arm <£xonom#< 
AMONG THE FARMERS.—II. 
Hollins; niul 11 lull-Feeding. 
“Tjie world moves” and even the far¬ 
mers move with it. This became pleasantly 
evident in our trip among them lately. Hav¬ 
ing been called a “ Book Farmer," fifteen 
years ago, because we believed it quite un¬ 
necessary to devote three to live acres to 
pasturing a cow, and then demonstrated that 
one-half acre is abundant land on which to 
raise her summer food, we were agreeably 
surprised to find many farmers in Erie county 
who became converted practically to the 
soiling system. 
Since the "factory system” of making 
cheese came in, farmers are measured and 
weighed and inventoried ns never before. 
They seem lor the first time to ltave dis¬ 
covered that i he cow is a chemical laboratory 
to manufacture food Into milk, and that to 
make her profitable site must have all the 
food that her digestive system can work up. 
When they come together upon the fac¬ 
tory scales and find that A. lias produced 
nearly twice as many pounds of milk as B. 
from the same number of cows, B. suddenly 
exhibits an eager curiosity to know what 
sort of cows A. 1ms, and how he feeds them ; 
and thus comes improved feeding. -T. S., in 
Brant, doubled his number of cows this sea¬ 
son. lb; added eight two-year-old heifers of 
his own raising, making sixteen milkers. 
He has eight acres of poor pasture for them 
to run in und take their exercise; feeds all 
the green clover the}'can eat twice per day 
in stable. In June he produced three hun¬ 
dred ancf eighty-four pounds of milk, or 
tweniy-lour pounds each per day. In July 
they are doing nearly as well. 
He says they are producing tweuty per 
cent, more than the same class of cows have 
ever done for him. 
He had live acres of clover and was able 
to feed only about one-half of the first crop, 
the balance cured for hay. The second 
crop is now being fed and Is abundant. Ho 
expects a third crop, and is prepared with 
green corn for fall feeding. 
Mr, M. E. W. of Gowauda, gave the re¬ 
sults of soiling twenty-five cows (seven of 
them heifers) in 1869. He had thirty acres 
of pasture, and fed them night and morning 
in stable; had three acres of clover, cut it 
three times. Began cutting the 20th of 
May, and fed till the middle of August, 
after which he used green corn fodder, with 
some clover. The result was highly satis¬ 
factory—producing four hundred and fifty 
pounds of cheese per cow, besides early and 
late butter. lie received for bis cheese 
$65.45, and about $7 for butter per cow. 
This was better than ho had ever been able to 
do before. The present season he is soiling 
more and pasturing less, and is more fully 
confirmed in its economy. 
We found W. very conservative on the 
question of feeding brail, meal, Ac., in sum¬ 
mer. lie believes the farmer should produce 
all his feed on the farm, and his result was, 
certainly, satisfactory. 
But here is his brother, J. W. Wilber of 
Collins, who wrote me the result of his ex¬ 
periment in soiling during the season. He 
says" I have sixty acres tillable land ; 
have kept tweuty cows and three horses. 
Ten of the cows were two-year-old heifers, 
and part of these did not come in till July. 
I used twenty acres for pasture mid twenty 
acres for meadows, fifteen acres of planted 
ami sowed corn, three acres of outs and two 
of wheat. Began soiling with clover I lie 
28th of May; fed clover at night, and whey 
anti four quarts of bran to each in the morn¬ 
ing; continued this till 15th of July, then 
fed green oats till lOlli of August , after 
which, fed green corn till cold weather. 
Sold cheese and butter to the amount of 
$1,215, besides supplying the family with 
milk and butter. I fed three tons of bran; 
the rest of the feed was raised on the larm. 
1 am well pleased with this experiment, and 
shall pasture less and 9oil more next, season 
—1870. 1 think there is more milk in clover 
than any other green food.” 
