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DAIRY SHORT-HORNS. 
T. H. IIOSKIN8, M. I). 
ADAPTABILITY OF SHORT-HORNS TO MILK OB 
BEEF PRODUCTION. 
The noble breed of Short-horn cattle 1* one 
that adapts itself, in the'hands of skillful 
breeders, to every purpose for which cattle are 
required. Though pre-eminently a meat-pro¬ 
ducing stock, it has always from the beginning 
been a milk-producing breed as well. In the 
hands of breeders, whose aim is to make beef 
only, and who let the calves do all the milking, 
the system of these animals will adapt itself to 
the situation, and the nutriment.goes mainly to 
flesh. But the potentiality of a milk-produ¬ 
cing race exists in the Short-horn family under 
all conditions, and even whore for years it has 
been disregarded, a moderate amount of care 
will In a few generations restore It. This, 
bo waver, is in practice quite unnecessary, 
since the milking strains of the breed have in 
many localities been preserved, and kept under 
a constant course of improvement. This is 
notably the case on many farms in the Eastern 
States, especially in New York and New Eng¬ 
land. It may be said that in these sections the 
Short-horn lifts been as closely bred to milk as 
in Kentucky it has been bred to beef; and the 
result is a'marked differentiation,whereby have 
been produced two quite distinct sub-broeds, 
that are yearly growing further apart, and 
while preserving the. distinguishing race-ue- 
pects in many points, are each assuming a type 
by which animals of each kind are at once 
clearly denoted to the experienced observer. 
DAIRY 8HORT-HOKNB IN VERMONT. 
In Vermont., especially, has the Short-horn 
been carefully bred for the dairy. This State, 
both by Boil and locality, us well as by the 
tustes of her farmers, as one might say, is 
mortgaged to the dairying interest The ex¬ 
cellent market offered almost at their doors by 
the great cities and the manufacturing towns 
of southern New England (to .the citizenship 
of w r hich Vermont lias herself greatly con¬ 
tributed) irresistibly urges the Vermont farm¬ 
ers to the task of supplying it with the choicest 
articles of diet, such as the West does not and 
cannot offer in perfection. This demand is 
seconded by her soil and climate, which to¬ 
gether make grass her natural crop. Nowhere 
In America, not even in Kentucky (the writer 
has lived many years in both States as a farmer), 
does u richer sod exist, or one more prolific of 
the best grasses. The "Blue grass” is ns 
much at home in one State as in the other, and 
the limestone soil in which it delights, under¬ 
lies, proportionally, as large an area in the one 
State as in the other. Kentucky, with its large 
farms and warmer climate, chooses beef rais¬ 
ing, and her Short-borns are of the grazier’s 
type; while Vermont cun show among her 
herds an equally good, if not equally numer¬ 
ous, urray of the best type of milking stock. 
The Winslows, of Putney, have perhaps given 
the most notoriety to the Vermont type of 
Short-horns, and have recorded the highest 
prices received for them. The fame acquired 
by “Lady Hale, of Putney,” and her progeny, 
has gone out into all lands. But although the 
Winslows have departed for the West. Ver¬ 
mont is not withont many herds scarcely less 
meritorious, though less widely advertised. 
A PROFITABLE nERD. 
Among these, pre-eminent us a profitable 
milking herd, as well as of a very noble strain, 
is that of Henry C. Cleveland, of Coventry. 
.Mr. Cleveland’s father, Judge Cleveland, still 
living at the advanced age of eighty-five years, 
began the breeding of Bhort-hortis before the 
era of Herd-Books, and had a large and fine 
stock of them as far back as twenty years ago. 
Since this herd has come into the hands of his 
eon, great improvement has been made, not 
only by the introduction of choice and costly 
blood, but by a close and discriminating sys¬ 
tem of “ weeding out,” whereby every inferior 
calf and unprofitable .heifer or cow lias gone to 
the butcher without hesitation or remorse. 
The result is such, the milk-producing ability 
of the cows having been thus sedulously culti- 
va'.ed, that now the record shows an annual 
a/erage for the whole herd, heifers and oows 
together, of 981 pounds of butter per head, sold 
iu open market at a price that has netted for 
the current year slightly over twenty-five cents 
per pound, dear of freight and commissions. 
