Yol. IX.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, OCTOBER 17, 1874.
No. 41.
LiYG Stock-
For the Indiana Farmer.'
Meeting of the Swine Breeders.
At a meeting of the Swine Breeders in
Exposition Building, September 30th,
1874, Mr. Cobb, of Indiana, was called to
the Chair, and L. A. Burke was appointed
Secretary. Mr. Cobb took the chair and
stated the object of the meeting. Mr.
Smith, of Michigan, was called upon and
made some good remarks in regard to
breeding, feeding, and the management of
hogs. Mr. Todd, of Ohio, spoke at some
length as to his management of swine;
also put in a few words for the Chester
Whites. I. N. Barker was on hand to
add his testimony and made some good
remarks about his mode of raising pigs.
His hogs will bear him out in his remarks.
Mr. Cotteral, of Michigan, gave some valuable hints to breedersof swine. As the
manager of a large herd he has made a
success of breeding as his pigs at the fair
was living testimony. Mr. R. Baldridge
was also ready to say what he knew about
pigs. He is one of Indiana's best breeders.
Taking all in all we think that those present were satisfied that they had some
good hints in the management of hogs.
By. the way, what have become of the
Swine Breeders' Conventions? The breeders should hold conventions every year, so
that all the improvements may be known.
This subject is of great importance to the
farmers of Indiana. The people of Indiana should be proud of the hog show at
our last State Fair. Let them commence
now to have a much larger and better
show next y«ar.   •     L. A. Burke,
«•'   ■   ' Secretary.
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Grease Heel.
OXFORD OF SPRINGWOOD, TENTH DUCHESS OF SPRINGWOOD,
Owned Ly B. B.  Grooms,   Winchester, Ky.
Rules for the Care' of Sheep.
Greaseheel,or scratches, js usually caused
by want of care and cleanliness in the daily
grooming of the horse. If the horse's
legs and the stables are kept clean at all
times,- he will not be troubled with
scratches. Whenever used in mud or
other adhesive filth, the legs_should be
washed clean when the horse is put into
his stall for the night. No manure should
be allowed to accumulate in the stall. If
earth floors are used, gypsum should be
thrown freely around the stall every day,
in order to absorb odors. To cure the
horse, give him a "bran mash" with plenty
of oil meal in it, every day for a week. At
the same time wash the feet and legs clean
with warm castile soap suds every day
after the day's work is done. As soon as
the feet arc rubbed dry, rub in with the
hand a little raw linseed oil. _ Castor oil
will do, as also will carbolic ointments.—
Ooiintry Gentleman.
Fine and Coarse Hay.
Producers are sometimes nuzzled to
know why city buyers generally ask for
coarse, well-maturedhay in preference to
the more tender and.in reality more nutritious kinds. The Live Stock Journal
thus enlightens them: "City men feed
hay for a different purpose than the farmer.
The farmer feeds it for its nutriment and
as a principal food, while the city man regards grain as the cheapest food, and only
gives sufficient hay to make bulk in the
stomach, and for the purpose of health.
Coarse, well-matured timothy serves this
purpose better than the early cut and fine
grasses. They do not desire such hay as
will tempt the horses to eat tbo much of
it. Straw would answer this purpose, if
cut and mixed with the grain, about as
well. But farmers should be content with
this practice of the city customer, for it
enables them to sell their poorest hay for
the best priee, and to retain the best quality for home consumption."
Improved Stock.
The Mark Lane Repress informs us
that the Devon tenant farmers are "stealing a cross from tbe Shorthorn in their
native herds, much to their satisfaction,
too." It also adds: "For increased size,
with elegant grace and aristocratic style,
let them try a small red bull of the best
descended Bates or Knightly tribes."
This is precisely what Mr. Lewis F. Allen
of Buffalo, New York, has been doing with
his Devons for 20 years past or more, producing one of the finest and most useful
lot of combined dairy and beef animals I
ever saw. The dairymen in his vicinity,
however, did not properly appreciate
them, and the whole herd of about 70
head was sold last September, to go to
.Colorado, where they will unquestionably
dadd greatly to the improvement of the
Seattle of that fine grazing country.—An
I Old Farmer.
