our dairy shows iu the absence of an account 
of the amount and value of the food consumed. 
It is a plain fact that the object of the dairy 
cow is the production of milk and butter iu a 
business way. The dairy shows and dairy 
tests have hitherto been managed by, or in 
favor of, a few who are working a speculative 
scheme by pampering a nd forcing the animals 
regardless of cost, to produce the largest 
possible amount, without regard to physical 
form and vitality. The cost of production is 
of far more importance to the breeder than 
the amount. In awarding the prizes, the size 
and condition of the cows in competition 
should figure; their state of breeding should 
also be noted, and the amount of production 
of both milk and butter should be strictly 
based on percentage of amount consumed. 
This would place all breeds upon a fair basis 
for competition, and would drive the record 
gambler into straight business lines, and the 
superiority of breeds would be a matter of 
percentage. 
AH the cows should be fed the same variety 
of feed to be decided on by competent parties. 
The exhibitor should only be allowed to define 
the amount. As the test is made solely to as¬ 
certain the proportion of food stuffs converted 
by the cow into milk and butter, every cow 
should be allowed to stand on her own per¬ 
formance instead of on her owner’s. 
FROM JOHN BOYD, MAKER OF THE COOLEY 
CREAMER. 
If the object of the show is to present the 
public with an object lesson, to teach the 
dairyman and breeder true economy and give 
tbe new beginner, at a very small cost, the 
experiences of those who have "borne the 
heat and labor of the day,” aud who paid 
dearly for the same, then I should say your 
first question is easily answered. 
A merchant arrives at his profit or loss by 
adding to the cost of his wares the expenses of 
his business, and by comparing the sum 
with his gross sales he is enabled to tell on 
which side of his balance sheet the margin 
belongs. It seems to me that if anything is 
to be taught this is the proper rule to apply to 
shows of dairy cattle whoso tests of produc¬ 
tion are to determine the superiority. The 
profit to the farmer is plniuly the animal pro¬ 
duct from a given quantity of feed, whether 
it be beef, milk, butter, or cheese. If these 
propositions are sound, then it is plain that 
the value of the food consumed should deter¬ 
mine the measure of tbe product. 
As to the second question, I think sound 
policy would require that every exhibitor 
should be not only permitted but required to 
use his own judgment in feediug both as to 
quantity and quality, provided he coufines 
himself in bis selection to the ordinary food 
consumed by dairy cattle (that is, products of 
the country,) It would be, I think, a very 
dangerous precedent to set, that the judges 
should decide what Tom, Dick aud Harry’s 
cow should eat without reference to what 
she had been accustomed to; besides, if the 
cost of the ingredients is considered, what 
possible objection can an unsuccessful compe¬ 
titor make? He may, however, learn some¬ 
thing by it. It is my experience that a cast- 
irou rule for feeding dairy rattle is one of the 
greatest stumbling blocks of the dairy farmer. 
FROM MESSRS. SMITHS. POWELL & LAMB. 
We should think that the value of the food 
consumed by a cow should be taken into con¬ 
sideration in awarding a prize for a milk or a 
butter test, or, iu other words, that the cost 
of production should be taken iutoaccount; 
but we should not consider this conclusive 
evidence of one animal being a larger or 
smaller eater than the other, unless the 
amount of food actually consumed for some 
time prior to the test was stated, and for this 
statement, of course, the public would have 
to rely entirely upon the honor of the owner, 
or, more often, upon that of the feeder. As 
an instance, an animal may be fed for several 
months very large quantities of feed, either 
milk- or butter-producing, as was needed, aud 
during the test the feed might be dropped 
off very considerably, and still not material¬ 
ly decrease the amouut of milk or butter, aud 
the public would be seriously misled by the 
statement of the amount of food she had con¬ 
sumed to produce the milk or butter given as 
her record. 
In answer to the second question, most at- 
suredly all cows should not be fed the same 
kind of feed nor the same quantity, nor should 
it be left to the option of the judges, as 
they possibly would (and, we might say, 
probably would), have no knowledge by 
which to guide them as to tbe proper amount 
of feed that a strange animal would be able 
to assimilate; and, again, the exhibitor or his 
regular attendants would be better capable of 
judging of both the quantity aud quality of 
food that a cow could digest with profit, and 
had been accustomed to. 
