225 
APRIL 5 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
RURAL PRIZE ESSAY.—NO. IV. 
THE BEST CATTLE FOR THE DAIRY 
AND THE SHAMBLES.. 
J. N. MUNCEY. 
After having studied practically the Na¬ 
tives, Short-horns, Devons and Jerseys, I 
have no hesitation in claiming that the best 
cattle for the dairy and the shambles, are the 
Friesians, improperly named Holsteins. My 
reasons for thinking so are, that for milk, l ut¬ 
ter, cheese and beef they are unsurpassed by 
other breeds. Let us see if these reasons are 
well founded. 
The Natives are not model cattle; they 
have not been bred for any special purpose; 
they have been in the care of average farm¬ 
ers, generally, and little attention has been 
given to their improvement, either for milk 
or beef. Twenty-four selected Natives owned 
by I. Muncey, in 1878, averaged only 16 
pounds of milk per day for eight months. 
From the first of April to the first of Decem¬ 
ber, 1880, Miller Harris & Co. received at 
their creamery 2,858,SI6 pounds of milk from 
about 900 Native cows, an average of about 
2,620 pounds of milk per cow for eight months. 
It is true, these figures are only approximate; 
but they fairly represent the writer’s idea of 
the quantity of milk given by average Native 
cows. In 1879, we made an average of 3-74 
pounds of butter per 100 pouuds of milk, from 
the cows of I. Muncey before mentioned. 
The Devons have not gained extensive noto¬ 
riety; they do not rank for beef with the 
Short-Horns or Hereford®, and as for milk, 
they are not much superior to either. Prof. 
J. P. Sheldon says: “The Devousare not cele¬ 
brated for giving large quantities of milk; 
but their milk is rich in quality.” The On¬ 
tario Experiment Report gives the duratiou 
of their milkiBg season as 300 days, and the 
aunual milk yield as 2,800 pounds, aud I be¬ 
lieve this to be above their average. 
Jerseys are complained of by investing 
farmers, as being too small, not averaging in 
live weight more than 700 to 800 pouuds, aud 
as really worth less for the shambles than 
Natives or any others. They are pre-eminent¬ 
ly a butter breed; it is not an uncommon 
thing for them to produce an average of up¬ 
wards of 300 pounds of butter per year. The 
cheese qualities of Jersey milk are, in the re¬ 
ports of some experiments, put down as very 
doubtful, and in England they are not much 
used as daii-y cows. 
The Ayrshires are superior to the Jerseys 
for cheese, milk, butter and beef, and if the 
average farmer were compelled to select be¬ 
tween these two breeds, hu would make the 
• most money by choosing the former. The 
Ontario Experiment Report gives the dura¬ 
tion of their milking season as 210 days, aud 
the annual milk yield as 5,350 pounds. 
Short-horns and Herefords are in close com¬ 
petition as the leading beef breeds of Ameri¬ 
ca. It is iu beef production that they are) well 
known to excel. But the dairy interest, how 
is this to be kept up by the extensive intro¬ 
duction of these cattle into dairy districts ? L. 
S. Cofllu, an emiueut breeder of Short-horn 
cattle, and a man of great observation, said, 
at the last annual session of the Short-horn 
Breeders' Association, held at Ames, la., 
“The improvement of the Shorthorns for 
dairy purposes is now becoming an important 
question.” I have at the Iowa State Fair 
heard repeated complaints, made by owners of 
these cattle, of their inferiority as milk era. 
The Ontario Experiment Report gives the 
duration of their milkiug season as 170 days, 
and the annual milk yield as 3,550 pounds. 
With these necessarily brief reviews of the 
other prominent breeds, we now come to a 
more elaborate consideration of the merits of 
the Friesiun cattle! This is important for the 
reason that very few experimental reports iu 
this country contain records of their produc¬ 
tion. 
THRIU MILK RECORD. 
in the published reports of breeders, I find 
an average, from 86 cows, of 82.3 pounds of 
milk per day for 277 days; aud l’rotn 298 cows, 
an uverage of 27,3 pounds per day for 339 
days. Twenty-two Friesian cows, reported by 
Prof. Lehman, of the Agricultural Academy 
of EUlina, averaged 10,000 pounds; and 190 
averaged 9,374 pounds in 865 days. “Durk- 
je,” on the Iowa Agricultural Farm, gave 
8,451 pounds iu 865 dajs, or 8.45 turns her 
live weight. “Metje" gave 7,813 pouuds 
u 294 days. The average aunual yield of 
I five was 8.2 times their average weight of 
969 pounds. During the Summer months 
those on the College Farm received no feed 
except good pasture. 
PER CENT. OF CREAM. 
