TUI RURAL WEW-YOBKEB. 
483 
room where it sometimes froze before the 
next morning. Day by day as I gathered the 
cream, I put it in a stone churn where it 
froze and remained frozen until I had enough 
for a respectable churning. Then it was set 
in a tub of hot water by the kitchen fire, and 
stirred occasionally until it came to 65 de¬ 
grees. Then it was colored, and churned as 
readily and satisfactorily as in the summer 
time. Thin cream churns more thoroughly 
than thick cream, so it is advisable to put a 
little milk or water into very thick cream. 
You may be sure by the richness of the but¬ 
ter-milk that your cream did not yield a 
fair amount of butter; yet you can very 
seldom prove it hy churning the butter¬ 
milk. Intense cold has the effect of sep¬ 
arating the cream from the butter-milk 
in such a case. One frigid morning I 
found a large vessel of butter-milk from 
the churning of the day before covered 
several inches deep with grainy cream. I 
gathered and churned it, but got only about 
half the butter from it that I thought the 
churning bad failed to yield, and this was of 
interior quality. Cream that is a little sweet, 
but of the right temperature, will come with¬ 
out growing thick.. Sour cream usually 
thickens in coming. The length of time nec¬ 
essary to churn depends upon the quantity of 
cream somewhat. If the butter comes very 
quickly there is danger that the cream 
may not be thoroughly churned, or that it was 
too warm; when all hopes of making a fine 
article must be abandoned, for in that case 
the firmness of grain can never be recovered. 
It is claimed that milk from a farrow cow 
will not churn; but farrow cows are not profit¬ 
able so the wide-awake dairyman soon hands 
them over to the butcher and fills their place 
with something that will pay for keeping. 
S. E. H. 
Valley Home Ranch, Weld County, Colo. 
BETTER COWS AND HOW TO GET 
THEM. 
J. W. NEWTON. 
Beef stock being no longer profitable in the 
East, more attention must be given to 
dairy cows ; dogs the great hinderance to 
profit in sheep ; 300 pounds of butter per 
cow per annum the standard ; this to be 
obtained by selection and grading up the 
herd ; howto do so economically ; a good 
dairy bull indispensable. 
The farmers of the East are confronted 
with a new problem. In the past it paid to 
fatten beeves. Steers, oxen and other stock 
could be fed and sold at a good profit. A man 
could raise a yoke of steers, work them 
enough to nearly or quite pay for their keep¬ 
ing after they were old enough to work, and 
then turn them over to the drover for a good 
round sum. Now men who have oxen to dis 
pose of feel discouraged. Three cents and 
a-half or less per pound for them will cause 
farmers to keep fewer oxen and steers. 
But some kind of stock must be kept, at 
least by the majority of farmers. Some can 
grow crops with commercial fertilizers aud 
sell what they raise. Many are raising more 
horses. I think mutton sheep, and especially 
early lambs would pay as well as any stock, 
always provided the cruel dogs can be kept 
away. But the great mass of Eastern farm¬ 
ers are dairymen from necessity or choice. 
Here, too, conditions are changed. Those 
who supply cities with milk are not troubled 
by Western competition; butthose who make 
butter must compete with the West, with 
oleo, and with each other. The man whose 
cows average only 100 to 150 pounds of butter 
per annum, will learu that his kind of farming 
does not pay. He will -work hard to cut 
grass, to plow and plant, aud sow and reap, 
aud will not earn as much as he could by 
working out. The progressive farmer has his 
eye on 300 pounds of butter per cow. He 
may not have yet reached that mark; some 
have, but our hopeful farmer is working up 
to it. Suppose he makes 250 pounds per cow 
and gets say, 25 cents per pound, he will re¬ 
ceive from each cow in butter and the by¬ 
products—skim-milk, etc.—about $70. “Dout- 
pay” farming will get from $30 to $40 per 
cow. The good cow does not eat much more 
than the poor cow, often not as much home¬ 
grown feed. 
