126 
FEB. 14 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
faloes. 
F. T. L. Hakward, Manitoba.— The best 
cattle used for labor in this country are of 
a breed known as “Montana”—heavy, 
hardy, long-legged brutes, with horns long 
and fairly thin shelled, and bodies like 
those of a reversed Ayrshire, heavy in front 
and light behind. The oxen are scarce now, 
though once plentiful. They are cheaply 
fed, as I have given one oats in a pail at 
night and found the grain untouched in the 
morning. They would work and hold flesh 
when a pilgrim from the East would starve. 
Now that the country is settled and cul¬ 
tivated, I prefer a better bred animal. My 
own cattle are high-grade Short-horns, 
which are the commonest now. I never 
saw a Devon out here, though Devons are 
often talked of. My experience with black 
polled beasts has not been pleasant. The 
Galloways, though undoubtedly hardy are 
built for beef, with solid bodies but limbs 
rather light for work, and their color ab¬ 
sorbs the heat, so that they feel it too much. 
I want a well proportioned beast, either 
for work or appearance, with ribs well 
sprung, to give constitution; a good-tem¬ 
pered face, not too stupid looking, and a 
body evenly balanced on four sound legs. 
If the front is too heavy, the beast will get 
knee-sprung; if the hind legs are not cor¬ 
rect it will be liable to spavin, and if the 
tail does not hang straight, most likely it 
has been strained. I have seen many a 
kink in a tail that denoted an injury. 
Apropos of Mr. Auld’s letter, page 898, 
old settlers claim that the hybrid buffalo 
proved a first-class worker. There are 
many in this province who could see the 
point of his remarks, and I think a few 
hints now and again might prove useful to 
stock-raisers who cannot get a veterinarian’s 
services. A year ago last June I took a 
“ stolen ” calf from a young heifer and she 
raised it. I was alone on the prairie: time 
of parturition, 4% hours. She is due to 
calve next month and thriving. Though 
help in parturition is often given roughly, 
and not seldom with needless cruelty, it 
pays to watch, and sometimes it pays bet¬ 
ter to wait. 
“ Pasturing vs. Soiling.” 
Isaac Budlong, Monroe County, N. Y. 
—As pasturing vs. soiling is one of the live 
questions of the day among the thinking, 
progressive farmers, much being said and 
written by the advocates of the soiling sys¬ 
tem, I assert that such enthusiasts largely 
exaggerate in favor of their favorite 
method. I was pleased with Mr. C. S. 
Rice’s article in The Rural of January 24, 
and can agree with his views; but, as I 
understand the matter, he does not state 
the case in favor of pasturing as strongly 
as I would. My father, the late Milton 
Budlong, was an extensive cattle feeder. 
I was bred and born and spent a lifetime at 
the business, and should therefore know 
something of it. 
What are the facts ? I write of what I 
know of this county than which there is no 
better in the State, or, I doubt, in the 
United States. Take this farm on which I 
reside—12 miles up the valley from Roch¬ 
ester, upland and river bottom, worth per¬ 
haps $80 per acre. A fair rental would be 
five per cent of its value, or, say, $4 per 
acre. I have charge of several fine farms 
which compare favorably with my own—I 
rent those lands at about $4 per acre. I 
make the bills of rent to my tenants at 
about $5 per acre for “plow” land ; $4 for 
meadow, and $3 for pasture land. I pas¬ 
tured my 120 cows last season from May 
10 to November 20—194 days—on just about 
3 acres each, with no other feed, save about 
one dollar’s worth each of green corn and 
Hungarian Grass drawn into the pasture in 
the late summer ; hence it cost me to keep 
my cows but $10 each for 194 days, and 
they were as well fed as I think it would 
have been profitable to feed them. They 
performed well at the pail, giving a copious 
flow of rich milk making a satisfactory 
amount of superior creamery butter. Now 
what would it have cost me to have kept 
those cows during those 194 days equally 
well in the stable ? Silage costs not less 
than $2 per ton in the silo ready to feed. 
Suppose I had fed 50 pounds of silage at 10 
cents per 100 pounds, the cost would have 
been five cents ; four pounds of corn meal 
plus four pounds of bran and two pounds 
of linseed meal—10 pounds in all, at one 
cent per pound—10 cents ; eight pounds of 
hay at $5 per ton, two cents, a total of 17 
cents per day for food alone; then the 
whole outlay for 194 days would have been 
$32 98 per head. It would certainly have 
cost $2 per day for labor to feed those cows, 
and clean out and haul away the manure; 
this would have amounted for the 194 days 
to $388, or $3 20 per head ; so that It would 
have cost at least $36.18 to keep each of the 
120 cows for 194 days by soiling, against $10 
per head, the outlay for pasturing. 
