752 
OCT. 24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
and herds in all the best agricultural districts of the 
United States. But this improvement can be maintained 
only by careful preservation of the ancient and well estab¬ 
lished races of the pure blood. T. c. jones. 
A HERD OF DAIRY SHORT-IIORNS. 
Mr. Newton Reed, of Amenia Union, is one of the prom¬ 
inent farmers of the “ Oblong Valley.” He has lived on 
his present farm for over 50 years, and is the recipient of a 
silver pitcher as a recognition of his services as a con¬ 
tributor to the agricultural press. 
“Fifty years ago,” said he, “there were 230,000 sheep in 
Dutchess County. Now there are comparatively few. 
Wool was then the principal product, and sold for from 50 
to 60 cents per pound. It brought less money than milk, 
but the labor and expense were less also.” 
“ Have you a silo ?” I inquired. 
“Not I wish I had. If I could put my corn into a silo, 
and save the work of husking, grinding and bothering 
with the stalks, I would be happy, and save money. But 
they wouldn’t take the milk at the condeusery.” 
“How many cows do you keep ?” 
“ About 50, grade Short-horns.” 
“What do you claim for the Short horns as milk pro¬ 
ducers ?” 
“ Nothing in particular. But there is no better breed. 
They will make as much milk as the Ilolsteins, and I like 
them better. I have some for which I wouldn’t thank a 
man to offer me $100 apiece.” 
“ Do you make milk the year around ? ” 
“ Some; but I prefer to have the cows come In about 
September. Then they milk well during the winter, and 
take a new spurt again when turned out on grass. The 
fewer cows I have in milk in July and August the better.” 
“ Do you think the Short horns generally good milkers ?” 
“ Perhaps they are not, because they are not bred for 
milk purposes. I have been breeding for a milk strain for 
20 years, and have produced animals that 
milk with the best.” 
I saw Mr. Reed’s cows in the pasture, 
and they bore out everything he had said 
for them. This herd has evidently been 
bred with special care. Their backs are as 
straight as an Indian arrow from shoulders 
to the butt of the tail. They carry slim re¬ 
tails and large udders, with well developed 
milk veins. They also show rich butter * i. yj 
qualities in the color of the hides and horns, 1 1 \ N [ M 
and simply show what can be done by care- [/fX/jp 
ful breeding with any breed of cattle. !■/ AjjMF 
“What do you feed your cows, Mr. Reed?” F; 
I asked. Lfiwtvf 
“Bran and corn ground with the cob, lilliM. N 
half and half.” W'v \1 )P| 
“ How many feeds a day do you give ? ” \ » ^ 
“ I have experimented in this matter, and ) W 
find the cows do just as well fed a grain \ m-ft 
ration once a day as oftener. I give the hay 
the first thing in the morning, and feed the 
first thing after breakfast.” 
“ I see you have the Buckley watering 
devices. Do you like them?” 
“ Yes; they are the best investment I ever made. Last 
year was the first time I had them and never before did I 
make milk so cheaply. I sold $200 worth more milk than 
the year before from the same cows and feed. Before using 
this device, I watered the cows twice a day; now they have 
water just when they want it. They eat less, and do better 
than ever before.” 
Mr. Reed is quite an old man, and has given the man¬ 
agement of the farm over to his son. He has upwards of 
230 acres. The meadow land is overflowed in the spring 
and keeps in grass year after year. The meadows are pas¬ 
tured in the fall and top-dressed. In this way the grass 
is kept in without plowing. About 15 acres of corn are 
raised each year, and seeded after oats with wheat. The 
latter crop this year will produce 30 bushels to the acre. It 
is the Mediterranean Hybrid. 
But little commercial fertilizers are used; but consider¬ 
able feed is purchased, and the farm is growing in produc¬ 
tiveness. When Mr. Reed began the milk business, 20 
years ago, the place kept 32 cows, now it will keep 60. 
I was surprised to find that land is comparatively cheap 
in this “ Oblong Valley,” and that good farms may be 
bought on very easy terms. J. J. D. 
body elee is. Mr. Stewart tells what makes a scrub ex¬ 
actly, and proves how the scrub may be improved. In a 
few generations by generous and wise treatment the scrub 
can be transformed into a higher class. In my weak way 
I have offered an apology for the poor scrub, and been 
criticised for it. My opinions have been the result of 
theory and observations, Mr. Stewart’s of a demonstration 
under the lights of science. That is a valuable, useful 
article and will do good to men who are feeling their way 
along the lines indicated, and be a note of warning to 
those who have been buying improved stock and giving 
them scrub care and management, without permanent 
benefits. Mr. S. knows many such and so do I. 
District of Columbia. R- M. bell. 
Feeding Value of Straw.— Recent telegrams from 
Russia, referring to the terrible famine that now confronts 
the people, state among other things : 
“ Bread made of finely chopped straw and bran, mixed 
with a very small quantity of rye, is considered a godsend. 
* * In the famine stricken districts the population are 
keeping themselves alive by making what they call ‘ hun¬ 
ger bread.’ The ingredients entering into it are dried 
dung, the powdered bark of trees, and ground peas and 
goosefoot, a plant more commonly known as pigweed.” 
