1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
8 1 3 
length  and  weight  of  the  fleece.  As  for  feeding,  I 
believe  it  is  a  good  rule  to  keep  fewer  sheep  and  keep 
them  better.  Keep  sheep  in  good  thriving  condition 
from  the  time  they  are  born  until  they  leave  the  farm. 
This  means  better  lambs,  more  and  better  wool  and  a 
better  flock  in  which  the  farmer  can  take  more  pride. 
Watkins,  N.  Y.  chas.  chapman. 
A  Proposed  Sheep  Industry  “  Knocked  Out." 
Since  a  protective  tariff  was  placed  on  wool,  flocks 
of  fine-wool  and  mutton  sheep  have  increased  rapidly 
in  Ohio.  The  flockmasters  had  confidence  in  their 
business,  and  the  industry  was  not  a  matter  of  specu¬ 
lation.  Although  the  supply  might  be  great  and  the 
demand  not  very  encouraging,  they  knew  full  well 
that  American  labor  and  American  industry  were  pro¬ 
tected.  Should  wool  be  put  on  the  free  list,  in  my 
judgment  sheep  husbandry  would  be  greatly  crippled, 
our  flocks  would  go  down  as  they  did  a  few  years  prior 
to  the  passage  of  the  McKinley  bill.  The  expectation 
of  the  removal  or  reduction  of  the  tariff  on  wool  has 
already  had  a  marked  effect  on  the  prices  of  sheep.  The 
drop  has  been  the  shepherd’s  lamentation  and  is  keenly 
felt  by  breeders  of  all  parties.  Below  is  a  clipping 
from  a  correspondent  in  this  county,  which  shows 
clearly  the  feeling  of  wool  growers  in  this  section  : 
The  election  of  the  free-trade  party  on  November  8  knocked  Into 
a  cccked  hat  an  Industry  about  to  be  started  here,  viz:  a  lar«e  sheep 
ranch.  8ome  Eastern  capitalists  and  a  gentleman  from  this  city  In¬ 
tended  to  make  the  venture.  They  expected  to  start  with  10,000  sheep, 
but  their  hopes  went  glimmering  on  the  election  of  the  free-trade 
party. 
Ohio  farmers  in  this  section  will  raise  sheep  if  there 
is  any  possible  chance  for  remuneration.  Much  of  our 
land  is  especially  adapted  to  pasturage,  and  the  fer¬ 
tility  of  the  soil  is  kept  up  better  by  sheep  than  by  any 
other  stock,  and,  in  case  the  duty  is  taken  off  wool,  it 
is  my  opinion  the  breeding  and  feeding  of  the  mutton 
breeds  will  predominate.  These  are  already  gaining 
favor  among  breeders  and  feeders  in  this  State. 
Bellefontaine,  O.  G.  A.  henky. 
THE  BLACK  KNOT  LAW. 
What  In  your  judgment  has  been  the  effect  of  the  Black  Knot  Law 
passed  by  the  New  York  Legislature?  Are  Its  provisions  generally 
observed  ?  I>o  people  generally  favor  It  ?  Will  It  prove  effective,  or 
will  further  legislation  bo  needed? 
So  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  provisions  of  the  law  have 
not  been  observed  in  this  locality.  But  very  few  of 
our  people  apparently  know  or  care  anything  about  it. 
Perhaps  the  fact  that  black  knot  is  not  a  severe 
scourge  in  this  vicinity  accounts  for  this  indifference. 
Barker’s.  W.  Y.  M. 
I  have  made  inquiries  of  quite  a  large  number  of 
plum  growers  and  find  that  the  law  is  generally 
thought  well  of,  and  that  if  carried  into  practice  it 
would  do  much  good.  I  do  not  know  of  any  town  in 
Orleans  County  where  it  has  yet  been  carried  into 
effect.  It  was  not  passed  until  last  May — too  late  for 
fruit  growers  to  derive  much  advantage  from  it  the 
present  season.  The  law  is  a  good  one,  and  thor¬ 
oughly  carried  into  effect  will  do  much  good. 
