1891 
123 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
the closest resemblance to the model sow. Animals were 
named and records carefully kept from the first. Sales 
were made and other herds established from this herd till, 
in 1884, when an association was formed to establish a 
herd book. This Oneida herd was taken as the starting 
point, and the Cheshires in the county now eligible to 
registration pedigree to this herd. The hogs bred in Jef¬ 
ferson County were well liked wherever they went, but 
various improvements were made by me. The head and 
legs were shortened, the back broadened, and the bone 
made finer. The length of the body was retained, so that 
now the Cheshires are the longest-bodied hogs that are 
shown at the fairs. 
Characteristics. —The Cheshire is a long, broad hog— 
a shape which, of course, gives heavy hams and shoulders. 
The head is very short in proportion to the length of the 
body, the face slightly dished—the ears thin, small and 
erect, and the nose straight. Looking at one, a person 
would say that the nose, compared with that of the Small 
Yorkshire, was long; but in proportion to the length of the 
body it is quite as short as that of a Yorkshire; while the 
head, taken as a whole, is of less weight than the head of a 
Yorkshire. The texture of both flesh and bone is fine and 
compact, hence though the bones are very small, the an¬ 
imals never break down. One often hears the remark at 
fairs: “ I don’t see how such small bones hold up such big 
hogs.” This fineness of cellular texture gives the very 
best quality of meat, both lean and fat being firm and solid, 
not soft and flabby or lardy like the flesh of many other 
breeds. Cheshires have a larger proportion of lean meat 
than any other hogs. In this respect they stand unequaled, 
and hence are the best to meet the present requirements of 
the butcher. The demand now is for lean meat—not fat. 
Let any one feed a Cheshire in the same pen with pigs of 
other breeds and the Cheshire will give the most lean 
meat. If fed with a Small Yorkshire one will have the 
two extremes of all the breeds, the Cheshire giving the 
most lean meat, the Yorkshire the least. While at the N. 
Y. and N. E. Fair at Albany an aged gentleman came along 
and remarked: “ This is the best breed of hogs in the 
world.” He then stated that he was a butcher in Albany 
and that the Cheshire was the best hog to cut up in the 
market because it had the most lean meat, and he added: 
“ I can tell a Cheshire as soon as it goes into the scalding 
vat; for it will sink right to the bottom and no other hog 
will do that.” I was aware of the fact that Cheshires 
weighed more according to looks than other hogs, but 
their sinking in the scalding water was new to me. This 
must come from their larger proportions of lean meat— 
lean being heavier than bones or fat. 
Another quality, which most people would probably 
consider the most important of all, is their rapid growth 
or early maturity. At nine months or under Cheshires 
will outweigh on the average any other breed. The best 
weights I can personally vouch for are the following: A 
pig from a litter from which most of the pigs were shipped 
was fattened. It was dressed when eight months and 
14 days old and weighed 416 pounds. Forty pounds of lard 
were taken from the entrails, which are not included in the 
416 pounds. A litter of seven killed when exactly nine 
months and one day old, averaged 406 pounds. These pigs 
of course were very fat; but there was a large amount of 
lean meat. The feeder of Cheshires can have lean meat 
only or both lean and fat, as he may prefer. He will get 
the lean meat anyway. If he wants fat he can get it atop 
of the lean by longer and better feeding. Cheshire pigs of 
about six months of age dressing 200 to 250 pounds, are the 
best that can possibly be obtained for market purposes. 
Farmers call the Cheshires tame. This quality almost 
always causes remarks when they go into the hands of 
people unacquainted with the breed. At farrowing time 
this tameness is very important, especially if the weather 
is cold. At such time my practice is to throw a blanket 
over the sow, and as the little fellows arrive, they are 
placed under the blanket against the udders of the 
mother. In a few moments they are dry and warm and 
vigorously fighting with their fellows for choice of po¬ 
sition. I never have any trouble in treating sows in this 
way. Young sows with their first litters lie as quietly as 
those that have raised pigs for years. It is not necessary 
to take a club when one goes into the pen to catch a pig. 