It will be well to note this last statement re¬ 
garding clover, as being quite opposed to the 
theory of L. B. Arnold, mentioned in the 
Rural New-Yorker a few weeks ago. If 
we are to he deprived of red clover by the 
experiment-* of Mr. Arnold, and of green 
corn fodder, oil meal and corn meal, by the 
authority of Professor Coring, who can tell 
where it will end, and what the poor cows 
are to be fed upon ? 
Five Hundred and Thirty Pounds ot Cheese 
per Cow. 
Next we find Mr. George Sisson of 
Gowanda, with thirty-two cows aud only 
thirty-six acres of pasture, producing five 
hundred and thirty pounds of cheese per 
cow in i860, besides selling five hundred and 
eighty-four pounds of butter. Ho fed no 
k clover or other green food except corn in 
y the fall; but instead of the ordinary mode of 
k soiling, to make up for want of pasture, lie 
x fed $400 worth of bran, finished middlings, 
corn and oat meal through the season. His 
cows averaged $85.87 per head; and after 
deducting the cost of the extra feed, averaged 
net $73.37 per cow. Here it appears that 
with less than half the ordinary pasture, Mr. 
S. was able to purchase feed to make up a 
most generous diet aud make a handsome 
profit beside. He tried corn meal made into 
a thin pudding, and then finished middlings 
as compared with the medium quality of 
brau, and lotmd, by a thorough test, that 
bran would produce the largest quantity of 
milk, and was therefore cheapest. But he 
thinks if he had fed one-third more, his 
profits would have been still greater. This 
is a good case to show that all the profit 
comes from extra feeding—a lesson more 
needed than any other among dairymen. 
We were pleased everywhere with evi¬ 
dences that dairymen are studying this ques¬ 
tion of feeding animals, and are now seri¬ 
ously asking themselves why more land 
should be devoted to summering a cow than 
to wintering her, when it lakci one-eighth 
more food in cold than in warm weather. 
And when the farmer begins, practically, to 
study this question, he Is on the sure road to 
its solution. Under the soiling system, tilla¬ 
ble, fertile lands will pay the Interest on 
$200 per acre for dairy purposes. Will the 
best grain lands do better. e. w. s. 
(flic Ilttrb. 
STEAMING FOOD FOR HOGS. 
M. K. Young says in t he Western Farmer: 
" In any arrangement contemplating winter 
use, the cooking room must have ready access 
to the root cellar as well as the corn crib, 
water tank or cistern, wood shed and hog¬ 
pens, in order to involve the least labor of 
cooking as well as feeding. It must be so 
constructed as to keep tlie temperature above 
the freezing point; for the reason that un¬ 
committed cooked food ought not to he fed in 
a frozen condition, and for the additional 
reason that corn in the car should be soaked 
thirty or more hours in water as preliminary 
to the process of cooking by steam. This 
water soaking in the winter would have to 
he done in tlie cooking room. In summerii 
should not, if less convenient to feed, for the 
reason the farmer frequently wants to alter¬ 
nate soaked corn with cooked roots or cooked 
corn, as he may deem proper, from such facts 
as lie may encounter in the whole or any 
part of hie piggery 
"For economising heat, the steaming pan 
should be nine or ten feet long—not more 
than five inches deep, and the width to cor¬ 
respond with ordinary sheet iron, of which 
the bottom is made, which bottom is made 
to turn up over tho edges of ibo side, and is 
secured by closely-driven threepenny nails 
or eighteen-ounce tacks. The sides of the 
pan should he of two-inch hard maple plank, 
dove-tailed together in while lead at the 
corners, and covered with a lid of inch-pine 
hoards, matched aud battened with wood 
screws. 
“ The lid should have a two-inch hole for 
steam pipe and a funnel bole through which 
to fill the pan with water. This steaming 
pan must be set in an arch of brick or stono, 
with such chimney and draught as to secure 
the best conditions of combustion and best 
application of beat to its bottom. The 
cooking box can be made of any size or ma¬ 
terial you may desire, but should be steam 
tight; any small leaks may he readily stop¬ 
ped with clay mortar from an ordinary 
mason trowel. You can give the cooking 
box a position above, or at the side of the 
steaming pan, as may best accord with gene¬ 
ral convenience. 
