water, and poured down a privy, will effectually destroy the foulest
smells; for water closets aboard ships and steamboats, or for rats, mice,
&c., keep it dissolved near the place and in a few days it will all
disappear. About hotels and other public places, there is nothing so nice
to cleanse places as simple green copperas dissolved under the bed in any
thing that will hold water, and thus render a hospital and other places
for the sick free from unpleasant smells. For butchers’ stalls, fish
markets, slaughter houses, sinks and wherever there are offensive and
putrid gasses, dissolve copperas and sprinkle it about, and in a few days
the smell will pass away.
APPENDIX.
INFORMATION HOW TO TREAT DANGEROUS DISEASES.
There are several diseases which are very dangerous and run their course
in a very short time, and prove fatal if they are not properly treated or
arrested before they become firmly seated. I would here urge upon every
owner of horses, (and in fact every disease which this work treats on,)
to pay strict attention to it. In many diseases, what you can do must be
done at once or not at all--the old saying is ‘a stitch in time saves
nine,’ and there is a great deal of truth in this, in many diseases.
I would here urge upon you the importance of glystering in certain
diseases. In the Wind Colic and also in the Spasmodic Colic, as soon
as you ascertain what the disease is and not before. The truth of the
matter is that no man has any right to give any medicine until he is
certain what the disease is. Give the medicine and course of treatment
prescribed in the disease then quickly follow with injections. If you
have neglected to prepare yourself for glystering, back-rake with your
hand--this is done by greasing the hand and arm with lard or oil and
introduce it as far as you can. The glystering or back-raking never does
any harm but always assists in relieving. Every owner of horses should
prepare himself with several large beef or hog bladders, a few elders
with the pith punched or burnt out, and by so doing you are prepared at
any time to give an injection. This may be done by cutting a notch around
the one end of the elder, then fill your bladder with soap suds or oil,
next tie the bladder on the end of the elder you have notched, firmly,
and introduce the elder into the fundament, and then you can force the
suds into the fundament easily by pressing on the bladder. You should
in all cases where there is great danger of losing your horse, give
injections and continue to repeat them until they operate. There are many
cases in colics that the horse is bound or corked, this can be perceived
by the horse trying frequently or straining to dung; when this does
occur it is very dangerous and you must in these cases give large doses
of aloes and glyster freely, repeating until you get it to operate. If
you fail to get an operation you will lose your horse. Preparation for
glystering: Take warm water and make a suds with soap, add thereto epsom
salts, and in some cases you may add ½ oz. aloes. Fish oil is a very good
article of itself; from a pint to a quart for one injection. I have known
1 pint of fish oil to be given as a drench in colic, and has relieved
where all other remedies have failed.
I will here state that there are more horses killed by medicine
improperly given than ever was cured. For this reason, the great majority
of owners of horses and in fact a great many farriers who pretend to
know, do not know what the disease is, and next is a dose of medicine
and perhaps in less than half an hour the horse drops down dead, and
why, because in many cases the medicine given for the disease, is the
dose that poisons or kills him, from the fact that he was mistaken in
the disease, or given medicine for one disease when it was another.
Therefore, I here again assert that no man has any right to give
medicine until he fully ascertains what the disease is. This he can
easily get at if he will pay some attention to the symptoms which are
so plainly described in this work. As soon as your horse commences to
complain, watch him closely and you will find him to point out to you
plainly what the disease is, and you will find the horse to point it out
to a hair’s breadth as I have described it to you.
Why is it that men will toil and labor hard through the summer’s heat,
and expose themselves to the extreme cold in winter, and at the end of
the year perhaps, will lose more in horse flesh than they have made.
Millions of dollars are lost yearly in horses and a great part of it
for the want of carefulness and paying some attention to the diseases
of the horse, which costs no man any hard labor or exposure. Let me
urge upon you the importance of reading this work over again and again,
paying attention to it as you peruse it over, and you will find it gives
you such information as each and every person should have for his own
interest. I will here state that an ounce of preventative is a great
deal better than a pound of cure. Many diseases might be prevented by
being cautious in their treatment to horses and keeping them in a healthy
condition. This should be done by using the celebrated horse powders
on page 60, twice a year, fall and spring. Say you feed from 1 to 1½
pounds to each horse, each time, fall and spring. If you adopt this once
you will never depart from it afterward, as you will find it to be a
preventative of diseases and will find so much improvement in your stock
that you will not depart from it. Every man that has a horse should habit
himself to sprinkle a little salt on the feed every time he feeds his
horse. The salt is nourishing and is just as much needed in the horse’s
food every meal as it is needed on the food that a man eats.
