il2 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 1881 



Horses — Trotters and Walkers. 



Every now and then there is a mania for trotting 

 horses. Even the practical farmer gets the bit in 

 his moih occasionally, and likes to take a spurt in a 

 light vehicle with a two-forty stepper, or as near to 

 that as good luck may th;-ow such an animal in his 

 way in purchasing from a drove, as has frequently 

 been the case. In the midst of this the question is 

 asked, " Is the trotting horse of any value to the 

 community?" and it has been liberally discussed the 

 last few years in our agricultural clubs. The pre- 

 vailing idea is, with many people, that the fast horse 

 is only useful to or valued by gamblers, sporting 

 men,&c. But is this so? We think not. There are 

 extremes in everything, and it is a pity that the speed 

 of this noblest animal should be connected with any 

 such (liought as this. That it is wrong to have our 

 agricultural fairs made subservient to horse-races, 

 we admit. No paper has taken stronger ground 

 against this than the Germantown Telegraph. In- 

 deed, we are not sure but we might claim that the 

 marked improvement on public sentiment on this 

 subject was inaugurated by us. Certainly we seel 

 that no paper has done more for correcting public 

 sentiment than we. Yet there is no more reason why 

 there should not be fast horses than that there should 

 be slow ones; and a fast ruiiuer should be encourag- 

 ed as much as a fast walker. While we cordially 

 agree, therefore, with the proposition that any agri- 

 cultural society, which makes the interest of the 

 trotting horse paramount to all other interests, will 

 sooner or later be ruined, we are by no means willing 

 to admit that nothing but evil comes from a fast 

 horse. One of the great sources of human admira- 

 tioa fof tlie horse is that he is fleeter and stronger 

 than we. We care little for the walking horse, ex- 

 cept as a mere walker, in which he is certainly val- 

 uable, but it would be hard to get up any enthusi- 

 asm in a walking horse race. We never even heard 

 of a bet made on a walking horse, though one might 

 say it would be as easy to get up bets on walkers as 

 on trotters. But it is not done. There is no admira- 

 tion there; no enthusiasm; because there is nothing 

 remarkable. But we measure the horse's value by 

 the work he can do and his fleetness .of foot. These 

 are the legitimate subjects for admiration and en- 

 couragement. Our only objection is that these points 

 which ought to be of very limited encouragement 

 when there so many other departments of agricul- 

 ture to care for, are so often made at the beginning 

 and end of an exhibition. That's all. Yet all must 

 admit that there is no grander sight than a race 

 between two or more remarkably fleet horses; and if 

 it were possible that they could be conducted as a 

 mere event of sight-seeing at a stipulated price, 

 without betting or any of the evil effects usually con- 

 nected with these occasions, thousands of people 

 would attend them where hundreds now do, and will- 

 ingly pay their dollar or Ave dollars to enjoy the 

 thrilling interests of such an event. — Oermautown 

 Telegraph. 



Sheep Husbandry in Virginia. 



Mr. Richard McCay, one of the most successful 

 farmers and stock-raisers of Warren county, Va. ,ln 

 a letter to the editor of the Warren Sentinel, writes : 



Having promised to give you the result of this 

 year's sheep clip, it affords me pleasure to communi- 

 c»te the following : One hundred and twenty-two 

 fleeces of all kinds averaged 3 pounds to the fleece. 

 We had some native sheep that sheared less than 3 

 and several did not reach 4 pounds, which reduced 

 the average of one-half and three-fourths Leicester 

 — many of which went over 6 pounds. Native and 

 grade Lelcesters average i pounds 10 ounce ; high 

 grade and full Leicesters averaged 8 pounds, while 

 the popular Southd^wn only reached 5 pounds to the 

 fleece. 



"I am somewhat disappointed at the general out- 

 come, as I had heavier fleeces in other years. When 

 the very severe winter is remembered, with time of 

 yeaning a number of lambs, is not to be wondered 

 that fleeces are not heavy. Food was utilized in sus- 

 taining animal heat instead of growing wool to an ex- 

 tent that a milder winter would not have called. 



We averaged two lambs each day from January 1 to 

 March 1— I am glad to say they were living lambs. 

 We have raised 136 lambs from 104 ewes. One 

 Leicester ewe, from which we have living triplets, 

 clipped 8 pounds and 11 ounces of lustrous combing 

 wool. 



