ditches that have to be annually cleaned out, 
and then add to this the unreliability of the 
masiTof laborers, then they can appreciate the 
justness and propriety of their claims upon 
the Government for that fostering care and 
protection that alone will enable them to 
struggle through this ordeal of self preserva¬ 
tion, not only for themselves, but for the great 
multitude of ignorant people who know noth¬ 
ing else, and whose physical constitutions are 
only suited to this clime and country. Once 
take away that protection, and what must be 
the result ? Either a widespread ruin to all, 
or, what is more probable, most of the plant¬ 
ers will transfer their great works to Mexico 
or Central America, and leave the dependent 
colored people to take care of themselves. It 
must be understood that they are now so close 
on the northern border of the sugar zone that 
such severe Winters as the past one cuts them 
short to only a half crop. I have now before 
me a letter from a planter in Franklin 
Parish, La., who lost his seed cane entirely 
and wants our Orange seed as a substi¬ 
tute. It is probable, as this variety be¬ 
comes acclimated and people learn bow to 
handle it to the best advantage, that it will be¬ 
come a great supplement to this sugar-cane 
of the Gulf States. This view is becoming so 
prevalent there that the Planters' Associatiou 
appointed 15 delegates to attend our Missis¬ 
sippi Valley Cane-Growers’ Association, held 
in this city Jan. 3, 1888. I. A. Hedges. 
St. Louis, Mo. 
-- 
SHIPPING CATTLE TO EUROPE. 
We took occasion a tew days since to visit 
one of the ocean steamers which transport 
cattle to foreign countries. The vessel lay at 
her moorings at Jersey City, just across the 
Hudson River from New York, and was to 
sail iu three days, but as the cattle are not 
put cm board until the vessel is about ready to 
set sail, we unfortunately could not see the 
animals in position for their ocean voyage. 
However, a short interview with the officer 
in charge, in addition to a proper use of the 
eyes, gave us sufficient information on which 
to base our remarks. The vessel carries SOU 
head of horned cattle when the pens are full, 
but on this trip she was to carry but about 200. 
We w r ere informed that never more than two 
or three are lost either by disease or jettison 
on this line in a single trip across. The larg¬ 
est number of cattle that can be conveyed in 
one ship at one time is 1,000, 
THE STALLS 
which the ship-carpenters were just complet¬ 
ing were, on this vessel, made after the “Bos¬ 
ton style ” as they call it; that is to say, the 
apartments which are generally adapted for 
about four to six cattle each are separated by 
three upright pieces, about two liy six inches, 
placed a short distance apart at or near the 
middle of the dividing line between the two 
stalls, and fastened at top and bottom by 
nails and cleats. The other “style” forms 
the apartments by the use of inch-boards 
placed parallel with the floor instead of at 
right angles with it as in the. previous case, 
the top board being about on a line with the 
back of the cattla Stalls calculated for four 
cattle are built SxlO feet in size. The floor to 
the stalls on the vessel we visited is movable, 
or what, for want of a better name, might be 
termed a “ false floor.” In fact the space now 
occupied by the pens was, on the trip over, 
occupied by “apartments” for immigrants. 
The floors are in sections and when not in 
use, are piled away in the hold. IVhen these 
sections are put down the ship carpenters are 
very liable to break the second commandment, 
since each section is made for a certain place, 
perhaps is fitted to an iron column or support, 
and when no mark of designation is appar¬ 
ent, some little trouble is liable to attend the 
laying of the floor. 
THE FEED 
on the voyage consists of hay with perhaps 
some roots. The cattle being tied by ropes 
and standing with their heads toward the pas¬ 
sage-way are easily fed, though we should 
imagine somewhat extravagantly, inasmuch, as 
no troughs or racks are used and the fodder is 
thrown on the floor before them. We under¬ 
stood that the insurance companies refused to 
insure against damage as long as troughs were 
used, as the cattle were apt to be thrown 
against them. However, we think there is 
ani] tie scope for improvement iu the stalls and 
manner of feeding on board ship. 
