94r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[March, 
the ribs are shorter in the latter breed. The “ Suf- 
folks” combine the qualities of being excellent 
beef animals as well as liberal milk producers, 
though the meat is not considered quite equal to 
that of the other polled breeds. They are heavy¬ 
bodied cattle, with smooth quarters, and flesh laid 
on evenly ; disposition mild. This breed would be 
a desirable one for parts of this country, especially 
where cold winters prevail, on account of their 
hardy constitution and heavy coat of hair, and their 
being good feeders, thriving on coarse fodder. 
The fact that the “ Sulfolks ” are hornless, are 
good dairy cattle, and finally make good beef, and 
are economical feeders, renders them suitable for a 
large class of farmers, and we expect to see them, 
with the other two breeds above mentioned, rapid¬ 
ly gaining a greater popularity among our agricul¬ 
turists, particularly the beef producers of the West. 
en- 
has /\ 
* I I 
Among the Earmers.--No. 38. 
BT ONB or THEM. 
Ear-Marks for Cattle. 
I have been discussing the subject of ear-marks 
with several good farmers and breeders lately. Mr. 
Samuel J. Sharpless showed mean admirable notch¬ 
ing punch that cuts the notch here en¬ 
graved, which, in his experience, he has 
found not likely to grow together, nor 
become indistinct, while it is not observ 
ble at a little distance. This is much bet¬ 
ter than the hacking and defacing which ears are 
usually subjected to when the notching is done 
by the knife or the common notching punch. The 
systems in accordance with which sheep, cattle, 
and pigs may be numbered by notching their ears, 
are various. I give two of them: In tig. 1 each notch 
in the left ear counts one, except the one in the 
point which counts 5. Those in the right ear count 
ten, except one in the point counting 50. Thus every 
number up to 99, inclusive, may be marked. A Jiole 
50. 
Fig. 1.— EAR-NOTCHES WHICH NUMBER 167. 
In either ear means 100 ; so that without obviously 
marring the ears every number up to 800 at least 
may be marked. Another system (fig. 2) employs 
notches in the top of the left ear to indicate tens 
up to 40, while notches in the edges of the right ear 
indicate hundreds, except 50, shown by a notch in 
the tip of the right; a round hole in either ear in¬ 
dicates 1,000. We naturally shrink from giving a 
creature pain, and this is but very slightly painful. 
The animals require no effort to control them, and 
wince but little when a notch is cut. Branding 
with a hot iron, so generally practised in many 
parts of the country, hurts a great deal worse. 
Zinc ear-labels, which are strips of that metal in¬ 
serted in the lower edge of the car, bearing the 
___ 
3 0(J 100 
Fig. 2.— EAR-NOTCHES WHICH NUMBER 1268. 
owner’s name and the number of the animal, are 
very convenient and easily attached, but they tear 
out sometimes, and may at any time be changed, 
which is very undesirable, an animal once marked 
by the breeder should forever after carry that mark 
unaltered. Notches serve as positive marks of 
identification, and may be so recorded in herd 
books, but to record a metallic ear-label is almost 
as preposterous as it would be to record as a mark 
of identification, “tarred on left shoulder.” 
Sugar from Beets. 
I was gratified the other day at receiving a call 
from Theodore Gennert, who will be long known 
in connection with the production of beet-sugar as 
the pioneer in what will surely be a prominent in¬ 
dustry in this country in the near future. I am 
almost afraid to think how many years ago it was 
that I first made his acquaintance in the sugar- 
house at Chatsworth, Illinois ; and yet what seemed 
then to promise speedy success and even wealth to 
those who were engaged in it, is to-day but little 
nearer, apparently, to that realization. Mr. Gen¬ 
nert is now in Maine, and as enthusiastic as ever 
on this subject. I perceive a change in his tone, 
however, that indicates the wisdom of dear bought 
experience. At Chatsworth, 15 years ago, we talked 
of 6Ugar and of beef. Now we talk of beef and of 
sugar. At the West, when com was liable to be 15 
to 20 cents a bushel, and where it was universally 
regarded as better feed for beeves than roots in any 
form, the great bulk of the nutritive portion of the 
crop was lost. At the East it is not so. It will pay 
here to raise sugar-beets simply as feed. The sugar 
which the roots contain in their natural state makes 
them palatable, indeed, and is fattening, but it can 
be entirely withdrawn without seriously lessening 
their nutritive qualities as feed for beef cattle or 
“store” cattle. The residue after the sugar is 
extracted is highly relished by cattle, and may be 
fed to them freely. So that those who can feed it, 
really have whatever they realize, on account of the 
sugar, as clear gain. Beet-sugar production de¬ 
pends absolutely, from an economical stand-point, 
upon the complete consumption by animals of 
The Pulp or Residue. 
Now we find it profitable to raise those great 
pulpy sacks of water called mangel-wurzels, simply 
for cattle feed. It has been over and over again 
demonstrated that German sugar-beets produce 
fully as much digestible and nutritious food to the 
acre as mangels, and yet the latter are such an at¬ 
tractive crop that we keep on raising them. If we 
could take them to the mill and have them nicely 
pulped for nothing, and be well paid into the bar¬ 
gain—the miller paying for the privilege, and re¬ 
turning to us the whole amount of nutritive matter 
in the beets—we would not hesitate long, but set 
about arranging for raising the roots, and having 
cattle enough to consume the pulp. This is, as I 
understand it, exactly what beet-sugar production 
offers to the Northern, and especially Eastern farm¬ 
ers. It takes this form, however—the sugar mill 
buys the beets and the beef-feeder buys the pulp. 
