MARCH 48 
can entertain such different ideas in view of 
the facts of the case! 
In regard to our continued importations of 
cattle from Europe, I was much pleased to 
see recorded an opinion by a gentleman whose 
“opinion is an opinion,” because he is an un¬ 
usually intelligent and competent judge. I 
refer to Major II. E. Alvord. The Major, at 
a farmers’ meeting in Orange County, N. Y., 
speaking on the subject of the improvement 
of farm-stock, remarked as foliovra: “Build 
up your own hard. If the present large im¬ 
portations of cows into this o untry are net 
stopped, I fully believe that nine-tenths of the 
cows in the country will be swept away by 
contagious diseases,” The burden of these 
notes has been precisely to this effect: Let- 
farmers improve their own herds, and I have 
worked continually to impress this fact, aud 
the manner in which it may be accomplished, 
upou farmers. Breeders have fallen upon me 
and have given me “a dig” occasionally, like 
friend G-oodman: but can’t they see that I am 
working in their interest, too 'i For how can 
farmers improve without the help of the 
breeders ? These are the right hand and the 
farmers are the left of this needed w ork. 
But Major Alvord opens up a most serious 
and timely topic. Contagious diseases are 
not native here. Pleuropneumonia was 
brought hither with the Dutch (so-called Hol¬ 
stein) cattle imported by Mr. Chenery of 
Massachusetts. Aud it has done more dam¬ 
age than could be replaced by all the cattle in 
Holland. Foot-and-mouth disease, perhaps 
more troublesome and costly in England than 
pleuro pneumonia, has been brought to our 
coasts in ships and has infected some exported 
cattle; but fortunately found no ready seed¬ 
bed prepared for it on land and made no per¬ 
manent stay. Nearly all our insect pests have 
been imported, and, in view of the eter-pres- 
ent and enormous danger to our vast live 
stock interests, it is time that this risk should 
be considered. We need no more importa¬ 
tions, excepting to afford speculators oppor¬ 
tunities to make money; but while wealthy 
persons who are neither breeders nor farmers, 
buy these imported cattle as they buy pic¬ 
tures and old china, the danger pointed out by 
Major Alvord will exist, and farmers will 
have little chance to improve their herds be¬ 
cause a fictitious value is given to the stock. 
GREAT SUPERIORITY AND PROFIT OF 
WELL-BRED CATTLE ON THE 
WESTERN PLAINS. 
I observe by the reports of several exten¬ 
sive ranchmen, that their losses in cattle dur¬ 
ing the uncommonly severe Winter of 1880- 
’81 were much less among the grade stock 
got by Short born and Hereford bulls out of 
native cows, than among the pure Texans and 
other natives running in the same herds, all 
faring precisely alike. To this is the added 
advantage that the steers of these grades sell 
more quickly, and at a considerably higher 
price, pound for pound, in the Eastern mar¬ 
kets. Why should this last not be the case, 
when their meat is so much more savory and 
nutritious ? As a matter of economy it is 
worth twice to thrice the money, the percent¬ 
age of tender, juicy flesh being so much great¬ 
er over the bone and gristle. Then the grades 
have a larger and more rapid growth for the 
food consumed, the earliest maturing at the 
age of two years, which again is a second con¬ 
siderable saving on the interest on capital in¬ 
vested in the business, and also in the risk of 
loss by straying, accident or disease. 
There is a plain physical reason why well 
bred cattle prove hardier than ill-bred, when 
reared alongside of each other. It is simply 
because their organization, both inside and 
outside, is superior. Their digestion and the 
circulation of their blood are freer and more 
thorough; their skin is more mellow and 
clothed with finer, thicker hair, often supple¬ 
mented with an under-coat of soft fur, almost 
impenetrable to snow or rain. Here are rea¬ 
sons enough adduced to show the immense ad¬ 
vantage of good breeding over bad, and its 
greater success and profit. 