" If, however, you introduce your steam at 
the side of your cooking box, you will have 
to use a false bottom in the box, so as to al¬ 
low the steam to pass under the food to be 
cooked. 
“ You can have your mess box seated upon 
railroad trucks, to run upon wooden rails 
from your steaming box to your hog-yard, 
with such appliances of force as may be 
adapted to the grade between the two points. 
“ You can arrange to throw your steam 
pipe into your “scalding box,” or tub, in 
butchering, and have such other slaughter¬ 
ing conveniences as you need attached to 
your cooking room. 
" In cooking potatoes for hogs, use one- 
Ihird sugar beets, sweet German turnips, 
sweet pumpkins or Hubbard squash, so as to 
have the sugar as well as the starch. This, 
though not indispensable, is better than po¬ 
tatoes alone, but, either is a much better food 
for hogs in warm weather than dry corn, a 
food Unit should never he given to hogs, if 
water can be had to soak it." 
-- 
Blind Htasrsrers in Pies. 
W. P. Ray asks," What will cure hogs 
that are taken, apparently, with blindness 
and go around in circles for a time and then 
die. Some have lost quite heavily this fall 
with this disease." The trouble with the 
pigs is probably blind staggers. We have 
never treated it. We should feed sulphur 
at one. Let experienced men ausvVer. 
laxiffc t 
T. HART HYATT, EDITOR: 
Poirr-OmcE Addeeh«, S.v Fbi.ncisco, Caueornia. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
The Pacific Coast Rural Editor’s Salaam 
io the Kendri'N of Moore’s Rural New- 
Yorker. 
You have all heard of that greedy, crav¬ 
ing, comical little fellow, Oliver Twist, in 
one of Dickens’ most pleasant stories, who, 
no matter how fully he might be gorged 
with good tilings, was always "crying for 
more." So it is with the Rural readers of 
California, Oregon, and of all the States of 
our great Republic. No matter how many 
agricultural and family papers they have, 
nor how much Interesting matter on scien¬ 
tific and rural affairs, the cry is still for 
Moore! And that much sought object, or 
individual, (as in the case before us,) has re¬ 
sponded to this hungry cry from the Pacific 
Coast, and deputed the writer hereof to aid 
him in satisfying the cravings after knowl¬ 
edge of the resources, capabilities and pro¬ 
gress of Rural Affairs in California and on 
tlie Great Pacific Slope. It is in response 
to this call that we now appear before you, 
with a brief outline of what we purpose to do. 
We shall endeavor to keep the readers of 
the Rural thoroughly advised and posted 
on all subjects connected with the Agricultu¬ 
ral, Horticultural, Vinicullural, Pomologies], 
Arboriculturai, Dairy and Cereal operations 
of tlie Pacific Coast, as well as on Sheep 
Husbandry, and Stock Raising generally. 
All these subjects differ so widely in charac¬ 
ter—are so unlike in almost every particular 
here, from what they are in the Eastern 
States, or, in fact, in any other portion of the 
globe, that books, essays, or newspapers de¬ 
voted to these subjects in other regions or 
countries, do not apply to the Pacific Slope, 
and are of little value as guides in pursuing 
these several industries in this country. 
Thus it will appear that the Rural editor 
in California who shall faiLhfully discharge 
all these diversified duties, has no trivial 
office to perform. At home, the Grand Mo¬ 
gul of the Rural, as you are all aware, lias 
his aids in every department—and able ones 
they are, too. In addition to the office staff 
of editors, there is tlie able veteran, Dr. 