A circular issued by F. C. D. McKay,
the General Agent of the American Emigrant Company, gives the following :
The company have already ten thousand sheep scattered among the farmers,
who _ purchased land of them in flocks
ranging in size from fifty to two hundred
head.
1. Keep sheep dry under foot with
litter. This is even more necessary than
roofing them. Never let them stand or
He in mud or snow.
2. Take up lamb rams early in the
summer, and_ keep them up until December 1, following, when thoy may be turned
out.
3. Drop or take out the lowest bars,
thus saving broken limbs.
4. Count every day.
5. Begin graining with the greatest
care, and use the smallest quantity at
first.
C. If a ewe loses her lamb, milk her
daily, for a few days, and mix a little alum
with her salt.
7. Let no hogs eat with the sheep, by
any means, in the spring.
8. Give the lambs a little millfeed in
time of weaning.
9. Never frighten sheep, if possible to
avoid it.
10. Sow rye for weak ones in cold
weather, if you can.
11. Separate all weak, or thin, or sick,
from those strong, in the fall, and give
them special care.
12. If any sheep is hurt, catch it at
once and washfhe wounds, and if it is fly
time, apply spirits of turpentine daily,- and
always wash with something healing. If
a limb is broken, bind it up with splinters
tightly, loosening as the limb swells.
13. Keep a number of good bells on the
sheep.
14. Do not let the sheep spoil wool with
chaff or burs.
15. Cut tag-locks in early spring.
16. For scours, give pulverized alum
in wheat bran; prevent by taking great
care in changing dry for green feed.
17. If one is lame, examine the foot,
clean out between the hoofs, pare the
hoofs if unsound, and apply tobacco with
blue vitriol, boiled in a little water.
18. Shear at once any sheep commencing to shed its wool, unless the weather is
too severe, and save carefully the pelt of
any sheep that dies.
19. Have at least one good work by you
for reference. This will be money in your
pocket.
Sugar Beets for Stock.
In a paper before the Little Falls, N.
Y., Farmers' Club. Harris Lewis said: "I
have concluded that the best varieties of
the French and_ German sugar beets are
the most nutritious.,, tho most acceptable
to the cow, and produce the best flavored
milk of all the roots I ever fed. But all
these sugar beets go down to the crown in
the soil, and cost three or four times as
much labor per ton to harvest them as it
does to harvest any one of the kinds of
beets known as themangoldwurzcl. Again,
the sugar beets seldom yield more thpn
20 tons per acre, while the mangold wurzol
often yields over 40 tons per acre. I would
recommend the large wurzel, such as the
Norbiton giant, long mammoth, red, yellow ovid, and yellow globe, for general
cultivation, as those kinds which willgive
the greatest yield per acre, and as cattle
food, give entire satisfaction to all dairymen or cattle feeders, who may grow and
feed them in connection with hay, or other
dry forage, during winter. The more I
feed beets to cows, the greater value I
place upon them, as good, nutritious,
health-promoting food.
Diarrhea in Young Pigs.
M. D. Mulford, M. D., in the American
Swine and Poultry Journal, says: "Many
of our swine-breeders in the West sustain
considerable loss annually by their pigs
dying from the effects of what is commonly
called scours, caused by the bad quality of
the sow's milk. The disease is more apt
to make its appearance when the sow has
been fed upon dry corn or musty food. It
generally attacks them within one or two
days after their birth, and seldom after
.eight or ten days. I have never failed to
cure this disease by giving the sow as much
sulphur of the third decimal trituration
as will stand on a nickel five-cent piece,
once a day. It may be given in a little
sweet milk or upon a small piece of bread,
and should be given one hour before feeding. The medicine can be procured of
any homeopathic physician. I have cured
many cases with common sulphur, but
prefer the above.
