756 
MOV 47 
ports a heifer exactly six months old that 
weighed 517 pounds. No reports have yet 
been made public of men who so far have 
tried the blacks, either Galloways or Angus, 
and were not pleased with the present results 
or future prospects. 
Associations of breeders of the different 
breeds of beef-cattle are actively interested 
in the success of their fa vorites at the Chicago 
Fat Stock Show, as is shown by their offers of 
special prizes on them in some cases equal to 
the amounts uamod in the regular premium 
lists. The Iowa Short-horn Breeders’ Associ¬ 
ation offers to pay exhibitors from that State 
one hundred per cent,, on all premiums 
awarded to thoroughbreds and grades, in 
fourteen different lots, aud aggregating 
$2,755. The Illinois association offers to do 
the same as regards premiums on thorough¬ 
breds to the amount of $2,465. The American 
Hereford breeders offer special prizes on grade 
and thoroughbred Herefords to tbe extent of 
$2,000. Holstein breeders offer on pure-bred 
llolsteins $200. The Indiana State Board of 
Agriculture offers to breeders from that State, 
regardless of breed, $50 on best steer or 
spayed heifer, three and under four years 
old, and the same amount on steer or heifer 
two years and under three. 
NOTES BY A STOCKMAN. 
In time the fashion of wearing horns by 
cattle will go out just as the fashion of wear¬ 
ing nose-rings has disappeared among human 
beings. Horns are the natural w eapons of de¬ 
fense and offense given to wild cattle for 
their protection as well as a meaus for pre¬ 
serving the races by getting rid of the weaker 
and useless males. Domesticated cattle have 
no use for them except to exercise the occa¬ 
sional viciousness of spoiled animals upon 
each other or their owners or strange persons. 
They are a constant menace, and make severe 
and even cniel discipline necessary to subject 
the animals to their owner’s safety and con¬ 
venience. By and by, when the fashion 
changes and stockmen and farmers see their 
interest rightly, the horns will be got rid of. 
Then such a ease as this will never more be 
known:—It was a bull aud cow on a farm in 
Chester Co., Pa., which in a fight locked their 
horns and were eu tangled for live days before 
they were found, nearly starved to death. One 
of the horns had to be sawed off before the 
animals could be separated. 
As a means to this desirable end a Missouri 
breeder, or speculator,—it matters uot which, 
either is equally useful in this respect—has re¬ 
cently imported about 000 head of polled 
Scotch bulls and heifers for distribution 
among the cattle breeders ou the Plains. One 
fact in this case is remarkable—168 head of 
these cattle were brought over at oue ship¬ 
ment., and but one bull calf was lost. It shows 
with what little loss cattle may be brought 
across the ocean, in comparison to the enor¬ 
mous losses which are made in other ship¬ 
ments. 
A lot of beef cattle recently sent from 
Canada to Liverpool were so badly housed 
and accommodated that many of them were 
literally torn to shreds by the horns of the 
others, and the dead and dying and injured 
were so numerous that the shipment was al¬ 
most a total loss. This loss is not nearly suffi¬ 
cient punishment for the brutal shippers. The 
horrors of transportation in the cattle trade 
are a standing rebuke to tbe so-called and 
professed humanity of mankind. But w'heu 
men treat each other no better—at times,— 
than these frenzied and terrified cattle treated 
their companions, one can scarcely wonder 
that brutes, four-legged ones, should be so 
savage. 
Now and then the Devons have a chance to 
show what they can do, and they do it re¬ 
markably well. For instance, at a Vermont 
county fair a few weeks ago there were 53 
yokes of cattle and steers of this breed shown. 
Of these one pair weighed 3,780 pounds in or¬ 
dinary working order; others from 3,730 down 
to 3,050 pounds, and 75 out of the 106 head 
went over 3,000 pounds to the pair. This is a 
remarkable record for a remarkably fine 
breed, which is seen nowhere else in such ex¬ 
cellence as in New England. No doubt there 
are times and places and occasions when and 
where work-oxen of this kind may be found 
as va luable as horses, or more so. I would like 
to make a note here and call especial atten¬ 
tion. 
