1869 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
43 
Good Stock Needs Good Land.— 
The Agriculturist has always advocated the introduction 
of improved breeds of cattle, sheep, and swine. We 
know that a well-bred animal is vastly more profitable 
than common stock. It is just as absurd for a farmer to 
keep stock that shows no breeding as it is to use a poor 
scythe instead of a mowing machine. We avail ourselves of 
skill and thought in the one case. Why not in the other ? 
We have cattle, and sheep, and pigs, that are as superior 
to common stock as the modern steel plow is superior to 
a wooden stick, and for the same reason—the thought 
that has been bestowed upon them. But while this is 
true, it should never be forgotten that improved stock 
necessitates an improved system of farming,—the two 
must go together. We have prepared our friends for the 
mowing machine. Let us get our farms ready for im¬ 
proved breeds of stock. Wb shall not attain the best re¬ 
sults until this is done. 
l>oes Plaster Lose its Properties 
by Keeping ?— 1 There is an opinion among farmers 
that this is the case. We do not see that any change can 
take place that will lessen the value of the plaster gyp¬ 
sum as manure, and wo should have no hesitation in 
drawing the plaster during good sleighing in tire winter, 
rather than wait until spring, when the roads are bad. We 
know farmers who draw all their plaster in the winter, 
and find great advantage in so doing. Keep it dry, and 
it will be just as good as if obtained fresh from the mill. 
I>nc!t Raising.— “ IL C. P.,” Litchfield 
Co., Coun. Less is known about the diseases of ducks 
than of fowls. They are, in our experience, best hatched 
by hens and kept in a dry pen for several weeks. Give 
plenty of grass, frequently renewed, keep water always 
before them in shallow vessels, and feed often. A pen 
of boards a foot high, covered with laths nailed across the 
top, with one corner or one end covered, to exclude rain, 
is all-sufficient. This pen should be frequently shifted 
upon dry, grassy ground. If one is noticed moping, 
swelled up, or out of sorts in any way, give soaked bread 
and milk, red with Cayenne pepper. The best are Rou- 
ens, Aylesburys, and Cayuga Blacks. Points of excel¬ 
lence for common purposes are size and number of eggs. 
B>estmc4ion of Turkeys I>y a Fox. 
—A fox in Meriden, Ct., has destroyed 80 turkeys the 
present season, at three farm-houses. This is a loss of at 
least. $150 from a single worthless animal. In some of 
the States there is a bounty of one dollar a head upon 
foxes. Is it not quite time that the bounty was raised, to 
correspond somewhat with the injury they inflict upon 
farmers ? Five dollars a head would start the hounds 
after them, and they would soon be exterminated. 
Sell when You Cam Get a Good 
Price. —This should be the farmer’s rule. To hold 
produce in hope of getting extravagant prices may oc¬ 
casionally succeed, but it generally fails. Farmers, by 
holding back their produce, may help speculators to 
“form a corner,’’ but the speculators never divide the 
profits. If you can get a fair price, sell as soon ns you 
are ready. But if an article that you can hold does not 
bring a fair price—if it is below the cost of production— 
do not dispose of it. It will certainly rise. 'We know 
that, there are few things that make a farmer “ feel so 
bad” as to find that if he had held his produce a few 
weeks he could have got a much higher price. We know 
farmers who sold their barley last fall at $1.50, and their 
wheat at $2.25; while some of their neighbors held both, 
and sold the barley for $2.10, and have their wheat still 
on hand. Now it is not pleasant to think that you could 
have got 00 cents a bushel more for the barley, but then 
there is some consolation in thinking that yon got 50 
cents a bushel more for the wheat than you could get 
now. We once crossed the Atlantic with a well-known 
captain in a sailing vessel. Another equally celebrated 
captain left Liverpool on th» same day. When we took 
in- the pilot, the first question the captain asked was: 
“Any news of the New World?” “She reached New 
York three days ago.” We all “felt as bad” at being 
beaten as the farmer who sold his barley at $1.50. But our 
captain remarked: “He must have taken the southern 
course. lie lias hit it for once. But it is wrong , neverthe¬ 
less." So we say to the farmer who got $2.10 for his barley. 
He hit it for once. But the principle is wrong. Better to 
sell when you are offered a fair price. This same farmer 
had some capital hogs. They were very fat, and he was 
offered 13V4 cents for them. He kept them three weeks 
longer, and then sold them for 10>4 cents. 
