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VoL IX.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, APRIL 25, 1874.
i
No. 16.
Liyg Stock*
CARE OF TEAM HORSES.
The following good advice to teamsters
has been published in the form of a showy
poster, and sent out by the Massachusetts
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals. It is signed by Daniel H. Blanch-
ard, and. endorsed by several veterinary
surgeons, agents of railway and express
companies, and by Chas. A. Currier, special
agent of the society. ;
WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD DRIVER.'
1. A man who sees that good care is
taken of his horse in the stable, by being
well fed with wholesome food, of cracked
corn, and oats, with plenty of good hay.
Potatoes, or carrots, may be given once or
twice a week to good advantage. See that
he is kept clean, warm and comfortable,
with plenty of bedding. A piece of rock
salt should always be left in the manger.
2. He should see that his harness- is
kept soft and clean, particularly the inside*
of the collar, which ought always tb be
smooth, as the perspiration, when dry,
causes irritation, and is liable to produce
galls on the shoulder. The collar shbuld
fit closely, with space enough at the bottom to admit a man's hand. If too large,
it has the bad effect of drawing the shoulders together. On no consideration should
a team, or any work horse be compelled to
wear a martingale, as it draws the head
down, and prevents him from getting into
an easy and natural position. -The check-
rein may be used, but only tight enough to
keep the head in £. natural position, and it
should never be wound around the hames.
See that the hames are buckled tight
enough at the top to bring the draught
iron near the centre of the collar. If too
low, it not only interferes with the action
of the shoulder, but gives the collar an
uneven bearing. Caution should be taken
that the girt is not buckled too tight, particularly on string teams, for wnen the
traces are straightened, it has the tendency
to draw the girt against the.belly,,and distress the horse.
3. See that the horse is kept well shod
with a good stiff shoe, always calked at toe
and heel on the hind feet, as it is there
where all the propelling power comes from
when heavily loaded. Keep the feet good
and strong, by not allowing them to be cut
away too much by the blacksmith.
4. The best of judgment should be used
in loading, taking into consideration the
condition of the street, and the distance to
be travelled. Never overload, for by so
doing, you onlj* strain and discourage your
horse, and do him more injury than you can
possibly gain by_carrying the extra load.
When your load is hard to pull, stop often,
and give your horse a chance to breathe.
No good driver will ever resort to the cruel
practice of whipping or beating his horse.
A light whip may be carried, but there is
seldom use for it. Much more can be accomplished by kind treatment and good
judgment. Remember, the horse is a very
intelligent, proud, sensitive, noble animal,
the most useful known to man, and is deserving of the greatest kindness.
 •——
Cows for the Dairy.—In a paper read
before the Northwestern Dairymen's Association, Mr. Chester Hazen, while discussing the kind of cows most suitable for
the dairy, remarked : What is needed here
in the West is the best cows we can get;
and if well fed and cared for, there is no
doubt but they will yield a good profit to
the dairyman. I believe every dairyman
should raise some heifer calves every season from his best cows. And when you
get them started keep them growing until
they are cows. I cannot afford to raise
calves and let them stand still or go back
in the winter. Keep them growing, and if
you do well by them, they will come in
when two years old, and invariably make
better cows than they will to come in at
three years, because, coming in at two
years checks their growth in bone and develops their milking qualities, making a
much more desirable cow; whereas, if allowed to run until three years old they
grow too coarse and masculine for first-,
class milkers. This has been my experience
in breeding milking stock. If you wish
to breed grade stock of any blood, breed
from a full-blooded bull. A grade bull is
not to be_relied upon to produce anything
like a uniformity of stock, which would be
a serious objection to a good dairyman or
breeder. A large, coarse cow, with heavy
carcass to support, is not as profitable for
the dairy, as a medium or undersized ccw
that is a good milker. It requires a certain
amount of feed to support the carcass in
proportion (usually) to its size, and a small
Kcow, that will give as much milk as a large
jone, is decidedly the best for the dairy.
I But some would say the larger cow, when
jshe is no longer profitable for milk, is
worth more for beef. That may be true,
but to support 200 pounds extra of carcass
for ten years, will much more than balance
the difference in the value of the cows
when fattened for beef. A good dairy cow
that will pay two or three times what her
carcass is worth for beef every year in milk,
is far more valuable for the dairy, even if
the carcass was worthless for beef. But
this is not the case. The real difference
in favor of the large cow for beef, is only
the difference in the number of pounds of
beef. I believe I can keep five cows of
800 pounds each on the same feed that
would be required to keep four cows of
1,000 pounds each, and if I bred carefully
from first-class milking stock, they would
produce one-fifth more milk, or twenty
per cent., which would be a net profit of
twenty per cent, in favor of the smaller
cows. Perhaps 800 pounds is rather light
for a -first-class dairy cow, but my experience is decidedly in favor of medium
or undersized cows.—Nat. Live St. Journ.
himself, hiring help only when it is necessary—for harvesting hay, shearing, etc.,
thesheep will pay Shim §3.00 per head, as
against $2.00 wnen'ttelp is hired liberally.
