JULY 20 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
455 
vertible and self-evident; but we have some 
special problems offered for solution, to which, 
from the importance of the subject, we will give 
special consideration. la our editorial, we used 
the words, eat, digest and transform, and each of 
these was necessary to convey our whole mean¬ 
ing ; wo will now attempt to explain what was 
meant bv the word transform. The milk given 
by a cow, the muscular foroe produced by a 
horse or ox, the wool grown on a sLoip, the fat 
seoreted by certain tissues in an auimal, are 
above all dependent on the constitution and 
activity of the individual cellB which make up 
ths organ that gives us these products in the 
different cases; and this constitution aud acti¬ 
vity of the cells are partly inherited, and partly 
acquired by the conditions under which the ani¬ 
mal lives from birth to a given time. No matter 
how nmoh food is eaten aud digested by a half- 
wdd Tex in cow, no matter what care she re¬ 
ceives, she will uot he a large milker on this ac¬ 
count; neither can a precocious Short-Horn 
steer bold his own if worked by the side of oxen 
of some other breeds; nor yot will a long-nosed 
native hog lay on fat like an improved Berkshire 
though otherwise under the same conditions. 
The same amount may bo oaten and digested, 
but the colls of the uddor, of the muscles or the 
fat seoretiug tissues have not the capacity to use 
it—it is burnt up ju the system and leaves it as 
waste products. But this does not affect our 
position—if we had Himply said the more au ani¬ 
mal eats the more profitable it is, this would 
have been an imperfect statement; or if we had 
stopped by saying the more au animal eats and 
digosts, we would still be short of the truth ; but 
we intended to include all of these processes and 
we believe our pjsition is impregnable. 
A certain amount of heat is necessary to sus¬ 
tain the body at a proper temperature, to warm 
the food and drink, to keep up the circulation, 
the digestive and nutritive processes ; and a 
certain amount of nutritive elements must be 
destroyed to suply this heat and force, and it is 
a physical impossibility for it to be supplied by 
less; again, one part of fat may be manufac¬ 
tured from 2 44 parts of starch or 1 94 parts of 
albuminoids, and it is a chemical impossibility 
for it to be produced by less ; so that when a 
cow digests all that she eats, when her udder 
has the oapacitv to use all that remains after the 
wants of the body are supplied, aud when these 
wants remain constant, all increased quantity of 
food eaten dhould iuvariably produce a corres¬ 
ponding increase iu the nutritive elements of the 
milk. It is evident, however, that the same con¬ 
ditions are not always present, and, conse¬ 
quently, the milk does not always bear a definite 
relation to the food, aud for similar reasons the 
capacity for worker producing fat may not always 
correspond with the quantity of food taken. 
The post-horses of Paris, however, have a 
nearly constant weight to draw ; they are fed on 
a ration of support, and, in addition, 4U0 grams 
of oats for every kilometre traveled; that is, 
their feed is exactly in proportion to their work; 
it has been determined by long experience, aud 
it is found when they do not receive this amount 
they use up their own flesh and very soon be- 
oome uutit for work. And so with any other 
animal, the produce which it supplies is manu¬ 
factured from the food, and, within certain 
limits, boars a constant relation to it, but the 
amount of food which it can nse profitably de¬ 
pends upon the capacity of its internal ma¬ 
chinery; consequently, we repeat, “ it is those 
animals which have the capacity to eat, digest 
and transform the greatest quantity of food, 
which are the most profitable.'' 
PRIZE CATTLE AT THE OXFORD SHOW. 
The “ Bath and West of England” Society 
held its annual Agricultural and Horticultural 
show this year the first week in June at Oxford, 
the Oxfordshire Agricultural Society co-operat¬ 
ing. It is universally admitted to have been 
one of the most interesting aud valuable shows 
ever held iu England, which, considering that 
the exposition of Live Stock at Paris occurred 
at the same time, is noticeable. 
We re-produce, from the Agricnltural Gazette, 
three photographs of those animals most likely 
to interest American farmers: first the Here¬ 
fordshire Ball, three years old, winner of the 
first prize in the Old BaLl Class, and declared by 
the j dges to be the best male animal on the 
grounds, even superior to the superb and fa¬ 
mous Short Horn bull “Sir Arthur Inobam” 
owned by Mr. W. Linton, Sheriff of Hutton, 
York. The owner of the Hereford is Mr. A. 
Rogers, Tne Kidd, Kington, Herefordshire. 
The photograph is copied with the free pen of a 
real artist aud is no doubt a faithful likeness 
of the sleek and sleepy original. One of Dan¬ 
iel Webster’s clients, commenting to him 
about the opposing counsel, said: “ Ha is a 
sleepy-lookiug old fellow.” “Ah” said Mr. 
