246 
THE 
ISEW-YORKEB. 
APB 3 
THE FAIRLAMB 8YSTEM, AGAIN.l 
As a constant reader of the Rural., and one 
feeling much interest in the improvements 
amongst dairymen, I cannot avoid taking issue 
with your correspondent, D. W. C., in the 
Rural of March 6th, upon the system of gather¬ 
ing cream for creameries. I am willing to 
admit the patron whosupplies a creamery with 
milk of a rich quality at the same time that his 
neighbor furnishes a poorer article, docs not 
receive his just award in the returns of his 
butter, but the plan described bas not, as Is 
claimed, “solved this whole question.” 
Dr. Sturtevant, of Mass., shows a difference 
in quality of cream qnite wonderful, running 
from 18.18 per cent, to 50.80 per cent, of butter, 
the latter from cream of the Jersey cow, the 
next highest being 42 per cent. He says, " We 
find from these analyses that some creams may 
yield three times as much butter as other 
creams. In other words, that milk yielding 10 
per cent, of cream may furnish more butter 
than another indicating 30 per cent, of cream,’ 
and he concluded further “that there is not 
necessarily any connection between the cream 
percentages and the butter yield.” The modest 
cow with a small percentage, may make more 
butter than the vaunted cow which is sup¬ 
posed to average 25 to 30 per cent, of “cream.” 
Prof. Voelcker presents similar facts. 
• Mr. Willard states, “cream varies in com¬ 
position according to the circumstances under 
which it is produced, and as a consequence of 
these differences in the composition of cream, 
variable quantities of butter are produced from 
a <?iven bulk af cream." Prof. Arnold adds this 
testimony: “It must not be understood that 
cream is all supposed to be alike in respect to 
gravity or value, for neither is true." The 
italics are mine, and I could add further testi¬ 
mony did I consider it necessary. Now pray 
tell me, with these facts before you, what 
advantage has the Fairlamb system over the 
usual mode of delivering milk, so far as justice 
between patrons is concerned ? 
Again, we know dairymen are mortal and we 
have known of instances where they have 
watered their milk, even in the face of a strin¬ 
gent law to punish the offence, and is it at all 
unlikely that some mortal of a farmer would 
water cream when it can be done without fear 
of the law, and in the manuei in which I will 
exemplify as follows: Take a given quantity 
of milk thoroughly mixed and divided equally 
Into two of the vaunted glass guage cans: mark 
them Nos. 1 and 2. Set No. 1 in the usual way 
for raising cream, be it iu spring water or a 
cool cellar. No. 2 is plunged into an ice bath 
and at the end of two hours, if the ini Ik is warm 
from the cow when placed in the cans, you 
have fully 20 per cent, of cream to let Mr. 
Teamster skim from your can No. 2, provided 
you time your work for the calling team. No. 
1 can, after setting the usual time of 12, 24 or 
36 hours, only gives 15 to 16 percent, of cream 
which has, like the nature of the beast that pro¬ 
duced it, moved 6lowly and perchance grace¬ 
fully to its resting place, while the cream of 
No. 2 has rushed along like a worried cow, and 
carried milk with it—has in fact watered itself. 
Let No. 2 set 12 hours longer and the cream 
will 6hovv only 15 to 16 per cent.—the milk bas 
returned to where it belongs. 
To my mind the “Fairlamb system of gather¬ 
ing cream" i6 not the Ultima Thule oi jnstice 
to dairymen patronizing creameries, d.o. o. 
Jersey Milk for Babies. 
Because Dr. Hoskins has failed to discover 
in his inquiries any instance where Jersey 
milk has been found to be unsuited, or in 
other words, indigestible for a young child or 
a calf, he assumes that Dr. Sturtevant and 
others are mistaken when they insist that it is. 
We must remind Dr. HoskinB that there may 
be a difference in Jersey cows, and in stom¬ 
achs. We believe we were the first, nearly 
three years ago, in the N. Y. Tribune, to assert 
that in some cases, Jersey milk was unsuited 
for young children. A baby at the time was 
being fed on Jersey milk, and although the 
child was more than a year old, and had 
been perfectly healthy while nursing, the Jer¬ 
sey milk made it sick. A change to Ayrshire 
milk corrected the trouble. Probably if the 
milk had been diluted by making it one-third 
water, there would have been no trouble. A 
number of years ago, we nearly lost a Jersey 
calf by allowing it to suck its mother. When 
changed to an Ayrshire cow, the scours ceased. 
