NOV 3 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
721 
The writer experimented some 25 years ago 
upon the cost of raising calves to the age of 
two and three years, keeping account of the 
exact amount of food consumed from the 
beginning to the end. He found ir, necessary 
to soil them in Summer to accomplish this. 
Starting with the calf, he found that itrequir' 
od an increase in the amount of milk fora 
pound gain each additional week ; and as a 
genoral proposition, that it required an in¬ 
creased amount of food to produce each addi¬ 
tional pound gain. Professor Miles, of the 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, at about 
the same time, demonstrated the same fact in 
growing pigs. The writer, impressed with the 
great importance to farmers of early maturity 
in food animals, from an economical stand¬ 
point, endeavored to impress it upou them 
through the agricultural press. But one must 
not expect farmers to adopt new practices 
except after many demonstrations. 
'1’he most convincing demonstration to 
farmers lias been found in the Chicago Fat 
Stock Show during the last five years. The 
directors of this show wisely required the ex 
act age of each animal to tie stated, so as to 
show the gain per day from birth. This 
was a great eye-opener to farmers. 
Here were the weight of the animal and its 
age. It wns easy to see at what age they 
gained the fastest, and how this gain decreased 
as the age increased. This immediately ar¬ 
rested the attention of the most intelligent, 
farmers in this country, and was soon dis¬ 
cussed by the experimenters of England and 
Europe. Some advanced English farmers 
had raised what, they called “baby beef,” 
steers aud heifers from 12 to 20 months old, 
and sold them to butchers. These they found 
cost much less per hundred pounds of carcass 
than when kept to a greater age. The direct¬ 
ors of the Fat Stock Show were prevailed 
upon last year to go one stop further, and offer 
a prize for the most economical production of 
beef, requiring age, weight, amount and 
quality of food with its exact cost from birth 
to the time of entry iu the show. This was 
given under the head “ Cost of Production. 1 ’ 
This furnished just the facts necessary to 
understand the whole question of economy as 
to age. 
These Fat Stock Shows began in 1878 and 
have been held each year. I have not room 
to give them all, but will give a general state¬ 
ment of the first and last. 
1378. 
Average 
age. 
Average 
weight. 
Average 
gain per 
day. 
Davs. 1 
Lhs. 
I Lhs. 
4 steers. 
669 
1.423 
2.18 
4 steers. 
968 
1.637 
1 1.74 
jO steers . 
1.272 
1.801 
1.04 
4 steers . 
1,717 
18S2. 
1,799 
1 
11 steers. 
I 626 | 
1 483 
I 2.33 
IS steers . 
1 1,316 | 
1.956 
| 1 55 
At the first 
show there is considerable va 
riety in ages. The gain per day of four steers, 
669 days old, is over 50 per cent, more than of 
the 10 steel's, 1,272 days old, and the gaiu of 
the first four steers is more than double that of 
the last four steers; and in the show of 1882 
the gain of the 11 steers, 026 days old, is 
nearly 60 per cent more than of the 15 steers, 
1,816 days old. The illustration of the other 
three shows is of a simila r character. 
In the show of 1882, under “Cost of Produc¬ 
tion,” nine steers aud heifers, averaging 907 
pounds’ weight, at. the cud of the first.year, cost 
3.4 cents per pound. Five of these steers 
gained an average of 502 pounds each during 
the next year, aud the average cost was 7.62 
cents per pound, the gaiu the second year 
costing nearly double as much jier pound as 
the first. Two of the most thrifty of these 
gainer! uu average of 060 pounds the third 
year, and the cost of this gain was 12.54 cents 
per pound. These two steers weighed each 
2,2'i0 pounds at the end of the third year, aud 
cast $168.30, or 7 48 cents per pound. This 
was the average cost for the whole three 
years, while the first year cost less than half 
this per pouud of gain, and ouly about one- 
third the cost of gain during the third year. 
This is a demonstration well worth consider¬ 
ing. It. is not a theory, but a great fact work¬ 
ed out. These two steers weighed 1,000 pounds 
at the eu 1 of the fii^t year, and only cost 3.4 
cents per pouud, or $34 per head. At the end 
of the second year they weighed 1,600 pounds, 
and their gain the second year cost 8.68 couts 
per pouud. The whole cost for two years was 
$86, or 5,87 cents per pound. At the end of 
the first year they would have sold at a large 
profit. At the cud of the second year they 
were worth about $10 over cost, but at the end 
of the t hird year they could not be sold at cast, 
although they had made an extra weight. It 
is easy to see that the best profit is made at 15 
to 20 months old. This is the most important, 
problem connected with meat production. 