H. C. Hoffman, iu the National Live Stock 
Journal, gives the average of 10 cows for 8 
mouths as 13 4 per ceut,. * ‘Jessica,” a cow on 
the College Farm, calved Dec. 28, 1882, and 
in Jan. following gave 14.38 to 16.8 per cent, 
of cream. Other tests have shown 11 to 13 
per cent, for these young cows. I have found 
by making many tests in the creamery, iu 
Jesup, Iowa, an average from Native cows of 
about 11 to 13 per cent, of cream. 
PER CENT. OF BUTTER. 
Authorities differ somewhat on this point. 
In the Ohio Agricultural Report for 1865 is an 
account of experiments in cattle feeding, etc., 
of 15 different breeds, on the estate of the 
King of Wurtemburg, at Weiden. These ex¬ 
periments show the average yield to be 2.72 
pounds of butter and 9.6 pounds of cheese per 
100 pounds of milk. J. Van der Breggen Az, 
who is said to be the largest land-owner and 
cheese-maker in Scotland (?—Eds.), reportedl 1 
tests made in 1877, ’7.8, ’80, and ’81, in which he 
found that it required au average of 30 litres 
of milk to make one kilogramme of butter; this 
is 8.47 pounds of butter to the 100 pounds of 
milk. 
“Jessica,” on the Iowa College Farm, gave 
8.68 pounds of butter per 100 pounds of milk. 
"Metje” gave iu March, 1S83, when milk con¬ 
tained 2.48 per cent, fat, by analysts, one pound 
eight ounces of butter from 47 pounds 9 1 .d 
ounces of milk. This is 3.52 per cent, of but¬ 
ter. A great many other butter records, as 
published by Smiths and Powell, Wales, Carey 
R. Smith, the Unadilla V, S. B. A., and others, 
surpass those already given. 
QUALITY OF BUTTER. 
The argument is advanced that the butter 
made from Friesians is inferior to that of other 
breeds. I have no exact data at my command 
to disprove this notion. I think, however, 
from testing the butter of the Jersey and 
Friesian breeds, made, it is true, under diffe¬ 
rent conditions, that the assumption is wholly 
unwarranted. Smiths and Powell are said to 
have exhibited butter from their herd in com¬ 
petition with other butter, and received first 
premium. What other breeds were repre¬ 
sented I do not know. It seems unreasonable 
to assume that differences iu quality of butter 
would exist if the cows received the same qua¬ 
lity aud kind of food, the milk being set in 
water at the same temperature, skimmed, 
acidified, churned, salted, and worked alike, 
I think it would severely test experts to tell 
the difference. 
GROWTH OF FRIESIAN CALVES. 
The general impression among uninformed 
farmers is that the Short-horn calves gain 
more rapidly than almost any others. Let us 
see: Omitting the tabulated statement show¬ 
ing the date of birth, age, and weight, I give 
the following, compiled from the Iowa Col¬ 
lege Farm Experiments: The average age of 
nine Friesian calves was 156^, days; the aver¬ 
age weight was 466pounds. The average 
age of seveu Short-horn calves was 282 
days; the average weight 569 pounds. Now 
if you allow an average probable gain of 100 
pounds for 76 days by the Friesians, the weight 
nearly equals that of the Short-horns. All of 
the calves here mentioned received milk, to¬ 
gether with what bran, corn meal, and shell¬ 
ed corn they would eat. Do not think from 
these valuable figures that the Friesians are 
the equals of Shortrhorns for beef; this is not 
the case, for their growth does not continue 
as long aud steadily. 
I therefore summarize the superior points of 
the Friesian cattle as follows: They weigh, on 
au average, 1,150 to 1,200 pounds: give seveu 
to nine times their weight in milk per season; 
give milk of an average per cent, of butter 
ami above the average iu cheese qualities, 
aud continue in milk an average of 300 days. 
Their grades are not iuferior in size or milk¬ 
ing qualities to those of the other breeds. 
