nubs. If any bull is too barsh for common 
brass nubs and tears them off, have a black¬ 
smith make a heavy iron nub with a heavy 
thread that will stand the racket. 
It’s all wrong for so many men to lose their 
Device for Holding a Bull. Fig 478. 
lives by bulls. It’s too much the ease for men 
to think my bull isn’t cross. He never will 
hurt me, they say, but it is just such beasts 
one has to guard against. One should treat 
every bull as if he knew the animal was cross, 
and then there would be fewer lives lost. 
Cattaraugus, N. Y. o. H. 8. 
B. N.-Y.—A simple way would be to cut 
the horns all off. 
CHEESE-MAKING IN MANITOBA. 
PROFESSOR J. P. SHELDON. 
The. Canadian Northwest Territories ; the 
Canada Pacific A'. A’., and tributary ter- 
i it.ory well adapted to mixed farming and 
dairying ; cheese factories in Manitoba ; 
prices of cheese and milk-, excellent pros¬ 
pects. 
I have recently had a trip across the 
American Continent on that extraordinary 
piece of engineering and fiscal enterprise, the 
Canadian Pacific Railway, and I have taken 
much interest in vi.sitiug and inspecting cer¬ 
tain agricultural and stock-breeding localities 
in the Northwest Territories. Among them 
are the ranching country in Alberta, of which 
1 hope ere long to give some account to the 
readers or the Rural New-Yorker, and the 
“mixed farming”district, so called, which lies 
in Northwestern Manitoba, and Northwestern 
Assiniboia. The former is traversed by driv¬ 
ing or riding from Calgary along the vast 
foothills of the Rockies; and the latter, a 
country whose limits, as regards mixed or 
dairy farming,are at present unknown, but in 
any case, very extensive, is accessible by the 
Manitoba and Northwestern Railroad, which 
connects with the “C. P. R.” at Portage-la- 
Prairie. 
First, however, allow me to say a word or 
two about the C. P. R., and the country 
through which it, runs. Everybody knows 
that the road, ut all events since the 
“Company” took hold of the work, was built 
at a rapid rate and in an uncommonly short 
space of time. The scenic attractions in the 
bake Superior district, and in the whole 
width of British Columbia, are within the 
reach of the marvelous, and the road is being 
already a good deal used by tourists from the 
United States, ns well as from Europe. The 
line maybe divided iuto three sections— the 
Eastern, the Central and the Western. The 
first and last are hilly and heavily timbered 
countries—British Columbia being magnifi¬ 
cent in both respects—and the second is a vast 
stretch of prairie country, much of it of a de¬ 
cidedly fertile nature. It is well-known, how¬ 
ever, that the road does not ruu, save in one 
portiou of Manitoba, through laud which is 
good enough to give a fair impression of what 
the great Northwest is like, and that other 
roads w ill open out superior districts. 1 am 
prepared to accept this assurance ou the 
M length of what I saw in the trip of between 
8(H) and 800 miles,which I had up the Manitoba 
and Northwestern road, aud beyond its pres¬ 
ent western terminus. 
Until recently it was commonly taken for 
grauted, though without due reflection, that 
the north western frontier of the North Ameri¬ 
can Continent was not well adapted for dairy 
farmiug, for stock breeding, for cheese and 
butter-making, that the land was suitable only 
for grain-raising, and so on. Several years 
ago I took an opportunity of counseling the 
Manitoban farmers to try mixed farming, with 
dairying as a leading feature, and I am much 
interested to find that these practice’s are 
spreading pretty quickly and are found to 
answer well. There is no room to dispute the 
fact that the soil of Manitoba will, in many 
parts, grow good grass, and almost every¬ 
where fair crops of roots: and it maybe taken 
for granted that, any soil suitable for grass and 
roots is naturally adapted for dairy farming, 
providing the supply of water is good and 
sufficient. These conditions appear to exist 
in the country lyine to the west and north¬ 
west of Lake Manitoba to a degree which will 
probably cause that territory to develop into, 
in some respects, a dairy region not easy to he 
excelled, at all events, in Canada. The coun¬ 
try is undulating, in some parts rolling and 
even brokeu, well sheltered by bluffs and 
trees, and well watered by numerous lakes 
aud creeks, while there are many natural 
meadows and pastures, aud a soil which will 
grow various crops that are subsidiary to 
dairy farming. 
