they should realize the fact that as far as dis¬ 
ease is concerned, we are all made of one 
blood, and that un wholesome food and water 
or irregular feeding will product* precisely 
the same evil results in a man as in any other 
animal. For instance, let a man confine him¬ 
self to a diet of any kind—potatoes, for in¬ 
stance—for a long time, and he will become 
subject to disease as surely as a hog which is 
fed wholly on corn. Recall the wretched con¬ 
dition of the Irish people in 1847, when their 
crops failed and the potatoes rotted, and the 
poor people had no food but these rotten pota¬ 
toes. Thousands upon thousands died of a 
fever which became contagious, decimating 
the Irish nation, uud from eight millions the 
population fell in five years to six, in spite of 
the natural fecundity of the people. This is 
by no means a siugle instance where poor and 
unwholesome food has produced diseases which 
actually became contagious. Soft, frozen corn 
filled with smut, or dry, woody, smutty corn 
fodder, will have precisely the same effects 
upon cattle or swine. 
The time is coming when the shepherd will 
go through the old-time farce of washing bis 
sheep in a muddy pond or brook, with the al¬ 
leged purpose of cleaning the wool. I have 
known farmers spend a day in the water ap 
to their waists at this work, and drive the wet 
sheep home a mile or more over a dusty road, 
supposing the wool was washed. The wool 
buyer knows when wool is clean aud 
when it is not. and does not have 
wool drawn over his eyes. But, as a rule, 
the one-third deducted from the price, for 
unwashed wool, does not equal the loss made 
in washing, so the advantage is usually in 
favor of the unwashed fleeces. Then the labor 
and the colds and the rheumatism which fol¬ 
low this barbarous practice are not even com¬ 
pensated by one hard-earned cent per pound. 
If one will wash his wool, let him scour it or 
tub-wash it, and do it well. But the manufac- 
turers would rather scour their own wool. 
Fanners do not consider the profit there is 
in rearing horses for sale; a 1200-pound horse 
will sell in the market for $250, or about 20 
cents a pound live weight. At three years a 
horse is earning his feed and paying back for 
his previous cost. At five yeai-s his work has 
left him out of debt, and if sold for $250, this 
is clear profit. Compared with a three-year- 
old steer weighing 1200 pounds, and selling for 
six cents per pound live weight, the horse 
shows an exceedingly greater profit. Maine 
farmers always had u reputation for shrewd¬ 
ness, aud when the agricultural reports from 
that State show a large increase in the busi¬ 
ness of rearing horses, for sale in the Boston 
market, it shows the reputation is not got un¬ 
deservedly. 
The true inwardness of the opposition to the 
trade in Western slaughtered beef seems to be 
that the railroads have a large iuterest in con¬ 
tinuing the present system of live stock ship¬ 
ment, with all its barbarities. The feeding of 
the stock is one of the perquisites of the rail¬ 
roads, aud is very profitable, bay costing $8 
per ton being charged to the shipper at $50. 
Besides, two car-loads of live cattle can be put 
into one car wheu slaughtered, at a reduction 
of one-half the freight; aud so a cry is raised 
that Western slaughtered beef is unwhole¬ 
some; that diseased cattle are killed for beef, 
that could not bo sent forward alive, aud that 
the gases used in the process of refrigeratiug 
injure the meat. Truly, we may say with 
old Jack Falstalf, “Lord! how men are given 
to lying!” 
A great deal is said of “the free grazing dis¬ 
tricts” of the West aud the cheapness with 
which cattle can be reared upou them. But 
why should there bo any free grazing districts 
any more than free wheat-growing districts? 
If a person were to fence in 100,000 acres of 
land in Dakota, put it in wheat, and then 
boast of his free wheat-growing opportunities, 
something would be done about it. Farmers 
whose grazing lands cost $50 or $100 an acre, 
are forced to compete with graziers who use 
the public lands free, and yet the farmers have 
an interest, as citizens, in these lands that are 
monopolized, in many eases, by foreigners 
who arc not even taxed, because the lands they 
occupy are not yet organized into counties. 
It is not a “fair shake,” and those who buy 
their lauds aud pay taxes on them are injured 
by the competition. A great deal of attention 
Inis been given by Congress to the whiskey 
distiller's, hut the great agricultural and stock 
interests of the country are left to take care 
of themselves as they best can. 