The Inflammation of the Lungs is another dangerous disease. It is
becoming to be a common disease among horses, and carries off its
thousands, simply because it is at first a sneaking disease; the farmer
and owner thinks very little of it when it first makes its appearance,
and the truth is there are very few persons who know anything about the
disease, and if it is suffered to run over the third day, you might as
well take the horse out where you want him to die; yet, with all its
danger and certainty of death if neglected, there is not a disease which
is plainer in its symptoms or is pointed out plainer by the horse than in
this disease. It is impossible to be mistaken in this disease if you but
pay the least attention to it, and is easily conquered if taken in time.
In this disease the foxglove, tartar emetic and nitre should be used
twice or thrice a day, as directed in Inflammation of the Lungs.
Bots is another which is very dangerous when they take hold. Feed the
Celebrated Horse Powders, as directed and use plenty of salt and you will
not have one case in a thousand of Bots.
If you want the best Lotion in the world for fresh or old wounds on
horses, turn to page 70, there you will find it, Tincture of Aloes and
Myhr; if you want to cure the Ringbone or Spavin, turn to page 71, and
you will find it; if you want to cure the Blood or Bog Spavin, turn to
page 68; if you want a Lotion for to cure the Scratches in a few days,
turn to page 64; if you want a Lotion for Sprains, Bruises, Swellings,
&c., turn to page 63; if you want a certain remedy for Sweaney, turn to
page 74; if you want to see the List of Medicines used in the diseases
of horses, you will find them from pages 93 to 108, giving their medical
properties and uses.
I will here name a few Domestic Medicines, Receipts, &c., and would
urge every person and family to make use of them and keep them on hand,
as they have proven to be very valuable and will do what they are
recommended to do. Dr. Wickey’s Cholera Medicine cannot be surpassed for
cholera, cholera morbus, diarrhœa, summer complaint, looseness of the
bowels, sickness of the stomach, cramp colic, flux, &c. This Medicine is
easily prepared and will keep for many years if made out of good brandy.
There is not any Medicine now in use that will give the same amount of
satisfaction as this, and it is perfectly safe and harmless, as it is
purely vegetable, see page 148.
Prof. Biddle’s preparation for the hair and head will positively cure the
tetter or any itching or humor of the skin, will prevent the hair from
falling off, and has restored more hair than any other hair restorative
ever introduced, see page 174.
If you want sweet cider the year round, turn to page 165 and follow
directions, and you will have it; if you want honey without bees, turn to
page 161 and you can have it; if you have the rheumatism and want to be
cured, turn to pages 152, 153, 154 and 155; if you want a liniment that
cannot be surpassed and is easily made, turn to page 157 and you will
see how to make it. You should add double the quantity of laudanum and
use the spirits of saltpetre--which is made by pouring alcohol over the
saltpetre, the same as the camphor.
If you want to read an interesting subject, turn to page 131 and read
the whole subject and you will have it in truth; if you want the best
medicine in the world for colic, turn to pages 128 and 129. I will here
state that the Pipsisseway is the best for colic, it has a whitish
stripe running through the centre of the leaf. The Wintergreen has not
this whitish stripe through the centre; both of them keep green the
year round. The Wintergreen is considered very excellent for colds and
coughs, it is used as a tea for coughs. If you want an eye water that
will relieve inflamed eyes, turn to page 194; this is truly valuable and
is a harmless application, yet easily made, costing but 6¼ cents.
I have here named some of the leading articles, which will prove to be
very valuable to all that have occasion to make use of them. Try them and
you will be convinced.
SCARLET FEVER.
