THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
it contains » vast amount of latent fertility 
It is there, but is not available, it is locked 
up. Every particle of soil, unless it is pure 
quartz or silica, contains potash, soda, phos¬ 
phoric acid, magnesia, and other mineral plaut 
food, or rather sources of plant food, in it. 
And amongst the particles there is always some 
organic matter which contains nitrogeu. But 
none of these are plant food until they become 
soluble. To the extent that the rain, the at¬ 
mosphere. and the sun’s heat slowly dissolve 
out the plant food that may exist in it, the 
poorest soil is able to produce just so much or 
rather so little; to the extent that manure or 
fertilizers help to dissolve more plaut food by 
their action nu the soil, the soil can produce 
so much more in addition to what the fertiliz¬ 
ers supply food for; and to the extent that the 
decomposing action of the roots themselves is 
exerted upon every particle of the soil which 
they touch, the latter will still produce so 
much; so that ii we add manure or fertilizers 
to the poorest soil, we may reasonably expect 
to get more returned than we have given. 
This is the theory. In practice we may get 
this or we may not, and it is sale to expect 
less, because the season may very rarely be 
such as to favor all these different results, and 
may, iu tact, exert an unfavorable iu.Hueu.ee 
and prevent some of them front taking place. 
Bo that it is always safe to supply more than 
is actually supposed to be necessary." 
- — • _ ■--———— -- ■ ,,»_ 
jtlural ^rdntfriiu-f, 
A FEW AXIOMS IN BARN BUILDING. 
W. .7. CHAMBERLAIN. 
“ An axiom is a self-evident truth.” Bo says 
the definition. Sometimes, however, our at¬ 
tention must be called to it before it is seen to 
be “self-evident.” This is the case with some 
of the axioms of barn building, to which I pro¬ 
pose to call attention. 
First.— Money is saved by increasing the 
contents j nrpendictfoirly (vertically; not hori¬ 
zontally. Let Fig. ] be an end section of a 
barn of any size, with posts thirteen feet high, 
and showing posts, girths, A:c., ready for the 
siding. Suppose now we double the bight as 
in Fig. 2. We have doubled the capacity of 
the barn without increasing the size of "the 
roof. It we double the size horizontally, we 
must double the roof as well as the siding. 
But the roof is, proportionately, the most ex¬ 
pensive part of the barn. Therefore it pays to 
economize iu roof by making the barn as high 
as possible without inconvenience. By taking 
advantage of a slope, or by grading up as in 
fig. 2 lor a '“bank barn," hay. etc,, may be 
drawn iu, part way up, aud pitched down, "and 
thus the additional bight instead ol proviug a 
disadvantage in labor, will be au advantage 
That this axiom is not understood by many, is 
attested by the multitudes of low, fiat barns 
everywhere found. That it is an axiom, how¬ 
ever,—a self-evident truth,—all will at once 
admit on exkininatlon. 
Second. It pays to build one barn rather 
than several covering an equal space. Let Fig. 
d represent the ground plans of four small 
aiub. Now suppose them simply moved up 
together and covered by a common roof. Evi¬ 
dent];' the amount of roof remains the same, 
except that there is a saving of half the cor- 
tece, but hall of the shies and half of the ends 
are rendered useless aud disappear. That is, 
the four bai ns will require twice the lumber 
and timber lor sidiug their outsides that will 
be required for one barn that shall cover the 
same space aud store as much (yes, more) hay, 
&iain, &c. This, too, is self-evident when once 
pointed out. If, now, the principle here in¬ 
volved be cohibiiicd with that Involved In Figs. 
1 and 2, we see that a bam of twice lhe length, 
breadth and highl of any given barn—for in¬ 
stance, one of those represented in Fig. 3—will 
hold eight, times aa much hay, &o.. but will take 
only four times as much roof and siding; or, in 
other words, a given amount of niouey spent 
for roof and siding will house twice as much 
feed in one such large, hig'h bai n as in four 
small ones costing the same money. 
