AN ENTERPRISING "PENNSYLVANIA 
DUTCHMAN." 
Wm. M. Benninger describes himself as "a Pennsyl¬ 
vania Dutchman, 36years old.” He might well have added 
" self-made ” to his title, as he started out at the age of 15 
years as a tree peddler, without money and with little ed¬ 
ucation besides an ability to speak “Pennsylvania Dutch.” 
He is now proprietor of the Benninger Stock Farm and 
Nurseries, owning over 200 acres of farm land and a fine 
herd of Holstein cattle ; besides being noted as an able 
worker at farmers’ institutes and Grange meetings. A 
view on Mr. B.’s farm Is shown at Figure 68. It is situated 
in Northampton'County, one of the most beauMful and 
productive locations in western Pennsylvania. The Hol¬ 
stein shown at the left Is Frank Rice, 2547 H. H. B., a 
grandson of the celebrated Echo. This animal stands at 
tions, and has a surer thing than any "gold bug” Wall 
Street man that ever lived. 
The horses shown In the picture are half Clydesdale and 
half Percheron, bred in Ohio. They are seven years old 
and weigh 2,600 pounds. Mr. Benninger doesn’t “take 
stock” in trotters and runners; he would like to see the 
race courses at our fairs plowed up and turned into ex¬ 
periment plots where visitors could see standing crops of 
corn and other farm products. At the same time he docs 
believe in what he calls “ pullers and walkers,” and that 
is what he has in this team. “ Heavy horses,” he says, 
“should never be driven faster than a walk, if they are 
wanted for heavy pulling. With such a team one will not 
want three horses to run a spring tooth barrow or a plow 
or ordinary binder, and one will never get stuck in a lit¬ 
tle mudhole or at a little hill with a good load ; but if a 
agency for it and thus secures the “agent’s price,” which 
manufacturers are generally ready to agree to. 
Mr. B. joined the Grange four years ago, and has been 
an active Grange worker ever since. His experience and 
early association enable him to reach a class of farmers 
who need the help of such organizations as the Grange, 
but who could not be moved by those who do not fully 
understand their lives and ways of thinking. The cause 
of the depression in Pennsylvania farming is largely due, 
he thinks, to unjust and unequal taxation. Farmers, he 
believes, must bjeome politicians—to the extent at least 
of understanding the vital principles of political economy 
and of voting on them irrespective of party. In other 
words, farmers must know their own wants, demand 
their rights and refuse to be led away from their dis¬ 
cussion by partisan appeals. But not ail the trouble is 
the head of a herd of 50 thoroughbred and high-grade cows 
of excellent breeding and milk performance. 
Mr. Benninger is a great admirer of Holstein cattle. He 
believes the Holstein cow the best all-purpose cow in the 
world, so susceptible to the effects of good care and wise 
selection for a certain purpose that she will adapt herself 
to the wants of any reasonable farmer. The Holstein, he 
claims, has given the best records at all the public tests. 
She is the cow for the public—strong, good-natured, 
economical, handsome and popular. Mr. B. recently sold 
OD6 of his high-grade Holsteins for $125, and sold enough 
surplus cattle from his herd to run his farm. At the 
same time lots of his neighbors keeping stock of “ any 
breed,” find it “next to impossible to pay interest and 
keep square.” The fact is that 
“The thorough head, 
That thoroughbred 
And thorough fed ” 
represents the standard of value in agricultural opera- 
farmer wants but two horses for a double purpose—labor 
and driving—I would recommend French coach horses.” 
As will be seen in the picture, the boys drive these great 
horses without trouble. 
Many farmers object to white horses; but Mr Benninger 
gives these reasons for keeping them: “I like white horses for 
several reasons : first, because they give the boys’ muscles 
good exercise in the morning, and a glance will tell if 
they are properly cleaned; second, I find that when work¬ 
ing white horses in connection with either black or those 
of any other color in hot weather, the white invariably 
endure the heat much better. This, of course, I think a 
great advantage.” 
In the picture the horses are shown attached to a Parvin 
steel wagon. Mr. B. says that this wagon’s capacity is 
four tons, and that it runs more easily than many two-ton 
wagons. He buys all his tools at wholesale rates. Con¬ 
stantly on the lookout for new and useful devices, when he 
hears of one that promises to help him he obtains the 
political, nor can all be done away with by political action. 
In speaking of some of his neighbors who can hardly “make 
both ends meet,” Mr. B. says : “They have not yet dis¬ 
covered that a thoroughbred will cost no more to keep 
than a scrub, and herein they make a great mistake in 
dollars and cents.” 
The man who keeps scrub stock—please understand that 
when we say “ scrub ” we mean inferior—keeps animals 
that shoulder upon him all the errors of breeding that 
former generations have been guilty of. “Thoroughbred” 
explains itself—care, science, thoroughness. A well bred 
animal brings to its owner the concentrated result of care, 
thought and study. We should have stated that Mr. 
Benninger keeps his Holsteins for butter production, 
claiming that they will turn the products of his farm into 
butter to better advantage than any other breed. On gen¬ 
eral principles we should be inclined to question this 
claim, but Mr. B. is a careful man and has figured the 
matter with care. 
