• 44:8 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
sells them might, one ■would think, afford to eat 
a little mutton occasionall}', and the children, 
instead of rye coffee, might have a basin of soup 
for breakfast that would send them on the run 
to school these zero mornings puffing and blow¬ 
ing off steam like a locomotive. The Agricul¬ 
turist some time since published a good recipe 
for making mutton soup. You kill the sheep, 
and cut it up for her, and I will guarantee that 
your wife, if she follows the recipe, will make 
a soup that the most inveterate hater of mutton 
cannot help but pronounce excellent. It is, in 
fact, exceedingly palatable, exceedingly nutri¬ 
tious, and exceedingly cheap. Such a soup 
would go far to supply the need which leads to 
a desire for malt liquors and other stimulants. 
Our temperance friends should take the 
hint. Good cooks may do much to arrest this 
sad habit cf drinking. I think it was Henry 
Ward Beecher who said that “one loaf of 
bread to a poor, famishing family, would do 
them more good than two sermons.” 
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About Stone-Boats, 
On a stony farm a stone-boat is almost as 
much of a necessity as a plow, and the descrip¬ 
tion of how to make a good one will have little 
of novelty to many of the readers of the Agri¬ 
culturist. A stone-boat, or “ stone-drag,” as it 
is frequently called, must be of hard, durable 
wood, as it cannot be protected by paint, nor 
shod with iron. The paint would soon be worn 
and bruised off, and the iron would make too 
much friction in dragging over stones and earth. 
White oak is probably the best wood. Three 
10-inch or two 15-inch planks, 2’| 2 inches thick, 
should be got out, for one boat. It is best to se¬ 
lect one or two large logs with natural bends 
in them, so that they can be sawed without 
■waste, and have them sawed about 6 feet 
straight and one foot at a slight angle—the bend 
being about 3 inches in the foot. The planks 
are laid together and connected by means of 
oak raves. The front and rear raves which 
cross the planks may be considerably wider than 
the side raves; if 5 or 6 inches wide and 2 inches 
thick, they will be strong enough. The side 
Fig. 2. 
raves should be about 3 inches in width. These 
are pinned on with oak pegs or treenails (trun- 
nels), which are driven two in each plank, at 
the ends, and slanting slightly different ways 
so as to “tic” or 44 draw,” and the more the 
planks arc wrenched, if well “tied,” the snug¬ 
ger will the pins draw. The rave in some cases 
is carried across the front end or “bow ” of the 
boat, but the arrangement shown in the engrav¬ 
ing is much better. Fig. 2 shows the way in 
which the chain may be attached, passing 
through a hole made obliquely in the center 
plank. A modification of this boat, which may 
be very convenient under some circumstances, 
has both ends like the front end of the one 
shown in fig. 1. This end may be left square, 
as the planks are sawed, but the rounding and 
chamfering of the edges is an improvement. 
Male Breeding-Animals. 
The good of every individual, man, woman, 
and child, in the State would be as directly af¬ 
fected by an improvement in our breeding 
stock as in any other increase in our productive 
industries or great internal improvement. It is 
the business of the State to foster industries, and 
to carry out or promote improvements. Now, 
there is not a State in the Union in which there 
are not five, if w 7 e may not say ten, poor bulls, 
stallions, boars, and rams, to one tolerably good 
one. If in a dairy region only thoroughbred 
bulls were used, farmers would soon get in the 
way of using only those of good dairy breeds, and 
we venture to say that the 
yield of milk wrnuld be in¬ 
creased on an average 2 
quarts per day during the 
milking season. With 50 
cows this would make 24,000 
quarts, worth, at 3 cents per 
quart, $720, which is clear 
gain to the farmer, and so 
much more taxable property 
in the community. It be¬ 
comes a question of no little 
importance for Agricultural 
Societies, Boards of Agricul¬ 
ture, and the legislators of 
the various States to discuss, 
if by encouragement or tax¬ 
ation they may not be able 
to effect some such change. 
Suppose, for instance, that a State should tax 
all bulls twenty dollars a head, and allow the 
officers of the State Board of Agriculture to re¬ 
mit the tax on all which came up to a certain 
standard of excellence. How long would it be 
before an essential change would be observed 
in the whole character of our neat stock and 
dairy products ? It is certainly a question of 
great interest, how the State may best secure 
the advantage to accrue both to its treasury 
and to its citizens by the general use of w r ell- 
bred or thoroughbred male animals as sires. 
-«»-.—-•«»--»-«- 
How a Fowl May Live without a Head. 
A “ Headless Rooster ” has been exhibited in 
New York and other cities, with a great flour¬ 
ish of show-bills, in w'hicli the bird is adver¬ 
tised as a phenomenon “ defying explanation 
by any know T n laws of nature.” One of our 
associates examined the bird as far as the surli¬ 
ness of the proprietor would allow him to do 
so, and made up the subjoined account of the 
matter as it appeared to him. The article has 
been in type several months, it having, been 
crowded aside by other matter. The “Head¬ 
less Rooster ” man has recently been arrested 
under the law to prevent cruelty to animals, 
and the complaint sliow 7 s that the operation 
w r as precisely of the character described below 7 . 
The complaint also sets forth that the prisoner 
was in “ the constant habit of performing said 
practice on roosters, which he sells for public 
exhibitions, and that said roosters, after having 
said operation performed, live in pain and tor¬ 
ture for periods from between one week and 
two months, when the same languish and die.” 
In fig. 1 the bird is represented as he stands 
on exhibition. His attitude is that of perfect un¬ 
consciousness. He stands in a semi-couched 
position, wdtli his plumage slightly raised, which 
gives him a plumpness and roundness unnatu¬ 
ral in health. He will stand in this position for 
hours unless disturbed, and W'hen aroused will 
simply move a step or two, and again settle 
down as if nothing had happened, apparently 
forgetting that he had been disturbed. The 
sense of hearing has not been lost, and at the 
Fig. 1.—HEADLESS FOWL. 
report of a pistol shot he will start up, move his 
neck around, and almost instantly settle again 
into the same listless, senseless state. He will 
swallow food when placed in his throat by his 
attendant, and life is maintained in this Avay. 
To show how a bird may live with a portion 
of its brain removed, w r e must explain the 
structure of that organ. The brain, instead of 
being one mass of solid, nervous matter, as is 
commonly supposed, is really composed of sev¬ 
eral collections, separated more or less by bony 
partitions. Figure 2 represents the head of a 
rooster cut longitudinally in such a way as to 
show the brain in its place, and the internal 
bony structure of the skull. The diagram, fig. 
3, will show the divisions more plainly. The 
olfactory center , figures 2 and 3, a, placed in 
front, sends its nerves to the internal nose and 
governs the sense of smell. The cerebrum , b, or 
what is commonly considered the brain proper, 
Fig. 2.— SECTION OF HEAD. 
is the seat of intelligence and reason, and is the 
largest of all the divisions. The cerebellum , c, 
is situated behind all the other divisions of the 
brain, and is next in size in most animals to the 
cerebrum. This is said to preside over what is 
called associate action, that is, that peculiar 
cooperation of action in the muscles which 
Fig. 1.—STONE-BOAT. 
