Vol. XL. No. 12. ( 
Whole No. 1625. ( 
NEW YORK, MARCH 19, 1881. 
j Price Five Cents. 
? $2.00 Peb Year, 
[Entered aocordiw to Act of Oonsrress, In the year 1881, by the Bural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Oonsrreea at Washington.] 
stylish, symmetrical and handsome animal. In 
1879 he took the first premium, at Springfield, 
a3 a one-year-old, and last October he bore 
away the firBt premium as a two-year-old, and 
also the 6weepeiskes as the best bull of any age, 
at the fair of the Georgia Stock and Fair Asso¬ 
ciation. 
lhatcanbe raised it will only pay to bring 
common animals, “ornery critters,” in fact; 
and this is an additional reason why Americans 
should keep aloof from this sort of business. 
occurrence of nine cases of disease out of ten 
which now happen. Further, if they have the 
knowledge that mercury ia a poison and that 
animaia will lick it off from the itching skin 
and so become poisoned, they will avoid apply¬ 
ing it to parts that can be reached by the 
tongne, and use only such applications as will 
be safe. 
OUR ANIMAL PORTRAITS 
Jersey Ball Oar Boy, 3351 
One of the st rangest things is that farmers 
will not read and study the literature of their 
profession and will remain in ignorance of the 
very radimentB of it. What farmer possesses 
the few standard books which relate to the 
practice of agriculture ? How few read an 
agricultural journal? and, alas that it should 
be said ! how few of the agricultural journals 
are really trustworthy! This note grows out 
of reading a report of the Elmira Farmers’ 
Club m which a person mentions a clear case 
of the well known black-quarter (carbuueular 
erysipelas), which was said to be caused by the 
freezing of the calves. Another persou gives as a 
sure remedy for ticks, scab and other parasitic 
vermin on sheep, cattle, horses, etc., mercur¬ 
ial ointment, to be applied on the skin, ‘two 
streaks lengthwise and three around the body." 
Naturally enough, an objection was made 
against this remedy that it made the cows 
sick. 
During the last decade it is very doubtful 
whether any breed of cattle have gained so 
much in popular favor and been so widely dis¬ 
seminated as the Jerseys. The richness of the 
cows' milk and the superiority of their butter 
have made them favorites alike with those who 
keep a single cow apiece to supply their own 
families with milk and butter, and with dairy¬ 
men who are ambitious of obtaining top prices 
for gilt-edged butter from a select circle of 
customers who are willing to pay extra-high 
prices for an extra-fine product. Although 
there have been occasional importations of 
cattle from the Channel Islands for half a cen¬ 
tury or more, still, until a comparatively re¬ 
cent date, the herds of Alderneys, as they were 
then commonly miscalled, were confined 
mainly to the New England and a few of the 
eastern Middle States; and it is only within 
the last dozen years or so, that they have been 
largely introduced into the West and South. 
In view of the mild nature of the climate of 
their original home, in which the rigors of 
Winter common in the Northern States are 
unknown, the South should be especially con¬ 
genial to animals of this breed, and we are 
glad, therefore, to notice that they are being 
widely disseminated from the Potomac and 
the Ohio to t..t Rio Grande and the Golf. One 
of the choicest herds is that owned by Mr. 
John L. Hopkins, of Atlanta, Ga., known as 
the Edgewood herd, at the head of which is 
Car Boy, 3,351, the sub¬ 
ject of the accompany¬ 
ing engraving. 
While, as far as per 
sonal indications are 
concerned,more reliance 
can be placed on the ap¬ 
pearance of the cow 
than on that of the bull, A 
yet, since in establish- jrj. 
ing a herd, the bull Is of Jw 
vastly more importance 
than any single cow, 
even greater care should 
be taken in selecting i-rajl 
him, the decision resting II ■ 
less on his own appear- rj I 
ance and points — al- 9 I 
though these should have 9 1 
due weight—than ou the JS I 
character of his dam p 
and both his granddams, /jjj&ifl 
for the cardinal princi- 
plo of judicious breed¬ 
ing is that ‘'like begets 
like or the likeness of 
6ome ancestor." In these w 
points Car Boy should ' 
satisfy the most critical 
judgment. He was born 
on August 28, 1878, and 
imported in his dam, ~^ fTi v j 'V , ii 
Queen Bess, of 8t. Bre- 
lades, 7,462. She is an -- "i... 
excellent type of a Jer- 
sey cow and a prize ' i 
winner both in the It- " -: r 
land of Jersey and at the 
8t. Louis Fair of 1878. 
His sire was Neptnne tst, JE 
a prize bull, and consid¬ 
ered one of the best in the Island of Jersey. 
Neptune’s dam, Mermaid, was a remarkably 
handsome cow, a deep milker and a prize 
winner. Car Boy is of a solid dark fawn col¬ 
or, with an amber stripe along the back, an ex¬ 
ceedingly rich, yellowish skin, waxy horns and 
a highly promising escutcheon. As will be 
readily seen from the engraving, he Is a very 
NOTES BT A STOCKMAN 
Grease is fatal to all insect life. Insects 
breathe by means of small pores on their sides. 
