1885 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
seven days, and later she pave, in 31 consecu¬ 
tive days, 106 pounds 12}^ ounces of salted 
butterl She was calved March 26. 1879, and 
is one of the Stoke Pogis family. The 
Breeders’ Gazette tells us that the test was 
conducted by agents, appointed by the Ameri¬ 
can Jersey Cattle Ciub, under such circumstan¬ 
ces as to leave no possible doubt of the above 
extraordinary performance. At the begin¬ 
ning of the test, the agents report she was 
eating thirty five imperial quarts of feed per 
day .consisting of the following; Twenty quarts 
ground oats, ten quarts pea-meal, three 
quarts ground oil cake, two quarts wheat 
bran, and this was increased up to ahout fifty 
quarts per day, the composition of the above 
food being varied She was also fed a mall 
quantity of roots and cabbages and a few 
apples. She always appeared greedy for her 
food. This was divided up into from five to 
seven feeds. The cow was kept with Ida of 
St. Lambert in a small pasture of withered 
clover—very poor feed—with no undergrass 
at all, and which could not produce a flow of 
milk, but the whole feed was given to enrich 
it. _ 
Jersey and the Jerseys.— The Island of 
Jersey contains less than 46 square miles, or 
about 29.(X)0 acres, and yet, according to the 
census report, it supports over 12,000 head of 
cattle, besides some 60,000 people. There are 
annually exported from the island over 2,000 
head. Thus the island supports two persons to 
every acre, and one cow to every two acres, 
and exports one animal to every 10 acres, and 
as Mr. Eugene J. Arnold justly says, in Bell’s 
Messenger, the system that will enable Jersey 
to do this must be worth considering, by the 
people of other countries. He thinks the Jer¬ 
sey cow has bad much to do in enabling these 
favorable results to be accomplished. She is 
not bred to be eaten; she is too valuable as a 
butter machine. Then why should she be 
larger! Where 12 000 cattle are kept on six 
miles square and where rent averages over 43 
dollars per acre; where the farms are smaller 
than anywhere else in the world.every farmer 
works with bis own hands, and instead of the 
island being eaten up with cows and the 
farmers beggars, the whole island is a little 
garden, thickly strewn with comfortable, well- 
to-do houses aud homesteads; ease and com¬ 
fort are everywhere, poverty and want un¬ 
known. He does not claim tbis is all the pro¬ 
duce of tbe cows: but that the farmers who 
have so close a tight and are so successful 
must understand their business aud do not 
keep 12,000 cows at a loss. All the beef for tbe 
people is imported from France and Spain. 
With 12,000 cattle, they do not rear a single 
bullock nor make a single pound of cheese. 
The cows are reared and used for the produc¬ 
tion of butter, and that alone. Tbe Jersey will 
yield more butter in proportion to her size 
and the amount of food consumed, than any 
other breed whatsoever. She rarely exceeds 
800 pounds and scarcely averages 700, and 
yet plenty of cows are to be found that yeavly 
make more than half their weight in butter. 
She couies into milk early, rarely past two 
years; often before; gives richer milk, makes 
higher flavored butter; is docile and easily 
managed even by children; and, lastly, she is 
equally at home in hot or cold weather. He 
says tbe Jerseytnan would be bard-ptessed to 
get along without his cow, and challenges the 
world to produce her equal. There is no 
doubt but much of the prosperity of Jersey 
for several years has been largely due to the 
demand in other countries for the surplus cows 
of the island, ami the very high prices that 
have beeu paid for those 2,(XiO head exported 
every year. 
The Rural Branching Sorghum, under 
the name of Millo Maize, is attracting con¬ 
siderable attention in the South, as we have 
several times remarked. A correspondent of 
the Home and Farm, writing from South Car¬ 
olina. says that ou the 19th of April he planted 
a small patch of Millo Maize, more for an ex¬ 
periment than anything elso. Its growth was 
wonderful, everybody praising it. He only 
gave it two workings with sweeps. Partof it 
he cut three times, part twice, and a little he 
cut just as the seed was in the dough, and 
cured for fodder. The balance he left for 
seed, which matured very tine heads. It grew 
15 feet high; some stalks had four heads. 
Another correspondent, says that it grew to be 
about 10 feet high and looked like a deuse 
cane-brake. Did not cut it till about the middle 
of October, ns be wished it to ripen its seed; 
it was theu in the milk state; but frost was 
threatened, so he cut all but about 20 feet 
square.which finally ripened its seed. The > ield 
of fodder is of the very best kind, aud seed was 
immense. He is and has beeu feediug his mules 
and horses on it ever since he hauled it iu; 
they eat stalk, fodder and heads voraciously, 
and keep fat ou it. 
