430 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
a foolish but a ruinous one. One has hut to point 
out the destruction that has resulted from this 
overfeeding in the famous Bates’ and Booth’s 
Shorthorn cattle, to show that a practice that will 
so deform and derange the animal as to render it 
either unfit or unable to propagate its kind, is 
wholly wrong and to be deprecated in the strongest 
terms. Judges at our Fairs should understand 
this matter and lend their whole influence to the 
side of a fair reasonable feeding and preparation 
for the Fair. Anything that is stimulated to an 
unnatural development should be considered only 
in the light of a monstrosity, and hold no place 
among animals that are competing for a prize upon 
the merits which they possess. The descendants of 
prize stock should be the best stock ; but too often 
those who have bought prize animals have had only 
to regret it, because they were injured by over¬ 
feeding and took their prizes on artificial points, 
which were not lieriditary, and they were therefore 
not able to transmit them to their offspring. 
Drawing Corn in the Shock. 
It is frequently convenient to clear the corn-field 
soon after cutting, so that the ground may be 
plowed for wheat, or that the stock may be turned 
into an adjoining meadow, between which and the 
corn there is no fence. With their removal in 
view, (he shocks should be made small and be 
firmly bound. It is best to use a wagon with a low, 
flat and wide “rigging,” like that shown in fig. 1. 
This “rig” is made of four pieces of scantling, and 
four long, wide boards, put together as shown in 
the engraving. The wagon-reach should be let out 
more, and the rigging made longer than the one 
shown in fig. 1, in order to give more space between 
the wheels, an arrangement which will be found to 
be better. The method of raising the shocks upon 
the wagon is shown in figure 2. Three men are 
required for the most rapid and consequently the 
most economical loading of the corn. The wagon 
is driven quite close to the corn, and the man on the 
wagon throws a rope-noose over the top of the 
shock and draws it towards the wagon. At the 
same time the two “lifters” place a light, stout 
pole under the shock and lift it up, simultaneously 
swinging the butt of the shock out, away from the 
side-board of the rigging. One shock is placed 
lengthwise between the hind wheels, and the same at 
the forward end, after which the shocks are built 
up in the middle. The load will not be high, both 
because it will be heavy enough without, and for 
the reason that it is not economy of labor to lift 
the heavy corn higher than is necessary to load it. 
Large Turkeys for Breeding Stock. 
The common practice of breeding only from 
second brood turkeys, and those that are not fit to 
kill at New Year’s, is a very short-sighted policy. 
In nothing will a good selection pay better than in 
breeding this noble bird. In the wild state where 
“the survival of the fittest” is the rule, gobblers 
weighing 40 pounds are not infrequent, and some 
are upon record weighing 50 pounds. The prevail¬ 
ing custom of breeding from the smallest and 
cheapest, keeps our markets full of birds that do 
not weigh more than eight or ten pounds. The 
birds that are known in the Boston and Providence 
markets as Rhode Island turkeys, run at least a 
third larger, and lots of dressed gobblers averag¬ 
ing twenty pounds can be furnished by the dealers 
at New Year’s or later on very short notice. We 
know of one breeder who killed four adult gob¬ 
blers last year that weighed, dressed, 126 lbs., or 
31s each. In all the districts from which these 
supplies are drawn, the farmers have found that it 
pays to take extra pains with the turkey crop. 
There has been a steady gain in the 
average weight of the flocks sent to 
market at the three great festivals for 
the last twenty years, and the limit of 
perfection in this bird has by no means 
been reached. A large bronze gobbler, 
the offspring of a pair weighing 62 lbs., 
that took the premium at the New York 
State Poultry Show, was brought into 
Eastern Connecticut three years ago, 
and three large flocks have been raised from him, 
and nearly all of them have been sold for breeding 
stock. The unanimous testimony of breeders even 
in this district where large turkeys are common, is 
that their flocks have been greatly increased in size 
by this stock. Suppose there is only a gain of two 
pounds in the average size of a flock of one hundred 
birds, it makes a difference of two hundred pounds, 
worth forty dollars at the present price of poul¬ 
try in Eastern markets. This is nearly all profit, 
for the turkeys get the most of their growth 
in the pastures and woods, and are only fed 
freely six weeks before 
marketing. Why then 
do not farmers gener¬ 
ally invest in better 
stock. The chief rea¬ 
son probably is the cost 
of the stock. It seems 
alarge price to pay five, 
ten, or twenty dollars 
for a gobbler of extra 
weight, or for a hen 
weighing 15 to 20 lbs., 
though such a pair of 
birds v r ould leave their 
mark upon the broods 
of a whole neighbor¬ 
hood, and add thou¬ 
sands of dollars to the 
value of the annual 
sales for years to come. 
