two months old I withdraw the milk and give 
as much as a fair handful of linseed meal, and 
an equal quantity of middlings, and plenty of 
early cut bay. I would rather raise a calf on 
Skim-milk and a little feed and hay, but the 
calves I raise this way do very well. Most of 
the calves I raise during the winter and early 
spring months, bht no matter when I raise 
them they all make good, shapely cows. Dur¬ 
ing the second winter of a calf’s life it should 
. have plenty of feed, and a warm stable. 
Orange Co. N. Y. 
FROM LEWIS F. ALLEN. 
According to my own experience of 50 
years in which I have bred grades from thor¬ 
oughbred bulls of the Short-horn, Devon and 
Guernsey breeds, crossed upon the native or 
common country cow, the influence of thor¬ 
oughbred sires is much greater on the gener¬ 
al character than that of the dams in a great 
majority of the calves relating to color, size 
and milk production where the milking quali¬ 
ty has largely existed in the bloc d of the sires. 
I have known the heifer calf from a moder¬ 
ate milking dam to proven good milker when 
the sire has been a pure Guernsey bull; but 
such an animal is not at all certain with a 
Short-horn or Devon sire. 
In raising dairy cows, I regard the good 
quality of the dam in yieldin'' milk as supe¬ 
rior to shape or size of the calf, as milk is the 
object for which she is bred. Good looks are 
valuable, but in a minor degree to good pro¬ 
duct of milk, butter and cheese. But the 
young calf should always be healthy and ro¬ 
bust in constitution. 
I have always raised my calves as follows: 
I let them suck two or three times the moth¬ 
er’s teats to draw off the foetal excrement 
after birth; then they are fed by hand on 
new milk for 10 or 12 days. After that for 
10 or 12 days they get one-half each new and 
skimmed milk. Afterward, till they are 
four, five or six months old, they get skimmed 
milk with, as age progresses, a little mill feed— 
not Indian meal—mixed with it, all they 
need and plenty of water if they want it. If 
good pasture is at hand I let them run on it; if 
not I give them moistened cut clover hay and 
wheat middlings and ground oats or pea-meal 
well mixed with it. If cut hay cannot be had 
long hay may be used; if short they will eat 
freely; but clover hay is much the best both in 
taste and for promoting growth. In that way 
I have always raised heifer calves successfully, 
in good health—put them to the bull when 
about 15 months old, and they dropped their 
first calves when about two years old. This 
js better than to breed when they are older, 
the lacteal faculty being better developed. 
The time of year when calves are produced, 
should suit the time when the milk is most 
needed. As a rule, I would not raise heifers 
from poor milking dams, no matter how well 
they looked. 
Buffalo, N. Y._ 
FROM JONATHAN TALCOTT. 
I am doing very little in the breeding of 
dairy stock. My stock are Short-horns, and if 
bred for the dairy they are valuable for that 
purpose, especially grade cows. All dairy ani¬ 
mals need selecting. Therearo so many poor 
cows in all dairy breeds that a good many 
culls should be disposed of as veals or beef at 
an early age. From years of experience I am 
convinced that the bull should be well selected 
from a choice dairy cow, with good square 
bag and well-sot teats as I have found that to 
be a strong point in a bull; his heifers will 
have the form of bag and teat of his female 
ancestors. If good, well formed bags and teats 
were the characteristics of his dam and grand, 
dam, a majority of his heifers will inherit 
those traits, which are among the best that a 
bull can give his get. If, on the contrary, the 
dam has a small, imperfect bag, and teats of 
small size and close-set, the bull’s get will in¬ 
herit largely those defects. Here is the cause 
of failure in many cases that should bo reme¬ 
died as much as possible by the selection of a 
bull from a choice family of dairy cows with 
well developed udders and well set teats. 
Rome, N. Y. 
FROM C. M. WINSLOW. 
When I began dairying 1 used an Ayrshire 
null on my native cows and found the major¬ 
ity of the calves were in appearance like the 
Ayrshire, and a larger proportion of them 
made better cows than I had previously ob¬ 
tained by buying the best of native heifers. 
I do not remember whether a very inferior 
cow produced a superior milker. In select¬ 
ing heifers to be retained in the dairy, I am 
influenced somewhat by the line of excellence 
on both sire’s and dam’s sides, and also very 
much by tho milk marks of the calf itself. No 
cow or bull produces all good stock, and there 
are marks on a enlf that indicate, almost to a 
certainty, its future rank as a cow. As my 
herd is used to supply a milk route I have the 
calves come from September 1st. to May 1st. 
