3oo 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
May  7 
A  Little  Ensilage  Talk. 
I  have  used  silos  five  years.  Mine  are  built  inside 
the  barn,  wholly  above  ground,  a  single  thickness  of 
boards  jointed  but  not  matched,  nailed  to  the  barn 
frame  ;  no  tarred  paper.  Frost  has  not  troubled  me. 
My  silos  are  four-cornered.  No  loss  has  occurred  sum¬ 
mer  or  winter,  from  day  to  day,  when  only  one  inch  in 
depth  of  the  surface  has  been  taken  off  twice  daily,  if 
removed  with  a  shovel.  When  a  fork  has  been  used 
much  loose  ensilage  was  left  exposed  to  the  action  of 
the  air,  causing  deterioration.  The  average  hired  man 
will  use  the  fork  every  time  unless  cautioned  against  it. 
I  use  and  prefer  the  Ross  Little  Giant  14  A.  ensilage 
and  fodder  cutter,  which  is  run  with  a  two-horse  tread 
power.  The  corn  is  cut  in  the  field  by  hand ;  no 
machine  that  I  have  used  or  tried  to  use  works  with 
satisfaction  when  the  big  stalks  are  down.  I  have 
tried  Pride  of  the  North,  Learning  and  B.  and  W 
ensilage  corn,  and  much  prefer  the  last  for  dairy 
feeding,  as  on  my  rich  soil  from  30  to  40  tons  per  acre 
of  ensilage  are  grown,  well  eared  with  slightly  dented 
corn,  the  kernels  remaining  comparatively  soft  and 
the  large  stalks  with  their  thick,  leathery  leaves  re¬ 
tain  their  green  color  and  sweet  juices  under  several 
degrees  of  frost,  giving  us  a  longer  season  in  which  to 
fill  the  silos  with  rich,  succulent  ensilage  without  hurry 
or  extra  help  ;  while  the  common  field  varieties  ripen 
and  harden  very  quickly  after  the  kernels  begin  to 
dent  or  glaze,  and  the  first  frost  withers  the  plant  and 
greatly  detracts  from  the  value  of  the  ensilage  unless 
hurried  quickly  into  the  silo.  I  have  also  found  no 
kernels  of  the  B.  and  W.  corn  voided  whole,  while 
with  the  other  varieties  quite  a  loss  occurs  in  this  way, 
especially  when  no  hogs  follow  the  cattle,  or  the  man¬ 
ure  is  hauled  directly  from  the  stables  to  the  field. 
My  ensilage  is  drawn  from  the  field  on  a  low  wagon 
of  my  own  invention.  My  son  and  self  usually  put  up 
about  50  tons  a  week,  using  two  horses  in  the  tread 
power  and  two  on  the  wagon,  hauling  the  corn  about 
60  rods.  We  take  three  or  four  weeks  to  fill  our  silos. 
Our  daily  chores  consume  considerable  time  leaving 
comparatively  short  days  for  work  in  the  field. 
Butter  Making. — My  cows  are  full-blood  Jerseys, 
and  I  use  in  winter  one  teaspoonful  of  Wells,  Richard¬ 
son  &  Co.  Butter  Color  to  15  pounds  of  butter,  poured 
into  the  cream  just  before  starting  the  churn.  The 
cream  is  raised  by  the  gravity  process  and  churned  in 
a  Batcheller  revolving  churn.  The  churn  is  stopped 
when  granules  the  size  of  small  shot  are  formed. 
Then  the  buttermilk  is  drawn  off  and  the  butter  washed 
till  the  water  runs  clear.  The  butter  is  then  allowed 
to  drain  about  10  minutes.  Ashton  salt,  one  ounce  to 
the  pound  of  butter,  is  then  well  stirred  into  and  in¬ 
corporated  with  the  granular  mass  which  is  allowed  to 
stand  an  hour  in  a  temperature  of  70  degrees  to  drain, 
when  the  butter  is  packed  for  market  directly  from  the 
churn. 
