THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 9 
158 
by the cows’ ability to secrete that yellow fat out of 
the food given them, Dido was a fraud compared with 
her little stable companion. That was not so much 
her fault, any more than it is the fault of the mule 
that it cannot beat the trotter on the race track. 
Dido was bred and built for beef making—for putting 
fat on her bones instead of in the milk. Instead of 
blaming her for that, we should praise her for pro¬ 
viding a living model and example of how not to do it; 
when we buy or select a cow for the butter dairy. A 
study of the points of difference between Dido and 
Dora, is equal to a whole map of ‘ dairy form.” This 
is what the five pictured cows consumed during the 
year. They were on pasture about 130 days : 
POUNDS CONSUMED IN ONE YEAK. 
Bran. Barley. Corn. Lins’d. Roots. En’ge. Hay 
Houston. 2064 840 306 546 1640 4180 2150 
Dora...,.. 1729 894 434 446 1780 3046 205n 
Bettle.... 1528 800 252 384 1780 3920 168« 
Beckley. 1806 874 345 450 1870 4702 196.) 
Dido. 1331 796 265 341 1745 3662 182 4 
That is what the cows ate ; now let’s see what they 
did with it : 
RECORD FOR ONE YEAR. 
Weight 
Cost 
Pounds 
Pounds 
Cost of 1 
of cow. 
of feed. 
of milk, of butter. 
lb. butter 
Houston. 
... 931 
$41.22 
6976 
444.80 
09.3 
Dora. 
.. . 877 
37.58 
6515 
428.90 
08.8 
Bettie. 
... 802 
34.04 
4957 
324.40 
10.5 
Beckley. 
... 942 
39.24 
4949 
364.82 
10.8 
Dido. 
... 1302 
32.13 
5562 
262.30 
12.2 
Average of 23 cows . 
... 976 
37.82 
6407 
364.00 
10.6 
The prices for feed in Minnesota are reckoned as 
follows: Timothy hay, $5.60 per ton; barley meal, 
$14 ; oats, $18 ; corn meal, $14 ; linseed, $26 ; bran $11; 
ensilage, squashes and roots, $2. These low prices ac¬ 
count for the low cost of a year’s food. 
A dozen lessons might be drawn from that state¬ 
ment. Dora is a little cow—100 pounds lighter than the 
average; yet see how she distanced the biggiant, Dido. 
The latter weighed 450 pounds more, but the little 
cow beat her by 160 pounds of butter. Why ? Because 
Dora was built for butter, while Dido was built for 
beef. If we could print the record of all these 23 
cows, we could show you a number of “ manure 
makers ” that will have to be rooted out. The single 
point of this article is to illustrate the external char¬ 
acteristics of a good butter cow. Mind you, these pic¬ 
tures do not show the superior points of a milk cow, 
but the form you should look for in buying a cow to 
give rich milk. 
THE COUNTRY’S MILK TRADE. 
How New Orleans People Are Supplied. 
Just after the war, I remember living in the city 
of New Orleans as a child, and that it was next to im¬ 
possible to get good milk at any price, most of it being 
watered and of a bluish color. But now, one can find 
as good milk in New Orleans, as in New York City. 
As New Orleans is the most peculiar of American 
cities, so the milk trade of New Orleans is the most 
peculiar of all milk trades. The producer acts as 
middleman and retailer, gets all the proceeds, and it 
is to him a veritable bonanza. This trade is controlled 
by Germans and Gascons, for the most part, wdio retail 
the milk for five cents a pint, and 40 cents a gallon ; if 
you bought a barrel, you would have to pay at the rate 
of five cents a pint. These men have dairies on the 
outskirts of the city, most of which are on Metairie 
Ridge, and as they are able to get 40 cents a gallon for 
all the milk they can produce, many of them have be¬ 
come prosperous, and some of them rich, in a small 
way. 
The milk wagons of New 7 Orleans are as peculiar as 
its other environments, and cause strangers visiting 
the town no small amusement. They are high in front, 
and slope down in the back. 
Why is the producer of milk in New Orleans able to 
get 40 cents a gallon for his milk, when the producers 
of milk elsewhere are able to get less than half of this 
amount? This question is easily answered. For the 
most part, the men who engage in agricultural call¬ 
ings within 100 miles of New Orleans, are the sugar 
planters of Louisiana, who have had incomes of from 
$50,000 to $500,000 a year, and who have lived in an 
elegance and luxury that would put a German prince 
to shame. They would have hooted at any one who 
would have suggested the idea of producing milk for 
the profit that w r as in it, and the trade has fallen into 
the hands of foreigners, who have their dairies at the 
city limits; and there has not been competition 
enough, up to this time, to lower the price. What an 
opportunity this would be to a community of North¬ 
ern farmers ! Most of these milkmen are illiterate, 
and know little save about cows and milk ; but I found 
a young lady belonging to one of the oldest and most 
aristocratic families of New Orleans, who, finding 
nothing else to do, had established a dairy near the 
city, and was making a great success of it. 
