18*2 
459 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
For  these  reasons  I  cannot  give  credence  to  the  story 
recently  told  in  The  Rural,  of  nine  double  eggs 
producing  18  perfect  chickens,  and  I  set  it  down  as  a 
kind  of  “fish  story.”  It  might  be  worth  while  for 
some  of  the  experiment  station  poultry  departments 
to  test  this  matter,  and  set  at  rest  this  disputed  ques¬ 
tion.  For  myself  I  have  exhausted  it,  having  set  many 
such  eggs  without  any  result  at  all,  and  in  one  case 
only,  the  egg  hatched  only  a  single  chick.  This  is 
quite  a  reasonable  result,  for  if  the  yolks  are  only 
nutritious  matter  for  the  support  of  the  young  chick 
I  do  not  see  any  reason  why  if  the  albuminous  part  of 
the  egg  were  perfect,  the  chick  could  not  stand  a 
double  ration  of  yolk,  but  the  difficulty  is  in  realizing 
how  this  part  of  the  egg  could  be  otherwise  than  mal¬ 
formed  by  its  deposit  over  the  double  yolks,  being 
irregularly  formed  over  the  two  spherical  yolks. 
H.  STEWART. 
Aberdeen-Angtjs  Cattle. 
A  typical  specimen  of  this  breed  is  shown  at  Fig. 
201.  This  heifer  won  the  first  prize  at  the  English 
Royal  Agricultural  Show  at  Doncaster.  It  is  said  that 
good  animals  of  this  breed  maintain  average  high 
prices  better  than  any  other  breed  in  the  world. 
While  single  specimens  of  other  breeds  may  bring 
higher  prices,  the  average  will  be  lower  and  there  will 
be  far  greater  variation  in  price. 
The  “Angus”  cattle  have  several  well  marked  char¬ 
acteristics  which  will  tend  to  keep  up  their  value. 
They  are  polled  and  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  calves 
obtained  by  crossing  them  on  other  breeds  will  be 
without  horns.  The  “  dishorning  ”  fever  has  undoubt¬ 
edly  given  the  polled  breeds  a  good  boom.  Farmers 
can  see  no  value  in  horns  and  many  of  them  do  not 
want  to  cut  or  burn  off — particularly  as  they  can  by 
crossing  with  the  “  Angus”  cattle  obtain  polled  steers 
as  good  for  beef  as  any  other  grade  cattle  that  are 
bred.  The  “  Angus”  cattle  top  the  market  both  here 
and  in  England.  They  grow  rapidly  and  make  excel¬ 
lent  beef  with  a  small  proportion  of  waste. 
When  well  tanned  and  dressed  the  hide  of  a  big 
Angus  steer  will  often  sell  for  more  than  the  carcass. 
Now  that  the  buffalo  has  disappeared  the  best  material 
for  robes  and  overcoats  is  found  in  the  fur  of  the  hardy 
Scotch  cattle  and  this  use  is  sure  to  continue  and  will 
prove  one  of  the  main  sources  of  profit  in  polled  cattle 
breeding. 
