214 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
LJune, 
quarters, and well developed udder, give unmis¬ 
takable proof of the high milking qualities of the 
breed. The Norfolks are an old established breed, 
somewhat larger than the Devons, and of a very 
similar color, a bright red. They are better milkers 
than the Devons, yielding frequently 2,800 quarts, 
or over 6,000 pounds of milk, between the annual 
calvings. There is already one herd established here, 
and the qualities of the breed might Induce dairy¬ 
men and breeders to import these animals largely. 
Among the Farmers.—No. 29. 
BY ONB OP THEM. 
About Auction Sales of Stock. 
I have attended three remarkable sales of live¬ 
stock lately held in, or near, New York City, and 
think I have gained some insight into the causes of 
the success or failure of auction sales. The success 
of any sale is measured by the satisfaction given to 
both buyers and seller. If both are content, we 
may conclude that the occasion is a rare success. 
When Edward Fowler, of Southampton, England, 
offered 24 head of Channel Island cattle for sale in 
New York, 3,000 miles from home, everybody knew 
that the sale was absolutely unconditional, that 
there was no such thing as “ bidding up ” or “ buy¬ 
ing in.” His auctioneer had everything systema¬ 
tized—plain, clear, full catalogues, and a high plat¬ 
form up to which the animals could be led ; they 
would thus stand close to the auctioneer and his 
assistants, and in plain view of all those present. 
Peter C. Kellogg’s “ Combination Sale ” of trot¬ 
ting horses was the most admirably managed affair 
I have ever seen or known about. Widely adver¬ 
tised, the stock offered was most fully and admira¬ 
bly catalogued ; and every owner who sent a horse 
to the sale was pledged, over his own signature, not 
to permit any “bidding up” or “bidding in,” or 
any unsubstantial bids, that every thing might be 
perfectly fair, and every sale absolute. The result 
was, a perfect freedom in bidding, as no one sus¬ 
pected any unfair dealing. In each of these cases, 
the fullest opportunity had been given to examine 
the stock. There was no doubt in regard to the 
pedigrees or ability to enter the breeding animals 
or their progeny in the herd register, or the trotting 
register, and so buyers being well informed, and 
confident of fair dealing, bid freely. The Jerseys 
sold at a higher average price than any Jersey cattle 
ever sold for before in this country. One heifer, 
and that, too, with quite a faulty udder according 
to my notion, brought the highest price a Jersey 
cow ever sold for in this country ($620). The horses, 
likewise, sold at a higher average than any similar 
Jot of horses ever before offered, “Kentucky 
Prince ” bringing $10,700, the highest price ever 
before paid for any trotting horse at auction. 
Now as to the third sale. It was extensively ad¬ 
vertised as a “Clearing Out Sale,” so to speak— 
that is, every animal on the farm was offered, and 
a plausible reason for selling out was given. The 
animals were of pronounced excellence, and their 
fame had been trumpeted far and wide by news¬ 
paper writers. Buyers came hundreds of miles, 
ready and willing to spend their money. The cattle 
were in excellent condition, and though standing 
in their stalls, and not easily examined, while some 
could not be handled at all, being turned loose in a 
paddock, nevertheless, they made a very favorable 
impression. The catalogue was poor enough, be¬ 
ing printed in a confused way, with the pedigrees 
wretchedly “ mixed ” on the inside of a country 
newspaper. When it came to the selling, there 
seemed to be no concert of management, the rabble 
huddled around the auctioneer and the animals, 
and thus forcing back those who might have been 
buyers. The auctioneer failed utterly to impress 
his audience with confidence in himself or his sin¬ 
cerity, or with the belief that the sale was a bona- 
fide one. As usual, the bids started slowly, and a 
noble bull was sold on the first bid for $100, when 
he would have been cheap at $400 or $500. After 
this, some bull-calves were offered, being started at 
$150 and $200 on bids received by the auctioneer (?) 
by telegraph, and declared sold without a bid being 
made upon the ground. This was a damper, and 
when the cows were brought in, the bidding was 
duller than ever ; one or two were sold, when some 
more bids came “ by telegraph ” of $200 or $300 for 
calves hardly two months old. This seemed to 
convince the people that there was something 
wrong ; not a few asked one another if it were not 
“a put up job.” It stopped the bidding, and the 
sale was closed. The hundreds of dollars spent in 
advertising the sale were lost; there was a good 
deal of credit lost, and it is not too much to say 
that such a crowd will not be likely to come again. 
