56 
JAN. 24 
THE HOWELL PEAK. 
“ A correspondent, 4 W. H. W.,' writes about 
the Howell Pear in the Rural New-Yorker, 
and accompanies his communication with a 
section ‘ cut' of the pear. What he says of the 
quality and productiveness of the pear is cor¬ 
rect—it being a handsome, good-sized and pop¬ 
ular fruit of third or fourth-rate grade. But 
as to the ‘ cut,' we don’t know where the writer 
gets it from, as it represents an old Windsor or 
Bartlett pear, but most assuredly not the How¬ 
ell as we raise it and as Downing represents it. 
Probably it ia used as a Boston agricultural 
paper did the engraving of a cow. which was 
made to auswer for all breeds.” 
Our respected friend, the editor of the Ger¬ 
mantown Telegraph, is entirely mistaken in the 
above remarks. “ W. H. W.” did not write 
about the Howell Pear at all. Those initials 
were under an article called “Kerosene on 
Trees,” and another article, by T. F. Forfar,on 
“Pruning,” intervened between it and the ar¬ 
ticle ou the Howell Pear, which was presented 
editoralJy. The cut was drawn by 0. Habke- 
melr from a specimen grown on quince stock 
in the “ Rural Grounds,” and is an accurate 
outline. The tree was purchased about four 
years ago of Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, 
New York. The outline is more pyriform and 
less obovate than the Howell Is generally on 
pear stock, a difference often seen in the 
Duchesse as between standard and dwarf. 
It is rated by the American Pomological So¬ 
ciety as "very good,” which is second as re¬ 
gards quality. 
-*-*-•- 
SALT AND PEAR BLIGHT. 
In answer to 8. C. C. F. in Rural of dan. 8. 
I would say that by a “light coat” of wood 
ashes, salt and bone-dust, as applied to pear 
trees, I mean just thisWe make a mixture 
of wood ashes four parts; bone dust, two 
parts; salt one part, by measure; and apply 
each year two quarts to each tree. I should 
not object to iwice the quantity, but can hardly 
afford it. A part of the bone used is the coarse 
bite sifted out of bone-dust, the pieces being 
about the size of small kernels of corn, and 
smaller. These I procured of a crusher here 
at a low price. 
We cultivate soon after applying it. I have 
no doubt that H., of Ontario Go., N. Y., killed 
his trees by loo free a use of salt. Baked beans 
are a good and wholesome food, but I knew a 
man who undoubtedly killed himself eating 
them. Wc should use "judgment in all 
things”, even in eating beanB. I know, as 
Mr. Woodruff says, the Duchesse is not very 
subject to blight; but still it docs sometimes 
blight, and if using salt or “sand" with bone- 
dust and ashes will save it, then I 6hall ad¬ 
vise its use. 
My first experience in using salt was on three 
large Bartlett trees in a plot where nearly all 
had previously died with blight. Having some 
mixture of salt and ashes, equal parts, that 
had been made for another purpose, two quarts 
were applied to each tree with marked results, 
and it has been applied each year since, and 
those three trees are still alive and thrifty. 
I don’t claim that salt is a specific for the 
blight; butl do think, if we make the trees 
as healthy as possible by supplying those 
elements which they require, we shall be much 
less likely to lose them by blight. I am well 
convinced by my own observation as well as 
by studying the analysis of the Fear, that it 
requires salt in our Inland soils, and just so 
long as my trees are exempt from serious 
attacks of blight, 1 shall continue its use, nor 
shall 1 neglect the wood ashes and boue-dust. 
I use the becond quality of salt, buying it by 
the car-load. It costs but little, and 1 use it 
for mauy crops.on the farm, aud think it pays 
me well. I would about as soon my Dwarf 
Duchesse should blight as to do as Mr. Wood¬ 
ruff 6ays, “let them go to grass"; for, in that 
case they would only occupy the ground with 
no profitable results, but if they blighted, I 
could clean them off and use the land. 
Lockport, N. Y. J. 8- Woodward. 
♦ 
SHEEP VB. C OW S. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Comparative Profits ; The Future ol Sheep; An 
Example. 
