640 
THE RURAL MEW-YORKER. 
SEPT 20 
2, Commence feeding early in the Winter, 
and do not let the stock lose flesh. Fifty 
pounds lost in the Fall, are hard to regain in 
cold weather. 
S, Pine lumber is the cheapest feed you can 
give stock. Ample shedding will pay far bet¬ 
ter than the lee side of a ware fence. It would 
make some of the Eastern farmers open their 
eyes to see the sheds (!) in which some of our 
farmers winter stock. 
4, Late calves do not pay in this climate. 
June or July calves require too much coddling 
to winter them. Calves should come in April 
or May at the latest, and should hat'e a warm 
winter stable. Yearlings also should be sep¬ 
arated from older cattle. 
The rule here, rather than the exception, 
has been to let animals of all ages and condi¬ 
tions run together, and during a blizzard they 
often bunch,and the smaller ones are trampled 
and hooked. There is scarcely a farmer in 
this section, who has not lost one or more 
beasts from this very cause. 
5, Water should be provided close to the'feed 
lots, and in as sheltered a position as possible. 
Cattle will go without water several days be¬ 
fore they will face an Iowa snow-storm, a 
quarter of a mile to get it, and regular water¬ 
ing is as important as regular feeding. 
6 , Salt should be kept where the stock can 
have access to it at all times. The custom here 
is to throw salt on the ground, and when the 
ground is covered with snow so that they cannot 
find it, why, then, let them do without. All 
wrong! Winter is the time stock need salt the 
most. Take a pail of salt and water, as strong 
as yon can make it, twice a week, and salt all 
round the straw pile, scattering the brine over 
the hay, etc. You will save feed and the stock 
will do tar better. 
7, Bedding of snow does very well when the 
temperature is as low as zei’o; but when the 
mercury runs 20 to 30 degrees below it makes 
a cold bed. Provide bedding of some kind. 
Pine floor at two cents a foot is better than a 
foot of frozen snow and a calf or two with the 
feet and legs frozeu stiff, and hides only five 
cents per pound! 
These lessons I learned last Winter after 
farming 30 years in Iowa. R. J. w. m. 
Warren Co., Iowa. 
FORESTRY IN GERMANY. 
The great economy practiced throughout 
Germany is no where more noticeable than in 
the management of forests. The immense 
tracts of timber which once covered large 
areas in that empire, have been long since 
cut away, and the people after depending up¬ 
on Scandinavia for many years, are now plant¬ 
ing forests in all waste places, and, what is 
better, are carefully preserving from devasta¬ 
tion the natural woodlands yet remaining. 
In traveling from Bremen to Frankfort one 
sees these timber tracts in all stages of develop¬ 
ment, and a visit to one of the national “ For¬ 
est Schools” gives an insight into methods 
and management. 
The Germans are planting trees of the great 
est commercial value of the conifers. The Riga 
Pine is most common, though the Scotch 
Pine and Norway Spruce are extensively 
grown. Of deciduous trees wherever possible 
the hard-wooded species are grown. The Pop- 
lars and Willows are let severely alone where 
the condition of the land will permit a more 
valuable variety to be used. Here is a lesson 
for forest tree planters in this country. If 
the multitudes of immigrants who are takiug 
tree claims in Dakota and other parts of the 
West, would take with them seeds of trees of 
a recognized economic value, Buch as Hard 
Majjle, Ash, and the hardiest conifers, they 
would not only satisfy the wording of the 
law, but would be planting a crop whose 
value at maturity would equal that of any 
other to which the land could be seeded. 
Again the Germans use for tree culture 
land which is not the best for ordinary crops. 
If there lies a steep hill-side, it is covered 
with thrifty Pines or Spruces, instead of be¬ 
ing a weed bed, as in America. If land is 
too wet, it is drained and set to Willow, Pop¬ 
lar, or some other tree that loves excessive 
moisture. There are thousands of acres along 
our Atlantic coast, now barren, which could 
be planted to European Larch at little ex¬ 
pense, an investment that will prove very 
profitable. 
The cultivation of the trees is thorough, and 
seems never to be neglected. They are 
planted three feet apart in rows, which, in 
damp places, are drained by a shallow ditch 
on either side—appearing thus to be iu beds. 
The trees are carefully hoed until they shade 
the ground, after which they are thinned out 
just often enough to keep them slightly 
crowded, thus making clean, straight trunks. 