The Rural Nhw-Yorker will be sent 
from this date until January 1st, 1885, for 
1512.00. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER’S EXPERI¬ 
MENTAL GROUNDS. 
PRESIDENT T. T. LYON, OF MICHIGAN. 
Durino a recent visit to New Tor k, 1 called 
at the office of the Rural, and was informed 
that the responsible editor, finding his time, 
when at the office, largely taken up iu the en¬ 
tertainment of callers and friends, is accus¬ 
tomed to spend but a small portion of histime 
there, doing the larger share of his work at 
his residence, on the Kxjierimental Grounds, 
of which he assumes the personal supervision. 
In response to t he suggestion that 1 would 
be sure to see somethiug interesting by a 
visit to the place, I took the train, at Jersey 
City, for River Edge. 
During the ride of over au hour, I had occa¬ 
sion to observe that tender vegetation had 
been already considerably injured upon the 
low-lands along the route, although upou 
more elevated lands it had escaped. 
I found the location a retired one, about a 
mile and a half from the station at River 
Edge. Arriving too late for out-of-door ob. 
serration, the evening was very pleasantly 
and profitably spent in a social chat with the 
genial host aud his accomplished lady, during- 
which much information was gathered re¬ 
specting the processes employed in the man 
agementof the establishment, as a means of 
affording facts of a trustworthy character, 
for the columns of th3 Rural. 
Among other matters, I learned that both 
Mr. and Mi’s. Carman are extensively engaged 
in the artificial crossing or hybridization of 
cereals, as well as other classes of plants; and 
that it is their custom, iu all cases, to beep a 
complete record of the date of the operations, 
as well as of the varieties employed in the pro¬ 
cesses—a practice which cannot be too strongly 
commended ns affording trustworthy material 
for the study and ultimate determination of 
the yet undeveloped laws which may be sup¬ 
posed to underlie and control the processes of 
both self and cross-fertilization, and to deter¬ 
mine the principles upon which the parents 
should be selected, as well as, perchance, the 
possibilities of improvement in any given 
direction. 
The next morning was devoted to a look 
about the ornamental grounds, which may 
well be said to be very extensive, if consid¬ 
ered with reference to the very large variety 
of trees, shrul® and plants which they contain. 
Since these grounds are devoted to the testing 
of, not the older favorites only, but also the 
novelties that are so constantly beingbrought 
forward, little reference can lie had to the 
principles of taste iu ornamentation, since 
there must lie constant and frequent additions, 
and those frequently of a very doubtful char¬ 
acter, till the space becomes so crowded that 
a new introduction can only find room 
through the removal of others, while there is 
a constant tendency to crowd new candidates 
into positions inadequate to their proper de¬ 
velopment, or to plant them iu soils not 
adapted to their requirements. Serious as 
this difficulty obviously is, a look about these 
grounds cannot fail to prove interesting as 
well as profitable, to the student and 
lover of trees, shrubs, aud plants, since 
many will be found here that rarely find 
places in either ornamental grounds, or com¬ 
mercial establishments. 
Among those that especially attracted my 
attention, was a fine collection of the magno¬ 
lias hardy iu this climate, Maples were in 
large variety, including several small speci¬ 
mens of the new dissceted-leaved Japunese 
varieties, which, though exceedingly beauti¬ 
ful, seem unlikely to prove adapted to our cli¬ 
mate. Of deciduous shrubs I have not the 
courage to attempt au enumeration, so exten¬ 
sive is the collection. Of rare and beautiful 
grasses, I noted Eriauthus Ravenna' and Eu¬ 
lalia zebrina as hardy aud beautiful plants, 
not new, but rarely seen in our ornamental 
plantations. 
Among evergreens, the spruces appear in 
great variety, several of them very rare. The 
same is true of pines, amoug which the Sun- 
ray especially attracted my notice on account 
of the peculiar variegation of its foliage. The 
collection also contains several varieties of 
our native hemlock, among which were a 
weeper, a dwarf, aud a variegated one. Sev¬ 
eral of the Japanese Hetinisporas occur in the 
collection, and I also noted Scindopytis verti- 
cillutn, which, although said to be ten years 
of age, is yet scarcely more than three feet iu 
hight. 
