284 
MAY 42 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
fyt l)eri)sman. 
OUR ANIMAL PORTRAITS, 
JERSEY COW BERTHA MORGAN. 
This week we present to our readers an ex¬ 
cellent likeness of the celebrated cow Bertha 
Morgan 4,770 A. J. C. C., the property of 
Vallancey E. Fuller of Hamilton, Ontario, 
Canada. She is confessedly a typical Jersey 
cow, possessing nearly all the full points of 
a perfect Jersey. She is a solid, dark mul¬ 
berry fawn, shading into black, with a golden 
sti-eak on the back, full black points and a flrst- 
class escutcheon. Her coat is like satin, skin 
soft and as yellow as gold, body extremely 
roomy and udder uncomfortably large-look¬ 
ing, but finely formed, lu her full flush she 
gives 44 pounds of the richest milk per day, 
and has a record of 19 pound* six ounces 
of butter in a week in mid-winter. She was 
selected for her present owner by Mr. 
Willis P. Hazard as the best cow to be 
purchased in the United States, without limit 
of price. Her ancestors on both sides were 
splendid types of Jerseys. Her dam, Patter¬ 
son’s Beauty 4,760, has a record of 18 pounds 
of butter in a week’s test, and her gran clam 
Amy 895, had a similar record. Collaterally, 
too, she is honorably connected. Her sister, 
Mollie Brown 7,881, had a record of 16 pounds 
of butter a week, but her enormous flow of 
milk killed her last Summer, shortly after 
calving. Her daughter, Lydia Darrach 
4,908, lias yielded at the rate of 16 pounds of 
butter a week, while her sister, Belle of Glen- 
cairn, gave 16 quarts of the richest milk with 
her first calf. Bertha Morgan certainly 
belongs to one of the “First Families” of 
Jerseys. 
-♦ ♦ 4 - 
NOTES BY A STOCKMAN. 
Again, I am in the Furnas of affliction. The 
ex-Govornor of Nebraska objects to my sug¬ 
gestion in regard to the rights of stockmen to 
occupy the public land; but it seems that the 
grounds he takes are quite baseless. He says 
the occupier of government land pays for it 
either in cash or by improving and occupying 
it. It is a curious way of paying for land by 
improving and occupying it and getting all 
the benefits for oneVself. However, I have 
no objection to that, the man is only occupying 
his own share of the public domain. He is 
a part of the government anyhow, and has a 
right to bis inheritance and certainly earns it. 
1 know how it is myself, and what it was to go 
West before the railroads helped a settler to 
reach his homestead. 
This question must soon be settled, and as 
the Rural is a powerful agent in forming 
public opinion and is actuated by a sense of 
justice to all, I hope it will give some promi¬ 
nence to this question and help to reach a 
reasonable settlement. This is not the place 
to discuss the question of “agrarianism” as it 
occurred in Roman history ami seems to be 
likely to occur in ours. But I would like to 
say that I would have no man own more land 
than he can occupy and work and use himself, 
and no individual to be a “landlord.” I want 
no lord but the commonwealth, and I object 
to great estates in private hands even among 
stockmen. But I have not yet been able to 
understand how it is that a bonanza farmer 
can have 40,000 acres in a block when every 
alternate section in the railroad grants is oi>en 
to public entry under the Homestead Act, and 
the railroad has only the other alternate sec¬ 
tions. How is this? Perhaps ex-Governor 
Furnas will explain this unlaw ful monopoly. 
Kicking cows are a great nuisance no doubt, 
and a cure for the vice would be a boon to 
those who don’t know how to train their cows 
to be quiet and gentle and behave themselves as 
they should do. Here is a cure for a kicking 
cow “as is a cure” given in a very good agri¬ 
cultural paper too. It says, “stanchion your 
cow by the door. Bore a 1V., inch hole through 
a part on the offside of the cow about two 
inches lower than where you put a strap 
around the leg just above the gambrel joint.” 
If any eow r can stand that cure and kicks after 
that she is incorrigible. But who is to hold 
the cow’s leg during the operation? Kickiug 
cow r s are made so. They do not make them¬ 
selves. If the calf and the heifer are kindly 
trained, they will not kick; but if they are 
ill-used and prodded with forks and dogged 
up and down, I don’t blame them for kicking. 
I am asked how the good qualities of a grade 
Jersey cow can be transmitted to her offspring. 
Now this is a question that interests thousands 
of readers of the Rural, all of whom, I take 
it, wish to improve their stock Grade animals 
cannot be depended upon to transmit good 
qualities so surely as pure-bred; bub there is a 
chance that they may if the right course is 
taken. That the grade is bettor than the 
native dam is a good start, and shows that im¬ 
provement is begun. And to continue it, the 
very same process that began it must tie pur¬ 
sued right along. This is to breed the cow to 
the best pure Jersey bull that can bo procured. 