As  dairy  cattle  the  “  Angus”  breed  are  not  given  a 
high  rank,  though  one  of  the  largest  breeders  in  the 
country  claims  that  their  milk  is  exceptionally  rich 
and  that  the  cows  are  long  milkers.  The  chief  use  for 
the  breed  is  beef  making  and  “hustling.”  This  is 
just  the  animal  wanted  on  the  wild  and  hilly  farms  in 
done  and  we  commenced  haying.  As  I  did  all  the 
mowing  myself,  I  knew  exactly  how  she  was  handled, 
and  how  she  behaved  on  the  machine.  The  mower 
was  an  easy  cutting  one,  the  knives  were  sharp,  the 
grass  stood  up  well,  and  the  meadow  was  smooth.  In 
previous  years  she  had  always  been  good  on  the  ma¬ 
chine,  as  she  had  in  all  other  kinds  of  work;  but  now 
the  noise  of  the  machine,  or  something  else  seemed  to 
irritate  her  nervous  system  and  make  her  cross.  In  a 
short  time  after  they  were  hitched  up  she  commenced 
threatening  to  kick  every  time  they  turned  at  the 
ends.  It  was  not  long  before  she  would  make  one 
vigorous  kick  with  both  feet  and  then  go  on  well 
enough  to  the  next  turn,  when  the  kick  would  be  re¬ 
peated.  She  carried  her  ears  back  all  the  time,  her 
eyes  seemed  to  project  farther  out  of  her  head,  they 
were  kept  wide  open,  and  there  was  a  glare  of  fierce¬ 
ness  in  them  wrhich  I  had  never  observed  before.  At 
length  without  any  provocation  whatever,  she  com¬ 
menced  kicking  with  great  fury  and  kept  it  up  with¬ 
out  intermission  until  she  had  broken  the  double 
whiffietree  and  one  of  the  single  ones,  and  only  stopped 
from  exhaustion  of  strength. 
I  had  paid  no  attention  to  her  aggravating  be¬ 
havior  and  had  done  nothing  to  create  her  frenzy. 
As  she  had  never  kicked  on  a  wagon  we  commenced 
drawing  in  hay  with  her  in  the  afternoon,  and  she 
behaved  very  well  for  a  load  or  two  until  we  came 
near  the  place  where  she  had  kicked  on  the  machine 
in  the  forenoon,  and  then  she  kicked  with  terrific 
violence  for  four  or  five  minutes  until  she  had  kicked 
the  whiffleti’ee  from  the  wagon,  and  the  breeching 
from  her  harness,  and  then  when  her  strength  was 
exhausted,  she  threw  herself  down  over  the  tongue 
of  the  wagon  next  to  the  near  horse  and  laid  with  her 
feet  sticking  up  over  it  as  if 
might  have  had  something  to 
do  with  it.  1  had  her  served, 
but  it  did  not  make  any  differ 
ence  in  her  conduct.  She 
began  to  make  decided  objec¬ 
tions  to  being  put  in  harness, 
and  would  sometimes  kick  it  off 
before  it  was  buckled  up.  Wlnit 
was  stranger  still,  she  would 
hick  just  as  hard  when  the  har¬ 
ness  was  being  taken  off  at 
night  as  when  put  on  in  the 
morning.  When  taking  it  off 
one  night  the  teamster  was 
badly  kicked.  I  sold  her  to  a 
man  who  knew  her  character, 
and  she  was  taken  so  far  away 
that  I  never  heard  from  her 
afterwards.  From  the  great 
change  that  suddenly  took 
place  in  her  disposition  at  an 
age  when  horses’  principles  and 
habits  are  supposed  to  be  fixed, 
1  have  no  doubt  that  she  was 
insane,  with  lucid  intervals. 
The  famous  English  horse  Crusader,  which  .John  8. 
Rirey  subdued,  was  probably  insane,  lie  yielded  to 
Rarey’s  superior  knowledge  and  power,  as  a  madman 
yields  to  his  strong  keeper,  but  he  could  not  be  safely 
handled  by  others.  j.  w.  ingham. 
Leisure  Hours  in  the  Garden. 
My  garden  is  my  greatest  joy— my  fountain  of  con¬ 
tent,  my  haven  where  I  go  when  worried  with  busi¬ 
ness  cares  or  tired  with  other  toils.  In  these  hot  days 
I  do  the  most  of  my  work  in  it,  in  the  morning  hours. 
It  is  then  most  comfortably  done,  and  work  done  then 
is  more  productive  of  good  results.  The  weed  that 
gets  a  whack  from  my  hoe  might  not  be  killed  if  the 
blow  were  given  in  the  evening.  The  pesky  thing 
might  recuperate  in  the  night,  and  take  a  fresh  start 
the  next  day.  But  if  it  is  attacked  in  the  morning  the 
sun  comes  on  and  scorches  it  out  of  existence  without 
mercy. 
