1883 
57 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
BLASTS FROM THE DORSET HORNS. 
The Dorset Horn Sheep Breeders’ Association of 
America held its second annual meeting at the Fifth 
Avenue Hotel, '.fins city, January 11. This is one of 
the youngest of the breeders’ organizations, but its 
members are experienced breeders and are thoroughly 
alive to the possibilities of their horned favorites. 
They have laid a good foundation for their work, have 
a good membership, a thorough organization, a herd 
book, a good balance in the treasury, and are pre¬ 
pared to push their breed to the front rank. 
The president of the association is T. S. Cooper, of 
Coopersburg, Pa., an extensive breeder and importer 
of horses, cattle and sheep. In common with his as¬ 
sociates, he pins his faith to the Dorsets as the coming 
sheep for the American farmer He made a strenuous 
effort to raise a guarantee fund among the breeders 
present, for a sweepstakes to be offered at the Colum¬ 
bian Exposition, volunteering to head it with a gener¬ 
ous contribution. The majority, however, seemed to 
be fearful of incurring this obligation, and contented 
themselves with reaffirming a $500 appropriation for 
this purpose, made at the preceding annual meeting. 
The secretary is M. A. Cooper, of Washington, Pa., 
who, however, pleasantly disclaims any relationship 
with the president. His annual report made an excel¬ 
lent showing of work already accomplished and under 
way. The first volume of the herd book will soon be 
published. 
Pbof. Wing, of Cornell, read a very instructive paper 
on “What Shall we Feed and How?” Home-grown 
feeds must be supplemented by purchased kinds con¬ 
taining those elements lacking in the others. Theory 
and practice don’t always agree as to the best results. 
Food must be palatable. Ensilage and roots are good 
succulent sheep food, the former being the cheaper to 
produce. 
Mb. James McGillivbay, of Uxbridge, Canada, read 
a paper on “Our Sheep,” which should serve as a 
thought starter. The United States are away behind 
all other sheep growing countries in the proportion of 
sheep to area, or sheep to population. Immense 
quantities of wool are imported which might be pro¬ 
duced here. The sheep is one of the most useful 
animals for reclaiming run-down farms. While of 
course Mr. McGillivray prefers the Dorsets, he recom¬ 
mends every farmer to keep sheep of some kind. 
“ What effect will free wool have on the prospects 
of your breed ? ” I asked a Massachusetts man. 
“ I don’t know. I’m not worrying about that. I am 
keeping Dorsets for the purpose of getting earlier 
lambs. They mate earlier than the others, and the 
lambs mature earlier.” 
“ Do you have any trouble with dogs ?” I asked an¬ 
other. 
“ I never have. The Dorsets are very pugnacious. 
I went into the pasture with my dog one day, and 
soon afterward, hearing a terrible yelping, I dis¬ 
covered that an old ram had tackled the dog and 
knocked him rolling. Before he could get up and out 
of the way, he was hit again. Now I can’t get that 
dog near a flock of sheep. The same ram took me un¬ 
awares one day when I was stooping over to pick up 
something, and pitched me on my head.” 
“What method do you follow to get your ewes to 
take the ram in warm weather ? ” I asked several. 
“ I put them on a feed of grain for a few days, and 
then turn in the ram,” said one. 
“ I let the ram run with the flock all the time,” said 
another. 
“ I-am going to rig up a cold storage pen to put-mine 
in to induce them to take the ram,” was the ingenious 
plan of another to circumvent the seasons in produc¬ 
ing early lambs. f. h. v 
MONEY AND BEAUTY IN GARDENING. 
There is money in good health. There is money in 
a beautiful home. There is money in commercial horti¬ 
culture. There is pleasurable profit and profitable 
pleasure in all right gardening, whether it takes the 
form of ornamental planting, flower-bordered lawns, 
window and conservatory gardening, or the culture of 
fruits, flowers and vegetables for market. All these 
phases of the highest type of living and working are 
wisely, broadly and practically treated in that beauti¬ 
ful magazine, Amebican Gabdening : well styled “ the 
$3 magazine for $1.” for it comprises over 800 large 
pages and fully 900 fine illustrations per year. 
There has been a change in the editorial manage¬ 
ment, by which Mr. Long is allowed more time and 
opportunity to devote himself to his landscape-garden¬ 
ing specialties for the benefit of the Amebican Gab- 
PENING family ; and the active editorship ^now again 
devolves upon Professor L. H. Bailey, who is perhaps 
the foremost of American horticulturists as writer and 
investigator. 