. The Legislature of Kansas recently
passed a law prohibiting horse-racing and
the sale of intoxicating drinks at agricultural fairs. The result of this action, says
The-Kansas Farmer, even in devastated
Kansas, where the drouth and grasshoppers are supposed to have taken every
green thing over most of the State, was to
largely increase the show of farm products,
while the exhibition of cattle, sheep, hogs
and rioultry is reported as having been
superior. The diversion of our own
county and State fairs so largely,from the
original intent, has become a source of
very general complaint among farmers
proper. As the saying goes, KansaB "has
taken the bull by the norns," and is entitled to commendation for this exhibition
of moral courage.
South American Cattle in England.—A successful importation of live
cattle; from the Kiver Platte, in South
America, was lately made into England.
Near a hundred head of oxen were shipped
upon a steamer and taken from the Argentine Confederation to London in twenty-
four days. On their arrival they were in
such good condition that, after a week's
restand feed, they were sold for $80 each,
$45 in advance of their cost in South
America.
I know a farmer who bought a lumber
wagon now almost 30 years ago, and today it is nearly as good as new."Sit has
been in constant use, but always kept under shelter when not behind his team in
the field or on the road. A neighbor of
his bought ono at the same time and made
at the same shop, but in consequence of
always leaving it out of doors it went to
ruin years ago, and now he has bought a
new wagon for-the third* time. This is a
fact, and the men are living to-daj', one a
successful lanner, with plenty of money
to use and to loan, the other an example
of the worst effects ofthe opposite system.
This one instance alone is sufficient to
"point a moral." It should teach a lesson to every man engaged in the pursuit of
agriculture. To be constantly buying
farm-tools is more than a farmer can
afford. Implements are expensive, and
they should be made to last by being cared
for. Every farmer should have a tool-
house, and when a tool is not in use it
should stand or hang in its place. A careful inventory of such tools occasionally
would do much toward keeping them in
their place and in good repair. Industry,
economy and system will be of as much
service to farmers as to any other class.—
IF. O. Spcus"!-, Madison Co., N. Y.
Fattening Swine.
As to the feed, there is nothing which
can compare with milk for the young pigs,
and good old corn for the last few weeks
of the porker's life. Of course it will not
pay to feed pure milk to pigs, but the
skimmed milk has more virtue in it than
is generally supposed. When the cream
is taken off the main loss is fat, (carbon,)
one of the most abundant substances in
nature, and one which the growing pig can
well spare, for wo do not wish to see young
animals, whether bipeds or quadrupeds,
excessively fat. A superabundance of
adipose is not indicative of health, and
does not tend to development of sound
bone and solid muscle. The skimmed milk
still retains the casein for the growth of
muscle, and the saline matters for the production of bone. An observing farmer,
and one who had had much experience,
once said toiis thatheconsideredskimmed
milk as worth two cents a quart to feed to
calves and pigs. This may be too high an
estimate ; but practice and analysis agree
in giving this food a high value for young
animals. The best pork we have ever seen
produced was milk-fed early, and corn-
fed in the later stages of its growth.
There can be no doubt that a variety of
food is congenial to all animals, especially
those of some maturity. Milk maybe the
steady diet of the very young; but when
they come to years of discretion they will,
if left to themselves, select a variety of
food, and wide is the range which hogs
will greedily devour, and on which they
will thrive. A good feeder manages never
to cloy his pigs with one kind of food, but
always stimulates their appetites with
different course—potatoes at one time, apples at another, and pumpkin-pudding,
thickened with meal, at another, always
wining up the fattening process with dry
corn on the ear to produce a solid pork.
Liquid puddings may answer well for
growth and the early stages of fattening,
but to top off with, dry corn is the food.
The question is often asked whether it
pays to cook food for hogs. Some kinds of
food we should cookand some we should
not. Roots and grain are better steamed,
digesting more readily and losing nothing
by the cooking. Apples are best uncooked, as they lose much" of their aroma and
stimulating influence by being heated.
