64 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ April, 1880, 



in the pail, or the increased thrift of a young ani- 

 mal, yet it is as certainly exists, and in good time 

 will show itself in the field. It is beyond question 

 that in I'eediuj; a ton of bj-an, the larger part of the 

 profit is made in the manvire, and if one is satisfied 

 with what he gains directly in the feeding, he may 

 be all the more so with that which he receives in the 

 manure. 



Robert Bonner's Large Sale of Fine Blooded 

 Stock. 



A large number of admirers of fine blooded stock 

 gathered at the .Manhatten club grounds. New York, 

 Wednesday morning, to attend the sale of some of 

 Robert Bonner's horses. Horse fanciers from all 

 parts of the country were present. Eighty-seven of 

 Bonner's horses were sold. Only a few of the lots 

 went at what may be called high prices, and even 

 these were sold at rates far below the real value of 

 the animals. 



Keene Jim, a famous gelding, was sold for $4,000. 

 The name of the purchaser was Charles A. Dana. 

 The following are the names of some of the horses 

 sold, with their price and names of purchasers : 

 Prince Imperial, b. g., foaled June2, 1869, sire Wm. 

 'Welsh, dam, celebrated Flora Temple, present year 

 has shown a record of 2:2:5;!^ was sold for |1,42.5 to 

 W. F. Osborne, of Ansonia, Conn.; Thomas K., b.e., 

 foaled May l(i, 1S74, sire, Edward Everett, trotted 

 last year in 2-A3}i, was purchased by J. H. Clarke, 

 of Scio, N. Y., for-?500. 



Black Leg in Calves. 



This disease, which is so prevalent in spring and 

 fall, and is so sudden in its attacks that it is nearly 

 always fatal, affects only those calves which are 

 well fed and in good condition. When the young 

 animals are to alT appearance thriving, the owner is 

 apt to be satisfied and thinks all is well with them ; 

 but in reality it is then that watchfulness should be 

 exercised, or at least some precaution should be 

 used. Over-feeding is productive of more disease 

 than scanty feeding, and when calves are known to 

 be in a luxurious pasture, it will be wise to give them 

 an occasional purgative of an excellent antiseptic 

 character. Sulphite of soda is an excellent altera- 

 tive, and may be given in one dram doses with some 

 Epsom salts at intervals of a few days ; once a week, 

 for instance, will benefit as a preventive of this 

 disease. 



Breed Rather than Purchase. 



The experience of many thriving farmers, says the 

 Massacfiusclls I'lowman, all over the country proves 

 a better run of animals is obtained by breeding them 

 on a farm than by purchasing them. More care is 

 bestowed in selecting the likely offspring of tried an- 

 imals- They will go on fattening more rapidly and 

 uniformly than strangers picked up here and there, 

 for it takes some time before these get acquainted 

 and become contented enough to lay on flesh kindly 

 in their new home; and, moreover, the tendency of 

 your stock is upward, and the probability is that ere 

 long it will not pay farmers to go into the market 

 for young animals. In any ca.se it is, as a rule, 

 more profitable to breed the stock one handles than 

 to purchase it. 



Keeping Old Sheep. 

 The New York Tribvne says : " It is folly to keep 

 old sheep. They should be turned off to the butcher 

 while they are in their prime. It does not take half 

 so much to fatten them then. When they (iet old 

 and thin, in order to put them in condition to slaugh- 

 ter, the whole superstructure must he rebuilt. Four 

 sets of lambs are all a ewe can bear ; this will bring 

 her to five years, and this is an age when, with a 

 little extra care, she will round up to a fine carcass. 

 Exceptions may be made when the breed is scarce, 

 and the blood is more valuable than anything else." 



A Horse's Foot. 



Those who will take the pains to examine a horse's 

 foot will find it a set of elliptical springs separated 

 from each other by a spongy substance, and the frog 

 a cushion to rest the foot upon, the whole being 

 admirably constructed for a heavy body to resist 

 jars, from which the natural inference that cutting 

 and paring the hoof and frog is not only useless but 

 positively injurious. 



Kentucky Mules. 



Seventy Kentucky mules have been imported into 

 England for use on the tramways. It is said that 

 three mules can be kept as cheaply as two horses, 

 and that their powers of endurance are greater than 

 those of horses. In Glasgow the experiment has 

 been tried with success. 



Literary and Personal. 



The American Cultivatok.— Devoted to agricul- 

 ture, horticulture, markets, news, art, science and 

 home literature, under the cabalistic motto : " Im- 

 prove the mind and the soil." Boston, Mass. This 

 IB a large eight paged folio, six columns to the page, 



published weekly, at 82.50 per annum, by George 

 B.James at 48 Summer street. No. 9, Vol. 42 ie 

 before us, and in quantity and quality surpasses any 

 imilar publication in the Union. 



The Koanoke Farmer. — Published by Harrell 

 Bros., Weldon, N. C, an 8 vo. magazine of :8 pp. 

