JULY $ 
bines so mauv excellent qualities as * 13ig 
Bob.” The well known Sharpless approaches 
it for size but that is all. The late frosts 
have hardly left a sample of the fruit here 
and the past Winter nearly ruined the plants 
where exposed. 
Piqua, Ohio. j. D. K. 
--• ♦ » ■ - - 
Grape Correction. 
I notice that in my reply to Mr. Woodward 
in speaking of the hardiness of the Niagara 
Grape, I am made to say; “If many of the 
vine3 were badly winter killed at Loekport, 
during the Winter of 1SSI-2, it will not stand 
the severer tests it must undereo in less favor- 
able localities.” The 'bove is an error, proba¬ 
bly my own; but it should have referred to 
the Winter of 1830 81; as the Winter of 1881*2 
was exceptionally mild; and during it, so 
far as I know, none of even the half hardy 
varieties were injured. 
Geo. W. Campbell. 
The Sugar Pumpkin. 
I AM glad to find the Rural is so well 
pleased with the potatoes, Earlv Rose and 
Btrbmk, I named and introduced. I see it 
speaks of the Cheese Pumpkin as the best va¬ 
riety for family use; it mav be to some palates, 
but I consider Sugar Pumpkin much superior. 
It is smaller but a more trustworthy cropper 
and nearly as fine-grained as the Marrow 
Squash and very sweet. 
J. J. H. Gregory. 
eljc l)cvi)small. 
OUR ANIMAL PORTRAITS. 
Hereford Bull, Merry Monarch. 
The close competition now occurring for 
the honors of the show ring and the profits of 
the butcher's block between the Herefords 
and the Short-horns, adds eousideraole pre¬ 
sent interest to the past uistory of the firmer 
breed of cattle. The Hereford c m boast of 
an older lineage and history than the Short¬ 
horns, and of an ancieut reputation as the 
first breed of beef cattle then in existence. 
Even now it is held by the Hereford breeders 
th it their cattle produce lar better beef than 
the best of the Short-horns, for that while 
these Jay on fat in abundance on the oucs-ide, 
where it is nothing more than tallow, their 
stoek make fat all through the flesh, where it 
is meat and not waste. This intimate mixture 
of f.it and lean in the meat, which gives it 
the appearance know i as ‘marbling,” adds 
greatly to its value to the butcher and to its 
excellence in the regard of the consumer; and 
thus it is that the Hereford has not beendriven 
from the field or the show r ng by the popular 
Short horn, as other old compet tors have 
b c en; but yet maintains a stout conflict in 
which the honors are certainly pretty evenly 
divided. This is saying a great deal for “the 
White Faces.” but it is by no means more than 
is fully warranted bv the facts. The Hereford 
is a noble beast. It is marked by some very 
conspicuous peculiarities which are well shown 
in the annexed engraving (Fig. 212) for which 
we are indebted to the London Ag. Gazette. 
The yenerat make up of the Hereford is that 
of a first rate beef anninriBl in which the fle«h 
and fat are laid on where they will do the 
most good and m dte Ihe highest priced meat. 
The breadth of loin, the fullness of rib, the 
thickness of the crop, the fullness of the 
twist, the broadness and r<>undness of the 
buttocks and rump all contribute to the market 
value of the animal, and it was these valua' le 
points which gave the fir-t prize at the last 
Chicago Fat Stock Show to the Hereford as 
first in its value of dressed carcass. Meiry 
Monarch, the subject of the photograph here 
re-engravcd, belongs to the first families of this 
excellent breed. Two of his heifers are in 
this country having been imported by Messrs. 
Gudgell & Simplon. His head is a perfect 
type of a Hereford. The broad forehead; the 
drooping horns; the mild eve; the white face 
and gentle expression are characteristics of 
this breed which is remarkable for its docility, 
inoffensiveuess and quietness—all valuable 
points iu the character of a beef animal. This 
breed is strongly marked in color and form,as 
may be expected from one of the old estab- ■ 
lished races which dates back about as far as 
the Devon. Io is of a light brownish red, 
with white face, throat and brisket, and a 
white slripe along the back,and it comes very 
true to these markings. Its value has given 
it much popu lari'y among the graziers on the 
Wes'eiu plains and it is running the 8hort- 
tiom very closely there. It is mere easily fed 
than a Short horn and is somewhat hardier 
and may thereiore be expected to maintain 
this popularity because it well deserves it. 
