April 3, 1891.} 



SCIENCE. 



185 



acre will support twenty-five hundred plants. After three years, 

 each blade will produce half an ounce, or about half a pound to 

 the plant. The crop may be reaped each succeeding year for from 

 twelve to sixteen years without replanting. The plant becomes 

 dry and worthless as soon as it produces a flower; but it rarely 

 produces the flower before twelve years, and usually not before 

 sixteen or twenty years. The plant grows wild on the island, but 

 it is understood to have originally been brought from Mexico. The 

 fibre is three to four feet long, fine, strong, and, it is said, would 

 doubtless be good for textile purposes. 



The Agave Americana, or American aloe, grows higher than the 

 Agave Mexicana. It varies in height from four to five feet, and 

 the fibre is the same length. It grows abundantly, chiefly near 

 the seashore, and is understood to be a native of the island. The 

 fibre is coarser than the Mexican agave, but about the same quan- 

 tity can be produced to the acre. 



Of the pine-apple {Ananassa sativa), only the blade, which is 

 about two feet long, produces fibre. The fibre is strong and 

 fine, and is believed to be well-suited for textile manufactures. 

 It is of finer texture than either the American or Mexican 

 agave. 



Agave rigida, or sisal hemp, has lately been introduced into 

 Trinidad. The blades alone, which grow about two and a half to 

 three feet long, are used for fibre. Eight blades, it is said, give 

 an ounce and a half of fibre, and the fibre obtained is about three 

 feet long, strong, coarse, and stiff, suitable, it is believed, for strong 

 ropes and chair-bottoms. An acre will support two thousand 

 plants of about sixteen blades each, and calculated to produce at 

 each reaping three ounces of fibre to the plant. After three years 

 a crop is reaped annually. 



Among the fibre-producing plants of Trinidad maybe mentioned 

 the gemove (Malachra) ; hois ceip (Oreodaphne eemua) ; Gumbo 

 miese, the pinquine or wild pine appje; the Spanish needle (Yucca) ; 

 and the Sanseviera zeylanica. 



Consul Peirce states, in conclusion, that he has been informed 

 that there is no machine now in use in the colony which obtains 

 the fibre without destroying the substance of the fibre-ribs. The 

 principal machine, if not the only one, now used in Trinidad and 

 Tobago, is arranged for the operator to hold the blade of the plant 

 in his hand, while the machine scrapes out the green and watery 

 substance. The opinion has been expressed that if a machine 

 could be introduced that would act somewhat on the principle of 

 a cane-mill, in which the cane enters' one side and comes out at 

 the other thoroughly crushed and squeezed, a great advantage 

 would be gained over the present practice. 



BETTER COWS FOR THE DAIRY.' 



The need of better cows for the dairy is coming to be very gen- 

 erally appreciated. The dairy commissioner of Iowa is reported 

 as saying that the average cow in that State gives but 3,000 pounds 

 of milk annually, while good ones yield from 5,000 to 6,000 

 pounds. The director of the Vermont Station states that the 

 average yield per cow in that State is only about 130 pounds of 

 butter per annum, while there are thirty dairies in the State that 

 average over 300 pounds per cow. 



The director of the New York Station says, " New York has 

 1,500,000 milch cows, probably producing, on an average, less 

 than 3,000 pounds of milk per year, and the annual average but- 

 ter-product per cow for the State is undoubtedly less than 130 

 pounds. This should not be, when there are whole herds aver- 

 aging 800, and some 400, pounds of butter per year for each cow. 

 Animals producing these by no means phenomenal yields are not 

 confined to any particular breed, and are often grades of our so- 

 called native or no-breed animals. Proper selection, systematic 

 breeding, and judicious feeding have produced these profitable 

 animals and herds." 



The difference in the milk-producing qualities of diflferent cows 

 is brought out very clearly by a series of experiments conducted 

 at the Massachusetts State Station, of which Professor C. A. 



