1882 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
403 
Farming in Egypt. 
The eyes of the world are centred on the Egyp¬ 
tians, their way of living, mauuers and customs, 
every thing, in fact, relating to them is eagerly 
read and listened to. It is noteworthy that a 
nation of such antiquity retains so many customs 
of a thousand years ago. Our artist gives illustra¬ 
tions of implements used by the farmers of 
derful growth, we can take into account the fact 
that the following twenty cities would be peopled 
in as many weeks, or, on the average, one of them 
each week, and 52 such cities during a year! 
Springfield, Mass., 33,340; Memphis, Tenn., 33,592; 
Portland, Me., 33,810; Utica, N. Y., 33,914; Oak¬ 
land, Cal., 34,555; Denver, Col., 35,629; Atlanta, 
Ga., 37,409; Lynn, Mass., 38,274 ; Dayton, O., 38,678; 
Lawrence, Mass., 39,151; St. Paul, Minn., 41,473; 
eating “ richness.” Guenon’s method differs 
from these in using other external marks, 
and in the discovery of some that allow of the 
prediction of the length of time the yield of 
milk will continue after the cow is again with 
calf. Guenon’s story in brief is this ; He was 
the son of a French nurseryman, and early 
learned to notice minute differences in fruit 
Egyptian farming. —Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
Pharaoh’s time, taken from the originals found at 
Thebes, and now in the collection of Egyptian 
Antiquities, in the rooms of the New York His¬ 
torical Society. 
The hoe is an exceedingly well preserved speci¬ 
men, and such tools are used to-dav by the in¬ 
habitants, without alteration or improvement. We 
append an illustration from a drawing in the Brit¬ 
ish Museum, by an Egyptian artist of Pharaoh’s 
time. This will show how- these hoes were used 
in connection with plowiog. 
The basket, also found at Thebes, made of the 
small ends of the Papyrus leaf, was used to sow 
the seed. This basket is beautifully made, and 
when found, was filled with nuts. The band of 
cloth was placed about it to support the sides, and 
a piece of twisted Papyrus made the handle. The 
Egyptian drawing is on the same Papyrus scroll, 
and well indicates the use of this basket by the 
people. 
In this progressive age it seems impossible that 
a nation can retain its primitive ways. It may be 
that the wedge now entering in the shape of the 
war with England may change all this, and for the 
sake of the country we trust it may be so. 
A 16,000 and 40,000 City Every Week. 
Eight Hundred Thousand People have come from 
other lands, during twelve months past, to make 
Lheir future homes in this country. These alone, 
if settling together, would populate a city of nearly 
16,000 inhabitants every week throughout the year. 
At the average rate of increase during the past de¬ 
cade (3 per cent, per annum), over II- million are 
now added annually. Call this increase for the past 
year only 1,280,000 aside from immigration, and 
adding the 800,000 new-comers, we have an increase 
of population during the past year of 3,080,000, 
or 40,000 for each weekI To appreciate this won¬ 
Camden, N. J., 41,659; Hartford, Conn., 42,015; 
Wilmington, Del., 42,478 ; Reading, Pa., 43,278; 
Nashville, Tenn., 43,350 ; Scranton, Pa., 45,850; 
Minneapolis, Minn., 46,8S7; Fall River, Mass, 48,961, 
and Charleston, S. C., 49,984—the average popula¬ 
tion of the twenty cities being 40,200. 
Again, in the American Agriculturist for May last 
EGYPTIAN BASKET FROM THEBES. 
we gave the population of each of the One Hundred 
Largest Cities in the United States, the lowest one 
of which has 20,000 inhabitants. The annual 
growth of our population, including the past year’s 
new-comers, would suffice to make up the entire 
number of inhabitants found in sixty-eight of these 
100 largest cities—those numbering from 20,000 up 
to 49,984 inhabitants.—Still again: This last year’s 
growth of population would people the whole of the 
State of Indiana, with enough left over to supply 
two-thirds of the State of Delaware ; or all of Mas¬ 
sachusetts and Rhode Island, with 30,000 to spare; 
or all of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and 
Connecticut, with about 140,000 to spare; or it 
would people the whole of Iowa or Kentucky, with 
as many left over as the census-gatherers found in 
all of Nebraska! 
The Story of Guenon’s Wonderful Dis¬ 
covery. 
“This is most wonderful! Why have you 
nothing- about it in the American Agricul¬ 
turist?” said a gentleman of agricultural 
tastes, who a few days ago chanced to look 
at Guenon’s latest volume (which, by the 
way, is being translated). “There are thou¬ 
sands of your readers who know nothing 
about this, who would be greatly interested 
in it.” It is now more than 30 years since 
Guenon’s theory'on Milch Cows was first 
developed. Still, we agree with our friend 
that the subject is one which is new to a 
large share of the present generation of 
farmers. Those who deal in or raise milch 
cows had long been accustomed to form some 
estimate of their value as milk-producers from 
certain external signs: the shape and texture 
of the udder, the size of the milk-veins, the 
color of the ears, etc. The owner of a few 
choice cows on the Island of Jersey at the 
present day does not fail to call attention to 
the ears and the color of the skin as indi¬ 
trees. and to observe that certain marks indi¬ 
cated excellence in fruit. His powers of 
minute observation he applied to cows. He 
found that external marks, different from 
any that had heretofore been taken into ac¬ 
count, bore a direct relation to the perform¬ 
ance of the animal at the pail. Why they 
should do so, he does not attempt to explain. 
That they do allow the animal’s history to be 
read and its future to be foretold with sur¬ 
prising accuracy, is a fact which he estab¬ 
lished before he published his ‘ 1 system.” He 
went before Government officials and those 
eminent in agriculture, and told the story of 
animals he then saw for the first time with 
an accuracy that astonished their owners 
and others who witnessed it. When Guenon’s 
system was first published, though it had the 
prestige of the endorsement of those eminent 
in French agriculture, it was ridiculed by 
some, and ignored by many, but the few who 
took care to examine its merits, found that 
it had a hard basis of facts. Dairymen and 
breeders of the present day, while they may 
not adopt the system in all its details, make 
more or less use of it. Guenon’s observations 
taught him that the hairs upon the rear of 
the animal, extending from the udder up the 
inside of the thighs, nearly to the base of the 
tail, had a different texture and direction 
from the hair upon the adjacent parts. This 
formed a distinct outline, varying in shape 
and in size, or extent, in different animals, 
but always bearing a direct relation to the 
quantity of milk. This peculiar disposition 
of the hair he calls the “ escutcheon,” and he 
gives distinct names to its various forms. 
These forms indicate his classes, of which 
there are ten; of each class he makes several 
orders founded on the extent of the escutch¬ 
eon. He also notices various breaks, or 
faults, in the escutcheon, caused by the hair 
taking a different direction, or being of a 
color or lustre unlike that of the escutcheon 
itself. These variations he terms “ Feathers ” 
(i epis ), and finds that their position and size 
bear relation to the length of time the flow 
of milk will continue, etc. The various 
markings are illustrated by figures which 
soon familiarize the eye with their outline 
and extent, and facilitate their application 
in practice. Not the least important part of 
Guenon’s discovery is, the markings are 
present upon the males as well as upon the 
females, and in breeding, reference should 
be had to the escutcheon, etc., of the bull as 
well as of the cow, if the best results would be 
had. The markings are also distinct in the 
calf in both sexes, and allow the breeder to 
decide with considerable certainty while the 
animal is yet young whether it is worth 
raising or only fit to sell to the shambles. 
