866 
DEC 2D 
THE RURAL (NEW-YORKER. 
much more than pay for this extra feed. In this 
manner I have fed as high as eight quarts per 
cow at each milking, and always with good 
results. Having nearly 200 bushels of unsala¬ 
ble apples on the farm this fall, I decided to 
try feeding them to my cows, although nearly 
every one I consulted on the subject told me 
they would dry the cows up, “ for we have 
tried it and know,'* said they. I began feeding 
a small quantity of cut apples well mixed with 
bran, and gradually increased the feed to five 
or six quarts per cow twice a day till I had the 
satisfaction of producing more milk than any 
of my neighbors, although some of them were 
milking more than twice the number of cows. 
The milk of my cows goes to a factory, 
where the people are quick to discover any 
taint in it; and since the factory closed I have 
been making a grade of butter which meets 
vjth ready sale, although the supply of small 
potatoes and apples is not yet exhausted. 
♦ ♦ -- 
11 The winds of God shall sweep the clouds 
Away across the sky, 
And all the shades shall he dispelled 
That in the valleys lie." 
FEEDING POTATOES TO MILCH COWS. 
J. I). C., Genesee Co., N. Y.— In a late 
issue of the Rural, reference was made to 
the probable results attending the feeding of 
small potatoes to stock, particularly milch 
cows. Being one of the many farmers of this 
locality engaged in growing potatoes for mar¬ 
ket, and having each season a good deal of un¬ 
marketable tubers to dispose of,I will say that I 
consider them of value for feeding purposes. I 
always commence feeding to my cows imme¬ 
diately after they have been stabled for the 
winter. I am now feeding to each cow about 
a quarter of a bushel per day of small and 
large unmerchantable potatoes. I feed them 
whole, giving each cow her mess in the 
manger. I have never practiced cutting the 
potatoes, though some consider my way of 
feeding attended with too great a risk of chok¬ 
ing the animals, and therefore cut the largest, 
if no others; but I have never experienced 
any trouble in this direction, evidently owing 
to the fact that each cow eats her mess by her¬ 
self; whereas, were they, thrown on the 
ground, allowing each cow to hurriedly help 
herself, injurious results would be liable to 
occur. The milk, as well as the butter, while 
feeding this ration, has never produced any 
deleterious effects; and during a period of 20 
or more years, during which 1 have been a 
regular patron of a near-by cheese factory, 
there has, to my knowledge, been but one or 
two instances of irregularities attending the 
manipulations of the curd, that could be ac¬ 
counted for only by presuming that some 
patron had been feeding potatoes to his eow r s. 
Possibly heavier feeding would give more un¬ 
favorable results. 
POTATOES AS FEED FOR STOCK. 
F. D., Trenton, N. J.— As to feeding pota¬ 
toes to milch cows , spoken of on page 801, if 
the milk is to be sold off for immediate use as 
milk, no harm will result from a small ration 
of potatoes. I would strongly advise feeding 
them with cut feed—hay, straw or chaff- 
using the usual quantity of bran or ground 
feed. Begin with four quarts of potatoes— 
chopped if you can—twice a day, mixed with 
the feed. If looseness of the bowels follows, 
decrease the quantity of potatoes; if not, you 
may increase the amount somewhat. If you 
are making butter, don’t use them. One of 
the best ways of using them is to boil them, 
and while they are hot mash and put them in 
the swill barrel for the pigs, mixing, of course, 
chopped rye or ground feed with them, making 
a potato pudding—not slop—and your hogs 
will laugh every time they see you coming to 
feed them. Another way of using them is to 
feed them cooked, mixed a little thicker than 
for pigs, to poultry, and if fed warm in win¬ 
ter, the laying hens will show their apprecia¬ 
tion of the kindness. A light ration to farm 
horses will do no harm. Keep line salt and 
wood ashes in equal quantities near the feed 
box—just at the side, not in it—so the horses 
and colts can lick what they may need, and 
the worms will leave the bowels and the horses 
will look and feel better. Feed to store sheep 
also a suitable ration of raw potatoes every 
day. They will do them good. Some of our 
retail milk dealers—farmers—consider pota¬ 
toes worth 15 cents per bushel to feed for 
milk. 
