$34 
AUG 2$ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
THE NEW LIST OF FOURTEEN-POUND 
JERSEY COWS. 
About a year ago Major Campbell Brown, of 
Tennessee, made outatabu lafced statement con¬ 
cerning the points of interest of all the Jersey 
cows within his knowledge that had yielded 
upward of 14 pounds of butter a week. No 
single act of a breeder has ever done more to 
aro.isj a i iuitiroij in .the intrinsic worth of 
dairy cattle than the making up of this table 
by Major Brown. It was published, copied 
and commented on by nearly all the agricul¬ 
tural papers in the country, and the conse¬ 
quence was that breeders generally were 
stricken with an emulation to get into tins 
tandard list with one or more of the cows 
hey ware breeding. As a natural sequel to 
this desire was the demand for animals nearly 
connected in blood with cows of the above 
standard. Appreciating the situation, breeders 
who owned cows which they believed could 
make exceptional butter records, have had 
their cows tested with more or less elaborate 
safeguards against errors and deception, and 
consequently the number of animals admis¬ 
sible to Major Brown’s standard has greatly 
increased within the last twelvemonth, and 
itow I have a circular from Thomas H. Ma¬ 
lone, W. J. Webster, M. M, Gardner, and 
Campbell Brown proposing to publish at an 
early date a revised list of cows that have, on 
actual test, made 14 or more pounds of butter 
in seven consecutive days. The circular states 
that they assume no judicial functions to ac¬ 
cept or reject tests properly reported to them, 
but they propose to place before the reader 
the names of the witnesses and the facts to 
which they testify in compact aud convenient 
form. The eo-operation of the owners of cows 
that have made 14 pounds or over in seven 
days is respectfully invited, for which purpose 
they will send a blank to all applicants. 
This circular states that it has been mailed 
to the owners of several hundred cows re¬ 
ported to have made 14-pound tests. I am 
astonished to hear that there is such a gener¬ 
ous supply of Jersey cows in this country that 
can boast such records. I well remember 
when old Niobe, owned by Mr. S. J. Sliarpless, 
of Philadelphia, was the only Jersey cow with 
such a record known to the general public. 
This fact shows either a wonderful improve¬ 
ment iu Jersey cows in the United States, or 
a lamentable ignorance of their worth in the 
past, 
The entries to this standard list, will be 
closed September 1, and it is to be hoped that 
all the breeders who own Jersej-s that can get 
into the standard will send statements of their 
tests. There is one good provision in the blank 
certificates, and that is that the cow must, be 
milked dry 12 hours l*efore the test begins. 
Then such questions as these are asked: How 
often was the cow fed daily ' What food given 
daily; stated in pounds if possible l What 
pasture was she on during trial? Was butter 
salted or nnsalted t It is preferable that tests 
be reported in butter salted iu the usual man¬ 
ner ready for market. How long before trial 
did the cow calve? How old was she at the 
time of test; state iu years and months. Give 
weight of cow actual, if possible. Extend 
]>edigree for which blank form is included. 
I shall look with deep interest for the ap- 
pearauceof this list of cows, for nothing could 
be of greater interest tothe breeders of Jersey 
cattle all over the world. L. S. Mart Liu. 
farm Craaoiiuj. 
FALL PLOWING. 
JOHM M. STAHL. 
Autumn is approaching. To plow or not to 
plow, that is the question. It is hard to an¬ 
swer. There are those who advocate Fall 
plowing and those who oppose it, and both can 
give good reasons, as Paul commands, for the 
faith that is in them. Even he who lias the 
highest conception of the advance agriculture 
has made must acknowledge that it is a nicely 
balanced controversy. For while agriculture 
should be a science, and many are ready to 
contend that it lias been reduced to a science, 
a correct understanding of scientific laws 
and principles will not solve the difficulty. 
Undoubtedly the cultivation of the earth is 
governed by, and should be conformed to, cer¬ 
tain immutable laws; undoubtedly certain 
principles exist which should not he ignored ; 
and the enunciation of those laws and the per¬ 
ception of those principles would constitute 
the science of fa riniug and make a science of 
it. But agriculture is an art as well as a 
science. The particular application of the 
science of agriculture to particular circum¬ 
stances and the operations of farming in con¬ 
formity to correct principles and theories, 
make the art of farming, and make it difficult. 
For while those principles and laws which con¬ 
stitute the science of farming are as unehang- 
able as the laws of the Medes and Persians, 
everywhere the same, the art of farming is 
everywheie different, because the science 
must deal with dissimilar circumstances aud 
conditions, The farmer may be deeply con¬ 
versant. with the science of farming, and yet 
lack judgment aud sense to understand its 
art. 
