THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
that the trouble came from a sudden stoppage 
of demand for the plants, but no one seems to 
know Why. The worms fed on the leaves be¬ 
came diseased. The plants were generally 
diseased. It is well known that taking off the 
leaves of plants while green is in t otne degree 
an injury. A plant which is continually de¬ 
foliated, will in time have a weaker constitu¬ 
tion than others which have all their leaves for 
their own use. The Multicaulis was propa¬ 
gated always from cuttings, and these 
weakened trees produced a weak race, which 
easily succumbed to fungus attacks, and the 
fungus would be communicated to the worms. 
In these days we are raising plants from seed. 
If we continue to use seedling plants, we are 
safe—if we use cuttings we shall probably 
have the same trouble as before. 
THE NEW RED RASPBERRY, “HAN¬ 
SEL !,.’ 1 
The Rural New-Yorker takes a pardon¬ 
able pride in being the first to present life-like 
illustrations of new fruits which give promise 
of filling a hitherto unoccupied place or that 
show decided improvements over older kinds. 
We now present a fancy sketch of the now 
Hansell Raspberry (Fig 27H), fancy in the ar¬ 
rangement, but very accurate as to the berry 
itself. In wlmt reRpects is it superior to well- 
known varieties? In the one respect of earli- 
ness. It ia believed to be by trustworthy 
judges the earliest red raspberry known. The 
berries are very firm, of a bright red color 
and good in quality, as we ourselves can testi¬ 
fy—while as to hardiness, it has never as yet, 
we are told, been injured in the grounds of its 
origin, vis., the farm of the Hansell Brothers 
of Burlington Go., New Jersey. 
A friend, who has seen much of the new 
Marlboro Raspberry, is willing to dispute the 
claim made for the Hansell that it is the ear¬ 
liest red raspberry known. He is willing to 
wager the sum of $50 00 , that side by side un¬ 
der the same conditions the Marlboro will 
prove as early as the Hansell, the money to 
be expended by disinterested judges in sub¬ 
scriptions to agricultural or horticultural 
papers to be donated to poor and worthy 
people. We hope the wager will be accepted, 
ft will prove an interesting trial to many; it 
will benefit at least 25 poor people in quest of 
farm or horticultural information, while no 
doubt the interest which attaches to the trial 
will give at least $50 worth of publicity to the 
Hansell and the Marlboro. Let the trial be 
made by all means. 
Strawberry Culture. 
Strawberry culture has grown from 
almost nothing within the last twenty five 
\ ears, and I feel warranted in the assumption 
that in this country it has fully doubled with¬ 
in the last decade. The introduction of the 
Hovey, and, still later, of the Wilson may be 
said to have laid the foundation for the growth 
and development of this interest, the latter 
especially possessing qualifications well adapt¬ 
ed to the modes and practice of a large class 
of cultivators. These I fancy have now served 
their purpose, and the call for something bet¬ 
ter seems destined to bring out, under a bet¬ 
ter system of culture, such improved sorts as 
Longfellow, Oliver Goldsmith, Mount Ver¬ 
non or Bidwell or, perchance, certain even 
newer sorts, possibly excelling those named, 
and destined to meet the exacting demands of 
a more discriminating market by the aid of 
improved processes. T. T. Lyon. 
SELECTION OF BREEDS. 
PROFESSOR O. K. MORROW. 
Americans deserve much credit for enter- 
,) rise in the work of importing and breeding 
improved live stock. Not only are high prices 
often paid but, what is more important, intel¬ 
ligence, good judgment and patient industry 
are very often made use of in the breeding 
and care of the stock. There is, however, 
oftentimes a lack of care in selection of 
breeds. 
The fact that a breed of animals is of great 
value in one country, does not prove it will be 
equally valuable in another. The horse or 
cow best suited for New England hill-sides is, 
presumably,not best suited for the prairies of 
Illinois. This commonplace fact is often lost 
sight of. The Channel Island Cattle have 
great value, but they are not desirable stock 
for the average general farmer of Illinois or 
Iowa, to whom beef-inaking is as important 
as milk giving. The English loug-wooled 
sheep are not suitable for light, hilly, rocky 
pastures or for the dry, thinly coated prairies 
of the Far West. Yet these and other breeds 
have been almost as freely introduced into 
regions to which they are not adapted as to 
those for which they are fitted. 
In Central Illinois we have stallions of the 
running, trotting, the English, Scotch, Cana¬ 
dian draft breeds, with crosses of all kinds— 
all patronized by general farmers; oftentimes, 
it seems, with no other reason than that the 
breed to which a given horse belongs is well 
spoken of by somebody. It would seem wiser 
for the individual and the community, if there 
were intelligent choice of a class of animals 
best adapted to the circumstances than per¬ 
sistence in the breeding of animalsof this type. 
