122 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[August, 



OUR PARIS LETTER. 



Farming and Stock-Raising on the Continent 

 of Europe. 



Correspondeuco of Thb Lancaster Farmee. 



Paris, July 15, 1875. 



EXPERIMENTS IN FATTENING CATTLE. 



Prof. Sanson, of the Aericiiltural College of Grig- 

 non, is the well-known advocate of the theory of fat- 

 tening stock, to produce the greatest quantity of meat 

 possible, by methodic feeding, in the shortest time. 

 His writings tend to show that there is a stage in the 

 fattening of animals, when the prolongation of the 

 processes of fattening ceases to he remunerative, de- 

 spite the animal's avidity for food. The latest experi- 

 ment M. Sanson records, was that conducted on a 

 Durham bull, tied up on the 31th of December last, 

 in an ordinary shed with cows. The animal was not 

 cut, weighed 1.5 ewt., and valued at/)-3.58. The food 

 consisted of beet, dried vetches, wheaten chaff and 

 bran. The same ration of the lirst three substances 

 was continued throughout the 61 days the fattening 

 was pursued, but after 31 days, the original feed of 

 bran, 14 lljs., was increased by one-half, and doubled 

 during the last three weeks. After the second stage 

 of fattening, the animal increased in weight at the rate 

 of 5 1-5 lbs. daily ; during the last stage, and with an 

 Increase of farinaceous diet, the flesh put up daily 

 was about 4_i^ lbs., gradually diminishing to 3 lbs. It 

 was at this point the animal was sold to the butclier, 

 producing ol% per cent, of meat as compared with 

 Its live weight, realizing /»-.5Sl, being /j-233 differ- 

 ence as compared with its value when put up. The 

 food is valued at frliO, so that the net benefit was 

 /(•83, in addition to the manure. 



THE AGRICni.TURAL DISTRICT OP AMIENS. 



One of the most interesting agricultural regions in 

 France is that of which Amiens is the centre, because 

 it not only exhibits great variety of soil, but also 

 methods of cultivation. Yet, in the time of Arthur 

 Young, tliat traveller could find no agricultural 

 merit in the district. As Picardy was the seat of so 

 many wars, itsbackwardnessis thus easily explained. 

 At present it is a thriving seat of agricultural and 

 manufacturing industry. To the native methods of 

 cultivation are Joined those of Flanders and England ; 

 a large sea, or estuary board, and excellent canal and 

 river accommodation, contribute much to the pros- 

 perity of the rural population ; sixty per cent, of the 

 land is devoted to the growth of wheat and industi'ial 

 jilants. JIuch bog land is tilled according to a sys- 

 tem of root-crops and kitchen gardening. Having 

 dried and leveled the soil, it is divided into parallelo- 

 gram beds, 10 or 13 feet wide, each separated by a 

 ditch or canal feet in width, and connecting with 

 the river. This canal serves to water the beds and to 

 receive all vegetable refuse, for the latter is never di- 

 rectly buried in the soil, being as just stated, allowed 

 to rot to form liquid manure. A three-course rota- 

 tion is pursued, where salads, radishes, carrots, onions 

 and leeks are alternated with potatoes, peas, cabbages 

 and turnips ; some cabbages weigh from 30 to 50 lbs ; 