There are now about a score of cheese fac¬ 
tories aud creameries in Manitoba, and the 
number, it is expected, will increase pretty 
rapidly. The climate is said to be suitable for 
dairying pursuits, and a clear, dry air is con¬ 
ducive to a good quality of cheese aud butter. 
I saw two of the factories, one at Minnedosa, 
which, however, hardly deserves the name of 
a factory; and the other at School Lake, some 
85 miles farther west. The School Lake fac¬ 
tory, which is run by Mr. I. G. Waldock, is 
situated ou the edge of the lake, and iu a very 
pretty country. It was opened rather late in 
188(5, but it turned out 35,000 pounds of cheese, 
which averaged 10A cents per pound at the 
factory. There are some two hundred cows 
this year whose milk will have been made iuto 
cheese. Iu the month of September 45:’ pounds 
of cheese, green out of press, were made 
from 3,050 pounds of milk, showing the milk 
to be of good quality. The September 
cheese was being held for 13 cents, the previ¬ 
ous parcel having gone at 11 cents. The price 
paid for the milk is as follows:—80 cents per 
100 pounds for that delivered by the, farmers 
at the factory; 05 cents for that collected from 
the farmers: aud 55 cents for that milked by 
the factory hands. Home of the fanners pas¬ 
ture their cows in common, and they are 
brought down to the factory to be milked. 
In other cases the factory wagons collect the 
milk, sometimes from as far as 15 miles. In yet 
others, the farmers themselves deliver the 
milk. Twenty-five cents per 100 pounds of 
milk are supposed to be an equivalent of milk¬ 
ing and herding the cows, and 15 cents a fair 
allowance for collecting. The cheese is of 
good quality, close in texture, eleau in fiavor, 
meaty aud pleasant On the tougue—a decided¬ 
ly creditable production, in fact. 
Little or no difficulty is experienced with 
milk out of condition, though a large portiou 
of it is delivered only once a day. The at¬ 
mosphere is so pure and clear, that the milk 
keeps sweet very well, even in hot weather 
mid when it is driven a longdistance over the 
prairie. The cheese is being sent out to the 
Pacific Coast, to Vaucouver and Victoria, 
though no doubt Manitoba Could consume, so 
far, all the cheese produced in the province. 
My impression is that Northwestern cheese 
will, ina few years’ time, be known in mauy 
places, and that it will he sold ou our English 
market. Creamery butter from Manitoba 
carried off the first prize at the recent Torouto 
fair, startling the Ontario farmers uota little. 
The dairying industry of the Northwest is, 
of course, only in its babyhood, but the baby 
is a vigorous one and destined to grow. 
poultiA 1) artb 
POULTRY AT THE FAT STOCK SHOW. 
(RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
A crowded department', the breeders favor 
“fancy points,” the public, utility; a Jine 
display ; suggested improvements. 
At the Chicago Fat Stock Show of 188(5 a 
poultry department was created, which filled 
all the space of the gallery, aud this season 
the exhibits were much larger, uot a foot of 
space devoted to poultry being unoccupied. 
The Incubator contest for a -prize of $100 
brought only three incubators as contestants; 
but they batched IW, !M aud i>8 chicks from 100 
eggs each. The visitors showed their appre 
ciatiou of the poultry department by crowd¬ 
ing it dnring the whole time of the show, ami 
it will in future be an important feature. 
It is regretted that while the display of 
“ fauey” poultry was large and creditable, no 
attention was given to market fowls. There 
should have been a special department for 
eggs, dressed carcasses and the best display of 
live market poultry, as well as premiums for 
desirable crosses and broilers. This course is 
pursued with all other classes of stock, aud 
poultry should he uo exception. There were 
excellent displays of eggs from pure breeds to 
show the modes of packing for shipment to 
customers; but so far as the farmer was con¬ 
cerned, he received no encouragement. Yet, 
if breeders of pure breeds will encourage qual¬ 
ity in market, poultry, they will greatly pro¬ 
mote their own trade by creating a greater 
demand for the pure breeds for purposes of 
improvement. 
