1880.J 



THE LANOASTER FARMER. 



185 



by the produce of its own land, but is wasting 

 itb capiliil in cutting wood, selling surplus 

 cattle, pulling straw from its thatched roofs, 

 and depriving itself of its very clothes ad 

 shoes." 



That is a gloomy view, but coming from 

 the source it does, it is doubtless correct in all 

 its essential particulars. It also opens up a 

 field of speculation so far as this country is 

 concerned. What clfect will the short "crop 

 in Russia have upon our own exportation of 

 breadstntTs? Whatever supplies have been 

 drawn from that country for France and 

 England will now have to be provich'd for from 

 other sources. This country will undoubtedly 

 be called on to do so. Wo will be asked to 

 make up the deficiency created by Uussia's 

 short crops. How much that will amount to 

 we do not know, but doubtless it is very con- 

 siderable. This will, in all likelihood, liave 

 a tendency to keep up our present heavy ex- 

 portations of grain and the fair prices now 

 prevailing. Russia's disastrous season will 

 result favorably for our farmers beyond 

 tlie Mississippi; the vast grain surphis of the 

 great West will be heavily drawn upon, and 

 will contribute to keep up the stream of gold 

 which has been so steadily flowing into this 

 country from Europe. 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN BEEF. 



A suggestive addition to the statistics of 

 English foreign trade (says the New York 

 Tribune) is the statement issued by the presi- 

 dent of the Foreign Cattle Association in 

 Great Britain. We lind from it that not only 

 have the English exports and imports of both 

 manufactured and raw products greatly de- 

 creased ir. the last five years, but that the 

 people have ceased to raise or buy as large a 

 number of cattle as they did a few years ago. 

 In 1875 the number of English cattle was 

 6,012,024, while in 1879 it only reached 5,856,- 

 356 ; in 1875 the number of sheep was 29,- 

 167,438, which had fallen olf more than a 

 million last year. Nor was this decrease 

 owing wholly to the recent im|>ortation of 

 American cattle on the hoof, since we find 

 that the total import of cattle and sheep from 

 all quarters, including Ireland, was in 1879, 

 2,986,251, while in 1878 it reached 3,043,090. 

 In the last year English native cattle and 

 sheep have fallen off nearly a million and a 

 half. 



This depreciation is owing to the importa- 

 tion ot American beef and mutton. The 

 English tradesman or laborer can allbrd now 

 to have meat upon his table once a day, which 

 was not practicable for him in 1875, notwith- 

 standing the fact that the number of cattle 

 and sheep raised by English farmers falls off 

 in one year nearly 1,500,000. The American 

 wheat grower in Minnesota who sows 20,000 

 acres and employs a regiment of laborers and 

 st(!am engines enough to stock a railway, can 

 put his grain in the market at Liverpool and 

 undersell the Sussex farmer with his 100 acres. 

 No energy, nor industry, nor ))atriotism can 

 lift the Englishman on to the same place as 

 this lucky man on this side of the water. 

 Statistics "arc the most practical of facts, yet 

 no drama is so full of histories of the change 

 and inexorable destiny in human life. — Maine 



Farmer. 



^ 



COLD WEATHER, 



Temperatures were rejiorted by the Signal 

 Office, on Tuesday, as follows : Duluth, 1°; 

 Alpena, 2^; Indianapolis, 2': Madison, 2°; 

 Marquette, 2°; La Crosse, 4"; Milwaukee, 4'^; 

 Port Ilm-on, 5"^; Denver, .5°; Cleveland, 8-'; 

 Detroit, 8-; St. Paul, 8^; Pittsburg, 8-; Yank- 

 ton, S^; Cincinnati, 9^; Breckenridge, 10"^; 

 Sandusky, 10-; Boston, 12°; Chicago, 12^; 

 Eastport, 12^; Buffalo, 13^; Grand ' Haven, 

 IS-i; Rochester, 13°; St. T-ouis, 13-'; Toledo, 

 13°; Portland, Maine. 14 ; Burlmston, Ver- 

 mont, 15°; Louisville, 1.5°; North Platte, 15°; 

