184 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ December, 



LIVESTOCK FARMING. 



No interest connected witli American agri- 

 culture lias of Uite years attracted more notice 

 than livestock fanning. This interest em- 

 braces l.ieevcs, hiirscs, slicep, swine and poul- 

 try, but the development to which we refer 

 relates more particularly to cattle and horses. 

 The food suiiply for Euroiie has for a long 

 series of years directed enterprise to the pro- 

 vision trade of the United States, in such a 

 way that it has attained colossal dimensions. 

 Latterly efforts have been made to transport 

 to Europe fresh beef for sale, but the difficul- 

 ties connected with this enterprise have more 

 recently stimulated tiie export.ition of live- 

 stock to Europe instead of fresh beef. This 

 movement has taken shajie more particularly 

 in Boston, at the port nearest Europe, and 

 consequently the one from which the sliortest 

 voyage is made. But the shipping of live- 

 stock by steamers from that p jrt embraces 

 horses, sheep and swine, as well as beeves, 

 and the business increases at such a rate that 

 it bids fair to become a leading branch of our 

 national commerce. As regards horses, the 

 demand in Europe is at all times so great that 

 the principal martial powers of the continent 

 frequently prohibit the exportation of these 

 animals as an indispensalile measure required 

 to insure for themselves an adequate supply of 

 cavalry and artiller}' horses. 



The capacity of our country for the produc- 

 tion of livestock is so vast that too much at- 

 tention cannot be bestowed upon this busi- 

 ness. Rightly understood livestock farming 

 is really one of the best resources for the sup- 

 port of a large population. Thousands of 

 farmers who now waste their capital, time 

 and labor, in the culture of crops that do not 

 pay expenses on account of the markets being 

 overstocked, could much more advantageously 

 turn their attention to the breeding of liorses, 

 horned cattle, sheep and swine, not merely for 

 the European markets, but for the home de- 

 mand also. In the prairie States of the West 

 this has become a favorite employment in re- 

 gions where, owing to the distance from the 

 seaboard, the cidture of the cereal crojis is un- 

 protitable. The leading livestock markets of 

 the West are Chicago and St. Louis, but the 

 shipments of stock to Europe are made chiefly 

 from Chicago as a centre. These have proved 

 so protitable that the business of exportation 

 bids fair to become permanent and to take the 

 place of the shipments of fresh beef. 



In the Southern Slates no movement has 

 yet been made in this business, although no 

 country in the world is better adapted to it. 

 In the course of time, no doubt, the people of 

 that section will lind it to their interest to raise 

 live stock for exportation upon the same scale 

 that they do cotton and tobacco. Of the 

 States of the old South, iNIissouri, Texas and 

 Kentucky seem to be the only ones that have 

 gone into stock farming to any great extent, 

 and of these Texas has made it an immen.se 

 interest; in fact the cattle herds of Texas ex- 

 ceed those of any other State or territory in 

 the Union — the horned cattle alone reaching 

 four millions. From Texas as a centre the 

 cattle breeding interest has extended into 

 Colorado, AVyoming, Nebraska, Dakota and 

 Montana, and wouUI be colossal in all of them 

 but for the havoc committed by border ruf- 

 tians and jircdatory Indians. In California 

 this business has been revived in the southern 

 comities, where it nourished in the old Sjian- 

 isli times on a great scale, but perished with 

 all other industries at tbe outbreak of the 

 gold excitement. The old settlers of Spanish 

 race still cling to stock farming as their tra- 

 ditional business, and many oif them employ 

 tbe original Indians as herdsmen. Connected 

 with stock farming are various industries of 

 great importance to a country like ours, such 

 as the commerce in hides, glue, wool, whips, 

 boots and shoes, leather, etc. Thus, there- 

 fore, stock farming has an importance to tbe 

 civilized arts of the world beyond and above 

 all connection with the food supply ; and if 

 our countrymen can be induced to engage in 

 this business generally, and on a grand scale, 

 there can be no doubt that the result would 



be to give us command of the commerce of 

 the world. It is greatly to be regretted that 

 a more general attention is not paid to the 

 business at the South, where immen.se tracts 

 of land are available for the purpose that are 

 now lying idle. 



