652 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
©ct.  8 
large  consumers  of  oil,  but  the  percentage  of  those 
who  use  it  is  growing.  The  Italians  are  the  largest 
consumers.  They  buy  it  by  the  gallon  and  use  it  as 
freely  as  our  people  use  butter  and  in  much  the  same 
way.” 
“  Where  does  most  of  the  imported  oil  come  from  ?” 
“Probably  from  Leghorn,  Italy.  There  is  not  as 
much  French  oil  imported  as  Italian.” 
“  What  about  California  olive  oil  ?” 
“  California  is  making  a  very  fine  oil,  but  as  yet  the 
bulk  of  it  is  consumed  at  home.  There  is  a  little  sold 
in  New  York  and  some  in  Chicago,  but  the  amount  is 
not  yet  great.  The  olive  growers  and  oil  makers  of 
California  have  a  compact  organization  and  hold  yearly 
conventions.  They  have  strenuous  laws  against  adul¬ 
teration  and  do  not  attempt  to  sell  their  oil  in  com¬ 
petition  with  oils  of  lower  grade.  They  are  enabled 
to  keep  up  the  price,  as  their  home  trade  takes  nearly 
all  their  production.  Mr.  Ellwood  Cooper,  formerly  a 
large  olive  grower  and  the  founder  of  the  olive  oil 
trade  of  California,  says  there  is  more  pure  olive  oil 
eaten  in  Santa  Barbara  than  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
Would  you  like  to  taste  some  of  the  oils  ?” 
The  Rurai.  man  thought  he  would  and  three  samples 
were  set  before  him.  Two  were  of  Italian  oil  and  one 
California,  and  all  were  unquestionably  pure.  The 
California  oil  was  of  a  lighter  shade  than  the  Italian. 
“  Well,  now  that  you  have  tasted  them,”  said  Mr. 
Gardiner,  “  give  me  your  opinion  of  their  quality.” 
“  Well,”  said  The  Rural  representative,  “  they  are 
all  good,  but  I  like  the  California  oil  best.  They  all 
have  the  distinctive  aroma  or  bouquet  of  the  genuine 
article,  but  the  California  oil  has  more  of  the  nutty 
flavor  and  is  more  to  my  taste.  It  is,  also,  seemingly 
more  fruity  and  not  so  greasy.” 
“  That  would  be  my  taste  also,”  said  he,  “  but  it  is 
not  yet  the  taste  of  the  general  public.  Many  of  them 
prefer  an  oil  so  refined  and  filtered  that  it  has  lost  all 
flavor  and  is  simply  a  delicate,  rather  neutral  grease. 
All  the  foreign  oils  border  in  this  direction,  because 
they  are  made  to  suit  the  demand.  California  is 
destined  to  become  a  great  producer  of  olive  oil,  but  it 
takes  time.  Meantime  we  must  use  the  product  of 
Italy  or  France — preferably  the  former.” 
Water  in  Cow  Stalls. 
I  am  glad  to  notice  that  the  practice  of  keeping 
dairy  cows  in  the  stable  through  the  winter, 'and  water¬ 
ing  them  without  exposure  to  storms  or  cold  air,  is 
commended  in  The  Rural  by  several  well-known 
writers  and  practical  farmers.  After  some  experi¬ 
ments  made  in  former  years,  my  son  last  December 
built  stalls  in  the  cow  stable  and  put  in  iron  troughs 
so  that  each  cow  has  running  spring  water  constantly 
within  reach.  The  cows  were  kept  tied  in  the  stalls 
through  the  winter  with  perfect  satisfaction  to  them¬ 
selves  and  their  owner.  The  stalls  are  made  of  inch 
spruce  matched  boards  and  are  in  every  way  satisfac¬ 
tory. 
Each  cow  has  a  perfect  stall,  but  one  basin  supplies 
two  stalls.  The  stall,  at  Fig.  2G1  is  for  cows  that  weigh 
1,200  pounds  each.  For  one  weighing  900,  a  stall  nine 
inches  shorter  has  been  found  right  in  length.  Each 
cow  has  her  feed  and  water  so  supplied  that  she  can 
eat  and  drink  without  molestation.  There  is  a  board 
three  inches  wide  fastened  in  the  center  of  the  manger 
in  front  and  nailed  to  the  partition  above,  that  pre¬ 
vents  the  cows  from  getting  hay  under  their  feet. 
They  are  not  unfastened  during  the  winter.  The  same 
stalls  are  used  for  milking  in  summer,  and  the  cows 
soon  learn  so  that  they  can  be  quickly  fastened.  For 
summer  a  false  bottom  is  laid  in  the  gutter,  so  that  it 
is  but  four  inches  deep,  and  the  cows  can  readily  pass 
in  and  out.  A  wire  placed  directly  over  the  manger 
board  at  a  height  of  20  inches  from  the  floor,  prevents 
the  cows  from  lying  down  while  milking  in  summer. 
