value of these two substances. Again, the 
condition of the substances exerts a large effect 
upon their nutritive value; for the best grown 
and cured stalks of the smaller and sweeter 
kinds of corn and the 6oft cobs of the green 
ears of sweet coru, are of far greater value 
than the stout stalks and dry, woody cobs of 
the Western and Southern Dent corn. The 
figures in the table are to be taken as a sort of 
guide-post, .which points the way;audasby 
shutting the eyeB one might miss his way 
when near his journey’B end, although he had 
passed by many guide-posts on the road, so 
one who reads this table must, nevertheless, 
try for himself how near in practice its figures 
may come, and, after all, turn this way or that 
when he finds it necessary, to reach the ends he 
has in view. Ju several years’ practice during 
which I have used more or less of all these 
feeding substances in producing milk and but¬ 
ter, I am inclined to agree very closely with 
the figures given in the last column, with the 
exception perhaps of the coarse fodders last 
mentioned. Aud yet upon one occasion, at 
least, in feeding fresh marBb hay to some cows, 
I found it to increase the milk considerably as 
compared with good Timothy hay; but the 
hay was grasB and not sedges aud chiefly that 
known asBlue-joint (Calamagrostis Canaden¬ 
sis) which is one of the most valued wild 
grasses of the Western StateB. 
These values, then, being given, it only re¬ 
mains to choose from the list such as will be 
found the most convenient to grow, easy to 
procure or econouornical to purchase, and 
to combine them so as to make them the most 
effective in use. The practice of feeding is 
one of the moat difficult iu the business of 
dairying, and the enthusiastic owner of a new¬ 
ly acquired family cow may well be appalled 
at the view of all the figures above giveu, 
which arc sufficient to stagger the majority of 
experienced dairymen, A few practical rules 
for feeding, then, may be given with the pre¬ 
cise rations advisable to suit cowe of different 
sizes and for theproduction of butter or of milk, 
not forgetting the effect of the different foods on 
the quality of the products ; for this is of im¬ 
portance. 
encouragement to experimenters may, with 
equal propriety, be said of small fruits gener* 
ally, aud of peaches and plums, as well as of 
many vegetables. 
The student of nature will find much to ad¬ 
mire aud to stimulate hi6 curiosity in the nat¬ 
ural productions of the peach from miscella¬ 
neous pits. Although a few varieties are almost 
sure to produce their kind, the majority will 
he a departure, each showing perhaps only a 
single feature from which to gues6 its parent¬ 
age. A notorious idiosyncracy of this fruit is, 
that It will occasionally produce fruit with a 
smooth skin, the nectarine, from the regular 
peach pits. Nothing in horticulture is more 
curiouB and inexplicable, nnless it be the sweet- 
and-sour apple, the actual existence of which 
can no longer be doubted, though proof is 
lamentably lacking that it has ever been pro¬ 
duced, as has been claimed, by the union of 
two half buds that somebody once effected, but 
who, wheu and where, seems never to have 
been known, 
Judging from the large amount of new va¬ 
rieties ol ihe strawberry and raspberry that are 
yearly heralded, and their peculiar excellence 
lauded, I conclude that there is in these fruits 
a chance for the careful experimenter to ob¬ 
tain notoriety, if not a fortune, in the produc¬ 
tion of a new variety of strawberry that shall 
excell iu all other respects the Wilson, a thing 
which I claim has not yet been accomplished. 
On page 492, the editor gives some pointed 
aud deserved criticisms on “ Pictured Exag¬ 
geration,” which had also occurred to myself. 
These criticisms will receive additional point 
when it is known that some of the parties who 
indulge in these exaggerations ridicule without 
stint (and justly) the miserable French frauds 
who visit us almost every winter with crude 
drawings, representing gooseberries as big as 
goose eggs, pear6 of the size of marrow 
squashes, apples that emulate the dimensions 
of field pumpkins, bloated strawberries that 
grow on trees, and so on through a long list, 
with flowers to match or even excel them; 
and the truth compels me to say that hundreds 
are deceived by them, if so, how much moie 
likely are they to be deceived by drawings exe¬ 
cuted in the most artistic manner ? We want 
not only the size of the pictures reduced, but 
also the length and number of the adjectives 
in the descriptions that accompany them. I 
am convinced that both buyer and seller would 
be benefited by the change. Hokticola. 
THE DAIRY COW.-No. 4 
HENKY STEWART 
llow to Feed a Cow. 1. 
The best cow that could be selected will fail 
of satisfying her owuer unless she is well fed. 