 Washington, 15°; Davenport, 15°; New Lon- 

 don, 15°; Erie, 16°; Keokuk, 16°: Albany, 

 17°; Cairo, 17°; New York, 17-; Baltimore, 

 18°; Cheyenne, 18°; Knoxville, 19'; Nashville, 

 19°; Omaha, 20°; Fort Gibson, 20°; Oswego, 



21°; Memphis, 21°; Leavenworth, 22°; Wil- 

 mington, 25'; Vicksburg, 2ti°; Norf(dk, 26°; 

 Shreveport, 38'; Augusta, Georgia, 30°; and 

 Montgomery, Alabama, 31°. A temperature 

 of '.C below zero is reported at Sorel, (inebec, 

 and 25' below at Winnipeg, Manitoba. On 

 Tuesclay night the temperalnr.! in the North- 

 west, which had risen slightly, was again fall- 

 ing, so that severe weatlier inay be expected 

 for several days. It is believed at (Quebec 

 that all thcTessels in the St. Lawreiu'e, as 

 well as those remaining in port, will be frozen 

 in, and the destruction of some of the great 

 lightshi]is as well as large numbers of buoys 

 in the Lower St. l^awrence is apprehended. 

 The severest storm for sevitnleen years was 

 exiierienced at Anticosti Island on Monday, 

 and on Tuesday morning the shore wasstrewn 

 with shell fish, .showing that the sea was 

 heavy enough to break tlu; beds. 



A telegram from Detroit reimrts Lake St. 

 Clair finally closed with ice, and navigation 

 rapidly closing on the entire chain of the great 

 Lakes. Seventy-four vessels hound from B,.f- 

 falo for Chicago are frozen in at different 

 points on Lake Erie; 28 vessels from Chicago 

 to Buffalo are in the St. Clair River or Lake 

 Huron; and 21 vessels from Escanaba for 

 Lake Erie ports are frozen in on Lake Hiirou. 

 There seems very little prospect of any of 

 these vessels reaching their destinations. 

 Navigation in the Connecticut River, and 

 the Kennebec River, in Maine, was closed on 

 Tuesday. The Ilud.son River, above Cox- 

 sackie, is completely blocked, and its tribu- 

 taries are frozen. The ice is from 2 to 4 

 inches thick on the New York canals west of 

 Albany, and many boats are blockaded. The 

 value of^ grain alone embargoed by the ice is 

 estimated at .^7,000,000. Ice 3^ inches thick 

 is being stored in the ice houses at Long 



Branch. 



^ 



BUTTER MAKING IN DENMARK AND 

 SWEDEN. 

 Cork butterranks high in the London market, 

 and forms a standard forjudging other makes. 

 But the product of the dairies of Denmark and 

 Sweden fairly outranks it, and sells in the 

 same market for about 23 per cent, higher 

 price. This great superiority Canon Bagot, 

 who has taken pains to investigate the sub- 

 ject, ascribes to the careful education of the 

 dairy maids, which has been systematically 

 pursued in Denmark for the past fifteen or 

 sixteen years. We find the following synop- 

 sis of his observations in the Popular Science 

 Monthly: 



In Sweden the dairy maids are sent to col- 

 lege and educated in dairy management for 

 six months, at the end of which time they re- 

 ceive certificates and are considered compe- 

 tent to work in large dairies. Their instruc- 

 tions are very definite as to every featin-e of 

 the operation of butter-making, including the 

 quality of salt and the coloring matter, and 

 the food of the cattle, the quality of the but- 

 ter is consequently uniform. Apart of a lot 

 of Cork butter may sometimes bo sent back 

 by the wholesale dealer because it is not equal 

 to the rest, but this is said never to have hap- 

 pened with Danish butter. The selection of 

 the cows and the feeding of them are the first 

 Important points in the business. The Dan- 

 ish dairymen keep their cows tethered during 

 the summer in ''.-iplcndid clover and rye 

 grass," and feed them in winter with clover 

 hay, linseed cake, and ra|)e cake. Tlie milk 

 is set in such a way that the cream shall be 

 got off while it is still perfectly sweet for they 

 will not churn it if it is in any other condi- 

 tion. The proper tenijierature for churning, 

 which is from 57 to 60 degrees, is essential, 

 and the churning should not be continued too 

 long. The best butter-makers stop churning 

 at the very moment the butter appears in the 

 form of grains like shot. They pass off the 

 buttermilk through a strainer, then put the 

 butter back with water, give it a few more 

 turns in the churn, strain again, and repeat 

 the o|)eration till the water runs off as clear 

 and bright as when put in. Salt is added by 

 weight at the rate of six pounds of salt to a 



hundredweight of butter, by Ijeing si)riiikled 

 over the butter after it has been si)read out 

 in loyers; a few turns are given the mass with 

 the butter-worker, and the process is com- 

 plete. 



