326 
MAY 26 
<Tl)f ijortteman. 
OUE ANIMAL PORTRAITS, 
A GROUP OF CHOICE HOLSTEINS. 
What an attractive sight.is that offered by 
a group or herd of hue dairy cows, plump, 
placid and promising a wealth of rich milk 
and golden butter ! And what handsomer 
group could we present to our readers than 
that of the Holsteins here depicted, viewed 
either from the standpoint of beauty, from 
which we may admire their large bulk, excel¬ 
lent forms, sleek skins and pleasing colors, or 
from the standpoint of utility, from which we 
value them on account of .their large ud¬ 
ders and because the old adage “handsome is as 
handsome does’ - is applicable to them. Never 
before has so large a group of dairy cows been 
pictured whose milk record has equaled that 
of the animals here represented, while for sev¬ 
eral of them it is claimed that their individual 
records are the largest ever made. In view of 
the fact that the group contains representa¬ 
tives of the three deepest milking families of 
Holsteius this claim is quite credible. 
Standing away at the left is Netherland 
Princess, (H, H. B,, No, S62) with a three- 
year-old milk record of 14,101 pounds two 
ounces; and a butter record of 14 pounds 11}-$ 
ounces in a week. Next to her is Netherland 
Queen (H. H. B., No. 414) with a two-year-old 
tnilk record of 13,574 pounds three ounces, and 
a four-year-old record of 15,614 pounds nine 
ounces. As a five-year-old she has given this 
year in the four months until April 1, 7,500 
pounds six ounces; and in last November she 
made 20 pounds of butter in one week. Third 
in the row is Aaggie (H. H. B., No. 001). with 
a record of 18.004 pounds 15 ounces in one 
year. After closing this record she dropped 
twins and gave the folio wing season, on a re¬ 
duced feed to prevent inflammation of udder, 
15,700 pounds 10 ounces in one year. Cool 
and placid in the pool stauds Cftrlotta (H. H. 
B., No. 1,266) with a two-year-old milk 
record of 7,327 pounds 10 ounces in 11)4 
months. As a three-year-ohl she had yielded 
11,864 pounds six ounces in 11 months 14 
days up to April 1 last,. Lying down, almost 
facing her, is Lady Netherland (H. H. B., 
No. 1.263), the dam of Netherland Princess 
and Netherland Queen and the bull Nether- 
laud Prince (H. H. B., No. 716) standing be- 
yond the fence at the end of the right-hand 
row. Lady Netherland gave during the past 
Winter 6,130 pounds 11 ounces of milk in 
five months and five days. Lying just be¬ 
yond her is ,-Egis (H. H. B.. 69) with a milk 
record of 16,823 pounds 10 ounces. The fol¬ 
lowing year she gave in eight moutl s and 15 
days 13,493 pounds L3 ounces, and the present 
season she gave 8,220 pounds of milk in four 
months and 23 days; while last Winter 
she made 18 pounds two ounces of butter in 
one week. Beyond her stands Neptune (H. 
H. B., 711), a son of Aaggie, standing almost 
opposite him. A fine group with a fine record, 
isn’t it? Messrs. Smiths & Powell, of Syra¬ 
cuse, N. Y., are the fortunate owners. 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
New Process Oil-Meal. 
I DO not think much of the new process 
linseed meal. A sample Which had been in a 
paper bag for two weeks had not staiued the 
paper, showing that the amount of oil in it 
was very small. The same quantity of meal 
ground under the old process would have 
made the paper bag greasy. Linseed, or oil 
meal, is most excellent food for stock, and 
when it contains an amount of oil in it equal 
to its cost it is as economical as any, and when 
mixed with other meal in the right propor¬ 
tions, is exceedingly healthful. Oil-meal 
should contain from 12 to 15 per cent, of oil 
in it to be profitable to buy at the prices asked 
for it. 1 get my oil-meal at 328 per ton at the 
factory, and it is cheaper than corn-meal. 
The new process oil-meal I do not believe con¬ 
tains more than from three to five per cent, of 
oil—at least the samples I have seen do not in¬ 
dicate more than tins quantity. This kind of 
meal should sell for about $10 per ton instead 
of 326. It is queer American fanners do not 
use more oil-meal. It is shipped from 
their very doors across the ocean to Great 
Britain, whore it is highly appreciated by 
stock-breeders and fed in vast quantities. The 
more one experiments with it the better it will 
be liked. Farmers are queer sumetimes. They 
do not like the notion of buying any kind of 
food for their stock, but they will feed most 
lavishly of what they have raised, and very 
often more than an animal can digest. Corn- 
meal is almost always fed waste fully. It is 
the farmers’ main food for fattening their ani¬ 
mals, and they imagine the more of it which 
disappears down their animals’ throats the 
faster they are fattening. It is not so, for, as 
a rule, one-third of it is not digested at all, but 
is voided in the manure. Now, if this third 
part of the corn-meal should be sold and the 
money invested in oil-meal, and this should be 
mixed with coin-meal, there would be an 
increase of growth and a decrease of cost. 
