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FOREST AND STREAM. 



r aodhnd f Jfwm mid %vt&m. 



CHINESE AGRICULTURE. 



IN no nation is the labor of the agriculturist held in the 

 same repute as in China, As an occupation it ranks 

 next to letters, and to perpetuate and encourage this feel- 

 ing the emperor himself, during the Summer solstice, 

 grasps the handles of a golden plow and turns a furrow. 

 We say that it is held in the same repute, but to a large 

 extent the consideration is but nominal, for while the liter- 

 ary man is always a candidate for official position, the ag- 

 riculturist must abandon his fields for study in order to 

 cope with the other for equal honors. 



The foreigner, upon first viewing the rude implements 

 used by the Celestial agriculturist, would sneer at such 

 appliances, so different are they from anything in use 

 :atnong even the ruder of European peoples; but a sight at 

 the neat and weedless fields, the trim and inviting appear- 

 ance of crops of every kind, soon changes this feeling of 

 contempt to one of admiration at the patient plodding 

 which has produced such results. Nor is simple industry 

 the only cause of success. John Chinaman is a slow-going, 

 methodical being, who is sufficiently cold-blooded to study 

 cause and effect to the very bottom, and make practical 

 application of the results of his research. His implements, 

 it is true, are of the rudest kind, and apparently have de- 

 scended from his father Adam, but upon examination each 

 will be found to be peculiarly adapted to the use intended. 

 For instance, their plows appear to be nothing more than 

 pointed sticks, witlf which the ground is serrated, and yet 

 by repeated applications these same ploughs turn a deep 

 furrow in lines drawn with mathematical precision. In 

 most instances man power is the one used, as the few 

 horses, or rather ponies, bred on the plains of Tartary, are 

 required for, and are solely in possession of the Tartar cav- 

 alry, of which a body is stationed in of near every large 

 city. The only neat cattle in the country are the zebus 

 (B. indicus), the soft-skinned cattle of India, and the buf- 

 falo (Bubalus buffelus), tfr water buffalo, as they are more 

 commonly called. The latter are huge, ungainly creatures, 

 almost hairless, and with great flat horns lying back from 

 their heads. The buffalos are used for draught purposes, 

 for turning wheels to give motive power for lifting water 

 used in irrigation, and for milking. The milk used by for- 

 eigners is procured, or supposed to be, from these beasts . 

 We say supposed to be, advisedly, for it is a matter of ex- 

 treme doubt where the milk used in the matutinal coffee 

 comes from. The old Canton story contains more truth 

 than poetry. A luckless foreigner, on abusing his cook 

 for not providing the milk, was told— "that cow hab got 

 chilo, that pig hab lun away, that woman hab got sick; 

 how can?" It is customary among foreign residents to 

 have the buffalos driven within the house enclosure, or 

 compound, as it is called, and there milked in the presence 

 of some member of the household. In the interior they 

 sometimes run almost wild, and the sportsman coming 

 upon a herd unexpectedly would be apt to find himself 

 somewhat embarrassed. On such an occasion the only 

 course to pursue is to face them and advance, when they 

 will retire. In districts where active cultivation is being 

 carried on they are sometimes very useful in crossing small 

 streams. With a youthful native to sit on his neck and 

 guide him, the buffalo makes a very acceptable ferry. 



There is nothing better understood by the Chinaman in 

 pursuing his agricultural occupations than the value and 

 uses of manure, albeit his mode of application is very re- 

 pulsive to our Western ideas. Having nothing like our 

 barnyards, almost the sole resource is in human odure, and 

 everything of this description is most carefully preserved. 

 This is not scattered upon the ground and plowed in, but 

 after being largely mixed with water is thrown broadcast 

 upon the growing crop. The traveler will sometimes pass 

 a field of succulent and inviting vegetables, perhaps celery, 

 turnips, or radishes, but the odor proceeding from them 

 stavs his hand. The refuse of large cities is distributed 

 throughout the neighboring districts by boats and sold to 

 the fanners. The collection is a large source of revenue, 

 and public receptacles are provided in the cities with an 

 adjoining tea house, where the wayfarer is invited to stop 

 and refresh himself with a cup of tea, furnished gratis. 



