The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-05-30
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.


with success: Fill the nest with hog hair,
and there will be no lice troubling the hens,
as lice will not remain in the nest after the
hog hair is put in, and every farmer can save
enough for this purpose after he has killed
his hogs"
A correspondent in the Kansas Farmer
recommends the same. or what he considers
better: Build your hen house over the hog
pen, and you will always be free of the louise
pest.
CORN For SEED.-In selecting corn for seed
il is often the practice to merely choose ears
from the general crop 1t is suggested that
this is not the best method, for, while the
plant may be strong and vigorous and bear
large ears the corn may have been fertilized
BY pollen from feeble or stunted plants near
il. and the seed may retain and repeat these
adverse qualities in spite of the vigor of the
plant on which it grew. Ii is said that
better plan would be to plant some OF the
seed in a small plot by itself, at distance
from the main crop, and To give this patch
plenty OF room and high culture. When the
tassels appear in this seed bed every plant
should be examined, and all feeble stalks
should be pulled out or cut off below the
tassel before it has an opportunity TO bloom.
BY this arrangement both the plants on
which the ears grow, and the pollen scatter
ed from its own and neighO0ring taSsels, will
be alike strong and vigorous, and the seed
rents.
INDICATIONS OF COOP BUTTER Cow-It is
said that the color OF the inside of the cows
ears affords an ineffable guide to the selec-
ton of good butter cow. III the skin on the
inside of the ear is of rich yellow or orange
color and the lining of the ear is covered
with an oily secretion, the COW will be sure
to give good quality of milk, rich in butter.
Cows that produce a high colored butter
1oro nj of no n
side of the ear being of an orange tint. On
the other hand, light-colored butter makers
present scanty, thin and pale yellow stcre-
ton, in some cases found only at the bottom
of the ear, while the inside lining is OF cor
respondingly pale, underlined color. Every
female of the bovine family has the power of
secreting a certain amount of this oily mat
ter. If the quantity be normally large,
cretion will take place freely in the man.
merry glands, the ear and the skin. As the
test is simple and costs nothing, it can not
fail to prove a useful auxiliary TO the dairy
man and farmer in their selection OF rich
mixers.
CARE OF HORSES FEET.-When the foot is
gone, there is no horse left. There is an old
adage to this effect, the truth of which is in
controvertible. Yet no part of horses an
atomy is worse used than the foot, and there
are no more frequent diseases to which the
notice of the veterinary surgeon is brought
than those of the feet. This comes of the
unwise yet obstinately maintained fashion
of rasping, cutting, burning, tarring, and
greasing the hOOfs. 1t would occupy too
much space here to describe the anatomy OF
the foot fully, but it is very timely matter
Just now to consider the structure of the
horny outer covering or crust OF the loot, by
which the delicate inner parts are protected
Horn is q hbrous substance, which con-
tains Is per cent of water. The fact that II
contains water in its normal mposition is a
very important one, and needs to be stated
here, because, unless specific reasons are
given. very little weight is generally &C
corded to all that may be written or said
about the proper treatment OF the horses
foot, by either horse owners, farmers black
smiths or professional horseshoers. When
horn is deprived of water 1t becomes dry,
hard, and without elacticity, precisely like.a
piece of dry glue, which breaks ana splin-
tiers into CLASSY fragments. 1T is necessary,
therefore, that this water should be retained,
to keep the horn in good condition. The
common practices of burning the sole to
procure a fit for the shoe, or rasping the
outer surface to get good shape,
and of tarring and greasing the hoof, all
tend to drive the water out of the horn, and
not only to harden and contract il, but to
make it brittle. In this condition its use
fulness as protection for the foot is at once
impaired and partially destroyed. When the
sole Is burned Dy contact W1Ln not SDOe, IL
is obvious that the water in the portion
of the horn that is heated must be
driven off. That is so obvious
that no more need be said about it. When
the smooth, polished, hard surface of the
horn is rasped away, the softer inner hbrous
portion is exposed to all the evil influences
of evaporation and degradation, and the
numberless pores and cells or interstices
of the horn are enabled TO give up the water
they contain. The horn in this case is also
made dry and brittle, and, of course, con-
tracts. Tar contains an acid and a volatile
oil, which evapor ates and leaves a hardened
pitchy mass. When tar is applied to hoof
the acid acts chemically upon the horn, and
hardens or disintegrates il, and the oil,
evaporating, leaves space between the fib-
ers filled with the hardened residue. 1t OPP
crates precisely in the same manner as when
it is applied to leather-as the sole of shoe,
for instances preventative; the leather
in few days becoming hard and unyield-
ing, imperyious to moisture, and dry. As
with tar so with grease; both these sub
stances drive out the water from the horn
and occupy its place, in time hardening and
acidifying the substance of the hoof crust,
rendering il brittle and contracting it.
The substance of the frog is horn, but is of
a softer and more open texture than the
sole and crust of the hoof. 1t is, therefore,
more easily affected by injurious conditions,
and when il becomes deprived of its water it
shrinks more than the more solid horn.
From this explanation of the character of
the horny covering of the foot any reason
able horse owner may learn how to treat the
hoof, and how to avoid injuring it. When
a shoe is to be fitted, the edge or wall sole
should be prepared by cutting or rasping.
and not by burning Indeed the shoe hould
be fitted to the foot, and not the foot to the
shoe. When, from bad management, the
sole and frog have become dry and con-
tracted, no grease or tar should 6e used; but
water should be used freely. and then the
n ,of should be dressed with glycerine. which
will mix with water, and does not dlsplace
it. Glycerine contains no acid or acrid prop
critics. but IS soft, bland, emollient, and does