JULY H 
so poorly paid as to keep the laborer on, or 
near a level with paupers. I venture the as¬ 
sertion that American labor does not fear 
competition from any source, however highly 
trained and specialized, or sober, industrious 
and lightly taxed it may be, if it is paid on 
the American plan. 
To illustrate; I am engaged in making a cer¬ 
tain class of goods. Two-thirds of the cost of 
production is represented in labor. Notwith¬ 
standing a protection of 30 per cent., foreign 
goods are sold in competition at prices that 
I cannot meet except at a positive loss. I em¬ 
ploy trained labor, and my facilities are the 
best. "Why then cannot I produce goods as 
cheaply as German manufacturers. For the 
reason that the women in my employ make 
$9.00 to $12.00 per week, while in Germany 
they get $1.80 to $2 40 for the same time. 
What is a 30 per-cent, duty in comparison with 
such a difference in wages ? Mr. Brown says, 
“If America cannot stand flat-footed against 
the world in industrial competition, then Am¬ 
erican institutions are a complete and self- 
confessed failure.” Would Mr. Brown like to 
see American labor paid at the rate indicated 
above? But he states further that “some 
branches of labor are more desirable to live 
by in many ways than others, and in our 
country the people are “free enough and rich 
enough to choose these and leave the others 
at present to other nations.” Such being the 
case, suppose we shut down our factories 
and let other nations furnish the goods that 
have made this city famous, giving employ¬ 
ment to 10,000 or 12,000 operatives. We might, 
at the same time, close our iron mills and 
other manufacturing industries throughout 
the country; for with which of them does not 
the cheap labor of Europe come in direct com¬ 
petition? Let the farmer stop raising pota¬ 
toes, of which, by the way, there have been 
landed in Now York from Europe, since the 
first of last October, 1,380,000 barrels, as 
against 950,000 barrels of the home-grown 
article, and this notwithstanding the fact that 
the American grower is “protected” to the 
extent of 15 cents per bushel, and the further 
fact that there are thousands of barrels in 
Northern New York which the farmers can¬ 
not sell for enough to pay them for shipping 
to market. 
What comfort is there for us in the fact that 
Europe has standing armies running into the 
millions, and eating at the vitals of the na¬ 
tions ? The question that concerns Americans 
is whether we can pay fair wages in this 
country, and yet compete “flat-footed” with 
European productions. Every intelligent 
man knows that we cannot, and I believe we 
have too much, of what Mr. Brown calls 
“general education” to attempt the experi¬ 
ment of running our heads against such a stone 
wall. In my judgment Americans, both em¬ 
ployers and employes (for their interests are 
identical), whether engaged in growing wool, 
raising potatoes, making iron or producing any 
other class of goods that can be made or grown 
to advantage in this country, should declare 
in favor of American goods for American 
markets, meanwhile allowing the “pauper 
labor of Europe” to market their products 
where they can find a people willing to permit 
their own industries to be destroyed, imagin¬ 
ing themselves “free enough and rich enough” 
to indulge in such folly. 
ANOTHER ANTI-DEHORNING BLAST. 
*A. L. Crosby, Catonsville, Md —Mr. Haaff, 
in reviewing the articles of Dr. Kil borne 
and my own takes a little too much for 
granted, inasmuch as instead of bringing 
facts to controvert what we say, he simply 
puts forward his ipse dixit and expects the 
Rural family to accept that as evidence. I 
have nothing to say about the anatomical or 
medical part of the subject except to object 
to the use of “common axle grease” as a health¬ 
ful application to the inside of a dairy cow’s 
head. Mr. Haaff speaks as if common axle 
grease was a standard medicine, just the same 
as he would say, “take common laudanum.” 
Mr. Haaff says he has written a book of 
“nearly 200 pages and 50 odd illustrations.” 
He also sells dehorning tools and makes money 
on his book and tools. That is all right, but 
when I try to put in a word of caution to 
those who are about to remove their cows’ 
horns, I want it understood that 1 am not 
doing it for my own advantage, as from my 
standpoint the more dehorners there are of 
dairy cattle the better it will be for those who 
allow their cows to wear their horns, and this 
for the simple reason that 1 believe the remov¬ 
al of the hoims will shorten the butter yield 
and, of course, make milk poorer. 
Mr. Haaff says he “has tried it (dehorning) 
on dairy animals for over eight years.” When 
1 read that 1 expected to see some facts given 
to show what the effect was; but no, that was 
all—he had “tried it.” And when it comes to 
the effect on the bull, he says: “1 would as 
soon think of expatiating on the effect of de¬ 
horning a bull as far as his butter qualities 
are concerned, as I would thiok of pretending 
that the paring of one’s finger nails would 
affect the use of his teeth.” 
