1849, 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
303 
ffien scarcely make enough to keep soul and body 
together ! Let them' haul manure that like it, we’re 
not in that line of business.” 
That’s the way they talk. Just “ go it ” my good 
fellow. Stick to that, and carry it out, and in less 
than 30 years you, or some of your children, will be 
nising similar language away off in some nook of the 
Rocky mountains, or on the Pacific coast, in California 
*>r Oregon, or it may be in some prospective territory 
mot yet “ annexed,” 
Take the state over, and I have no idea that one 
farmer out of fifty has ever hauled a load of manure to 
his corn field since he has been in the state. I have 
■doubts, even, whether one in a hundred has ever done 
at. Year after year the manure accumulates in their 
lots and crowds their stables and barns, a perfect 
nuisance, rotting down their barns and rendering it 
impossible for the stock confined in the lots to find a 
dry place to lie down in wet weather. So, of course, 
they have either to stand up or lie in the mud. 
Food is plenty; an abundance is given them; they eat 
a little, perhaps a fourth of what is given; run over 
and tramp the balance in the mud, and then for want 
of some dry place to lie down and ruminate they stand 
knee deep in mud and shiver, while their owner wonders 
why his cattle don’t thrive better:! 
Some, however, have the foresight and sagacity to 
avoid all this, by building their stables, barns, &c., 
over or contiguous to a ravine, by which they are 
drained, so that each shower abates the nuisance., and 
the lucky farmer is not troubled with muddy lots and 
rotting barns. But while this process is going on, how 
is the corn field progressing ? Is it increasing in fer¬ 
tility, or maintaining its original productiveness ? One 
might suppose from the way in which the 1 ‘ farmers 
bank,"’ as the manure heap has been aptly styled, has 
been neglected, the spend-thrift manner in which the 
very essence of fertility is squandred, that the fertility 
of the soil was inexhaustible, and that the application 
of manure would be a work of supererogation—labor 
thrown away. But is such the fact ? 
If I might be allowed to express an opinion, I should 
say it was not. Although this state was settled as it 
were but yesterday, there are plenty of farms now 
within its limits that are literally worn out. Jas. R. 
Hammond, Shandy Hall , Cooper county , Mo.. } Aug. 
7th, 1849, 
£l)c fteterinartj SDcpartinmt 
Disease ot Horses’ Feet. 
Eds. Cultivator —-With your permission I wish to 
present the readers of your valuable journal with a few 
remarks on a disease of horses feet, which has been 
unusually prevalent during the last spring and summer. 
The disorder we are about to consider is known among 
u veterinarians” by the technical term navicular thritis, 
or navicular lameness. 
The cause most fertile in the production of this 
disease is prolonged rest in the stable, the high tem¬ 
perature of the stable inducing dryness of the hoof and 
absorption of the sensitive, fatty frog, the horny part 
contracts, the sole becomes hard, thick, and concave; 
and if to these be added circumstances which still 
further favor the drying of the hoof, as the late long 
continued drouth, in many cases the elevation of the 
sole becomes permanent. If the horse is now taken 
out and called upon to perform severe exertion, his feet 
being highly predisposed, are very liable to become the 
seat of inflammatory action, either in an acute or 
chronic character. 
To occasional causes, belong galloping upon rough, 
uneven ground, sudden springs, during a hard trot, 
false steps in which the toes have to support an unusual 
amount of weight until the heels can reach the ground. 
It is stated by Youatt, that Prof. Coleman used to say 
with regard to shoeing, there were only two principles 
to be impressed upon the mind. 11 1st, The Irog must 
receive pressure; 2nd, The sole must not.” In fact I 
believe at the present day it is generally admitted as an 
established truth, that a certain degree of pressure to 
the frog is necessary, in order to keep it in a state of 
health; yet in the feme of all this, we find more than 
one half our best horses shod with 11 calkins,” which 
not only prevent pressure upon the frog, but give 
unsteadiness to the horse^s action. Even in going down 
hill they place the limb in anything but a favorable 
position; they prop up the heels, and give the fetlock 
joint a forward inclination, and throw nearly the whole 
weight upon the toe of the foot. The symptoms which 
indicate navicular lameness, are a short, cautious step, 
most of the weight being thrown upon the toe, both in 
the stable and on the road. Generally the horse walks 
but little lame, although very much so in a trot. The 
sole of the foot is unusually concave, and the clefts are 
often very deep. 
The treatment of course must vary with the stage 
and state in which we find the foot. In a recent case, 
after removing the shoe, pare the sole and rasp the 
crust thin at both quarters of the hoof, to diminish the 
pressure on the internal parts of the foot as much as 
possible, and then envelope the whole foot in cloths 
soaked in cold water, or in an ample poultice of bran or 
linseed meal, kept constantly moist with cold water. 
The poultice must be renewed once in twelve hours. 
Next, a blister, taking in the whole of the pastern and 
coronet, may he tried; and when the heels and quarters 
(if they were reduced by the rasp, &c.,) are sufficiently 
strong, a spring or thick heeled shoe (without calkins) 
should he carefully tacked on to the foot. This with 
a piece of felt or leather placed between the shoe and 
the crust, will {as much as possible) keep the injured 
part in a state of repose. The sole of the foot should 
be covered occasionally with tar and salt. If sand col¬ 
lects under the leather it {the leather) must be cut out 
close to the inner rim of the shoe. H. S. Copeman, Y. S. 
Utica, N. F. 
Osage Orange Hedges. —There can be no question 
that these form the most formidable protection to or¬ 
chards against thieves that has been discovered; but 
according to the results of the experiments at Mount 
Airy Agricultural Institute, Pa., they are not well 
adapted to small lots of land in tillage, the growth of 
corn and turnips having been greatly retarded by the 
influence of the roots for 10 or 12 feet on each side of 
the hedge. 
Purity of Salt.—A ccording to Dr, Beck’s ana¬ 
lysis,— 
1000 parts Syracuse coarse salt contain 991 pure salt. 
1000 
Cl 
“ dairy salt 
974 “ 
u 
1000 
u 
Turk’s Island salt 
984 « 
cc 
1000 
Cl 
Cheshire ro<k salt 
« 986 <• 
cc 
Depth and Altitude of the 
Lakes .—Accordi ng 
to Dr Drake, St. Clair is 20 feet, Erie 84, Ontario 
500, Superior 900, Huron and Michigan 1,000. Off 
Saginaw Bay, in Lake Huron, 1,800 feet of line have 
been let down without reaching bottom. 
Lake Ontario is 232 feet above tide water; Erie 333 
feet above Ontario; St. Clair 6 feet above Erie; Huron 
and Michigan 13 feet above St. Clair; and Superior 44 
feet higher. 
Huron can never be drained; for w r hi!e its surface is 
684 feet above the surface of the sea, its bottom in 
Saginaw Bay is more than 1,100 below the same level. 