 No. 1, Vol. 2, for March, ISSO, has found its way to 

 our table, and is well filled with short and practical 

 articles in the interest of husbandry and domestic 

 industry. Although published in the "Sunny 

 South," it contains much that is of general interest, 

 not only to the farmers in its locality, but also to the 

 entire country. 



PnRDT's Fruit Farm and NtTRSEltlES, Palmyra, 

 N. Y. A royal 8vo. of 24 pp., being a descriptive 

 retail catalogue of small fruits for spring, 1880, in- 

 cluding strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, 

 goo.seberries, dewberries, currants, grapes, &c., in 

 their different varieties, with interesting remarks in 

 relation to their origin, habits, profit, proliflcatiou 

 and culture. Send and get a catalogue before you 

 commence your spring operations. 



Journal of Science. — An illustrated periodical 

 of practical information, designed for popular read- 

 ing, and devoted to the diffusion of knowledge. 

 New Series, Vol. 3, No. 3., Chicago, Illinois, March 

 l.'j, 1880. A 4 columned demi-folio of 10 pages, 

 Edited l)y C. H. Fitch, and published by "The 

 Journal of Science Publishing Company, at §1.00 a 

 year. The letter press, the illustrations, and the 

 literary contents are of an able and practical charac- 

 ter, and cannot fail to interest and instruct those 

 who are of a practical and scientific turn of mind. 



The Sorgo Hand-Book. — Being the twenty-first 

 annual edition of a treatise on the Chinese and 

 African sugar canes. Published by Blymyer Manu- 

 facturing Co., for gratuitous distribution, Cincinnati, 

 Ohio. "This is a handsomely printed 8 vo. pamphlet 

 of 28 pp., including the covers, with 19 superb illus- 

 trations of the different sugar canes, mill, engines, 

 evaporators and other implements used in making 

 sugar, and instructions in culture and use. As an 

 industrial enterprise sugar raising and manufacture 

 must ultimately become a matter of permanent con- 

 sideration among our farmers 



Seventh Quarterly Beport of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Board of Agriculture for December, 1879, and 

 January and February, 1880. A royal octavo of 48 

 pages. So far a9 material and typography are con- 

 cerned, these are the best documents ever published 

 by the State. This document is almost exchisively 

 made up of reports of county fairs, and judging 

 from the report of Lancaster county fairs of Septem- 

 ber last, they are pretty correct. We would ad- 

 monish our local society that there is a " Chief 

 among them taking notes, and faith he'll print'm." 

 This year ought to elicit a better report than that of 

 last year, anyhow. 



The Homing Pigeon and Exchange Mart, 

 Springfield, Mass., March 15, 1880. Published semi- 

 monthly at $1.00 per annum. Sample copies 6 

 cents. No. 1, Vol. 1 of this exceedingly neat journal 

 has been received, and it is replete with matter in- 

 teresting to the "fanciers" of this species of pet 

 stock. It is a double columned demi-quarto of 8 pp. 

 on pure white paper, and, in typographical execu- 

 tion, it will compare with any other journal in the 

 country. (After all there is nothing in the typo- 

 graphic art that will compare with black ink and 

 pure white paper.) As its title implies, it is devoted 

 exclusively to pigeon culture, and especially the 

 "Homing," or carrier varieties. 



The Stock Farm and Home Weeklt.— A (i 

 columned and S paged folio, edited by O. G. Con- 

 tant and H. C. Brown, and published by E. AV. 

 Noyes & Co., Kansas City, Kansas, at |l.50 per 

 annum. This journal contains an immense amount 

 of practical information on a great variety of subjects 

 coming within the sphere of the farmer, mechanic, 

 stock raiser and fruit grower, and is far in advance 

 of any similar journal published in Penn.sylvania. 

 Vieing successfully with the Prairie Farmer and the 

 Jiural Nev) Yorker. No. 2, Vol. 1, March 6, 18S0, is 

 on our table, showing that it is a new enterprise, 

 and, coming; as it does from Kansas, ought to be a 

 guarantee of its ultimate success. 



The Torch of Ttuth. — Published monthly by 

 Elder J. F. Weishample, North Queen street, Lan- 

 caster, Pa., at 25 cents a year. No. 1, Vol. 1, of this 

 little 7 by 11 folio, has been kindly placed upon our 

 editorial altar,5and from our heart we wish it well. 

 It is entirely an individual enterprise, but is pub- 

 lished in the interest of the "Church of God." True 

 it is small, but when we reflect that a single "parlor 

 match" of the present day makes as brilliant a light 

 as the largest old-fashioned "lallowdip," we may 

 feel assured that fiiend Weishample's little Torch 

 will be none the less luminous because it is small, 

 nor will it burn the less brightly in lighting the 

 torches of others. With all the significance that 

 may be legitimately attached to a commcin saying — 

 "may its shadow never grow less." 