The Yang Tsze performs for a large tract of country in 

 China the same offices as the Nile does for Egypt, that is, 

 overflows it annually and leaves a deposit of alluvial mat- 

 ter washed from the far western mountains, which adds 

 greatly to the richness of the soil. But the Chinese are by 

 no means satisfied with cultivating their accessible lands 

 only. Mountain sides are terraced, and if irrigation can 

 be managed such crops as rice are cultivated far up the 

 hillsides. In handling this cereal, which is the staple ar- 

 ticle of food amongst all classes, they are of course adepts, 

 the seed being first planted on low land, near the course of 

 a stream if possible, and at the proper time transplanted to 

 its permanent bed. Irrigation is firmly believed in and 

 largely practiced, and in this respect we believe a lesson is 

 to be learned from them. The huge water wheels used for 

 lifting the water and conveying it through flumes to the 

 fields are not unlike those in use on the Nile, yet there is 

 no lack of rain In China; much of the soil, however, is of 

 a clayey nature, and requires constant working to prevent 

 it from baking. 



In the northern and western provinces large flocks of 

 sheep are to be met with, used by the natives for the fleece 

 alone, but providing for the foreigner a very fine quality of 

 mutton, and an agreeable addition to his bill of fare. The 



breed of sheep is the same, as that which is so abundant 

 throughout Tartary, and is known as the fat tail. The fat 

 accmulates on the hind quarters in large masses, and the 

 little short tail, almost as wide as the animal itself, is one 

 mass of oleaginous substance. Tallow is therefore an ar- 

 ticle of commerce, but a large portion of that used in the 

 empire is not animal matter, but the product of the tallow 

 tree. 



Of barn yard fowls, the Shanghais and Cochin Chinas 

 are familiar to all, but the traveler rarely meets with the 

 huge specimens that are to be seen at our poultry 

 shows, and are supposed to have sprung from a Chinese 

 origin. The largest fowls ever seen by the writer were on 

 the island of Formosa. Whether it arises from the food, 

 or from a peculiarity in the breed, we will not pretend to 

 say, but the flesh of Chinese fowls cannot begin to com- 

 pare with that of our own poultry. Caponizing, however, 

 is understood and largely practiced, the effect of which is 

 to increase the size and largely improve the quality. The 

 wife of a well known captain in the China trade was so 

 pleased with the capons she ate at Canton that she wished 

 her husband to bring some home in order to introduce the 

 breed into this country! Turkeys there are none, except 

 those brought from Manilla, but ducks exist in great abun- 

 dance, the artificial hatching of ducks' eggs being carried 

 on to a large extent. Ducks are also split and dried, and 

 sold in this condition. 



Although the last named subjects may not, strictly speak- 

 ing, come under the head of agriculture — and indeed in 

 China are usually treated as specialties— they are neverthe- 

 less valuable adjuncts, as showing some of the resources of 

 a wonderful people. 



Foot and Mouth Disease.— This singular complaint 

 has broken out in almost every county in England and 

 Scotland and is largely on the increase, causing much con- 

 sternation among farmers, shepherds, and stockraisers, 

 both sheep and cattle being similarly affected. As a 

 plague, it must be almost equal to our western grasshop- 

 pers or the Colorado beetle. One of the alleged causes of 

 the spread of the disease is most remarkable, and it is attri- 

 buted to the laws affectling ground game. It is said to be 

 carried from place to place by hares, and a Perthshire 

 farmer has recently trapped two hares, both of which 

 were ill with the disease. Disinfection by means of car- 

 bolic acid is said to be the best preventive. 



%$ MmmL 



— One of the great cattle breeders was recently visited 

 by an old college friend who frequently overtaxed his 

 host's memory by using Latin quotations long forgotten by 

 reason of disuse. One day the great cattle breeder got 

 even with his pedantic guest. Pointing to an immense 

 herd of fine young cattle in prime condition for the market, 

 the visitor said, "You must have had good luck since you 

 commenced this pursuit?" "Yes." replied the host, "it is 

 due to my luck that I can say, ( Hinc } Mm lachrynm,' in 

 looiting at my herds." "What do you mean?" asked his 

 astonished guest. "Why, don't you see? 'Hence 'these 

 steers.'" 



WATER PIPES. 



The following unsolicited testimony, taken from the Engineering and 

 Mining Journal of New York, i8 a most gratifying tribute to the excel- 

 lence of the goods fnrnishtd by the National Tube Works Company, of 

 Boston, Mass., and McKeesport, Pa. :— 



Extba Lakgb Lap-Welded Tubes and Enameled Water Pipes.— 

 At a recent visit to the works of the National Tube Works Company at 

 McKeesport, Pa., we witnessed ihe operation of making lap welded tubes 

 of such a size and quality as to call Jor notice. The company makes 

 these seamless tubes or pipes of any size up te fourteen inches dipt,',-e!er. 