Add to this the great economy of time in the 
feeding and care of stock in one barn, and we 
wonder to see small barns scattered all over the 
farm, as we do on multitudes of farms. The 
object of this mode of building originally was 
to save in the hauling of hay and the returning 
of manure to distant fields. But the beet farm¬ 
ers now favor concentration. It has many ad¬ 
vantages that I cannot stop to mention here. 
“ ^ ut your eggs in one nest ” is, after all, a 
good rule in barn-building. 
<§S)CUXj/, 
i 
1 
. 
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'Slat 
F/G-A-. 
Third. — The barn floor should run crosswise, 
uot lengthwise, of the barn. Let Fig. 4 repre¬ 
sent the ground plau of a barn 45x75 feet. If 
a barn floor 15 feet wide, runs through the mid¬ 
dle lengthwise, it occupies one-third of the room 
of the bam, clear to the ridge. If a scaffold is 
laid over it, if interferes with the storage of the 
bays, and a high, long scaffold is in itself a 
nuisance. If. now, a barn floor of the same 
width runs crosswise of the barn, through the 
middle, as in Fig. 5, c, it occupies oul y one-jiflh 
of the room, aud permits the bay in the bays to 
be stored to the ridge of the roof. In so long 
a tiarn it is a good plau to have three sets of 
doors, at c aud b. b, Fig. 5. The spaces b, b, 
cau be used as bai n floors till the bays a, a, are 
filled to the roof, aud then the doors closed, 
aud these spaces, b. b, used as bays and filled 
with bay from tlie floor, c. The three sets of 
doors are for convenience in storage. The cat¬ 
tle, etc., are supposed to be below in the base¬ 
ment. 
I have seen many expensive barns, excellent 
in many respects, but in which it seemed as if 
half the storage-space was wasted by wrong 
arrangement of details, chief among them being 
the wrong position or direction of the barn 
floor. Barns will be expensive enough at best, 
but they can be rendered far less so by careful 
attention to a few self-evident truths or obvious 
principles. 
Summit Co., O. 
®§f Iftrlrsmaii. 
POLLED OR HORNLESS RACES OF CATTLE. 
M. C. WELD. 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
The horns of cattle are certainly of very lit¬ 
tle use to ns. True, we utilize them finally, 
but they are too often used as terrible weapons 
against mankind, as well as against other ani¬ 
mals. Cattle are frequently greatly injured by 
one another’s horns, and horses are not unfre- 
quently killed when turned loose in confined 
Yards with cattle. Polled cattle are by no 
means helpless when attacked by horned 
beasts, tor they defeud themselves resoluteiy, 
and their heads are well adapted to this use by 
reason of a considerable knob in the center of 
the poll, with which they can well push and 
punish an adversary. In fact, though almost 
uniformly of a gentle and docile disposition, it 
often happens that in a mixed herd the boss (I 
use the word legitimately) is a hornless aui- 
mal. One reason for this is that the hornless 
ox or cow has so peculiar and. so to speak, un¬ 
scientific a way of fighting that the others are 
taken all aback by it, just as an adroit wrestler 
would be likely to be worsted in a rough-and- 
tumble " rasale.” 
The hornless breeds are quiet and good feed¬ 
ers. They lay on fat smoothly, evenly and 
rapidly. They are so quiet in disposition that 
they are excellent travelers, bearing transpor¬ 
tation by rail or by road better thau any of the 
horned breeds. Their lack of horns is of par¬ 
ticular advantage in shipping by rail, as they 
are very little likely to hurt one another either 
in the ears or when yarded, and they may be 
packed closer. Those, qualities are elements 
of profit which, were the breeds better known, 
would not only make them favorites u itli the 
drovers, but, naturally, the breeder would renl- 
ize his share of the profit in the better prices 
he would get. Their distinguishing peculiar¬ 
ity is transmitted almost invariably to half- 
and even three-quarter-bred offspring; and 
not this alone, hut their other good qualities 
accompany it, The quality of their beef is 
surpassed by that of none of the British breeds, 
unless it may be by the Higlitauders. and cer¬ 
tainly not by any of the continental breeds, 
and they possess a hardiness of constitution 
aud an aptitude to fatten which are unusual. 
