isye.j 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



i53 



pounds of all the weighings, which is the 

 average yield also of every clay in the season. 

 Now multiply this average by tlie whole luiin- 

 ber of (lays the cow lias been in milk, and you 

 have the whole amount given by the cow in 

 the season. This gives you a most reliable 

 standard of eomparison, and the weighing is 

 easily dune witli a pair ofclieap spring scales, 

 hung ujion a nail in th<> stable, having a hook 

 at the lower end upon which to hang your 

 pail. At the scales have a liule book, with a 

 pencil attached. Tlie name of each cow 

 should be written on a page of the book, and 

 against the name the weight of her milk is 

 placed. In this way it takes but a moment to 

 weigh the milk. 



Test of Quality. 



It is quite important in butter making to 

 know the quality as well as quantity. You 

 need to know the percentage of cream to de- 

 termine the vaUu' of the cow for butter. And 

 as the price of butler is intluenced by its color 

 and llavor, (and some think the color deter- 

 mines the (lavor) your test should give both 

 quality and quantity of cream. This is easily 

 and cheaply done by tilling a glass tumbler 

 with the nnlk of each cow, and setting these 

 tumblers, in a cool place, for the cream to rise. 

 Tlie transparent glass wdl show you the thick- 

 ness of the cream and its color. You will 

 have milk of each cow under inspection at the 

 same time, and can thus make an accurate 

 comiiarison. Both night's and morning's milk 

 should be thus tested. lu almost every hero 

 cows will be found that give cream of a rich 

 golden color, rivaling the Jerseys ; and if a 

 dairyman wishes to select the Jerseys from his 

 own herd, this is the way to do it. This test- 

 ing for quality often proves that the cow giv- 

 ing the smaller quantity of milk makes the 

 most butter ; and an hour's time will show 

 him the comparative quality of the milk given 

 by each cow in the herd. 



Both of these tests— weighing and setting 

 for cream -will give the dairyman a perfect 

 standard of comparison to determine the value 

 of each cow ; and when he has done this, he 

 will have cows for sale. How important that 

 he should weed out the unprofitable cows and 

 keep only those that compensate him for his 

 labor and expense ; and one day's time in a 

 whole season will give him all this knowledge. 

 E. W. S., ill The Country Otntleman. 



AMERICAN GRAPES AND WINE. 



The last letter received from the San Fran- 

 cisco correspondent of the Baltimore Sun has 

 the following brief and interesting notice of 

 the grape product of Calfornia : 



"The grape crop of California exceeds by 

 half all former years of vintage. The wine 

 presses and caskage do not increase with the 

 enormous growth and fruitage of our vine- 

 yards. Even now, without a drop of rain for 

 five montb.s, and scarcely any dew, a hundred 

 vineyards may be spotted from the hill top by 

 the deep, brilliant green of their glistening 

 foliage. But there is no poetry in the vint- 

 ner's life. One in fifty having wine presses 

 and a market established makes a good thing 

 of it. But the majority can get at best but 

 half a cent a pound— not enough to pay for 

 culture. The pavements of San Francisco 

 groan under the weight of grapes for sale at 

 two cents a pound, in bimches to fill one's hat, 

 and of quality of lusciousness far exceeding, 

 take them as they run, the choicest of Euro- 

 pean selections." 



The trouble of the grape culturists in Cali- 

 fornia is not with respect to the quality of the 

 grapes they raise— for that, as our corres- 

 pondent states, will rival the choicest Euro- 

 pean varieties. It is in the want of a market. 

 The grape in California is so prolific, the soil 

 and climate so admirably adapted to it, and 

 the extension of its culture so easy, that too 

 many persons have embarked in its culture, 

 and the consequence has Iwen that for table 

 uses the production is far in excess of the de- 

 mand. If these grapes would hear the expense 

 of land carriage, in competition with those 

 that are the growth ol the Middle and South- 



ern States, they would find a ready sale in the 

 populous cities of the Atlantic seaboard. But 

 the cost of transporting them a distance of 

 from three thousand to four thou.sand miles 

 across the continent W(ndd make such a Irallic 

 unprofitable. The question now with the grow- 

 ers is what they are to do with their surplus 

 grapes? They cannot convert them into wine, 

 f<ir there are not many growers who have the 

 capital adequate to embark in its manufacture, 

 or the nice skill required to make and store 

 away to ripen wines of tlie better sort. 



When even they have both the ca|)ital and 

 the required skill, there is another difliculty to 

 overcome. .Sonic of the Califorui;i wines will 

 not bear a sea voyage. There are others, 

 however, that will, and these, with C'aliforni;i 

 brandy, are to be had in many of the cities 

 east of the rocky mountains. These latter 

 wines are nuiking their way slowly into public 

 appreciation, but as they lack the age and the 

 peculiar bouquet of the best foreign wines, con- 

 )v>iKseuis do not take to them kii,dly. Never- 

 tiieless, we believe that California push and 

 enterprise will yet make the grape culture 

 profitable, and they will certainly spare no 

 pains to bring California wines and brandies 

 up to the foreign standard. At the presi nl 

 time some of the grape-growers are sun-drying 

 certain kinds of grapes to convert tbeni into 

 raisins. Their success with the sweeter .sorts 

 has been sufficiently promising to warrant the 

 hope that when this branch of the grape busi- 

 iness is perfected and carried on systematically, 

 California raisins will come into" extensive de- 

 mand, not only in the United States, hut in 

 other countries, where tho.se from Spain, 

 Calabria and Sicily now find a market. 

 ^ 



THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING 

 HORSES. 