A city ordinance allows one to keep as many as two 
cows within the city, and to that extent it is possible 
to have a small dairy within the tow'n. Some people 
of moderate means have taken advantage of this to 
supply their own tables, besides making a small sum 
by selling to their neighbors 
The reader will see from the above that the milk 
trade of New Orleans is quite a primitive affair, and 
that the producers enjoy advantages of which the 
Northern milkmen never dreamed. I understand that 
within the last few years, some farmers living on the 
I. C. R.R., above New Orleans, have established a 
Consolidated Dairy Company, and that they ship their 
milk into the city twice a day by tram. They have a 
depot and sell milk, cream, and buttermilk, which I 
hear spoken of in very high terms. I am indebted to 
the ladies of New Orleans for the information con¬ 
tained in this article, and I am able, therefore, to as¬ 
sure the reader that it is true and correct in every 
particular. s. H. .tames. 
How Milk is Sold in Cleveland. 
The milk business of Cleveland is probably con¬ 
ducted differently from that of any other city of the 
same size in the United States. More than one-half 
of the milk consumed is sold direct from farmers’ 
wagons, or from dealers who live in the country and 
take the milk at the barns. There is land enough 
adapted to dairying within a radius of six miles of 
the city limits, to furnish all the milk consumed in a 
city of 330,000 inhabitants, which is about the popu¬ 
lation of Cleveland at present. This land is more 
valuable for other purposes, a good portion being 
used for fruit growing, market gardening, etc. For 
this reason, nearly half of the milk is shipped in on 
the various railroads centering in Cleveland ; 30 miles 
is about the farthest point from which the milk sup¬ 
ply is drawn. The milk trains arrive in the city 
from eight to nine o’clock a. m., with milk of that 
morning and the evening previous, which is loaded on 
retail wagons and mostly distributed before noon. 
Wagons driven directly from the farms, begin sup¬ 
plying customers from six to seven in the morning, so 
that many people receive milk less than three hours 
old for breakfast. 
The milk business is mostly conducted by small 
dealers, not averaging more than five cans each, al¬ 
though there are a few dealers in town who handle 
40 or 50 cans of 10 gallons each, supplying the hotels 
and restaurants. The price paid at farms within 
driving distance, and for milk delivered by rail, is 
about the same ; 10 cents per gallon of 834 pounds, 
from April 1 to November 1 ; and 14 cents the rest of 
the year, have been the general prices for the last 15 
years. Farmers who ship their milk pay 15 cents per 
can freight, thus netting them 123^ cents and 8% 
cents on platform at the milk station. There has 
been a tendency to cut the price by the shippers the 
past two years, during March, some paying but 12 
cents per gallon. The retail price in summer for the 
past five years, has been five cents, and six cents in 
winter, although a few who sell their own milk, or 
drive directly from farms, get one cent more for most 
of their milk. Competition is very strong iu the 
Cleveland retail trade, milk probably being delivered 
fresher and in better condition than in any other city 
of equal size in this country. City consumers are 
generally willing to pay more for milk direct from 
the farms. o. T. B. 
South Euclid, Ohio. 
NOTES ON HOTHOUSE LAMBS. 
In reading the accounts of hothouse lambs in The 
R. N.-Y., I noticed the facts given by Mr. Clark Allis. 
I keep a flock of 100 ewes, and have no difficult/ in 
having a large percentage of my ewes drop lambs in 
November and December. From October 15 to Decem¬ 
ber 1, they dropped 25 lambs ; from December 1 to 
January 1, 15 ; and from January 1 to date (February 
8 ) they have dropped 40, making a total of 80 lambs 
from the 100 ewes or four-fifths of the flock before 
February 8. I find no difference in regard to having 
early lambs, between the ewes approaching the Merino 
breed, and those favoring the coarser wools ; but I 
do see a great difference when it comes to making a 
45-pound lamb quickly, as the ewes favoring the Down 
or Dorset breeds give much more milk and of a richer 
quality. They distance the Merinos from two to three 
weeks in the growth and fattening of a lamb. 
Another important factor in the raising of early 
lambs, is the kind of ram used. Last year I used a 
grade Shropshire ram, and by so doing it cost me one- 
half the price of the spring lambs, as some of them 
would breed back to the fine wool and some would 
breed to the Shropshire making a very uneven lot. I 
have great faith in the Dorset sheep, as I never had 
such a beautiful lot of lambs as this year, and they 
reach the required weight from one to three weeks 
earlier than any other breed I have ever seen tried. 