They  are  well  supplied  with  sawdust  or  straw  for  bed¬ 
ding,  and  no  difficulty  is  found  in  keeping  them  clean. 
The  stable  is  36  feet  wide,  with  two  rows  of  stalls  and  a 
feeding  floor  between,  and  a  platform  behind  the  cows  is 
wide  enough  so  that  a  sled  or  wagon  with  team  is  used 
for  removing  manure  directly  to  the  field.  The  arrange¬ 
ment  of  pipes  and  basin  is  the  patent  of  John  Allis, 
and  will  soon  be  brought  more  fully  to  public  notice. 
Lewis  County,  N.  Y.  c.  s.  rice. 
Sweet  vs.  Ripened  Cream. 
A  series  of  experiments  have  been  made  at  the  Iowa 
Experiment  Station,  which  are  recorded  in  Bulletin 
No.  18,  to  determine  the  differences  in  production  of 
butter  from  sweet  and  ripened  cream.  Nine  tests 
were  made.  Ripened  cream  produced  103  pounds  of 
butter  to  100  pounds  of  sweet  cream  in  the  aggregate 
of  the  experiments.  Sweet  cream  butter  averaged 
82.40  per  cent  of  fat,  ripened  cream  butter,  80.66. 
Sweet  cream  butter  contained  .85  per  cent  of  casein, 
sour  cream,  1.06.  The  buttermilk  was  tested  by  the 
Babcock  tester,  and  the  relative  losses  of  butter  fats 
were  as  follows  ;  sweet  cream,  100 ;  ripened  cream,  63, 
Two  10-pound  tubs,  one  each  of  sweet  and  sour 
cream  butter,  made  on  January  23  and  25,  were  kept 
in  cold  storage  at  about  50  degrees,  and  at  the  end  of 
three  months  were  examined.  The  sweet  cream 
butter  had  not  suffered  by  keeping,  but  was  found 
still  lacking  in  flavor — no  perceptible  gain  being 
noticed  in  that  direction.  The  sour  cream  butter  had 
perceptibly  suffered  by  the  keeping — was  not  quite 
sweet,  and  left  a  bad  taste  in  the  mouth.  On  the 
17th  of  June,  about  five  months  after  making,  the 
samples  were  again  examined.  The  sweet  cream 
butter  had  gained  in  butter  flavor,  and  was  then  a 
fair  article,  which  would  sell  for  table  use.  The 
butter  from  ripened  cream  was  distinctly  rancid,  fit 
only  for  cooking — not  worth  as  much  as  the  other  by 
six  cents  per  pound. 
Another  experiment  was  tried  with  two  tubs  churned 
February  17  and  19,  and  also  held  in  storage  at  50 
degrees.  They  were  examined  April  20,  an  interval 
of  two  months  having  elapsed.  The  sweet  cream  but¬ 
ter  had  not  suffered  by  keeping  and  had  acquired  con¬ 
siderable  of  the  flavor  of  ripened  cream ;  while  the 
sour  cream  butter  had  perceptibly  deteriorated.  Two 
months  later  they  were  again  examined.  The  sweet 
cream  butter  was  still  a  fair  article  and  would  sell  for 
table  use,  while  the  other  was  a  little  strong,  not 
S,  side  of  stall,  5J^  feet  long,  feet  high;  P,  partition  In  front  of 
stall,  i'A  feet  high,  with  21-lnch  space  at  bottom  left  without  board¬ 
ing;  F,  floor  of  stall,  7 14  feet:  width  of  stall,  ‘S}4  feet;  G,  water-tight 
gutter  10x10  Inches;  M,  manger  nine  Inches  high  next  to  the  cows’ 
feet;  D,  door  two  feet  wide,  held  In  position  by  three-eighths-lnch  Iron 
hook  In  place  shown  by  dotted  line;  B,  water  basin  supplied  bylt£- 
lnch  Iron  pipe  with  constant  stream  of  spring  water;  C,  point  where 
the  neck  chain  Is  fastened  two  feet  from  the  floor  and  two  feet  from 
the  front  of  the  stall. 
worth  as  much  as  the  first  by  three  or  four  cents  per 
pound. 
It  was  also  shown  by  these  tests  that  the  sour  cream 
churned  quicker  than  the  sweet.  The  sour  cream 
butter  contained  more  water  and  less  fat  than  the 
other.  The  sweet  cream  butter  did  not  take  the  color 
as  well  as  butter  from  ripened  cream — it  was  always 
some  shades  lighter  in  color. 
Leavings. 
