-184 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[December, 



spects, or in all respects, may be raised in 

 some locality where no seed of the kind was 

 ever placed in the soil, and where no plant 

 was ever set out. 



This place may be in the valley of the 

 Platte, Grande, or Yellowstone. It may be 

 on some slope of the Rocky mountains or on 

 some island off the coast of the Atlantic. 

 After importing high-priced tobacco from 

 Cuba for over two hundred years, it may be 

 found that a much better article can be pro- 

 duced in our own country and on soil that is 

 now of very little value for any crop that has 

 ever been planted on it. In fact, it is not 

 improbable that the time may come in no 

 distant future when the Spanish officials may 

 smoke American cigars in the orange groves 

 of Cuba. A gentleman who has spent con- 

 siderable time on the island states that the 

 soil on which the choicest varieties of tol)acco 

 are gi-own very closely resembles in appear- 

 ance and composition tlie light clayey soils 

 found in various portions of Alabama and 

 Georgia, where no attempts have ever been 

 made to produce the crop. The lands are 

 nearly valueless at present, but may be, after 

 all mines of wealth. 



A WONDERFUL JERSEY COW. 



The season's test of the remarkable butter 

 cow Eurotas, No. 2454, which has been 

 in progress for nearly a year at the farm of 

 her owner, Mr. A. B. Darling, near Ramsey, 

 N. J., terminated with her milk of October 

 15, at which time she became practically dry, 

 and on November 4 she dropped a calf. It 

 has been foreseen for some time by fanciers 

 of the Jersey and of butter stock in general 

 that her test for the year was likety to sur- 

 pass any previous one, the highest instance 

 heretofore known being that of the cow Jer- 

 sey Belle, of Seituate, 7828, owned by Mr. C. 

 O. Ellms, of Seituate, Mass., that made 705 

 pounds of biittor in a year. The accompany- 

 ing table, complied with the records kept at 

 Darlington farm, shows the footings for each 

 month and a total result for Eurotas of 776fts. 

 1 oz of butter for the year. No account was 

 kept of tlie milk and butter made during the 

 first ten days of her milking period, and, as 

 her last calf was dropped a few days within a 

 year from the date of the commencement of 

 the test, she would be entitled to the addi- 

 tional time had the trial commenced five days 

 earlier. The weights of milk and butter were 

 taken at each milking and cliurning, the but- 

 ter being weighed before adding the salt, but 

 not until tlie buttermilk was thoroughly rins- 

 ed and worked out. The texture and flavor 

 of the butter is very tine, its color good in 

 summer, but lighter than that of many Jer- 

 seys cows during the winter mouhts. Enor- 

 mous as this yield seems when compared with 

 that of an ordinary cow, those who have her 

 in charge express the belief that during the 

 previous year she far exceeded it. This view 

 is sustained by the occasional test for short 

 periods that were made at intervals through- 

 out the season, which prompted her owner to 

 have her separately tested for a year. Her 

 last calf is a heifer, being the only one she 

 has, the former ones being bulls. It is by 

 Duke of Sciuate (No. .3,62.'?), a son of Jersey 

 Belle, of Seituate, above mentioned. This 

 bull and son ot Eurotas, called the Duke of 

 Darlington (No. 2,400), are kept as stock 

 sources at Darlington farm. A notable fea- 

 ture of the following statement is the rich- 

 ness of the milk in cream, the ratio being 

 but 9 67-100 fts. (less than five quarts) of 

 milk to the pound of butter. The cow is of 

 striking appearance, the development of the 

 udder, milk veins, and all the essential appa- 

 ratus for the assimilation of food and its con- 

 version into milk, being so unusual as to 

 draw the attention of the most ordinary ob- 

 server. 



Eurotas 2,454. 



Dropped calf October 31, 1879, and calved 

 again Nov. 4, 1880. The intervening test for 

 butter commenced with November, 10, 1879, 

 and ended with October 15, 1880 (period, 



eleven months, six days), at which time she 

 became dry: 

 Month. 



