and 600 pounds of unleached ashes. Drills 12 
inches apart. Forty pounds of seed sown to 
acre. Hoed October 20. Yield, 20J bushels. 
Another plot was treated the same, except that 
no ashes were used. Yield. 24j bushels. 
Champlain ; forty pounds of seed broadcast, 
240 pounds salt, 240 pounds same fertilizer per 
acre. Yield. 14£ bushels. The Defiance and 
Champlain here referred to were sown for the 
first time as Winter wheats. We mention this 
lest they might be mistaken for the same vari¬ 
eties which we have sown three years as Win¬ 
ter wheats. 
Clawson. Four acres of this yielded 102 
bushels. We judged from its appearance it 
would yield 30 or over. The seed was drilled 
in at the rate of 1J bushel per acre. Sixty 
tons of farm manure were used. The depre¬ 
dations of the army worm, of course, reduced 
the yield considerably—possibly from 10 to 15 
per cent. This, as has already been stated, is 
our last crop of the popular Clawson. Our 
main crop for 1881 will be Silver Chaff, of 
which about five acres have been sown. The 
field is that upon which 70 bushels per acre of 
Mold’s Oats were harvested the past season. 
The land is fertile.—we gave it a thorough prep¬ 
aration. and shall hope for the best crop of 
wheat ever raised upon this farm It was sown 
September 23, and now covers the ground. 
October 20 we completed our wheat sowings 
for the season, having sown 77 different varie¬ 
ties. These, we trust, will furnish us with 
ample material for a special wheat number 
next Summer, ere it is time to sow for another 
year. 
-- 
Other Testimony as to the Value of the White 
Elephant. 
I think the White Elephant a valuable po¬ 
tato. I cut the one sent me into 37 pieces, and 
found it solid, white and crisp. I planted the 
pieces in my garden 18 inches apart, 24 inches 
between the rows. The season was unfavora¬ 
ble for the potato crop on account of the 
drought, especially at the time of setting. I 
also bad grape-vines and several sorts of ber¬ 
ries near the potatoes, wbidb, I consider, took 
a considerable part of the moisture which the 
latter should have had. The potato bugs too 
were plentiful ; but I kept them well looked 
after. The potato vines from every piece 
eame up strong and vigorous. From some of 
the pieces more than one sprout came up. 
When they were well up, I took them off and 
set them out on ground from which I had 
just taken a crop of peas. The yield from the 
pieces amounted to one bushel and a half, ex¬ 
tra measure (If), weighing 90 pounds. The 
product from the sprouts I dug October 20, 
they being later on account of having been put 
back by transplanting. I had nearly one bush¬ 
el, or 54 fiounds, some of them weighing over 
one pound each, making in the aggregate, 2i 
bushels by measure, or 144 pounds, by weight. 
I have tried them by boiling, and find the. qual¬ 
ity first-class. I think them better than the 
Rose potato. I expect to plant them next 
season and have much confidence in them. 
Morrisville, Pa. Ell wood Parsons. 
$jff gjirtosmatt. 
STOCK NOTES. 
BT A STOCKMAN. 
Ip we are getting a good deal of money from 
Enrope for grain. meat and dairy products, we 
are paying a good deal back again for high¬ 
bred stock; and being very liberal in pur¬ 
chases and prices, American buyers help the 
busin%3 very much both in creating a large 
demand and raising values of such stock. Our 
buyers and importers of stock are shrewd 
enough to w'ant the best. Nothing is too good 
for America, and nothing seems to please an 
Eoglish or Scotch breeder more than to have 
Americans looking over his stock. 
But if Americans have a national failing, it 
lies in the direction of too greut a confidence 
in their own judgment and the ease with which 
they are flattered into making mistakes. JuBt 
now we are importing heavy horses in large 
numbers. The latest foreign purchase of such 
animals was recently made by a Western 
breeder who brought over nearly a hundred 
head of French horses in one shipment, and 
now buyers are scouring Scotland for Clydes¬ 
dales. It is easy to perceive that big bone and 
coarse hair are too highly considered by the 
majority of importers, and that fine bone and 
light, silky hair on the legs are not in popular 
favor. Thi6 i6 a mistake. Scores of French 
horses and Clydesdales of the former kind 
have been brought over the water for one of 
the latter. This is explained by the statement 
of a Scotch breeder who complains that Amer¬ 
ican buyers will not go oeyona $1,000 while 
Australian buyers do not stick at $5,000 if they 
get the kind that suits them. And so we are 
getting second rate animals, good as far as 
they go, bat not the best. 