Nor is this a short experience given above, 
as several of the most prosperous ranchmen 
15 to 20 years ago took Bhort-horn bulls for 
breeding to native cows in Montana, and so 
on a similar line along the various Terri¬ 
tories as far south as Northern Texas. For 
the greater prosperity, then, of these enter¬ 
prising men in cattle raising, they owe noth¬ 
ing to what, is vulgarly called “good luck;” 
but all to the choice they had the good sense 
to make of a superior breed of males to grade 
up their calves. This gruding in some in¬ 
stances is so high now as to give mauy of their 
animals almost the appearance of thorough¬ 
breds; and they are fully equal to them foi the 
profit in feeding aud marketing for slaughter, 
and more particularly for the purpose of ship¬ 
ping abroad; for En lish butchers will accept 
only the best for their shambles. 
Young Bhort-horn aud Hereford bulls can 
THE RURAL MEW-YORKER. 
be purchased at present at low prices, from 
the border Western States as far east as 
Maine, and now is the best time to select them 
so that they may arrive at the ranch in ear¬ 
ly Spring, and get well recruited and accli¬ 
mated before the season of their service com¬ 
mences. In this way they will be more vigor¬ 
ous and prove surer and stronger getters. In 
our enlightened day and rivalry to produce 
the best in allkmd-i of domestic animals there 
must be no lagging among Ihe breeders; for 
if they do not rapidly approach to a high 
mark there will be little profit in pursuing 
their business, and perhaps none at all a few 
years hence, if they continue obstinately jog¬ 
ging along the old, rugged, unimproved road¬ 
way. a. B. A. 
LARGE SALE OF JERSEYS IN INDIANA. 
Messrs. Hoover & Co. and Col. A. C. 
Jennings sold at public sale, at Indianapolis, 
on March 1, 70 head of Jersey cattle. The at¬ 
tendance was fair and the prices much better 
than those that were realized last year. Except 
1” head all the stock were registered. The sale 
realized 812,075,an average of 8181.07per bead. 
The 21 registered cows averaged $195 21, and 
the 31 registered heifers $177.90. The heifers 
brought better prices, proportionately, than 
the cows, aud were preferred by buyers. The 
bidding at times was spirited, and the prices 
show that there is a derided advance over last 
year, whi h is encouraging to breeders. Be¬ 
low we give a purtial list and prices:— 
Cash Boy, 2,218, A.A. Gibson, Columbus, Ohio....$1,030 
Ur oil's Farmers’ Glory, Col 1, F, Grey, Indi¬ 
anapolis, Ind. 605 
Lemon, 11,710, Samuel Poyntz, Maysvillc, K' .... 500 
Anna Caulfield,6,VS2, William Garrison, Yeh w 
Springs, Ohio. i30 
Kate Phillips, 14,282, K. S. Kingman, Sparta, V . 350 
Uhoda of West River, -1,941, and heifer calf, D. 1 . 
& S. S. Tripp, Peoria, III. 350 
Queen of Prospect, 11,99;, It. S. Kingman, Sparu, 
Wls.*. 335 
Miss Edith, 8,694, H. E. Parrott, Dayton, Olik .... 290 
Caroline, 5,869, J. N Barker. Thornton, ind. 250 
Etta Palmer, 11,781, Isaac S. Erhart, Mullbury, 
Ind. 250 
Miss Betsy of Timlow, u,9o8, R. S. Kingman, Spar¬ 
ta, Wls. 340 
Lady Carroll, 6,194, Charles N. Henry, Andover, 
Ind.,. 205 
Mint Drop, 8,990, P O. Sliarpless, Marlon, Ohio... 200 
Bessie B. of Timlow, 6,907, W.M. Bell, Miami, Mo. 170 
Carolina 2nd, 11.41U, C. R. C. Dye, Troy, Ohio. ISO 
PiccJola of Lebanon, 6,596, W. .1. G. Dean, Han¬ 
over, Mich-.. 175 
Lady Jane Heed, 11,711, Jas.T.Castell, Brazil,Ind. 175 
Cey of Baltimore, 9,-44, ,1.W. Richards, Ross,Ind. 175 
♦ -- 
To Subdue Vicious Horned Cattle. E. 
