278 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
May 5 
THE BABY CALF; ITS YOUNG MOTHER. 
1. I would like to Inquire of Thb K. N.-Y. readers who raise many 
calves, whether the calf should be separated from the cow, say, at 
one day old, or left with her three or four weeks. 2. When a two- 
year-old heifer drops a calf, is it better to let her miss one year ? 
Evils of Too Early Breeding. 
1. We leave the calf with the mother from two days 
to a week. We watch the calf, and, if it does well, 
we leave it with the cow for a week, but if not, we take 
it away sooner. I would not want to leave a calf three 
or four weeks with a cow. It is too hard to teach it 
to drink at this age, and the cow worries too much 
over the separation. 2. I would not let the heifer miss 
a year before breeding. I would much rather, though, 
that she would not have a calf until years old. I 
think the .lersey breeders have seriously injured some 
of their best animals by too early breeding. I like to 
have a heifer wait until well grown before she calves. 
Then she has a strong constitution and will bear push¬ 
ing right along. I think there will be more profit in 
the first five years than if early breeding be adopted. 
Ellerslie Stock Farm. h. m. cottbell. 
A Chance for the Poorest Cow. 
1. I always separate the calf from the cow the first 
day, as it is much easier to teach it to drink then than 
when it is older. Give it fresh, new milk from its 
mother for three or four days; then give it fresh milk 
from the poorest butter cow in the herd for 10 days, 
providing she has not been giving milk too long. After 
that period, I feed skim-milk and add a very little oil 
meal twice a day, gradually increasing the quantity 
until we reach half a pound per day, when the calf is 
about two months old. After this age, it is very little 
trouble to care fcjr a calf. I feed skim-milk until the 
calf is six months old, if it can be spared, with plenty 
of dry feed, ensilage and hay. 2. When a heifer calves 
at two years old, she should continue to breed every 
year thereafter. I have found it more profitable even 
when the calf was not taken into consideration, the 
milk supply only being considered. u. i>. cabll. 
The Calf’s Tongue Can Injure the Cow. 
1. It is sometimes the custom to let a calf suck its 
dam until the milk is fit to use ; but it is an injury to 
the cow, and the calf is just as well off not to suck at 
all. The latter method also prevents the cow becom¬ 
ing attached to her calf. The longer a call sucks a 
cow, the more it injures her. 2. It is a good plan to 
allow a heifer to calve soon after she is two years old, 
and then milk her farrow. It teaches her maternity, 
keeps her in the cow path, and causes her to develop 
all that is in her in the milk direction, c. m. winslo w. 
Until the Milk is Good. 
1. It is now my practice to leave calves with their 
mothers in a box stall about three days—or until the 
milk is suitable for the dairy; then the cow is re¬ 
turned to her accustomed place in the dairy stable, 
and the calf is tied by her side where it can receive 
its mother’s caresses and learn to eat from her man¬ 
ger ; but cannot reach her udder. When it is five 
days old, it has learned to drink readily from the pail 
set in the manger, and at 10 days its diet is warm 
skim-milk and the ensilage, clover hay and meal 
shared with its mother. In winter, while the cows 
are confined in the barn, this is an excellent plan; 
much better than to separate them and put the calves 
in a pen by themselves. The cows are more con¬ 
tented and happy, and the calves are more comfort¬ 
able from the warmth of their mothers’ bodies—they 
do look so cozy lying snugly between the cows. They 
sooner learn to eat and seem to grow up with better 
manners when thus under the eye and influence of 
their mothers, than when confined in a pen with 
others, where they acquire annoying habits which 
they are often long in overcoming or outgrowing. I 
would never think of leaving a calf four weeks with 
its mother, to take its fill of fresh milk at pleasure. 
The butter, which the milk should make, would be 
worth double the amount the veal would bring, if 
sold. If to be raised for the dairy, the skim-milk 
calf is equal to any, while it is much better for the 
cow to be milked by hand than by calf. 
2. My cows are thoroughbred Jerseys, and the 
heifers invariably drop their calves at 17 to 19 months 
of age, and are again bred when their calves are 
about five months old ; they are thus 12 months in milk 
and dry two months before dropping the second calf. 
I prefer to milk them a full year, which seems to bet¬ 
ter develop “ the milking habit ” than to dry them off 
at eight or nine months, as many do. A year is long 
enough, however, with the first calf, and after that 
they are allowed to breed as fast as they will. I have 
one cow, eight years old next November, which has 
dropped eight calves, in succession, and is now bred 
for the ninth ; the calves were equally divided as to 
sex, all healthy and hearty, and the heifers make ex¬ 
cellent milkers. This cow has never been dry, is in 
good flesh and has gained in milk with each succeed¬ 
ing calf. No, I would not let a heifer with her first 
calf go a year, but would breed her when the calf is 
five months old. p. h. muxkoe. 