For feeding on Eastern farms we should 
place it ahead of the Short horn and it is 
certainly superior bo it in the quality of its 
beef, although perhaps it may not be matured 
and ripened for market at quite so early an 
age. But at any rate it is an excellent breed 
and is well worthy of the more intimate 
acquaintance of those farmers who make it a 
part of their business to know all about beef 
cattle, although they may feed only a few 
now and then. 
-» «-*- 
NOTE3 BY A STOCKMAN. 
An old shepherd w«e once asked how he rec¬ 
ognized his sheep one from the other. “ Oh, I 
know' each one by its features,” he replied. 
Aud yet the stranger could n it distinguish the 
slightest diff irence between these animals. It 
is the same as regards the features of cattle. 
Not only does ea -h breed possess striking dif 
ferences in form, but the features an 1 expres¬ 
sion differ very widely, and ev«*n variou* 
families possess distinctive family likenesses 
A Typical Ayrshire Head.—Fig. 210. 
in this respect, which are readily perceptible 
to experts although not to the uninitiated. 
This is peculiarly the case among Short-horns. 
The gentle, placid Duchesses, wit h their broad, 
dished faces and flue muzzles aud expressive 
lineaments, exhibit all the marks of their re¬ 
fined breeding; the Princesses have a more 
robust and less dainty and elegant expression, 
but one get as strongly marked, while the 
Booth cattle differ totally in facial features 
from the Bates families. 
And this difference in feature and expres 
sion is decidedly an effect of breeding an 1 cul¬ 
ture. It is most distinctly tnatked in the 
Jersevs, perhaps the most specially bred race 
of cattle in existence. This peculiarity of the 
Jersey cattle is so firmly fixed iu the breeding 
that it is shown even in grades, and the broad, 
short, hollow face, square, fine muzzle, promi¬ 
nent and large, mildly-beaming and gentle 
eye, show the ancestry in an animal wrh but 
a mere “dash” of Jersey blood in it. The 
accompanying engravings, which I borrow 
from the Agricultural Gazette, show very con¬ 
spicuously the peculiarity I wish to point out 
to readers who nviv no* h» -"oerts in stock 
the protection of their soft, thick, mossy coats 
and their rugged hardiu^si. And yet the 
night’s milk of oue of these Ayrshires set away 
in a test glass showed iu the morning a little 
more cream than the milk of a noted Jer-ey 
cow which was sold soon afterwards for $1 500. 
The head of the Ayrshire bears the impress of 
a hardy, vigorous constitution, and it is an 
excellent and true type of the facial expres¬ 
sion of this breed. It is perhaps not so elegant 
as the Jersey, but as regards a cow, “ hand¬ 
some is, as handsome does,” will apply in every 
way.”_ 
A MAN may work hard and devote years 
and years to carry out an experiment in 
breeding, and when he has made it successful 
and finds his breed becoming popular, he may 
also find that the merit is claimed, and even 
given unquestioned to some other man who 
reaps what he has not sown. Your intelligent 
aud w'orthy correspo dent, Col. F. D. Curtis, is 
precisely in this predicament. He spent much 
time and labor in producing an excellent 
breed of swine which he calle-l Victorias. His 
pigs became popular and I found occasion to 
mention in these notes, some time ago, that 
they took a very high place in the prize lists 
of the last Chicago Fat Stock Exhibition. 
Now the honor of originating this breed of 
Victoria swine is awarded to “a gentleman 
from Indiana” by a correspondent of a Wes¬ 
tern stock journal. “Whatis honors” queried 
a young soldier of an old one. “It is being 
wounded or kill'd in a glorious and victorious 
charge and being mentioned in the reports by 
some other man’s name,” replied the “oi l uu.” 
Colonel Curtis has been a soldier and can 
realize “how it is himself.” 
