USA > Michigan > Gratiot County > Gratiot County, Michigan, directory, 1917 > Part 28
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INTERNAL DISEASES.
CHOKING .- Generally caused by too fast eating of oats or roots, which lodge in the gullet. Set the animal on its rump, stretch the neck and throw the head back, and pour a cupful of water down the throat. In more severe cases. use three or four tablespoonfuls of melted lard. If neither of these furnish relief, take a piece of small rubber hose, or a , very small, pliable and smooth stick, 'push it carefully down the gullet,
and dislodge the obstacle. Keep close to the lower side of the neck, so as not to disturb the windpipe.
In passing hose to relieve choke, keep neck perfectly straight. Have animal held firmly by good assistants. Use great care to avoid wounding throat.
BLOATING .- Caused by overeating of soft, green feed, such as young clover, alfalfa, rape, and the like. For slight cases, put all the pine tar possible on the nose and mouth; also fasten a small stick in the mouth, like a bridle bit, to keep it open to allow the gas to escape. In more severe cases, give two teaspoon- fuls of bicarbonate of soda, dissolved in warm water. If relief does not fol- low, repeat in about ten minutes. Hold- ing salt pork in the mouth will often relieve. In all of these cases, keep the animal in motion, so as to facilitate the escape of gas. If none of these reme- dies act and the animal becomes worse, tapping must be resorted to. ~ This is done by making a small insertion with a sharp knife, at a point on the left side equidistant from the end of the last short rib and the backbone, on the paunch. Better than a knife is a trocar with shield. This is a sharp blade in a tube, and when the puncture is made the shield is left in the opening, allow- the gas to escape. This shield should be removed as soon as the animal is out of danger. Sheep trocar and canula can be secured from any veterinary in- strument maker.
FOUNDERING. - Generally caused by overeating ; for instance, securing access to grain bin accidentally, or being kept from feed twenty-four hours or longer, and then allowed to eat as much as they please. As soon as found, give one-half teacupful of castor oil and keep well exercised. If bloating sets in, re- lieve by ordinary methods. Founder- ing is very dangerous, and death often results, in spite of any remedy.
CONSTIPATION-In lambs, often occurs when one to seven years old. Relieve by an injection, with a small syringe, of lukewarm soapsuds into the rectum. Another good injection is glycerine, one ounce to warm water one pint. In older sheep, sometimes due to heavy feeding,
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especially of corn and dry feed without any laxative foods; also due to lack of exercise. Two to four tablespoonfuls of castor oil will relieve; if no passage of bowels in twenty-four hours, repeat and increase the dose by one-half.
SCOURING. - Induced by a sudden change from dry to green feed; by over- eating of green feed, such as rape, clover, alfalfa, and the like; also of grain. In mild cases, a change to dry feed will cause scouring to stop in a day or so, without the use of any drug. In very severe cases, where the sheep refuses to eat, and passage of dung is slimy and attended with straining, give two tablespoonfuls of castor oil to carry off the cause of the irritation; if this does not check the passage give a table- spoon ful of castor oil with thirty drops of laudanum, twice daily, in a little gruel. When checked, continue to give flaxseed gruel, until the sheep returns to its regular ration.
:- SNUFFLES .- Similar to a cold in per- sons; catarrh; discharge at the nose. Put fresh pine tar in the mouth and on the nose. In severe cases steam the sheep with tar, by putting some live coals in a pan, pouring tar on them, and holding his head over the pan, placing a" blanket over his head to keep the fumes from escaping, and forcing the sheep to inhale them.
URINARY TROUBLES .- Rams are some- times troubled to make water ; generally due to heavy feeding and close confine- ment ; it is also claimed that heavy feed- ing of roots will cause this trouble. Rams stand apart from the flock, do not eat, draw up their hind parts, and strain in an attempt to make water. To relieve, give one-half teaspoonful sweet spirits of niter, in a little water, every two hours until relieved.