—-♦ ♦ -- 
FINALLY. 
Peter Henderson says in "How the Farm 
Pays,” that the widespread notion of “ex¬ 
hausted lands’’ is, to a great extent, a fallacy, 
and that tbe greater part of the lands, said to 
have been exhausted, never were good. 
C4eo. E. Beecher, in Justice, says that value 
is usefulness; to an Arctic castaway wood or 
coal would have a positive value, and Ice no 
value; while to a man in the tropics, ice would 
have a positive value, and wood and coal lit¬ 
tle or none.,........ 
Sir J. B. Lawes says that carbon—which 
is only another word for vegetable matter, 
alive or dead—appears to be the only medium 
by which nitrogen is accumulated iu the soil 
to be used again by living vegetation. 
The English farmers, according to Bell s 
Messenger, are making serious complaint of 
their losses from the tresspassing of fox hunt¬ 
ers by the breaking down of fences and gates 
and the frightening of stock. Mr. B. Wright, 
of Richmond, Yorkshire, alone claims to 
have been damaged to tbe extent of £6.000 in 
ten years. His cattle were thus let into his 
turnip field, and 14 died from over eating in a 
siDgle night... 
Carp culture, John K, Brakeley says, is 
destined to briDg our native water lilies into 
the prominence to which their beauty and 
delicate odor entitle them; they serve the 
double purpose of feeding the carp and help 
ing to render attractive the country home.... 
They have a summary way of dealing with 
negligent stockmen in England. Only a short 
time since, a Mr. Martin, of Canterbury, was 
arraigned for neglecting sheep troubled with 
scab, and although he pleaded ignorance, he 
was informed he had made himself liable to a 
fine of £850; but was only fined £20 and costs, 
aDd let go with an admonition. We should 
say that was putting "a flea in his ear”—a £20 
flea. 
Jones, of Binghamton, tells tbe Husband¬ 
man that when times are hard, business dull, 
and money scarce, it is not only a duty but a 
necessity that the poor, or those who live by 
their wages, should ecouomize. In these same 
times the rich should spend more freely. 
Money is made to spend, aud those who have 
a surplus should keep it going. 
There are few strains of muskmelons bet¬ 
ter than the Cbrhtiaua; few better water¬ 
melons than Vick's Early. 
Among breeders of established reputation, 
whether of horses, cattle or sheep. T. C. Jones 
believes the utmost good faith is observed, as 
a general rule, as well in the matter of pedi¬ 
gree astne health and the condition of the 
stock they have on sale; and it is very seldom 
that we hear of auy complaints from those 
who deal with them. So he says in the Breed¬ 
ers' Gazette ... 
Editor Shelton, of the Kansas Industrial 
ist, says that he certainly has uo objections 
to any Western man taking tbe position of 
United States Commissioner of Agriculture 
if he can stand it; but it has always seemed to 
him that no first class mau can afford to take 
the gibes aud flings and loss of self-respect 
which seem associated with this office. And 
ihat is just what the Rural thiuks. We sup¬ 
pose, however, that good men should be will¬ 
ing to sacrifice themselves for the good of 
agriculture... 
He further remarks that the average Kansas 
butcher’s beast will not "dress out” fifty-live 
per cent, of bis live weight iu carcass meat... 
OUR well-edited friend—the Country Home 
—remarks that the value of a farm jourual 
"lies in its contents .” Tne printing, illustra¬ 
tions, price, number of pages are secondary 
considerations. 
Bleaching celery with sea weed is the 
favorite method ulong the coast of New Eng 
land, arid it is that which gives the excellent 
flavor and color to the Boston celei y. 
It is au acknowledged fact that two small 
bunches at twelve or fifteen cents each, sell 
quicker than a large bunch at 25 cents, remarks 
a writer in tbe American Garden.... 
Peter Henderson, in the same monthly, 
speaks of Ipomoea noctopbyton. It is about 
tbe size of a morning-glory, white in color, 
bloomiog at night. It is tender in the North, 
but perennial in the South, climbing freely 
50 feet high .. 
Ik you want the bright, large and beauti¬ 
ful fruits of tbe Japan Persimmons, you may 
grow them in tubs. Put the tubs in the 
cellar during Winter.. 
Thus far the number of novelties offered by 
seedsmen, judging from the catalogues we 
have examined, is small indeed. It is better 
thus, perhaps. Yet let us remember, as the 
Auiericau Garden states, that the most valu¬ 
able staudard varieties of vegetables and 
flowers aud field ciops of tbe present day were 
first introduced as "novelties” by some enter¬ 
prising seedsmen. You will not fiud a more 
valuable list of novelties for 1885 than that 
the Rural’s Seed Distribution offers. Years 
hence, when the Rural as the introducer will 
have been ignored, our blessed contemporaries 
will be talking of tbe hardiness of Sjrghum 
Ualapense, the beauty of tbe Bicolor Tomato, 
new and wooderful strains of corn, etc . etc . 
as dow they talk of the Beauty of Hebron. 