In consequence of the rapid rise of this in- 

 terest, young cities in the West have risen up 

 to large diinensious, and promise to become 

 commercial rivals of St. Louis and Chicago. 

 This is really the case with Kansas City, and 

 will in the course of time become so also with 

 Denver and other places. West Virginia 

 seems to us peculiarly fitted for such a busi- 

 ness as this. It is carried on there already to 

 a considerable extent, and contributes large 

 supplies of cattle to the seaboard market. 

 Western Pennsylvania has also bestowed some 

 attention on this liusiness, but not to the ex- 

 tent that it should have done. Grain farming 

 being in a large degree unprofitable here in 

 the seaboard States, on account of the enor- 

 mous crops of the West, and truck farming 

 in this region being also subject to the com- 

 petition of the earlier crops of the southern 

 seaboard, stock farming seems to afford ex- 

 actly the resources needed by our agricultural 

 interests. This is a business in which the 

 South has no advantage derived from its 

 earlier seasons, and in England, where farm- 

 ing labors under the disadvantage of enormous 

 foreign competition, stock farming has be- 

 come a general reliance. So it should be with 

 ■us of the North Atlantic States, ^vhere the 

 profits of agriculture have been diminished 

 year by year in consequence of our markets 

 being flooded with the enormous crops of the 

 West and South. — Germantown Telegrajjli. 



ALL ABOUT EGGS. 

 Perhaps not one person in a thousand can 

 tell that anything is the matter with an egg 

 unless it is completely spoiled. Doubtless the 

 vast majority of those who eat eggs, so season 

 them as to do away with its flavor, if it had 

 any in the first place. Three-fourths of them 

 go down to their graves iu blissful ignorance 

 of the fact that for half their lives they have 

 been eating "pickled" eggs and paying for 

 fresh ones. A pickled egg is brought about in 

 this way: Some time during July, when the 

 weather is warm, and the eggs low, a worthy 

 farmer, whose business tact and piety is about 

 equally balanced, procures a barrel, fills it full 

 of lime and eggs, and in the fall, stocks the 

 market with "fresh" eggs. The lime, of 

 course, prevents the egg from addling. It re- 

 quires an epicure to detect the dift'erence in 

 taste between a "limed" egg and one fresh 

 from the manufactory. But there is one test 

 that gives the "pickled" egg away ; It won't 

 boil ; whenever it comes in contact with hot 

 water, the shell dissolves partnership in the 

 middle. Tliey are sold at a figure one-third 

 less than can be obtained for the newly- 

 laid article. 



The "Ice-House" Egg. 

 Then there is the grade kuown as the "ice- 

 house" egg, where the same worthy farmer 

 aforementioned, instead of putting his "cor- 

 ner" in eggs in a lime barrel, places the bar- 

 rel in an ice-house, and confidently waits cold 

 weather and increase in prices. One charac- 

 teristic is noticeable ahont an "ice-house." 

 When taken from the barrel it invariably 

 "sweats ;" in fact a keen eye can discern a 

 vapor rising from the shell. Another sign of 

 this egg is, the "white" and yelk contract and 

 do not fill the shell. The endurance or ca- 

 pacity of an egg to retain its freshness is 

 iirouglit out quite vividly in this process. A 

 New Jer.sey Cochin Chiiia egg will taste the 

 sanae three weeks after as when it was first 

 laid ; a longer time than that gives it a rather 

 insipid flavor. Pennsylvania and Maryland 

 rank equal iu the matter of retaining fresh- 

 ness, and then follow Wisconsin, Iowa and 

 Missouri. 



"Candled" Eggs. 