"We lost onlythree sheep during the winter, which 

 proves that Leicester sheep, if sheltered as all sheep 

 ought to be, are among the most hardy and prolific. 

 Why should they not do well? We have the same 

 character of limestone hills and sweet herbage upon 

 which they thrive in their native England. I am 

 satisfied from years of close attention to the subject 

 that no variety of sheep is more profitable for the 

 valley farmer than the Leicester. If they do not 

 frtten their lambs quite as rapidly as the Southdown, 

 they have the advantage of finer limbs and smaller 

 heads — in short, (like the short horn among cattle), 

 the least amount of offal to a given weight of meat. 

 They are models of gentleness for all kinds of sheep ; 

 they bear close keeping as well as any, and they are 

 superior to the Southdown, with me at least, in every 

 respect except as mutton. 



"As shown by the above figures, the Leicester clips 

 over 50 per cent, more than the Southdown. I keep 

 the Southdown for early lambs, as butchers like the 

 black faces, but 1 would not advise the practical far- 

 mer to take into general use a sheep that produces so 

 little wool. 1 will retain the Leicester until I find a 

 more profitable sheep. 



"Of late years the Cotswold has superseded the 

 Leicester in improving native sheep to a large ex- 

 tent. Where a farmer has a large range to enable 

 him to mature wethers, the Cotswold is doubtless a 

 useful animal, biit for early maturing lambs Leices- 

 ter and Southdown, will be found preferable. 



"As accessible as the people of Warren and the 

 Shenandoah Valley generally are to Eastern markets, 

 selling lambs at from three to five months old will 

 be found In the main a profitable business. Bad 

 winters such as we have just passed through will 

 sometimes take the profit away, but no business is 

 exempt from its casualities. If the number of lambs 

 were raised , with the temperature at times 27 degrees 

 below zero, will stimulate flock owners to erect sheds 

 or winter protection, I will be more than repaid for 

 writing you this letter." 



Literary and Personal. 



Dairy Farming. — Part 24 of this superb quarto 

 reached our table two days after our June number 

 went to press. The number before us contains a 

 beautiful full-page colored illustration of Longford 

 Cheese Factory, the flrst built in England, (opened 

 24th of May, 1870), besides 16 fine wood-cuts illus- 

 trating Austrian, Swiss, Netherlands and Dutch Dairy 

 implsments, creameries, cheese-presses, churns and 

 butter workers, besides fine illustrations of York- 

 shire, Berkshire, Essex and Poland China Pigs and 

 Pig troughs, including iron and covered-yard pigger- 

 ies. The letter press is very interesting and relates 

 in detail to the butter and cheese-making of Mechlen- 

 berg-Schwerin, Hesse, Austria, Switzerland, Alps, 

 Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Holland, ifec. Also an 

 able article on pijis, goats, and poultry, together with 

 their origin and management. The following list of 

 Italian dairy products, includes only all the more 

 important and famous ones . 



C»-eaj/i.— Latte-milk. 



iw^er.— Fresh-butter, Burri vestiti, 



Mascarponi. 



C/icese.— Parmesan, Chiavari, Sacciocavallo, Strace- 

 hino di Gorgonzola, Pecorino-dolce, Provate, lie- 

 cotta, Dutch, Provolomi, Pecorino, Calvenzano, 

 Mazzolino, Pecora e capra, Guincata, Gru} ene, giving 

 also the material and the modus operandi for the 

 manipulation and manufacture of all these products. 

 The more we see of this journal, the more we are 

 pleased with it, and the more we are impressed with 

 the thought that no intelligent and progressive dairy- 

 man can well afford to be without it. The ability, 

 and the interest of its reading matter has not flagged 

 from the very beginning of the journal. J. P. Shel- 

 don, editor ; Cassel, Pelter, Galpin & Co., publish- 

 ers, London, Paris and New York. Price, 40 cents 

 per part. 



The National Agent.— A journal devoted to the 

 interests of Agents and Canvassers. Published 

 monthly by Labree & Co. ,717 Sansom street, Phila- 

 delphia, at 50 cents a year. An eight page quarto. 

 Fair appearance and good literary selections, and 

 very useful to the class of people to whose interests 

 it is devoted. 