This term " well fed ” should include not only 
a sufficiency of food but a selection of the best 
kinds. The choice of foods for cows is now so 
large that one must be troubled by tbe redun¬ 
dancy rather than by any difficulty in procur¬ 
ing the best food ; and yet it may be necessary 
to be able to distinguish between the different 
kinds of food so as to arrive at a decision as 
regards the cost of feeding; for some of 
these foods cost much less than others in pro¬ 
portion to their feeding value. Grass and hay 
are the standard food of cows. A good cow 
will do her best upon the best of pasture; this 
being of mixed grasses, of which Kentucky 
Blue grass or common June grass forms the 
greater proportion. In estimating the theo¬ 
retical values of foods the best quality of 
mixed meadow hay is taken as the standard 
and is rated as par, or 100, in the comparative 
lists frequently published. The following 
table of tbe theoretical comparative feeding 
values of the substances mentioned in an air- 
dry condition may be studied with advantage. 
The table gives the amounts of nutritious ele¬ 
ments contained in each substance, with the 
crude fiber which is also nutritious to a small 
extent. 
SHEEP AND WOOL 
A. B. ALLEN 
Both of these are paying so well now, it is 
gratifying to obBerve the increased attention 
our farmers are giving to the improvement of 
the first for mutton, and of the second for the 
various requirements of the manufacturer, 
and especially in the finer grades. 
The past year’s clip of wool is estimated at 
230,000,000 lbs, and yet it has not been found 
sufficient to supply our factories, and an ad¬ 
ditional 50,000,000 lbs have been imported for 
this purpose. Supposing our sheep averaged 
three and a half pounds of wool per head, it 
would require rather over 14,000,000 more of 
them to supply what we are now importing. 
But before these could be added to our flocks 
the rapid increase of population would give 
us many more persons to be fed and clothed 
than now. Meanwhile woolen fabrics will be 
rapidly on the increase in variety and quan¬ 
tity, so that it may be doubted whether our 
flocks could be brought up to meet all this 
within 20 years, however strenuous might be 
the exerlions of sheep breeders to accomplish 
RURALISM8 
I had a talk with the editor of the Bubal a 
few days 6ince about strawberries, during 
which he made the point that the word starni- 
nate, as often applied to strawberries, is wrong, 
and I agree with him. Years ago we had a 
long and lively war of words about pistillate 
and staminato strawberries, which did much 
good, though some of its lessons have been 
forgotten. Since then the words “perfect 
flower ” have found a place in Borne catalogues 
very ofum, however, interchangeably with 
staminate, but more from force of habit than 
want of knowledge, I sometimes fall into 
this way myself. Why not begin now all 
round to use the proper words ? Since I some¬ 
times meet parties, even among strawberry 
growers, who do not know the difference be- 
tweed a pistillate and a perfect strawberry 
flower, a little explanation will not be out of 
place. For want of such knowledge stiaw- 
berry beds have been made that proved to be 
quite bairen. Naturally and botanicaily, the 
flower of the strawberry is perfect, having 
both 6tamene and pistils in the same flower. 
In cultivation we have varieties that bear im¬ 
perfect flowers called pistillate because of the 
absence of ttamens, and these kinds need the 
presence of perfect-flowered kiuds to fertilize 
them; otherwise they will not bear fruit. A 
staminate flower is one that bearB only stamens, 
and is consequently barren. Inasmuch as 
there is now no staminate variety in cultiva¬ 
tion, the word should be dropped altogether, 
not only in print, but iu conversation; athing 
which some of us will find it hard to do. The 
pistillate varieties being marked with a P. 
in parenthesis, as is now done in some cata¬ 
logues, it may be taken for granted that all 
others bear perfect flowers. 
Feeding Stuffs. 
EUKOFEAN CORRESPONDENCE 
The Royal Agricultural Show at Carlisle, 
The number of sheep now in the United 
States is estimated at 40,000,000. If these 
could be doubled, oreveu raised to 100,000,000 
by the year 1,900, would they be too many to 
supply our wauts? By that lime our woolen 
fabrics will be so improved, that, as in the 
case of cotton fabrics, we may become large 
exporters, and if so, we shall then want a 
considerably larger proportion of wool to our 
population thau is now required. We are also 
becoming greater consumers of mutton thau 
formerly, and smaller eaters of pork; and 
this with the exportation of fat live sheep and 
their dressed carcasses, will also more than 
keep pace with their breeding. 
An Increased production of the finer qual¬ 
ifies of wool is deserving of greater attention 
ou the part of flock-masters among us. The 
Australians are proving themselves highly en¬ 
terprising in this respect. From their recently 
improved combing wool, the French 
Carlisle, Cumberland, July 19, isso. 
“Queen’s weather" is a phrase indicative 
of fine, sunshiny days, and owes its origin to 
the excellent weather that has for years been 
common on occasions of public fetes or displays 
in which Her Majesty has taken part. “ Royal 
Agricultural Society weather," or simply 
“Royal" weather, is soon likely to have a 
significance the reverse of this, if the shows of 
the “Royal" are held a few times more amid 
such a pluvial down-pour and such a sea of 
mud as have rendered this aud the last exhi¬ 
bition at Kilburn a discomfort to the visitors, 
as well as a sonrce of disease to some of the 
stock and of loss to the 8ociety. By this time, 
however, the Royal should be accustomed to a 
debit balance at the close of its shows. Of the 
forty previous exhibitions money was lost by 
tbirty-oue, amounting in all to the sum of 
.£73.098, equal to $353,770, while nine only left 
a credit balance aggregating £37,007, or $184,- 
004. so that from its first show in 1839 down to 
this, the Society has been out of pocket by it 3 
exhibitions the not sum of A'332 700, to which 
must be added a loss of at least $0,000 on 
aecouut of the show just closed here. Al¬ 
though, doubtless, a balance on the right side 
of the account would be pleasaut euough to 
the members at the close of their anuual exhi¬ 
bitions, money-making is not at all the object 
of these shows, but rather the encouragement 
of all sorts of improvements in stock and agri¬ 
cultural utensils and products of all kiuds. 
