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Yoii. Xli. No. 20. 
Whole No. 1633. 
NEW YORK, MAY 14, 1881. 
$ Pbioe Five Cents, 
) $2.00 Per Year, 
[Entered aooordiiiK to Act of Oontrreea.ln the year 1881. by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
food they eat than is generally supposed. If 
kept for growth or fattening, the toll taken is 
only to produce the extra weight of flesh and 
bones, or, if for the production of milk, it is 
only the nitrogenous and mineral substances 
of the milk that are supplied from the food 
and lost to the land, even if the milk be sold ; 
and if only butter be sold, then only the bones 
and flesh of the young animals grown by 
skimmed milk are lost to the land. The food 
that is taken to supply the waste of the animal 
body is merely exchanged for the waste of 
muscle and bone, which passes into the drop¬ 
pings and is ready again to be converted into 
new crops of food. Nature is always forming 
new combinations and dissolving old ones, but 
the elements are all preset ved, nothing is lost. 
When stock feeders shall learn to save and 
scrupulously apply all the droppings, both 
liquid and Bolid, from their animals, then will 
the land remain fertile for the coming gener¬ 
ations ; and when large amounts of nitrogen¬ 
ous and phosphoric food are purchased and 
fed to animals upon the land, its fertility will 
rapidly increase. And now to the questions. 
The system upon this farm must be wholly 
the grass system; “ all flesh is grass/’ and 
this is to be a stock farm. Turn no furrow in 
a field that yields a large crop of grass. 
Everything should be done to provide the fer¬ 
tility requisite to the growth of grass. Peren¬ 
nial grass Is king. No other crop pays as 
much clear profit. 
Let us examine this point. In the Woburn 
experiments, Timothy Grass grown on a clay 
loam produced, at flow¬ 
ering, a little over 40,- 
- 000 pounds green per 
heavy, pure-bred draft horses or for the im¬ 
provement of our common native animals by 
crossing. Both of these breeds have been 
largely imported and tested in the Eastern as 
well as in the Western States, and both have 
many warm friends and supporters; but the 
l’crcheron, probably in great part through 
careleBsucsB in selecting choice animals for 
shipment, appears to be losing ground, 
while its rival is Bteadily advancing in public 
favor. First-class Percherons seem to be rare 
among onr importations of that breed; while a 
great deal of care appears to be taken to select 
only first-rate Clydesdales for importation. 
In the Rural of March 26th a brief sketch of 
the history of the Clydesdale breed was given, 
together with a short description of a typical 
animal. We here again present to our readers 
a likeness of a choice specimen of the breed, 
Donside Champion, one of the importations of 
Messrs. Smiths & Powell, of Syracuse, N. Y. 
Within the last 20 or 30 years constant study 
and care have greatly improved this breed in 
its native land, and removed nearly all the 
defects and blemishes which were to be met 
with among many of the Clydes of a quarter 
of a ceutury ago. The principal obiection 
still urged here against them refers to what 
in their native laud is considered a sign of 
excellence—the hair on the back of their legs. 
This, it is said—and justly, too—has a tendency 
Lo superinduce “grease,” and the English 
Clydesdale Stud-Book acknowledges that short, 
coarse, matted hair decidedly suggests the dis¬ 
agreeable ailment; but, as it also remarks, the 
MOST PROFITABLE FARM HORSES 
DAIRYING ON 24 ACRES 
An interesting question to every farmer who 
rears even a single foal is, What sort of horse 
will it pay me best to breed ? and the inter¬ 
est should increase with the number bred. In 
bringing up a colt or filly a fair measure of 
good feeding and care is, of course, needed 
to produce satisfactory results with any ani¬ 
mal, and even with the best bred one the lack 
of these is pretty sure to disappoint any hopes 
of a profitable horse. Fair attention, how¬ 
ever, being stipulated, what is the difference 
in the expense of rearing a horse which can 
either do excellent work on the farm or be 
sold for a highly remunerative figure, and one 
that will “eat bis head off "on the farm and 
which cannot be sold for the cost of rearing 
him ? The extra cost of service of a stallion 
good enough to beget the superior animal 
is a mere trifle in comparison with the higher 
value of bis progeny on the farm or iu the 
market. What sort of horse, then, will it 
pay a farmer best to breed ? 
