1881 . j] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
235 
those that command prices which are prompt 
and large. One can, of course, feed, handle, 
and shelter this one improved animal at far 
less expense than the twenty scrubs whose 
aggregate price she equals, and you can send 
her to a distant market at much less cost. A 
Texas steer and a high grade Shorthorn are 
freighted to market at the same rates, while 
the one brings double the price of the other. 
Freight is paid on the wide branching horns 
and ponderous head of the mongrel, for 
which there is no return, but in the grade less 
is expended for the conveyance of these parts. 
The waste that comes from the excessive 
making of offal is the great cause of failure 
on the farm. It absorbs food and time, it 
costs everything and brings nothing. Some 
farmers display grert talent in the production 
of offal. They raise hay that is all woody 
fibre ; apples that are all core : corn that is 
largely cob. They stigmatize the skill and 
care that diminishes the core, and cob, to in¬ 
crease salable parts, as fancy farming, and 
wonder that prosperity departs from their 
own borders, and that the mortgage clings to 
their own homestead. 
As I have already said, the whole scope and 
purpose of improvement, both in the animal 
and vegetable kingdoms, is simply to reduce 
to the smallest compass consistent with 
strength the unsalable portions, and to en¬ 
hance the quality and size of the salable ones. 
The Crab Apple and the Northern Spy, the 
Choke Pear and the Flemish Beauty, the 
Mustang pony, and the Arabian mare, the 
Florida cow with her shrunken udder and 
the Jersey that fills the pail, are examples of 
the opposite extremes in the different series. 
The one result sought in breeding, is to rise 
from the lower end of each series up towards 
the higher. The model Shorthorn cow is 
an instance of the breeder’s triumph in reach¬ 
ing the acme of the art of breeding, in the 
production of beef. She is by no means the 
product of fancy, but rather the result*of 
that nice calculation which adjusts every in¬ 
strument to its purposes. Her beauty, from 
hoof to horn, is the beauty of utility. She 
is a sample of closely compacted values—a 
treasury of the most nutritive food so put as 
to secure the highest price and the cheapest 
transportation. She is the best sample of 
condensed freight that industry has yet at¬ 
tained. She is developed to fullness and 
fineness of quality just were the epicure finds 
and pays for the most delicate roast, or sir¬ 
loin steak. And those portions of her body 
which the butcher pronounces superfluous 
are condensed to just within the limits of 
size and strength which are indispensable in 
the economy of animal life. 
Thus one is led to the inevitable conclusion 
that on any farm at some distance from the 
great markets, the soundest policy requires 
that we should reduce the volume and in¬ 
crease the value of the products offered for 
sale. That because of the heavy expense of 
freighting, we ought to continue the com¬ 
pacting process until we obtain their com¬ 
plete results in our finest stock, and then, 
sending these to market with the least pos¬ 
sible outlay, we shall realize the legitimate 
profits of skillful farming. 
Harvesting' Wheat Early. —“Poto¬ 
mac ” writes : “ Those who have practised it 
both in this country and in Europe have 
uniformly found it advantageous to cut their 
wheat in the ‘ dough ’ state, that is, while 
the berry may be crushed between the thumb 
and finger. The two principal gains from 
cutting wheat in the ‘ dough ’ state, are, more 
bushels to the acre, and the increase in the 
quantity of flour of a superior quality, from 
the same amount of grain. Over-ripening of 
grain is at the expense of starch and gluten. 
Farmers who do not fully understand about 
this, would do well, in the coming harvest, 
to cut a few acres, some days earlier than 
the rest of the crop—threshing and weighing 
it separately, and then compare the result 
with the same amount of grain cut when 
the kernel is hard, that is, fully ripened. 
From the First. 
It is a pleasure to look back and see the be¬ 
ginning of things. This Journal issued its 
first number in April, 1842. That number, 
with its 32 small, two-column pages, is before 
us. A brief description of it may interest 
the many readers of the 40th Volume of the 
American Agriculturist, that is now being is¬ 
sued from month to month. A portrait of a 
bull, “ Washington,” which, to quote from 
the paper “ adorns the head of the article,” 
on “ Improved Durham Short-Homed Breed 
of Cattle,” and a small cut of a subsoil 
plow, constitute the total of the illustrations. 
There has been a decided growth of the 
American Agriculturist in this direction. 
