1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
o 
it can get. We mean that in the future, even more than 
in the past, these engravings shall be a distinguishing 
and most valuable feature of this journal, making It su¬ 
perior to any other. For some time past from 50 to 70 
such engravings have appeared in each number, includ¬ 
ing the five new pictures on every first cover page ; and 
we shall he quite glad to increase the illustrations, as 
the supply of new topics furnishes materials. These en¬ 
gravings bring an object, an implement, a contrivance, a 
mode of work, right to the eye and understanding, far 
more clearly than any amount of words could do. 
“ Will it Pay to Keep a Cow, in Village or 
City ? ” asks a reader of the American Agriculturist, who 
is a professional man, living in a village. He “has a 
stable, can get pasturage dnring six summer months at 
3714 cents a week; a boy will drive the cow to and from 
pasture, and milk her night and morning, and feed and 
milk her in winter for one-sixth of her milk. Hay costs 
$12 a ton ; bran, cents per lb. I can buy milk at 4 
cents per quart, or sell any surplus to neighbors at the 
same price.”—A fair cow ought to average 10 quarts a 
day, 270 days in a year, or 2,700 quarts. Deducting one- 
sixth, or, say, 500 quarts, for the boy, leaves 2,200 quarts, 
at 4 cents, equal to $88. Six months’ pasturage, $10; 
about 3 tons of hay, $36; 1,000 lbs. bran, or 6 lbs. a day 
for six months, $13. Total cost, $58. Profit, $30. The 
value of the calf, and especially of the manure, should be 
worth much more than the risk and any depreciation in 
value. At these figures of cost, the cow would pay $8 
profit, reckoning the milk at only 3 cents per quart. The 
best profit would come thus: Buy in spring a fresh milch- 
cow, a fair milker of common breed ; keep her from 
breeding; milk her 6 to 8 months, or until she ceases to 
give 7 quarts or more a day; then dry her quickly, feed¬ 
ing a few bushels of corn meal, until she gets in good con¬ 
dition for beef, and sell her to the butcher. Farrow cows 
thus treated, take on flesh very rapidly, and make very 
good beef, if only 6 to 8 years old. They will sell for 
nearly as much for beef as they cost in spring, and the win¬ 
ter’s keep, and loss of three months’ time is saved. We 
much prefer a farrow cow’s milk, especially for younger 
children. A fresh, good milch cow, bought in autumn, 
will yield fairly during winter, and though farrow will 
keep up milk on summer pasture, and can be beefed in 
autumn, or when she fails in profitable milk-flow. We 
should keep our own farrow cow, even if compelled to 
reside in a city, hire a stable, and feed hay, meal, and bran. 
The Wisconsin Dairymen’s Association 
will hold its sixth Annual Convention at Kenosha, Jan. 
22-23. Kenosha is in one of the oldest and best devel¬ 
oped dairy regions of the North-west. The meetings of 
this Association have been of much value to the dairymen. 
Hon. D. W. Curtis, Ft. Atkinson, Wis., is the Secretary. 
The Iowa Fine Stock. Breeders’ Asso¬ 
ciation will hold its Annual meeting at Desmoines, 
Jan. 8-10. This is also the date and place for the Annual 
meeting of the State Agricultural Society. F. B. Stacy, 
Stacy ville, Iowa, is Secretary of the Breeders’ Association. 
Tennessee Farm Gate. — “W. O. Wiggins,” 
Cleveland, Tenn., sends a sketch of a farm-gate in quite 
common use in that section. “ It is cheap, durable, and 
so easily made that the slightest knowledge of the use of 
tools is all that is required to do a good job. The posts 
A, A, are generally of chestnut and from 8 to 12 inches in 
diameter, and are better round than square. B is a piece 
of timber, with its upper surface flattened, 4 to 6 inches 
wide, and level with the surface of the ground; it is made 
to fit tightly between the posts and tends to keep the 
hinge-post from leaning under the weight of the gate. 
