THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
of them, having other means of support, are 
willing to work for the price of their petti¬ 
coats alone. This is evidently one of the 
causes for the low wages paid for female la¬ 
bor. It is an extremely hard matter to rem¬ 
edy; it cannot be mended by strikes, but it 
may probably be improved by a wholesome 
agitation in favor of justice, humanity, and 
charity toward our suffering white slaves. 
Milk Analyses. —During the last three 
years Professor Alvord has compiled all the 
reliable analyses he could find of milk of 
known origin, embracing several hundred, 
and his present averages, he says, give these 
comparisons, as printed in the Breeder’s 
Gazette: 
In 100 parts milk, Jerseys. All Breeds. Holsteins. 
Water. 85.18 87.31 87.92 
Total Solids.. 14 82 12 69 12.08 
Caseine. 3.98 3 41 3.15 
Fat. ... . 5.06 3.6(5 3.30 
Sugar. 5.03 4 92 4.90 
Ash. 0.75 0.70 0.73 
Examining these figures, is there any doubt, 
he asks, as to which is the profitable milk to 
produce for butter, or cheese, or food? Or, 
which is the economical milk to buy for any 
purpose? And is it not absurd that milks dif¬ 
fering as these do should be sold at like prices? 
He concludes that all milk should be graded 
on the common-sense basis of its total solids 
and sold according to its actual food value 
determined. 
Scrub vs. Pure-bred Cows. —The advan¬ 
tage of keeping pure-bred cattle in preference 
to scrubs is shown in a striking manner in the 
dairy interests of another State, remarks the 
Industrialist above quoted from. A good scrub 
milch cow will require,ordinarily,the products 
of four acres good land for her proper mainten¬ 
ance for one year. She will produce about 
4,000 pounds of milk, or 1,000 pounds to the 
acre, m this time. Of this, at least 25 pounds 
will be necessary to make one pound of but¬ 
ter. This gives a product of 40 pounds of but¬ 
ter to the acre: which, at 25 cents per pound, 
gives a gross revenue of $10 p«r acre. From 
this must be paid the cost of seed, cultivation, 
and harvesting of crops, as well as the cost of 
the daily care of the cow. On the other hand, 
a pure-bred J ersey or Guernsey will by the 
aid of soiling crops and silage, live upon 
the product of one acre of ground for a year. 
In this time she will produce 5,000 pounds of 
milk, which, at 20 pounds to the pound of 
butter, will give a crop of 250 pounds of but¬ 
ter to the acre. This at the same price per 
pound, gives a gross revenue of $62.50 per 
acre, or $52.50 a year in favor of the pure 
breed and the silo. 
A Silo—Its Cost. —Professor A. J. Cook 
of the Michigan Agricultural College last 
winter visited many farms where silos were 
in use, and not a single one of the farmers 
visited could say teo much for this modern 
method of preserving feed. Many were pre¬ 
paring to build more and larger ones. He 
became convinced that good silos were very 
desirable, and resolved to build one. 
Professor Cook’s silo, as he states in the 
Michigan Farmer, is 14 by 15 feet, inside 
measurement, and 20 feet high. It extends 
from the basement story of his barn 12 feet 
above the first floor. Except the stone wall 
on one side, which is two feet thick and eight 
feet high, it consists of double walls separated 
by plank joists one fooc wide. The outer 
wall is made of two thicknesses of inch boards 
with building paper between. The inner wall 
is sheeted and plastered with water-lime, just 
as he would plaster a good cistern. The stone 
wall is also plastered in the same way. A 
door extends from top to bottom. This is 
made of inch boards, six inches wide and one 
inch thick, and is also doubled. The inner 
door is single, and will become very tight with 
the swelling of the moisture; the outer one is 
made of two thicknesses of boards and paper 
sheeting between. Professor Cook is very 
much pleased with his silo. It is well-built, 
and cost him only $126.88, though he used $20 
worth of old siding for the inner part of the 
outside wall. This silo holds 70 tons of ensi¬ 
lage. 