Care should be had in trying to rear infants on 
Jersey milk,—outside of Vermont; at least 
this is our experience. F. D. Curtis. 
Ifftbsimm. 
NOTES FROM MEADOW GLEN FARM. 
Spring Management of Sheep. 
This is an important and busy season for 
the sheep farmer, especially if he expects early 
lambs. The ewes require close watching, and 
their feed should he increased for two or three 
weeks bef ore they drop their lambs, injorder 
to increase'their milk yield afterwards. Ground 
oats and wheat shorts made into a slop are 
very good. They should not be allowed to run 
out on the bare ground, as the sight of the 
grass tends to make them uneasy, and takes 
away their appetite for dry feed. As the lamb- 
iug time approaches, it is quite necessary to 
keep them as quiet as possible, and now comes 
the advantage of having a tame flock, bo that 
one can pass around and among them without 
causing any alarm or crowding one upon an¬ 
other. If they have been handled rightly from 
the time of mating, there will seldom be any 
trouble iu lambing; but in case there should 
be, those wno are inexperienced should send 
for some one who understands the trouble. 
Aftor the lamb6 are dropped, the ewes should 
have the best of feed; for, as a rule, it is better 
to increase the milk in the ewes than to foree 
the lambs to eat anything beyond what nature 
has provided for them. All manure and wool 
should be removed from the udders oi the 
ewes, and they should always be tagged before 
they are turned out to grass. Should there be 
many twius, or, should the ewes be poor 
nurses, the lambs should have extra feed, such 
as that given by a new milch cow. This should 
be fed, while warm, from a bottle through a 
rubber nipple. If it is necessary to raise a 
lamb by hand, it can be taught to drink milk 
as well as a calf. As the lambs grow older, 
they may be taught to lick oat and corn-meal 
with a little salt, keeping it in a separate pen 
with an opening large enough to admit the 
lambs, but too small to let in tbeir dams. 
Lambs that are to be raised should be docked, 
and the buck lambs that are to be fattened 
should be castrated when two weeks old, for at 
that age the operation causes them but little 
pain. It is needless to say that the flock should 
be kept from all storms or cold winds at this 
season, yet there is nothing they enjoy more 
than sunshine. 
A Profitable Ewe. 
We have a Cotswold-Merino ewe two years 
old, which dropped a pair of twins—buck and 
ewe—on April 12. The buck when sold to the 
butchers, weighed 77 pounds, which, at five 
cents per pound, brought 63.85; the ewe lamb 
was raised and valued at 65, which is a low 
price. In addition to this the dam sheared 
nine pounds of washed wool which at S3 cents 
per pound, made 62.27, so that this ewe yielded 
last year a total gross income of 611.82. 
Ugly Bulls, 
In the Rural of Feb. 28, Col. Curtis recom¬ 
mends tying ugly bulls with a slip-noose; will 
he explain what kind of slip-noose is to be 
used. We would find It difficult to sleep well 
if we fiad left one of our bulls tied iu that way. 
The old adage, never to trust a bull, Is a good 
one. Ahel Hoyt & Son. 
Saratoga Co., N. Y. 
- - - 
DEVICES FOR MANAGING STOCK. 
On small farms where but few cattle are 
kept, it is always better that each animal 
should be “halter-broke;” yet it often occurs 
that a wild or refractory one is to be removed 
fig. 104. 
from one locality to another. This is usually 
an easy matter when several head are to go 
together; but when the unruly one alone has 
to go, it sometimes proves quite a difficult un¬ 
dertaking, and results in ill-temper all along 
the line of men, boys and dogs, if not in injury 
to the beast. If a cow is to be driven along an 
unfenced road through woods, she can be pre- 
fig. 105. 
vented from straying away from the path by 
securing a strong jjole to the horns—fig. 104. 
Another effectual means of controlling a wild 
steer, is by a strong surcingle around the body, 
through which two ropes attached to the fore¬ 
feet pass, of such length lhat the driver can 
walk behind the animal—fig. 105. When any atr 
attempt to run is made, pull the beast up and 
he comes down on his knees, and soon finds 
himself in the hands of his master and goes 
quietly along. I once owned an ox that could 
not be trusted to obey when even a few fee 
away. A few lessons with the ropeB made him 
obedient and safe. 
