Strong liquid caustics : 6. Sulphuric acid, or nitric acid, may be used either in full strength er diluted with an equal quantity of water; but it must be used with great caution, as it destroys the skin rapidly. 7. In Canker of the Foot.-Quicksilver, 1 oz. ; nitric acid, 2 oz. Mix in an earthen vessel, and when cold put into a wide glass bottle, and cork it. It may be mixed with lard, in the proportion of 1 to 3. 8. A similar application, which may be used alternately with the last. -Copper filings, oz.; nitric acid, 1 oz. Mix, and use in the same way. 9. Muriate of antimony, called butter of antimony; a strong but rather unmanageable caustic, and used either by itself or mixed with more or less water. Mild solid caustics : 10. Verdigris, either in powder or mixed with lard as an ointment, in the proportion of 1 to 3. 11. Red precipitate, do., do. 12. Burnt alum, used dry. 13. Powdered white sugar. Mild liquid caustics : 14. Solution of nitrate of silver, 5 to 15 grains to the ounce of distilled water. 15. Solution of blue Vitriol, of about double the above strength. 16. Chloride of zinc, 3 grains to the ounce of water. CHARGES. Charges are adhesive plasters which are spread while hot on the legs, and at once covered with short tow, so as to form a strong and unyielding support while the horse is at grass. 1. Ordinary Charge.-Burgundy pitch, 4 oz.; Barbadoes tar, 6 oz. ; beeswax, 2 oz.; red lead, 4 oz. The first three are to be melted together, and afterwards the lead is to be added. The mixture is to be kept constantly stirred until sufficiently cold to be applied. If too stiff (which will depend upon the weather) it may be softened by the addition of a little lard or oil. 2. Arnica Charge.-Canada balsam, 2 oz.; powdered arnica leaves, X oz. The balsam to be melted and worked up with the leaves, adding spirits of turpentine if necessary. When thoroughly mixed, to be well rubbed into the whole leg in a thin layer, and to be covered over with the Charge No. 1, which will set on its outside and act as a bandage, while the arnica acts as a restorative to the weakened vessels. This is an excellent application. CORDIALS. Cordials are medicines which act as warm temporary stim. alants, augmenting the strength and spirits when depressed, and often relieving an animal from the ill effects of over-exertion. They act much in the same way on the horse and dog, but require to be given in different doses. 1. Cordial Balls.-Powdered carraway seeds, 6 drms.; ginger, s drms. ; oil of cloves, 20 drops. Treacle enough to make into a ball. 2. Powdered aniseed, 6 drms. ; powdered cardamoms, 2 drms. ; powdered cassia, 1 drm. ; oil of carraway, 20 drops. Mix with treacle into a ball. 3. Cordial Drench.-A quart of good ale warmed and with plenty of grated ginger. 4. Cordial and Expectorant.-Powdered aniseed, oz.; powdered squills, 1 drm. ; powdered myrrh, 11⁄2 drm.; Balsam of Peru, enough to form a ball. 5. Licorice powder, oz.; gum ammoniacum, 3 drms.; balsam of Tolu, 1 drm.; powdered squills, 1 drm. Linseed meal and boiling water, enough to form into a mass. DEMULCENTS. Demulcents are medicines which are used in irritations of the bowels, kidneys, and bladder. 1. Demulcent Drench.-Gum Arabic, 1⁄2 oz. ; water 1 pint. The whole to be given. 2. Linseed, 4 oz. ; water, 1 quart. Simmer till a strong and thick de coction is obtained, and give as above. 3. Marshmallow Drench.-Marshmallows, a double handful, water. I quart. Simmer as in No. 2, and use in the same way. DIAPHORETICS. Diaphoretics are medicines which increase the insensible perspiration. 1. In Hide-Bound.-Emetic tartar, 1 drm. ; camphor, drm. ; gin ger, 2 drms.; opium, 1⁄2 drm. ; oil of carraway, 15 drops. Linseed meal and boiling water, to form a ball, which is to be given twice or thrice a week. 1. In Hide-Bound (but not so efficacious).-Antimonial powder, a drms.; ginger, 1 drm. ; powdered carraways, 6 drms. ; oil of aniseed, 20 drops. Mix as above. These remedies require exercise in clothing to bring out their effects after which the horse should be wisped till quite dry. DIGESTIVES. Digestives are applications which promote suppuration, and the healing of wounds or ulcers. 1. Digestive Ointment.-Red precipitate, 2 oz.; Venice turpentine, 3 oz.; beeswax, 1 oz.; hog's lard, 4 oz. Melt the last three ingredients over a slow fire, and, when nearly cold, stir in the powder. DIURETICS. Diuretics are medicines which promote the secretion and discharge of urine, the effect being produced in a different manner by different medicines; some acting directly upon the kidneys by sympathy with the stomach, while others are taken up by the blood-vessels, and in their elimination from the blood cause an extra secretion of the urine. In either case their effect is to diminish the watery part of the blood, and thus promote the absorption of fluid effused into any of the cavities, or into the cellular membrane, in the various forms of dropsy. Powdered resin, Stimulating Diuretic Ball for the Horse. sal prunelle, Castile soap, of each 3 drms.; oil of juniper, 1 drm. Mix. 2. A more Cooling Diuretic Ball.