The Lancaster Farmer. 



Prof. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., JUNE, 1878. 



Vol. X. No. 6. 



LANCASTER COUNTY CATTLE. 



Our rciulcrs, oulsiilo of lli(> gcogniiiliical 

 limits of Ij;iiK';istfi-c()iiiity, and many of llicxse 

 residing witliin said limits, may feel interesU'd 

 in. the line cat tic and feeding system of Messrs. 

 C. ]5. Ilerr iV Son, of Manor twp. . Lancaster 

 county, as witnessed liy us on a recent visit to 

 tlie stock stables of those enterprising fann- 

 ers. It is almost snperlliious to say that the 

 elder Ilerr is i'resident of the Lnncdskr 

 Onint)/ A'dtiiiniil Jiiuil\ and a sou of the 

 former "King of tlie Manor," (a designation 

 accorded to him for many years, antl who.se 

 reputation as a cattle grower liiniself has lieen 

 so amply enhanced and improved by his en- 

 terprising decendants). Altliongh progress is 

 manifested in the .different departments of 

 the farm, the farm buildings and farm i)ro- 

 ductions, yet as the fattening of stock cattle 

 for tlie shambles of the butcher is the specialty 

 of the Messrs. Ilerr, we will conline our re- 

 marks mainly, on this occasion, to the imi)res- 

 sions made by this casual visit upon our mind. 

 The system of ventilation, feecling, littering 

 and grooming of the cattle, and the economi- 

 cal ininciples upon which the whole work is 

 conducted, seem to be as nearly ))erfect as 

 any we have ever witnessed, although the 

 proprietors have many things yet in view, 

 which will be eventually .accomplished, but 

 which require lime. The basement of the 

 barn is entirely occupied by cattle stalls, with 

 ample gangways between them, and in the 

 rear of them, so that access to every animal 

 can be had without going out of the building, 

 climbing over, or dodging under. 



Facing the barn from the south, including 

 its appendages, it is in the form of an inverted 

 X, the central arm extending backward ; and 

 this extension constitutes an immense corn- 

 crib, e(iual to three stories high, systematically 

 ventilated, and capable of holding three thou- 

 sand bushels of corn in the ears, and the 

 cap.acity of the granaries contiguous to it, are 

 three thousand bushels in grains. The right 

 and left wings of the liarn are Hanked by large 

 tobacco sheds, the basement of the one being 

 occupied as a "piggery," and the other by a 

 dog-power, by which the water is innuped 

 from a fresh spring well beneath, and is con- 

 ducted by means of pi|)es and troughs to the 

 different cattle stalls. One of Jlr. .John Best's 

 best ten-horse power engines, and a tiftecn- 

 liorse power wrought-iron boiler, by the same, 

 are erected and in use to run the chop- 

 piug-mill, corn-sheller, thresher, hay-cutter, 

 fodder cutter and various other operations 

 needing power. The water to supply the boil- 

 er is conducted through troughs and s|iouting 

 from the entire roof of the barn and annexes, 

 to a large tank, where it is reserved for that 

 special purpose. (By the way, the proprietors 

 paid a very high compliment to the scdentilic 

 and mechanical skill of ilr. Best as a builder 

 of boilers and engines.) The mill, the gi'an- 

 aries, the hay and fodder cutters, &c., being 

 on the second floor, they are convenient to 

 the cribs and mows, from whence the corn, 

 oats, hay and fodder are brought in the rough 

 state, to be passed through the grinding, 

 shelling and cutting processes, and are then 

 discharged into receivers on the basement 

 floor on a level with the cattle stalls. Here 

 the chopped corn and oats, and the cut hay 

 and fodder, are placed in two long covered 

 troughs, and saturated with cold spring water 

 in sunnner, and hot water in winter, a, large 

 tank being iu proximity, connected by pipes 

 with the boiler al)ove, "and the well below. 

 These troughs contain enough for one " feed " 

 for the sixty-five head of cattle iu the stalls. 