Another little device I have in use is what we 
fig. 100. 
call a “hog rope”—fig. 107. A little block of 
oak or hickory, three inches long, an Inch and 
a half wide, and half an inch thick, has a hole 
near each end, large enough 
to allow the rope to run 
easily. Make a knot iu one 
end of the rope; pasB the 
other end through one hole 
and back through the other, 
and you have a “ slipuoose" 
that is reliable. To secure 
a pig by the nose, place the 
wood so that it draws fiat 
across the roof of the mouth. 
A much better device than a 
rope on the hind foot, for 
hog hope.—fig. 107« the purpose of leading a 
pig, is to slip the noose around the pig, just 
behind the fore-legs, with the block on the 
back ; then take another turn around the neck, 
and you have him haltered in the best way that 
a hog can be—fig. 100. M. B. Pkince. 
(Jjjx Stonir-ijiri). 
FEEDING SWINE—No. I. 
A Letter from Dr. J. B. Lawes. 
The Rural, New-Yorker of the 17th of Feb¬ 
ruary, contains an article upon pig feeding, 
written by Professor E. W. Stewart, which ap¬ 
pears to me to call for some commeut- I do 
not feel the same hesitation in writing upon this 
subject, as I should in writing on many others 
connected with agriculture iu the States, for 
the United States pig, if his ancestors did not 
emigrate with the Pilgrim Fathers, bas, at all 
events, a very close relationship with the 
British pig of our own day. 
It has been observed that emigrants from 
this country after a few generations of residence 
in the States, lose that rotundity of form and 
aptitude for laying on fat which are gener¬ 
ally supposed to be characteristics of John 
Bull. Whatever may have been the oligin of 
the United States pig, a residence in that coun¬ 
try has not in any way reduced his appetite or 
impaired his digestion. 
Professor Stewart, in his article, refers to 
some experiments made by a committee of two 
Farmers’ Clubs in Connecticut, and also inci¬ 
dentally alludes to experiments in pig feeding 
made by me at Rothamsted. 
The Connecticutexperiments were to test the 
comparative value of corn meal, eorn-and-cob 
meal, and whole corn. The only one of these 
three particular foods which was employed In 
the Rothamsted experiments was corn-meal, 
and our results agree very closely with those 
obtained by the use of the same food in the ex¬ 
periments carried on by the committee of the 
two Farmers’ Clubs iu Connecticut. The com¬ 
mittee obtained an increase of one pound of 
weight by the consumption 4.34 pounds of 
corn-meal, and my results show an increase 
of one pound by the consumption of 4.90 pounds 
of the same food. The Stales' pig had,therefore, 
all the fattening properties of the English, and 
a little over. 
Professor Stewart finds fault with the pre¬ 
vailing idea that pigs thrive on the most con¬ 
centrated food, which he characterizes as "per¬ 
haps the error leading to the most disastrous 
consequences,” and he further adds “ this error 
has not been confined to unthinking farmers; 
for the experiments of Dr. Lawes, of Kothaui- 
sted, and of Dr. Miles, at the Michigan Agri¬ 
cultural College, iu pig-feeding, were con¬ 
ducted wholly with concentrated food iu deter¬ 
mining the value of corn-meal, etc.” 
Professor Stewart Is quite mistaken in stating 
that the Rothamsted experiments were con¬ 
ducted wholly with concentrated food--amongst 
many other kinds of food, we made use of bran, 
for instance, which the Professor says is 
an excellent food to mix with corn-meal; and 
I give the results of two experiments—one with 
corn-meal alone, and the other with two pounds 
of corn-meal per day to each pig, with bran 
ad libitum in addition. 
It took 491 pounds of corn-meal to produce 
100 pounds of increase In live weight; and it 
took 405 pounds of corn-meal, and 49G pounds 
of bran to produce the same amou of in¬ 
crease. 
The pig is a remarkable animal: nothing 
comes amiss to him, from a baby in a cradle 
to green food, or any refuse matter; he has, 
however, a very small stomach, and, if required 
to fatten qyickly. must be furnished with a 
very concentrated food. This may be illus¬ 
trated by the two following tables, published 
by me many years ago: 
Proportion of Stomach 
In 100 lt>s. live weight. 
Oxen 61 oz. 