A word as to the number and value of 
the horned cattle shipped to Europe from 
American ports may be of interest iu this 
connection. In the three mouths ending June 
30, 1880, the number of horned cattle shipped 
was 78,099, valued at §5,730,453, or something 
over §77 per head, while for the same period 
of 1881 there were 50,099 head shipped, valued 
at 83,940,043, or a little over §78 per head. 
For the ten years ending wdth 1880, there has 
been a constant increase in value of exports 
of cattle excepting in the year 1875, when the 
value was §1,103,085 against $1,150,857 for 
WHY JOHNNY AND HIS SISTER DON’T 
1874. The total value of these exported 
has amounted to §13,844,195 in 18S0. 
Ellwanger & Barry’s seedlings, the Roches¬ 
ter and Monroe, Continue to be very satisfac¬ 
tory. Last season when many grapes failed 
to set their fruit well, owing to unfavorable 
weather at the blossoming time, the: e proved 
remarkable exceptions and produced such an 
amount of fruit that they took off fully one- 
half from the vines when in a green state. 
The Rochester, with its large, shouldered, com¬ 
pact clusters, Is a remarkably handsome 
grape; and the bunches are borne in such 
abundance that they are very showy and 
attractive. The vine is vigorous and the 
foliage very healthy. It has some defects, but 
where is the grape that has not/ The Roches¬ 
ter is not destined to be spread broadcast, for 
it cannot be propagated except with some dif¬ 
ficulty. Monroe is very early, pleasant-flav- 
ored: vine very vigorous, hardy, prolific, and 
the foliage is healthy. 
Ma. Ward of the Elmira Farmers’ Club 
(reported in the Elmira Husbandman) pre¬ 
sumes that there is no better beet for feeding 
than the Improved Imperial. If he wanted a 
yellow, he would take the Njvers. What Im¬ 
proved Imperial is referred to? There are 
Lane’s Improved Imperial Sugar, Vilmorin’s 
Improved Imperial Sugar, Knauer’s Improved 
Imperial and we know not how many others. 
We have tried Vilmorin’s, the sweetest and 
most tender of beets. TheNivers, too. Would 
some member of the club tell us about this 
beet? Mr. Armstrong mentions several in¬ 
stances showing the considerable capacity of 
this beet to withstand freezing. 
Mb. Hoffman would raise the Purple-cop 
Rutabaga. Why not take that,he asks,in place 
of any variety of beets? It will give a greater 
crop, is more easily raised anrl requires less 
labor to harvest. If it is alleged that it is not 
worth so much for feeding; he a uswers there is 
compensation in the tops that make a good 
deal of green fodder at a time when it is most 
valuable. But he does not admit the claim 
that beets are better. In bis judgment, 
based on an extended experience, there is 
little difference in feeding value of beets, car¬ 
rots and rutabagas. They arc all inferior to 
potatoes, about in the ratio of one to four. As 
between beets and rutabagas the advantage 
is greatly in favor of the latter, so far as cost 
of raising and gathering is concerned. But if 
he were to raise beets he would prefer the 
Yellow Globe, because it yields well. 
No doubt rutabagas or turnips will impart 
bad taste to milk when fed liberally with¬ 
out grain, and they may make thin milk, 
continued Mr. Hoffman. But that is not 
the way to feed them. Whatever differ¬ 
ence there may be in the feeding value of ruta¬ 
bagas, turnips, beets and carrots, when used 
for milk production, he has not been able to 
find it in trials conducted for that purpose. All 
these roots have a large proportion of water; 
they are all inferior when compared with 
potatoes. His estimate is that an acre of land 
which produces two hundred bushels of pota' 
LIKE TO GO ’CROSS LOTS TO SCHOOL- 
toes will give a better return in that crop than 
six hundred bushels of any other root 
f named, taking account of cost of production, 
and feeding value. Some years ago he tr ied 
the experiment of feeding rutabagas, beets 
and carrots, each a fixed period, a bushel a day 
to each cow. then potatoes, a peck to each 
cow for a like period, then the order repeated. 
