832 
NOV. 28 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
national exposition held In Paris in 1878 In competition 
with the finest Short-horns and Long-horns from the best 
herds In the world, took the $500 prize “for the best group 
of cattle bred by the exhibitor” and also the $500 prize 
“ for the best group of beef-producing animals bred by the 
exhibitor.” The best is not always the handsomest, but 
there is reason to believe that the French judges were in¬ 
fluenced in their opinions by the beauty of the cattle. 
Again, Judge Jones says: “The argument in favor of 
dishorning is based on the false assumption that horns are 
dangerous and tend to make animals vicious and restless.” 
If he had had any experience he would say that horns were 
dangerous weapons for cattle to carry, and of no more uee 
to them or their owners than the fifth wheel to a wagon or 
a second tail on a cat. When a small boy, I was sent 
with some bran in a pail to feed a cow. While standing 
near her, she made a dash at me with her horns, and one 
of them passed through my pants at the hip. and she tossed 
m 3 over her back. I was only bruised and scared, but had 
the horn struck me fairly in the abdomen, I would have 
been killed. She was not known to be vicious, had been 
raised on the farm and had always been kindly treated. 
She had never hooked at grown people, but she regarded 
me as she would a little dog or a sheep that was standing 
too near. Years afterwards a hired man was helping me 
to draw in a load of grain with a yoke of oxen. When 
near the barn, the dog ran between the oxen and the man 
who was driving them, and, quick as a flash, the near ox 
made a furious lunge with his horns at the dog. which was 
quick enough to get out of the way; but the man was 
struck behind by the horn and a deep, ragged cut several 
inches in length was made in the thick, fleshy tuberosity 
of his thigh. The man was laid up for several weeks, and 
the doctor who sewed up the wound said that if the horn 
had entered the reotum the man would have been killed. 
The oxen were a fine yoke of Devons, and Judge Jones 
speaks of Devons as being distinguished for their docility. 
The ox did not mean to hit the man—he wanted to pun¬ 
ish the dog, but the horns did the mischief, nevertheless. 
Several times when tying cows I have been hit in the face 
by their horns owing to the sudden uplifting of their 
heads. They did not intend to hit me—the horns were to 
blame. I went to the barn with a lantern once, and while 
there a cow got loose and commenced hooking another tied 
in a stall, and the assaulted cow in desperation jumped 
over the manger Into the feed room, and fell in such a 
position that she would have choked to death had I not 
been there to cut the rope. I have often seen cows hook 
each other behind, sometimes tearing the tender flesh near 
the tail. Their udders have been injured and, in one in¬ 
stance, a teat was cut open by a sharp horn. Cattle are 
safer without weapons. J. w. I. 
Sugar Run, Pa._ 
FEEDING GRAIN TO PASTURED COWS. 
Last spring questions with regard to this subject were 
answered by several contributors of The Rural New- 
Yorker. About that time my pastures became so good 
that I discontinued feeding grain, and did not commence 
again until July 8. I then selected five lots of cows—two 
in each lot. To lot No. 1, I did not feed grain at all; 
to lot No. 2 was fed corn meal; lots No. 3 and 4 got corn 
meal, cottonseed meal and wheat bran, mixed ; to lot No. 
5 was fed wheat bran. I fed lots No. 8 and 4 alike, but de¬ 
signed to double the feed to lot No. 4 after a two weeks’ 
trial; but being over-crowded with work I did not do so. 
Here are the results: 
For the week ending July 6. 
Lbs. of 
Per cent 
Lbs. of 
milk. 
of fat. 
butter. 
Lot No. 1. 
( No. 1. 
1 No. 2. 
.178 
.127% 
3.20 
4 70 
6 23 
6 41 
Lot No. 2. 
< No. 1. 
.144% 
5 40 
8.88 
1 No 2. 
.188% 
3 80 
7.82 
(No. 1. 
.212% 
4 10 
9 57 
Lot Nos. 3 and 
4 
J No 2. 
1 No 3. 
.135 
.199 
4 20 
3 50 
6 31 
7 66 
(.No. 4. 
.125 
4.90 
6.92 
Lot No. 5. 
( No. 1_ 
| No 2. 
.213 
.191 
3 
5 
6 97 
10.81 
For week ending August 6. 
Lbs. of 
Per cent 
Lbs. of 
milk. 
of fat. 
butter. 
Lot No. 1. 
j No. 1 . 
.156 
3.70 
6 39 
.80% 
5 50 
5 02 
(No. 1. 
.182 
3.80 
7.66 
Lot Nos 3 and 4. 
J No. 2. 
1 No 3. 
.154 
J 60 
6 12 
(No. 4. 
. 94 
6.30 
6.81 
Lot No. 5. 
.173 
3.90 
7.48 
{ No. 2. 
.16 L 
5.50 
1008 
In lot No. 8, No 2 was so far along in gestation that I did 
not include her in the August trial. I fed an equal value 
—according to the market prices—to each cow. About five 
quarts of wheat bran or three cents’ worth, and three cents’ 
worth each of the other kinds to each cow. 
