658 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
OCTOBER 5 
the distilleries, the important consumers 
were the feeders of hogs and cattle. I re¬ 
member making inquiry in regard to the 
number of cattle fed in a single year in the 
county of Pickaway, and was surprised to 
find that it amounted to no less than 14,000 
head. The bullocks probably averaged 
from 1,400 to 1,500 pounds per head, and 
were fed in lots of 100 bullocks with,say,200 
light hogs to follow. 
The method was to arrange two feed lots 
in a dry, sheltered locality, with a proper 
and convenient supply of water. The corn 
was hauled from the shock on a low wagon 
with a long rack by two yokes of oxen. 
The pigs meantime occupied the other lot, 
from which they would be removed before 
a fresh load would be distributed. By this 
method it is believed that very little corn 
was wasted. The undigested grain was 
picked up by the hogs and found to be more 
readily assimilated by them than the dry 
corn. The quality of the beef produced 
under this system was excellent; being 
fully matured and fat, it was rich in juices 
and of superior flavor. But in one sense 
the practice was expensive. The cattle 
were well grazed and were allowed from 75 
to 100 bushels of corn 
each with the fodder 
during the last sea¬ 
son’s feeding, say, 
from October to 
March or April, hav¬ 
ing been “half fed;” 
that is, consuming 40 
to 50 bushels of corn 
each the previous 
winter. This was the 
method in the corn¬ 
growing valleys, to 
which the cattle were 
driven from the graz¬ 
ing districts in this 
State and from Ken¬ 
tucky, and, after 1830, 
to some extent from 
Illinois. 
Soon after the con¬ 
struction of railways 
the price of grain ad¬ 
vanced, and farmers 
began to grow more 
wheat and to devote 
less land to corn and 
grass, until at this 
date even on our rich¬ 
est lands, as com¬ 
pared with the old 
practice, but a small 
moiety of the crops 
are fed out on the 
farm. The opulent 
proprietors of many 
of the large estates in 
our corn-producing 
districts are in the 
habit of leasing their 
lands to tenants for 
one half the crop of 
grain to be delivered 
at the warehouses at 
the neighboring 
stations on the rail¬ 
way or the canal. To 
compensate for this 
enormous drain upon 
the fertility of the soi 1 
some farmers are ex¬ 
pending large sums 
of money for commer¬ 
cial fertilizers, in the 
vain hope that the in¬ 
finitesimal doses will 
compensate for the 
wholesale removal 
they are annually making of grain and hay, 
and straw, etc., etc. 
Delaware County, Ohio. 
(To he Continued.) 
HOLSTEIN BULL VERNON. 
This bull, whose picture is shown at Fig¬ 
ure 347, is owned by our corespondent .1. 
W. Ingham, of Pennsylvania. We have 
had considerable to say in times past about 
the peculiar merits of Holstein cattle. Mr. 
Ingham gives the following reasons for se¬ 
lecting this breed for his purpose: 
“I desire cattle that have been bred es¬ 
pecially for dairy purposes and which are 
large enough to furnish beef, when beef is 
desirable. These cattle are as thoroughbred 
as any stock in the world. They have been 
bred a thousand years for the dairy, and the 
breeders in aiming for the highest excel¬ 
lence in milk production, did not neglect 
size, and comeliness. I f a cow is a machine 
for making milk out of grass, hay, bran, 
etc., then the larger machine is capable of 
performing the most work. A large engine 
requires more fuel and water to make steam 
than a small one, but it furnishes enough 
more power to pay for the extra fuel and 
water. In my opinion an average Ilolstein- 
Friesian cow will furnish as much butter as 
an average Jersey cow on the same amount 
of feed, and on a larger amount of feed will 
do still better.” 
farm <To}ucs. 
The Dressed Beef Trade. 
Ml ARE YOU SOI TO BO ABOUT IT? 
“1. Has the trade in Chicago dressed 
HOLSTEIN BULL, 
beef made itself felt in the farming inter¬ 
ests of your section ? 
2. To what extent has it affected the rais¬ 
ing and fattening of beef cattle? 
3. Has it changed the business of local 
butchers to any extent ? 
4. Is the change an advantage or disad¬ 
vantage to farmers, and to wlmt extent ? 
5. What can you suggest as a means of 
fairly regulating the matter ?” 
FROM At. H. C. GARDNER. 