Ridgeway.  j.  h. 
The  effect  of  the  law  has  been  good  as  far  as  it  has 
been  carried  out  and  I  think  it  is  the  intention  of  most 
of  the  commissioners  to  fully  carry  out  its  provisions, 
and  the  people  generally  take  to  it  well.  As  to  further 
legislation,  I  have  heard  that  all  the  commissioners 
have  to  sign  an  order  to  have  the  trees  cut  down,  which 
I  think  a  cause  of  unnecessary  expense  in  getting  them 
all  together,  while  only  one  signature  should  answer. 
Hall’s  Corners.  t.  b.  w. 
Our  supervisors  have  not  appointed  any  one  to  look 
out  for  black  knot ;  but  I  think  the  law  one  of  the 
best  that  could  be  passed  to  save  the  plum  trees.  The 
only  way  to  enforce  such  a  law  is  to  compel  the  super¬ 
visors  to  appoint  men  to  examine  the  orchards  under 
penalty  of  a  fine.  I  have  a  plum  orchard  of  over  1,000 
trees  and  watch  them  and  if  I  see  a  knot  I  cut  it  off. 
All  of  my  trees  are  healthy  and  easily  watched. 
Medina.  D.  B. 
The  black  knot  law  has  been  quite  generally  enforced 
in  the  vicinity  of  Geneva,  and  some  of  the  most  exten¬ 
sive  plum  growers  here  inform  me  that  they  have  had 
comparatively  little  trouble  from  the  disease  this  sea¬ 
son.  In  some  sections  of  the  State  the  plum  growers 
have  not  yet  awakened  to  the  realization  of  the  fact 
that  if  they  want  the  law  enforced  in  their  vicinity 
they  must  take  the  initiative  by  requesting  the  super¬ 
visor  or  mayor  to  appoint  the  black  knot  commis¬ 
sioners.  When  the  nature  of  the  disease  is  understood 
the  people  at  once  recognize  the  reasonableness  of  the 
law’s  requirements  and  willingly  cut  out  and  burn  the 
knot.  I  believe  The  R.  N.-Y.  can  do  the  plum  growers 
great  good  by  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  this 
law  enables  them  to  protect  their  plum  orchards  from 
the  germs  of  the  disease  developed  in  their  neighbors’ 
neglected  trees.  Impress  on  their  minds  the  necessity 
of  requesting  their  supervisor  or  mayor  to  appoint 
these  commissioners.  The  knots  are  easily  discovered 
now  that  the  foliage  is  off  and  should  at  once  be  re¬ 
moved.  since  they  begin  to  discharge  the  spores  in 
February.  If  the  knots  are  now  removed  and  a  vigil¬ 
ant  watch  is  kept  for  the  appearance  of  the  summer 
form  of  the  disease  it  can  be  at  least  controlled  if 
not  eradicated.  s.  A.  be\ch. 
Geneva  Experiment  Station. 
As  nearly  as  I  can  ascertain,  the  black-knot  law  has 
not  been  the  success  that  was  hoped  or  expected,  be¬ 
cause  of  a  failure  to  enforce  its  provisions.  So  far  as 
this  town  is  concerned,  it  has  been  thoroughly  en¬ 
forced,  for  the  reason  that  good  commissioners  were 
appointed  with  a  backing  of  public  sentiment  suffi¬ 
ciently  strong  to  push  it  through,  and  the  result  is 
that  little  of  the  scourge  remains  to  be  seen  to-day,  but 
the  work  must  be  continued  to  be  effectual.  We  are 
now  engaged  in  going  over  our  orchard  and  find 
scarcely  a  trace  as  compared  with  our  experience  in 
former  years.  But  the  masses  of  the  people  through 
the  country  are  so  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  the  dis¬ 
ease,  and  so  apathetic  upon  the  subject  that  I  incline 
to  the  opinion  that  further  legislation  may  be  required 
to  accomplish  the  work  intended.  Now  is  the  time 
to  do  the  work  before  the  winter  spores  mature,  and 
take  root  for  another  crop.  s.  d.  willakd. 
