462 
AMERICAN AG-RICQLTURIST. 
[Dbcembbb, 
mirers. Their history all through, tells a story of 
quick feeders, with necessarily quiet dispositions ; 
hardy, healthy, with great capacity for Hesh and 
excellent quality of meat when dressed. They 
take naturally to grass, and may be wintered on 
hay in great part, as they eat it as readily as sheep 
will do. The animal given on the preceding page, 
is 19 months old, had no grain from April last until 
Sept. 24th, when he was sent to the fair, weighing 
then 476 pounds. On Oct. 24th, or 30 days after- 
wards, he weighed 570, gaining 94 lbs., being fed 
solely on raw corn-meal and water. He is 32 inch- 
es high, 5 feet 8i inches lone;, and girts 6 feet. His 
belly reaches to within 3 inches of the ground when 
standing. In a recent case, 53 of these hogs fat- 
tened at Salem, N. J., at 18 months old, averaged, 
when dressed, 523 pounds; the lightest weighed 
460 pounds. With such a character as this, the Duroo 
is certainly worthy of being known everywhere. 
Among the Farmers.— Mo. 23. 
BY ONS 01' THEM. 
Farmers sHould be Business-men. 
I suppose we are all apt to over-estimate qualities 
which we do not ourselves possess. It is so with 
me, and possibly from this cause do I wonder at, 
and admire, and even covet the possession of real 
busmess instincts. This is, in fact, a quality of 
mind possessed in such varying degrees, that we 
find in all professions and trades, some, or many, 
the aim of whose life is to make money. They 
usually succeed, while others, with precisely the 
same opportunities, and of equal ability, distinguish 
themselves in some other way. It is this business 
ability that enables thrifty Germans to work into al- 
most every farming neighborhood, take farms on 
shares, buy little farms of their own, gradually be- 
come possessed of so much property, that the fa- 
miliar first name is dropped, and " Mr. Schwartz " is 
known far and near as the best farmer in the neigh- 
borhood. At home he would have remained the 
plodding peasant, here, with the absolute free- 
dom to "dig or die," Hans gains the will to do, and 
to lay up and wisely invest money, not in banks and 
"securities" which are absurdly insecure, but in 
his own business. Of course he has ever a watch- 
ful care over what he has earned so hardly. Many 
an Irishman is working gradually to the front in 
the same way, but the Germans Lave the advantage 
in being better educated, and trained to greater in- 
dependence. It is rather hard to see the fine old 
farms thus pass into the hands of foreigners, who 
are often untutored people, but they have busijiess 
talent — not necessarily an inordinate love of money, 
but a love of making it, and the ability to know 
what to turn their hands to to gaiu it. We ought to 
develop this faculty in our children, with all care 
that it do not run into avarice, and that taey gain, 
at the same time, in the course of their education, 
notions of culture and refinement, which will allow 
them to properly use their means. 
The Guernseys as the Farmer's Cotf, 
A year and a half ago a herd of Guernsey cows, 
heifers, and one bull, were landed in New York, and 
shipped up to Farmington, Conn. There they 
were distributed among some twelve farmers. I 
saw them landed, and had not seen them since, until 
a few days ago, when I happened to be near, and 
visited the herds in which they are. They have 
done very well, one or two have died, but from no 
fault of constitution or failure to acclimate. Guern- 
sey cows cannot survive free access to the meal bar- 
rel for a night, any better than natives, and one shuf- 
fled off her mortal coil in this unsentimental way. 
I found their owners not entirely unanimous in the 
opinion that, as to each, his own cow was the best 
of the lot ; but this satisfactory sentiment was very 
general, and the positive assertion (hat in each herd 
the Guernsey, or one of the Guernseys, was the 
best cow, was frequently heard, and I think almost 
universal. They have improved very much. All 
have good udders and teats, all yield intensely yel- 
low butter, among them are several 18-quart cows, 
and the youngsters are really a very fine lot. 