 And us every length is tested by hydraulic pressure before leaving the 

 works, their sireneth and quality is fully guaranteed. They have been 

 found admirably adapted to carrying; water for the hydraulic mines of 

 California, Nevada, and other Western States, and for water works 

 which do not require larger mains than fourteen inches. The company 

 has just completed an order for the Virginia City and Gold Hill Water 

 Company, of Nevada, of seven miles of 10 inch pipe, the most extensive 

 order for a large size that, we believe, has ever been given in this coun- 

 try. These seamless pipes, even without coating, are more durable and 

 are" also less expensive than the riveted pipes, but the company applies a 

 patent enamel 10 them that, it is claimed, makes them almost indestruc- 

 tible, and. indeed, the company is williug to guarantee their durability 

 for any length of time. The appended reports by Dr. S. Dana Hayes, 

 Massachusetts State Assayer and Chemist, and Prof. Otto Wuth, of Pitts- 

 burg, Pa., fully establish the claims of this pipe to durability. We com- 

 mend it not only to our gas and water comput ies, but also 10 our mine 

 owners and others who have to use or convey impure water, Mich, for ex- 

 ample, as in many anthracite mines. These large pipes would make ex- 

 cellent screen shafts for our coal breakers, and the enamel would doubt- 

 less be of great advantage for coating the exposed iron work about the 



In bringing the matter to the consideration of "those whom ifc may 

 concern,"' we believe we are doing consumers as well as manufacturers a 

 service. 



reports. 



"I have recently made a series of tests of your enameled pipe, for the 

 purpose of ascertaining its value as a service pipe for conveying water 

 and other fluids, and now submit the following brief report of the re- 

 sults obtained:— 



Portions of the enamel covering itself were first removed from several 

 pieces and submitted to chemical analysis, to determine the presence of 

 deleterious substances, but the result of these analyses are entirely nega- 

 tive, as there is nothing of this kind present. The pipe is made of 

 wrought iron, covered, inside and outside, with an elastic, enamel like 

 material that does not contain any unwholesome or objectionable ingre- 

 dients. , ' , . i 



Its durability was then tested, by exposing different p.eces of the pipe 

 to the solvent action of bard, soft, and sea waters, alcohol, and other 

 fluids, for many days, and finally those fluids were boiled in the pipe for 

 several hours in each case— the object of this boiling being to obtain, as 

 nearly as possible, in a comparatively short time, the effect produced in 

 the pipe by lon?-continued usage. These tests have been very complete, 

 and i am quite surpri-ed at the durability and power of resistance of the 

 enamel covering determined in this way. It has not failed in any trial 

 with natural waters in my laboratory, and It has withstood the action of 

 boiling coirosive fluids for a longer time than specimens of other water 

 pipes novv in common use. 



I commenced this investigation with some doubts about your enameled 

 pipe, but the severe tests which I have employed prove that it is perfectly 

 harmless, and possesses great durability, these being the properties of 

 most importance in water pipe.. S. Dana Hayes, 



Slate Assayer and Chemist, Massachusetts." 



"I have made a complete series of tests in order to ascertain the qual- 

 iy of your patent enameled pipe, and found that the enamel covering 

 perfectly both the inside and the outside of the wrought iron pipe is not 

 in the least affected by the action of alkalies, acids, salts of any compo- 

 sition, alcohol— in fact, any liquids which in practice are am to be con- 

 veyed through the pipe. The enamel itself contains no deleterious sub- 

 stances whatever, and even if it did it would not make any difference, as 

 not a trace of it will become soluble. Pipe so enameled is specially 

 adapted for water and ga*. q. wvth." 



ON BREAKING DOGS. 



Port Scott, Kan., Oct. 12 ia*» 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— ' °' 5, 



Por the benefit of amateur dog trainers, or Western sportsmen wh 

 train their own dogs, please give some of the fine points, say in trainin° 

 of the setter Joe, spoken of in your issue of 7th inst., or any other f 

 mous dog — what does he excel any ordinary broken dog in? 1st. Do 

 he go straight from, the party "shooting over him' , to the "dead bird" 

 and immediately return with it? 2d. Does he carry or fetch by wing o 

 leg? 8d. Does he point the "wounded bird" and await, command to 

 fetch? 4th. What are his points of excellence in quartering his ground 

 down charging, "coming into," or remaining at heels? Please publish 

 for general information of country sportsmen' who break their own do? 

 the general terms now in use in handling dogs in the field . Has not cub 

 torn made general terms abbreviating the "good dog business," g fte * 

 used in "Prank Forester's Breaking or Training?" We of the West 

 cannot buy or get hold of "broken dogs" at anything like reasonable 

 figures. We have twelve-month dogs here that "hi on" at comniacl 

 "quarter their ground" in chicken shooting an eighth of a mile right am 

 left, thus ranging a quarter mile; turn and go in opposite dhectiou at 

 sound of whistle; "come in to heel" at prolonged whistle or command 

 "come in;" "seek dead" at command from "down charge" after shot- 

 point the "wounded bird" and wait for command to "fetch." or Im'. 