In the afternoon, still under the guidance 
of Mr. Carman, I took a tour among the fruits 
on trial hero. The lateness of the season here, 
as elsewhere, was such that even Delaware and 
Coucord were not fully ripe. Mr. Carman 
seems to value Ricketts’s El Dorado very 
highly, aud Moore’s Early was apparently do¬ 
ing very well. My attention was specially in¬ 
vited to the Victoria Grape—a seedling of the 
late T. B. Miner, only sent out since his death. 
This, as it appears here, although not yet fully 
ripe, is a very promising white, or greenish- 
white grape, which 1 have already described 
through the columns of the Rural. Mr. C 
has also fruited a very considerable number of 
grapes of his own origination; but, so far, 
none has proved sufficiently valuable to be 
retained. 
1 also noted, here, the new and much-talkcd- 
abciut Marlboro Raspberry, which, although 
not now in fruit, certainly shows abundant 
vigor; while the stout, dark canes showed an 
ability to hold their foliage well through the 
season. 
I also saw here plants of several of the new 
Hathaway seedliDg strawberries, not yet dis¬ 
seminated, which were still well clothed with 
fresh, healthy foliage; while other varieties, 
in the same plot, were badly browned. 
My attention was also invited to the cellar, 
where I was shown a largo number of varie¬ 
ties of new potatoes, grown for trial and com¬ 
parison. A record is kept of the space of 
ground devoted to each variety; the crop was 
carefully weighed, and the ratio per acre de¬ 
duced, A large number of yet newer seed¬ 
lings was shown, requiring yet another sea¬ 
son’s trial to determine which, if any, shall be 
found worthy of number or name and propa¬ 
gation. The growing, comparing and esti¬ 
mating the relative values of these new can¬ 
didates for the public favor, is a task demand¬ 
ing a large amount of patient and careful 
discrimination. 
A look into the department of seeds, grown 
for dissemiuation among the Rural readers, 
shows a similar system of thorough careful¬ 
ness in their preparations. 
The American people are fortunate in the 
existence among them of a paper whose 
managers have the foresight to see their inter¬ 
est in the development of these practical 
results, to be published through its columns, 
with the sanctions that only such effective 
demonstrations can properly warrant. 
Ctitmnologicxil. 
A SATISFACTORY REMEDY FOR MEL¬ 
ON BUGS, FLEA-BEETLES, ETC. 
PROF. C. V. RILEY. 
There is probably no more satisfactory 
general remedy for the striped Cucumber 
Beetle, and the different flea-beetles that so 
seriously affect eueurbitaceous plants, espe¬ 
cially when they are small, than that so suc¬ 
cessfully employed by Mr. Quinn, the well- 
known pear, small fruit and truck grower of 
New Jersey. He sprinkles the vines with a 
liquid made chiefly of soaked tobacco stems 
and soft soap, and then powders them with 
lime. The following experience of Mr. J. M. 
Nicholson, of Godkinville, N. C., is, however, 
well worthy of being put on record as a most 
ingenious way of perpetuatiug the effects of 
the solution. Mr. Nicholson writes in a recent 
letter as follows: 
“I would mention a simple contrivance 
which 1 have made and used with perfect 
success in exterminating bugs on melon and 
cucumber vines. I took old oyster and fruit 
cans (tin! and tilled them with a strong decoc¬ 
tion ot tobacco stems and water; I poured it 
ou the stems hot and allowed it- to cool; I set 
one can on each hill and placed therein a 
woolen tiring tin thickness about the size of a 
wheat straw), thoroughly wet it, and allowed 
it to hang down to the plants. The string acts 
as a siphon, aud draws the liquid out drop by 
drop, and keeps the plant continually moisten¬ 
ed with the offensive liquid, thus driving all 
insects away. It further assists iu the growth 
of the plants by keeping the roots moist: yet 
so continual and gradual is the application 
that the sun neither scalds nor bakes the earth. 
I merely mention this, as it may be something 
uew, and I assure you it is worthy of a trial, 
as it proved entirely satisfactory to me this 
season.” 
Shctp l)iisbivm)n). 
NASAL AFFLICTIONS OF SOUTHERN 
SHEEP. 
With the light we have at present, prob¬ 
ably the Hon. C. M. Clay is right when he 
says, in substance, that it is not worth our 
while to apply remedies for the disagreeable 
discharge from the nose, with which our 
Southern sheep are afflicted, commonly attri¬ 
buted to “ grub-in-the-hoad.” The animals 
thus suffering—and there are no others here— 
thrive finely, fatten readily, aud live to a 
good old age, yet the condition of their noses 
often becomes disgusting to the shepherd, 
and must be annoying to the sheep if they 
have the sense to perceive it. 