The follow ing calculations, based on the ex¬ 
periments of William Brown, of the Ontario 
Experiment Farm, aud the results obtained 
by Prof. Lehman, heretofore referred to, will 
serve the purpose of spurriug farmers od to 
improve their stock. Assume that Brown’s 
Jerseys yielded five, aud Lehman’s Friesians 
three-and-a-half per cent, of butter: assume 
also the value of skim-milk and buttermilk to 
lie, hs shown by the experiment, 20 cents per 
100 pounds, we have 
JERSEYl 
•.’,500 pounds of milk, yielding 125 pouuds of but¬ 
ter, at 25 cents per pound.$81.25 
2,875 pouuds of sklm-uillk aud buttermilk, at 20 
cents per tUO pouuds. 4.75 
Total. $S6.00 
FRIESIAN: 
9,874 pounds of milk, yielding 828 pounds of but¬ 
ter, at 25 cents per pound.$82.00 
9,046 pouuds of sklm-milk and buttermilk, at 20 
cents per 100 pounds. . 18.09 
Total.$100.09 
AYRSHIRE: 
5,250 pounds of milk, yielding 188pounds of but¬ 
ter, at 25 cents per pound.$45.75 
5,067 pounds of sklm-tnllk and buttermilk, at 20 
cents per 100 pounds.. 10,18 
Total.$55.88 
Lest I be severely criticised for not. having 
taken into consideration the feed necessary to 
make the milk, and in the absence of reliable 
experiments at home, I base the following 
calculations on the invaluable experiments 
in cattle-feeding on the King of Wurtem- 
burg’s estate at Weiden, as found in the Ohio 
Agricultural Report for 1865: 
FRIESIAN: 
6,548 pounds of milk, yielding 178.1 pounds 
of butter, at 25 cents per pound .. $44.52 
6,870 pouuds of Hkiin intlk and buttermilk, 
at 20 cents per 100 pounds. 12.74 
$57.26 
12IK cwt, equivalent of bay at $5 per ton..$30.31 
Balance. $26.95 
CHANNEL ISLANDERS: 
3.860 pounds of milk, yielding 118.8 pounds 
of butter, at 25 cents. $29.70 
3,712 pounds of sklm-mllk and buttermilk 
at 20 cents per 100 pounds. 7.48 
83.9 cwt. equivalent of bay, at $5 per ton. .$20.99 
Balance. $16.21 
There remains then a difference of #10.74 
per year in favor of the large cows, according 
to these figures. Aside from this, the Friesians 
may be sold for beef at, say,four cents, and the 
Jerseys at, say, three cents per pound after 
you are through with them for milk. It is 
also worthy of uote that the same care and 
attention, aud the same barn room, are as 
necessary for one as for another. Nor must 
we forget the difference in value pound for 
pound, or the great difference in the weight 
of carcass, at anv given age, in favor of the 
Friesian over the Jersey steers. Individual 
cows of each breed referred to might be select¬ 
ed far excelling others; but it has been the 
aim of the writer to give only a fair average 
of all, as the most desirable comparison. 
Ames, la. 
Probably there is no other single way in 
which farmers are so heavily swindled as by 
signing papers under a mistaken idea of their 
nature. AE sorts of tricks are practiced by 
sharpers to mislead their victims in this di¬ 
rection. Orders for large quantities of goods 
are often secured where the signers think they 
are ordering only small lots. Orders for goods 
are frequently obtained from people who im¬ 
agine they are signing merely agreements to 
receive the articles on trial, commission, or 
even gratis. It is not at aU uncommon for 
people to sign notes under the impression 
that they are signing only orders for goods, 
or simple agreements to receive them. Pa¬ 
pers are drawn and printed with the special 
object of being used for swindling purposes. 
Some of them are so ingeniously worded that, 
on being cut either across or up and down, 
one part of a sample agreement or letter be¬ 
comes a negotiable note. Others are speci¬ 
ally prepared so that when folded, apparently 
in a careless manner, the signature comes 
under an order, instead of under the agree¬ 
ment written; or under a note, instead of 
under the order given. Others are so framed 
that by the erasure of one or more words the 
meaDiug is entirely altered. 
How swindling of this sort is practiced is 
illustrated in a letter just received from Cross 
Plains, Wis. The writer says: “I am glad 
the Rural is devoting so much space and 
attention to the exposure of swindlers and 
their methods. We have had plenty of them 
here of late. One set, who represented them¬ 
selves as the agents of the New York Paint 
aud Roofing Company, having utterly failed 
to sell any of their stuff, or to get anyone to 
accept an agency for it, begged some of our 
people to take some of it for uotbiug, on con¬ 
dition that they would use it on old roofs, and 
tell their neighbors about it, showing them 
the old brooms with which it bad been put ou 
aud the sticks with which it had been stirred. 
They said the advertisement obtained in this 
way would be worth several hundred dollars 
to them later on when they came around again 
to sell the stuff. ‘Just give us your mune on 
this card,’said the gHb-tongued rascals, ‘and 
we will send you ten gallons free of cost. 
