846 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
DEC 5 
not pictured one of the Galloways, so that when some of 
the cattle are graded “ 8 ” for weight or quality the mark 
will be understood. The following table shows how the 
steers ranked : 
Comparative Standing. (The one having the item in 
the highest degree is marked 1 ) 
Per cent of gain to food consumed 
Slaughter. 
Per cent dressed to live weight 
Excellence of carcass. 
Hanging. 
Cutting up for retail. 
Minor matters. 
Age. 
Weight. 
g a 
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£ 
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gs 
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ir 
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£ X 
M S 
cc /. 
n 0 
s 
1 
2 
4 
7 
5 
8 
t 
1-6 
3 
5-6 
2 
1 
7 
4 
8 
6 
7 
1 
3 
2 
2 
3 
4 
1 
6 
5 
8 
6 
3 
t 
5 
2 
8 
3 
1 
2 
4 
7 
5-6 
8 
4 
8 
5 
1 
3 
2 
3 
2 
1 
2 
3 
3 
4 
4 
5 
1 
4 
2 
3 
j 
6 
7 
8 
2 
3 
4 
8 
The cooking test was made by guests at the Russell 
House, Detroit. Sample cuts of all the carcasses were 
cooked and served at the tables. The verdict rendered 
was: “Divon first and by all odds of the best flavor. 
Galloway, Holstein, Hereford and Short-horn in the order 
written.” The table shows that Disco, the Devon was 
the most economical steer of the lot and he also made the 
best beef. One reason was that he was the youngest 
Walton, the Holstein, was a poor steer to feed—he ate 
more than either of the rest and made less gain. 
“Walton” was “all cow.” His tallow weighed 154 
pounds, while that of “Nick,” with only 10 pounds less of 
live weight, weighed only 116 pounds. The tallow in the 
steers of the beef breeds was much lighter than that in 
the dairy breeds. It is a characteristic of the dairy 
breeds, in fattening, to take on fat about the internal 
parts. The heads of the Holstelns averaged 37% pounds 
each, being heavier than those of any others, even those of 
the Herefords, with their big horns, 
averaging only 34 pounds. The in¬ 
testines of the Holst eins averaged 
156 pounds, while those of the Gal- 
loways and Short-horns weighed 159. 
The Holstelns had by far the heaviest 
livers, lungs and hearts. One curious 
fact is that the Galloway hide 
weighed 126 pounds, being by far 
heavier than any of the others. 
The following statistics are to be 
compared with those given last week : ” 
Disco, Devon (Fig. 305) consumed 
3,740% pounds of grain, 1,898 hay, 
1 074 roots, 2,595 ensilage, and gained 
767 pounds. 
Colby, Oalloway (Fig. 3otf) con¬ 
sumed 5,293 pouads of grain, 2,848 
hay, 1,774 roots, 3,261 ensilage, and 
gained 870 pounds. 
Barrington, Short-horn (Fig. 307) 
consumed 4 964 pounds of grain, 2,763 
hay, 1 672 roots, 3,829 ensilage, and 
gained 1,005 pounds. 
It seems pretty evident from this 
test that there is more in individual 
than in breed. We would rather . „ 
teed “Nick” than “Milton.” The ^ 
mere fact that a steer is a Short-horn 
or Hereford grade does not make it a 
good feeder; at the same time the 
chances of getting a good feeder out 
of a bunch of such cattle would be greater than when selec¬ 
tions were made from Holstein grades. One forcible lesson 
to be learned from this test is that some of these steers 
wero little more than good manure makers. A large pro¬ 
portion of the fat fed to Walton, for example, seemed to 
go directly to the manure pile, where It was lost. Keeping 
steers for manure is very poor business. 
SOME FERTILIZER FACTS. 
That Greek Manuring Experiment.— On page 782 of 
The Rural New-Yorker, L D. Davis gives the result of 
an experiment to test whether green manuring would re¬ 
store fertility to the average exhausted lands of the aban 
doned farms of New England. He concludes: “Green 
stuff without fertilizers is poor stuff; ” but he does not 
tell us what fertilizers should be used. Green crops 
restore to these exhausted lands vegetable matters only, 
and these without the complement of potash and the 
phosphates, add little to their capacity for crops. The 
lands he experimented with, I conclude, were of silicious or 
granitic origin, and therefore not likely to be deficient in 
potash, though lacking in phosphates and lime. What 
seemed to be called for was the phosphate fertilizers only, 
and therefore the potash ones, if employed, would be a 
comparatively useless expense. Travel took me through a 
portion of Rhode Island last summer, and I must say that 
of all the poor soil on the route, I never saw any which 
appeared to have been originally less fertile, or that was 
more completely barren at the present time. There three- 
fourths, if not more, of the surface had grown or was 
growing up to timber, which is the only crop now taken 
from it. But the price of wood was low, and the cost of 
cutting and hauling so heavy that a portion of the growth 
not suitable for sawing was suffered to lie on the ground 
and rot. This statement I had from one who wa3 settling 
an estate in the region, and it may be taken as a well au¬ 
thenticated fact. The cheapness of wood at this time 
compared with 40 years ago, when hickory, sugar maple 
and clear white oak were In demand at from $8 to $10 per 
cord of 128 cubic feet, affords a good comparison of the 
condition of New Engltnd agriculture between 1830 and 
1840, and what it is at present, when the price of wood will 
not pay for the cutting and hauling. 
