J*N 12 
21 
wheat and corn, a salad, too, of lettuce and 
cabbage chopped fine, but this they cared not 
for. They could choose their own salad from 
the cowslips, water-grasses, peppermint, and 
even a white or yellow lily for a change, if 
preferred, for these grew all about them in 
the pond. No food we offered was as eagerly 
takeu as crackers and bread. Gliding grace¬ 
fully through the water they would suddenly 
dart forward aud seize the floating pieces, nib¬ 
bling daintily upon them. In their most 
lively moods they would almost leap out of the 
water to catch the fragments thrown them. 
They have been much admired, for their 
color is indeed beautiful, and in full sunlight 
the rich salmon-color about the mouth con¬ 
trasts fiuely with the purplish hue and mar¬ 
bled appearance of the body, very dark and 
rich. Sunlight and warmth seem more essen¬ 
tial even than food to their growth and in¬ 
crease They have grown tinely, weighing 
now from one-and-a-half to two pounds, and 
ranging from two inches in length to 12 to 18 in 
the three years. But they have not spaw ned 
yet. We think the water too cold here: it is 
from 50 to 80 deg. in Summer, and not as 
well adapted to their needs as the warmer 
waters in the Southern States. Their edible 
qualities yet remain to be tested by us. We 
wish to have another season pass before using 
any for the table, hoping to have an increase 
in numbers before we dispose of any of the 
original lot. l. h. spear, 
Orange Co., Vt. 
THE EYE-OPENER. 
these we tested seven for butter, the other two 
coming in too late—after our creamery was too 
full to allow a test of individual animals. 
The lot averaged 12 pounds 12 ounces each 
week. All the above tests but two were made 
on Winter feed, and a few were for four or 
eight days, but for the sake of uniformity we 
give the exact rate per week. 
In regard to the quality of Holstein butter 
we will say that butter made at “ Lakeside” 
commands the highest market price in Syra¬ 
cuse. and it is impossible to meet the demand 
for it. Mr. Jerome W. Leland, of the Stur- 
tevant. House, says of it: “ Your tub of butter 
came to band in good order. We are pleased 
to say to you that we pronounce it the finest 
we have ever used.” 
At the Ououdaga County Fair of 1881, but¬ 
ter made from the milk ot our herd in compe¬ 
tition with Jersey and other butter, judged 
by a committee of three, two of whom handle 
Jersey butter in business, was awarded the 
Society’s first premium, and also the special 
butter prize. "We also took first premium at 
the same fair on butter in 1883.- The judges 
did not know from what herd or what breed 
the butter was made. At the Tri-State Fair 
held at Toledo ou September, 1882, Mr. W. J. 
Rogers, of Ohio, exhibited one tub of factory 
and one of dairy butter made from his Holstein 
full-bloods and grades, aud he was awarded 
the first prize on both. The committee assert¬ 
ed that the butter was firmer and had a better 
grain than any other exhibited, and there was 
all. But when it comes to such a pass that 
producers of genuine goods and consumers of 
every class, rich and poor alike, are made 
the victims of the counterfeiters, it is time 
that at least the agricultural press and agri¬ 
cultural boards ami dairy organizations of 
the country should array themselves unmis¬ 
takably on the side of right aud honor and 
truth, and set their feet down heavily upon 
frauds and shams and counterfeits of every 
name and character. 
‘‘Does the Rural known of a marriage in¬ 
surance company, that pays a certain sum to- 
its members at the date of them marriage, 
and if so, will the editor tell me of such a one 
privately by letter? An early reply is re¬ 
quested.” Thus writes an inquirer from Ohio. 
We have here the names of half a dozen or 
more such insurance companies, but as the 
State officers have prosecuted some of them 
for fraud and others as being against public 
morality, and as we know by watching the 
career of such societies that the least vile of 
them seldom last more than a few months, we 
really do not know whether any of these are 
now in existence; and if we did know, we 
would do our “level best” to put an end to 
their course of trickery, deception and swin¬ 
dling. The “marriage insurance” company 
and the “grave-yard insurance” company are 
closel}' allied frauds. In both cases the 
amount payable to the insurer is collected 
from the “members” by assessments when a 
marriage or death occurs; and in both 
cases the “managers” of the frauds always 
pocket the greater share of the money, and 
frequently wind up by making off with a big 
haul. There are here in a pigeon-hole clip¬ 
pings from newspapers telling of the careers 
of eight such insurance companies, chiefly in 
Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Southern 
Ohio, within the lart two years, and every 
one of them swindled the “members ” In 
several cases the rascals who had just fooled 
people out of their money in “grave-yard in¬ 
surance” companies, started “marriage insur¬ 
ance” companies to fool them again, so soon as 
their former swindles were suppressed. Of 
course, both kinds of insurance companies, as 
a rule, act with an appearance of ostentatious 
honesty at the outset, but the object aud end 
of both kinds is fraud. 
