1877.] 
AMERICAN AGJ-RICULTURIST. 
331 
very lai^e amount of lime. The guano and phos- 
phate would probably be more rapid in their ac lion, 
but their effect would soon be gone, while that of 
the ashes wouJd last for years. 
A word of practical application. Ashes are use- 
ful for any crop, from roots to fruit. On newly 
seeded grass land they often work wonders. They 
may be used as a top-dressing or put in the hill or 
plowed or harrowed under. They are excellent for 
composts also. Here in Connecticut, where guano, 
phosphates, fish, and the like, can be bought very 
cheaply, many of the best farmers prefer to use 
ashes, even when they have to pay twenty cents per 
bushel or more for the leached. And where, as in 
some places I know, guano costs §70.00, a good 
superphosphate S45.00 or SoO.OO and b'nie about 
as much per ton, and ashes are only 1^ to 18 cents 
per bushel, 1 should advise the use of the ashes by 
all means. Of course, for forcing early crops, guano, 
phosphates, and other quickly acting fertilizers, 
when used in small quantities, may pay better. But, 
generally speaking, at such prices as the above, 
ashes will be far preferable for a standard manure. 
W. O. Atwateb, 
Wesleyan University, JUiddletovm, Conn. 
The Fairs the Farmers' Schools. 
Hundreds of letters come to us yearly, asking 
about matters and things which are very fully ex- 
hibited at the Agricultural Fairs every falL A 
farmer who observes the live stock, implements, 
machines, and other interesting objects at these ex- 
hibitious, and makes a study of them, will gain 
much valuable information. Those who attend the 
lairs, with their goods and live-stock, are pleased to 
have them seen and examined. It is their business 
to show what they have on exhibition, and we never 
yet knew one of them to give an impatient or churl- 
ish reply to any civil inquiry made of them ; but on 
the contrary, have always found them eager to im- 
part information. Now this information is precisely 
what every farmer wants. He needs to be instruct- 
ed about the differences in character and value of 
live stock, the uses and working of implements and 
machinery, the value of improved grains and other 
products, the kinds of artificial fertilizers offered by 
the manufacturers, and scores of other matters, 
not only of great interest, but of value in his daily 
business. Then, farmers need to meet together and 
talk with one onother about these things, and com- 
pare views. It is hardly possible for any two farm- 
ers so to discuss matters relatin'- to their business 
■without mutual benefit. The County or State Fair, 
is the place of all others for farmers to meet with 
one another, and also to meet those who provide 
them with implements and various other supplies. 
By nil means let every farmer not only attend the 
fairs, but use all his faculties when there, in the 
effort to learn every thing that is possible. A fair 
is a great school for the farmer and his famil}-. 
Ogden Farm Papers.— Ifo. 91. 
BT OEOBeB E. WABIKO, JB. 
The subject of the escutcheon or " milk-mirror," 
as a test of the quality of the milch cow, is just 
now receiving much attcutian. Mr. L. 8. Hardin 
has attacked Guenou's theory in a really savage 
way, and he has aroused quite a storm of cor- 
respondence, which is preponderafingly in its fa- 
vor. It has been suggested that we do not need to 
adopt all the minutiae of the theory, lor wc do not 
care anything about the comparative tests of third 
and fourtli rate cows. The only ones we want are 
those of theirs* class, and it is a very simple mat- 
ter to learn enough, to be able to see at a glance if 
any given escutcheon is first-class or not. We 
elia'il act wisely, as a rule, if we let all except the 
first-class ones go. We may make occasional mis- 
takes. There may be some very ^od cows with 
very bad escutcheons, but I think the forty-years' 
experience of the best dairymen of the world, has 
established the fact, that there is much more in the 
Guenon theory, than in any other outward indica- 
tion of quality. I believe that those who have 
made it a lixed rule of action, to own no cow, and 
to raise no heifer, which has not a firsi-class es- 
cutcheon, have to-day the best milking herds. 
It may eveu be doubted, whether it is essential to 
good success, that we should give our attention to 
so much detail as is needed to determine even to 
which class a cow belongs, for the fundamental 
principle seems to be, that the quantity of milk, and 
the continuance of the flow, after the cow gets with 
calf, is chiefly indicated by the area of the escut- 
cheon, whatever may be its sh pe ; that is to say, 
that the amount of surface covered by hair grow- 
ing in a direction that leads away from the teats, 
indicates the extent of that system of blood vessels 
or secreting organs, which act in the conversion of 
blood into milk. Practically, it seems not to make 
a very great difTerence, whether the surface so cov- 
ered (the escutcheon) extends up to a good width 
and on both sides of the vulva, or whether it 
reaches out far on the thighs. Mr. Charles L. 
Sharpless, of Philadelphia, has advanced the sug- 
gestion, that the surface covered by a reversed 
growth of hair in front of the udder — out on the 
belly — is as important as that which shows from 
behind. With this idea in mind, we may safely be 
guided, in judging of the comparative value of two 
cows, by the relative amount of space >o covered, 
whether such covering indicates any dutci-ent con- 
formation of the underlying vessels or not. When 
the purpose is not to compare two cows with each 
other, but to decide the individual meritof a single 
cow, then I should say that we should seek the 
fullest possible development of the escutcheon — 
one which runs up of good width, enclosing the 
vulva, which runs out well on to the thighs, and 
which reaches well forwciri c; (o the belly. 