Mr. Myers estimates his sheep to be worth
13.50 each. On 1,00*0 sheep the investment
would be $3,500; ind, as the net profit
shown above amouits to SI ,705, the return
on the 'investment \jts over 50 per cent
Ohio Farmer.
Value of Goon Blood.—Mr. L. AV.
Towne, Superintendent of the Hannibal
& St. Jo Railroad, who is, it appears, the
owner ofa large stock farm in Missouri,
in a letter written to Mr. T. F. Oakes,
Freight Agent ofthe Kansas Pacific Railway, gives the following particulars Jto
illustrate the importance of good blood in
a breeding boar: In the fall of 1871 I sold
Mr. Wm. Dudley,' of Palmyra, Marion
county, Mo., a Berkshire boar, bred on my
Feed Young Chickens Often.—The
chicks should be" feed often, six times a'
day at least," for a day is an age to a chicken,
and meal time is always coming round. A
varied diet is best for chickens, as well as
for fowls, and should consist mostly of
soft food—a few angle worms if obtainable,
bread wet with milk, Indian meal—in fact,
anything easily digested. It takes little or
no more grain to grow a chicken to the
weight of a couple of pounds early in the
season, and the price per pound is double
or treble, in case of the early chickens. If
it is wished to improve a breed of fowls in
size, early chickens are preferable to raise
for stock. It is well known that bantams
are propagated by rearing late and consequently dwarfish chickens. When the
chicks begin to run about freely, great care
should be taken to keep them out of the
power of hawks. A common device in
Eastern Connecticut, is to set up a little
Pafnms of Husknilrg.
THE GRANGERS.
f-Ci-c.ift.rJCLi.as zitfi. jdiisrs
BERKSHIRE   SOW   "BEAUTY"-WEIGHT,   600   POUNDS.
?E0PEBTT OF JAMES BILET. TH0ENT0WN. INDIANA.
Gapes in Chickens.—Early spring
chickens are always desirable on the farm,
and as now is the time that they are to be
most particularly cared for, perhaps a few
words on the disease known as "gapes"
may not be amiss. As I have never known
of an infallible cure, I think-prevention
the better practice. When I first commenced raising chicks, it was on old farm
where the gapes had been a terror for
twenty years, and the former owners had
almost given up trying to keep fowls ; but
to the astonishment of all the neighbors
I loBt not a single chick with the disease,
and I have never had a single, ease in* the
last fifteen years. I always confine the
mothers in a small coop, with a board floor
in at least half of it. and allow the chicks
to roam where they please. These coops
are frequently moved. I feed them, while
young, with dough made from corn ground
quite coarse, and wetted very sparingly.
Just as soon as they can-eat small grain,
wheat screenings, etc., -1 give but little
dough, then, as they increase in size,
feed corn, etc. I have noticed that all who
feed entirely on corn_ meal dough, made
tcet, complain that their chickens have the
gapes. A neighbor, who has a small horse
power corn crusher, cracks his corn to feed
his young chicks, and never had a case of
gapes. He sold his farm,_ and _ the new
comer loses one-half of his chicks with
this disease. Many other cases could be
mentioned, which shows that the manner
of feeding has much to do with this complaint. Delos Wood.
North Madison, Ind.
farm, six months old; he weighed, at that
time, one hundred and seventy pounds,
This boar was used on common or grade
sows, and his product the following year
was two car-loads, or one-hundred hogs,
weighing two hundred and_ seventy-five to
three hundred pounds, which, were sold in
St. Louis at three-fourths of a cent per
pound over the market price, on account
of tlieir breeding, having extra-large hams
and shoulders in proportion to weight.
Capt. John Nichols, of Palmyra, Marion
county, Mo., bought a Berkshire boar of
me in 1871. In the winter of 1872 he sold
to A. S. Stillweel, of Hannibal, one hundred and one head of hogs from this boar,
from one-half to three-fourth Berkshire,
fifteen months old, averaging three hundred and thirty-six pounds, being the best
lot of hogs ever sold in this market of one
man's raising. They were kept in the
usual way, on clover, through the summer,
and fed just ten weeks.—Nat. Lice Stock
Journal.
wind-mill with a pair of clappers attached,
the whirling arms and rattling clappers
proving a very good scarecrow.—Live Stock
Journal.
