THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



13 



Clippings. 



It is our desire to make these so full and varied that every 

 reader of The Fabm and Garden, tven though tie takes 

 no other puj^er can feel in a measure acijuaiiUed with all 

 the lead ini; publications. 



From " Foultry Keeper," Chicago, Rl. 



IS IT MEAT OR FEATHERS? 

 What good are feathers or a scale of points to a happy 

 family gathered around a dinner table ? This is a direct 

 question to those who carry their "gospel" in their hip 

 pockets. We will picture a large family enjoying a huge 

 poultry dinner. It is Sunday, and the meal is well under 

 way. The fowls were brought in from our coops ; when 

 -alive they were excellent in build, healthy, and strong; 

 they were two-thirds Brahma and one-third Leghorn. 

 The smoking fowls soon parted company, and the ex- 

 pressions of satisfaction, the crumbling of the tender 

 bones, and the smile of contentment crossing the face of 

 the happ^' cook, added with the merry cackle of outside 

 fowls who would soon follow in the smoke, all casta 

 <rharm over the scene, so that we could not help ex- 

 claiming, "Who would not be a poulterer of the legiti- 

 ■mate school? We now turn our thoughts to the man 

 raising fowls in wire cages and spending the Holy day in 

 "scaling-up" his pets and feeding his family off of stew 

 beef or poultry purchased from neighbors. He is a great 

 fencier, but there is do pleasure or profit in the method 

 he rears liis fowls. The legitimate breeder is one whose 

 effect is flesh and egs. 



Prom "Iowa Homestead" Des MoiJies, Iowa. 



THE THRESHERS AND THE FOWX. 



In going from house to house the thresher expects to 

 meet with some pretty old ,'poultry, as they are the 

 easiest caught; but at one place over in Hoop Pole 

 Township a trio of threshers encountered a rooster that 

 was particularly venerable, in fact, a regular patriarch. 

 For three successive mornings they hurled their forces 

 against him, but were obliged to withdraw at last with- 

 out getting beyond the "picket lines." As they retired 

 the lady heard the fellow that drives the horse-power 

 and wipes the lard paddles on his boots, say: "I tell 

 yer what, boys. I've struck it. 



The lady said she noticed from an adjoining room that 

 the next morning they ate their breakfast, one at a time, 

 and as there was no one else at the table, the following 

 conversation seemed strange to her at the time. 



1st. Thresher. (Directing his eyes to ilie rooster.) 

 •' Good morning, sir; seems to me I've me >er before. 

 (Silence.) How's times; kinder tough ? (No response.) 

 Wall, Im'st be goin'. Take care o'yerself." 



2d. Thresher. " Wall, my friend (addressing the fowl), 

 how goes it? How do you stand the "wear and tear"? 

 (Sl^ill no response.) You look stout for one of your 

 years. (Silence accompanied by agitation in adjoining 

 room.) Wall, good day, I'll see yer later." 



But they never met again, the threshers say, for some 

 cause. 



D^om " Lii^ Stock- Monthly," Portland. Me. 

 BREED SYSTEMATICALLY. 

 The only way to real and lasting bem'tits from improv- 

 ing one's flock or herd is to stick to the work of breeding 

 up. without cessation or intermission. Spasmodic and 

 irregular efforts in this line are in the main futile. 

 What is gained in one year by the introduction of a 

 well-bred breeder or two is often lost in the next by 

 heading the farm stock with the grade progeny of full- 

 blooded sires. The trouble is that a great many farnieis 

 stop too soon. They api>arenlly forget that good blood 

 can be bred out as easily as it can be bred in, and that it 

 can only be held by the process by which it is first intro- 

 duced. The services of a thoroughbred bull are obtained 

 this year, and his place is taken after a while by his 

 lialf-blood progeny, a mistake which is made in every 

 stock-raising neighborhood in the land. The genuine 

 process of improvement on the breeding up plan 

 requires the use of a thoroughbred sire on grade dams, 

 the grade of the latter thus improving with each genera- 

 tion. The use of grade sires, however, should never be 

 tolerated, as it essentially reduces the percentage of good 

 blood already secured. II is a waste of money to begin 

 to improve, and then slop just where It is most impor- 

 tant that the course of improvement should be steadily 

 held. One had better not begin at all than begin without 

 the fixed intention of carrying the enterprise through 

 to a successful outcome. A temporary saving of a few 

 dollars just when the fruits of good breeding are beginn- 

 ing to crop out is frequently the most expensive economy 

 in wkich the farmer can indultre. The thoughtful stock- 

 raiser should ponder over these tilings, and allow noth- 

 ing lo stand in the way of carrying out a well-chosen 

 plan of improvement. 



Pi-om^^ Breeders Oazefte," Chicago, III. 



PROM SHEEP TO CATTLE. 

 An observant gentleman, recently returned from a 

 somewhat extenried stay in Texas, mentions the fact 

 that the rather discouraging conditions surrounding 

 sheep husbandry for the pa'^t few years have operated to 

 check the rapid increase in the number of sheep which 

 has for some lime jiast cliaracterized the history of the 



wool-growing industry in that State. This may possibly 

 prove good policy, but the Oazeiie does not so consider it. 