The magazine in 1893 will engage more editorial, 
contributorial and artistic talent than ever before. It 
will be more beautiful, more practical and more valu¬ 
able. 
The periodical will be just what its name indicates— 
an Amebican magazine of Gabdening or Horticulture. 
It covers the whole country and the whole subject. Its 
province is fruits, flowers, vegetables, ornamental gar¬ 
dening and the beauties of Nature. The special contribu¬ 
tors for the coming year embrace 100 carefully-selected 
names in all parts of North America These men and 
women are accurate observers, good cultivators and 
careful writers, and everything of general interest 
which occurs in their respective localities will be given 
to our readers. 
We aim at everything which is new, bright, inspir¬ 
ing and useful. The horticultural interests of the 
various States and Provinces, the World’s Fair, the 
homes of prominent men, the parks and pleasure 
grounds, the orchards, the amateur gardens, the books, 
the work of the experiment stations, and the sciences 
which underlie all good gardening—these are the 
specialties for 1893. They will be discussed by such 
men as 
JOHN BUBBOUGHS, MICHAEL BABKEB, 
EDWIN LONSDALE, T. T. LYON, 
T. GBEINEB, PAIiKEB EABLE, 
PBOF. VAN DEMAN, E. J. HILL, 
P. J. BEBCKMANS, PBOF. BILEY, 
CHABLES IIOWABD SHINN, W. C. STEONG, 
and many others, whose names appear in the January 
issue. The price is only $1 a year ; 10 cents a copy. 
(The Rural Publishing Company, Times Building, New 
York.) 
All subscribers for 1893 receive their choice of any 
or all of 17 new roses, Mr. Carman’s Rosa rugosa 
hybrids; a Carman grape vine ; a new early potato, 
originated by Mr. Carman, and seeds from 200 cross¬ 
bred tomatoes, sure to contain valuable new varieties. 
Subscribers pay for the mailing only, amounting to 
only two to eight cents per item. These are all new 
varieties not sold by seedsmen, and, if placed on the 
market, could not be sold at less than $10. They are 
given to subscribers solely as a means of advertising 
the magazine. _ 
THE VERMONT DAIRYMEN’S ASSOCIATION. 
The annual meeting of this association was held at 
Morrisville, January 10—12. The weather was very 
cold, but the attendance was quite large, and the 
satisfaction of the farmers present was well expressed 
by one who said he would not take $100 for what he 
had learned. The dairymen of Vermont are a hopeful, 
courageous and successful class of men. Many are 
making money, and all are striving to improve their 
herds and methods. 
Prof. Cook first stated the objections to ensilage, but 
assured his hearers at first that he was in favor of it. 
Advocates of it have hurt their case by claiming too 
much. One cannot take out of the silo any more than 
he has put in. Many get more out of their corn 
crop than they did under their former methods 
of handling it, but ensiloed corn always ferments 
and this always means loss. 
Then ensilage is not more digestible than other corn. 
In heating, the most digestible part is lost, but this 
loss is not over one per cent in good ensilage. One can 
do nothing to a crop to increase its digestibility. The 
dry matter in ensilage is not more valuable, pound for 
pound, than that in corn. The value of the latter is 
not increased by putting it in a silo; ensilage is a pro¬ 
cess of preserving not of increasing value. Then the 
result is not a balanced food, not a complete food for 
a dairy cow. Dry cows and oxen at rest can live on 
it, but not the dairy cow. Peas, clover, rye and many 
other plants would make a balanced ration if put in 
the silo, but they do not produce enough on an acre to 
make it pay. Then ensilage is not a good thing for 
summer dairies, as dry cows will winter on hay better 
than on it. While the machinery for cutting it is ex¬ 
pensive, no man need give up the silo on that account, 
for ensilage will keep well uncut, but where a large 
amount is to be put up, it is better to cut it. 
In favor of ensilage, Prof. Cooke said that it is 
healthy both for cows and sheep. It does not injure 
butter or milk if properly put up. The odor of the 
turnip and onion is an oil odor, that of ensilage a gas 
odor which will not taint the milk when fed. If any 
ensilage odor gets into the milk it is owing to careless¬ 
ness on the part of the milker : it sticks to the cloth¬ 
ing. Then ensilage is relished by the cows, and they 
do better on what they relish. They need to eat a 
great deal to make up for waste and make butter. 
Farmers can get more feeding value out of an acre of 
corn put in the silo than if preserved in any other way. 