Mr. Cleveland’s stock at this time consists 
of forty-five head of pure-bred Bhort-horns, 
with twenty-three milkers. At the head of 
this herd stands the fine "Princess” bull, 
Second Lord of Malvern (14.782) six years old. 
Whose sire was the Fourth Lord of Ox-ford, and 
whose dam, Lady Mary Second, sold at auction 
for $5,1)00. In a recent visit to Mr. Cleveland’s 
place he pointed Out to'me six cows in a row, 
which he assured me had averaged twenty 
quarts of milk a day for eight months. One 
cow, the veteran of the herd and ancestress of 
quite a number of them, uow in hfcf twentieth 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
JAN. 4 
year, records an average flow- for one whole 
season of fifty pounds of milk per clay, with a 
butter product therefrom of two pounds—this 
on grass alone. Mr. Cleveland feeds no meal 
or grain of any kind, except to the cows for a 
short time afte.r calviug. and to the calves after 
weaning. 
In Mr. Cleveland’s cow-stable the mangers 
are divided by partitions about four feet high, 
extending back about twenty inches from the 
manger. The cattle have each a stout strap 
around the nock, attached to a chain ten inches 
long, sliding by a ring upon an iron rod. The 
platforms are level, and well littered with saw¬ 
dust. Bj’ this arrangement cows never get 
their feet in the mangers, and their flanks 
and hindquarters are as eloun as can be. 
The farm is in the valley of the Black River, 
282 acres in extent, with admirable mowing 
and pasturage. The average bay crop is about 
eighty tons. In addition to this, three to four 
aeroe of corn, one to two acres of corn fodder, 
and a considerable quantity of oats are grown. 
This farm is run to make money, and money is 
made. Though no fancy prices ure usked for 
stock that is sold, much of it is as good and as 
well-blooded as that for which very high rates 
have been paid. 
DAIRY SHORT-HORNS IN NEW YORK. 
In New York it is superfluous to say that 
many flue herds of milking (short-horns are 
found. Mr. Jonathan Talcott, of Rome, a 
dairyman and no speculator, reports his herd 
of Short-horns as usually making from twelve 
to fourteen pounds of butter per week. each, 
during the hight of the season. He lias tested 
them alongside of the Jerseys, and gives the 
preference to the Short-horns for butter, with¬ 
out reference to their value for beef, or their 
yield of milk in quantity or for cheese-making. 
Mr. E. W. Stewart says lie has authenticated 
the yield of a herd of twenty-eight thorough¬ 
bred Short-horns to be sixty pounds of milk 
each per duy. Short-horn butter competes in 
market with Jersey butter ou equal terms, when 
fresh, and its keeping quality is hold by deal¬ 
ers to be superior. So eminent a dairyman ns 
Hon. Harris Lewis, of Herkimer, after reviewing 
the merits of the different breeds from the 
dairy standpoint, gives it as his matured con¬ 
clusion that the Short-horns of milking fami¬ 
lies, from the same amount of food will produce 
more butter, cheese and beef than any other 
breed; and the same conclusion finds expres¬ 
sion from many other farmers, who have no 
speculative interest in fancy stock. 
MILK RECORD OF REGISTERED JERSEYS. 
Prompted to do so by the other milk records 
that have lately appeared In the Rural. .Mr. S. 
ti. Livermore, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, sends us 
the following record of the yield from three of 
his Jerseys: 
FLORA. 
No. 1.745—American Jersey Herd Book. 
Dropped her last calf Feb. 23d, 1878. 
Gave In April.7493$ lbs, of milk 
Gave m May.993 lbs. of milk 
Gave in June.S83M lbs. of milk 
Gave w J uly.8# lba. of milk 
Gave in August.so&q lbs, of milk 
Amount in Jive months.4,306 lbs, of milk 
She is due to calf Jan. 19th, 1879- 
ELLA. 
No. 323—American Jersey Herd Book. Drop¬ 
ped her last calf April 7th, 1878. 
