428 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[October, 
fluenee of the sire or that of the dam ? The prac¬ 
tice of Shorthorn breeders, if I interpret it aright, 
as well as that of Devon and Ayrshire breeders, is 
not to regard blood, no matter what the proportion 
may be, as admitting an animal to the distinctive 
name of the family unless it comes in the direct 
dam’s line; and yet, every animal in the direct line 
is regarded as in and of the family. A “Constance,” 
with say four “Duke” top crosses, although this 
would show that she has 15 /i6tks Duchess blood, is 
not a Duchess and never can be. Tet she may 
have many or all the characteristics of the family. 
Is this distinction well grounded ? or is this way 
of considering animals as belonging to a certain 
family, because that is the line of their dams, 
erroneous and misleading? 
I do not know that any man is wise enough to 
answer the question. It seems as if the blood of 
either parent ought to be potent in exact propor¬ 
tion to the closeness of its breeding. Among the 
Jerseys, for instance, we have what is called a pure 
“ Alphea,” that is an animal going back on every 
line to Alphea and Jupiter, her own brother—of 
course to Saturn and Rea, the parents of both. 
Now the question is, as brought down to practice, 
will a bull which has such a pedigree, crossed upon 
a cow of another family, or no family, impress his 
progeny with Alphea characteristics, more than a 
cow of the Alphea family with no out-cross, paired 
With a bull which is an entire “ out-cross.” 
I think it is not too much to say that this very 
important question has never been answered. 
There are certain Jersey breeders, at any rate, who 
may, by a few experiments, settle this question per¬ 
manently. They will do the country, and the world, 
a great service if they will. One man has a cow, 
another has a bull—a few have both adapted to 
test this. It is earnestly to be hoped that they 
will co-operate for the solution of the problem. 
Cost of Raising- a Milch Cow. 
I have received the following note from “ A Sub¬ 
scriber to the Agriculturist” : “I declined to ac¬ 
cept an Alderney calf of three months for the rea- 
ron that there was no pasture ground on my four 
acres of country home. My neighbor says that 
the milk of two years will more than pay for the 
cost of fodder during the three years of minority, 
which 1 doubt. Can you give information as to 
the cost of raising a calf to maturity or maternity 
when all the food is purchased ? ” 
This is a question upon which I would be very 
glad to have the results of the experience of other 
readers and subscribers to the American Agricul¬ 
turist, but will briefly discuss the subject here. A 
calf at three or four days old is worth about a dol¬ 
lar. If it be kept until it is six weeks old, and fit 
for veal, it will consume six quarts of milk a day 
at least, and probably some oil-meal or corn-meal 
porridge besides. If milk is worth 3 cents a quart 
on the farm, that will be 18 cents a day for 43 days, 
and will amount to $7.56. To this add $1.00, the 
original value of the calf, and 50 cents, the cost of 
the meal used to supplement the milk it would 
have if it sucked the cow, and we have $9.06 as the 
actual cost of the calf at six to seven weeks old, 
which is quite as much or a little more than it 
would bring if sold for veal. The profit of this 
transaction is only in making a market for milk at 
3 cents a quart. We can raise calves, however, and 
even fatten them for veal, and make pretty good 
veal too, and feed only skim-milk, adding oil-meal, 
oat-meal, or Indian-meal—or best a mixture, in the 
form of well-cooked porridge. I calculate that 
this system is good enough for calves that we are 
going to raise, though I would not want to be set 
down as saying that a calf for veal ought to be fed 
better than one to be raised to maturity. My point 
is this : If we are going to raise the calf, it is turn¬ 
ed into a paddock and has a free run a good part 
of each day ; thus it can never become fat, and it 
is able to do well upon, and thoroughly to digest 
and profit by different food from a veal calf. We 
will say it receives six quarts of skim-milk a day, at 
a cost of 1 cent a quart, and that besiues this it gets 
meal to the amount of 1>£ cent a day, 7% cents a 
day for 43 days being the cost of feeding. This 
makes, adding the $1.00 original value, $4.15 as the 
cost of the calf at six to seven weeks old. If 
moderately fat, it will sell for $7.00 or $8.00, so we 
make again of some three dollars, besides the but¬ 
ter of 293 quarts of milk. I dispose of several 
calves a year in 
this way, and it 
often happens 
that the butchers 
or market men 
Fig. 1.-THE BENT AXLE. dec line point 
blank to believe that they have never sucked—and 
my calves never do suck a single day. 
Now to raise the calf from this point is the rub. 