This is what makes brains valuable upon the 
farm and the problem of Fall plowing a diffi¬ 
cult one. All that the writer can hope to do 
is to state some arguments pro and eon, and 
leave it to each reader to decide if. in view of 
his own peculiar circumstances, he should or 
should not plow in the Fall. He can instruct 
iu knowledge but uot in the mode of action. 
It is said that Fall plowing provides work at 
a season of comparative idleness; that the 
harvest, has been gathered, the hay cut, the 
grain thrashed, the w heat seeded, and the com 
is uot yet ready to gather. Here is a season 
when the fanner has very little to do. His 
teams are idle and he must else pass the time 
in ehoriug. But he has ground that, must be 
plowed the ensuing Spring, and why not plow 
it now ? Work will hurry then, but he has 
leisure at this season before the corn is ready 
to gather. Therefore he should plow iu the 
Fall. 
On the other hand, it is contended that this 
season of idleuess does not exist on a well regu¬ 
lated farm. Thatafter the hay and grain have 
been disposed of and the wheat sown, the ap¬ 
ples are to be gathered, the late potatoes to be 
dug, hedges to be trimmed, fences to be re¬ 
paired, stables and sheds to be cleaned out and 
made ready for Winter, cane to be taken to 
the mill and fodder to be cut. The farmer, 
they sa\’, has no leisure to spend in plowing. 
I must confess that I have uever seen the time 
when the farm did not afford an abundance of 
work, and so far I must side with the oppo¬ 
nents of Fall plowing. If, however, my reader 
does not cut fodder, raise cane, repair fences, 
trim hedges, provide shelters for his stock, has 
no orchard and buys his potatoes, he will doubt¬ 
less find plenty of time to plow and lie ever¬ 
lastingly hard up for cash. 
It maybe further argued that in the Fall the 
horses are iuured to hard work, and will plow 
more and do it with greater ease than iu the 
Spring, when the inactivity of Winter has 
made their muscles soft and weak. Con Ira. 
it is said that the severe labor of Spring and 
Summer has reduced the horses iu flesh and 
strength, and now they should he allowed to 
recuperate and rest. I have found, however, 
that a decent horse decently treated will do 
more work in the Fall than in t.he Spring. 
Here I must array myself with the advocates 
of Fall plowing; though if my neighbor feeds 
corn exclusive of other grains, aud musty hay 
or none at, all, and treats his horse otherwise 
as this course of feeding would indicate, he 
may have just grounds for taking the other 
side of the question. 
It, is further argued that when the ground is 
plowed iu the Fall the frosts of Winter will dis¬ 
integrate the lumps, and a very little work 
will suffice to reduce the seod-bed to the very 
best, condition iu t.he Spring. But while the 
opponents of Fall plowing do not deny this, 
they say that the frosts of Winter, combined 
with rains and snows, overdo this, and make 
the ground a solid amalgam or paste. I con¬ 
ceive that both are right and both are wrong. 
Different, Winters will produce different re¬ 
sults on the same soil, as the same Winter will 
on different soils. A dry, cold Winter will 
prove beneficial bo ground plowed in the Fall, 
but a wet, warm Winter will probably leave 
it in a worse condition in the Spring than it 
was before it was plowed iu the Fall. Sandy 
soils are very apt to be reduced to a solid paste 
by wet Winter weather, while clayey soils are 
not so susceptible to moisture, and freezing is 
very beneficial to them. The farmer cannot 
determine beforehand whether the Winter 
will be dry or wet, warm or cold, bathe knows 
the general character of his soil. 
In the further advocacy of Fall plowing, it 
is said that it increases the atmospheric fer¬ 
tilization. This is au English idea, 1 believe, 
and was probably first suggested by the im¬ 
provement in grounds allowod to lie fallow. 
It is contended that as fallow ground increases 
iu productiveness, which is equivalent to say¬ 
ing that it has been increased in fertility, this 
addition of fertility must have come from the 
atmosphere; for this is the ouly possible source. 
If it has uot been demonstrated, it is at least 
plausible that the air adds directly to the gas¬ 
eous elements in the soil, and also indirectly 
increases its fertility by unlocking insoluble 
compounds. As tills process depends upon the 
contact of air aud soil, it follows that the 
greater the surface of soil exposed to the air 
the greater the results. Fall plowing would 
then increase the atrnosphene fertilization by 
breaking the ground up into lumps and ex¬ 
posing a greater surface txi the atmosphere. 