WORMS .- The deadly stomach worm (strongylus contortus) is the worst foe of the eastern sheep grower. It is a small worm about three-quarters of an inch long, found in the fourth stomach. They are taken in by lambs running on old pasture, especially blue-grass. and are induced by wet weather and wet soil; are generally noticeable during July and August. Symptoms : lambs lag behind when driving the flock, look thin and poor, act weak, skin is very pale and bloodless; eyes pale, sunken and
lifeless; sometimes scouring occurs a day or two before death; death usually in four to ten days. Preventive: keep the lambs from, old pastures; a fresh cut or newly seeded clover meadow makes the best pasture; rape is also good. Feed them some grain and dry feed, and keep some of the following mixture in the salt box all the time, viz .: one bushel salt, one pound gen- tian, one pound powdered copperas, one pint turpentine, mixed thoroughly. Some of the prepared medicated salts are just as cheap and effective as this mixture. Tobacco dust and tobacco leaves fed with the salt are also much used in some sections and prove very effective as a preventive. Cure: if not too bad when noticed, they can often be cured, but they are seldom as growthy as if not affected. Shut the lambs from all feed for twelve to eighteen hours; catch the lamb, set him on his rump, holding so that he can not struggle and give a drench of gasoline, one tablespoonful, in four ounces (one-third to one-half teacupful) of milk; repeat the two suc- ceeding mornings, and if no improve- ment, repeat the series in seven to ten days. Follow directions carefully.
DISEASES EXTERNAL.
MAGGOTS .- Caused by green flies, in- duced by hot, damp weather, and dirty wool; found on the hind part of sheep, and on rams around the horns, where wool is damp and dirty. Also around castration and docking wounds, which require watching for this trouble. Trim off the wool on place affected, and throw off the maggots; put on gasoline to kill the maggots. Air-slacked lime will dry up the wet wool, and drive the maggots and flies away. Turpentine and kero- sene are also used, but both take off the wool, if used in considerable amounts. Apply the above remedies for maggots with brush or small oil can.(
FOULS, OR SORE FEET .- Sheep are often lame, especially when the ground is wet; earth or manure lodges between the toes, continual rubbing induces soreness, the foot begins to suppurate, and your sheep is lame; the foot looks sore be- tween the toes and is warm. Pare away all shell of hoof around the sore part, being sure to expose to the air all af- fected parts: after thoroughly paring. put on with a small swab a solution of
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blue vitriol and strong vinegar, mixed to the consistency of a thin paste. Keep sheep with fouls away from wet pastures or stagnant water, and keep feet dry and clean as possible.
If lame sheep are not doctored, the fouls soon spread to all parts of the foot, and foot-rot results. This becomes contagious, and all sheep remaining where are those with foot-rot will be- come lame. There is no need of foot- rot if the shepherd takes care of his sheep. Treat this the same as the fouls, being sure to pare away all shell and ex- posing the diseased parts. For stronger solution than blue vitriol, use blue vitriol, butyr of antimony, and mur- iatic acid, equal parts by weight. Use with care. Paring is the principal thing ; be careful not to cut the toe vein. Another excellent remedy for foul feet is one ounce chloride of zinc to one pint of water. Apply enough to wet foul parts once daily after cleaning foot with dry cloth.
'TICKS .- Ticks to sheep are as lice to hens; they take the life and blood from the sheep. To kill them, dip your sheep in some proprietary dip, carbolic prefer- red, being careful to follow directions.
SCAB .- Is a strictly contagious disease of the skin, caused by a small mite which bites the skin. It generally appears on the back, rump or sides of the sheep, and is first indicated by rubbing and pulling of the wool. The disease is very contagious, common to large flocks and bands, especially on the western range. Cure : use some good proprietary dip, follow directions to the letter, dip your sheep thoroughly twice, the second dip- ping from six to ten days after the first, not sooner nor later than these limits. Disinfect all pens thoroughly and keep sheep from the old pastures at least two months. Scab is not very common to eastern sheep owners. Inspect all new animals at once for scab, as it is often introduced by purchasing stock ewes or rams.
SORE. EYES .- Caused by too much wool over the eyes, and the eyelid rolling into the eye; also by getting something into the eye. Shear the wool away from the eye, and tie the cap of wool up off from the eyes, if necessary; if there is a film over the eye, better apply a few drops of a solution of ten grains of boric acid to the ounce of water, put in a pinch of powdered burnt alum.
SORE TEATS .- The teats on ewes with lambs sometimes become sore and ten- der, so that the lamb can not suck. Rub twice a day with salted butter. .
CAKED UDDER-Sometimes caused by weaning and not milking after the lamb is taken away. Generally occurs in heavy milkers; also occurs when lamb is still sucking, in one side of the bag at first. It is accompanied by stiffness in the hind quarters, the bag is hard, and in the first stages a thin, watery-like fluid can be drawn from the teat. Rub well and carefully, using camphorated sweet oil; the principal thing is the rub- bing; try to soften the bag and keep the teat open. Many times the ewe will lose the use of that side of her bag entirely. If she does, send her to mar- ket. Where gait is stiff and udder caked, give the ewe one dram salicylate of soda three times daily for three or four days.