Well, some wrote their names as requested, 
while others refused to do so. These were the 
wise ones; for very soon the collecting agent 
came around with orders of the most binding 
sort for three or four hundred dollars’ worth 
of paint and roofing, which had been shipped, 
and for which he wanted pay. Such a tongue 
as the fellow hud! He very kindly settled 
with some of the victims by agreeing to force 
upon them not more than about two-thirds of 
the stuff they had not ordered, taking there¬ 
for their notes at seven per cent, or their 
money when he could get it. Is there such a 
company, and cau notes obtained iu this way 
be collected i” 
There is a concern here known as the “ New 
York Roofing Company;” but it is not “rated” 
by the commercial agencies. We can find no 
trace, however, of the “New York Paint and 
Roofing Company.” Negotiable notes in “ in¬ 
nocent hands,” are collectable, however they 
mav have been obtained. Usually the “ inno¬ 
cent” parties who offer for collection notes 
obtained by “ trick and device,” are in collu¬ 
sion with the swindlers; bnt it is generally 
impossible to prove that this is the case. In 
some of the States, especially in the West, 
and notably in Michigan, public sentiment is 
against the legality of such notes; and we 
have read of a number of cases in which juries 
decided in favor of the defendants: but it is 
far safer to refuse absolutely to sign any 
paper for a stranger than to trust, by a favor¬ 
able verdict, to escape the results of foolish 
credulity. 
Scattered here and there throughout the 
country, but chiefly in large cities, are men 
who pretend that they are able and willing 
to lend large or small sums of money at low 
rates of interest, either on personal security, 
Eke a fellow in Cincinnati, or on mortgage on 
real estate, like a fellow in this city. One of 
the means by which these sharpers scoop in a 
good deal of cash without ever lending a dol¬ 
lar, is exemplified by the modus operandi of 
the New York “philanthropist.” He adver¬ 
tises in country papers and through the mail 
that he is ready to lend any desired sum to 
farmers at, say, five per cent, interest on se¬ 
curity of a mortgage on the farm. Investi¬ 
gation of the standing of the appEcant will, 
Eowever, be needed, and this will necessarily 
entail expense. Accordingly, an advance of 
$15 a day must be made by the applicant, to 
meet the expenses of traveling and research. 
If the money is advanced, either the “capital¬ 
ist” takes a pleasant jaunt, for which he is 
weU paid, or he pockets the money. In either 
esse the result to the appEcant is the same— 
the results of the investigation are sure to be 
unsatisfactory, and consequently the loan 
cannot be made. 
Occasionally the “philanthropist” is really 
a small capitalist who wishes to make invest¬ 
ments at usurious rates of interest under the 
guise of lending on very moderate terms. To 
effect this purpose without incurring the penal¬ 
ties provided by the usury laws, he pEes up a 
number of preEminary expenses, and often 
charges a bonus in addition, so that, as the 
loan is usually made for only one year, these 
preliminary expenses, added to the low inte¬ 
rest, amount to a sum considerably larger 
than a legitimate rate of interest. We have 
tried to secure an interview with the New 
York “philanthropist”; but he is one of these 
men whose “modesty” shrinks from pubhc 
notice. He Eves away up in the thinly-settled 
outskirts of the city, where the neighbors 
know each other's standing; but none of his 
neighbors suspect him of being a capitalist, or 
even a philanthropist, althougu they say he 
has numerous visitors, whom he avoids as care¬ 
fully as he did our reporter. 
GEMS FROM THE PULPIT. 
Dr. Hall —‘ ‘God's Power and Man’s Duty.” 
The servants of God are made equal to the 
burdens laid upon them. If you have been 
truly brought to discipleship you will always 
be hungry for more truth. You say you hear 
a sermon every Sunday, and I say to you, 
What of it? What have you gained? Real 
healthy appetite does not lead a man to turn 
away from food because food of the same kind 
has been served to him before. No man can 
be sure that he is not iu danger of morbid 
feeling in some direction. Divine power is 
always ready to be put in operation if we 
wEl keep the channels ready. You may 
take a sheet of paper and fiE it with lines of 
ciphers, but they amount to nothing tEl you 
put the one at the beginning. Numbers in a 
church are idle unless the spirit of God leads 
them. Ask yourself if you have uot beeu living 
below your privEeges. 
Dr. Newman.—“Ou Slander.” 
God has fixed a great responsibility upon 
language. One of the greatest sins of the lips 
is detraction—the blasting of a good name. 
Men have toiled and died, aud they must stdl 
toil and die to leave a good name. W hat must 
be the depravity, the unspeakable smaEness 
and meanness of that miserable poltroon who 
robs a fellow being of bis reputation! When at 
the last day that unpardonable aud heE-born 
poltroon shaE be called to answer for his 
words, Jehovah’s eyes shall transfix his wretch¬ 
ed soul, aud Jehovah shall say. 'Let his coro¬ 
nation be the summit of torment.’ 
Mu. Beecher. —“The Christian Life.” 
The unwritten realities of human life put to 
. shame afi that literature ever indited. We 
