THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ January, 



To systemize and popularize the develop- 

 ments of dairy farming on a comprehensive 

 basis, it requires an ably conducted literary 

 exponent, such, for instance as the one under 

 consideration, which we believe will fully 

 realize the anticipations of its patrons. 



The following is a summary of some of the 

 subjects which will be comprehensively and 

 thorougly treated in dairy farming. 



1. The breeds, breeding and selection of 

 cows for dairy purposes, with their feeding 

 and treatment through different parts of the 

 year. 



2. Milking, the rearing and breeding of 

 calves, and the general treatment of stock, 

 both young and old. 



3. The various and most recently improved 

 methods employed in the production of cheese, 

 butter and other dairy products in the best 

 dairying districts of England, in the leading 

 countries on the continent of Europe, and 

 in America and Canada. 



4. The various purposes to which dairy 

 products are devoted, the ways in which they 

 are disposed of, and the commercial aspects 

 of dairy farming in its diflereut branches. 



5. The supplementary stock appertaining 

 more or less specially to dairy farming. 



6. The various cultivated crops found in 

 the best dairying districts, including roots, 

 artificial grasses, leguminous plants, cereals, 

 &c., and also weeds and worthless grasses, &c. 



7. Dairy homesteads, farm buildings, fences, 

 shelter, the supply of water, &c. 



8. The origin of soils, their formation and 

 distribution, explaining the soils and climates 

 that are best adapted to dairying, and the 

 methods of increasing their adaptation. 



0. Manures, natural and artificial, showing 

 the necessary treatment in regard to different 

 soils. 



10. Drainage. Explaining the effects of 

 drainage on various soils, and the systems 

 adopted for securing the best results. 



Subscriptions will be received for a part or 

 the entire work, and sample copies sent on 

 receipt of price. Cassell, Fetter & Galpin, 

 London, Paris, and 596 Broadway, New 

 York. 



COAL ASHES AND TOBACCO. 



Preferring to submit the queries of our 

 Mai'ticville subscriber to a practical farmer 

 for a practical solution, rather than our own 

 theoretical views, we are enabled to present 

 the following as his answer to said qxieries: 



Dr. S. S. Ratiivon. — "Your postal card 

 to hand, lily experience in the use of coal 

 ashes on land is very limited. When left in 

 a heap exposed to the elements to decom)Jose, 

 they may be used to advantage on potato 

 ground at the rate of 150 bushels to the acre, 

 thoroughly worked in the soil, or 1-5 that 

 amount when put in the row. Whether it is 

 the plant food they contain, or the mechan- 

 ical action on the soil, I am not prepared to 

 say. I have never tried them on any of the 

 cereal crops or tobacco, but would advise sub- 

 criber of Marticville to use part of his two 

 cords in that way, also some on meadow or 

 grass land, and report the result to The 

 FAR3IEU. Being generally considered refuse, 

 all the advantage derived from their use will 

 be clear gain. 



I would not depend much upon gi-ound 

 bone for tobacco, unless some other active 

 fertilizing matter, such as good barnyard 

 manure was added. It is too slow to decom- 

 pose or change to prepared plant food for 

 immediate effect. Applied a year previous to 

 putting in the crop might be attended with 

 better results. "—Jf. D. K., Creswell, Pa. 



Experienced poultry exhibitors said that 

 they never saw an exhibition of the kind so 

 liberally patronized, from first to last, as the 

 one held in Locher's building on this occa- 

 sion. 



Possibly all may not have been entirely 

 satisfied witli the result, especially those who 

 may have entertained personal aspirations, 

 but that is a contingency that can never be 

 avoided, from the very nature of the case. 



Messrs. W. T. Rogers, of Doylestown, Pa., 

 and .John E. Diehl, of Beverly, N. J., two 

 acknowledged experts in the business, were 

 the judges, having been selected by a congress 

 of poultrymen, and, therefore, it is presumed 

 that their judgment was fully reliable and 

 reasonably satisfactory to the exhibitors. In 

 another place in this number of The 

 Farsier we have inserted lists of entries and 

 the awards of premiums as a permanent 

 record that may be referred to with becoming 

 pride by the members of the association and 

 their friends. The event inaugurates a new 

 era in the domestic enterprise of Lancaster 

 county, and impressively illustrates that 

 "some things can be done as well as others." 

 Of course, whatever defects may have become 

 apparent in this initiatory occasion, may be 

 remedied in future efforts of the kind. As it 

 is, the society has covered itself all over with 

 glory." 



POULTRY EXHIBITION. 



The first fair of the Lancaster County 

 Poultry Association closed at 10 o'clock, on 

 Wednesday evening,the7thinst., and in every 

 respect was an entire success as it deserved 

 to be — indeed, if such energy, perseverance 

 and tact, as the managers of it manifested 

 from begining to end, had not met with its 

 proper reward, no reproacli would have at- 

 tached to the yociety. 



MEETING 



OF BOARD OF 

 TURE. 



AGRICUL- 



The annual meeting of the Pennsylvania 

 State Board of Agriculture will commence at 

 Ilarrisburg on .January 28, at 2 o'clock, p. m. 

