436 
JULY 2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
observation (which we do not for a moment 
doubt), but which is unsupported by any other 
but Dr. Dana’s which is clearly wrong, and 
then to be met with u charge oi quibbling! All 
the qulhbling, in point ot fact, iB on Mr. Bliss’s 
side. We think this remark is justified by the 
fact that on pane 336 he say - " Dow dung al¬ 
ways* sinks in water like a stone and on page 
420 he says “ I never undertook to say that 
cow dung might uot be found that would float 
for a time; or to disprove that, iron under cer¬ 
tain circumstances will swim." For this is !b<* 
veriest quibbling, if “always sinks in the 
water like a stone,” haH any meaning. We 
have nothing more to say on this subject than 
has been said, which we think is sufficient to 
satisfy any reasonable man. 
®jff ^triisman. 
IMPROVING STOCK. 
JONATHAN TAI.COTT. 
Among cattle breeders, and especially among 
the breeders of the different pure breeds, I 
have lately noticed a growing disposition to 
find fault with or depreciate all or most other 
breeds in comparison with what they are 
engaged in breeding. This disposition Is us¬ 
ually most plainly shown with regard to other 
breeds that come more or less closely into 
competition with their own. To me tbiB seems 
a short-sighted policy; for the general public, 
seeing this general depreciation of other 
breeds, coupled with high enconiums on the 
special breeds in which the writers may hap¬ 
pen to be interested, is apt either to conceive a 
general distrust of the praise as well as of the 
blame so lavishly meted out, or else falsely to 
imagine that the al leged merits of the differ¬ 
ent breeds are u matter of puffery rather thaffiof 
realily, and that the despised “natives’’ if 
they gotas much care and obtained advocates 
as earnest, might gain as high a place in 
public opinion as any of the pure breeds. 
Surely all this defamation of competing breeds 
is as unwise as it Is generally untrue. There 
is plenty of room for eveiy breeder to select 
some particular breed and I hen to try to im¬ 
prove it by careful selection of breediug ani¬ 
mals, and judicious feeding m order to obtain 
the special object desired, whether it be beef 
or milk for Bale, or butter or cheese. 
It is a fact well known to all breeders who 
have studied the subject, that to be successful 
a standard must be set up much higher than 
the ordinary level, and then measures must be 
taken to reach that standard, otherwise no 
permanent good can be accompl ished in breed¬ 
ing. It is also well known that the suitability 
of the different breeds to various localities de¬ 
pends mainly upon the care and feed given 
them there—the Short-horn and Hereford 
that make such fine carcasses of beef in some 
places where they are properly fed, would 
starve to death in other situations where the 
West Highlander or some other hardy race of 
mountain cattle would grow and thrive; so, 
too, would the thoroughbred horse or even the 
trotter bo worthless where the Shetland pony 
or the Texan mustang would luxuriate. Like 
many others in times past,many breeders do not 
breed for the pleasure of the knowledge thus 
obtainable or with any desire to become emi¬ 
nent in the art of breeding, but merely either 
as a preseut pastime, or to make money by 
adopting some breed which they think is the 
best adapted for that purpose. All such breed¬ 
ers of live stock will not be as useful to the 
couutry as those who engage in breeding with 
the view of learning the art, or science, of 
breeding and to improve the breed in some 
particular, whether it be for milk or beef. 
Those who engage in breeding for the latter 
object will not be likely to change with every 
passing occurrence, but will hold steadily on¬ 
ward in their views and methods, to best ac¬ 
complish the desired result. That there are 
on our farms too many poor animals that are, 
in fact, comparatively worthless, is a fact 
kuown to most farmers, but to most farmers 
the breeding of better ones is considered a 
slow and toilsome process which they can 
never spare time enough to accomplish. If 
all such would, each in his own sphere, select 
some breed and endeavor by breeding and 
feediug so to improve It as to make the ma¬ 
jority of the animals valuable to their owners, 
what an immense amount of good might thus 
be accomplished, and what a fund of knowl¬ 
edge would thus be obtained, thaL would be of 
great benefit not only to those persona who 
should adopt such a course, but to others who 
would occupy the places of lookers-on, who 
might be Induced by their neighbors’ successes 
to go and improve their own flocks and herds 
In like manner. How maeh better for a com¬ 
munity where a few Bueh men are engaged in 
improving their farm stock than where no 
each persons are thus engaged and no progress 
markB the passing years. 