Three quarts of com-meal and one of oil-meal 
are a sufficient, ration for a large cow or au or¬ 
dinary ox. fed twice a day, but most farmers 
would give six or eight quarts of corn-meal 
and get no greater gain. The oil-meal is fat¬ 
tening and at the same time laxative to the 
extent of preventing fever and maintaining a 
healthful action of the bowels. 
, LOSS IS MEAL FEEDING. 
While it is not wise to attempt to fatten cattle 
without mixing oil-meal with their feed, at 
the same time, in order to get the full benefit 
of meal feeding, the animal should bo made 
to chew the meal. This is plain language, and 
covers the ground. When a cow or ox in eating 
meal, as they are inclined to do, swallow it as 
soon as they cau get it into their mouths,it passes 
directly to the third or fourth stomach (and it 
makes but little difference as one is but an ex¬ 
tension or the other), and is uot again tnkeu 
up into the mouth and remasticated as coarser 
food always is; but it is soon passed on into the 
bowels without the fullest, or a complete op¬ 
portunity for mastication as if it passed through 
the longer and more perfect process, enter¬ 
ing the rumen first. To secure this order of 
digestion the meal should be fed with some 
coarser material to compel the beast to masti¬ 
cate it, aud then the meal would be carried 
with this coarser material directly to the ru¬ 
men or paunch. Masticatiou is a more im¬ 
portant part of digestion than many suppose, 
which is proven by the difference between the 
calf fed by suckling or out of the pail; suck¬ 
ing and mastication both cause a secretion of 
the saliva which makes the difference in favor 
of these modes of feeding. In the absence of 
roots to mix with the meal, corn stalks or 
even straw cut up aud wetted, if not too much 
labor, or mixed dry, will serve the purpose to 
make the animal masticate meal and to eat 
slower. It is better to grind coin in the ear 
for cattle feeding, for the above reasons. 
£l)C ijorsfmmt. 
RAISING HORSES. 
“If we are to have goo 1 horses we must take 
pains in breeding them,” said a farmer to me 
a short time ago, while we were scanning 
the points of his good-sized two-year-old. 
“ One fault of our farmeis is that they 
don’t take pains enough in breeding from 
good mares. There is not generally so much 
fault with the males; not so much as there 
was 15 or 20 years ago, but there is a chance 
for much greater improvement, on the other 
side. Farmers are too apt to think if the old 
mare has got past labor from age, infirmities 
or disease, for which there is no cure in 
horse-flesh, why, she will do to raise a colt 
from. But one thing is certain,” continued 
my friend, “ as long as the spring remains 
unclean it is foolish to expect clean water 
from it.” 
But bttle reflection is needed to confirm the 
correctness of this reasoning, Iu order to 
work to any advantage iti the improvement 
of our horses, the mares bred from must be free 
from acquired as well as const,itntioual or 
hereditary defects. One of the most impoitaut, 
considerations in the brood mare is freedom 
from constitutional diseases. 
It is, however, a well established fact that 
many of the acquired diseases to which horses 
are subject, afterwards become hereditary 
aud descend from parent to progeny. Curbs, 
spavins, ringbones, heaves- and the long list 
of defects to which every horse is liable 
from improper and hard usage, often become 
constitutional and inherent in the blood of 
darns, aud their progeny are liable to become 
inoculated in the germ to the most distant 
posterity. 
To the miserable practice of breeding from 
mares which too often come into the category 
of “those unfit for work, hence will do to 
breed from,” is due in part the existence of the 
vast number of unsound horses which are to 
be found on nearly every farm, and which art- 
heard wheezing and coughing at the hitching- 
posts about the corner groceries. I am well 
aware that to the care and usage to which 
horse-flesh is subjected may be attributed 
much of the unsoundness and ungainly move¬ 
ments possessed by the average equine of our 
time. The remedy forthis lies right in our own 
hands. The road to improvement in this 
matter is direct and lies straight before us. 
