284 
THE-RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
give ’em dusty hay er musty feed, ’n when they’d stood a 
while In the stable, after bein’ wurked er drov’, to give 
’em a good curryin’ ’n rubbin’ down, ’n never fergit it. 
They’d tell ’em never tu shave their hair er cutoff their tails, 
fer natur gin such things tu ’em fer a good use, ’n natur 
knows what a horse needs better ’n men do, ’n, more than 
all, they’d tell ’em never tu expect more of ’em than they 
could do. Many a good horse is discouraged ’n spiled jest 
that way. I tell ye, mum, a horse’s a wonderful creeter, 
n’ a good servant tu man ef he’ll only train ’im right ’n 
use ’im well; but ef he don’t, he’s most al’as more damage 
’n profit. Whoa !” and at the word we stopped, safe and 
sound, at my own gate. 
McKean County, Pa. o. G. 
ENSILAGE NOT TO DRIVE OUT ROOTS. 
I am rather surprised at Prof. Morrow’s statement con¬ 
cerning beets for cattle, when he says, in a late RURAL: “ It 
is a slow process to plant them, and a slower process to 
keep them from weeds. It is rather troublesome to harvest 
and store them, and their feeding value is small in propor¬ 
tion to their bulk.” 
With a good drill (I use rfbd prefer the Matthews) by 
tbea'd of a man to help move the line, I can plant an acre 
perfectly in two hours, and by using a hand plow two or 
three times when the beets are small, and planting wide 
enough for horse culture, say 80 to 83 inches, I can culti¬ 
vate a crop of beets almost as cheaply as the same land in 
potatoes, the main difference being that the beets must be 
thinned, and this must be done early. The harvesting 
will not cost two cents a bushel, and a rat-and-frost-proof 
cellar can be made in a common barn at a moderate ex¬ 
pense, and will be found one of the most useful departments 
of the barn. There is no one use of beets that I consider so 
beneficial as feeding them to brood sows, as they not only 
furnish a cheap food, but keep the sows’ digestive organs 
healthy, and enable them to produce large, healthy litters. 
I have wintered this year a litter of Poland China sows, 
with one good feed of beets each day, and bran and oil meal 
for their grain ration and have never had such growthy, 
well developed sows at the same age, or wintered hogs so 
economically. They are now 10 months old and though 
not fat, will weigh about 250 pounds each. They eat the 
beets thrown to them whole as readily as corn. 
The way I prepared for storing them was as follows : The 
sills of the barn were up about two feet from the ground, 
so that there were nearly three feet of waste room under 
the floor of the bay. I took out this floor and pointed the 
stone walls under the sills with cement mortar, so as to 
make them mouse-proof, and put a good cement floor in 
one half of the width of the barn. This gave a room 15x20 
feet. Studding were set on top of the sills six inches wide 
and four feet high, which gives a depth of seven feet to the 
cellar. As the boards were nailed to the inside of these 
studding (put on horizontally) the space was packed with 
sawdust. On the side where the bay was divided the stud¬ 
ding were set directly on the cement floor, and boarded on 
both sides and the space filled with cement grout up to 
the level of the bay floor, and above that but a single 
board partition was made, as in the winter this bay is 
always kept full of hay or straw to the top of the cellar 
and the cellar is also covered with an inch floor, which is 
also protected in cold weather with hay or straw. 
The cement floor is made with common Louisville ce¬ 
ment, costing $1.50 per barrel, and the foundation is six 
inches deep, made with one part of cement to five of 
screened gravel, slightly wet, and so thoroughly mixed that 
each pebble is coated with the cement. This is spread two 
inches deep at a time, and tamped solid, and above this six- 
inch foundation we put a coat one inch thick of cement 
mixed with three barrels of clean, sharp sand to one of 
cement. A horse stable floor is made in the same way ex¬ 
cept that Portland cement is used for the finishing coat, 
and it is put down two inches thick instead of one. The 
root cellar must be made so that it can be thoroughly ven¬ 
tilated, and for this purpose there should be a window op¬ 
posite the door. waldo F. brown. 