If we must buy all the feed and give it all it will 
eat, it will cost 15 cents a day for one year, or 
$54.75, or say $50.00 as the cost of a yearling. This 
is more than it is worth three times over, unless it 
be of remarkable blood and can be readily sold for 
that or for more, which is not likely. If we want 
to buy we shall probably have to pay as much as 
that, and it may be the calf or yearling we want 
will be cheap at $100.00; but if we must sell we 
will find it very different. If the cost of feeding 
for the first year is $50, that of the next year will 
be $60 to $65, and the cost of the heifer, when she 
is ready to calve, will be as follows : 
Cost to the end of the first year.$ 50.00 
Cost of bull service. 5.00 
Cost of keep to the end of the second year... 60.00 
$115.00 
This is of course much more than a first-rate 
heifer can be bought for in the 
° f ^ -^ ~ ~ " I 
dearest market in this country. T"—-IF 
She will do exceedingly well if ; 
she yields 10 quarts of milk a day 
on an average for six months, I 
making 1,800 quarts, and 4 
quarts a day for the rest of the |j 
year, making 720 quarts, or 
2,520 quarts in all. If this can 
be sold for 6 cents a quart, it 
will bring in $151.20. The keep 
of the cow will be not less than 
20 cents a day, or $73.00, which, j 
being deducted, leaves $78.20 2 .— the shafts. 
as the net earnings to be set 
off against the $115.00 which the cow cost. 
We must not forget that not one heifer in ten 
does as well as this, and also that not one heifer in 
a hundred costs so much at her first calving. Most 
people who want to raise a heifer can hire pasturage 
for young stock 
at about 25 cents 
a week. This will 
make a great de¬ 
duction in the 
cost, namely of 
$43.50. The heifer 
therefore would 
cost, if pastured 
six months in 
each year as 
proposed, only 
$71.50, and if she 
should give the 
same amount of 
milk which we figured upon, and it could be dis¬ 
posed of to the same advantage, the milk of one 
year, to say nothing of the calf, would not only pay 
the cost of raising the animal, but give a net profit 
of $6.70. 
“ Figures don’t lie,” but they do deceive wofully 
sometimes, and if anybody tries to carry out these 
results he will probably be disappointed. There 
are, however, thousands of two-year-old heifers 
which, if fed at a cost of 20 cents a day, would 
yield ten quarts of milk for six months. 
It is a great satisfaction to have a nice heifer of 
one’s own raising, which the daughter of 
the house has petted day after day, which 
the children have adorned with garlands 
of daisies, and one which is as gentle 
as a cosset lamb; so if the raiser will 
charge $75 or $100, to satisfaction, and 
credit the heifer with the same sum, 
the balance on the final trial will be found in 
favor of the pet heifer of the family. 
Hints and Helps for Farmers. 
A Portable Feed Barrel.— “ Subscriber,” L. 
I., sends a description of a Feed Barrel on wheels 
which he has used for a number of years, and 
claims “ is the handiest thing I have on the place.” 
An old buggy axle and wheels were taken as the 
basis, or running gear. The axle was taken to the 
blacksmith and bent into the form shown in figure 
1. Shafts, fig. 2, were then placed on the axle and 
Fig. 5.— THE BARREL CART COMPLETE. 
fastened behind with a bolt, at each side, with an 
axle clip, fig. 3. An old pork barrel was furnished 
with two hooks, placed on the sides just above the 
center, as shown in figure 4. The shafts being 
passed through under these hooks, the affair is 
complete as in figure 5. “ You can unload the bar¬ 
rel by throwing up the handles when the water or 
feed will run out, or you can slip the barrel off and 
take another empty one. I have three such barrels, 
two for swill, and one for water for cattle or the 
garden.” The shafts may be held up by a leg. 
A Machine Fastener. —In a talk with an in¬ 
genious farmer the other day, we asked him if 
he had any way of se- pfl* 
curing his fanning mill, 
corn sheller, or other 
similar machines, to the 
barn floor. The method 
employed by him, is as 
follows: By means of 
two screws, a strap of- 
iron (with the lower end „ 
turned up to form a| 
hook), is fastened to 1 
the lower end of the,^-^ 
legs of the mill, as 
shown in the engrav¬ 
ing. When the ma¬ 
chine is put in its proper place, it is secured in its 
position, by driving a staple of flat iron, a, with 
chisel points, over the hooked end of the iron, 
that is, upon the leg of the machine. 
A Turnip Puller. —“ Old Subscriber,” Long 
Island, send a sketch of a Turnip Puller, shown in 
Fig. 6.— a machine 
fastener. 
Fig. 7.— A TURNIP HOOK. 
figure 7. It consists of a double or pronged hook 
fastened to a long handle like an ordinary hoe. 
With it the person can stand erect and work rapidly 
and with comparative ease. “ It will not cut or in¬ 
jure the turnips in the least. Once used one would 
never pull turnips by hand again.” 
A Rail Holder.— “J. C. W,” Cromwell, Conn., 
is so much pleased with a Rail Holder that he has 
used for some time, that he sends a sketch of it 
for the benefit of our readers who may have rails to 
sharpen. The rail is laid on chopping blocks, or logs, 
A, A (fig. 8), and held in place by three stakes • two 