The market demand is for good-sized and 
“good-stepping” horses. I don’t mean by good¬ 
stepping competitors for the honors of the turf; 
but such animals as shall develop to good 
roadsters so the owner oan, upon occasion, go 
to the village for the doctor or anybody else 
he wants to see, and not lie obliged to work 
his passage or use up too much precious time. 
If the horse can strike a three-minute gait it 
won’t hurt, his salable qualities at. all, but he 
may be a good horse for all essential needs and 
not approximate to that time. The general 
farmer cannot, afford to breed merely for 
si>eed. That should be left for those who have 
taste, time and means to devote to this work, 
which at best is but a lottery. If a farmer 
has a heavy horse which is sound aud all right, 
lie has no difficulty in disposing of him. With 
the small animal, unless he has speed to offset 
his diminutive proportions, he'll find custom¬ 
ers will pass him by aud seek for those of 
more size. 
Light horses, as a rule, are uot profitable to 
use upon the farm. Often a flue, heavy horse 
will do the work upon a farm where two 
fighter ones would be required to do the same 
work. It. is true a large horse will usually 
consume more feed than a small one; aud so 
he will do more work, aud the ratio of differ¬ 
ence in Wurk is far greater than the difference 
of cost of keeping, for eight times out of ten 
the old mare will out-cat a 300-pound heav¬ 
ier horse which is just bordering on his 
teens. “But my lighter horse is spryer and 
can get around faster than your big, lum- 
moxy fellow.” you say. That doesn’t always 
folio tv, neither is it more than an excep¬ 
tion to a general rule; close observation 
will reveal the fact that the rule will ap¬ 
ply as often the other way. I believe it 
to be the part of economy that wo raise 
larger, sounder and better styled horses. 
It may cost a little more iu the outset, be¬ 
cause we should use the best males as well as 
good mares, but the improvement and conse¬ 
quent enhanced value will more than repay 
the increased cost. L. F. Abbott. 
3.1'boriailtitral, 
FORESTRY No. 40. 
Forest Nursery, Part XIII. 
NURSERY MANAGEMENT CONTINUED. 
DR. JOHN A. WARDER. 
Root Cuttings — Layers—effort on the stool 
plant—may be clone in the woods; treatment 
of Layers—Grafting and Budding — In¬ 
arching—Planning and Planting the Nur¬ 
sery; Distance between Bows and Plants— 
Cultivation. 
Root-cuttings: Many woody plants have 
the power of producing buds, as seen in the 
suckers that spriug from their superficial 
roots, often at a distauee from the mother 
trees. Iu some eases, as with the red Rasp¬ 
berry, these buds are very apparent, the gems 
being plainly seen along the roote Ulco a st ring 
of beads; in others they are dormant and less 
manifest but may be encouraged aud made to 
grow by proper treatment. These lateral 
roots are taken up and divided up into short 
sections, then stored in sphagnum for preser¬ 
vation in the cellar, or at once committed to 
the soil, if In the Spring. The more difficult 
species aud those which have dormant or less 
conspicuous buds, should lie planted in boxes, 
aud subjected to a gentle bottom heat toward 
planting time, when they cau be set out in 
rows or iu lieds with the dibble or trowel in 
statable weather, with very small loss. 
The first Madura brought to Philadelphia 
did not perfect any seeds, being a single plant 
of a dioecious species, but thousands of plants 
were produced from its roots by this method 
of propagation for its ingenious owner, the 
late Mr. D. Landreth, who could not then pro¬ 
cure seeds. Forest trees are not usually, or 
to any great extent, multiplied by this means, 
except under peculiar circumstances aud with 
rare varieties; but the gardeners are familiar 
.with the process iu their propagation ol' many 
(lowering and fruiting shrubs. 
Layers: Some plants which do uot seed, or 
which are too young to do so, and which do not 
strike readily from cuttings, are multiplied by 
layers. The mother plants, or stools, are 
planted in good garden soil, where they arc 
encouraged to throw up many shoots from 
the crown; or sometimes they are planted in 
a nearly prostrate position, so that the 
branches aud twigs can easily be bent down 
and secured in the soil by the use of hooks: 
the notched twigs and shoots are also fixed in 
a slight depression, and covered with mellow 
soil pressed against them, their points are 
brought toward u vertical position. Instead 
of notching, some kinds'are simply l»ent, or 
slightly twisted to arrest the flow of sap some¬ 
what. This operation may tie performed in 
the Spring, or perhaps, in some sjiecies more 
successfully, when the plant is iu full leaf aud 
depositing woody fiber. Some will emit roots 
freely from the hard wood; others succeed 
better when newly formed shoots are used, and 
layered as they are becoming hardened, but 
these should not be too soft. Some will form 
roots the fii*st season, while others require to 
to be kept in position tor two years, and these 
have little root, hence the time for separating 
the layers will vary. Tho plants should be 
dormant when separated from the stool, and 
either heehxl-in, stored away, or at once 
lined-out iu the nursery rows like seedlings, 
according to the season: they must be nursed 
until they become well established and fur¬ 
nished with a good system of roots, or, as is 
often necessary, loug enough to form nice, 
straight stems before they are fit to plant out. 
