i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
383 
Unfortunately for the credit of the Government, this 
scheme of technical education was an afterthought, their 
first object being the endowment of drink shops and the 
compensation of publicans. Good comes out of evil, some¬ 
times, and this is perhaps one of the most famous of in¬ 
stances to be cited in the future. The scheme, so far as 
agriculture is concerned, is to make use of existing edu¬ 
cational establishments in country places, of agricultural 
colleges, and of other colleges which embrace agriculture 
in their curriculum. These institutions will be invited to 
lend facilities for the teaching of agriculture, and in return 
therefor will receive a grant of money. Our object is, in 
fact, to employ existing machinery as far as possible, and 
to supplement by lectures, demonstrations and experi¬ 
ments outside. The lectures will be given at conveaient 
centers, so that farmers may attend, and the experiments 
will be made at various places; the latter will consist 
chiefly of a practical inquiry, wherever desirable, as to the 
suitability of special manures to given crops and soils. The 
demonstrations, so far as manuring is concerned, will 
dovetail a good deal with the experiments, no doubt, for 
a great deal is already known as to the effect of special 
manures, not only on crops, but on soils. So far as dairy¬ 
ing is concerned they will be peripatetic to a great extent, 
though the cheese and buter factories will probably become 
permanent centers of instruction, particularly in refer¬ 
ence to cheese making. In the dairying counties, travel¬ 
ing dairies, consisting of approved apparatus for a 
butter dairy, will go about to the villages, to give 
demonstrations, along with explanatory lectures, in the 
art of practical batter making. A large proportion of 
British cheese and batter is still produced in the farm¬ 
houses, and we consider that the most striking remits of 
technical education ia agriculture will be seen in thedalry 
depirtment. The quality of the cheese and butter of the 
country at large is open to great improvement, and our 
object is to raise the standard up to the level of the exist¬ 
ing best in any given locality. Experts will be employed 
to go about to centrally situated farm-houses in order to 
ing the lambs young. During the second week they should 
be given their first les-ons. By taking the young lambs 
away from their mothers a short time each day and by 
giving them a finger to suck in the milk, it becomes an 
easy matter to teach them to drink unaided After feed¬ 
ing them in this way for a few times they will continue 
to drink if the finger is withdrawn. The greatest trouble 
that arises after they have learned to assist themselves 
consists in keeping them from drinking too much at any 
one time. When two weeks old they should not be given 
at one time over half a pint of sweet and warm whole 
milk. They should ba fed at least four times a day when 
on whole milk, though when strong enough to be weaned 
they may be fed skim-milk less frequently. Perhaps the 
best way to keep them on the milk and eventually to wean 
them is to turn the ewes out to pasture or into another 
pen during part of the day, leaving them with the lambs 
only during the night and morning. The ewes will soon 
dry off under this course of treatment, and the lambs will 
take more readily to the milk. I would emphasize the 
importance of feeding only warm sweet and fresh milk, 
and that at frequent intervals. JOHN A. CHAIG. 
Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. 
ESSEX SWINE. 
The Best Sty Pig to be Had, 
It appears to be generally admitted by the authorities 
that the Essex is about the best “ sty-pig” to be found, its 
only rival in this respect being the Small Yorkshire. A 
glance at the typical Essex boar pictured at Fig. 134 will 
show why this is so. Here we have an animal that is “all 
pork.” Its legs are not built for traveling or its mouth for 
grazing ; it is built to grow and fatten in a small space. 
The Essex is frequently spoken of as the Small Black; the 
Yorkshire being termed the Small White. 
History of Essex Swine. 
The Essex are one of the oldest and the purest of the 
English breeds of swine. An Essex S vine Record has just 
The Essex Grade In Minnesota. 
“ The result of the first cross of a registered Essex boar 
upon the purebred I) uroc-Jersey sows appears to be satis¬ 
factory. The pigs are yet young and small, but, from the 
feeder’s standpoint, they promise to become nothing les 3 
than a revised, enlarged and Improved edition of the 
Essex. Young pigs of the Essex breed are commonly small 
and more delicate than those of larger breeds, and they re¬ 
quire good care when they are young, but the get of this 
cross were of good sizi, vigorous and immediately proved 
their ability to look out for themselves. 
“As a result of this experiment I can say, that, in my 
estimation, the Essex take rank among the best; they 
mature early and their meat is excellent. They possess 
powers of transmitting to their progeny an excess of their 
own good qualities and when crossed upon common or 
coarser swine will improve their qualities almost beyon 1 
recognition. Excepting the Suffolks, there is no breed 
that can compare with them for this purpose. 