Geneva. 
The  law  has  not  as  yet  effected  much  hereabouts, 
as  it  has  not  been  observed  in  this  section.  Everybody 
favors  it  in  a  passive  way,  just  as  they  favor  the  law 
concerning  foul  stuffs  going  to  seed.  It  will  become  a 
dead  letter,  like  the  law  referred  to,  unless  the  matter 
is  kept  before  the  people  by  the  agricultural  press,  and 
unless  Prof.  Bailey  urges  the  importance  of  the  work 
upon  the  members  of  the  Western  New  York  Horti¬ 
cultural  Society  at  its  January  meeting  at  Rochester, 
and  unless  the  great  weeklies  take  up  the  matter  in 
their  agricultural  columns,  and,  in  short,  unless  every¬ 
body  wakes  up.  The  obstacles  are  ignorance,  apathy 
and  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  hopelessness  of  con¬ 
tending  against  plant  diseases  and  enemies  as  if  they 
were  forces  of  Nature.  Much  can  be  done  to  enlighten, 
interest  and  encourage  fruit  growers,  yet  one  obstacle 
remains  :  the  high  price  of  labor  as  compared  with  the 
returns  from  the  farm  and  fruit  yard.  The  average 
farmer  will  be  slow  to  put  many  days’  work  into  “  fix¬ 
ing  ”  and  cleaning  up.  H.  j.  p. 
Seneca  Castle.  _ 
Beets  Vs.  Com  Ensilage. 
T.  M.  W.,  Bridyeton,  N.  J. — What  about  beets  as  a 
cow  food?  Do  you  think  a  man  on  a  small  farm  with 
10  cows  could  make  beets  pay  better  than  corn  en¬ 
silage,  everything  being  taken  into  consideration — the 
cost  of  filling  the  silo,  etc.?  I  do  not  feel  able  to  build 
a  silo  and  buy  the  necessary  machinery  for  the  mak¬ 
ing  of  ensilage,  but  I  oan  raise  and  store  beets. 
Ans. — Beets  are  a  valuable  cattle  food;  sugar  beets 
are  better  than  mangolds  or  Yellow  Globe,  though 
more  difficult  to  raise.  In  studying  the  value  of  root 
crops  of  this  class  the  dry  mailer  contained  in  them 
furnishes  a  fair  basis  of  comparison  since  it  is  consid¬ 
ered  to  be  entirely  digestible.  In  corn  fodder  or  en¬ 
silage  the  rate  of  digestibility  modifies  comparisons 
made  with  beets  on  the  dry  matter  basis,  as  less  than 
75  per  cent  is  regarded  as  digestible.  Tabulated,  the 
results  of  average  analyses  are  as  follows. 
Pounds  of  Pounds  of 
Percent  total  dry  digestible 
of  matter.  dry  matter, 
dry  matter.  Per  ton.  Per  ton. 
8ut?ar  Beets .  lfi  320  320 
Mangolds .  12  240  240 
Corn  Ensilage .  24  480  360 
The  cost  per  acre  of  either  mangolds  or  sugar  beets 
up  to  the  time  of  harvesting  would  probably  be  slightly 
greater  than  that  for  fodder  corn,  because  of  the 
greater  expense  of  cultivation  and  of  manures,  for  the 
former  require  more  care  and  labor  and  absorb  plant 
food  from  soil  sources  in  a  less  degree  than  corn,  which 
grows  rapidly  because  a  gross  feeder.  On  the  basis  of 
digestible  dry  matter  as  given  in  the  table,  one  ton  of 
corn  fodder  would  be  equivalent  to  1^  ton  of  sugar 
beets,  or  to  ton  of  mangolds;  the  proportions  of 
the  different  nutrients  in  these  products  do  not  differ 
greatly,  all  are  carbonaceous  in  their  character. 
