434 
JULY ^ 
value of Jer^ay cattle arises out of this. For 
if these n tted cows produce equally produc¬ 
tive hrifers and the bulls which sired these 
cows or which have been produced by them 
are able »mpart this productive character 
to the ealvps they may get, the stock is then 
worth every dollar that the most liberal and 
enthusiastic purchaser may feel inclined to pay 
for it. If not, then these prices and all the 
enthusiasm growing out of them are devoid of 
any adequate reason. 
Some time ago a M > jor Brown of Tennessee 
m de an effort to procure a list of all the Jer¬ 
sey cows that were, or had been, giving over 
14 pounds of butter a day, and out of the 
pr ubable 10,000 cows in the country be got re¬ 
ports from 177 only. Of these 177 cows, no 
cow is reported as having produced more than 
two 14-pound cows, and only seven out of the 
177 did so well as that. And, more than all, 
in this re ort there were no statements given 
as to the feed or treatment under which these 
few cows were forced up to this yield. It is 
no secret that some of these cows have been 
fed as much as 16 quarts of com meal, bran 
and oil meal daily, have been kept in warmed 
rooms and hove bad as mu :b warm new milk 
as th-y would drink. There are phenomenal 
cows in all breeds, and I have ns doubt that as 
many common native cows might be found 
whose owners could be induced to report 
equally high yields as those of this noble band 
of 177, and which cows would make a good 
approach to them, if not surpass them, under 
such a system of forcing. 
Breeding is a lottery in which the prizes 
are gained by those players who understand 
the theories of chances of the game and can 
tike advantage of their knowledge and ex¬ 
perience. A prize now and then tails to out¬ 
siders who merely happen to fall into luck by 
some fortunate accident, by which an ordi¬ 
nary cow produces a phenomenal descendant; 
b it this is rare; and a good many blanks are 
drawn by persons who venture on the game, 
depending upon some popular delusions in 
regard to breeding, which cause them to be¬ 
lieve that a 14-pound cow will surely produce 
a 14-pouud calf au 1 may do a little better, and 
w'ho don’t know' anything about the forcing 
by which the extra four or seven pounds a 
week were brought out. 
The high price of beef is causing dismay to 
the consumers and one is hearing of strikes 
and combinations among them to refrain from 
purchasing until prices fill again. The ad¬ 
vance in price during the past year is equal to 
nearly 50 per cent. 
Will these high prices be permanent ? I 
have frequently spoken, in these notes, of the 
probability of a scarcity of stock to meet the 
constantly increasing demands, and have 
pointed out to farmers the proll ruble character 
of feeding sheep and beeves. I see no reason 
to doubt that in the future this business will 
continue to become more and more profitable. 
We are beginning to experience what has been 
happening for years past in England. Social 
and economical changes are rarely local or 
even national, but are general in their occur¬ 
rence and effect*, and what has been happen¬ 
ing in England is now' occurring here. The 
supply of meat cannot, or does not, keep up 
with the demand, and prices advance inevit¬ 
ably. Some of the causes pointed out must 
continue and some will remain at least for a 
time. It would be no surprise to me to see the 
prices of cattle advance until the foreign out¬ 
let is closed for want of a margin for profit. 
Here is the blow-off valve which relieves the 
pressure, and when this opens an equilibrium 
wi 1 be reached and not before. In the mean¬ 
time those farmers who have a “bunch” of 
fat steeass, or a “band” of fat sheep to sell 
just now, will have cause to bless their enter¬ 
prise and foresight. 
The President of the American Jersey Cat¬ 
tle Club at the annual meeting took occasion 
to remark upon the phenomenal prices now 
being paid “for Jerseys of quality, not family 
or color.” Cicero said that he was surprised 
that the ancient augurs or soothsayers should 
ever meet each other without laughing, and the 
President of the Jersey Cattle Club and seme 
of his listeners m.ght well have smiled to each 
other as this remark w r as made. For how can 
a three-mouths o d c If ora yearling heifer, 
or any untried animal, ti at is sold for au 
enormous sum because its sire or dam, or its 
grandsire or graudam was an animal of 
“quality,” realize the laige price b cause of its 
quality and not for its fbinily, when it is w-ell- 
kuown that only a small proportion of Jer¬ 
seys (or other breeds) inherit fully all the 
qualities of the ancestors? 