Sheep Farming in Nebraska.—A correspondent in Nebraska sends us the following encouraging "showing," made by
Mr. Myers, of Gage county, a sheep farmer,
who has been about four years in that
State: Mr. Myers thus "figures" the
problem of sheep farming in Nebraska,
with a flock of 1,000 head :—100 tons of
hay, costing $3.00 per ton for putting up,
$300; 500 bushels of sheaf oats, $100;
shepherding for eight months, $150; wages
of one man for four, months, $100; do.,
one month, $30; washing, shearing and
packing wool, $200; salt, $35; shedding
for winter, $50; losses at two per cent. $70—
total, $1,035. By 4,500 pounds of wool, at
40c per pound, $1,800; 400 lambs, at $2.50,
$1,000: total, $2,800. Mi-. Myers considered
his allowance for expenses very liberal.
He charges hay at too high a figure; and
the percentage of loss is not generally so
large as stated, as sheep are subject to no
disease whatever on the Nebraska prairie.
One man also could take charge ofa flock
ofa thousand during the summer months;
and, in winter, one boy could feed them,
as it is best to let the sheep run to the hay
all the time, and the oats are to be fed
in the sheaf. Mr. Myer further^ claims
that if a farmer will do most of his work
Care of Young Turkeys.—A successful turkey raiser writes that he regards
dough made of Indian meal as injurious to
young turkeys. His method of feeding is
to make bread of Indian meal, and to bake
either in ovens or the ashes, and after the
bread cools to crumble^ it up pretty fine
and then stir in buttermilk until the whole
assumes about the consistency of tolerably
thick batter. Young turkeys relish this
food amazingly. They should be fed from
six to eight times a day until they are large
enough to follow their mothers through
the fields in search of crickets, grasshoppers and such green food as they may require in their rambles. A little beef
"scrap-cake," made soft by soaking or
boiling, is also capital food for them. Dry
and commodious coops or pens should be
provided in which to confine the young
turkeys and their mothers in stormy
weather, and also to keep them from wandering off early in the morning while the
dew is still upon the grass. When confined
in wet weather, onion-tops or other green
food should be chopped fine and fed to
them, as green food seems to be eminently
promotive of their health. After turkeys
are three or four months old, they may be
fed on wheat, oats, corn, and any sort of
refuse meat that has not been salted.—
Young Folks Rural.
Sale of Short-Horns.—I have recently
sold Short-horns to the following parties:
To J. E. & C. B. Knowles, Clinton, Ind.,
"Sydney Carton," 13,002; got by Bluff Airdrie 9,538 out of Zelena by Major Duncan,
5927.. To F.: P. Healy, Andalusia, Rock
Island co.. Ills., "Orphan Boy," by Duncan's Airdrie 5615 out of Bonnie Eyes, 2d,
by Sir William Wallace, 3,443, and heifer
"Formosa," by Bluff Airdrie, 9538, out of
White Twin, by Major Duncan, 5927.
Claude Matthews.
Clinton, Ind.
Bots in Horses.—The complete in-
efficacy of the various popular panaceas
for bots in horses may be better understood when we come to know something
of the nature of these persistent parasites.
They are not worms, but larvae of a fly,
and are possessed of remarkable powers
of endurance under adversity. Thc most
insiuuating substances are but as milk
and honey to them, and in an instance
recorded a colony of them attached to the
stomach of a dead horse were in no way
inconvenienced by an hour's exposure to
a bath of spirits of turpentine. But when
whale oil was poured upon them they let
go tlieir hold and died almost instantly.
Now. whale oil being thus indicated as
an effective dose, and being aperient in its
action upon the horse, would seem to be
tho remedy that should bo chosen before
any other. At least it might be well to havo
some experiments made and the results
carefully noticed and made note of.—
Practical Farmer.
[For the Indiana Farmer.
A FARMER WHO MAKES FARMING
PAY.
M. B. P.ingo, of Clay county, says: I
have been engaged for the last sixteen or
eighteen years in the raising, feeding and
handling of cattle and hogs, with a reasonable degree of success. But for the last
five or six years I have paid more< attention to breeding, grazing and feeding cattle than any other kind of stock. I have
at this time about one hundred and twenty
head, all of my own breeding. My cattle
are all a very fair class of grade shorthorns. I raise my own feed and have my
own pasture. Butter making has become
an interesting business with us for the last
two or three years. My wife made and
sold in the year 1872 3,372 pounds of butter for which she realized $897. In 1873
she. sold 3,201 pounds, receiving for the
same $894 75. For the past two years we
have milked from fifteen, to twenty cows.
This year we milk from twenty to thirty,
and the average yield of butter per month
is about 325 pounds, for which we have
received a fraction over one hundred dollars per month. Our place of market is
Knightsville, Clay county.
