THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
Puinj 
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ONE OF THE 
DAIRIES THA.T SUPPLY PARIS 
WITH MILK. 
Breed; average milk yield per day, feeding 
rations; comparative milk yields of spayed 
and other cores; comparative richness of 
both kinds of mrlk. 
Every traveler abroad and every dairyman 
of reading and intelligence have seen, beard or 
read something of the famous dairy farm of 
D’Arcy which supplies the best Paris people 
with milk delivered twice daily in sealed glass 
bottles. We concern ourselves on this occa¬ 
sion with some account of the breeds furnish¬ 
ing the milk, their food during the summer, 
autumn and winter, the average quantity of 
milk yielded by each cow and its ohemica 
composition and nutritive character. The 
cows are of the Contentin breed andare most¬ 
ly raised in the Department of the Marche 
which lies on the northwest coast of France 
and has the islands of Jersey and Guernsey for 
near neighbors. The average weight at the 
adult age is 1,300 pounds, and the average 
value $140. All are distinguished for good form 
and qualities as milkers and are remarkable 
for their uniform, healthy condition. The 
average yield per day for the time they are 
kept, is about two gallons or eight litres, the 
litre containing 61 cubic inches or 3.25 cubic 
inches more than the quart of the standard 
gallon of the United States, i. e. 231 cubic inch¬ 
es. The best milkers often yield 20.25andeven 
30 quarts per day, for some months after calv¬ 
ing and these are ietained three and some¬ 
times four years. 
While giving milk they are never turned out 
to grass, but are stall-fed from one end of the 
season to the other. For January, February, 
March and April, the daily rations of each 
cow consist of 11 pounds of dry hay, 88 pounds 
of sugar beets, 2% pounds of bran and shorts, 
17 pounds of straw, 6 pounds of oil meal and 
oneanda-third ounce of salt. For May and 
June, the daily allowances are, yellow or 
crimson clover, 77 pounds (green of course) 
bran and shorts two and a fourth pounds, oil 
meal five and a half pounds, straw 17)4 pounds 
and salt one and one-third ounce. For July 
and August [the rations are Alfalfa (green of 
Course) 77 pounds, bran and shorts 31-3 pounds, 
oil meal 4)4 pounds, straw 15)4pounds and salt 
1 1-3 ounce. For September and October the 
feeding of dry hay is resumed to the measure 
of 5)4 pounds, and then comes in green corn, 
88 pounds, followed by the inevitable 4)4 
pounds of bran and shorts, 6)4 pounds of oil 
meal, 17 pounds of straw, and 1 1-3 ounce of 
salt. For November and December, sugar 
beets are resumed and 88 pounds are consumed 
daily, togother with 11 pounds of hay, 2% 
pounds of bran and shorts, 6)4 pounds of oil 
meal, 18 pounds of straw and the steady salt 
supply of 11-3 ounce. , The points worthy of 
note in the above facts are, that the Jerseys 
and Guernseys are not preferred for milk and 
give place to heavier weights and larger 
breeds, as in the United States; that the average 
yield of milk is not large; that hay makes a 
small portion of the whole ration; that bran, 
oil meal, and salt in a certain definite measure, 
are essential alike for milk production and the 
uniform health of the cows. 
An analysis of the milk shows it to contain in 
the 1,000 grams—a gram is 15 grains avoirdu. 
pois—48.50 grams of butter 14.50 of albumen— 
we suppress the decimals—representing quan¬ 
tities less than hundredths—17.68 of caseine, 
53.59 sugar of milk, 8.63salts and 885.90 water. 
Of this milk, 322.822 litres were sold in ’85—’86 
for a trifle over 71 francs the 100 litres, or a 
little more than 14 cents the quart. 
The proprietor, wishing to learn whether the 
milk of the spayed cows differed from others, 
found, after a series of experiments carried on 
fortwo years with seven cows in each cate¬ 
gory, that the latter gave 10.88 litres and the 
former 7.71. But the spayed cows continued 
to give the same quantity of milk all through, 
and the yield, as in the other, was not subject 
to variation on account of the activity, at 
certain periods, of the organs of reproduction. 
Comparing the milk of cows not in gestation, 
those in that state and spayed cows, it was 
found the milk of the former contained less 
solid matter than that of the two latter. Ac¬ 
cording to the experimenter, Mr. Nicholas, in 
cows that have been bred the appetite and the 
power for the assimilation of food are so much 
increased, the milk is always richer than that 
of cows which have not been bred. As to the 
milk of spayed cows, the experiments showed it 
contained more butter, more caseine and more 
of the mineral salts, than that of cows which 
had not been reformed in this particular. 