 It may be s.afely said that of the thousands 

 who take their "fried, both sides," not one is 

 aware that a test exists by which experts can 



correctly determine the age of an egg. This 

 is, however, true. In the matter of butter 

 such a test is unfortunately, as yet, undis- 

 covered. This IS ascertained by what is 

 known as the "candling" process. A good 

 egg is transparent— everybody admits this. 

 To determine this fact it is generally held be- 

 fore a caudle. If it can be seen through it is 

 good; if otherwise it is "n. g. " The extent 

 of shrinkage in the white determines how old 

 the egg is, a thirty-second part of an inch in- 

 dicating tliree weeks, a sixteenth six weeks, 

 and so on. A bad egg is opaque ; it also gen- 

 erally makes its whereabouts known. 

 Addled Eggs. 

 To the general reader the good in a bad egg 

 was past finding out. It has none — except to 

 be used as "testimonials of esteem" upon 

 candidates fov office, when all other experi- 

 ments to make them aware of the feelings of 

 their constituency have failed. "If you sup- 

 pose that the only use to which a bad egg can 

 lie put," said an egg merchant to a press re- 

 porter yesterday, "is to pelt objectionable 

 politicians, you are as benighted as the Afri- 

 can heathen. Now, mum's the word, is it ? 

 All right. Well, I sell bad eggs to be used 

 for cooking purposes. As you live, that's so. 

 Not only have the parties told me for what 

 they used them, but I have seen them with 

 my own eyes. How much do I get for them ? 

 Six cents a dozen. Here, look at this egg. 

 Its 'spotted' — in other words addled; to make 

 it plainer, rotten. Were I to break the shell 

 tbe odors it would shed would i-ival a first-class 

 glue factory, or a horse-boiling establishment 

 in July. Don't mean to say that things peo- 

 ple eat are made of those eggs ? That's just 

 exactly what I mean to say and can prove it. 

 What do they make ? Cookies, doughnuts, 

 pies, cakes— in fact, this woman whom I 

 know used them to make these things sells to 

 all these venders of pastry and pies on the 

 streets. The smell ? Oh, that is deadened by 

 the preparation of hartshorn. You are fond 

 of cookies? So was I until this revelation. 

 Somehow I don't relish them now — maybe its 

 owing to the water — possibly because I know 

 what's in them. That's why these street- 

 corner merchants sell their eatables so cheap 

 — because eggs are the principal ingredients, 

 and if they can buy them tor six cents a 

 dozen you at once see that they can afford to 

 sell 'cookies' cheaper than parties who have 

 to pay twenty-flve cents a dozen. The longer 

 you live the more, etc. I wouldn't have be- 

 lieved it if I hadn't seen it ; now that I have 

 seen it my diet has changed. I am convinced 

 now that there is no waste in this world ; mat- 

 ter simply changes form, that's all." 



MANAGING A SMALL FARM. 



Whether it is best for a farmer to own a 

 large or small farm is a question to be deter- 

 mined by each individual. If a man has the 

 capital to buy and stock a large farm, and the 

 business capacity to manage it, then a large 

 farm is the best for him. It is a fact which a 

 limited observation will prove, that large 

 farms are not. as a rule, as well cultivated, or 

 as economically managed as small ones. As 

 I have had twenty years' experience on a forty 

 acre flirm, I feel a sympathy for small farmers, 

 and somewhat competent to advise them. 

 There are many men who have not means to 

 liuy a large farm, yet whose tastes are such 

 that they jirefer a country life; and yet they 

 are afraid that they cannot make a living on a 

 small farm, for they see many farmers with a 

 hundred acres or more, who seem to have a 

 perpetual struggle to make both ends meet. I 

 am aware that it requires better farming, and 

 often more economy to manage a small farm, 

 and support and educate a family, than it will 

 on a larger farm, l)ut that it can be done has 

 been jiroved in numberless instances. 



In the management of such a farm, one 

 must be governed by the circumstances sur- 

 rounding him. He needs to grow crops which 

 will bring quick returns, for he cannot wait, 

 as the large farmer sometimes can, to raise a 

 herd of cattle and sell them at three or four 