What Makes a Successful Sale 1 
The essentials for securing a successful auction 
sale of live-stock are, therefore, as I conceive : 1st. 
The offer of animals of real value at a time when 
they are wanted. 2d. Not only advertising well, 
but telling buyers all they need to know in a well 
arranged catalogue, which must be, or at least ap¬ 
pear to be, perfectly honest and truthful. 3d. 
Giving the people present at the sale the assurance 
that the animals are offered without reserve, and 
absolutely to the highest bidder. 
Harnessing a Yearling Filly. 
It was “ Roxy’s ” birthday on the 12th of April, 
and it was celebrated by putting her in harness for 
the first time. The headstall, without blinders, was 
put on, the check-straps tightened to fit, the Dutch 
collar slipped upon her neck, and the saddle and 
breeching attached thrown upon her back. The 
breeching made her a little nervous, so I sent for a 
little sugar, which quieted her at once. In this 
“ rig ” she was led about for a few minutes; then 
the reins were drawn out from the saddle-rings, 
and she soon allowed herself to be driven about 
quite well, I going behind her. Then we geared 
her to a very light road-wagon, and she looked a 
little nervous, but her attention was at once taken 
up by the offer of sugar. She was led a few steps, 
and allowed to see clearly the wagon following be¬ 
hind her, and agaiu 6ugar was offered. Soon she 
might be led anywhere drawiug the wagon, at a 
walk or trot, up hill or down. I even drove her 
once around the house, but thinking the lesson 
sufficient for once, we stopped here. She was not 
in the least frightened from first to last, and I have 
not a doubt was impressed chiefly with the new 
experience to her sense of taste. Such an exercise 
repeated once in every fortnight, or even once a 
month, with slight variation, as she becomes 
familiar with her duties, and learns to stop and 
back at the word, will, in a short time, make her a 
thoroughly “broken” horse, without her even 
knowing it herself, shj thinking only of the sugar 
she gets for good behavior. There is no lack of 
spirit in the filly, but so far, there is no show of 
wilfulness that does not yield to the mildest coax¬ 
ing—nor any vice. It would, however, take but a 
very little jerking, and a cut or two from a whip, 
to turn her “milk of kindness” into curds, and 
make her as contrary as she is now pliable. 
The Early Bird. 
I have been watching the hens a good deal lately in 
the mornings, and find that the “ Leghorns ” are in¬ 
variably out first. There will be half a dozen of these 
trim, dainty biddies, out for the proverbial “early 
worm,” long before any others, except a single 
“ Spangled Hamburg,” the only one we have. Then 
come the “ Leghorn half-breeds,” then “ Plymouth 
Rocks,” while the “Cochins” and “Brahmas” 
do well if out within an hour after sunrise. Each 
season confirms me in the view that the “ White 
Leghorns” are the most profitable of the egg-laying, 
non-setting breeds. I have little or no experience 
with “ Brown Leghorns,” but my neighbors com¬ 
plain of their fighting, and the dash of “ game ” 
blood that is in them would doubtless impart more 
or less of that tendency. The same thing is true of 
the “ Silver-gray Dorkings,” which have been, as is 
well known, crossed with “ Duck-wing Games ” to 
secure uniformity and brilliancy of plumage ; the 
cocks are often great fighters. The “White Leg¬ 
horns ” I have had, seem little inclined to fight, and 
this is true of the “Hamburgs,” yet possessing all 
the wide-awake,early-bird qualities of the “Games,” 
which are certainly as active as any. I wish I 
could keep them, but they require so much atten¬ 
tion, so quickly deteriorate if not carefully and 
intelligently bred, and “ tested,” too, that I shall al¬ 
low a little experience, of a few years ago, suffice. 