All farmers, especially those in the East, 
should be interested in the subject of re¬ 
frigerator meat, or, more properly, Chicago 
dressed beef, obtained from Western cattle 
fattened on cheap ranges, at a cost that 
would be ruinous to an Eastern farmer, 
taken to the immense abattoirs and 
dressed, placed in refrigerator cars and 
shipped to the Eastern States by the rail¬ 
road companies, which by reason of large 
contracts with the dressed beef men, charge 
a very low figure for freights. This meat 
comes to a building erected on purpose for 
the business on a switch in some town that 
is central to a large local territory, and is 
then distributed to the meat markets 10 to 
20 miles around. This subject. I say, is 
what has spread consternation, and made 
low prices rule for beef among the farmers 
of the East. A few years ago there were 
farmers who, in addition to their dairy 
business, fattened a few steers, perhaps 
two or three yoke of oxen during the fall 
and winter for early spring beef; but times 
have changed and the advent of Chicago 
beef precludes any possibility of fattening 
any meat for profit any more. Butchers in 
large places, like Middletown, used to scour 
the country for miles around for steer and 
good cow beef, veals, lambs, sheep, etc., and 
pay a fair price for them; but this is all 
changed. They will not now even look at, 
or even talk to you about a fat cow, for in 
a few minutes or hours at most, they can 
VERNON. Fig. 247. 
get direct from the refrigerator just such 
meat and as much of it as they want, and 
they prefer to do it because there is no 
profit in dressing a fat animal for the by¬ 
products, and tallow and hides rule in 
price very low. 
A few months ago this very subject of 
Chicago beef came up and was discussed at 
our farmers’ club—the Westtown Farm 
and Garden Club—and it made the farmers 
feel glum as they discussed it, and no radi- 
cal remedy was suggested that could be 
available. Leg’slation was spoken of; but 
past experience shows that it is a hard mat¬ 
ter to legislate against powerful corpora¬ 
tions. They can get what favorable laws 
they want, for. as the late James Fisk of 
Erie Railroad notoriety, said, when he 
wanted a particular law or bill passed for 
the benefit of his road, he went Tip to Al¬ 
bany and bought it. This kind of legisla¬ 
tion puts farmers in the back-ground; so 
the club seemed to think that there was no 
outlet or remedy and that we would have 
to “grin and bear it.” 
Farmers here sell milk exclusively and it 
is a serious question what to do witli the 
stock that is turned off fat. It is consider¬ 
ed a good sale to get $25 or $30 for a cow 
that perhaps was bought and proved to be 
a poor milker, for which $45 or $50 were paid 
perhaps a year or two before. The country 
butcher will drive up to the farmer’s door 
on his semi-weekly trips with Chicago beef 
in his wagon, which we must buy or go 
without beef altogether, and in the mean¬ 
time we may have one or two fat cows to 
dispose of. He may perhaps buy one, now 
and then, but at a ruinously low figure. 
So I must candidly admit that I cannot see 
a very brilliant future for the dairy farmer 
in the way of getting rid of his fat stock at 
a paying figure. 
Orange County, N. Y. 
FROM F. E. YAK EPS. 
1. It has. The change is manifested in 
the low price of fat cattle. 
2. Very few beef cattle are being raised 
in this section. Many who were in the 
habit of buying cattle in the fall and winter 
to feed for .beef have given it up entirely, 
the price of fat cattle being so low as not to 
pay the cost of feed. 
3. No; except to lessen their work and 
increase their profits. 
4. A disadvantage. 
Many are keeping 
cows and furnishing 
cream for the cream¬ 
ery; others cannot do 
this, not having sum¬ 
mer feed, and they 
are therefore at a loss 
how to make the man¬ 
ure that is needed on 
the farm. 
5. I give it up. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. 
FROM J. H. PORTER. 
The trade in Chica¬ 
go dressed beef has 
hurt the farming in¬ 
terest here to some 
extent, as it has made 
less demand for home¬ 
grown beef. For the 
past few years it has 
been more profitable 
to sell calves in the 
fall. All the good 
steer calves have been 
bought up and ship¬ 
ped to Chicago and 
from there they go 
out on the plains— 
some as far as Color¬ 
ado. Some farmers 
here go * to Buffalo 
and buy a carload 
apiece of steers in the 
fall, feed them 
through the winter 
and take them back 
and sell them in the 
spring, but it hasn’t 
paid for the last few 
years; somet imes they 
have to sell them at 
about the same 
price they paid for 
them. 
3. It has changed 
the business of butell¬ 
ers to some extent. 
They used to come 
out through the coun¬ 
try and buy up all the 
cattle ; now they 
scarcely come at all. 
4. The change is a 
decided disadvantage 
to the small farmer who has but a few fat 
cattle to sell. 
5. I don’t know how the business can be 
regulated unless a tax can be imposed on all 
beef brought into the State or unless a stop 
can be put to the importation of any dressed 
beef at all. 
North East, Pa. 
FROM W. B. PRATT. 
Western dressed beef is rarely seen in 
small inland village markets, but its free 
use in larger places along railroad lines 
makes it govern the price of home-grown 
animals. There are fewer buyers searching 
through inland districts for suuulies for 
local markets than formerly, and the in¬ 
terest felt in growing and feeding cattle is 
much smaller. Consumers doubtless get 
cheaper beef, and in that way realize some¬ 
thing from the public or cheap lands of the 
West in which they have a common inter¬ 
est with all the other people. The consum¬ 
ers out-number the producers and should 
therefore be first considered. 
The way to “fairly regulate” whatever 
is bad in the matter would seem to rest 
with the people to install an administra- 
