4885 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
goats seriously considered in the London Live 
Stock Journal. The goats kept for milk are 
cared for as carefully as first class cattle 
should be treated. A ration for a goat is 
given as two pounds of bay, nine pounds of 
roots, and two large handfuls e«eb of bran 
and oats. Corn is said to be the goat’s favor¬ 
ite grain. The milk from these goats is made 
into butter and cheese, and it seems doubtful 
if any animal can convert a larger proportion 
of its food into dairy products. In this coun¬ 
try there has always been a prejudice against 
the goat. We once heard an old Scotchman 
say of a farmer that he failed because he was 
too proud to keep a goat, and his land was too 
poor to support a cow. Are there any such 
farms to day ?_ 
FULL A8 A TICK. 
The Mechanical News says that the best 
way to dry the air of a damp cellar is to place 
nutriment” than wheat meal. Dr. Hoskins 
calls this ‘‘bobtail science.” Folks can be made 
fat by feeding, but not wise, he says. . 
The Live Stock Indicator says that at the 
public sales in the West the average price of 
Herefords was #343.14. and of Short-horns 
#1)3 31, but that four Short-horns were sold 
for one Hereford. The number of Short¬ 
horns in the country, however, is more than 
four times that of Herefords. 
The Journal of Chemistry destroys ants, 
bed-bugs and creeping things generally with 
alum water. The alum is boiled with the 
water. 
E 8. Goff, of the New York Experiment 
Station, in the New York World, says that 
common salt is often recommended as a fer¬ 
tilizer for the beet. In order to test its 
efficiency he applied to ten rows of the Half- 
long Blood variety common salt at the rate 
STRAY BEAUTY. Fig. 533. (See page 844.) 
organisms. Then the water from the pool 
was examined and the same little living germs 
were found. Then the cows were examined, 
and they were found to be in a feverish con¬ 
dition, the result of their blood being charged 
with this living animalcule. Then some pure 
milk was taken and some of this pond water 
put with it, and these same germs multiplied 
within a few hours so as to take full possession 
of the milk, After this test no one can dis¬ 
pute that, living organisms may be introduced 
into milk by the using of improper food and 
drinks. It also shows that there is a close re¬ 
lation between good, pure water and fine and 
good-keeping dairy products. 
Holstein Defense.— Mr. V. E. Fuller 
made a very ingenious argument, based upon 
Prof. Brown’s tests of dairy cows, to show 
that the Jerseys excel all other breeds, both 
as butter aud cheese makers. Mr. Dudley 
Miller answers him. After speaking of the 
wide difference in tests, Mr. Miller jogs Mr. 
Fuller’s memory, remarking that bis infer¬ 
ence drawn from Prof. Brown’s tables is, that 
the Holstein is very inferior for butter and 
cheese, and produces about the poorest quality 
of milk as compared with the various breeds. 
Has Mr. Fuller forgotten that the Holstein 
Mercedes produced 99 pounds ounces of 
butter in 30 days, thereby defeating all breeds, 
including the Jerseys represented by the 
famous Mary Anne of St. Lambert, in com¬ 
peting for the greatest amount of butter 
produced in 30 days by a cow of any breed? 
Is Mr. Fuller aware that another Holstein is 
credited with producing over 130 pounds of 
butter in 30 days; that another has a record 
of over 300 pounds in 60 days, and over 300 
pounds in 90 days? Has be forgotten Mr. 
Hardin, who, in comparing the various 
breeds, credited the Holsteins with producing 
in a year about 30 per cent more butter than 
the Jerseys! Does Mr. Fuller know that 
there is a herd of 30 Holstein cows in New 
York State, 33 of which (including two-year- 
old heifers) have averaged over 17 pounds of 
butter per week?_ 
Abortion in Cattle. — Mr. Clement 
Stephenson, in a paper published by the Royal 
Agricultural Society, says of abortion in cat 
tie, there can be no doubt that the disease is 
capable of being spread by sympathy, by 
smell and by immediate contact, the bull act¬ 
ing as the carrier from cow to cow. He 
therefore looks upon it as infectious, aud 
treats it accordingly. He thinks ergotised 
grass, instead of being a frequent cause of 
abortion, is an exceedingly rare one. The 
moat fruitful source of the trouble, he thinks, 
is impure drinking water, especially water 
impregnated with sewage. Water may be 
largely contaminated with sewage and other 
impurities without producing any visible 
injurious effects upon non-breeding adult 
animals; but in pregnant females the delicate 
foetus is like a sensitive barometer, its devel¬ 
opment aud life depending absolutely upon 
the purity of the maternal blood. 