 The programme issued by the Secretary con- 

 tains the following subjects for essays and 

 discussion : 



Wheat — the best variety from the miller's 

 standpoint; the most economical farm fence; 

 how can a farmer most economically maintain 

 or increase the fertility of his farm V Is stock 

 raising profitable in Pennsylvania ? Farm 

 fences and ways over the farm from a legal 

 standpoint; the adornment of farm liouses; 

 are investments in land for renting profitable? 

 What is the most profitable crop to succeed 

 corn ? Why is the apple not as extensively 

 grown in Pennsylvania as in some other 

 States ? In addition there will be discus- 

 sions upon any subject tha t may be introduced 

 by members of the Board. The meeting will 

 be held in tlie office of the Board, and an in- 

 vitation is extended to all persons interested. 



THE COMING STATE FAIR. 

 It can be definitely announced that the next 

 State fair will be lield iu the Permanent Ex- 

 hibition Building. This course was decided 

 upon at a conference held at the Permanent 

 Exhibition Building on Friday last. Those 

 present were Dr. Egle, D. W. Seller and 

 Elbridge McConkey, of Harrisburg; W. S. 

 Bissell, of Pittsburg; W. McDowell, of Union 

 county — all representing the Pennsylvania 

 State Agricultural Society, and Dr. J. A. 

 Paxson, representing the Permanent Exhibi- 

 tion Company by authority of the Board of 

 Directors. The fair will commence on Sep- 

 tember 6 and continue for two full weeks. A 

 sum vailing from $30,000 to $35,000 will be 

 offered in cash premiums. This will be the 

 largest sum ever appropriated for this purpose 

 by the Society. 



Contributions. 



For The Lancaster Farmer. 



ing. Years ago the popular opinion was that 

 fat hogs lost about twenty pounds per hun- 

 dred of live weight, and you hear the same 

 opinion expressed very often even now. That 

 the loss in dressing may have been thus large 

 a generation or more ago I have not the least 

 doubt but the "march of improvement" has| 

 also affected the offal of the porkers. 



Having platform scales quite handy we^ 

 determined this season to find out the per- 

 centage of waste and give it in the table J 

 below : 



SHRINKAGE IN KILLING HOGS. 



The I'aising and killing of hogs is so general 

 that few families miss having at least one or 

 two up to half a dozen or more, especially 

 families living in the country, and as regular 

 as "butchering day" comes, just so regular is 

 the desire to weigh the hogs, and it is gener- 

 ally done. 



But of the many persons who weigh their 

 hogs, few have the means of determining the 

 loss per hundred of live weight in the dress- 



It is a little unfortunate that in preparing 

 the above table I can give the Essex breed 

 only, or their grades. The live weight, or 

 the dressed weight could have been given in 

 numberless cases, but no data was at hand on 

 which to determine the shrinkage. 



Pigs Nos. 1 to 3 were regular grade Essex 

 from a white sow of good quality ; the first 

 showed most Essex blood, being entirely bla k 

 and difticult to distinguish from a pure bred; 

 the second was black and white; Nos. 4 to 6 

 had also a dash of Essex blood, and as in the 

 case of the others the one with the most black, 

 No. 5, showed the least shrinkage. The 

 average shrinkage of the whole six was only 

 14A pounds per hundred of live weight. 



a and h are those with the least and the 

 greatest, and c the average shrinkage of a lot 

 of ten hogs slaughtered, as given in American 

 Agriculturist, by Mr. Joseph Harris, a noted 

 breeder of pure Essex stock, and I have no 

 doubt the whole ten were pure stock, but it is 

 not stated so. The average of these ten is 

 very close to the average of the six grades 

 in the table so that we may infer that in this 

 particular breed the average shrinkage is 

 somewhere in the neighborhood of 14^ per 

 cent, when the hogs are fat. 



At d \Ve have a well matured hog, twenty- 

 seven months, being plenty long enough to 

 feed any pig, and probably a longer time than 

 is profitable to the feeder. The hog lost only 

 ten and one-fifth pounds to every hundred of] 

 live weight, and is certainly less than can be [ 

 expected, except in some special case, as in 

 this, where the object is less the making of 

 money than that of making a prize pig to show | 

 at some agricultural fair. 



But if we think the above something won- ] 

 derful as to the small amount of shrinkage, ' 

 what have we to say to e that weighed 574 I 

 pounds alive, and slaughtered 540 pounds, the 

 shrinkage being only 34 pounds, all told, or 

 less than six pounds per hundred of livej 

 weight. As far as I am concerned it wouldj 

 require an affidavit before a "squire,'! 

 strengthed by a certificate from some reliable 

 minister, to keep me from doubting the man'^ 

 statement 



We may now inquire as to what really conj 

 stitutes offal. Shall we designate as offa 

 only that which is never used under any com^ 

 mon circumstances by any one ? We knor^ 

 that the heart, liver and lungs are generally 

 cut up into pudding meat, and so this would 

 not be offal, though in our weighing this wa3 

 not included; then we have further the 

 stomach and the intestines which are made 

 use of as casings for sausage and pudding 

 meats; some also use the blood for bloodi 

 puddings. If all these are weighed it wil] 

 make a considerable reduction in the shrink^ 

 age, but not down to six per cent. 

 ^In an experiment made by two EnglishmenJ 