Packing Butter. —Our respected friend 
Col. F. D. Curtis says, in Country Home, that 
when butter is packed, according to the cus¬ 
tom of the careful housewife, it does not con¬ 
tain more than 10per cent, of water; some of 
this dries out before it gets to market, perhaps 
two per cent. Such butter will never be so 
Popular as the fresh made, although more 
honest in its character, because it does not 
spread as readily and does not look so light 
and lustrous. Plenty of moisture sets the but¬ 
ter off in its appearance and adds to its good 
looks and does not injure its taste at all. The 
water absorbs the aroma and helps hold it for 
a short time. Such butter will not keep well 
and some good people might say it was a sin 
to sell it so. Any person of ordinary intelli¬ 
gence ought to know that it contains more 
moisture, atjij it is tbe moisture which makes 
it as it is — that is, as consumers want 
it. If we never do anything more than to 
make our butter as people want it, plastic, 
bright and palate-pleasing, we shall get along. 
No butter is pure fat alone, and the popular 
butter is simply .more moist than the unpopu¬ 
lar. 
A good farm newspaper, says Secretary 
Graham in the Industrialist, the bright little 
paper published by the Ag. Coll , of Kansas, 
furnishes an education to the farmer and bis 
children, that can be had in no other way. 
The agricultural press of this country now 
counts among its workers some of the bright¬ 
est and best minds of the day; and the farmer 
who subscribes for the good farm papers, and 
reads them, gets, in a well-digested form, the 
best thoughts of the best men. A good farm 
paper has some points in common with a good 
Short-horn. It has no waste “leather” in front 
and does not taper off behind. It is built on 
the “square,” and has all parts well filled. Its 
back is broad enough to carry the weight of 
all shades of opinion and furnish meat for all 
consumers. It is built “close to the ground,” 
and carries with it in condensed form, the 
refined essence of the earth from which it 
gains support. 
BY THE SHORT WAY. 
For full directions for making hot-beds and 
cold-frames, see the catalogues announced in 
these columns.. 
Striped Zinnias are among the novelties of 
merit in the new catalogues_Try the 
Double White Phlox Drummondii. Fimbria- 
ta and Cuspidata (Phloxes) are also good. 
The “Express” Cabbage is said to be of 
small size and the earliest of all cabbages. It 
resembles Etampes_The All Seasons Cab¬ 
bage seems to adapt itself, according to seeds¬ 
men’s reports, to early or late sowing. It is 
highly recommended-Try Thorburn’s Gilt- 
edge Snowball Cauliflower. It is said to be, 
by those who know,the very best cauliflower 
in cultivation... .The new dwarf okra, named 
Density, grows about two feet high, producing 
long, fleshy pods... 
Try the new pepper, “Celestial,” a Chinese 
sort which is said to set its fruit early in the 
season and continues so to do until frost. .... 
The Sibley Squash holds its stem at the 
larger end. The seed shows this to be a new 
vaiiety. Shell pale green, very hard and thin. 
The flesh is solid, thick and of fine quality. 
The weight runs from eight to 10 pounds. 
Ripens with the Hubbard. 
During the session of the late Dairy Con¬ 
vention at Middletown, N. Y., Mr. Wheeler 
took exception to Major Alvord’s advice in 
regard to Jersey cows, according to the Culti¬ 
vator. Holsteins, he said, would produce 
more milk that was up to the legal standard, 
and it would bring as much money as Jersey 
milk. He has some Holstein cows that will 
return him $100 a year in milk sold, and he 
does not feed highly either. One heifer, in 
ten months, has produced $86, and will reach 
$100 before she goes out of milk, and her grain 
feed has not cost over $20. He is breeding for 
a dairy of forty cows that will yield $100 worth 
of milk each, and he believes he will get it. 
Several other gentlemen followed up this lead 
with telling emphasis. 
To protect fruit trees against rabbits, mice, 
etc., Samuel Miller tells us in Popular Gar¬ 
dening, to take fine wire netting, such as is 
used for window screens, shear into strips 18 
inches broad, then into lengths to surround 
the trees and lap over considerably. This will 
also protect the tree against the borer. 
Mr. Hoard says that a healthy milch cow, 
in full flow of milk, will drink and requires 
sixty to one hundred pounds of water per 
diem. It is utterly impossible to get one to 
take one-half or even one-quarter of this 
amount of ice-water, nor will they drink the 
ice-water or cold water with any regularity. 
A writer in the London Live Stock Jour¬ 
nal claims the following advantages of cross¬ 
bred poultry as stock for the farmer. 1. Cross¬ 
bred chickens are less liable to disease. 2. 