We have read of a number of instances where straw has 
been used for human food and where hay-tea has been 
used as the basis for puddings and soups. Remembered 
delicacies of childhood were “ tansy pudding ” and carrot 
pie. We believe that a good cook can make almost any 
clean vegetable product into wholesome food. There is 
more in the cook than in the food. The chemists tell us 
that in a ton of good, bright oat straw there is digestible 
food as follows: 14 pounds of pure fat, 28 pounds of 
protein (muscle food) and 800 pounds of carbohydrates or 
fat-making food. By analysis it is worth just half as much 
for feediDg as clover hay. Still, as we know, hundreds of 
farmers consider it of no feeding value and use It as bed 
ding or absorbent alone. The writer never liked plain car- 
Killing the Tammany Black Rot. 
Fig. 269. 
FORKFULS OF FACTS. 
Dairy Short horn Notes.— S. Spencer & Son, Kian- 
tone, N. Y., write: “Our greatest demand for dairy 
Short-horns is for calves to be shipped by express to the 
Eastern and Middle States; our next largest demand is 
for cows that can show large milk and butter qualities and 
that are of good size. Among the most prominent families 
are the Clays, Fillpails, Pansys and Cherry Lasses. We 
are increasing our area under cultivation and expect to in¬ 
crease our stabling capacity so that we shall be able to 
meet as nearly as possible the increasing demand for this 
class of cattle. American breeders should advertise their 
stock about 100 times as much, on an average, as they are 
doing at present. We have just sold to the New Jersey 
Experiment Station at New Brunswick, N. J., the cows 
Kitty Clay 2nd, Fillpail 3d and Chautauqua Belle, which 
have all won first prizes at the New York State fairs 
in the dairy Short-horn class. They are to be tested for 
three years with the other milk and butter breeds.” 
Justice TO the Scrub —The History of a Scrub Cow in 
The Rural New-Yorker of October 3,1891, pleases me 
so well that I thank the author for the position he has 
taken, and the results of his experiments. Of course, I am 
not a scrub man in theory or practice; but the scrub cow, 
sheep or man is not always to be blamed, though some- 
rots, but he liked carrot pie—which was a mixture of car¬ 
rot, milk, sugar and spice. Few animals like plain straw 
—it is coarse and hard and without flavor or taste. The 
way to get stock to eat it is to soften it and give it an arti¬ 
ficial flavor. Grain stems are only large grass. Cut the 
crop when the seeds are but two thirds grown and you 
have a good quality of hay. Let grass stand until the 
seeds are hard and fully grown and you have stems harder 
than straw and quite as indigestible. Green wheat fodder 
cut at the Storrs School, Connecticut, yielded seven tons 
of green fodder with 51 pounds of protein, 17% pounds of 
fat and 203 pounds of carbohydrates in every ton. One ton 
of green clover contains 82 pounds of protein, 14 pounds of 
fat, and 160 pounds of carbohydrates. If both crops were 
cured for hay, the proportional value would remain. If 
the wheat is permitted to go to seed, we have what we may 
call an “ unequal division of nutriment’’—the condensed, 
digestible grain and the coarse, hard, dry straw. It will 
pay most dairymen to cut their grain, oats, wheat or bar¬ 
ley, while green, cure it like hay and feed it in the sheaf. 
But if the grain is grown it will still pay to take pains 
with the straw. The brighter and fresher it is the more 
of it will the stock eat. Straw for feeding ought to be 
housed like the hay. It is worth the trouble and outlay. 
Cattle do not like it because it is hard, dry and tasteless. 
For these reasons it is well to feed it with the ensilage or 
grain food. Cattle relish chopped straw when fed with 
ensilage. It will pay one to chop straw enough by hand 
to wet up with the grain ration. We always feed grain 
mixed with wet hay or straw for the same reason that we 
make the children eat bread and vegetables with their 
meat. Most children and many grown persons want to 
eat all their meat at once without bread or potatoes. 
Sheep eat dry straw better than any other animals, and 
even if it is to be used for bedding the sheep should pick it 
over first. Linseed meal and bran go better with straw 
than cotton seed meal, because both the latter are consti¬ 
pating. There is food in straw, but it requires brains and 
work to get it out. The manurial value of a ton of wheat 
straw is $2 69. The feeding value is, this year, at least $5, 
not including the manure. In England, where all sorts of 
fodders are utilized, a good deal of “ hay spice ” is used to 
give a taste to straw and coarse fodders. The spice is 
largely sugar, molasses and mild drugs which make the 
straw taste better and thus induce the animal to eat it. 
