750 
and the remainder of a long life, to the pro¬ 
duction of a herd of such transcendent merit aa 
should insure his lasting fame. Given time 
enough, persistent, well-directed effort seldom 
falls of its object,and at Bates’s death,in 1849, uo 
Short,-horn herd in the world excelled his, 
judging by the prizes, prices and renown since 
won by the tribes he had established. Of these, 
first in order of time, in his affectionate care, 
aud in world-wide celebrity comes the Duch¬ 
ess, closely followed by its near relative, the 
Oxford, while the Waterloo. Red Rose, Wild 
Eyes, and Foggathorpe tribes have each won 
uo small measure of merited reputation. 
What, then, have these famous breeders and 
a multitude of others—some of them only a 
trifle less renowned—done for the Short-horn 
in the course of a century ? How do the char¬ 
acteristics of the Short-horn of to-diy compare 
with those of the Short-horn with which the 
Collings began their improvements? The by¬ 
gone Short-born is described above; the 
modern Sbort-lmru — who Las not admired, 
at agricultural fairs or on way-side pastures, 
its symmetrical proportions, its expressive 
head, broad across the forehead, tapering 
gracefully below the eyes to the open nos¬ 
trils and fine, fiesh-eolored muzzle ; its bright, 
urominent, placid eyes; its mild expression; 
its fine, erect aud hairy ears ; its whits, or yel¬ 
lowish, short horns; its moderately thick 
neck set straight on its wide shoulders; its 
prominent breast and straight, short legs 
standing wide apart; its broad, Hat.back ; its— 
but what need of describing Its appearance to 
farmers, especially as the space at our dis¬ 
posal ends here ? 
PRINCIPLES IN STOCK FEEDING. 
J. W. SANBORN. 
No well defined system of stock management 
resting upon the laws of animal growth and of 
the relation of foods to each other in auimal nu¬ 
trition, is in practice to any considerable extent 
in this country. It is a self-evident statement 
that working in harmony with law is working 
to the best advantage. As farmers, we are 
sadly out of harmony with the best methods of 
stock management, thus coming greatly short 
of obtaining the possible effective value of our 
foods. Feeding is not as yet a developed sci¬ 
ence, but a very hopefully developing one. 
Closely pressed by having to compete with the 
low prices of prairie steers, the only hope of 
Eastern feeders lies in the search for, aud ob¬ 
servance of, the laws that control in this de¬ 
partment of farm husbandry. Allow me then 
to name a few important points thathave come 
under my observation in experimental feeding 
for a few years past. 
The Steer to Feed. 
Every reader at once declares that the mat¬ 
ter is clear—it must be a steer that ha6 been 
well bred, that inherits a large capacity for 
consumption, digestion and assimilation of 
food. Iti&useless to attempt to feed any other 
for profit in the East, but uuder the head of 
“ the steer to feed,” I wish to make this point, 
resting upon my own observation and that of 
others:—this is the only steer that one can af¬ 
ford to feed high ; for, when fed an increased 
ration over an ordinary one, the well-bred steer 
assimilates a very much heavier percentage of 
this increase than an average steer, and the 
poorer steer's capacity for assimilation is so 
low that it will not give a favorable response 
to a heavy ration. 
Large Breeds. 
Our steer must, be of the larger breeds; for 
a rapidly growing, or a large animal, will 
make more growth on a pound of food than 
one of a smaller breed. A large beast presents 
less radiating surface in proportion to weight, 
than a small one; thus, in case of the latter, 
more food is required, particularly in winter, 
to maintain the animal heat. On this head 
practical experience confirms theoretical con¬ 
siderations. Thu animal should be early ma¬ 
tured. If a steer is sold when four and one- 
half years of age, weighing 1,000 pouuds, then 
his average weight for his lifetime would have 
been not far from 800 pounds. Such an 800- 
pound steer I have found will consume 14 
pounds of hay a day as maintenance fodder, 
making no growth. Now the steer has con¬ 
sumed 14 pounds a day for 4£ years—how many 
steers require 6 years to weigh 1,600 pounds!— 
simply to run the machine. It is the hay given 
over this amount daily that makes the growth. 
Growing our steer to 1,600 pounds at 2$ years, 
will save maintenance fodder for two years; 
or, in round numbers, for two winters, or 860 
days, we shall save 2} teas of hay, as well as 
two years' pasturing. But again, I find that a 
young animal will make more gain on a pound 
of food than an older one, thus making a 
double gain. Moreover, an* animal when 
small, will make very much more gain than an 
animal nearly matured. The difference is so 
great as to become of much importance. This 
fact should lead us so to breed as to get an 
animal that will come into shape to command 
full market priees at a much less weight than 
that named. Could a market demand be de¬ 
veloped for 800-pound calves, these could be 
A 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. NOV. 22 
furnished at a profit by the side of Texas 
steers. 