The lower end of the hinge-post is secured in place by 
cobble-stones and earth well packed. The upright, F, is 
made long and has a journal on each end, the upper one, 
D, passing through a hole made in the plank C. The lower 
journal I?,fits into a hole in the timber B, completing the 
hinge. The piece of plank C, is pinned or spiked on top 
of the hinge-post. The latch G, is an ordinary sliding- 
bar fitting in a mortise made for it in the post. Make the 
journal-post of 3 x 3 oak or pine, the latch-post of 2 x 3 
pine, the horizontal bars of 1 xSash or pine, except lower 
one, which should be a 1 x 6 inch board, and the diagonal 
piece 1x3. Make the gate no higher than 5j£ feet, and 
thus avoid useless weight. It is the fault of many gates 
that they can not hold their own weight, and are con¬ 
stantly coming apart andmaking trouble. This gate will 
swing either way if the ground is level. There are no 
iron hinges to be breaking or coming off. There is no 
money outlay except for a few nails or bolts.” [Line the 
hole in which the upper journal turns, and cover the 
bearings of the lower journal with leather, and there will 
be little friction if they are kept well oiled.— Eds.] 
Lillies for Driving tliree Morses Abreast. 
—In reply to an enquiry of “ G. B. S.,” we illustrate a 
method of arranging lines for driving three horses 
abreast. There are but two lines, each one having two 
leaders, which buckle to the bits upon each side. The 
long leaders cross the ring in the saddle upon the middle 
horse’s back ; the short ones cross in a ring, here shown, 
which may be fastened to one of the short leaders. 
How to Know a Steel-Plate Engraving. 
—“ A Subscriber ” writes: “I wish you would tell me 
how to know a real steel-plate engraving when I see it. 
I have a picture received as such, but one of my neigh¬ 
bors says it is only a ‘ litograph,' while another says it is 
a 'photo-lithograph.' ”-You can generally tell a steel- 
plate engraving by the fact that the color or ink is upon 
raised lines and points, as seen around the edges. In 
ordinary engravings the printing ink is pressed into the 
paper from raised surfaces. In steel-plate printing, the 
lines and points are cut into the plate with a burin or 
sharp hard tool. An ink-roller is run over the surface, 
which fills up all the lines and indentations made. The 
whole surface is then wiped and rubbed clean and 
polished bright. The plate paper is then laid on and 
pressed so powerfully that it goes down into the lines 
and picks out the ink or colors left below the surface 
when wiping it. This process of inking and cleaning 
has to be gone through with carefully for each impres¬ 
sion taken, and a man has to work hard to print more 
than fifty or sixty sheets a day from a large plate. 
* 
The Beautiful Steel-Plate ENGRAVING, 
now going out to our readers, will undoubtedly be highly 
esteemed by all who are good judges of genuine engrav¬ 
ings of this kind. The leading figure in the foreground 
and her surroundings, the other figures more remote, the 
trees, the several buildings, almost obscured by foliage 
and by distance, the clouds, the play of light and shade, 
all make up a charming view. It is interesting to think, 
when looking at such a picture, that the many thousands 
of lines and points of color which make up the ground¬ 
work, the light and shade, indeed the whole surface, 
were each patiently cut into the plate of steel, by an 
artist’s hand guided by an artist’s eye; that a false stroke 
of the fine-pointed tool over the whole plate would have 
produced a blemish ; that cutting a little too deep here, or 
too shallow there, would have spoiled the light or shade. 
This line engraving will mellow and improve by age, and 
will grow upon one the longer he studies it, and will be 
quite as attractive in after years, as now. We enjoy 
knowing that it will be an ornament, and give pleasure, 
in many tens of thousands of homes, all over the laud. 
If this journal were worth nothing in itself, we feel quite 
sure that the Engraving would alone be worth much more 
than the small sum paid for both of them and their deliv¬ 
ery. But we mean to make the paper a source of pleasure, 
instruction and profit.—May we not ask our readers to 
exhibit both the paper and the picture to their friends 
and neighbors, and invite them to avail themselves of 
both of them ? This Engraving ought to adorn every 
dwelling, and the American Agriculturist shall be made 
worthy of the perusal of every one. 
Live Stock Going' to Europe Successfully. 
—An important item of news came from London by tele¬ 
graph, Dec. 5. The steamer Brazilian, leaving Boston 
Nov. 11, on Dec. 4 landed at Birkenhead, opposite Liver¬ 
pool, 253 head of live cattle, including 40 prize animals, 
each weighing more than 2,000 lbs., several cows in calf, 
and 1,100 live sheep. Though at a period when high 
winds prevail on the ocean, not a single animal was lost 
during the voyage, and all arrived in good condition. 