Corn heats as much when stooked in the field as it 
does in the silo, or more, but the heat goes off into the 
air. One-fourth of the feeding value is lost when corn is 
stooked in the best possible manner, and half the value 
is lost by handling in the ordinary way. The silo is 
especially for winter dairying. In the fall and early 
winter stooked corn does well, but in mid-winter and 
spring it is poor stuff, while ensilage is just as good in 
spring as at any time. The silo has done a great deal 
of missionary work. Tt has taught the farmer the 
value of corn stalks. These have almost as great value 
as the grain. By means of the silo the big butts can 
all be used. Then again, the silo enables the farmer to 
concentrate his work. He can put his manure on less 
land. An acre of corn can easily be made to produce 
18 tons of ensilage, equal to five tons of hay. 
Mr. Gilbert stirred up a good deal of discussion by 
saying that separator cream would not, or did not, or 
could not make butter of such good grain and solidity 
as butter made in other ways. But lie said the market 
was coming to accept separator butter, people are 
being educated to its use. He said that the general 
markets did not want sweet cream butter, it is only 
wanted where a special demand has been created. He 
said that much butter has too much water, 10 per 
cent being, enough for the best grade, but a sample 
had been analyzed which contained 4f) per cent. This 
is selling water with a vengeance. He said the adul¬ 
teration of butter with water is coming, and would be 
worse to fight than oleo. Salt should be carefully 
stored, as it will absorb odors. Two very fine samples 
of butter at the meeting were spoiled by bad salt. He 
advised the use of the American kind. Clover when 
green imparts a poor flavor, but when in blossom it 
gives the best. •. 
I want to advise farmers who read The Rubal, to go 
to dairymen’s meetings and farmers’ institutes. Let 
no slight obstacle keep them away. I watched the 
separators with much interest. A dog was running 
one, a sheep another, a yearling heifer another, while 
others were run by steam. The agent of a company 
which makes horse powers and advertises in The 
Rubal, told me that he was selling a one-horse power 
listed at $110, for $60. We could buy more machinery 
if all prices were as reasonable. The Babcock tester 
was very highly spoken of and its use strongly advo¬ 
cated. The Jersey cow is preeminently the Vermont 
butter cow. A sugar-makers’ association was organ¬ 
ized, and steps were taken to make a good showing at 
Chicago. _ J. w. newton. 
GAME AND POULTRY LAWS. 
The details of a curious lawing over turkeys comes 
from California. A owed B some money and boasted 
that he did not propose to pay it, which boast came 
to B’s ears. A starts to market with nearly a ton of 
Christmas turkeys. B rides to town ahead of him, 
and, after consulting a lawyer, gets out an attach¬ 
ment, serves it on A, and holds the load of turkeys. 
In the meantime the marketmen had made the price 
of turkeys 17 cents a pound, relying upon A’s load to 
supply all demands. When this load was captured, 
the price went up to 23 cents, and, after considerable 
argument, B consented to release the load if A would 
pay his debt. A agreed to this, and the increase of 
six cents a pound on turkeys more than paid the debt. 
So both parties were made richer ; and who lost the 
money ? _ 
A cubious game and right-of-way case has just been 
decided in England. The Duke of Rutland owns some 
moors across which runs a public highway in the soil 
of which he, of course, holds the fee simple, the public 
merely enjoying an easement in the road, or the use 
of it for the purpose of traveling on it. During the 
past shooting season a man named Harrison, a bitter 
opponent of the English game laws, took his station 
on the highway at a spot over which the Duke’s game- 
keepers were to conduct a grouse drive. His intention 
was by shouting and gesticulating with umbrella and 
pocket-handkerchief to scare away the birds and pre¬ 
vent them from passing, and thus spoil the enjoyment 
of the Duke and his guests. On his stubborn refusal 
to desist, some of the Duke’s gamekeepers forced him 
to the ground and sat on him till the drive was over. 
In a suit for assault and false imprisonment before 
Lord Chief Justice Coleridge and a jury, the Judge 
directed a verdict against the Duke, thus holding that 
Harrison was not a trespasser on the road. The Court 
of Appeals, however, has just ruled that as the man 
was not using the road as a highway, but merely 
interfering with the right of the owner of the soil to 
shoot there, his action could not be held as lawful 
against the Duke, {tod so long as the gamekeepers 
had used no unnecessary violence in restraining him 
from carrying out his illegal purpose, they had been 
guilty of no legal offense. In this, as well as in the 
Mother Country, on whose laws nearly all ours are 
based, it is often forgotten that the owner of land adjoin¬ 
ing one side of a highway owns the fee simple of the 
roadbed to the middle, and if he owns the land on 
both sides, he owns the fee of the entire width of the 
roadbed, as well as the trees along its sides, the 
public having the right only of passing and repassing. 