Guenon refers to certain •■ Dastard " marks, which 
are of different character in the different " orders," 
and which, it seems to me, require more study than 
any one is likely to give, who is not endeavoring to 
moke himself an expert in the matter. In my own 
case, and so far as I know in the case of friends 
who adhere to the system, not much attention is 
paid to these marks. It is quite likely that we 
should, all of us, find our account in studying this 
part of the system more minutely ; but it seems 
the most desirable thing about the whole matter, 
that the people at large should attend to the lead- 
ing idea, and regulate their breeding, and their 
bu\in'4 and selling, according to its broader teach- 
ings. To this end, I should say simply : " Learn in 
the first place the difference in appearance between 
the escutcheon and the parts surrounding it ; ascer- 
tain t. ; standard of the largest escutcheon of the 
breed < cattle in which you are interested, and 
then tiy to secure a stable full of animals, ap- 
proaching as nearly as possible to this standard." 
It is one of the most important things in connec- 
tion with this subject, that the escutcheon is well 
defined, even in the fuzzy coat of the new born 
calf, and that so far as this indication is relied on, 
we may at once determine whether the calf is to be 
kept or killed. In the calf, the upper part of the 
escutcheon shows for its full value, but it does not 
spread to its full width over the thighs until, as 
maturity approaches, the filling of the udder, and 
the development of that part of the body, spread it 
out. By turning the calf on its back, we may read- 
ily see the extension of the escutcheon toward the 
navel and the flanks. We may also judge of the 
size, position, and uniformity of the teats — a very 
important indication. 
A letter from Belchertown, Mass., asks, "which 
is best for a creamery, to bring water (in which the 
mercury will stand at 50°) 800 feet through a loamy 
soil, or to adopt Hardin's plan ? Would not cov- 
ered pails be better than cans, on account of 
skimming ? " 
My advice would be to use the Hardin plan, or 
the Cooley, or some equivalent, only where a satis- 
factory supply of cold water can not be obtained. 
Even where water has to be pumped by a wind- 
mill or water-wheel, I should be disposed, if it 
could be delivered at a temperature of 50°, or even 
55°. to prefer this system, if only for the sake of its 
simplicity. Where water can be brought by gravi- 
tation — in sufficient quantity — I should not hesitate 
a moment to make use of it. 
The cost of laying a wood or cement, or vitrified 
pipe 800 feet, where the digging is easy, would be 
trifling, compared with the value of the permanent 
result. With a good stream of water, at 50°, we 
should be safe for winter and summer. Narrow 
cans are better than pail.^., because their smaller di- 
ameter brings their contents more readily under the 
influence of the temperature of the surrounding 
water. There is no difficulty, whatever, about 
skimming. A conical dipper, about one inch less 
in diameter at its top, than the din meter of the can, 
will usually take off the whole of the cream in two 
dippings, and with little labor and attention. 
There seems to be quite a revival of interest in 
land drainage, especially in places remote from tile- 
factories, for I have a number of letters asking in- 
formation about the making of tiles at home, es- 
pecially about machines fur molding them. Con- 
cerning the construction of the die-plate of the 
tile-molding machine, I hardly know how to make 
the subject more clear than I have done on page ISO 
of my book "Draining for Profit and Health," 
illustrated in figure 43. The die-plate, which forms 
the front of the box holding the clay, may be made 
of a piece of boiler iron, with one or more holes of 
the size of the outside of the tile. Projecting 
through this hoi?, and firmly attached to a crutch 
which straddles it, and is bolted to the plate, is a 
plug of the size of the bore of the tile. The annu- 
lar space between the plug and the sides of the hole, 
represents the substance of the tile, the clay be- 
ing forced through this space in a solid and con- 
tinuous mass. For a small hand machine, it would 
probably be better to have only one hole — making 
but one line of Ules at a time. 
It is always pleasant to receive a new book which 
has eveu a collateral bearing upon the industry in 
which one is interested. Being especially a butter 
dairyman, and having a large amount of skim-milk 
and butter-milk to dispose of, I was very glad to 
get Coburn's " Swine Husbandry-," just issued by 
the Orange Judd Co. So far as I have been able to 
examine it, it strikes me as being, on the whole, the 
most comprehensive work having special reference 
to the needs of American farmers, that I have yet 
seen. It is especially to be commended to Western 
pork raisers for its valuable papers on the so-called 
" Hog Cholera." 
We hear a great deal about the depredations of 
the grasshoppers at the West, but if our Western 
neighbors have this beam in their eye, we have at 
least a mote in our own, to which I fear we pay too 
little attention. Our Eastern grasshopper is get- 
ting to be something more than a serious nuisance. 
Last summer we put into the bam about 95 tons of 
hay. The haying season was followed by a severe 
and protracted drouth. Remembering the old 
adage, "drouth never made dearth in England," 
and having a good supply of green-fodder for soil- 
ing, we looked forward with lively hope to another 
good hay crop this year. Day by day the grasshop- 
pers — whom we have always with us — increased. 
They seemed to find on our heavily manured land a 
better foraging ground than on some half abandon- 
ed farms in the neighborhood, and they congregated 
from all sides, imtil we were fairly over-stocked 
with them. In walking across the fields, we fairly 
threw up a spray of these insects. They ate the 
young grass as f.ist as it grew in such hot and dry 
weather — and they thon set to work and ate crown 
and roots fairly down into the ground. As a result, 
wc have this year mowed acre after acre bearing 
nothing but weeds, where we lost year had good 
grass, and the extent of our loss will be understood 
when I say that wc have this year housed only 35 
tons of hay. Fortunately, our cured oats have 
yielded very well, and fodder-corn is unusually 
promising, so th:it wc hope to carry our stock 
through the winter without dilBculty, but the In- 
signilicant eastern grasshopper may fairly b« 
charged with our loss of not less that 50 tons ol 
bay, which could have been sold here for (1,000. 
