234 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



May 



if friend Granger will try the above remedy, he 

 will save his wool without destroying his hens. 

 Massachusetts, March 7, 1870. a. b. 



ANTHRACITE COAL ASHES. 



Do you ronsider anthracite coal ashes of any 

 value on any kind of land ? From my experience 

 la«t year and year before, I am of the opinion that 

 there is much more value in it than most people 

 give it credit for. G. c. p. 



Peabodi/, Mass., Feb., 1870. 



Remarks. — This question makes its appear- 

 ance in agricultural papers about as regularly as 

 the seasons revolve. "We have known coal ashes 

 to be put aronnd fruit trees to prevent the growth 

 of grass, and we have known of its being put upon 

 the ground to make grass grow. We know of a 

 grape grower on light soil who regards it as a 

 most valuable article, and we have seen a practi- 

 cal farmer who was loading manure from a yard 

 refuse to accept a pile of coal ashes that laid close 

 by, on condition of carrying it off. Our answer 

 to your question, which we are glad is not more 

 specific and particular, is in the affirmative. We 

 "do consider coal ashes of some value on some 

 kinds of land." And now, may we in tura, ask 

 you for a statement of that experience which has 

 convinced you that "there is much more value in 

 it than most people give it credit for ?" And in 

 the meantime we publish on another page an 

 article upon the subject by Prof. S. W. Johnson, 

 author of Hoto Plants Grow, How Plants Feed, &c., 

 which you will thank us for copying. 



PRICE OF BEEF. 



In the comments of your cattle market reporter 

 last week on the failure of certain Brighton 

 butchers, the fact that they paid too much for 

 rattle was suggested as one cause for their losses. 

 Now will you allow me to ask why should they 

 pay prestnt prices ? The weekly reports show 

 that there is no scarcity of cattle, for the number 

 increase^ fr,pm month to month and from year to 

 year. When gold was 280 that was assigned as a 

 .reason for high prices. Gold is down, fljur, wi ol, 

 butter, &c., &c., are lower, and why should beef 

 be kept at war prices ? It is nothing less than ex- 

 tortion, and ought not to be sustained. If butch- 

 ers would make up their minds to settle back on 

 prices, drovers would buy ibr less or not at all, 

 and though farmers might groan for awhile, why 

 should not they, as well as others, i?hare in the 

 loss const queut on peace prices ? Tne people 

 jus'ly demand beef at lower prices, and if any 

 body knows of any good reasons why they should 

 not have it, I should be much pleased to see a 

 statement of them. c. l. s. 



Montpelier, Vt., March 17, 1870. 



Remarks. — Our correspondent assumes that 

 butchers are now paying "war prices" for cattle. 

 Do facts justify this assumption? For a time 

 during the war the best cattle were sold at Brigh- 

 ton market for 20 cents per pound on dressed 

 weight; last week the highest figures reached for 

 the choicest animals from the River feeders were 

 13^c per pound, — and but very few over 13 cents. 

 Really, therefore, present prices are equal to only 

 about two-thirds of the highest war prices! 



As to the abundance of supply. A few years 

 ago— say thirty-five or forty — the farmers of New 

 England, besides supplying their own home mar- 

 ket, raised large numbers of cattle which were 

 sold to the "packers," and when barreled up con- 

 stituted one of the staple articles of New England 

 "export." The prices obtained by the farmers 

 were low — gloriously low, perhaps "C. L. S." and his 

 friends "the people" would say. But what was the 

 result ? The boys who helped raise these cattle — 

 probably "C. L. S." was one of them— left their 

 fathers' flacks on the "Grampian" and all other 

 hills, for more lucrative employments. And 

 drovers have been obliged to follow the star of 

 empire westward to meet the cattle raisers, until 

 the "long horns" from Texas and from the hunt- 

 ing grounds of the Cherokees fill the sale pens of 

 Ik-ighton market, and their beef is eaten in Maine, 

 New Hampshire and Vermont ! According to the 

 statistics of the Agricultural Department, while 

 the population of the Northern and Southern 

 States increased 33 per cent., in ten years, cattle 

 decreased 20 per cent. Last year over two-thirds 

 of all the cattle at Cambridge and Brighton were 

 Western, and we may safely say that more cattle 

 were shipped East from Albany for butchers in 

 the Western part of Masschusetts and in Connec- 

 ticut and Rhode Island, which did not come to 

 Brighton, than there were New England cattle at 

 market. , 



In these facts our correspondent may be unable 

 to see any good reason why the demand for cheap 

 beef should not be granted ; but in view of all the 

 circumstances of the beef trade — to only a few of 

 which we have alluded, — we would recommend 

 butchers to adopt some other course than that of 

 "settling back on prices," if they would avoid the 

 "extortion" to which they are now subjected. 



Oar first suggestion to the abused butchers and 

 consumers would be to "settle back on" some 

 farm and, though they "might groan for a while," 

 raise their own rumps and sirloins. 



This failing, why not adopt some substititute 

 for beef ? The Utica Herald, long the organ of the 

 dairymen, recommends cheese as a substitute for 

 beef, and hints at the use of horse- flesh. It says : 



If beef continues to remain as high as it ever 

 was in the days when the cow jumped over the 

 moon, and it the supply continues to fall far short 

 of the demand, we must of necessity be on the 

 look-out for a substitute. We are not of those 

 hideously under-delicate people who advocate 

 hippophagy. We would starve first! But there 

 is no necessity for any such extreme measure. 

 Doubtless one cause of the extraordinary decrease 

 in beef cattle is owing to the rapid extension (f 

 dairy farming. The manufacture and consump- 

 tion of cheese is increasing far more rapidly than 

 the decrease in the raising and consumption of 

 beef. As an article of food it is gaining popu- 

 larity with equal rapidity. Will it ever becume a 

 substitute for beef? It is healthy, it is more nu- 

 tritious, and there is every reason to believe that 

 in the future it will be vastly cheaper. Nolens 

 voletis we may yet ct cheese instead of beef; but 

 whether that be so or not, cheese is undoubtedly 

 to considerable extent a satisfactory substitute. 