Potatoes on Spring.ltirnecl Sod.— 
A correspondent residing in Washington County, Ohio, 
writes as follows: “After many years’ experience I prefer 4 
Bod for potatoes, avoiding heavy clays. Plow as early in 
April as the ground is in order, harrow thoroughly and 
plant in hills, cultivate thoroughly both ways and often 
until they bloom, then quit. I manure with coarse ma¬ 
nure before plowing or with fine after, and never fail ."— 
We have no doubt the practice is good, although to se¬ 
cure thorough rotting of the sod and destruction of 
weeds, we advise plowing in August; yet it depends very 
much upon the kinds of grass and weeds in the soil, and 
upon the mode of plowing and strength of the soil. 
Tlie American Jersey Cattle Club. 
—The prominent breeders of Jersey (or Alderney) cattle 
in this country have associated themselves together under 
the above title, for the purpose of fostering the interests 
of the breed, and for the preparation and publication of 
a careful Herd-book, or record of pedigrees. The type 
of this breed is so strongly fixed, and the bulls usually 
mark their progeny so strongly, that seven-eighths, or 
even three quarters bred grade animals have often been 
palmed off upon unsuspecting purchasers as pure bred, 
and sold at correspondingly high prices. It is one of the 
chief purposes of the Club to render such jockeying im¬ 
possible in future. The Club itself is a close corpora¬ 
tion—none but breeders of established reliability being 
admitted to membership—but its Herd-book is open to 
the general public, and all pedigrees can be entered 
which meet the unanimous approval of the Executive 
Committee, which is composed of the following per¬ 
sons :—President, Samuel J. Sharpless, St. Road Station, 
Chester Co., Penn.; Treasurer, Thos. J. Hand, Sing Sing, 
N. Y.; Secretary, Geo. E. Waring, Jr., Newport, R. I. 
Additional members—Thos. Motley, Jamaica Plain, 
Mass.; S. W. Robbins, Wethersfield, Conn., and John 
Glenn, Baltimore, Md. Information concerning the Club 
can be obtained from the Secretary or Treasurer. 
“ A Cow Gives Richer Milk when 
Fat than when Poor.”— Such is one of the con¬ 
clusions arrived at by Mr. Clarke from his experiments. 
(See Agriculturist for Dec. 1S68, p. 441). There are fat cows 
that give poor milk, and not much of it. In fact, this is 
one reason why they get fat. The food goes to form flesh 
and fat, instead of cheese and butter. The trouble is in 
the cow and not in her condition. If she was poor in 
flesh she would give no more or richer milk, and yet 
there are farmers who think otherwise. If a cow is fat, 
they conclude that she must be a poor milker—and there 
is some truth in the idea. If a cow keeps fat all through 
the summer, while she is giving milk, on ordinary food, 
she is a poor milker, or else she gives poor milk. So far 
the popular notion is correct. But it is very absurd to 
condemn a new milch cow because she is fat. If she is 
to give large quantities of rich milk she must be fat. It 
is a monstrous perversion of an acknowledged truth, that 
because a “deep milker” is seldom very fat we must 
therefore try to keep our cows thin , in order to make them 
good milkers. There are thousands of farmers who fall 
into this error. They mistake the effect for the cause. 
Is our Wheat Laud Running: Out ? 
—We think not. There are farmers who raise as much 
wheat per acre as they ever did. They have no better 
land than their neighbors. There is no difference, ex¬ 
cept that they farm better. We may not be able to raise 
wheat as easily as when the land was new and full of 
organic matter from the decay of leaves. But if more 
labor is required, we get a more than corresponding in¬ 
crease in price. So that, in point of fact, farmers are 
better off than formerly. Our mistake is in trying to 
raise wheat with as little preparation as when the land 
was new. The farmer who underdrains his land, works 
it thoroughly, and keeps it clean, who makes rich ma¬ 
nure and does not crop his land too frequently, can raise 
as much wheat per acre as he ever could. There can be 
no doubt on this point. We are confident that such farm¬ 
ing will pay—and at all events, if it will not pay, poor 
farming certainly will not. We never heard of a case 
where good farming failed to afford handsome profits. 
44 All the Fat Goes Into 4lie Fail.” 
—This truth cannot be too often repeated. A cow that is 
a good milker should be fed liberally, not only while she 
is giving milk, but while she is dry. All the fat she ac¬ 
cumulates before she calves will find its way to the pail 
during the summer. There is no period at which a cow 
lays on fat so rapidly as before she calves, provided she 
has food enough. It is a wise provision of nature. And 
yet many farmers feed nothing but straw and cornstalks 
at this period. Bteause the cow is not giving milk they 
think it will not pay to supply more food than is neces¬ 
sary to sustain life. Frequently the poor cows are not 
even provided'with shelter from the storm. And it is a 
mystery how they manage to digest straw enough to keep 
up their animal heat. No wonder that many of them 
have to be “ lifted” in the spring. There is nothing that 
pays so well as good shelter and good feed for cows dur¬ 
ing winter, whether they are giving milk or not. Every 
pound of fat stored up before calving will, if the cow it 
a good milker, find its way to the pail during the sum¬ 
mer. And a pound of tallow will make more than a 
pound of butter, because the former contains little or no 
water, while butter contains from 15 to 20 per cent. 
