1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
299 
more milk ; of course they eat more too, but I think 
the Ilolsteins will give a little more milk for an equal 
amount of food. Quality ? There are some Holsteins 
that give milk as rich as any Jerseys, but others give 
much poorer milk, and the average is on the whole 
less rich than Jersey milk. The color of Holstein milk 
is too light and our chief reason for keeping Jerseys is 
to give our milk a higher color.” 
R. N.-Y.—“ How do you plan to color all the milk 
properly ?” 
C.—“ We put two milkers on Holsteins to one on 
Jerseys and all pour their milk together into the tank 
that isupplies the cooler. Our milk is aerated and 
cooled as soon as drawn from the cow and when, in 
this way, it is strained directly into the tank all 
together it is well mixed and colored.” 
R. N.-Y.—“ Have you tried Guernseys?” 
C.—“We are just beginning with them. I have 
bought a good bull and am now after some good cows. 
A cross of Guernsey bull and Holstein cows ought to 
give about the right milkman’s cow, with a large flow 
of well-colored milk.” 
R. N.-Y.—“ What do you feed ?” 
C. —“ I do not raise anything but clover for hay with 
corn, oats and wheat for grains. Wheat is sold. We 
grind equal parts of ear-corn and oats for cow feed 
and add a little linseed meal. Cotton-seed meal has 
not paid us. We use fertilizers on all grain crops, in 
addition to all our manure. Does it pay ? Certainly, 
just as well as it does to add grain to a cow’s hay. 
My rough forage is clover hay and stalks and I cannot 
decide whether, in my circumstances, it will pay me 
to build a silo.” 
A Good Opening For Young Farmers. 
R- N.-Y.—“ Do you find any profit in fertilizers ? ” 
Farmer D.—“ Yes ! Yes ! We couldn’t possibly farm 
without them now. We use about 19 tons on potatoes 
alone every year. ” 
R- N.-Y.—“ That makes quite an item ! ” 
O.—“Yes, but we calculate to save about $100 by 
doing our own mixing. We buy the different ingre¬ 
dients and have a man from the experiment station 
come up and take samples for analysis so that we 
may know we are getting good goods. Then when 
we get our fertilizer mixed we have samples of that 
also taken and analyzed. This shows us whether we 
have made a good mixture or not. We will not pay 
for the goods we buy unless the station’s analysis 
proves that we are getting what the dealers guaran¬ 
teed. According to the station’s valuations, we gain 
from $5 to $6 per ton by home mixing.” 
R. N.-Y.—“ What mixture do you use ? ” 
D. —“ I cannot tell you exactly. My son showed a 
great interest in this matter and studied it out care¬ 
fully, so he takes charge of it and carries it through. 
This fertilizer question is a big one and a farmer will 
have to study it out before he can hope to handle it 
right. ’Most any farmer can pick out a good horse 
from a drove of poor ones. If farmers can learn that, 
they can learn to study out the difference between 
good and bad fertilizer.” 
R. N.-Y.—“ Home mixing is a good thing, then ?” 
D.—“Yes; if a farmer will study it out fully; not 
otherwise. There is a first-rate chance in this to 
interest bo.ys who show a liking for study and science. 
The experiment station will be glad to get them started 
and help him out, and this work will mean a sure 
profit on the farm.” 
ANISIM; A TRUE RUSSIAN LONG KEEPER. 
The apples sent to The Rural herewith are from a 
tree which has been in bearing in my orchard for 
several seasons ; but until last fall, being set in a row 
of healthy trees and being of nearly the same size and 
color, was not recognized, though easily distinguished 
when once attention was called to it. It was a small 
root-graft sent to me some eight or nine years ago by 
Prof. Budd, of the Iowa College. I have been put to 
a good deal of trouble by men hoeing in the orchard, 
who would pull up the stakes to trees, drop them on 
the ground and leave them to be picked up and car¬ 
ried off by others equally careless. Last fall I hap¬ 
pened to be gathering in this row, and at once dis¬ 
tinguished both tree and fruit from the Wealthy. 
The fruit was gathered, and, being very firm, was 
placed in the fruit cellar, in order to test its keeping 
quality. There was upwards of half a bushel of it, 
and it has been observed and tested for quality several 
times during the winter. The basket was placed be¬ 
side a similar one of Scott’s Winter, hitherto our best 
keeper, and appears to be decidedly a better one, as, 
though the Scott keeps well, occasionally one decays; 
but not a single specimen of the Anisim has shown 
decay, though there were some wormy and more 
bruised and skinned specimens. As a long-keeping 
Russian is a rarity, I have from time to time given 
specimens of it to visiting friends, and those sent are 
under the average size of the lot. The tree, being 
yet small, was heavily loaded and the fruit as a whole 
averaged of about equal size with the Wealthy on 
trees around it. Here, at last, I am able to send to 
The Rural authentic specimens of a true all-winter 
Russian apple—one which to all appearances may be 
expected yet to continue firm for many weeks. 