A Rural subscriber has written to us that 
he thinks that, in our statements ol the com¬ 
parative cost of keeping sheep and cows, in the 
Rural ol Nov. 22, we did not do full justice 
to the latter. We think, on the contrary, 
that we did not do full justice to the sheep 
when we stated that five coarse-wooled 
6heep required the same amount of feed as one 
cow, aud tliat seven medium-wooled, or the 
same number of flne-wooled sheep, could like¬ 
wise be kept on the amount of feed necessary 
for one cow. We have taken the trouble to 
inquire of several farmers in this vicinity, also 
subscribers to the Rural, and they agree with 
us, without an exception, that we estimated 
the sheep too low. All of these persons keep 
sheep as well as cows. Our estimate of 150 
pounds of butter to a cow is also too high, 
as the average yield per cow throughout the 
State of New York Is 115 pounds. Six coarse- 
wooled sheep to one cow, and eight of medium 
and of fine wool would be nearer the actual 
number. The basis of profit Is also decidedly 
in favor of the sheep, as the home market for 
their productions in wool is not over-done, as 
is the case with cows, and the foreign market 
for onr woolen manufactures is extending in 
the most satisfactory manner. It has increased 
within the last two or three years several mil¬ 
lions of dollars. Foreign countries are learn¬ 
ing to appreciate the value of the strong and 
well-made American cloths; besides, it has 
been demonstrated that, notwithstanding the 
cheapness of labor on the other side of the 
ocean, our manufacturers can compete with 
those abroad, with paying profit. This is be¬ 
cause our machinery is now fully equal, if not 
superior, to the foreign, and the power is 
largely that of water, which reduces the cost 
below that of coal and steam. 
Our mills are capable of doing a larger per¬ 
centage of work on the capital invested than 
the foreign ones, and it only remains for the 
American farmers to furnish wool enough to 
supply our mills, to place this important in¬ 
dustry upon such a solid basis that it may be 
entirely a home affair. This is not at pres¬ 
ent the case, as millions of pounds of wool are 
annually imported. 
It Is a fortunate circumstance that there is 
perfect harmony and unity of action between 
the woolen manufacturers and wool-growers. 
The former have always been willing to make 
all needful concessions in arranging a tariff 
schedule, so that both these interests could be 
protected and sustained. They freely express 
themselves as anxious to foster wool-growing 
in this country, because they believe that the 
material for the support of their mills should 
be drawn from onr own land, as this would 
establish a basis of Independence and of sub¬ 
stantial prosperity far greater than If such 
material were brought from other countries. 
To insure this production, the farmers have 
only to know that their investments in sheep 
will pay, as there have been so many fluctua¬ 
tions in this industry, owing to arbitrary 
changes in the protective dutieB established by 
Congress and over-production in manufac¬ 
tures resulting in ruinous losses, that farmers 
are distrustful in this direction. The woolen 
interests are now so widespread, coveriug 
every portion of our country, that it is doubt¬ 
ful if the people would allow any interference 
by legislation, which would jeopardize them. 
The rapidly increasing foreign market, will 
prevent any glut which will throw back upon 
the country unsold goods, to break down 
prices and destroy the Industry. Sheep-feed¬ 
ing is not so much affected by droughts and 
other influences of a similar nature as the 
dairy. 
Our figures, showing the income from sheep 
were furnished by those who had taken no extra 
care of their flocks, but whose profits were de¬ 
cidedly satisfactory. Messrs Moorehouse and 
Classon wintered, last winter, 38 ewes. From 
them they sold 228 pounds of wool at SSJc. 
per ponnd, amounting to $74.70. The 38 ewes 
produced 46 lambs, of which they sold 86 for 
$8.25 each, making $117. Thirteen lambs were 
reserved, for which they had been offered $5 a 
head, making $65. This would make a total 
of $256.70. Thcirsheep are grade South Downs, 
and were brud from Merino ewes. The rainB 
used were nearly full-bred South Downs, but 
probably contained a portion of Cotswoid bIood i 
as the sheep are larger than average South 
Downs. The income ou this flock—rating seven 
sheep to a cow—would be $46.67. These sheep 
were not fed any grain, but were wintered on 
hay. In summer they ran in a back lot where 
cows would not do well, as the pasture was 
not rank enough. Mr. Moorehouse has in¬ 
creased his flock for next year to 50 ewes, aud 
will still further increase them, as he is satis¬ 
fied they will pay better than cows, although 
bis dairy are mostly grade Jerseys, and an ex¬ 
cellent lot. This productive flock of sheep 
have all been bred by Mr. Moorehouse from 
common grade Merino ewes. He has laid the 
foundation for a large profit in the future ou u 
small capital. The local butchers are ready to 
take the lambs as soon as they are old enough, 
the best ewes being always reserved, and this 
is the way the flock has been established, and 
it is the best way. 
fottllrj) garth 
WINTER LAYERS. 
