528 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
AUS 8 
the ewes should be graded according to their 
age and size, the aim being to have each pen 
as nearly uniform in strength as possible, so 
that in obtaining food all may fare alike; fcr 
it should be remembered that no greater 
“pigs” exist than a lot of sheep in good health, 
and a small sheep among a lot of large ones, 
or a weak one among those very strong, would 
stand but a sorry chance of getting enough to 
eat, unless the pen were grossly overfed so as 
to leave a portion in their feeding troughs, 
which should not be allowed. 
Pain) 
THE STAYING QUALITIES OP JER¬ 
SEYS. 
COL. V. D. CURTIS. 
One of the most remarkable qualities of 
Jersey cows is their inclination to give milk 
all of the time—the year round. This is an 
item of no small consequence. It makes about 
one-third difference in the income from a cow. 
The famous Short-horns won’t do it, however 
much “Stockman” and other admirers may 
vaunt their good qualities; neither will any 
beef breed. I do not think anything the less 
of them because they do not or cannot give 
milk all the year round. It is asking too 
much, and reminds me of the striking parable 
about gathering “grapes of thorns or figs of 
thistles.” 
How much talk and worry would be saved 
if people would only agree with me that 
everything has a place and everything has its 
own peculiarities, and is specially fitted for 
some distinct purpose. This philosophy, com¬ 
mon place as it is, does not seem to be recog¬ 
nized by lots of cattle breeders. Each thinks 
his kind possesses all the merits of the cow 
species, aud that it can make beef, tallow, 
butter and cheese at the same time. We want 
cattle with a marked propensity for some dis¬ 
tinct thing, aud when this is butter, we should 
be satisfied, and if simply milk, then that is 
enough. Breeding in line to establish and 
promote this quality is a reach towards per¬ 
fection, and makes such animals valuable. 
The same is true in regard to beef. There is 
nothing “fancy” about this, or “wild.” There 
may be zeal and enthusiasm, but these are 
good things, and no breeder will succeed with¬ 
out them. 
There is a family of Jerseys on Kirby 
Homestead, that never go dry. One of 
them gave a third of a pail of milk up 
to the day of calving; yet the calf was strong 
and active, and the cow did well. We gener¬ 
ally stop milking them a few days before the 
time of calving, but in this case this precaution 
was overlooked. Other Jersey cows in this 
section do not become dry, and are milked up 
to within a very short time of calving. This 
continuous milking makes the Jerseys handy 
and valuable for the family. Most cows go 
dry from three to four months. It is not ex¬ 
tra food which stimulates our Jersey's to hold 
on milking, as they are not fed extra; but it 
is their uatore,and this characteristic descends 
from generation to generation. This is a vir¬ 
tue which offsets the deficiency of beef in a 
ersey; but then, did “Stockman” ever eat 
any' Jersey beef ! It is not necessary that an 
animal should he big to make good beef. 
Jerseys do make good beef, aud 10 ounces of 
it make a pound, and it does not take any 
more food to make a pound of beef in a Jer¬ 
sey tb an in a Sbort-horn. One would imagine, 
to hear some of the anti-Jersey talk, that, 
when a Jersey had finished her coarse and 
filled her last butter tub, a nuisance must be 
disposed of. Not so. With a little food, good 
beef may be made of her at a moderate cost. 
<Tl)C cm. 
STOCK JOTTINGS. 
The London Live Stock Journal announces 
the publication of the Herd Book of the Na¬ 
tional Pig Breeders’ Association of England. 
The volume contains 100 pages, and records 
the pedigrees of 1174 pigs, consisting of Berk- 
shires, Blacks, Large Whites, Middle Whites, 
Small Whites and Tam worths, arranged in 
the above orders. From an American stand¬ 
point this seems like a small number of pedi¬ 
grees with which to close the first volume of a 
national record intended to embrace all the 
useful breeds of pigs in England. 
The Council of the Polled Cattle Society, 
Banff, North Britain, at a late meeting, re¬ 
solved to offer a gold medal valued at £10 to 
be competed for at the Chicago Fat Stock 
Show in November next, and to be awarded 
to the best steer,cow or heifer, of the Aberdeen- 
Augus breed. 
Heber Humfrey, Secretary of the British 
Berkshire Society, writes that the first volume 
of the British Berkshire Herd Book is uearly 
half printed. The work will be as nearly uni¬ 
form in appearance with the American Berk¬ 
shire Record as can be, only different iu color. 
Breeders ou this side of the Atlantic await its 
issue with interest. 
at a time, and then they will masticate it 
better. To keep the master hog from monop¬ 
olizing the whole trough, it should be divided 
into sections with yiartitions across. This will 
make it necessary for the selfish one to back up 
and leave his place to drive off another; this 
he will not do until his own share is eaten. 
m 
cd 
<D 
> 
Grain. 
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a 
Gr^m 
>> 
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Fig. 365. (See page 527.) 
Sxuhif-ljtxir. 