Randall, who lias so long and with such 
marked ability presided over the department 
of Sheep Husbarifin/. What be has not told 
you and is not able to instruct you in on his 
favorite subject, (except as to this region,) is 
not worth knowing or studying. And then, 
on the specially of the Dairy, who can bet¬ 
ter advise and instruct you on that import¬ 
ant branch of rural industry than the en¬ 
lightened, indefatigable Wtli.ard, who has 
recently favored the Pacific Coast with a 
visit—making observations and taking notes 
that we doubt not will throw surprising 
light upon that department of husbandry, as 
related to this country? And then yon have 
a number of intelligent, wide-awake, and ex¬ 
perienced Horticulturists to talk to you on 
Pomological and kindred subjects, and tell 
you all about fruits, flowers, &o., on the 
eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, to 
the borders of the Atlantic. And then you 
have able, enlightened, practical contribu¬ 
tors, treating upon all the wide range of 
subjects embraced in the scope of the broad, 
ample pages of the Ritual New-Yorker, 
so that you need nothing further than to be 
posted on tlie operation of all these indus¬ 
tries on this western slope of our great Con¬ 
tinent—to see them reflected in the mirror of 
tlie great Pacific Ocean, as it were, — to see 
the Occident wedded to the Orient. 
To accomplish for California and the 
Pacific Coast what is doing for the East 
through the Rural, we promise to do the 
best our time, opportunities and abilities will 
allow, and hope to be aided by correspon¬ 
dents on tlie Coast with the results of the 
operations in their various and varied locali¬ 
ties which contain or are susceptible of pro¬ 
ducing the products of every clime, from the 
tropical to the frigid regions. 
In addition to all this, it will be our pur¬ 
pose to supply the readers of this Journal 
abroad with full and reliable fuels to en¬ 
lighten aud aid those who desire to seek a 
residence in California, Oregon, &c. Bo 
much is said, written and published with 
inflated exaggerated flourishes, about the in¬ 
ducements to immigrants to come hither, by 
those interested in Immigration associations 
and in large land operations, that it is ex¬ 
tremely difficult. Ibr strangers to get at the 
truth. It shall be our aim to give nothing 
but reliable information from time to time, 
and we shall, at all times, be ready to fur¬ 
nish information of this description through 
the Rural to all who may apply. 
Before closing these preliminary remarks, 
we may be permitted to express the hope 
that we are notan entire stranger to many 
readers of the Rural New-Yorker. Wc 
have, in by-gone days, talked to you from 
the " Land of the Moor,” and sunny Spain— 
from the Flowery Kingdom of the far Orient, 
as well as from the hanks of the Genesee 
and Ontario, in Western New York—and we 
have occasionally given you crude sketches 
from this Land of Gold. Now, health per¬ 
mitting, we hope to keep up a monthly, if 
not weekly, chat with you from our new 
home on the western borders of the grand 
old Pacific—this El Dorado of the Husband¬ 
man, the Horticulturist and the Fruit 
Grower. 
utlb ffrops. 
icrbsimw. 
NOTES FOR HERDSMEN. 
Tlint Cow or Her Calf Wanted. 
Not long since, I saw in the Rural New- 
Yorker. a notice to the effect that a gentle¬ 
men of Wilson Co., Teun., was the fortunate | 
owner of a most wonderful cow ; that said 
cow gives, daily, ten gallons of good milk; 
and that she was fed upon nothing but clo¬ 
ver through the day, u ith a little wheat bran 
at each milking. Now, I would like very 
much to own this cow; but as, in all proba¬ 
bility, I slmll never lie able to purchase her, 
1 would be exceedingly glad to get one of 
her calves. Please inform inc, through the 
Rural, whether or not one may be had, and 
if so, at what price?— John Smith, Cocks- 
ville, Term. 
Catarrh Remedy. 
I see that r . <ler (John Lamb) is inquir¬ 
ing for a cure for catarrh, which he thinks 
his heifer has. Tn mv short experience 
among cattle T have seen two which agree 
exactly with the description which Mr. 
Lamii gives of his heifer. In one of the 
cases which came under my observation the 
heifer had a piece of a still' stub of rag weed. 