To breed it to a Holstein (let us always call 
this Dutch, which it is), would be to throw* 
away all that has been gained and get a much 
mixed mongrel. Once a line of breeding is 
started, that line should be followed without 
departing from it. 
is not altogether insoluble. One pound of it 
dissolves in about 50,000 pounds of pure water. 
In water containing carbonic acid it dissolves 
much more abundantly up to one part in 1,500. 
When vegetable or animal matters undergo 
decay in the soil their nitrogen becomes nitric 
acid w'hich unites with the lime and the result¬ 
ing calcium nitrate dissolves with great ease. In 
most good soils sulphate of lime is constantly 
dissolving in the rainwater, 500 parts of which 
can take up one part of sulphate. Thus it 
happens that between the crops which are 
harvested off the laud, and the w r ater which 
drains through and runs away into the streams 
a slow* but constant removal of lime from the 
soil is going on. 
This waste of lime from the soil may be appre¬ 
ciated and roughly measured by the quality of 
the spring and well waters. In Lewis County 
and Jefferson County, N. Y,, the Black River 
flows in a valley that lies nearly along the 
line of junction of the granitic rocks and soils 
on the east and north, and of limestone lodges 
and land to the w'est and south. The grauite 
region is mostly one of Pine and Spruce tim¬ 
ber, with a sandy, light soil and pure, soft wa¬ 
ter. The limestone country was formerly 
covered with a heavy growth of hard-wood, 
has a deep, rich, loamy or clayey soil and w*a- 
t. >r so hard that it quickly “furs" a tea-kettle 
and cannot well be used for washing with soap, 
on account of the carbonate and sulphate of 
lime which it holds in solution. 
When such removal of lime reaches a cer¬ 
tain point, the fertility of the laud is impaired, 
aud then restoration of the lime is essential to 
renew the productiveness. On such a soil finely 
ground limestone acts like magic, and a ton or 
two of it “renovates” the land for 10 or30 years, 
provided, of course, that other deficiencies have 
not occurred or have been remedied by the 
usual manurings and amendments. If the 
limestone is one of the impurer sorts, contain¬ 
ing magnesia, sulphates, phosphates, etc., its 
application may make good a wider range of 
deficiencies and lie more beneficial than wore 
it simply carbonate of lime. On the other 
hand, ground limestone on soils already con¬ 
taining an abundance of lime would be Of no 
use whatever—like carrying coals to Newcastle. 
It may, however, happen that soil underlaid 
at a few feet depth by limestone, is superficial¬ 
ly wanting in calcium compounds. I have 
known instances where an application mostly 
consisting of carbonate of lime, has worked 
admirably on such land. In Great Britain 
where “liming” has long been practiced, it 
is well understood that the lime “sinks,” and 
this evidently takes place in part by solution. 
Ground limestone is not altogether the same 
in its effects on the Laud and crop as slaked 
lime. The latter is a powerful chemical agent 
and may be useful where carbonate of lime is 
already abundant, by its influence on the tex¬ 
ture of the earth or by its solvent action on 
the stores of plant food that are present but 
unavailable in many soils. Slaked lime, after 
long exposure to air, takes up carbonic-acid 
gas and then is a carbonate quite similar 
chemically to ground limestone, but vastly 
more perfect iu pulverization. 
When ground limestone is applied where the 
need of it has been urgent it is at once highly 
appreciated, aud farmers who enjoy its bene¬ 
fit are likely to conclude that it must bo gen¬ 
erally efficacious. Others find it totally with¬ 
out action on their land or crops. From this 
opposition of experience arises a controversy 
which is carried on with more "zeal than dis¬ 
cretion, and cau only bo set at rest by an un¬ 
derstanding of the reasons of its benefit or 
failure. 
The attempts to make a commerce iu ground 
limestone arc sometimes lamentably absurd. 
Recently a party has proposed to introduce 
into Connecticut a “fertilizer,” composed 
essentially of ground limestone which is quar¬ 
ried in Northern New York. No doubt it 
would do good on many a Connecticut farm, 
but carbonate of lime cau be quarried in Con¬ 
necticut itself and can be brought from points 
la New York State much nearer than Lake 
Ontario. The persistent attempts that have 
been made to sell the shell marl of Central 
New York and other localities under various 
extraordinary names, as “The Bird Guano and 
Fertilizer,” “Albemarle Fertilizer,” “Lacust¬ 
rine Fertilizer,” and of coarse at an extraor¬ 
dinary price ($80 per ton), have not met with 
much success for the simple reasons that pul¬ 
verized carbonate of lime is a very common 
substance aud is therefore worth, commer¬ 
cially, but a very few dollars per ton. 
