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Vol. XLIIL No. L772. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 12, 1884. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
13.00 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1884, by the Rural New-Yorker In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
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"A. , >f i 
the Carolinas, Alabama and Georgia will reap 
large profit from early Spring lam be, eggs, 
butter and superior mutton and wool as the 
South now is doing from earlvvegei^bles an<’ 
fruits. The fall fruition w ill bd reached when 
all honest labor is everywhere considered 
honorable. In this respect the South is irn 
proving, while in some parts of the North, 
monopoly, hydra-headed, controls conscience 
and legislators. 
In relation to the origin of the modified 
Downs, the Shropshire was originally an old, 
honied English breed, crossed with Cotswold 
in the latter partof the last century, and later 
with the Leicester and South Down; careful 
selection has eliminated the horns and pro* 
duced other peculiarities. The Hampshire 
Dowus are a mired breed originated by cross¬ 
ing the South Down on the native breed of 
Hampshire, followed later by an infusion of 
Cotswold blood. The Oxford Downs are re¬ 
ported as originated about 50 years ago by 
crossing a Cotswold ram on a Hampshire ewe. 
This all speaks rather well for the Cotswold as 
a progenitor. The mutton is good if the sheep 
are young, and the rush nowadays is for early 
maturity. They are inclined to fat after they 
are fully mature. In fact, the Cotswolds and 
Leicesters are the valuable integers in all 
the modified Downs, and these modified Downs 
storms, and from the ranch country of the 
the plain and mountain region reports gene¬ 
rally show a good supply of Winter grazing. 
*** 
Aneut sheep, I do not think I am on record 
as having forgotten the Hampshire Down, 
as stated in a critique in the R. N.-Y. of De¬ 
cember 15. On the contrary, I distinctly 
stated in the Rural of December 1, that "to 
my mind the Hampshires for quality of wool, 
excellence of meat and goodness of constitu¬ 
tion, will leave little to be desired, in the case 
of those who must combine several excellen¬ 
cies.” And also that they w ill cross kindly 
with the Merino, as both the Hampshires have 
in Germany. Of course. I write from a West¬ 
ern man’s standpoint, and from a strong feed¬ 
ing standpoint. In relation to the Cotswolds, 
they are favorites in the West and for many 
reasons. So far as they are concerned, I stick 
JERSEY COW FLORA OF ST. PETER'S, 
. HE animal represented in Fig. 
vjy- 19, is imported Flora of St. 
AU Peter’s, 8622; sire, Prince; 
dam, Daisy, 884, on the Is- 
A* r\S 1 I U land of Jersey, and she is 
\ y I [$• now the property of Mrs. E. 
M. Jones, of Brookville.Ont,, 
Canada. When only three 
years and five months old, 
* f after having calved in the 
previous February, this cow made 16 pounds 
and five ounces of butter In one week in June. 
Her feed was all the Lucerne she would eat 
three times a clay, aud 
she was turned out to 
cid. She has an excel- 
lent constitution, and ^ M 
is a good breeder. She 
is the dam of the bull 
Gold Cup, that took the 
first prize at the Great 
International Dairy 
Fair in New York, an* teri roallar fiB 
that was then sold t 
Mr. Dinsmore—though ^^1 
not a year old—for 
that tool ntprim' jj^ 
drborindlitraL 
IMPROVED LOCUST-TREES 
Every farm ought to have its line or grove 
of locust trees. W ith us, some 18 or 20 years 
ago, the locust borer was so unconquerable, 
by its numbers and by 
I its habits, that we stop- 
p e d planting. The 
borer, which defied our 
attempts at mastery, 
found his match, how¬ 
ever, in some unknown 
ally of ours < apable of 
following him up; and 
we are now cutting part 
of the trees set then, 
getting an average of 
five heavy posts from 
each, besides lighter ones 
for grape trellis, rustic 
pickets, etc., and loads 
of firewood of the very 
best description. This 
we cut up while green, 
when it yields to the 
axe readily, although it 
becomes very hard 
when seasoned. 
The trees planted were 
seedlings, and the fell¬ 
ing of them brought 
into stroug notice the 
very different habits of 
growth of the different 
varieties. A few are 
crooked, scraggy, thor¬ 
ny and slow in growth, 
and from these there are 
all gradations up to two 
or three, and one espe¬ 
cial champion, which 
are vigorous and clean 
in growth, and thorn¬ 
less. This last is a merit 
highly appreciated by 
those who have to han¬ 
dle the limbs or brush, 
and it seems a rule gene- 
JERSEY COW FLORA. From Nature. Fig. 19. 
the grounds. 
Flora lifts been four 
times shown, aud been 
a prize-winner every time; and twice she has 
stood in Mrs. Jones’s prize medal held. 
WESTERN STOCK NOTES. 
JONATHAN PERI AM, OF CHICAGO. 
The favorable weather West has kept pas¬ 
tures fresh and growing up to this loth of De¬ 
cember. Stock are, of course, not left entirely 
to pasture, except by the penny-wise-and- 
pouud-foolish sort who thiuk the saving of 
fodder in the Autumn a cute thing. The sen¬ 
sible man keeps fils stock up to the flesh mark 
constantly and guts rich, while the "saving 
man”always feels that there is "no money in 
stock.” Sheep have boon able to take core of 
themselves very nicely so far, except during 
to my statements. "If a longer wool for comb¬ 
ing is wanted, Cotswold, Leicester und Lincoln 
sheep would be indicated,” and in relation to 
crossing with Merinos, I sav now as i said be¬ 
fore, that "the only objection would be that 
it is violent; that is, the sheep are too large 
proportionally for the Merinos.” I would 
also reiterate the statement to study the capa¬ 
bilities of the flock in relation to crossing. A 
cross valuable in the South would not neces 
sarily be so either in the New England 
States or in the West. The South Down cross, 
for instance, would improve the mutton; but 
| it would give neither a superior delaine nor 
combing wool. Hence the Downs modified 
through breeding to Cotswold and Leicester 
blood, are favorites in the A Vest, and the 
Cotswolds themselves certainly are so. 
i will be rightly estimated in the hill country 
of the South, when the shofr-guu is more used 
iu the killing of worthless dogs. Until this is 
) the case Stockman will undoubtedly prefer the 
prairie region and the great Plains beyond. 
Indians and the “cowboy” are less terrible to 
capital than “night riders” aud the murder¬ 
ous shot-gun. 
*** 
It is true that the South contains some of the 
most valuable lands in the United States for 
stock purposes, as well as for general agricul¬ 
ture. Her timber resources are magnificent. 
All these require only capital and talent to 
develop. The time is not far distant, indeed 
it has already begun, when diversified farm¬ 
ing is attracting large attention. The hill 
I country of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, 
rally prevailing among 
trees that when they are 
spared the hard work of 
I forming and projecting an armature of 
thorns, they gain greatly iu the one straight 
direction of onward and upward advance¬ 
ment of shoots, to which. then, all their force 
and power can be given. This is a familiar 
thing to nurserymen, to whom the habit of 
growth of the different sorts of each kind of 
fruit is a matter of importance, looked into 
with careful interest 
Locust trees are as amenable to the graft¬ 
er’s art as apple trees; and. while all locust 
wood is valuable, the rare trees that grow 
with clean, strong, and especially' with 
straight shoots, are of such greatly superior 
service and beauty, that it is well worth while 
to graft all young trees set oat on a farm with 
the choicest variety available. Acting on a 
suggestion from that prince of nurserymen 