The breeder of fine 
stock graduates the 
price of his birds 
principally according 
to their rapid development and weight. They 
will vary in weight quite a good deal even in 
the purest bred flocks. Gobblers weighing 18 to 
19 lbs. in December are common ; a quarter of 
the flock may reach 20 to 21 lbs., and a few may 
add a pound or two to these figures. The extra 
price asked for the last two or three pounds seems 
unreasonable, and yet it is the cheapest part of the 
bird, for it is this which shows his better constitu¬ 
tion and aptness to take on flesh and fatten. It is 
the same principle applied to poultry which has 
given such wonderful results in the breeding of 
Shorthorn cattle. The large, well-shaped gobbler, 
beautifully marked, and bred to hens of similar 
quality, will give you birds of good, strong consti¬ 
tution that will develop rapidly and make the most 
flesh out of a given amount of food. The cheapest 
bird we ever bought was a young gobbler of this 
character, for which we paid twenty-five dollars. 
Scores of flocks and thousands of birds have de¬ 
scended from him, and he has left his good quali¬ 
ties upon every one of them, so far as our observa¬ 
tion has extended. A seven months’ bird of 3 or 
4 lbs. extra weight is quite sure to make a 30-lb. 
yearling, and such a yearling gobbler is worth 
twenty dollars in any breeder’s flock that under¬ 
stands his business. There is no bird among all 
our fowls more susceptible of improvement. * 
Holder for Fire Wood 
The accompanying engraving represents a con¬ 
trivance for holding the blocks of fire-wood while 
they are being split. The holder is made from a 
fork of a tree, such as may be easily selected while 
one is chop¬ 
ping in the 
woods. A 
heavy piece 
of hard-wood 
plank is 
spiked upon 
the sawed 
ends of the 
forks This A I ' IRE ' woo:D holder. 
forms an inclosed space, into which the block to 
be split is placed, and is there firmly held in an 
upright position until all the necessary divisions 
are made. A simple holder of this kind, if well 
made and stout, will last for several seasons, and 
save much stooping over and picking up of separate 
sticks while splitting the family fire-wood. 
A Cabbage Cutter.—Mr. “J. H. S.,” Erie Co., 
Pa., sends a description of a Cabbage Cutter which 
he has made, and used with great satisfaction. An 
old cast-off shovel was taken and a triangular piece 
cut out of the blade, as shown below. The V- 
A SHOVEL CABBAGE CUTTER. 
shaped edge was then ground sharp and the imple¬ 
ment was ready for use. “ With one stroke the 
cabbage is severed from the stump, ready to be 
thrown into the wagon.” Mr. S. says there is no 
patent on this Cutter, and all are free to make it. 
Turnip Experiments.— It is certainly monot¬ 
onous to grow the same crop on the same field for 
twenty or thirty years, but it is only in such monot¬ 
ony that satisfactory answers can be obtained to 
some of the most important questions in agricul¬ 
tural practice. It is in the fact that Dr. Lawes has 
conducted experiments with several different 
crops upon the same plots for such a long series of 
years, and with great care, that the deductions 
coming from his work are of such value. The re¬ 
cent statement in regard to his turnip experiments 
are in point. He says “ In 1845 the land laken 
into turnip experiments at Rothamsted, and ma¬ 
nured with superphosphate of lime, gave 14 tons 
per acre of bulbs and 4 tons of leaves. It has been 
under experiments ever since, but no succeeding 
crop has been so large, and at the present time a 
full supply of potash, superphosphate, and other 
mineral manures, will not produce more than 4 or 
5 tons of roots to the acre. It is therefore evident 
that at Rothamsted the stores of fertility accumu¬ 
lated in the land before the experiments were com¬ 
menced have been exhausted.” 
Fig. 1.— RIGGING FOR DRAWING CORN IN THE SHOCK. 
Fig. 2.— METHOD OF LOADING THE SHOCKS OF CORN. 