1879. 

 November 

 December 



18S0. 

 January 

 February 

 Marcli 

 April 

 May 

 June 

 July 

 Augu6t 

 September 

 October 



No. of 

 Days. 



21 

 31 



31 

 29 

 31 

 30 

 31 

 30 

 31 

 31 

 30 

 15 



Weiglit 

 of Milk. 



451 



755 



746 



667)^ 



6531^ 



602 



770K 



837 



7G0>^ 



704 



4541^ 



1231^ 



Weight of 



Butter. 

 Lbs. Oz. 

 40 1 



74 



79 

 77 

 75 

 68 

 87 

 88 

 80 

 66 

 32 



Total 341 7,525 778 01 



The cow was of course liberally kept, yet 

 the secret of the great yield is clearly in 

 the blood, for it is declared that no ordinary 

 cow, however fed, can be made to accom- 

 plish anything like the same result. In win- 

 ter she had all the hay she wanted, and in 

 addition a pail of gruel of bran and oat meal 

 thin enough to drink, three times a day. The 

 amount of feed contained in this slop is said 

 to have been slight and was given rather to 

 induce her to drink freely than to nourish, as 

 grain was found to increase her rapidly in 

 flesh. When grass came, however, to stimu- 

 late the lacteal organs, the grain ceased to 

 tend to fat to the same extent, and she was 

 fed three quarts of corn meal daily in two 

 feeds. In hot weather she was stabled from 

 the midday sun, and fed green corn fodder 

 while up, with the choicest of the pasture 

 while turned out. Though hers is said to be 

 the most remarkable test, other cows closely 

 allied to her in blood have made surprising 

 yields of butter. 



THE PROPER CARE OF LIVE STOCK 

 AND POULTRY IN COLD WEATHER. 



The days grow shorter, and reach their 

 shortest duration, while the evenings are 

 longer and longer. The time is favorable for 

 looking backward in thought. Forethoughts 

 are good in their time, but after thoughts, 

 though often less honored, are worth a great 

 deal more for shaping the future. 



Live stock : As the season advances the live 

 stock require increased attention ; not only 

 are they more directly dependent upon our 

 care, but they are subject to discomforts from 

 exposure, which seriously interfere with the 

 profit of keeping them. Of all our domestic 

 animals the pig is the most sensitive to ex- 

 posure to rough weatlier, poultry next, in this 

 order: fowls, ducks, geese and turkeys, the 

 last often doing better when exposed than if 

 sheltered. Next to fowls, cows, then work- 

 ing oxen and young cattle ; next horses, which 

 are used, unused horses, and sheep. Of these 

 last the long wool breeds are most sensitive to 

 cold, storms and snow, but close-fleeced 

 breeds will stand almost any amount of cold 

 if they have enough to eat, sheds to go under, 

 and shelter from driving storms of rain and 

 snow. 



Horses, if well fed, usually feel bright and 

 lively in winter, and j'oung horses are. for 

 this very reason, more easily trained than 

 when the weather and running at pasture 

 makes them dull. Whenever horses are used 

 so as to warm them up at all, blanket them as 

 soon as they stand still, if only for two or 

 three minutes ; those two or three minutes 

 are sometimes enough to give a chill, which 

 may end in pneumonia, or other serious 

 troubles. Grooming saves feed, and also pro- 

 motes health in horses, and should never be 

 neglected. It will probably pay even to groom 

 boarding horses, and it will certainly pay the 

 owners to stipulate that their horses should 

 be groomed daily. Blankets, except mere 

 "dusters," are worse than useless in stables ; 

 they make the horse tenaer, and more likely 

 to take cold when brought in hot. Litter 

 very freely if you have the material ; straw, 

 leaves, swamp hay, etc. 



