52 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
of food one -would doubtless take on more fat 
than the other, and more of her food might pass 
in the manure. There can in no case be a loss 
of the elements of the food. It will form either 
milk, flesh, or manure. A close observation 
on the part of the farmer will enable him to 
judge with much accuracy which auinal con- 
verts the most of her food into one product and 
which into the other ; but there can be no cer- 
tainty shoit of actual weight and measure in a 
carefully conducted trial. Certain breeds have 
special tendencies. The Shorthorns for butch- 
ers' meat ; the Dutch cattle (erroneously called 
Holsteins) for milk; and the Jerseys and 
Guernseys for butter. In each class there will 
be individual tendencies to a greater or less 
concentration of the nutriment in the product 
for -which the race is distinguished, but so 
much of it as does not go to this must go to 
one of the others — or to the manure heap, 
which is a waste as compared with the pro- 
duct for which we seek. 
I have a letter from a former correspondent 
who complains of too rough handling in the 
Ogden Farm Paper for October. He says he 
did not mean any disparagement of foreign- 
ers, only that right-minded young Americans 
do not like to work under them, and that this 
is one of the reasons why they leave the busi- 
ness of farming ; that there is a disposition in 
America to use foreign help and foreign wares 
simply because they are foreign, and that if 
gentlemen who go to farming would employ 
American foremen they might get American 
laborers. It seems to me that this would hardly 
do much to " keep young men on the farm," 
for the simple reason that they can generally 
do better than to work by the month. A young 
American who has in him the stuff for a good 
farm laborer usually has enough of another ele- 
ment to make him ambitious to be something 
better ; he goes to another occupation, or takes 
a farm on shares, or manages (or tries) in some 
way to improve his condition. The greatest 
objection to him as a hand is that he don't 
stick. He works well while he works, but he 
is always longing to better himself, and that 
makes him unreliable. The same is stiUmore 
the case with American foremen. If they are 
worth having they are out of place, and they 
soon find it out and get farms of their own. 
There are exceptions, of course, but this is the 
rule. It is not so easy for foreigners to get 
farms of their own, and this leaves a better 
class of them from which to choose foremen. 
I think the main reason why we use so many 
foreign goods and employ so much foreign 
help is because at the same price we get a bet- 
ter article, and I know of no better reason that 
we could have. So much of my remarks as 
gave displeasure to my young friend were 
brought cut ?y his misuse of the word " Amer- 
icanism," and he says he did not mean by this 
what I supposed he did. 
I have just made up my dairy woman's ac- 
count. She gets a bonus of one cent per pound 
on all butter sold at $1 per pound. This 
amounted from May 1st to December 31st, to 
$31.88. In addition to this we sold several 
hundred pounds before the Newport season 
commenced for less than $1. 
Considering the drouth I think we may be 
satisfied. 
J. H. Y. asks about crops for soiling. He 
intended to sow a patch of rye early in the fall 
for early spring feed, and another lute in the 
fall for late spring feed (one acre in all), and 
then to plant two acres of drilled corn for fod- 
der ; and wants to know how many cows he 
can keep from time of first feeding rye to end 
of corn feeding. The arrangement is not a 
good one. Probably the late and the early 
sown rye will shoot at the same time in the 
spring, the chief difference being that the early 
sown will make the heavier growth. Rye is 
only useful for a very early feed. As soon as 
it blooms it imparts a bad taste to butter, and 
the straw early gets too hard to be relished by 
cattle. 
A better arrangement would be : -J acre early 
sown rye, I acre early sown oats, 2 acres corn, 
planting at four different times from May 
15th to July 1st in plots of -£ acre each. 
" The cattle having the range of six or eight 
acres of moderate pasture," the soiling crops 
should suffice for the supplementary food of 
from eight to twelve cows, according to how 
"moderate" the pasture is, and how good the 
land growing the soiling crops. 
Stock Breeding. 
The Importance of Good Blood and 
Good Management. 
BY T. C. JONES, DELAWARE, OHIO. 
If anything can be regarded as settled in the 
theor}' and practice of American agriculture it 
is that, except in the immediate vicinity of 
large towns and cities, and possibly on the rich 
cotton and sugar lands of the South, the busi- 
ness can not he made profitable without in- 
cluding the growing or feeding of stock ; 
which is found to be indispensable to the main- 
tenance of the fertility of the soil and the suc- 
cess of that mixed system of husbandry with- 
out which we have no protection against the 
disastrous effects of low prices and unfavor- 
able seasons upon particular crops or products. 