It may be readily seen that I did not get any practical 
benefit in milk and butter from the grain fed, and, again, 
that wheat bran, which cost only about 70 per cent as much 
as the meal, gave the best results of the three. F. L. s. 
Bainbridge, N. Y.__ 
A Belgian Subscriber on the Bordeaux Mixture. 
As The R. N.-Y. is just discussing the question of potato 
cure, and I have been experimenting for some time in the 
same line, I think the readers of the paper will be pleased 
to hear of the results. I have been experimenting in 
remedies for the rot, first with very small plots, and lately 
with very large ones of several acres, and the coming year 
I expect not to allow a single plant to be untreated. I 
think it safe to make more than one application and to 
use a weak solution. I take a 1% per cent solution of sul¬ 
phate of copper and one half per cent of lime, and apply it 
three times—about June 20 and July 10 and 30 It costs 
here, on an average, for three years, about $5.25 psr acre 
altogether. As to ^the results, I will tabulate the yields 
in pounds per acre. In 1890 I took but one kind in "a large 
area; this year I treated three kinds. I also give the 
results on the Rural New-Yorker No. 2, which I got two 
years since. 
1 om T 3 „. 0 (treated.24.739 lbs. to the acre. 
1890—Ray makers not .19 807 lbs. to the acre. 
10 m i).„ mo v 0 . 0 (treated.15,778 
1891—Raymakers - ( not . 8 ,835 
Large Whites j . 5 810 
13 , .._ 0 , i treated.11,024 
Red-skinned j not . 4 H6 
R. N.-Y. No. 2—treated.17,756 
all with the solution, which is here called Bouillic borde- 
laise, and am amply well satisfied with the result Never 
has a young leaf been burnt by the Bouillic, but in some 
old ones a number of small specks were burnt where the 
sun shone strongly while the men sprinkled the beds. I 
believe, if the season is a dry one, that two applications 
will suffice, but if rain comes soon after the application, I 
would renew It. PH. A. LIPPENS. 
Ghent, Belgium._ 
Large. 
Small. 
15,778 
649 
8.835 
898 
.13 442 
1,431 
. 5 810 
2 066 
.11,024 
977 
4 116 
1.300 
.17,756 
1.317 
, I treated 
them 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
POTATO EXPERIMENTS DURING A DRY SEASON 
AND IN A VARIABLE SOIL. 
Does the high-grade potato fertilizer furnish enough 
nitrogen f 
Does it pay to use nitrate of potash (saltpeter) rather than 
nitrogen and potash in other forms t 
The carefullest experiments with fertilizers may yield 
contradictory results during a droughty season 
and in a variable soil. 
The effects of high-grade potato fertilizers used from 
440 to 1,320 pounds to the acre. The effects of nitro- 
qen alone and of from 55 pounds to 440 pounds 
of nitrate of soda and nitrate of potash 
to the acre used alone and added to 
high-grade potato fertilizers. 
The effects of snuff 'used in quantities from 1,760 to 3,520 
pounds to the acre, with and without added 
nitrogen and potash. 
Trials with Mapes's, Bowker's and Bradley's separate 
and combined. 
IN FIVE PAPERS. 
The land upon which this series of experiments was tried 
is notably variable and necessarily so, a fact that studious 
readers will need to understand and bear in mind if they 
hope to learn anything from this series of experiments— 
102 in number. 
Four years ago the land was a dead level, and so imper¬ 
fectly drained that water, after heavy rains, remained 
upon parts for several days. 
Three years ago it was so graded that the land was made 
to slope gently from the east to the west and the surplus 
water ran into a ditch three feet deep dug through the 
western boundary. This was effected by casting the soil 
of the western portion first to the eastern most portion, 
and in smaller quantity as the western boundary was 
neared. A soil varying in depth and fertility in every part 
was the consequence. Last year sweet corn was raised 
upon It fertilized with 890 pounds to the acre of the Mapes 
Potato Manure. With this exception it had never received 
either fertilizer or manure. The field, varying from a 
sandy lo im to a clay loam, with a varying subsoil from a 
brick clay in some places to sand in others, has always 
been thought by native farmers of such low natural fer¬ 
tility that no one cared to cultivate It. 
The season was one of excessive dryness. Many wells in 
the neighborhood never known to fail before were dry for 
six weeks during the late summer and fall. There were 
few beetles and Paris-green applied with plaster once suf¬ 
ficed to kill them. There was no blight. Rotten potatoes 
varied in number in the different trenches as will be noted. 
The attention of our readers is asked not to the present 
article alone, but to the entire series of five or more pre¬ 
sentations, since each should be studied with the others. 
In past years The R. N.-Y. has shown that the soil of Its 
several experiment fields needed a complete food and that 
nothing less would yield profitable crops. The present set 
of experiments may also show certain general results 
which are not contradictory, but In great part it will 
appear that a variable soil should never be selected as one 
fit for experiments with commercial fertilizers or with 
plant food of any kind whatever except as the design may 
be to show its variability. 