These purchases are not confined to the 
West. I notice in a Scotch paper that Smiths 
T43£ BUBAL NEW-YOBKIB 
& Powell, of New York State, have purchased 
12 Clydesdales at recent fairs for importation. 
These are of the most noted blood and breed¬ 
ing in Scotland, and these gentlemen will 
doubtless soon find their good judgment in 
going for the best will be its own reward. 
It is strange that that excellent type of beef 
cattle, the Polled Angus, does not become pop¬ 
ular with Western breeders. It may be that 
the practice of stall feeding these cattle and 
the high feeding to which they are subjected 
for the purpose of winning prizes have affected 
their constitution unfavorably. One noted 
herd of these cattle in Scotland has taken GOO 
prizes, including 120 gold medals. This goeB 
to show that prize winning is not always ac¬ 
companied by every excellence and may be¬ 
come a damage. As a contrast, there is the 
Hereford which is rapidly becoming the most 
popular breed on the plains. In one week in 
August, 143 auimals of this breed were shipped 
from Liverpool to New York, and since then 
another large lot has been shipped to Missouri, 
and still auotherlol of 29 to Colorado and some 
to New Mexico. At this rate it will n^t be long 
before the Short-horn will begin to feel the 
competition. Fashions change, but this is not 
all fashion. 
This is the time when the shepherd needs to 
be on the alert. The change of season and the 
falling off of the supply of green food will begin 
to affect the condition of the flock. The ewes 
now in Iamb are taxed seriously to keep up 
their condition. A sheep that goes into win¬ 
ter-quarters weak and poor rarely recovers. 
One that begins the Winter hearty and in full 
vigor will generally come out in the Spring in 
excellent condition, with a fine lamb or two at 
foot. Of all the helpful foods for sheep, linseed- 
oil meal is the best. It Buits their constitution 
and digestion. It is too bad that nearly allonr 
product of this useful food substance is per¬ 
mitted to go abroad. St. Louis, Chicago and 
Cleveland are centers of production, while New 
Fork and Brooklyn produce a large quantity. 
It can thus be procured easily in any locality. 
Messrs. Read <fc Pell, the English Commis¬ 
sioners, seem to think that American farmers 
can never amount to very much as mutton and 
wool growers. This seems slraDge to ns who 
remember that the wool crop of California 
alone equals 50,000 000 pounds, and that Col¬ 
orado, Dakota. Montana, New Mexico, Arizona 
and Texas possess pasture grounds sufficient 
to produce 500,000,000 pounds of wool, and 
that there is room enough on the tidewater re¬ 
gions of the Atlantic Slope and on the moun¬ 
tain ranges back of it to produce mutton that 
would more than supply the whole world. All 
that is required is that farmers should give 
their attention to it and to get rid of a few mil¬ 
lions of useless and destructive curs. 
2) Amman. 
HORSE NOTES. 
Cut Hay Producing Colic in Horses. 
Several months ago we gave instances in 
the Rubal of this occurring in one of our own 
horses. The hay was passed through a straw- 
cutter ; Indian meal and bran, half and half, 
were mixed with it and all then wet with a few 
quarts of water. Suspecting after a while that 
this method of feeding wa6 the cause of the 
colic in the horse, we changed to uncut bay, 
giving the meal dry and separate from it. 
This was about two years ago, since when the 
horse has been perfectly well. 
We noticed recently in English journals, the 
same injurious results from cut bay and meal 
wet up together and fed to horses, as they eat 
their ration thus prepared too greedily and 
quickly to be digested easily. Colic is apt also 
to follow when a horse conies into a stable hot 
and very thirsty, and he is also allowed to 
drink immediately as much cold water as he 
craves, and is then fed his dry meal followed 
by uncut hay. Drinking cold water when the 
horse is very warm also produces founder and 
other diseases. 
Tough Hoofa of Horses. 
It is stated that the Arabian horses, so large- ; 
ly used as cavalry in the British army In India, 
possess such tongh hoofs that they rarely re- j 
quire shoeing. In a full-grown horse the hoof 
1 ecomes as bard as flint, and he can make the 
most Beyere marches without injury to his 
feet. 
In ancient times, historians inform us, all 
horses went unshod, and to be able to do so 
particular attention had to be given lo breed 
from none except those having the toughest of 
hoofs. Mr. Story, the American sculptor at 
Rome, iu one of his publications speaks of the j 
Italian horses still retaining this extra tough¬ 
ness of hoof, derived, doubtless, from the old 
Roman breed. 