This is, that cattle rearing and feeding 
upon farms will very soon—nay, it must—be¬ 
come largely extended. Grain-growing and 
dairying east of the Missouri are becoming 
top-heavy and cannot be built up much high¬ 
er. There is nothing left for the farmers but 
to produce beef aud mutton. Beef-making 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
and butter-making can go together with the 
greatest ease. It was so a hundred years ago, 
aud the Codings and Bates, and other early 
Short-horn breeders, sent large quantities of 
butter to market. Now the Short-horns have 
been so badly (or so wellj) bred as to be out 
of the list of dairy cattle. The Devons now 
stand first iu this double character, and they 
are therefore the best stock that Eastern 
farmers can take hold of to rear for beef upon 
this account. Devon beef is the best in the 
world. No other beef has its fine quality, its 
tenderness, its Sweetness, its juiciness, for the 
reason that Devon beef has its fat inter¬ 
mixed among the muscular tissue just like 
veins in tine marble, while the others (the 
Hereford least of them, however), have their 
fat laid ou in layers or chunks as if it were 
thrown on or plastered over the carcass, like 
icing on the cook’s cake. Therefore, some 
day, aud not so far off, these fine Devons will 
have an honest and successful boom of their 
own among the beef-feeding farmers; and, 
farmers, ‘“don’t you forget it.” 
What is the actual value of a fast horse ? 
A pacer, a gelding named “ Johnson,” with a 
record of 2:10, was recently bought—it was 
not sold: there is a distinction which I wish to 
be noted—for $20,000. It is clear this large 
price was paid for the horse for the purpose of 
making money by racing and betting, or per¬ 
haps swindling—“plunging,” as it is called; 
that is, betting on what is known as a sure 
thing. One cannot help regretting that the 
noble horse should be put to such base aud ig¬ 
noble uses. 
But the Jersey cow is almost as badly used. 
She is made the means for getting money by 
almost as questionable methods. For cows 
and bulls are sold by scores on the doubtful 
reputation of one animal, and to sustaiu the 
farce the actual known laws of breeding are 
made to sustain a lottery as demoralizing as 
that of any other gambling of the kind that 
ever existed. A cow of a certain family gets a 
record. Never mind how. Suddenly every re¬ 
lated animal is valued at thousands of dollars, 
just for the chance that she may have a calf 
that will do as well as this relative. But it is 
always some stranger that makes the next 
record; and so a new element of speculation 
is brought in. Here is a case: A rather ordi¬ 
nary Jersey cow was owned by an individual 
who bought her for a family cow three or 
four years ago for $60. Her breeder had seve¬ 
ral of the same family which, because of the 
performance of a cow sired by the same bull 
as these, suddenly became worth $2,500 each. 
Every calf and cow previously sold by this 
breeder was bunted up and bought back. 
The individual above referred to, read an agri¬ 
cultural paper (lie will read this note), and 
when tbe breeder came round the owner of 
the cow smiled at his offers until $1,500 were 
bid, when the cow was bought—not sold. Is 
there anything reasonable or substantial or 
staple, in this kind of speculation ? I say 
there is not, and therefore I believe that this 
speculation will have its disastrous end, just 
as the Short-horn boom had, when many per¬ 
sons were ruined by its collapse. 
But lest any person—my friend, Col. Curtis, 
in particular—should say that I have a spite 
against the Jerseys, let me add that when this 
speculation is over aud Jerseys get down to 
their real value for butter-makers, I shall 
then stock up with them in preference to any 
other breed. For there is no stock I have a 
greater affection for than the gentle gazelle- 
eyed Jerseys. 
In the “ Querist” columns of the Rural for 
October 13, “ P,” of Queens, L. I., asks: ‘‘Is 
Johu B. Alden, 18 Vesey Street, N. Y., a 
trustworthy man ?” The strictures you place 
on him are very severe. I would like to suy 
to “ P.” that I have dealt with John B. Alden 
in the American Book Exchange, also iu 
Useful Knowledge Co , and everything has 
been satisfactory. 1 have some valuable 
books from his shelves. At the time of the 
bankruptcy spoken of, I was a creditor. After 
the new start Mr. Alden sent me u certificate 
of credit for the full amount, to draw- interest 
at the rate of six per cent, from December, 
1881, it. being ante-dated four mouths from 
issue. I received several ovoiturea to liqui¬ 
date certain percentages In books. A few 
weeks ago the offer was made to charge orders 
against certificates till liquidated, which I 
accepted. Consequently Alden and 1 are 
“quits.” I have the books I needed and he 
has the certificate. I expect to deal with 
Alden for years to come. I consider him the 
poor student’s friend. j. c. young. 
Custer City, Pa. 
Prokits ok Sorghum.— Prof. Weber, who 
is this year in charge as Superintendent of 
the sorghum works at Champaign, Ill., aud 
occupied the same position last year in connec¬ 
tion with Prof. Scoville, informed Mr. O. C. 