The effect of layering is depreciating upon 
the mother plants, or stools ns they are called, 
siuco they are tortured out of their natural 
position, and their root system is robbed by 
having so large a portion of the foliage di¬ 
verted from them to feed now roots for the 
layered branches. Very naturally they be¬ 
come starved and stunted by this drain, and, 
ceasing to make vigorous shoots, the stools will 
require a rest from time to time, when they 
must be cut back freely and highly cultivated 
until they can regain strength. European 
writers on forestry refer to this as a very com¬ 
mon method of propagating trees, especially 
for filling up blanks in the plantation, but it 
has not been much practiced among us and be¬ 
longs rather to horticulture, though applica¬ 
ble to the forester who desires to increase his 
stock of now and rare species that cannot be 
produced from seed, aud for which he may 
have no suitable stocks upon which to graft 
them. 
Grafting and budding are both called into 
requisition occasionally, when it is desired to 
multiply certain species of forest trees of 
which seeds cannot be obtained, or of fancy 
varieties which do uot reproduce themselves 
from seed, such as the Oak-leafed Mouutain 
Ash, nudCertain weeping trees; of the former 
an extensive propagator raised some thou¬ 
sands of seedlings among which scarcely an 
abnormal loaf appeared. The Pyramidal Oak 
is reckoned but a variety of Quercus peduncu¬ 
late, by some claimed to bo a distinct species; 
in a large collection of its seedlings visited in 
Bohemia very few had the pyramidal habit, 
but iu Rochester, N. Y., a nurseryman finds 
the acorns from his tree yield plants with the 
true pyramidal character, so that he is no 
longer dependent upon grafting to improve 
his stock. The usual methods of performing 
the operation on fruit trees are generally 
found to succeed, though the most, successful 
] ropagators prefer to have the stocks of many 
kinds grown in pots until the graft has become 
firmly united. The method of grafting the 
soft wood of conifers, called herbaceous- 
grafting, has already been explained in a pre¬ 
vious article. 
Inarching, or grafting by approach, is 
used with fancy varieties; it. requires the con¬ 
junction of the cion with a stock without 
separating the former until the two are firmly 
united. 
Planning and Planting the Nursery.— 
It is customary to set. out the nui'scry iu blocks 
of a kind, and it is good economy to make the 
rows long so as to save unnecessary turning 
when cultivating with a team. This may be 
accomplished even where a succession of blocks 
of different species has been planted, if the 
rows be in a given direction throughout. How¬ 
ever. there may be left a headland or turning 
row between the blocks, which will answer 
fora roadway. Such open passages ought to 
be liberally provided all around the nursery 
and at convenient distances across it in both 
directions, so as to give easy access to all parts 
for the transportation of trees and imple¬ 
ments as well as for the inspection of the 
director; these roods should be wide enough 
for a loaded wagon to pass without injuring 
the young trees on either side. 
In laying out the ground many persons pre¬ 
fer to have the rows run from north to south, 
so as to secure a full exposure to the sunlight 
on both sides of each row, but the most ex¬ 
perienced nurserymen do not consider this a 
matter of any importance, whereas the lay of 
the land should always be studied, and the 
plats so arranged as to have a gentle deseeut 
to secure surface drainage, with easy grades to 
the rows and roadways. Iu the nursery plant¬ 
ing the rows should not be too much crowded 
with plants, nor too close together; there should 
be plenty of room for easy cultivation of the 
inter-spaces: four feet is u good average dis¬ 
tance, more or Ires according to t he character 
of the species planted and the Liino the trees 
will probably occupy the ground. If of snail 
growth or if they are to be removed at one or 
two years, as is often the ease in the Forest 
Nui'scry, tho rows may beset closer, say three, 
or even two feet, and still allow room for the 
cultivators. It has been proposed to econo¬ 
mize space by setting alternate rows of differ¬ 
ent species, according to their several require¬ 
ments, at two-and-a-half feet, so that when 
the short-term plants are removed after one 
or two years, those kinds which require a 