The opinion, therefore, which so generally 
prevails, that stock-growing must be aban 
doned in the older States for the reason that 
their high-priced lands can not compete with 
the cheaper lands of the new States and Terri- 
tories, is manifestly erroneous ; because, what- 
ever changes may be required in the practice 
of agriculture in the older sections, in view of 
the competition of the rich corn and grass 
lands which by a mistaken policy are being 
forced into occupancy in advance of the actual 
necessities of the people, it seems obvious that 
so long as the land is used for the production 
of crops the grazing and feeding of live stock 
can not be dispensed with. 
This is demonstrated by the practice of the 
farmers of Great Britain, who, notwithstanding 
the high price of land and of all varieties of 
tillage crops, pay more attention to stock 
breeding than any other people in the world. 
The course of agriculture in our own country 
teaches the same lesson. I remember the time 
when the feeders of the Scioto Valley grazed 
their cattle on the prairies of Illinois ; and pre- 
dicted that in a few years this great State, with 
its matchless soil, would be able to raise cattle 
enough to break down prices so as to render 
the business unproductive in the older States, 
just as we now hear the prediction that Texas 
and the Territories will soon grow the beef for 
the whole United States. But what have been 
the actual facts ? Illinois, though surpassing 
the most sanguine expectations as a corn and 
grass-produefng State, had, according to the 
last census, less than one hundred and fifty 
millions of dollars invested in live stock, while 
the old State of New York had nearly one hun- 
dred and seventy-six millions. The live stock 
of Missouri is reported as worth eighty-four 
millions, while that of the old Keystone State 
is set down at more than one hundred and 
fifteen millions, and Ohio at over 120 millions. 
Texas, with all its advantages as a grazing 
country, and an extent of territory equal to a 
half-a-dozen of the old States, has only 37 mil- 
lions in live stock, while Michigan has nearly 
50 millions. 
It is also to be observed that while the West- 
ern States, excepting Texas, are rapidly in- 
creasing in live stock, as in all other products 
of agriculture, the older States are also making 
very respectable progress. Thus, while Illi- 
nois between 1860 and 1870 added 77 millions 
to the value of her live stock, New York dur- 
ing the same period added 1'i millions. The 
increase in Pennsylvania was 46 millions, while 
in Missouri it was only 31 millions. 
These facts are quite significant as indieating 
the prominence which this great interest has, 
and must continue to maintain, in American 
agriculture. It is therefore safe to assume that 
in the future, as in the past, the prosperous 
farmer will be the man who handles most 
judiciously his live stock ; for it is unquestion- 
ably true that while this branch of industry is, 
when properly managed, the most profitable, 
as it is the most interesting, connected with our 
vocation, it is the most disastrously unprofit- 
able when the management is bad. 
For example, a man who allows his growing 
stock, say cattle, pigs, or sheep, to run down 
during winter, so that, instead of gaining, the}" 
lose in weight, will lose his entire winter's 
keep, because his animals are worth less in the 
spring than they were the previous fall. And 
so the man who buys a lot of badly formed 
scrub cattle, because they cost less than good 
ones, will lose a heavy percentage, because 
they will not " lay on " flesh as well-bred cattle- 
would on the same feed ; and when brought to 
market they will have to be sold for at least 
25 per cent less per 100 lbs. on account of their 
inferior quality and weight. 
If for breeding or milch cows inferior ani- 
mals and inferior blood are procured, the result 
will be still more disastrous. If we select a 
good cow that will give a fair quantity of good 
milk, and of such form and blood that her 
calves will be worth raising, and that can be 
converted into a good carcass of beef when no 
longer wanted for breeding or for milk, we shall 
have made the most profitable investment that 
pertains to legitimate agriculture ; while a cow 
with qualities the reverse of all these will be 
the most unprofitable thing that could be 
selected. The same observations will apply to 
stock breeding in all its branches. "Blood 
will tell " — if you give it a chance — but an ill- 
bred and ill-formed animal will usually " eat 
his head off" under the best management. 
It was in view of this undeniable fact that 
the great Bakewell insisted that everything 
depended on blood. You must have a good sort, 
and having this reserve only the best for 
breeding. Insist upon " the survival of the 
fittest " only for breeding purposes, and thus 
if you feed well, so that your young stock is 
always kept in a thriving condition, you will 
maintain the excellence of your stock and in- 
sure satisfactory profits from a branch of in- 
dustry that is as interesting to men of the 
highest culture and refinement as it is essential 
to the daily wants of the world. 