That all may see just what a Cheshire is like, a cut of a 
boar, Vulcan No. 215, bred and owned by the writer, is 
shown at Fig. 51. It is not a fancy picture at all, but 
represents the real animal, the proportions of the cut be¬ 
ing correct by actual measurements. E. m. davis. 
Editor Cheshire Herd Book. 
A SUCCESSFUL ICE-HOUSE. 
James McMillan, of Fairport, Monroe County, N. Y., 
has on his farm an ice house which is nearly perfect. It is 
12 feet square. The studding is 2x4-inch stuff nine feet 
high and placed 16 inches apart. The outside is covered 
with matched lumber which is again covered by clap¬ 
boards. Inside the studding there is a board lining and 
the space between is filled with dry sawdust well packed 
in. Under the building there is a cellar 6% feet deep. 
Heavy sills are laid on the wall, with stringers of 4x6 inch 
scantling at intervals of one foot. These are crossed by 
6x6 stringers which run the other way. A pan of No. 16 
galvanized iron, eight inches deep fits on the top of those 
stringers and was put in place before the sheeting was 
put on. The pan is riveted together every three inches and 
soldered. It cost about $15. It is set on an incline of 
about four inches towards one corner which is furnished 
with a waste pipe which discharges into a tank in the 
cellar. There are double doors for admission into the 
cellar, with an air space between. The floor is of natural 
earth and the average temperature is about 42 degrees. 
Meat, vegetables, and other perishable articles keep 
perfectly in this cellar and it proves a capital place for 
storing butter while the ice lasts. 
Mr. McMillan thinks that the waste water does not 
come fast enough to run a creamer, though the amount of 
ice needed would be very small. The waste water passes 
out of the cellar through a 63^-lnch pipe to the hen-house, 
affording a cool drink for the fowls which are not allowed 
to roam over the farm during the season of small fruits. In 
filling the house, strips of lath are laid on the bottom of 
the pan about six inches apart. A layer of sawdust is 
then put in and the ice is packed in a solid block in the 
usual manner. The drainage is perfect. This house will 
hold about 20 tons, and the advantages in the way of cold 
storage which the cellar affords, increase considerably 
the amount of service usually obtained from that amount 
Of ice. S. A. LITTLE. 
CASH SALES FROM THE FARM. 
How Much Money Do You Handle? 
On page 73 The R. N.-Y. gave a statement of the year’s 
cash sales from a Vermont farm. Nearly $1,200 were 
taken in cash for farm products, butter and lumber giving 
the heaviest items. We propose, during the year, to give 
similar statements from every State in the Union. 
1. The advantage of keeping accurate farm accounts. 
2. The advantage of knowing which crops are best suited 
to the neighborhood and which cost least to produce. 
3. The advantage of knowing which products take the 
least fertility away from the farm. 
A careful study of these statements will be of great ser¬ 
vice in comprehending the above-named advantages. We 
hope to follow this discussion with a statement of the 
amount of manures and fertilizers used on these farms 
Maryland : Fruits, Vegetables and Horse Trading. 
I live seven miles from Washington, D. C., and own 40 
acres of land, of which 15 acres are in bushes, from which I 
get brush and bean poles, etc.; five acres are in orchard 
and seven acres in grass, which gives me hay enough for 
the year. On the rest I raise fruits and vegetables for the 
market. I carry three horses—two heavy draft animals 
and one light one for driving—and one or two cows. I 
buy all my grain ; keep a few hogs to use the waste vege¬ 
tables and fruits, and 50 hens. I manage to live and make 
improvements in my buildings and tools occasionally. My 
best money crops are strawberries, which bring in from 
$300 to $500 yearly; sweet potatoes come next; then 
peaches, apples, pears and raspberries, cabbage and Irish 
potatoes, Lima beans, etc. In the following years my re¬ 
turns have been: 1887, $1,125.52; 1888, $1,480.14; 1889, 
$1,626.96; 1890, $1,878.61. Some part of the above amounts 
came from wood sold and from trading horses, by trading 
quiet animals for unbroken colts; then breaking the lat¬ 
ter and selling them to city gentlemen who need fine 
young drivers. This I do over and over again. By this 
morning’s mail I received a letter offering me a sound 
seven-year old maro in foal by a thoroughbred trotting 
horse, and due to foal in May. The owner is rich and will 
trade this animal for a horse which I traded for four months 
ago and have put in prime condition. He offers to give me 
$30 to boot. My horse is six years old and sound. I asked 
him $40, so I am using every little effort to keep the wolf 
from the door. The assessed value of my farm is $1,000. I 
keep a mower and rake, three plows, two harrows, a plank 
drag, cultivators, double shovels, etc. The above account 
does not include the value of hay and food raised and fed 
on the farm. w. D. pyles. 