Let it be recorded iu the Rural New- 
Yorker for future evidence in this case, that 
Col. F. D. Curtis, of Charlton, Saratoga 
Co., N. Y., is the originator of the Victoria 
swine and began breeding them more than a 
dozen vears ago. Moreover, I don’t think at 
the time when the various standards of excel¬ 
lence for swine of the different recognized 
breeds were fixed upon at the Swine Breeder’s 
Convention held at Indianapolis in Nov. 1872, 
and the Victorias were included in the recog 
nized breeds, that any other breeder was pos 
sessed of a specimen of them, for Col. Curtis 
was extremely anxious that his stock should 
lie perfect, before any of them left his pens 
A man that originates a new and deserving 
breed, “deserves well of his country;” but 
here all the recompense awarded is the credit 
and the merit of it and this reward should not 
be filched from him either knowingly or 
ignorantly. No doubt the gentleman from 
Indiana will be glad “ to do the handsome 
Hereford Boll, Merry Monarch.—Fig. 213. 
matters. They are typical faces of a well- thing in this affair;” for he must know the 
bred Ayrshire and Jersey. truth of it. 
I do not know that I have ever seen a better 
contrast made between these two breeds of I'1 ll (. 1 fiTHl 
dairy cattle, of which one can scarcely say ^ V-V A V 
which is better, or raoif valuable for its pur- - - — 
poses than the other. The Jersej has had the CLOVER HAY 
public ear and has filled the public eye almost _ 
exclusively for some years past. It deserves ljf a ]ate RukaIi [ flml an article on Clover 
all this popularity without any doubt, but the Hay by gir j B Lawes of Rutbamsted, 
equally deserving Ayrshire, less refined by a England. In it 1 find nothing to which lean- 
course of breeding and feeding that has cer- not subscribe. He spoke of the amount per 
tainly weakened the constitution of the Jer- acre ant j va i U6 0 f clover hay. From a few 
seys, should by no means be neglected and ac res of ground we took four tons per acre 
pushed aside by the more vociferous enthusi- two cutting?, when dried for housing 
asm of Jersey breeders who are more of spec- ] as t year, and about 40 tons from 11 acres in 
ulators than anything else. one section. Thus, it will beseen, that clover 
- is quite as good a yielder here as in England. 
When at the farm of a noted breeder of I may say that any first crop was three tons, 
bofh Ayrshires aud Jerseys, I was taken to the la my earliest work in fee ling trials my at- 
stables and yards, well protected by high, close tention was drawn to the high value of clover 
board fences aud warm stalls, to seethe Jer- when fed in the right ration. Thus straw 
soys. But to see the Ayrshires l was taken to and clover gave me as good resul s as a rution 
the leo side of a fence through which a bitter of Timothy, aud I have continued so to employ 
north wind was blowing,—it was in Decern- the former ration. After weighing aud 
her—and there the Ayrshires, still at pasture, watching the value of clover, I can say with 
were enjoy ing the freshness of the air under Sir. J. B. Lawes that I regard clover as hav¬ 
ing approximately a value of 20 percent more 
than Timothy. So far as a somowaat wide ex - 
perienee informs me, he is right in assuming 
that clover is undervalued in the States as a 
fo<'d—sadly undervalued r should say. Thatour 
market* quote it no h gh. r is iu part due to 
the fact that those markets purchase hay 
mostly for horses; that the keepers of cows 
in nur cities and on our farms and the feeders 
of stock in general value it no higher I be- 
live to be due to thrir ignorance of its value 
owing to their feeding italoue. Our feeders 
are in the habit of making a single food the 
sole ration f >r a p-riod. When thus fed our 
coarse-growing clover is not eateu in suffi¬ 
ciency to form a productive ration, and the 
inference is drawn that clover is not a valua¬ 
ble food—an inference by no means war¬ 
ranted. Our cows have been fed with success 
on a ration of clover hay, one of straw and 
two of corn fodder daily, aided by five or six 
pounds of cotton seed and corn meal—this for 
the entire Winter. 