Pruning and thinning out are attended to as 
r egularly by the German forester, as by our 
most intelligent nurserymen. The trees are 
never allowed to crowd each other too much; 
but a uniform bight and evenness of growth 
are sought and obtained, winch makes these 
cultivated forests even when, as frequently is 
the case, fifty feet high, appear from a dis¬ 
tance like a dense mass; but once among the 
trees one finds a clean surface, carpeted with 
moss and leaves, but free from broken 
branches, and overhead a eauopy of green, 
beautiful and refreshing. 
The “thinnings”are found usefulfor many 
things, to which we, with our abundance, 
would nevetr think of applying them. It is by 
judiciously thinning out that the evenness of 
growth referred to is obtained. In an old 
forest of Pines I visited, planted some forty 
years ago, the trees seemed so nearly of the 
same bight, that one ccgild by knowing their 
number, and the hight of one tree, have a very 
correct notion of the amount of sawn timber 
the whole forest would produce. Whenever 
trees are cut, the ax is applied very close to 
the ground, so that no unsightly stumps re¬ 
main—though the economic German is think¬ 
ing only of the value of that extra foot of 
timber. Old women, too weak to assist longer 
in the fields, now lind employment in picking 
up the chips, and carrying the branches to the 
edge of the wood, where they are cut aud 
tied into bundles and after drying, sold in 
the market. Nothing is wasted. To the 
passer-by the woods always present a clean, 
inviting resting-place. chas. a. kiffer. 
Strong Co. Ia. 
Sl)c Simm l)£V)th 
SWINE NOTES. 
JOHN M. STAHL. 
Waldo has something to say in the Fair 
Number (by the way, that Number is de¬ 
cidedly hard to beat) about the produc¬ 
tion of cheap pork. As I have a fine lot of 
hogs ready for market and can realize only 
about 3% cents per pound for them, and 
also kiiow, or at least think I do, 
something about the number of bogs in 
the country and the prospects for corn, 
I am disposed to say that the best way to pro¬ 
duce cheap pork is to let the farmer fatten 
the hogs and the speculators control the 
markets. I will warrant this rule never to 
fail. It has been tested for, lo! these many 
years, and has stood as enduring as the in¬ 
nate cussedness of the “ bears” of the pork 
market. 
Can not a hog be too large as well as too 
small ! May not too much ol' a good thing be¬ 
come a nuisance? I notice that at the fairs, 
other tilings being equal, the judges award 
the premium to the largest hog. Now growth 
is what the stock raiser is after, for the bigger 
a hog is the more he will bring in the market. 
But these show animals have been pampered 
aud forced from the very hour of their birth, 
aud their large growth is unnatural aud attain¬ 
ed at the expense of vigor and pre-potent qual¬ 
ities. These hogs are designed for breeders, 
The premium is to be a warded to the best hog. 
It is very rarely the case that the biggest hog 
is the best hog for breeding purposes. 
The Durocs, or Jersey Reds, are growing 
fast in favor in the West, aud I should not be 
surprised if they drove the Polaud-C’hinas 
from their position as firsts before five years. 
It cannot be denied that the Reds must be 
acclimated before they do well here. This is 
their present wenkuess, but iu it lies their 
future strength; for they do become accli¬ 
mated, and after this, prove as hardy as any 
breed yet introduced. I uotieed that at the 
fairs this Fall they called foith many com¬ 
pliments from the farmers; and they certain¬ 
ly looked creditable beside the Poland-Ohinas 
and Berksliires. 1 am not prejudiced either 
for or against the Jersey Reds, not owning 
any and therefore having none to sell. 
Some people are so complimentary as to call 
me foolish because I oppose the ringing of 
hogs. I do not believe iu fusteumg rings be¬ 
foreswine. Nature ueverintended the hog’s 
snout to be the baudle of a riug. The hug 
does not care for jewelry; he would prize one 
worm more than all the rings of a hotel clerk, 
and to put a ring in his nose is only u 
waste of jewelry. The hog is omnivorous. 
He requires a larger variety of food than any 
other of our domestic animals. Especially 
does his health require those articles of diet 
which he can obtain only by a vigorous use 
of his snout. To ring him is to endanger his 
health, to court disease. But all are ready to 
say, “ If he is not ringed he will root into the 
bowels of the earth and destroy the fields, ” If 
a hog roots much there is something wrong 
and an examination into his food will reveal 
what it is. If hogs are given a suitable va¬ 
riety of food, charcoal and salt regularly, they 
will not root enough to materially injure the 
fields. This great rooting is the result of an 
abnormal appetite caused by lack of variety of 
food. Do not feed grain exclusively, aud do 
not ring your hogs aud you will be blessed 
with non-rooting, healthy swine. I know it 
for such lias been my experience. 