To my mind it is simply preposterous to 
argue that cows can be kept in the stable 
in summer time and do as well as on 
pasture at anything like the same cost for 
keeping them, Of course the soiling en¬ 
thusiast will arise and assert that the 
manure from “soiled” cows is worth 
vastly more than that from the same cows 
on pasture—but is it ? I say not. A cow 
on pasture drops her manure, both liquids 
and solids, just where it will do the most 
good. Nowhere near so great a percentage 
is lost as would be if it were scattered in 
the stables and yards. I know of no way 
by which lands can be so cheaply renovated 
and kept in a fertile condition as by fre¬ 
quent pasturing and a gentle rotation of 
crops. I know of quite a large number of 
farms that were so badly worn out by too 
frequent plowings, that they sold for low 
prices, which have been brought back and 
made very productive by simply pasturing 
them and plowing at long intervals. These 
are not theories, or vain, thoughtless as¬ 
sertions—they are facts. 
Japanese Buckwheat Again. 
L. E. R. L , Sheridan County, Wyo.— 
Last fall I took to the mill 13 bushels—it 
weighed 624 pounds, or 48 pounds to the 
bushel—and received 375 pounds of flour, 
no toll being taken. This was just 28% 
pounds of flour to the bushel. The miller 
pronounced it the largest-kernel, and finest- 
looking buckwheat brought to his mill. 
The flour is fine-grained, and as good in 
quality as any of the older varieties, if not 
better. There is no bitter taste whatever. 
Now as to yield: I sowed a trifle over half 
an acre; part of it was sown too thickly, 
and owing to the scarcity of water, was 
sparingly irrigated, and was not harvested 
until a large quantity bad shelled out; yet 
the thrashing machine turned out just 28 
bushels. No comment is necessary. 
Potato Seed Balls and New Varieties 
From Them. 
M. S. H., Delavan, Wis.—I n answering 
J. A. R., in a late Rural in regard to potato 
seed-balls, the writer says the non-produc¬ 
tion of balls is owing to the gradual ex¬ 
tinction of pollen and also advises him to 
get balls from the best known varieties. 
For a number of years past I have paid a 
great deal of attention to raising seed-balls 
and seedling potatoes. I have found that 
seed from balls grown where there is but 
one variety, is practically of no account, 
being what I call in-bred, the product par¬ 
taking too much of the nature of the 
parent stock, though being in no case so 
good. In-breeding is deterioration. The 
stream cannot rise above its source. I 
have also tried cross-fertilization time and 
again, with and without netting protec¬ 
tion, and have never yet been able to get 
one seed-ball by that process. This was 
not for the want of pollen ; for I have al¬ 
ways been able to supply that in abund¬ 
ance. The blossoms have invariably broken 
apart at the first joint below, and have 
one by one fallen off. At last I had just 
sense enough to see that such methods led to 
nothing practical, and abandoned the 
whole system and proceeded as follows : I 
have for a great many years been collect¬ 
ing different varieties of potatoes that 
have any record, and for some years I 
have annually raised over 700 varieties. 
Among them all there are perhaps 10 or 12 
varieties that are what I call ball-bearers, 
aside from the Whipple family. But, as 
The Rural says of Wall’s Orange, which 
is one of them, they are not desirable for 
parent stock. The old Eureka is about the 
best of them all for that purpose. The 
Excelsior is also good, especially to produce 
early varieties. The Pinkeye Peachblow 
is almost sure in any season. The Hunt¬ 
ington Seedling, White Sprout, La Plume 
de Triomphe and Gladstone can also be 
pretty generally depended upon to produce 
balls. I plant these all throughout my 700 
varieties, thereby getting untold numbers 
of crosses. Three years ago, I had nearly a 
pound of clean seed. From this seed I have 
raised about 300 plants each year since, and 
intend to follow up annually with about 
the same number. I get every conceivable 
kind of potatoes, a remarkably large per¬ 
centage of which are very promising. 
When they are two years old, I am able to 
begin to determine those that are not de¬ 
sirable, and discird them. It is a grea 
care and labor to raise and handle such 
a large number of varieties, keeping them 
separate and so that one can find any par¬ 
ticular sort readily. 
The Trypeta Pomonella. 
Geo. C. Mott, Greene County, N. Y.— 
On page 63 of The Rural I find this re 
mark with regard to “ Trypeta pomon¬ 
ella”: “It chiefly attacks stored fruit.” 