 For the time there may be found in Texas and surround- 

 ing territories conditions which lend a more encouraging 

 outlook to cattle-raising than is just now to be seen 

 from the shepherd's standpoint. Cattle prices are ex- 

 ceptionally high and sheep prices are exceptionally low. 

 There can be no doubt as to which is the more profitable 

 now; but conditions of the market for flock and herd 

 products are liable to change before the majority of 

 sheep-owners can change their business from wool grow- 

 ing to beef production. In fact, a change of any consid- 

 erable proportion of sheep-owners to cattle-raisers— 

 which means diminishing the number of sheep and in- 

 creasing the yearly output of beef cattle— will not only 

 hasten but insure in the market for the latter just the 

 same discouraging conditions that now render sheep 

 husbandry less profitable than formerly. Flock pro- 

 ducts are now low because of full markets and limited 

 inquiry. Any marked increase in Uie annual production 

 of beef will, in time, bring down the price of that arti- 

 cle. The flock-owner who now attempts to change his 

 business is quite likely to find his advent as a seller in 

 the beef market co-incident with a range of prices much 

 less alluring than those now obtainable, while the wool- 

 buyer, whose eye has allowed none of the " pointers " to 

 a future market to escape his notice, will be ready to 

 advance his offering as the "visible supply" of wool 

 shows evidences of lessening proportions. Thus, too 

 late to avoid disaster, the discontented flock-owner will 

 realize that while escaping from the frying-pan of low 

 prices in one line of stock husbandry he has landed in 

 the fire of equally discouraging results following his 

 efforts in his newly-chosen calling. 



Fiom "Amei-ican Agriculturist," New York. 



WALKS AND TALKS ON THE FARM. 



An English gentlejiian who came over in the "Oregon" 

 in less than six and a half days, was looking at my 

 Northern Spy apples. "If you would put them in small 

 pails.'" he said, "and send them to Liverpool, I could 

 sell them for you at a good price. People do not want 

 to buy a whole barrel at a time. But they would gladly 

 buy a pailful. Your barrels are worth little or nothing 

 after the fruit is out, but the pails would be worth with 

 us more than they cost you here. I saw a patl to-day 

 used forshipping tobacco that is just the thing." 



"lam afraid it would not work," said the Deacon. 

 '* The apples would have to be pressed, just as we now 

 press them in barrels, and in such small packages the 

 proportion of apples injured in pressing would be much 

 greater than in barrels of the present size. And besides 

 they tell us that our Western New York apples will not 

 sell In England because we use barrels that do not hold 

 quite as many quarts as flour barrels." 



'They must be great dufTers," said the Englishman. 

 "Our apple crop is a failure this year, and your apples 

 will be wanted. We have had the grandest crop of 

 strawberries this year I ever knew, and they sold as low 

 as a penny a quart. We have not learned how to get 

 them to market in as convenient packages as you use. 

 Your agricultural papers have done great things for 

 American farmers and fruit growers in many ways, not 

 least in recommending more attention to the methods 

 of marketing.'* 



"That is true," said I, "and while at first thought I 

 was inclined to agree with the Deacon, that we could not 

 use small paUs for shipping apples. I am not sure that 

 the plan will not work. We could avoid the crushing 

 the Deacon speaks of by using a false-head for pressing 

 down the apples. This false-head could be covered on 

 the inside with some soft, elastic material that would 

 not bruise the apples in pressing. We could fill the 

 pail, as now we fill the barrel. Put on this false-head 

 with the soft lining, press the apples down firmly, and 

 then take off the pressure, remove the false-head, and 

 put on the regular wooden head and nail it down or use 

 a hinge strap to hold it in place." 



"But," said the deacon. " could they be sent on the 

 cars and steamers?" "Why not?" said the English- 

 man, " you send your lard over in pails, and I do not 

 see why you cannot send apples. And, as I said before, 

 people would by them because they are easily handled, 

 and because the pails would be useful after the fruit 

 was removed." 



Frcmi "Farm Journal," Philadelphia. 



FAMILIAR TALKS. 

 Hay, in this section of the country is very high, and it 

 has bothered me what to winter. We have to look 

 ahead and go slow sometimes. I believe in manure 

 more than I do in the new notion about "phosphates." 

 " Phosphates" are the god-fathers to laziness, and the 

 death-knell to good farming. They will do verj- well as 

 an expedient, but that is not the way to maintain a good 

 farm any more than good religion. There must be a 

 substantial foundation to both. My foundation for grass 

 and grain is what some old-fashioned farmers used to 

 call "barn-yard manure." This is according to the 

 working of nature, to put back to the earth that which 

 is taken from it. I can see from my door a mountain 

 sifte that was once covered with huge pine trees and 

 other forest, but which is now almost barren. It was 

 first robbed of the trees, and then by cropping, of all 

 vegetable substance, until it has become impoverished. 



The soil was sandy and it could not stand the drain as 

 long as stronger land. 