CASTING WITHERS .- Thrusting out of. the womb. It should be washed in a. pint of warm water, in which has been dissolved a teaspoonful of powdered alum, and the womb replaced, and a stitch taken in the upper part of the opening of the vagina. The best way to cure such ewes is to market them or kill at once if they continue to give trouble in this respect. After replacing the womb, keep hind parts of animal quite high by standing in narrow stall made for the purpose, with floor made high behind.
GOITER .- Lumps in the throat. Com- mon to lambs when born; also in young sheep during the first winter. Some think the latter is caused by high feed- ing. Apply tincture of iodine with a swab, rubbing on enough to color well the affected portion. Two or three ap- plications, two to four days apart, should remove the worst case of goiter.
CASTRATING. - Hold as for docking. Cut off a good sized portion of the end of the sac with a sharp knife, push back the sack from the testicles, grasp the latter singly, with right hand. and grasp narrow or upper portion of sac firmly with left hand, and draw out until the cord breaks. Do not cut the cord, but break it. When docking and castrating at the same time. castrate first, then dock, and release the lamb. The whole operation should not take over one to two minutes.
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Ford THE UNIVERSAL CAR
AUTOMOBILES ACCESSORIES SUPPLIES AND REPAIRS
L. K. Kirby Ashley, Mich. General Garage Work
We Sell "HELPING HENRY" SAW OUTFITS, Etc. : :
Union Phone No. 1032 R. Res. 1 3 R. Office
UNION TEL. 27 - 2 R · MICH. ST. TEL. 134
ESTABLISHED 1885-Switzer Block
GEORGE P. STONE
: : Attorney at Law : :
ITHACA,
:
.. MICHIGAN
WILLIAM H. MARBLE General Blacksmithing Best Work at Low Prices BANNISTER - MICHIGAN
REIST & SON CHEESE FACTORY North Star, Michigan
Manufacturers of "Daisy" Full Cream Cheese
: : Always the Highest Prices Paid for Milk : :
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Concrete
Concrete is made by mixing together Portland cement, sand and stone (or gravel). Various proportions of each are used, depending upon the use to which the concrete is put. About half an hour after mixing these materials together, the mass begins to stiffen, until, in from half a day to a day, it be- comes so hard that you cannot dent it with the hand. By a month the mass is hard as stone-indeed, harder than most stones. The best way to buy cement is in cloth sacks. Manufacturers charge more for cement in cloth sacks, but allow a rebate for the return of the empty sacks. A bag of cement weighs 95 pounds, and four such bags make a barrel of 380 pounds.
It is important that your stock of cement be kept in a dry place. Once wet, it becomes hard and lumpy, and in such condition is useless. If, how- ever, the lumps are caused by pressure in the storehouse, the cement may be · used with safety. Lumps thus formed can be easily broken by a blow from the back of a shovel.
In storing cement, throw wooden blocks on the floor. Place boards over them and pile the cement on the boards, covering the pile with a canvas or a piece of roofing paper. Never, under any circumstances, keep cement on the bare ground, or pile it directly against the outside walls of the building.
Do not use very fine sand. If there is a large quantity of fine sand handy, obtain a coarse sand and mix the two sands together in equal parts; this mix- ture is as good as coarse sand alone.
Sometimes fine sand must be used, be- cause no other can be obtained; but in such an event an additional amount of cement must be used-sometimes as much as double the amount ordinarily required. For example, in such a case, instead of using a concrete 1 part ce- ment, 21/2 parts sand and 5 parts stone, use a concrete 1 part cement, 114 parts sand and 21/2 parts stone.
Besides being coarse, the sand should be clean. The presence of dirt in the sand is easily ascertained by rubbing a little in the palm of the hand. If a little. is emptied into a pail of water, the presence of dirt will be shown by the" discoloration of the water. This can be discovered also by filling a fruit jar to the depth of 4 inches with sand and then adding water until it is within
an inch of the top. After the jar has been well shaken, the contents should be allowed to settle for a couple of hours. The sand will sink to the bottom, but the mud, which can be easily recognized by its color, will form a distinct layer on top of the sand, and above both will be a clear depth of water. If the layer of mud is more than one-half inch in thickness, the sand should not be used unless it is first washed.
