VOL. XXX. No. i'Z 
WHOLE No. 1 ‘4n«. 
PRICE asiac. OENTH, 
*«.50 PER YEAR. 
[Entered accordins to Act of Concross, in tlie year 1874, by the Rural Publishing Company, In tho office Of the librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
beef ami champagne. Insects have their ap¬ 
propriate and natural food tho same as other 
animals of a larger size, and to talk of any 
such changes as the ahove through influence 
of food is tin absurdity equal to those men 
Moiled in ancient mythology. 
When tho writer reached the hog in bis 
lucubrations, ho appears to bo a little more 
at home with his subject, and only claims 
that the food affects the quality of the flesh, 
which we all admit, 15ut to make his state¬ 
ment harmonize throughout, lie should have 
said by feeding hogs upon nuts they become 
monkeys and climb trees, instead of rooting 
ill the vile earth. 
surpassing brilliancy and beauty in its plum, 
age and its armature. And so of the silkworm. 
Feed it upon inferior diet—the leaves of tho 
forest—and it will sicken and perish ; but 
feed it upon the leuves of the mulberry, and 
it thrives and grows until dually it wears its 
life away spinning its gossamer silken thread. 
The same is true of the hog. Feed one upon 
hard corn, another upon swill, another upon 
distillers' slops, and another upon nuts and 
mast in the forest, and their flesh will be 
tot ally different, as any butcher will tell you. 
In fact, the diet any animal lives upon will 
modify its constitution and character, for 
better or worse, as the case may be. Feed a 
human being upon pork and garbage and ho 
will be inferior in health, constitution and 
endurance ; feed him upon beef apd bread 
and in constitution, health, endurance and 
disposition he will bo superior .—Western 
Rural. 
After reading the a drive, we are disposed 
to ask, “ What next ?” It is no wonder that 
people grow up as ignorant of nature and 
nature’s laws as they are of tin; inhabitants 
of the moon, if there are any, when such 
stuff as the above is sent out to the world In 
a respectable and usually carefully-edited 
journal. Any person who is so near a luna¬ 
tic as to write such a paragraph should bo 
sent to an asylum or put in a straight-jacket, 
and then gagged, to prevent any further 
emission off such rank nonsense. 
Let us look once more at his (or Iter) state¬ 
ments for tho purpose of showing its utter 
falsity to natural laws. First, the writer 
says, in mbstanee, if a tomato worm feeds 
upon natural food, it will grow up a great, 
clumsy worm, which, after passing through 
its various transformations, become a butter¬ 
fly, “ with little beauty orattraetion.” Now, 
the truth of the matter is simply this :—Tho 
tomato worm is not the larva of a butterfly 
at all, but that of the well-known Five-spot¬ 
ted Sphinx Moth (Sphinx tiuiiniueiiiaculuta). 
It the writer had said that horses fed upon 
coarse hay and oats become elephants or 
giraffes, it would not liave been any more 
ridiculous or further from the truth. 
The remainder of the paragraph quoted 
above is equally as ridiculous, because the 
tomato worm will not live on the food named, 
any more than the horse would upon roast 
most by a right method of feeding. Mr. 
Donald states that on turning bis cows to 
pasture, “other feed is taken away.” This, 
in my judgment, is a mistake. If his objec t 
is to get milk of the best qualit y, he will And 
that a moderate allowance of corn meal daily, 
in addition to pasture, will pay. in the cases 
that have come under my observation I have 
met with no exception to this result. 
There is another point also that deserves 
his attention. I think he will yet make the 
discovery, if he has not ftlready, that there is 
a certain quantity of butter that will always 
command an exceptional price and will pay 
a bettor profit than soiling the milk to a 
Choose factory at the rate which ho has been 
gutting. 
There is much more, that might be said on 
this subject; but those bints are probably 
sufficient for a man of Mr, Donald’s sagacity 
and good sense. In aiming at a high mark, 
whatever may be the final result, ho will at 
least make some progress and some valuable 
discoveries. lie is of course well aware that 
maximum product are seldom reached at a 
single bound, and when ho has succeeded in 
bringing ids cows tip to a product of $100 a 
year, he will certainly have a good base line 
to work from for other and higher results 
afterward. Conrad W ilson. 
Morrisania, New York. 
A SUSSEX COW 
We copy from the Agricultural Gazette 
(Eng.) a portrait of a Sussex cow—a breed 
little known in this country. This animal 
was exhibited at the Bedford Show by 
Messrs. Stanford of Eatons, Aslmrt, near 
Steyning. Tho Gazette says the portrait is 
given in outline as near as possible from Iter 
photograph, and exhibits the frame and form 
of a large and massive beast of first,-rate 
quality. The head is drawn a little more 
coarsely in the muzzle than appears in the 
photograph. The herd to which the cow 
belongs lias been bred at Ashurst, by tlio 
same family, since 1779. During tho last ten 
years tlie numbers have boon considerably 
increased on account of the high price of 
store stock. Borne years ago many of the 
cows would compare well with other breeds 
in the supply of milk, records existing of 
cows averaging ton pound* of butter a week ; 
but of late years more attention has been 
paid to their flesh producing character on 
account of the increasing demand for beef. 