The content of milk of the cows in the three 
categories, differs so widely and so much from 
the common notion that farrow^cows give the 
richest and best milk if not the most of it, it 
appears worth the while to give the figures 
Thus, the butter contained in a liti e of the 
milk of a spayed cow, a cow in ordinary con¬ 
dition and a third cow in a state of gestation 
was found to be respectively, 50.10 grams, 44.- 
50, and 59.00. The albumen, 10.32, 7.22, and 
12'31;the caseine, 19.31, 16.47, 19.75; the sugar 
of milk, 57.70, 54.00, 57.50; the salts, 8.10, 7.15 
and 7.75; the water, 872.10, 893.10, and 870.10. 
The latter statement of facts surprised us 
all the more since they are at variance with 
those of a milkman whom we know quite in¬ 
timately, and who having acquired the repu¬ 
tation of selling the best of milk, said he ob¬ 
tained it by keeping the milk breeds out of his 
herds., never milking a cow in calf, and feed¬ 
ing generously., b. f. j. 
DAIRY THOUGHTS. 
I have the care of a dairy and a great many 
questions arise in my mind when I read the 
instructions given as to how we should take 
care of a dairy. Usually the first direction is 
to keep everything clean, and one would think, 
to read some articles, that farmers kept their 
milk and butter in a pig-sty. Now I think we 
know as well as any one that the “flavor” of 
manure in milk and butter is not agreeable, to 
say the least. There is very little trouble 
about dirt in the summer if the cows have a 
good pasture, and if they are well bedded in 
winter not much more then. Now I will not 
find a word of fault with the Rural cartoons, 
but I will give the Rural and any of its read¬ 
ers an invitation to come into our milk-room, 
and I am not afraid of their stomach being 
turned either. If there were not too many, I 
would give them a drink of milk, but would 
prefer to dip it out myself rather than have 
them “tip the pan up.” We do not “trade 
out” our butter unless we have more balls of 
winter butter than we want, and then it is 
easily exchanged for groceries or grass seed, 
| er close one of them with the sliding cover 
shown in the sketch. One side of the roof is 
hung on hinges so that it can be raised when 
the coop is to be cleaned out. The apex of the 
roof is covered with a strip of waterproof 
cloth to shed rain. 
The rear end is supported on two wheels six 
inches in diameter cut from two-inch oak 
stuff. The wheels with their connecting axle 
raise the floor of the coop four inches above 
the ground, keeping it dry, and preventing 
the drowning of the chicks in very heavy 
showers when water stands two or three inch¬ 
es deep on level ground, and also make it easy 
to move about from place to place. 
The protecting run is the same width as the 
coop and 30 or 40 inches long, and is made of 
fence lath or similar material. It has a hinged 
cover, as shown in the sketch. Food and water 
for the chicks are placed within this run and 
are out of the reach of other fowls. A coop of 
the size shown in the sketch is large enough 
for 25 chicks with a hen, or 50 without, and it 
can be moved about the garden almost as easi¬ 
ly as a wheelbarrow. It keeps the chicks dry, 
comfortable and healthy, and is easily clean¬ 
ed out. 
The coop should never be moved far at any 
one time, and always at night get 25 or 30 chicks 
in it, with or without a hen, draw it close to 
your cabbage and radish beds and the little 
fellows will make it mighty uncomfortable 
for the pestiferous flea that destroys these 
plants by wholesale. I tried this plan last 
year for the first time aud it worked like a 
charm. I did not lose over a dozen out of 20, 
000 cabbage plants and for the first time in 
years had more radishes than we could eat. 
When the chicks are taken out of my brood¬ 
er they are. put into this coop, the floor bed¬ 
ded an inch deep with short straw or dry 
leaves, and the front of the run closed so that 
they cannot get out After four or five days 
the run is opened and they go where they 
CHICKEN COOP AND PROTECTING RUN. 
or perhaps the neighbors want a few pounds. 
We sell our butter at the butter store and get 
the market price. Last fall when we sold our 
butter they had just bought some for which 
they had paid one cent per pound more than 
they were paying others. When questioned 
about it they replied that it was from a large 
dairy of Jersey cows and the owner had every¬ 
thing in the way of coolers and all sorts of 
conveniences to make good butter. We have 
a small dairy of common cows, small pans, 
and few extra conveniences, and for all their 
improvements they received one cent per 
pound more (and probably a larger quantity 
of butter) in the common market. Now the 
question often comes to my mind; If Henry 
Stewart should put his butter in the common 
market, without revealing his identity, how 
much more would he get? 
When I was in Iowa and Minnesota I saw 
something of the creameries there and liked 
their way of working, but I do not like very 
well the cheese factories which are quite 
plenty around here, and are often a moral in¬ 
jury to the community. f. t. f. 
Groton City N. Y. 
THE HEN vs. THE INCUBATOR. 
FRED GRUNDY. 
THIRD PAPER. 
CHICKEN COOP AND PROTECTING RUN. 
