214 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
German. It appears that there were five American -built 
machines entered— three mowers and reapers, one mower, 
and one reaper. These were entered by C. II. McCormick, 
Chicago ; Clipper Mowing and Reaping Machine Co., 
New York ; W. A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine 
Co., Hoosick Falls, N. Y.; J. G. Perry, Kingston, R. L, 
(Mower); Seymour, Morgan & Allen, New York, (Reaper). 
The prizes awarded were a Gold Medal to McCormick, a 
Gold Medal to the W. A. Wood Co., and a Bronze Medal 
to Perry. The decision of Paris in 1S6T is not an " apple 
of discord' 1 — for though important and creditable to 
those concerned, yet no decision is given concerning the 
rival claims of tho two machines, which, as wo under- 
stand it, divide public favor in Europe, and the decision 
certainly will have very little influence in favor of these 
machines or against their competitors here, and which 
were not represented in Paris. The two parties who 
take gold medals are the only American Mower and 
Reaper manufacturers who have made especial efforts to 
secure an European Market for their machines— having 
for years had agents there, having there taken out 
numerous patents, aud having put themselves promi- 
nently before the European public in various ways. 
Weigli your Milk. — "G. R.," Orange 
County. "Three pailfuls a day," is a very indefinite 
statement, and may mean twenty-five, or thirty-five quarts, 
beer measure. In all statements of the yield of milk, it 
is best to give the weight. Accurate knowledge is of 
great importance to the dairyman. He should know just 
how much each cow gives in the flush feed *>f summer, 
that he may determine what cows it will pay to keep, and 
what should be turned off in the fall for beef. With a set 
of Family Scales in the milk-room, a pail may be weigh- 
ed in a second, and the result noted in a book kept for 
the purpose. Weighing, too, everyday, would enable one 
to determine whether extra feed paid. The farmer might 
get rid of guess work, and know just what he was about. 
SelfWIiBking- Cows. — The importance 
of stopping at the very beginning any tendency in a cow 
to suck herself, need not be dwelt upon. The habit, once 
fixed, is an exceedingly great disadvantage, and such 
cows, occurring near cities, usually "tic up" at some 
milk stable where they are kept constantly tied. Mr. E. 
A. Conkling recommends the occasional application of a 
solution of aloes to the cow's teaU, and says its efficiency 
la confirmed iu his own experience. '• R. W.," of 
Ingersoll, recom- 
mends a simple bit 
of board inserted 
in the nose, as 
shown in the en- 
graving. An oval 
hole, 3 inches long 
and 2 inches wide, 
cnt ] 
, the 
die of the long 
fcide, and near the 
edge of a4x6x p 8 - 
Inch oak board ; 
then the thin side, 
which should bo 
about s c inch wide, 
is cut out just 
enough to allow 
the broad, gristly 
nose to be crowded through. The hole must be large 
enough to fit loosely, and the ends which enter the nostrils 
rounded so as not to scrape or hurt the skin. The appli- 
cation of aloes might cure a case taken early, but we are 
confident it would not help an inveterate sucker. The 
other contrivance does not prevent eating; and, though 
we think it would stop most cows sucking, yet, applied 
to one of some ingenuity and with long teats, we doubt its 
efficiency. Wo give the explanation and engraving be- 
cause the cure is so easily applied, and will, no doubt, be 
of avail in many cases. In case the nose-jewel should be 
caught in any thing, it would probably tear out, or one 
side would split off, and the cow get no serious harm. 
Fish Ponds. — Dr. A. Thomburg, Georgia. 
There is no doubt about your making fish multiply, if 
your springs are copious enough to keep the water running 
through the summer. The pond would be too small for 
salmon, and probably too warm in summer for trout. 
Stock with the best fish in your neighborhood. One 
kind is enough. See Dr. Garlick on Fish Breeding. 
What Calves to Raise. — "Dairyman," 
Norwalk, Conn. We find the large milk producers for the 
supply of our towns and cities are decidedly in favor of 
raising their own cows. They may cost a little more, but 
they more than pay for the expense, in the quantity and 
quality of the milk they yield. The difference between 
au average and an extra milker is fully ©ne thousand 
quarts of milk in a season, worth sixty dollars, or half 
the price of an extra cow. The calves to raise are the 
heifers of your best milkers, sired by a thorough-bred 
bull of good milking stock. This matter is so well un- 
derstood, that dairymen, who have their eye-teeth cat, 
will give any reasonable price for a cow who has such a 
pedigree. It is satisfactory and profitable to raise one's 
own cows, and see the steady improvement of the breed. 