1 From Farmers^ Bulletin No. 2 of tlie United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



Goessmann is director. They are especially interesting, because 

 the cows and their feed and care were such as are found on the 

 better farms of Massachusetts; and the results, obtained with the 

 appliances of a well-equipped experiment station, show in accurate 

 and full detail the elements of actual profit and loss as they could 

 not be found in ordinary farm experience. 



These experiments have been made with twelve cows, and have 

 continued over five years. Grade Jersey, Ayrshire, Devon, Dur- 

 ham and Dutch, and native cows were used. They were secured 

 for the experiments a few days after calving, and fed vmtil the 

 daily yield fell below 5 or 6 quarts, when they were sold to the 

 butcher. The length of the feeding-period, i.e., duration of the 

 experiment with each cow, varied from 261 to 599 days. Hay, 

 fodder, com, corn-silage, green crops, roots, and corn-meal, wheat 

 bran, and other grain, were used. The daily ration per head 

 consisted of 18 to 20 pounds of dry fodder, or its equivalent of 

 green fodder, and from 6i to 9i pounds of grain. Careful ac- 

 counts have been kept of the history of each cow, including 

 breed, age, number of calves, length of feeding-period, amounts 

 and kinds of fodder, yield of milk, chemical composition of feed, 

 milk, and manure, cost of cow and feed, and values of mUk and 

 manure. 



The following is a recapitulation of the financial record of the 

 cows. The milk was reckoned at the price paid for it at the 

 neighboring creameries. The value of the manure produced is 

 calculated by assuming, that, of the total amount of food, 20 per 

 cent would be sold with the milk, and the remaining 80 per cent 

 saved as manure. As farmers in the region buy commercial 

 fertilizers for thu sake of their nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and 

 potash, it was assumed that these same ingredients would be 

 worth about as much, pound for pound, in the manure as in the 

 better class of fertilizers, and accordingly the value of the manure 

 was computed by taking the nitrogen as worth 16J cents, phos- 

 phoric acid 6 cents, and potash 4J cents, per pound. The return 

 for feed consumed represents what the feeder receives for labor, 

 housing of cattle, interest of capital invested, risk of loss of ani- 

 mal, etc. 



The most profitable cow was bought for $60, fed 584 days, and 

 then sold for $28, making her actual cost $32, and the feed cost 

 $135.05; so that the total cash outlay was $167.05. The milk 

 brought $203.37 at the creamery, and the manure was estimated 

 to be worth $56.93, making the total value received for feed con- 

 sumed, $360.30. Subtracting the total cash outlay of $167.05 

 from this, there remains $93.25 as net return for feed consumed. 

 Deducting the estimated value of the manure, the remainder, 

 " return in excess of estimated value of manure," is $36.32. In 

 the average for the twelve cows, the net return was $50.43; and 

 the return in excess of the estimated value of the manure, only 

 $15.13. With the least profitable cow, the cash outlay for cow 

 and feed exceeded the value of the milk and manure by $3.97: in 

 other words, the net return for feed consumed was $3. 97 less than 

 nothing. Subtracting the value of the manure, the total loss was 

 $34.25; that is to say, allowing for the value of the manure, the 

 results with the twelve cows varied from a gain of $93 to a loss 

 of $3.97, or, if the value of the manure be left out of account, 

 from a gain of $36.32 to a loss of $34.25. 



It is noticeable that the profit or loss did not depend upon 

 either the breed or the length of the feeding-period. The most 

 profitable cow, and the least profitable but one, were both of the 

 same breed. Of the two most profitable cows, one was fed for 584 

 days, and the other for only 378 days. 



Two things, then, are brought out very clearly by these ex- 

 periments. One is that in such locahties as this, the value of the 

 manure goes far to decide the profit in feeding dairy cattle. 

 Another is that cows which would ordinarily pass for good ones 

 may differ widely in product. 



To the practical dairyman these experiments teach clearly the 

 difference between cows which are profitable and those which are 

 not, and the importance of selecting the best rows for bis dairy 

 and getting rid of the poor ones. In a larger sense, they illus- 

 trate to every farmer the importance of knowing accurately the 

 condition of his business. Upon this its success or failure largely 

 depends. 