Does it pay to cook food for hogs? This 
question is often asked and variously an¬ 
swered. Iu my opinion the answer can be 
both yes aud no. It will always depend 
somewhat upon the circumstances of the 
farmer. If he is so situated that he can con¬ 
veniently do so, he will often find it profit¬ 
able to cook food for bis swine when bis 
neighbor who can do so only at great in¬ 
convenience will not find it profitable. 1 he 
cost of fuel is iu most localities a small 
consideration; but iu some, as iu Nebraska, 
which I have just visited, it is quite an item 
aud may. of itself, make the cooking of 
food unprofitable in many instances, 1 be¬ 
lieve in giving hogs a great variety of food; 
and this variety may be increased by chang¬ 
ing the form in which the food is given, as by 
cooking it. Turnips make a cheap, palatable 
and nutritious food, but they must be cooked. 
So should apples aud potatoes. Wheat is 
sometimes a cheaper food than corn; but it 
should always be cooked. So should rye and 
oats. Unless cooked, hogs fail to completely 
digest them. It is often a good plan to cook 
a feed or two of shelled corn to relieve the 
monotony of food. In cold weather the slop 
should be warmed. When taken into the 
stomach ‘ freezing cold” it arrests digestion, 
impairs the digestive orgaus, and leads to in¬ 
ternal disorders, It is not what an animal 
eats, but what it digests, that strengthens it; 
generally, cooking aids digestion nothing 
Another Prolific Sow. 
Iu the Rural of August 11th W. A. B. 
gives a report of two prolific sows,and asks Ru¬ 
ral readers if they can give better. In point 
of time and number of pigs I think 1 shall 
come out ahead. I had a grade Chester \V bite 
sow that on March 27, 1882, farrowed 19 pigs; 
again on August 30, 1382, she dropped 10 pigs 
_35 pigs within five months aud three days! 
Wallsville, Pa. w. E. m. 
%0CUtU$ 
TEE PAIRS. 
THE N. Y. STATE; AM. POM. SOCIETY; 
THE VERMONT STATE. 
{Rural Special Reports from all.) 
The Forty-third Annual Exhibition of the 
New York State Agricultural Association, was 
held in the city of Rochester, Sept. 10-15,1883. 
With a single exception this meeting was a 
grand success, and more than met the hopes 
of the officers, who have devoted a great 
deal of time and much effort to make this 
meeting superior to any of its predecessors. 
The rain on Thursday prevented many from 
attending, hence the receipts were not what 
they would have been in fail- weather. On 
Wednesday there were upward of 80,000 peo¬ 
ple on the grounds and yet there was no 
crowding. The exhibition covered so much 
space that no one except tbs officers realized 
what a large crowd there was in attendance. 
Floral Hall stands opposite the entrance 
to the grounds from the main gate. Here 
fruits aud flowers were appropriately shown 
together. In the center of the finest fruit 
region In America or the world, one might 
certainly expect to see all the available space 
filled to overflowing. Why then are so many 
tables empty and why is one entire end of the 
hall given over to another exhibit! One attrib¬ 
utes the slim display to the aphis; another, to 
frost; another, to the past severe Winter, and 
still another, to the severe cold rain storm at 
blooming time. Whatever the reason, the fact 
stares us in the face that the show is extremely 
poor for this section. 
The apples anil pears are both small in 
quantity aud poor in quality. Specimens 
were knotty, gnarled and spotted, and in ordi¬ 
nary seasons would hardly be tolerated on the 
tables- There were only a few plates of peaches, 
hut a half-dozen of these, shown by Geo. C. 
Snow, of Brancbport, Yates Co., are worthy 
of notice and remind one of the days when 
this best of all fruit used to loud the tables. 
Grapes were shown by several exhibitors; but 
so very green were they that, wore it not for 
the differences iu the size and shape of the 
clusters, one might think they were all of t he 
same variety so nearly were they of one color. 
A plate of Sharpless Strawberries, ripe and 
luscious, was really a novelty ar, this season. 