Artificial Manure for Corn in Ohio. 
— An Ohio writer asks: "Will it pay to use concentrat- 
ed manure of any kind on corn, on strong clay loam? 
If I could raise enough more corn to pay for such manure 
I would use it, for I like to raise good crops, even if it 
pays no better. And the next crops would be likely to 
pay." That is the right feeling. If twenty dollars worth 
of manure will give you twenty dollars worth of extra 
crop, it will pay well. The land will be cleaner, and the 
extra crop enables you to make an extra quantity of ma- 
nure, and there is scarcely any concentrated manure (we 
think of none, except nitrate of soda and sulphate of 
ammonia) that does not leave something in the ground 
for the next crop. The trouble, however, is to get a 
manure that will pay on corn the firet year. We have 
never yet found such a manure. Plaster, at $5 a ton, will 
pay on com, and this is the only concentrated manure 
that has paid us, on ordinary Western New York land. 
Bone-dust, if genuine, will pay well in two or three 
crops, provided you can get it for $20 or $25 per ton. 
Mutton as Manure.— "M. S. H.," of 
Wan-en, Ohio, writes: "I would like to have you advise 
me what to do with a few loads of the remains of sheep, 
that were butchered here last fall for their hides and 
tallow. After the tallow was taken out, the soap makers 
took what they conld get. and now the remains, bones, 
flesh, and ashes, are all mixed up together. Is it worth 
drawing three miles, and if so, how can I use it to the best 
advantage on our soil, which is a strong clay loam ?" We 
would spread the leached ashes and the finer portions of 
the animal remains on grass land. The solid animal 
matter, if there is any, we would break up and make into 
a compost with muck, or soil of any kind. Turn it two 
or three times, and by next fall it will make a capital top- 
dressing for grass, or excellent mannre for wheat land. 
Goats as Milkers. — " C S.," Westerly, 
R. I. Any of your Irish fellow-citizens would inform you 
that goats' milk is exceedingly wholesome, and raised at 
much less cost than that of the cow. The great objec- 
tion to the goat is its lawless habits, when allowed its 
freedom. If kept tethered, as it may easily be, it is as 
orderly as the horse or cow. It will eat much herbage 
that is rejected by the larger animals, and may be of great 
serviee in clearing np brush pastures, aud destroying 
briers and Canada thistles. A good animal will yield 
from two to four quarts of milk a day for ten months 
in the year. The milk is much nsed in Europe, and is 
considered more wholesome than that of the cow. 
Xlie True Way to Enrich Land, 
except in the vicinity of large cities, is to depend on 
home resources. Along the sea-coast we can use fish 
manure, or Peruvian guano, superphosphate, etc. ; but in 
the interior, say for instance on a " strong clay loam " in 
Ohio, it will not pay to send corn a thousand miles to the 
Atlantic cities, and take back manures to grow it with. 
Feed the grain on the farm, and send us nothing but beef, 
pork, wool, etc. On such a soil, " tillage is manure." 
Cultivate the corn thoroughly. Consider it a summer- 
fallow crop. Decrease the area of grain crops, and in- 
crease the area of clover. Never sow a wheat crop, or 
barley, or oats, without seeding it down with clover, even 
if it is to lie but one year. Plow under the clover, or feed 
it out on the farm, and do your best to make " Ohio oil- 
cake" become a very scarce article in the English market. 
Profits of Egg Raising*. — We have re- 
ceived from k *A. P. N., 1 ' of Newtown, L. I., an account 
of his poultry yard, which we must abbreviate, in order 
to find room both for it and for the lessons winch it 
teaches. The account extends from February to Decem- 
ber, 1S67. Two hundred fowls, fifteen of which were 
cockerels, were kept. The egg account runs from 1305 in 
February, worth $60, and 3S43 in March, worth $100, to 
6S6 in December, worth $34.30. The greatest number laid 
in any one month was in March, above stated ; the least 
in November, 655. The greatest number of eggs laid in 
one day was 117 ; the least, 14. The price of fresh eggs, 
received during the period named, was from 35 cents to 60 
cents a dozen. No day of the eleven months passed with- 
out some eggs being produced; and no month passed with- 
out the production of eggs, the value of which exceeded 
the cost of feed consumed. The principal feed was wheat 
screenings, corn, and pork-scraps. The fowls were fed 
as much grain as they would cat up clean, twice a day ; 
and were supplied with lime and cracked oyster shells, 
and ranged together over an acre of ground. They were 
housed in three separate apartments, not well construct- 
ed, offering' cold comfort only in^bleak winter weather; 
with properly constructed and warm apartments one-third 
more eggs might have been laid during the months of Feb- 
ruary, November, and December. Mr. N. says, he would 
warn every one not to engage in this business on a large 
scale, without experience and a taste for it, in other 
words, a delight for it, greater than forauy other pursuit ; 
for the constant care and persevering attention absolutely 
necessary to success will be given by only a few persons. 