Selling Bottled Milk.— A correspondent of the Coun¬ 
try Gentleman in describing the great dairy farm of Theo¬ 
dore A. Havemeyer, says regarding the way the milk 
business is conducted: “The milk that is marketed as such 
is sold in bottles specially blown for the establishment and 
having lines indicating 12 per cent of cream (the New York 
standard), 15 per cent, and 20 per cent. Several that we 
picked up at random exceeded the last-named proportion, 
and we understand that 25 per cent is not unusual. And 
the milk is not only rich and absolutely pure, but remark¬ 
ably safe from a danger that unquestionably attends the 
U 83 of the ordinary article uncooked—the danger of the 
conveyance of consumption. The cows, though in bloom¬ 
ing health, are kept under constant veterinary inspection, 
and should there be reason even to suspect the existence of 
the faintest symptoms of tuberculosis in one of them, she 
would be isolated instanter, and not a drop of her milk 
would go for human food. The difficulty sometimes en¬ 
countered in the sale of bottled milk, namely, that cus¬ 
tomers are apt to be careless about cleansing the bottles, 
is avoided here by the simple expedient of refusing to 
supply any person who neglects this part of the business. 
Such a dairy as that at Mahwah, supplying exclusively 
such products as leave the station here, can afford to choose 
its customers 1 ” _ 
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. 
Killing the Tammany Black Rot. 
We have had a big row with this Mixture Bordeaux 
And our flue Tammany Board of Health 
Have knocked the zrape market’s good cake Into dough, 
And robbed the grape grower of wealth 
Now if this Bordeaux Mixture will kill the black rot, 
We would spray it in all the dark cracks. 
Of this •• Health Board.” and then strip the whole lazy lot, 
And lay a board—o—ver their backs! 
A PROHIBITIONIST TAKES THE FLOOR. 
Perhaps The Rural will kindly allow one who is not a 
candidate for any office, to briefly state why he will vote 
the Prohibition ticket. In The Rural o* 
October 10, Mr. Seitz, the People’s party 
candidate for governor of Ohio, states that 
30,000 men own $30,000,000,000, surely an 
unjust proportion. But suppose these 
30,000 men should combine this enormous 
[J| A I || j? wealth in one vast enterprise and receive 
_ * L Jr three per cent upon the amount invested, 
% '\ J-- what would they receive? Just the same 
// amount squandered every year by the 
[ a \l l people of this country in drink. At the 
((v\\ close of the war our government was 
L staggering under a load of debt so great 
that it was feared by many that it must 
j But ^ the people of this country 
would for three years save the money that 
tfjjgz'Pr Is spent for drink enough would be saved 
to have paid the debt entire. 
Nine hundred millions of dollars is the 
sum spent each year for drink ; turn this 
money into legitimate channels of trade ; 
let it buy food and clothes, and who can 
picture the prosperity that will follow ? 
A short time ago a contagious disease at¬ 
tacked our cattle. The government with 
commendable zeal stamped it out. Last year there 
died 60,000 persons whose death was due to alcoholic 
liquors. What did the government do ? In consideration 
of a payment of so many dollars it licensed men to manu¬ 
facture and sell more alcoholic liquors. 
There are few things of more interest than a marriage. 
It Is a ceremony that never grows old and never fails to 
draw both old and young. We feel in some way better 
for hearing a true man promise his protection to the 
woman at his side. But perhaps some wife may read 
these lines who has seen her husband, the man who prom¬ 
ised to love her, cherish her and protect her until death’s 
final separation, come home— drunk. And because the 
Prohibition party is the only party that raises up its voice 
against this evil is the reason why I shall vote the Prohi¬ 
bition ticket. P. B. c. 
Catonsville, Md. 
R. N.-Y.—It is a good time now to give the exact figures 
on this drink business. Below we give the statistics as 
furnished by the government. The first column shows 
the gallons of intoxicants of all sorts consumed in this 
country in the past five years. These include wines, malt 
liquors and distilled spirits. The other column gives the 
amounts of grain used in the manufacture of this stuff. 
These grains are wheat, rye, corn, barley, oats and dif¬ 
ferent mill feeds. About 75 per cent of the total grain is 
corn. 
LIQUORS 
CONSUMED. 
GRAIN USED 
FOR LIQUOR. 
Gallons. 
Bushels. 
1S86. 
1836. 
. 19.195,832 
1887. 
. 821, 38,618 
1887. 
. 17,959,565 
1888. 
. 879,767,476 
1888 . 
. 16,122,509 
1-89 . 
.ou4.6^>V)61 
1889. 
. 20,999,924 
1899. 
. 972,578,878 
1899. 
This liquor averages at retail considerably over $1 per 
gallon—including beer, wines and whisky. In other words, 
Americans spent more than $1,000,000,000 for liquor. Just 
compare this with a few other items of national importance. 
Value of liquor consumed In one year.$1,000,000,000 
Total exports tor 1899. 4845,293,828 
Total Income on all American railroads 058a). S64.816.lz9 
Total value of corn crop (1890). 764,433,451 
Total value of wheat crop (1890). 334,773,678 
Total value of all cereals (1890). 1,820,255,398 
Total income for telegraph service. 22,359,039 
Is there any reason why this Drink Question is not a 
bigger one than the tariff, “ free silver,” income tax, 
“ World’s Fair,” or any other since the days of slavery ? 
This is entirely aside from any sentimental or moral view 
of the case. From a purely economical standpoint—a 
matter of hard dollars and cents—it is the greatest ques¬ 
tion of the age. Those men who argue that the liquor 
business provides a needed market for our grain had better 
consider this proposition. In 1890 the] rum sellers used 
