OCR Text |
Show HOME AND FARM. CHICKEN CHOLERA.-If chickens have cholera, give them wet food for a few days well stirred into one feed, a teaspoonful of sulphur; and into the next, about a teaspoonful of powdered charcoal-and so to alternate the food for about three days. ANY kind of cloth may be rendered water-proof by the following simple and inexpensive mixture. To one ounce of melted white wax add one quart of spirits of turpentine. When thoroughly mixed and cold, dip the cloth in it and hang it up to dry. WHITEWASH FOR POULTRY HOUSES.-Into the whitewash pail drop a teaspoonful of soft boiled rice, and mix thoroughly. Then pour into a quart of cold water, say ten or twelve drops of crude carbolic acid. Mix this into the rest and swab the interior of your henhouse with it. For outside, use rock salt dissolved instead of boiled rice, and dispense with carbolic acid. No other preparation of whitewash equals this for poultry houses. POTATO TOPS.-The potato itself exhausts the soil but very little, as its elements are derived mainly from the atmosphere, but the potato top exhausts more than any other vegetable, as its elements are derived more from the soil. Potato tops, then should all be carefully buried where they are dug. If the practice were universally followed, no crop would exhaust the soil less. Let the farmer try the experiment, and write the result for the benefit of others. FATTENING PROPERTIES OF PEAS AND BEANS-These articles have been found, by chemical analysis, to be rich in nitrogen. The inference has been, that they would be specially useful in supporting the waste of the muscles of animals, and it has been suggested that they would be particularly useful in the production of wool. They are evidently valuable for their purposes, but not the less valuable for the production of fat. Those persons who have used peas for fattening hogs, consider their worth as much as Indian corn. In districts where that grain is not grown very fine pork is produced from peas. Dickson, in his work "On the Breeding of Live Stock" states, that a sweepstakes was entered into between five East Lothian farmers, to be claimed by the one who should be pronounced the best feeder of cattle. Forty cattle of the same breed, and in equal condition, were divided equally among them, as fairly as possible. They were put up together the second week in September, and killed at Christmas following. The winner of the stakes fed his animals wholly on boiled beans and with hay. FOOD FOR FOWLS.-Fowls are, of all birds, the most easy to feed. Every alimentary substance agrees with them, even when buried in manure; nothing is lost to them, they are seen the whole day long, incessantly busied in scratching-picking up a living. In well fed fowls, the difference will be seen not only in the size and flesh of the fowls, but in weight and goodness of the eggs; two of which go further in domestic uses than three from hens poorly fed, or half starved. It is customary to throw to the fowls in a poultry yard, a quantity of corn, and somewhat less than that which they would consume if they had an abundance. Fowl, however, are more easily satisfied than might be supposed from the greedy voracity which they exhibit when they are fed by the hand. It is well known that, as a general rule, large animals consume more than small ones. There is as much difference in the quantity of food consumed by individual fowls as there is in animals. It has been found by careful experiments that the sorts of food most easily digested by fowls are those of which they eat the greatest quantity. They evidently become soonest tired of, and are least partial to rye. It has also been found that there is considerable economy in feeding wheat, corn and barley, well boiled, as the grain is thus increased in bulk at least one-fourth, and the same bulk seems to satisfy them, but there is no saving by boiling oats, buckwheat or rye. THE PROPER WAY TO BLANKET HORSES.-Few people understand how to blanket a horse to protect him from contracting cold. We frequently see the blanket folded double, and laid across the rump and part of the animal's back leaving those parts of the body that need protection entirely exposed to cold storms and chilling winds. Those parts of the body of a horse which surround the lungs require the benefit of a blanket in preference to his flanks and rump. When we are exposed to a current of cold air, to guard against any injury from contracting cold, we shield our shoulders, neck, chest, and back. If these parts be kept protected, the lower part of the body will endure a degree of cold far more intense, without injury to the body than if the lungs were not warm with a suitable covering. The same thing holds good in the protection of horses. The blanket should cover the neck, withers and shoulders, and be brought around the breast, and buttoned his overcoat. Let the lungs of a horse be protected with a heavy blanket, and he will seldom contract cold, even if the hindmost parts of his body are not covered. We refer more particularly to blanketing horses that have become unusually warm by violent exertion or hard driving, and exposing them to a current of cold air while standing still. Many of our best teamsters protect the breasts of their horses by a piece of heavy cloth about two feet square, banging down from the lower end of the cellar. This is an excellent practice in cold weather, as the most important part of the animal is shielded from cold wind, especially when traveling toward a strong current. The forward end of the horse's blanket should be made to fit as closely around the breast of a horse as our garments fit our bodies. Most horses will contract a violent cold almost as soon as a man, if not blanketed while they stand still, after having been exercised as violently as to produce profuse perspiration. So long as a horse is kept in motion, there is little danger of his suffering from cold winds. But allow him to stand a few moments while loading or unloading, without a heavy blanket to protect his shoulders and lungs, and he will take cold sooner than some men. |