Milk Fever. —Cows that are well fed and 
get fat sometimes die of milk fever. Alas 1 that it should 
be so, for it is used as an argument against providing tho 
most useful of all our domestic animals with the nec¬ 
essary care and food during the most interesting and 
important period of her history. The truth of the matter 
seems to be this: cows that arc poorly fed get accus¬ 
tomed to this condition. They eat little, and give little 
milk. Cows accustomed to an abundance of food adapt 
themselves to this condition. They will eat a good deal, 
and give a good deal of rich milk; or, if bred for tho 
purpose, will gain rapidly in flesh. Such a cow will 
suffer more from poor feeding than the other, while the 
latter may be injured from high feeding. It is a matter 
of fact that dairies of such cows, when fed on rich food, 
have many cases of milk fever, while dairies of grads 
Short-horns, in similar circumstances, are generally ex¬ 
empt. We should adapt the feeding to the breeding, and 
the breeding to the feeding. We lose half the advantage 
of high feeding unless we have the right kind of animals, 
and we lose all the advantage of good animals unless wo 
give them good food and good treatment. 
Subsoiling. —“ N. D.,” Lynn, Ct. “I see 
a great deal in the papers about subsoiling. Is it bene¬ 
ficial for all lands? I have tried it on one piece, end 
could not see any difference.”—The object of subsoiling 
is to loosen the soil beyond the reach of the plow, and thus 
subject it to the action of the air, allow the roots to go 
down, and the moisture to come up. If the subsoil is a 
loose gravel, allowing a free circulating of air, there is no 
use for the subsoil plow. If itcontains substances inju¬ 
rious to plants, the first crop would probably be injured 
by the loosening. If it is so wet that the roots of plants 
cannot go down into it, it would not be worth while to 
subsoil it. Well-drained lands are most benefited by 
the operation, and it is rare to find soils of this character 
that will not pay well for subsoiling. It is easy to sub¬ 
soil in a few furrows, and by comparing the crop with 
that of land not thus treated, you can determine if the 
operation will pay. 
The Department of Agriculture.— 
The N. Y. Times has a growl at Commissiouer Capron, 
and the N. Y. Sun follows it up with a proposition to 
abolish the Department altogether. It may be that 
one of the Times people did not have a job outlie an¬ 
nual report this year, which would account for tho 
course of that paper. But we are at a loss to account for 
the course of the progressive Sun. Wo would suggest to 
these sheets that the Agricultural Press feels quite com¬ 
petent to take charge of this matter, and removal in an¬ 
other manner only prevented its influence from dis¬ 
placing the former Commissioner. The agriculturists, 
through their own papers, will speak when they aro 
dissatisfied with the present Commissioner, and then 
he will have to go, and all the Suns and Timeses will not 
hasten or retard it. This is a matter in which farm¬ 
ers have a word to say, and politicians very little. Wo 
have no other interest in the matter than that Col. Cap¬ 
ron shall have a fair trial. It is not fair to expect 
that one coming into the control of a thoroughly 
disorganized department should immediately make 
the change felt. We think that the plans of tho 
Commissioner are such as will meet the approval 
of intelligent agriculturists, and they are the only 
ones individually concerned. The Times thinks tho 
monthly reports of no value; others think differently. 
The Sun would abolish the Department on the score of 
economy; we go for ample appropriations. If the Sun 
wishes to economize, we can show it a place to begin. 
There is a concern called the Botanical Garden, which is 
a very high sounding name; some $50,000 are being ex¬ 
pended for a new glass structure, and round sums are 
yearly paid for keeping up the establishment. We last 
fall went among the plants which arc to go into this 
costly house. There were a few rare specimens, but the 
principal stock was just such as a regular florist would 
keep for cut flowers—Heliotropes, Bouvardias, and all 
such stuff in great quantities. Now this Botanical Gar¬ 
den is just a contrivance for furnishing the wives of 
Senators and Members flowers at public expense. The 
wife of one Senator had last winter thirty-nine bouquets 
from this establishment for one party. This concern is 
in no manner connected with the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment, nor d« the Agricultural Press recognize it, and if 
outsiders wish to pitch into something, here is a chance. 
We intend that the Department shall be sustained, 
and that liberally. and if Col. Capron is not the man 
to run it, we shall keep trying until the right one is found. 
