at once discredit instead of praise, because we have 
discovered only a part instead of the whole. The 
soundest hygeinic wisdom is, when disease is appre¬ 
hended, to remove all the causes that tend to the pro¬ 
duction of the disease we would obviate. 
In the communication I allude to, sent you two years 
ago, I mentioned the fact well known to cattle practi¬ 
tioners of any experience, that such loss of the ex¬ 
tremities as those spoken of, were frequently the conse¬ 
quence of long-continued debilitating disease, but when 
this happens it is through the induction of the same 
condition as that produced by extreme cold, or by the 
effects of ergot on the system, namely, the inability of 
the circulation to maintain the vitality of parts so far 
from its centre. There can be no doubt but all the 
three causes spoken of, have this effect, and that their 
results will be in proportion to their intensity, and to 
whether two or more of them be in operation at the 
same time, which combination, when it happens, must 
of course produce more aggravated mischief than when 
only one exists. 
The practical lessons which I would urge upon Ame¬ 
rican cattle owners, who would avoid this and many 
other sources of loss, are to adopt Mr. Dickinson’s 
advice, and feed more liberally, to shelter and litter 
their stock more comfortably, and as far as possible to 
avoid any diseased or damaged form of nutriment.what- 
ever. It has always seemed to me that one of the 
greatest and most ruinous errors of American farming 
is the little attention given to providing for the feed¬ 
ing and warmth of the cattle. In Scotland, where 
the success of agriculture, considering the difficulties 
it has had to contend against, is perhaps as great as in 
any other part of the world, as witnessed by the com¬ 
fortable condition of the farmers generally, and the 
high rents they are able to pay for a bleak and sterile 
soil, the whole and sole basis of their prosperity rests 
on the care they take of their cattle. From the first 
day of January to the last day of December, the far¬ 
mer’s principal outlook is to provide for his live stock 
—from the hour a calf is dropped till the day it goes 
fat to the butcher, it is an especial object of care and 
attention—and whatever other crops are raised, thos 
necessary for the proper feeding of the cattle are never 
neglected. Would American farmers direct their at¬ 
tention more than they do into the same channel, I 
have no doubt it would be much for their own profit, as 
well as for the comfort and health of those inferior 
members of the animal kingdom whose lives and wel¬ 
fare providence has committed into their hands. The 
bare idea of a poor dumb animal lying in an exposed 
shed, or with its head stuck in between two stanchions, 
and living on a starvation allowance of unwholesome 
hay, till its feet become frozen for want of vital stam¬ 
ina to keep up the circulation in them, is alike repug¬ 
nant to sound economy and Christian humanity. And 
no farmer has the right to allow himself the enjoyments 
of a warm fireside and comfortable bed, till he has first 
measurably provided for the wants in these respects of 
his domestic animals. Now is the time when winter is 
setting in, for farmers to show that they belong to that 
merciful class that regardeth the life of their beasts, 
and if they do so they may rest with full assurance on 
the immutable laws of nature, that as they sow they 
will reap, and that even in this life they will have 
their reward. M. A. Cuming, Y. S. St. John , N. B. 