-Powdered niter, 1⁄2 to 1 oz. ; camphor and oil of juniper, of each 1 drm.; soap, 3 drms. Mix, adding linseed meal enough to form a ball. 3. Diuretic Powder for a Mash.-Niter and resin, of each to oz. Mix. 4. Another more Active Powder.-Niter, 6 drms. ; camphor, 11⁄2 drm. Mix. EMBROCATIONS. Embrocations or liniments are stimulating or sedative external applications, intended to reduce the pain and inflammation of internal parts when rubbed into the skin with the hands. 1. Mustard Embrocation.-Best flour of mustard, 6 oz. ; liquor of ammonia, 11⁄2 oz. ; oil of turpentine, 1 oz. Mix with sufficient water t form a thin paste. 2. Stimulating Embrocation.-Camphor, oz. ; oil of turpentine and spirits of wine, of each 1 oz. Mix. 3. Sweating Embrocation for Windgalls, etc.-Strong mercurial oint. ment, 2 oz. ; camphor, 1⁄2 oz.; oil of rosemary, 2 drms. ; spirits of turpen. tine, 1 oz. Mix. 4. Another, but stronger.-Strong mercurial ointment, 2 oz.; oil of bay, I oz.; oil of origanum, oz.; powdered cantharides, o Mix. 5. A most Active Sweating Embrocation.-Red iodide of mercury, to drm. ; powdered arnica leaves, 1 drm.; soap liniment, 2 Mix. 6. This must be repeated until a blister is raised, which usually takes two or three applications. It may then be omitted for a week. EMULSIONS. Emulsions are very useful in the chronic cough of the horse. 1. Simple Emulsion.-Linseed oil, a oz. ; honey, 3 oz. ; soft water, I pint; subcarbonate of potass, 1 drm. Dissolve the honey and potass in the water; then add the linseed oil by degrees in a large mortar, when it should assume a milky appearance. It might be given night and morning. 2. Another more Active Emulsion.—Simple emulsion, No. 1, 8 oz.; camphor, I drm. ; opium in powder, drm., oil of aniseed, 30 drops. Rub the last three ingredients together in a mortar with some white sugar; then add the emulsion by degrees. EXPECTORANTS. Expectorants excite or promote discharge of mucus from the lining membrane of the bronchial tubes, thereby relieving inflammation and allaying cough. 1. In Ordinary Cough without Inflammation.-Gum ammoniacum, oz.; powdered squill, I drm.; Castile soap, 2 drms. Honey enough to form a ball. 2.In Old Standing Cough (Stomach).—A ̧safœtida, 3 drms.; galbanum, 1 drm.; carbonate of ammonia, drm.; ginger, 11⁄2 drm. Honey enough to form a ball. 3. A Strong Expectorant Ball.--Emetic tartar, drm.; calomel, 15 grs. ; digitalis, drm.; powdered squills, drm. Linseed mea, and water enough to form a ball, which is not to be repeated without great care. FEBRIFUGES. Fever medicines are given to allay fever, which they do by increasing the secretions of urine and sweat, and also by reducing the action of the heart. 1. Fever Ball.-Niter, 4 drms. ; camphor, 1 dr. ; calomel and opium, of each scruple. Linseed meal and water enough to form a ball. a. Another-Emetic tartar, 1 to 2 drms. ; compound powder of tragacanth, 2 drms. Linseed meal as above. 3. Another.-Niter; 1 oz., camphor, 2 drms. Mix as above. 5. Cooling Drench.-Niter, 1 oz. ; sweet spirits of niter, 2 oz. ; tincture of digitalis, 2 drms. ; whey, I pint. CLYSTERS. Clysters are intended either to relieve obstructions or spasm of the bowels, and are of great use. They may in the general way be of warm water or gruel, of which some quarts will be required in colic. They should be thrown up with the proper syringe, provided with valves and a flexible tube. 1. Turpentine clyster in colic, see ANTISPASMODICS. 2. Aperient clysters, see APERIENTS. 3. Anodyne Clyster in Diarrhea.-Starch, made as for washing, I quart; powdered opium, 2 drms. The opium is to be boiled in water, and added to the starch. LOTIONS. Lotions are liquids applied to the external parts when inflamed, and they act by reducing the temperature, and by giving tone to the vessels of the part. a. Cooling Lotion in Stiffness from Bruises or Work.-Tincture of arnica, 1 drm.; spirits of wine, 7 drm. Mix and rub well into the parts, before the fire, with the hand. 2. For Internal Canker.--Nitrate of silver, 10 grs. ; distilled water, 1 oz. Mix, and drop in every night. 3. Cooling Lotion for External Inflammation.-Goulard extract, 1 oz.; vinegar, 2 oz. ; spirits of wine, or gin, 3 oz.; water 1 pint. Mix and apply with a calico bandage. 4. Another, useful for Inflamed Legs or for Galled Shoulders or Back. Sal ammoniac, 1 oz.; vinegar, 4 oz.; spirits of wine, 2 oz.; tincture of arnica, 2 drms. ; water, pint. Mix. 5. Lotion for Foul Ulcers.-Sulphate of copper, 1 oz.; nitric acid, oz. ; water, 8 to 12 oz. OINTMENTS. Ointments are greasy applications, consisting of a powerful drug mixed with lard, or some similar compound, and thus applied to the sore; they are generally more properly described under the several heads for which they are used. (See ASTRIN GENTS, ANODYNES, ETC.) STIMULANTS. By this term is understood those substances which excite the action of the whole nervous and vascular systems; almost all medicines are stimulants to some part or other; as, for in stance, aperients, which stimulate the lining of the bowels, but to the general system are lowering. On the other hand, stimulants, so called, excite and raise the action of the brain and heart. 