Butler Co., Ohio._ 
THE MAKING OF FARM BUTTER. 
Essentials of Success. 
At the present low ebb in farm profits It behooves every 
farmer to study well what products to put upon the 
market, that only those from which he realizes a fair 
profit shall be produced, and that each article shall be the 
best possible of its kind. Another thing to be carefully 
considered is to what that particular farm is best adapted. 
For while one farm may be an excellent one for wheat, 
yielding largely and so proving profitable, another may be 
best adapted for the production of some other article. 
Among farm products which always find ready sale, at 
remunerative prices, we may, perhaps, place butter at the 
head. The demand for really good butter is always in ex¬ 
cess of the supply. Every butter-maker claims to make a 
first-class article, yet the amount of butter that would be 
classed as A No. 1 in a city market, is rarely found equal 
to the call for it. Any farmer’s wife with the ordinary 
conveniences now so commonly in use, can make an article 
which will, if sent to a reliable grocer or commission man 
in any of our large cities, soon convince her that it pays to 
make good butter, but never, under any circumstances, 
should she send out a pound that is not strictly first-class. 
A single shipment even of slightly inferior quality will, 
perhaps, ruin one’s reputation as a butter-maker, and 
cause the loss of trade. The following are some of 
the most Important points in successful butter-making: 
First, good cows; that is, those that are healthy, and 
fresh in milk, or nearly so, and are provided with good 
food and plenty of pure water. Good butter cannot be 
made from cows allowed to drink water which has become 
foul or stagnant. 
A good supply of ice is also necessary through the summer 
months; and an ice-house, by the way, is one of the things 
every farmer should have. A creamery (cabinet form) 
while not perhaps absolutely indispensable, is at the same 
time so much more convenient than the old way of setting 
the milk in pans, and such a saving of labor, that every 
butter-maker should be provided with one. As to the 
churn, I am of the opinion that good butter cau be made 
in almost any churn, provided the cream is of the proper 
degree of acidity and temperature, and the churning 
stopped when the butter is in granules the size of wheat 
kernels, or smaller. I have as an experiment made as fine 
granular butter in an old-fashioned dash churn as in the 
newer makes; the point in either case being to stop churn¬ 
ing when the granular stage is reached, instead of massing 
the butter in a solid lump, as was the custom formerly in 
vogue. 
The buttermilk should be drawn off and the butter thor¬ 
oughly rinsed in cold water until not a trace of milk re¬ 
mains. A handful of salt added to the cream just before 
it forms into granules will cause the buttermilk to draw 
off more freely. The salting should be done with high- 
grade dairy salt only, as the coarser kinds contain lime, 
which is very injurious to the keeping qualities of the but¬ 
ter. After salting, work lightly and form into rolls, prints, 
or into whatever shape you choose or pack in tubs at once, 
no further working being necessary. Butter made in this 
manner never goes begging for a profitable price, as the 
purchaser is sure to want more. 
Another way of marketing It is to obtain the custom of 
private families ; it may be of friends or acquaintances who 
would be willing to give a good price to be supplied with 
good butter the year around. And here is another item to 
be taken into consideration: the dairyman who expects 
to make his business a profitable one, must make butter 
in winter as well as in summer. Winter dairying pays by 
far the highest profit in spite of the higher cost of produc¬ 
tion. Arrange to have at least half of your cows drop 
their calves in the fall of the year. A dairy thus managed 
cannot fail to be a profit. ELLA rockwood. 
Farm Politics. 
Here it is proposed to discuss with freedom and fairness, ques¬ 
tions of National or State policy that particularly concern farm¬ 
ers. The editors disclaim responsibility for the opinions of cor¬ 
respondents. The object is to develop a true and fair basis for 
organization among farmers. Let us think out just what we want 
and then strive for it. 
ROAD IMPROVEMENTS. 
I have listened for three hours this day to a discussion 
of the Richardson Bill now pending before the New York 
Legislature to create State roads connecting county seats. 