Mr. Clark Allis says that he turned a Shropshire 
sheep into his flock, and I would like to know why he 
did that as the Dorset ram is twice as likely to get ewes 
in lamb as any other breed. They are much more act¬ 
ive, and hot weather seems to have no effect on them 
whatever, when other breeds grow lazy and sluggish. 
What is more, the yearling Dorset lamb is ahead of 
any other breed, I think, for fattening purposes. I 
form this idea from the fact that one of my neighbors 
raised from 40 ewes of the fine wooled breed, 39 lambs. 
He marketed 29, and the 10 culls remaining, he allowed 
to run over summer ; in December they were sold and 
averaged 90 pounds each, and were as fat as seals. 
I find it no great task as they tell us, to have our 
ewes get with lamb in June and July. I turn two 
Dorset rams with my 100 ewes, allowing 50 to each 
ram ; this I think about right. I give the ewes new, 
fresh pasture, a cool, shady place to spend the noon¬ 
day, and plenty of cool, fresh water and salt regularly. 
These are the most important factors. D. s. L. 
Middleport, N. Y. 
NOTES ON PEAR CULTURE. 
Pear culture, in my opinion, is as profitable as the 
growing of other fruits, and in some instances, more 
so, depending more or less upon soil, location, varieties 
grown, and the man who grows them. The crop itself 
is more reliable and less perishable than many other 
fruits, and this is a fact not to be ignored. Many 
orchards may be found in this State, of good bearing 
age, that give annual net returns of $100 to $125 per 
acre, while others greatly exceed this. My experience 
and observation incline me to the opinion that winter 
varieties, as a rule, do not pay so well as those that 
ripen in autumn. 
The increase of fungi, and the various forms of in¬ 
sect life that prey upon the pear, are the most serious 
obstacles to successful work in growing this fruit. 
Spraying for both must be resorted to at the proper 
season to produce good fruit, and this must be fol¬ 
lowed by thorough cultivation and generous feeding 
of required plant foods, consisting largely of potash 
and phosphoric acid. 
Farmers, in the sense in which the term is often 
used, are not the best of fruit growers, and hence are 
not advised to go into general pear planting, unless 
they decide at least to give their trees a portion of the 
care that would be given to a crop of corn or potatoes. 
Necjlect is the cause of more crop failures in all fruit 
growing than all other causes combined. Poorly 
grown apples may be disposed of to the manufacturers 
of cider, or to the evaporating establishments, but 
worthless pears scarcely have any value. 
S. D. WILLAKD. 
SHORT FRUIT NOTES. 
Abundance Plum and Peaches. —In a recent R. 
N.-Y. are several complaints about the Abundance 
plum failing to fruit. As far as I know, it has done 
well here. I have propagated and planted it to some 
extent, but have not fruited it yet. 1 have budded on 
the peach, and have planted on high and low ground. 
It would be well for those who have been complaining 
about its not fruiting, to state under what conditions 
they are growing it. Why not diagnose a tree as well 
as an animal ? The peach crop, I am afraid, is gone ; 
our best authorities here state that the peach will not 
stand more than 13 degrees below zero. I think that 
when conditions are favorable, it will endure a low 
temperature. The mercury was 18 degrees below zero 
here. I plant my peaches on high ground, and I think 
that plums ought to be planted on high ground also. 
A few degrees of temperature may make the differ¬ 
ence between failure or success with a crop. 
Illinois. WM. JACKSON. 
Anthracnose in Raspberries. —In examining the 
different varieties of raspberries, I find that kinds 
which make a rank growth, are much more exempt 
from this disease than those of medium growth. The 
Tyler, Souhegan and others of the early varieties, 
seem to be the most affected. There is a remarkable 
difference on my grounds between the Shaffer and 
Columbian growing near together. The Shaffer is 
nearly ruined, while the Columbian is entirely free 
from the disease. I cannot account for this unless the 
Columbian, because of its rank growth and thick bark 
resists it better. The smaller the cane, the quicker 
a spot of the disease can grow and encircle it and 
destroy the flow of sap in the bark. It will greatly 
check this disease to cut and burn the canes soon after 
picking. Give clean culture and set new fields often 
remote from the old fields. chas. mills. 
Onondaga County, N. Y. 
The Squash Bugs. —I had a great deal of trouble 
last season among my squash vines, from the large, 
brown bug, generally known among farmers, by 
reason of its exceedingly disagreeable odor, as the 
“stink bug.” For awhile, we hand picked the vines, 
early in the morning, but this did not make the im¬ 
pression on the pests we had anticipated, though some 
mornings we collected a pint from a single acre. We 
next took a lot of shingles, and pressed these down on 
their sides in the hills at a sharp angle, so that the 
upper edge of each was about a couple of inches above 
the surface of the ground. These made a warm place 
to retreat to when night came, and on going the rounds 