This  June  30  I  have  been  planting  a  few  more  ra¬ 
dishes  for  later  use — only  a  few,  as  the  demand  for 
them  is  not  so  great,  now  that  we  have  everything 
else.  I  also  sowed  some  Deacon  lettuce  seed,  which  I 
shall  transplant  for  heads  later  in  the  season,  giving 
me  a  supply  until  the  ground  freezes.  Somehow  I 
seem  to  care  more  and  more  for  fine  lettuce  as  I  grow 
older.  This  is  perhaps  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  of  so 
much  better  quality  than  it  usecP  to  be.  I  blanch  my 
lettuce  heads  until  the  whole  interior  is  as  white  as 
the  whitest  celery.  About  a  week  before  I  expect 
to  cut  the  heads,  I  gather  the  leaves  together,  cover¬ 
ing  the  heads  completely,  and  slip  a  little  rub¬ 
ber  band  around  them  to  hold  them  in  place.  This 
must  not  be  done  when  the  plants  are  wet,  for 
then  they  are  apt  to  rot-.  It  is  very  little  trouble  to 
VY*/ Ul  t, 
'‘I'M 
Poultry  and  Eggs  in  Summer. 
So  long  has  the  old  proverb  been  passed  around — 
“  Eggs  do  not  pay  in  summer,”  that  it  has  been  ac¬ 
cepted  as  a  fact,  when  the  truth  is  that  a  larger  profit 
is  made  from  eggs  in  summer  than  in  winter. 
The  winter  being  an  unnatural  season  for  laying, 
eggs  are  few,  hence  scarce.  It  is  fortunate  for  a 
farmer  +o  possess  a  flock  of  hens  that  will  lay  two  or 
three  eggs  per  week,  each,  during  the  very  cold 
months,  and  a  glance  at  the  cost  will  convince  him 
that  the  profit  is  not  exti*a  large,  even  with  high 
prices,  if  he  will  estimate  the  time  wasted  by  some  of 
the  hens,  the  labor  required  to  care  for  them,  the 
higher  price  of  food,  and  the  greater  liability  to  loss 
of  the  eggs  and  of  the  hens,  due  to  exposure. 
Where  a  free  range  is  open  to  the  hens,  upon  which 
insects,  grass,  seeds,  young 
weeds,  and  an  abundance  of 
gritty  material  may  be  easily 
found  in  summer,  there  should 
be  no  cost  whatever.  It  is  often 
injurious  to  feed  hens  during 
the  very  warm  days,  for  as  long 
as  they  come  up  at  night  with 
full  crops  they  need  no  help, 
and  the  exercise  obtained  when 
seeking  their  food  does  more  to 
keep  them  in  good  laying  con¬ 
dition  than  the  food. 
Eggs  seldom  go  below  15 
cents  in  the  New  York  market 
during  the  summer,  and  the 
retail  price  is  more,  while  they 
do  not  remain  over  30  cents  a 
dozen  for  a  great  while  in 
winter.  As  the  number  secured 
in  summer  will  balance  the 
difference  in  prices,  the  advan¬ 
tages  of  winter  laying  are  not 
so  great  as  may  be  supposed. 
If  farmers  will  question  them¬ 
selves  now,  and  ask  how  much 
their  eggs  cost,  especially 
where  the  hens  have  a  free 
range,  they  will  find  that  they 
are  about  as  nearly  receiving  something  for  nothing 
as  can  be  accomplished  by  any  known  method. 
Nor  is  poultry  much  cheaper  in  summer.  There 
was  not  a  week  during  the  whole  of  last  year  when  a 
choice  three-pound  chick  did  not  bring  20  cents  per 
pound,  (often  more)  and  these  chicks  in  June,  July 
and  August  were  raised  with  but  little  care,  and 
picked  up  at  least  one-half  of  all  they  ate,  to  say  noth¬ 
ing  of  the  fact  that  two  chicks  could  be  more  easily 
raised  in  the  summer  than  one  in  the  winter. 