Gave in 30 days, commencing May 12....647 lbs. of milk 
Gave in June...f*7<i>i lbs-ot milk 
Gave m July.aos lbs. of milk 
Gave in August.,76S lbs. of milk 
Amount In three mo6., 20 days:..2 647)i lbs. of milk. 
She is now' giving 18 lbs. a day. The reason 
he ends the record with the month of August is 
the cows were aw ay in September at the State 
Fair. 
BUTTERCUP—4 YEARS OLD. 
No. 1,746—American Jersey Herd Book. 
Dropped her last calf May 7th, 1878. 
Gave in 20 days commencing May 12. .65214 lbs, of milk 
Gave In June.....972*4 lba. ol milk 
Gave in July..M4 lbs. of mtlk 
Gave m August.ibs. of milk 
Amount in three moe., 20 days. ,,3,269,'^ lbs. ot nulk. 
The milk was weighed directly after milking 
each cow. Buttercup gave iu three days, com¬ 
mencing May aotli, 1878, 1011 lbs. of milk from 
which w as made six lbs. of butter. She is due 
to calf March 3d, 1879. 
^loriniltural. 
CARNIVOROUS PLANTS. 
In a recent number of the Gardener’s Monthly, 
Mr. Peter Henderson gives an interesting ac¬ 
count of an experiment he has performed with 
‘‘carnivorous plants.” 
To test the truth of the theory set forth by 
Mr. Darwin, and now adhered io by many 
scientific men. that certain plants obtain sus¬ 
tenance from animals which they catch and de¬ 
vour, he procured, last spring, from North 
Carolina a large number of Diomea muscipula 
(Carolina Fly-trap). Having selected and 
washed the best plants, lie procured two boxes, 
which were tilled with a mixture of moss atul 
sand, forming a soil somewhat similar to that 
which the plants had been growing in natu¬ 
rally, and a hundred Strong plants were planted 
in each box. The plants in one box were 
covered with fine wire-gauze to exclude insects, 
while those in the other box were systemati¬ 
cally fed, every day, with flies and other in¬ 
sects. After a lapse of three months from the 
time the feeding began, the operation was dis¬ 
continued, and the most careful examination 
and comparison failed to show the slightest 
difference between the out* hundred plants that 
had been fed, and the one hundred, under the 
netting, that had not been fed. Both lots had 
made a splendid growth, and were the admira¬ 
tion of scores of visitors. Mr. Henderson holds 
that this experiment disproves, or at least 
tends to disprove, the above-mentioned theory. 
But it is fair to state that this one experi¬ 
ment ought not to weigh heavily against many 
like experiments which were carried on with 
great care by Mr. Darwin. 
Cbcrgtujjm. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois, Bnileyville, Ogle Co., Dec.—We 
had a lovely Indian summer, and on account 
of the favorablencss of the weather, the farm¬ 
ers got their corn all husked in due season, and 
are better prepared for winter than usual. 
Some commenced plowing again, after their 
corn was cribbed, and continued plowing until 
Dec. 6. when the ground froze solid aud put a 
stop to field work. 
The corn crop was excellent in this locality, 
both in yield and quality, and was saved in 
prime condition. Clover-seed has turned out 
poorly ; some was considered not w orth hull¬ 
ing ; and as the price of seed is only about $3 
per bushel, out of which $1 must be paid for 
hulling, besides oilier expenses, it doesn’t pay. 
The farmers have but little to do now, except 
to tend their stock and keep up the fires, and 
as coal is mostly burned here, instead of wood, 
it requires but little work to provide fuel. A 
good many farm bands are idle or merely 
helping with the feeding for their boarding. 
The wages paid the past season of eight or 
nine months, were from $16 to $18 per month, 
with board and washing. Day laborers got 
from 75 cents to $1 per day and board. 
W r . B. D. 