1. Old ale, 1 quart; carbonate of ammonia, % to 2 drms. ; tincture of ginger, 4 drms. Mix, and give as a drench. 2. For other stimulants, see CORDIALS. STOMACHICS. Stomacnics are medicines given to improve the tone of the stomach when impaired by bad management or disease. 1. Stomachic Ball.-Powdered gentian, 1⁄2 oz. ; powdered ginger, 1 drm. ; carbonate of soda, 1 drm Treacle to form a ball. 2. Another.--Cascarilla powdered, oz.; myrrh, 1 drm.; Castile soap. 1 drm Mix, with syrup or treacle, into a ball. 3. Another.-Powdered colombo, to 1 oz.; powdered cassia, 1 drm.; powdered rhubarb, 2 drms. Mix as in No. 2. When fowls get ill and die, without any apparent cause, careful observation may generally trace it to one or other of a few fertile sources of evil to them. They have been overcrowded, they have had too much pamper. ing, or they have had too little care. All fatal faults in feeding come under one of the last two heads. If the apparent health and appearance of the fowls be not satisfactory, visit the hen-house after it has been some hours shut up at night, and if the air be 'offensive there need be no further quest after the cause of illness or other evil there may be among the living beings breathing its close atmosphere for many hours. The remedy should at once be applied by decreasing the number of fowls, and by giving increased ventilation. A hen-house 6 or 8 feet square will do well for seven old fowls, or one large brood of chickens. More crowding will not lead to a good result; so if the increase of the stock seems to render it necessary, consider means for housing the youngsters out of doors, in coops or by other contrivances, rather than overfill the houses. Fowls, even the tallest, live and breathe very near the surface of the ground; and when the earth becomes foul from having had live stock on it for some time, they cannot fail to inhale the malaria engendered by it. Human beings in such an atmosphere would fall in as great proportional numbers as do the fowls of the most unfortunate amateurs; sanitary measures in their case stop epidemics, and they are the remedies to use with our fowls, or we must not look to have them prosperous and healthy. The most valuable sanitary measure for the fowls is to renew the surface of the runs by paring from time to time. Spring is a good time to do it, when the pared-off surface, rich with guano-like manure, is a valuable strong fertilizer. Duck and pigeon manure are the strongest. Means must be taken to dry the runs, made pure by paring. Low damp ground should be drained. Excellent runs may be made by paring the ground one spit deep, i. e., a foot, good measure, and filling in with a depth of nine inches of chalk and three of gravel. Sometimes, when paring would be too trouble some, a sprinkle of lime over the surface will purify it, but the fowls should be kept off it until after rain. Where the fowls have extensive ranges the immediate neighborhood of the houses only will need this cleansing process; but the floors of the hen-houses require renewal from time to time. The kind of pampering which leads to over-feeding fowls, giving them dainties, such as meat, greaves, hemp-seed, Indian corn, and other fattening food, and keeping them too warmly housed, is a fertile source of ill-health. Poultry, to remain thoroughly healthy, and not to become unhealthily fat, should never have a grain more of food given than they can eat up at once with a hungry, healthy appetite; they should not be fed too often, they should not have a variety of food given at the same time, and they should have to run for all the food they eat, and have it so thrown abroad that they shall have plenty of work, and consequently plenty of amusement, to find it. The well-being of fowls requires that they have regular care as well as judicious economical feeding, regular meals, a regular supply of water, and regular cleaning. The real care that they require is not pampering and superabundant, almost incessant, feeding, and sometimes the less they are run after the better they will thrive; but the little care they need should be administered with regularity. This is the kind of care that will keep poultry in the perfect health and good looks which amateurs know so well, and so fully appreciate as good condition. A fowl in good condition is free and bold in gait, brisk in movement, and bright in the eye. The plumage is full, firm, crisp, and glossy; the bird feels firm in handling; it is neither too lean nor too fat, and the comb is clear and bright in color, according to the season. When a bird is out of condition, in which case it will do no good service to its owner, it handles flabby, however fat it may be; it is heavy and listless in movement, often craves continually for food, and seems too lazy to wander far to seek any for itself. The comb and eye lack brightness, but the plumage tells the tale most unmistakably; it is