As to their form and comeliness when ex¬ 
hibited in perfection, these points can hardly 
be better shown than by copying from Youatt 
his picture of a Galloway heifer named u Quoeu 
Of Scotts,” bred by Mr. Mure, fed by Mr. 
Wright, in Norfolk, aud exhibited at the Smith- 
field fat-cattle show. Her portrait was taken 
under the sanction of the Club, and the follow¬ 
ing are her recorded measurements: Ilight at 
shoulder, five feet two inches; length from 
nose to rump, ten feet four inches ; across the 
hips, two feet six inches: across middle of 
hack, three feet; across the shoulders, two 
feet four inches; girth of leg below the knee, 
eight inches; distance of breast from the 
ground, one foot three aud a half iucltes; 
width between lore-legs, one foot five inches ; 
weight, 1,520 lbs. The weight and perfection 
of this heifer were, however, extraordinary, 
Touatt recognizes four principal breeds of 
polled cattle, namelythe Galloway, Angus, 
Norfok, aud Suffolk breeds. 
THE GALLOWAYS, 
as now bred, are a black breed, though red and 
yellow used not to be uncommon ; of medium 
size, maturing early, fattening kindly, and 
very evenly, ami producing beef of almost un¬ 
rivaled quality. The cows have no place in 
the dairy, but what little milk they yield is of 
very rich quality. 
THE ANGUS 
cattle are a closely allied race, and are con¬ 
sidered as descended from the Galloways. As 
would be expected, a more favorable climate, 
better feed aud, perhaps, care, have developed 
a somewhat larger frame iu them, accompa¬ 
nied by greater length of leg and better hautl- 
liug quality. They, also, are black have grown 
much in favor of late years; and, judging by 
the offers ol prizes at the English Agricultu¬ 
ral shows for “ Angus and other polled 
breeds,” as a class by themselves, one would 
suppose that this was the leading breed among 
the hornless ones, where they are best known! 
They are essentially a beef race, and no doubt, 
as profitable feeders, they are fully equal to 
their aforesaid cousins, while they are uo bet¬ 
ter as milch cows. 
Both Galloway and Angus cattle have been 
imported into this country and Canada in 
small numbers, but neither they nor any other 
of the polled breeds have become as popular 
as their merits warrant, especially in the 
beef-producing section of the country. 
THE NORFOLKS 
originated from mingling the blood of the 
Galloways—which were brought in great num¬ 
bers into that part or England to be fed for the 
London maiket upon the rich pastures of Nor¬ 
folk and Suffolk—with that ol the native 
stock. The original cattle of Norfolk resem¬ 
? - 
- \ 
~— 
_ / 
bled the Devons both in color and general 
style. The hornless beasts from Scotland 
were greatly their superiors in flesh-making 
and quality, so they gradually came to be 
preferred, and the horned breed gave place to 
the hornless one, which retains the rich red 
color of the native Norfolks. 
\ ouutt gives, after a rather unfavorable de¬ 
scription of the breed, the accompanying 
beautiful portrait of a eow bred by Mr. 
George, of Eaton, near Norwich,—as near an 
approach to ideal perfection in a useful cow 
as could well be drawn. It is obvious that the 
cow is not in full milk ; at least with no 
knowledge to the contrary, and knowing that 
the breed retains the milk-giving character of 
the ancient race of Norfolk, we may well sup¬ 
pose that Lite udder which is in perfect form, 
is dry. aud the same is indicated by the shriv¬ 
eled look of the teats. This portrait of Mr. 
Eaton's cow, which was taken hardly less than 
fifty years ago, bears a very close resemblance 
to the beautiful Norfolk cow exhibited by Mr. 