THE COST OF ABOUND OF BUTTER. 

 The New York Wtekhj Tinus inquires : 

 "What does a pound of butter cost V What 

 dairyman can give a precise answer to this 

 question V And if we should put it in this 

 way. What ought a pound of butter to cost '( 

 we should presinl a poser, not only to the 

 dairyman, but to all the agricultural experi- 

 ment stations now existing or in embryo. 

 But those are very pertinent (pieslions, !«- 

 tau.se It is in the choice and use of the feed that 

 |)rofit and loss lies, and who can say what 

 food, and which method of feeding it, pro- 

 duces the most favoiable results. I have 

 been feeding cows experimentally for years, 

 and allliougli I have made up my mind which 

 foods and which methods are best for me, I 

 could not say positively that one or the other 

 woidd be best for another dairyman. The 

 most co.stly food for a cow is hay and corn- 

 meal and whial middlings. With hay at one 

 cent a poiuid and corn and middlings at IJ 

 cents it will cost to feed a cow fifteen cents 

 for hay per day and 7i cetits for meal— in all, 

 22] cents. A cow that will make 250 |)Ounds 

 of butter in a year will cost at least *60. She 

 will repay her own cost in calves and her car- 

 cass wlien twelve years old. so that to pay for 

 her feed will cost ^?81 yeai ly. if it is purchased, 

 and if it is provided by the farm it conies to 

 the same end, for the feed might be sold; and 

 against this there are 250 |)omids of butter, 

 worth, at the market price for the best qual- 

 ity, about S50 net. Now what should the 

 butter cost ? If the cmv is at pasture for six 

 months of the year the pasture will be worth 

 at •'SiJO an acre for the land and four acros to 

 the cow, interest alone, «f8.40; taxes will add 

 at least $2 an acre more; so that with the 

 winter feeding the cost in all will be #53.90, 

 and the .skimmed milk and manure may pay 

 for the labor. Then can a pound of butter 

 be made for less than twenty-live cents ? and 

 if not the dairyman is not likily to be 

 troubled about the high i)rice of four per- 

 conts. But what of the dairyman whose 

 cows will make but 150 pounds of butter in a 

 year, and whose butter causes the nose of the 

 commission man to turn upwaiil ? How do 

 they live, and how mi^chdo llu^ i..:i, per day? 



A NOTABLE PIGEON ROOST. 



The most notable pigeon roost in the West 

 is located in the southwestern part of .Scott 

 county, Indiana, ami covers many hundreds 

 of acres of the forest. To this roost come 

 nightly, in the fall season when pigeons are 

 abuuilaut, milliinis of these birds. They 

 comlnence arriving as early as live o'clock in 

 the eveuiug, and often until midnight the 

 flocks pour in. The birds commence leaving 

 at daylight, and by eight or nine o'clock all 

 have departed for the feeding grounds, often 

 hundreds of miles away. 



During the roosting seascui this pigeon 

 roost is a notable and exciting place. Hun- 

 ters visit it from all parts of Indiana, and 

 from Ohio and Keiitueky. They conre armed 

 with shot-gmis and long poles, and sup|ilied 

 with torches and sa( ks, the latter to he n.sed 

 in carrying oll'the captured birds. The hun- 

 ters usually commence their work about 8 

 o'clock in the evening, and theiu-e on 

 through ihe nighl the scene is an exciting 

 one. The ri>ar of shot guns is heard on all 

 sides. Adilrd to this is the cracking and 

 falling of the limbs of the trees from the ac- 

 cumulati'd weight of the pigeons upon them. 

 Torches liash on all sides tlii-ongh the forest, 

 the crash of the long i)oles through the lower 

 limbs of the trees as tlioy sweep down the 

 birds, the shouts of the hunters and the whir 

 of the wings of rising and setting flocks create 

 confusion woi-se confounded. Thousands of 

 birds are killed nightly, and diu'ing the day 

 droves of hogs roam throug the forest to fat- 



