94 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
March, 
pounds in a caustic state, it will weigh when slacked, 
about 100 pounds by the absorption of water; there¬ 
fore one bushel of lime is sufficient for fourteen acres 
of wheat or thereabouts, but as this supply is for one 
crop only, and as weeds and other vegetation will rob 
the wheat of its due share, I would apply ten bushels 
to the acre, and feel that it is sufficient for four or five 
years. 
“ It is true that farmers in this country have applied 
from 60 to 100 bushels per acre, and there may occa¬ 
sionally be a farm where such a dose may do good, but 
more likely to do harm,* at any rate, for the reasons 
above stated, it seems a wasteful and expensive system. 
For light soils, I would recommend a mixture of lime 
and muck, say one bushel of lime to a cubic yard of 
muck, applying 20 to 25 bushels of this mixture to an 
acre. But never mix lime with your manure heaps; 
this is a ruinous practice, because it expels from your 
manure its chief power; it destroys the ammonia, a 
salt which it is our aim to preserve.” 
Berkshire Hogs. 
I have occasionally seen articles in your paper decrying 
the Berkshire hogs, principally on account of their want 
of size. To such people you may say, that I have a bar- 
row 3 years old, a full blood Berkshire, which will now 
weigh nearly 1000 lbs., live weight. He was weighed 
on the 3d of October, and then brought down 880; 
since which he has improved rapidly, and will doubt¬ 
less reach the above figures. I have had this breed for 
seven years pure ,—descended from hogs brought from 
Albany and Buffalo, and a boar imported by Mr. Fahne¬ 
stock, of Pittsburgh, Pa., from England—(the latter a 
very large animal.) The stock have all been large and 
very profitable—weighing at seven to ten ^nonths old, 
from 250 to 300 pounds. Several individuals have 
weighed over 400, and the sire of this present one 
reached 750. This is, however, much the largest I 
have yet raised. 
I regret exceedingly, that the breed is so unfashion¬ 
able here, that I shall be obliged to look for across from 
other stock. Wm. Little. Poland , 0.. Jan., 1849. 
Protection of Working Horses—-Horse Blankets. 
Eds. Cultivator—I am well aware, that I have 
chosen a subject, with reference to which, among far¬ 
mers, there exists almost an infinite variety of opinions. 
One will tell us. to keep w T ork horses warm and com¬ 
fortable by means of close stables : another says, let 
the stables be pretty airy —but, when necessary, blan¬ 
ket your horses. Another says, let your horses have 
cold stalls , for they will endure the cold much better, 
when taken from the stable. But it strikes us, that 
the most proper stables for work horses, are those, the 
temperature of which, is about the same as the sur¬ 
rounding atmosphere; with the walls or ceiling so tight, 
that cold currents of air shall not be permitted to blow 
directly on a horse. 
There is little danger, I apprehend, of making sta¬ 
bles too tight, provided they are well ventilated above. 
When a horse has been out in a storm, either in the 
field or on the road, when he is brought into the stable, 
like to stand where the wind is continually blowing on 
him—no more than a laboring man who has come from 
the woods, in a cold stormy day, would like to have his 
either warm and sweaty, or cold and wet, he does not 
dinner table spread for him, in a bark shanty; and des¬ 
titute of fire. And besides being unpleasant and un¬ 
comfortable, it is decidedly injurious and detrimental to 
the health of either man or beast. 
It is a great fundamental principle in the physical 
world, and a fact well known to every chemist, that 
evaporation, whether it takes place from organized or 
inorganic bodies—from animate or inanimate substan¬ 
ces, is a cooling process ; and therefore, when the bo¬ 
dies of animals are exposed to -wet and cold storms, 
they need to be protected from suffering injury, from 
the powerful influence of evaporation. 
When I have been exposed to the wet storm, and my 
garments are filled with water, why do I not dry them 
on my person, instead of hanging them before the fire? 
Simply because there would be danger of contracting 
cold. If I attempt it, I soon perceive that evapora¬ 
tion takes place so rapidly, and such a degree of cold 
is generated, that my physical system is in danger of 
receiving a shock, which it is not able to resist or en¬ 
dure without injury; consequently, when nature has 
aroused its most vigorous reactive energies, they being 
inadequate to counteract the poweful influence of eva¬ 
poration, it is obliged to yield to the preponderating in¬ 
fluence; and to suffer the penalty of a violent physical 
law— a cold. But if I wrap myself in a thick cloak or 
blanket, evaporation is immediately checked, and the 
danger of taking cold is very much lessened. 
Thus with the horse. Whenever he has been exer¬ 
cised so violently as to produce a profuse perspiration, 
he needs to be stationed where the wind will not blow 
upon him; (as a current of air is one of the prominent 
causes which influence and increase evaporation) and 
he needs to be covered with a blanket, until his hair 
has become so dry that he is not in danger of taking 
cold. 
I know that there are many beings, who pretend to 
possess claims to humanity, who advocate that animals 
—horses, cattle and sheep, are so constructed that they 
can endure the exposure to cold and storms, and ihe 
sudden transitions from heat to cold, without injury;— 
but let the advocates of this theory prosecute their la¬ 
bors during a cold and stormy day, without warming 
themselves by a fire; and at night lie down upon a cold 
couch of straw, in an apartment where a good share 
of the window panes have been broken out—while old 
Boreas 11 tunes his harp high.;” and prolongs his wintry 
notes louder and colder, and heaps the chilling snow upon 
their thin covering; and then tell us, whether or not, 
such exposures endanger their health. Then let them 
tell us, whether or not, the howling storms of midnight 
are injurious to the flesh and blood of which dumb beasts 
are made. 
When I commenced farming operations by myself, 
the stable in which I kept my span of horses, during 
the first winter, was quite open and airy—-just right as 
many thought and said, to make animals tough ; and 
the consequence was, my horses, which were young 
and high spirited, now, a good., part of the time, ap¬ 
peared much indisposed. As the spring approached, 
each one of them run at the nose, and coughed almost 
incessantly. I doctored them for the distemper, stran¬ 
gles and the heaves; and when all means proved to be 
of no desirable efficiency, I began to inquire after the 
cause of their indisposition; and I deliberately came to 
the conclusion, that for the future, my horses should be 
better protected from the cold wind and stor?)is. Ac¬ 
cordingly, I built a new stable, and made the walls 
tight enough for a store room; and since I have kept 
my horses in this stable, they have kept in better con¬ 
dition—have eaten less feed, could endure the cold 
much better—and have not contracted such violent 
colds. I also made a couple of Horse Blankets, of 
which no teamster should be destitute. I purchased 
two worsted blankets, about two yards and a-half long 
and a yard in width; and lined or covered them with 
strong cotton factory, which was two yards wide and 
two and a-half long. These were then extended on 
the barn and painted. After they had become suffi¬ 
ciently dry, a crupper, a waist belt and breast straps 