The Jersey Cattle Club has been a most ex¬ 
traordinary success. When it was organized 
there w ere but from 3,000 to 4,000 Jerseys in 
the country. The entries of last year amount¬ 
ed to 4,397. A fair estimate on this basis 
would give as the whole number of Jerseys 
now in the country, 12.000 at least. But this 
is a very small proportion of the effective 
force of the Jersey' stock: for there are thou¬ 
sands of bulls in farm rs’ hands doing useful 
and effective service in improving the com¬ 
mon dairy stock, and more good, useful grade 
Jersey cows in common dairies than there are 
pure bred ones entered in the Herd Book. 
And this is where the greatest good is being 
done As it is the bone and sinew of man¬ 
kind that support the world, and not the so- 
called aristocracy of wealth ami bigh-breed- 
ing, so it is the working Jerseys, and not the 
high bred, high-priced stock tint constitute 
the most profitable and productive of this 
breed. 
-♦ - 
Marking Polled Cattle. 
A number of suggestions have been made 
as to the best mode of permanently marking 
polled cattle. Not the least convenient of 
these is the plan of ear marking or hole- 
punching s igge-ted by Professor Brown, of 
the Experimental Farm attached to the On¬ 
tario Agricultural Cillege, Gue’ph, Canada. 
His explanation fully discloses the method of 
marking illustrated iu Fig. 197, page 435. 
Toe two ears have four distinct sides—two 
upper and two lower—thus giving four un¬ 
mistakable base lines, which the commonest 
herder could not misinterp et. (1) Upper of 
the right ear; (2) the uppir of the left ear; (3) 
the lower of the right; and (4) the lower of the 
left.” The average length of an ear being 
eight inches and the bread ,h about four inches, 
there is space enough for three di«tinct posi¬ 
tions on each base—one near the point, an¬ 
other iu the center, and the th rd near the 
head; these on our four edges, sides or bases 
give 12 positions. The idea now is to arrange 
such a plan of punch holes at these 12 places 
as will represent all the letters in the alpha¬ 
bet, excepting I and Z; therefore, 2t, Mr. 
Brown’s plan will, with these explanations, 
be understood from the engraving? 
-- 
OUR IMPROVED STOCK. 
It is an old saying that every man has his 
hobby. It is sometimes the case that many 
men in the same vicinity have the same hobby. 
This is now true in Centra! New York and 
some other places, and the present hobby is 
raising high pricedstock. In this department 
now cattle appear to take the lead. The com¬ 
petition is very sharp between the different 
breeds. The Short horns for a long lime bad 
no competition, but at present the Holsteins 
appear to take the lead. The Jerseys are 
growing in favor every day ami several other 
breeds are also popular. It is often the case 
that men that cm give but little attention to 
the subject, buy one or more animals of the e 
improved breeds at high prices, expecting 
to raise similar stock, and to g^t about the 
same prices. The result in such cases is al¬ 
most uniformly disappointment. In the 
flr*t place, the man does not succeed in 
raiding any such stock as he bought, although 
he rai-es full blooded animals. In the next 
place, if be had the same auimals he would 
get no such prices. The breeder who has at 
great trouble and expense got up a reputa¬ 
tion for his stock will command a price that 
a man unknown in the business cannot get. 
The lati^r concludes that the seller as well as 
the animal needs a pedigree. 
The important point of this question is the 
manner in which this stock is raised. In the 
Onondaga County Farmers’ Club one mem- 
b r stated that a calf should weigh as many 
hundred pounds as he was months old Another 
member said: “You have no such calves.” 
The first answered, “I have many of tugm; 
come to my house and I will show you tue 
register of their ages an 1 we will place them 
on the scales.” And he woul i have proved 
his proposition beyond adoubt.for he is a man 
whose word is always good. Tois is certainly 
a very extraordinary statement and the ques¬ 
tion arises how such results are obtained. Tue 
difference between this stock and common 
stock is not all in the breed. Some of my 
neighbors are raising stock in this manner. 
In the first place the calf takes all the milk 
from the cow during the entire season Some¬ 
times one calf takes all the milk from two 
cows. These animals are fed grain through 
the entire year and are carefully kept from 
cold and wet. No pains or ex pense are spared 
in bringing these animals to perfection. If 
we select cnoice native stock and give them 
one-half the cire this foreign stock re¬ 
ceives we shall be satisfied with the result. 
One principle in feeding stock should not tie 
over looked: animals require a variety of food. 
The man who winters his cattle on hay alone, 
will do better to feed less hay and add some 
kind cf grain or roots iu-tead. Some of 
our best dairymen feed their cows grain 
through the whole season. If the pasture is 
good the result will be better if some meal 
or even bran is fed at least once a day. Liber¬ 
al feeding will pay. A. M. Williams. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y, 
SI) cop ijitsbftiiftai). 