Who  Patronize  Fakirs  ? — One  of  our  contempora¬ 
ries  in  a  well-written  denunciation  of  the  gamblers 
who  infest  some  of  the  country  fairs,  concludes  with 
the  following : 
The  wTlieel-of-fortune  is  a  skin-gambling  device  of 
the  most  transparent  sort,  a  machine  which  luck  can¬ 
not  beat,  and  which  only  country  young  men  unac¬ 
customed  to  gambling  games  and  devices  are  foolish 
enough  to  tackle.  It  would  hardly  seem  necessary  to 
warn  even  the  most  verdant  ruralist  from  Hooppole 
County  against  the  wiles  of  the  wheel-of-fortune,  but 
we  must  remember  that  we  have  not  yet  outlived  the 
era  of  gold  bricks,  green  goods,  widows’  horses,  and 
other  forms  of  bunco  even  simpler  than  the  country 
fair  wheel. 
The  Rural  protests  against  the  imputation  that 
these  games  are  mainly  patronized  by  “ruralists,”  for 
such  is  not  the  case.  Most  county  fairs  are  held  in  or 
near  some  of  the  larger  towns  in  the  section,  and  it  is 
from  these  that  the  gamblers  draw  their  main  supply 
of  victims.  There  is  no  skin  game  so  transparent 
that  denizens  of  cities  will  not  flock  to  it  and  give  up 
their  cash  in  a  reckless  endeavor  to  beat  it.  Every 
race  track  near  the  great  cities  most  aptly  illustrates 
this  fact.  Large  cities  like  New  York  and  Chicago  ctn 
furnish  a  larger  percentage  of  gulls  than  any  rural 
district  in  the  United  States.  It  is  a  libel  on  the  farm¬ 
ers  and  their  sons  to  imply  that  they  constitute  the 
principal  source  of  supply  for  the  skin  gamblers  that 
are  found  at  so  many  fairs. 
Gov.  Tillman  and  His  State. — There  is  more  poli¬ 
tics  to  the  acre  in  the  Southern  States  than  to  the 
square  mile  in  the  North.  This  is,  no  doubt,  one  cause 
of  the  poor  condition  of  agriculture.  Having  resided 
for  seven  years  just  past  in  a  Southern  State,  and  being 
yet  a  citizen  of  one  and  living  within  a  few  miles  of 
the  South  Carolina  line,  I  know  something  of  the  con-, 
dition  of  things  existing  there.  In  explaining  this,  I 
peed  scarcely  do  wore  than  call  attention  to  the  state¬ 
ment  of  T.  R.  H.,  page  606,  where  Gov.  Tillman  is 
charged  with  having  raised  the  tax  list,  and  saying  he 
would  tax  every  enterprise  to  its  utmost  limit.  Now 
this  is  a  key  to  explain  much  of  the  situation  in  the 
South,  which  appears  to  be  suffering  from  too  much 
politics.  How  can  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  do 
this?  It  is  the  business  of  the  legislature  and  not  of 
the  Governor  to  levy  taxes,  and  a  farmer  should  re¬ 
joice  when  a  Governor  is  able  to  sign  a  bill  passed  by 
a  legislature  assessing  the  railroads  to  a  fair  value, 
instead  of  letting  them  off  at  a  nominal  tax  and  levy¬ 
ing  a  tax  on  a  poor  farmer’s  bedding  and  crockery  and 
his  one  pig  or  mule.  The  fact  is  that  the  railroads  of 
the  South  are  very  much  the  cause  of  the  discontent 
and  depression  of  Southern  agriculture.  The  present 
condition  of  the  leading  railroad  system  of  the  South, 
the  Richmond  Terminal,  is  one  example  of  this.  The 
railroad  men  have  become  millionaires  by  the  water¬ 
ing  of  stocks  and  issuing  of  bonds,  and  oppress  the 
people  by  charging  enormous  rates  for  freight  to  pay 
interest  and  dividends  on  the  inflated  capital.  The  fer¬ 
tilizer  interests  are  taxed  enormously,  no  doubt,  and 
so  are  banks  and  capitalists  who  loan  money  to  far¬ 
mers,  and,  of  course,  farmers  pay  for  all,  and  the  general 
poverty  depresses  them.  But  it  is  all  wrong  to  blame 
a  Governor  for  this,  and  especially  one  who  is  not  a 
creature  of  the  railroads  and  who  is  in  opposition  to 
the  rings  and  combinations  who  do  harm  to  the  South. 
