VOL.. XXX. No. 11. 
WHOLE No. 1285. 
ritlCE SIX CENTS. 
8ii.50 PER. LEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress. in the yenr 1874. by the Rural publishing Compnny, in tbe office ot the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
COLOR IS SHORT-HORNS. 
RECENT PRIZE-WINNERS ABROAD. 
Color has too much influence in awarding 
prizes to Short-Horns, and probably also to 
other breeds of cattle in this country. So 
long as sufficient evidence is given of purity 
of blood, both in respect of points and of 
pedigree, color ought. t.o be disregarded en¬ 
tirely (except of course as it may bo an im¬ 
portant point, in determining purity of 
blood). The useful should never be sacrificed 
to the purely esthetic in judgment of ani¬ 
mals, any more than should ownership affect 
the awards. Last year, 1873, the first prize 
to bulls over three years old was awarded 
by the Royal Agricultural Society of Eng¬ 
land to a white bull—the same which this 
year at the show of the H'ghland and Agri¬ 
cultural Society Show of Inverness carried 
oil the same honor in a ring of nineteen old 
bulls. His closest co mpetitor, Duke of 
Aosta, winning second at Inverness, won 
third last year at the Royal, which indicates 
the increasing interest in Improved Short- 
Horns taken in Scotland. The present owiur 
of the noble white bull, whose portrait we 
present, is Mr. Robert Bruce of Newtown- 
of-Struthers, Forres, Scotland. 
It is long since we have seen a prize go to a 
white bull in this country, and while we 
don’t like the color, or lack of color, still, 
knowing it to be perfectly legitimate in 
Short-Horns we protest against fine animals 
being tabooed on account of being white, 
or red ones taking' prizes because they are 
red. If it comes to that we might as well 
take a Devon cross, and after a few gener¬ 
ations deftly work in the bloo i to get the 
color and the prizes. There are, doubtless, 
people who could “fixup” the pedigrees to 
pass muster, and perhaps even get them 
recorded in the English herd book. 
■- - 
IMPROVING STOCK. 
It must be remembered that the Short- 
Horn stock which sell so 
high are what are known as ~ 
fancy, gilt-edged stock, and 
botight by fancy buyers. A y 
sensible writer on this sub- 
ject says that there are thou- 
sands of Short-Horn bulls in 
the country which, without 
doubt, would insure as good ^ ^ C* ; i 
a steer as might be got by a 
“Duke.” Not long since a 
bull of unfashionable blood 
was sold for but $500, about 
the same time as $15,000 
would have been given for 
the “Second Duke of Hill- 
hurst,” and numerous ex¬ 
cellent judges have held the 
first to be the better bull. 
Now, the lesson of all this is 
that farmers should not be 
misled by the glitter and 
glory of these vaunted fash¬ 
ionable animalB into the be¬ 
lief that there is no excel- ^ 
lence elsewhere. The grand 
patriarch from which these 
dukes and duchesses sprang 
was purchased for $40, and 
there have been, possibly, as 
good young bulls sold for less Wl}!VE a op Is 
than $100 within the past month in Kentucky, 
as was the bull Ilubback in 1787. If farmers 
should he misled by the present high prices 
of fashionable stock, it were better that the 
dukes had never been born. Nothing is 
more needed than an improvement in our 
beef stock. Recently stock was brought all 
the way from Texas anil sold in the New 
York market for $25 to $30 ahead. Those 
who are familiar with the beef that is sup¬ 
plied to the markets of country towns and 
villages know that there is much of It that 
is of no greater value than this from Texas. 
The beef consumed in country places is of 
the poorest character. The best in the coun¬ 
try is taken to the large cities, but yet there 
iB much there that is inferior. The feeding 
of all this inferior stock is a waste and a loss 
to all concerned. It is a loss even to the 
consumer, for the poor, who can least afford 
to consume inferior meat, are those who 
use it .—Indiana Farmer. 
--- 
MILKING IN SILENCE TAKING TOLL. 
Correct conclusions are often arrived at 
from false premises. Thus aptly the New 
England Homestead comments upon the sago 
conclusion of a Litehfl Id County farmer. 
How common the practice is among farm 
hands of taking toll of the milk-pall farmers 
can easily inform themselves by watching 
when their presence is not suspected. 
At a farmer’s club, in West Cornwall, 
Connecticut, a farmer said that no talking 
should be allowed while milking was going 
on. He said he discharged one of his ser¬ 
vants who persisted in talking during milking 
time, and that, in three days the increase of 
milk was equal to the man’s weekly wages. 
We four an increase to such an extent must 
have been duo to other causes besides the one 
assigned. If the enlarged yield followed 
solely from the dismissal of the man, we 
suspect his presence affected the supply of 
milk in someway apart from his loquacity. 
We have frequently found a change of ser¬ 
vants to prove beneficial. 
It may be that talking prevents hens from 
laying, also. We know we have often ex¬ 
perienced a vast increase in the number of 
eggs brought into the house after flic removal 
of a too officious individual from our employ. 