The calves are usually permitted to suck 
once and are then taught to drink. They are 
fed twice each day at milking time with about 
two quarts of new warm milk until about one 
month old, when they are fed the same quan¬ 
tity of sweet skim-milk warmed. After they 
are about two months old they have an in¬ 
creased quantity of milk, and about one quart 
of bran is fed dry once a day. This is con¬ 
tinued until they are about six months old, 
when the milk is stopped, and they have about 
two quarts of bran until they are about one 
year old, or until 1 hey go out to grass as year¬ 
lings. They 7 are fed the next winter with 
poorer bay and two quarts of bran. They 
are served to come in when about eighteen 
months old. No fattening food is ever fed 
them, but only such food as will produce a 
good growth of bone and muscle. In this 
way my cows grow up very healthy and 
weigh at maturity fr om 1,000 to 1,200 pounds 
each. 
Brandon, Vermont. 
FROM H. R. HORTON. 
1. Ayrshire. 2. About two-thirds. 3. I 
do not know of a poor cow’s calf prov¬ 
ing to be a superior animal, because 
I have never raised calves from poor 
cows. 4. I would not raise a calf from a poor 
cow, but would raise a large, iine-shaj ed and 
well-formed calf from a second-) ate cow in 
preference to an inferior-shaped and small¬ 
sized calf from an extra cow. The calf is 
taken from the cow when a week old. It is 
then fed on milk fresh from the cow until it is 
three weeks old. After that it is fed on skim- 
milk if it can be obtained at 15 cents to 20 
cents per can of 40 quarts. If not, I feed it on 
gruel and fresh milk from the cow, about 
two-thirds gruel to one-third milk. The gruel 
is made of middlings scalded, about at the rate 
of one pint of middlings to three quarts 
of water. At first the calf is fed about three 
quarts lukewarm, wliich is increased as it 
grows older, but never more than four quarts 
at a time is given. The calves are fed morn¬ 
ing and night; also a small amount of hay is 
given at each feeding. When about three 
months old they are turned out to grass. 
They are then deprived of the gruel and milk 
and then given a pint of dry middlings once 
a day for about a month, and are then al¬ 
lowed to run until fall. I prefer to have 
them come in any time from the middle of 
February to the first of April. My calves are 
seldom troubled with scours. 
Johnson’s, N. Y. 
Stub horns and sore heads follow bad. de¬ 
horning; the best way of securing the head; 
the saw ; cutting the hair and greasing the 
wounds; dehorning has no bad effects in 
the production of dairy cows; nor do de¬ 
horned cattle ever again become pugna¬ 
cious. 
Perhaps having written a book on the sub¬ 
ject of dehorning cattle, of nearly 200 pages 
aud fifty odd illustrations, it may bo consid¬ 
ered that I have said my say, and that I should 
not be found criticising the say of others. 
It is unnecessary to repeat in the Rural’s 
columns the challenge which I have made over 
and over again calling on any one to show the 
book and page wherein prior to my time it 
was made known how to remove the horns 
from a bovine’s head and have no stub horns 
follow. If stub horns do follow there is al¬ 
most sure to be a sore head, and in the case 
of the Bloomington, Ill, despatch which went 
all over this country, in which it was alleged 
that many cattle died, and many heads not 
only remained sore, but even mortified, there 
was nothing the matter except that the cattle 
w ere improperly dehorned, and quite a good 
many of them had to be operated on a second 
time. 
Now, in briefly reviewing Dr. Kilbourne’s 
aud Mr. Crosby’s articles in tho Rural of 
June 2d, I shall try to point out some errors, 
and I shall do it in no captious spirit. For 
the benefit of those who have no knowledge 
of dehorning I would say there is a much bet¬ 
ter method of securing the head and neck of 
the animal than by the use of the stanchion. 
One principal objection to the use of the stan¬ 
chion is that the animal’s head has to be re¬ 
leased after being secured and turned from one 
side to the other in order to operate on both 
horns. By the use of the chute and a very 
simple apparatus to go around the head and 
neck both horns are removed without any 
change of the head, and the operator can stand, 
as he ought, squarely in front of the animal; 
aud the expense of such a chute is very trifl¬ 
ing. I think if Dr. Kilbourne will try my 
plan of securing the animal he will say that 
he has no further use for the stanchion. 
