194 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



as a beet grower has assured him of the possibility of 

 raising as many as twenty-seven tons of beet roots on 

 one acre of land, the beets averaging fifteen per cent, 

 sugar. Mr. Gird, therefore, concludes that in no 

 other way can so large an amount of good stock feed 

 be produced on a given area of land. He finds that 

 the beet pulp after parting with all the sugar which 

 the best appliances in the great Chino sugar factory 

 have as yet been able to extract, still contains nearly 

 one per cent, of sugar, or, say, twenty pounds of 

 sugar per ton of pulp. Even this he finds to serve 

 well as a food for fattening stock, and cites in this 

 connection the following experience: On December 

 16th last, he put twenty steers into a separate corral 

 and fed them for forty-eight days with about seventy 

 pounds each of beet pulp that had passed through 

 the sugar factory ,'and about five or six pounds of hay 

 or straw with which to form a cud. He found that at 

 the end of the forty-eight days each had gained about 

 133 pounds, which Mr. Gird regards as quite satisfac- 

 tory. But if the pulp deprived of nearly all its car- 

 bohydrates proved so valuable, what might not be ex- 

 pected from the beets with all their sugar contents 

 served as a ration for cattle being fed for market ? 



Dairy Cows. An experienced dairyman, writing 

 to the Country Gentleman, gives the following ration 

 for Jersey cows kept in the dairy: Three pounds 

 chopped hay, three pounds wheat bran, two pounds 

 corn meal and one pound linseed meal. This should 

 be fed one-third in the morning and two-thirds at 

 evening. It should be well moistened before serving. 

 The experience of most practical dairymen who 

 have fully tested it is, that milch cows, to give the 

 best possible returns, should be fed each day as large 

 a ration of suitable food as they can properly digest. 

 In fact, this principle holds good all along the line. 

 Teams poorly fed do indifferent service, and stock 

 poorly nourished fails to develop into profitable 

 animals either at the farm or in the market. 



Farmers in the irrigated regions, more than else- 

 where perhaps, should use the utmost care in the 

 selection of breeds and individuals in stocking their 

 farms, however large or small. As a rule, pasturage, 

 except on small areas, will not be generally resorted 

 to on irrigated lands. Better results can be obtained 

 by feeding under cover and away from the disturbing 

 influence of insects and bad weather. It becomes 

 then of the highest importance that only the best 

 animals be kept, and they kept in the best possible 

 condition. No scrub stock of any kind should have 

 a place on any irrigated farm. It costs but little, if 

 any, more to feed the best individuals of the best 

 breeds of all kinds of stock than it does those of an 

 inferior type, and the selling value of the former is 

 always very much greater. 



Corn Stalks as Forage. In all the corn-grow- 

 ing States an immense waste of good forage is an- 

 nually seen among farmers generally. Sometimes 

 the corn is not cut at all, but is husked as it stands in 

 the field and the stalks allowed to dry up or other- 

 wise become of little value as stock feed. In other 

 cases the corn is "topped" at considerable cost, 

 leaving the butt of the stalk holding the ear of grain 

 still standing in the field to be handled again in the 

 husking. Among the more advanced farmers, how- 

 ever, these old-time methods are being abandoned 

 and modern appliances used for harvesting and util- 

 izing the crops. Much corn is now cut by horse 



power, and this is found to greatly lessen the expense. 

 By carefully observing just the right stage of matur- 

 ity in the cutting, the value of the stalks for feeding 

 is considerably increased; and if, instead of husking, 

 the corn be put through a threshing machine, the 

 same as wheat, the result is still more satisfactory. 

 By this means the grain is shelled from the cobs, the 

 stalks are broken into edible fragments and the whole 

 is carried by the machine, the grain to sacks and the 

 fodder to the stack or mow. A number of practical 

 farmers who had tried these methods of harvesting 

 and preserving their corn crops, recently gave 

 testimony in a leading agricultural journal to the ef- 

 fect that corn thus treated becomes a much more val- 

 uable crop than if handled by the old methods. The 

 value of corn fodder thus treated was estimated to be 

 greater than that of timothy hay, whether for cattle 

 or horses. When passed through the thresher, the 

 stalks were found to be in such condition that they 

 were eagerly eaten, and very little waste was ob- 

 served. If, then, the mere operation of passing 

 through a thresher at once shells the corn and puts 

 the fodder in condition to be consumed without waste, 

 the practice is certainly to be commended. 



The First Irish Potatoes. Irish potatoes, so- 

 called, were of American origin, as were also Indian 

 corn and tobacco. It is a matter of historical inter- 

 est that Sir Walter Raleigh, who had a passion for 

 gardening and was successful in that direction, what- 

 ever may be said of his character and ability as a 

 colonizer in distant lands, was the first to produce an 

 edible tuber on European soil. Some three hundred 

 years ago Sir Walter, while living on his estate in the 

 county of Cork, Ireland, planted some tubers brought 

 from America in his garden at Myrtle Grove, and 

 from this sprang the potato industry of the world. 

 Although the doughty knight insisted that the strange 

 tuber was good to eat, the simple country folk of the 

 time would have none of it, and ranked it as a 

 poisonous plant, like the tobacco which Sir Walter 

 had also brought from strange lands beyond the sea. 

 Gradually, however, the prejudice was overcome, the 

 tuber was found to be well adapted to the new condi- 

 tions, and before many years it had become the staple 

 food of th - Irish people, which rank it holds to this 

 day. Hence the name, Irish potato, known in all 

 civilized countries and contributing to the food sup- 

 ply of more than half of all mankind. Germany pro- 

 duces more Irish potatoes than any other country, 

 and her crop last year was reported as high as nine 

 hundred million bushels. The crop of the United 

 States has seldom, or never, reached above 175,000,000 

 bushels; but it may be said, too, that the crop in the 

 United States has seldom, if ever, been sufficient for 

 the home supply. 



Best Breeds of Swine. Relative to the best 

 breeds of swine, Mr. James Anderson, a prominent 

 breeder at Guelph, Canada, speaks as follows: 



" We have now the large, improved Yorkshire, 

 which delights the eyes of the pork packer, with his 

 large, deep sides, fine rounding hams, and perfect 

 loins. Then comes the Berkshire, easily fed, and 

 early maturing, which, for a general-purpose pig, if 

 you procure the right stamp, holds its own with any 

 of them. Then we have the Essex and Suffolk, 

 which I would call the family pigs. When lard is as 

 greatly valued as hams and bacon, these are the two 

 breeds that will lay it on to perfection with very little 



