The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-04-08
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.

TREES IN fAbTURES.-lt mas been ire
quently urged that trees in pastures en-
courage laziness in animals, for when
such comfortable retreats from the hot
sun in summer are at hand, they are
likely to tarry too long at these resting
places. While it is true that animal in
stinct may not be any surer preventive
against indiscretions in the dumb brute
than in man, still we believe that in all
ruminants digestion proceeds more regu-
larly when the animal is comfortably at
rest, than when subjected to opposite
conditions. Animals appear to be dis
posed to seek the cool shade of tree
when the heat is oppressive, and 1t is
cruel, to say the least, to deprive them
of this comfort. We have always noticed
that animals having a comfortable rest
ing place during the hottest part of the
day would feed later at night as well as
commence earlier in the morning; con-
sequently, we fail to see wherein shade
trees in pasture are detrimental to good
health or the fattening Of animals, as is
sometimes asserted. There are certainly
two sides to this question, but the more
humane practice would be to provide
shade, to say nothing of appearances.
GIVING CHLoRAL TO HoRsEs.-Coach-
men in Bordeaux, France, have for some
time past been in the habit of giving
horses in their charge choral, SO as to
make them easier to ride or drive. The
drug acted like charm, for horses which
had previously been so spirited as to give
much trouble to their drivers became as
quiet as lambs after few days Of
this treatment. This great change
naturally attracted the attention of the
owners of the animals, and they sent for
the veterinary surgeon to ascertain the
cause of this sudden gentleness. That
functionary noticed a certain tendency
to sleep in the animals, but scarcely
knew to what to refer this unusual con-
dition, when, in one of his visits, he hap
pened to find bottle half full of chloral.
When he questioned the delinquent
coachman as to the use he made of the
drug, the latter, after much hesitation,
owned that, following the advice of a
brother whip, he gave his horses dose
of choral every morning, to make them
90 quietly; and further, that many of
the fraternity in Bordeaux followed the
same plan. This is not only true of
coachmen in Bordeaux, but is asserted
to be practised by American coachmen
as we'll.
OLD PLows.-A pillow used by the EN-
peror Joseph III, of Austria, in 1869, was
placed beside modern pillow, in por-
ton of the Austrian department of the
Vienna Exposition set apart for the ex-
hibition of the old plows of various ma
tiOns. No better proof could be obtained
of the great advance in the improvement
of plows which has marked the hundred
years which have elapsed since his I'm
perial Majesty worried himself and his
mother earth with that pillow.
This venerable pillow was composed of
the root of tree, with the stem for a
beam, resting on an axle with wheels
underneath it about two and half feet
in diameter; the handles were secured
to the knee by holes bored into it, into
which the handles were secured; the share
was piece of iron about nine inches
long, secured to the point by the knee,
and then a strip of board about six
inches wide was secured near the SHARE
This last continuance was designed to
answer the purpose of mold-board.
The old English plows, though much
in advance of this Austrian one, were
very awkward and weighty affairs, such
as new would not be accepted as gift
by farmers in any civilized country.
Spain exhibited an old pillow with shafts
and wooden share South France, a
pillow constructed of wood with the ex-
ception of the share, with wooden mold
boards five inches wide; this pillow was
about five hundred years old.
A COOP WORD FOR THE CRows.-The
Baltimore Sun of Saturday, returning to
the subject of crows, remarks: A Bell
air stage driver says that the country
people are poisoning them with strych-
nine, according to a time-honored custom
at this season of the year. The fatal
dose is administered by being saturated
in corn, which is scattered around freely.
Some of the crows die on the spot,
others fly away and somersault in the
sky, and others go blind and die of star
walton and the stomach ache. An in
stance is cited of one worthy but wicked
cOuntryman gathering up 1900 crows he
had poisoned, taking their scalps, and
reaping his reward from the county au-
thorities-6i cents apiece, $75. Crows,
no doubt, perform a better part for the
farmers than they are given credit for.
Nature furnishes scavenger birds and an
imals adapted to the wants of every eli
mate. In South America, the condors
perform this part, aided by the buzzards
which latter birds are also an important
feature in preserving the sanitary equi-
librium in the southern portions of the
United States. In Charleston, S. c., the
buzzards are protected by wise laws,
which impose fine of IS for every one
slain. The birds are so tame in Charles
ton that they sit on the roofs of the mar
ket houses, on the watch to grab up
every bit of offal that is thrown out
from the butchers stalls. In the sum-
mer time the birds, being very numerous,
do large part of the city's scavenger
work. In the same way crows, no doubt,
are beneficial to the country in this lati-
tude, as their name-carrion crow
would indicate, besides making them
selves generally useful in roofing out the
grubs that hatch insects 10 destroy the
labors of the farmer. No doubt, If the
crows were properly encouraged to do
so, they would be useful in destroying
the potato bugs, lately so destructive in
all parts of this country. Who knows
until we have tried them? And if a
poor crow does steal few grains of corn
at seeding time, or pluck the ears when
they have ripened, the farmer could pre-
vent both depredations by well-known
precautions.
BREEDING FARM SToCK.-Hon. Harris
Lewis, President of the New York State
meeting of the Central New York Farm
ers' Club, made the following remarks
upon the subject of Breeding Farm
Stock"
"I believe that man must have con-
siderable gumption,' or judgment, If he
undertakes breeding animals. He must
have an object to breed at. If for the
show ring, he must cover every defect in
an animal with fat; If he breeds for
beef, he must breed for meat, and not