Taber, of Patterson, N. Y., at the International 
Dairy Fair in December, and it is a pleasure to 
be able to point to a beautiful and useful herd 
of these cattle in our near neighborhood. 
The Norfolks, as now bred, are red, above 
medium size, of excellent form, and superior 
as milkers. They are easy keepers, good feed¬ 
ers. mature early, bring good-sized calves, and 
for the farmer who values cattle for all pur¬ 
poses—namely, for veal, milk, labor and beef— 
there are few. if any, more attractive breeds. 
Of late years especial attention has been 
paid to improving the Norfolks upou the 
estate of Lord Bonds, and the efforts of that 
nobleman and his efficient steward, Mr. Fuleh- 
er, seem to have met with merited success. 
The objection to the Galloway and Angus 
breeds in this country, has always been that 
they were purely beef breeds. The Norfolks 
are not liable to reasonable objection, for they 
are excellent milkers, and fatten as kindly as 
Short-horns or Devons, or even as Galloways. 
CROSSING POLLED BULLS ON WESTERN AND 
TEXAN COWS. 
The use of polled bulls for Texas cattle and 
for all the herds of the* Western Plains, has 
often been advocated. Such reforms are not 
brought about by “precept upon precept.” 
People Who sit here on Eastern farms and 
write letters to the papers, get enthusiastic 
over great reforms which it seems as if it 
would be easy to effect, if the people most con¬ 
cerned were only half as wide-awake to their 
own interests as we are. We wonder why in 
the world the active, thinking men of the 
Plains, Texas, New Mexico. California and 
Colorado, do uot work out of their long-horn¬ 
ed. slab-sided brutes, and by crossing with im¬ 
proved animals, work into really handy, pro¬ 
fitable cattle. They, on the other hand, wonder 
how active, thinking men can be contented to 
stay here in this old-fogy, money-lending, 
dead-and-alive, humdrum East, on our little 
tucked-up, fenced-in farms. The fact is, the 
reforms come as last as it is healthy for them 
to come. If the breeders on the Plains should 
wake up suddenly to the conviction that polled 
bulls were the only ones they ought to use, the 
supply would be exhausted at once and we 
would have to import at high figures, and that 
would discourage the breeders. 
The course which seems the wisest for the 
Western breeders, generally, to pursue, is to 
combine upou the foundation of their hardy 
Spanish stock the excellencies of the Short¬ 
horn and of the polled breeds. It would mat¬ 
ter little which cross was first taken. Were 
the polled bulls first crossed upon Texas cows, 
the progeny would be hornless, greatly im¬ 
proved m form aud quality, not essentially 
increased in size, but weighing more at par- 
alio! ages ; much quieter, less prone to wander, 
more tractable, and making a better use of 
their feed : that is, keeping in better condition 
on the same food. The}’ would mature earlier, 
probably,—certainly, if well fed. They would 
not show themselves fighters, but would defend 
themselves well against horned animals. 
When the heifers conic to profit, they will be 
found fair milkers, if of the Galloway or An¬ 
gus cross, and uniformly good to large milk¬ 
ers, if of the Norfolks. The young bulls will 
be found to propagate the characteristics of 
the hornless breed with considerable regular¬ 
ity, and will be sought for as breeders. Ex¬ 
ample is better thau precept, for it is conta¬ 
gious. 
OTHER CROSSES. 
The use ol Short-hora bulls upon these cross¬ 
bred or grade heifers, will generally result in 
increasing size, confirming their early matur¬ 
ity and their early fattening qualities, as well 
as their gentleness and quietness of disposi¬ 
tion. Few horns will develop, but there will, 
no doubt, bo au occasional reversion in the 
second generation to the long horns of the 
Spanish beasts. 
The cross of Short-horn or Short-horn-Amer- 
ioau bulls upon Texas cows, is well known and 
highly valued. It increases size, quality, 
weight, early maturity, milk aud all good 
points. The cross-breds, or grade Short-horns, 
need, however, better care, oeuer feed ; and 