PIG MANNERS. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Pigs do not have much manners. They 
Pigs are not at all particular when they run 
in the mud, but get into the trough with their 
dirty feet and make it unfit to lie eaten out 
of. I have hit upon a plan to get rid of this 
trouble, aud save the annoyance of cleaning 
out the trough too often. Scantlings are laid 
down ou each side of it, and boards put upon 
these, making a platform all around it, on 
which the pigs walk and stand when they 
will crowd each other when eating, and they 
are so hoggish that they will not wait to chew 
their food but swallow it whole to keep their 
come to eat out of it. The mud is mostly 
left on this floor and the trough is kept clean. 
At all events, there is no mud hole around 
associates from getting it. To prevent this 
the food, of uuground grain, should be so thinly 
distributed that they can get only a little 
the trough. The mud which accumulates on 
the boards is swept off when dry, or scraped 
off with a hoe. Pigs will always do better 
with such clean surroundings. It is a 
great waste to feed grain on the ground. 1 
use a platform six feet long aud five or 
six feet wide. Boards are sawn in two and 
nailed on scantlings, using one at each 
end, aud one in the middle. Narrow sides 
extend all around to keep the grain from 
falling off. These platforms are not so 
heavy but that two men cau carry them and 
they are placed wherever needed. When not 
in use they are turned up edgewise. Thus 
cared for, they will last for years, and psy 
for themselves many times over. It does not 
do a pig any good to root the grain given to 
it out of the mud, and it certainly doesn t 
help the farmer to pitch his pig feed into the 
mad. 
Pigs do not know any better than to tramp 
all over the pasture as soon as the snow is off, 
and while the frost is coming out of the 
ground, and thus tread out the grass. My 
plan is not to deprive them of the pleasure of 
the sunshine aud the fresh earth, but to re¬ 
strict the territory, or range, by making a 
hurdle fence across one corner or next to the 
pig-sty. As soou as the grass is old enough for 
a bite and the ground is settled, the pigs 
should have the benefit of it. 
A high trough is unhealthy for pigs. When 
it is so high that the pigs caunot. reach it,they 
will get their feet in or hang over the side and 
compress the stomach or hump up the back, 
or both. Pigs thus treated get crooked and 
poddy and out of shape. It is better to put 
a plank along the trough for the pigs to staud 
upon, or the trough may be placed on the 
ground, and then the platform ou either side 
being on scantling, will raise them high 
enough, so that they can eat on a level, and 
this is the best wuy they can take their food. 
It does not hurt a pig to eat off the ground, 
if the ground is all right. It should be hard 
and dry. When there is a tine dust on the 
feeding place, this dust will he drawn into 
the pigs’ nostrils and keep them sneezing, and 
after a while this dust causes a catarrh, and 
the pigs run at the nose and will not do well. 
It is better to help the pigs in this respect and 
at the same time help the field, by feeding on 
a new spot every day. In the course of the 
season a whole lot may be gone over and made 
uniformly rich. In other words, help the pigs 
to be cleauly aud to be factors iu enriching 
the farm. 
A distinctly yellow-flowered Zonale 
Pelargonium would now seem to be among 
the possibilities of the near future. Mr. John 
Thorpe, the well-known raiser of seedlings, 
has been working for this consummation for 
several years past, and has thus far met with 
a degree of success which promises something 
very decided for this line of color. There iB 
now little to be wished for, iu the way of im¬ 
provement in Zonale Pelargoniums, except 
improved and uew colors, and these as dis¬ 
tinct and solid os may be. Mr. Thorpe’s suc¬ 
cess with the yellow has thus far been very 
marked. His last seedling. Golden Dawn, 
has a warm glow of orange-yellow not before 
seen iu flowers of this class, and which makes 
it easily distinguishable from others. I am 
greatly pleased with the plant aud its habit. 
I venture to predict that a blue-tinted Zouale 
will come along in due time. 
* * * * 
The Shaffer’s Colossal Raspberry has always 
heretofore with me been decidedly sub-acid; 
but this season it has been just as decidedly 
sw eet. It ripened with the thermometer high 
up in the nineties, and this temperature had 
the effect of making sugar plentiful and acid 
Bcarce in other fruits as well. Wasn’t it hot, 
though! 
* * * 
Of small-growing or dwarf palms the Cocos 
Weddeliana is, to my mind, the most beauti¬ 
ful of all. Its small, glossy foliage and ex¬ 
ceedingly graceful form are a source of un¬ 
ceasing admiration. One cannot look at it 
without loving it. Now, this charming palm 
is not the tender object it is genert lly sup¬ 
posed to be. Last Winter 1 submitted a 
healthy specimen to a good deal of rough 
usage, to see what St would bear without 
harm. Three times it was put iu a room with 
the temperature below the freezing point, the 
thermometer registering 28°, on one occasion; 
the next morning I could not see that it 
was iujured in any respect. It was several 
times, during the Winter, sent to the village 
church to grace the marble font on Sundays, 
and in other ways it was proved t«i bo u plant 
that needs no coddling. To-day it is as per¬ 
fect and beautiful a plant as can anywhere be 
found. These facts jjrove two things: first, 
that its proper place is in the greenhouse) 