 beets from 30 to 30 ; turnips 13 to 18, and the Tour- 

 nery radish from 18 to 31 fts. A visit to the market 

 will confirm these weights. The breeds of cattle are 

 naturally adapted to this almost tropical production 

 of green crojiping, ami where deep culture and high 

 manuring go hand in hand. The Flemish breed of 

 cattle is in great favor, although the Dutch commence 

 to be more in favor. Professor Sanson' asserts these 

 two belong to one and the same race, and wliere color 

 seems to play an exaggei'ated part. The Dutch cow 

 is an immense feeder, but then she can give as much 

 as 10 quarts of milk a day, and from 30 to 30 is quite 

 the f)rdiuary yield. The Flemish cow has a greater 

 disposition to fatten than the Dutch. The Durham 

 lireed is however preferred for fattening. When three 

 years old, such an animal will be as ripe for the 

 butcher, and twice fatter than a Flemish ox aged five 

 years. To ensure this quality of precocity, crossings 

 are in favor, and are found to distribute better that 

 fat between the muscles, which in the Durham too 

 often forms only a layer between the flesh and the 

 hide. Slieep are not much reared in Picardy, but 

 when so, the Southdown is preferred forits merit. At 

 thc! Aniicns Agricultural Show, sheep shearing con- 

 tests, with the exhibited sliears, take place ; forty 

 minutes is tlie average time for clipping an animal ; 

 prizes are also awarded for wool exhibited in the fleece; 

 osiers also are entered for competition. By the in- 

 termittent drainage of marsh lands, tlie green osier 

 can realize //'SOO per acre. Pear and apple pulp, or 

 l)ate, is a new agricultural iiroduct ; it is highly 

 prized, and if stored in a dry place will conserve the 

 flavor of thi^ green fruit for years. Five parts of 

 water, added to one of the paste, and boiled lor 30 

 minutes, forms an excellent, healthy, and cheap pre- 

 serve. 



THE MANUFACTURE OP CHEESE. 



M. Paynel, of Caen, is one of the principal manu- 

 facturers of tlie famous Camembert cheese, of which 

 he sends 100,000 every year to Paris, where tliey are 

 sold for JW tlie dozen, or 13 sous a piece; now it 

 takes two ((uarts of the best milk to make a Camem- 

 bert, which represents over six sous the quart for 



the milk. M. Manettl, the director of the cheese ntn- 

 tion, or experimental farm, at Lodi, in Lombardi, 

 holds that the preparation of good cheese depends 

 more on the farmer than the dairy maid ; it is by at- 

 tending well to the meadows, the forage, in a word, 

 that the exeelleuce of cheese is determined. He 

 shows that in case of two fields, side by side, of the 

 same geological character, the soil of one was porous 

 and friable, ami produced excellent herbage, the 

 other was undrained and stiff, the forage indifferent ; 

 when the animals were fed on the latter the caseine 

 was deficient and the milk turned rapidly; in the 

 former the contrary effects were produced. On an- 

 alysis, the bad fodder was found to be deficient in 

 mineral matters, alkaline phosphates above all. M. 

 Manetti concludes that to obtain good milk for cheese- 

 making, every effort should be made to produce a 

 forage rich in quality rather than in quantity. 



FORAGE AND FODDER. 



Fodder will be again scarce this year, so that 

 farmers are feeling themselves driven to sow maize, 

 sorgho, Hungarian moha, &e., all of which possess 

 the property of resisting drought, and can be pre- 

 served in covered trenches, when well packed, in a 

 green state — air and rain excluded — for winter and 

 spring feeding. The culture of green maize has revo- 

 lutionized Belgian farming ; it succeeds in all wheat 

 soils, and ought to be manured, or succeed a manured 

 crop ; many sow some breadths every fortnight, from 

 April to July, to have successive green cuttings ; 

 white mustard is a favorite autumn plant for milch 

 cows with French farmers, and is familiarly called 

 the "butter plant." After securing a supply of food, 

 the next step is to ensure its economical ccmsumption, 

 that is, to present the aliments to the digestive forces 

 of the animal, under such a form as to re-act without 

 fatiguing, and to extract the largest numberof assimi- 

 table elements. For example, in the case of grains, 

 these do not nourish or fatten according to the quan- 

 tity consumed but to the proportion digested, or, in 

 other words, assimilated, and to promote the latter 

 the food ought to arrive in the stomach well masti- 

 cated and impregnated with the secreted fluids. To 

 develop flesh, blood must be first made, for this is 

 the source of organic growth ; and fat blood can only 

 be best obtained from rich food, administered in a 

 moist form. In a dry state, alimentation demands 

 too much effort from the digestive organs, and this is 

 great even where the Ibod is chopped or crushed. 