White Elephant aud Blush Potatoes, Rural 
Branching Sorghum ("Millo Maize”), Ensil¬ 
age (Rural Thoroughbred) Corn, Cutbbert 
Raspberry, etc. 
The editor of the Western Rural joins the 
R N.-Y. in deeming the Illinois Agriculturist 
tbe most barefaced fraud it has seen in the 
newspaper line. 
Mr Anderson writes us from Dakota that 
the farmers there are going to try the Ru¬ 
ral's way of raising potatoes next season ... 
Have you any idea, Rural friends, to what 
an extent the Indian Shot or canna has been 
improved of late years? Some of the flowers 
are equal in size and color to the common 
gladioli. Give them a rich plot. Plant the 
roots for tbis climate May 15, Caladiums 
with canna, form a beautiful tropical bed.... 
Dr. Sturtevant states in a late bulletin, 
that it seems to be accepted as a fact that 
varieties of potato tend to degenerate, an old 
variety running out, as it is called, and a new 
variety becoming desirable. An exception 
to tbis is the Earlv Ohio, the seed potatoes 
having been carefully selected for 10 years 
from the crops raised ou the same farm. The 
crops are better now than ever. 
"The man who tamely submits to oppres¬ 
sion when a little exertion on his part will 
remove it. deserves to suffer,” said the Rural 
the other day, in referring to railroad extor¬ 
tion. Apropos of this, the Virginia (Nevada 
Chronicle savs: "The people are burdened 
simply because they are willing to submit 
They have the power to make these corpora¬ 
tions carry freight and passengers at reason¬ 
able rates Let tbem exercise the power.”... 
The red varieties of celery. “Elm” says in 
the Husbandman, are not usually popular iu 
tbe market. That of a pure white, or a slight¬ 
ly creaaiv tint, is preferred by the majority of 
purchasers.. 
The Florida Dispatch says there is little 
demand in the Northern markets for the fa¬ 
vorite sweet potato of the South, tbe Yellow 
Yam: the dry, tasteless Nansemond being 
preferred. The reason given for this is, that 
tbe people of the North do not know how to 
cook tbe Yam... 
Tnu Florida Dispatch says that one lemon 
tree near Orlando, Florida, produced 7,000 
fruits in one season .. 
Oysters, according to Prof. Atwater, con¬ 
tain 87 per ceut. of water. 
Josiah Hoopes expresses the belief, in the 
Philadelphia Weekly Press, that the Mother 
i3 tbe best autumn apple for Pennsylvania. 
Charles Downing has told Rcral readers the 
same thing. Let our Pennsylvania friends 
try a tree or so. Mr. Hoopes says that the 
little Early Joe—small in both tree and fruit 
—is another delicious fruit. Its drawback is 
its season—August ... . 
Pennsylvania farmers should also try tbe 
American Summer Pearmain ani Primate... 
J. J. H. Gregory says that if it was known 
that a commercial fertilizer man used ground 
leather to furnish ammonia to his fertilizers, 
it would put a millstone about his neck. 
Leather is rich enough In amtnoDia and phos¬ 
phoric acid. too. The trouble is, it remains 
so. and the crops will starve though plenti¬ 
fully supplied with it. .. 
Fish chum, be savs. is a most excelleutform 
of oniou manure, even if it costs 810 a ton 
He advises that we use bone flour and potash 
with it... 
TRANSCONTINENTAL LETTERS. 
XXIV. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
In returning to Seattle from Portland there 
were two or three families en route for the 
Sound couutry—one from Manitoba, one 
from Iowa, and whence the other came I did 
not bear One of the women, with a child iu 
her arms, after asking me if I bad been at 
certain pluccs. wished to know if the news¬ 
paper accounts and railroad reports were 
true. For more tbau a year they had beeu 
heariug the most wouderful and entioiug 
stories about Tacoma aud Seattle. I replied 
that if one had sufficient money, Seattle was 
a most charming place of residence, as tbe 
climate was most delightful, the scenery, at 
times magnificent, and the people wide awake 
and intelligent; but if one had money making 
in view, I did not see that the chances were as 
good as in many places iu the East; there 
was little cleared land for farming, and every 
acre was held at a camparatively high figure; 
that I saw a great many idle men in the 
towns; that business was as dull as elsewhere; 
that certaio features had been vastly over¬ 
rated, etc., etc. It seemed ungracious to 
dampen her ardor at such a momeut. and I 
tried to excuse to myself my blunt frankness 
by tbe argument that the truth would not be 
very long in coming to her in any event. 