I  always  leave  calves  with  their  mothers  three  days, 
separating  them  at  night;  during  the  following  day 
the  calf  will  take  kindly  to  its  keeper’s  fingers  im¬ 
mersed  in  warm,  fresh  milk.  The  finger  should  be 
gradually  withdrawn  as  the  calf  acquires  the  drink 
habit  and  no  “calf  feeder”  is  needed,  p.  H.  munroe. 
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Breeding  and  Buying  Jersey  Bulls. 
D.  C.  S.,  Jasper,  N.  Y.—l.  I  have  some  high-grade 
Jersey  heifer  calves  that  I  wish  to  breed  next  Decem¬ 
ber.  Should  I  buy  a  new  bull  or  have  them  served  by 
their  sire  ?  2.  Will  their  first  calves  be  good  enough 
to  raise  for  cows  ?  3.  How  shall  I  proceed  to  pick  out 
a  good  Jersey  bull? 
1.  If  their  sire  is  a  good  one,  I  would  have  them 
bred  to  him  from  choice,  as  I  believe  the  result  will  be 
better  than  to  breed  to  another  bull,  for  the  good 
qualities  of  their  sire  will  be  more  strongly  impressed 
upon  their  calves  than  would  those  of  a  bull  not  re¬ 
lated  to  them.  This  is  qualified,  however,  by  the  pre¬ 
potency  of  the  two  bulls ;  the  bull  not  related  may  be 
so  much  the  more  prepotent  than  the  heifers’  sire  that 
calves  from  his  service  may  be  better.  But  I  suppose  all 
that  the  inquirer  wishes  to  know  is  whether  it  will  do 
to  breed  cows  to  their  own  sire.  I  have  found  it  good 
practice  to  do  so.  2.  Of  course  they  will.  Some  seem 
to  think  that  a  heifer’s  first  calf  is  not  fit  to  raise ;  I 
don’t  see  how  they  got  such  a  notion,  it  certainly  is 
wrong  according  to  my  experience.  A  friend  asked 
me  the  same  question  yesterday  ;  he  said  he  had  been 
told  that  first  calves  were  not  good  for  anything. 
3.  Pedigree  counts  as  the  most  important  factor  here  ; 
not  only  herd  book  pedigree  but  the  butter  pedigree 
of  the  dams  on  both  sides  of  the  line.  If  the  bull  has 
a  good  pedigree  and  the  dams  for  one  or  two  genera¬ 
tions  have  good  butter  records,  then  all  that  is  neces¬ 
sary  in  addition  is  to  see  that  the  bull  is  of  the  Jersey 
type  in  form — color  doesn’t  count,  no  matter  whether 
it  be  solid  or  broken.  When  I  say  “Jersey  type”  I 
have  in  mind  some  Jersey  bulls  that  I  have  seen  that, 
if  they  had  been  roans  or  reds  in  color,  would  have  led 
almost  any  one,  except  breeders  of  Short-horns  to  call 
them  specimens  of  that  breed.  I  would  select  a  Jersey 
bull  with  as  few  beef  points  as  possible,  cat-hammed, 
with  a  slim  tail.  I  wouldn’t  be  particular  about  its 
length — wide  between  the  eyes  with  a  dished  face,  soft 
hair  and  hide  and  the  more  devil  in  him  the  better,  for 
I  wouldn’t  keep  a  bull  outside  of  my  safety  bull  pen. 
I  believe  “devil  ”  in  a  bull  counts ;  at  least  in  a  Jersey 
bull.  A.  L.  CROSBY. 
