1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
59 
from a veiy large pair, weighing G2 lbs., and 
gave us a flue flock. We kept over the gobbler 
and most of the hens. He had increased his 
weight to thirty and one half pounds without 
extra feed, and some of the hens reached eight- 
een pounds. The result is a much larger flock 
of turkeys, and they are heavier October 1st 
than the flock of last year November 1st. This 
would indicate an average difference of three 
pounds or more by Christmas in favor of breed- 
ing from two-year-old birds. Pairs weighing 
forty pounds at seven months are much more 
numerous than pairs weighing thirty-five pounds 
last year at the same age. The turkeys have 
had the same care, and the difference in growth 
seems to be owing simply to the fact that the 
breeders were of larger size, and more mature. 
We kept over three late cock-turkeys, October 
chicks, hoping they would make large birds the 
second season. In this we were disappointed. 
Nearly all the spring birds have outstripped 
them by four or five pounds. The best of the 
late gobblers only dressed 14 lbs. at Thanks- 
giving, when he was about fourteen months old. 
Of course, seven months' feed and the care were 
lost. We purpose to keep the same breeders 
the third year, unless we can find something 
heavier. With a cock weighing 35 lbs. and hens 
weighing twenty, we think we shall surpass the 
very satisfactory results of this year. We are 
confident that nothing pays better than large 
first-class birds to breed from. Reducing this 
turkey experience to maxims, we would say: 
1. Never breed from late turkeys if it is possible 
to get better. 2. Never breed from yearling 
turkeys if you can get two-year-olds. 3. If you 
must use yearlings, get a cock weighing from 
22 lbs. to 28 lbs., and the larger the better, if lie 
is well-formed and handsome in plumage. 4. 
Large two-year-old cocks weighing 35 lbs. and 
upwards are cheap at almost any price for which 
they can be procured. They will leave their 
mark upon the whole flock, and the influence 
of such a size will be seen for several genera- 
tions. No bird yields more readily to skillful 
breeding than the turkey, and we are glad to 
recognize the influence of our Poultry Societies 
iu its improvement. 
m i — — ^■♦^i i m 
Crops that Require Rich Land 
It is an important point for a farmer to ascer- 
tain which of his crops require the richest land 
to produce a maximum growth ; and it is often 
still more important for him to determine to 
what crop he had better apply his manure. If 
a farmer had all the manure he needed to enable 
the soil to produce the largest yield that the 
season was capable of organizing, the first ques- 
tion would be more important than the second. 
But such is seldom the case, and we have often 
to ask ourselves which crop is the best to plant 
On the richer and which on the poor fields. 
Mangel-wurzel, carrots, onions, and ruta- 
bagas must have rich land to produce a maxi- 
mum crop. So must Indian corn. Barley re- 
quires richer land than winter wheat. But this 
does not tell the whole story. As a rule, those 
crops which require the most labor in planting, 
cultivating, hoeing, and harvesting, should be 
sown on the richest land. To spend as much 
labor and manure in preparing a field for a crop 
of buckwheat as for one of potatoes is mani- 
festly absurd. If the season is capable of pro- 
ducing 300 bushels of potatoes per acre, we 
should aim to bring the soil up to this degree of 
productiveness, because a potato crop requires 
a good deal of labor, and it is nearly as much 
for a small crop as for a large one. For instance : 
Take two adjoining acres, one rich enough to 
produce 300 bushels per acre, and the other only 
capable of producing 100 bushels ; the expenses 
and receipts would be somewhat as follows : 
Acre No. 1. Acre No. 3. 
100 bus. $ acre. 300 bus. <p acre. 
Plowing, harrowing, etc $5.00 $10.00 
Seed, cutting, and planting 10.00 15.00 
Cultivating and hoeing 5.00 10.00 
Digging S.00 10.00 
Hauling to market 5.00 15.00 
Interest on land 7.00 7.00 
$40.00 $67.00 
Crop, © 45c. per bushel 45.00 135.00 
Profit per acre $5.00 $68.00 
Now take two adjoining acres of wheat, one 
of which without manure will produce 15 bush- 
els per acre, and the other with manure 30 bush- 
els per acre. The account would stand about 
as follows : 
Acre No. 1. Acre No. a. 
15 bushel?. 30 bushels. 
Plowing, etc $7.00 $10.00 
Seed 3.00 3.00 
Harvesting 3.00 5.00 
Thrashing and marketing 3.00 6.00 
Interest on land 7.00 7.00 
$23.00 $31.00 
Wheat and straw 30.00 60.00 
Profit per acre $7.00 $50.00 
Iii the case of the potatoes we get $63 per acre 
for our manure, and in the case of wheat $22. 
We believe in making the land rich for all 
crops; but as this is not an easy matter, we 
should aim to manure or otherwise enrich the 
land most for such crops as require the greatest 
amount of labor. This is the reason why nur- 
serymen, seed-growers, and market-gardeners 
can afford to pay so much more for manure 
than ordinary farmers. 