E. J. M., Shelbyville, Ills.—I have been 
in the habit of feeding my small potatoes to 
cows giving milk, and my business is to make 
butter. I have regular customers, who are of 
a high-toned class, and very fastidious in their 
tastes, and neither they nor my own family 
have ever been able to discover any deleteri¬ 
ous effects from the milk or butter, or any un¬ 
pleasant taste in either. The potatoes, of 
course, have been only a part of a ration in 
connection with other milk-producing foods, 
such as wheat-bran and shorts in equal por¬ 
tions, with half the amount of corn meal. 
After the cows have eaten their bran and 
shorts, I feed two quarts of small potatoes to 
each animal, and they always seem to relish 
them. 
F. H., Wayne Co., N. Y.—This fall I fed 
about 25 bushels of potatoes to my cows. The 
eight cows were stabled and each was fed 
about three quarts per day. They had been 
grained all summer, getting one quart of 
mixed feed at each milking. The potatoes 
took the place of one feeding of grain. I 
was feeding pumpkins also. I could see no 
detrimental results. 
FALL OR SPRING PLOWING. 
B. R., Fayette. Co., Pa. —The question 
whether fall or spring plowing is the better 
for spring crops depends a great deal on the 
season and the kind of soil. In my experience 
of nearly 50 years, fall and winter plowing 
has almost always been better than late spring 
plowing, particularly in plowing heavy lime¬ 
stone clay, or if the spring or summer were 
dry. If limestone ground is plowed in the 
fall or winter the frost pulverizes it so it gets 
as mellow as an ash heap. If such a soil is 
plowed in the spring, no amount of harrowing 
and rolling will get it in first-class condition, 
as I know to my cost, and if the weather is 
dry, the ground will dry out in half the time. 
I have always seen in dry seasons that strips 
that were plowed early were the best. In 
wet seasons it does not make any difference 
on sand or black loam. Besides, if you have 
your ground plowed early, it helps along in 
the busiest time. The only objection to early 
plowing is that grasses and weeds will start 
and flourish a great deal worse than if the 
ground was freshly plowed before planting; 
but if they grow better it is reasonable to 
think that the crop will also. Another thing 
—cut-worms are never nearly so bad on early 
plowed laud as on that plowed late. The rea¬ 
son is plain—they feed on the grass and weeds 
that were up before the corn or other crop, 
not, as some think, because winter plowing 
kills them. I have re-planted corn the third 
time on late plowing, but never once on win¬ 
ter-plowed land. There is no dispute on that 
subject here—the best and most successful 
farmers invariably plow the soonest. 
JAPAN. BUCKWHEAT ONCE MORE. 
W. G. G., Rock Glen, Pa.—I would like to 
say a word in favor of Japanese buckwheat. 
In 1887 I received four quarts from Peter Hen¬ 
derson. I sowed it the last of June on one- 
tenth of an acre, and it stood too thick, but I 
harvested five bushels of nice, plump grain. 
Then, this year—1888—I sowed a bushel and 
a half on two acres of poor land and fertilized 
it with 200 pounds of raw-bone dust to the 
acre, and from it I harvested 08% bushels, or 
04% bushels to an acre. Had it been thrashed 
with a machine there would have been more. 
I thrashed it with the flail and could not get 
all the grain. Two bushels were ground into 
flour, and it made 25 pounds of nice white 
flour from a bushel. I sowed three acres of 
Silverhull buckwheat about the same time 
and fertilized it in the same way, and from it 
1 harvested only 20 bushels. 
THE FEED QUESTION. 
S. F. M., Keene, N. H.—I am surprised to 
note the different opinions given by various 
writers in the Rural of Dec. 8, in regard to 
feeding cows. J. E. Wells fetds “four times 
per day,” and says dairymen in his county 
feed five or six times; while David Carll 
“ feeds at intervals of six hours through the 
day.” Does he feed at midnight ? Or do his 
cows have a rest of 12 hours from 0 p.m. until 
0 a.m.? L. F. Allen says: “An interval of 
eight or ten hours is too long between feeds. ’* 
My experience in feeding a small herd coin¬ 
cides with the experiences of John Gould, C. 
