ISIS 
of a yard. Straw sheds broke the wind from 
two other sides. These sheds were all open 
on the side looking into a square yard. Here 
1(10 head of cattle were wintered and the 
manure was saved and used on the fields. 
Corn fodder was cut when the corn was pass¬ 
ing out of the dough .state, put into little 
stooks, pushed out by October 15th and put 
into a stack. All my fodder (clover, Timothy, 
corn fodder, straw aud oat hay) is stacked in 
alternate stacks around this square yard and 
fed directly, with racks surrounding this 
square. Thus we can alternate or mix the 
food given. We give no grain in the Winter, 
and calculate on a slow but steady gain. In 
the East I used to calculate on a pound of 
gain on these foods, including straw aud corn 
fodder and no grain, but I can make but little 
gain on the same foods in the yard described. 
The account will stand as follows: 
i .000 pounds of steer, nt 4 cents.... *4it.oe 
Two tons of fodder -% hav ut *5, and 
corn fodder and straw, at *.'J V ton.. 8.67 
Interest nnd risk. 3 U 0 
Pasturing.. 6 X 0 
Cr. B.v 1,360-ponnd beef steerat 494 c.. *<>4.i2 
Profit... 6.45 
I expect the manure saved to pay for the 
care and any extra expense of this system. 
By feeding three quarts of corn per day in 
Winter, about 75 pounds more weight would 
bo made, and five cents per pound be received, 
which would pay about 55 cents a bushel for 
corn. The prices named are not the market 
rates to-day, but are relative and give a fair 
conclusion according to my understanding 
of the case. 
Columbia, Mo. 
JERSEYS UNDER THE HAMMER. 
The recent sale of Jerseys at the American 
Horse Exchange in this city would seem to 
plainly indicate that Jersey breeders are fully 
as enthusiastic and earnest as ever, but that 
the days of “booming” cattle have gone. It 
looks now as if the trade in Jersey cattle had 
comedown ton straight business basis; that 
breeders are oager to buy specimens of the 
breed for what they are worth, and no more. 
The “fitful fever” of Jersey speculation may 
well die out. We need the Jersey cattle; 
there is an acknowledged place for them in 
our farm economy, hot for practical work on 
the ordinary farm, they are not worth much 
more than other breeds. As they are scattered 
more und more throughout the country their 
true value is discovered. The men who will 
provide the great market for the Jerseys of 
the future are not breeders who have all the 
literature of Jersey breeding at their tongues’ 
euds, and who have a revereuce for such names 
as Signal, Cooinassie or St. Lambert. Most 
of the great prices of the past have boon paid 
by breeders who have been eonteut to spend 
money for the purpose of buildiug up fine 
herds. It will not pay to keep these herds for 
dairy purposes alone, the increase must, as 
was intended, be sold. For buyers the breed¬ 
ers will find in a few years facing them, only 
the stern, uuromantic public. Iu this sale the 
few choice animals will bring good prices, 
while the great moss of ordinary ones will 
have hard work to equal the prices given for 
other breeds. 
At the recent sale, 145 cows and heifers and 
nine bulls were offered; of these *21 were im¬ 
ported animals. The highest price paid for 
any animal was $525, given for Queen of Pow- 
hatcong 1334, a three-year old cow by Babylon 
47*23; Witch of St. Lambert‘2nd-'14,Oil), seven- 
months old, brought $460. The average price 
per head was not far from $2UG, yet many 
breeders say there is a good business profit at 
these figures. 
Many of the renders of the Rural have, 
doubtless,uever attended a public sale of cattle. 
It may be well to briefly describe the way in 
which the business is conducted. An iuclosure 
some 30x50 feet, is roped off in the middle of a 
large room iu the centre of the groat stable. 