The provisions of the bill are fairly guarded and popular, 
so far as a valuable measure should be popularized. It 
would be easy to waste time in criticising items, but it is 
to be hoped the people will not do this and will not allow 
their representatives to do it. State roads will not alto¬ 
gether cover the needs of farmers so far as access to rail¬ 
roads is concerned, although they will largely help ; but 
they will serve as models to which the people will rapidly 
make all other roads conform. Our trouble now is due to 
a system so bad that not only does it make no decent 
roads, but it leaves us educated to make bad ones ; an ob¬ 
ject lesson running through each county, an ideal macada¬ 
mized road, would be so delightful and our present roads so 
horrible by contrast that we should not rest content with 
the latter ? We should also have a very practical lesson on 
two other points : how we are now sinking money in roads 
that are never made; and how much we are losing in the 
way of power by dragging our loads through mud and over 
stones and in ruts. The State roads would work out a 
great deal faster the revolution that is surely to come. 
The addition to taxation due to the construction of such 
roads will be a fraction so small as not to be felt; and the 
saving to our teams, wagons and health as well as the sav¬ 
ing in time will far outbalance the necessary outlay. This 
is the point which the farmers must see, that bad roads 
cause a sad waste and lack of economy ; while good roads 
put money in the pocket. It is hard for us in America to 
draw the contrast, for we have never seen good roads ; but 
we can get some conception of what might be by consider¬ 
ing the contrast after pulling through five or ten miles of 
mud with our teams and then moving smoothly and 
swiftly to our destination on a railroad. Our iron roads 
are the best in the world ; our dirt roads the worst. 
But let us see clearly how the matter stands. For 50 
years railroads have been our ambition. We have driven 
them through every section, and have had the feeling that 
we must all “live near a railroad.” But the railroad 
system has been nearly completed. Roads have been 
built that do not now and never will pay. Capital does 
not now flow in that direction. Substantially the system 
is complete. Few more great roads will be built, and not 
many more feeders that will be for the advantage of 
farmers. We have seen the mountain coming to us; it is 
not coming any nearer. Mahomet must now go to it. We 
have to build a system of stone roads to take us to the 
railroads. The trouble and loss now are in hauling our 
crops from the fields to the storehouses. It costs us more 
to get out of our cornfields and to the railroad than it does 
to carry our corn a thousand miles further to market. 
What we need, then, is, first, a new sort of home roads, 
and, second, a new motor that will work as well as the 
steam-engine on rails. Whether this motor will be a ter¬ 
restrial electrical engine or an aerial boat remains to be 
seen. But it is not probable that the future will be with¬ 
out its surprises any more than the past has been. Let us 
imagine a day when, without loss of power from mud and 
other needless friction, we shall move to the depots and 
warehouses as easily as we now glide to the great markets 
from the stations. The saving in wear on our own nerves 
APRIL ii 
alone will more than compensate for the expense that will 
be involved. 
As object-lessons and initiatory steps I believe that 
State roads should be built. The mere discussion of the 
project is doing much to spread a knowledge of how good 
roads may be built. But if I were to have my own choice 
of means, I would advocate in each State the selection of 
a competent and educated road engineer whose business it 
should be to supervise road construction, and whose 
salary should be adequate. I would add an Agricultural 
Department to each State Govern ment, involving, 1, a Road 
Engineer ; 2, a Forest Commissioner, to have supreme con¬ 
trol of the forest lands and the preservation of tree3; 3, 
a commissioner who should have charge of the entomo¬ 
logical interests of agriculture, with power to enforce 
laws; 4, a commissioner in charge of the enforcement of 
laws concerning the destruction of weeds and the preven¬ 
tion of their spread, as also of needed information when 
called on by the people. Here are our four salient points : 
bad roads, the destruction of our forests, the spread of 
weeds, and the increase of Insect enemies. E. P. P. 
Oneida Co., N. Y._ _ _ 
THE RA.ILROAD ROBBERS. 
Not content with plundering the men who live on the 
land, these extend their rule to all water-courses, lakes, 
seas and oceans. 