Feed for Manure. 
Unhappily most farmers consider this head¬ 
ing as a part of another question. It is, how¬ 
ever, inseparably connected with the entire 
system of mixed farming with us. For a 
generation most of the stock of New England 
has been kept for the direct purpose of manure¬ 
making, and they are yet its cheapest sources. 
Were it not so, in a comparatively short time 
there would bo but little stock in the East. Yet 
in feeding, the prime object—the fact that our 
steers are simply manure manufactories—is 
lost sight of. The Englishman's first question 
is:—'' What is the manure value, of the food?” 
Then in buying foods—I buy heavily because I 
find it the cheapest means of obtaining plant- 
food, and for another object I will name 
further on—I always consider the amount of 
the elements of plant-food contained in the 
proposed purchases. I do not say that that 
shall be the sole criterion of purchase, but it 
must have a determining recognition. It not 
luifrequently happens that a nitrogenous food 
is nearly, or quite, worth its cost, as a manure. 
Intending here to call attention only to promi¬ 
nent points in stock management, that are set¬ 
tled but not accepted generally in practice, I 
will forego details aud simply say that in prac¬ 
tice I can give Corroborative evidence from rny 
records, of the facts here stated. 
Combination of Foods. 
Chemistry has blundered around badly on 
the question of the nutritive value of foods, 
as it has on other questions iu agriculture. 
But the stimulus it has given to practical in¬ 
vestigators, pointing to the door, and as an 
aid to them, will result in an immense saving 
of food values. Pardon me for referring to 
personal data again; Bueh data, however, 
always bear more directly ou the point than 
what one has heard of. As the result of three 
years’ careful weighings of food for several 
sets of steers, 1 am thoroughly convinced that 
an extremely important saving can be made in 
feeding mixed rations, aud that it is uot enough 
that these mixtures be indiscriminately made. 
In general terms, nitrogenous foods should be 
mixed with carbonaceous ; or bran, peas, cot¬ 
ton-seed, oil-cake, blood, meat aud clover 
should be given in connexion with coarse 
foods, like straw, corn fodder and swale hay. 
Happily it is the first-named foods that are 
rich manure-makers, aud. iu using them, we 
accomplish two important purposes. 
State Farm, Ag’l College, ilanover, N. II. 
SHEEP COMPARED WITH COWS-THE RE¬ 
LATIVE PROFITS. 
COL. F. I>. CURTIS. 
According to statistics furnished at a recent 
Dairymen’s Association meeting, the average 
income per cow iu the great dairy district of 
New York, in the year 1808, was $28. This year 
it will be no more. Of course, mauy dairymen 
realized more than this. In this section of 
the conutry mixed husbandry is carried on, 
aud small butter dairies are kept as an import¬ 
ant feature; but cows are not made a leading 
part in the farmer’s business, as is the ease in a 
considerable portion of the State of New York. 
Tweuty-eight dollars per cow are not a remu¬ 
nerative income. This iucludes both cheese 
aud butter dairies, but where milk was all 
manufactured into butter, the average yield 
would be greater. In the small dairies, cows 
make, ou an average, uot more than 150 pounds 
of butter. To this as a part of the income, 
should be added the skim-milk which will 
make one buudred pounds of pork when fed 
to a pig, aud the price of the calf which might 
be worth five dollars more. The account iu 
the small butter dairies would stand thus:— 
150 pounds of butter @ UOe...$30 
Pork LuaJe, aud price of fatted calf. 10 
Total.'.....lg-10 
This estimate is undoubtedly greater than 
the amount realized by Hie majority of small 
dairymen. A cow will consume as much food, 
if keptiu a profitable condition, as five coarse- 
wooled sheep, aud as much as seven South- 
Down or Merino sheep. Let us look at the 
comparative iucorae and profits of sheep and 
cows, not taking into account the difference in 
the amount .of labor which is seventy-five per 
cent, more with the cows than with the sheep. 