It is evident that good cows are going to 
have a grout deal to do with the prosperity of 
Eastoru farmers. The question is: How are 
farmers to got them? Jersey bull calves were 
advertised in the Rural awhile ago at $100 
oach. The advertisers said that farmers 
could not afford to buy cheaper ones. That 
may be true, but it is also true that a great 
wupy farmers cauoot afford such bulls. 
Thousands of farmers could not sell their 
farms, stock and tools for more than $2,000 or 
$3,000; some would have to sell for le.-s, and yet 
they make a liviDg, often a good living. For 
such men to invest $100 in a bull calf would 
be very unwise. The calf might die, and the 
farmer would feel the loss for years 1 do 
not know about other butter breeds, but Jer¬ 
sey bull calves eligible to registry can be got 
for $25. 
But many farmers would think this a great 
price for a calf, and such can get calves out 
of registered bulls and from thoroughbred or 
high-grade cows for lower figures. Men that 
have large herds or even small ones, are often 
willing to sell really good calves at very low 
prices. It all depends on the demand and 
other circumstances. But there are Jerseys 
and Jerseys. Some are very poor, and a man 
who wants to get good cows must take care 
lest he buy too cheap. 
Often it is better to take one’s best cows to 
a good bull if one is within reach. A number 
of farmers, or a grange, or the patrons of a 
creamery residing in a neighborhood, could 
unite to get a bull to improve their cows. It 
is well to get thoroughbred heifers, if one can 
do so; but if a farmer doesn’t understand 
feeding and caring for thoroughbred stock, 
he had better work into better cows by de¬ 
grees. 
But by all means, if you are going to keep 
cows for butter, get butter cows. To do this 
is to take a long step towards making the farm 
pay. Dont spend your time and strength on 
poor Stock, and remember that the bull is half 
the herd, that like begets like, aud that blood 
will tell. Never use a scrub or common bull 
if you are going to keep the calves. W hen a 
farmer keeps good cows, people will soon find 
it out, and if he has a cow to sell he can get 
a better price than the owners of ordinary 
stock can get. There are a host of reasons 
why farmers should steadily improve their 
stock, and yet how few are doing it! 
Lamoille County, Vt. 
^liscflltmcons. 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
Rules for Renovating a Worn-out 
Farm. —Never let the stock run over the farm 
when the land is wet and soft. Never plow 
or till the land when it is too wet. Return 
as much fertilizer to the ground as you re¬ 
move from it each year. Clover your land at 
least once in three years. Never haul the 
clover straw off the field. Leave it on either 
as a protection or mulch. Six years ago I 
bought a farm so poor that my neighbors 
said it would not produce seed enough to 
plant it again. By observing the above rules, 
it is now producing as good crops as are grown 
by my neighbors. I used nothing but stable 
and barnyard manures. Good farming pays. 
If you treat Mother Earth well, she will treat 
you well in return. s. H. e. 
Medina County, Ohio. 
The Farmer Neither a Dullard nor 
Boor.— It is a great mistake to attribute 
want of mental culture to the American 
farmer. He must know more or less ot most 
of the practical sciences in order to take care 
of his animals, his crops, his machines, to 
forecast the weather for his seeding and his 
harvesting, and the prospects of demaud for 
his marketing. He not only reads the papers, 
but he has undisturbed time to ponder on 
what seems important, to digest it, and form 
well considered conclusions. Only his tongue 
is not so fluent, or flippant, his thoughts not 
so nimble, his principles not so adaptable, his 
hands and dress not so free from dust and 
rents, and bis enduring fiber not so supple as 
among the sedentary room-imprisoned, over¬ 
sheltered denizens of the town. w. G. w. 
Tyrone, Pa. 
Ctrmjxo l)$«. 
CUMBERLAND VALLEY NOTES. 
A “happy valley," a beautiful and pros¬ 
perous region ; thrift ; good, convenient 
markets', crops this year ; rotation of 
crops ; prejudice against “fertilizers 
profitable orcharding-, extensive use of 
traction engines, depreciation in price of 
land-, pleasant homes-, an abundant water 
supply, the great Grange picnic-, recent 
floods. 