M. Winslow, T. W. Ingram and F. D. Curtis. 
My cows will be about three hours in the 
morning and three at night eating the morn¬ 
ing and evening feed. 
“As each goes up from the field of earth 
Bearing the treasures of life; 
God looks for some gathered grain of good 
From the ripe harvest that shining stood 
OLD AND NEW APPLES. 
I. J. B., Titusville, N. J.—I see Mr. Stew¬ 
art and Mr. Hendrick recommend the Summer 
Rose apple. All they say is true, yet after 
having known it for years, I would recom¬ 
mend the Primate as a better apple. The lat¬ 
ter will bear about as many bushels, and the 
“ seconds ” will sell as high as the best Summer 
Rose; at least that is my experience. There 
is an orchard of Red Astrachan north of us 
on the north side of the hill, that is very pro¬ 
ductive. The Astrachan is worthless with 
us. 
P. H. S., Winthrop, Me.—W here can I 
procure cions of the Princess Louise apple ? 
Ans —Write to Dr. T. H. Hoskins, New¬ 
port, Vt. 
“ Lo! in our past, how sure and fast 
Has Progress built her State ! 
Wrong's ancient sway is weak to-day. 
Right can afford lo wait." 
EDCAPS. -This variety 
of fowl has recently 
come into notice, says 
(Qj, the London Franciers’ 
Gazette, and from its 
hardiness and wonder¬ 
ful prolificacy as an 
egg-layer, it deserves 
all that has been said in 
its favor. Until re¬ 
cently it was almost entirely confined to the 
South Riding of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, 
where it has been long and well known for 
its economic value. The Gazette says that it 
is undoubtedly related to the Golden-Spangled 
Hamburg, for the markings and color are 
the same, though the Hamburg is much the 
richer and finer. The Redcap is a larger bird, 
and lays larger eggs, whilst it is hardier. 
There has been much contention as to 
whether the Redcap was the progenitor of 
the Golden-Spangled Hamburg, or a degener¬ 
ation from it. The Redcap is marked by 
carrying a very heavy rose comb, so heavy 
that it hangs over one sid: of the head. This 
is objected to by many, and there is little 
doubt that it does not look so neat as does the 
comb of the Hamburg. The Redcap is an 
active, well-made fowl, and, as already stated, 
a most prolific layer. The Redcaps now on 
trial at the Rural Grounds have not yet begun 
to lay. They were hatched April 4th. As to 
their hardiness we can not, of course, judge 
before spring. As to their laying capacity a 
full year’s trial will be required before any 
estimate can be made. The most promising 
lot of fowls, thus far raised at the Rural 
Grounds, if judged by their shapely forms, 
close feathering, little combs and quiet ways, 
are the White Wyandottes now, also, being 
tried for the first. They were hatched May 
7th. We have 10 of the White Wyandottes 
(three cockerels) and 11 Redcaps of which five 
are cockerels. 
The Sorghum Sugar Industry in Kan¬ 
sas. —In his last message, the President said 
that the sorghum sugar industry is now es¬ 
tablished on a firm basis. Kansas is the only 
State in which the business has hitherto prov¬ 
ed profitable, and the best if not the only ex¬ 
ample of its success there, is afforded by the 
Fort Scott Sugar Works, of which Professor 
M. Swenson is Secretary and Chemist. The 
Professor has just made a statement of the 
business of the present season. The season, it 
appears, is not yet over; but up to the date of 
his report, 400,000 pounds of sugar had been 
made, all of which was exceptionally pure, 
polarizing between 08 and 99 per cent, of pure 
saccharine. The entire product of the works 
this year will be over 500,000 pounds of sugar 
and 100,000 gallons of sirup. The value of the 
product is put as follows ; 
500,000 pounds sugar, at five cents, . $25,000 
100,000 gallons sirup, at 20 cents, . . 20,000 
State bounty, at two cents per pound, 10,000 
Total,.$55,000 
This represents the results of less than three 
months’ work. The profit, of course, is what 
is left after deducting the expenses of running 
the factory and the cost of the cane. It is es¬ 
timated that all running expeuses will be 
covered at $1 per ton, so the profits can be 
figured as follows: 
Cost of one ton of cane,.$2.00 
Cost of manufacturing,.1.00 
Total,.. . . $8.00 
PRODUCT. 
