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MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
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THE FUTURE OE THE DAIRY. 
We have before us a circular from one of 
the leading produce houses of New York 
City, in which the opinion is put forth that 
dairy products must rule at lower prices in 
the future than in the past ; and the advice 
is given to those who contemplate purchas¬ 
ing milk for the coming season at a definite 
price, for the manufacture of butter and 
cheese—or, indeed, for any purpose—to make 
their contracts from 20 to 25 per cent, less 
than they have been doing for some time 
past. 
“We do not mean to argue,” says the cir¬ 
cular, " that butter and cheese will not be 
wanted in the future as in t he past. ; but we 
do claim that prices must sooner or later 
come down, in keeping with other articles 
of American produce ; and we believe that 
we are now in that transition state which 
will change butter and cheese from articles 
of luxury to those of necessity and prices 
accordingly. The millions of unemployed 
people all over the world, the paralyzation 
of manufacturing interests, tendency to low¬ 
er wages and smaller incomes with all classes 
will, of necessity, induce more men to turn 
to the soil to seek a livelihood. Hence the 
alieady ample production of all classes of 
agricultural produce, including butter and 
cheese, must continue to increase rather than 
di mi Utah ; and if this argument is correct, it 
is a fair deduction to expect that prices will 
average lower in the future—not only iu this 
country but all over the civilized world, 
where the products ill question are made and 
consumed.” 
Again it says “ It is evident that prices 
for butter and cheese have ruled too high 
ever since the incoming of the present crop ; 
and while cheese has not shown results thus 
far, so marked with severe, loss or disaster 
as those shown in blitter, we have only to 
note the long indifference of t he export trade 
to prove that the business in this direction is 
without the stimulus of satisfactory profits ; 
and if this evidence is reliable as indicat ing 
the course of shippers in future, it certainly 
means a loss of interest in this department, 
of our domestic commerce until such time as 
the rank and tile of exporters can be re-es¬ 
tablished out of the revival of the old veter- 
uns and new volunteers by the prospective 
inducements of much better pay than they 
would require to go along now while their 
hands are in. So let us ail join in a proper 
effort to keep them in the field. We say that 
any course on the part of makers of butter 
and cheese—the latter particularly—which 
shall tend to diminish or kill this export in¬ 
terest, is the most narrow policy they can 
adopt and most likely to prove self-destruct¬ 
ive. It must not be forgotten that men can¬ 
not give their time and risk their money in 
placing the products of our country before 
the consumers of another and continue to do 
ho, year after year, without they have en¬ 
couragement at least of a living profit.” 
As this circular has been sent out freely 
among country dealers and factorymen and 
has been printed in various newspapers often 
without comment, it would seem that an 
effort is made, thus early in the season, to 
impress upon the minds of dairymen that 
they must prepare to yield to lower prices 
for the forthcoming crop. W'c do not pre¬ 
tend to be able to predict the price of dairy 
products in the future ; bu', we can see no 
valid argument in this circular to prove that 
there is any probability of prices averaging 
from 20 to 25 per cent, below lust year’s 
rates, and we are not prepared to admit for 
a moment any such reduction in cheese. 
The argument of over-production in cheese 
has been used by dealers for the last ten 
years and yet, unfortunately for that theory, 
the markets have been cleared and prices 
maintained. We do uot remember a tune 
when any considerable stock of old cheese 
has been carried along into summer in our 
home markets. On tile contrary, the new 
make in spring has generally gone upon a 
bare market at prices really above its value, 
considering the lean quality of the goods 
consequent upon excessive skimming of the 
milk in spring. 
It is true that dairy farming is spreading 
in new localities • but the fact seems to be 
ignored among many, that our population is 
increasing as well asthehabitof usinglarger 
quantities of dairy products by each person. 