He found no difference in milk produced in 
favor of beets, carrots or rutabagas, and the 
peck of potatoes gave as good milk yield as 
any of the others with bushel rations. It is 
said that turnips cannot be fed to milch cows 
without imparting bad taste to the milk. 
Years ago, when he knew less about feeding 
cows than now, he fed large quantities of tur¬ 
nips, and was very particular to inquire of 
those who bought the milk about its taste and 
odor, for he had been told by many feeders 
that turnips would spoil the milk. Not a --in¬ 
gle person had any fault to find, simply 
because the milk was absolutely free from 
flavor and odor of turnips. The explanation 
was in the grain given with the roots. Feed 
turnips without grain and they will impart 
their flavor to milk. With liberal allowances 
of grain, they will not. 
It will be seen by the following that Mr. 
Henry Stewart does not at all agree with Mr. 
Hoffman in his favorable estimate of turnips. 
The white turnip is, however, a very poor 
root, as may be seen by comparing the figures 
of the following table: 
COMPOSITION AND VALUE OF ROOT CROPS. 
Per Cent of 
foil 
fill 
: 
♦ *1 , o 
Water. 
Album¬ 
inoids. 
Carbohy¬ 
drates. 
to 
Turnips. 
na.o 
1,1 
5.1 
0.1 
lfi 
Carrots. 
87.U 
1.2 
9 8 
0.2 
21 
Rutabagas.. 
87.0 
1.6 
9.3 
0.1 
24 
Mangels. 
88.0 
1.1 
9.1 
0.1 
22 
Sugar beets. 
81.0 
1.0 
15.4 
0 1 
30 
Green Corn. 
fodder. 
85.7 
0.9 
7.8 
0.1 
14 
The composition of corn fodder is given for 
comparison. Turnips and rutabagas, which 
are, iu fact, turnips, are open to the serious 
objection that they are not suitable food for 
milch cows, giving a strong odor and flavor to 
the milk and the butter, which cannot be alto¬ 
gether avoided by any device or method of 
feeding. Turnips have the advantage of very 
quick growth, so that a crop sown in August 
or early in September may yield a very con¬ 
siderable amount of food. 
Ensilage. —Dr. Lawes says, in a recent 
Agricultural Gazette, with regard to ensilage 
as practised in the United States that it is al¬ 
most entirely confined to Indian corn. The 
crop is cut down as it comes into flower ; it is 
then cut into chaff, and thrown into large pits 
which are covered over. When these pits 
are opened there is a strong smell of acetic 
acid and alcohol and—as far as as he can 
gather from the published experiments—there 
is a loss of something like 40 per cent, of the 
organic part of the crop. 
Maize is so full of saccharine matter at one 
period of its growth, that it has even been 
proposed to use it for making sugar ; it is evi¬ 
dent that the sugar contained in the crop 
placed in the silo has been destroyed by its 
conversion into alcohol, and acetic and car¬ 
bonic acids. 
An enthusiastic advocate of ensilage in 
the States points out, as one of its great ad¬ 
vantages, the enormous increase in the per¬ 
centage of the mineral matter of the maize 
after it has been in the silo some months; 
this increase, however, could only be in pro¬ 
portion to the amount of destruction which 
had taken place in the organic matter of the 
plant. 
Chas. A. Green confesses that he is in love 
w ith the strawberry. He says : 
“ The strawberry, among fruits, is more 
than the rose among flowers. I love it. I 
have a fondness for the broad leaves that defy 
the frosty breath of Winter, for the pure white 
blossoms that cheer us first in Bpring, and for 
the fruit that breathes the perfume of Para¬ 
dise, Man may construct steamships and 
railroads, disembowel the earth for ores, 
measure the mountains of the moon, and 
make his voice heard across old ocean, but 
God alone can make a strawberry.” 