Prince George Co., Md. 
A Hoosier Farmer Doing Well. 
My father died in 1857, leaving an estate of 75 acres to 
four of us children. I was the youngest, 20 years old. 
The other three sold me their shares and took my notes 
for $1,150. When I had paid them I bought another 80 
acres, and have kept adding to the farm from time to time, 
until I now have 270 acres, besides 40 acres of improved 
land, which I gave my two oldest boys. Of these 270 acres, 
30 are in woods, 50 in pasture, and 190 in plow-land. Half 
of this is rented out. I get two-fifths of the grain in the 
bin for my share. The other 95 acres I farm myself, by 
hiring one man seven months at $15 per month, and some 
others by the day during busy times. The following is a 
statement of my sales. I generally raise more wheat, but 
a year ago last fall the weather was so dry that I did not 
sow any myself. I now have 32 acres that look fine. 
Butter and cream.$176.00 
14 head of cattle. 239.00 
Veal calves. 30.00 
Hogs. 100.00 
Wool. 8.00 
Poultry. 30.00 
Eggs..•.. 25.00 
Apples and pears. 10.CO 
Berries. 15.00 
45 bushels of wheat. 40.00 
1,300 bushels of corn. 
850 bushels of oats. 
150 bushels of buckwheat 
3 bushels of clover seed .. 
10 tons hay (clover). 
9 loads of straw. 
700.00 
425.00 
75.00 
10.00 
50.00 
18.00 
Total.$1,951.00 
I now have 24 head of neat cattle, three horses, eight 
hogs and 11 sheep. I had 75 bushels of Japanese Buck¬ 
wheat ground, and sold the flour to my neighbors, and 
several of them have told me it made the best cakes they 
had ever eaten. Not one has found fault with it, but 
some have ordered it a second and third time. 
Allen Co., Indiana. SAMUEL mills. 
Virginia; Stock and Team Work. 
I am the owner of a farm of 100 acres. Some years since 
I had 200, but I sold half. In value it averages about the 
same as the surrounding farms per acre. I have made 
more off the 100 acres kept than I did from the 200, and 
there is a growing sentiment in this section in favor of 
cutting up large tracts and selling lands—a sentiment 
which the mineral development of our county is doing a 
great deal to increase. J send The Rural a tabulated 
statement which explains itself. It shows rather the 
results of my operations for 1890 than the net results of 
my farming operations; but I have given the items so 
that the part contributed by the farm is readily apparent. 
I pay my hands at the rate of $13 per month in cash, and 
furnish them firewood, cow pasture and feed and milling, 
and house and garden rent free, which makes the actual 
wages paid amount to $18 per month. I am so situated 
that I can employ my hands and teams on the public 
roads, and in grading the streets at Pulaski, when not 
necessarily engaged on the farm, which shows to my ad¬ 
vantage in the statement. I am also able to earn in the 
same work about $180 per year, which pays for all labor 
done on my farm except what is paid by the rents, etc. 
In my opinion there is no such thing as a money crop for 
the farmers of this section unless it be potatoes, turnips 
and other vegetables, and the market for these is limited. 
The only way in which the farmer can realize on his hay, 
corn, oats, rye, etc., is to feed them to stock on his farm. 
Statement showing stock, etc., on hand January 1, 1890, 
and purchased during the year : 
100 acres of land, assessed value.$2,000.00 
6 grade Jersey heifers, under 2 years. 210.00 
4 grade Jersey cows, under 3 years. 160.00 
4 grade Jersey calves, under 1 year. 60.00 
8 togs. 25.00 
12 Merino ewes. 86.00 
2 horses. . 200.00 
1 yoke oxen. 85.00 
300 bushels corn. 150.00 
Hay and fodder. 140.00 
Bought during the year. 