The opponents of Fall plowing deny the exist¬ 
ence of atmospheric fertilization altogether, 
or else maintain that it is of very little impor 
lance. On this point I am inclined to hang 
both feet ou t.he affirmative side of the fence. 
Another .argument, advanced bv the advo¬ 
cates of Fall plowing is that it. is especially 
beneficial on sod ground. They assort, and it, 
cannot lx? denied, that the sod turned under 
can be of no benefit till it lias decomposed, 
till its organic compounds arc reduced to sim¬ 
ple elements, and that when sod is turned 
under iu the Fall it will lie readily available to 
the crop by the next Spring. But. say their 
antagonists, decomposition begins sis soon as 
growth censes, and though the sod may not lie 
turned under till Spring, decomposition wil I 
at that warm, wet season lie very rapid, and 
by the time t he crop has reached the surface 
aud needs help, aid will be at hand ; and 
the sod, if turned under in the Fall, will har¬ 
bor noxious venuiu through the Winter. 
It will thus be seen that Fall plowing pre¬ 
sents two sides, aud that the fanner must de¬ 
cide for himself, being governed by his cir¬ 
cumstances and relying on his own good judg¬ 
ment in reaching a decision. 
A FALSE ALARM ABOUT DRAINAGE. 
Tnu practice of drainage lias very wisely 
become prevalent inthe Western States where 
for years past the want of it has oecasioned 
very great inconvenience to the farmers, not 
to speak of the enormous losses they have sus¬ 
tained. And I may say it has become alarm¬ 
ingly prevalent, if one may judge by various 
sensational statements of anticipated or dread¬ 
ed evils that may result from it. I refer 
specially to a series of articles recently pub¬ 
lished in a Western agricultural journal, the 
purport of which is to show that drainage 
inflicts a great damage upon farmers and the 
country generally by carrying off the water 
too rapidly from the soil and thus not only de¬ 
priving the soil of needed moisture, but caus¬ 
ing mischief and injury by floods at certain 
seasons. 
Now the truth of this matter is really very 
different from this. Drainuge removes water 
from the soil no doubt,: but, itis surplus water. 
This surplus water would flow Off anyhow, 
were there no drains, and in flowing over the 
surface would wash away a largo quantity of 
soluble matter which exists upon the surface 
of the soil. Moreover, it would carry off a 
large quantity of solid matter, soil itself, into 
the streams, aud so denude the laud of valu¬ 
able elements of fertility. Let us examine 
into this matter a little. An undrained field is 
filled to the surface with water at certain sea¬ 
sons until it can hold no more. All the water 
that then fallsupouthe surface will flow away 
iuto hollows, making swales or swamps, or it 
passes directly into the streams and rivers in 
a thick, turbid flood which carries off an in¬ 
calculable quantity of the richest part of the 
soil. The saturated soil is dead; drowned: no 
air enters it, and it; is unaffected by those agen 
cies of t.he atmosphere which would otherwise 
exert a beneficial influence upon it and render 
it fertile. 
But this perhaps is uot questioned by any 
person, it is too apparent to require discussion. 
Let. us then consider what happens when this 
soil is drained: The surplus stagnant water is 
gradually removed. It does not aud cannot 
pass off in a sudden flood as isehurged by the 
writer referred to, for It must percolate down¬ 
wards for three feet and laterally for 150 feet 
before it can cuter the drains and therefore 
moves slowly and deliberately, and at the 
same time constantly. Now if all the water 
which falls u]s>n the surface passed into the 
drains at once and ascuped. the objection raised 
would l>e just. But it does uot do this. The 
soil below the drains still retains- all the water 
it can or could ever hold, and so all the springs 
would still be supplied us before, aud the fear 
that this source of water supply cau be inter¬ 
fered with is groundless. But the soil nl>ove 
the level of the drains is by no means deprived 
of water. Soil holds a very large quantity of 
water which cannot be drawu from it by 
drains. The following table taken from 
Stewart's Irrigation for the farm, garden and 
orchard, shows how much water is retained in 
various kinds of soil: 
PER CENT. OK WATER RETAINED IN SOIL. 
Pure quartz, sand.25 
Clay soil, 40 per cent, sand.40 
Clay loam.51 
Heavy clay soil, 20 per ct. Band. (51 
Fine limestone, clav soil.85 
Rich garden soil.8!) 