Now as to the saw, there are a good many 
animals with horns so built that they cannot 
be prope *ly removed by the use of a tenon- 
saw. If any reading the Rural will turn to 
page 59 at Fig. 21 of “Haaff’s Practical De- 
horner” he will see an illustration of such a 
horn. It is a very wrong thing to cut away 
the hair before operating. Let the hair alone. 
Cut out such an amount of hair and hide as is 
proper for the different ages, but don’t shave 
it off, and don’t put anything on after the 
horn is removed. I can produce hundreds of 
letters, in which the writers, after having tho¬ 
roughly tested the matter, agree in saying, 
“Don’t shave the hair.” If horns are removed 
during fly time, take common axle grease, and 
rub it on the hair, and on the wound after the 
scab is formed. If this is done while the 
wound is fresh the grease will not remain. 
Take a small handful of common cotton bat- 
tingsaturated thoroughly with theaxU grease, 
and put it inside of the frontal bone, so as to 
keep flies from getting into the frontal sinuses. 
Dr. Kilbourne is entirely wrong in recom¬ 
mending the use of pine tar. Pine tar and 
turpentine are alike irritants. If a sore head 
is desired the use of pine tar will certainly 
produce it. Dr, K’s recommendation to re¬ 
move calves’ horns by the use of a knife is very 
poor advice, and the man who follows it will 
learn the truth of what I say by experience, 
and I will say no more on this subject. 
Now, as to Mr. Crosby’s talk regarding the 
effect on “yield, quantity, quality, color,”etc. 
of butter, allow me to say in reply to his ques¬ 
tion, “Has any one tried it long enough to 
tell ior certain what the effect will be on 
a dairy animal,” yes, I think so. I have 
tried it on dairy animals for over eight 
years; both on common dairy animals and on 
imported Jerseys. I had an imported Jersey 
bull which was dehorned ove£ ten years ago, 
and have had his progeny more or less ever 
since, and I would as soon think of expatia¬ 
ting on the effect of dehorning a bull as far as 
his butter qualities are concerned as I would 
think of pretending that the paring of one’s 
finger nails would affect the use of his teeth. 
To my mind all this talk about butter bulls 
being “prepotent as to their butter qualities 
through the horns,” or as to a bull that 
was the sire of heifers getting bull calves 
after being dehorned, is the sheerest stuff and 
nonsense. I do not think Mr. Crosby’s com¬ 
ments on the subject of cattle being more gen¬ 
tle after being dehorned; about their congre¬ 
gating around the water-trough or feed rack, 
need any answer. Any one familiar with 
cattle knows the injurious effect of horns at 
the trough, at the feed rack, aud in producing 
abortion of calves. Mr. Crosby institutes a 
comparison with sheep, and gives us to under¬ 
stand that dehorned cattle will be as bad as 
battering-rams as they were in hooking each 
other before dehorning. It is sufficient an¬ 
swer to Mr. Crosby’s argument to say that 
he is simply mistaken, as many thousands of 
men here at the West are ready to testify. 
■- »♦ «- 
IMPROVED STOCK SALES. 
PROFESSOR A. J. COOK. 
Profitableness of improved stock ; fewer but 
better stock and better feed and care 
needed; large public sales as means of 
stock improvements, suggestions as to how 
to conduct them; objections answered. 
In these times, owing to drought, low 
prices, and other impediments to thrift on the 
farm, any hint that will aid the farmer should 
be welcome. From my observation I believe 
that nothing in our present farm practice 
cries louder for reform than the keeping of 
inferior stock. For illustration, let us con¬ 
sider cattle. Nearly all our farmers keep 
scrubs. Many indeed will not even patro¬ 
nize a good bull when biought to their very 
doors. What are the results? Cattle must 
be sold for $25 or $30, when if they were high- 
grade Short horns or other desirable breeds 
they would quickly sell for double the money. 
I know this, as I have just been buying. 
True, in many cases the high grades if kept 
as the scrubs are, would be themselves very 
scrubby scrubs. But here again tho farmer 
errs. There is no economy in doling out 
ratiQns to our stock whether they are scrubs 
or Short horns. It pays to feed well, aud to 
have animals that will utilize this feed to tho 
very best advantage. I have sold high grades 
when two years old readily for $50 and $75, 
for beef, and even heifers at that, and that 
too in these times of low prices. If our 
farmers would keep less stock, but better 
stock, and feed well, the profits would be 
largely increased. It would advance the 
price at once from $25 to $50 or $75. 