Tlie oilier was a cow, which had a piece of 
elder bush up its nostrils. Each piece was 
about four inches long and forked, and from 
description 1 think that is what is the matter 
with Mr. Lamb’s heifer instead of catarrh.— 
j. o. m. f., Adamsoille, Pa. 
A Trouble with Cattle. 
Being severely plagued with a very curi¬ 
ous cattle disease, which no one in this 
part of tho country knows anything about, 
I take the liberty to question you in refer¬ 
ence to it. Tho symptoms are theses—In 
the first place, one will discover a small 
blotch or bunch ; and in a few hours a scab 
will he seen that looks like an old sore; then 
in a few hours a raw sore will be seen, aud 
the limb begins to swell, and iu a few days 
it spreads over the whole body, (this com¬ 
mences in the fore lug, sometimes one and 
sometimes the other.) In other cases, it at 
first commences to swell. Some swell very 
little, while others swell to three and four 
times their natural size.—M. W. Chapin, 
Erie Co.> Pa. 
We know nothing of this disease. If our 
correspondents do, let them answer. 
Cracks on Cows Leu*. 
If the correspondent at Seio, Alleghany 
county, N. Y., will sift a little slaked lime 
into tlie cracks on his cows legg a cure will 
soon he effected. I think by his description 
that it is what is commonly called the" fouls’’ 
in this section. I have known it to appear 
on the udder as well as on the legs; but 
more frequently on the hind legs near the 
feet. Have known cases so bad that lame¬ 
ness was produced. It would, perhaps, seem 
that lime would he an irritant rather than a 
remedy, but I have never failed to cure all 
the cases that have occurred in my dairy 
by its use.—II. J. F., Chenango Co., N. Y 
I write you to see if you, or any of the 
readers of the Rural New-Yorker can 
tell how to treat a disease (I think it is) 
among tlie cattle, that made its appearance 
in this vicinity quite recently. I first ob¬ 
served it in my herd tliis morning as fol¬ 
lows:—Slight ridges under tlie knee, with 
cracks between, from which watery matter 
discharges, in appearance quite like the 
scratches in horses. Some are swollen, some 
are not. Others that have been attacked 
before, of my neighbors, have swollen badly, 
and lose the use of their legs. A few have 
died.— Geo. Sammons, Erie Co., Pa. 
We think it is the same trouble as that de¬ 
scribed in previous numbers as cracked legs 
in cattle, and for which in this and previous 
cases remedies have been recommended. 
Tell your correspondent at Scio, Alle¬ 
gany Co., N. Y., that the trouble w : \j ,ns 
cow’s legs is probably caused by fly bites. 
We have had considerable talk and a big 
scare in this vicinity about the same thing, 
it being culled a " cattle disease." It. does 
not amount to much. I think the remedy 
should he mostly external. I doctor the 
same as for scratches on horses.—A Reader 
of the Rural New-Yorker. 
An excellent remedy for swelled legs of 
cows, caused by cold, &c., is:—One-half 
ounce of camphor gum to two ounces of 
sweet oil; pulverize the gum, and dissolve 
over a slow fire ; equally good for chapped 
hands and other sores oil men and beasts.— 
c. A. B. 
My cows were in the same way as your 
Scio correspondent's. Their legs were swell¬ 
ed so had that they could scarcely walk. I 
got common tur oiid put on their legs, and 
in a few days they were well.— E. p. 
ABOUT ORCHARD GRASS. 
Farming was not formerly my business, 
but for a few years past I have been trying 
my hand at farming in the Champlain Val¬ 
ley, in Western Vermont. We are seventy- 
five miles south of Burlington ; the country 
quite level; soil principally clay ; our busi¬ 
ness dairying and fattening stock for Boston 
market. We are rather subject to open 
winters, and oue of our greatest drawbacks 
is the killing out of our herd grass. Plow¬ 
ing and re-seeding is expensive, and not 
always a successful remedy. 1 have read 
with interest, for a year past, all I found in 
the Rural New-Yorker about Orchard 
grass. Wc at first feared it might be quack, 
but are convinced it is not. Oue writer 
tells ua that Orchard grass has a strong, 
fibrous root, spreads over and appropriates 
all the ground, and will eventually run out 
everything else. Well, it it will stand the 
drouth and obtain a good growth itself that 
would not be so very objectionable. 