 Too much time devoted to mastication is so much 

 taken from nutrition, for it is not when in the act of 

 eating that the animal puts up fat, but wlien it di- 

 gests. Food for cattle ought to be then steeped in 

 boiling water, and allowed to lerment and cool for 31 

 hours ; the mixture liceomes slightly acid, a taste the 

 animals do not dislike ; a little salt added will not 

 only excite appetite, but promote assimilation. All 

 cattle diet can be thus prepared. Chopjied straw, cut 

 roots, &e., mixed. In the case where twigs have been 

 cut with their leaves, and stacked for feeding pur- 

 poses, where hay, i&c, is scarce, to sprinkle a little 

 salt and lyater on them, when put in the rack, will 

 increase their palatableness. 



FLAVOR AND COLOR IN MILK. 



Plants of the eruciferse order, as mustard, Ac., Im- 

 part a fiavor to milk when given to cows in too large 

 a quantity ; but it is not yet established that there is 

 a connection between the food and the color imparted 

 to the milk ; madder, if mixed with fodder, will im- 

 part a red tinge, carrots a yellow, buckwheat and 

 shave grass a blue ; but these colors are not devel- 

 oped until the milk has had some time to settle; 

 hence why many believe the oxygen of the air brings 

 about the change, and to prevent which some dairies 

 add a little " buttermilk" to the fresh milk. There 

 are colorings, too, in the milk, that the nature of the 

 food cannot at all account for. 



VeiNTEH IRRIGATION OF FARMS. 



With the view of combating the drought in spring 

 in the case of meadows, it is recommended to irrigate 

 them as much as possible during the winter, when 

 vegetation is suspended, save wlicn the water is the 

 product of melted snow, as in the mountain districts. 

 The constant trickling of water allows the accumula- 

 tion of elements of fertility, wliich rapidly benefit tlie 

 grass on the arrival of spring. It is well known that 

 the grass along the border of a streamlet is of a dark 

 green, proof of the efficacy of a running watering. It 

 is an error to depend on spring irrigations alone, for 

 at the moment when the grass commences to vege- 

 tate, little water is required ; it demands only moist- 

 ure, not wetness. The surface of a meadow ought to 

 be so leveled that within an hour after the water has 

 been turned off, one eau walk on the grass in a pair of 

 pumjis without wetting thc stockings. If the water 

 aecuinulatcs instead of flowing, the good jilants will 

 perish, and reeds and sedges succeed, indicating at 

 thc same time the leveling to he incomplete. Wlicn 

 the water is not of Hrst quality some fertilizers can 

 be dissolved in it, or licjuid manure added. In Hano- 

 ver, meadows, in spring and after the first cutting, 

 receive dressings of commercial manures, a short 

 time before the water is turned on. , 



GROWING RYE-GRASS SEED. 



Two methoiVs are employed on the Continent to 



grow rye-grass seed ; either to devote the second year's 

 croj) to that end, or to plow down after the first year, 

 and sowing rye. Suflieient of thetimothy will sjirout 

 lietwcen tlie furrows, and can be allowed to ripen 

 along with the rye, separating afterwards with a 

 sieve. Sowing timothy in autumn alone for seed is 

 not a favorite practice. 



nEIFEKS AND FIRST CALVES. 



Is It advantageous that heifers ought to produce the 

 first calf when two years old? Small farmers adopt 

 this practice; large holders defer that event till the 

 third year, alleging that such rest is essential for the 

 development of the animal, and imixjrtant when the 

 intention is to employ the cow for breeding purposes 

 only. Where the period of two years is adopted, the 

 heifer cannot be too well fed. 



YOU MAY SMILE OR BE SHOCKED. 