ECAECITY OF PHEEP AND HTGH 
PRICES OF MUTTON IN ENGLAND. 
A Great Market Opened for America. 
In consequence of the disastrous cold, wet 
Summers in England for several years—say 
from 1376 to ’31—great destruction trofe place 
there by disease and otherwise among the 
fiocks. We have latterly forewarned onr 
readers of this from time to time, and told 
them that on account of it, there would be a 
large extra demand for American sheep and 
mutton. Accordingly we strongly urged our 
breeder* to increase and improve their flocks 
as rap’dly as possible, in order to produce such 
as would best suit the markets of Great 
Britain. From late advices of the market 
th »re, we note mutton of the several Down 
breeds is quoted at 24 cent* per pound for the 
whole weight of the dressed carcass, and that 
even ordinary mutton is worth 18 cents per 
pound. These are very high prices, and all 
exported by our fl >ck masters realizing such, 
or even considerably less, would pay them a 
large profit. 
The Superintendent of the Census for 1880, 
has furnished Congress, in advance of pn'dioa 
tion, with the number of sheep in the United 
States and Territorie*. On farms these amount 
to 35.191,656: on ranches 7,189,738; making in 
all, 42,381,389. This makes less than one to 
each of our population; whereas, to furnish 
mutton enough for our own eating and for 
exportation, and sufficient wool for rmnufac- 
tnring purposes, we ought to have at least 
three sheep to every one of our inhabitants. 
This would bring up the number to fully one 
hundred and fifty-six millions at the present 
day. 
Some contend, we do not know how 
truly, that American flocks, so far from in 
creasing, have been decreasing in numbers for 
several years past; but to compensate for this 
in a measure, they add that the fleeces have 
been so much improved as to weigh from 25 
to 50 per cent, more than formerly. We 
doubt, however, whether this may be the case 
universally. But let that pass as it may, the 
number of sheep must be increased, and that 
rapidly, or we shall be woefully off soon not 
only for mutton, but wool also; of which 
latter we are importing annually many mil¬ 
lions of pounds for the absolute wants of 
our thriving manufactures. 
It is said there ha* been great loss of lambs 
in Texas and some districts at the West the 
past Spring. Owing to the unprecedented 
drought of last Summer and Autumn the ewes 
were in very po ir condition at the time of 
yeaning, notwithstanding the past mild Win 
ter and abundant growth of gra*s foe their 
support. But they had not time to get into 
good condition for suckling the r offspring, 
and the consequence was the lambs died 
rapidly for want of sufficient mi'k, as it was 
not only scant in quantity, but thin and poor 
as to quality. 
Painj ijasharii)nj. 
LARD AND OLEOMARGARINE CHEESE 
IN ENGLAND. 
X. A. WILLARD. 
Some further facts iu regard to lard and 
cheese may be of interest to the dairy readers 
of the Rural New Yokker. The impression 
I as prevailed among our diirymen, that this 
sort of cheese would greatly injure our ex 
port trade, by causing suspicion in England 
that a very large quantity of American 
cheese was tampered wirii, adulterated 
with lard, or contained fats other than that 
belonging to genuine milk, and thus in time 
destroy the good name which American 
cheese has obtained iu foreign inai kets. Tnis, 
perhaps, might so result wero lard and oleo¬ 
margarine cheese allowed to be shipped 
abroad under the name of genuine “ whole- 
milk goods,” and sold as such to the foi^ign 
consumer. This, how ever is not likely to Le 
peimitted since the Adulteration Act is very 
strict iu England, whilst our own law's are 
being framed to guard against this deception. 