There arc practically good points about a Guern- 
sey cow which plain farmers, and even their hired 
men, appreciate. Their good size, their naturally 
thrifty look, (comparatively few "milking down " 
very thin,) the good size of their calves, their 
strong appetites, and general hardiness, in addition 
to their large average quantity of the richest mUk 
and the most highly colored butter known— these 
are the points which make the farmers enthusiastic 
■about Guernseys. 
It is a very pleasant thing to find the farmei's of 
any neighborhood so enthusiastic — or if not that 
exactly, yet I may say sensibly interested, in any 
thing concerning their own profession, as the Far- 
mington people are about Guernseys. I wish my 
neighbors could be interested in something. I don't 
propose to turn Missionary, the task is too hopeless. 
Mr. Storrs' licciaimcd S-wamp. 
A few months ago I visited the farm of my friend, 
Mr. Augustus Storre, in Tolland Co., Conn., and I 
believe wrote to the AineHcan Agriculturist about a 
really great job he had undertaken in reclaiming a 
piece of swamp land. The land lacked mineral 
matter, and the season was unfavorable for apply- 
ing it economically after the surface was anything 
like level. Sand and loam from the surrounding 
hills and knolls must be hauled out, spread in win- 
ter, if he would do it economically, for then horses 
and cattle can go on all parts of the swamp, and 
the sand can be spread very evenly. I have been 
getting reports from the crops now and then, and I 
think the last is worth repeating. It seemed worth 
whUe to invite the Committee of the Tolland Co. 
Agricultural Society on Reclaimed Land, and the 
one on Crops entered for Prizes, down to see the 
farm, the reclaimed swamp, and the crops upon it 
and elsewhere. They came, and during the walk 
about the farm, Mr. Storrs asked one of the com- 
mittee, "How in the world it was that people 
measured their corn so as to report 125 bushels of 
shelled com to the acre ? " 
Ho-w Some People Measure Corn. 
"I'll tell you," said Mr. Committeeman, "we 
measure a square rod in the field in two or three 
places, but make sure that the corn is as good on 
the measured square rods as it is any where, then, 
when the corn is cut, these square rods are cut up 
and stooked together, and as soon as possible 
husked and shelled. It is very green, to be sure, 
and will shrink perhaps 20 or 25 per cent, but it Is 
' shelled corn.' " George had his orders very soon. 
They were to stake out several square rods, and not 
to select the poorest, to cut them up with the rest 
of the field, and to husk and shell as soon thereaf- 
ter as possible. Now that Mr. Storrs knew how 
they did it, he was bound to test the process. The 
results justified his anticipations, and the promise 
of the soil. The average yield of the several square- 
rod patches was 26 quarts and half a pint, and this 
Is equivalent to 13U bushels to the acre. The very 
best of the com was not in the reclaimed swamp, 
but just upon the edge of it, now dry, and getting 
more or less earth from the hill. My friend is quite 
delighted at the success of his experiment in re- 
claiming swamp land, but I think still more, as to 
corn, in finding out " how they do it," for it would 
seem that " they all do it." 
The place Roots sliould occupy 
in our agriculture, is a much more prominent one 
than they do at present. Yet there has been a nota- 
ble increase in the quantity of seed sold — especially 
of mangels and Swedes ; sugar-beets also are sown 
in largely increased quantity. Whoever sows a 
patch large enough fairly to test their merits, either 
in the production of milk during the winter, or in- 
creasing the flow during the spring months, before 
the grass starts, or rye is fit to cut for green feed, 
will try a larger one the next year. Mangels and 
sugar-beets, without doubt, are best for the flavor 
of the milk. They also increase the flow largely, 
but whether or not they produce a relatively great- 
er increase in richness of the milk, I have not data 
to establish. My own experience, and that of others 
whom I might name, indicates that cabbages in- 
crease largely the percentage of cream and butter. 
The tops of Swedish turnips do the same, and I 
presume that the roots do likewise, but of that I 
speak with less assurance. 