For many years leached ashes have been 
extensively transported from Northern New 
York and Canada, to Long Island and South¬ 
ern New England. In 1881 more than 250,000 
bushels, or 4,500 tons, of this fertilizer were sold 
in Connecticut. Leached ashes contain two- 
thirds per cent of magnesia, and about one per 
cent each of potash and phosphoric acid, with 
35 percent of moisture and worthless matters. 
They cost about $10per ten, and tlieir efficacy, 
which is often conspicuous aud often imper¬ 
ceptible, chiefly lies in the ,60 per cent of cur- 
But stockmen are also citizens, and if they 
can acquire honestly a tract of grazing ground 
they have as much right to it as the bonanza 
farmers have to own their 40,000 acres, or 
more or less. Bona Side settlers will never 
settle the Great Plains. They might go on the 
banks of the streams and occupy those, aud 
cultivate narrow strips by irrigation, but what 
would become of the dry uplands. They would 
then control the ground in precisely the same 
manner as the stockmen do now. At present 
the cattle-men cannot own more than 160 acres 
of land, aud if they were confined to that their 
business would be at an end very soon. The 
ex-Governor says it is “nonsense” to talk of 
these lands as useless for any other purpose 
than grazing. Pei haps I know as much about 
that as the next man. It is a matter of 
opinion, and my opinion is backed by the his¬ 
tory of ages. Climate cannot be changed so 
radically by thousands of years of man’s little 
efforts, as to make those vast plains fit for 
ordinary agriculture. If ex-Governor Fur¬ 
nas knows of a single instance in history of 
such a case, as of vast arid plains and a rain¬ 
less climate becoming so wonderfully changed, 
let him refer to it. 
Also it is a mistake to say that 1 admit 
there is water enough to irrigate all those 
lands. I distinctly stated the contrary of that. 
A well that would irrigate 160 acres of land 
would cost more than a good fami iu Nebraska 
of the same size, and there are millions of acres 
in Nebraska waiting to be owned ami cultiva¬ 
ted, that do not require irrigation. 
But “man liveth not by bread alone.” Ho 
must have beef and mutton as well. Cattle 
can be herded so cheaply on the Plains as to 
make meat reasonably cheap for all time to 
come. The stock interest has its rights, too, 
and what I have proposed is not to soli those 
lands, but to lease them for terms of, say, 30 
years, at such a rent as will pay interest on the 
value. This has been done in Australia on 
similar lauds, and iu South America and South 
Africa, and would be just to all parties con¬ 
cerned. At present stockmen are forced to 
act without the apparent pale of the law or 
lose the fruits of their industry. 
farm Cxmtoimj. 
GROUND LIMESTONE. 
PROFESSOR S. W. JOHNSON. 
Ground limestone has been much talked of 
lately as a fertilizer. What is it and what is 
it good for applied to land ? 
The purest limestones are principally or en¬ 
tirely carbonate of lime or, as chemists now 
more commonly term it, calcium carbonate. 
This substance is agriculturally important 
because no crop can develop in the absence 
of a calcium (lime) compound and because 
calcium carbonate is to vegetation a most 
common and appropriate source o# this sub¬ 
stance. One hundred pounds of pure car¬ 
bonate of lime contain 56 pounds of lime and 
44 pounds of carbonic acid. A good yield of 
80 to 45 bushels of the ordinary grain crops, 
straw included, annually withdraws from the 
land about 10 pounds of lime. One-and-a- 
half long ton of hay takes away 30 pounds 
and two long tens of Red Clover, 85 pounds. 
Onr other crops mostly stand between these 
extremes, and with the exception of nitrogen 
and potash, no other ingredients are common¬ 
ly demanded of the soil in greater quantity. 
It is therefore evident enough that were lime 
as scarce and as costly to provide as are ni¬ 
trogen and potash, any means of supplying the 
former would rank iu importance with the ma¬ 
terials which yield the latter substance. 
Fertile soils always contain a supply of lime 
in some shape or other, but poor soils are often 
deficient in this element of productiveness, and 
soils once fertile may in the course of time be 
so far exhausted of lime as to require some 
applications that will restore it. 
Lime may exist in soils in the states of car¬ 
bonate, silicate, humate, aud phosphate. The 
last-named compound is generally very small 
iu amount. The silicates winch contain lime 
are quite numerous; most common minerals 
of the granitic and slaty rocks are compounds 
of this sort. As these break down under the 
processes of weathering their lime becomes 
carbonate, or in presence of humus (decayed 
vegetable matter) humate. Carbonate of lime 
bonato of lime which is their characteristic 
ingredient, and which they contain in a state 
of extreme subdivision and therefore prepared 
for immediate action. 