__ .   m  »	
Good Management Pays.—In the
spring of 1873, J. H. Harrison of Annapolis, Ind., sold to Mr. Burnsides of Portland
Mills, Ind., a pair of White Holland turkeys for five dollars. The ben laid sixty-
three eggs, from which he raised fifty-two
turkeys. These he sold before wintering
them for four dollars per pair, or $108.
Who can beat this? It takes care to bring
such results, but it always pays.
We clip the following from a California
paper.   It is written in so kind a spirit
that we commend its consideration to the
Patrons of Husbandry : The Grangers as
a body, cannot be reasonably held responsible for what either one or two may say,
nor are their acts to be judged by what
one, or half a dozen might do.   It would
be strange,   indeed, if a numerous and
powerful   organization   could   not   find
among its members men of sufficient intellectual capacity and brain power to devise
means for the betterment of their condition ; but it is also fatally true of mankind •
that the possession of power almost always
involves a disposition to wield it with intolerance, which frequently  degenerates
into fanaticism and tyranny.   This is especially applicable in eases where the acquisition of power is sudden and falls into
hands unused to the vast responsibility attaching to its possession. While we frankly
and joyfully applaud many of the acts of
the Grangers, we cannot consistently give
that countenance to others inaugurated by
them, nor indorse some of the opinions
they have advanced.   Recognizing the fact
that-our agricultural classes compose the
great backbone and solid structure of our
material prosperity, and bestowing upon
them all the honor and credit which" of
right pertains to such distinction, wo ask
for ourselves the same amount of faith in
our intention to be just and honorable as
we extend to them.   It would be difficult
to form a higher appreciation of the good
that must result to that important interest
by associating to improve agriculture, disseminate knowledge on all practical subjects, cultivate a general development of
all our resources, and better the condition
of all classes than we have done; but there
is a point beyond which a laudable purpose
may become " vaulting ambition."    When
the Grangers propose to establish a bank
for the purpose of loaning money to farmers, we say Amen ; only bear in mind that
your bankers will- be bankers in the true
sense of the term, and. as such, will cease
to be Grangers.   When they express a determination to do away with all middle
men, anclcrush out commission merchants,
we say that is your self-imposed task : il
you can carry it out to a successful issue,
go ahead, but  remember  that you  have
not, and never can acquire, the facilities
for the transaction of such enormous business and at the same time conduct your
own legitimate avocations with profit and
satisfaction.    When they set out to build
and possess their own fleets for the conveyance of their crops to markets of consumption, to regulate the rates of freight,
to enter upon the very questionable experiment of loading grain in bulk, to build
warehouses for the sheltering and keeping
of grain, to establish stores for their exclusive trading, and to perform all the details connected with our agricultural interests, we may be permitted to direct their
attention to the vast number of irons they
will have in the fire.   Functions of the
nature specified can only be entrusted to
thoroughly competent hands, and onco in
full operation they will naturally lapse
back to their  respective   individualities
and become more or less independent of
the cause which set  them in operation.
We take this occasion to again assure the
Grangers that we are too sincerely their
well-wisher to desire any failure on their
part, or anything that may_ be construed
into want of success, and that our warnings are penned in a spirit of amity. We
would not see them blindly rush into error, and applaud them while attempting to
compass impossibilities, norare we of
those who would visit them with censure,
in the event of disaster.
Pulaski County.—At a meeting of the*
Prairie Farmers' Union Central Associ»~
tion, Patrons of Husbandry, held in Fra-a*-
cisville, Pulaski county, on the 4tli. of
April, 1874, the following preamble- and
resolutions were unanimously adopted:
Wiibrkas, It is one of the prime objects of our
Order to Inculcate temperance in our members;
and, whereas, it has been the custom of men'-who
are candidates for office to secure their, election
partly through the influence of whisky; and,
whereas, it has also been the custom of friends to
use their influence In like manner.iit is, t hefefare,
Resolred, That we hereby pledge, ourselves, that
we will not support any man foe olfice, of whatever kind, who will attempt to influence his.elec«
tion, either directly or indirectly, by or through
the influence of Intoxicating drinks of any kind,
Iie.iolfl:oe%, That we will not support nny man for
office who is an habitualdrlnUer.or who la Known
to be in the habit of getting, intoxicated, thoiiglt
it he only occasionally.
Resolved, That we, and each of usl pledge our
honor that we will no^ parclias**) intoxicating
drink for any one, neither will we accept a drink
purchased by another for political influences.
lie solved, That to wi U usi; our influence 1,9 secure
the nomination and, election of farmers alone for
all local offices. Jf. S, I>K \kK, Sec'y.
S****-*--
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