I will here give to the reader the symptoms of Scarlet Fever. This
disease has slain its thousands where the monster disease, Cholera has
slain its hundreds, and it becomes every parent to feel it his duty to
be careful when the disease is in the neighborhood. It is evident that
the disease is contagious, in this form it can be taken by inhaling the
breath from one that has it, and it is satisfactorily proven that it can
be carried in woollen goods from one family to another.
SYMPTOMS:--This disease commences with chilliness, dullness of the head
and prostration of strength, according to the violence of the attack.
There is sometimes nausea and vomiting, and the surface soon becomes
florid and hot.
The throat is generally inflamed and the same appearance extends to the
tongue, which is sometimes of a very deep scarlet, tinged with blue. If
the symptoms are increased, it is called Scarlet Fever in a malignant
form, the symptoms are very violent and the patient becomes pale and
faint, the heart palpitates, the Fever continues to rise higher and
higher, there is great danger.
The pulse now rises to one hundred and fifteen or twenty strokes in a
minute. The pulse and the eruption will give the form and character of
the disease. The eruption generally commences with red patches, which
spread and unite till they cover the whole body. The eruption appears
first on the face and neck, then on the legs, and the redness is greatest
about the loins and bending of the joints, and on the hands and ends of
the fingers. There is however not a perfect regularity in the eruption
of Scarlet Fever, either in appearance or duration. In ordinary cases
the eruption remains out about four days, when the grain of the skin
begins to peel off and in a few days more it disappears. As the disease
progresses, the tonsils becomes specked with ash colored spots and
Ulceration follows. In favorable cases their slugs come off in eight or
ten days.
If the Patient does not die by the ninth day, he will generally get
well under proper management, though it may be three weeks, in some
cases before he recovers. When this disease terminates favorably, all
the symptoms generally yield, beginning about the fourth day after the
eruption appears. The patient is more liable to relapse in this disease
than any other, and caution should be used to prevent a relapse. Parents
would do well to watch its first appearance and keep their children from
its influence as much as possible using preventatives, such as keeping a
tar plaster around the neck, keeping gum camphor, a little asafœtida and
a small piece of garlic around the neck--this should be put into a small
muslin bag and hung around the neck. Let the children eat small pieces
of garlic during the day. These are considered preventatives by the
Medical Faculty.
TREATMENT--Give mild purgatives, such as Oil, to keep the bowels open.
Drink plentifully of balm tea, if this cannot be had, use Sage, Hysop,
Saffron Blossom, or Dittany. This will bring out the eruption and keep
it out full. If this can be accomplished, the danger will be very much
lessened. This fact should be kept in view in all eruptive diseases. Keep
a Tar Plaster around the neck; add to the tar a small portion of Spirits
of Turpentine, keep this on for some time, renewing, adding turpentine
enough to cause the skin to red. If the patient be not very careful when
he gets out, he will take cold, and the glands of the neck will swell
and suppurate and the ear will run, and if great attention be not paid,
deafness will probably be the result.
They must be kept clean and Laudanum and Sweet Oil put into them every
day till they get well.
6 REASONS FOR PLANTING AN ORCHARD.
First, would you leave an inheritance to your children, plant an orchard.
No other investment of money and labor will in the long run pay so well.
Second, would you make home pleasant, the abode of the social virtues,
plant an orchard. Nothing better promotes among neighbors a feeling of
kindness and good will, than a treat of good fruit often repeated.
Third, Would you remove from your children the strongest temptation to
steal, plant an orchard. If children cannot obtain fruit at home, they
are very apt to steal it, and when they have learned to steal fruit, they
are in a fair way to steal horses, &c.
Fourth, Would you cultivate a constant feeling of thankfulness towards
the Giver of all good, plant an orchard. By having constantly before you
one of the greatest blessings given to men, you must be hardened indeed
if you are not influenced by a spirit of humility and thankfulness.
Fifth, Would you have your children love their home, respect their
parents while living and venerate their memory when dead, in all their
wanderings, look back upon the home of youth as a sacred spot, as oasis
in the great wilderness of the world, then plant an orchard.