To obtain a breed of fowls, or rather to breed 
a flock of fowls, that are constant egg-pro¬ 
ducers, is the great desideratum. Many fowl- 
breeders have at one time and another im¬ 
agined that they have approximated to perfec¬ 
tion in this direction. By tar a much larger 
class of fowl-breederB—those who breed to sell 
—have at one time and another advertised that 
they and they alone had reached perfection in 
this particular. To obtain fowls that will lay 
all the time is an impossibility. It is an im¬ 
possibility to expect fowls to lay for more than 
a few months at a time, without taking a rest. 
The frequency of these periods of recuperation 
and their duration de termine to the mind of the 
breeder the value of the bird. 8ome breeds 
will lay but for a short time in the summer, and 
then the henfi take to sitting, and there are no 
more eggs for that season. Some other breeds 
under good care, will commence laying in 
early spring, and continue to lay with com¬ 
mendable perseverance until the weather 
becomee quite cold. Breeds of poultry pos¬ 
sessing these characteristics are very good to 
rely on. Good treatment will be promptly 
paid for. There are other breeds that will lay 
almost the entire year, with the exception of 
the time spent in resting or in sitting. These 
are the nearest approach to perpetual layers, 
and even the fowls of these breeds will at times 
stop laying for no other apparent reason than 
that they seem to want a rest—which is reason 
enongh. Some breeds of fowls seem to be more 
apt to lay in winter, and others will lay only in 
spring. The natural tendency of all fowls is 
to produce eggs only in summer, and any im¬ 
provement in this particular is due to natural 
selection, improvement in breeding and good 
care. 
It is a comparatively easy matter to obtain 
eggs in winter, if the proper arrangements are 
made beforehand. Chicks of the large breeds 
that it is desired should become winter layers, 
should be hatched in March of April. This is 
very essential, as it iB necessary that they 
Bhould obtain a good growth. Leghorn and 
Golden Polands and the smaller breeds will do 
well enough if batched in May or early Juue. I 
do not fancy as winter fowiB those that have 
large combs, wattles and feathered legs; they are 
much too apt to suffer from the cold. All fowls 
require warm houses, pleuty of good food aud 
constant care, if it is intended that they should 
lay eggs in winter. There must be a variety 
in the diet, with access to pure water and 
broken oyster shells. 
With all the conditions perfectly favorable, 
the farmer may have to feed his fowls until he 
is quite discouraged before he sees any prospect 
of fresh eggs. But if the fowls are cared for In 
an intelligent manner, the eggs are sure to 
come, and eggs produced In winter command a 
fair price, being much more marketable than 
those that have been salted from the summer 
before. I do not mean that eggs produced as 
they are on some farms, one or two per day to 
every dozen of the half-starved fowls, are pro¬ 
fitable. But I do mean if sufficient hens are 
kept to produce in eggs two or three times the 
cost of their keeping, besides furnishing one of 
the greatest luxuries for the farmer’s own 
table, that no larmer who has tried it will say 
that such fowls do not pay. Hens that have 
laid a good share of the winter will usually 
want to sit pretty early, and this is a great 
advantage. The hen-house should be ready 
for the hens it is desired to keep over, early, 
at least before the weather gets cold. The 
fowls should not be allowed to experience any 
ill-effects from cold or damp weather, as a 
sudden or severe chill exerts a very injurious 
effect upon any breed of poultry, especially 
upon bens intended for winter layers. The 
house should not only be made perfectly com¬ 
fortable but should be kept perfectly clean. It 
is a good idea to whitewash the inside of the 
building before the birds go Into winter-quart¬ 
ers. They Bhould have all the stimulating and 
heat-producing food they can consume. All 
that hens are fit for in winter is to produce 
fresh eggs at a certain price per dozen, and they 
must be fed and cared for with that end in 
view. I find that hens will pay a much larger 
price for grain consumed in winter than in any 
other season, and therefore they can be made 
much more profitable then than at any other 
time. Forrest K. Moreland. 
Unhealthy Poultry. 
The mode of raising stock birds for sale to 
farmers, insures weakly, sickly flocks. No 
bird confined between fences, to march back 
and forward over its own excrementB, to lose 
all chance of insect food during summer, to 
"have little use of its wings; to be, in fact, a 
prisoner, can be expected to be healthy. But 
fancy breeders who raise from two to 20 varie¬ 
ties, are forced to do this violence to common 
sense and their customers. Even when roost¬ 
ers are purchased to infuse new blood aud new 
vigor into a flock of henB of good stamina, the 
effort is a failure; good blood can't be Improved 
by the addition of bad blood. If farmers want 
the real value of their money imparted to their 
flocks of hens, let them deal only with a breeder 
who raises but one sort, and lets that have the 
run of the farm. Why are people so blind to 
the 6imple question of “ Improvement of 
Stock?” Few men would go to a hospital or 
pest house in search of husbands for their 
daughters; even the young girls themselves 
know too much to be deceived into mating 
with run-down, debauched youths, but men 
who are actually looking out for good blood' 
look In the most impossible places for it, and 
take it from there, too, and then complain that 
poultry don't pay. S. Rufus Mason. 