Illinois. * 
Take the Calf Right Away. 
1. The calf should be separated from the cow at once. 
It will not learn to drink so easily after sucking more 
than once. I think the cow gives down better if 
sucked the first time, and the effect of the milk upon 
the calf is also better. The milk is sure to be warm 
and clean, which is not always the case if milked into 
a pail. It is important that the calf should get the 
first mess soon after birth. It warms it and acts as a 
medicine, regulating the bowels. If allowed to suck 
three or four weeks, when the change is made the calf 
refuses food until starved into it, and runs down, and 
sometimes never learns to drink well. The cow frets 
and bellows for the calf and partially dries up. 
The calf may not have taken all the milk when he 
sucked, and, unless the cow be milked promptly each 
time, she will be injured. The calf will get too much 
and be sick, or if very vigorous, become too fat for a 
famous future. It should grow frame not fat, and too 
rich milk is not good for that purpose. Test the tem¬ 
perature of the milk fed with a thermometer, and 
always feed in a clean pail. Feed until the calf’s sides 
are extended out just even. Leave it just a little 
hungry each time. Feed at regular hours and keep 
the floor dry. 2. All heifers in this dairy section drop 
calves at two years. They are fed grain during the 
fall and winter to keep up the flow of milk as long as 
possible—at least 10 months. This is said to fix the 
habit of holding out well, which is a very desirable 
one. They are bred to drop the second calf in April 
and May so as soon to get to grass. This is to keep 
them growing while shedding their teeth. If allowed 
to miss one year, it is claimed they will fatten and 
ever after have a tendency to convert food into tallow 
instead of butter. No one here allows them to miss a 
year. My own heifers are bred, if of good size, to 
drop the first calf at 18 months. I want to develop all 
milk-giving organs at the expense of the rest. c. k. c. 
SHEEP AND CHEMICALS FOR OLD PASTURES. 
Mr. John Shafer of Blenheim writes that he has a 
stony, rough hillside pasture too steep to plow and 
pretty well covered with moss, weeds and bushes. He 
wishes to know how he can improve it and asks if it 
can be done with sheep and how. In attending insti¬ 
tutes in the hilly counties of New York, I have noticed 
much such land as he describes and have often advised 
farmers attending the meetings that the best, if not 
the only practicable way to bring these fields back 
into good grasses, was by the use of sheep, and perhaps 
some chemical manures. They should first be sur¬ 
rounded by a sheep-tight fence. This can be made 
cheaply with wire and pickets fastened to posts 20 
feet apart. Next a good supply of water should be 
provided and then two or three times as many sheep 
should be put in as the land is capable of keeping. If 
there be any bushes so high that the sheep cannot 
reach their tops, they should be cut down. 
Troughs made of boards of any convenient length, 
one five the other six inches wide nailed together 
V-shaped and without ends, should be placed in the 
field on the poorer spots. These are to be left without 
ends so that no water will stay in them and there should 
be troughs enough to furnish ample room for all to eat 
without getting so near the ends as to waste feed. The 
troughs, if preferred, may have ends and then be turned 
over to free them from water if any remain after a 
rain. 
The sheep should now be fed every day food 
enough to keep them thriving. The food should 
consist largely of wheat bran, but it may have a little 
linseed meal mixed with it if preferred. Usually, 
however, no other food that is so rich in the manurial 
elements, and so well adapted to make the sheep 
healthy and thrifty, can be bought for so little money. 
It will generally pay to sow upon those spots, with 
much moss, from 200 to 400 pounds of muriate of pot¬ 
ash per acre, broadcast. It would be well to try on 
some places different quantities of bone flour or dis¬ 
solved bone ; though I would prefer the flour if it can 
be obtained fine enough. 
If the owner will experiment a little by putting on 
different places different quantities of each, and also 
by mixing them in different ways, he will soon know 
more about his land than he now does. For the 
above purpose, sheep should be kept with a view of 
producing mutton and putting them in the mutton 
market as soon as fully fitted. j. s. woodwabd. 
While the calf is probably the most effective milk¬ 
ing machine so far known, he is not a profitable one 
to operate. He doesn’t milk clean, and takes too 
heavy toll for the returns he makes. Yet thousands 
of him are in use every year, especially at this season. 