Sixth, In short, if you wish to avail yourself of the blessings of a
bountiful Providence, which are within your reach, you must plant an
orchard. And when you do it, see that you plant good fruit, don’t plant
Crab Apple Trees, nor Wild Plums, nor Indian Peaches, the best are
the cheapest. Seriously, we have often wondered why our farmers did
not devote more attention to the cultivation of fruit; it certainly
would prove profitable and pleasant. An orchard of an acre or so of
choice fruit, properly taken care of could not be the least profitable
portion of a farm. Upwards of a hundred bushels of fruit can be gathered
annually, and without much trouble from merely a small garden patch. One
great point to commence with is to procure good sorts, for it requires
no more labor to attend a tree that will bear apples worth seventy-five
cents and a dollar a bushel than one producing those not worth more than
two shillings. Let our farmers think of these things. But, the inquiry is
frequently made how shall we manage our trees, to produce fine flavored
fruit in a short time.
First, select good, rich soil, such as will produce 70 bush. indian
corn per acre, if not such it should be made such by manuring. You
cannot expect a tree to flourish and produce good fruit when there is no
strength or food to supply it with proper nourishment. It is too much
like building a house without a foundation, or sitting down to dine at
an empty dish, there being nothing to support the growth of the tree, no
food to supply it with proper nourishment, finally, it dies for the want
of nourishment, if not, the fruit which it bears, if any, is small and
knotty, having scarcely any taste or flavor. If you want nice, large,
fine flavored fruit, prepare your soil before planting your trees and
keep it prepared by manuring occasionally. It is unreasonable to expect
to raise fruit from a tree when it is half or three quarters starved out,
all for the want of nourishment. You may here make inquiry how to prepare
your soil. This may be done by putting a heavy dressing of manure on it,
then obtain sufficient depth of soil, so as to enable the roots to extend
themselves freely and hold moisture without dying out in protracted
drought. This may be done with a common plow, letting it run 8 or 10
inches deep, then by means of a good subsoil plow, running it in the same
furrow, you will obtain a depth of 15 or 18 inches. This process should
be continued until you have all plowed that depth. When you have this
accomplished, run your harrow over several times leveling and pulverizing
it finely. When you have all this completed your soil will be prepared
for planting your trees. If you cannot possibly prepare your soil in this
way, you should by all means dig very large holes, say six or eight feet
in diameter and a foot and a half deep, working the manure through the
soil as you dig it up. This may seem to the farmer as requiring too much
labor, but will richly pay him for it in the end. Plant your trees in
this soil firmly, leaving the soil a little lower about the body of the
tree, so as it may hold the water, if filled up about the level of the
soil, the water will run away from the roots and your tree may die for
the want of moisture. Every tree should have a stake driven in the ground
to fasten or stay the tree, so as to prevent the storms from bending and
switching it about. If this is not done your trees will be injured, and
will not thrive. There are a great many farmers complaining that they
cannot raise any fruit. Truly, how can they expect to raise fruit when
they will crowd their trees into small holes, and the soil so hard that
you can scarcely drive a stake into it with a sledge, and above all the
land starved out, the grass and weeds suffered to grow up at such a rate
that you are not able to see the body of the tree. Young trees should
be nursed and cultivated, keeping the soil mellow by repeated stirring
and preventing the growth of any vegetable for several feet from the
tree. A hoed crop is next best to clear mellow ground. A sowed crop,
grass or weeds is ruinous to young trees. After you have your trees well
set, you should by all means wash them down once or twice a year with
soap and water. Say about one quart of soap to two quarts of water--wash
from the large branches to the bottom--this will destroy the insects
that may be put into the body and limbs of the tree. Many drooping trees
have been made healthy by using this wash. If you wish to preserve your
peach trees, it is necessary for you to apply this to them twice a year,
also frequently pouring reasonably hot soap suds to the body and root
of the tree; this will kill and destroy the worm which so frequently
destroys your trees. The lie which is left at the bottom of the kettle
from boiling hot soap is very good and should always be used to wash your
trees. If you wish to preserve your peach trees, you should by all means
search the roots and body of the tree, and where you find any gum caused
by the worm, remove it by means of a knife, carefully cutting away where
any gum is found, and as far as there seems to be a hollow under the
bark, then wash the whole stem well, suffering it to run to the roots: It
is stated by a worthy gentleman, that by planting tansey around the tree,
the worm will not trouble the roots. This is simple enough and worthy of
a trial. It is hoped that these important truths will cause the Farmer
and others to put them in practice, and it most undoubtedly will be the
means of raising improved fruit and will be richly paid for all his
labour.