A prominent physician of this vicinity sug¬ 
gested that we might be mistaken as to the 
cause, and said: “Might it not be catarrh?” 
A Cotswold ewe imported from Canada was 
the greatest sufferer in my flock, and, being 
too old to winter, l killed her a few days ago, 
and examined her head (not being a surgeon 
I probably did not do this bit of amateur 
dissecting in a scientific manner), and found 
no worms or anything else unnatural except¬ 
ing some little indications of inflammation of 
the nasal passages. Dr. (salmon, having re¬ 
sided in this State, has, undoubtedly, inves¬ 
tigated the subject, and if so, and he can give 
us a practicable preventive, he will receive 
the thanks of many owners of sheep. When 
Bermuda Grass has driven the old fogies to 
the wall, and the coming Southern planter 
learns (what I am trying to practically illus¬ 
trate) that a pound of wool can be grown as 
cheaply as a pound of cotton, these Southern 
States will be the greatest sheep walks in the 
world. M. B. PRINCE. 
CATALOGUES, ETC-., RECEIVED. 
Boomer & Boschert Press Co., Syracuse, 
N. Y. Illustrated catalogue of all sorts of 
cider and wine presses. 
The IIigganum Manufacturing Corpo¬ 
ration, Higganum, Conn. Illustrated de 
scriptive catalogue of tools for the farmer, 
market gardener and all tillers of the soil; 
plows, harrows, seed drills, horse and w heel 
hoes, hand cultivators and horse rakes. 
•ftliscfUancous. 
DOES BERMUDA GRASS MATURE 
SEED IN THIS COUNTRY ? 
HON. H. W. RAYENEL. 
This question has been vexing the agricul¬ 
tural journals with more heat than is neces¬ 
sary. That it does mature its seed somewhere, 
is vouched for by the fact that it is offered for 
sale by seedsmen (J. M. Thorburn & Co., of 
New York and others), and the editor of the 
Rural New-Yobker has planted them, and 
has the grass growing fiom these seeds. This 
is positive proof. On the other hand, the 
proof that it does not mature seed is only 
negative. It may do so in some regions and 
not in others. The testimony is unanimous 
(as far as I have ever heard) that Bermuda 
Grass does not mature its seed in this latitude. 
My owu experience and observation confirm 
the view. I have searched lepeatedly for 
many years for seed, but have never found 
any. Last Summer I collected a large quan¬ 
tity of the flow er-heads just in that state of 
maturity w’hen the seeds, had there been any, 
would have been ripe. After crushing the 
seed heads ou a sheet of white paper, a critical 
search was made by the aid of a pocket mag¬ 
nifier, but I could find none. There was 
plenty of chaff aud scales, which to the naked 
eye looked like seeds; but not one perfect 
seed could be found. From the care I used in 
taking samples from various parts of the 
field, I am satisfied no seeds were matured 
there. The inference is very strong, there¬ 
fore, that Bermuda Grass does not mature its 
seed in this region of country. But it may do 
so further south, or in other countries. It 
would be interesting to learn from the seeds¬ 
men who offer it for sale where they procure 
their supply. It is possible that it may seed 
sparingly in some soils or in some latitudes 
when it does not in others. 
It is no uncommon thing for certain plants 
which propagate by the roots, suckers, etc., 
to fail to mature seeds, as if from long habit 
iu using one mode of propagation the other 
becomes obsolete. The Irish potato, consid¬ 
ering the enormous quantity planted which 
does not even flower, only rarely produces 
seed-balls. Still more rare is it the case with 
the sweet potato. The same may be said of 
the Jerusalem Artichoke. The Nut Grass 
(Cypcrus rotundas', the great, pest of the 
South, propagates only by the tubers, and 
never matures seed. In Florida and South¬ 
ern Georgia I have seen thousands of acres 
covered with the Saw Palmetto, which in¬ 
creases by its runuing root-stalks, and, al¬ 
though looking for seeds, I saw extremely few. 
Bermuda Grass, propagating so freely by its 
running root-stalk, we would expect to come 
under this habit, but we have the fact that ii 
does mature somewhere. So we come back 
to our first question—Does Bermuda Grass 
mature seed iu this country? [We have had 
at least 20 specimens of spikes sent to us 
from various parts of the South, said to have 
seeds, but we never succeeded in finding any. 
The seed offered by seedsmen does not come 
from this country.—E ds.] 
Aiken, S.*C. 