Good milkers are still to be found among 
them ; but iu illustration of tlie excellence of 
tlie breed as graziers, we give the following 
items of recent experience : 
In December last, nine steers and heifers, 
ages varying from two years four months tffi 
two years ten mouths, were sold to butchers 
at £45 5s. average, all of which gained 
prizes. At the Steyning Show, Dec. 15, the 
Tradesman’s Cup, for three beasts not housed 
or yarded before Sept. 1 ; a first pr ize for 
tlu-ee beasts of any description, “one of 
which gained cups at Horsham and Pulbor- 
ough, for the best animal of the Sussex 
breed, and is now in the possession of Mr. 
William Stanford of Steyning a first prize 
for heifer under three years ; a second prize 
for steer under three years. At Chichester, 
a second prize for steer under three years. 
At the Smithtteld Club Show, a second prize 
for steer under two years and six months ; 
another steer, then two years and eight 
months, gained a thu d prize also at Isling¬ 
ton, wus not sold, owing to the depressed ] 
state of the trade after tho “ terri¬ 
ble fog.” In June, 1873, six steers, 
just over two years old, were sold 
at £30 each. At Christmas, 1871 
and 1872, ten and fifteen steers and 
heifers, all under three years old, 
were sold, averaging £40 each, 
drafts having been disposed of in 
the previous summers at about £30 
each. 
These figures, the Gazette says, 
will compare favorably with those 
of other breeds. 
TO INCREASE THE PROFIT OF COWS 
It appeara from Mr. Donald’s statement 
[page 299 in Rural of Nov. 7J that tlie aver¬ 
age; yearly product from his cows is $80 per 
head. This result is certainly much better 
than tlie usual average among farmers. Yet 
he seems intent on doing better still, which 
shows him to be an enterprising man. But 
he has apparently overlooked some of the 
points in my article. In tlie eases 1 enuiner- 
uled (ivtm j- averaged over $120 a year not 
profit per bow) the success was of course en¬ 
tirely exceptional, as I stated, and wus due 
not to the mod© of feeding only, nor to any 
patent process, lint to a combination of 
causes. It was due, first, of all, to the natural 
capacity of the cows ; secondly, to tho intel¬ 
ligence and good managementof the owners ; 
and thirdly, to the quality of the butter, 
which, in a majority of the cases, commanded 
an unusual price. 
Now if Mr. Donald aims to rival the ex¬ 
amples brought to his notice, there is no 
impossibility in the case. He lias only to 
comply with the necessary conditions. But 
some of these he appears to have lost sight 
of. He should bear in mind that to get tho 
highest results in dairying requires very su¬ 
perior cows to begin with. His cows may 
lie very good milkers and yet not up to the 
standard required for tlie largest results. If 
lie expects them to yield a profit equal to tlie 
cases quoted, he will probably find it neces¬ 
sary to wec*l out hia herd, to replace every 
inferior animal witli one of higher capacity 
and then to develop that capacity to its ut. 
HERDSMEN’S NOTES 
Alderneys vs. Jerseys. — S. Mkekim of 
Massachusetts writes “ Speaking of tlie 
Pennsylvania State Fair, your reporter says: 
“ 0. R. Moore had his herd of nine Jerseys 
aud E, Reeder his of seven Ahierneys.” 
Can and will you give me the difference, if 
there is any i I had supposed they were one 
and the same. Uur reporter was probably 
told that Mr. Moore’s herd were Jerseys ami 
that Mr. Reeder’s were AJdemoys. Home 
breeders regard tlie animals imported from 
the Island of Alderney and the Isle ol Jer¬ 
sey (both of which are known as “ Channel 
Islands ”) identical, substantially. But the 
breeders of tlie Isle of Jersey object to this 
and claim for their stock the name of “Jer¬ 
seys.” Practically tiler© is little, if any dif¬ 
ference (we have never discovered any) in 
the animals imported from tlie two Islands, 
except that some breeders on eaeli 
may breed with greater discrimi- 
J nation than others. The essential 
_ ^7 qualities and characteristics are the 
»Rtne or very similar, and as a rule 
“**0 the distinction is, in our judgment, 
g R , without a difference. 
^ Ashes for Cows. —To keep cows 
' m tn good health in winter, I feed a 
U ttlo hard wood ashes—equal parts. 
Gives a small handful twice a week. 
Try it and see how they will seem 
to thqulc you for it. It is good 
for them, aud I think will help in 
case of garget. U will clean out 
the foul blood ; the cows will look 
sleek and feel good.— a. d. 
The Poor Quality of Cattle ship¬ 
ped to Western cattle markets is 
„ noted in the reports thereof, aud 
—is to be attributed, to some extent 
at least, not to overstocked farms, 
really, but to the fact that tlie 
drouth compels farmers to gat rid 
of their cattle or buy forage to 
feed them, wbioh latter policy they 
are not inclined to pursue. 
Dont let the stork stand out in a 
cold storm, ft is a loss of fuel. 
EFFECT OF FOOD ON THE 
CHARACTER. 
Tiie whole nature and character 
of an animal may be changed by 
the quality of Ids food. If you 
feed a tomato worm upon tomato 
leaves, it will grow up a great, 
coarse, clumsy worm, and, passing 
through its chrysalis state, come 
out a butterfly, with little beauty 
or attraction ; but if you feed the 
same worm upon different food, 
the leaves of roses and the petals 
of beautiful flowers, when it passes 
through it3 chrysalis state and 
comes out a butterfly, it will be of 
tA'W' 