Webstes, “ if Judge So-and-So is asleep, don’t 
let anything wako him up.” We feel a good 
doal so about a sleepy bull of those proportions. 
Iu his anxiety to show the breadth of breast 
and depth of brisket, the photographer fore¬ 
shortened the animal a good deal, so that we 
lose the great length characteristic of the breed. 
It is nevertheless a strikingly real picture. 
Next Mr. Simpson’s Jersey cow “ Luna” 
which won first in the class of cows three years 
old or over in milk or in calf. She is said to 
be a grand cowand a splendid milker. Mr. 
Simpson's herd at Wray Park, Reigate, Surrey, 
is one of the best in England. He is very 
careful as a breeder, a oloBe student of pedi¬ 
grees, and quick to secure at any cost what¬ 
ever may improve hiB herd. He breeds from 
solid-colored animals, gray or bine or inclining 
strongly to these colors, and when the herd was 
lurtintltnral. 
GARDEN TALKS AND WALKS. 
The Beechk3, Mass., July 6, 1878. 
MR. HUNNEWELL'S RHODODENDRONS. 
Mr. H ’s garden at Wellesley comprises some 
50 acres of ornamental ground, and is one of the 
!I| v |V.*v**j 
HEREKOEDSHIRE BTJXjL.. 
visited by the writer he would have no others in 
it; nevertheless he was realizing a great amount 
of milk of t he richest quality, which makes it 
plain that the possession in the highest degree 
of fancy points by an entire herd is not incom¬ 
patible with great excellence, perhaps the very 
greatest excellence as butter producers. The pic¬ 
ture is not a handsome one, but it without doubt 
represents a very handsome and excellent cow. 
Her pose is bad, not showing the hind quarters 
particularly to advantage. A hand laid on the 
most princely establishments of its kind in onr 
Union. Most kinds of gardening are well repre¬ 
sented, bnt Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and hardy 
conifers are objective points. A public exhibi¬ 
tion is made of the Rhododendrons when they 
are in full bloom, which is usually from the last 
week in May till the second week in Jane; and 
a more gorgeous and profuse display can hardly 
be imagined. 
The Rhododendrons are of three kinds, viz.: 
hardy, half-hardy, and tender. The hardy kinds 
JERSEY COW “LUNA.” 
back would have corrected the apparent droop 
of the rump, and neither this nor the pioture of 
“ Gipsy Lad" is so skillfully drawn as is that 
of the Hereford. 
The third pioture “ Gipsy Lad" is another 
of Mr. Simpson's breeding, though shown by 
Mr. H. A. Rioo of Waltou-on-Thsmes. This 
year he is highly commeuded, while last year he 
won the first honors of this Society, 3rd. at 
Liverpool and H. 0. at Banbury, evidently au ex¬ 
cellent two-year-old and quite likely with a pedi- 
oocupy beds and sheltered banks and borders in 
immense masses through the grounds. The soil 
is a light loam on a gravelly bottom. The beds 
for the plants have been well prepared by deep 
working aud liberal enriching with peat and leaf- 
soil. Before winter sets in, the ground is heav¬ 
ily mulched with leaves, which are permitted to 
stay during the slimmer time, and thus decom¬ 
pose, and ebrich the earth. During the summer 
months, for tidiness’ sake, the rougher part of 
the mulching is pushed back from the front of 
BULL 
GIPSY LAD.' 
gree containing the names of more prize-winners 
than any Jersey auiai&l in Amerioa o-m show, 
and yet he aud his progeny are no doubt ex¬ 
cluded from American herds, or from those 
whose proprietors wish their stock entered in 
the Herd Register of the American Jersey Cat¬ 
tle Oiub, because the pedigree runs back be¬ 
yond the time for which the most accurate 
documentary evidence has existed. 