FIRST SERIES. 
Average fertility of the soil as shown by no-manure 
trenches Nos. 6 and 15, 209.91 bushels to the acre. 
Trench No. 1—440 pounds Mapes Potato Manure. 
Bushels. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 298.83 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 33.00 
Total yield, per acre. 331.83 
No. 2.—440 pounds Mapes. 
55 pounds nitrate soda. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 236.50 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 36.66 
Total yield, per acre. 273.16 
No. 3.—440 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate soda. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 195. 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 31.16 
Total yield, per acre. 226.16 
No. 4 —440 pounds Mapes. 
220 pounds nitrate soda. 
Yield, par acre. Large tubers. 264. 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 22. 
Total yield, per acre. 286. 
No. 5.—440 pounds Mapes. 
330 pounds nitrate soda. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers .199.83 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers—. 36.66 
Total yield, per acre. 236.49 
No. 6.—No fertilizer. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 168.66 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 33. 
Total yield, per acre. 201.66 
No. 7.—880 pounds Mapes. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 185.16 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 49.50 
Total yield, per acre. 234.66 
No. 8.—880 pounds Mapes. 
55 pounds nitrate soda. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 203.50 
Yield, per acre. Small tube's. 67.83 
Total yield, per acre...271.33 
No. 9.—880 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate soda. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 229.16 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 33. 
Total yield, per acre. . 262.16 
No. 10.—880 pounds Mapes. 
220 pounds nitrate soda. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers.271.33 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 33. 
Total yield, per acre. 304.33 
No. 11 —880 pounds nitrate. 
55 pound8 nitrate potash. 
Yield, per acre. Large tuber*. 245.66 
Yield, par acre. Small tubers. 40.83 
Total yield, per acre.. 285.99 
No. 12 —880 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate potash. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 251.16 
Yield per acre. Small tubers— . 34.83 
Total yield, per acre. 285.99 
No. 13 —880 pounds Mapes. 
220 pounds nitrate potash. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 291.50 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 67.83 
Total yield, per acre. 359.33 
No. 14.-880 pounds Mapes. 
440 pounds nitrate potash. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 320.83 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 45.83 
Total yield, per acre. 366.66 
No. 15.—No fertilizer. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers.170.50 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 47.66 
Total yield, per acre. 218.16 
No. 16 —1,320 pounds Mapes. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers.. 271.33 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 49.50 
Total yield, per acre. 320.83 
No. 17.-1,320 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate potash. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 236.50 
Yield, per acre. Small tuber-. 42.16 
Total yield, per acre. 278.66 
No. 18.-1,320 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate soda. 
Yield, per acre. Large tubers. 267.66 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 80.66 
Total yield, per acre. 348.32 
No. 19.-1,320 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds sulphate potash 
Yield, per acre. Laige tubers. 262.16 
Yield, per acre. Small tubers. 69.66 
Total yield, per acre. 331.82 
It will be seen that 
No. 1.—Mapes alone, 440 pounds, yielded. 331.83 
No. 7.—Mapes alone, 880 pounds, yielded. 234.66 
No. 16 —Mapes alone, 1,320 pounds, yielded. 320.83 
Or an average of 295.77 bushels to the acre 
Taking the same amounts of Mapes with 55 pounds of 
nitrate of soda to the acre, and we have the following: 
No. 2.—440 pounds Mapes. 
55 pounds nitrate soda. 273.16 
No. 8.—880 pounds Mapes. 
55 pounds nitrate soda. 271.33 
No. 18 —1,320 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate soda. 348.32 
Or an average of 297.60 bushels to the acre. That is to 
say, the addition of 55. 55 and 110 pounds of nitrate of soda 
to the acre to the Mapes, did not materially increase the 
yield. 
No. 3.—440 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate soda... 226.16 
No. 9.—880 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate soda. 262.16 
No. 17.—1,820 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate soda. 278.66 
Or an average of 255.66 bushels to the acre—or about 42 
bushels less than in the preceding trials though nearly 
twice as much Ditrogen was added. 
No. 4.—440 pounds Mapes. 
220 pounds nitrate soda. 286.00 
No. 10.—880 pounds Mapes. 
220 pounds nitrate soda. 304.33 
No. 18.—1,320 pounds Mapes. 
110 pounds nitrate soda. 348.32 
Or an average of 312.88 bushels to the acre. 
No. 5.—440 pounds Mapes with 330 pounds of nitrate gave 
a yield of only 236.49 bushels to the acre. 
It appers that while 440, 880 and 1,320 pounds to the acre 
of the Mapes gave an average of 295.77 bushels to the acre, 
the addition to the above of 55, 110, 220 and 330 pounds of 
nitrate of soda to the acre gave but 275.66 bushels to the 