On November 3, 1890, the “ Inter State Commerce Com¬ 
mission” decided the case of S. Copehard & Jasper 
Smith, owners of the steamer R. T. Coles, complain¬ 
ants, vs. the Louisville & Nashville, and other rail¬ 
road companies, in favor of the robbers. Their de¬ 
cision, stripped of all drapery of the humbug tools of the 
railroad banditti, is that these men may make 
a criminal agreement with our steamboats or steam 
lines or other water-carriers, to transport passen¬ 
gers and freight from any depot on the Mississippi and its 
tributaries to New York or other depQts in the United 
States, and refuse the same privilege to all other water- 
carriers. and thus by such criminal combines against all 
competitors ruin them, just as Armour & Co. ruin the 
cattle trade on land 1 
Thus the farmers, laborers, tradesmen, etc., are ruined 
on that Mississippi to improve the navigation of which we 
are yearly taxed by our corrupt politicians millions of dol¬ 
lars, though none but the banditti can be benefited by the 
outlay. And what rules apply to the Mississippi and its 
tributaries apply to all the navigable waters, streams, 
lakes and seas, to which this nation has any right of sov¬ 
ereignty. 
My nephews, the Messrs. Watrous, who flei from Chi¬ 
cago to Minneapolis, and finally abandoned all land car¬ 
riage in their milling business, and went to Jersey City, 
on the Hudson River, are caught in this net set by the 
Commission-Humbug, and prevented from having free use 
of the water as well as the land ! 
The railroad robbers can form a criminal combination 
with certain carriers in league with the banditti, and break 
down all small craft on the Hudson and the Bay of New 
York and the Atlantic Ocean, and not allow the Watrouses 
to get any wheat, or sell any flour beyond the seas, after 
all 1 
Now either the Watrouses or the banditti and traitors 
“ must go 1 ” 
If the Watrouses “must go,” then every honest laborer 
In America “ must go 1 ” Every honest man’s house (his 
boasted “ castle ”) in the Republic is in a state of siege, 
and he can neither go in nor out without a permit from the 
banditti. He cannot sell or send out anything, or buy or 
bring in anything whatever without their leave 1 So on 
the sea—every ship is embargoed, except those of the rob¬ 
bers or their parasites! The wreckers are triumphant! 
The Republic is dead! The Republic of “ The United 
States of America ” has ceased to exist! cassius M. CLAY. 
Madison Co., Ky._ 
Preachers in Politics —Shall we have politics 
preached from the pulpit ? Asa rule, I say, No. Not be¬ 
cause I think there is anything wrong in it; but because, 
as a rule, ministers of the gospel know less than any other 
intelligent men in the community about the right and 
wrong of the great questions which come before the people 
for discussion and settlement. Perhaps college professors 
ought to be excepted. Other people discuss these ques¬ 
tions pro and con, wrangle over them, turn them over and 
over till every phase and shadow of opinion are familiar ; 
ministers hold themselves aloof from and above (?) all 
such party discussions ; and a majority of them know far 
less about them than the hearers they would instruct. 
When they do try to inform themselves, they take sides 
just as other people do—generally in accordance with 
their preconceived notions, and are for slavery or against 
slavery just according as they have been brought up. 
Then they are very likely to take extreme views on ques¬ 
tions of general interest in which opinions widely vary, 
and to insist on legislation in accordance with their views; 
whereas good politics often demand concession and com¬ 
promise from the be3t of men. So I say that, as a rule, 
we had better kesp politics out of the pulpit. More harm 
than good is likely to result from political preaching. 
Michigan._ F. hodgman. 
IMPORTANT ! 
What high priced novelties have you bought and 
cultivated—whether of small fruits , large fruits , 
ornamental shrubs , trees or seeds of any kinds — 
that proved to be either old varieties, no better than 
old varieties, or more or less ivorthless f And of 
ivhom did you purchase them t We ivould be glad 
to hear from our readers at once. We propose to 
ventilate the important subject thoroughly. 
