1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
539 
eral introduction to infectious diseases, the “ Report ” 
states that it is hampered with the inadequacy of the 
words infectious, contagious, etc., and this, no doubt, 
accounts in a great measure for the strictures to which 
its language lays it open, but I am convinced that it 
has mistaken the cause for the means in the case of 
Texas fever. The entire work, however, is so valuable 
that every owner of cattle should strive to possess a 
copy, and not allow his Congressman to hoodwink 
him, especially as the work can be obtained on “ tick.” 
Buckingham County, Ya. J. c. svnger. 
THE COW’S VACATION. 
WHEN SHAKE SHE TAKE IT? 
Is it accurate to talk about winter dairying as 
though any Northern dairyman could get along with¬ 
out some dairying in the winter ? A business cow 
should not go dry more than two months; most of 
the modern kinds are dry only six weeks, while winter 
covers a period of from four to six months In North¬ 
ern latitudes winter dairying for a part of the winter 
is indispensable, and the question real'y is when is it 
best to give the cow her vacation ? 
I believe that in many places the summer is the 
best time, and will give the reasons for my belief: 
First, labor is more costly in summer than at any 
other time of the year. At the most hurried part of 
Why not Let the Team have Shade? Fig. 185. 
secretion, passing blood-colored urine, and feeble or 
no evacuations of the bowels. By this time the disease 
has progressed very far and the chances of recovery 
are exceedingly slim. 
Medication avails little, but should be of a laxative 
nature. If possible, the animal should be driven to 
a cool, moist and shady place, and if it can be induced 
to stand in several feet of water all the better. I 
remember an instance of a farmer having several head 
of cattle afflicted with Texas fever at the same time. 
He determined to put them up where he could give 
them better attention, but, when he went to hunt 
them up, one could not be found until several days 
had elapsed when she was discovered in a concealed 
shady nook standing in deep water. She was the only 
one that recovered out of the entire lot. The reason, 
no doubt, is apparent from what has been said before. 
While medication avails little, laxative drenches 
should not be omitted, and concentrated, but easily 
digested food should be given. I once saved a valu¬ 
able animal having symptoms of “dry” murrain by 
first drenching her with linseed oil and a little later 
greasing my hand and arm and literally removing the 
excrement from her bowels. This I found in balls 
about the size of walnuts and nearly as dry. After 
removing a considerable amount, the cow began to 
strain and rendered me decided assistance. She was 
the sickest animal I ever saw. Besides being a valu¬ 
able animal, she was a pet and I felt inclined 
to bill her in order to put her out of her 
misery which was painful to behold. After 
removing all the excrement I could possibly 
reach, I left her in an apparently more com¬ 
fortable condition. This was after midnight. 
I dreaded to enter the stable in the morning, 
but when I did so, she lowed her customary 
friendly good morning, partook of a hearty 
breakfast generously dispensed to her, and 
within a few weeks she averaged about two 
pounds of butter per day. I tried the same 
treatment in the best case of unmistakable 
Texas fever among my stosk. The animal 
had been taken several days before I found 
her and then she was very much emaciated 
This was two years ago. To-day she is the 
mainstay of my herd. 
I proceeded on the principle of the phy¬ 
sician who prescribed an enema in connec¬ 
tion with a cathartic. But in a case of this 
kind an enema is generally labor and valu¬ 
able time lost. You might almost as well 
attempt to dissolve a stone without the aid 
of corrosive acids. I advise the reader to 
treasure this hint as valuable information, 
as it may prove serviceable in any case of 
constipation by whatever cause produced. 
Some Hints and Comments. 
As medication avails so little, this is in¬ 
deed a case where an ounce of prevention is 
worth more than a pound of cure. Quaran¬ 
tine during tick time has effected this for 
the Northern farmer to a great degree, and I 
am satisfied that he would be rendered ab¬ 
solutely secure, even without quarantine, if a 
heavy fine were imposed on the shipper or 
carrier for transporting cattle having ticks 
attached to their bodies. But what shall be 
done for those residing where the ticks 
abound ? I know of but one recourse, and 
that is passing stringent laws making it 
incumbent on every owner of cattle to keep 
them free from ticks, and imposing a fine on the 
owner of an animal on which a tick about mature is 
known to have been allowed to remain for, say, more 
than 24 hours, this being prima facie evidence that it 
had been there for a considerable time, and showing 
neglect of duty on the part of the owner. 
Nicotine from a pipe will speedily cause ticks to re¬ 
linquish their hold. Greasy substances, such as will 
clog their breathing pores, will kill them, but the great 
desideratum is something cheap, harmless, readily ap¬ 
plied and lasting in its effects, that will keep them 
away, though their daily destruction would tend to 
save many an animal by gradually inuring it to the 
virus, besides killing many ticks before they could get 
in their deadly work. 
I have yet to find the first tick on the pennyroyal 
plant, which seems to be distasteful to them as well 
as other insects. I make efficient use of it in freeing 
myself from the young pests. I am not sure that it 
abounds in all the infected localities, but in some it 
does in the greatest abundance. It may be a case of 
Nature providing the remedy where and when most 
needed. Possibly a decoction might prove a sure, 
cheap and easily applied remedy, especially as the 
ticks attack mainly the escutcheon, udder and thighs. 
It is my intention to experiment with this plant this 
season, and I may report later. 