I regret to have to introduce an agricultural fact 

 with something like an apology. A German agricul- 

 turist, M. J. Swartz, of Hofgaarden, has 300"mileli 

 cows and 40 liorses. Some years ago, in face of a 

 penury of fodder, and aware that the cows had no repul- 

 sion for it, he fed them on the fresh excrements of the 

 horses, and has since continued the usage. The prac- 

 tice is very common in Sweden. A cow receives at 

 first, eight quarts of this fecal matter daily, a horse 

 yielding five times that quantity in the same period. 

 M. Swartz affirms that his Durhams cannot iie sur- 

 passed in health, nor does the mUk, butter, and cheese 

 possess the slightest bad taste. M. Lclller, of Staf- 

 losa, employs the same substance mixed with beet 

 pulp and chopped straw to fatten his slock, adding a 

 little crushed grain at first to deceive the animals. 

 He sees no more objection in converting the organic 

 matter of fresh horse dung into beef, butter, and 

 cheese, than into succulent 'mushrooms. So, gentle 

 reader, you may indulge in a smile or a shock as the 

 fact' strikes you. 



THE GREAT INUNDATION. 



The agriculturists at Toulouse, suffer by the inun- 

 dation of the Garonne, a loss estimated at two hun- 

 dred millions of francs. The crops on 130,000 acres 

 have been destroyed, and the surface soil washed 

 away or covered with gravel. The valley was one of 

 the gardens of France. 



OUR LOCAL ORGANIZATION. 



Proceedings of the Lancaster County Agricul- 

 tural and Horticultural Society. 



The stated monthly meeting of this society was 

 held in the Orphans' Court-room, on Monday after- 

 noon, the 2d of August, Johnson Miller, President, in 

 the chair. 



Members present — .lohnson Miller, H. M. Engle, 

 M. B. Eshleman, M. D. Kendig, Daniel Smeych, M. 

 M. Brubaker, John R. Bricker, Jonas Buckwalter, 

 Elias Hershey, S. 8. Rathvon, J. Stauffer, Benjamin 

 Kitter, William McComsey, C. L. Ilunsecker, D. O. 

 Swartz, S. P. Eby, P. S. Reist, and the reporters. 



The meeting, though not largely attended, was very 

 interesting. 



Reports of members on the condition of the crops 

 being in order. 



President Johnson Miller, Warwick, said that, since 

 their last meeting, great changes had been going on 

 in this county, in which the farmers have had a busy 

 time. Fields have been gleaned of their crops, and 

 some plowed over again. Barns have been filled, but 

 not so full this j'ear as is generally the case in Lan- 

 caster county. We see now very few hay and grain 

 stacks, which were wont to be so plenty heretofore ; 

 this jiroves to us that those crops have fallen short. 

 Altogether, however, there is a tolerable good crop, 

 and the hay, if short, is of the best quality. Wheat, 

 although short in the straw, turns out good sized and 

 well filled heads, so that there will he much more 

 wheat than was expected in the early part of the 

 season. The oats crop turned out good, especially 

 the late sown, which was also long in the straw. Mr. 

 Miller reported his Canada and Western oats — the 

 latter of which he sowed the greater portion — as hav- 

 ing all turned out better than usual. Corn looks 

 well since the late rains, and with such weather as in 

 July we shall have a heavy crop, and thc fodder will 

 be unusually long. Pot.atoes are fine, and the late 

 plantings will yield a good crop. The liugs are still 

 at work, but the potatoes are past injury by them. 

 Pasture was never in better condition at this season. 

 The prospect of much fruit is not encouraging — grapes 

 excepted. Tobacco is very irregular, and cannot, 

 under the best circumstances, yield a full croji. Mr. 

 Miller said that he had experimented with several 

 varieties of wheat, some of which were from the Ag- 

 ricultural Dejiartmeut at Washington, but had not 

 threshed the samples out, so that he was not able to 

 give any more certain data than what could be seen 

 by the members, from the samples produced. 



Milton B. Eshleman, Paniflise, reported that he 

 believed the wheat, in their district and through the 

 county, would turn out fairly, much better than had, 

 earlier, been expected. Potatoes were yielding well 

 in spite of the bugs, to which he had given one meal 