The leading articles are “ Extracts from Pro¬ 
fessor Johnson's Lecture on Geology as Ap¬ 
plied to Agriculture,” “Agricultural Tour 
in England, No. I” [five pages.] “ Something 
about Western Prairies,” by Solon Robinson 
[two pages.] An equally extended article on 
“Trees and Shrubs.” The “Improved Dur¬ 
ham,” etc., above mentioned. A two-page 
letter by C. N. Bement. A number of short 
articles on Stock, Fruits, Grains, etc. The 
advertisements are very few—a column or so 
—whieh were inserted at the rate of one dollar 
per 12 lines. To an editor the most interest¬ 
ing matter in this first number is that given 
“ To Our Readers.” We would like to repro¬ 
duce this important article, but two or three 
items will show how the American Agricul¬ 
turist has stood “ from the first.” “ The 
pursuit qf agriculture in its broadest sense, 
it need hardly be observed, constitutes the 
basis of our national virtue and national 
wealth ”.... “We need to have the occupa¬ 
tion of farming made more popular and at¬ 
tractive ; it should occupy a higher niche in 
popular estimation, and in the scale of na¬ 
tional employments ; it should command not 
only the cold respect and distant admiration 
of our active and enterprising business men, 
but their warmest regard and cordial partici¬ 
pation.” For these ends we -may safely say 
the American Agriculturist has steadily and 
earnestly worked, and with a good measure 
of success. Farming is more popular today 
than ever before. Under: “ A word to our 
Correspondents,” the following remarks are 
found: “Our purpose is not to amuse so 
much as to interest, and to publish to our 
readers that such a person has raised an ox 
weighing 4,000 pounds, a hog 1,500, or a sheep 
200, or had sheared 16 lbs. of clean wool, is to 
inform them simply of a monstrosity ; but 
if we tell them at the same time where they 
can procure such breeds, and how they may 
attain such weights, we place information in 
their hands that will enable them to derive a 
practical benefit from the communication.” 
Again it may be said that this Journal has | 
adhered very closely to this policy “from the 
first,” and through its 40 years of progress it 
has not lost sight of “the straightforward, 
practical path of utility.” As in the early 
days of the American Agriculturist, so now, 
we want facts and details, and shall feel 
under obligations to all who will furnish them 
on all subjects that are connected with “ the 
Farm, the Garden, and the Household.” 
Trichines in Pork—Finding Them. 
A New, Simple Instrument for their Detection- 
One Adapted for General Use. 
In May (page 201) we described the Tri¬ 
chines, with engravings, etc. Several recent 
deaths from Trichinosis have awakened a wide 
interest in the subject here and abroad. Just 
as we close the reading pages of this number, 
the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company bring 
to our notice a new and very simple instru¬ 
ment, which will enable any person to quickly 
examine specimens of pork, suspected or un¬ 
suspected, and decide with a good deal of 
certainty whether they contain Trichines or 
not. We name it a “ Trichine. Tester." 
Two metal frames are hinged at one end 
and brought together at the other end with a 
hinged screw. Strong slips of clear plate 
glass are placed upon the upper and lower 
metal pieces. Upon the upper one a car¬ 
rier holds a strong lens, which can be 
moved along over the opening through the 
frame. This earlier has a screw edge by 
which the lens can be raised or lowered to 
the right focus. To use the instrument, a 
thin slice of pork, or of fish, or any flesh to 
be tested, is put upon the lower glass plate ; 
the upper plate is brought so firmly upon it 
by means of the end screw that it is pressed 
to a translucent condition. The lens is then 
moved along over it, and the eye will readily 
detect any Trichines in the flesh. Full direc¬ 
tions for using the Tester, and for recognizing 
the Trichine, etc., will go with each instru¬ 
ment. They are so strongly made that they 
can be safely sent by mail, and the whole cost, 
postage included, is brought down to $2.50. 
It is a matter of so much interest and utility, 
that the Publishers have ordered a quantity 
to be made immediately for our readers. 
They will, perhaps, be offered as a Premium 
also, on one of the closing business pages. 
Severn HHilJioii flBog'*! —During the past 
winter, thirteen Western States have packed 
6.919,456 hogs, in addition to the large num¬ 
bers consumed at home.—In the pork and 
lard from these packed hogs, an immense 
amount of our great corn crop has gone east¬ 
ward and abroad in a concentrated form. 
Any alarm as to diseased pork would there¬ 
fore most seriously affect a very important 
industry. There has been such a scare re¬ 
cently, happily groundless ; but any tiling 
like the above instrument, that may help 
avert needless fears, is of general interest. 
B*i*oJect Wsitcl* _“ P. C. W.” 
suggests the following as a “trick worth 
trying.” Fanners and others who work much 
among dust and dirt, are liable to have their 
watches injured by fine particles working in¬ 
to the case, and also the surface of the case 
gets unduly worn and ground in the pocket; 
he advises that a large eyelet hole be worked 
in the bottom of the watch pocket; this will al¬ 
low dust and other foreign matter to pass out. 