Ordinarily, ground limestone cannot be 
nearly so quick a fertilizer as leached ashes, 
because its pulverization is comparatively very 
rough and imperfect. In fuet, it is probable 
that for use as a fertilizer it is generally cheap¬ 
er to burn the limestone than to grind it, es¬ 
pecially when much transportation has to be 
undertaken, and for three reasons, viz.: 1. 
because 60 pounds of burned lime are equal to 
100 of limestone; 3. because tv hen slaked it is 
pulverized to a degree that no mill can possi¬ 
bly imitate or approach, and, 8, because a 
small dose of slaked lime—say 1,000 pounds 
or 20 bushels—equals for immediate effect five 
times or more that amount of ground lime¬ 
stone, besides benefiting some kinds of soil iu 
a way not manifested by the latter. 
Iu conclusion, ground limestone may be in 
many cases an excellent fertilizer, but it can¬ 
not. be indiscriminately recommended, aud 
ordinarily'cannot be sold for more than a few 
dollars per ton or be subject to any considera¬ 
ble transportation except at a loss to the con¬ 
sumer. 
RAISING SWEET POTATOES. 
Many of the inodes of raising sweet potatoes 
are so elaborate that many are deterred from 
attempting to grow* them because of the extra 
trouble. In presenting the following method 
I merely aim to simplify the growing of that 
useful vegetable. The soil 1 would select would 
lie as nearly pure sand as possible, though a 
light sandy loam is good. If this can be well 
manured with thoroughly rotted manure, leaf 
mold, or wood-pile dirt, aud a liberal coat of 
ashes, the conditions are extra favorable. 
Broadcast manuring is best, but manuring in 
the drill will do. I have frequently seen soil 
so rich that sweet potatoes would form nothing 
but “strings.” 
To obtain the plants or sprouts is, of course, 
the greatest trouble. My method is to dig a 
hole about a foot deep, allowing about 20 
square feet of surface* for a bushel of seed. 
A hole three feet wide is of convenient size. 
This I fill with coarse mauure from the horse 
stables, aud it is trodden or beaten down as 
hard as possible. If 1 waut plants quickly, I 
wot the manure with hot water and cover im¬ 
mediately with sandy soil to the depth of 
about three inches. This is again trodden, and 
the potatoes are laid as closely as possible with¬ 
out touching, the large one's being split, aud 
covered w ith about throe inches of ordinary 
soil. Litter of some kind is then heaped upon 
the bed aud the whole covered with plank. 
Sometimes the planks are omitted end the lit¬ 
ter heaped higher. As the object is to retain 
heat, the planks can be dispensed with if there 
is not too much rain. After the plants are up, 
and the litter removes 1, the planks may be ne¬ 
cessary tii protect the vines from frost. 
Care must be exercised that the lied is not 
heated too much. The hand must be inserted 
into the sand, and if the heat is great all the 
litter must be taken off. It is a mistaken no¬ 
tion that great heat is required to obtain po¬ 
tato plants, because a generation ago sweet 
potatoes were planted like Irish potatoes. In 
a warm location 1 have seen laxis sprouted 
nicely without the aid of artificial heat, though 
they were later than those raised iu hot-beds. 
1 lied from the middle to the last, of April, and 
commence putting out about May 25. I throw 
up rows every three feet, and plant a foot 
apart iu the row. 
My met hod of setting out is as follows: The 
dropjier lets go a plant every foot, or there¬ 
abouts, and a man following picks up the plant 
with his left hand, ami inserting his light into 
the top of the ridge, withdraws it immediately, 
and quickly places the sprout iu the hole thus 
made, allowing the dirt to full around the 
roots, leaving a hollow around the stem. A 
third man following pours a small quantity of 
water in the hole, and a fourth draws dry <lirt 
around the plant, and then it can stand any 
amount of dry weather. It will be observed 
that I refer to planting in dry weather, and 
though the labor is double 1 prefer it. By 
placing in u dry hole the dry dirt immediately 
covers the roots, and the water firms the soil 
in a natural manner, w hile the finish of dry 
dirt prevents the baking of the soil. Any time 
of day cun be used for planting, though the 
afternoon is preferable. Warm or cold water 
cau lie used, for I never saw* auy difference. 
The after-work is simple: cultivate and keep 
clear of weeds, etc., until the vines are, say^ 
two feet long; then hill up aud louvo. I have 
seen excellent sweet potatoes growm on new 
land without any cultivation, but the weeds 
and that pest, “Crab Grass,” did not appear. 
If the vines are cut off and planted iu good 
»oil a crop of “slips,” the best for seed, cau bo 