It is well, then, to encourago in every way 
possible tho general improvement of our farm 
stock. It has seemed to me for a long time 
that this might be partially accomplished by 
having large public sales of stock in each 
State. These could be annual, and should bo 
made great occasions. They would benefit 
the small stockman, and would give him tho 
same advantage that the extensive breeder 
now enjoys in his special sales. In this way a 
large amount of stock woilld be sold; the ani¬ 
mals would be sold on their merits, both as to 
breeding and individual excellence. Each 
person would pay his proportion ot the ex¬ 
pense of cataloguing, advertising, auctioneer¬ 
ing,etc., according to the number of his animals 
put up for sale. This would give the small 
and unknown breeder opportunity equal to 
his neighbors’, whose possessions were many- 
fold greater, aud were his animals as excellent 
he would secure prices as large. In this way, 
every really enterprising farmer, even though 
his farm was small, would be encouraged to 
purchase superior animals. Again, the would- 
be purchaser could go just once to some cen¬ 
tral locality, where this sale was held, aud 
secure just what he wanted at a minimum of 
expense. Thus the cost would be reduced, 
and there would be a larger number to select 
from. 
In some places, as Michigan, Illinois, and 
Ontario, the State Agricultural Colleges have 
adopted just this plan, but, if we except Illi¬ 
nois, the sale is just a college sale. The Illi¬ 
nois University, if I am correctly informed, 
has invited breeders near Champaign to unite 
with her in making these sales. It has been 
objected that poor stock would be brought to 
these sales. It could be stipulated that all 
should be recorded. Then if a man brought an 
inferior animal, such animal would sell low, 
and tho owner alone would suffer. Indeed 
there might be some one who would wish just 
such animals, desiring to pay a less price. It 
occurs to me that this plan has much to rec¬ 
ommend it, and I see no valid objections. Al¬ 
though a small breeder, I have, as yet, never 
had any trouble to sell all my stock as fast as 
I desired; but I have often heard small farm¬ 
ers say, “We would like to invest in better 
stock, if the expenses of looking it up were 
not too great; and if we thought wo could 
sell.” 
P. S. Let us hear from others. 
ECONOMICAL FEEDING. 
HENRY HALES. 
In trying to keep poultry many people- 
practice a false economy. Nothing is worse 
for feed than poor or damaged grain. Al¬ 
though I have known it to work well for a 
short time, it is sure to prove injurious in the 
end. Not that one needs give the highest price 
for the best grain fit for milling. There are 
lots of grain unfit for milling, that finds its • 
way into the markets, and this is just as good 
as the best for poultry feed, aud can bo bought 
cheaper. Perhaps the best, allhough not com¬ 
mon, is wheat that has wild garlic or oniou 
seeds in it. I have known large quantities 
of such grain that could not be used for mil¬ 
ling purposes, on account of the garlic seed 
flavoring the flour; but it is more bonofieml 
to poultry than it would be without tho seed, 
aud can be bought much cheaper. M xed 
grain sometimes finds its way into (lie market 
after an accidc ut on railroads or from some 
other cause by which several different grains 
get mixed together. If this is very clean, 
millers are on the lookout for it, but if it con¬ 
tains little stones, pieces of coal, etc., they 
must leave it for poultrymen to use, and it is : 
one of the best and cheapest of foods. Next 
come corn tailings or screenings. In many 
places these can be bought much cheaper than- 
clear corn, and they are very good, unless the 
grains are too thin and shriveled. Wheat 
screenings used to be much better than can be- 
generally found now, as tho millers find a 
way to manipulate the best, and if tho stuff is 
poor, it is dear at any price. It should be 
carefully examined, for the cockle or other 
seeds which it generally contains are a clear 
loss, as the fowls do not touch them, but their 
presence is not objectionable if the stuff can 
be bought cheap enough. 
The next best food for the economical poul¬ 
try-man is corn damaged by fire or water, or 
both. Vast quantities are usually found on 
the market. This grain is damaged some¬ 
times by fire alone, sometimes by tire and 
water thrown on in putting out the fire, 
and some comes from sunken canal boats or 
vessels raised, and the grain is dried on a floor 
or in a kiln. The grain which is merely 
scorched or partly baked is little hurt; that 
which is burnt almost black is of little if any 
use. Some that gets partly well roasted and 
is then wetted by the water used in putting 
out the fire often lies so long before it is dis¬ 
posed of and removed that it gets fermented 
and is good for nothing. Then tho grain that 
gets merely wetted is more or less injured by 
lying long wet, but if is sometimes so artifi¬ 
cially doctored up by kiln drying, that to ap- 