Of course there are many things to be taken 
into consideration in the application of manure. 
It may not be best to apply manure directly, for 
instance, to potatoes ; but at any rate we should 
aim to make the laud as rich for these as 
the season and variety will bear without injury 
to the quality of the crop. With mangel-wurzel 
and corn, both of which require considerable 
labor, there can be no doubt that it is desirable 
to make the soil as rich as circumstauces will 
allow. These crops will admit of using enough 
manure to make the land rich enough for the 
following crops of barley, wheat, and clover 
without injury. 
m i ■!■ >-» 
Winter Management op Cattle at a 
Prize Farm. — The Royal Agricultural Society 
of England last year awarded the first prize of 
£150 ($750) to a Mr. Powell, of Eglwysnunyd. 
His method of managing his cattle deserves 
particular notice, as being one that might well 
be adopted on many of our stock farms. He 
keeps a herd of 120 Herefords. The cows drop 
their calves in autumn and winter, and the 
calves are allowed to suck for four or five 
months. They are confined, five or six together, 
in boxes partitioned off, and go to the cows in 
the yards twice a day. They are given, as soon 
as they will eat it, some of the best hay, pulped 
roots, and a small quantity of oats and pea- 
meal. The cows are fed straw, rough hay, and 
sliced roots; and on this feed keep always fat. 
When the calves are weaned, the cows are 
milked, and butter and cheese are made. Such 
winter treatment is far more profitable than that 
common amongst us, for our stock is generally 
during this season merely kept alive, or, if pre- 
vented from losing flesh, certainly very rarely 
increases in weight. 
The Cattle Market for 1872. 
The statistics of the New York Cattle Market 
for the past year are instructive. The total 
number ot animals which reached the market 
during the year were 443,596 beeves, 4,923 cows, 
59,670 calves, 1,201,826 sheep and lambs, and 
1,872,506 swine. Stock arrived from almost 
every one of the States. 68 steers came fmm 
Colorado. Kentucky, notwithstanding its blue- 
grass pastures and its splendid Shorthorn herds, 
no longer holds the top of the market in its 
hands, but Illinois and Ohio now share it ; grade 
steers from those States bring equal prices with 
those from Kentucky. But the most notable 
and instructive lesson from the figures, is drawn 
from a comparison of prices ruling during the 
year. For instance, the prices of native stock, 
as compared with grades, are as follows: 
NATIVE STEERS. 
Net weight, 5}i to 7 cwt. 854 to 1254 cts. per lb. 
7 " &\i " 12>4 " 14 " 
GRADE STEERS. 
Net weight, 8?^ to 12 cwt. 
10 " 15 " 
14J4tol5 cts. per lb. 
14 " 18 " " 
Native steers are allowed 50 to 56 pounds to 
the hundred live-weight, while grades are esti- 
mated at 56 to 66 pounds per hundred. The 
differences in value, therefore, range between 
$46.75 for a coarse poor native, dressing 550 
pounds, to $270 for a grade steer, dressing 1500 
pounds. Now while it is obviously impossible 
that every farmer can raise 1500-pound steers of 
grade, Shorthorn, or Hereford stock, yet it is 
perfectly possible for every man who sends a 
scallawag of 550 pounds, to improve the market 
value of his stock, even if of native blood entirely, 
up to a value of $100 or over. The difference 
between $46.75 and $100 shows nothing but the 
loss due to bad and careless management, and 
scanty and poor feed. But if pure blood is used 
to elevate the character of the stock, and the 
best farming resorted to, to raise proper and 
sufficient feed, the value may be again doubled 
and the $100 brought up to $200. What a 
fruitful field for thought is here presented to 
farmers, and what a prize is here offered for the 
best cultivation of that field ! We have not 
space to enlarge upon this subject, but it com- 
mends itself to the thoughtful farmer, and should 
surely cause a commotion in his head, as it has 
caused a scarcity in his pocket. There is a 
wonderful chord of sympathy between these 
two organs when the latter is rightly touched. 
A Company Ice-House. 
For people who live in villages, or in their 
suburbs, it is cheaper to bii}- ice for a few months 
in the summer than to lay in a store at home. 
Those who have the necessary machinery and 
houses can cut and store the ice at a cost of 
twenty-five cents a ton, and distribute it to cus- 
tomers at twenty-five cents a hundred, and make 
a good business of it. The isolated farmer, of 
course,must have his own ice-house or go without 
ice; but there are many farmers living in close 
proximity, so that an ice-house at the pond or 
river would accommodate a half-dozen or more 
families living within a mile from it. It would 
be a very easy thing for these families to unite 
their labors, put up a company house large 
enough to hold say a hundred tons, and use the 
crop in common the next season. By uniting 
their labors the house could be more economi- 
cally built, and filled. Ice keeps much better 
