Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1874-12-04
agricultural.


land, the following paper was read by a member:
1.-The feeding Of horses is an important point in
their management. Many farmers would be
great gamers by paying more attention to this
matter. SJme servants, when they have access
to the corn bin, give the horses thev have in
charge too much corn. Many of them have er-
roneous notions that the more corn their horses
get the fatter they must be, and instances are
not uncommon where six bushels a week are
given to a single pair. Too much corn indYsposes
horses for eating other provendcr, and OCCASION
ally subjects them TO serious disease. -Four
bushels of good, sound oats weekly, along with
fe" swedish turnips or other roots, and plenty
Of good straw will keep pair Of healthy farm
horses in good order through winter, even though
they be pretty hard wrought. IF, then, such AZ
allowance be sufficient for a pair, it is folly end
waste to give them more. Hay may have TO be
substituted for straw, but no more corn will be
necessary to sustain them, even when tbev have
to 90 ''thei. ten hours" in the busy spring sea-
son. If sound and healthy, horses that are do
ing only fair work 90 not keep in good condition
with these supplies, the master may INQUIRE
whether the carelessness of the groom be not to
blame for it. Servants that carefully feed their
horses would be gain to many masters. even
though they paid them extra wages. Some
horses are nice feeders, and need to be eoaxed to
eat. Horses that are greedy feeders, or that
sWaiIo" their corn whole should have it bruised
or ground. little chaff mixed with corn helms
to make horses chew it-aud. yelI-ehewad is of
more Importance than many think. Unless it be
yua
mouths, it is but imperfectly digested in their
stomachs, and without perfect digestion there its
full benefit is not obtained. full drink of va
ter Immediately after being fed should never be
allowed to horses. When water is drank by
them the bulk Of it goes directly to the large in
! testines, and little of it is retained in their
s;omachs. In passing through them. however
the water carries considerable quantities of their
contents to where it lodges in the fntestipes. If
tiien' the contents of horses stomachs are wash
ed out OF them before they are digested, they ara
IN a manner lost, no nourishment BEING derived
! from them. Coles in horses freouen,Iv arise
from this cause, and TO it the appearance of corn
entire among the dung is often due.
! The articles of food as we'll as the quality
they get are also matters that demand considera-
tion IN the management of horses. Bere and
Oariey are often given TO them with profit instead
Of corn, and their relative value as articles of
food stand in abont the same proportion as their
/ specific weights do. Damp straw or mus,y hay
should never be given as food for horses. The
former is apt to sour them and the latter fire.
quently affects their wind. 1t is affirmed BY
some that if their hay and straw be cut and their
corn be bruised, horses can be kept at one-fourth
less cost than when these are given them whole.
Every one knows the value of grass as an article
OF food for horses. month of it in the early
part of the season, when thagrass i. young and
tender, is worth two when 1t is old and tough.
Great care must be taken of horses when first
put on grass-indeeG, changes of food of nnv
! kind must TO them be introduced with caution,
as many have had TO pay dearly for neglect of
this. Even change of water has at times
been known to effect some horses, so very sensi-
tive does their alimentary canal seem to be. A
shallow watering place in running stream
should never be allowed for horses while ut grass.
Fatal results have often been induced BY their
drinking sand along with water from such
Place
POIsoNs AND VEGETATION. The National
Academy of Science, which has been In session
at Philadelphia, discussed, and with great unani-
nifty condemned, the use of mineral poisons, es-
pecially Paris green, by farmers for the purpose
of killing niuriOus insects. Prof LIE Conte saws
that arsenic and copper, of which Paris green is
composed, are poisons which act with equal
energy upon plants and animals. The material,
though diffused upon the leaves of the plants to
be protected, which are incapable of absorbing
it, Is speedily carried into the soil, and if used
annually it is merely matter of time how many
years will elapse before the soil is poisoned so
to prevent the growth of all vegetation. TIE
use OF strychnine in cOrnfields 10 kill crows was
referred to be another member, who thought that
this most indestructble of poisons might affect
the vegetation. Prof. Sillman cited a case in
Massachusetts where the fumes from copper
works injured the surrounding forests and grass
lands The academy finally adopted a resolu-
tion authorizing the appointment of committee
to investigate and report upon the subject of the
use of poisons applied to vegetables or otherwise
for the destruction of deleterious insects and
other animals, and also the incautious use of
posonS in the OrnamentatiOr of articles of food,
and for destructive purposes generally, such, for
! instance. as the colOring of paper.
GREAT YIELD OF PIE PLAST.-A truck farmer
near Providence, r. l., sold in that market the
I last spring and summer nine tons CT rhubarb
I from quarter of an acre of land. Owing to
! very sharp competition he only received twenty
/ five dollars ton for it, or cent and auarter
/ 4 pound. This is s225 worth of truck from q
| quarter of an acre, or 5000 per acre. If it had
not been for competition, and the rhubarb had
heen sold at former seasons prices, he would
have received at the rate Of 81 800 an acre for
this crop. This is by no means an unparalleled
return for such farming. 1t is a result of Il very
liberal use of manure and labor, and of adapting
crops to the wants of the market. A farmer
uses fifty dollars worth of manure and thinks
he is very extTavagant. A market gardener uses
two hundred dollars worth on rich land and re-
Trets that he had not mt ON more