McM., writes us from Darlington, Pa., that a 
very simple means of accomplishing this is to 
fasten an old saddle flap to the horns, letting 
it hang down over the eyes. This has never 
failed to tame the most turbulent beast, 
---- 
A GOOD thing to have handy at this time of 
the year is a “rubber finger stall” fitted to an 
appropriate bottle with which to feed a chilled 
calf or colt. You will find it far more easy 
than to hold the animal up to suck and more 
successful than a spoon. “A Subscriber.” 
Pflirt) i)nshatiiiri). 
THE WATER SUPPLY IN DAIRYING 
X. A. WILLARD. 
There are some important requisites for 
success in dairying, which are often overlook¬ 
ed, or, at least, are not duly considered by 
those about to enter upon this branch of in¬ 
dustry. The high price for dairy products 
during the past two years and the facility 
with which the factory system cau be carried 
into new districts have induced many farmers 
to turn their attention to dairying under the 
impression that the establishment of a cheese 
factory or a creamery among them is all that 
is needed for dairying to be successful and 
remunerative. This is a mistake, as many 
have found to their cost, aud it is for the pur¬ 
pose of drawing attention to some of the more 
common sources of failure that the following 
suggestions are made. 
No section of country is adapted to dairying 
unless it has an abundant water supply, 
either in springs and streams of clean, running 
water, or from wells or ponds so arranged as 
to furnish it fresh and in abundance as needed 
by Btook. I reg ird good water, conveniently 
located and ample in quantity for the wants 
of dairy stock, as the chief or most important 
requisite for a dairy farm. Pastures may 
fail and the ordinary sources of food may be 
cut short from time to time, but these may 
with proper care be guarded against by sup¬ 
plementing with soiling crops, with ground 
grain or, Indeed, by the purchase of bran and 
mill feed to bridge over drought, or the tem¬ 
porary failure of grass crops. But a failure in 
the water supply, even if it does not cause 
disease aud death in the herd, will bo diminish 
the yield of milk as to make any kind of cows 
unremunerative as milk-producers. Herds 
that fall off in milk for lack of water during 
Summer cannot be readily brought back to 
a full yield during the remainder of theseason, 
though abundantly supplied will water and 
feed. 1 saw this tested in numerous instances 
during the drought last Summer in some of 
the best dairy sections of Now York win re 
certain dairy farmers failed iu their water 
supply, and where w'ater had to be hauled for 
a loug d stance in cans for the supply of stock. 
In some instances teams were kept running 
constantly during the day, for weeks, and yet 
the herds were only partially supplied with 
the water they needed, and the yield of milk 
in consequence so fell off in quantity, that the 
average could not be brought back aguin on a 
full supply of water and lead. Another 
notable feature in the milk of these cows 
while being famished for lack of water, was 
its inferior quality, siuce 12 pounds of this 
milk were barely sufficient to make a pound of 
cheese, whereas before the water famine ten 
pounds of milk from the same cows were suffi¬ 
cient for the pound of cheese. 
Any one, who has seen a large herd of milch 
cows suffering from lack of water during hot, 
dry weather and has noted the anxiety, the 
trouble and loss of daily men having charge of 
such stock, Will, I think, agree with me that 
the water supply on dairy farms is of the 
highest consideration. 