Gibbs regarding the profits to be made from 
sorghum, that the product per ton was sub¬ 
stantially as follows when the work w'as fully 
completed: 
Sugar,‘firsts. Urn. so 
Sugar, seconds, lbs.12 1-2 
Total sugar per ton.fi2 1-3 
Refined sirup from molasses 61-2 gallons. 
The value of products per ton at wholesale 
prices was at follows: 
Sixty-two and-nne-bair pounds sugar at 
seven ccnls...,.#4.37 1-2 
Slx and-onc-balf gallons sirup at 40 cents 2.P0 
Total per ton..#6.37 1-3 
The crop averaged about nine tons per acre, 
which would give as the value of the product 
per acre $62 77 1-2. Deducting from this the 
cost of nine tons of cane at $2.50 per tou, 
$22.50, there remain $40.27 1-2 for costand 
profit of manufacturing uine tons of cane 
delivered at the mill. 
This year, instead of a crop of 250 acres, the 
company has 615 acres of a better quality 
than that of last year. Its yield per ton will 
be about as follows: 
Sugar, firsts, lbs...,. tiO 
Sugar, seconds, lbs. 15 
Total sugar pounds... . 75 
Value nt 7c. per lb...$ 5.35 
Sirup, 7t$ gallons at too. 3.00 
Value of product per ton.. 8.25 
Value of product per acre with a yield of nine 
tons. $74.25 
Cost of nine tons of curie at $3,50. 22.50 
Profit. #51.75 
One great improvement and economy intro¬ 
duced into the Champaign sorghum works, 
writes Mr. O. C. Gibbs to the Chicago Tri¬ 
bune, is the burning of the entire bogasse as 
fuel iu the furnaces under the boilers. By au 
ingenious arrangement it is fed directly from 
the begasse-carrier to the furnaces without 
being bandied. It takes the place of fifteen 
tons of coal, worth $3 per tou, every twenty- 
four hours, while the saving in labor over the 
method pursued last year of carting it away 
to get rid of it, will bring the saving per day 
well up to $60. 
The culture of German carp, Mr. 0. W. 
Smiley said in au address delivered before the 
American Association, is more and more 
becoming part of the farmer’s occupation, 
and he thought that most of the fanners of 
the country would have little fish ponds in 
their door yards, both as a method of obtain¬ 
ing food and as au ornament to the home¬ 
stead. 
Feed for Sheep.— Sheep are so fond of 
succulent food, says Prof. Sanborn iu the 
Michigan Farmer, that they will pick over 
large fields, in open Winter, trying to find 
it. They suffer when kept wholly on dry 
food for several months, and for this rea¬ 
son oil meal should be provided in small quan¬ 
tity for them. The feeder cannot err j u giving 
too great a variety in the food of sheep. 
The best ration he has ever known fed to 
fattening sheep was composed of equal parts 
by weight, of oats, peas and millet, and to 
fifteen bushels of the mixture was added one 
bushel of flaxseed, aud all were ground fine 
together. Each sheep was fed two pounds of 
this ground mixture with hay. and made a 
regular gain of three pounds each week, 
besides growing au unusually flue staple of 
wool. This small amount of flaxseed is pe¬ 
culiarly soothing to the digestive organs. It 
is a perfect preventive of all diseases caused 
by dry fodder. 
-- 
Some Drawbacks ok Sheep and Cattle 
Herding, —Sheep herding in the Far West 
may be romantic and it may be profitable 
but a Tuan may even pay too much for money’ 
In Sau Luis, Obispo County, California, there 
is a ranch of more than 50,000 acres; four of 
more thuu 40,000; two containing over 80,000 
and less than 40,000 acres; four between 20,- 
000 nud 30,000; and uine between 10,000 and 
20,000. The Tribune of that county says, by 
way of comment: “ In some of our neighbor¬ 
ing counties there are tracts of 100,000 acres 
in the possession of sheep borders who live in 
u six-by-ten shanty, without book or news¬ 
paper, little ubove the sheep in intellect. 
There may be one nest of children, no more, 
who are compelled to lead a life of seclusion 
and ignorance away from society and all that 
is elevating. Not a school-house, not a church, 
not a fruit tree, or eveti a flower to mark the 
wide desolation.” Cattle herding has pre¬ 
cisely the same objectionable, if not revolting 
features. It is the farm or dairy, with the 
pleasant, cultured home and the social enjoy 
ments attached to it, that is worth more 
than the herds upon the savage plains with 
all the dearly-bought wealth. 