Peut or decayed vcg’ble matter. 181 
These quantities are held by the various 
soils without any filtration from them, aud 
therefore, if drained, they would still retain 
these proportions of water. So that it is quite 
impossible for the drains to remove from the 
laud any more water thuu the surplus after . 
healthful saturation, aud which surplus is au 
injuiy. It might be easy to add much more 
to show how unfounded is the fear that the 
drains can have any injurious effect, but per 
haps this much may be sufficient to set farmers 
thinking for themselves, that, they may learn 
the truth about it, and uot become alarm¬ 
ed unnecessarily, aud be induced to abandon a 
practice that, is very often indispensable to 
their success. g. 
ffinrlcitltmal. 
RAYS. 
The Walmn Conservatories at Natick. Mass., 
some 17 or 18 miles from Boston, on the Boston 
and Albany R. R.. are the largest, most sub 
stantially made aud liberally conducted com¬ 
mercial cut-flower establishment iu New Eng¬ 
land. The proprietor, Mr. Woods, is a wealthy 
“business-man," aud his conservatories area 
pastime bobby. Vast rauges of greenhouses 
are annually being added to what is already a 
village of glass. The walls are of brick and 
cement, the stages are of cement, the supports 
and braces of iron. Except a few of the older 
houses, the whole is heated by steam, and 
Mr. Montgomery, the superintendent, is loud 
in the praise of the steam-heating system, 
and eulogizes its efficiency, and economy 
iu fuel and help. 
So favorable an opinion is entertained of the 
Waban system of cement greenhouse beuches 
that in the magnificent private gardens of Mr. 
Huuuewell. at Wellesley, Mass., wooden stages 
are being torn out. and replaced with cement 
ones. And no sooner did Mr. Allan, the gar¬ 
dener at Oakley, Mt. Auburn, see them, than 
hedeelared he should go home and do likewise. 
* * 
These cement stages are very easily made, 
aud any bandy man, not a skilled mechanic, 
can construct them. You cau have them level 
or sloping, as you wish, and with little drain 
gutters wherever you want, them, and there is 
no question of their strength aud durability. 
But apart from commercial greenhouses, for 
areal neat job, and certainly quite as perma¬ 
nent a one, i should prefer slate and iron. 
* * 
But the cement walls impressed me favor¬ 
ably. They are of Portland cement, two-and- 
a-half parts of gravel to one of cement for the 
outside facing, and four of gravel to one of 
cement for the inner side. And they are 
brought up and beveled so that the glass 
roof rests right upon them, thus doing 
away with wooden sills. 
* * 
Of course, greenhouses of this nature are run 
in the interest of Winter flowers, aud aim 
especially for u Christmas and Easter crop, but 
a goodly Summer business in Roses is done 
with Newport and other fashionable resorts. 
And although " Smilax ’’ is and always shall 
he especially esteemed as a “green" for fine 
bouquets, fashion is turning in favor of Maiden 
Hair Ferns. And for this use Adiantum cuue- 
atuiu, the commonest of the race, is consid¬ 
ered the most serviceable. 
Some exceedingly large span-roofed houses 
are devoted to Marduh&l Niel Roses. They run 
east aud west, with a full broadside facing 
south. The roses are planted out, but instead 
of being trained on trellises running length¬ 
wise, they are trained to ones running cross¬ 
wise, like stall-partitions in a stable, aud five 
to six feet apart. In this wuy a very much 
greater trellis surface is secured aud the blos¬ 
soms have abundant room for development ou 
both sides of the trellises. 
* * 
Marechal Niel on its own roots is very apt, 
as the stems become old, to “canker"at the 
neck, and to obviate this, a succession of young 
wood is always maintained by means of layer¬ 
ing the strong-growing shoots. This is done 
by boudiug them down so us to fasten to the 
ground in the regular Rose row aud as near the 
point from which they sprang as possible, but 
otherwise allowing them to grow as rampantly 
as they please. They soon ta ke root and become 
independent of the parent stock. Mr. Mont¬ 
gomery says they root far more readily in the 
old rotted cow manure (hat is on the surface 
of the bed than in any kind of soil, mid he 
therefore rakes up this old dressing for use in 
layering. Ill some of the older houses where 
t he Marechal Niel stems are old aud stout, aud 
by reason of the smallness of the houses and 
the way in which the plants were set out in 
them, layering is not easily available ; in this 
case boxes, about 12 to 15 inches deep, aud 
square, and filled with rough, earthy material, 
are set around the plants, the stems coming up 
within the boxes, in this way new roots are 
secured above the “caukercd” neck. 
* * 
Liliuui Harrisii, the Bermuda variety of the 
Trumpet Lily, is much esteemed as au easily 
grown aud profitable plant. They forced over 
a thousand plants of it last seusou, aud it 
averaged four blossoms to the bulb. The bulbs 
increase most rapidly in size aud umnber, aud 
with a few mouths’ growth every little bulblo 