The display, however, showed that those 
breeds possessing the merit of utility greatly 
predominated in numbers over those that are 
strictly ornamental: specimens of such breeds 
as Polish, Rumpless, Frizzled, etc., were few; 
while the display of Brahmas, Cochins, Ply¬ 
mouth Rocks, Wyandottes, and Leghorns was 
large, the Brahmas excelling in number as 
compared with the others. The yellow leg 
had its favorites, and in market quality en¬ 
deavored to assert its rights. From a “Stan¬ 
dard” poiut of view the display consisted of 
some of the finest birds ever brought together, 
and all premiums were won uuder strong 
competition. 
Several coops of imported Dorkings were 
exhibited and greatly admired, while the 
Brown Leghorns were superior to any ever 
before brought together. Nearly 2,000 birds 
were shown, including turkeys seldom 
equaled. The department was well managed 
aud the birds received all necessary atten¬ 
tion. It is hoped that the next Fat Stock 
Show will have, in addition to the pure-bred 
poultry department, a grand display of mar¬ 
ket fowls, eggs, etc., with premiums for the 
best display of dressed poultry of all ages, 
so as to encourage judicious crossing for the 
best results. p. h. j. 
Ultral (Topics. 
RUMINATION. 
HENRY STEWART. 
Do the readers of the Rural study the 
fuuny picturei on the last page? They ought 
to do so because, besides the fuu in them, there 
is nearly always a sober and serious lesson. 
The very funny tale of a Thanksgiving diu- 
ner has a very useful lessou in it. How many 
quarrels between friends occur from thought¬ 
less differences of opiuiou expressed bitterly 
uud causing wholly unnecessary and Selfish 
anger! If oile would only stop to think, and 
the other would hold on a momeut and con¬ 
sider whether or not there is a mistake, nine 
out of every ten quarrels iu families aud be¬ 
tween friends would never happen. 
The Rural excels iu its pictures of live 
stock. The Hampshire sheep ou the first page 
(Nov. 19th) are perfect To fully appreciate 
the beauty of such an engraving it should be 
looked at with one eye through a short paper 
tube, or the hand closed Juto a ring, so as to 
shut out all else. The perspective uud fore¬ 
shortening tbeu appear us if the objects were 
solid and alive. I have these three Hamp- 
shires mounted aud framed and huog in my 
collection of good pictures. 
What an experience that is of public life 
giveu by Ex. Ag. Com Gen. LeDuc. We are 
all apt. to envy high offirials and think them 
to be very happily placed. Alas! the public 
is a hard and thankless taskmaster, and the 
public servant is not only ill paid, but is 
abused, maligned, slandered, and so generally 
ill-treated that it is a surprise any men could 
be found to take the positions. Since the first 
Agricultural Commissioner [ don't know of 
one that was not charged with folly, dis- 
houesty. Corruption, nepotism, and all the 
vices that humanity is heir to. Anil the new 
comer, possibly out of prepared revenge for 
what his successor will do to him, does all he 
cau to belittle his predecessor aud to make his 
memory odious. Gen. Le Due seems to have 
had more thau his share of this trouble, al¬ 
though he tried his best to give us a. cup of 
native tea with native grown sugar iu it. 
This reminds me that the diffusion process 
(mentioned on page 771) is quite nu old thiug. 
I saw It iu operation iu a French sugar fac¬ 
tory a good many years ago in making beet 
sugar; but it required several years to become 
fully introduced When we think that it 
needed SO years to make beet sugar a success¬ 
ful manufacture, with all tho power of the 
French and German Governments to sustain 
it for many years, we ought uot to bo discour¬ 
aged about our sorghum. Still my friend of 
the Live Stock Indicator is quite right in 
warning the Kansas farmers to keep out of 
the factory business. If they will grow the 
sorghum for the factories it is all their share 
of the work. I have known many joint stock 
farmers’ woolen factories, machine shops and 
other such enterprises, but not one which did 
not fail aud result in total loss to the first in¬ 
vestors. “Let the cobbler stick to his last.” 