To wash sand build a loose board platform from 10 to 15 feet long, with one end a foot higher than the other. On the lower end and on the sides nail a board 2 by 6 inches on edge to hold the sand. Spread the sand over this platform in a layer three or four inches thick, and wash it with a hose. The washing should be started at the high end and the water allowed to run through the sand and over the 2-by-6- inch piece at the bottom. A small quantity of clay or loam does not injure the sand, but any amount over 5 per cent. does.
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Great care should be used in the selection of the stone or gravel. The pebbles should be closely inspected to see that there is no clay on their sur- face. A layer of such clay prevents the "binding" of the cement. If neces- sary, stone or gravel may be washed in the same way as above described for sand. Dust may be left in the crushed stone without fear of its inter- fering with the strength of the cement, but care should be taken to see that such dust is distributed evenly through the whole mass, and when dust is found in stone, slightly less sand should be used than ordinarily. As to the six( of stone or gravel, this must be de- termined by the form of construction contemplated. For foundations or any large thick structure, use anything from 1/2 to 21/2 inches in diameter. For thir walls use 14 to 1-inch stone. The best results are obtained by the use of & mixture of sizes graded from small to large. By this means the spaces be- tween the stones or pebbles are reduced and a more compact concrete is ob- tained. Moreover, this method makes it possible to get along with less sand and less cement.
Water for concrete should be clean and free from strong acids and alkalies. It may be readily stored ir a barrel
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beside the mixing board and placed on the concrete with a bucket.
: If you are at all in doubt about the purity of the water that you contemplate . using, it would be well to make up a block of concrete as a test, and see whether the cement "sets" properly.
For ordinary work a very satisfac- tory concrete mixture is 1 part of Port- land cement, 21/2 parts of clean sharp sand, 5 parts of broken stone. In heavy foundation work, the quantity of cement can be considerably less. The important thing is to have the sand and cement thoroughly mixed, and to use only clean gand. Use only as much water as necessary. It is not well to work con- crete in freezing weather.
Cold Storage Without Ice
Why not have a cold storage room somewhere on the farm? Winter apples may be kept in such a place until spring, thus avoiding the necessity of market- ing the fruit at unprofitable times. A Pennsylvania farmer has such a place built in one part of his barn-a double- walled, double-doored, paper-lined space wherein he stores many hundred bushel crates of selected fruit. He says that
the main essentials are to keep out heat and frost from the room. On cool nights he leaves the doors open, shut- ting them again when the sun begins to warm things up in the morning-the idea being to use cold air instead of ice for reducing the room's temperature. He aims to get the temperature in the room as low as possible without freez- ing the apples, and then hold it there. Night air is cheaper than ice, he says, and about as good.
How to Make and Use a Fireless Cooker
A saver of time, fuel and labor is the fireless cook stove, which can be made at home, absolutely without ex- pense, and, though not adapted to all kinds of cooking, answers well for food that requires long, slow cooking to soften tissues, bring out flavors and conserve the juices, such as stews, pot roasts, soups, cereals, rice, tapioca, dried fruits, vegetables, etc. It consists of a kettle of agate or tin, inclosed in a box with insulating material between them to pre- vent the heat of the kettle from escap- ing. Food brought to the boiling point over a fire, and inclosed, still boiling, continues to cook. This is the whole
principle. Choose a kettle with tight- fitting lid and a box large enough to allow six or eight inches of insulating material. Line the box, bottom, sides and hinged-on lid with stout packing paper, or several thicknesses of news- paper. Make a firm, cylindrical shape to fit easily around the kettle and fasten a circular bottom to it. This might be of asbestos paper, or paper soaked in alum water and dried. Then no matter how hot the kettle there would be no danger of scorching. Fill the bottom of the box with packing, which can be of cotton, wool, ground cork (in which im- ported grapes are packed and which grocers are usually willing to give away). Hay will answer, but does not pack so closely as these. Pack hard to a depth of three inches, place the cylinder, con -; taining the kettle in the middle, and pack tightly around it, even with the top. The insulating material can be covered neatly with cloth, or a thin board with a round hole in the middle. A thick cushion will insulate the space between this and the lid, which must be fastened down tightly. If desired to- cook several things at once it is best to have two or three such cookers, as the box should not be opened after the food is put in, except to reheat. Some. persons prefer using a sort of double boiler, the inner kettle, containing the food, being placed in a larger one, partly filled with hot water. In this case the water in both kettles must be actually boiling. An additional vegetable can be put in the outside kettle, or water kept hot in it for dishwashing.
