1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
463 
stock kept upon these farms is generally native, 
improved, more or less by selection. Occasionally 
there is a low-grade Devon, Ayrshire, or Jersey, 
among them. The most desirable improvement 
that can be made at small cost is to procure the 
service of a thoroughbred Jersey bull, and raise 
the heifer calves from the best milkers. It is about 
as well settled as anything can be by experiment, 
that the Jersey is the best breed to transmute grass 
aud other feed into butter. For a given amount of 
food you get the most butter, and the butter is of 
the highest quality, aud commands the best price 
in the market. In some of the suburban dairies 
where pure Jerseys are kept, the butter is engaged 
to regular customers at a dollar a pound, and up¬ 
wards. Sixty to seventy-five cents a pound are not 
uncommon prices for a nice article. Of course, 
these prices could not be obtained at once by every 
one who should undertake to make Jersey butter. 
But such an ideal in the farmer’s mind would be a 
constant incentive to improvement, and could 
hardly fail to secure better butter, and better prices. 
The great objection to this improvement in most 
cases would probably be the high price of the Jer¬ 
sey stock. If the improvement were made through 
the thorough-bred bull, it would not be beyond the 
means of most thrifty dairy farmers. If a man 
keeps from fifteen to twenty cows, he must have a 
bull of some kind, and if of his own raising, it 
must have cost from twenty to thirty dollars in hay 
and grass alone at a year old. The breeders of 
Jerseys have an excess of bulls that they make veal 
of for want of a better market. They may be of 
good pedigree, but defective in color or points, 
and so are sacrificed. These bulls could be pur¬ 
chased at low prices, as calves, and would improve 
the butter qualities of any native herd which they 
might serve. Frequently Jersey breeders have 
yearling bulls that they would sell at fifty or sixty 
dollars. Certainly these prices are not beyond the 
reach of a thrifty farmer. An infusion of Jersey 
blood into these butter herds would add greatly to 
their value. Of course, the same remarks apply to 
procuring young bulls of any other breed, if in the 
opinion of the farmer some other is to be pre¬ 
ferred to the Jersey. 
The End of the Texas Steer.— The end of 
that ungainly animal, the Texas steer, is near at 
hand. Soon his long horns and angular frame will 
no longer be seen. The Short-horn is fast supplant¬ 
ing him. Thousands of bulls of improved blood 
have been taken not only into Texas, but into 
Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Dakota, and other 
places where the Texan cow was the only available 
stock with which to start an improved herd. After 
the young stock become old enough to breed, the 
Texan cattle are marketed, and we are now “ run¬ 
ning the emptyings,” so to speak, of the Texans. 
Even the Indians are improving their Cherokee 
stock in the same manner. In two or three years 
more the main bulk of the cattle will be Short-horn 
grades, and a great and steady demand will be 
made upon eastern herds for bulls for breeding. 
Not for fancy stock, but for equally good, but less 
fashionable, pure Short-horns. The present out¬ 
look is altogether in favor of stock raising as the 
most profitable branch of farming, both in the east 
and west; and it is certain that there is no other 
that is less exhaustive to the soil. 
-- 
Feeding Mead Alone to Dairy Cows.—Mr. 
L. W. Miller, of Chatauqua Co., N. Y., sends us 
his pamphlet descriptive of his plan of feeding 
cows exclusively upon a very small quantity of 
meal during the winter. At first it would seem that 
three quarts of corn-meal a day, would furnish a 
very inadequate ration for a cow. If it should turn 
out, however, that it is abundant to maintain a 
cow in perfect health and condition, it will certain¬ 
ly be a great economy in fodder, to adopt this plan. 
The test of practice, however, must be applied in 
this case, and theoretical considerations are quite 
useless. We observe the questionable theoretical 
support brought to the aid of this practice in the 
pamphlet, viz., that small concentrated rations are 
proper, because the food goes directly to the fourth 
stomach of the animal, (a physical impossibility, 
by the by), has been recently upset by Mr. Miller 
himself, who publishes a statement that he has 
recently slaughtered an animal fed exclusively on 
meal, and has found the meal (where it might be 
expected to be found) in the first stomach as well 
as the others. So that the cow really has a use for 
her complicated stomach, whether she eat coru- 
mcal or hay, or grass, although at first Mr. Miller 
was led to doubt the fact when corn-meal was the 
exclusive food. 
--——.©• -cc--— 
English Plows and Harness. —Notwithstand¬ 
ing the weight of English plows and other tools, 
and the seeming cumbersome character of the har¬ 
ness used in that country, there is a simplicity in 
their structure, and a solidity and ease in their 
working, which go far to recommend them, or at 
least the principles of their construction, to us. 
English boys of 10 to 12 years of age, commonly 
harness their teams, rig up their plows, and handle 
the lighter ones themselves very skillfully. ' The 
pins and notches of the heavy swing plows are also 
changed, when necessary to proper working, with 
the utmost readiness by these boys ; while one of 
these plows would at first sight puzzle one of our 
farm boys, as much as a horse collar would some 
of the city boys, who never saw one put on a horse. 
