90 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[Mauch, 
the natives being retained. Thus, Ayrshire 
grade cows are almost surely deep milkers. 
They are active grazers, and will do as well as, 
and probably better than, common cows, on hill 
pastures, and on salt hay and dry cornstalks; 
and they will make much better use of rich and 
abundant forage, giving more and richer milk, 
and making more cheese. Every year of care¬ 
ful breeding confirms the Ayrshires in desirable 
characteristics of their own. Though particu¬ 
lar styles are bred for by different breeders to 
some extent, all aim at early maturity, quantity 
and quality of milk, (quantity first) and vigor¬ 
ous constitutions. Economy in milk produc¬ 
tion is worthy the more general attention of 
breeders, and should be considered and bred for. 
Blanketing Horses. 
It is not unusual for over-kind and very care¬ 
ful people, in very cold weather, to put on a 
heavy blanket under the harness of their horses 
when about to drive to town or to church. 
This practice, although intended as a humane 
one, is by no means to be recommended. While 
the horse is performing his work, there is no 
danger that he will suffer from the severest 
cold, or that his natural clothing will not be 
enough. Indeed, unless his work is very slow, 
perspiration will be excited, and the moisture 
thus arising would be retained by the blanket, 
instead of being immediately dissipated into the 
air. The consequence is, that, the moment we 
stop, our horse stands in the cold winds, with a 
wet blanket over his whole body, the effect of 
the evaporation of the water being to make 
him much colder than he would be if the blank¬ 
et were then taken off. The true plan is, in 
cold weather, never to blanket a horse while he 
is taking his exercise; and never to allow him 
to stand a moment without blanketing with a 
dry blanket, when his exercise has ceased. So 
true is this, that the most careful and experi¬ 
enced owners and drivers of fine horses find it 
advantageous to remove even the heavy coating 
of hair that nature supplies for the winter sea¬ 
son, so that there may be no accumulation of 
moisture about the skin in consequence of heat¬ 
ing work; and to supply its place, at all times, 
when the animal is at rest, by ample clothing. 
Pig Disposition. — “ Walks and Talks ” 
writes: It is curious how qualities and even dis¬ 
position are transmitted in animals. Yon know 
a thoroughbred pig is quiet and gentle. I can 
do anything with mine. The sow will let you 
take all the little pigs away from her, and let 
you take hold of her and turn her over in the 
bed. The common sow that I crossed with the 
Essex was a coarse, savage sort of brute. When 
I bought her, she was half starved, and the first 
thing she did when turned into the yard was to 
rush at a young rooster and gobble him up. 
And she lias killed several lamb3 for me. I 
have had several litters of half Essex pigs from 
her, and from some cause or other she is getting 
to be a gentle, well-behaved sort of hog. She 
has now a litter of little grade Essex, and one 
of my neighbors was here to-day to look at 
them. She was lying in the yard, and I stooped 
down to catch one of them. As soon as he 
saw what I was doing, my neighbor, who is an 
■old farmer, looked round for a stick, expecting 
; an attack from the sow. But the little one did 
■not start or squeal, and in fact all of them rath- 
■er liked to be taken hold of and petted—though 
■Ibis is the first time any one has touched them. 
They inherit the disposition from the Essex. 
Walks and Talks on the Farm—Ho. 63. 
There seems to be a determination among 
farmers not to pay such high wages. The re¬ 
sults of the past year have not been satisfactory. 
Farmers feel poor. We have got in the habit 
of spending more freely, while we now find that 
a dollar does not go as far as it used to. Money 
seems to disappear like dew. For several iveeks 
after last harvest, wheat brought a higher price 
than we expected; but farmers were busy and 
did not thrash. When they got ready to sell, 
the price had declined. Then they were unwill¬ 
ing to sell more than was absolutely necessary 
to pay hired help, and to meet pressing necessi¬ 
ties. Prices did not advance, and taxes had to 
be paid. Enough was sold to pay them. And 
thus the weeks and months went past. Farm¬ 
ers who had calculated upon receiving such and 
such an amount for their produce saw their 
granaries gradually get empty and the money 
gone, they hardly knew where. To sell 500 bush¬ 
els of wheat for $1,000 or $1,200, and get a 
check for the whole at once, makes a farmer’s 
heart glad ; but to sell 50 bushels at a time, and 
for half a dollar a bushel less than could have 
been obtained months before, and then to pay 
the money out before it has time to get warm in 
one’s pocket, is anything but pleasant. No 
wonder farmers feel poor. And yet we have 
no just reasons to complain. We are getting as 
high prices as we had a right to expect. Butter, 
cheese, pork, beef, beans, and barley, are as 
much above their normal value as wheat and 
wool are below. We have no cause to feel dis¬ 
couraged. Wages are undoubtedly too high, 
especially for unmarried men who get their 
board and washing, and have nothing to buy 
except clothes. Farm men with families are 
no better off than before the war. And it is 
wrong to attribute all our troubles to high 
wages. The principal reason why farmers are 
not doing as well as the advance in prices would 
lead us to expect, is this: the yield per acre is 
too small. We raise from 10 to 15 bushels of 
wheat per acre, instead of 25 to 30 bushels; 15 
to 20 bushels of barley, instead of 35 to 40; 30 
bushels of corn, instead of 60; 75 bushels of po¬ 
tatoes, instead of 150 or 200. Our cows, instead 
of yielding 150 or 200 lbs. of butter a year, do 
not yield over 100 lbs. Our steers, which at 
three years old should weigh 1,500 lbs., do not 
average over 1,000 lbs. at four years old. 