Some idea may lie gained of the enormous 
interests involved in this Western cattle busi¬ 
ness, most of which is carried on upon the 
“free public lands,” and the corresponding 
competition to which farm graziers are sub¬ 
jected, when we know that the value of the 
cattle foots up to $000,000,000, This vast sum 
pays 40 per cent, profit annually, or $240,000,- 
000, and against this the farm graziermayput 
his five or 10 per cent., which bB thinks him - 
self lucky to get. The area of public lands 
over which these cattle are grazed, stretches 
2,000 miles in length and 400 in width, or 
800.000 square miles, equal to 500,000,000 acres, 
worth, at $1.25 an acre, $025,000,000. A fair 
rent of this land, at five per cent, of the value, 
would be more than *30,000,000, which is given 
as a bonus to the “free land” stockmen, who 
are also free of taxes. This is a matter which 
should lie known and considered. 
The tendency of farming everywhere east of 
the Missouri must he towards stock feeding; 
the land cannot otherwise be kept in a fertile 
condition. Roots must be grown, aud fodder 
crops, for summer' feeding. An acre of land 
must be made to support one cow. or one steer, 
or seven sheep. This is the oniy salvation for 
the farmer. He cannot grow grain and keep 
his land in condition. Everyone cannot be a 
dairyman, and the competition of tallow and 
lard dairy goods, will keep dairying down to 
the chin in the floods of misery. I see no es¬ 
cape from this result. If any of the Rural. 
readers eau see further than I can, I wish they 
would make their perceptions known, for it is 
a most important thiug. It will, however, be 
all right if farmers only turn their attention 
to the higher culture of their land. Stock 
has been improved very much of late 
years, but we must not forget that the 
improvements of stock cannot be maintained 
without a corresponding improvement of the 
soil, because an improved animal which makes 
a greater weight of beef in three years than 
a scrub does iu five, can only do this by the 
consumption of more food. Improvement in 
live stock never can and never will enable an 
laud aud himself, as he improves his stock. 
These improvements tend to cheapen his pro¬ 
ducts; and this is indispensable to meet the 
close competition in all sorts of farm products 
now prevailing. I fear the question soon will 
come up, are there not too many farmers, and 
too few persons engaged in other occupations, 
to furnish customers for farm products? I 
think we shall soon see a great tumble in the 
price of beef and cattle, aud this will force the 
stockmen everywhere to take the course which 
I have marked out. 
JERSEY COW SAFRANO. 
That some families of Jerseys are showing 
wouderful ability to convert suitable food in¬ 
to butter in surprising quantities, inusl be 
conceded by all, and among these butter pro¬ 
ducers the descendants of Sc Tielior (45! occu¬ 
py a prominent position. We give at Fig. 
ISfi an illust ration of Safrano (4,568) contain¬ 
ing 75 per cent, of his blood, her sire being St. 
Holier (45) and her dam, Kalinin, (1561) 
a daughter of St. Heller. She was bred by Dr. 
O. S. Hubbard, of Stratford, Conn., who im¬ 
ported und owned her sire. Safrauo is now 
owned by Charles Keep, of Lockport, N. Y. 
In 1881 she made, in seven days, from Oct. 24 
to October 30, inclusive, after a severe frost 
had affected the grass, 14 pounds 2J 9 ' ounces of 
butter. This was almost five mouths after 
calving, and she was then almost, four months 
advanced in pregnancy. She d nipped her 
last calf iu May, 18S3, and in the last of March 
was making, on ordinary feed, one-and-a-half 
pound of butter per day. She is a persistent 
milker, never going dry aud seldom getting as 
low as eight quarts per day. She is a regular 
breeder; the dam of Miller & Sibley’s Vicar 
of Wakefield, E. P. Bowen's Toussaiut, Mr. 
Beardsly’s Brie, and also of Mr. Sandford’s 
Volie with a test of 18 pounds one 
ounce in seven days. St. Helier (45) is the 
sire of many cows with notable butter records, 
among which we have only room for Chroma, 
20 pounds six ounces, Iantbe, 16 pounds 10 
ounces, and Menines 3d, 20 pounds one ounce. 
ENSILAGE. 