Young man, or young woman, if you have 
a praiseworthy desire to have something good 
at your wedding-day, lay aside the money 
weekly or monthly; be hardworking and eco¬ 
nomical, and your saviugs will be a blessing 
at the outset of your new career, if not so 
much by the amount of them, then by the 
training that accumulated them. The pro¬ 
jectors of marriage insurance companies 
tempt their dupes by the prospect of undue 
gains at the expense of others; the dupes 
shouldn’t squeal when others get undue gains 
at their expense. 
JERSEY COW, VELVETEEN 
The engraving which we present in Fig. 23 
is that of the Jersey cow. Velveteen, which we 
have had re-engraved from the London Agri¬ 
cultural Gazette. Velveteen is lemon-fawn in 
color, with black fringe to her ears, a skin 
like satin, a waxy, crumpled horn, and a very 
finely shaped udder. She was seven years 
old iu June last, and was selected in the 
Island of Jersey by Mr. E. P. Fowler for ex¬ 
portation to the United States, in June. 1879, 
then two years old; she is by Gray Prince 
(163), Jersey Herd Book foundation stock, out 
of Valentine (734), bred by Mr. Le Brocq, St. 
Peter’s, Jersey. She was not, however, al¬ 
lowed to go to America, for Mr. C. B. Dixon 
(late of the Vinery, Shirley, Southampton 
England) picked her out from some 20 or 30 
others in the Southampton Docks, and res¬ 
cued her from expatriation, and after 
breeding two calves for him, Mr. Car- 
dus bought her iu the Autumn of 
1879. She calved iu July, 1880, a 
heifer calf. Vixen, which took the 
first prize at the Royal Agricultural 
Show, at Derby, in 1881, in the hei- 
fer-calf class, aud was highly com¬ 
mended at the Dairy Show, Islington, 
iu 1882. In July, 1881, she produced ^ 
Victress, which took the first prize w 
at the Royal Counties Society's Show, 
at Winchester, in 1883, and was highly 
commended at the Royal Agricultural 
Show, at Reading,in 18S2. Velveteen 
took the first prize in the cow class at 
the London Dairy Show in 1883. 
BUTTER RECORDS OF HOL¬ 
STEIN COWS. 
The records which are giveu here, 
with a single exception, (that of Jan- 
neck) were made without any change - 
of teed for the trial, and undei the 
ordinary conditions of all the other 
milking animals in our herd. Our 
■•ows all receive regular and careful 
attention, good wholesome food and 
plenty of it, but no forcing is allowed. 
The cream is removed from the milk 
twelve hours after setting and usually churned j 
twice a week. VV e use ice in our cooler, in 
order to facilitate the rising of the cream. 
We have not resorted to the method of churn¬ 
ing the whole milk, and cannot say what 
might be the result of such a practice. The 
buttar was all weighed after it had been 
thoroughly worked and before it was salted. 
Taking into consideration the fact that most 
of the younger heifers dropped their calves 
soon after coming out of quarantine, and be¬ 
fore they were acclimated, also that these 
tests were made in Winter, on Winter feed, 
(excepting Janueek), course corn fodder and 
ensilage, long hay, with grain feed of bran 
A VISIT TO THE NEW YORK STATE 
EXPERIMENT STATION. 
During a recent visit to Geneva 1 was in¬ 
vited by my host, Mr. S. D. Willard, to visit 
the Experiment Station. I objected on the 
ground that we would probably be disturbing 
a very busy man, but was assured that Dr. 
Sturtevant was really glad to receive visitors 
at any time, with the intimation that he 
doubtless sifted some points of practical va lue 
from conversations with practical men. 
We bounced into the outer office as uncere¬ 
moniously as though it were our own, and at 
once were shown into the inner office, where 
Dr. Sturtevant greeted us. We made but a 
short visit, but many important subjects were 
discussed. The Doctor is full to overflowing 
of ideas, thoughtful suggestions, plans for ex¬ 
periments, and information about matters of 
practical and personal experience. I could 
uot help wishing that every farmer in the 
country could have been with us so as to learn 
what manner of man we have solving the per¬ 
plexing problems that they have time and 
agnin caught surface glimpses of. I could not 
help mentally congratulating the Commis¬ 
sioners who selected such a desirable location 
aud such a man to take charge of the impor¬ 
tant work. It certainly seem s as though they 
could not have made better selections. Previ¬ 
ous to this visit I bad no idea of the person¬ 
ality of Dr. Sturtevant. He is a character 
worthy of the delineation of a Dickens or a 
Thackerv. He is all absorbed in his investiga¬ 
tions. He cannot, talk fast enough to give ut¬ 
terance to wbat he wishes to communicate. 