Accordingly the shows are held each year in a 
different part of the country, so that the 
farmers of all sections may in turn be stimu¬ 
lated and encouraged by the choice products 
brought together for their edification in their 
own neighborhood, aud the awards of money 
and honor that crown success iu every depart¬ 
ment. 
Throughout Eugland there are every year 
many county and district agricultural fairs, 
some of them of national importance, such, 
for instance, as the Bath and West of England 
show; but the agricultural show par excellence 
is that of the Royal Agricultural Society. 
What the Derby is to other races, this, wher¬ 
ever held, is to other shows, and the winner of 
a premium here partakes of the high honor 
that distinguishes the winner of “ the blue 
ribbon of the turf ” at Epsom. It is this con¬ 
sideration that attracts to these annual exhi¬ 
bitions the best of everything agricultural in 
the country, and often from abroad, that draws 
from all quarters visitors interested in ag ri- 
cultural affairs, and that renders an account of 
each show a matter of yearly interest to the 
farmers not of the British Isles alone, but of 
all progressive and especially of all English- 
manu- 
facturers fabricate those fiue cashmeres and 
challis, which they readily sell as fast as made, 
at extravagant prices. From the Silesian and 
Eclectoral wools grown in various parts of 
Enrope, 6hawls are manufactured in France 
and Austria, worth from $150 to $200 each. 
I presume this wool is of the same quality as, 
and no finer or more suitable for the above 
purpose than, that grown from the Silesian 
flocks kept for years past by Mr. Chamberlain 
of New York, Mr. Croskey of Ohio, and 
Mr. Cockerell of Tennessee. When I visited 
the late Mr. Chamberlain at his farm at Red 
Hook, on the Hudson River, some 25 years 
ago, he informed me that his Silesians were as 
hardy as Vermont Merinos, and they appeared 
to be so, and always subsequently when I have 
seen them. Messrs Croskey and Cockerell 
say the Bame of their flocks; and ub they are 
thrifty animals of good size, and grow large 
fleeces, I can see no objection to the rapid 
increase of such among us, but vury much in 
favor of it. There is no danger of a super¬ 
abundance of this kind of wool being produced 
in America; and if it were ever to be the case, 
our European market is always ready to take 
it at a high price. 
A World’s Fair of sheep and wool is to come 
off at Philadelphia next September. We may 
expect great good from this, if the live ani- 
malB and the fleeces of tbe best sorts of sheep 
are exhibited there from different quarters 
of the globe. It will then be well worth at¬ 
tending; and I hope as many of our flock 
masters as possible will make it a point to do 
so, and contribute liberally of their products. 
A comparison of such with others is the best 
method they can possibly adopt to ascertain 
what will be best for them to breed hereafter 
for the two purposes of wool and mutton. 
nutriments. 
Value. 
It may be of interest to note that the 6exual 
character of the strawberry flower is some¬ 
times modified iu a marked degree by the 
weather. 1 have a number of times noticed in 
the Spring, when the weather is changeable 
and cold, that in some kinds the first flowers 
that open are destitute of stameoB, and might 
easily be taken for pistUlates. During the last 
Spring this was the case with even such kinds 
as Sharpless, Great American, Lincoln, and 
Duchess. These flowers produced no fruit. 
I say they were destitute of stamens; but the 
microscope revealed these organs in a rudi¬ 
mentary form, but there was no pollen. This 
will account for some early flowers not setting, 
and others producing very imperfect fruit. 
These cases must not be confounded with 
those where the stamens have been destroyed 
by frost. In the latter case the stamens turn 
black. 
Nothing surprised me more during the past 
terrible drought than the wonderful display of 
wild roses. It seems to me that I have never 
seen it equaled. Week after week, fully ex¬ 
posed to the scorching sun, they lifted their 
harming pink flowers above the dry and 
brown grasses of the meadows, redeeming 
them, as it were, from the appearance of utter 
desolation. Not here and there a flower, but 
great masses of them, as if consulting together 
how they should restore thegreen carpet which 
so well befits their own modest beauty. And 
not only in the meadows, but along the road¬ 
side, and in many places even in the railroad 
cuts, masses of them bloomed profusely. 
Beautiful wild roses everywhere. Did it ever 
occur to the rose fancier that our wild rose 
would be an excellent subject to work with ? 