The R. N.-Y.’s Opinion Well Sup¬ 
ported by Sir J. B. Lawes — Dr. Lawes, 
speaking through the Agricultural Gazette, 
of England, of a lecturer who was honored by 
the Prince of Wales as chairman, and whose 
subject was the somewhat commonplace one 
of “ Pickled Grass,” says he presumes he felt, 
that it would be well to enliven his observa¬ 
tions by the introduction of some sensational 
statement. That the ensilage of 25 tons of 
maize per acre would produce a profit—as 
compared with swedes—of £15 18s. fid., is just 
as likely to he realized by the British farmer, 
as that the same result would be obtained 
from the ensilage of a similar weight of pine¬ 
apples, It would appear that even in the 
United States the ensilage fever is somewhat 
abating. The editor of the R. Y.-Y. has re¬ 
cently congratulated himself in having had 
no hand in the advocacy of ensilage,” and 
adds: “If the words of Professor Johnson— 
[we said Dr. Lawes also— Eds.] had been lis¬ 
tened to, hundreds of people would have been 
saved hundreds of dollars.” One of the most 
I agriculture on this side of the Atlantic is at 
Guelph, Ontario, conducted under the superin¬ 
tendence of Professor Brown. Quite recently 
at a meeting of the Western Ontario Dairy¬ 
men’s Association, a paper was read upon the 
process by which food is converted into milk. 
Professor Brown attended this meeting and 
stated that ensilage, according to his experi¬ 
ments, “ produced the lowest quality of but¬ 
ter, while the cost was the second highest.” 
He also said that “no one had yet been able 
to produce untainted butter by this method, 
and that at the Experimental Farm the milk 
from ensilage while yet warm emitted a pecu¬ 
liar smell, and the butter was pale in color and 
not the most inviting iu taste. When we con¬ 
sider that one of the substances produced iu 
a silo is lactic acid, which is the same acid 
that is fouud in sour milk, it is not unreason¬ 
able to suppose that part of this acid might 
have passed from the food unchanged, into the 
milk. At the same meeting Mr. M’Adam 
“ wauted to know if a really good article of 
butter had ever been produced from ensilage 
feeding, but uo one ventured an affirmative 
reply.” In the Journal of the Chemical So¬ 
ciety some analyses of grass, aud grass made 
into ensilage, are giveu by Prof. Kinch of the 
Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester; the 
analyses show that a considerable amount of 
the albuminoids—that is to say the most valu¬ 
able part of all the compounds of nitrogen iu 
the food—is converted into compounds of less 
value; that the ash is increased, which means 
that organic matter has been destroyed, and 
that the soluble earbo-dydrates have been 
diminished, while the fiber has been increased. 
It will require very many analyses, as well 
as many feeding experiments to be carried out 
before the real value of the substauoe can be 
ascertained. 
JERSEY COW SAFRANO, From Photograph. Fig. 136. 
animal to make something out of nothing, j advanced stations for practical and scientific 
and therefore the farmer must improve his 
Dr. Lawes has been accused of throwing 
cold water upon a process, which, in the 
opinion of some, is thought to be capable of 
producing a revolution in the agriculture of 
the country. All that he has said about the 
matter has been to point out that the figures 
which have been furnished by the advocates 
of the system, are not so favorable as they 
would wish people to suppose. He is further 
of the opinion that the United States farmers 
have,in maize.a crop more suitable for ensilage 
purposes than auy crop which English fanners 
possess. So long as the making of ensilage is 
confined to the wealthy, and to enthusiastic 
amateurs, no harm can be done be says; but 
at present he ventures to think that practical 
farmers should wait a little, until there is more 
satisfactory evidence than any that has been 
put forward in regard to its merits, before 
they spend much money on the process: and 
that is just what the R. N.-Y. has insisted. 
Eajiliness of Sweet Corn.—D r. Stnrte- 
vant, of the New York Experimental Station, 
tested 20 varieties of sweet corn during last 
season. The relative earliness was judged by 
the appearance of the silk. Similar tests were 
made at the Rural Farm, it will be remember¬ 
ed, three years ago. In our tests we also stated 
whether or not the silk was receptive before, 
during, or after the pollen was ripe. Here is 
Dr. Sturtevaut’slist: 
Early Marblehead. 
Early XarraKanaeit.... 
Prato’s Early . 
Early Minnesota. 
Tom Thumb . 
Dolly Dutton. 
Crosby’s Early.. 
Wyoming !..... 
Early Ordiifte. 
Darling's Early. 
Golden . 
Rochester. 
Early Dwarf,... .. 
Moorc-’s Early Concord 
Squantnm. . 
Black Mexican. 
Early Eight -rowed. 