This coop is 24 inches wide by 30 long, and 
12 high at the sides. It has a drop door in front, 
which in the sketch (Fig. 90) is shown fas¬ 
tened up with a leather loop. There is a three- 
inch hole near the roof at each end, for venti¬ 
lation. Cover them with wire cloth to keep 
out rats and other vermin, and in cold weath- 
please, but are always fed inside of the run. 
When a storm is imminent I take a little 
food and call them into the run, close it up, 
then drive them into the coop and drop the 
door. It can all be done in half a minute, 
while if they were in charge of a silly old hen 
it could not be done within ten minutes. 
While my neighbors have sometimes lost over 
half of their chicks in the sweeping showers 
that burst upon us without any warning, I 
have never lost one. 
Bed the coop only while the chicks are 
small, and be sure that the bedding is short, 
fine stuff, and don’t forget to close the door 
every night. 
Christian Co., Ill. 
|3oraotogicai. 
THE R. N.-Y.’S METHOD OF CROWN 
GRAFTING. 
We have on several occasions called atten¬ 
tion to a method of grafting old trees which 
is as easy and effective as any known to us. 
At the request of several readers we give the 
illustration again at Fig. 91. It will be of in¬ 
terest to all new subscribers. Old subscribers 
can view this repetition in the light of a sug¬ 
gestion. The directions are, briefly, as fol¬ 
lows: Saw off the branch at right angles to 
the stem to be grafted. Cut a clean slit in 
the bark as shown. Separate the bark from 
the wood and insert the cion, b, one for each 
slit. It is supposed that the branch is six 
inches in diameter and that six cions are in¬ 
serted. The stock after grafting is shown at 
c. Then a thick paper is wound about the 
stock and fastened as at d. This paper comes 
one inch above the stock which space is filled 
with a puddle of soil and water made so thin 
that it can be readily poured from any suit¬ 
able vessel. A correspondent writes us that 
he used cow manure for this purpose with ex 
cellent results. Thus, no grafting wax is 
Fig. 91. 
needed as the mud protects the surface of the 
wood and excludes the air from the insertions. 
TOMATO-PLANTS—HOME-GROWN. 
As there are innumerably more people who 
make good beginnings than there are who 
carry these through to good endings, so in 
gardening it is almost universal to find in the 
kitchen window in March a little box of fine 
mold planted with tomato seed, although 
good result is by no means universal. But 
this beginning of garden operations is 
easily made, and there is pleasure in seeing 
the unfolding growth while yet all is bare, 
brown and chill if not covered with wintry 
white, over all out-doors. Our folks have 
been so much pleased with the well-doing of 
tomato-plants last year that were grown each 
in a little pot of tough, flour-sack paper, as to 
feel quite ardent about carrying out the same 
plan this year, with improvements. A 12. 
year-old girl has a box near the warm stove 
(covered with a pane or two of glass to retain 
the moisture) in which tomato seeds of three 
sorts, and some zinnias, balsams, petunias and 
verbenas are sown in rows, and are beginning 
to show themselves ready for the sunlight at 
the window. An older brother made the box, 
and brought in the mold to be' roasted in the 
oven before using it, in order to kill insect and 
weed germs. And both are now joining in 
putting some old flour-sacks to soak so that 
they can be opened into flat sheets, which will 
then be cut into pieces about 4)4 by eight 
inches, each of which will make a pot of 2)4 
inches diameter aud nearly four inches deep. 
These, set in cigar or other similar, larger 
boxes and filled with mold, will receive each 
a young plant when these have four leaves. 
The boxes can be readily set out in the sun¬ 
shine, or taken in or covered as required, 
until, after the middle of May, the air and 
soil of the garden will be mild enough for 
them; when they may be set out without the 
least check or injury to their roots. 
The pots are made by using a smooth, 
square bottle for a mold. A touch of warm 
wax serves to paste the half-inch of lap, and 
the bottom is folded just as a bookseller folds 
the ends of a parcel of books, one touch of 
wax holding the point of the final triangular 
fold to the others. If several bottles can be 
used each is left in place until the damp 
paper and warm wax have duly set into form. 
One sack will make more than 30 of such 
pots. Other paper will decay too soon, and 
fail at the time of transplanting. The wax 
used in canning will answer. If too hard a 
little tallow melted into it and well-stirred 
will improve it. This must be used by the 
stove. Shellac dissolved in alcohol, as used 
by all painters, can be used in any ordinary 
temperature. g. 
Keeping Celery.— To keep my celery I 
make boxes of any convenient length, eight or 
ten inches wide, and a little deeper than the 
'hight of the celery. I leave the celery out as 
late as it is safe, leave plenty of dirt on roots, 
set the plants in the boxes in a dark corner of 
the cellar, leave top of box open. We now 
have tender, crisp celery, blanched to end of 
leaves and keeping well. Seeing your article 
on keeping celery caused me to report above. 
. Wilmington, Ohio. w. mcf. 