There  are  many  wealthy  men  in  the  South  who  have 
made  large  fortunes  in  the  last  25  years  by  speculation, 
and  all  their  wealth  has  come,  one  way  or  another, 
out  of  the  farmers  ;  and  the  revolution,  as  it  may  be 
termed,  by  which  Mr.  Tillman  became  Governor  was 
got  up  by  the  farmers,  who,  it  seems,  have  not  done 
with  him  yet.  The  case  is  a  complicated  one,  it  must 
be  confessed,  and  the  Third  Party  has  not  succeeded 
in  straightening  it  out,  but,  until  it  is  straightened 
out,  the  Southern  farmers  will  continue  to  be  dissat¬ 
isfied,  and  with  good  reason.  h.  s. 
A  Lesson  in  Clover. — Two  years  ago,  I  broke  part 
of  a  clover  meadow  for  wheat  immediately  after  har¬ 
vest  ;  then  stopped  a  month  to  thrash  ;  then  cut  the 
seeds  off  the  unbroken  clover  and  plowed  it  under. 
Both  early  and  late  plowings  were  sowed  the  same 
day.  I  could  see  no  difference  in  that  crop  of  wheat ; 
but  the  drought  killed  the  clover  and  the  land  was 
again  broken  for  wheat.  The  second  crop  straggled 
badly  on  the  part  broken  early  two  years  before, 
and  seemed  weak  and  failing  ;  while  where  the  clover 
had  matured  seed  the  second  wheat  crop  was  good.  It 
may  be  well  to  break  early  and  roll  down  as  I  often 
do  ;  but  if  one  has  a  good  clover  sod  it  appears  to  pay 
well  to  wait  for  the  clover  plant  to  mature.  In  Talks 
on  Manures,  by  Harris,  page  157,  we  have  this  :  Weight 
of  dry  clover  roots  per  acre  in  soil  cut  for  hay,  but  not 
for  seed,  1,493  pounds;  weight  of  above  where  the 
clover  was  cut  for  hay  and  then  for  seed,  3,622  pounds  ; 
increase  of  weight  of  roots  in  mature  plants,  2,129 
pounds  ;  nitrogen  in  roots  of  first  plot,  24  pounds  per 
acre  ;  nitrogen  in  roots  of  second  plot,  51  pounds  per 
acre  ;  gain  of  nitrogen  per  acre  by  allowing  clover 
plants  to  mature,  27  pounds  per  acre.  This  may  show 
why  my  ground  sustained  a  second  wheat  crop  much 
better  where  the  clover  was  left  to  be  cut  for  seed. 
E.  H.  COLLINS. 
Noxious  Plants. — Referring  to  the  remarks  in  a 
late  Rural  in  regard  to  the  supposed  poisonous  char¬ 
acter  of  the  wilted  leaves  of  the  wild  cherry  (Prunus 
serotina),  I  would  say  that  there  is  a  well  founded  be¬ 
lief  among  intelligent  farmers  in  the  South  that  the 
wilted  foliage  of  our  evergreen  cherry  (P.  Caroliniana), 
the  so-called  Mock  Orange  of  the  South,  are  poisonous 
to  cattle.  This  belief  is  so  general  among  observant 
farmers  here  that  I  am  inclined  to  give  it  credit.  I 
have  never  heard  here  that  P.  serotina  is  poisonous, 
but  would  it  not  be  well  to  ascertain  whether  the 
wilted  leaves  of  any  of  the  genus  develop  injurious 
qualities?  Of  course  plants  get  a  reputation  for  pois¬ 
onous  qualities,  and  the  statement  is  passed  around 
and  handed  down  without  proper  investigation.  I  was 
told,  this  summer,  of  several  instances  in  which  the 
trimmings  of  the  Mock  Orange  were  believed  to  have 
caused  the  death  of  cattle.  But  “give  a  dog  a  bad 
name,  etc,:”  who  knows,  for  instance,  that  the  spiked 
darnel  (Lolium  temulentum)  is  really  poisonous  ? 
Virgil  called  it  “  Infelix  lolium  ”  and  from  that  day 
to  this  it  has  been  reputed  poisonous.  Of  course  it 
is  a  worthless  grass  and  should  be  exterminated,  but 
does  any  one  know  that  it  is  really  poisonous?  By 
the  by,  this  same  unhappy  rye  grass  is  in  some  sec¬ 
tions  the  plant  called  “  cheat,”  and  is  the  plant  in 
those  sections  into  which  wheat  changes;  while  in  most 
sections  wheat  is  “  transmogrified  ”  into  a  bromus.  In 
the  southern  end  of  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland, 
wheat,  when  it  gets  tired  of  being  wheat,  always 
changes  to  Lolium  temulentum;  here  and  northward  it 
chooses  Bromus  secalinus.  A.  f.  massey. 
Maternal  Brown  Leghorns. — I  am  ready  with  S. 
A.  Little  to  come  to  the  defense  of  the  Leghorn  as  a 