dull, ruffled, and broken, sets away from the body, and either comes out with a touch, or adheres to the skin with unnatural tenacity, fixed by a kind of leprous scurfiness. A tendency to roup is often seen. ARRANGEMENT OF STOCK. The cheapest way to get up a stock, allowing time and work for the matter, is to buy really first-class reliable eggs, from sellers of established character. We must neither expect all the eggs to hatch, all the chickens which are hatched to turn out especially good, nor find fault with the seller if this be not the case; for if he is honest he will tell you that when eggs are set at home, without the no small trial of a journey, the hatching of two out of three is a pretty good proportion, and a first-class pair from each brood is ample return for the outlay, reckoning the value of the eggs at the usual price charged for eggs for setting, and the trouble of rearing. If it be wished to get a good stock together, without the delay of rearing chickens, it may be done by purchasing fowls. An old rooster should be mated with pullets, or a fine cockerel of the year before with old hens. Good breeders consider it better to mate a one year old bird with young hens, than pullets with an old bird. In-breeding, i. e., breeding among relations, must be care fully avoided. However fine the stock, it is altogether agains the laws of good breeding to keep the pullets and the cockerels, and go on year after year breeding from them without the introduction of fresh blood. Doing so will produce decrease of size and weakly constitutions. In-breeding must, on no account, be carried beyond the first remove. The mother may be mated with her son, but the old game breeders did not consider the union of a rooster with the pullets bred from him nearly so good. In the purchase of stock, therefore, take care to get hens and roosters which are not related, either by buying from different persons, or by asking the person of whom you purchase for roosters and hens of different families, which most amateurs, and all dealers, are able to manage. It has not unfrequently happened that well-established, good stocks of fowls have been greatly injured by a carelessly introduced cross. When the introduction of fresh blood becomes necessary, the stock with which to cross should be chosen with reference to the qualities most wanted, and great care is necessary to prevent the increase of present failings by it. The purity of the breed and its stamina must also be especially considered; for mongrel crosses, or a weakly constitution, may be introduced in one year, and may take a great many to eradicate. With regard to the number of hens to be allowed to run with one rooster, various opinions have been given; but while ten or a dozen may form one group for the production of eggs for that of really fine chickens the number should be limited to four, or at most six. With four hens, almost all the eggs which are laid will prove productive of fine strong chickens, provided, of course, the stock birds are good. At the breeding season the breeding stock should most decidedly be confined to runs, if purity and precision in breed ing be a desideratum; and each family, consisting of a male bird and his harem, should be kept distinct. This separation from stock birds less to be depended upon than those which are selected, should be arranged before Christmas, and continue until eggs are no longer wanted for setting, after which they may have a fuller range, when the houses they have occupied will be valuable for other purposes. So particular have some game breeders been in that impor tant point, purity of race, that they considered that the character of the chickens might be influenced by the hen that hatched them, and would set eggs only under the hen that laid them, or one of the same breed, saying that roosters lost pluck by being hatched by common hens. HOUSES. A simple construction is better for a hen-house than a very elaborate air-tight building; for too confined air, while the fowls are at roost, makes the place offensive, and is more prone to engender disease than almost anything. Poultry amateurs would be much at a loss in their building operations, if they could not have that useful commodity, the patent felt roofing. It measures 32 inches wide, and is a capital water-tight covering for a roof, or any other part of a henhouse; it is like wood and brickwork to the builder of henhouses, and cheap withal. About the cheapest regularly formed house may be made with it, stretched over a wooden frame, which should be rather stout, and well put together. The roof should be made of common boards, under the felt, which without that support is apt to bag, make hollows for water to lodge in, and become rotten in consequence. It nails most easily with iron tacks heated in a frying-pan; when up it requires tarring and thickly sprinkling with sand, which should be repeated every year to make it durable. In sunny weather a felt house is apt to be hot, so that, to keep it refreshingly cool, as well as for appearance sake, it