“Phosphates” in Illinois —When (page 786) Prof. 
Morrow, of the Illinois Experiment Station, agrees sub¬ 
stantially with the gentleman in charge of the Onio Insti¬ 
tution, that little or no benefit was derived from the 
application of the phosphate fertiliz-rs to corn and some 
other crops, I think both fail to give suffi dent weight to 
SHORT-HORN BARRINGTON. Fig. 307. 
the fact that drought prevailed to such an extent that 
the fertilizers were not in a state sufficiently soluble 
for the roots to absorb the food afforded. I have for years 
used the potash and phosphate fertilizers associated, on 
grass, corn, Alfalfa and other crops, and they have never 
failed to increase the yield in a satisfactory, if not a re¬ 
markable manner. The soil I experimented upon was 
very like that of the Illinois Experiment Station. It is 
to be regretted, just at a time when the average farmer 
yield this time averaged 20 bushels of wheat per acre— 
double the first crop. I plowed the stubble, applied about 
25 bushels of lime per acre, and sowed again to wheat, 
with 250 pounds of fertilizer per acre, composed of South 
Carolina phosphate with about 200 pounds of muriate of 
potash per ton : yield again 20 bushels per acre and a good 
catch of clover. This required more outlay at first than 
Mr. Davis’s plan ; but the time saved and the returns in 
the meanwhile more than compensated for the extra cost. 
From the results I infer that the first application of com¬ 
mercial fertilizer raised the first crop of wheat, hay and 
seed; that the clover roots sod and fertilizer made the 
difference in the two crops; that the lime, fertilizer and 
the unexhausted fertility remaining from the previous 
crop made the third crop; and, as those six acres con¬ 
tinued to yield better crops than the adjoining land, that 
the application of lime has resulted in a permanent Im¬ 
provement. If Mr. Davis had used a good commercial 
fertilizer on his first two crops of rye, he could have got 
some returns from the second and perhaps got a stand of 
clover. SUBSCRIBER. 
Lebanon, Mo. 
MEETING OF THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY. 
R. N.-Y. Short-Hand Report. 
( Continued.) 
Thomas Meehan spoke on “Heredity and Environment 
in Originating New Fruits.” He thought environment 
had nothing to do with their origin ; no species or variety 
was ever originated by any influence from that source. 
Locking at the Animal Kingdom we see no indication of 
such influences. The Indians, some living in the North, 
tat nothing but fish; some in the South live upon game 
ar.d the products of the chase, others on roots and herbs, 
end still others by agricultural pursuits. But no matter 
where or how they live, or under what conditions, they 
are Indians still. The same is true of other animals. The 
horte, for Instanc, reme ains a horse under all conditions. 
Mach, of course, depends upon the breed, but he had been 
unable to see any influence of environ¬ 
ment. “ I don’t think,” said he, “ en¬ 
vironment has had any material in¬ 
fluence in the change of fruits or varie- 
ties. Trees are the same, no matter 
where they grow. The linden in 
Mexico is the same as we find it on 
the Potomac or up in Canada. It is the 
same tree down in the plains as on 
the mountains. Some varieties come 
into existence by freaks and sports, 
iMk' \ but not gradually as the result of 
jjMM \ environment. A siDgle branch of a 
WjF \Y tree or shrub will often differ entirely 
WW from the rest, and cuttings from it 
m ijj$ will P ro dnce a new variety. For in- 
gt stance, the nectarine is merely a 
Hi {ijSffi sport from a peach tree. Heredity 
'M iA||| has much more to do in these matters 
raV than envlronm ent. Seed of any 
Wf vegetable if planted by itself will 
M reproduce itself every time.” 
I» r , ( if Prof. Riley dissented from Mr. 
« Meehan’s notions. Said he : “En- 
Vironment and heredity are conser- 
' vative factors. I regard environ- 
ment as one of the potent factors 
in change of appearance, habit.-, etc. 
f *■' ' It certainly produces great variations 
and these are going on all the time 
all around us. Heredity means pre¬ 
servation, atavism produces changes.” 
Prof. Bailey said: “As to the Indians, are there not 
different tribes, the habits and characteristics of each 
depending much upon the locality and surroundings ? 