Prospects for Market Gardeners in 1876. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
The past season has been one of such unusual 
depression in prices, for nearly all garden products, 
that cultivators are very generally discouraged; 
many are forced to abandon gardening from ne¬ 
cessity, and others though still able to drag on, 
doubt the propriety of continuing in a business 
where the hard work of a year has resulted in no 
profit. In no season for the last twenty-five years 
have fruits and vegetables sold so low in the mar¬ 
kets of New York as in that now closing; and I 
believe it has been nearly the same in all parts of 
the country. Berry crops were often sold at not 
more than the actual cost of picking and freight, 
while peas and beans did no better. In fact, the 
average prices of nearly all articles of fruit and 
vegetables during the months of June, July, aud 
August, of 1875, hardly equaled half the average 
prices of previous years. Of course there was not 
only no profit, but an actual loss, and hence the 
very general discouragement among the many hard 
working men engaged in the business of gardening. 
But past experience has given us good reason to 
believe that the next season, that of 1876, will bring 
back prices to the average standard, if not better. 
I well recollect that when the cholera visited New 
York in 1848, the fiat went forth that fruit and veg¬ 
etables must be avoided if immunity from the 
plague was desired. The consequence was a les¬ 
sened demand, which brought down prices below 
the paying point, but in the succeeding year, prices 
went up to even above the average rates, and well 
compensated the gardeners for the losses of the 
previous season. There is good reason to believe 
that the same result will take place next year, more 
particularly in the vicinity of New York, Philadel¬ 
phia, and Baltimore, and many of the minor towns 
within reach of the influence of that great attrac¬ 
tion, the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. 
Without doubt many thousands, if not millions, of 
visitors coming from every city and town in every 
state and territory, will indulge next year in a great 
national gala day, and people who no other attrac¬ 
tion would ever draw from their far-off homes, will 
visit this great exhibition. This influx of visitors 
will probably double the population, not only of 
Philadelphia, but in all the neighboring towns and 
cities during the summer and fall months, and it is 
therefore reasonable to believe that all products of 
the soil in the way of fruits or vegetables will be in ac¬ 
tive demand, and bring consequently paying prices. 
If these predictions are correct, and there is cer¬ 
tainly good reason to suppose them to be so, every 
effort should be made to increase rather than to 
lessen the area cultivated, as some no doubt, from 
the unfortunate experience of the past season, may 
have determined on doing. 
Barn-Yard Grass. 
It often happens that plants regarded not 
only as useless, but even as troublesome weeds 
in one part of the country, are valued in an¬ 
other portion. An experienced farmer in New 
Jersey, sent us for determination, a “marsh 
grass ” which he proposed to use as winter 
feed for his stock instead of “ upland grass.” 
The plant was not a grass, but a bulrush, ( Scir- 
pus pungens), generally regarded as worthless. 
Aswehadnot known of the use of this as cattle 
food, we requested our correspondent to give 
us the results of his experience with it, and we 
hope to learn more of it. A striking instance, 
or rather two instances, in which a plant usu¬ 
ally ranked as a weed, is considered valuable, 
occurred to us in a recent visit to a western 
state, and by a remarkable coincidence three 
gentlemen, one from Central Illinois, and 
two others, brothers from Tennessee, all 
wished to learn the name of a grass which they 
in widely separated localities had found to be 
of value. We heard from them high praise of 
the grass, and when the specimens were pro¬ 
duced, both proved to be the same— Panicum 
Crus-galll, a grass familiar to all eastern farmers 
as “ Barn-yard grass,” and by them regarded as 
a weed, the presence of which is an index of 
careless cultivation. This species is an annual, 
and is remarkable for its wide distribution; it 
is found in Europe and Asia, and in America 
is met with all across the continent, often in 
places where it is difficult to believe it was in¬ 
troduced, and under different aspects present¬ 
ing such a variety of forms that it is not to be 
wondered at if botanists have called it by many 
names, as sometimes it departs widely from 
the type. But few grasses are more affected 
by the character of the soil, and it is not un¬ 
usual to find specimens in a highly manured 
spot, or in the rich bottom lands of some west¬ 
ern and south-western rivers, reaching four or 
more feet in bight, with correspondingly ample 
foliage and flower clusters, while on poor soils 
it is so reduced in size and luxuriance as to ap¬ 
pear like quite a different thing. The engrav¬ 
ing on the next page shows the extremes to 
which this reduction may be carried. The 
larger cluster, at the left hand, shows in natural 
size the upper portion of a plant as it ap¬ 
pears in common soils, a foot or so of the lower 
part being omitted. By the side of this is 
placed an engraving ( B ) of a whole plant of the 
full size, as it occurs on the Maumises Torres, 
or “ Bad lands ” of Nebraska. Though but an 
inch or two high, these starved forms have all 
the characters of aud are unmistakably Pani¬ 
cum Grus-galli. The grass not only presents great 
variety in its stems and foliage, the sheaths of 
the leaves being sometimes very rough with 
coarse hairs, but in the density of its panicle 
or flower-cluster, and especially in the awns or 
bristles which accompany the flowers ; in some 
cases these are nearly wanting, and again are 
two inches or more long, and by their length 
and abundance give the plant a very striking 
aspect. Our object in calling attention to the 
Barn-yard grass is to get evidence in regard to 
the extent to which it has been used as a forage 
plant, and the value placed upon it by the 
farmers who have tried it. In the cases above 
referred to, the Illinois gentleman has a farm 
of 5,000 acres, and puts up for winter feed all 
he can get of this grass, and he is sure that he 
finds it profitable. The Tennessee gentlemen, 
also large cultivators, assure us that the Barn¬ 
yard grass will furnish on a given area of soil, 
more valuable forage “ than any other plant 