Isn’t there a heavy loss here for some one ? 
POPULAR AUTUMN APPLES. 
The number of this class of apples is very large, and 
it also embraces many of the finest varieties, both 
domestic and foreign. A considerable number of 
varieties which are commonly ranked in this class, 
extend their season into early winter, or even later, 
when carefully handled; while others, if planted in 
the South, become summer fruit. It is, therefore, 
rather difficult to fix the status of the members of this 
class. As an instance, the excellent Gravenstein is a 
winter apple in Maine, a fail apple in Massachusetts, 
and a summer apple in eastern Virginia. 
Jebsey Sweeting is a well-known variety in the 
Middle States, and is grown to some extent in other 
localities. It is a medium-sized, roundish apple, well 
striped with red upon greenish yellow, and grows 
well over a considerable portion of the Middle States ; 
but it is not much planted in New England. It is 
juicy, tender, and very sweet. 
Autumn Sweet Bough ; a medium-sized, conical 
apple, of a pale yellow, with white flesh ; tender and 
well flavored. The tree is thrifty and productive. 
Haskell Sweet is widely known as a good family 
apple. It is large, somewhat flattened, greenish, 
with a brown cheek. This color appears more faintly 
in the flesh, which is very sweet and tender. 
Munson Sweet is a widely known and valuable 
variety ; medium in size, flattened, pale yellow in 
color, with a dull blush. Flesh creamy white, tender 
and sweet. There is no better apple of its class and 
season, and the tree is thrifty and productive. 
Pumpkin Sweet is also a popular apple, of large size, 
yellowish, with some russet. It is rich and sweet, 
and is a fine baking apple, having been in use for a 
considerable time, and northward may be kept into 
early winter. 
Alexandeb is a well-known Russian apple, of the 
largest size. It belongs to a large family, probably 
reproducing itself closely from seed. In Russia, the 
family is named “Aport,”or Oporto; and embraced 
in this family is a number of allied varieties, some of 
which are superior in quality and keeping to the 
original, as imported from England to this country. 
A much better variety, in quality, productiveness and 
keeping, is that called “Grand Duke Constantine,” 
which is a choice culinary apple, either for pies, sauce 
or baking. It has as yet been but little disseminated, 
but should receive more attention. It keeps well into 
the winter. 
Buckingham, or Fall Queen, of Kentucky, is a very 
popular apple of the Ohio Valley. It is of large size, 
good form and color, yellowish flesh, tender, mild and 
well flavored. The tree is very thrifty, and fairly 
productive. It keeps into the winter. 
Chenango Stbawbebby is a variety that should be 
better known, and more extensively grown. It is known 
in some sections as Sherwood’s Favorite. Medium 
size, conical, angular, with light crimson splashes, it 
is not particularly attractive to the eye ; but its tender, 
white flesh, and very distinctive flavor, which no other 
apple approaches, place it among our best dessert 
varieties. It is an upright, vigorous tree, and fairly 
productive. 
Oluenbubg (Duchess) is one of the first Russian ap¬ 
ples imported. Like most Russian sorts, it is one of 
a family ; and recent importations show it not to be 
the best of its family, either in quality or in keeping. 
It is, however, a popular market apple, and is often 
sold in the market as Gravenstein. The tree is thrifty 
and productive, and the fruit large and a good culinary 
sort. 
Gbavenstein is a German apple, which has become 
a popular market sort in this country. It is of good 
size, roundish, striped with red on a yellow ground. 
The tree is thrifty and productive, but requires good 
culture to bring the fruit to its full excellence. Grown 
as far north as it will endure the climate—southern 
Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont—it is a fair 
keeper. There is no better market apple of its class, 
it being very good as well as very handsome. 
Fameuse (Snow apple).—This very choice, though 
small, Canadian apple seems to be fated to destruc¬ 
tion by fungous disease. It has for some time occu¬ 
pied the highest place as a choice dessert fruit; but 
there are now few, if any, localities where it can be 
grown to perfection. It has, however, produced some 
choice seedlings, which may be made to take its place. 
Shiawassee Beauty is a Michigan seedling of Fa¬ 
meuse and seems to possess nearly all the good quali¬ 
ties of its parent, with comparative freedom from dis¬ 
ease. The tree is thrifty, bears young, and is produc¬ 
tive. The fruit is larger and flatter than that of the 
parent, but otherwise not unlike ; while the white 
flesh and the flavor closely resemble the original, with 
a trifle more acidity. 
Pbincess Louise is another supposed Fameuse seed¬ 
ling, but the exterior resemblance is not very close. 