100 pounds of sugar, at five cents, . . $5.00 
16 gallons of sirup, at 20 cents, . . . 3.20 
State bounty, two cents per pound, . 2.00 
Total,.$10.20 
Total cost,. 3.00 
Profit per ton, ,.$7.20 
Of course, the bounty should not be calculat¬ 
ed in the estimate of the profits of the industry 
in other States where no bounty is offered; 
but, apart from this, the profit is ample, even 
allowing a fair interest on the capital invest¬ 
ed in the works, and a reasonable allowance 
for the wear and tear of the machinery, 
which must be idle for nearly nine months 
each year. Neither of these items is taken 
into account in the above statement, unless 
they are included in the “ cost cf manufactur¬ 
ing.” Moreover, when the Legislature of 
Kansas passed the Bounty Law it placed the 
limit at $15,000 in any one year. Now, there 
are other sorghum sugar factories at Topeka, 
Conway Springs and Douglas, Kan., and these 
may make sugar enough to absorb more than 
the $5,(X)0 remaining after the Fort Scott works 
have taken $10,000,in which case the excess due 
them over $5,000 will have to be deducted 
for the amount allowed the Fort Scott works. 
The results at the latter, however, according 
to the Professor, have proved beyond a 
shadow of doubt the entire success of sorghum 
sugar making. A product of 100 pounds per 
ton of pure sugar, testing at 98 and 99 per 
cent., is beyond the most sanguine expecta¬ 
tions of any of the friends of the industry. 
Yet this average has been maintained by the 
works at that point. The sugar is of a fine 
grain, of light color, and can be easily refined 
into the highest grade. The company is more 
than satisfied with its season’s work, and 
measures are being taken for the erection at 
that point of another factory of much larger 
capacity in addition to the present works. 
The product of the two plants next year will 
sustain a refinery of limited capacity but sus¬ 
ceptible of enlargement. 
il How many times, 'mid icy chills, 
We've dreamed of summer blooms, 
And woke to snow on wintry hills 
And frost on early tombs ? 
Our birds of song are silent long, 
The treeless groves are dumb; 
But God's time is our summer time, 
And that is sure to come." 
— Cobb. 
BY THE SHORT WAY. 
The Rural and Stockman expresses it¬ 
self as not particular as to who shall be the 
next Com. of Agriculture so long as he is a 
practical man. It would not like to see a 
moss back politician or a kid-gloved theorist 
get it. As the Department has so much to do 
with questions affecting live stock, it would 
seem eminently proper that a man who 
thoroughly understood live stock should re¬ 
ceive the appointment . 
Alluding to the fact that many Western silos 
have been filled tbe past season with whole 
fodder, the N. Y. Times claims that Henry 
Stewart was the first to describe this really 
old method in the first article on ensilage 
written in America. It was in 1872 . 
Vick’s Caprice is the name of a new striped 
hybrid perpetual rose which originated with 
James Vick in 1885—a sport,not a seedling. It 
is said to be hardy and vigorous. The flowers 
are said to be large, semi-cupped and fragrant. 
The color is pink striped with white and car¬ 
mine. 
“ Why don’t you ship to a British market?” 
asked the Editor of the Canadian Horticultur- 
istof aneighboring orchardist. “ Ahf’said be, 
“I have tried that once too often already.’’ 
The trouble is that very few people will take 
the trouble to grade apples as they should be 
when they must have so much expense put on 
them as importation involves. How many 
separate their first-class apples into large and 
small sizes, or pack the large.high-coloredones 
separately as extras* Are these not more 
often used to face up the inferior grades? 
And as a result the whole lot sells, not for 
superior fruit, but for the price of the inferior 
quality, of which the bulk of the barrel is 
found to consist. Unless one is prepared to 
undertake all this trouble, it is no doubt better 
to sell at home for any certain price, rather 
than risk a dead loss by shipping to a very 
distant market. 
As sales of American apples are now con¬ 
ducted in Great Britain, sorting in any partic¬ 
ular case wouldn’t be of much use to that par- 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castoria, 
When she wjis a Child, she cried for Castoria, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castoria, 
When she had Children, she gave them Castoria 