One subject leads to another, and days and 
weeks could be pleasantly aud profitably em¬ 
ployed listening to his conversation. Stiff he 
is very careful about hi* claims regarding the 
results of his experiments, often finding one 
Year's experience differing entirely from the 
experiences of other years, the most trifling 
circumstauces changing the results. People 
who think farming a simple employment re¬ 
quiring little mental effort will be undeceived 
by listening to Dr. Sturtevaufs talks. He 
does uot display his personality at all in bis 
published reports, and I had rather talk with 
him an hour than read them all His pen is 
incompetent to express his enthusiasm in the 
work, and in these reports he aims at exact¬ 
ness and conciseness. ... tj, 
I look for valuable remits from tins Ex¬ 
perimental Station. The age is ripe for such 
results and the right man is binding himself 
to the task. I asked him for his opinion re¬ 
garding plants obtaiulng nitrogen from the 
atmosphere He replied, “ While the Question 
is not settled, 1 am inclined to the opinion that 
if Nature iu furnishing so abundant a supply 
did uot give plants the ability to utilize it, she 
is not so wise as she is represented. ’ 
Monroe Co., N. Y. Charles a. grekx. 
Jersey Cow Velveteen. (Re-engraved from the Loudon Ag. Gazette.)—Fig. 23. 
a large show of butter of good quality made EXPERIENCE NOTES, 
from Jersey and other milk. The most prom¬ 
inent characteristics of Holstein butter, are 
flue flavor and excellent keeping qualities. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. smiths & powell. 
My clear water carp pond covers an area of 
about i of an acre, and is located about 80 
feet below springs in the hillside, which fur¬ 
nish a never-tailing supply of pure, clear 
water. The normal temperature of these 
springs, where they empty into the pond, va¬ 
ries but little according to season, but main¬ 
tains an average of 50 degrees, Fah. Several 
times through the Summer I found the water 
in the pond indicated an average of 80 de¬ 
grees, Fah. The pond is so constructed that 
the water is constantly drawn from the bot¬ 
tom. thus keeping the surface at this high 
temperature. About one-balf the pond is 
covered with mud to the depth of two feet or 
more—an essential in all carp ponds for hiber¬ 
nating. A limited supply of pure German 
carp flngerlings to place in the pond was sent 
me by Prof. S. F. Baird, United States Com¬ 
missioner of Fish and Fisheries, W ashington, 
D. C , and placed therein on April 6 last. No 
food was given other than that which grew 
iu the pond. I saw them at rare inter¬ 
vals during the Summer, and was agreeably 
surprised, when I drew the pond November 
16 last past, to find they had grown to be 16 
inches in length, aud a pair weighed eight 
nonnds. PUM. 
CARP CULTURE 
In November, 1880, I received from the U. 
S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, in 
Washington, 20 carp. They were placed iua 
poud 30 feet wide, 75 feet in length, with a 
muddy bottom, and water from one to three 
feet deep. The average flow of water was 
about 12 inches, rising in the Spring to 10 
times that bight. Iu the Spring and early 
Summer the pond receives the flow from my 
irrigated fields, in Midsummer and Autumn 
from a clear trout stream. In Winter a spring 
supplies it with water so warm that? ice never 
entirely closes over. The pond is partially 
shaded by the German basket-willow trees, 
which afford protection to the fish from birds 
of prey, und to this they would flee w henever 
a foot-fall was heard by them upon the 
little bridge that spans the poud; or if 
in a part remote from the willows they 
would sink instantly into the mud out of 
sight. They were at first very shy. We did 
not see them again after putting them in the 
poud iu November, until the following May. 
Then as the water grew warmer they swam 
around the pond, evidently enjoying the sun¬ 
shine, and gradually gainiug confidence, until 
they would come up w ithout the least appear¬ 
ance of fear to feed upon the bits of cracker 
and bread w’hich we cast upon the surface for 
them. We then prepared to feed them in 
earnest, aud arranged a feeding-board for 
them, which was placed iu the middle of the 
pond, where we could conveniently spread 
their table for them from the bridge. We 
gave them one meal a day through May aud 
Juno, consisting of mush made of Graham 
flour or scalded meal, boiled potatoes, mashed. 
A CARP POND. 
As many farmers throughout our land have 
suitable places for building and maintaining 
ponds for fish, it becomes a question to deter¬ 
mine to what use shall the pond be put after 
it has been built, aud this should be settled 
first of all. Last Winter I secured the ser¬ 
vices of Capt. Peirce, of Philadelphia, built a 
carp pond, stocked it ou April 6, 1S88, " ith 
pure German Carp flngerlings, drew off the 
water November 16 and found they had grown 
to be 16 inches iu length, and a pair w eighed 
just eight pounds. 1 have no doubt the area 
devoted to a carp poud would pay much bet¬ 
ter than any lot of the same size on the 
farm. v - D - PUMYKA - 