Fifteen  tons  of  corn  fodder  or  ensilage  containing  24 
per  cent  of  dry  matter  would  be  a  large  yield  per  acre; 
it  is  equivalent  in  dry  matter  to  that  contained  in  75 
bushels  of  corn  and  the  accompanying  stover.  Land 
that  would  produce  such  a  yield  of  corn  fodder  ought 
to  produce  18  tons  of  sugar  beets,  containing  5,760 
pounds  of  digestible  dry  matter,  as  against  5,400 
pounds  from  the  15  tons  of  corn  fodder.  Land  that 
would  produce  15  tons  of  sugar  beets  per  acre  would 
probably  yield  24  tons  of  mangolds  and  an  equivalent 
in  dry  matter  to  that  from  the  sugar  beets,  though  dis¬ 
tributed  through  six  tons  more  of  water,  which  is  of  no 
particular  advantage  or  aid  in  feeding  value.  The  out¬ 
lay  of  capital  for  machinery  and  silo  room  necessary 
to  handle  and  preserve  the  crop  as  ensilage  would  be 
much  greater  than  that  required  for  preserving  the 
beets,  and  would  be  proportionately  greater  for  a 
small  farm  than  for  a  large  one  ;  the  labor  involved 
would  probably  not  be  far  different  in  either  case. 
Under  the  circumstances  as  stated,  for  a  dairy  of  10 
cows,  it  appears  to  me  that  sugar  beets  would  furnish 
succulent  winter  food,  pound  for  pound  of  dry  mat¬ 
ter,  quite  as  cheaply  as  corn  fodder  made  into  ensilage, 
if  not  more  cheaply.  Experiments  in  feeding  dairy 
cows,  conducted  at  this  as  well  as  at  other  American 
experiment  stations,  have  shown  that  the  dry  matter 
contained  in  ensilage  is  no  more  digestible  than  that 
in  the  fodder  corn  dried  in  the  usual  manner,  and  that 
the  wastes  or  losses  from  siloing  and  from  field  curing 
about  balance  each  other:  the  economy  of  the  ensilage 
therefore  lies  mainly  in  the  fact  that,  being  soft,  the 
cattle  eat  it  more  readily  and  with  less  waste  than  the 
harder  dried  fodder.  Where  the  raising  of  corn  is  more 
easily  accomplished  than  the  raising  of  beets,  and  it  is 
not  practicable  or  possible  to  build  a  silo,  the  steam¬ 
ing  of  fodder  corn — which  may  be  done  at  little  ex¬ 
pense  of  capital  and  labor — softens  the  stalks  and  en¬ 
ables  the  cattle  to  eat  the  whole  of  them,  though  they 
perhaps  do  not  produce  the  dietetic  effect  secured  from 
the  use  of  beets  or  ensilage.  However,  the  main  point 
to  be  regarded  in  studies  and  comparisons  of  this  kind 
is  thf  dry  matter  furnished.  Water  does  not  add  to 
the  food  value.  E.  b.  voorhees. 
New  Jersey  Experiment  Station. 
Grain  Food  for  Milch  Cows. 
A.  R.  S.,  Van  Wert,  0. — 1.  When  bran  is  $15  per  ton, 
wheat  middlings  $15,  linseed  meal  $24,  and  corn  meal 
$18,  what  would  be  the  best  mixhire  and  the  cheapest 
feed  for  milch  cows  ?  2.  What  is  the  feeding  value  of 
white  or  common  turnips,  potatoes,  sugar  beets,  and 
mangolds  in  comparison  with  the  first  mentioned 
feed  for  cattle,  and  of  potatoes  for  feeding  hogs  com¬ 
pared  with  corn  at  40  cents  per  bushel,  and  of  middlings 
compared  with  corn  at  the  same  price  ? 