Better reputation, hence better prices could 
thu 3 be secured. 
Of most classes of animals there is more 
than one breed of comparatively nearly equal 
merit. The Angus, Hereford and Short¬ 
horn are all excellent beef making breeds. 
Many other illustrations might be given, of 
two breeds of nearly equal value and adapta¬ 
tion for a given region. Let the average far¬ 
mer select the best known, longest tested and 
most plentiful. There are a few Swiss cattle 
in this country. Suppose the evidence satis¬ 
factory that they are as good cattle for Cen¬ 
tral Illinois as are the Short-horns, it would 
still be a mistake for an Illinois ‘‘steer-raiser” 
to purchase a Swiss bull. It would cost him 
more; be would have only a small number 
from which to select, and would have no 
security that he could find satisfactory suc¬ 
cessors to the first one chosen. It is not old- 
fogyism for the general farmer to cling to the 
well known, generally esteemed breeds, how¬ 
ever strongly little known ones may be 
praised. One can try a new variety of grain 
with little inconvenience or loss should it 
prove a failure; one cannot so try a new 
breed of animals. 
For men of enterprise, sound judgment and 
experience, the choice of a valuable but little 
known breed is often the right course—so far 
es doing good and making money are concern¬ 
ed. Shrewd men who invested in Hereford 
or Scotch polled cattle, Shropshire sheep, 
Jersey Red hogs, Plymouth Rock chickens, 
a few years ago did a good thing for their 
communities and for themselves. There are 
other breeds almost unknown in this country 
in the importation of which the right men 
might find a fortune. In modifying breeds 
now in this country to better adapt them to 
our wants, lies a work promising even greater 
good to the country and, I believe, equal or 
greater profit to those who engage in it, than 
further importations. In the life-time of a 
farmer the characteristics of any breed may 
be so greatly modified and improved that few 
would suppose the new type descended from 
the old. 
Industrial University, Champaign, Ill. 
THE FARMER’S COW. 
R. CJOOBMAN. 
The line is being sharply drawn between 
those who argue that a new breed can be orig¬ 
inated by a judicious cross-breeding among 
the existing races and cows be produced com¬ 
bining the beef qualities of one and the dairy 
qualities of others; and those who claim that 
the true course is to continue in the line pur¬ 
sued on the other side of the water and im¬ 
prove the breeds already existing. Cattle 
breeding as a science is comparatively a 
novelty in this country and naturally in its 
infancy there will be discordant views among 
those engaging in it practically and those 
theoretically sounding the trumpets from the 
watch towers. When the late illustrious 
naturalist Darwin, to whose studies and ex¬ 
periments farmers, and especially breeders, 
eire with others so much indebted, pub¬ 
lished his pioneer essay in his great work, 
“The Origin of Species,” the element in it that 
met the strongest opposition was, not the 
assumption that all organic forms have been 
evolved from one or more primordial germs, 
or that this had been effected by natural 
selection, but that such natural selection was 
without design and conducted by unintelli¬ 
gent physical causes, and, however true this 
disputed point may be as to early creations, 
we know not only from the history of all tho 
leading breeds of cattle which are of record, 
but from the books of Mr. Darwin himself 
that the present condition of the most highly 
esteemed beef and dairy animals is owing to 
judicious selection uid intelligent scientific 
breeding. 
This science was but a swaddled infant 
when our ancestors settled m the wilderness 
of America, and even if they had been familiar 
with it, their conditions and surroundings 
were such that compliance with its requisitions 
would have been impracticable even if judi¬ 
cious. The segregation of employments even 
then existing in the older-settled countries 
could not at once be established here, and as 
the attorney and barrister were united in one 
person, the barber and surgeon In another, 
and the apothecary and doctor were one and 
the same individual, so the farmer was the 
agriculturist, the butcher, the milkman and 
often the shoemaker and carpenter combined, 
and the cattle that he needed were of a like 
composite nature carrying beef and producing 
milk, butter, veal and leather for the use of the 
community generally. Now, as we have pro¬ 
gressed in civilization, population and wealth 
we are approximating in all these and other 
employments aud conditions our elder brethren 
across the water, and the farmer’s cows are 
different in their requirements from their pre¬ 
decessors. With the exception of the Devons 
none of the original introductions from the 
various counties and districts of Great Britain, 
from Holland. Sweden and other Continental 
regions were preserved in their purity by the 
colonists, and our “native” cattle are derived 
from all these importations graded up again 
occasionally by the introduction of pure bred 
English bulls, usually Durhams. 
