132 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
times as heavy as ours. They run no more 
deeply, they cut no greater width, and they do 
run much more slowly. They employ, and I 
fancy they require, much more power than 
ours. For instance, I saw in no case fewer 
than three enormous horses before a plow, fre- 
quently five, usually driven tandem, with a 
man at the plow, and a boy to drive. The fur- 
row was generally rather under than over six 
inches deep, and not more than eleven or 
twelve inches wide. The soil is often very 
heavy, it is true, but not more so than much of 
our own, and I have often seen three well-bred, 
active American horses plow out an equal 
width and depth, with pretty nearly double the 
speed of these sluggish, beefy English cart- 
horses. We, therefore, do our plowing more 
cheaply, practically as well, and certainly fifty 
per cent faster. The mere fact of speed is very 
important, for when the soil is in good condi- 
tion, its disintegration is much more complete 
when the furrow is rapidly thrown over. With 
so much in English agriculture to excite one's 
admiration and envy, it was rather consoling 
to my patriotism to be able to think that we 
are their superiors in the important matter of 
plowing — except by steam; that, alas! seems to 
make but slow way in this country, and noth- 
ing offers more advantages, if we can only af- 
ford to adopt such expeniive machinery. 
The great question in all the good agriculture 
of the world is the manure question. It is 
even more important in Eugland than it is as 
yet with us, but they resort almost universally 
to a means of securing it of which we may 
make much more general use ; that is, in the 
manufacture of meat by the use of grain not 
grown upon the farm. As a general rule, farm 
products in England are not much higher in 
price than in our Eastern States. Meat retails 
for just about the same price, yet every good 
firmer makes it part of his regular business to 
buy beef-cattle or sheep, and to buy American 
corn, or linseed, or cotton-seed, with which to 
feed them. The demand in Eugland for Amer- 
ican pork is always good and reliable; it pays, 
therefore, to import corn from Illinois to fatten 
pork for the London market. If, as one of our 
writers has said, " fifteen bushels of corn can 
be packed into a pork-barrel," it must be much 
the better plan for the Illinois farmer to con- 
vert the corn into meat on his own farm, and 
send the product to market at much less cost 
for transportation, especially if he has begun 
to appreciate the value of manure. Here in 
the Eastern States, we have to pay more for our 
grain than the Western man does, but less than 
the Englishman, and there is hardly a limit to 
the extent to which we may profitably man- 
ufacture meat for that market (should our own 
soil give out, which is not likely), making an im- 
mense amount of the most valuable manure for 
our own fields. 
As a general summing up of the impressions 
brought home from my trip, I would say that 
I am thoroughly confirmed in my old faith that 
the only good farmer of our future is to be the 
"high" farmer, and I desire to reinforee, as far 
as possible, all my previous statements to the 
effect that the great benefactor of the world is 
he who makes four blades of grass grow where 
only two grew before. 
I have a neighbor who has produced these 
four blades. I offered him the other day one 
hundred dollars for the summer rent of two 
acre« of new grass-land (clover and timothy). 
He said that he could make double that by de- 
voting it to sheep, and I finally told him, as he 
is a fair man, that he might make whatever 
allowance he thought fair for the cost, risk, and 
management of his sheep operation, and I 
would give him the balance, to have the land 
this summer. I have no idea how much I shall 
have to pay for it, but I am confident that, as it 
lies near my barn, I can, by getting two or 
three soiling crops from it, make money by my 
transaction. 
Hog-Dressed Calves. 
BY J. R. HELFR1CH. 
[The practice of sending calves to market in 
the state called " hog-dressed "— j. ft, with the 
skin on — is yearly increasing. Farmers can 
butcher their own calves and send them to 
market, where they will arrive in a much better 
A CALF HOG-DRESSED. 
condition, and bring to the producer better 
prices, than if taken alive. In dressing calves 
iu this manner, there is in this, as in most other 
things, a right and a wrong way of doing it. 
Two neighbors may send equally good calves 
to market, and one receive much larger returns 
than the other. Of course, the one who receives 
small returns will accuse the commission mer- 
chant of fraud, not knowing that some appar- 
ently trifling matters materially affect the price. 