Another point that, we think, has been 
wholly disregarded in the tests heretofore 
made, and largely so in the voluminous cor¬ 
respondence that has taken place through 
the public press, is the value of the skim-milk 
after the cream or butter has been taken from 
it. As an example, take two cows, the one 
producing twice the quantity of milk but mak¬ 
ing only an equal quantity or even a less 
quantity of butter. Would not the general 
farmer or dairyman, and we might say city 
owner, admit that this skim-milk was of 
greater or less value? As an article of food 
this is becoming more and more a feature iu 
the selection of cows, particularly so since the 
general introduction of creameries and separ¬ 
ators, which leave the skim-milk sweet and in 
proper condition for feeding. 
Again, a fact, that is too often lost sight of 
is the veal and beef-producing qualities of the 
animal. These should also be taken into ac¬ 
count. It wonM Vie foil}' to say that a cow 
weighing 800 pounds would be of equal dairy 
value to one weighing 1,000 pounds, providing 
the amouut of food consumed and the amount 
of milk or .butter produced were equal, aud it 
would be equal folly to say that the male 
calves of the larger cow would not be more 
valuable than those of the smaller for veal. 
Again, tbe question of vigor and hardiness 
would be taken into account iu selecting a 
breed of cattle for practical dairy value, but 
this could not be determined by any test at a 
show or fair, as could the other qualities. 
Thus, if any association would desire to justly 
and accurately decide between two breeds, the 
question of butter, milk, skim-milk and beef, 
should be taken iuto consideration. 
FROM J. MCLANE SMITH. 
In my opinion, a cow should be regarded as 
a machine for converting food into milk aud 
butter. Hence, the cow that gives the larg¬ 
est yield, iu proportion to food consumed, 
other things being equal, is the most valuable. 
It may Be an interesting experiment to test 
the possibilities of production by feeding 
a cow all she can eat, but if the extra 
yield is made at a loss, it is of uo practical 
use. It proves nolhing as to the value of the 
animal. 
If a small cow is a more economical machine 
than a large one, we ought to know it. Or, if 
one breed gets a larger percentage of value 
from a given quantity of food than another, 
that is an important fact, which public test* 
may serve to bring out. Tbe idea, put forth 
by the Germans, that the food of support is 
proportioned to the live weight of the animal, 
I believe is false. I think it is contradicted by 
the experience of every feeder. One cow will 
consume nearly twice as much as another of 
the same size,withoutgivinganybetter return 
of uiilk, or keeping in better flesh; whether 
one breed gets more nutriment from its food 
than another, or whether the waste in the sys¬ 
tem is less in one breed than another I do not 
know. It isto answer this question that pub¬ 
lic tests, often repeated, should be encouraged. 
It is the only way to get an answer. 
Of course, in testing, if all cows could be 
fed the same kinds of food in the same pro¬ 
portion, it would simplify matters. But, in 
short tests, this is impracticable. What agrees 
with one might not agree so well with an¬ 
other; aud a radical change of any sort might 
be temporarily injurious. Appetite must lie 
consulted as well as nutritive value, to get 
the best returns. I think the only practicable 
method is to allow each to feed according to 
his own judgment; or, if the test is made by 
one who controls all the animals, each should 
be fed to what seems the best advantage. 
Charge up the food at its market value aud 
credit the returns in the same way. The cow 
that shows the largest profit, other things be¬ 
ing equal, is the best. 
Jrumsf 1 Noddies. 
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE MEETING. 
(RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
A fair attendance; no special science of ag¬ 
riculture; h'jg cholera and swine plague 
distinct diseases; both due to bacteria; 
predicting locust plagues; the cabbage , 
onion and radish maggots belong to the 
same species; parasites destroying the 
Hessian Jig; the plum enrcxdio an indis¬ 
criminate feeder; the hop louse, winters on 
the pimncs; remedy; detecting butter adul¬ 
terations; Holstein butler; sorghum sugar¬ 
making unprofitable with existing varie¬ 
ties; influence of nature and cultdeal ion 
on plants; experiments with grasses; a 
new grape rot; influence of topography o>i 
rainfall; soil temperatures; objects of 
terra-culture; the chief injury by weeds; 
a new onion disease; hollyhock rust; ex¬ 
periments in crossing corn. 
The eighth annual meeting of the Associa¬ 
tion for the Promotion of Agricultural Sci¬ 
ence was held in the City of New York July 
8th and 0th. The society consists of 38 per¬ 
sons eminent in the sciences related to agricul¬ 
ture, and meets eaeh year in connection with 
the American Association for the Advance¬ 
ment of Science. Papers are presented by 
members aud others ou subjects marking an 
advance iu scientific agriculture, aud these 
are published in the proceedings of the so¬ 
ciety. 
The first session was called to order at the 
Park Avenue Hotel on the evening of tbe 8th 
by the President of the society, Dr. E. L. 