Now we have come to the “parting of the 
ways,” and the question is mooted whether 
the farmer had better, according to his busi¬ 
ness of beef raiser or dairyman, select from 
one of the established breeds and continue the 
improvement of that, or attempt from a com¬ 
bination of these to raise a new variety better 
adapted to his special needs. There have been 
one or two almost successful efforts in this 
country to establish an independent milking 
species from our domestic varieties, but in all 
probability the principle of heredity and that 
form of it termed atavism interfered with the 
conti nuance of the experiment. There are so 
many conditions inseparable from brooding 
under the mo3t intelligent and scientific ma¬ 
nipulation that an ordinary farmer will hesi¬ 
tate before making tho attempt—the time re¬ 
quired ; the prepotency of a single animal—as 
in the case of the famous Short-horn bull 
Favorite—of one race over another, as in the 
case of the Short-horns generally; the results 
of selection from tho same stock by different 
breeders—the sheep of Buckley and Burgess 
from the original flocks of Bakewell differing 
so as to appear of different varieties—and the 
various conditions of soil, climate, extent and 
character of country. 
Heavy breeds of cattle could not be formed 
or improved on mountainous pastures—the 
cattle of the small islands of Jersey, Guernsey 
and Alderney could not have come to their 
present merits as butter-producers with the 
same rapidity in a widely extended country, 
nor could the wool of sheep have been so in¬ 
creased in length within the tropics, nor the 
varieties of round-bodied, short-snouted pigs 
have attained their rotundity and early-fatten¬ 
ing qualities if allowed to roam as in Homer’s [ 
day searching for their own provender; 
though they would be thereby more healthy j 
as food for us. We have in this country with 
its diverse characters of soil and various tem- j 
peratures a3 good conditions for the experi- ! 
ment of improving the present or creating a * 
new species of useful cow for the shambles or 
dairy as cau expand perhaps the easiest way j 
for the enterprising and intelligent farmer is 
to select from snehoneof the improved breeds 
as is adapted to his purpose as perfect speci¬ 
mens as he can afford to obtain, and improve 
them,instead of starting de novo, and running 
the risk of all the obstacles interfering with 
his progress which have already been met and 
eliminated. The butter maker can hardly ex¬ 
pect in his generation to raise up a oow which 
will excel in production seven to eight hundred 
pounds per annum; the beef producer to im- j 
prove the Improved Durham or Hereford, 1 
and the ordinary farmer can get satisfactory 
esults by the crossing of our best “native” 
cows with the Jersey, Ayrshire or Short¬ 
horn bulls, according to the needs of his family 
or business for butter, milk or beef. 
Lenox, Mass. 
- ♦ « ♦- 
HOLSTEIN CATTLE. 
"The Netherland Family." 
(See first page.) 
The group of Holstein cattle whose like¬ 
nesses are presented to our readers on the 
first page was drawn for the Rural by Mr. 
Cecil Palmer, a successful and conscientious 
artist. The drawings, we are told, are un¬ 
usually true to life. The group is from the 
herd of Smiths & Powell, Syracuse, N. Y. 
The animals are all imported and represent 
the “Netherland Family,” consisting of the 
dam. Lady Netherland, seven years old; her 
daughters Netherland Queen, five years old, 
Netherland Princess, three years old, and her 
son, Netherland Prince, two years old. The 
sires pf the three youuger animals were [ 
closely related. This is a family of which 
Messrs. Smiths & Powell are justly very 
proud. The family characteristics which are 
so marked in the group are retained by all 
their descendants. They are low, blocky, 
square, with flue heads, straight, broad backs, 
broad, straight rumps, deep, square quarters 
and short, flue limbs. Their unusual fineness 
and finish are apparent to the most casual 
observer. They have made for themselves an 
enviable reputation. Lady Netherland gave, 
as a two-year-old, 50 pounds of milk per day, 
and as a four-year-old, 73 pounds per day. 
Netherland Queen, as a two year-old, gave 58 
pounds 12 ounces per day, 18,574 pounds three 
ounces in one year, and as a four-year-old, 76 
pounds per day, and 15,614 pounds nine 
ounces in a year. Netherland Princess ns a 
three-year old gave 55 pounds 14 ounces per 
day, and in two months and six days, she 
yielded 3,440 pounds six ounces. She made in 
one week, before she was three years old, 14 
pounds four ounces of butter, and as a three- 
year old, 14 pounds 11)5 ounces per week on 
Winter feed Lady Netherland has not yet 
been exhibited. Netherland Queen was 
awarded 1st prize at tho New York State Fair 
as a yearling; 1 st as a two-year old; 2 d as a 
three year old, when by the rules of the 
Society she had to compete with mature 
cows, and 1st as a four-year old. She was 
one of the herd that won the gold mede l at the 
same fair two years. She also took 1st prize 
at the Onondaga County Fair three years. 