 As soon as, these covered troughs are emi)tied 

 they are refilled and moistened, and left to 

 stand thus until the next feed. The feed is 

 giveu three times a day, namely, at 5 o'clock 



in the morning, at 11 o'clock a. m., and at (1 

 o'clock p. m. ; anil fresh water is given twice 

 a day — between the feeds in the forenoon and 

 afternoon. No hay-racks are in the stables,, 

 and there is an unobstructed view of the 

 whole herd from any position in the stable. 

 Indeed, vi'ry little or no hay at all is fed "in 

 the rough ;" all is cut and steamed or mois- 

 tened, and every bladi; and stalk is so com- 

 pletely economized and utilized, that hardly 

 a stray fragment can be found lying about 

 large enough to m.ake a toothpick. The 

 Messrs. Ilerr have introduced a novel mode 

 of currying and brushing theircattle by steam 

 power by means of wheels, pulleys, shafts 

 and belts connected with the engine, and the 

 brushes are manipulated by a flexible arm and 

 eccentric movements, something iu the man- 

 ner of that used by dentists for drilling out 

 and cutting teeth, only on a much lai'ger 

 scale — the brushes and combs revolving sinn- 

 lar to those used by fashionable barbers. 



When the feeding hour arrives the jiroven- 

 der is placed iu olilong, square barrows, or 

 trucks, on wheels, and i)ushed through the 

 gangways and distributed among the cattle, 

 with as much facility as a lady pushes a child 

 in the carriage along the sid(^walk. All these 

 details, however, and others which we may 

 have omitted, are but subs'idiary to the great 

 centre of attr.actiou, namely, the sixtv-five 

 head of cattle in the stalls. These, \vhen the 

 time comes to commit them to the shambles — 

 about the middle of .Tuly — will weigh not 

 much less than one hundred and tirciiti/ thous- 

 and jjounds, if they do not exceed that weight. 

 We are not at liberty to give their estimated 

 weight at the present time, but it seems sulli- 

 cient to justify the amount we have men- 

 titnied, when they are ready for market. The 

 cattle are so healthy, kept .so clean, and the 

 ventilation so perfect that the odor exhaling 

 from them is not as oflensive as that which is 

 encountered sometimes among human beings ; 

 and then we can easily imagine an assemblage 

 of men who do not look as intelligent as these 

 "dumb animals" — none at least whose eyes 

 are so beautifully bright, whose breath so 

 sweet, and whose look so gentle and innocent 

 as these varieties of the genus lias. Some 

 continue to chew theie "cud" with philo- 

 sophical gravity when strangers appear, otliers 

 manifest some curiosity, .some assume a sort 

 of indillerence, but all look gentle and inno- 

 cent, and surely no one can justly call them 

 "common and unclean." As a rule these cattle 

 arc kept tied up in tlie stall all the wliile, and 

 when, for cause, any are temporarily left out 

 itisanuising to notice tluar unwieldy playful- 

 ness and their grotesciue attempts to kick up 

 thi'ir heels and run, like great /aJ hoi/n indulg- 

 ing iu the recess recreations of a country 

 school. 



In addition to the tobacco .sheds already 

 mentioned the Messrs. Herr have erected a 

 very large shed facing the public highway, 

 that is 8.J feet long. ;!U feet ileep, and eciual to 

 a building four stories and an attic high, 

 without including the basement cellar ; so 

 that it may be said th.at their specialties are 

 cattle raising (or fattening) and tobacco grow- 

 ing ; but we rather incline to the opinion that 

 if they were to abandon the latter altogidher, 

 and devote the tobacco groimil to corn an(l 

 oats, it might in the end be made more profit- 

 able to the farmer. All these buildings are 

 ])ermaiient and mechanically constructed 

 frame work, planed and painted, and very 

 unlikethe temporary, undressedand unpainted 

 buildings so commonly met with elsewhere 

 for that purpose. 