That our readers may know just how calves 
should be dressed in order to bring the highest 
price in the New York market, we have re- 
quested Mr. J. R. Helfrich, Commission Mer- 
chant, 92 Barclay street, who probabty handles 
more than any other dealer, to give us an 
article embodying the essential points. — Ed.] 
The price which hog-dressed calves will bring 
depends much upon their condition and appear- 
ance when they arrive at the market. Full 
one half of the calves bring from twenty -five to 
fifty per cent less than they would have sold 
for had they been properly handled and dressed. 
Recollect that all calves weighing less than 60 
pounds are, in the New York market, liable to 
be seized by the Board of Health, as are all 
that are sour or have the hind-gut left in them. 
If calves are sent with their heads and legs on, 
or head-skins or leg-skins are left on, if the 
haslet (liver, lights, and heart) is left in, all and 
each of these have to be removed before the 
calf can be sold, or a corresponding reduction 
made in the weight. The difference thus 
caused between the shipping and the selling 
weight is often a source of great dissatisfaction. 
Calves before killing should not be chased, as 
running them about makes them feverish, and 
when killed the flesh and kidneys look red and 
bloody inside. The animal should remain at 
rest several hours before it is killed. To kill 
the calf, tie a rope to the hind-legs and hang it 
up clear of the ground or floor; then cut the 
head and skin off close behind the ears. When 
thoroughly bled out and dead, put in the gam- 
brel-stick, and cut off all the legs at the knee- 
joints. Then open the belly, making the cut 
just behind the kidneys, and running it down 
to the brisket-bone. Take out the liver, lights, 
and heart, and remove the intestines or guts, 
taking care to remove the hind-gut by making 
a cut around the anus or vent. If the calf has 
been properly bled it will be clean inside and 
free from blood. It should then hang until 
thoroughly cooled off and the flesh set. This 
is an important point. A calf should hang 
from eight to twelve hours after killing in a cool 
and dry place where it will not freeze. If 
shipped soon after killing, and before l he flesh 
has "set," the calves will reach the market in a 
soft, flabby condition, or " mussed " inside, and 
their sale consequently injured. When the calf 
is properly cooled, it should be marked for 
transportation by sewing a tag to the bag-skin 
between the hind-legs. In this position the tag 
is not likely to be torn off, as it would be if put 
upon the belly, where it might fall inside and 
get wet or bloody, in which condition it may be 
easily torn or effaced. The principal commis- 
sion houses furnish by mail good, strong, cloth- 
lined paper tags, witli their address and that of 
the shipper plainly printed on them. 
Never split the calf open between the fore 
and hind legs, as the cut surface dries out and 
turns black, and the sale is materially injured. 
A calf should never be killed upon the 
ground, as the blood does not all run out, but 
remains in the veins, making the flesh look 
dark, and soiling the inside when dressed. Some 
city butchers partially bleed the calves the night 
before killing, as it makes the flesh whiter. In 
case the calf is not properly bled, and upon 
opening it blood is found upon the inside, it 
should not be washed out or rubbed, but taken 
out by means of a sponge or a towel dipped in 
clear cold water, wrung out dry, and pressed 
against the blood. 
The calf should be hung up evenly by both 
hind-legs, and remain until completely cold, 
otherwise it will set out of shape. The en- 
graving shows the manner of hanging, as well 
as the position of the slit and the point at which 
to attach the tag. 
Be sure and send invoice by mail, giving the 
number of calves and weight of each calf, as 
we daily receive several calves from which the 
tags have been torn, from not having been 
properly put on. These are sold, and go into 
the "unknown" account awaiting a letter from 
the shipper. Calves weighing from 80 to 120 
pounds, when dressed, are the most suitable 
for first-class veal, providing they are fat and 
neatly dressed, and show nice white flesh 
and kidneys. Those weighing from 150 to 200 
pounds are generally termed "grassers" (unless 
wholly fattened on milk), and will not bring 
within half or two thirds as much as first-class 
veal, they being too large for veal and not 
heavy enough for beef. They are mainly 
bought up by manufacturersof Bologna sausages. 