11 cows . 8"4.00 
2 calves (Jersey). 30.oo 
1 pair mules. 125.(0 
80 sheep. 90.00 
Total...$3,685.00 
Statement showing stock, etc., on hand January 1, 1891, 
and sales during the year 1891: 
100 acres of land, assessed value. $2,0(0.00 
4 grade Jersey cows, under 3 years. 160.00 
5 grade Jersey heifers, under 2 years. 175.0J 
9 grade Jersey heifers, under 1 year.•.. 180.00 
1 yoke oxen. 85.00 
2 horses. 190.00 
1 pair mules. 200.00 
1,500 lbs. pork, 6c. 90.00 
30 ewes. 150.00 
150 bushels corn, for fattening hogs. 105.00 
Hay, fodder, etc.. 1(H).00 
Cream, fowls, eggs, etc., sold. 12' .00 
12 ewes and 12 lambs sold. 102.00 
16 cows sold. 815.00 
50 bushels of potatoes sold. 50.00 
60 bushels of turnips sold ... . 30.00 
Received for wool sold.. 21.00 
Received for use of teams when not employed on farm. 300.(HI 
Orchard Grass seed sold. . 90.00 
Estimated rent cow pasture, etc., to tenants. 120.00 
Total.$5,084.00 
Deduct amount of first statement. 3,635.01 
$1,399.00 
My teams were employed off the farm for 150 days or 75 
days for each team. My work off the farm was for 75 days 
at $2.50 per day. I am satisfied I realized from $75 to $80 
on my apple crop, but I kept no accurate account of the 
receipts from this source, and I leave that to stand against 
the necessary repairs to fencing, wagons and farming 
tools. I have on hand the same number and value of 
hogs I had one year ago. B. F. morehead. 
Pulaski Co., Va. 
A Kansas Farmer That “Wears Socks.” 
My account last year was as follows on my farm of 160 
acres, worth $1,600, and situated three miles northwest 
from Kinsley. 
Winter wheat, 371 bushels at 75 cents.$278.25 
Oats, 1,114 bushels at 40 cents. 445.60 
Millet hay, 12 tons at $6 . . 72.00 
Sowed sorghum, 2 tons at $6 . . 12.00 
Oats and wheat straw. 50.00 
95 shocks of corn and sorghum at 20 cents. 19.00 
Corn . 15.00 
Potatoes and garden truck. 25.00 
Use of pasture. ... 5.00 
Total . $921.85 
Paid for hired help altogether.. 15.00 
$906.85 
So by the above one can see that we do not have to go 
without socks, even if “ Sockless Simpson,” our Congress¬ 
man, does. The prospect for this year’s wheat crop is good. 
Edwards Co., Kan. geo. h. gale. 
A Schuyler County, New York, Farm. 
This farm consists of 130 acres, 20 of which are wood¬ 
land, 16 poor pasture land and about four occupied by 
three dwelling-houses, gardens, and barn buildings with 
their necessary yards. This leaves about 90 acres of till¬ 
able land. The assessed value of the farm is $2,600. 
Owing to the peculiarities of the season the last grain crop 
was small. The figures given are in round numbers, 
fractional parts of a dollar being omitted. 
CASH SALES. 
Wool, lambs and dry ewes.$415.00 
Barley. 96.00 
Buckwheat . 60.00 
Honey. 50.00 
Apples and potatoes. 40.00 
Butter and veals.. 115.(H) 
Poul try and eggs. 13.(0 
Pigs and pork. 45.00 
Beans. 22.00 
Hay. 259.00 
Rye and rye straw. 45.00 
Total cash sales .$1,160.(0 
Amount of stock on hand February 1,1891: Three horses 
five cows, 82 sheep, 75 hens, one hog. Feed on band Feb¬ 
ruary 1, 1891: about 45 tons of hay, three tons of straw, 
150 bushels of mixed grains for feed. Besides the above 
products, the farm has produced all the milk, butter, 
eggs, poultry, pork, beef, fruit and vegetables used in a 
family of five. The cost of hired labor during the past 
season has been $75. HAY FARMER. 