I must object to the inference likely to be 
drawn from the experiment he quotes—that 
A Typical Jersey Head.—Fig. 211. 
straw is of little value. I think no one better 
than Sir John can see that this trial does not 
warrant any such conclusion. He may have 
other facts that do, for uught I know, but we 
should not from the one given conclude that it 
takes so much more organic matter for 100 
pounds of increase when straw Is fed, when the 
consumption of straw reaches only 88 pounds 
to 8,371 p unds of turnips. It rather seems to 
me to show that when the ration is entirely 
turnips, it takes more organic matter for a 
pound of growth thau it does when the 
ration has a good proportion of other aud dry 
food. I regard a ton of good oat straw in the 
hands of a skilful feeder as au equivalent to 
about 1,500 pounds of Timothy. That I may 
not be misunderstood, I will state that I don’t 
object to Sir Johu B. Lawes’s statement, that 
the sheep evidently disliked the straw, but to 
his statement that will leave the reader to infer 
that it is responsible for the increased amount 
of organic matter used to make 100 pounds of 
growth. I shall deem it a pleasure and favor 
to express my admiration for the truly 
princely and magnificent work that Sir J. B. 
Lawes has done and is doing, both for those 
who grow and those who consume the pro¬ 
ducts of the soil. His work has beeu and is 
au inspiration to farmers and farm investiga¬ 
tors the world over, and nowhere greater 
than in the United States. 
1 have been engaged in cutting grass at dif¬ 
ferent periods of growth and feeding the same 
for four years (with results f ivormg a later 
period than past science or practice will allow 
as desirable for cutting hay) and will give an 
analysis of our clover, as made by Dr. Col¬ 
lier, that Sir John B. Lawes may compare it 
with his: 
Wnter. 
Ash. . 
F;.t. 
Nit •-oven F p ce Extract... 
i ‘ruile Fibre. 
A huintn >il . 
Total Nitrogen. 
NonAl’ u Nltroven. 
Bloom 
Brown 
Clover. 
7.10 
5. HO 
16 
li.110 
7.JU 
5.3 
7.02 
3 98 
2.2 
45 52 
50 24 
88 2 
19 0 
18.73 
26.0 
15.5? 
13.50 
12 3 
2.49 
2.16 
.39 
42 
21 0 
19 61 
Respectfully, 
Hanover, N. H. 
J. W. Sanborn. 
CLOVER HAY. 
In a late Rural I find au article on Clover 
Hay by Sir J. B. Lawes of Rotbamsted, 
England. In it 1 find nothing to which lcan¬ 
not subscribe. He spoke of the amount per 
acre and value of clover hay. From a few 
acres of ground we took four tons per acre 
in two cutting?, when dried for housing 
last year, and about 40 tons from 11 acres in 
one section. Thus, it will beseen, that clover 
isquiteas good a yielder here as in England. 
I may say that any first crop was three tons. 
In my earliest work in feeling trials me at¬ 
tention was draw n to the high value of clover 
when fed in the right ration. Thus straw 
and clover gave me as good resul s as a rution 
of Timothy, and I have continued so to employ 
the former ration. After weighing aud 
watching the value of clover, I can say with 
Sir. J. B. Lawes that I regard clover as hay¬ 
(T1) c 11 dura List, 
BURMESE HORSE AND BUFFALO. 
The empire of Burmab totheeastof British 
India, in Southeastern Asia, is very hilly and 
woody, and while its deep forests and jungles 
abound in wild animal*, such as the tiger, the 
leopard, the elephant, the one-horned aud two- 
horued rhinoceros aud a multitude of smaller 
beasts, the country is by no means rich 
either in the number or species of animals. 
These are confined almost entirely to the ox, 
the buffalo aud the horse. The last is gener¬ 
ally of pony size aud build, usually from 
11 to 12 hands high, and rarely exceeding 13 
hands. He isused for no work except riding, 
the ox aud the buffalo performing all the 
drudgery of labor. The former is usually the 
beast of burden and draft, especially in the 
upper country, while the latter performs all 
the labor needed in the crude agriculture of 
the lower land. This is confined to the produc¬ 
tion of rice (of which the Burmese count 102 
different sorts), maize, millet, wheat, various 
pulses, tobacco, cotton, potatoes, iudigo aud 
nil rrn i* 
..di raisftd in a semi-barbarou-* 