Pa., Wellsboro’, Tioga County.—This section 
of country is high and rolling, well water¬ 
ed and well adapted to dairying, which is car¬ 
ried on to quite a considerable extent. Crops 
have been very good with the exception of po¬ 
tatoes and apples, which were not more than 
half a crop. The dry weather in the early part 
of the season spoiled the potato crop, and a 
heavy frost ou the last of May cut our fruit in 
most localities. The w eather front the 1st of 
August to the 15th of October was fine, but 
from then down to this date, it has rained al¬ 
most every day, consequently the farmers are 
much behind with their full work. Our market 
prices are as follows: winter wiieat $1.00 
per bushel, spring wheat, 80(®90 ets.; 
barley, rye, 75c.; barley. 75c.; corn, shelled, 
50e.; buckwheat, 50c.;,oats, 25(5)30c.; pota¬ 
toes," 50@65c.; apples, 60 cts. per bushel; 
eggs, 18 cts. per doz.; butter, 25c. per lb.; pork, 
dressed, 3.00<6>$4.00 per ewt.; beef, 4 cts. per 
lb., live weight; cows, $25.00; hay, $6 per 
ton; sheep, $2.50®$8.00; labor is very low ; 
we can get the best men ou the furm for 50 ets. 
per duy or 8.00 to $10.00 per month. 
W. O. R. 
Iowa, Lettsville.—The soil of Iow'a, like that 
of most other States, will not bear a continual 
cropping of the cereals without exhaustion; 
even the virgin prairie soil after fifteen suc¬ 
cessive crops needs rest. The usuul method rrf 
recuperation is by seeding down to timothy 
and clover for meadow and pusture; hence the 
successful farmer must adopt the rotation sys¬ 
tem of farming best adapted to the kinds of 
soil to be worked. Persons of large means 
who have their acres by the thousand, have 
nearly quit grain fanning, choosing stock rais¬ 
ing in preference. Three continuous wet sea¬ 
sons have awakened the farmers in some lo¬ 
calities to the importance of tiling their low 
grounds; a machine for putting in tiling is iu 
use in this community, which is a success; from 
sixty to eighty rods a day can be put in with¬ 
out the use of the spade. A diminutive " mole- 
plow” used in marking off ground for corn 
drawn by three horses at a depth of nine 
inches, proved beneficial on partially exhausted 
ground during the past season. c. f. 
New York, Rochester.—The fall,after our sea¬ 
son of drought, lias been very favorable for the 
growth of the wheat plant, and wheat is looking 
much better than was expected, the middle of 
October. The growth is not large, but strong 
and stocky, and large enough I think to winter 
well. A wide area has been sowed ; for, not¬ 
withstanding the low price during the past fall, 
farmers generally have cleared as much profit 
from their wheat fields as from any department. 
Then, loo, it is a pleasant crop to grow, and 
one] that is always readily convertible into 
cash. Farm wages have been higher propor¬ 
tionally than in other trades—for which the 
farmers are generally to blame—a dislike of 
changing hands causes them often to pay more 
than the market price for those they do hire. 
Apples have been a drug on the market; fine fruit 
selling as low as 75c.. per bbl.—barrel included 
—which cannot leave much margin for the pro¬ 
ducer. Potatoes are scarce and now command 
80@90c. per bushel in our markets. Cabbage 
$4 per 100 heads. Beef and pork lower than 
last year. n. t. j. 
New York, Great Bend, Jeff Co., Dee. 13th. 
1878.—Crops, with the exception of corn, were 
poor. This town does quite a heavy trade in 
potatoes generally: as the soil hereabouts Is 
inclined to lie santly, tills crop is easily culti¬ 
vated and generally of good quality; but the 
beetle did his best to spoil the crop for us dur¬ 
ing the past year, and those who did not fight 
early aud late, are now compelled to pay the 
more persevering ones from 80c.® $1.00 per 
bushel for the tubers, or speak of them as the 
fox spoke of the grapes, and cat buckwheat 
cakes instead. Prices arc at present here: 
wheat, $L; oats. 30c.; corn, 48c.; rye. 40c.; but- 
ber, 13® 18c.; pork, 3J@5c,; beef from 6® 
6c.; hay $7.00 per ton; cows from 20(a) 
$30. according to age etc.: sheep, 3.00(5) 
$5.00; eggs. 15c.; work is scarce aud wages 
low ; plenty of men for 50c. per day and board. 