Netherland Princess has been exhibited but 
once when sho won 2d price at the New York 
State Fair. Netherland Prince won 1 st prize 
at the New York State Fair, and also 1st at 
the Onondaga County Fair l ist year—tho only 
times he has been exhibited. This firm have 
spent much time in Holland this season select¬ 
ing every descendant and relative of this family 
of which they now have about 25 head. The 
only female yet offered and sold of this family 
was a two-year old, recently sold for $ 1 , 000 . 
-- 
Dr. E. Lewis ^turtevant, Director of the iV. 
F Ac/ Ex. S f ation, says that the. RukaL 
New-Yorker has the best list of contributors 
of any paper of its class. 
HAMBLETONIAN STALLION ENCHAN¬ 
TER 
(See illustration page 56(5.) 
The following is the pedigree of this dark- 
brown stallion with small star on forehead: 
owned by Messr--. Poweli Bros. Spring 1 0 - 0 , Ta: 
Sired by “Administrator,” by “Rysdvk's 
Hambletonian,” by “Abdallah,” by “Mam- 
brino,” by imported “Messenger.” Enchan¬ 
ter’s Dam “Dolly,” by “Black Bashaw,” by 
“Young Bashaw,” by imported “Grand Bas¬ 
haw.” Enchanter’s Grandam by “Saladin,”by 
“Young Bashaw,” by imported “Grand Bas¬ 
haw.” Administrator’s Dam by “Mambri- 
no Chief,” by “Mambrino Paymaster,” by 
“Mambrino,” by “Messenger.” Administra¬ 
tors Grandam by “Arabian Tartar.” Admi¬ 
nistrator’s Great-grandarn by “Duroc Mes¬ 
senger,” by “Delany’s Diomed,” by imported 
“Diomed.” Mambrino Paymaster’s Dim be¬ 
lieved to be by imported ‘ ‘Paymaster. ” Du¬ 
roc Messenger’s Dam by “Bush Messenger,"by 
“Messenger." Bush Messenger’s Dam * Queen 
Anne,” by “Cler.” Bush Messenger’s Gran¬ 
dam by “Figure.” Bush Messenger’s Great- 
grandarn an imported mare “Leader.” De¬ 
laney’s Diomed’s Dam by “Candit’s Colit c 
tor." Delaney’s Diomed’s Grandam, by 
“Mead’s Nameless.” Rysdyk’s Hamble¬ 
tonian’a Dam “The ChEis. Hint Mare” by im¬ 
ported “Bellfounder.” Rysdyk’s Hamble- 
tonian’s Grandam “One Eye,” by “Bishop’s 
Hambletonian,” by imported “Messenger." 
Rysdyk’s Hambletonian’s Great-grandarn 
“Silver Tail,” by imported “Messenger.” 
Bishop’s Hambletonian’s Dam Pleasant, by 
imported “Shark.” Bishop’s Hambletonian’s 
Grandam by imported “Medley.” Abdallah’s 
Dam said to be by a son of imported “Mes¬ 
senger.” Mambrino’s dam, by imported 
“Sourcrout. ” Mambrino’s Grandam by im¬ 
ported “Whirligig". Mambrino’s Great- 
grandarn by imported “Wildair.” Black 
Bashaw’s Dam by “True American.’’ Black 
Bashaw’s Grandam by “Hickory,” by im¬ 
ported “Whip.” Young Bashaw’s Dam 
“Pearl,” by “First Consul,” by “Flag of 
Truce,” by imported “Goldfinder.” Young 
Bashaw’s Grandam “Fancy,” by “Messen¬ 
ger.” Young Bashaw's Great-Grandam by 
imported “Rockingham.” Saladin’s Dam 
a Virginia mare (Dam of “Charlotte Temple”) 
and believed to be well bred. Hickory’s Dam 
“Dido,” by imported “Dare Devil.” First 
Consul’s Dam by imported “Slender.” First 
Consul’s Grandam imported “Dian.” Flag 
of Truce’s Dam by imported “Flunnap.” 
It will be seen from the above pedigree that 
in this stallion is united the choicest blocd of 
American trotters. Here is the thorough¬ 
bred English Messenger, the first illustrious 
ancestor to which we trace, and who has 
proved to be the most generally useful and 
valuable horse ever imported into our coun¬ 
try. Following him is his scarcely less valu¬ 
able son, the thoroughbred Mambrino, and 
after him the famous grandson Abdallah, 
which on hri dam’s side traces to Bell- 
founder, another imported English horse of 
much merit. Thus there is found in the first 
three generations of ancestors the uniting of 
uncommon fleetness, fine action, great en¬ 
durance, stoutness, docility, soundness, and 
level headedness. These requisites for a prime 
horse have been kept np in the remaining 
generations, giving this superb animal a com¬ 
bination of excellence which will undoubtedly 
bring him, hereafter, into high favor with 
the public. 
To those who are at all acquainted with 