Cooking enables us to serve up a greater
variety of dishes, and we should, therefore,
always have a cauldron set in the pig pen,
and if properly set the amount of fuel required is small. The cauldron, however,
need not be used.—Alex. Hyde in N.
Y.  Times.
An Opportpnita for Investment.—
A correspondent-writing from Nemaha
County, Neb., says: "I presume a large
number of your readers would be benefited by knowing that they can gather up all
thc cattle and hogs they can wish in this
part of the country, at their own prices.
There is no corn throughout the whole
region. Consequently there are great
numbers of fine native steers that must be
sold."
Wind Power.
Last year England imported 500,000,000
i eggs from France.
We have often thought that we might
make greater use of the wind as a motive
power than we do. There are 12,000 windmills in Holland and Flemish Belgium,
each doing from six to ten horse power
service, according to the strength of the
wind, and working twenty-four hours per
day, and every day in the month during
the rainy season, and when the snows and
ice are melting and the streams are hign.
The annual cost of the windmills in Holland is $4,000,000. Twenty times that sum
would not operate steam-power sufficient
to do the work, for all the coal consumed
in Holland has to be imported from England or Belgium.
Iii Behalf of tlie Birds.
We commend the following opinions and
statements, which we find credited to a
late meeting of the Potomac Fruit Grower's
Society, held in Washington. D. C:
Dr. Snodgrass stated that the sparrows
were doing a good thing in the public parks
by destroying worms and insects ameng
the trees.
Major King had one charge against thc
sparrow; that it robs the nests and eats
the eggs of our native song birds; and he
wished to have our native birds more
generally domesticated and protected.
D. O. Munson stated that though the
caterpillars prey on some kinds of the
maple, they do not trouble the silver, white
and sugar maples.
Capt. Smith reports that the crows are
doing a great work in quickly and completely killing and clearing a way the potato
bugs—making clean work of them.
V Dr. Brainard said that the guinea
fowls cat and clear off the potato bug very
• readily, wherever they bave a chance.
Capt. Sm.ith kills off and rids his trees
of the caterpillars by singing them with a
kerosene lamp or torch—holding the blaze
under the webs. He cleans his own trees
and then goes to his neighbors and does
the same, and without the least injury to
the trees or fruit.
' Other members suggested other modes,
as soap suds, wood ash lye, etc.
_ Earnest and general pleas for preservation of all the birds were urged by members, and the guinea fowl and turkey highly praised as insect destroyers and field
and garden cleaners, especially the tobacco
field and potato patch.
_ Dr. Snodgrass said he had heretofore
given some attention to the effects of plenty
of fruit on the health of a community,
thinking it promotive of better health,
which was concurred in by the members,
andhe was invited to read a paper on that
subject to the society at a future meeting.
Our Climatic Changes all Bosh.
The London Pall Mall Gazette speaks
rather contemptuously of the climatic
changes which we Americans think are
taking place on pur continent. It calls the
notion a "preposterous fancy," and snubs
us by adding.—"They have scarcely begun
to scratch the suaface ofa small corner of
the soil for a couple of hundred years, and
already the idea has begun to be popular
among them that, whether from the result
of man's operations, or from some unexplored physical causes, the elements themselves are participating in the great revolutions which they have themselves accomplished in the political and social
world; that summer and winter arc more
or less intense in their temperature (for
both theories have partizans,) the heavens
Jess prodigal of moisture, the seasons more
irregular. '
An  experiment   with potatoes.— !
Potatoes of large size are said to  be produced by a monk in France by cutting two
side shoots from each stalk when it is five
to seven inches high, and sotting them in
good, rich, mellow garden soil.    In a   few
days they send out roots, and form tubers
about as early and in as large quantities as
the original stalk, while the latter   does
not seem to be injured by the  moderate
pruning.    The experiment also seems  to •»--
have been successfully tried   elsewhere fy
previously. The plan my be found especial - ^'-
ly serviceable in the propagation of new
and rare varieties for seed.
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