So far aslivinggoes.it is quite as good here as 
elsewhere, and far better than in many places; 
but, all in all, it costs considerably more 
than in tbe East to surround one’s-self with 
the same comforts. Every article of use costs, 
almost without exception, more here tnan 
there; but the increased cost in clothing and 
furniture is not so much greater as to make 
it au ohject to bring a supply with one from 
tbe East, if one intends to come hither for 
permanent residence. Small, unfurnished 
houses can be rented from 812 per month 
upwards. Social position depends less upon 
One surroundings; but the people, especially 
the women, dress quite handsomely. 
Tbe city sbpps are good, quite as good for 
their size as similiar shops in Philadelphia or 
New York. The markets are excellent. On 
account of the mildness of the climate, many 
vegetables are left in the ground during the 
Winter, and lettuce and radishes come fresh 
from the open garden * most of that season 
through. Potatoes, cabbages, carrots, cauli¬ 
flowers. beets, tomatoes and celery are plenti¬ 
ful aud of good quality, and are raised about 
the Sound. Beef and mutton are cheaper than 
■>n the Atlantic coast. Venison is nearly al¬ 
ways in market, and flsb in 25 or more 
varieties is always abundant and very 
cheap,—superb salmon selling for two or three 
cents a pound. Most of the fishermen are 
Greeks, who have come here as sailors. 
In the Winter, game abounds, ducks, pheas¬ 
ants, wild geese, etc. California fruits are 
always iu market, while apples, pears and 
plums are supplied by the home producers 
and Oregon. Wild plums grow in some lo¬ 
calities. and are very good. Cranberries 
grow wild, and are far superior in flavor to 
those imported from Minnesota, Alaska and 
Cape Cod. The Iudians pick them, and it is 
quite probable that the native variety would 
bear cultivation advantageously, aud some 
one might make money out of a cranberry 
bog. Milk retails at 8 to 10 cents, and is ex¬ 
cellent. Considerable butter is imported from 
California, and sells on an average for about 
50 cents per pound There are some dairies 
in the White River Valley, but tbe butter—45 
cents a pound—is not first class, and the fault 
is entirely due to the makers, far, particularly 
from September on to Jane. ih j cows have 
the best of pasture. White Clover growing in 
the clearings green and fresh a8 in early Sum¬ 
mer in the East. I have eaten some very good 
cheese from the White River. Chicago lard 
sells for20cents. Eggs and chickens areal- 
ways high—a grocer told me he had often sold 
the former for a dollar a dozen. They sell 
for fiftv cents a good part of the year. Sugar 
and rice come from the Sandwich Islands, 
and in qualitv and price, cost about tbe same 
here as iu New York. Tolerable maccaroni 
is made by Italians in California, but costs 
more than the Italian maccaroni East, Ex¬ 
cellent cocoa is made bv a Frenchman in San 
Francisco. It sells in tin cans for 25 cents, 
and is fully as good as Epps’s: grocerv stores 
deliver orders without extra charge, if within 
a reasonable distance. Seattle has nothing of 
the "village life”—it is quite cityfied so far 
as it goes. 
The coal mined in Washington Territory 
makes the nicest kind of a fire, in that it 
burns up quickly and retains fire for a sur¬ 
prisingly long lime. The cost of preparing 
wood for tbe stove or grate is almost as much 
as the cost of coal, and more of the latter is 
burned. Everybody has open fires; no others 
are needed in this charming climate. The 
latitude of Seattle is about that of Paris, 
France; aud Alaska, which is usually thought 
of as beiug the coldest place in the world, has 
a climate r-uuch the same as that of Sweden 
and Norway. The mildness of this northwest 
coa<t is due to a warm oceau current, while 
the Cascade Mountains he east serve as a 
barrier also to cold winds H is a common 
remark here among the old settlers that no 
two seasons are alike, and that the climate 
has decidedlv changed within 15 years even- 
growing colder and drier, which is attributed 
to the cutting off of the forests. Iu mid-win¬ 
ter. although the ground does not freeze, 
warm clothing is needed, as the cold is of the 
pen trating kiud that goes to the marrow of 
one’s boues. Although a great deal of raiu 
falls, there are interspersed days of such sun 
and warmth as to be like Spriug. Very little 
summer clothing—iu the sense of lawus aud 
rnuslius—is worn in Summer, aud none is 
absolutely needed. 
The miueral wealth of the Territory is 
very considerable. Coal is abundant, and 
there are undoubtedly much iron and copper. 