But another tells us it is a bunch grass. 
May we infer that it first comes up in 
bunches and then spreads over the ground ? 
or are there two kinds of orchard grass? 
When we have an abundance of snow in 
the winter, aud a favorable fall and spring, 
clover is abundant; but one open winter 
and dry season frightens the clover crop all 
away. Do you think we could introduce 
Orchard grass here for pasturing or mowing, 
either, or both ? Must the seed be sown in 
the fall or spring? Can it be treated like 
Herd grass with hope of success? Will it 
grow on low clay ground? Should it be 
sown with other crops, or should it be sown 
alone ? 
I should have tried some last spring but 
could not learn where to get the seed. I 
read iu the Rural New-Yorker some rea¬ 
sons why seedmen did not advertise in agri¬ 
cultural papers, but failed to see any reason 
that did not militate squarely against ad¬ 
vertising any article for sale, unless it is a 
humbug; and I hope grass seed, and especial¬ 
ly orchard grass, is not a humbug; if it is, 
we don't want it here, even if it will grow on 
the top of a stump fence. But I am saying 
or asking too much; yet am anxious to 
know if wc shall sow orchard grass Beetl iu 
this Northern country, in hopes of improv¬ 
ing our means of stock raising. R, H. Allen 
& Co. is the only firm I find mentioning 
seeds. Hoping to find the seed, I shall ad¬ 
dress him at once. But it seems to me to 
advertise the place where to find, and the 
price of any seeds not in general use, would 
be a help to all parties. c. R. G. 
Addison Co., Vt. 
Let parties liuviug experience answer the 
foregoing. We can add nothing to what 
lias already been published in our columns 
on this subject. 
-- 
POTATOES AND GRAIN CROPS. 
Your correspondent from Tennessee 
states he raised seventeen pounds of Early 
Rose potatoes from five ounces of 6eed; my 
brother sent us, this spring, one weighing 
nine ounces, which we planted May 2d into 
twenty-three hills (there being that many 
eyes;) harvested, August 25th, two and a- 
liulf bushels, weighing one hundred and 
thirty-three pounds in all—iieaviest potato, 
two aud a-hull pounds. This eclipses our 
Tennesseean many times. Let others send 
in their statements, that we may ascertain if 
this can lie beaten. Ours had no extra cul¬ 
ture except hoeing. Our neighbors think 
this a great yield; perhaps it is. It is the 
first we have tried of tlie kind. Our expe¬ 
rience iu using Paris green this season is not 
favorable ; it kills or hurts the vines as well 
as bugs. Your correspondent of Iowa said 
he used it in proportion of one-half P ris 
green to one-half flour; now we did not use 
more than one spoonful to four quarts of 
flour, and our viues soon turned brown. 
Others ot our neighbors used more, killing 
them altogether. 
We are about through harvesting. Tlie 
crop is about an average—not quite as much 
straw, but a better sample of grain. Corn 
more than an average. The weather through- 
o-t our harvest was all we could ask for. 
Since then, we have had a good deal of rain, 
and people are complaining of the wheat 
growing in stacks. Black birds did us much 
damage in eating our corn ; they took from 
almost every ear—never were so bad before. 
Is there any plan of keeping them off except 
shooting?—if there is, would like to learn 
it. The complaint is very general through¬ 
out this neighborhood. J. C. Bowerman. 
French ville. W is., 1870. 
-- ♦ ♦♦-- 
The HI*(1 Rover Potatoes, 
tlie Mobile Register says, were transplant¬ 
ed to this country from the banks of the Red 
Sea, and are now being grown near Bristol, 
Tenn. “They are aeknowled to have no 
Biiperiours in point of yield and flavor. They 
are said to yield oue hundred, for one, by 
good cultivation.” 