Amber Cream. 
Asylum .. 
Excelsior. 
Triumph. 
Hickox. 
Egyptian. 
Stowell’s Evergreen.... 
NePlusL'ltra ........... 
Mammoth........ 
Silked in Days 
from Planting. Date. 
..56 
July 11 
. 61 
16 
. HI 
44 
16 
..62 
(t 
17 
..62 
M 
17 
..64 
4* 
19 
..68 
« 
23 
..68 
6* 
23 
..69 
tl 
24 
..69 
• « 
24 
..70 
<4 
25 
..70 
25 
..71 
II 
26 
..72 
44 
27 
..72 
44 
27 
..76 
44 
31 
..78 
AUg. 
2 
..78 
it 
2 
..79 
44 
3 
.79 
44 
3 
..SI 
*• 
5 
..82 
44 
6 
..84 
r* 
8 
. .84 
ll 
8 
, ..85 
44 
9 
...86 
44 
10 
In the following table he gives the prevail¬ 
ing number of rows to the ear in the varie¬ 
ties, and the general length of the dry ears, 
and from these data, together with that in the 
table of earliness, readers may bo enabled to 
judge which variety or varieties they may 
prefer to plant in their gardens. 
Early Marblehead. 
No. Rotes. 
. 8 
Length 
of Ear. 
Inches. 
5-6 
Nsrratrausett. 
. 8 
5-6 
Pratt's Early.. .. 
. S 
6-9 
Early Minnesota. 
. 8 
5-6 
Tom Thumb. 
. 7-S 
Dolly Dutton...,,. 
. 8 
4-5 
Crosby Early....,. 
. 12 
6-7 
Wyoming . 
. 8-10 
7-8 
Earh Granite... 
. 12 
6-7 
Darh tups Early. 
. 8 
7-8 
Golden . _ . 
. 8-10 
Roe h ester. 
. 8 
Early Dwarf. 
. 8 
6-7 
Moore's Eariv Concord.. 
. 12 
6-7 
Squaii rum. 
Black Mexican . 
. 10-12 
5-6 
. 8 
Early Ei^ht-rowed. 
. 8 
7-8 
Amber Cream. 
.... 10-12 
7-8 
Asylum. 
.111-14 
6-8 
Excelsior... 
. 10-12 
7-8 
Triumph. 
. 10-12 
7-8 
Hlekox... 
.12-14 
8-10 
Egyptian. 
. 12-16 
6 
Stowell's... 
...... 16-18 
6 -S 
Ne Plus Cltra.. 
.10-16 
6-7 
Mam moth. 
. 16-22 
9-10 
The Ne Plus Ultx-a is exceptionally fine, but 
is late; Crosby’s Early, to our tuste, is the 
best of the ear lies, although Early '’arblehead 
is very good. The Golden Sweet is peeuliarly 
rich in flavor. The Black Mexican is white 
while iu edible condition, but is apt to cook 
slightly blue-tinged, so as to cause the appear¬ 
ance on the table to be unattractive. Its 
quality, however, is very sweet. 
The Soil as a Source of Plant Food. 
—Dr R, C. Kedzie, of the Michigan Agricul¬ 
tural College, iu his address before the Horti¬ 
cultural Society, says some writers seem to 
regard the manure as the crude material to 
be manufactured into crops by the agency of 
the plant. They regard the soil us a passive 
agent iu this process, usefuf merely as a re¬ 
ceptacle to hold the manurial materials until 
called for by the plant The soil is something 
more than the platter to hold the plant’s din¬ 
ner—'? ft thr ixni.it fu'cf itself> the principal 
dish of the meal, while the manures we use 
with profit are merely the salt and mustard, 
to make the beef palatable and digestible. If 
we buy all the potash, phosphoric acid and 
ammonia, to make a ton of clover hay at 
commercial rates, we will have expended 
$12.23; and for 35 bushels of wheat $26, to say 
nothing about the labor in raising and secur¬ 
ing the crop, the rent of land, etc. 
The fact is, that we are grossly ignorant of 
the first principles of plant growth. While 
science has aided those engaged in every other 
pursuit and calling, the farmer, the most im¬ 
portant of all, and the one without whom no 
other could exist, has beeu allowed to grovel 
iu the blackness of ignorance, and what little 
he has learned has been by sad experience. 
We want more science in agriculture; we want 
to know more of the relations of the soils to 