Is there a more beautiful and fertile valley 
in the world thau that which is known as the 
Cumberland Valley, Maryland, extending 
from the Blue Mountains on the southwest to 
the Susquehanna on the north? The land is 
fertile and well cultivated; it is evenly 
divided into regularly shaped fields, well 
fenced; the barns are large and commodious 
and the houses are comfortable and well 
cared for. The people are, as a rule, church¬ 
going, virtuous, thrifty and apparently as 
happy and contented as possible. Altogether 
it is a model agricultural section. One of the 
reasons why the farmers of the valley are 
thrifty is because they find an excellent homo 
market tor all their surplus products (except 
wheat and rye and, sometimes, hay) in the 
local villages, thus saving cost of packages, 
freights, commissions and the numerous other 
charges which eat up the profits of farmers 
less fortunately situated. The prices, too, 
are usually based upon the quotations in the 
R. N.-Y. or from some similar sources and are 
often quite as high as those obtained in the 
large cities. The markets are never glutted 
and prices are therefore comparatively uni¬ 
form. 
The wheat crop in*the northern part of the 
valley is not quite up to the average owing to 
the heavy rains. On the lower meadows the 
grain is badly lodged and cannot be harvested 
without considerable loss. In the lower val¬ 
ley the crop is about up to the usual average, 
and will be harvested without material loss. 
Corn is backward and the acreage is com¬ 
paratively small. The wet weather caused it 
to come up very unevenly. Potatoes, too, 
have come up unevenly and will hardly be an 
average crop. No regular rotation of crops 
is practiced. Each farmer has a system of 
his own. As a rule, the rotation is a matter 
of prejudice or convenience. It is not prac¬ 
ticed scientifically. Clover is frequently 
plowed under. Many of the farmers are 
strongly prejudiced against commercial fer¬ 
tilizers. They say that they value their land 
too highly to ruin it by stimulants. As a rule, 
they use special fertilizers, chiefly the lower 
grades of wheat fertilizers. They are not 
disposed to pay more than $20 per ton for any 
they may purchase. 
Hundreds of acres of the lower valley, on 
the northern slope of the Blue Mountains, 
have been set in peach trees. The orchards 
which are in bearing have proven very prof¬ 
itable and almost all the farmers have set 
orchards. One orchard is said to have netted 
its owner over $40,000 last year. Major A1 
vord, of the Maryland Agricultural Society, 
thinks that western Maryland will soon be¬ 
come a great peach-growing section. He is 
spending considerable time among these or¬ 
chards and his report concerning them will 
doubtless be of great interest and value. The 
use of traction engines is on the increase The 
roads and bridges are being made to accom 
modate the engines, and it is found that for 
many purposes they are cheaper than horse 
power. It is estimated that there are several 
thousand traction engines in use in central 
Pennsylvania. As a matter of course, they 
work best on hard, level roads, but they will 
pass over any ordinary obstruction or climb 
quite steep hills. Traction engines have su¬ 
perseded the old-fashioned portable engines 
almost entirely. It is about as easy for a 
team to do the thrashing as to transfer the 
engine. It is very much easier and more 
economical to utilize the engine to move itself 
and the thrasher from place to place. The 
sale of traction engines is rapidly increasing. 
One of the reasons why steam power is becom¬ 
ing popular is tne high price and scarcity of 
good work horses; another reason is the 
scarcity of good farm help. An engine of, 
say, 10-horse power will do an immense 
amount of work. Such an engine consumes 
from 500 to 700 pounds of coal per day, cost 
mg, say, $2. 