Milch Cows : These ought to be well fed, 

 and cleaned by a card and brush, daily, if 



possible, otherwise twice a week. They 

 should be milked up to within four weeks of 

 calving. It is a great temptation to dry off a 

 cow so as to save the labor of milking, and 

 not alone will hired men do this, but the 

 farmers themselves, generally, do it, and think 

 that they save a good deal in feed and labor, 

 while in reality, with young cows, they impart 

 a habit of going dry early, which will last 

 them as long as they live. The better milch 

 cows are fed, the better return they give, but 

 feed judiciously. 



Sheep are peculiarly sensitive to good treat- 

 ment. A good shepherd is always gentle 

 among his sheep. Ewes which are to lamb 

 early ought to be by themselves and have 

 better care as their time approaches. Feed a 

 few more turnips and give them a little more 

 liberal sprinkling of corn-meal and bran, or 

 oil cake. 



Pigs: Nearly doubly the feed will be re- 

 quired to keep pigs from going back, after 

 really cold weather comes on — say, when the 

 ground freezes. It is then best to kill at once. 

 Every farmer ought to be able to kill and cut 

 up his own pigs. Butchers are often very 

 rough and brutal. This is not necessary. 

 Many a farmer who kills his own pigs does so 

 because he wants the job kindly and humanely 

 done. He actually thrusts the knife as if he 

 loved the victim. Feed soaked corn, that is, 

 corn which is covered with as much boiling 

 water as it will take up in 24 hours. This is 

 better for either fattening or store pigs than 

 coarse meal, unless the latter be thoroughly 

 cooked. 



Poultry : Hens will lay up to Christmas, if 

 they have warm quarters. A manure shed, 

 where mixed manure throws off considerable 

 warmth, and which is closed in, but well ven- 

 tilated, is an excellent place for fowls. They 

 are kept warm and comfortable, their drop- 

 pings are all saved, going to enrich the man- 

 ure, and they keep on laying, often all winter. 

 At noon feed, in open weather, soft food — 

 that is, boiled potatoes mixed. with bran and 

 corn-meal, or something of the kind ; at night 

 give a good feed of whole grain, throwing 

 down enough to toll them off the roosts for 

 an early breakfast, unless thereby you will be 

 feeding an army of rats all night. In snowy 

 and frozen weather feed three times a day, 

 and give only what they will run after at each 

 meal. — American Agriculturist. 

 ^ 



THE DEMAND FOR OUR WHEAT. 



There is no longer any room to doubt the 

 failure of the wheat crop in Russia nor the 

 deplorable condition of the peasantry. The 

 State Department has received a dispatch 

 from our Minister at St. Petersburg, in which 

 he confirms the reports received from outside 

 sources previously. The wheat crop, he says, 

 has proved almost an entire failure, and 

 American wheat is even now entering the 

 ports of St. Petersburg and Odessa, the latter 

 the greatest grain exporting mart in Eastern 

 Eurojie. These facts tell the whole story. 

 Russia, in ordinary seasons, has the largest 

 surplus of grain of any country in Europe. 

 England draws a very material portion of her 

 supplies from this source. This year, how- 

 ever, there will be no arrivals of Russian 

 wheat in France and England. Russia her- 

 self is not likely to import much from abroad. 

 Her lower classes do not consume much wheat, 

 rye and Indian corn being their usual food. It 

 seems likely that the Russian government 

 may deem it expedient to prohibit the expor- 

 tation of rye, as it is almost certain that in 

 any event there will be great distress and 

 want among a great portion of the people. 

 The Oolos, the best known St. Petersburg 

 journal, says: 



"From all sides comes news of the harvest 

 being below the average, of want and hunger, 

 from which will spring disease and, very 

 likely, death. Beetles, worms, and locusts 

 are eating up the com; the diminution of cat- 

 tle surpasses all belief; diphtheria is taking 

 off the coming generation, breadstuffs have 

 already reached five kopecks per pound. 

 Every one feels that Russia does not subsist 