Sturtevaut, of the New York Experiment 
Station. About fit) members and others were 
present during the sessions Twenty-three 
papers were read and several others were pre¬ 
sented, but could not be reached for want of 
time. This number is larger than that pre¬ 
sented at any previous meeting. 
The first paper was sent by Dr. O. E. Bes- 
sey, of Nebraska, ou "A Duty which Wo Owe 
to Science,” and was a continuation of a paper 
presented two years ago by the same writer, 
ou "A Duty which Science Owes to Agricul¬ 
ture.” Tbe purpose of the paper was to show 
that there was no science of agriculture as 
distinguished from the sciences of botany, 
chemistry, etc,, aud that those sciences, so far 
as they related to agriculture and are taught 
to students of agriculture, need to be taught 
as thoroughly and in the same manner as they 
are taught to other students. 
Dr. Salmon, of the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, followed with a paper on "Hog Cholera 
and Swine Plague.” These be now believes 
to be two diseases caused by distinct micro¬ 
organisms, the hog cholera by a rod-shaped 
bacillus, and the swine plague by a spherical 
micrococcus. Descriptions were given of the 
appearance of the two diseases. Until the 
present year the swine plague has not been 
recognized as a distinct disease. The germs 
of the hog cholera are much more tenacious 
of life than those of the swine plague, and 
will live from 30 to 00 days in a dry state. 
They will multiply in ordinary w'ater, but 
much more rapidly in soil or decaying vege¬ 
table matter. Experi incut has proved that an 
application of 50 bushels of quick-limo per 
acre, an amount smaller than is often used for 
growiug crops, will, if worked into the soil, 
entirely destroy all of the disease germs which 
may be preseut. No other disinfectant seems 
so useful for this purpose, and an ordinary 
surface application may iu some cases be suf¬ 
ficient. 
A paper was rend from C. M. Weed, of Illi¬ 
nois, on "An outbreak of indigenous Locusts.” 
It detailed observations on the habits of two 
species of grasshoppers which have at times 
been injurious, and showed that it. was possi¬ 
ble, to some extent, to predict from the num¬ 
ber of parasites present whether or not au in¬ 
jurious outbreak of the locusts would occur. 
A. J. Cook, of the Michigan Agricultural 
College, followed with a paper on “ Economic 
Entomology, which brought out several new 
points of interest regarding in jurious insects 
and their remedies. Perhaps the most im¬ 
portant of these was the conclusion that the 
cabbage, onion and radish maggots, hereto¬ 
fore regarded as distinct, are really the same 
species. The proofs arc, first, that though 
they differ somewhat in appearance, all grad¬ 
ations have been found between rhem; sec¬ 
ond, that tbe cabbage maggot has been grown 
upon the radish and vice versa ; third, that 
onions were badly affected on ground where 
cabbages were affected the previous year. The 
maggot seems to prefer the cabbage, but will 
attack the onion when that is not to be had. 
it has also been observed on several plants 
which are not cultivated. The only practica¬ 
ble remedy is to change the location of the 
crop when the maggots become troublesome. 
A point was brought out regarding the Hes- 
siau fly, which is so abundant this season in 
Michigan that many farmers are hesitating 
to sow the usual amouut of winter wheat. 
From an examination of (lie "flax seeds,” it 
is found that they arc nearly all parasitised, 
so that, a severe attack the coming season need 
not be expected. Additional evidence was 
given to show that-the plum cumilio attacks 
also the apple, pear and peach when plums arc 
not to lie hud, and it was suggested that (lie 
former might lie protected by planting plum 
trees iu the orchards. 
O. V. Riley, of the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, followed with un account of the life his¬ 
tory of the hop-plant, louse of Europe, which 
this year lias been so destructive iu the State 
of New York. He is led to believe that, the 
iuseet does not hibernate on the roots of the 
bop as has been supposed, but that on the ad¬ 
vent of the first frost the hop yards are en¬ 
tirely .cleared of the insects. It was also 
noted that the extreme heat and dryness of 
July 17 and IS of this year at Washington, 
killed all of the insects under observation 
there. The insects are now known to pass the 
winter as fertilized eggs upon the different 
species of prunus. The asexual insects, sever¬ 
al broods of which are produced during sum¬ 
mer, are succeeded, towards autumn, by the 
sexually perfect winged insect*. As the 
earlier broods are destitute of wings the in¬ 
sects are unable to spread from one hop yard 
to another during the summer. In order to 
prevent their perpetuation during winter it 
is recommended to destroy any trees of the 
wild plum or cherry near the hop yards. 