Well, is that proof ? Again, he says that to 
his mind all this talk about dehorning bulls 
having any effect on their prepotency, “is 
the sheerest stuff and nonsense.” How does 
Mr. Haaff know that ? What I was aiming at 
was to get facts that were proved before any 
more horns were removed; after it is proved 
that dehorning is all right then I have 
no more to say. But don’t say it is “sheer 
est stuff aud nonsense” until you can 
prove it to be so. Futher on Mr. H. 
says: “I do not think Mr. Crosby’s com¬ 
ments on the subject of cattle being more 
gentle after being dehorned; about their con¬ 
gregating around the water trough or feed 
rack need any answer.” But I think they do; 
that is the only reason I made them, and if Mr. 
Haaff cannot answer tbefii, who can ? Mr. H. 
closes by alluding to my comparison of de¬ 
horned cattle with sheep saying, I am “simply 
mistaken.” He adds a saving clause by claim¬ 
ing that there are many thousand men in the 
West who are ready to testify. Why don’t Mr. 
Haaff testify ? We are ready to take his evi¬ 
dence when he has any to present, but so far 
he has not favored us. I read once about a 
fox that got detailed, and then tried to per¬ 
suade all his friends to have their tails re¬ 
moved, but he did not succeed because his 
theories wore not backed up by conclusive 
facts proving that it was the best thing to do. 
A dehomer is like the fox; he has dehorned 
his own cows and now wants others to do the 
same without giving conclusive proof that it 
is a paying operation. I am like the friends of 
the fox, waiting for the evidence. 1 have read 
the testimony of a good many who have tried 
dehorning with the result of a falling off in the 
milk and butter yield, and believing as I do 
that it is a pernicious practice I gave my word 
of caution. 
RAISING A YOUNG CALF. 
C. L., Morris Co. N. J.—On reading over 
the calf notes in a late Rural, I felt as though 
I would like to tell how I raised a nice grade 
Jersey last winter with scarcely any milk at 
all, and also to give a few points on the subject, 
which the writers of those notes have omitted, 
but which I fiud by experience are almost as 
necessary to promote health and growth as is 
the art of knowing how to feed. 
I took my calf from the cow when it was 
two days old and commenced feeding it on 
hay tea made by steeping some good cut hay 
in boiling-hot water. This constituted the 
drink maiuly. Sometimes when I had it I 
added about a pint of milk, but from the start 
with the above was given a little oil meal 
boiled to a jelly and well stirred with the 
drink. At first I used the meal alone, but 
soon found that I could feed more and it would 
agree with the little thing better by boiling 
one half of the meal and one half middlings 
together, and after the calf got about two 
weeks old I kept a little of the dry middlings 
and a little fine hay where it could pick at the 
stuff at leisure, and in this way it soon learned 
to eat quite freely. Now what the others 
have omitted is that calves that are kept tied 
up, as they most generally are,should always be 
allowed to take a little exercise once a day, 
and the best time to give this is right after the 
morning feed. After they have had this priv¬ 
ilege a time or two they look for and enjoy 
it as much as they do their feed. Another 
point that should not be overlooked when 
raising them in the winter season is to tie 
them out every .pleasant day in some sunny 
place where the wind cannot strike them. 
Mine showed its appreciation of this by 
stretching itself flat out on its side to the sun 
and lying so sometimes for half an hour at a 
stretch. 
I would raise a good calf at any time, but 
prefer the fall or winter for several reasons: 
one in particular is that when one has to pre. 
pare the feed as above at those seasons he can 
make enough atone time to last from three to 
five days; but in warm weather it would sour 
so soon aud be unfit for use that one would 
have to make it fresh every day at least. 
Another reason is that if the calf is well taken 
care of, it gets start enough to be ready to 
turn out and thrive on grass the following 
spring, and be strong and able to resist the at¬ 
tack of flies which are very trying to a young 
calf. 
H. A. W. Fluvanna, N. Y.—Were a man 
to enter my inclosure for the purpose of de¬ 
horning, 1 would be tempted to enter com¬ 
plaint against him for cruelty to animals. 
What more attracts the first attention in a pair 
of working oxen or any fine cattle than a 
fine pair of horns? Why did the wisdom of 
the Creator first place them upon our neat 
stock if they were not designed for protection, 
beauty or some other wise purpose ? Were 1 
to enter a dairy to select cows for my use, I 
would invariably make a marked difference 
in the price of the cows of equal qualities in 
every other point, but with and without horns. 
