1874] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
415 
fuss over them, but it won't do for a farmer 
who keeps a large flock." — "But," I replied, 
" Carl Heyne is one of the most experienced 
shepherds in the United States. He has charge 
of a flock of over 800 sheep, and is celebrated 
for his successful management. When such a 
man says it is better to have lambs come in the 
tall or early winter — and practices what he 
preaches — the matter is worthy of considera- 
tion and discussion." — For my part I am half 
converted already, provided the ewes can be 
induced to fall in with the idea. I suppose 
this matter can be brought about by feeding, 
weaning, etc. 
The Holstein cattle this year, as last, attract- 
ed much attention. We cannot have too many 
good breeds in this country. There is room 
and place for all of them — from the diminutive 
Kerry and deer-like Jersey to the noble Short- 
horn and Holstein. There was a better show 
of Herefords than we have had for some years. 
There was rather a small show of Jerseys and 
Devons, but some capital animals amongst 
them. Charles and James N. Wadsworth, of 
Geneseo, and George Butts, of Manlius, made 
a grand show of Shorthorns. The Ayrshires 
are steadily gaining favor in the dairy dis- 
tricts, and there was a large display. " I sup- 
pose," said the Deacon, " the A3 r rshires give a 
great mess of milk, but it is not as good for 
butter as that from one of our common cows." 
— "Perhaps not," I replied, " but farmers who 
take their milk to a churn or butter factory 
want quantity, and so do milkmen, and even 
you and I, who keep our milk at home, like to 
see our cows fill the pail. But after all, the 
question is not which is the best breed in itself 
considered, but which gives us the best ani- 
mals for our purpose, when crossed with such 
stock as we now have on our farms. The cow 
" Old Creamer," which attracted so much no- 
tice at the New York State Fair, at Albany, 
last year, was a grade Ayrshire — not a thor- 
oughbred. During the month of June she 
averaged over 40 quarts of milk per day." — "I 
once heard of an Ayrshire cow," said the Dea- 
con, "that took the prize at the State Fair. 
The owner gave the necessary affidavits as to 
the amount of milk produced (which was quite 
extraordinary), and also that she had received 
no grain, bran, oilcake, etc., but had run in a 
pasture, which, I presume he said was a poor 
one ! After the prize was awarded, the fact 
was proved that during the trial month she had 
drank the new milk from two other cows I" 
In sheep there was nothing new or remark- 
able. The Shropshire Downs are holding their 
own remarkably well. The South Downs are 
receiving less care in breeding than formerly. 
The best stock of England was brought here, 
but our flocks seem to have degenerated. It is 
not an easy matter to keep our sheep up to the 
English standard. The English breeders feed 
more roots in winter, and their summers 
are not so hot, and besides this, we keep our 
breeds pure, while I doubt if this can be said 
of many of the English breeders of sheep and 
swine. We often hear of " improved " Cots- 
wolds, or " improved " Leicesters, or " im- 
proved " Berkshires — which I suppose simply 
means that they have been crossed with some 
other breed. Bring this "improved" stock here 
and keep it pure, and it will iaivitably de- 
generate. It is easier to make an improvement 
than to keep it" 
The man who rets a good deal of the garb- 
age from the city of Rochester to feed pigs, 
was here the other day. He keeps 200 pigs, 
breeding some and buying others. He is get- 
ting 10 cents per lb. for dressed pigs, and is 
making money. " My wife, " he said, " wants 
me to buy some of your pigs." — " She is a sen- 
sible woman," I remarked. I knew very well 
that he would not buy any, but I thought I 
would see what he would say. He selected one, 
a four-months-old pig. " What will you take 
for this little pig?" he asked. " Thirty dollars." 
— "Thirty dollars!" he exclaimed, " my wife 
would pull my hair." — " You can have him, 
then, for $25." — " It is 50 cents a lb.," he said. 
" I'll take 40 cents."—" Will you take 30 cents," 
he asked. " Yes." — "I will give you 25 cents 
per lb.," he said. " Put him on the scales, 
boys," I replied, " you can have him." The 
scales were carefully adjusted and the man 
weighed the pig himself. " Ninety-two and a 
half lbs.," he said. " You feed them so high, 
they weigh like lead." I thought, for once, I 
had sold him a pig, but I was mistaken. " I'll 
give you $30 for a pair," he said, " and that's a 
big price for f®ur-months'-old pigs." He goes 
to Buffalo and buys Western pigs, a year old 
and over, for $5 or $6 each. They are large- 
framed hogs, weighing about 100 lbs. each. I 
presume this pays him better than buying a 
four or five months' pig of the same weight at 
the same price per pound, but I do not see how 
those who raise and feed such pigs until a year 
old, can make anything. The pen of five pigs, 
four mouths old, that I showed at the State 
Fair, weighed 498 lbs. The pen of five, a week 
or so less than six months old, averaged about 
200 lbs. each. These are the " small breed." 