Dr. S. M. Babcock, of the N. Y. Experiment 
Station, read a paper on the "Variation in 
American Butters''and its bearing on adul¬ 
teration tests. The result of the paper and 
the discussion which followed indicated that 
no single chemical or physical test can, in all 
cases, be relied upon to detect small amounts 
of adulteration, but that by using a combina¬ 
tion of tests, adulterations of commercial 
amount can lie detected readily and with ab¬ 
solute certainty. The several methods of 
making the tests were explained, tbe one of 
most promising practical importance being 
what is known as the "viscosity test.” An in¬ 
teresting point in the comparison of the dif¬ 
ferent, butters was the difference in composi- < 
tion, which appeared between the butter of 
the Holsbeiu-Friesians aud other breeds. It is 
welj known that the Holstein butter is softer 
than that of other breeds, and this was shown 
to be due to the presence of a larger amount 
of Oleine in proportion to its other butter fats. 
"The Sorghum Plant as a Sugar Producer” 
was the subject of the next paper by Dr. 
\v iiey, of the Department of Agriculture. The 
paper was a summary of a recent bulletin on 
the subject, published by the Department, in 
which averages of all analyses which have 
been made of sorghum juice are given. The 
result shows that ou the average only 32.88 
pounds of sugar have been made per ton of 
care, and that the yield of clean canes has 
averaged 7.1)7 tons per acre. This represents 
about 180 pounds of sugar per acre, which, at 
five cents a pound, would be as the total 
average gross receipts per acre. The failure, 
therefore, to make sugar production from sor¬ 
ghum profitable has not been mainly duo to 
defective machinery, but to the unreliability 
of sorghum as a sugar-producing plant. Iu 
some cases the amount of sugar present in the 
juice has been fully equal to that of the sugar 
cane, while in some other cases, under appar¬ 
ently the same conditions, the amount of sugar 
present has been exceedingly small. The ex¬ 
planation offered why the amount of sugar 
present in sorghum is less constant than in the 
sugar cane and sugar beet, is that in these it 
is of use in the economy of the plant, while in 
tbo sorghum it is not. If by careful selection 
and cultivation a variety of sorghum can be 
produced which will uniformly give as high a 
perceutago of sugar as isolated specimens now 
do, sorghum sugar growing maybe made pro¬ 
fitable, otherwise it cannot. 
Dr. E. L. Sturtevaut gave a brief paper on 
“ Some Botanical and Horticultural General¬ 
izations.” These were: 1st, types of our cul¬ 
tivated plants originate in nature, and are 
not produced by cultivation: 2d, the changes 
effected by cultivation can be expressed by the 
terms expansion, quality, prolificacy and ear¬ 
liness or lateness; 3d. hybrids or crosses are 
rarely Intermediates, but approach ouc parent 
more than the other; 4rh, hybrids, on this ac¬ 
count, tend to purge themselves of their mix¬ 
tures, so that they are rarely found in na¬ 
ture. 
Dr. W. J. Beal presented “ Plans for Some 
Experiments in Agricultural Grasses”: 1st, it 
will be folly to attempt very many experi¬ 
ments with grasses wh ere they are not under 
the eye of a good botanist; 2d, try ns many 
species as possible, from every source; 3<1, 
sow the seeds iu rows, so the plants cau l>e^ 
weeded, then grow such as are of most 
promise, in large plots, say one rod by H); 
4th, do not place plots containing nearly re¬ 
lated species adjoining each other; 5th, sow 
combinations uf species known to thrive In a 
given locality, and comptiro the result with 
t he growth of each species as sown by itself; 
Gth, sow combinations of species having run¬ 
ning rootstocks, and eo> iparo with the growth 
of other species which have not; 7th, on a 
variety of soils, iu different parts of the 
country, sow different species in rows close 
together, and determine which arc the best 
fighters; 8th, analyze specimens of grasses of 
the same age and species, grown ou the same 
kind of soil, in one case the plants to be grown 
crowded, (u the ot her to have abundance of 
room; 9th, try to improve grasses by culture, 
selection, and change of seed; 10th, conduct 
parallel experiments in at least four remote 
stations in the IT. S., as in Michigan, Nebraska, 
Texas and Arizona. 
The next paper, also by Dr. Beal, was "A 
Study of Poa pratensis or June Grass.” Ten 
plants were selected varying greatly iu size, 
and a diagram was made showing the com¬ 
parative measurements of their different 
parts. It was found as one result that the 
tallest stalks did uot always bear the largest 
leaves. The measurements were of value 