--. 
A (sterile Hull. 
In further answer to A. 8. C., Anamosa, la., 
in the Querist Department of the Rural for 
June 4, I would inform him that feeding any 
animal, male or female, highly for the purpose 
of making a fine show, is very injurious. This 
not only renders them liable to barrenness, but 
weakens their constitution aud otherwise in¬ 
jures them. For an auimal to breed well, it 
should be kept only in good moderate condi¬ 
tion from birth np. Males, however, when 
they have considerable covering to do should 
have a moderate increase of oats. To this 
some add three to six eggs daily and as many 
quarts of milk. A yard at least 20 feet square 
should be given for exercise, but a grass plot 
or a whole acre would be still better. In the 
absence of these a bull ought to bo walked out 
one-fourth to one-half a mile or more and back 
mornings and uvenings. A Btallion requires 
twice or thrice as much exercise. In some a 
single leap is not sufficient. "1 have found it oc¬ 
casionally necessary to have this twice or even 
thrice repeated. “ b.” 
NOTES BY A STOCKMAN. 
Early lambb may be very profitable where 
they are raised for a city market, to be sold 
when three months old ; and the owner may 
find & consolation for the labor and worry of 
staying up night6 and coddling the ewes and 
fussing with stnpid lambB to get them to Buck 
and to put them on their feet, in the very fair 
price he may receive for them. Twenty-five 
cents a pound for a 40-pound lamb may cover 
up a multitude of worries; but the sheep- 
owner who produces only wool and mutton 
had better avoid this business of having the 
lambs dropped early. There is less loss of larnbB, 
less bother with the ewes; the larnbB grow 
faster and are heavier, and one has more con¬ 
tentment and comfort every way when lambs 
are dropped on the grass after the weather has 
become warm. May lambs will make better 
sheep than February or March lambs, and will 
give much le6S trouble in the rearing. 
The past season has been very unfortunate 
for the owners of flocks tn the West. The 
cold weather aud the late season have caused 
a loss of a third of the lambs, aud the remain¬ 
ing two-thirds have been saved only at the ex¬ 
pense of a great deal of care and trouble. A 
Western friend writes me that out of 2.500 
ewes he has but 000 lambs. The surne result 
has happened with small flocks, and every ex¬ 
perienced owner has suffered unusual losses, 
in Ohio the loss in the flocks of the best shep¬ 
herds is said to be more than 15 per cent. Illi¬ 
nois shepherds have suffered to the extent of 
30 per cent. Borne habitnally careless owners 
have not reared a single lamb out of flocks of 
80 to 50 head. 
It is a question if the cold Spring is alto¬ 
gether at fault, and if it is not, rather, the ex¬ 
tremely severe Winter, that has produced the 
weakness of both ewes and lambs. And, fur¬ 
ther, I would hazard the suggestion if there 
has not been some neglect even in the best- 
mauaged flocks. Unusual circumstances re¬ 
quire unusual provisions. What provisions 
have been made to avoid the evil effects of the 
long, severe Winter ? How many sheep have 
gone without water and have been compelled 
to lick snow to quench their thirst ? This is 
veiy injurious to ewes in lamb; it chills the 
feetus and weakens the ewe, and Is productive 
of the most serious losses which happen in the 
not fail to be disastrous. And there is little 
doubt that the large loss of lambs is due to 
some cause of this nature operating through 
the Winter, and not to the coldness of the 
Spring alone. 
What does it profit a man if he saves a few 
dollars in the lodging and provision of his 
flock and loses his crop of lambs Pit has come 
to be a question of dollars and cents, and not 
of humanity or the avoidance of long-continued 
cruelty to animals. “Man’s inhumanity makes 
countless thousands monru” applies with great 
strictness to the poor brutes which be uses as 
instruments for making money, and if a few 
cents per head can be saved in the caring for 
them, they are mercilessly exposed to the in¬ 
tolerable rigors of the hardest Winter. And 
the owners complain, with great bitterness, 
that one-third of the lambs have been lost, and 
consider it a great hardship, as if they them¬ 
selves were not to blame for it all. 