The old proverb that “it never rains but it pours,” 
seems to be holding good as to these long-keeping 
Russian apples. Prof. Budd has occasionally sent me 
Anisim Apple. Half-Section. Fig. 115. 
“Nameless” Apple. Reduced in Size. Fig, 116. 
more young trees than I have had place for ; and 
among these was one which I turned over to a neigh¬ 
bor for testing. Its fruit is as good a keeper, appar¬ 
ently, as Anisim, 50 per cent larger, a handsome full 
red in color, and in every way closely resembles the 
Baldwin. As larger in size and rather better in 
quality, and apparently an equally good bearer as 
Anisim, here is another remarkable find to come upon 
in the same year, after testing so many kinds for 20 
years without finding a single variety of merit en¬ 
titled to be ranked as more than a late fall fruit. 
Really good keepers of merit are comparatively scarce 
among our common apples, and it may be when we 
have tested them all, that such are not much scarcer 
among the Russian apples than among those of other 
races. I am sorry to say that as I had comparatively 
few fruits of this larger variety, and was desiring to 
test its quality at intervals during the winter, I have 
now no good specimens to make a picture from ; but 
these finds will be cherished and increased. Anisim 
is already somewhat known in the West, and is being 
propagated there by nurserymen. 
The second sort referred to Professor Budd does not 
seem yet to identify fully, though he no doubt has 
it in his large experiment orchards at the Iowa 
Agricultural College. But I am particularly glad to 
send The Rural these samples of a really long-keep¬ 
ing Russian apple worthy of propagation, as tending 
to prevent discouragement on the one hand, and 
to squelch the scornful talk of the many who, for 
reasons probably best known to themselves, go a good 
distance out of their way to disparage the tree fruits 
of Northeastern Europe. t. h. hoskins. 
Orleans County, Vt. 
R- N.-Y.—Anisim (see Figs. 114 and 115) was received 
March 26. The flesh is white, pink under the skin, 
reminding one of the flesh of Fameuse. See Figs. 116 
and 117. This unknown apple was received April 1. 
It was in prime condition as to solidity and in quality 
was fully as good as a Baldwin at its best. 
CHEAP BEEF MAKING. 
When at Fond du Lac, Wis., a short time ago, I went 
out to the farm of a Mr. Mihills with a party of in¬ 
stitute workers to see a lot of steers which were being 
fed with a view of cheap beef production. 
There were 50 steers, one and two years old past in 
two bunches of 25 each, loose in a stable, having been 
dishorned. They were as peaceable as so many sheep 
eating from the mangers without any pushing or dis¬ 
turbance of any kind, and drinking from the same 
dish in the same peaceable manner. Their feed con¬ 
sisted entirely of corn ensilage, straw and corn meal. 
They were getting an average of 40 pounds of ensilage 
each per day, with 15 pounds of corn meal, and all the 
wheat and oat straw they would eat, and although 
they had none of them been weighed since they were 
a or leeuing, i juugeu i-ney were maxing a very 
nice gain. 
We were told that the corn meal cost only $15 per 
ton and with the ensilage costing $1.25 per ton, the 
whole cost of their feed would be 13% cents per day 
exclusive of the straw, and on most farms it is con¬ 
sidered a good thing to get this worked down into 
manure. Now if the steers were making a gain of 2% 
pounds per day each, and the owner thought they 
were doing better than that, the gain was costing six 
cents per pound if no credit was allowed for the man¬ 
ure made, and the only way any profit could be figured 
was on the increased value of fat over the same weight 
of lean of the carcasses when put in to feed. But as 
there is always a pretty good margin in this line be¬ 
tween ordinary store steers in fall and well matured 
steers in spring, the feeders will make a satisfactory 
profit. 
As I looked at the animals, several points suggested 
themselves to me in which an improvement could be 
made in the mode of feeding. First, the steers were 
too heavy to start with ; the amount of food required 
for simple support was too much ; second, the food 
was all corn stalks or corn meal except the straw. All 
the components were by far too carbonaceous for 
proper digestion and assimilation. The only gain the 
steers could make was simply to accumulate fat. There 
was no material from which they could build muscle 
(lean meat) and, besides, such good digestion cannot 
take place with a food so badly balanced. Had they 
been fed 10 pounds of corn meal and two of new-pro¬ 
cess linseed meal and three of wheat bran, I am sure 
they would have made a greater gain. 
Again they were turned out each day into a yard to 
drink and allowed to remain out for a couple of hours. 
If arrangements had been made for them to drink in 
the stables, and they had been constantly housed and 
the stables were kept a little warmer, I am confident 
more gain would have been made. 
Once more, while the steers were as quiet as a lot of 
“ old cows,” yet I would prefer to have them loosely 
tied. It would result in their being cleaner and in 
each one getting just the feed given him, and no more. 
It might be that if abundant straw were given them, 
and the mangers so made that they could not crowd 
from one to another, their running loose would be all 
right. Anyway, I was greatly interested in the experi¬ 
ment and shall be glad to know just how it turns out. 
I was forcibly struck by an exemplification of the 