In Greenwich, Conn., in 1856, I learned to 
know this pest, though it took till 1885 to 
become noticeable in this region. From 
that time it has increased in numbers very 
greatly. Its ravages here commence and 
grow with the ripeniDg of the fruit, 
whether on the tree or stored. If the fruit 
is stored in a very cool place the pest’s 
activity is arrested. Jonathans are often 
so damaged, if picking is delayed, as to be 
quite worthless. Accordingly, by picking 
early and storing in decidedly cool places 
the injury is minimized. Thin-skinned 
apples, such as Jersey Sweets, Green Sweet¬ 
ing, Jonathan, etc., are mostly chosen by 
the insect, without regard to their position ; 
while thick-skinned sorts like Russets, 
Kings, Greenings, etc., are not much at¬ 
tacked. Jonathans and all other varieties 
which are attacked early by the pests I 
gather early and market as soon as gathered. 
We used to keep them for family use, but 
nosv find it better to dispose of them as 
soon as possible while the pest is in the 
egg. There is no difficulty in detecting 
apples stung by Trypeta pomonella. The 
punctures are visible some time before the 
egg hatches, so that selections can be easily 
made. 
Down With the Word “ Farmerine.” 
Susan M Staplin. Jefferson County, 
N. Y.—The R. N.-Y. has been a weekly 
visitor to us for many years, and every 
number has been carefully preserved for 
its intrinsic worth. Now, I do not wish to 
be thought censorious, but I entreat the 
editors never to print the term “ farmer¬ 
ine ” again. The word, by whom conceived 
or by whom begot, I do not know ; fcut I am 
certain it must arouse emotioDsof anger of 
the righteous sort in the mind of every 
farmer’s wife to know that she is the vie 
tim of such an appellation. May the shade 
of the immortal Noah Webster defend us 
from such an unmerciful indignity in the 
future 1 
Again, farmers’ wives are not correctly 
represented by the forlorn and dilapidated 
pictures of despair which The Rural’s 
artist presented on the first page of The 
R. N.-Y. a few weeks ago. I have never 
seen such a forlorn creature in a farmer’s 
home; if there are such, I am blissfully ig¬ 
norant of their whereabouts. Farmers’ 
wives are generally cheerful and vigorous 
women, and possess a good degree of the 
element of common sense, which is of great 
mental and moral worth to them, supercil 
ious writers and caricaturists “ to the con¬ 
trary notwithstanding.” We are “ keep¬ 
ers at home ” from necessity as well as 
choice, and if we were not, I fear St. Paul 
would frown; for such was his ideal of 
true womanhood. 
PiScxlhiMW tiding. 
When writing to advertisers, please 
mention The Rural New-Yorker. 
The Failure 
Of tbe kidneys and liver to properly remove the lactic 
or uric acid from the system, results in 
RHEUMATISM. 
This acid accumulates in the fibrous tissues, particu¬ 
larly in the joints, and causes inflammation and the 
terrible pains and aches, which are more agonizing 
every time a movement is made. 
THE WAY TO CURE 
Rheumatism is to purify the blood. And to do this 
take the best blood purifier, Hood’s Sarsaparilla. 
Hosts of friends testify to cures of rheumatism It has 
effected. Try it. 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Sold by ab druggists. $1; six for $5, Prepared only 
by C. I. HOOD & CO., Apothecaries, Lowell, Mass 
IOO Doses One Dollar 
Highly concentrated. Dose small. In quantity costs 
less than one-tenth cent a day per hen. Prevents and 
cures all diseases. If you can’t get it, we send by mail 
post-paid. One pack. 25c. Five $1. 2 1-4 lb. can $1.20; 
8 cans $5. Express paid. Testimonials free. Send stamps or 
Cash. Farmers’ Poultry Guide (price 25c.) free with $1.0* 
Orders or more. L S. JOHNSON & CO., Boston, Mass. 
BEST - CO UGH-MEDICINE 
1EI CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. 
i Pyj Tastes good. Use it in time. 
^ i-E O K - G ON S' UMPT I O si 
THE GREAT ENGLISH REMEDY, 
BEECHAM’S PILLS 
For Bilious aid Nervous Disorders. 
“Worth a Guinea a Box” but sold 
for 25 Cents, 
BY ALL HIM (.LISTS, 
a A child can man¬ 
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burgh” Lamp— 
all it wants is fill- 
and wiping 
^ LTV \once a day and 
trimming once a week. 
So much for one year’s im¬ 
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We have a primer to send. 
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NEW KODAKS 
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; - IN ALABAMA. 