They grow rapidly. 3. Individuality is not 
wholly lost by crossing. 4. The laying quali¬ 
ties of several breeds, and of poultry general¬ 
ly, will be improved by crossing. 5. Cross¬ 
bred fowls will, as a rule, attain a greater 
izetbanif pure bred. An additional points 
for English poultrymen is made of the fact 
that damp soil, which is fatal to the Dorking 
—the favorite English breed—would not mil¬ 
itate against the produce of a cross with that 
breed. 
A writer in the London Live Stock Jour¬ 
nal records the fact that he has two freemar- 
tins that are breeding regularly. Both are 
Hereford heifers—twin calves in each case 
with a bull, The writer concludes that a free- 
niartm from a good dairy cow should never 
be discarded without a trial. 
GQYpflfLL, the Kansas State ageqt 
who was appointed to determine what sugar 
production was entitled to the two-cent boun¬ 
ty offered by the Legislature, says in his re¬ 
port that farmers cannot make sugar at a 
profit in a mall way. A heavy expenditure 
of money is required in the machinery and 
buildings. He holds that Kansas farmers, if 
they are not obliged to haul over two miles, 
will be able to grow cane at a profit for two 
dollars a ton. He admits that the present 
processes employed in sugar making are far 
from perfection, and cautions those who have 
neither experience nor knowledge not to rush 
into the business. 
The passion flower, Constance Elliot, en¬ 
dures 20 degrees of frost with our contributor 
Mr. Falconer, according to the American 
Florist. Clianthus Dampieri lived through 
several sharp frosts unscathed, but 10 degrees 
of frost killed it .... 
A writer in the Michigan Farmer—one of 
the best of our Western agricultural ex¬ 
changes—says that he had 10 head of cattle 
which were very lousy, and he tried various 
remedies without much success. He finally 
sprinkled Slug Shot upon them and rubbed it 
well into the hair. Two applications did the 
business. Now Slug Shot is a mixture of 
some form of arsenic with lime, plaster or 
both. The secret of its efficacy, as the R. N. -Y. 
believes, lies in the thorough intermixture, 
or rather the thorough extension of the ar¬ 
senic by the lime or plaster. This is also the 
secret of its harmlessness. So small a quan¬ 
tity of the poison is mingled with so large a 
quantity of the plaster that a considerable 
quantity would have to be eaten to injure an 
animal. . 
ABSTRACTS. 
N. E. Farmer: “In the progress of the art 
of bee keeping it would seem that only another 
step is needed to place bee breeding on a level 
with stock breeding, and to make registers as 
necessary to the bee keeper as to the shepherd 
or poulterer. Queen bees are as long-lived as 
sheep or hens, and their individual characters 
seem to be quite as variable.”-Farm and 
Home: “Spare us from the long-winded ‘ad¬ 
dress of welcome’ that forms a prominent fea¬ 
ture of too many farmers’ institutes. Such 
talk occupies valuable time that ought to be 
devoted to the short and practical papers or the 
telling of practical experience that comprise 
the essential and most valuable features of in¬ 
stitute work.”-Hoard’s Dairyman: “The 
best cow in the world in the hands of a stingy 
feeder will soon be no better than a scrub. 
Hundreds of times have we seen cows bought 
of stingy feeders, that were barely paying 
their keep, but when given a fair show devel¬ 
oped into very profitable animals. The 
stingy feeder is almost always an ignorant 
feeder. He doesn’t know how to feed even that 
which he feeds out.”-Michigan Farmer: 
“Thrashing corn has come to stay.”- 
gjftiisrcUattMUjS 
B LATCH FORD’S 
Royal Stock Food Cattle Cake 
OR 
EXTRA OIL CAKE. 
(See Analysis and feeding Value.) 
For the rapid fattening of stock, and also for In¬ 
creasing the yield of milk, and producing a larger 
percentage of butter fats. Try it and compare re¬ 
sults. 
BLATCHFORD’S CALF MEAL. 
For raising young stock with very little milk, and 
for preventing scouring. 
FOR SALE BY ALL DEALERS. 
Send for “Pamphlet on Feeding” and Testimonials, 
mailed free by 
E. W. BLATCHFORD & CO., CHICAGO. 
Self Guiding:. Uses a wheel landside. Two horses 
instead of three. A ten year old boy instead of a plow¬ 
man. No pole (except among stumps). No side draft. 
No neck; weight. No lifting at corners. Easier driving. 
straigbter I IfiUTFR DRAFT THAN ANY 
furrows, and MUniCW UHHM PLOW on or 
off wheels. Will plow any ground a mower can cut 
over. No equal in hard, Btony ground, or on hillsides. 