is a good plan to plant quick-growing trees round it. Tolerably stout wooden houses have done hundreds of amateurs excellent service. For the house to keep in good order, the wood should be well seasoned, and any amateur carpenter can put it up at small cost and trouble. Shape the house with a framework of battens. The lowest part may be 5 feet high, and the roof should have a good pitch, both to throw off the wet, and to make it airy. The cheapest description of boards will do for the roof under the felt, and scarcely any wooden roof is good without that covering, from its being liable, after being swelled with wet, to crack with the heat of the sun, and so let in water. If it be entirely of wood, the boards can either be placed horizontally, with an overlap of at least an inch and a half, or vertically, edge to edge, with fillets of wood nailed over the joints. A cheap roof, yet one which is tolerably lasting, may be made by covering the boards with gas tar and coarse brown paper. Lay on a coat of tar, then the brown paper, lapping it over a full inch where the sheets meet, and finish with another coat of tar. When the wooden roof is to be covered with either felt or brown paper, there need be no overlap of the boards, but they may lie edge to edge, either from ridge to eaves, or across. The boards, too, for covering the framework of sides, back and front of the house, can go either upright or across, whichever will use the wood to the best economy. Eaves should project well, to carry off wet. If the boards are used rough, three-quarter inch planks will do, but if they are planed, inch deal will be required to make up for the waste. A hatch for the fowls to go in and out, with a door to slip down over it, should be made when the house is built; some. times two on different sides are found very useful, in case of changes in the run, which can then be put to one side of the house, instead of the other, without further alteration. A more solid kind of house, as well as one which will be more costly, can be built with regular walls of brick, stone, rough stone, or earth. These may be more lasting, and the first three more secure from the attacks of vermin, but, of course, the cost both in material and labor will be greater. For a brick wall, what bricklayers call half a brick thick is sufficient, as very great strength is not required. A pattern of a few feet square, made by leaving out alternate bricks high up on the side of the house, which will admit air that will not be too cold, is a good means of ventilation, and of giving light also. of Few amateurs would go to the expense of walls of hewn stone, but in neighborhoods where rough blasted rock or stone is plentiful, and consequently cheap, it makes good walls, which come rather cheaper than brickwork. To be sufficiently solid and stable these walls should be rather over than under a foot thick, and the stones fitted together with judgment, to avoid interstices causing weakness, or great consumption o mortar, of which, however well the stones may be fitted, a great deal will be used. While building this kind of wall it should be brought to a level surface at the top every 16 inches or so, which gives the stone a look of order in the arrange, ment, greatly improving the appearance, and also giving strength. All laminated stone, i. e., stone which has an appearance of being formed in layers, should have these layers placed horizontally. Where building materials of most kinds are difficult to obtain, earth walls may be used with advantage, requiring, if the material be at hand, little outlay except labor. The proper earth is neither sand nor clay, but partaking of both. Clay, chalk, any calcareous earth, or sand, is bad for the purpose. The earlier in the season the building can be done the better, that it may have time to dry; but a time must be chosen when the earth is sufficiently dry for working, and the coarser and bolder it is the better. A foundation of brick or stone must be used, which can be brought 9 inches above the surface of the ground, or less if preferred. The wall is made by ramming in the earth, supported during the process by a mold formed of two planks of inch board. These planks for a cottage or similar building should be 12 feet long and 20 inches wide, formed of two breadths, and strengthened with cross pieces strongly nailed outside; but for a hen-house, summer-house, or similar edifice of less importance, they might be shorter. Cross-bolts fix these planks together (two near each end), with as many inches between the two boards as the wall is to be thick, say 14 or 16 inches, and the bolts have large heads at one end to fix them, and eyelet holes and cross pegs at the other. Place the planks above the brick foundation, bolt them together, and fit bits of board into the ends, to prevent the building material running out there, the little boards fitting in between the top and bottom bolts, and making (with them) the mold into a sort of box. Then work the earth up well, a little at a time, mixing in cut straw or some |