Not a trotter, certainly. To train a horse, 
even of suitable descent and opacity for 
speed on the trotting track, so as to develop 
his powers in that line, demands much more 
skill, time and patlenue than are at the com¬ 
mand of the ordinary fanner who attends 
properly to bis legitimate duties. Moreover, 
even with the best management ou the farm 
not one horse out of a 
score intended for speed¬ 
ing would ever repay 
the outlay upon it. Few 
of the large establish- - 
ments specially devoted ^ j ^ ^ 
to the production of fly- i 8l 
ers, and possessing the '> jy -sS 
best skill and convon- ‘^ 
iences, would make ex- , . > . ^ •*' 
peuses if they confined jgl / jUggE^Sl J 
their efforts exclusively 
to that line of business. 
No; the trotter decided¬ 
ly is not a profitable 
horse for the farmer to 
breed-, but carriage and 
heavy draft horses are. 
Both of these kinds ;m: 
scarce in all our large 
cities, and the demand 
for them, being con¬ 
stantly greater than the 
supply, prioeB arc al¬ 
ways remunerative. In- r » 
deed, it Is very likely 
that for years to come - V'-v qlw* 
no sort of farm stock : l'Jyj 
will be more profitable 'mt 
than horses of these two Wii » 
classes. The first should Ewfllj 
be from 16 to 17 hands ; V'’ 
high, and wclgb from 
1 200 to 1,300 pounds, 
and the second from 10 
to 17$ hands, and not Vv"? 1 " 
less than 1,400 or over ,’r^j 
1,800 pounds. 
The carriage horse 
should have a good 
share of thoroughbred 
blood iu his veins, oth¬ 
erwise ho will be defi¬ 
cient in the style, spirit, 
action and eudu ranee 
which constitute the chief value of that class. 
In view of the small size of most of our draft 
horses, there is little doubt but the best wav 
to remedy this defect is the employment of 
the best type of imported draft stallions. 
Among these the Perchoron and the Clydesdale 
appear to be the best adapted to this coun¬ 
try, either for the .production of suitable 
Agkicola, Morris Co., N. J., writes: “I have 
a farm of 24 acres in six fields : Field A, four 
acres, good meadow, overflowed each Spring; 
fields, B and C, three acres each, poor pasture; 
field D., four acres, poor clay loam; E, three 
acreB fair clay loam; F, four acres, excellent 
clay loam — 10-year-old sod plowed up last 
Fall. Rocks abundant all over. I desire to 
keep a dairy and stock farm, besides selling 
grain. I Bhould replace grain for my cattle 
by cotton-seed meal. Will you oblige me by 
stating: 1, what system of rotation would you 
advise; 3, how many cattle could be kept on the 
above; 3, will it be advisable to soil the cattle 
and take the poor pasture fields into tillage; 
4, what grain will pay best." 
Ans.—A gricola has laid out the points for 
a small treatise upon agriculture. The possi¬ 
bilities of that little farm would astonish its 
quiet neighborhood. We shall not attempt to 
develop them all. A dairy and Btock farm with 
large exports of grain from 24 acres! Yes, 
this is all possible. And rf our friend has 
shadowed the road that might lead to its ac¬ 
complishment. The stock should be fed upon 
rich grasses, supplemented largely with that al¬ 
buminous and phoephatic bye-product, cotton¬ 
seed meal; but not be restricted to this alone, 
(as nature and animals love variety). Let the 
wmm 
DONSIDE CHAMPION.—From a Photograph.—Fig. 240 
extra food embrace linseed meal, malt-sprouts, 
aud all the bye-products of wheat or other cere¬ 
al grains as well. Here may be a rich mine of 
plant food for future cropB. And the grand 
secret of running this little farm mast con¬ 
sist In the perfect saving and application of 
every element in the droppings of the animals 
kept upon it. Animals take less toll from the 
high value set upon nice silky hair is on ac 
count of its being in all cases a certain indica¬ 
tion of a Btrong, healthy bone. Of course, 
Clydes are also more or less liable to most of 
the other ails horse-flesh is heir to; but, all in 
all, we know of no breed of heavy draft horses 
more valuable on the farm, either as pure- 
breds or to improve our native horses. 