We see no indication of prices dropping in 
England. Indeed, one of the most remark¬ 
able features of the English trade during the 
past year has been the scarcity and conse¬ 
quent high price of butter. Again, the com¬ 
parison as to the prices for wheat and flour, 
as applicable to cheese, will not hold, since 
there are various nations on the continent of 
Europe that can supply England with wheat 
and flour quite equal iu quality to that from 
the United Spates : but they cannot supply 
the same quality of cheese as that made in 
the American dairies, and hence we have but 
little competition in this direction. Conse¬ 
quently, prices are not likely to fluctuate 
like those for grain which the whole civilized 
world is engaged in producing. Again ; if 
we take the price of meats and compare with 
that for cheese, we find the latter much the 
cheaper; for it has been proved, over and 
over, that a pound of cheese is equal in nu¬ 
trition to two pounds of beef, to say nothing 
of the waste resulting from the latter. We 
do not doubt that prices for dairy goods may 
flu tuale from time to time. Dairymen must 
expect this ; but that there is uny prospect of 
a sudden dropping off of one quarter the 
rates of last year, we do not believe, and in¬ 
deed any combined effort on the part of 
dealers to bring about any such condition 
of affairs would, if successfully carried out, 
prove disastrous to the dairy interest, since 
cheese cannot be made in New York at such 
rates. Fur if we deduct. 25 per cent, from 
the average of last yew's prices as well as 
the cost of manufacturing at the factories, 
there will be only left about seven cents per 
pound to the dairyman for his goods, which 
is much below the cost of production. 
If “it must not be forgotten that men can¬ 
not give their lime and risk their money in 
placing the products of our country before 
the consul lid's of another and continue to do 
so year after year, without they have en¬ 
couragement at least of a living profit,” it 
must not be forgotten also that t he producer 
must have the means of living, and that he 
cannot he expected to use his money and 
engage in a laborious and confining business 
simply to keep up the “American cheese 
trade.” We fear that with even * The ten¬ 
dency to lower wages and smaller incomes,” 
few nun would be induced to try the dairy, 
at such prices, in order to work their way 
out of the difficulty. 
Such circulars as these, coniiug from a 
highly respectable mid well known commer¬ 
cial house, are calculated to have a depress¬ 
ing influence on the country trade, and they 
seem to us to be entirely uncalled-for at the 
present, time. 
--- 
GOOD MILCH COWS AN IMPORTANT 
ELEMENT IN DAIRY FARMING. 
she goes dry or farrow, or loses a quarter of 
her bag—all we have to do is to milk what is 
left, take good care of her, give her extra 
food and turn her off in three, six or nine 
months, and she will bring the same price 
that butchers pay for Weslern steers. 
Now let us make au estimate of the quan¬ 
tity of cheese that the milk of Mr. Webb’s 
cow would make in the ten months named. 
A quart of milk, wine measure, weighs 2 
pounds, 2.'± ounces; the 3,600 quarts then, 
would weigh 7,7112 pounds; and if ten pounds 
of this milk makes a pound of cheese, we 
have her product, amounting to 77(5 pounds, 
which at 14e. per pound, the average of our 
best cheese factories, we have, as her annual 
yield, $108.6-1. When we consider that the 
average of good herds in the dairy region is 
scarcely 400 pounds of cheese per cow, the 
difference between a good eow and an aver¬ 
age cow will be readily seen. To make money 
ut dairying, good dairy stock is an important 
element, and one which is too often over¬ 
looked by the generality of dairymen. 
sheep per day. A solution of 20 pounds of 
tobacco and 5 pounds of sulphur to 100 gal¬ 
lons of water is prepared by being boiled for 
two hours in two tanks holding each 1,000 
gallons, and used in the bath at a tempera¬ 
ture of 120” Fahrenheit. The solution is 
then run into a trough 21 feet long and 6 feet 
deep, aud the sheep are driven up to it in 
single, file through a narrow possago on a 
level with tho top, and fall in tlio water. 
After swimming through the water the 
sheep ascend from the bath by steps to a 
dripping corral or inclosure, where they re¬ 
main until tlie wash runs back into the bath, 
so that nothing is wasted. The cost is about 
two cents per head for each bath, and yields 
to the. owner a return in wool, from the im¬ 
proved condition of the sheep, of ut least 
half a pound, and worth 20 cents per head. 
This bath also keeps out. scab, ticks, and other 
vermin, to which sheep are subject. 
-♦-*••*--- 
SNUFF AND TICKS LONG WOOLS. 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN KANSAS. 