Florida Land Fraitds.—' The N. Y. Sun, 
following up the Rural'S remarks on this sub¬ 
ject, says that the truth about this whole 
Florida land business is that it is packed with 
schemers and swindlers, audit demands the 
greatest caution in dealing with it Florida 
offers to small settlers extraordinary induce¬ 
ments in respect of climate and fertility. Her 
population is growing rapidly, her cultivated 
acreage wideniug, her capital abundant, her 
railroads prosperous, aud, in fact, her future 
is as sunny as her skies. But it is just because 
of these facts, and because the small settler is 
turning thither for a homestead, that the 
woods are full of swindlers, all of them with 
lots to sell, aud all so oily, sharp and plausible 
that it looks as if the bunco steering industry 
had been abandoned for a better. The only 
true principle on which to purchase land in 
Florida is to buy it after you have seen it, or 
have some one in whom you have absolute 
confidence do so for you. The fact that it 
pays to bo a Florida laud shark only shows 
that the State has wonderful attractions for 
all sorts of people. 
Discrimination. —The Albany Cultivator 
truly says that the ordinary subscriber does 
not always fully appreciate the difference in 
value between a journal that expends its main 
energies in obtaining and spreading before its 
readers the nows and information that they 
want, and one that contents itself with doing 
as well as it conveniently can in this direction, 
relying upon showy “premiums” (for which 
the subscribers must, of course, ultimately 
pay) to make up deficiencies in the quality aud 
quantity of its matter. The trained eye of a 
professional journalist sees the difference at 
once, and. we may add, it is a pity that all 
farmers do not see It at ouee. We should 
think that the days of “showy,’'' tra-'by pre¬ 
miums in this country ought to be approach¬ 
ing their end. _ 
We find the subject of stall feeding for 
in it a peck of fresh lime in an open box. This 
will absorb nearly three quarts of water. A 
cool place should not be ventilated unless the 
air admitted is as cool as that within. 
Dr. Yoelcker Bays that animals must be 
fed on food that they like in order to produce 
the best results. Chemical analyses of food 
stuffs do not always correspond with an ani¬ 
mal’s appetite.... 
Mr. J. S. Burns, who won the prize offered 
by the National Stockman for the best essay 
on Cattle Feeding, says that he would choose 
a cross between a Short-horn and a Devon 
for most profitable feeder. The committee of 
award do not agree with this choice; they 
want all the Short horn blood that can be 
crowded into the steer. 
The Breeder’s Gazette says that the roan, 
which is the true Shorthorn trade-mark, be¬ 
ing found in no other cattle, should be the real 
standard color in the breed. The fashion for | 
the red color must in time die out. It is well j 
that it should. Each breed should have some 
well defined color mark, like the red of the 
Devons, the white face of the Hereford and 
the black and white of the Holland. 
A correspondent of the Home and Farm 
accuses agricultural college professors of con¬ 
cealing the valuable parts of tbeir reports 
behind a torrent of words, or else writing 
about things that the average farmer cares 
nothing about. This sort of thing i3 not con¬ 
fined to college walls. There are plenty of 
alleged agricultural writers who turn out 
acres of manuscript Iu a year, and yet would 
starve to death on a farm. Let people say 
what they will, some of the most accurate, 
readable aud valuable information for farmers 
is to be found in the plain looking volumes 
known as Agricultural Reports. 
The Boston Cultivator seeks to show by 
chemistry that oatmeal is a better “ cerebral 
of about ne ton to the acre, leaving ten 
adjoining rows untouched. During the grow¬ 
ing season a difference in the foliage was 
readily perceptible, it being decidedly more 
vigorous on the salted plot. The roots, how¬ 
ever. failed to show any marked effect from 
the use of the salt. The ten rows receiving 
no salt yielded 13d pounds of roots, while the 
salted plot yielded 139 pounds, the difference 
being about three per cent, in favor of the 
salted rows..... 
Tbk Orange County Farmer says there 
seems to be quite a general demand for Con¬ 
gressional action in the matter of affording 
protection to the dairymen against the makers 
of fraudulent butter. There seems to be no 
good reason why the stuff should not be rated 
with rum and tobacco, taxed at least ten 
cents per pound and placed under the watch¬ 
ful eye of Uncle Sam’s revenue officials. We 
can see no reason why the fraud should not 
be taxed out of existence. It has no claims 
to consideration, and the makers of it have 
neither honor nor honesty. 
The N. Y. World of Nov. 25 gives an ac¬ 
count of the cross-bred wheats which origin¬ 
ated at the Experiment Grouuds of the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker. The Agricultural Editor 
of the World proposes to follow it up with 
other illustrations of the Rural's hybrids of 
wheat aud rye as soou as the matter can be 
prepared..... 
Prof. Roberts says that in the best apple 
orchard in Tompkins County, N. Y., there 
are hogs enough running to manure it, and 
the hogs are also fed there .. 