 mediately return with dead bird when found. These pups are few but 

 we have two in this community. As to nose, they find biro's and are 

 staunch when they find them, and do their back pointing, we think 

 finely; yet where there is so much 'blue blood" written about, we ex- 

 pect there must be better dogs, and would like to read of them and their 

 fine points . One of the dogs above spoken of is a pointer with an m> 

 known father. Thi* dog found m July of this year, when he was less 

 than a year old, eleven covies of prairie chickens in one afternoon, and 

 out of upward of 200 chickens killed over him he retrieved at Last 180 

 before he was a year old. g # ' 



[We have done much shooting over the famous setter 

 "Joe," the dog you alude to. His great reputation arises 

 from the fact that he is an exceedingly beautiful, high-bred 

 well formed dog, of great endurance and stylish action in 

 the field; and then he was carefully broken by one of the 

 best breakers among us, and when sold he went into the 

 hands of a very skillful, energetic sportsman, who keeps 

 him constantly at work in the shooting season, and an un- 

 usual quantity of game of all kinds has been shot over him 

 and now, as he is five or six years old, and always having 

 been skillfully handled, he has become, no doubt, about as 

 good as dogs ever get to be. There are certainly hundreds 

 of dogs possessing all the good natural qualities of this 

 dog, yet but few have been so well broken, few so well 

 handled, and few have had so much game shot to them. 

 He does nothing but what hundreds of other dogs will 

 do, but whatever he does he does it well. He was not 

 broken to fetch by wing, leg or head, as we have had 

 them, but at the crack of the gun he will "charge down," 

 and remain until ordered to "fetch dead," which he does 

 without "mouthing" his game. We do not think his owner 

 requires him to "point dead," because, to us, it appears an 

 absurdity to ask a steady old and good retriever to point a 

 dead or wounded bird. All such dogs know to a certainty, 

 if a bird is dead or wounded, and there is about as much 

 necessity for a dog to "point dead" before retrieving, as 

 there would be for a boy sent for the bird to be required 

 to stand upon one leg awhile before he picked it up. 



In breaking a rash pup or young dog, it is well to make 

 him "point dead," but after they come to discriminate be- 

 tween a dead or live bird they give it up almost invariably. 



All that we require of our dogs, is that they shall quar- 

 ter the ground regularly, ranging wide in the open and 

 closely in cover, come "to heel" when ordered, point and 

 break steadily, and to either "drop to shot," stand in their 

 tracks, or to come quietly "to heel" and remain sitting, 

 standing, or at "down charge" until the gun is reloaded, and 

 they are ordered to "fetch" dead, if the bird is killed, and 

 to "hold up" and "heigh away" if not. To "drop to shot" 

 is all well enough on dry land, bat in snipe shooting, when 

 the water is often as cold as ice, the shooter who would 

 compel his dog to "drop to shot" should at once be attended 

 to by "The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- 

 mals." 



We have no pups in the East any better than those you 

 describe, but as a general thing the dogs in the East are far 

 better broken than those of the West, and this state of 

 things arises from the fact that game being so much more 

 scarce with us we require better dogs to enable us to make 

 a bag. 



We have made periodical shooting trips to the West, 

 Southwest, and Northwest, since 1859, and with but few 

 exceptions have ever met with well broken dogs. In < U1S 

 section of the country, as before stated, we are obliged to 

 have good well broken dogs, and such we know can be 

 purchased at reasonable rates. 



In regard to the dogs of "blue blood," you allude to, let 

 us say, that the importers of such do not claim that they 

 will do any better work in this country than Americai 

 bred dogs, but all good sportsmen will admit that the in- 

 fusion of fresh blood through dogs imported from the bes 

 kennels in Europe is well calculated to improve, or at a 

 events keep them up to the high standing they have at- 

 tained, and . consequently it is wise to encourage such im- 

 portations. 



—An international dog show was held at Baden 1 

 last month under the patronage of her Serene High" 

 the Duchess of Hamilton, Princess of Baden, with wbt^ 

 the idea originated. At the request of her Highness 

 Rev. J. Gumming Macdona came over from Englan _ 

 officiate as judge, in which capacity he was assiste J 

 eight gentlemen from different parts of the contin ^ 

 Yery costly prizes were given by the & rand ~ u ** 

 Baden, Dowager Duchess of Hamilton, Princess of Mon > 

 Duchess of Hamilton, Prince Albert Solms and om 