I like sheep, and so I have started another fiock along 

 with my Delaine Merinos. I have bought the best lot o« 

 mutton lambs I could get, at a cost of H50 each, and 

 when they are coming two years old I shall cross them 

 on a pure-bred O.xlordshire ram and breed me a flock of 

 mutton sheep. This is a high price for lambs, with hay 

 nearly $20 a ton : but my balance comes out of a paying 

 flock of sheep in two years and more manure. I could 

 have bought old sheep for less than half the money, but 

 in the long run the lambs are best. I had to competo 

 with the butcher, who would have paid the same price. 



I have had a kind of revelation. It did not come to me 

 in my dreams, or in the night, but while I was walking 

 over the field where I wanted to sow something which 

 would pay the best. My wife is a little tasty about som» 

 things. She does not like the flour the country mills 

 grind, so we do not raise wheat to eat. I had six acres 

 to seed down, and winter grain is the thing to do it with- 

 First I thought of rye. Now comes my revelation: "Sow 

 Clawson wheat and feed it to the animals on the farm." 

 It will yield more than rye, the straw is better for fod- 

 der, and the grain more nutritious. Now what grand 

 food it will make for the hogs, the cows, and the horses. 

 A little will go a great ways. Instead of worrying as a 

 people about who will buy our surplus wheat, let Amer- 

 ican farmers make it into beef, mutton, and pork, and 

 supply the world with their meat. Wheat is the most 

 complete single food of any grain. What an advantage 

 it will be to feed it on the farm If this is done only In 

 part, we can keep on raising wheat always, so lar as the 

 soil is concerned. Feed wheat. John Tuckeh. 



From " Qmntry Gentleman," Albany, X. Y. 



ABSURD POULTRY STATISTICS. 

 For many months past some figures, which any 

 reasonable man must know at a glance to be perfectly 

 absurd, have been in circulation in the papers, as regards 

 the enormous value of the poultry products of this 

 counirj'. Several times as they have attracted our 

 notice it has occurred to us as only matter of duty to 

 prick the bubble, but other subjects of more importance 

 have intervened, and this has been dropped. Who was 

 the discoverer of the statistics referred to, or from what 

 origin they were derived— unless from some publicatioQ 

 of ithe United Slates Department of Agriculture— we 

 cannot tell. In the latest publication of them they are 

 credited to the PmiUry Bulletin, and read as follows : 



" According to the statistics of 1882 the value of poultry 

 produced in the United States exceeds the value of either 

 hay, wheat, cotton, or dairy products, as the foUowing 

 flgures will show : 



■^■iieat, f488.000.000 



Hay 436.000.000 



Cotton 410.000.000 



I>ftiO' 2.>4,00(t.ttOO 



Poultry Products, .... 560 oiHi.oOO " 

 The only light really accessible on the subject must 

 be from the United States Census of 1380, and in the 

 official summary of the statistics of agriculture in that 

 work, part 3, page 21. we find the following, which is 

 simply a condensation of detailed tables published 

 later on : 



" Probably few persons appreciate the importance of 

 the contribution to the annual production of wealth by 

 the common barn-yard fowl. The statistics of poultry 

 and eggs were gathered, for the first time, by the census 

 of 1S80. This is a subject to which the limitations of 

 popular statistical enumeration, already noted in these 

 remarks, apply with special strictness; yet there is no 

 reason to doubt that the figures approach the facts oS 

 the case for the country as a whole, and exhibit with 

 great accuracy the relative importance of ^this interest 

 in the several sections and etates." 



"The number of barn-yard fowl reported In the cen- 

 sus, exclusive of spring hatching, was !02,272,135; of 

 other fowl, 23.235,187; the number of dozens of eggs, 

 456,910,916. At twelve cents a dozen, certainly a moder- 

 ate estimate, the annual value of the egg product to the 

 farmer would reach nearly g.5.5,000,000; while we may 

 suppose 150.000,000 to 180,000,000 pounds of meat sold 

 annually out of the stock of fowls reported." 



Here we have the estimated value of the egg product 

 in dollars, and if we '* suppose " the meat product to be 

 180,0(»,000 pounds at fifteen cents a pound, which is 

 probably a liberal estimate, we shall have the following 

 total : 



Value of Egg Product, . . . ^5.000.000 

 " Meat " ... 27,000.000 



Total, $82,000,000 



Showing an amount about one-seventh of that stated In 

 the table quoted. In fact the aggregate value of the 

 entire stock of barnyard fowls in the countr>'. as it stood 

 in the spring of 1879, if we call it fifty cents a head, 

 would be only about $50,000,000, to which may be added 

 whatever the reader pleases for the " other fowl." 



In the census of IS80 the return of money values of 

 farms and farm products as enumerated in previous 

 censuses, were omitted. But, on turning to the census 

 of 1870, we find that in that year the entire value of 

 "animals slaughtered or sold for slauehier." including 

 live stock of all kinds, was $398, 956 ..376. or much below 

 what some enthusiast wishes us to believe ia the preseuC 

 annual product of our poultry only. 