1.  I  do  not  believe  that  as  a  general  rule  inbreed¬ 
ing  is  safe  or  profitable.  Still  it  is  true  that  some 
of  the  most  famous  Jersey  cows  have  been  produced 
by  breeding  the  heifers  to  their  own  sires.  Much 
depends  upon  their  physique  ;  if  they  are  large-boned, 
broad-chested,  healthy  cows  it  might  do  ;  but  the 
safest  way  is  to  breed  to  another  bull.  2.  I  have 
always  found  that  the  first  calves  made  just  as  good 
cows  as  the  second  or  third.  3.  If  the  inquirer  is  a 
good  judge  of  the  points  necessary  for  a  first-class 
Jersey  bull,  let  him  examine  different  animals  until 
he  has  found  one  that  fills  the  bill.  If  he  is  not,  let 
him  apply  to  a  first-class  Jersey  breeder  to  select  one 
for  him  and  he  will  no  doubt  then  be  certain  to  get  a 
good  animal.  A.  devereux. 
I  wish  I  knew  how  many  heifer  calves  this  subscriber 
has  and  whether  their  sire  is  an  aged  animal  whose 
get  have  proved  his  desirability,  or  whether  he  is  a 
young  bull  with  a  record  yet  to  be  made  as  a  sire  of 
butter  cows.  1.  To  breed  these  calves  to  their  sire 
will  tend  to  intensify  the  type  of  the  sire  and  the  dairy 
qualities  of  his  dam  in  the  resulting  offspring,  which, 
if  known  to  be  desirable,  would  warrant  such  in-breed- 
ing;  but  with  a  young  sire  I  would  advise  the  measure 
only  with  a  few  as  an  experiment.  2.  As  to  the  dairy 
value  of  the  heifer  calves  from  these  young  mothers, 
much  depends  on  the  care  given  from  the  start.  Many 
good  cows  have  been  the  first  calves  of  quite  young 
mothers;  but  in  starting  a  Jersey  dairy  from  heifer 
calves,  by  purchase,  I  would  as  a  rule,  choose  those 
from  mature  cows.  3.  Did  I  wish  to  buy  a  good  Jer¬ 
sey  bull  for  use  in  a  herd  of  grade  cows,  I  would  go  to 
the  breeder  of  the  best  herd  in  my  vicinity  (almost 
every  State  has  some  fine  herds)  and  describe  to  him 
my  cows  and  be  guided  in  my  selection  quite  as  much 
by  his  knowledge  as  by  my  own  judgment.  Oppor¬ 
tunity  would  be  thus  afforded  to  study  the  pedigrees 
and  constitutional  vigor  of  different  animals,  without 
which  a  dairy  sire  is  useless.  p.  h.  munroe. 
1.  In  my  own  case,  I  have  carefully  avoided  such 
close  in-breeding,  because  it  has  not  been  necessary, 
and  because  I  have  a  repugnance  to  it.  It  is,  however, 
practiced  to  some  extent,  I  think,  and  with  good  re¬ 
sults.  2.  My  best  cow  was  the  first  calf  of  a  heifer, 
and  I  have  another  which  bids  fair  to  make  a  very  ex¬ 
cellent  cow.  I  do  not  know  where  the  idea  originated 
that  first  calves  make  poor  cows,  but  I  do  not  think  it 
is  true  of  the  Jerseys,  and  I  should  keep  my  heifer 
calves  by  all  means.  3.  I  would  go  to  a  man  who  is  a 
good  breeder  and  trustworthy,  and  tell  him  what  I 
wanted.  Remember  that  the  further  back  careful 
breeding  has  been  carried,  the  surer  will  you  be  of 
getting  good  stock.  But  six  generations  are  enough 
to  weed  out,  to  a  great  extent,  the  tendency  to  pro¬ 
duce  poor  stock.  A  bull  may  be  an  ideal  animal  in 
himself,  but  if  he  has  not  been  carefully  bred  for  sev¬ 
eral  generations,  he  may  beget  calves  which  take  after 
some  poor  ancestor,  and  cause  disappointment  and 
loss.  This  point  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon. 