People who make " dollar-a-pound " butter, can: 
afford not to use either cabbages or Swedes. Farm- 
ers who send milk to a creamery, should establish 
a rule among themselves, that neither cabbages nor 
turnips Bhovild be fed to milch cows, for among a 
dozen or twenty parties who bring milk, and would 
feed turnips if they could, there vrould surely be 
some careless ones, and the milk would get the tur- 
nipy-odor flavor, which is so disagreeable. When 
perfectly sound cabbages or roots are fed just at 
milking time, there is no trouble about the flavor 
imparted to the butter — at least that is our experi- 
ence, and I do not hesitate to feed them liberally. 
Decaying roots, leaves, or cabbage heads, hov/ever, 
do aSect the milk, even when fed at this time. The 
pure vegetable flavor, however, seems to be dissi- 
pated by the breath, and through exhalations from 
the body, within 8 or 10 hours. 
Among all ordinary farm crops there is none 
which produces an equal amount of nutriment with 
Swedish turnips, in the same length of time. Next 
to them 1 suppose cabbages and English turnips 
take rank, and then mangels and sugar beets. 
Swedes may be raised on any ordinarily good mel- 
low ground, with only a barrel of superphosphate, 
or even less, to the acre, applied in the drill, and 
we generally get a good crop for market if sowing 
Is delayed until the middle of July, but when the 
crop is intended for feeding, it is just as well to 
have larg^. overgrown roots, and so the earlier after 
the first of June the seed is in the ground, the 
larger the roots will be. 
"Wnx. Crozier's Practice. 
I was out at Mr. Crozier's place, at Northport, L. 
I. , the other day, and saw a really very good crop 
of Swedes, which had been sown upon oat stubble, 
and the land, after once or twice "cultivating," 
during which operations it was kept quite flat, 
was sown with wheat, which was harrowed in with 
a harrow-toothed cultivator. The roots had been 
thinned to about a foot apart, and were making 
their best growth, being larger than one's fist Octo- 
ber 15th, and there was a fine, even stand of wheat. 
The chances are that Mr. C. will have the great 
bulk of his Swedes, of just the best market size — 
say 4 inches in diameter. English turnips would 
give a good deal more in bulk of fodder, possibly 
nearly twice as much, but no more nutriment. 
There would be twice the cartage, twice the storage 
room, and twice the expense of handling, with no 
choice as to what to do with the crop. The Eng- 
lish, or soft turnips, must be fed ; the Swedes may 
either be fed or marketed, for there is almost aijpays 
a fair market for them during the winter, which is 
available for those who live within easy reach of 
New York or other cities. 
Seeding Do^vn ivitll Turnips. 
Mr. Crozier's plan of sowing wheat with turnips, 
leads me to th ink of sowing grass seed with turnips. 
We have been so scorched of late, that I for one 
shrink from sowing grass seed in the spring, and 
the rye I raise grows on poorer land than I am will- 
ing to seed down to timothy. Hence it appears 
bestto BOW grass by itself in August, after some 
summer crop is taken off. Why will it not be a 
first-rate plan, after taking off oats or millet, or 
early potatoes, to plow in some manure if there is 
any to spare, or apply a barrel or two of superphos- 
phate to the acre, and drill in turnips (Swedes) 
twenty inches to two feet apart, and after going 
through the rows twice with the harrow-cultivator, 
to sow grass seed. I think I would be surer of get- 
ting a good seeding, than were I to depend upon 
seeding to grass with the oats in the spring. On 
our soil clover does not winter-kill, and It may be 
sown in August perfectly well. 
Man.jels. 
This root is everything the milk producer needs 
as succulent food for his cows during the winter. 
With plenty of com stalks and mangels, or sugar- 
beets, anybody can make good milk. Brewer's 
grains, starch feed, and such foods, will make sick- 
ly milk, but cows thrive on beets and cora-fodder, 
with a little rye bran, or even without the last arti- 
cle. Mangels and beets need the whole season to 
make full crops. This is the only drawback to 
their culture. Good, mellow ground needs to be- 