Not many years ago it was the fashion to 
have prayers and fastings and set days for 
imploring deliverance from epidemics, such as 
cholera, yellow fever, etc. Men did not then 
realize that their own nastiness caused these 
inflictions and that a “ mysterious Providence” 
was not the author of the misery and death 
which slew thousands in a day. at times. And 
yet we do not even now realize that all the 
diseases, " unknown " and known, which de¬ 
stroy millions of live stock every year, are 
caused whclly by the fault of the owners. It 
may be ignorance, as it was years ago in regard 
to human epidemics, but there is no excuse 
for ignorance now-a-days. Ignorantia legis 
neminew (XAusat (ignorance of the law excuses 
no one) is a well-known legal maxim. No man 
is let off because he does not know the law. 
He learns by sad experience and is apt to re¬ 
member the next time. But owners of stock 
won’t learn; year after year- they suffer (or 
rather their poor animals suffer) and they 
grumble ; but still they don’t mend their ways. 
And all because they think it is cheaper to let 
their stock die than to take proper care of it. 
It may be so with some. But there is a 
great outcry made by some persons that the 
law should be evoked ; that some one in au¬ 
thority, the Commissioner of Agriculture, or 
some other hapless official, should put his 
Bhoulder to their wheel, while they stand 
around aud make a fuss. This is a great mis¬ 
take. Let every man take care of his own 
cattle and if he will not, let him be made 
amenable to the law relating to cruelty to 
animals. 
There is law enough for this case, if only it 
could be put in force. 
Monby is made in 6tock keeping by exer¬ 
cising tne greatest skill and good management. 
Here Is an example. It relates to poultry 
which, considering that it is live stock and of 
great importance to our interests, may perhaps 
be made the subject of note here. A Mary¬ 
land farmer recently seut 145 capons to mar¬ 
ket, the total weight of which was 1,625 
pounds, average over 11 pounds; the heaviest 
pair weighed 29J pounds and the buiu realized 
by the sale was 6520. This certainly puts the 
cap on the business of Btock raising. What 
other kind of flesh would Bell for 6520 for (he 
weight of a moderate steer ?—barring Alphea 
exposed mountain pastures of tbe Scotch shep¬ 
herds, as well as on our own Western plains. 
The mischief is done before the warm weather 
of Spring arrives, and genial days and grass 
are unable to 6ave the lambs, which are either 
dropped dead or with too little strength to get 
up. The ewes, being weak and helpless, are 
not in a condition to give much attention to 
their lambs, and many of them have not milk, 
however motherly they may be inclined. 
Tub feeding of turnips that have been ex¬ 
posed in the Winter, although they may not 
have been actually frozen, has frequently 
caused abortion in ewes from the chilling ef¬ 
fect on the lamb in utero. The drinking of ice- 
cold water, or of melted snow, or the eating of 
snow, at a temperature of zero, perhaps, can- 
Jerseys, of course. But these capons actually 
brought for their value as meat as much as is 
given for a Jersey cow with her valuable pedi¬ 
gree included, and her black switch and es¬ 
cutcheon to boot. 
Why should poultry alone of all our live 
stock be so rarely improved by emasculation ? 
These capons, as “ roosters,’’ would have 
brought in the market perhaps five or six 
cents a pound, or lesB than a hundred dollars. 
The difference in value goes to pay this Mary- 
lauder for his enterprise. That is the sum of 
it. 
Thk Rural Nbw-Yorkbh recently men¬ 
tioned with admiration the Illinois daiiyman 
who kept but one cow and yet Bold over 40 
pounds of butter weekly. This record sur. 
passes that of the wonderful Jersey cows, but 
this more wonderful cow has not yet been in¬ 
troduced into high cow society. But the story 
is well matched by that of a Kentucky ewe 
which has produced at a single birth 79 (seven¬ 
ty nine) lambs; all of which Jived but a short 
time. There was not life enough to go around 
so many. This is told seriously by a local 
Kentucky paper and is vouched for by “sev¬ 
eral reliable citizens.” Somebody must be 
passing around some Jersey breeder’s hat. 
|»rboritultural. 