In  choosing  a  bull,  you  must  look  not  only  at  the  an:- 
mal  himself,  but  also  at  his  ancestry,  so  it  is  always 
best  to  buy  of  a  trustworthy  man,  one  whose  word  you 
can  trust  as  to  the  pedigree  of  the  animal  he  has  to 
sell.  J.  w.  NEWTON. 
What  Food  for  an  Orchard  ? 
W.  W.  F.,  Ohio. — With  a  large  acreage  of  orchard  on 
a  sandy  loam  (clay  subsoil)  of  fair  fertility,  good 
clover  soil,  and  not  as  much  manure  as  could  be 
desired,  which  is  the  better  for  bearing  orchards, 
clean  culture  and  bare  ground  or  clover  grown  and 
turned  under  ? 
% 
From  35  years’  experience  and  observation  here  in 
Montgomery  County,  Ohio,  I  would  recommend,  for 
such  soil  for  a  bearing  orchard  of  apples,  pears  and 
cherries,  to  sow  clover,  then  plow  under  every  other 
year,  and  for  peaches,  annual  and  free  uent  culture, 
until  the  fruit  has  matured,  but  not  later.  N.  ohmer. 
’Tis  a  hard  question  to  answer.  Apples  to  be  profit¬ 
able,  must  be  well  fed.  Clover,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is 
good  food,  but  it  does  not  afford  nearly  enough  food, 
nor  of  the  right  kind  and  proportion  for  bearing  trees; 
and  it  makes  its  growth  at  about  the  same  time  as  the 
trees,  thus  competing  with  them  for  nutriment.  An 
apple  orchard  in  bearing  requires  as  heavy  manur¬ 
ing  as  a  potato  crop  to  yield  good-sized  apples,  and 
produce  enough  growth  of  wood.  Stable  manure  is 
best.  T.  H.  HOSKINS. 
As  a  commercial  venture  plenty  of  manure,  high 
cultivation,  producing  heavy  fruiting,  with  a  conse¬ 
quent  rapid  exhaustion  of  the  trees,  would  probably 
show  the  largest  percentage  of  profit.  Under  the  con¬ 
ditions  stated,  however,  it  will  doubtless  be  best  to 
cultivate  with  hoe  crops,  using  what  manure  may  be 
available,  till  the  trees  are  in  full  bearing  ;  after  which 
turn  under  a  crop  of  clover  as  often  as  practicable, 
using  also  such  manure  as  can  be  obtained.  All  the 
clover  grown  should  go  into  the  soil.  t.  t.  lyon. 
One  ought  to  know  a  great  deal  about  the  details  of 
conditions  to  make  a  prescription  for  orchard  manage¬ 
ment,  and  I  always  hesitate  to  give  counsel  unless  I 
am  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  existing  facts.  I 
should  use  clean  culture  for  a  few  years,  watching  my 
trees  closely  and  if  from  appearances  more  barnyard 
manure  was  required  than  I  could  command,  I  should 
use  commercial  fertilizers,  and  should  certainly  try  a 
crop  of  rye  occasionally,  sowing  it  early  in  the  season  (I 
mean  early  in  autumn),  and  turning  it  under  in  May 
and  giving  subsequent  tillage  in  a  thorough  manner. 
If  a  crop  of  clover  could  be  secured  taking  but  little 
more  time  than  the  rye  before  it  is  fit  to  be  turned 
under,  I  should  favor  its  use.  In  case  of  seeding  down 
for  two  or  three  years  I  should  certainly  arrange  to 
feed  sheep  or  hogs  upon  the  sod  and  thus  enrich  the 
ground  while  reducing  to  a  minimum  the  injury  from 
remaining  in  sod.  c.  w.  garfield. 