I  have  a  record  of  the  prices  of  chicks,  fowls,  duck¬ 
lings,  capons  and  eggs,  for  every  week  in  the  year  of 
1801,  and  it  wrill  surprise  one  who  has  not  given  the 
matter  some  attention,  to  learn  the  fact  that,  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  cost,  higher  prices  are  received  in  summer 
than  in  winter. 
Considering  that  there  is  less  risk  of  loss  from  cold, 
that  less  food  is  required,  that  the  fowls  enjoy  better 
health,  and  that  there  are  more  eggs,  more  rapid 
growth  of  young  chicks,  and  a  greater  variety  of  food, 
while  the  fowls  care  for  themselves,  the  profits  in 
summer  are  really  enormous  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  invested. 
It  may  be  said  that  lice  are  destructive  in  summer, 
being  the  principal  drawback.  True,  but  the  best 
plan  is  not  to  allow  any  of  them  to  appear.  In  these 
days  of  kerosene  emulsions,  it  takes  but  little  labor, 
and  a  short  time,  to  get  rid  of  them  at  very  little  ex¬ 
pense.  p.  h.  JACOBS. 
*  * 
Hens  and  Potato  Bugs. — We  have  kept  about  a 
dozen  hens  every  winter  for  three  years,  and  they 
have  kept  about  a  quarter  of  an  acre  of  potatoes  so 
clean  of  bugs  that  we  have  needed  no  Paris-green,  nor 
have  we  had  the  trouble  of  picking  bugs.  They  have 
had  feed  where  they  could  get  it.  mks.  e.  m.  Salisbury, 
Aberdeen- Angus  Heifer  Valentine  5th.  Fig.  201. 
KeerwaveU  from  the  Murk  Lane  Express. 
the  back  counties  where  railroads  are  too  far  away  to 
make  even  dairying  fully  profitable.  On  these  hill¬ 
sides  the  black  cattle  would  herd  like  sheep  making 
the  best  of  meat  and  the  finest  of  fur  with  the  least 
possible  care.  Like  all  other  natives  of  Scotland,  they 
are  as  “  tough  as  boiled  owls,”  and  will  thrive  and 
grow  where  other  breeds  would  pine  away. 
Insanity  of  Horses. 
AN  INSANE  MARE. 
Insanity  among  animals  is  not  very  common  and  we 
seldom  hear  anything  said  about  it ;  but  there  is  not 
much  doubt  that  the  minds  of  animals,  like  the  minds 
of  human  beings,  become  deranged.  That  they  have 
minds,  and  some  of  them  minds  superior  to  those  of 
some  men,  no  person  who  is  well  acquainted  with 
them  will  dispute. 
1  once  bought  a  span  of  three-year-old  colts,  well 
matched  (except  as  to  color),  well  broken,  and  very 
kind  and  pleasant  to  work.  They  were  the  best  horse 
team  for  working  in  the  woods  getting  out  logs  I  ever 
saw.  They  would  wade  through  brush  and  mud  holes, 
and  climb  over  rocks  and  old  logs  almost  as  patiently 
and  steadily  as  a  yoke  of  oxen.  They  grew  to  be  a 
heavy  team,  strong,  resolute  and  true  as  steel.  Up  to 
the  age  of  10  years  they  had  no  vices  ;  but  then  one  of 
them  (a  sorrel  mare)  when  plowing  in  the  spring  of 
the  year,  commenced  kicking  while  turning  at  the 
corners,  although  the  whifile-trees  were  not  allowed 
to  hit  her  heels.  She  did  so  without  any  provocation. 
I  told  the  plowman,  who  was  a  careful,  intelligent 
young  man,  to  try  hitting  her  a  hard  blow  with  the 
whip  when  in  the  act  of  kicking.  He  tried  it,  and  said 
it  seemed  to  do  good  at  first,  but  soon  made  her  worse 
and  he  discontinued  it. 
We  managed  to  use  her  until  the  spring  work  was 
