432 
NEW-YORKER 
TUNE 6 
THE RURAL 
Live Stock Matters. 
Trials of Sheep Dogs.— In the fall of 1892 public trials 
of sheep dogs are to lie held in this country under the 
auspices of the Collie Club of New York City. There will 
be three prizes: the first will be $250; the second, $100, and 
the third $50. The trials will be held somewhere in 
the vicinity of this city. They have been put so far 
ahead to give all who may wish to enter the competition 
plenty of time to train their animals. Such exhibitions 
have long been in vogue in Scotland and are by no means 
unknown in several parts of England, but here they are a 
novelty. In Caledonia the sheep dog goes out with the 
shepherd in spring, is with him and his flock all summer, 
sleeping under his plaid, and gets to know every word and 
gesture, so that he needs no special training to fit him for 
exhibition in the field. Here, however, time is needed to 
prepare the dogs for field trials. 
Abortion Among Mares.—A few years ago I had a good 
deal of trouble with abortion. I think I traced it in every 
case to ergotized food, particularly corn stalks and oats. 
For a couple of seasons I had quite a large quantity of oats 
affected more or less with smut, and in using the straw for 
bedding, the mares picked up more or less of it. I used 
extract of black haw towards the last and think I saved 
several cases, administering it when any symptoms made 
their appearance, but I have not lost a colt for the last 
three years. c - FARNUM. 
Wayne County, Mich. 
Modern Oil Meal.— It is necessary to revise the printed 
tables of analyses of oil meals. The modern processes of 
extracting the oil from linseed and cotton seed are much 
more effective than they were when these tables were made. 
I have recently procured samples from mills in South 
Carolina and find the proportion of oil contained in cotton¬ 
seed meal to be from six to eight per cent, but as all the 
oil cannot be extracted by any solvent, as some will be re¬ 
tained in the cellular tissue which is unbroken in the 
grinding of the seed, at least two per cent should, I think, 
be added to these figures. But this lesser quantity of oil 
of course reduces the estimated feeding value, and when 
one purchases meal now on the basis of old values he will 
be paying more than the previous ratio of value. In the 
old feeding tables the oil in cotton-seed meal is put at 18 
per cent, which is twice as much as I find in the samples I 
have recently tested. Some recent analyses of these meals 
by the experiment stations give the following: 
Old process 
linseed meal. 
Fat, percent. -J.S7 
Fat, per cent. 6.50 
Fat, percent. t>.4» 
New process 
linseed meal. 
2.17 
8.15 
4.08 
Cotton¬ 
seed meal. 
».57 
8.90 
14.72 
As the fats in food are valued at about 2 % cents per 
pound, while the albuminoids are estimated at 1 % only, 
the reduced proportion in these samples bearing the lesser 
quantities of fats, of course affects the feeding value con¬ 
siderably, the difference amounting to nearly $4 down¬ 
wards per ton. This is a point to be considered in pur¬ 
chasing when the quantity of the most valuable element 
in the feed should be known. At the same time this large 
difference must cause some disturbing variation in com¬ 
parative tests made in feeding as regards the products 
from the food. 11 • s - 
Dairy Cow Considerations.— The advice to sell off the 
poorer cows is always good. I usually feed quite a large 
part of my cows’ ration in grain—corn meal and bran—but 
owing to the high prices of these I am feeding more of 
early-cut clover hay to take the place of the bran, and 
more of the cotton-seed meal, which is not much higher 
than common, to take the place of the corn meal, and 
counting the increased value of the manure from the cot¬ 
ton-seed meal, the cost of production will not be so very 
largely increased. If the cows are in full milk I believe it 
would pay to feed some grain all summer; it has a ten¬ 
dency to make the butter more firm and solid. In my 
own case I arrange as far as possible to have my cows 
come in in July and August, and so do not feed much 
grain after May. It will not pay to. skimp the animals. 
If I have not good pasture or good hay, I believe it best to 
give good grain. T. terry. 
Poor Cows, Cheap Grain.— If possible, sell the poorer 
cows; but this is not always possible. In a dairy country, 
poor cows are at this time of year very hard to sell. Most 
of the dairymen have all the cows they want, and those 
who have not do not want poor ones. The best way to 
dispose of such animals is to keep them farrow and sell 
them when dry to dealers who either fatten them or take 
them to some place where there is call for such cows. 
I live in a dairy country, but I know only a very few 
men who grain their cows in summer. It has not paid at 
the Cornell Station, and I have my doubts whether it pays 
ordinarily to feed grain in May after the cows get fairly 
broke into pasture feed, and through June and July. 
Later it might pay, but if the cows come in in the Fall, 
are fed high through the Winter and are dried up in 
August, I think they might go without grain while in the 
pasture. But if one can get a high price for butter, he can 
afford to buy grain when he otherwise could not. 