About this inelosure the buyers ami specta¬ 
tors sit. All about are doors leading to the 
stalls from which the cattle are brought as fast 
as desired, Tim auctioneers (there are gener¬ 
ally two of them,) stuud in a high box or pul¬ 
pit at cue side. When the number of an 
animal is called, it is led in by an atteudaut 
aud walked about the inclosure while the bid¬ 
ding is going on. The old cows walk steadily 
about as though they understood the whole 
thing, but the cal ves aud young heifers frisk 
about and play. The auctioneer and most of 
the buyers have the pedigree of each animal 
in mind. They cun tell how many pounds of 
butter its mother or grandmother has made, 
and how many daughters its father or grand¬ 
father muy have in the “fourteen-pound list.” 
As a rule, they look little to the outward ap¬ 
pearance of the anirnul. A granddaughter of 
Stoke Pogis.'Jd, with but one eye, broken horns 
or a stump tail, would be eagerly bid for, 
while a fat and shapely daughter of some un¬ 
known bull would be hardly noticed. Of 
course, a good appearance helps the sale of an 
animal; but with the Jersey breeder, the but¬ 
ter production of the immediate ancestors is 
the great indication of value, as it sightly 
should be. After describing the animal, the 
auctioneer calls for a bid. He accepts any, 
however small, but no advance bid of less 
than ten dollars is ever accepted. The bidding 
is generally very deliberate, as ample time is 
given. The very best Jerseys do not find 
their way to these public sales, though there 
are some excellent bargains to be found there. 
Most breeders prefer private sales There are 
many who are holding large herds for better 
prices. index. 
farm Cconomi]. 
A HOME-MADE TREE PULLER. 
Having occasion to uproot some young for¬ 
est trees, we improvised an ordinary pulley 
tackle aud straiued away at it, finally getting 
out a team to assist us. It was, however, un¬ 
satisfactory work, and we determined that it 
was about as easy to cut down the tree und 
extract the stumps with a stump-puller as to 
dig them up. But we have ran across the de¬ 
vice shown at Fig. 5*26, and find that it does 
the work admirably. The method of arrang¬ 
ing and adjusting the puller may be readily 
understood from the diagram. 
A is a rail, or sapling; the longer the better 
if there is room and helptohaudle it. Bis an 
iron clamp with a chain or heavy rope attach¬ 
ed to the fulcrum stomp or tree. C D are 
clamps with short chains. When the lever A 
is moved to the right, the chain D is hooked 
into the long chain F. When the lever is mov¬ 
ed to the left, the chuin C is hooked into F, 
and thus enormous leverage is obtained, and 
little by little the tree is pulled over. 
Toe clamps C and D should be four or five 
inches apart , and fixed on swivel bolts. Greater 
speed but less leverage may be obtained by 
increasing the distance between the clamps, 
or, perhaps, the convenience and efficiency 
might be increased by putting on a third clamp, 
gardens of the Western and Northern Statesi 
this cut-worm has gained its reputation chiefly 
as a climber, and as injuring dwarf fruit 
trees. It seems by preference to gut the 
blossom buds of dwarf fruit trees, then tak¬ 
ing the leaf buds until every bud on the tree 
is destroyed. 
The natural history of this species is that 
normal to the group. It is single-brooded, 
the larvae hibernate, and the moths appear in 
July aud August, after a duration, in the pupa 
state, of a month or more. 
The larva, Fig. 527 a, is somewhat more 
Onion Cut-Worm. Fig. 527. 
than an inch in length, of a dingy, ash-gray 
color, with lighter or darker markings. The 
back is light, and the sides are generally 
darker, and the customary warts are shining 
black. The head and thoracic plate are of a 
shining, ash-gray color, and the under surface 
of the body a dirty yellowish green. 
The moth is marked, as shown in Fig. 527 b, 
the colors being: fore-wings of a light, 
warm cinereous, shaded with vandyke brown 
aud umber, the terminal space, except at 
apex, being darker aud smoky; hind-wings 
whitish, with a darker shade along the pos¬ 
terior border. Detailed descriptions of the 
earlier states are given in the original article 
already alluded to. The eggs are, so far, un¬ 
known. 