Those valuable experiences in regard to 
drought recall ray attempt to irrigate a large 
garden in a small way with a five horse¬ 
power engine and water from an adjacent 
stream. It was most successful as far as it 
went, keeping three acres of garden aud lawn 
green and flourishing in the driest times. A 
five horse-power steam pump costs no more to 
run than a kitchen stove and no more to buy 
than a windmill, and it runs without caring 
for the wind. Aud it will raise 30 gallons of 
water 100 feet high in a minute. Irrigation 
by underground pipes is, I believe, a patented 
device in very common use iu California 
Common drain tiles are used and serve as well 
for this purpose as they do fordrainage. The 
tiles are laid one foot under the surface. I 
used a hose and one-fourth inch nozzle which 
threw a shower 100 feet so that an acre could 
be watered from oue standpoint. 
Dr Kilborne’s advice. Is so uniformly good 
that I venture to remark for once, that iodine 
applied to a cow’s udder, while it will resolve 
a lump or cake in a case of garget, will act 
unfavorably upon the milk secretion, and les¬ 
sen it considerably. I have used this remedy 
iu my dairy at times, always with useful re¬ 
sult for the disease, but invariably with 
serious loss of milk. Hot water with long, 
gentle rubbing aud kneading and a mild stim¬ 
ulating liniment has always beeu effective in 
bringing the udder to a healthy condition. 1 
hope Dr. K. will excuse this trespass, but I 
speak as a dairyman and from the milk poiut 
of view. 
Readers of the Rural will remember a 
discussion some time ago between my friend 
O. S. Bliss and myself in regard to plowing 
under manure vs. scattering it ou the surface. 
Mr. Bliss insisted that the manure made the 
soil dry in a dry time; I that the manure ab¬ 
sorbed and held moisture. Now in summing 
up the experience of the late dry season the 
Rural says in its editorial page “Manure is 
needed more than ever in dry seasons.” My 
experience has been that an abundance of 
available plant food in the soil is of the great¬ 
est use under all circumstances. It wants to 
be where it exerts a mechanical effect upon 
the soil quite as iquch as a fertilizing effect. 
The right use of manure is one of the most 
important tbmgs for a farmer to know. 
You mention yuccas as a winter-green 
plant. In the South they are common weeds 
aud farmers say they are the most trouble¬ 
some weeds to get rid of. Near my present 
resting-place oue may see the corn-fields now 
patched over with these dark green plants 
growing most vigorously. (They are Yucca 
filamentosa). 
“ Light reading robs one of more prec¬ 
ious time than anything else to be named.” 
Mrs. Fisbcr has written many delightful 
things for the Rural, hut nothing truer, bet¬ 
ter or more useful than this sentence. “Life 
is earnest and there is no time to waste.” 
There are so many useful subjects for reading 
and study that are quite as entertaining as any 
novel, that no oue need to bo at a loss. The 
history of the United States and of other parts 
of our continent furnishes useful reading that 
has all the charm of one of the very best of 
the good novels and is most instructive be¬ 
sides. A great objection to our leading maga¬ 
zines is the superabundance of mere story¬ 
telling iu them. 
Saltpeter in food is unsafe. It has a most 
injurious effect upon the most delicate part of 
the human system, via: the kidneys; aud while it 
is a very good antiseptic and will do as Mrs. 
TV. C. G. says it will with bad butter and 
tainted meat, it would bo better to pack char¬ 
coal with the meat and to bold one’s nose 
while eating the butter than to use saltpeter.' 
This drug, borax aud salicylic acid should 
never be used in preparing food. All have a 
similar effect aud are very hurtful to some 
persons, if not to all. 
^omo logical. 
HOMEWARD BOUND. 
T. T. LYON. 
A trip through New England ; scant and un¬ 
thrifty orcharding; a visit to Dr. Hoskins; 
Mr. Itibb at home', his hard task in nam- 
i n g Russia n fru its. 
After the closing session of the American 
Pomological Society at Boston in September 
last, my way homeward was a somewhat cir¬ 
cuitous oue via Northern Vermont and Mou- 