The American Monthly Microscopical Jour- 

 nal.— Edited and published by Romyn Hitchcock, 

 F. R.M.S., No. 5:i Maiden Lane, New York, at 

 $1 .00 a year, In advance ; single numbers 15 cents, 



with club rates still more liberal. An octavo of 23 

 pp., of which a sample copy — being No. 3, Vol. I for 

 March, 1880— has been received. Organized micro- 

 scopic progress is comparatively a new scientific 

 enterprise m North America, and mainly confined to 

 the larger towns and cities. But now the subject is 

 assuming a more important form, and increased 

 facilities for microscopic observation, and a wider 

 field for diffusion is opening, and this journal — al- 

 though not the only one devoted to this specialty in 

 our country — may legitimately take rank among the 

 representatives of our microscopic enterprise and 

 literature. Although many people look upon micro- 

 scopy as merely a temijorary source of amusement, 

 it is of the utmost importance as an auxiliary in 

 scientific analysis and minute investigation, and the 

 chief wonder is why America has been so far behind 

 Europe in this respect, connected as it so eminently 

 is, with the atomic or protoplastic origin of material . 

 forms. Its practical character in many departments 

 of knowledge will be developed as the science pro- 

 gresses, and like the telephone, its utility and its 

 application to the economies of every-day life, will 

 be e'er long fully recognized and regarded as a ne- 

 cessity. "The Journal is a clean, neat and well- 

 executed specimen of the typographic art, and its 

 literary contents of a superior order. We commend 

 it to the notice of our local society as an indispensa- 

 ble aid in their microscopic labors. 



Quarterly Report of the State Board of 

 Agriculture for the Y'ear Ending December 

 31, 1879. — Owing to the continued ill health of Hon. 

 Alfred Gray, late Secretary of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, the quarterly report for the quarter 

 ending December 31, 1879, has been greatly delayed. 

 The volume has been received, and among its valua- 

 ble contents will be found the average condition of 

 crops and farm animals, estimated acreage of winter 

 wheat of 1879 compared with the acreage of 1878, 

 crop statistics summarized by counties, showing the 

 number of acres, product and value of crop for 1879, 

 a general summary of all crops, acreage increase 

 and decrease, average yield, also summaries by 

 counties, showing the number and value of live 

 stock for 1879, valuation of property, school statis- 

 tics, showing number of school districts, number of 

 school houses, value of school buildings, number of 

 teachers employed, etc., population of Kansas in 

 1878 and 1879, showing increase by counties, mete- 

 orological summary of the year, an article upon 

 Egyptian corn or Pampas rice, togetlier with a chem- 

 ical analysis of the same, and an article on pearl 

 millet. Probably the most interesting feature of 

 this report is the lengthy illustrated part devoted to 

 "sheep husbandry" in Kansas, giving a short his- 

 tory and description of the various breeds of sheep 

 and the experience of practical breeders in each 

 county, closing with an illustrated sketch of "A 

 Kansas sheep and grain farm, its receipts and ex- 

 penditures." This is followed by a map showing 

 the railroads of Kansas, January 1, 1880, and also 

 the census districts. The volume closes with a 

 brief biographical notice of the late Mr. Gray, who 

 gave to this quarterly report the last labors of his 

 life. The address of Rev. Dr. McCabe, which fol- 

 lows the biography, delivered at the funeral of Mr. 

 Gray, is an eloquent tribute to a useful man. 



"Happy Days." — A summer tour to the Azores 

 and Lisbon, described in a series of lettei'S written 

 for the rtiiladelphia Times, by Marianna Gibbons. 

 This is a square 12mo. pamphlet of 41 pages, in 

 paper covers, and printed on tinted calendered paper, 

 by John A. Hiestand, Lancaster, Pa. {Examiner 

 Printing House.) These letters originally appeared 

 in the columns of the Times over the pseudonym of 

 " Maritana," and doubtless may have been read by 

 those of our readers who patronize that paper. We 

 are under obligations to the fair author of this little 

 work for an advanced copy ; we have read it, and 

 have felt as much interest in it as we did in Russel 

 Young's " Life and Travels of General Grant," al- 

 though written from a different plane of observation. 

 "One-half of the world don't know how the other 

 half lives," and never would find out, if they cir 

 cumnavigated the globe a dozen times, so long as 

 their observaiions were circumscribed by royal and 

 noble intercourse alone. Every letter contains 

 something that is original, something new, some- 

 thing that is interesting, even if we have read it 

 before. As coming immediately within the sphere of 

 our agricultural function, we would remark that the 

 dairy "system of Lisbon is decidedly commendable In 

 those districts of our country where it is impossible 

 to obtain pure milk ; unless they may be like the 

 young lady who objected to the thick and yellow 

 cream of the country, because it was not thin and 

 blue like they get it in the city. The Lisbon dairy- 

 man drives his cow from door to door and draws 

 from her udder, in the presence of his customers, 

 the quantify they desire. There can surely be no 

 adulteration under such a system. " John Donkey," 

 as a means of conveyance, seems to occupy quite as 

 distinguished a position in the West Indies as he does 

 in the East, and all over the world he is the same 

 patient, indolent and obstinate creature. The reader 

 will find amusement and instruction in " Happy 

 Days." 