A Home-made Tree Puller. Fig. 526. 
as shown at E, to be used for small trees. Auy 
ordinary chain will do, and the whole thing 
can be made in a few hours. It is the mechau- 
ieal principle rather than the method of con¬ 
struction we desire to show, for it may b 3 made 
in an infinite number of ways, according to 
the chains, clamps and rail or pole at hand. 
Cnt omo logical. 
THE ONION CUT-WORM. 
AGROTIS MESSORIA.—HARRIS. 
PROK. O. V. RILEY. 
In the Rural for June 11th, 1SS5 (page 464), I 
referred to the ravages of the cut-worm in the 
onion-growing districts of Goshen,Orange Co., 
N. Y., and suid, “The species (not yet bred to 
imago) is doubtless Agrotis malefida." I 
had some doubts about the determination, 
and had ou the 15th of June written Mr. J. 
W. Green, of Goshen, upon the receipt of the 
first specimens, that the species was Agrotis 
messoria. Subsequent examination led me to 
doubt that first determination, for it ia very 
difficult to determiue mauy of the Noctuid 
moths from their larva? only, 08 many of the 
larva* bear very close resemblance to each 
other. When, however, the first moth issued 
the other day from the Goshen worms it 
* proved to be Agrotis messoria. 
Agrotis messoria is wide-spread iu the 
United States. It is very common in Califor¬ 
nia, one of the commonest of the climbing 
and garden cut worms in Missouri, is abund¬ 
ant throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Mich¬ 
igan, was first described front Massachusetts, 
and doubtless occurs throughout the States. 
It is found in Ontario and Quebec, though 
not commonly in the last-named Province. 
( While commonly found in the vegetable 
SHRINKAGE OF BUTTER. 
J. N. MUNCEY. 
Shrinkage on the road: tricks of commission 
men; examples in New York and Philadel¬ 
phia; shrinkage from churn weights to sale 
weights. 
There is much ignorance as to how much 
butter skrinks in transit from the West to mar¬ 
ket. Batter from stations 300 miles west of 
Chicago, if scut to New York or Philadelphia, 
is ou the road five to seven days. It is pro¬ 
bably held three days to a week before it is 
sold by the commission merchant. This, of 
course, is not always true. A mau from Swan 
Lake, Iowa, writes that on 56 pounds he loses 
always two and sometimes three pounds. I 
replied telliug him l thought it too much, that 
the commission merchant had probably de¬ 
ducted on weights in order to add to the price 
of the butter. This ia done to encourage the 
shippers’ further consignments. It is one of 
the tricks iu the commission business, which it 
is difficult to detect. 
In 1879 a New York commission house, re¬ 
ceiving 10 to 60 tubs of butter per week from 
a creamery here, always obtained a good price 
for the butter, but the shrinkage, as it seemed 
to me, was too large, being sometimes 40 
pounds on 20 tubs. I wrote him from time to 
time that the weights did uot hold out. He 
replied that we should give six to eight ounces 
“up weight.” I made each tub oue-half to 
three fourths of a pound more than I invoiced 
it at. For example, if the tub and butter, 
without cloth ami saft, weighed 58 or 59 
pounds, I added one half to three-quarters of 
a pound, expecting by so doing that the ac¬ 
count of sales would road 58 and 59 pounds 
net. But the tubs almost always weighed one 
pound loss than the invoiced weight. The real 
shrinkage was therefore one-and-one half to 
one-aud three quarters pound per tub. Not 
being satisfied, I held one tub in the refrigera¬ 
tor until the account of sales for the same lot 
was received. This tub weighed almost the 
same both times. 
The following, from the account of sales 
rendered by a firm in Philadelphia, seems to 
be honest: 
Date 
Date 
Horae 
Phlla. 
No. 
Shipped. 
arrived. 
wts. 
at Jesup. 
wts. 
tubs; 
1885. Aug. 4, 
Aug. 11. 