Ward's Natural Science Bulletin.— Pub- 

 lished at Ward's Natural Science Establishment, 

 Rochester, New York. A 16 pp quarto, at present 

 Issued irregularly gratis, with a view of issuing it 

 regularly at a nominal subscription, next year. No. 

 1, Vol. 1, is now before us, and we deem it an excel- 

 lent medium between amateur collectors and those 

 desirous of obtaining good museum specimens, both 

 as buyers and sellers. In short, it is intended as the 

 representative of the increasing market in objects of 

 virtu, including Mineralogy, Geology, Palentology, 

 Mammology, Ornithology, Osteology, Taxidermy, 

 Archaeology, Ethnology, Scientific Literature, Maps, 

 Charts, &c. To give an idea of the magnitude of 

 Ward's establishment, it is only necessary to men- 

 tion that it has furnished collections of museum 

 specimens to forty-six of the leading institutions of 

 learning in the United States, amounting in cost 

 from $1,000 to $51,700, the average cost of each 

 cabinet being 84,217. 



From the U. S. Department of Agriculture, we 

 have received tlje following valuable documents. 

 Reports on the Culture of Sumac in Italy; on Insects 

 injurious to Sugar Cane. Condition and prospects of 

 the Cane-Sugar Industry. Cultivation of the Fig 

 and the Date Palm. Tea-culture, by William Saun- 

 ders. The Silk Worth, being a manual of instruc, 

 tion for the production of silk. Third report on 

 Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia. Contagious diseases 

 of swine and domestic animals, nearly all illustrated, 

 and some of them elaborately, with fine colored en- 

 gravings. The last named work contains a map, 

 showing the states and counties in which pleuro- 

 pneumonia exists, from which we find it prevails in 

 the counties of QueenSj Westchester, Putnam and 

 Fairfield in New York state ; in Atlantic, Gloucester, 

 Camden, Burlington, Ocean, Mercer, Monmouth, 

 Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon, Morris, Union, 

 Essex and Bergen, New Jersey ; in Delaware, Mont- 

 gomery, Bucks, Lehigh, Berks, Chester, Lancaster, 

 York, Adams and Cumberland, Pennsylania; and in 

 New Castle, Delaware; and Cecil, Harford, Howard, 

 Carroll and Baltimore, Maryland. 



The Hocr-Glass.— a Journal of "nothing but 

 news," in general science. "A popular weekly illus- 

 trated Journal, at 50 cents a year." No. 1, vol. 1, 

 of this little unpretending sheet is before ns, and 

 doubtless a place will be found for it in the weekly 

 wantsof a scientific people. Published at the office 

 of the illustrated Cosmos, by Everett W. Fish & Co., 

 179 Lasalle street, Chicago, Illinois. It is an eight 

 paged super-royal octavo in size, and we confess our- 

 self more than ordinarily pleased with its literary 

 contents ; exhibiting also as much mechanical skill 

 as could well be expected for so small a subscription. 

 The first page is embellished with a portrait of the 

 celebrated Charles Robert Darwin, the founder of 

 the great Darwinan Development System. We write 

 this with the greatest respect for the zeal, the re- 

 search and the perseverance of Mr. Darwin ; but he 

 has written so much, talked so much, and thought 

 so much on the differentiation of the lower animal 

 life from the higher, and especially the origin of the 

 human species, that we And it diflicult to separate 

 his "phiz" from that of a highly developed or re- 

 generated gorilla ; if the picture is a true external 

 reflex of the man. 



The Western Home Journal.— This is a most 

 magnificent illustrated monthly publciation, on good 

 calendered paper, finely executed pictures, (the 

 Basket of Babies is characteristic and expressive), 

 and a clear and sharp typography. It is a 24-paged 

 semi-folio and is published monthly by the Home 

 Journal Publication Company, Columbus, Ohio, at 

 the low price of §1.00 a year. As No. 6, Vol. 3, for 

 July, 1881, we may infer that it is one of the fixed in- 

 stitutions of the Buckeye State, or deserves to be. 

 Frank W. Gunsauler and A. W. Lincoln, editors ; J. 

 C. Maclenahan, business manager, and josepe Ruff- 

 ner, secretary. Devoted to the discrimination of all 

 kinds of practical literature interesting and useful to 

 the home circle. 