At the late meeting of the Connecticut 
State Board of Agriculture, at Woodstock, 
Ct., Mr. Webb of Herndon gave hia reasons 
why he preferred tho Short-Horns as dairy 
stock to other breeds. Ho was of I he opinion 
that the Short Horn breed requires no more 
food for the production of a large quantity 
of milk aud of a quality equally good, than 
any Other class of animals lie had ever had 
in his herd. He had had considerable expe¬ 
rience with Devons and high grade Devons, 
also with Ayrshires and high grade Ayr- 
shircs, and he was at, present keeping among 
his other animals a grade Jersey. As the 
result of his experience lie found that a cow 
giving a large quantity of milk will of course 
consume a larger quantity of food than one 
which is giving a small quantity, whether it 
be a Short-Horn, Devon, Ayrshire or Alder¬ 
ney. He feeds all his cows alike with grain 
and steamed food and extra feed. 
He said he had one cow that gave 3,000 
quarts of milk in ten months when she was 
live years old, and (hat cow was a thorough¬ 
bred Durham. Her milk was weighed after 
she calved, the first of December, and the 
first seven days in January she gave 6 2]4 
pounds of milk per day ; the first seven days 
in May it was at the rate of 311 pounds, and 
from the 1st to the 15tli of June it was at the 
rate of a little over 30 pounds per day. This 
cow, ho said, had beeu just dried off, but 
would soon come iu milk again. Of course, 
such a cow will consume a large amount of 
food. The next best cow to have, he thought, 
is a grade Ayrshire that, will weigh 2UU 
1 pounds less than the Short-Horn ; but he 
ccaild not see any perceptible difference in 
the amount of food consumed by these two 
cows. He could not. see but that one will re¬ 
quire just as much food as the other, and the 
Short Horn will give from three to four hun¬ 
dred quarts of milk more a year than the 
Ayrshire, aud the Short-Horn also will weigh 
nearly one-third more. 
He said he had made observations, as they' 
came in his way, aud this is the result. The 
Short-Horns make as much milk from the 
same amount of food as the Devous, the Ayr¬ 
shires or the Dutch, and he thinks they will 
make as much butter from the same food. 
Then they are easily kept in good health aud 
if anything happens to one of these cows—if 
Mb. George Grant of Victoria Colony, 
Ellis Co., Kansas, 1ms been mentioned be¬ 
fore in these columns us being engaged in ex¬ 
perimental sheep husbandry there. If, was 
a matter of considerable interest to us to 
learn how his 7,000 sheep were wintering. 
His stock consists of graded up Mexican 
ewes—that is, he purchased ewes that had 
been produced by two or three crosses of 
American Me.ino rams on common Mexican 
ewes. These sheep cost him about §3 per 
head. They were, a class that would average 
about four pounds of wool per head. Ho 
lias Used on these ewes, since obtaining them, 
imported Oxford Downs, Cotswolds, Lin¬ 
colns, Leicester*, and Shropshire Downs. 
The result of these crosses Inis been most 
satisfactory. Judging by what he said to 
us, he regards t.he Cotswold and Oxford 
Down crosses the best, though no complaint 
was made of tho crosses with the other 
breeds named. By crossing the Cotswold on 
these Merino grades ho increases, or expects 
to increase, the fleece to seven and ten 
pounds each. Sam pies of wool of these Cots¬ 
wold grades were shown us for which he is 
offered hero i i New York forty cents per 
pound, unwashed. The ordinary price of 
the Merino grade wool in Kansas is twenty- 
live cents per pound. He esteems the Oxford 
Downs a far better (n eed for his use in Kan 
sas than the Southdowns—being a larger and 
hardier sheep, yielding more wool and a 
most excellent mutton. Of tho other breeds 
named above we did not have opportunity 
to speak ; but we learned that his imported 
rams — Cotswolds, Oxford Downs, etc.— 
with the same general treatment that tho 
flocks received, had endured the winter as 
well in every respect ; indeed we think he 
said he had not lost a single imported sheep, 
while his entire loss from among the 7,000 
would not exceed one per cent.—these being 
almost altogether old ewes that were pur¬ 
chased with the rest. 
The extreme degree of cold realized was 
13" below zero for a few days ; but the gen¬ 
eral average had uot been below 40° Fall. 