Besides, our cowb have sometimes improved 
iu produce by the same means, but we gene¬ 
rally attributed it to cleaner mHieing by fresh 
and mure industrious hands. It Is, however, 
well known that cows are particularly sensi¬ 
tive t.o sights and sounds during tho time they 
are milked. Unless they are at perfect ease 
they will not give their milk freely. They 
should he daily milked under the game eon 
ditions. 
Cows that are fed at milking time require 
their usual meal, or they may become restless 
or dissatisfied, and put a stop to their bounty. 
Many of them will only allow some special 
favorite to milk them. In those parts of the 
coun’ry where women are solely employed 
to milk, we frequently find one or two tune¬ 
ful lassies singing at their work, and many 
cows become so pleased with the rustic* 
harmony as to si>ow evident sigus of their 
approval of the loud, sweet, voice by giving 
their milk only by being sung to. Every¬ 
thing that, distracts the attention of the cow, 
and ruffles her placidity, should he avoided 
when called upon to yield her milk. Her 
nervous system should not be excited by 
strange noises, unwelcome objects, or rough 
t. . ..Mnent, or tho effect will be apparent in a 
diminished supply in the milk pail. It would 
no doubt be good advice, on the whole, to 
tell those who milk that they should keep 
their tongues and keep their tempers. The 
Connecticut farmer appears to have sufficient 
reasons, indeed, to say that “ speech is silver, 
bub silence is golden.” 
- - - 
Breeding for Milk. -Heifers which are 
allowed to come in at two ’years old will 
never be so large as they would otherwise 
have been, but are almost invariably greater 
milkers. The effort of nature in the growing 
dam to supply nourishment for her calf de¬ 
termines the system toward tile production 
of milk, which becomes a life-long charac¬ 
teristic. During this glowing period the 
manipulation of the udder is grateful to the 
heifer, especially as she approaches calving, 
and if no effort be made to bring milk, an 
unnatural secretion will not take place. 
% 
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' 
SHORT - HORN 33 XT ILL “ LOIR ID IRWIN.” 
Winner of 1st Prize at the Highland and Agricult’l Society, at the Recent Show at Inverness, Scotland, 
Jiidustpl ®o|)i([;i. 
VACATION LETTERS. 
A Working Editor Out of Harness. 
Chestnut Hij.t. Homestead, l 
In a Hammock Under tho Trees, f 
Three weeks since i left the Sanctum and 
not a line sent buck to it I Well, in the lan¬ 
guage of an ancient and profound writer, 
“ What arc you going to do about it ?” No 
man with good, square, common sense 
would blame me if ho eouid look as I do 
upon this mosaic of Emerald and Gold that 
my eyes have rested and feasted upon ever 
since f woke up one morning twelve hours 
away from the Sanctum. Never in August 
did I see such garb upon Nature ! Never in 
August did T see tho pastures so perfect, the 
after-growth in the meadows so luxuriant, 
the growth of spring grain so great, the 
foliatra of the forests so dense, insects less 
abundant, t.lio a ir so equable and refreshing 1 
If L have given myself devoutly to worship 
and rest, who shall upbraid me ? Ye hard- 
worked, sweltering, sweating, royal toilers 
in the sanctums will not, I’m sure, for you 
“ know liow it Is yourselves !” 
SOMETHING ABOUT CROPS. 
I am in Northern New York. The seed¬ 
ing was late and short was the time de¬ 
voted to it; but the condition of the soil 
at Eeoding-tiine was good, the breadth 
planted and sown quite up to the usual 
average, and the season has been especially 
favorable to crops. As above intimated, the 
gras.s growth in pasture and meadow has 
been abundant. The hay crop has been 
heavy, and those who secured the crop 
early have a fine store of most excellent 
forage. But there came a wet week (the 
second after buying commenced) and much 
hay was damaged and the grass badly 
washed, and a good deal of it was cut two 
weeks after it should have been in order to 
secure the greatest amount of nutrition. 
The oat crop is one of tho finest, so far as 
growth of straw is concerned, that I have 
ever seen in this country. But I find that the 
weight of grain is scarcely 
proportionate to the growth 
of straw. A great many of 
'A the so-called Norway oats 
A are grown hereabouts—rcal- 
ly the old, black Poland oat, 
that I cultivated twenty-five 
J years ago —a hard-meated, 
heavy-hulled, smutty, innu- 
tritious grain, and, notwith- 
| standing Its prolific yield, 
unprofitable, ns compared 
\ with the common white oat 
v ' V : //fl'il of the oouutr y- At least 
= 4 iMKl 8uc k WAS experience 
A years ago, is now my opin- 
j ml ion and that of many good 
\ ISmW * armers hereabouts, 
v, v '|i,\ ifUn Spring wheat seems a very 
v W Iff fair cro P and is now 
Slid ITF beiu £ harvested. So far as 
WJ 11 observed, the berry is plump, 
3? Ij 1 and the head3 are of full av- 
// erage length and weight. 
If Corn was planted late, is 
_ not even In many fields, duo 
doublings in many cases to 
__ inadequate drainage and the 
worms. But on dry soils the 
growth is good, but frost will 
:ss. Scotland have to hold off a little later 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER, N. Y„ SEPT, 12, 1874. 