Notwithstanding much has been said and 

 written on the subject of breaking colts and 

 handling vicious horses, and such men as 

 Rarey, Williams, IMagner and others have 

 been all over the country and demonstrated 

 to all the superiority of science and skill in 

 handling horses over the old luethod of pound- 

 ing and whipping them— still there are a great 

 many who yet stick to the old custom of forc- 

 ing them into submission by kicks and blows, 

 and who think that all that is necessary to en- 

 able a man to break a colt well is to have 

 plenty of courage, strength and a loud voice ; 

 and when they commence to break a colt, hitch 

 him up and try to drive him before he is 

 accustomed to the feeling of the harness or 

 knows anything about the use of the bit or 

 rein ; and if he does not move right ofi' before 

 he has been taught to go, he is whipped; if he 

 does not mind the rein tlie lash is laid on ; if 

 he stumbles on the rough ground he is 

 '' whaled ;" if he whwas too soon when told to 

 whoa he is kicked ; and if he resents his cruel 

 treatment the above is repeated. The conse- 

 quence of such improper management is fre- 

 quently some kind of a scrape, in which the 

 colt is taught his first lesson in kicking or 

 balking, or perbajis he runs away and receives 

 a scare which it will take years to get over. 

 On the other hand, should the colt, as is some- 

 times the case, prove to be very tractable, and 

 not make any resistance, his owner, after 

 driving him a few times, and getting him so 

 he. can drive him and not get upset, will call 

 him "broke," when he is, in reality, not half 

 drivable ; and .so, not being taught, he never 

 learns anything more, only what he learns 

 from ordinary driving. This manner of liand- 

 lintr colts accounts for the many badly kicking 

 and restive horses we have, and also for the 

 vast number of awkward, unhandy and stupid 

 brutes which we see driven every day. Now, 

 although moft any man can break a colt after 

 a fashion, there are but few comjietent to edu- 

 cate a colt as he should be. A man to suc- 

 cessfully handle and educate horses and colts, 

 should in the first place be a natural luirseman, 

 and he po.ssessed of that pe(;uliar knack with- 

 out which no one can be a first-cla.ss trainer. 

 In the .second place, he should have an unlim- 

 ited stock of patience, and be able to control 



himself on all occasions; for a man that can- 

 not control himself cannot control a horse. 

 Besides, a man should bi^ (wsled in his busi- 

 ness, and be familiar with all the different 

 .systems of horse training, as taught by the 

 most successful liorse trainers. He should 

 also be a man pos.sessed of a kind heart, ca- 

 pable of inspiring confidence in the animal he 

 is handling. 



Now if there was in every town a man with 

 these requisites, and he should break all of the 

 colts raised in his town, the usual (|ualities of 

 the hiu.ses of the country would be greatly in- 

 creased, and there woukl not be so many ac- 

 counts in the ])apcrs of broken ribs and bruised 

 heads, caused by horses running or kicking. 

 I hope the day will soon come when every one 

 shall realize the importance of a more thor- 

 'Ugb system of educating horses, and when 

 schools shall be established all over the land 

 for instructing competent men to educate and 

 handle horses ; when such hor.ses as now re- 

 (luire a strong man to drive and control them, 

 shall be rendered kind and docile, and be 

 driven with safety and pleasure, and even 

 without bit or rein; when competent veteri- 

 nary surgeons shall take the place of our 

 country "boss doctors," and the many dis- 

 ea.ses to which horse-flesh is heir shall recei.ve 

 the attention which they deserve ; when tlie 

 law for the ])revention of cruelty to animals 

 shall be enforced in every instance of its vio- 

 lation, and the offenders iiunished as they 

 deserve. When these thingsare realized, and 

 not before, will man's best friend and most 

 faithful servant, the horse, receive that treat- 

 ment to which his services entitle him, and 

 instead of being overworked, starved and 

 beaten by some, and used as a means of gam- 

 bling and cheating by others, he shall, by 

 proper care and attention, together with 

 judicious breeding, and especially by a thor- 

 ough education, be made one of the greatest 

 blessings ever given by the Creator for the 

 benefit of man. — A. T. Mapin, in Maine Far- 

 mer. 



PURE AND IMPURE WATER. 



If there is any one subject connected with 

 agriculture which requires more attention than 

 another it is that of pure water for stock. We 

 believe that many of the virulent diseases 

 known under such names as black-leg, and 

 murrain of various kinds, frequently, if not 

 always, have their origin in impure water 

 which the animals are compelled to drink. In 

 many localities in this country a " mud-bole " 

 filled with stagnant rain water is the only 

 source of supply for farm animals during the 

 long, hot summer, and it is no wonder that 

 diseases of various kinds follow such treatment. 

 The Farmers' Gazette, in treating of this sub- 

 ject, tell some wholesome truths, which it 

 would be well for our farmers to heed. Al- 

 though we have had of late some rain, which 

 has certainlv done much good, there is still a 

 great scarcity of water in many pastures. We 

 do not think that sufficient care is usually 

 taken to provide against such a contingency, 

 or to husband supplies of water when these 

 are apt to fail in seasons of drought. We 

 know tliat some maintain that sheep do not 

 require water when on grass ; liut this is a 

 great mistake, especially when the weather is 

 so excessively hot and parching as we have 

 recently experienced. 



During a hot, dry summer which occurred 

 some years ago, we found that in an extensive 

 sheep grazing district ewes and lambs were ia 

 mucli better condition when they had full ac- 

 cess to pure, running streams than was the 

 case when the sheep pastures were not so well 

 provided, the grass in both cases being in an 

 equally burnt-up condition. But even when 

 the weather has been cooler, the want of pure 

 water in abundance tells on the health of 

 sheep just as it does on cattle ; and as over- 

 wet pastures have their own peculiar diseases, 

 in like manner over-dry pa-stures engender dis- 

 ease which not unfrequently is attributed to 

 other cau.ses. 



A friend of ours, who took an interest in 

 such matters, measured, one hot summer, the 