His experiments in feeding have taught him 
that the best and cheapest feed is crushed 
corn. This is crushed in an ordinary corn- 
ami cob mill by liorse-power. He gives the 
preference to tho crushed cob and corn, 
though both the crushed corn alone and the 
crushed cob and corn have been used. The 
allowance of corn, in cold weather, when 
the maximum amount is fed, costs not over 
one cent per day per head. This is found to 
he cheaper and better feed than hay. An 
experiment with a portion of his herd, feed¬ 
ing with hay aud omitting the corn, resulted 
in a loss of about 34 to 1 in favor of the corn- 
fed flock; added the expense for manual 
labor in feeding was greater and the ability 
of the animals to resist cold less. His sheep 
If C. R. will use snuff on his sheep, taking 
good care to get it down next to the skin 
among the ticks, lie can soon get clear of 
them. 
Seeing the l’ennsylvanian’s experience 
with long wools, I will give you mine. Last 
March, in company with a brother-in-law, I 
bought a Cotswold ram. This fall we have 
taken over 50 ewes at 11 each, besides 24 of 
our own. At the same time he bought a 
ewe in lamb the 12th of last April. She gave 
birth to a ram lamb which at a few days 
of live months old weighed 154 lbs. and sold 
for $20. We have exhibited the ram twice 
and received two first premiums—one of 
them your Rurai. Nhw-Yorkkr. He has 
bought two ewes since — one a yearling, 
having wool 15 inches long and very flue ; 
the three gave birth to eight lambs this 
spring ; seven of them alive and smart. The 
one that died he undertook to raise by hand, 
otherwise it would probably have lived, as 
it was very smart. The. lambs last year had 
nothing only from the ewe and pasture ; 
neither did the ewes receive any grain while 
at pasture. F. A - 
Otsego Co., N. Y. 
TOO MUCH BROOD. 
I 
run in the open air iu the day time, except 
in stormy weather. At night amt in stormy 
weather they have shelter. The 7,000 sheep 
are divided into flocks of 1,000 each, as near¬ 
ly as is practicable So well is Mr. Grant 
satisfied with his experiments that he intends 
to increase his flock of ewes the present sea¬ 
son to 10,000, and liis aggregate flocks to 
100,000 within five years, breeding them up 
by discreet crossing with imported rams 
meantime. 
Mr. Grant has a sheep-bath in which he 
dips his sheep twice a year, immediately 
after shearing and at the end of the summer, 
and by his arrangements he can dip 3,000 
In the Rural. New-Yorker of March 13, 
P. says he is troubled with too much brood. 
That is something 1 am uot troubled with. I 
try to secure all that I can ; for it is a well 
known fact among Apiarians that the larger 
tlie swarm the more honey they will gather. 
The trouble with P. is, his bees swarmed too 
much, and perhaps he is not In a good honey 
locality. If P. had returned all of his swarms 
but the first one to the old hive, it would 
have made a difference with the surplus 
honey if he had his boxes on early. It makes 
a difference in getting surplus honey about 
having the boxes on iu season ; they should 
be put on as soon os the apple trees blossom ; 
and if there is asheet of empty comb fastened 
in the box to give the bees a start all the 
better. 
It is not a less quantity of-brood he wants, 
but a less number of swarms from one hive. 
To secure this he should have his bees in a 
movable frame hive and then, after the first 
swarm issues, cut out all of the remaining 
queen cells but one, and give them plenty of 
room to work in. But if his bees are iu a 
bee hive, he should get them to work in his 
boxes and keep them to work in them as long 
as possible ; that will prevent their swarm¬ 
ing, sometimes, but not aiways. If they 
should swarm and lie wished to save the first 
swarm, he can hive it by itself. If others 
come out, he can return it to the old hive 
again. 
If P. will stimulate his bees to rear large 
broods in the spring and adopt the plan of 
dividing for increase of swarms, he will have 
better success in the surplus honey line—at 
least, so I think. I can get larger swarms, 
and from a month to six weeks earlier, and 
have their hives well filled with comb and 
brood and ready for business when white 
clover and olher honey flowers come in blos¬ 
som. Keystone Apiary. 
Corry, Pennsylvania. 
- +++ - 
Bee Hives, North and South.— E. Knigiit 
says in Moon’s Bee World that “ Hives 
should be much larger at the South than at 
the North.” He also says that robbers are 
more troublesome ut tho South than at the 
North, because bees fly a much longer time 
when there is little or no honey at the South 
than at the North. 