Mb. J. S. Woodward says that if he must 
abandon the cultivation of either mangels 
or corn, he will abandon the latter. He tells 
the Husbandman that he prefers mangels to 
Swedish Turnips because the Swedes have 
to bo sown in late June at which season a 
dry time usually prevails. Then also the 
black fleas eat them off as fast as they ger¬ 
minate, which, of course, ruins the crop and it 
is too late to grow anything in its place. 
Again, the most important work with Sw edes, 
weeding, comes in the haying and harvest¬ 
ing time. Finally they are more likely to 
heat and spoil in pits or barns. 
Mr. Barry refers to three varieties of Rogers’s 
Grapes, the importance of which has been 
overlooked. They are Lindley, Herbert and 
Gaertner. Herbert is a magnificent black 
grape, superior in quality to Wilder or Barry, 
ami the bunch is nearly as large. Gaertner is 
a very large red grape, and so attractive that 
when exhibited in a collection it is the first to 
receive notice. Lindley we have spoken of 
before. It is one of the best red grapes, and 
deserves to be to regarded. It is singular that 
these varieties have not attained the distinc¬ 
tion which they merit. It shows plainly that 
we are liable to overlook some important 
fruits. 
-- 
COMPLIMENTS. 
I say the Rural is without a rival. 
Lewis Co., W. Ter. A. B. Dillinbaugh. 
This is my first year as a subscriber for the 
Rural, and I find its good practical hints 
very valuable. 
Calhoun Co., Mich. E. G. Gordon. 
The Rural is the best paper of the kind I 
ever read, and I am perfectly satisfied with 
my investment. 
Spink Co., D. T. S. M. Hunt. 
The Rural I can’t and won’t do without if 
I have to change my office and go ten miles 
for it instead of one as now. 
White Co., Ind. Alonzo Cowgill. 
The Rural New-Yorker would be a great 
advantage to every farmer. I read no paper 
equal to it in agriculture, and I read many of 
them. 
Ohio Co., W. Va. Thomas P. Thomas 
How thankful we all should be that we have 
so pure-toned a paper to place in the hands of 
our loved ones. May God bless the editors and 
the contributors of the Rural New-Yorker. 
Williams Co., Ohio. David Hersherer. 
The Rural increases in value every year. 
You are certainly entitled to great credit 
for the progress it has made while in your 
hands. That it may continue to prosper is the 
earnest wish of W. C. Barry. 
Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y. 
I received from the Rural the Peerless 
clothes-wringer some time ago, and it gives 
me good satisfaction as also does the paper. 
I don’t think that I could do without the 
Rural New-Yorker. 
Mercer Co., N. J. C. W. Phillips. 
We have taken the Rural now for a num¬ 
ber of years, and it has become one of the 
household necessaries. I had some thought of 
discontiuuingit the present year, but am glad 
we did uot, as 1 think the paper is better than 
ever, 
Boone Co., Ill. _ Robert WifFin. 
I became a subscriber to your valuable 
paper one year ago, and expect to continue so 
as long as you give us as good a ptfper as } ou 
do now-, as I think we could not get along 
without it for double the price. I expect to 
seud you a few new names from this neighbor¬ 
hood another year. 
Warren Co., III. John Armstrong. 
I have been taking a number of rural (!) 
periodicals until this year, and exchange <1 
with a neighbor for the Rural New-Yorker. 
They were cheap. ( ?) Their contributions were 
free and Horn illiterate, inexperienced people 
ami contained no scientific agricultural in 
formation. They gave merely results without 
comprehension of causes. I have discontinued 
them. The Rural New-Yorker is the only 
genuine, Simon-pure farmer’s paper that lias 
come under my observation. Its contributors 
are learned agriculturists, pomologists, ento¬ 
mologists, etc,, who reason from cause to 
effect and know whereof they affirm. 1 shall 
support the Rural New-Yorker so long as 
it maintains its present high standard of ex 
cellence. 
Greene Co., Mo. H. E. Branch. 