The display of plums was the best and re¬ 
sembled the exhibits of olden times more 
closely than any fruit on the tallies. Some in 
fact were really fine. Nearly the entire show 
of fruit in the professional list was made by 
the veteran, yet still vigorous and successful 
firm of Ellwanger & Barry, of Mt. Hope 
Nurseries. They exhibited 102 varieties of 
peara, 15 of peaches aud 3fi of plums. It seems 
strange that in the city of Rochester where 
there are so many nursery firms, none else of 
them had sufficient enterprise to make a cred¬ 
itable fruit show. Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry 
certainly deserve al! the more credit for their 
excellent display in the absence of anything 
deserving of the name of competition among 
their neighbors. 
B. W. Clark of Lockport, showed 31 varie¬ 
ties of grapes, though none were ripe or hardly 
colored. The Prentiss white grape exhibited 
by J. W. Preutiss, of Pultney, though still 
green, looked well. Ricketts’s Empire State 
was also on the table. The Niagara Grape 
Co. made a good display of their now famous 
Niagara. The large clusters showed its vigor 
and productiveness and some fruit from Vine 
Valley iu this State, was very palatable. The 
firm also exhibited samples of wiue made from 
the pure juice of the Niagara, without any 
additions of sugar or other foreign substance. 
Though only made iu the Full of 1888, it was 
remarkably good and proved beyond a doubt, 
according to excellent judges, that the Niagara 
is tbe best white wine grape of the country'. 
The flue aroma of the grape is very distinctly' 
preserved in the wine.—[! Eds.] 
A flower show iu Rochester without James 
Vick would be like tbe play of Hamlet with 
Hamlet’s part omitted. It cannot be possible 
that he is the otily flower grower in New' 
York State; still he Is about the only one who 
makes any creditable show of floral beauties. 
His exhibit occupied fully half of the tables, 
and what a wilderness of bloom and brilliancy! 
Asters, phloxes, geraniums, verbenas and 
dahlias filled the hall to the gate, aud such a 
world of colors! Every shade aud combination 
imaginable seemed here to delight tire eye 
and gratify the taste. No wonder the love of 
flowers is so general among the refined. As 
we pass beyond tbe center of the hall w'e 
reach the gladiolus exhibits, and here are 
thousands of spikes of every shade from pure 
white to the most brilliant lines. Specimens 
of a new seedling gladiolus were modestly- 
offered for only seven dollars apiece, while 
the bulbs of a new pure white gladiolus could 
be obtained for $10 each. There appears to 
be Dearly as much money as beauty in flowers. 
J. B. Keller and F. Scbliegel contributed a 
fine collection of green-house plunts. R. J- 
Donnelly and Mrs. Andrews made the largest 
showing next to that of Vick. A good many' 
fine cut flow'ers, however, were exhibited by 
amateurs. 
In the west end of Floral Hall w'as a notable 
display of the products of the great northern 
country through which the Northern Pacific 
Railroad is built. As we look at the placard, 
Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, Washington 
Territory and Oregon, and see the magnifi¬ 
cent samples of grasses, graius and vegeta¬ 
bles, and tbe great variety of each kind grown 
in each of these States and Territories, and 
when on close examination we behold the ex¬ 
cellent quality of each? we realize the great 
extentof rich country still opeu for settlement. 
The specimens shown here were contributed by 
the people along the line from the crops of 
1883, and were collected and forwarded by the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, 
Dairy and Vegetable Hall.— A glance 
into this hall must convince us that we arc 
not iu a dairy region. Not one-fourth the 
space is occupied with dairy products. About 
40 packages of butter and a like number of 
cheese constitute the entire show. The only 
noticeable exhibit in this line is a case of 
choice dairy products from Orange Co., ex¬ 
hibited by Houghton Farm. This collection 
contains print butter from the farm,the prod¬ 
ucts of the pure Jersey herd, aud was awarded 
the first prize. It was as yellow ils the butter¬ 
cup and as fragrant and sweet ns the clover 
blossom. The case also contained samples of 
bottled milk and fancy styles of cheetrf from 
the dairies of Orange County. The bottled 
milk w'as from Meadow Brook farm owned 
by John Mitchell, and was the product of Hol¬ 
stein cows. This milk sells readily iu New 
York and Brooklyn for 10 cents per quart 
bottle. The cheeses form an interesting ex¬ 
hibit of the successful imitation of several fa 
vorite foreign styles, C. H. Green, of Ches¬ 
ter, furnished the cream cheese aud Neuf 
chutel. He is the pioneer iu making the latter 
in America, and now supplies large quantities 
to the New York market in little sound rolls 
covered with tin foil. Lawrence & Duuiiam, 
also of Chester, exhibited also Neufchatel and 
cream cheese. This brand made from pure 
cream, soft and fresh, originated with Mr. 
¥ 