But will the kind of farming necessary to pro¬ 
duce such crops pay ? That depends a good 
deal on the means employed to accomplish the 
result. A farmer in Iowa might send to New 
York for guano enough to double all his crops, 
but it would not pay. We must call to our aid 
all the knowledge that can be obtained, and then 
exercise a little common sense. John Johnston 
used Peruvian guano on his wheat last year, and 
says it paid. And I think all the artificial ma¬ 
nures I have used have paid me well. But 
leaving these things out of the question it may 
safely be asserted that it does not pay to raise 
weeds; it does not pay to half-plow and half¬ 
work our land; and it certainly will not pay to 
plow and plant land that is a mud puddle in the 
spring and a brick-yard in summer. 
“ But if we drain our land and cultivate it more 
thoroughly, we shall have to employ more labor, 
and wages, instead of being lower, will be high¬ 
er.” This sounds plausible, but it is not neces¬ 
sarily true. Men who would not work forme 
last summer and autumn for $2.50 per day, are 
working for me now at 75c. to $1.00 a day, and 
board themselves. Underdraining can be done 
at a season when other work is not pressing, 
and when men have little Glse to do. And this 
is also true of other kinds of work that would 
add greatly to the productiveness of our farms. 
There are very few days in the year when some¬ 
thing cannot be found to do that ought to be 
done, and that it will pay to do, provided men 
can be found willing to work at reasonable 
wages. We must employ more labor on our 
farms, but it should be done judiciously, and so 
as not to increase the demand during the busy 
season. That this can be done, I have no sort 
of doubt. From the middle of March to the 
middle of May, men who hire out by the day 
have little to do. And this is the time to drain, 
to pile manure, to make and mend fences, to 
get out stones, and to prepare wood for next 
winter. And yet during this season men not 
hired by the month are idle half the time. 1 
am well aware that many of them will not 
work unless they can get high wages. I have 
heard them talk among themselves: “Not 
much doing nows, but as soon as planting com¬ 
mences there’ll be work enough, and we can 
get two dollars a day.” And they are generally 
right. We do little until it is time to plant po¬ 
tatoes; we then try to do too much: a heavy 
rain delays operations ; we get behind, are in a 
hurry, and offer to pay high wages to the very 
ones who foresaw the result and made calcula¬ 
tions for it. And this is not all; they feel very 
independent and do not perform more than half 
a good day’s work. The remedy for this state 
of things is to give employment during the early 
spring months to all who will work at reason¬ 
able wages. Then plant only about half the 
usual area, and so be able to dispense with half 
the usual labor during the busy season. If the 
proper means have been used to prepare and 
enrich the land, we shall get as much produce 
as formerly, and our profits will be a great deal 
larger. We shall get a great deal of extra work 
done without spending more money; and the 
men will receive as much money, and be just as 
well off as when they received double wages 
half of the time and were idle the other half. 
Farming will never be as profitable as it ought 
to be until we are able and willing to furnish 
men work during the whole year. By making 
preparations for it, as much labor may be em¬ 
ployed in winter as in summer. In fact, I have 
more men at work nowin the dead of winter on 
my farm than I sometimes have in harvest. 
One man is trimming the apple orchard, two 
are drawing stones, another lias gone for a load 
of draining tiles, and four are digging under¬ 
drains. And I could find work for two or three 
more. When it is too stormy to work outdoors, 
the day hands stay at home, and if they are in¬ 
dustrious men they can find something to do for 
themselves. The others can thrash beans, cut 
fodder, sort over potatoes, shell corn, and grind 
it; repair implements, oil harness; clean out the 
pig-pens, card all the cows in the stable, and 
give each horse an extra half hour’s cleaning. 
Of course, work of this kind needs constant su¬ 
pervision. The men are not used to it, and the 
farmer must direct every operation, and see 
that it is done properly. On my farm this is the 
weak point. When I am writing in the house,, 
the men are loitering in the barn. But this is 
no objection to tiie system. It only proves that 
a man who, for his sins, is obliged to edit a pa¬ 
per, cannot be as good a farmer as one of those 
thrice happy individuals who can devote all 
their time and thoughts to managing the farm. 
A New Jersey farmer thinks that in advo¬ 
cating hoeing wheat in the spring, 1 have over- 