Sheep SO oz. 
Pitfs 14 oz. 
Man 6 oz. 
Per loo lbs. live 
weight. Dry 
substance con¬ 
sumed aa food. 
IS* 
IS 
27 
Per week 
Increase. 
1.13 
1.7S 
S.43 
In this table the animals are supposed to be 
fed with the most appropriate food: the pigs 
on corn, or barley meal, the oxen or sheep on 
roots, hay and corn, or linseed cake, and it 
will be observed that the pig, with his small 
stomach, can consume double the amount of 
food, ami iuercase nearly six times as fast as 
the ox. It is evident that these two animals 
are adapted to consume different sorts of food; 
the ox gets nourishment out of a bulky diet, 
6 uch as hay. straw, etc., while the pig thrives 
on a concentrated diet consisting principally 
of starch. When a pig increases one pound 
for each 4.34 pounds of corn meal consumed, 
as was the case in the Connecticut experi¬ 
ments, it is evident such food must contain 
very little indigestable matter, for it requires 
24 pounds of starch to produce one pouud of 
fat, and as a very large proportion of a fat¬ 
tening pig consists of fat, the amount of res¬ 
idue required to support the vital functions 
of the animal, is not very great. 
The practical conclusion that we arrived 
at from our experiments was, that the most 
suitable diet for a fattening pig was barley 
meal, or food of a very similar composition. 
Compared with corn meal, barley meal may be 
6 aid to contain 2.60 per cent, of mineral mat¬ 
ter, instead of l.G per cent., the quantity found 
in corn meal. It also contains a very small ad¬ 
ditional proportion of nitrogen, and a little 
more indigestible woody fiber. Some of the 
pigs led exclusively on corn meal became un¬ 
healthy, and we thought the smaller amount 
of mineral, or indigestable matter contained 
by the corn meal as compared with the bar¬ 
ley meal, might possibly be the cause. Bar¬ 
ley meal, which is the principal fattening 
food used iu Great Britain, is certandy a per¬ 
fectly healthful food. 
Professor Stewart, in conclusion, appears 
to connect corn-meal feediug with certain dis¬ 
eases iu pigs, and it may be possible that bar¬ 
ley meal is quite as concentrated a food aB a 
pig can fatten upon consistently with perfect 
health : the addition, however, oi bran In the 
proportion of one-seventh, or one-eight, to the 
corn used, would probably be quite sufficient 
to bring Us feeding powers up to the standard 
of barley meal. It must, however, be borne 
in mind that the consumption of food and the 
rate of increase in the animal fall off greatly 
when much indigestible food is used. If an 
increase of one pound live weight for 4.34 
pounds of meal, can be obtained, without in¬ 
jury to the health of the pig, I should, if I 
were farming in the States, be reluctant to 
make any change in this diet. 
Rothamsted, Eng., March 8. 
-- 
Bulletin of the American Berkshire 
Association.— This is published at Springfield, 
Illinois, bi-monthly, and contains much useful 
information, not only to the breeders of Berk¬ 
shire swine, but to those of all others. It was 
commenced in May, 1878, at one dollar per 
annum. It has attained a circulation, we ate 
informed, of over 8,000, which is so rapidly 
increasing, that it is the iutontiou of the Asso¬ 
ciation to soon Issue It monthly. In the last 
number wo notice a recommendation of feed¬ 
iug a greater proportion of nitrogenous food 
to the growing pigs, than has heretofore been 
practiced at the West—such as peas, beans, oats, 
skim-milk, butter-milk, whey, etc. ThoBe, 
with plenty of exercise in a good grasB lot, 
make better bones, and leaner, tenderer meat 
than corn, which has heretofore been the 
almost exclusive diet of Western swine. This 
last, together with foul, contracted yards, 
have uudoubtedly been the cause of much 
of the cholera and other fatal diseases pre¬ 
vailing so extensively in the regions of the 
West. 
Dclematir 
ABORTION IN COWS-I. 
D. B. SALMON, D. V. M. 
There is no doubt that the losses from abor¬ 
tion are a very 6erions drawback iu many of 
our best dairy districts. The d isease seems to 
have appeared in New York State about a 
quarter of a century ago, and as long ago as 
1806, it was estimated that such losses in that 
State alone amounted to nearly five millions 
of dollars; but New York is not the only State 
that suffers from the scourge. It has been 