When the beet-grower and the beef-feeder are the 
same person, then the above proposition is realized, 
namely, the sugar-mill pays the farmer for the 
privilege of pulping, and he gets his own product 
returned, less sugar. The only reason why a sugar- 
mill in any good farming community is not sure to 
be a success, is, that so few people have found out 
how much more profitable it is to raise roots than 
corn for feeding purposes. Every year more and 
more roots are raised, and the principal value of 
mangels is to make root-raising popular, and to in¬ 
troduce the sugar-beet as a general farm crop. 
Mangels as a Crop. 
I am hardly willing to cast the slur upon mangels 
which might be implied from what I have writ¬ 
ten ; they have several characteristics which make 
them favorites, and probably this will always be 
the case. The fact that they are enormously bulky 
and heavy, in proportion to the nutriment they 
contain, is overlooked by the farmer in his joy at 
harvesting such noble crops. Sugar beets are set 
deeply in the soil. Mangels grow largely upon the 
surface, and may be harvested without digging, 
plowing, or any trouble but loading into wagons. 
This, with me, has made all the difference between 
saving the crop in good order, and having it frosted. 
The enormous quantities of roots which a sugar 
mill must have to extract the sugar from, in order 
to do a profitable business, makes it necessary that 
beet growing should be very general throughout 
any district, before sugar production will pay. 
This great production of beets necessitates the 
feeding of a great many cattle, hence more manure, 
more crops of all kinds, and a higher grade of 
farming in all respects. 
“ Rubber Floor Wipers ” for the Dairy. 
There is an article called the “window wiper,” 
which is coming into very general use in the cities. 
It is a strip of valcanized rubber, about an eighth of 
an inch thick or less, fastened upon the edge of a 
flat piece of wood, and projecting from it as an 
edge, as seen in the engraving. This is used to 
clean windows, and being wiped over wet glass 
leaves it clean and dry. The effect of a similar 
use of the 
wiper, or of a 
stronger one 
adapted to 
the purpose, 
upon wet 
floors, is to 
sweep and 
wipethefloor, 
leaving it 
clean and 
nearly dry, 
Fig. 3.— HAIRY ELOOR-WIPER. 
much better and more rapidly than any mop or 
broom, or both combined can do. In fact, in dairies 
and kitchens, when once tried, it becomes almost 
indispensable, and upon cement floors where water 
can be freely used, it is efficient in its action, 
both cleansing and drying the floor very rapidly. 
Butter Production East vs. West. 
A recent study of the New York butter markets 
has revealed some interesting facts that possibly 
may be of value to dairymen. The fact that butter 
is lower now than for some years past, is doubtless 
due to the general depreciation in values; but the 
apparent falling off in the demand for the higher 
grades of the “gilt edge” of the eastern dairies 
must be ascribed to other causes. Dealers in 
fancy butter tell us that where a few years ago 
they had difficulty in obtaining as much “Phila¬ 
delphia butter ” as they wanted, now they are con¬ 
tinually being solicited for orders. There is no 
actual falling off in the demaud ; on the contrary, 
there is a decided increase, as the number of peo¬ 
ple who require good butter is constantly growing. 
The lower prices are due to the large number of 
dairies engaged in the manufacture of “ gilt edge ” 
butter, but especially to the recent rapid improve¬ 
ment in western butter. People will no longer pay 
75 cents to $1.00 per pound for the fancy brands, 
when they can get nearly as good from the West 
at the price of ordinary eastern butter. It is rather 
a puzzle to the eastern farmer, that his western 
competitor can pay the freights for so long dis¬ 
tances and still undersell him in his own market; 
but it is this very matter of freight that makes the 
difference. Most good dairymen feed considerable 
quantities of corn-meal for the production of first- 
class butter in paying amounts ; but the eastern 
farmer, as a rule, feeds western corn, paying the 
freight on it all the way from its distant harvest 
fields. The western dairyman saves this freight, 
which is 25 to 50 per cent of the price paid by 
his eastern competitors. In other words, the wes¬ 
tern dairyman only pays freight on one pound of 
butter, instead of on ten to fifteen pounds of com, 
thus enabling him to sell his butter that much 
cheaper than those who pay freight on the corn, 
to say nothing of the differences in the value of 
land and other expenses. This feeding of corn for 
butter production by the western farmer is also a 
source of profit in that it removes no fertility from 
the soil, but increases its productiveness and per¬ 
mits growing still larger crops of com to be con¬ 
verted into butter at a continually advancing profit. 
Previous to the feeding of cattle, and butter pro¬ 
duction, the western corn grower had little use for 
corn-stalks or other coarse fodder; now he con¬ 
verts them into butter and beef, so that, in com¬ 
parison with the past practice, the products from 
them are clear profit, and can be sold at a low price. 
The dollar-a-pound prices have been very decep¬ 
tive, and led to much dissatisfaction on the part of 
producers, but when the method of obtaining them 
is known, the gloss wears off from the picture, and 
the gilt from the butter. Take one noted dairy 
as an illustration of the methods of most of this- 
class. The owner, by a very great outlay, had 
got his farm into splendid condition, some singlo. 
acres costing many hundred dollars for their re¬ 
clamation ; then he purchased the best imported 
stock, paying, it is stated, $15,000 for a bull. These 
animals, of course, took the first prize at the “ Cen¬ 
tennial ” and other prominent cattle shows. A. 