Di passing to and fro we were agreeably 

 impre.s.sed with the old Manorial di.strict, in 

 the heart of which the Herr farms are located; 

 its rolling lands, its waving fields of luxuriant 



grain, its UKsmdering streams, its rural man- 

 sions, anil its cozy clusters of woodland, and 

 withal, its prospective flelds of corn and to- 

 bacco. A bountiful Providence seems to have 

 been profuse in bis gifts on eveiy hand ; and 

 if our "great expectations " are" not realized 

 when the harvest comes, instead of indulging 

 in untoward croaking, it will in: well to poii^ 

 der with our inner self to see w^hether we 

 really were deserving of any belter results, 

 reconciling ourselves to the spiritual " powers 

 that he." 



THE ROBIN DOOMED TO DEATH. 



" A gentleman writes to the Norristown 

 Ihrahl that the house-sparrow scratches out 

 and eats his (leas. Well, all we liavo to say 

 is, that if he jilants bis ]ie;isso shallow that a 

 bird as big as the lirst joint of the thumb can 

 .scratch them out, they <uight to be scratched 

 out ; for nobody who desires fine flavored 

 peas ever pl.ants them less than three inches 

 deep. We feed our .sparrows and all other 

 binls, winter and summer. In winter even 

 the Canada woodpecker is on hand and helps 

 himself from the common board. TW. only 

 injurious bird we have upon our i)remises is 

 the robin, which is ever hungry and ever i)il- 

 fering. Even now it is busy ferreting out 

 the earliest and best strawMierries. It next 

 tackles the cherry, then the grape, and so on. 

 We confess they ouglit to be sliot. It lives jis 

 little on in.sects as many of those classed as 

 non-msectivorous. Besides it is excellent for 

 the i)ot and griddle." — Germuntown Tflerjrcqih. 



In imitation of the Major, we might say, 

 "well, anybody that is simple enough to plant 

 strawiierries, and cherries, .and grapes, ought 

 to have them ferreted out and eaten by robins 

 — but we don't." From our person.al exiicri- 

 ence, however, we do not hazard much iu 

 saying that we do not lielieve a robin will be 

 guilty of stealing a hot lirick, or a " shad off 

 a gridiron." Some years ago we had a do- 

 mesticated robin in our jiosscssion for ,a period 

 of about tell months. lie had the free run of 

 the garden all summer, and never attempted 

 to touch a grape ; but he was, perhaps, not 

 entitled to much credit for this abstinence, 

 from the fact that through a long winter's 

 conlinemcnt in a cage, the developmeut of his 

 wing-power became very defective : still, he 

 muld mount aloft by short leaps, aided by his 

 wings, if he desired. Hut he seemed to prefer 

 the ground, and during the summer lie and 

 "Old Biifo " (a common toad) were very in- 

 dustrious in gobbling up worms, snails, cater- 

 pillars, flies, moths, aphids, slugs or any other 

 morsel of the kind that came within their 

 reach. We often gave him cherries, but he 

 never seemed to care much for them — an 

 occasional taste, no more. But for more than 

 fifty years we have been cognizant of the fact 

 that robins have a partiality for the common 

 black cherry, {especially when it becomes dead 

 ripe, and infested by the curcidin^ and they 

 always irill be .so infested in that condition, 

 and from our earliest recollection always hove 

 been) wild cherries, guniberries. blackberries, 

 and when these are exhausted, for jiokeberries 

 — especially late in the season; and it isnotatall 

 surprising that they should appropriate straw- 

 berries, cherries and grapes, since such choice 

 kinds are cultivated, and their old kinds of 

 berries have been almost totally removed. 



The robin makes his ajipearance in our 

 county very early in the .season (the present 

 year abont the middle of February,) and from 

 that period until str.awberries and clierries are 

 ripe lie muM subsist and dties sulisist on in- 

 sects in their various stages of development — 

 both the adults and the first brood of the 

 young birds. One hundred insects destroyed 

 in tiie beginning of the gixiwing season is 