I am an admirer of nice horns ; and I believe 
it is a piece of barbarism to enter upon the 
practice of dehorning. It is a craze that will 
soon be discarded by all humanitarians and 
wise breeders. 
More About Ensilage.— In Prof. Henry’s 
ensilage articles, being published in the Breed¬ 
er’s Gazette, he says that the stalks should be 
cut close to the ground snd thrown into bun¬ 
dles or gavels. If the weather is at all threat¬ 
ening it is proper to cut and stack, since the 
fodder will dry off much more rapidly if rain 
falls and it will not be so muddy and disagree¬ 
able to handle as when laid on the ground. 
Last season Prof. Henry urged that the fod¬ 
der be wilted before it was put into the silo, 
and his own experience, with that of many 
others, corroborates this method of procedure, 
which has the additional advantage that less 
water is handled in the operation. If it is in¬ 
tended to allow the fodder to wilt, the corn had 
better be cut and shocked, after which it may 
stand from three to ten days, depending upon 
the maturity of the stalks at the time of cutting, 
and the weather. One of the advantages of 
cutting and shocking is that when it is over 
the force of men employed in this operation 
can be changed to filling the silo. If the corn 
is cut and placed in the silo at once quite a 
force of hands is needed, but by cutting and 
shocking first we can avoid this double force. 
In regard to the kind of feed-cutter to be 
used, it may be said that there are several 
valuable machines before the public, any one 
of which will prove satisfactory if properly 
managed. The only point he desires to urge is 
that a large machine be purchased, one having 
about double the advertised capacity. Small 
cutters area nuisance; hand-power cutters 
are out of the question. The cutter should be 
driven by three horses on a sweep power or 
two on a tread, or by a steam engine. 
There are many farmers who desire to have 
silos but dread the experience and expense of 
machinery. Corn-fodder may be preserved in 
a perfectly satisfactory manner without run¬ 
ning it through the feed-cutter and may be 
drawu from the field aud deposited directly in 
the silo. The expense of putting corn-fodder 
through the feed-cutter, first and last, is not 
fa^from half of all that incurred from the 
time of cutting the fodder to closing the silo. 
To fill the silo with long fodder let it be drawn 
in the usual manner aud lifted at once into 
the pit, which can be accomplished in several 
ways, either by hand or the horse hayfork, 
carrier and slings. In the silo it should be 
distributed evenly and probably had better 
be placed in regular layers, lapping “shingle 
fashion” so that it will settle evenly. 
There is no doubt but that long fodder will 
keep just as well as that which is cut up, and 
Prof. Henry is not at all certain but such 
silage is even better in some cases than that 
made by cutting up the stalks into small pieces. 
When cut into small pieces the fodder is con¬ 
siderably bruised, aud there is much more ex¬ 
posure of the juices to the air than there is 
where whole fodder is used. 
The only difficulty with long fodder comes 
at the time it is to be taken out for feeding 
purposes: then if large varieties have been 
used the man who attempts to get it out of the 
silo will need strong muscles aud a large de¬ 
gree of patience to enable him to tug at the 
compact mass, which is quite difficult to man¬ 
age. Twenty-five cows will eat up the sil¬ 
age about as fast as one man can get it out. 
Slow filling is without doubt the best me¬ 
thod for securing good silage, no matter 
what material we are using, be it clover, long 
fodder corn, or fodder cut fine. When the pit 
has been filled three or four feet deep no more 
should be placed within it until this layer has 
heated to the neighborhood of 125 degrees 
Fahrenheit. No packing down is needed ex¬ 
cept in the corners and along the walls; at 
these points they endeavor to firm the silage 
just as much as possible. He wishes we could 
avoid this operation, aud in the future they 
may do so. He believes the silage would be 
better without any tramping and packing if 
we could only get it to settle uniformly with¬ 
out. We should endeavor to secure an eleva¬ 
tion in temperature of from 120 to 140 degrees 
uniformly throughout the mass of material. If 
the contents of the silo heat up to different 
degrees in different places we cannot expect 
them to be uniform in quality though all will 
be eaten by the stock. Fortunately we do 
not have to be very particular in our practice 
to obtain a very good quality of silage. He 
would advise, therefore, that a person allow 
the temperature to run from 120 to 140 when 
the thermometer is buried a foot deep in the 
fodder; but when these conditions are not ob 
tained, no matter whether the degree be lower 
or higher, to go on without feeling anxious 
in the matter. 
