Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1859-12-16
9nrat aud domestic.
From Beecher's Fru ts, Flowers and Farming.
CAR OF ANIMALS x1a WINTER.
"A 4 III c u l t ure

The wisest man has said that :. the righteous
man regardeth the life of his beast but The
| tender mercies of the wicked are cruel" Ii
any one is at loss TO know the meaning o
the latter part, he cannot have made good use
of his eyes. Lean cattle, leaner horses, ana
| tomical specimens of cows, halffed, dirty
| drenehed by every rain, and pierced by every
winter wind, these are an excellent comment
on the passage. ....
| 1t is time for every merciful man to make
provisions for every dumb animal which is de-
pendent upon him.
Cows should be provided with comfortable
stable at night No feeding will be "a substi-
| tute for shelter. Both the quantity and quail
ity of the milk will depend upon bodily com
fort in respect to warmth and nutrieious food
Such as are becoming heavy with calf should
be specially cared for. Many farmers let their
COWS shift for themselves as soon as their milk
dries away But the health of the coming
calf and the ability of the COW to supply it.
and her owner, copiously with milk, depends
on the condition in which she is kept during
the period of CESSATION.
Cattle should have good shed provided fol
them, under which they may be dry and shell
tered from the winds. 1t is the curse of wes-
tern farming that cattle and fodder are so
plenty that it is hardly loss to waste both.
Where the amount of stock is too great for
comfortable home quarters, and they are win
tered in a stockfield there should be places of
resort for them, so high as to remain dry, we'll
turfed with blue grass, and sheltered with
cheap sheds, belts of forest.
Sheep should receive special attention.
They should be permitted TO keep their feeccs
dry AMI to eat their food in dry stable
The flock should be sorted-bucks and wealth
ers by themselves. the ewes by themselves
lambs and weak sheep in another division
and a fourth compartment should never be
wanting for the sick, where they may be nurs-
ed and medically treated.
Horses are more apt to be taken care Of
than cattle. But even they are often more in
debted for existence to ii stubborn tenacity of
life than to the care of the keepers. The
horse is more dainty feeder than Illuminating
animals. lie should be supplied with better
article of hay F.; his grain should never be dirty
or nlusty.
Hardy fnrm-horses may even rough out the
winter without banketing or any other care
than is necessary to supply good food and
enough of it. But carriage horses and those
highly priced for the sadd!e-a aristocratic hOr-
ses-should be more carefully groomed. 1t is
not wise to blanket horse at all, unless it can
be always done If he is liable to change
hands--to be off on journeys under circum
stances in which he cannot be blanketed at
night, it will be better not to begin it.
Winter is a good time to kill off spirited
horses. They are easily run down by a smash
ing sleigh ride. Boys and girls, buzzing in a
double sleigh like hive of bees, think that
horses enjoy themselves, at exhilarating
pace Of six or eight miles an hour as much as
they do. But this is not ordinarily the worst
of it. The horse stand. ont, after a trip of
eighteen miles, at post for an hour or two
until thoroughly chilled then home he races.
then goes into the stable steaming with sweat,
to stand without blankets all night Horses
catch cold as much as men do. And Il horse
cold is Just as bad as human cold. AS there
has been some difficulty in the construction of
fannng-mills, to gain a strong enough current
of wind. we would advise the builders of them
to study the construction Of good stable.