K. H. O. 
Miss., Okolona, Doc.—Hereabouts, aside 
from the large plantations run by men of 
education and capital, farming has generally 
been in the bauds of uneducated men, who, 
however incapable they may be of raakiug 
agriculture a success, are still more unfit for 
every other sort of occupation. In this imme¬ 
diate neighborhood, there has been an almost 
total failure of crops. Cotton, our great staple, 
has yielded, in many eases, only a bale of about 
450 pounds to five or six acres, while in some 
instances it took tea acres to yield a single 
bale, and this has to be sold for from seven to 
eight cents per pound. The present hard plight 
of our people is mainly due to their failure to 
raise at home such necessaries as corn, meat, 
and flour. w. u. 
New York, Syracuse.—Diphtheria, and Scar¬ 
let fever prevail extensively hereabouts, re¬ 
minding one of the old adage; "A green Christ¬ 
mas makes a fat graveyard.” Farm produce 
sells low in our market. Wheat, 90c,<®$1.00 
per bushel; Oats. 25®30c.; corn, 50@55c.; 
dressed hogs, $3.50(54.00 per hundred; pota¬ 
toes 70®80c. per bushel.; upples, 25®40c. per 
bushel: butter, 20®22e, per lb.; eggs, 25c per 
dozen. Evidently the prices of farm produce 
have touched bottom; but careful inquiry has 
failed to discover where salaries of Govern¬ 
ment officials have been reduced. N. Ritwr. 
Washington Ter., Colfax, Dec.—The early 
rains started the Bunch-grass, which Covers 
this whole land, and it is uow two or three 
inches high. Cattle, horses and sheep ure in 
fine condition to go through the winter, as 
they generally do without any other feed than 
the famous Bunch-grass. Crops here wore 
very good; vegetables the finest I ever saw. 
We had many potatoes of the Garnet-Chili, 
Eureka and Early Rose varieties, that weighed 
21 to 3 Ibs, and some that weighed 4 lbs. Pri¬ 
ces are: Wheat, 50c ; Outs, 60c ; butter, 25o ; 
eggs. 25c ; potatoes, 50c. n. m. 
Ohio, Celiua, Dee. — Corn ‘was a good crop 
on uuderdrained land : less than half a crop on 
land not drained. A full average breadth of 
wheat was sown and looks fine. Pastures, 
properly cured for, look well, aud young stock 
arc doing well, with but very little feed. On 
account of low prices, and lack of drainage, 
farming in this locality is payiug very poorly. 
Wheat is selling at 80c.; corn. 25c.; oats, 18c.; 
rye, 40c.; buckwheat. 50c.; hay, $5 to $7; pork. 
$2.25; cows, from $20 to $40, as per quality. 
G. W. R. 
Iowa, Watkins, Dec.—Seeing an item in the 
Rural about the ** Lost Nation ” wheat, I 
would say thut it is a very good kind. A neph¬ 
ew of mine had a piece of about twenty-one 
acres that yielded the past season 440 bushels 
of good wheat. Times are very hard and 
prices are very low. Crops were good, except 
wheat. Fruit, of all kinds, was good. Hogs, 
$2 to $2.25; cattle. $2 to $2.30; wheat, 40 to 
64e.; oats, 13c.; corn, 16c.; barley, 20 to 40c.; 
apples, 50 to 75c. 0. G. n. 
Oregon, Silver Wells. Wasco Co,, Dec.- This 
is a newly-settled country; consequently farm¬ 
ing is almost untried here yet. There is much 
rich soil in the small valleys among the moun¬ 
tains, but the climate is too cold to permit the 
growth of any but the hardier kind of vegeta¬ 
bles. Stock-raising is the principal industry 
here. Cattle and horses usually winter well 
without feeding either hay or grain. 
T. H. LA. F. 
Canada, Capetown, Ont.—The wheat, corn, 
potatoes and hay crops hereabouts were very 
good; barley and oats, however, ripened too 
soon. The apple crop is fair, thecurculio hav¬ 
ing almost disappeared. The Snowflake pota¬ 
to does well on this soil—a brown sandy loam. 
The flower garden and house plants are always 
a success in their season, oj ing to good seeds 
and careful attention. G. g. k. 