Without stopping to discuss this point, 1 
come to the important question as to whether 
this sort of cheese has any “-pedal merit as a 
food product and how it woul i be regarded 
iu England. In order to get an unbiased ex¬ 
pression on these points, I prevailed upon the 
proprietors of one of the leading lard and 
oleomargarineereamerie- toserd two cheese*— 
one of lard and one of oleomargarine—to the 
Secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society 
of England, to be tested by him and distribu¬ 
ted to English experts with a view of getting 
their opinions as to the merits of this sort of 
food. The cheeses were shipped in February 
last. They were the only ones remaining of 
the season’s make and therefore had not been 
selecte 1 as the best ; but, on the contrary, the 
proprietors of the creamery regarded them 
as hardly an average in quality, especially as 
they had lieen kept in a very warm room, 
and bad been bored with the cheese-triers, 
iron, a number of times, to satisfy the curiosity 
of persons desirous of seeing and testing 
this sort of chee*e. These specimens, after 
their ai rival in England, were cut in sec¬ 
tions and distributed amongst different ex¬ 
perts throughout the country, and Mr. Jen¬ 
kins, the Secretary, writes me, under date 
of April 26, as follows; 
“ i find that very great attention h^s heen 
drawn to this new kind of manufacture. G m- 
erally speaking, the opinion is that the oleo¬ 
margarine-cheese is the better, as being more 
like American cheese as known to us. It. has at 
the same tints the excellence and the defects 
of American cheese, viz: richness and pun¬ 
gency to the priate, this hitter quality being 
probably due to the retention of a certain 
amount of whey in the curd. The lard- 
cheese, though not having so much quality, 
is devoid of this pungent flavor and might 
probably please some people better. In fact, 
it is w’hat is termed dean in 11 ivor. Several 
of the factors iu L mdon tasted a sample 
which I sent to one of them. He reports 
that they would uot have been abl? to de¬ 
tect that they were not pure cheeses if they 
had not been told. He placed the value of 
the samples, taking quantities, at from 52s. 
to 56s. per cwt. 
Now on April 24lh, extra-fine American 
cheese was quoted in London at 60*. to 06s.; 
fine, 52s to 54s.; good, 44s. t > 50s., and medium 
15s. to 40s. per cwt., so it will be seen to what 
grade these artificial cheeses were assigned by 
the dealer above referred to. 
In conclusion he siys: “I vvoul l add that 
I quite agree with you thut there is danger 
that such cheeses, if sent to England under 
other than a distinctive name, will before very 
long have an injurious effect upon the sale in 
thi-i country of pure American cheese. There¬ 
fore it would be more sati.-factory if the mak¬ 
ers in America were at once to adopt some 
system of brandiug them before seuding to 
England. The fraud, if anv, would theu lie 
at the doors of the English venders, who 
could be punished in accordance with the 
provisions of our Adulteration of Food Act, 
as in fact they will be under any circumstan¬ 
ces if they* sell these products as ‘cheese’ 
without any qualifications.” 
Samples of these two cheeses w'ere sent by 
Mr. Jenkins to the editor of the Agricul¬ 
tural Gazette, and under date of April 24“h, 
that paper contained an editorial from w'hich 
I cut the following extract: “Mr. Jenkins 
was good enough to send us the oi her day two 
samples of American cheese—both of them 
sweet and pleasant to the taste—on a orange- 
colored, close in texture, w ith frequent large 
cavities; the other, white or cream-colored, 
friable, of good texture, and not to be distin¬ 
guished from a fair Cheddar cheese. They 
were both made from skim milk, the butter 
removed being replaced in the former case by 
lard, and iu the latter case by oleomargarine. 
They were both free from bitterness, and ihe 
latter one was particularly well tasted. We 
should exp“ ct to have had to pay ninepenceor 
more a pound f u’it, and perhaps light pi n zo 
a pound for the other in any grocer’s shop. 
‘ My olj set,’ sa\ s Mr. Jenkins, ‘in sending 
samples to you is to show you the nature of 
this new competition to which our dairy 
farmers will shortly be subjected. It seems 
to me that steps should be taken to insure that 
such cheeses are sold in England under their 
true name.’ In this we entirely agree; but 
that any one can expect or even wish to dis¬ 
courage the introduction into this country of 
such capital food as tne American farmers 
thus offer us is impossible. The only effect it 
ought to have on makers here is to stir up our 
dairy farmers, either by co-operation in cream¬ 
eries and the like, or by spirited individual 
effort, to the production of something equally 
good and economical,” With these facts lie- 
fore us it wrill lie evident that our “whole- 
milk cheese dairymen” will soon be obliged to 
face a new element of competition, and what 
the result is to be must be of deep interest to 
those embarked in this industry. 
ijiHlintUunil. 
HORTICULTURAL E XPERIMENTS. 
There is a story going the rounds of the 
papers of a little girl who was about to put a 
penny in the missionary box, and being re¬ 
quested to repeat a ven-e of Scripture while 
dropping her gift, she said, “ Fools and their 
money are soon parted.” Though hardly 
Scriptural in a literal sense, there is much 
truth in the saying, and >o no class of feople 
does it more aptly apply than to those who, 
like myBelf, have a taste for the best of every¬ 
thing in horticulture, yet at the same time 
have a limited purse, and an unkindly climate 