Brittle and tender feet in horses, it is con¬ 
tended, come from the following neglect in ! 
breeding: First, hereditary predisposition; 
second, imperfect nutrition; third, alterna¬ 
tions of moisture and dryness; fourth, dis¬ 
eases of the foot; fifth, faulty shoeing. Horse 
breeders would do well to consider all theee 
points attentively, and beware not only of 
them but all other defects of body and limb, 
external and internal. 
Horiieg Pawing In llie Stnble. 
A light chain is recommended by some to 
break them of this trick, fastened above the 
knee to hang down loose, but not long enough 
to touch the floor. If horses kick, fasten the 
chain in the same way on the hind leg. If a 
horse is at all nervous—*s such as paw and 
kick usually are—we should be afraid that the 
chain would frighten and cause him to kick 
and paw so much more violently as to jerk it 
around aud seriously injure his legs. 
®I)f Stac-Serir. 
CHESHIRE OR JEFFERSON CO., N. Y„ 
PIGS. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Twentt years ago the leading breed of hogs 
exhibited in the State of New York at the 
Slate fairs, was the Cheshire. They origin¬ 
ated in Jefferson County, N. Y., and filled more 
pens than all other breeds pnt together. As 
a natural consequence they attracted a great 
deal ot attention and, being in the hands of 
enterprising men, they were always in fine 
order aud showed well. One of the first aud 
most successful breeders was Mr. A. C. Clark, 
Henderson, Jefferson Co., N. Y; Messrs. Con¬ 
verse, nuffstater were later, and large 
breeders. A Mr. Green followed and kept 
up the breeding and competition for several 
years. For a number of years we do not re¬ 
collect seeing at the State fair in New York 
auy exhibitors from Jefferson County. Mr. 
Davis and one or two other exhibitors still 
show line specimens of these hogs, but they 
reside in other counties. 
The proper name for the Cheshires would 
have been Jefferson County hogs, as there 
was no doubt of the place where they origi¬ 
nated. but there always was a doubt of the 
Cheshire part of it. It was claimed by some of 
the later exhibitors and breeders that they de¬ 
scended directly from a pair of Cheshire pigs 
bought of Mr. Woolford of Albany, N. Y., who, 
it was said, imported the blood directly from 
England as a distinct breed. Mr. A. C. Clark 
never made any such pretensions, but told us 
that he improved bis pigs by crossing them 
upon the best white hogs he could find. At 
a Utica State fair about 20 years ago he ex¬ 
hibited the finest specimens of the breed we 
ever saw, and these were, he said, across made 
by first-premium stock purchased by him 
at the London, Canada, provincial fair. This 
stock was probably Yorkshire and the first 
improvements made in Jefferson County were 
undoubtedly made in the same way by large 
Yorkshire pigs imported by Messrs. Hunger- 
ford & Brodie, Adams, Jefferson County N. Y. 
Pig excitement rose high in Jefferson County 
about those times and several men made it a 
special business to breed and exhibit Cheshire 
pigs. They went far and near to exhibit 
them aud at St. Louis pigs of this sort won the 
pork-packers’ premium as the best breed on 
Bxhibition. This triumph over the Berkshire, 
Poland-Chinas and other breeds gave the 
•Cheshires an extensive notice and popularity 
and led to their introduction iDto the West. 
The Cheshire was a finer breed aud better hog 
than the Chester-Wbites and for a time took 
the lead among the white hogs. The Berk- 
shires and Poland-Cblnas have uow nearly sup¬ 
planted them in the West; and in the East 
ihe email Yorkshires have led them. For the 
want of fresh blood to cross upon their stock, 
the Jefferson County breeders inbred so closely 
that their 6tock soon began to deteriorate aud 
established the propensity to lose their tails 
wbichdried up and dropped off when the pigs 
were small. The skin also became very thin 
and pinkish in color, and they often had so 
little hair as to be almost hairless. This un¬ 
fitted them for the sunshine or for Winter, 
and kept them sore ami scabby. 
The Cheshires are long in the body and flne- 
boned with a small amount of offal in pro¬ 
portion to the size and length of the body. 
They often have very long snouts which natu¬ 
rally go with a long body. The flesh is fine¬ 
grained and tender. They would improve any 
•coarse breed. The ears are Binall and erect, 
the cheeksfull and the hams round and plump. 