This shows what can be done, and will be done more 
largely than ever, especially now that the restrictions 
upon imported cattle are lifted, as noted elsewhere. With 
our broad pastures and magnificent corn-growing terri¬ 
tory, we can compete successfully with all of Western Eu¬ 
rope in supplying live and dead meats. This Is another 
most encouraging outlook for American farmers. One 
important lesson is, that we should make every effort to 
grade up our cattle by the diffusion of superior male 
stock. Shorthorn bulls ought to be in great demand now. 
California Raisins. — The crop of 1878 is the 
largest ever produced in the State, the estimates of the 
California papers ranging from 70,000 to 100,000 boxes. 
Recoining a Veterinary Surgeon. — “Mem¬ 
phian,” of Memphis, Tenn., asks if he can become a 
veterinarian by studying books on the subject, as he is 
not able to attend the college in New York, and wishes 
ns to advise him as to the proper books.—Our reply ta 
this is a most positive no ! If our young man begun to 
read by himself, he would at once take up diseases and 
their cures, which should be the very last. The first 
study should be the anatomy and physiology of domestic 
animals, and these can not be properly learned, unless 
he can dissect them, which is not practicable, except at a 
veterinary college, under proper instructors. He should 
fully understand the action of every part in health, in or¬ 
der to know when it is diseased ; then he should study 
the various forms of disease, and as much of veterinary 
practice is surgical, he should see and assist in the vari¬ 
ous operations, which can only be done at a veterinary 
hospital. We would by all means encourage our young 
friend, if inclined towards it, to study veterinary medi¬ 
cine, and to make every sacrifice to this end, but we 
would most earnestly dissuade him from the attempt to 
become a self-instructed veterinarian, and thus add, how¬ 
ever unintentionally, to the number of half-qualified 
or not at all qualified empirics who all over the country 
bring the veterinary profession into contempt. 
Pampas Grass Plumes.— The Pampas-grass 
(Gynerium argenteum ) has magnificent soft silky plumes 
nearly two feet long, that are much prized for parlor 
decoration. This grass succeeds in California far better 
than it does in any Atlantic State, and its plumes are 
much finer than those produced elsewhere. According 
to a Santa Barbara paper, Mr. Joseph Sexton of that 
place has this year forwarded 40,Of0 plumes to San Fran¬ 
cisco, mostly to be sent from there to eastern cities. 
Smoking Clover Seed. — The uncertainty of law 
is illustrated in a recent trial in England under the Adul¬ 
teration of Seeds Act. The law defines “ to dye seeds,” as 
meaning “give to seeds by any process of coloring, dye¬ 
ing, sulphur smoking, or other artificial means, the ap¬ 
pearance of seeds of another kind." As the accused only 
dyed over old clover seeds, to make them look like new 
clover seeds, and not like seeds of “ another kind," he 
escaped all penalties, though the judges did properly give 
him a piece of their mind, and expressed sincere regret 
that, as “law was law,” they could not detain him- 
To Prevent a Boor Sagging.— A simple ar¬ 
rangement not uncommonly met with, to keep a wide 
barn-door from sag¬ 
ging, is represented 
in the engraving. A 
light rod of % to i 
inch iron, is attached 
by rings and bolts 
to the door near its 
outer edge, and to a 
point on the side of 
the building directly 
over the hinges of 
the door. Thus at¬ 
tached, the rod is 
practically a part of 
the door, and swings 
with it on the same 
axis. The upper eye- 
bolt is of course in¬ 
serted into a post or 
girt, to hold it firmly, and the lower one passed through 
the frame of the door and a stout cleat fastened to the 
inner side. Though large swinging doors to barns and 
other buildings, are fast being replaced by sliding doors 
there are still many of the old fashioned sort, that would 
be more serviceable, by an attachment of this description. 
Illinois Agricultural Institute.— The nii- 
nois Industrial University, at Champaign, will hold an 
Agricultural Institute January 27-31. In some respects 
this Institute will be unlike others of the same name, aa 
the leading feature will be courses of lectures on practical 
agricultural topics, and on the sciences directly relating 
to agriculture, by members of the faculty. There will 
