Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-02-08

Joy asks seeing cyc, nor listening ear;
But carol, blooms, and shines when Ia near,
Only because 1t feels fully best
| The mated bird flies not on open wing,
But sings from out tho bough,-and so sing
! Tho happy secret hidden in my breast
| -Scribmer's.
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Stable ami Farm.
CLIPPING HORSES.
President Bergh, Of the New York So.
cicty, lately requested the opinion Of
james S. Cattanach, vertinary sur
geon, in regard to clipping holses. He
replied as follows:
consider clipping highly beneficial
to horses that are called on to perform
fast work, such rs road horses, etc.
From my observation they imme-
diatcly commence to improve in condi-
ton, feel better; the lean horse will
get tut they will not perspire SO much
when worked hard ; can perform more
work with greater ease than before be-
ing clipped.
Clipping has such happy result
that consider it tonic superior to
any that can be found in the pharmaco-
pnia it strengthens the absorbents of
the skin; allows the animal to perspire
with greater freedom is not SO liable
to take cold after hard drive he re-
turns to his stable with beautiful glow
over his whole frame is easily rubbed
dry. and will not break out in a sweat
when blanketed and placed in his
stall.
The horse with long coat of hair,
that is driven at rapid gait ON the
road, will return to the stable in pro-
fuse state of perspir4tion. The groom
endeavors to rub him dry; he may
keep rubbing him with all his might
for an hour and will not succeed. He
blankets him up, places him lin his
stall, and returns in the morning to
| find the animal in o worse state of per-
SEPARATION then he, was the night pre-
vious. Hence the loss of many valua-
BILE horses. -.
The trotting-horse that is clipped is,
as general rule, well taken care Of
His owner provides him with warm
blankets, and when he stops on the
road he is wrapped up in them and the
greatest of care is taken to prevent him
from taking cold. I do not advocate
the clipping of horses that have only
to perform slow work, nor the "hack "
that has to stand for hours on the
public squares, his owner waiting for q
job; but for the gentleman's road
horse I consider it as an act of human
ity to relieve him of the heavy coat.
Clipping horses has been practised for
Il number Of years, and has now be-
come popular. It has had fair trial,
and if gentlemen did not find it bene
fetal they would not run the risk of
adopting it on horses that cost them
thousands of dollars.
! CARE OF HORSES LEGS.
Few men who. handle horses give
proper attention to the feet and legs.
Especially is this the case on farms.
Much time is spent of q morning in
rubbing, brushing, ind smoothing the
hair, on the sides and hips, but at no
time are the feet examined and properly
cared for. Now, be 1t known that the
feet OF the horse lequlre more care than
the body. They need ten times as much;
for one respect they are almost the en-
tire horse. All the grooming that can
be done won't avail anything if the
| horse is forced to stand where his feet
will be filthy. In this case. the feet
will become disordered, and then the
legs will get uadly out of fix; and with
bad feet and Dad legs, there is not much
else ofthe horse fit for anything. Stable
prisons generally are terribly severe
on the feet and legs of horses; and un-
less these buildings can afford dry
room, where the horse can walk around,
lie down, or roll over, they a1e not half
SO healthy and comfortable to the horse
as the pasture, and should he avoided
by all good hostlers in the country.
North British Agriculturist.
SPRING CHICKENS.
Very early spring chickens are gen.
orally dear, and pay extraordinarily
we'll for raising, and they are much
easier brought through the latter part
of February and the following month,
than people suppose, and as practical
knowledge is worth much more than
aught else, what I am going to say can
be done, and has been accomplished
extensively by the writer and his better
half. Having little birds, rather larger
than pigeons, to sell for seventy-five
cents each in April and May, giving a
dollar couple clear profit, is making
money fast enough to satisfy reason
able people. The way to do it is to
have the hens all comfortably lodged
in warm roost by the LIST of january.
Have some nice, snug, warmly situated
nests near the roost, for the hens to
lay in, and contrive that they can go to
and fro without going out into bad
weather, and if they have been we'll fed
they will be laying when the new year
begins, and if Brahma blood he in them
(half will dog they will sit by the end
OF the month; after Matching, put
them in coops which can be closed and
made dark by fastening up front
board-then in bad weather the chickens
car. be fed by letting down the board,
and be shut up again as soon as they
have eaten, which will cause the hen ia
sittstill and nurse them till they are fed
again have no bottoms to the coops,
and move every day., putting dry fine
straw or any kind of litter under the
coop when the ground is wet, but in
moderate weather, or whenever dry,
let them be on the SOD. Keep the her
confined till the chickens are q month
old, unless unusually mild, and lei
these coops be on slope facing tn.
south, and away from the haunts of tn,
old fowls. There are many days i,
February when the chickens will ru,
around the coop picking up blades o
grass, &C., enjoying the sunshine
which puts them in strong health t,
bear closer confinement in cold SPELL
and during snow-storms, which will
these coops, do not hurt them at all
and there will be no dropping wing
and no crying as there invariably i
when little chickens are raised in glas
lighthouses, or in any kind of houses O
barns; for in any of these places the
miss the fresh ground to be daily move'
on, and the fresh air and sunshin
which G ives them an appetite out-oi
doors which they lose indoors, howeve
4 spacious the apartments may be.
? have had to dig the snow away fror
3 the coops several times in one season
and brush places for them to be place
, on, which is quickly done by having E
q spare coop and going from one to til
D other with n basket; and by 10 or l
9 O'Clock the whole of the broods, fro1
thirty to forty coops, would be seen a
brisk as bees, dozen or more in eac
coop, and racing to meet the feeder.
8 The feed requires variation and shout,