HOW TO CATCH AN OWL.
Those who are troubled with owls, let them set a steel trap on the top of
a pole near the hen roost, and you will be certain to catch him.
A SUPPLEMENT
TO THE
FARMER’S OWN BOOK:
A TREATISE ON THE
Diseases of Horned Cattle,
WITH AN
EXPLANATION OF THEIR SYMPTOMS,
AND THE
COURSE OF TREATMENT TO BE PURSUED.
PUBLISHED BY
J. D. KOOGLE,
Middletown, Maryland.
1858.
PREFACE.
The beneficence of an all wise Providence in organizing man, so as to
secure him dominion over animals of inferior physical construction,
impose on him obligations to exercise that eminent advantage in a spirit
of mercy and in mitigation of the pains and disorder of the brute
creation! Impose upon him as a gentleman, as an intelligent Farmer, or as
a man of humanity; should deem it essential to make himself familiar with
the nature and injuries of the suffering brute. To say nothing of the
duty, which common intelligence and humanity enjoins upon every one to
prepare himself with proper information, remedies and common medicines,
which will enable him to extend immediate relief to the speechless,
suffering animals. No man should hesitate, to provide himself with a
book which will teach him plainly in what way to give relief to the poor
speechless brute.
THE AGE.
The age of neat cattle is very difficult to get at, until they reach
the age of three years; after this, we get at the age by the horns. The
surface of the horn continues very smooth, until the expiration of the
second year of the animals life, when a wrinkle or circle of thicker
horn begins to be formed around the base. This is truly completed in
twelve months and another ring then begins to appear, so that if the
perfect rings or circles are counted, and two added to them, the age
of the beast is supposed to be ascertained. These rings, however, are
not always clear and distinct, and it is very easy to remove one or two
of them with a rasp, at least to the unpracticed eye, when the animal
begins to be remarkably old. In addition to this, a well known fact
should be stated:--That if a heifer takes the bull at about two years
old, the first ring is formed a twelve month before its usual time, and
consequently she would always appear to be reckoning by her horns, a
twelve month older than she really is. After all, the age as denoted by
the horn can only be calculated in the Cow. These rings do not begin to
appear in the Ox or Bull until the animal is five years old, and then
they are frequently too confused to be accurately counted.
When in health, a softness of the skin, and a glossy appearance of the
hair, not only indicates present health, but a disposition to thrive;
while a hard dry skin clinging to the ribs, and a staring in every
direction, show that there is something wrong in the constitution, and
that it will be labor in vain to attempt to fatten such a beast, for your
own interest, you should put your beast in good condition, and keep it in
condition.
ON THE DISEASES OF HORNED CATTLE.
INFLAMMATION:--Inflammation is the most frequent diseased condition to
which neat Cattle are subject. External inflammation is known by the
part being swollen, tender and hotter, than in its natural state; in
garget or downfall of the udder, which is an inflammation of one or more
quarters of the bag; the affected parts are swollen, tender and hot. If
this state of the bag is neglected, matter or pus will be formed, and
make a troublesome job, this should not be neglected or deferred; if it
is properly treated, the swelling heat and tenderness will generally
disappear.
INTERNAL INFLAMMATION.
Internal Inflammation by other and often more indistinct symptoms. We
can here seldom ascertain the heat or tenderness, or swelling of the
part, and can usually only judge of the complaint, by the effects which
it produces on the system. Every internal inflammation soon affects the
whole system, accompanied with considerable fever, and that fever and
degree of it is easily ascertained by the heat of the breath, and the
mouth, and the base of the horn, by the redness of the eye, hardness
of the pulse and the loss of appetite. When Inflammation seizes any
important organ, as the brain, lungs, bowels, kidneys, udder, &c.,
bleeding is to be immediately had recourse to, after bleeding, a purging
drink is to be administered, sometimes it is necessary to insert a seton
in the dew lap. For external inflammation from severe bruises, wounds and
other accidents, fomentations with warm or cold water. Poultices made of
Linseed Oil, when they can be applied.
BLEEDING, ITS UTILITY.