the beds. I notioed a deep trench along the 
back ol some of the larger beds, and was in¬ 
formed by Mr. Harris, the gardener, that it is to 
prevent encroachment of the roots of the neigh¬ 
boring trees to feed on the compost prepared for 
the shrubs. Mr. Harris does not think that the 
oases of failnre, so often experienced, are due to 
oold, but instead, to drought and the conse¬ 
quences resulting from exposure to mid-day 
sun. In order to grow them successfully, he 
advises a sheltered location, partial shade from 
noon-day sun, deeply-prepared soil liberally 
mixed with peat, leaf-mold, and sand, a heavy 
mulching of leaves in winter to lighten the se¬ 
verity of hard frosts, and the mulching to re¬ 
main daring the summer time, to assist in keep¬ 
ing the soil moist and cool. Peat, however, is 
not absolutely necessary, but a location where 
water will not lodge in pools in the winter time 
is imperative. These hardy aortB are mostly va¬ 
rieties and crosses of R. C.-.tawbiense, a species 
indigenous to the high Allegh&nids, from Vir¬ 
ginia southwards. Some of the finest hardy 
Rhododendrons are; gigantcurn, bright rose; 
atrosanguineum, deep red; Everestianum, rosy 
lilac ; Caraot&cUs, deep purplish crimson; grand- 
iflorum, rosy crimson; Blandvanum, bright 
cherry ; delicatissimum, white to blush; album 
elegaus, blush to white; Gleiinyanum, blush; 
and Lee's, purple 
The members of the half-hardy seotion are 
very beautiful and many of them brilliantly col¬ 
ored. They »re a progeny (hybrids, crosses and 
varieties) mostly obtained from R. Oatawbiense 
and Ponticum, hybridized with tne more glow- 
iugly-oolored Asiatic species, notably R. arbore- 
utn of the Himalayan Mountains, and which is a 
noble scarlet-flowering kind. Before winter sets 
in Mr. H. lifts these half-hardy sorts with their 
roots as intact as possible, and heels them in in 
light soil iu a cellar, pit, or shed, there to remain 
till the following spring, when they are again 
transplanted to their summer quarters out-of- 
doors. AU the light and ventilation practicable 
are admitted during the winter months, of course, 
regulating the amount of ventilation by the state 
of the weather. Instead of the plants objecting 
to this mode of treatment, they seem to like it, 
and grow freely, blossom lavishly, aud make a 
proportionate annual increase of roots. A few 
of the beat of them are: Purity, white ; The 
Queen, bluHh to white; Helen Waterer, rose with 
white center, a most lovely sort and now only 
one amoD£ many of like marking; Scipio, rose ; 
Stella, pale rose; Lady Armstrong, pale rose; 
oonceasum, pink; Crown Prince, bright rose; 
H. W. Sargent, crimson; Mrs. Milner, crimson ; 
James Bateman, rosy scarlet; Prince Albert, 
rich lake ; and Joseph Whitworth, rich lake, 
considered by Mr. Harris the finest dark¬ 
blooming Rhododendron in their collection. 
The tender sorts are grown in pots and treated 
as green-honse plants. They are mostly species 
from the mountains of Iudia, but now, too, we 
have many beautiful garden-raised sorts among 
them. They aU have beautiful flowers, aud sev¬ 
eral of them, exceptionally handsome leaves. 
Just now they are in a shady, cool green-house, 
in which the temperature is even and the atmos- 
[ phere moist, and when they sh 11 have completed 
their growth, they will be transferred out-of- 
doors to ripen their wood. Rhododendron Edge- 
worthi, arbor earn, Dalhousie (naturally an epi¬ 
phyte), campanulatum, Princess Alice, and the 
like, represent this group. Renoclaj. 
--— 
KISSENA NOTES. 
UNUSUAL GROWTH. 
It is an oft-noted fact that the amount of 
growth produced during different years varies 
widely. Conditions of heat, moisture, etc , re¬ 
tard or advance the development or tissues. 
Old Oaks, sawed down.iudieate their best years of 
growth by snnual ring-, which, in some cases, will 
be much broader than iu others, proving that the 
increase has been greater during some particu¬ 
lar years The present Benson has beeu thus 
far remarkable for the unusual growth made by 
both trees and shrubs. Iu many oases, the in¬ 
crease is a third greater than is generally attain¬ 
ed. It is pleasant, undoubtedly, to contemplate 
such abounding vigor, but we must pause before 
giving way to exultant f. ehug. Growth made 
during such oopious rams must ba necessarily 
succulent, and not consolidated as it would have 
been during drier weather. Should we have 
frequent rains during the remainder of summer, 
a hard succeeding winter may teach us to rue 
what appears to ua now a dooided advantage. 
Even a drought may prove a blessing in dis¬ 
guise. The experience of a recent Horticultural 
Exhibition of deciduous trees .n Gilmore’s Gar¬ 
den, N Y. City, will exemplify the correctness of 
our inferences. PLants.taken up and either balled 
with moss, or potted, during a pouring rain, 
and carted 10 miles under the same conditions, 
failed to retain the freshness of similar trees 
exhibited last year in the same place. Last 
year, however, the week preceding the exhibi¬ 
tion, was very dry, a fact which is quite signifi¬ 
cant. Japanese Maples have beeu accused of 
defective hardiness during the extreme heat of 
midsummer. It is therefore interesting to note 
that under thebnrning suns of the present July 
days, they neither scald, nor bum, nor shrivel 
up. Much of the fault that has been found 
with them has growu out of their behavior the 
year succeeding their importation Lorn Japan. 
Transplanting also checks a plant under any 
circumstances, and renders it less able to resist 
hardships during the year immediately follow¬ 
ing. 
NONE BETTER. 
What a grand Clematis Jackm&nni is! A spe¬ 
cimen of large size, just before me as I write* 