Fish Refuse as Fodder. —It appears, ac¬ 
cording to the Mirror, of England, that in 
Norway and Sweden the refuse of the fish¬ 
curing establishments is largely used by farm¬ 
ers as a fodder for their cattle. On the Nor¬ 
wegian coast dried heads of codfish are so 
used, the practice being to boil down the 
heads into a kind of soup, which was then 
mixed with straw, chaff, or other rough fod¬ 
der. A very acceptable and nutritious food 
was produced in that way, and on account of 
the great abundance of this refuse material 
the Norwegian peasantry are able to bring 
their cattle easily through the long winter in 
good condition, to increase the number of 
their stock, and to correspondingly increase 
the fertility of their land. This practice is 
varied in other districts, fish meal (the meal 
being composed of dessicated fist) is used. This 
is rich in albuminoids and phosphates, and 
has been found by Weiske to have a very val¬ 
uable manure residue when fed to sh°ep. Of 
this latter Dr. Atkin obtained a good supply 
and had it tested on his farm near Glasgow. 
Six Ayrshire cows were-selected for the test, 
three being fea with ordinary foods and three 
with fish-meal. Two of the latter took to the 
meal readily and one did gradually. “The 
meal,” we are told, “has anything but a nice 
look,” being more like manure than anything 
else. It has not much of a smell and tastes 
fishy. The animals, however, thrived on it. 
aud it is noteworthy that the three cows, 
which gave less before the trial, gave more 
with the fish-meal. The average yield during 
the 10 weeks was 29 pounds of milk per day 
without fisli-meal, and 30 4-5 pouuds with 
the meal. The conclusions arrived at are that 
this meal is a useful food, but that it would 
bo injudicious to use it largely alone. 
Points in Cheese-making. —The Farm 
Journal says it will pay farmers who do not 
have good facilities for making butter in hot 
weather to make cheese. We give the essen¬ 
tial points to follow in order to make cheese. 
There must be a tub of some kind for a vat, a 
press and a cheese-hoop i.j which to press the 
curd. We remember cur mother’s little rich 
cheeses with a real relish, if so many years 
have elapsed. The mi.k must be heated to 86 
degre s, or near that, and the rennet added. 
One dram of rennetiue is enough for 250 
pounds of milk, This is a prepared form of 
rennet. In one hour the curd may be cut into 
cakes. In a half hour heat the curd up to 100 
degrees, doing it slowly—about an hour. By 
twelve o’clock draw the whey. When the 
curd will draw out threat-like it is ready to 
put mto the press. The temperature should 
be about 80 degrees. The curd sho lid be 
ground or chopped fine add salt—1 % pound 
for 250 pounds of milk. A curd may be kept 
over in a cool place from one day to another, 
in a small dairy, to make enough for a cheese. 
The curd ripens or cures while in the wliey 
and this makes the cheese better. Do not 
hurry this process. Too much rennet, high 
heating and an excess of acidi y spoi' cheese. 
Tobacco-growing in Florida. —The first 
considerable crop of tobaeco raised in Florida 
since the war will, it is expected, be gathered 
this , ear. The first plants ripened about J ly. 
Bradstreet’s says the area planted under the 
direction of one company is fully 1,000 acres. 
The tobacco planted is of nearly all the pres¬ 
ent marketable varieties, and includes Havana 
reed, Sumatra, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin 
seed, and Havana leaf, Connecticut seed and 
broad-leafed Florida types. The weight per 
acre of the product is expected to range fiom 
600 to 1,500 pounds. The area now in tobacco 
in the northern part of the State is 3,000 acres, 
and in case the present experiments are suc¬ 
cessful a heavy increase is looked for in this 
direction. he center of the present activity 
in tobacco-growing is the town of Quincy, 
which is about 180 miles from Jacksonville. 
The Agriculture of Denmark. —In a re¬ 
cent leport on the agriculture of D-mmark, 
condensed by Bradstreet’s, it is said that the 
ou look was not worse at the end than at the 
beginning of 1887. The imports of breadstuffs 
have exceeded the exports by over 1,000,000 
sacks, The exports of flour seemed of late 
years to be increasing, but these now show an 
unmistakable decline. Ten years agb the 
flour e > ported amounted to 700,e00 sacks; in 
1883 it had fallen to 560,000 sacks, and it is 
now only 347,635 sacks. This is regarded as a 
serious matter, seeing that the steam mills are 
one of the most important Danish indu-tries. 
Complaint is inade that German millers are 
enabled by export bounties to work at such 
an advantage that they have ousted Dauisu 
produce out of Swedish aud Norwegian mar¬ 
kets, The exports of live auim. Is aud their 
products show considerable improvement. 
Dairy products fiave largely developed. The. 