But there are many farms where water is 
abundant, yet of bad quality, especially during 
hot weather. It is tile water found iu swales 
and sloughs—stagnant water reeking with the 
filth of decomposing vegetable matter. The 
cows that alike thirst in such water yield 
bad and unwholesome milk, from which no 
first class product, whether butter or cheese, 
can be made. A single herd compelled to get 
water from such sources, yields milk that 
when iniugled with good rnilk contaminates 
it. Like yeast, a 1 ttle will effect a large 
quantity of sound milk, rendering the whole 
mass unsound and causing trouble in inanu 
factoring. This is the kind of milk that is 
prolific in causing floating-curds, “off flavor¬ 
ed” cheese, and other disasters in the dairy, 
that injure the reputation of competent 
manufacturers, aud are the sources of serious 
loss to dairymen. So bad was the milk from 
this source at certain factories during the hot, 
dry weather of August last, that some cheese 
makers had resort to the use of vinegar in 
manipulating their curds in order to save the 
product from totul loss; the stench from these 
curds is often most offensive while being 
worked, and the consumer who eats of the 
goods must have a stomach “poison-proof." 
Dairymen not only as a mutter of economy 
and profit to themselves, but as a duty to 
consumers of dairy products, should look well 
to the water supply of their farms. If they 
are not provided with springs and Btreams of 
never-failing water which is fresh and whole¬ 
some, wells should be sunk and windmills 
erected for pumping water into tanks so that 
dairy stock may get a full supply of fresh > 
healthy water; and especial care should be 
takeu to prevent milch cows from drinking 
the stagnant water of sloughs and filthy 
pools. 
The time is coming, I hope, when dairymen 
will be compelled to recognize the fact that 
wholesome milk cannot be made from un¬ 
wholesome water—that he who conqels his 
stock to slake thirst out of pools festering with 
typhoid and other diseases is more criminal 
when he sends the milk of such cows to the 
consumer, than he who skims, and dilutes his 
milk with pure water, since the flrs-t tampers 
with health and life whilst the latter touches 
only the pocket. But mauy farmers aie 
ignorant of these facts and think they do no 
barm in compelling cows to drink of filthy 
waters, and when their milk is taken to the 
factory, the manufacturer is expected to turn 
it into a flue product, and a failure to do so is 
charged to a lack of skill or neglect of his 
duties. 1 can point to farms when the lack of 
water for the need of herds has made more 
loss in a single season than the cost of sinking 
wells and erecting wind-mills for giving an 
abundunt supply—the question of a good 
water supply for dairy farms is one that not 
only pertains to new districts where dairying 
is about to be introduced, but it concerns 
largely the old dairy districts where from 
neglect, or ignorance as to the true value of 
good w'ater conveniently located for stock, 
there is an inadequate supply. 
The widespread removal of forests and the 
cutting down of timber on isolated patches of 
land throughout the dairy regions of New 
York and elsewhere, together with climatic 
changes, have decreased t-he water supply on 
many dairy farms; springs and streams once 
supposed to be permanent now are found to fail 
in early Summer unless the season is more 
than ordinarily wet. Upon such farms unhss 
some provision is made for obtaining a per¬ 
manent supply of water to meet the wants of 
stock, dairying will soon have to be aban- 
. doned as it must prove unremunerative. 
&\)t Suniif-ijcr'D. 
SWINE NOTES. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
A dozen years ago there w as no animal in¬ 
dust ry go much neglected, in the way of asso¬ 
ciation of those engaged in it, as that followed 
by the breeders and growers of swine. A Na¬ 
tional Swine Breeders’Convention, held first 
in New York City and afterwards at Indian¬ 
apolis, Ind., began the work of organization 
and association of swine breeders, which has 
resulted in the formation of societies to pro¬ 
vide for the more careful breeding and regis¬ 
tration of Berkshire, Poland-China and Small 
Yorkshire hogs. This convention brought 
order out of chaos and fixed the name of the 
Poland-China hogs, which before that time 
had been known by several different names. 
I r. also established a standard of characteris¬ 
tics for the several breeds of swine, as well ns 
for the various families which had originated 
in America and had been named. These 
standards have been of great use to breeders, 
and have prevented imposition in the sale of 
graded pigs as thoroughbreds. Before this 
convention was held, Poland-China hogs—the 
most extensively bred of any American breed 
—were not ranked as -thoroughbred, because 
each leading breeder had liis own standard or 
type, and these were quite dissimilar, leading 
to confusion and dispute. Caester Whites 
were also somewhat varied in type. The true 
history of different breeds was obtained, as 
far as it possibly could be, and adopted by the 
Convention, and became authority. 