- 
It is a matter of fact, well known to all 
honest men and women, that drunkenness, 
gambling, theft, cussedm ss, and all the evils 
that tend to demoralize and corrupt, are easily 
found within the borders of the fair grounds, 
says a writer to the Indiana Farmer; and it is 
also a matter of fact that this il element is 
drawn to the fairs largely through the influ¬ 
ence aud love of gambling and horse-racing. 
These evils walk hand-in-hand, and are in 
their nature inseparably connected, and are 
regarded by all right-thinking persons as the 
open enemies of good order and good society. 
But the friend to racing says there is money 
it. Money to whom ? we would ask. Money 
to the fanner i No. Money to the mechnuic i 
Certainly not. Money to the country atlaige? 
Again we say no. Where is the man whose 
purse has been permanently and substantially 
filled by home-racing and gumbling i Echo an¬ 
swers “ Where.” 
William Gamm, at the meeting of the 
Northwestern Bee-keepers' Society, said that 
be preferred pure Italians. The Syrians do 
not properly ripen and seal the honey, aud in 
no manner do t hey show a superiority over the 
Italians. He ha? tried crossing them with the 
Italians. A Syrian queen mated with a black 
drone produces a more amiable bee than au 
Italian queen mated with a Syrian drone; but 
he never saw a gentle Syrian with any system 
of management. 
-*♦«- 
At the same meeting the Rev. L. L. Laug- 
stroth, the veteran bee-keeper, said that the 
age of queens can be told by their color. A 
young queen is bright-colored and fresh-look¬ 
ing. more so the first year than ever after¬ 
wards. We cannot look at a queeu and say, to 
a certainty, that she is a certain age, but we 
can make a pretty close guess. 
Grease for IV auons. —Lard should never 
be used on a wagon, says the Coach Makers 
Magazine, for it will penetrate the hub, and 
work its Way out around the tenons of the 
spokes, and spoil the wheel. Tallow is the 
best lubricator for wooden axle-trees, and 
castor oil for iron hubs. Just grease euough 
should be applied io the spiudle of a wagon to 
give it a slight coating. This is better than 
more, for the surplus put ou will work out at 
the ends, aud be forced by the shoulder bands 
aud nut washer into the lmb around the out¬ 
side of the boxes. To oil an iron axlt-tree 
first wipe the spindle clean, wet with spirits of 
turpentine, and then apply a few drops of 
castor oil near the shoulder and end. Oue tea¬ 
spoonful is sufficient for the whole. 
-♦♦#-- 
Fall Feed for Milch Cows.— Mr. Stew¬ 
art's cows are now getting a feed night aud 
morning of a bushel Lasketful, or five pounds, 
of cut Orchard Grass hay. cut early in June, 
when iu its first blossom, with their regular 
ration of meal aud middlings. This buy in¬ 
creases the milk about one-eighth—that is, 
from IU quarts to over 11, and adds also to the 
cream. It was the same iu the Summer when 
the cows were changed from Red Top and 
Blue Grass to Orchard Grass, One hundred 
jKumds of Orchard Grass hay contain 8}i 
pounds of fat and fatty matters aud 13}$ 
pounds of albuminoids. This affords a large 
quantity of the most useful nutriment for a 
cow, and, moreover, this grass Is more diges¬ 
tible than some others, aud hence its conspicu¬ 
ous feeding value. 
Monotonous Work.—W e often hear miller’s 
aud those employed iu mills speak of the 
monotony of their work, observes the North¬ 
western Miller. 'Whether he be a miller or 
not, when a man begins to think his work is 
tedious or monotonous, it is time for him to 
make a change. Preferably a change of mind; 
but if not that, a change of work. W’heu a 
workman goes on with the idea that his is a 
tiresome, dull culling, it is very sure to be so 
to him, as the work is whatever he makes it. 
There is no work iu which a man. who has a 
good niiml cannot use it, und to a good ad¬ 
vantage. Where there is active use of the 
mind there can not be monotony. The two 
ideas are opposed to each other; stupidity aud 
monotony go bund in hand. A stupid work¬ 
man and monotonous work are inseparable. 
--*♦«- 
The Nutritive Value of Butter.— The 
fact is, according to a writer In the Times, 
that butter is the most nutritious article of 
food. The nutritive value of a pound of it is 
equal to that of one-aml-a-half pound of Hour 
and thretvaud a-half pound# of beef. And it 
is wholly digestible. This is no doubt the 
reason why there has been from “time imme¬ 
morial ” u popular prejudice in favor of it, aud 
why the combination “ bread aud butter” has 
beeu used to signify the chief end of our labo¬ 
rious struggles to exist. The consumption of 
butter is enormous, and equals 1,500,000,00 0 