A RUS8IAN MULBERRY FOR THE WEST¬ 
ERN PLAINS. 
On the bare Western plains—so different 
from the forest-burdened East—an interest is 
felt in every tree and sort of tree that can be 
made to live and grow. Even of the contemn¬ 
ed poplar and willow sorts that are a little 
more euduring or available than the genus in 
general, have been hailed with hopeful delight 
as giving promise of tbe needed shelter and 
material so badly wanted. Mr. G. F. Clark, of 
Beatrice, Nebraska, sends an interesting ac¬ 
count of the promise of serviceableness afford¬ 
ed by a 80rt of mulberry brought by the Mer- 
onite immigrants from similar arid plaius in 
Russia—the steppes of the Volga, in latitude 
about 49 deg. There this mulberry is the best 
soutceof wood for farm supply, and so valua¬ 
ble and indispensable that the new settlers 
brought along seeds which grow well and, 
like other KortB of mulberry, very rapidly when 
young The full hight of the species is claimed 
to be about 40 feet. As In other mulberries, 
too, the leaves of the seedlings vary in being 
more or less lobed : some of these are cat as 
much as those of any oak, and these varieties 
are propagated as trees for ornameut as well 
as use. They will, no doubt, make pretty lawn 
trees, for the foliage aud figure of all sorts of 
mulberry trees in unbrokeu health are pleas¬ 
ing. The fruit is said to be edible and good, 
but the pale mulberries are generally inferior 
both in size aud flavor to choice specimens of 
the dark sorts. 
Mr. Clark thinkB this Russian mulberry is 
not of the alba species. Loudon describes a 
mulberry native on the steppes as Moms Tar- 
tarica, but thinks it only a geographical varie¬ 
ty of alba, having variously scalloped leaves 
and reddiBh fruit of no very good flavor, 
Mulbeny wood is very durable, although ap¬ 
parently open-grained and soft. Botanically 
it is cousin to the Maclura, or Osage Orange, 
aleo a very durable wood, and also having 
fleshy, yellow roots, soft but tough. Unde¬ 
cayed mulberry wood was found by Mr. Lsy- 
ard in the rains of Nineveh, and mummy cases 
of the same wood are seen in tbe museums, 
still sound and fresh to the very chips. This 
durability renders the trees, even though small, 
very useful to farmers for stakes and posts, 
and the rising interest in silk-worm feeding 
gives additional interest to them, especially to 
varieties of M. alba, the leaves of which are 
thiDner and finer than those of other species, 
while the trees can generally be grown—like 
select sorts of these Russian varieties—quite 
easily from cuttings, set out in Spring like cut¬ 
tings of currant or willow. 
-♦♦♦- 
The Reason Why.— The Rural, in its ad¬ 
mirable Shrub aud Tree Special, says: “We 
are at a loss to know why tbe Laurel-leafed 
Willow is not selected as u stock for the Kil¬ 
marnock ’’ The reason is the same as is given 
by Mr. Parsons on p. 107, in regard to maples, 
The Kilmarnock belongs to the class of willows 
with lobed leaves, called Goat Willows (tf. ca- 
prea ), and as it is a reluctant eort about grow¬ 
ing even by cuttings (although a willow), it is 
found necessary to accommodate it with a 
stock of its own kin. W. G. Waring, Sr. 
Jntmstrial Jmjilfmcnts. 
THE CHAMPION SULKY PLOW. 
Tnis plow is made by Messrs. J. Lane Reed 
& Go., Dayton, Ohio, and has gained an excel¬ 
lent reputation wherever it has been used. 
Wrought and malluable iron has been used al¬ 
most entirely in its construction, and it is free 
from all complications of braces, springs and 
triggers, which are apt to get out of order 
frequently and to need replacement. The 
wheels are of iron, with wrought-iron spokes 
well staggered and wrough-irou tires. The 
hub-boxing consists simply of an iron Bleeve 
fittiug tightly inside the hub aud revolving 
with the wheel. When woru, the boxing can 
be readily renewed at a trifling coBt. Tbe 
spindles arc of wrought iron aud are protected 
from wear by sand cape, and whenever they 
become worn they, too, can be easily and 
cheaply replaced. There are two levers both 
on the same Bide. That nearer the operator 