40(1 
396 
7 
** 11. 
“ 19. 
407 
404 
6 
.. H 
*• 24. 
407 
402 
6 
" July 23. 
•* 3. 
465 
465 
8 
The shrinkage is expressed in the difference 
in weight?, as the tubs weighed the same in both 
cases. Compare the above with a shipment of 
five tubs, mode to New York, Oct. 20, L885. 
The gross weight at Jesup amounted to 350% 
pounds. The soaked tubs weighed 53% pounds. 
The actual net weight of the butter was, there¬ 
fore, 296% ponnds. The gross weight in New 
York, Oet. 28oh, wa3 341, and the tare 50. Our 
actual loss in butter was 5% pounds. Any 
new shippers of butter ought, from these 
figures, to be able to decide, with some degree 
of certainty, as to the commission merchant’s 
honesty. lam not prepared to believe that 
butter, properly worked before shipping, 
shrinks two or three pounds per tub of 56 
pounds. 
Still another important poiot to those pur¬ 
chasing uu*alted butter is the shrinkage from 
churn weights to sale weights. In June, 1885, 
I kept an accurate record or every churning, 
with the following results: Weight of the but¬ 
ter direct from the churn, 1,961 pounds; weight 
of the butter as per account of sales from 
Chicago, 1 834 pounds; shrinkage, 127 pounds, 
or 6 }4 per cent. 
Jesup, Ia 
ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 
P. H. JACOBS. 
Exaggerations of ma n u facturers; eggs for in¬ 
cubation; lessons from a sitting hen; tem¬ 
perature in incubation; moisture; conclu¬ 
sions. 
Artificial incubation is no longer a doubtful 
problem though it cannot be denied that there 
is much to learn in relation to it, and the field 
of observation is wide and open. That chicks 
can be artificially hatched in incubators, and 
raised in brooders, has been demonstrated hun¬ 
dreds of times; yet failures occur, and many 
disappointments result. One of the gravest 
mistakes is to suppose that because a machine 
has been invented to perform the work usually 
done by the hen, it must be infallible, aud 
the manufacturers have injured themselves, 
and the public as well, in making claims too 
broad and positive. In giving to the public 
the advantages of artificial incubation they 
have conveyed the idea that, unlike other deli¬ 
cate operations, this requires but little care, 
attention and labor; and as long as this error 
prevails, just so long will the method prove 
unsatisfactory, be condemned, and fail to se¬ 
cure widespread confidence. 
Before the operator begias his experiment 
bo must uot only select fresh, well-formed 
eggs, bat he must also know that such eggs 
came from vigorous stock. Even then he 
must be certain that the parents were not too 
fat, and that they were properly mated in 
regard to age. The eggs must be collected 
in a manner to avoid exposure to extreme 
cold, and should bo kept at an even temper¬ 
ature until required for use. 
Having given attention to such preliminar¬ 
ies, the operator should endeavor to study the 
natural method in order to be assisted in his 
efforts, lie will notice that before the hen 
becomes broody, she usually stores up fat, 
thereby providing a supply of heat iu order to 
impartit to the eggs. Bitting is semi-hiber¬ 
nation, the hen going on the nest fat, retiring 
to seclusion, and coming off low in flesh. 
About once a day she leaves the oggs for 
water and food, aud in order to dust her¬ 
self as a provision agaiust vermin. The 
thermometer will indicate that the tempera¬ 
ture of her body at all periods is 104° Fah., 
though it may vary a degree in case of some 
hens. She changes the position of the eggs in 
the nest daily; but always when going on the 
nest, moving the outer ones toward the center, 
and these in turn crowd the warmer ones to 
the edge of the nest. The oggs are also cooled 
when the hen is off the nest. When she hears 
the sound made by the chicks wheu they are 
attempting to emerge, it is with difficulty she 
can be made to come off, and will often go 48 
hours without food, rather than subject them 
for a moment to the slightest change of 
tempeiafure. 
Though the natural method is familiar to 