Oui book. “ FUN ON THE FARM,” seat Fre* 
to all who mention this paper. 
ECONOMIST PLOW CO.■OTiffi* 
1 1ST Special prices and time for trial given 
erdertj frvm poiafci wbero.tre u« a 
ACTIVE AGENTS WANTED! 
— To canvass for our Improved- 
Thomas Reversible Harrow, 
Spring Tooth Harrow, 
Thomas Smoothing Harrow. 
For Illustrated Pamphlet and Terms, Address 
Herendeen Mfg. Co., Geneva, N. Y. 
$ TEAM! SIEAM! 
Wk build Automatic Engines from 2 to 200 H. P„ 
equal to anything in market. 
A Large lot of 2,3 and 4-H. Engii.es 
with or without boilers, low for cash. 
B. W. PAYNE & SONS, 
Box 17. Elmira, N, Y, 
Pennsylvania Agricnltnral Works, York, Pa. 
Farquhar’s Standard Engines and Saw Hills. 
Semi for Catalogue. Portable, Sia- 
tionarj, Traction and Automatic Ka- 
_*—a specialty. Warranted equator 
superiorta 
any made. 
Addro*s k . — • 
diggIr 
ECZjI 
POST 
HOLE 
The Greatest LABOR-SAVING tool ever 
invented for digging holes in the ground. Thii 
machine works on a NEW PRINCIPLE* 
and is unlike any thing; in the market. Wo 
claim for thin tool: 1st. That one can dir 
from TWO to THREE HUNDRED hole* 
two feet deep in one dav. 2d. That it will dig 
hole* any SIZE or DEPTH required, and 
will work successfully in VERY HARD or 
ROUGH ground where other diggers and 
augers will not work at all. 3d. You stand up 
straight while using it, consequently no back¬ 
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for descriptive circular and prices to P. 
COLE A 00*9 Su ccesso r*, to 
GRIND Bo°n U e, K « 
U II I II U OysterShells; 
Graham Flour <6 Corn, in the 
CCjHAND MILL (F Patent“ a 
Qw lOOper cent, more made 
in keeping Poultry. Also ROWER MILLS and 
FARM FEED MILLS. Circulars and testimonials 
tout on (-.plication. WILSON BROS. Easton. Pa. 
THE LIGHTNING HITCH 
Is an invention by which a horse 
can be hitched and unhitch'd 
to and from a carriage almost 
INSTANTLY. Easily and 
Cheaply Adjusted'" any set 
of Harness, doing away with long 
traces, breech straps, fastening and unfastening of 
buckles; pulls from whiflletree Stylish, simple, always 
fits. Comfortable to the horse. Thousands in use. Sells on 
sir/ht. Agents wanted everywhere. Send for circular. 
Address The LIGHTNING ' ~ " 
BLACKSMITHING on the FARM 
Save time and money by using llolt’i celebrated 
F0R6E and KIT of TOOLS For $20 
Larger 8ize, 126. Single Forge. $10. 
Blacksmiths’ Tools, Hand Prills, Ac. 
HOLT MFQ. CO.I 52 Central Way CleTelaadaO, 
GRINDER 
PerfecrMowing 
Machine Knife 
Grinder, 
15000 
Machines in actual 
use testifying to its 
merits. 
Can be carried into the field and attached to Mowing 
Machine Wheel. Send for new Descriptive Catalogue. 
HIGGANUM MANUF’G. CORPORATION, 
Main Office: HIGGANUM, CONN. 
Successors to R. H. Allen Sc Co., 189 Water St., N. Y. 
HOMPSON'S 
°a!»uSEEDER 
1 Sows Clover, Timothy, Red Top and all 
kinds of Grass Seeds, any quantity to the 
acre as evenly and accurately as the best 
grain drill. Unrivalleil for fast and accu- 
Indispensable for sow¬ 
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Send for descrip¬ 
tive circular, tes¬ 
timonials, &c. 
Manufactured by 
0. E. THOMPSON 
YPSILASTI, men. 
’V 0 
AliOliLDS 4 AUSTIN, 
tSi manufacturers, 
167 & 160 
LAKE STREET. 
CHICAGO, ILL 
EXCLUSIVE 
TERRITORY 
GIVEN TO 
ACTIVE 
AGENTS, 