Then one kind and the best kind of grain for most co ws— 
cotton-seed meal—is no higher at this time than usual, and 
if one wished to enrich a pasture and take part of the pay 
for the grain ration in that way, it might be good policy 
to feed grain—cotton-seed meal through the summer. It 
might be well to feed linseed meal to young cows and 
heifers. The Rural ought to advise the poor city team¬ 
sters to feed linseed meal to their horses. It is much 
cheaper than oats or corn or the so-called provender which 
is said to be made of oat hulls and meal. Linseed meal 
should be fed with hay, as it sticks to the teeth and, if fed 
alone, is difficult to swallaw. But it imparts a glossy coat, 
and gives strength and flesh. j. w, newton. 
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. 
MONEY LOANED ON LAND. 
Jerseyman, in The Rural of May 2, tries to draw a 
parallel on things so divergent that there is no comparison 
between them—collars governed by fashion and land which 
has been recognized as property ever since the cave of 
Machpelah was sold to Abraham. People may wear collars 
or not, but there never can be a time when people can live 
for any length of time without land, which is the basis of 
all security. If paper money can be issued on gold and 
silver, which are dug out of the earth, why may it not be 
issued on the earth itself t If a bank bill is good with 
United States bonds to back it, then a bill ought to be good 
which is backed by the same security that makes United 
States bonds good. The value of farms and things per¬ 
taining thereto is over 12 billions of dollars ; one-tenth of 
this amount issued in land money would be certainly safe, 
and yet it would, in addition to the money we now have, 
be sufficient to pay our debts, improve our farms, and do a 
thousand-andone other things that we want to do, but can¬ 
not do for the want of money. Gold and silver as money are 
worth more than they possibly could be for any other pur¬ 
pose ; yet nobody refuses to take them, or the paper dol¬ 
lars that are based on them. Hence we think land money, 
based on a fair valuation of land, would be equally good. 
It certainly would, based on one-tenth of a fair valuation. 
I am surprised that my Jersey brother should want to 
compare a paper-collar factory, one of the most flimsy 
things on this earth, with the earth itself, which is God’s 
footstool. We have had greenbacks, and there are some 
now, and they are as good as gold ; but we are going to 
have brownbacks, which will represent the earth and the 
fullness thereof, and we will have a sufficient quantity to 
transact the business of this country on a cash basis, if they 
have to be as thick as the leaves on the trees in Vallom- 
brosa. 
[Should fiat money be as plentiful as leaves, even in less 
umbrageous places than famed Vallombrosa, wouldn’t 
it also be about as worthless ?—Eds.] 
Our missionaries are abroad in the field and are making 
many converts. I am aware that our brother farmers in 
the central and eastern States thought it a piece of impu¬ 
dence for the South and West to send missionaries there; 
but they have been sent and are doing a great work. The 
next President will be a man who will be in sympathy 
with all who earn a living by brain and brawn. A ma¬ 
jority of the Congress that will be elected in 1892 will be 
farmers, and they will have no use for a lobby. The occu¬ 
pation of the men who make a living by jobs and trickery 
will begone. Justice will hold the scales so evenly that 
they will not vary even a hair’s breadth, and then will we 
enter on an era of prosperity and happiness such as the 
world has never known. C. C. D. 
Dillburgh, Ala._ 
DISCOUNTING YOUR PROFITS. 
I hear very much about the sufferings of mortgaged 
farmers nowadays, but these tales are not often accom¬ 
panied by the reasons why the mortgages were originally 
made. It would be interesting to know more about the 
history of these debts. In studying their consequences 
we ought to know about their origin. 
I have been led to reflect on this matter by a little inci¬ 
dent that occurred in my family. Last January a small 
boy was put in charge of 30 hens with the understanding 
that he could have all the money he could make from them 
after paying for their feed. He was to pay a small sum 
for the hens when the profits warranted it. He went to 
work in good spirits, and soon had a dozen or more eggs a 
day, which he sold at fair prices. It was not long before he 
had $5 ahead. The eggs still came along lively and the boy 
did some figuring. “ With 10 eggs every day for a year,” 
he said, “ I can make money enough to buy new hens, new 
coops and raise lots of chickens.” He therefore invested 
most of his surplus in “improvements.” Now the egg 
record has dropped to two or three per day, with a pros¬ 
pect of no eggs at all for several months. The price of 
grain has gone up and there are more fowls than ever to 
feed. The surplus has disappeared in improvements that 
give no available returns. Now comes the crisis. The boy 
must do one of two things—borrow money to pay his feed 
bill, or sell off half his flock to feed the other half. When 
the hens begin business again in the fall, he will find a 
big debt to payor have his flock of layers cut down one-half. 
His little surplus, with the money from the sale of a few use¬ 
less birds, would have carried him nicely through the sum¬ 
mer, and left him in the fall all ready to make the most of 
his business. 
Now, is this not a good Illustration of the way many of 
these financial troubles have grown ? The ordinary man, 
without much business experience—and many old business 
men, too—do not understand the danger of gambling with 
their capital. They risk what they have against what 
they ought to make if everything came out to their notion. 
Many farmers that I know have bought more land, new 
machinery, new stock, new houses—dozens of things that 
they did not need and which could not pay them interest 
if a single mishap came to their plans. They discounted 
their little savings and put an extra burden on their own 
shoulders. The plan of living within your income and 
resolutely making your expenses and investments fall be¬ 
low your receipts is a slow way to independence, but it is 
surer than fate. 