My  experience  and  observation  lead  me  to  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  the  fertility  of  an  orchard  on  the  soil 
described  can  be  kept  up  with  less  manuring  under 
clean  cultivation  in  the  early  part  of  the  season  by 
horse  and  cultivator  or  shallow  plowing  and  harrowing 
if  the  ground  can  be  shaded  in  July  and  August  with 
some  kind  of  a  mulch  than  where  crops  of  grain  or 
grass  are  taken  off.  An  application  of  lime  each 
alternate  year,  spread  broadcast  and  cultivated  in,  will 
help  to  keep  the  land  sweet.  Where  it  is  not  practicable 
to  apply  mulching,  I  should  prefer  to  keep  the  orchard 
in  clover  or  buckwheat,  cutting  it  often  enough  to 
prevent  the  seed  from  ripening  and  leaving  it  upon  the 
ground  as  a  mulching.  If  the  ground  was  plowed  deep 
before  the  orchard  was  planted  and  for  a  few  years 
afterwards  while  the  trees  were  young,  it  can  be  re¬ 
seeded  to  clover  as  often  as  needed  without  plowing, 
but  it  should  be  well  harrowed.  j.  s.  Harris. 
Give  the  Sheep  a  Fair  Chance. 
If  my  answer  is  to  be  confined  to  the  specific  ques¬ 
tion  as  stated,  I  should  unhesitatingly  say  :  Grow  all 
the  clover  possible  and  plow  it  down.  But  as  there  is 
a  much  better  way,  I  would  not  advise  either.  Every 
barrel  of  apples  grown  in  the  orchard  and  taken  there¬ 
from,  if  of  good  size,  carries  with  it  1.31  pound  of 
nitrogen,  .67  pound  of  phosphoric  acid  and  1.68  pound 
of  potash  (much  more  if  the  fruit  is  small),  all  of  which 
must  be  replaced  if  the  soil  of  the  orchard  is  to  be  kept 
up  in  fertility  ;  and  these  elements  would  cost  in  the 
fertilizer  about  three  [?  Eds.]  cents.  The  soil  indicated 
is  quite  likely,  if  “  old  ground”  and  long  in  bearing,  to 
be  deficient  in  all  these  elements.  Now,  keeping  it  raw 
and  constantly  cultivated  cannot  add  anything  to  the 
soil ;  on  the  contrary,  it  would  facilitate  the  blowing 
away  of  the  foliage,  which  will  take  nearly  as  much  of 
the  three  elements  of  fertility  as  will  the  fruit. 
If  clover  could  be  grown  and  all  plowed  in,  it  would 
add  considerably  to  the  stock  of  nitrogen,  but  could 
add  nothing  of  either  of  the  other  two  elements 
which  are  equally  essential  to  productiveness.  At  the 
South,  where  Crimson  or  Italian  Clover — Trifolium  in- 
carnatum — flourishes,  it  may  be  sown  each  fall,  and 
the  growth  plowed  down  each  succeeding  spring,  and 
by  the  application  of  phosphate  and  potash  in  some 
form  to  the  soil,  I  doubt  not  that  orchards  can  be 
maintained  in  full  health  and  productiveness.  But 
here,  at  the  North,  the  conditions  are  very  different. 
Clover  seeded  in  the  fall  rarely  survives  the  winter, 
and,  if  it  does,  its  growth  does  not  amount  to  much  in 
time  to  be  plowed  down  before  the  severe  summer 
droughts  which  usually  occur,  and  then,  if  still  grow¬ 
ing,  being  a  deep-rooted  plant,  it  takes  the  moisture 
from  the  trees,  and  does  fully  as  much  harm  as  good. 
If  we  only  had  a  leguminous  plant  that  could  be  sowed 
in  the  fall,  say  in  September,  and  make  a  good  growth 
to  cover  the  ground  and  hold  the  leaves  from  being 
blown  awajr,  growing  quickly  in  spring  so  as  to  give  a 
large  amount  of  foliage  to  be  plowed  down  in  the  suc¬ 
ceeding  May  or  June,  we  would  be  masters  of  the 
situation  ;  we  could  easily  maintain  our  orchards  in 
fertility.  But,  as  we  have  no  such  plant,  I  have  adopted 
a  plan  which  works  well  and  which  I  strongly  recoin- 