Grease or oil that comes in contact with the 
insects closes the pores and stops the breath¬ 
ing. Mercurial ointment kills as much by the 
lard in it as by the mercury—that Is, so far as 
the vermin are concerned, but not as to the 
animals that lick it off from their bodies, so 
that almost any oily or greasy application will 
be destructive to insect vermin that infest an¬ 
imals, if it is applied where it will do the most 
good. 
The wise man remarked that he found 
three things that were too wonderful for him. 
Had be lived until to-dav he would have found 
another he might have added to bis list, “the 
way of a speculator in stock." Sorely the 
ways of Wall Street have infected the stock 
business, and the shearing and fleecing pro¬ 
cesses of the railroad and mine gamblers have 
been adopted by the live stock speculator. I 
have often referred to the fuss made about 
“the coming sheep,” and have tried to warn 
persons who have no money they can efford to 
lose, against being deluded by it. And now 
comes the last act of the little farce.; As I 
prognosticated, these ‘‘coming sheep" have 
arrived, and an announcement is made that 
44 head of newly imported Hampshire Downs, 
are to be sold at public sale. The “ boom ” is 
first made by outrageous puffing and by a pro¬ 
cess of “hippodroming" and prize taking, and 
then comes around the speculator to “rake the 
pot." 
A prevalent and serious trouble with cows 
is abortion. This disease ruins many fine 
herds. Once it attacks one of a herd it goes 
through it, and much misapprehension Is rife 
concerning it. Some lay it to dogs. This i6 an 
application of the proverb, “Give a cur an ill 
name and hang him." The dog has much to 
answer for. but not this. Yet a dairyman wbo 
keeps a dog deserves to suffer through hiB 
cows. But of Ihis, more hereafter. Let us 
consider this disastrous disease. It is very 
clear that it is a contagious, parasitic disease. 
Pasteur has recently investigated it and has 
proved that it can be produced by inoculation 
by the special virus as easily as chicken or hog 
cholera, or small pox can be. Tbls makes all 
clear and shows the way to prevent It. Occlu¬ 
sion, or complete separation of all Infected 
animals, and the Instant 
and thorough disinfec¬ 
tion of stables are abso¬ 
lute means of preven. 
|u. tion. Long-continued 
use of antiseptic medl- 
cines for cows that have 
ifejgK been exposed to danger 
is desirable or necessary. 
The injection even of 
antiseptic solutions fox 
JF pregnant cows may b 
useful. But when the 
nature of the disease ia 
known, effective meth¬ 
ods of dealing with it 
become mere matters ot 
veterinary knowledge of 
remedies and their skill¬ 
ful application. 
Now such crude, visionary attempts at in¬ 
form tion as theso, were what brought the old 
New York Farmers’ Club into disrepute and 
made a wreck of it. And they will destroy the 
usefulness of the very best farmers’ clnb by 
weakening the confidence of the best and moat 
intelligent of its members. It would be a wise 
thiDg to do to enlist the services of a compe¬ 
tent professional man, as Dr. Law. of Ithaca, 
and refer these matters to him for advice. A 
little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but none 
at all is infinitely more dangerous. . 
These splendid sheep—I admit they are 
magnificent, but they are fancy animals, 
breeders’ and speculators’, and not farmers' 
stock—will all wilt and die off miserably and 
in three years from now will be no more; but 
more victims will be forthcoming as long as 
The dairymau who 
has an aborted cow 
should carefully burn 
every part of the fetus; 
carefully cleanse with 
carbolic acid every place 
that has been fouled; 
remove the diseased cow 
to a distant stable; wash 
with thick lime and 
carbolic acid wash the 
floor, walls and stalls of 
the cow-house; fumigate 
the stable thoroughly 
with burning sulphur, 
and take as many pre¬ 
cautions as he would If 
3331.— From a Photograph.— Fig. 182. small pox or yellow fever 
had invaded his house. 
If this could become general, this disease would 
disappear or become very rare. It only leads 
astray and causes to grope in darkness to in¬ 
sist that It is caused “ by the want of phos¬ 
phates in the soil" (cows do not eat the soil, 
and crops cannot grow without their proper 
allowance of phosphoric acid), or by long- 
continued milking, or by dogging, or by slip- 
there are greenhorns to fill the purse of the 
veteran importer. 
Black-leq is very prevalent just now, aud 
carries off thousands of calves and yearlings 
every Spring and YVinter. Imperfect digestion 
and blood poisoning are the causes of it, and 
either poverty or plethora will produce it. 
When the owners of cattle understand the 
principles of feeding and the laws of digestion 
and assimilation of food, they can prevent the 
Forty-four of “the coming sheep," re¬ 
cently imported, sold at Philadelphia for 
$2,500. This will hardly pay such a profit as 
will induce many importations, at least of 
high-class sheep. If this is all the “boom” 