Notwithstanding the apparent prosperity of 
the farmers of the valley, the value or at 
least the selling price of the farm lands is con¬ 
stantly depreciating. A conservative esti 
mate places the depreciation at fully 33}£ per 
cent, within the last few years. The worst of 
it is that the depreciation still goes on. At 
forced sales there are very few buyers and 
only nominal prices are obtained. Mortga¬ 
gees usually buy in the places which are sold 
under foreclosure. When will farm lands 
reach a price which will attract buyers who 
want to follow farming as a business? Until 
then low prices must prevail. One of the 
things which make the valley so attractive is 
the excellent condition of the front yards. In 
some localities it seems to be the fashion to 
shut up the front of the house and live in the 
kitchen; it is not so here. Almost every 
front yard is adorned witn a great bunch of 
hollyhocks, honeysuckles aud other ornamen¬ 
tal flowers and shrubs. The farm-house with¬ 
out a handsome front yard does not look com¬ 
plete. 
The water supply is unsurpassed. On every 
side there are springs and creeks, the latter 
being in many cases large enough to run the 
local grist-mill. The larger towns draw their 
supply of water from the adjacent moun¬ 
tains. 
The Grange picnic to be held at Williams 
Grove, beginning on August 26, is looked for¬ 
ward to with eager anticipation. It is ex¬ 
pected that it will be the largest combined 
fair and picn ; c ever held in this country. 
The recent floods carried away many 
bridges and washed the roads very badly in 
places, but did no very serious damage. 
Some of the lower meadows were badly 
washed, but not seriously enough to injure 
the grass or corn. rambler. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
California. 
Ontario San Bernardino County, July 2. 
—We have been here nearly three years and 
are delighted with the climate and country. 
We have a small fruit farm of five acres and 
are getting along nicely, and my husband’s 
health and that of many other invalids has 
improved astonishingly. d. l. b. 
Canada. 
8t. Catherines, Lincoln County, Ont.— 
Wheat, barley, corn, oats, hay, horses, cattle, 
fruit and vegetables of all kinds, are our cash 
products. The wheat is sold to millers here; 
the barley is sold to breweries and exported. 
All other products are sold here, except fruits, 
which are mostly exported to Toronto, Lon¬ 
don, Ottawa and Montreal. Prices are gener¬ 
ally good. Last year’s crops of apples, pota¬ 
toes and turnips, yielded poor returns, how¬ 
ever. Future prices seem likely to be fair. 
Some get extra prices by marketing first-clas3 
products. During the past 10 years farming 
has changed to fruit growing, fruits yielding 
better returns than other farm products. I 
would suggest the cultivation of fewer acres 
and better work. s. d. w. 
Kansas. 
Iuka, Pratt County, June 28.—We have 
splendid prospects this year for everything. 
None of the big stories of Kansas produc¬ 
tion are over-estimated this year—there are 
many fields of cats that will yield 100 bushels 
or more per acre. All kinds of fruit are in 
abundance, and so is everything else. 
J. J. M. 
Sew Jersey. 
Titusville, Mercer County, July 15.— 
Grass is very heavy; not all harvested yet: 
much of it has been damaged by rain after 
it had been cut. Wheat about an average; 
straw generally short and rather thin. Oats 
a full average crop; nearly ripe. Corn about an 
average for this time of the year; a good pro¬ 
portion of it needs more tending to. Constant 
rains have hurt the prospect for a fine crop, 
as many pieces are weedy, and the stand is 
not very good. Potato prospect poor. The 
crop on many pieces came up badly, and as the 
ground was too wet to work, weeds grew apace 
and beetles throve disastrously, and, moreover, 
the potatoes show signs of rot. J. w. 
Pennsylvania. 
Bingham, Potter County, July S.— It com¬ 
menced raining on Decoration Day and rained 
till the night of July 3d. Orchard fruits are 
all killed and so are small fruits. Oats are a 
good stand on high land. Grass is good on 
new seeding. Old meadows are light on ac¬ 
count of the freeze. Potatoes are going to be 
light on account of wet weather. Of corn there 
is none. Rye is splendid and bids fair to be 
a largo crop. Spring and winter wheat isn’t 
much raised—only on new land. s. s. c. 
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• 
INCREASING SIZE AND VIGOR OF JERSEYS. 
Several Subscribers. —Are breeders taking 
any steps to improve the size and general 
constitution of Jersey cattle ? 
IftiiMtUatttattiiJ 
“Herbrand” Fifth Wheel for Buggies. 
A 