Clover Freezing Out. 
For the first time since we have lived here, we 
find clover, in low spots, entirely frozen out. Pass¬ 
ing over the ground about the last of March, I saw 
the ground nearly bare, and lying here and there all; 
over the surface were slender roots, nearly as large 
round as one’s finger at the upper end, and tapering 
rapidly to say Vs or '/is of an inch at the other, and 
six or eight inches long. Lifting, I found two or 
three inches often still in the ground, and could 
hardly believe that they were clover-roots, until I 
found upon a few, some half green, minute leaves 
struggling for life. I remember in Hartford County, 
Conn., we used to have the clover winter-kill, and 
that it was called “ freezing out,” but I certainly 
never before saw roots drawn up fully eight inches, 
as was the case with my clover this year. Timothy, 
on the same land, was thrown out, too, so that I 
do not believe it could live ; but the frost seems to 
have had no effect on the Red-top, which appears 
to glory in the ruin around it. 
Tillage, Plowing, Harrowing, Clod 
Crushing, and Rolling. 
American farmers are averse to doing thorough 
work in the matter of tillage. We want plows 
which turn a furrow 14 inches wide, and then we 
rake over the surface With a broad harrow, and 
put in the seed. I do not see much objection to 
the use of a wide furrow in plowing, yet I believe 
that the narrow furrows of the English and Dutch 
plows are decidedly better for the soil, but I have 
found, time and again, to my cost, that half way 
work in preparing a seed-bed is disastrous. Last 
year, I hired a piece of work done, at a time when 
I could not well attend to it. A rough out-lot, 
upon which the moist season had brought up an 
abundant crop of Ragweed, Wild Carrots, Yellow 
Clover, Evening Primrose, Running Blackberries, 
with Pussy Clover, and Rattle-box, and fifty other 
things for aught that I know, the natural product 
of a gravelly and neglected soil. This I hired 
plowed and sowed with rye. I was not there to 
watch it, so now the rye looks as if it had been 
drilled in, following the furrows. The ground had 
been harrowed after plowing, but not half enough. 
Such land should be harrowed and cross harrowed, 
and diagonally harrowed, until the surface soil is 
mellowed and knocked out of the embrace of the 
myriad rootlets, which fill and hold it. The stones 
moved by the plow, at least those near the surface, 
should be brought to the top. There they protect 
the, at best, thin soil, from winds and frost, and 
the larger ones may be picked off. What there is 
of fine soil is settled and compacted, by the harrow¬ 
ing alone, so that the roots of the plants have a 
much better hold upon it. Besides, the harrowing 
exposes the roots of the sod and weeds to the 
action of the sun and atmosphere, to their almost 
certain death, which is what we desire. 
This, I conceive, is the effect of thorough tillage 
by the harrow upon my poorest soil, and upon 
similar soils everywhere. If the ground is being 
prepared for grain and grass, these may be sown at 
once ; then let the stones be picked off, and finally 
let the field be rolled, for the sake of still further 
compacting the soil, and leaving a surface less ex¬ 
posed to injury from winds and from washing. 
I have rarely much use for a clod crusher, and 
when I have, I find that the wooden-toothed har¬ 
row of my neighbors, turned upon its back, to be 
the very best I ever saw. It might not do on clays 
or clay-loams,where baked clods, or masses of earth, 
packed by the plow, and half baked by the sun, 
cover the field and resist both the harrow and 
roller. These require the severe treatment of the 
clod crusher of the agricultural stores, which, with 
its disks of forks and zig-zags, has a good deal the 
look of a concentrated cast-iron thunderbolt. The 
harrow, on its back, is enough for com stubble, 
sods, bunches of weeds, etc., which dodge harrow 
teeth, when the implement is right side up, but 
can not escape the beams and braces which 
are drawn actually in contact with the ground. 
