HINTS FOR STOCKMEN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3616, 1 February 1906, Page 4

HINTS FOR STOCKMEN.

Improve the pastures. Epaom'a salts are the best physic foi the cow. There should be ample pasture for the swine. Better drive the horse fast up hill than downhill. Always feud any animal light- when changing' feed. When the frog of the horse's foot be I tomes hard, use poultice. | • Build the swine pen so as to facilitate | «*»y handling of the swine. Pine tar may be smearod over the trtue of the *heep for snuffles. Cabbages can be fed profitably to _, t , «wine. and they are a cheap feed. Powdered charcoal is an absorbent of g&ies in the stable or in the animal. Ai a rule it does not pay to attempt to cure a hor3e of viciousneas. Get rid of it.

II your blacksmith puts a red-hot ■hoc on your horse’s foot, go to a blacksmith that won’t.

It is just as important to carefully ■elect the breeding stock formulas as it Is for horses.

«■ If your horse cribs, sell him, is the advice of a writer; and our advice is, don’t < buy such a horse.

The horse often shies because its eyesight is not perfect and it mistakes the character of objects. * A little “spring” medicine is good for [ the horse. A dose of May apple root ' will clean out the animal. Begin to “break” the calf, as well ais the colt, early, that is, accustom it to being handled and to being tied. . If the hogs are confined only during *■ the fattening process, it may be much smaller than if they are confined for a * longer period.—Western Plowman. - v . * Fnnotlona of I.lve Stock, k The true function of live stock on the I,' average farm should be to consume all the food products raised and return to the owner a fair, not an extravagant, price for the food consumed: to convert I coarse material into higher-priced prod- | liota of the fertilizing materials cou- •' Burned. If his live stock pays for the food consumed' the farmer, has made - what would be considered a reasonable i ; profit in other lines of business—the increased fertility of his land is of it- •;/ self n handteome profit, and one which : $a su(te often entirely overlooked.—

. r,o Generally Established.

. or some time the government has j •i.’u making a trial of free nival mail | delivery in 29 states on 4-t different routes. These routes were located in v. icicly-scattcred districts, differing from each other in general character as far as possible. The mountain districts of Arkansas, the back country disti icts of the midd ie west, the negro settlements of the south, the fanning districts of ol her states —all kinds of territory were covered in order to give the plan a thorough test. Perry Heath, who nas had the supervision of the-trial, says in his report that, according to the varying conditions of the countiy traversed, the rural carriers perform their service on horseback or riding in buckboards, buggies, two-whccled carts or on bicycles. In some states they have to cross farms and pull down bars and ride over fields to deliver and collect their mails. In no instance has any serious complaint been made of this invasion of private rights. On the con- ‘ trarv, the cooperation of the communities served has in every instance been • effectively' and cheerfully given, ihe , fanners, at their own cost, have put up boxes at the crossroads and at all other convenient places for the reception of the mails. The general results obtained have been so satisfactory as to suggest the feasibility of making rural delivery a permanent feature ot postal administration in the United States, not immediately or in all districts at once, but in some graduated form. From this time on, therefore, we may expect to see a movement for the permanent establishment of such a system. The appropriation for the experiment was only intended to cover it as such, and for any further development of the system other provision will have to be made. This provision will naturally' be ‘ gradual, inasmuch as the. establishment of the system throughout all the rural districts at once would entail an enor- | mens expense. Hut it bus been proved 1 that the plan is feasible and that it I meets a demand. Therefore it is only a I question of time when it will be gen--1 erally established.—Dakota Held and Farm.

VIRGINIA’S CONVICTS. To Be Employed in *b c Construction of State Bonds. The bill to be introduced in the Virginia legislature, for the employment of convicts on the roads of the state, provides that all able-bodied male prisoners, sentenced to jail or penitentiary for more than 90 days, shall be subjCd to work on the roads. Those sentenced to county jails shall work upon the roads of such counties, unless there is no immediate need of them, in which case they may be hired to other counties, but only for road work. The convicts not required for services , in the. penitentiary are to be distributed among the counties, on application, and ; none are to be hired out for any purpose but road wprk. Not less than live, nor more than 25, are to be assigned to any one county, every assignment to be made for a year, unless .shorter time is requested, and then lor not less than 00 days. If the number of convicts is not sufficient to till the applications, they are to be supplied ratably'. Convicts, in respect to their work, are to be under the control of the county 7 authorities in which they work; hut, as prisoners, they are to “remain in the custody of the state authorities as if

they remained in the penitentiary,” and transportation expenses, guarding, feeding, clothing and medical attendance are to be paid by the state, the counties to provide suitable shelter. Each connty is to adopt and put in operation a scheme or plan tor working its roads by such prisoners in its jad as are available, together with those which may be secured from the state and “every connty shall annually levy a road tax of not less than 15 cents, no more than 30 cents, on every SIOO o' the value of the property, real and per sonal, assessed for taxes in the county, the proceeds to be applied to road improvement in said connty.”—L, A. W, Bulletin. ARE NOT A LUXURY. Well-Made HSjrliwnys Arc Really Among? the IVeceßSitlca. The road commissioner of New Jersey, Mr. Budd, points out that it costs three cents a bushel to haul wheat on a level road a distance of live miles, and at least nine cents to haul it the same distance on a sandy road, which .goes to illustrate the practical economic importance of good roads. This is a point which deserves the serious attention of farmers. Sandy and rough roads are wearing out their horses and vehicles and increasing the actual cost of their farm supplies and of the marketing of their produce. Though little recognized, this is a fact most potent to the careful observer, and most pointedly and truly expressed in Mr. Bndd’s report. When this fact penetrates the minds of farmers more generally they will begin to realize that money and labor expended on road improvement will save money for them in reducing the actual cost of hauling and in saving vehicles and horses. It is high time to dispense with the idea that good roads are luxuries, mere fancy frills, and to regard well-made highways as among the necessities. — Easton (Ba.) Free Press. Periods at Road Dnlldlnpr. In an interesting article on “Ancient and Modem Highways,” by C. L. Whittle, in the New England Magazine, the writer divides the history of road-build-ing, as affected by various uses, into three periods: First, during the reign of the Egyptian and Assyrian kings: second, beginning with the rise of Carthage, and continuing through the rise and fall of the Roman empire: three, beginning in France, with the roads “conceived by Napoleon and executed by Trosaruet;” thou by MoAclam and Telford in England, afterwards r , the 'continent, and now in the United