Ready-made cookers can be bought, but are rather expensive. Some of these will also bake and roast by means of thick disks of concrete which must be made very hot on the stove, then put under and over the kettle containing the food. The idea might be applied to the home-made cooker by heating soapstone griddles. These might be heated at the same time with a large iron pot. The meat or chicken, which should be sea- soned, can be put in a kettle, a hot disk put in the bottom of the pot, the kettle set on this; the other disk put on top, then put the lid on the pot and bury in the cooker. The pot, however, should be inclosed in asbestos paper to avoid pos- sible ignition. It would be interesting for each housekeeper to experiment and invent improvements on the central idea. The time required for cooking vegetables varies according to their age and fresh-
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ness, so only the approximate time neces- sary can be given. There is little danger of their being overdone, or at least in- " jured by long cooking, and if under- done it is always possible to take out the kettle, reheat, and return to the cooker, or if needed quickly, to finish on the range.
It is not worth while to use the cooker for food that takes but a short time to cook, such as corn, spinach, young peas, asparagus, etc., since the water for these must be brought to the boil anyhow, they can as well be cooked on the stove. Do not place the kettle next the flame but always have a lid under it.
POTATOES
Five minutes over fire, an hour in the box. Potatoes must not be left overtime in box or they become watery.
RICE PUDDING
Mix together in the kettle 1/2 a cupful of rice, a quart of milk, a tablespoonful of butter, 1/2 a cupful of sugar, a little · salt and grated nutmeg. Boil on stove five minutes, in cooker six hours.
BREAD PUDDING
Soak 1/2 a pint of bread crumbs in a pint of milk, add a beaten egg, 2 table- spoonfuls of sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat with a spoon; heat on the stove till just short of boiling, stirring all the time. Put in the cooker an hour and serve with vanilla sauce.
CHICKEN FRICASSEE
Disjoint a chicken, roll in flour and brown in a little fat; as the pieces brown pack them in the kettle, and make some gravy in the skillet. Put this and a little water to cover the chicken. Boil twenty minutes, then put in cooker over night.
BOILED HAM
If wanted for 6 o'clock dinner, put ham weighing six pounds in kettle at 9 a. m. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil; boil briskly fifteen min- utes. Put the lid on the kettle when it begins to boil and don't take it off till it is taken out of the hay box, in which it should be put while still boil- ing. y At 2 o'clock take out, boil up again, put in a few cloves and 2 or 3 peppercorns. At 5.30 take out, skin, put in a pan, fat side up, stick in a few cloves, sprinkle slightly with sugar and plentifully with bread crumbs and bake in the oven till well done.
ONIONS
Of moderate size, boiled ten minutes on the range, should be tender after four hours in cooker.
STRING BEANS
Cut off the strings and slice down the middle; give five minutes over the fire, four hours in cooker.
CAULIFLOWER AND YOUNG CABBAGE Five minutes over fire, five hours in cooker.
Cereals started over the fire at sup- per time and placed in the box should be ready for breakfast with just re- heating. Half a cupful of cereal poured into three cupfuls of boiling water, with a teaspoonful of salt is about the pro- portion.
A fireless cooker can be used for things to be kept cold as well as hot. Ice cream, if frozen, then packed in a kettle with ice and sunk in the box will not melt, and butter if put in it cool and hard will keep in the same condition, as the air is practically excluded.
BOSTON BAKED BEANS
Soak 2 cupfuls of beans in cold water a whole day. At supper time drain, cover with fresh water, put over the fire and simmer slowly for half an hour ; pour off the water, scrape a 1/4 pound of salt pork, cut off a slice and push it down through the beans to the bottom of the pail; score the rest and put, rind side up, in middle of the beans. Mix a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoon- ful each of sugar and molasses, just a dust of mustard, a half teaspoonful of baking soda and a cupful of boiling water. Add enough more water to come to the top of the beans. Cover, and boil ten minutes; then put in cooker. In the morning reheat for ten minutes, re- turn to the box and about half past five in the afternoon take out, sprinkle a tablespoonful of sugar over the top, leave off the cover, put in hot oven for half an hour.
POT ROAST
Season the meat with salt and pepper, brown on all sides over a flame, and put in a stone jar, dry, no water whatever. Cover tightly. Put the jar in a kettle of hot water. Boil fifteen or twenty minutes. Place in a cooker for six hours. Even tough meat becomes tender and the juice at the bottom is very rich.
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