Changes come about slowly. I don’t believe there is a 
single plant which has not changed perceptibly. Every¬ 
thing has changed. The different influences of soils must 
be included in this question. Look at the brighter colored 
fruits from the North. The English cucumber has been 
developed by environment from the common cucumber 
Wheat Every Other Year.— Last summer The Rural 
referred to a rotation of crops proposed by a subscriber in 
Talbot County, Md. Although he did not so state it, his 
rotation was virtually a four years’ course, as follows: 
1. Clover hay, being seeded the previous year with wheat; 
the second crop of clover, or its stubble, to be plowed 
under and sown with wheat. 2. Wheat, after which the 
land is to be plowed and seeded in August with Italian 
or Crimson Clover. 8. The annual clover being plowed 
under when in bloom in the spring, a corn crop to follow ; 
the corn to be followed by fall-30wn wheat. 4. A wheat 
crop, seeded with Red Clover. This rotation gives us two 
fields in wheat, one in corn and one in clover for hay or 
pasture, annually. Although it brings wheat into the 
rotation every other year, which, supposing it to be all 
sold, is a pretty severe draft on the land, the fertility can 
probably be maintained by the two clover crops, provided 
they are good ones, one of them being wholly used as 
green manure. With success in these clover crops, I 
should think the rotation might be followed and the pro¬ 
ductiveness of the land maintained, if not somewhat in¬ 
creased. The expenditure is to be for clover seed, which 
must be carefully selected and liberally used, rather than 
for commercial fertilizer, or, as we may say, for fertilizer 
in other forms. If, however, as is not unlikely, a clover 
crop occasionally fails, it will be evidently necessary to 
replace it with fertilizer iu order to continue the product¬ 
ion of wheat. In that case, the fertilizer should be well 
selected and used in connection with the wheat crop 
which follows the corn, [director] henry e. alvord. 
is being made acquainted with the value of commercial 
fertilizers for the present, and the absolute necessity for 
them later on when our soils have parted with a large 
amount of their fertility, that it should be officially re¬ 
ported for the corn and grass lands of Illinois and Ohio 
that the commercial fertilizers have proved of little value. 
Champaign Co., Ill. b f Johnson. 
Feed for the Soil — L. D. Davis’s plan of renovatiDg 
an abandoned farm by green manuring, described in The 
Rural of N ovember 7, takes too long a time and the results 
were not very satisfactory. I give a plan of my own, 
which I think was better, and which wa i practiced on the 
Eastern Shore of Maryland about 1880, on six acres of ex¬ 
hausted laud on which my predecessor had attempted to 
raise a crop of barley and seed to clover and had totally 
failed. I let the ground the first year, and It gave a total 
yield of about 50 bushels of corn. In the fall this was 
hauled off, and the ground was plowed, rolled, harrowed 
and rolled again. I sowed 1% bushel of wheat, 300 pounds 
of commercial fertilizer, costing $30 per ton, and in the 
spring I put in six pounds of clover seed per acre: yield a 
little less than 10 bushels of wheat per acre ; but there was 
a good catch of clover, and next season I got about four 
tons of hay from the field. Then I tethered my horses on 
the best spots, intending to plow in the second crop, but 
the ground became so hard and dry that I finally 
cut what the horses had left. Afterwards, late in October, 
came lain, softening the ground. I plowed, rolled, cul¬ 
tivate! and harrowed the surface fine, and sowed 1% 
bushel of wheat and 200 pounds of fertilizer per acre. The 
during this century. It is so with fruits and flowers.” 
“Some local Pomological Problems” was the title of a 
paper read by Chas. W. Garfield. He said conflicting 
opinions concerning the value of varieties were often due 
to the local conditions upon fruits. These often varied 
in the same locality. He could not grow peaches on his 
place in Grand Rapids, Mich., but a neighbor on ground 
30 feet higher raised fine crops. A man who goes a long 
way from home to get advice about varieties and how to 
treat them makes a gr.-at mistake. Each one must work 
out for himself in his own locality these local problems. 
It is well for the people of a small neighborhood to com¬ 
pare notes ; but he knows they rather incline to the advice 
of strangers. 
“ Pomology in the Eleventh Census,” was discussed by 
Mortimer Whitehead, who was in charge of that branch of 
the census. Amcng other things he said : “Our country, 
great in so many things, is greater than all others in its 
production of fruits. There are 401,261 acres in grapes, 
307,575 of which are in bearing, producing 572,139 tons, of 
which 267,271 tons are table grapes and 240,450 tons used 
for wine, making 24,306.305 gallons, and 41,166 tons for 
raisins, 23,252 tons for dried grapes and other than table 
use. To move the commercial crop of grapes in 1889, 
60 000 railroad cars would have been needed: $155,661.50[v] is 
Invested in this industry, and 200,730 persons are employed 
in it The vines now growing will produce eight to ten 
million boxes of raisins within three years: only 7,500,000 
boxes are now consumed in this country annually. Truck 
farming shows an investment of upward of $1,000,000,000 