Ans. — 1.  As  the  present  popular  prejudice  is  in  favor 
of  good  milk,  and  the  accepted  standard  calls  for  as 
large  a  proportion  of  fat  in  the  milk  as  would  be  needed 
for  profit  in  butter  making,  there  is  no  reason  why 
cows  kept  for  milk  should  not  be  fed  as  well  as  those 
in  a  special  butter  dairy.  Only  such  foods  as  might 
make  an  inferior  quality  of  butter  as  to  texture  and 
color  may  be  used  safely  for  milk  making.  Bran  cer¬ 
tainly  adds  somewhat  to  the  quantity  of  milk  given, 
and  it  is  therefore  advisable  to  use  it  in  a  milk  dairy, 
but  the  corn  meal  adds  to  the  fat  of  the  milk,  and  is 
thus  a  useful  addition  to  the  bran.  Linseed  meal  and 
cotton  meal  differ  so  much  in  quality  owing  to  the 
methods  of  manufacture,  that  they  should  be  tested 
before  they  are  used  in  large  quantity,  as  the  price  is 
higher  than  that  of  corn  meal.  Linseed  meal  is  an 
excellent  food  for  milk  making,  and  it  is  not  easy  to 
determine  which  of  these  is  the  better  without  experi¬ 
menting  as  to  the  economy  of  both.  I  am  feeding 
equal  parts  of  bran  and  corn  meal,  finely  ground,  for 
butter  making,  and  this  has  been  my  standard  feed 
for  several  years,  after  trying  every  kind  that  could 
be  procured,  and  it  is  equally  good  for  milk.  It  is  an 
interesting  thing  to  note  that  Dr.  Collier,  of  the  New 
York  Station,  has  reported  as  the  result  of  careful 
tests,  that  the  fat  in  the  milk  has  no  relation  to  the 
albuminoids  of  the  food,  leaving  it  to  be  concluded,  as 
may  be  gathered,  that  the  fat  of  the  milk  is  related  to 
the  fat  of  the  food,  and  that  consequently  the  fat  of 
the  milk  does  come  from  the  fat  of  the  food.  And 
as  this  has  been  denied  by  other  scientific  authorities, 
this  result  of  feeding  by  Dr.  Collier  is  quite  interest¬ 
ing  in  relation  to  the  question  proposed,  and  goes  to 
encourage  the  feeding  of  at  least  a  good  proportion  of 
fatty  food  when  good  milk  is  desired,  and  only  as  much 
nitrogenous  food  as  will  make  a  desirable  balance. 
2.  As  to  feeding  turnips  to  milking  cows,  this  is  not 
to  be  desired  or  recommended,  and  for  the  very  rea¬ 
son  based  on  this  result  announced  by  Dr.  Collier,  as 
well  as  upon  common  practice.  The  flavor  of  turnips 
is  concentrated  in  the  oil  they  contain,  and  in  feeding 
these  roots  for  milk  the  latter  gets  most  of  this  flavor, 
which  is  generally  distasteful.  Potatoes  also  confer 
an  undesirable  flavor  on  milk,  and  are  not  to  be  recom¬ 
mended.  Mangolds  are,  on  the  other  hand,  excellent 
in  every  way,  being  healthful  and  assisting  in  the 
digestion  of  other  food.  A  peck  or  even  two  a  day  may 
be  fed  to  a  cow  with  benefit.  Sugar  beets  are  equally 
good,  and,  being  more  nutritious,  half  as  much  as  of 
mangolds  may  be  given.  The  comparative  feeding 
value  of  these  roots  are  :  turnips,  16  cents  a  100  pounds; 
potatoes,  29  cents  ;  mangolds,  16  cents,  and  sugar  beets, 
19  cents.  But  as  the  starch  in  the  potatoes,  on  which 
most  of  the  food  value  is  based,  is  indigestible  in  its 
raw  state,  this  value  can  be  got  out  of  them  only  by 
cooking.  It  will  pay  well  to  cook  potatoes  for  feeding 
hogs.  And  the  best  fattening  food  for  hogs  is  corn 
ears  boiled  with  potatoes,  as  regards  cost  and  weight 
made.  It  is  hardly  possible,  however,  to  get  more 
than  25  cents  a  bushel  out  of  potatoes  for  feeding  pork, 
when  corn  is  worth  as  much  as  75  cents.  H.  stewart. 