The breed with the characteristics of the old 
Jefferson County stock is likely to become 
extinct, as it cannot be kept up without new 
crosses upon the Yorkshires, or other im¬ 
proved white breeds. Care enough was not 
taken in forming the breed to establish fami¬ 
lies not closely akin, bo that new Btrains of 
blood of the same breed might subsequently 
be obtained. There was so much rivalry 
among the early breeders that the future wel¬ 
fare of the breed was not considered, and a 
NOV. 6 
foundation laid among them which could make 
it permanent. The Cheshires may be classed 
as an American breed and a valuable one » 
and they ought to have been perpetuated with 
the distinctive name of the Jefferson County 
bleed, with the characteristics whieh they 
possessed. If they run out it will be because 
of the lack of careful breeding and of a good 
understanding among breeders, looking to 
definite and permanent results, without which 
any breed of animals will sooner or later be 
destroyed. 
Cbt foultrj faro 
SELECTING AN INCUBATOR. 
L. 8. HARDIN. 
I have procured circulars from all the beet 
known and most popular makers of incuba¬ 
tors, and, after studying them carefully. I have 
come to the conclusion that each and all of 
them were written for the Bole purpose of sell¬ 
ing machines and not with a view to letting 
the public know wherein lie the real virtues 
and shortcomings of each patent. As Mr. 
Wright in his admirable work on Practical 
Poultry Keeping, says “ It will not do to pur¬ 
chase an inenbator, light the lamp, put in the 
eggs and expect that, provided the lamp be 
only kept bnrning, all will go right.” While 
such is the conclusion one is irresistibly driven 
to after reading most of the circulars on the 
subject, it is eminently fallacious. The 
man, and I may say the only man, to succeed 
with an inenbator is one who has made up his 
mind and will carry out his resolution to give 
his personal attention to the business and not 
be disheartened or discouraged with numerous 
failures. The more chicken knowledge and 
close attention he brings to bear upon it, the 
greater will be the measure of success. The 
machine will uot run itself and if one has not 
the time and patience to master the difficulties 
it is better not to attempt to raise chickens by 
artificial means. The only person I would en¬ 
courage to buy one would be the man who in¬ 
tends carrying ou a business in which the 
incubator is an indispensable factor. There is- 
no fun about it- 
While some of the troubles pointed out in 
circulars are more imaginary than real, others 
that are almost insurmountable are rarely, if 
ever, mentioned. For instance, keeping the 
lamp filled with oil and supplying the battery 
with blue-stone are pointed out as great labors 
in the circulars of some machines in which 
these objections have been avoided or measur¬ 
ably overcome. The man who is too indiffer¬ 
ent to the occupation to attend to these small 
troubles, is the last ono to run an incubator. 
The real trouble comes in where personal j udg- 
ment, without the enlightening influence of 
experience, mast be used. For instance, with 
your incubator you receive a mercury gauge 
and with the machine comes a bottle of dirty 
stuff that you know, only by its weight, is mer¬ 
cury. Following instructions, you pour this 
into the gauge ; put it in its place and start the 
lamp; but after heating up the oven to 150 de¬ 
grees or more, you cannot get the gauge to- 
work, and if you have been foolish enough to 
put eggs In the ovcd, they will be all well 
cooked. The dirt on the mercury has stopped 
up all the small glass tubes and you must take 
it out aud clean up—and such a job as you 
will have of it! The instructions say pour the 
mercury through paper cornucopias until 
clean. You must make a huudred or more of 
these to accomplish the end. I discovered a 
better plan, which as to gently pour the mer¬ 
cury from one white vegetable dish to another, 
carefully wiping the dish cleau each time. 
This is only one of many troubles you meet 
with. By the man who has a definite purpose 
iu view and who remembers that there is no 
business ever carried to a successful issue with¬ 
out trouble and plenty of it, the incubator can 
be managed aud I am satisfied, if properly man¬ 
aged, with a great saving of time, trouble, and 
money expense over the old-hen plan. 
The incubators now on the market may be 
divided into two classes:—first, simple and 
troublesome ; and, second, intricate and risky. 
The first class are not expensive and, like the 
old Egyptian plan, must be regulated by hand. 
To be sure a very nice lamp or oil stove is used 
to keep the temperature regular. The plan is 
based upon the theory that au oil lamp miy be 
made to produce a uniform heat without fur¬ 
ther attention for 12 hours. There is more 
theory than fact about this. Having tried it. I 
will suggest a few of the difficulties I met with. 
We want a range of heat iu the oveu from 102 
to 104 degress—no more aud no less. We 
watch the lamp until 103 is reached, when we 
gradually turn down the wick uutil the heat 
becomes stationary. At the end of six hours 
it will be found that the oil iu the lamp, or es¬ 
pecially that iu an oil stove, has become heated 
and burns much more freely than at first, thus 
raising the heat in the oven above 104 degrees. 
As the end of the 12 hours approaches the wick 
becomes charred and the lamp burns less 