The great profit of egg raising lies in having the hens 
lay when the market price for eggs is high. To seenre 
this, a good portion of the hens should be young. Liberal 
feeding is absolutely essential. Animal food should bo 
accessible summer and winter ; and pork-scraps is as good 
an article as can be generally obtained. Warm, light 
quarters in winter are essential also to success. 
Shape of Trout B*on«Is.— u Salmo" 
writes : "It is mnch the best plan to build trout ponds 
long and comparatively narrow. Trout brooks in their 
natural state do not shape themselves into broad squares 
or circles, in which three -fourths of the water is nearly 
stagnant, like some of the artificial ponds that we see. 
It is a pretty safe principle, we know, to imitate nature as 
closely as possible in our artificial cultivation of natural 
products, and this principle is certainly never more true 
than in its application to fish culture. I would therefore 
recommend,as the result of l>oth reflection and experience, 
to build trout ponds long and narrow— say in the propor- 
tion of 1 rod by 4 — so that there may be something likor 
a current flowing directly through, and that the trout 
may know whether they are heading up stream or not." 
Grindstone for .^loniiig- Irlacliine 
Knives.— It is an awkward thing to grind mowing 
machine kuiyes on a ^^ 
common grind-stone, yet f ''-"^W 
one may be easily dress- 
ed so as to be very con- 
venient for this purpose, 
and yet not seriously in- 
jured for most other 
nses. The accompany- 
ing engraving shows a 
stone which has had the 
original edges taken off 
and brought to a V-shap- 
ed edge, giving two 
grinding faces. The ex- 
act angle between these 
faces is immaterial ; one 
of 45 degrees is conven- 
ient. Care must be taken 
not to grind too much on the edge of the stone, or it win 
soon be ronnded off and the angle will be lost. The best 
stones for this purpose are rather narrow ones, of a firm 
but not hard texture, with sharp grit, and of even quality. 
Be careful in grinding not to widen the bevel of tho 
knives, as this gives a weaker edge, dulling quicker, and 
more liable to injury from striking stones or 6ticks. 
MarketFairs.-'A M.S.," Putnam Co., 
N. Y. These fairs are as much needed in this country as 
in England, and would be productive of quite as great 
benefit, both to seller and purchaser. Private sales give 
the speculator a very great advantage over the producer, 
lie studies the crop prospects, which are much better 
known in the centers of trade than in any limited agri- 
cultural district. A market fair in every couuty or con- 
venient local center would bring a large number of buy- 
ers and sellers together, and enable men to compare 
views, and fix fair prices. Some attempts have been 
made to append sales to the annual fairs of agricultural 
societies, but very little dependence is yet placed upon 
these occasions to dispose of the products of the farm. 
Where there arc permanent fair ground*, and buildings 
for the protection of stock and other farm products, the 
most expensive preparation for a fair is already made. 
Chester White Swine.- "H. T. S," 
Angola, N. Y. If we take the popular vote upon the best 
swine for farmers 1 use, it is unquestionably in favor of 
the Chester Whites. At the great State fairs of Michigan, 
Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, last fall, there were 
more of this breed in the pens, than of all others 
united. At Pittsburg the only impression left upon the 
mind in the pigpens was Chester Whites. They are well- 
proportioned animals, grow rapidly, and make excellent 
pork. Whether they will make more pork out of a given 
quantity of food than the Snffblks is a question we should 
like to see decided by accurate experiments. Many breed- 
ers prefer the Suffolks, but the popular verdict is as we 
have stated. The Chester Whites are widely distributed, 
and animals for breeding can be had at moderate prices. 