“ In Missouri, where corn and clover may be cheaply 
provided in great quantities, and uniformly of superior 
quality, where the climate is mild and the grazing season 
is long, the percentage of the grain ration required for 
maintenance being small, the quality of early maturity Is 
not so important a factor in the question of profit as in 
Minnesota, where the cost of feed is greater, the grazing 
season short, the climate more severe and the maintenance 
ration proportionately larger. In one case a pig with 
strong roomy frame and vigorous growth, may be the pig 
for profit, may be j rst the machine required for converting 
a large quantity of bulky cheap food into condensed and 
portable product. I have found the purebred Poland 
China and Berkshire and the crosses of the finer-boned 
Poland-China sires upon mature Berkshire sows most 
valuable for such uses where coru and clover were abun¬ 
dant andcheip, as in Missouri and Kansas. But on the 
other hand, the pig for profit in Minnesota is one with fine 
bone, strong, medium-sized, well-lined form, of vigorous 
growth and hardy, with thick covering of hair, wit i gentle 
lecture and demonstrate on the management of 
milk and of cream throughout the course and 
process, preliminary and actual, of cheese and 
butter making, and the people of the neighbor¬ 
hood will be Invited to attend. The equipments 
of most farm-house dairies are more or less de¬ 
fective, but, however desirable it may be to re¬ 
place them by better ones, we know that farmers 
in many cases will not care to buy new ones 
while the old ones can be made to answer their 
purposes. Improved appliances and the advan¬ 
tages derived from using them, it will be among 
the duties of the traveling dairies to exhibit to 
the people. Suitable buildings for dairy work 
are not generally found, but it is obviously the 
duty of the land owners to make good such de¬ 
ficiencies. Children in the village schools will be 
taught something of natural history, and of 
entomology, so far as agriculture isconcirned, 
and classes will be held of workingmen, so that 
old and young, rich and poor alike will share in 
whatever benefits the schems is calculated to 
supply. 
It will be seen that we have embarked in a very 
comprehensive and important quest after in¬ 
creased and more generally diffused knowledge. 
It is a great national effort, entered upon with 
deliberation, and with a determination to make 
the best of such an uncommon opportunity. I 
hope in the future to have opportunities of re- 
... k4» 
TYPICAL ESSEX BOAR. Fig. 134, 
disposition and the quality of early maturity 
well developed, producing a finished carcass 
yielding the highest per cent of meat product to 
the gross weight, easily reaching an average of 
240 to 250 pounds gross weight in from 220 to 230 
days. 
“ In this State the efforts so far made in the 
way of improvement have mainly consisted in 
introducing the Poland China and Berkshire 
sires. What I have quoted from the experience 
of some of those best qualified to speak of the 
qualities of the Essex boar, and the power which 
the sires of that breed have in impressing their 
qualities upon their progeny when bred to dams 
of other breeds, furnishes the reason for begin¬ 
ning certain lines in my experiments in breed¬ 
ing, and the desirability of introducing some of 
the qualities of early-maturing breeds into the 
breeding swine of this State, suggests the desira¬ 
bility of many progressive swine growers mak¬ 
ing similar trials, and failure in one direction 
should stimulate to further efforts.” 
A PLEA FOR THE PEACH. 
As Grown In Western New York. 
The peach came to us from Persia, and the 
Orient never sent us a more regal gift. Like 
many of the inhabitants of its native clime, it is 
a true fire-worshipper, and never shows us its 
porting progress to The Rukal. [prof.] j. p. sheldon. 
Surrey, England. 
been issued, and in the first volume the following history 
of the breed is given: 
finest effects except in seasons when the sun is propitious 
for only in his fervid beams can it attain that richness of 
FEEDING MILK TO LAMBS. 
In reference to feeding lambs on cows’ milk, whole and 
skimmed, first permit me to cite some of the facts gleaned 
from an experiment of this nature conducted last year by 
Prof. Henry, so that the grounds for some of my conclu¬ 
sions may be easily seen. The lambs used in this experi¬ 
ment were sired by a registered Shropshire and were from 
full blooded Merino ewes. When abmt 10 days old they 
were taken from the ewes and fed whole milk four times 
daily from a bottle. During the 21 days so fed, they drank 
226 pounds of full milk and made a gain of 39 pounds, at a 
cost of 33^ cents a pound. During the next period, which 
lasted until the lambs were about 4>£ months old, they 
were fed skim-milk from a bottle and in addition they 
were given ground oats and green clover. In the first 28 
days of that period they drank 424 pounds of skim-milk, 
ate 14 pounds of ground oats and 32 pounds of green clover. 
They made during that time a gain of 53 pounds at a cost 
of 2% cents per pound. This was the cheapest gain made 
during the experiment; while the dearest madeduring the 
month of September cost 4}£ cents per pound. The whole 
milk fed to the lambs was charged to them at the rate of 
60 cents per 100 pounds and the skim-milk at the rate of 25 
cents per 100 pounds, which are, as Prof. Henry says, rela¬ 
tively high for these foods. Nevertheless, the lambs made 
a cheap gain and they could have been disposed of at a 
good profit. 