In conclusion, it is but fair to state that in the gen- 
the summer farm work costs about three times as 
much as it does in the winter. Why not let the cow 
rest when labor costs the most ? Then the last two 
months of maternity are very trying to the cow. It 
is far better to have these months come in summer 
than in winter. I think this is true no matter how 
comfortable a stable she is kept in. The summer sur¬ 
roundings of a cow in a pasture where there are good 
feed and plenty of shade are most favorable to this 
period of a cow’s life. Again, it is not possible to 
keep up the flow of milk during the latter part of the 
summer, or even in midsummer, without bringing the 
cost of keeping the cow nearly up to the winter 
standard. When people talk about the extra cost of 
keeping a cow well up in milk production during the 
winter and bring it out as an argument against winter 
dairying, they forget how much it costs to keep up 
the full flow of milk through July and August. The 
average pasture cannot begin to do it; a very good 
pasture must be supplemented with extra food, and 
this means extra cost. It makes a great difference 
with your profits whether you feed grain when butter 
is 15 cents or when it is 30 cents. But you must feed 
something besides what the cow gets in the pasture, 
or have your milk shrink to a low point. 
Suppose that in midsummer the cow, instead of 
having given milk only three or four months, has 
been milked 10 months, and is ready to take her vaca¬ 
tion, what a difference it will make in your midsum¬ 
mer peace of mind ! Here in northern Vermont past¬ 
ure can be obtained for dry cows in what are called 
“ back pastures” for 20 cents per week. Just think 
of it ! less than three cents a day for a cow s board 
and lodging, and no care at all taken of her ! The 
owner of the pasture looks after her occasionally to 
see that she is all right, and she has good feed and 
plenty of water and shade. These pastures were 
used in former times to fatten joung cattle, etc., 
which were shipped to Boston ; but now the owners 
have hard work to find stock enough to eat the feed. 
Probably winter feed as good as this pasturage 
could not be obtained for less than 13 cents a day, and 
there must be a saving of about 10 cents a day in feed 
to be placed to the credit of the summer vacation 
under these circumstances. It will not do to assume 
that such cheap pasturage can be secured by all dairy¬ 
men ; but there are probably few places where it costs 
as much to keep a dry cow during the summer vaca¬ 
tion as during the winter. 
When the cow returns home after her rest, there is 
no lack of succulent feed ; the corn is ready to be used 
and there is ordinarily plenty of fall feed—rowen and 
second growth clover. The cow is ready to begin her 
work under the best of conditions and when her pro¬ 
duct is most valuable. Prices differ in different parts 
of the country, but everywhere butter is higher in the 
cool months than in the hot. The fall calf, 
too, has many advantages. No matter how 
warm and well ventilated the barn is, it can¬ 
not equal the out-door air of autumn. 
A word about keeping summer butter and 
selling it in the fall. Such was the prac¬ 
tice here 30 years ago. Fifty or more years 
ago, before the days of railroads, I have been 
told that the country merchant took butter 
for goods, packed it in flour barrels, and 
when a cool time in summer came, he 
started it for Boston, 200 miles away, in a 
wagon. Long dairies came next, the farmer 
holding his butter until fall. Occasionally 
one does it now, but the great bulk of private 
dairy butter is marketed a few days after it 
is made, and this with very few exceptions, 
is the best way to market butter. 
Vermont. J. w. newton. 
FREE PRODUCE PACKAGES AGAIN. 
From a late number of The Rural, it 
would seem that the storm raised among the 
farmers by the gift crate reporter has not 
convinced him of the folly of furnishing free 
kindling wood to the cities in the shape 
of crates and baskets. He has heard enough, 
however, to convince him that the farmers 
are not yet ready to adopt his system ; nor 
should they. Aside from being a sinful waste 
of good material, and a loss to the farmer, 
the adoption of this system would double 
the price of perishable fruits and vegetables 
to the consumer, without benefit to the 
farmer, and deprive thousands of people who 
now enjoy them of these healthful articles. 
It is desirable both from the standpoint of 
economy as well as health that the masses 
of the cities should be plentifully supplied 
with fruits and vegetables. Every effort 
in favor of gift packages is a blow struck 
at this desirable object. 
Take tomatoes, the most valuable and exten¬ 
sively used of all the perishable vegetabl -s. 
While they come in gift packages, the price averages 
from 15 to 50 cents per quart. How many of the poorer 
classes in the cities enjoy them at these prices ? What 
is the effect when they begin to come in packages that 
are returned to the farmer ? The price rapidly falls 
to 10, 5, 3, 2 and 1 cent per qua.t, an i every person, 
no matter how poor, can have all he wants. A farmer 
can supply them at a profit at one cent per quart if he 
gets his packages returned ; it is needless to say that 
he could not do so if he lost his packages. The cart 
boys and canners frequently buy thousands of baskets 
of tomatoes at six to eight cents per basket, but if 
jhey insisted upon keeping the baskets, they would 
have to pay double these rates, and does any one doubt 
that this increase would be saddled on the consumer ? 
Nearly every summer the price of berries falls to four 
to six cents per quart- Picking costs two cents, haul¬ 
ing and commission, one cent. If a farmer gets his 
package back, he can continue to pick and haul at 
four to six cents. His crates and boxes cost him two 
cent 3 per quart. The frail gift crates would not stand 
his use. Consequently, if he has to give these away, 
he will stop picking and hauling when berries fall to 
eight cents Now there are thousands of poor people 
who will buy and use freely berries at five and six 
cents per quart who would not buy at all at 10 cents, 
and, as a consequence, thousands of bushels of berries 
would rot in the fields, that ought to be giving health 