$airj) fttshitlrry. 
THE OLEOMARGARINE FRAUD. 
A meeting of the National Association for 
the Prevention of the Adulteration of Butter 
was held in this city on Tuesday the 13. inst. 
at the American Exchange rooms, when a reso¬ 
lution was adopted, the preamble of which de¬ 
nounces the increased fraudulent sale of oleo¬ 
margarine in the guise of butter, thereby de¬ 
ceiving the consumer aud defrauding the 
farmer and dairyman of the legitimate profits 
of their labor; condemning the course of cer¬ 
tain firms interested in the profits of oleomar¬ 
garine manufacture, and Anally resolving 
“That we, the merchants engaged in the 
butter trade representing the Society for the 
Prevention of the Adulteration of Butter, con¬ 
demn all encouragement given to those vio¬ 
lators of the law, as hostile to the dairy interests 
throughout the United States, and that we use 
every effort to increase the fund already raised 
to prosecute not only offenders in the city of 
New York but in adjacent cities; aud to use 
our personal means to disseminate throughout 
the country all information respecting the 
suits now being prosecuted and the parties de¬ 
fending the same. 
Resolved, That 5,000 copies of these resolu¬ 
tions be printed for distribution in the United 
States." 
The resolutions made a decided sensation, 
and at the close of their reading Mr. H. K. 
Tburber arose and said that in his opinion and 
in the opinion of several other persons the 
resolutions were aimed at hie house. If such 
was the case he begged to enter a denial and a 
protest, as bis firm sold oleomargarine openly 
aud under itB proper brand. He was. not to 
blame for what the retail dealers had done. He 
was a commission merchant, and sold what the 
people wanted to buy. He said that oleomar¬ 
garine was a product of the farm, and it could 
not be ignored or put down. Its sale and use 
were too well established to be overthrown by 
edicts or denunciation. There was some ap¬ 
plause at this, and then half a dozen of the 
legitimate butter men arose and denounced 
what they called the oleomargarine swindle. 
It was proposed to have additional laws passed 
to protect the pure butter interest. Mr. Neal 
said the present law was good enough; all it 
needed was rigid enforcement. The Secretary 
said if Mr Thurber’s name had not been con¬ 
nected with the oleomargarine trade and given 
it an air of respectability, it would have died a 
natural death. He did not object to any one 
usiug "the stuff” or selling “the stuff'’ under 
its own name, but he did propose to fight it 
when sold or palmed off on the people as but¬ 
ter. A loug debate followed concerning the 
resolution. Some said it was too personal; 
some said it was too sweeping; others wanted 
it referred back to the committee for revision; 
several offered substitutes; but at last all pro¬ 
positions and amendments were voted down 
and the resolution was carried by a strong 
majority. 
Utisallaurous. 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
The Cow Pea. —The old Maryland Farmer 
says: “ We have been familiar from our boy¬ 
hood with this pea, which Dr. Ledoux, of 
North Carolina, writes about aud which the 
Rural Nkw-Yorkbh illustrates aud devotes 
so much space to. . . The greatest value of 
the Cow or Southern Pea is its great use and 
adaptiblllty to green manuring. We recuper¬ 
ated many poor acres by the use of peas alone. 
The lute J. CJ. Hewlett, of Baltimore eouuty, 
made rich several hundred acres of poor land 
chiefly by the use of Cow Peas. He gave, years 
ago, his experience with this vegetable In sev¬ 
eral well-written articles which attracted much 
notice. Every volume of the Maryland Farmer 
has had frequent reference to the value of this 
pea—has steadily impressed upon the farmers, 
year after year, the importance of growing this 
crop, because we have practically tested their 
value by repeated experiments to our entire 
satisfaction. Peas are a God-send to the poor 
farmer on poor laud. They will grow where 
uotbing except “ poverty grass ” will grow. . 
, So we may say dow, for the hundredth 
time aud more, plant Southern field peas, either 
in drills or hills, for forage, seed, or as a ma- 
nurial crop. , . As a crop for market they 
pay better than wheat or other grain crops on 
the same land, . - On very poor land they 
will give more bushels of seed than any grain 
crop, and yield more forage or provender than 
any cultivated grass known. . . It is sur¬ 
prising that a plant so well known for so long 
P. time should inst now be bo suddenly made so 