The boy mentioned above will be called upon to face a 
financial problem. If the cholera should kill off his flock 
his business would be bankrupt, and he will have to earn 
money elsewhere to pay for his feed and the original 
stock. In any event it will take most of his next year’s 
profits to pay this year’s losses. His success in this busi¬ 
ness as well as in any other business he may go into, will 
depend upon the use he makes of this experience in dis¬ 
counting his profits. JERSEYMAN. 
IRRIGATING THE ARID LANDS. 
No doubt there is a strong opposition throughout all the 
older settled parts of the country, especially among the 
intelligent agricultural classes, to any large outlay of 
money by the General Government for the irrigation of 
the arid lands of the far Western States and Territories. 
The enormous decline in the prices of agricultural pro¬ 
ducts within the last quarter of a century is believed to be 
due even more to the vast increase in cultivated land than 
to the contraction of the currency and the consequent ap¬ 
preciation of money in comparison with all industrial pro¬ 
ducts. Why heavily tax the already overtaxed people of 
the country to add at enormous expense to the arable area 
of the nation while a large proportion of that already in 
cultivation is being abandoned or cropoed to less than half 
its productive capacity ? Why spend stupendous sums to 
enrich far Western land-grabbers with the unavoidable 
effect of depreciating the prices of the land and products 
of the farmers in all other parts of the country, even of 
those in the adjoining States ? Why squander the hard- 
earned dollars of the ordinary citizen to benefit the com¬ 
peting immigrant or the greedy capitalist into whose 
clutches a large proportion of the reclaimed territory 
would be sure to fall ? Why lavish tens of millions in re¬ 
deeming a desert far from all the chief markets when a 
tithe of the outlay would make fertile or restore to fer¬ 
tility large areas now unproductive, near to the best mar¬ 
kets, in the older-settled States ? If the vast work is ever 
to be undertaken by the Federal Government, why not 
wait until there is need of more arable land ; until that 
already under cultivation is properly utilized and until all 
danger of overproduction has passed t Then with a much 
larger population and much greater resources, the pro¬ 
portion of needed taxation to each person would be much 
less, while it is to be hoped that reformation in legislation 
would either prevent or greatly diminish the dangers to 
which such a project would be at present exposed. 
Columbus, O._ _ w. L. H. 
The Farmers Chib. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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“SUN SCALD” OF FRUIT TREES. 
THE QUESTIONS. 
1. Is the affection of apple and other fruit trees known 
as “ sun scald” due to the heat of the sun in summer or in 
winter? 2. What is the most effectual method of prevent¬ 
ing “ sun scald?” 
Lean the Trees Towards the Southwest. 
1 . I do not know exactly what is meant by “sun scald” 
in this question. I have seen apples actually baked on one 
side in very hot summer weather, but there is evidently no 
preventive of that. I will assume that reference is made 
to the injury to the trunks and larger limbs of some vari- 
ties and species of fruit trees. This is really caused by the 
sun’s action ; but It is far from affecting, or at least seri¬ 
ously affecting all varieties or species. The “ iron-clads” 
seem with me to be almost or quite exempt—especially 
the Russians, As a partial preventive I am in the habit of 
leaning my young trees at an angle of six or more degrees 
in a direction opposite to that from which the stronger 
winds come in the season of leafage; which here is the 
southwest. By the time the trunks reach the size at which 
they can no longer be bent by the wind, they will have be¬ 
come upright; but this does not prevent] the tops of the 
whole orchard from having a “set” in the direction of 
these strong aerial currents of summer. 
2 . I have tried many preventives for this injury to the 
bark in trees badly affected by it, but without any great 
satisfaction. They all lose their bark on the exposed side 
in time, and become worthless. Lath, boards straw-rope, 
straw, boards, tall weeds and many other sorts of protec¬ 
tion have been advised, but my remedy will hereafter be 
not to plant those that ire so affected when planted as 
above described. For my part, the leaning to the south¬ 
west is not done to protect the trunk from the sun so much 
as it is to secure an erect tree at maturity. Still, there can 
be no doubt that a tree leaning to the northeast, if at all 
susceptible to sun heat in this way, is more endangered 
than one leaning the opposite way. I have noticed, in 
trees apparently uninjured, so far as thrift and productive¬ 
ness go, that there seems to be less wood made on the 
southwest side of the trunks, and the bark has a rather 
less healthy look, even where it never dies or scales off. 
But there are kinds so sure to be destroyed in this way 
that I would consider it folly to plant them to grow as 
standards. Some such I have grafted in the tops, on the 
northeast side of pretty large trees, with some success, yet 
they rarely quite escape injury. T. H. hoskins. 
Orleans County, Yt. 
Wrap the Trunks with “ Medicated Straw.” 
Sun scald of fruit trees is due, 1, to severe cold that 
forms Ice crystals and separates the water from the cell 
walls of the wood and bark; 2 , to rapid thawing by sun¬ 
shine which prevents the return of the water to the cell 
walls and its proper combination with the wood and bark 
fiber. I have seen sun scald after very severe winters upon 
the north side of trees in spots and in forks where sun- 