These figures show clearly that lambs will utilize cows’ 
milk as profi ably as any other farm live stock. Prof. 
Henry asserts that these lambs did as well on these foods 
as any pigs that have ever besn fed at the station, so that 
there is no doubt as to the value of skim-milk for lambs. As, 
however, this is a new feature of lamb feeding, there are a 
number of finger-posts yet to be erected to point the shortest 
“The Essex is one of the English breeds. Youatt describes 
them as ' parti-colored animals’ black with white shoul¬ 
ders, nose and legs ; In fact, a sort of sheeted pig ; large, 
upright and coarse in bone. The first determined effort for 
improvement in the breed is credited to Lord Western, 
who introduced Neapolitan swine from Italy, that were 
said to have possessed very peculiar and valuable qualities, 
the flavor of the meat being excellent and the disposition 
to fatten on the smallest quantity of food unrivaled. This 
pair and their offspring were bred together to such an ex¬ 
tent that there was danger of their becoming extinct, when 
they were crossed on the Essex on Lord Western’s estate 
with the effect of obliterating the white and producing a 
progeny with the appearance and many characteristics of 
the pure Neapolitans. This crossing and the subsequent 
selection and breeding which formed the type of modern 
Essex were mainly the work of Fisher Hobbs, who was a 
tenant on the Western estate, and as bred by him they 
have been regarded as a favorite breed in Eugland since 
1840. They are classed with the small breeds, but fre¬ 
quently attain weights that would entitle them to be con¬ 
sidered among the larger ones, often weighing 400 to 600 
pounds at maturity, thougn usually most profitable when 
slaughtered young for breakfast bacon or family use, for 
which they are highly esteemed. The Standard agreed 
upon is as follows : Color black, without any white what¬ 
ever ; face short and dishing; ears small, soft and standing 
erect while young but drooping slightly with increasing 
age; carcass long, broad, straight and deep ; hams heavy 
and well let down ; bone fine; hair ordinarily rather thin ; 
fattening qualities very superior.” 
The great value of the Essex, aside from its early matur¬ 
ity and its excellent fattening qualities, lies in its use for 
crossing on the common coarse-boned hogs of the country. 
Last year experiments were made at the Minnesota Sta- 
coloring and delicacy of flavor which constitute its charm. 
For this reason the varieties which ripen during the strong 
heat of late August and early September are those which 
give the most satisfactory results. A hot September will 
perfect L ite Crawford and Hill’s Chili and make them 
truly delicious; but If the fall is cold the fruit will lack In 
richness and will be more or less bitter. 
For a period of nearly 15 years preceding 1860, peaches 
were so often a failure in this section that nearly all of the 
old trees had died out and but few new ones were planted 
to fill their places. Now and then a tree bore a fair crop 
at reasonable Intervals, and it was a notable fact that 
these bearing trees were oftenest found on the tops of high 
hills. It was not difficult to understand the reason of this 
phenomenon. The temperature on hills is more even than 
in valleys and frost does not come so late in spring or so 
early in autumn. In this section there are long unbroken 
valleys which afford a strong current by which the frost is 
drained off from the hillsides so that they are available for 
peaches for a considerable distance down their sides, 
though the lower trees are less sure of producing fruit than 
those at the top. 
The mercury goes rather low in this section some win¬ 
ters, but if It does not register a temperature lower than 
16 degrees below zero, we feel reasonably sure that well- 
ripened fruit buds will endure the temperature, though 
any thing lower is likely to prove fatal to their vitality. A 
late, warm fall sometimes gives the buds such a start that 
they go into the winter in a tender state and it does not 
require a very low temperature, then, to weaken or destroy 
them. 
In the spring of 1860, my father put out a few peach 
trees, choosing the top of a sandy hill for the greater part 
of them, though a few were planted in a valley at its base, 
sheltered by farm buildings and an old apple orchard. 
way to the greatest profits. To lessen the trouble and labor, tion to discover the grade hog that was best suited to the The trees were kept in good condition by thorough cul- 
the bottle and nipple must be discarded. That lambs can be needs ot the Minnesota farmer. Biars of the different tlvation and a plentiful use of stable manure and wood 
taught to drink from a dipper is certain. We are raising pure breeds were crossed on the common sows and on the ashes. A part of the trees on the hill were in a strawberry 
lambs now that have never been fed from a bottle. They high-grade sows as well. From Bulletin 14 of this station plantation and the difference in growth between these 
get their milk my lapping it from a dipper. In such work, the following extracts are made to show the peculiar value trees and those where no other crop was demanded from 
so far, I have learned that It is imperative to begin feed- of the Essex hog. the soil except themselves was considerable. This orchard 