A writer in the Rural recently recom¬ 
mended that a sow which ate her pigs should 
be slaughtered as soon as possible, as she was 
not “ fit” for a breeder. This does not follow. 
This disposition is not natural, but, Is the re¬ 
sult of disease. It is an unmistakable evidence 
of it, ond is generally caused by constipation, 
which is produced by being compelled to live 
upon too dry or too rich food, and being de¬ 
prived of exercise. I have known a number 
of cases where sows, when confined in a pen 
and fed exclusively upon grain, have destroy¬ 
ed their pigs with ns much ferocity as tigers; 
but in the Summer time, when running out 
to gra-^s, these have proved t.o be t he gentlest 
and best of mothers. Bows at the time of 
parturition are always more or less feverish 
ami excitable. For several wmeks before this 
period they should lie fed light and succulent 
food, to cool tlie Wood and keep the stomach 
and bowels in the most healthy order. The 
excitement and ferociousness of a sow when 
at the l.irth of the young generally does not 
last louger than a day or two, and if the pigs 
are taken away from her ai d returned only 
to suck, the sow being muzzled beforehand, 
they may be saved. The sow should lie fed 
nothing but brun mashes which have been 
scalded, and given to her warm. A large 
opium pill might, be forced down her throat, 
which would allay the excitement and keep 
her quiet for a time; and this should be re¬ 
newed if the paroxysms shoul I return. An 
ounce or two of castor ofi, according to the 
size of the animal, should also bo given as 
soon as the unnatural condition is manifest. 
Bore te .IS or nipples are often tie cause of ug¬ 
liness in a sow. These should be thoroughly 
oiled or smeared with grease before the time 
for the pigs to come, being first washed clean. 
A little attention iu this direction will some¬ 
times save a great deal of trouble, besides 
loss. _ 
Some people dare not attempt to handle 
their sows. This is their own fault. They get 
int > the pen, when they must, armed with a 
club ora shovel. Bach pens nr.- seldom denned, 
and the pigs w hich are forced 1 1 lie in them 
must needs be filthy. This is not ti.e way to 
bring up nigs, A pig is a very easy animal to 
educate Like people, whom they more closely 
resemble tlmn any oilier animals iu some re¬ 
spects. their education must begin when they 
are very young. If they are brought up in 
the way 1 hey should go, the training should 
begin when they are sucklings, by picking 
them up and stroking them gently. If the 
owner’s enthusiasm and interest in them should 
lie so great as to cause him to carry thorn to 
the house to show- the children nml to let them 
play with them, all the bettpr. The pigs 
should be bundled and taught, not t o ho afraid. 
When this is done the mothers will be docile 
aud much more easily managed. 
A Berkshire Sow. 
In the Rural of February 25 we presented 
to our readers a portrait of a Berkshire 
boar, and in Fig 88, page 181, we now bring 
to their notice a ilk. ness of a sow of the same 
very excellent breed. Berkshire sow “ Clar¬ 
ice Clermont,” 7,200; bred by John Buell’s 
Bon«, Edmonton, Out.: furrowed May 24, 
l'-80: got, by “ Royal Hope,” 2,917, bred by 
}l Hinnfrev, England; dam “Constance Cler¬ 
mont ” 7,281, by • Windermere,” 2,089; second 
dam imported “Lady Clermont, ” 4,4 M, by 
“Birmingham;” tbiid dam “Kate,” by “Irish 
Blacksmith;” fourth dam “Katbh no,” by ‘ 1 Ji- 
hernianfifth dam “Katbanio," by "Joe 
Hogg.” "Ciar cel Lrmont’ t ink first premium 
at New York Btute Fair. 1881. Bhe is the 
property of Mr. T. R. Proctor, owner of 
Baggs’s Hotel Farm, Utica, N. Y.j 