These six months pigs will not shrink in dress- 
ing over 12 per cent. In other words they 
would dress 175 lbs. These year-old pigs that 
weigh above 100 lbs. would shrink 40 per cent. 
Tiiey would give 60 lbs. of carcass — and such 
a carcass ! After the bones, skin, ears, nose, 
and feet were taken out, how much pork 
would (here be left, as the result of a year's 
feeding ? I presume these pigs got their living 
from the mother until two months old. If 
killed then, there would probably have been as 
much available food in them as there is now, 
and of far better quality. All we have got for 
ten months' feeding is a certain quantity of 
bone and digestive apparatus. There are some 
thirty millions of pigs in the United States. A 
little more care in breeding and feeding would 
easily add five dollars to the value of each pig. 
This would give us more money than we re- 
ceive for all the wheat, corn, and other grain 
that we export to foreign countries. I hope 
and believe the time is not far distant when 
not a bushel of wheat or corn will leave our 
shores. We ought to raise all our own wool, 
and supply the world with pork, bacon, hams, 
and lard. To ship a car-load of thin hogs 
from Iowa to Buffalo, and send four car-loads 
of corn along with them to fatten them here, 
paying freight and commission on both, is poor 
policy. To ship corn to Ireland to make pork 
and bacon for the English market, is equally 
unwise. Better feed out our com at home, and 
learn to furnish the bacon, hams, and lard, 
which the foreign market demands. 
There will be thousands of bushels of Amer- 
ican wheat fed out to English pigs and cattle 
the coming winter. Our millers and grain 
speculators think we have got such a large sur- 
plus of wheat, that they can get it at their own 
price. I tell them that the corn and oat crops 
are a failure, and that at the present and pros- 
pective price of pork, the Western farmers can 
well afford to feed their wheat at home to the 
hogs, and I hope they will do it, rather than 
let all the profits go to the railroads. 
How To Make a Stack Bottom. 
The stability of a stack depends greatly upon 
how the foundation is made. If badly built, 
the stack will settle irregularly, lean over to 
one side or other, and when once out of shape 
it is no longer weather proof. Instead of the 
water being shed by the covering which has 
an equal slope in all parts, it is retained in 
hollows, or obstructed by ridges, and penetrates 
the interior, and damage results. Although 
these remarks are too late to apply to tho 
stacking of hay or corn stalks, they are tiaiely 
as regards straw, and will be worth rencember- 
ing next season, when hay, grain, or f jtlcler 13 
to be stacked. When making a slack the 
ground selected should be high and Csy, acd if 
it is necessary to make the stack in a low 
FOIiMING TDE BOTTOM OF A STACK. 
place, a frame of posts and poles should be 
made high enough to raise the bottom of the 
stack out of danger from water or dampness. 
In either case the foundation of ':he &tack 
should be made of coarse waste material, and 
of a perfectly regular shape. If the stack is to 
be a square one, the bottom should be accu- 
rately laid oul by measure. If it is to be a 
round one this Lj not so readily done. A round 
stack is not so easily built up as a square one, 
nor so readily made to retain its shape. The 
simple contrivance shown in the illustration 
will enable any person to lay out the bottom in 
a circular shape upon which the stack may be 
built up regularly. After a foot of straw is 
laid upon the ground or upon the frame, a fork 
is stuck up in the center. Another fork is 
placed with the prongs close up against the 
handle of the first fork, and is moved around 
it so that the end of the handle marks a circle. 
The straw is packed closely at the edge, so as to 
conform to this circle, and a perfectly round 
foundation is thus made. As the stack is 
built, the builder should stand in the center 
which will then be packed down more firmly 
than the sides. The sides should be carried up 
straight, or with a very little spread, and should 
be raked down evenly to keep the round shape. 
As the stack settles the sides will fall down 
more than the center, and the stack will spread 
in consequence sufficiently to throw the rain 
drip off from the sides; and if any water 
should penetrate at the top, it will not remain 
in the center, but will work off towards the 
eaves. On the contrary, if the stack is made so 
that the center settles more than the sides, the 
water will gather to the center and go through 
the stack from the top to the bottom. It will 
not pay now to waste anything that may be 
turned to use in feeding stock, and straw that 