The Farm Journal says that when carrying 
a hog to the pole at killing time it is well to 
use a pair of horse shoes iu joiuiug hauds 
under the hog. You can get a better hold... 
Cobs are good for smoking meat, as they 
give a good flavor. Keeping d small fire a 
longer time is better than quick smoking, a 
too much heat gives the meat a strong tast9 
and injures its sweetness. 
What this country needs is less hog and 
hominy and more chicken and celery. 
The pullet that roosts on the tree is not a 
winter layer. Right, Mr. Atkinson. 
One of the plants sold at the N. Y. Chrys¬ 
anthemum Exhibition brought #165! Some of 
the flowei‘3 measured over seven inches in di¬ 
ameter. There were plants eight feet high, 
bearing from 150 to 300 flowers. 
The Bride is a new rose—a white sport 
from Catherine Mermet. It originated with 
James Taplin, the well-known florist. His 
farm is within two miles of the Rural Grounds. 
Dr. Sturtkvant attempted to test the 
effects of farm manure upon the earliness and 
productiveness of peas. Land was selected 
that had received no fertilizer of any kind 
since the establishment of the station, and 
well-rotted stable manure wasapplied heavily. 
Strange to say, the manure bad no visible 
effect. Sulphate of iron, snperpbosobate, 
gypsum aud common salt were separately ap¬ 
plied to others. The difference in earl mess or 
yield was not appreciable. 
Mr. Ezra Stokes, upon whose farm the 
new Golden Queen Raspberry originated, 
either as a sport or seedling, he knows not 
which, claims, in the Orange CorratvFarmer, 
that in flavor it rivals Brinckle’s OraDge; in 
beauty it transcends all other varieties; it is 
as large as its parent, the Cuthbert; in vigor 
it fullv equals the Cuthbert, resisting heat 
and drought better; it excels the Cuthbert in 
productiveness; in bardioess it has no superior. 
It will be seen, bv reference to onr premium 
list, that we send six plants for one new sub¬ 
scriber... 
EDrro , R Stiles, of the Philadelphia Weekly 
Press, speaks a well-merited word for the 
Norway Maple. Acer dts3eetum, a variety 
of the Norway, is one of the finest lawn trees 
we know of. It is more compact than its par¬ 
ent, and the leaves are cat nearly to the 
petiole ..-. 
One of the chrysanthemums displayed at 
the late New York show, was seven feet high. 
There were six varieties grafted upon it. and 
the display -of yellow, maroon, red and white 
flowers, all on the same plaut, was most in¬ 
teresting and beautiful ... ... 
Correspondents of the New England 
Homestead smte that experience favors put¬ 
ting corn into the silo uncut. It saves a vast 
amount of work; and if managed rightly, 
corn silage can be raised and put into the 
silo for #1 per ton, and '2}f tons of silage are 
worth as much to feed as one ton of good 
clover hay: English siloers have learned 
the follv of adding two pounds of salt per hun¬ 
dredweight of fodder as put in the silo This 
means one pound of salt daily to each cow 
that consumes 50 pounds of the silage per 
day. when three or four ounces are enough to 
supply all the wants of the cow. Salt in no 
way assists iu preserving the silage, but is 
only used as a condiment. 
The original Endicott Pear tree is still liv¬ 
ing in Danvers. Mass. It is 225 years old, ac¬ 
cording to the Mass. Ploughman. It is still 
iu bearing... 
B. P. Ware, according to the same author¬ 
ity, arrested pear blight by seeding his or¬ 
chard to grass. 
I am glad to report that several of the most 
intelligent agriculturists of the country have 
told me of late that they thought there was no 
better paper in the country of the kind than 
the Rural New-Yorker. Iani glad to say 
that. I am of the same opinion. 
Prof. A. J. Cook. 
Ag. College, Lansing, Mich. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Arizona. 
Wild Rye, Yavapai Co.—This part of Ari¬ 
zona is very mouutainous with the exception 
of a few small valleys scattered here and 
there, and a great portion of the mountains is 
covered with a very heavy growth of fine 
cedar and scrub oak. There is not a great 
deal of farming land here, but what there is. 
is very good. The soil is rich and deep and 
will grow auytbing planted. Wheat, oats, 
barley and corn are good crops Potatoes 
yield from 34^ to 5 tons per acre. Sorghum, 
Egyptian Corn, broom corn, tobacco, beans, 
squashes, puropKins and all kinds of garden 
vegetables are more than an average here 
with irrigation. Peaches, apples grapes and 
berries do well. Grazing is excellent.. Stock 
do well. There are a great many mines in this 
part of the country; but as yet they are un¬ 
developed. The altitude here is about 5,000 
KENNEBECK BEAUTY. Fig. 534. (See page S44.) 