Five coarse-wooled sheep will produce lambs 
at the rate of one and one-lialf to a sheep, but 
quite often they will double their number. Me- 
dium-wooied sheep may safely be relied upon 
to increase their number one aud oue-half, 
while fiue-wooled sheep will return a lamb for 
a sheep. The value of the lambs depends upon 
their quality, when kept for breediug ; or on 
their earliness and condition, when fitted for 
market. The price of lambs of these various 
breeds will range from three dollars up¬ 
wards. Wool was worth the past season from 
35 to 45 cents per pound. Six pounds of wool 
per head are uot an extra average for a well 
kept flock of sheep. They may be made to 
average more than lhat by extra care. A flock 
of eombiDg-wool sheep, with the same care 
and feeding which a good dairyman would 
give bis cows, will average, per sheep, at least 
ten dollars. This would afford an income of 
$50 on a flock of five in the place of one cow. 
The proportion of income would not be so 
great in a large flock, as the average yield of 
wool would be less. The percentage of in¬ 
crease is likewise reduced, owing to the fact 
that the ewes receive less care and to their 
increased liability to accidents. If the flock 
should be separated aud kept a few in a place, 
not exceeding 12, a month before yeaning 
lime, the losses would be very few. In our 
estimate of the income from cows, we have 
made no allowance for the cost of the pig. 
We will now add, as a practical illustration 
of the comparative profits of cows and sheep, 
several statements: Alexander Davidson hud, 
last spring, a Mock of 50 grade South-Down 
sheep, two of wbicb were bucks, and several 
were last year’s lambs Thirty-five, ewes 
raised 45 lambs. His wool was sold early iu 
the season aud brought $65.67. The lambs 
sold brought $98.50. Twelve were kept at 
home, which would have brought three dollars 
each. This would make a total income from 
the 50 sheep of $195.17. In ibis case, it must 
be remembered that there were 15 unproduc¬ 
tive sheep and that the wool was sold low, and 
still the income is $27.28 to a cow. rating seven 
sheep as equal t<> one cow. With these returns 
the sheep would be the most desirable on ac¬ 
count of the reduced labor. Fifty breeding 
ewes would have increased the profit, and 
made it almost one-third more These sheep 
had no extra feed other than hay and eoru- 
stulks in winter, with a little corn. 
Auother farmer, Mr. Valentine, purchased 
17 ewes—grade South-Downs—for which he 
paid $75. The next season he sold one sheep 
and his lambs, reserving 12 of the best. The 
stock sold and the wool, came to $34 85 more 
than the sheep cost. Here was a gain of $84 35 
in cash and 12 lambs worth five dollars each, 
over the entire cost of the flock. 
Mr. Wicks wintered 17 ewes of common 
blood. Cue of them did uot have a lamb. 
The 16 ewes brought 22 lambs, which were 
sold for $3 25 each. .Six were reserved, for 
wbicb he was offered four dollars each. The 
sheep were light shearers and averaged about 
four pounds of wool per head, which was sold 
for 32 h cents per pound. The total income 
was $98.75, which would be equal to $37,91. 
estimating at a cow ratio, offsetting three 
cows against the flock of sheep. In the above 
statements it must be understood that the 
lambs were sold to local butchers, aud the 
wool at the lowest price before the market w r as 
fairly opened. 
(ltd foultrj farii. 
"n m . 
VALUE AND VARIETY OF POULTRY. 
HENRY HALES. 
Of all the useful creatures domesticated aud 
bred by man, perhaps uo one species offers 
such a wide range of size, color, form, beauty, 
aud utility, as we find In domestic poultry. 
Added to all this Is a lauguage—I know no 
other term—that expresses a greater variety 
of meauing than that uttered by any other 
one species of beiugs on the globe, except 
man. It is remarkable to look back aud see 
how little was doue by man, for many centu¬ 
ries, iu perfecting or bringing out the many 
peculiarities that lay dormaut in the common, 
natural fowl of our ancestors ; but so great is 
the change brought about during the last thirty 
years, by selection and careful breediug, that 
the birds of our poultry exhibitions now, show 
such perfection of variety as to astonish peo¬ 
ple who are not familiar with the subject. 
Even of the imported foreign breeds, many are 
so improved that only faint traces of the origi¬ 
nals remain. No wonder that so many poul¬ 
try-breeders are iufatuated with their pursuit, 
when they see bow fowls can be changed or 
improved by a little care and judgment in 
selecting birds to produce the desired effect 
Domestic poultry are generally considered 
to be all of one species. They are, however, 
divided into classes, such as the Asiatic 
class: the Spanish class, which iucludes Leg¬ 
horns and Andalusians, the Minoreas, etc., or 
the Game, or Dorking class. These are again 
sub-divided into breeds. The term breed is ap¬ 
plied to such fowls as have been bred to a cer¬ 
tain form, size aud color, so as to be distin¬ 
guish* d from any other birds, and which have 
been reeognized by fauciers as such breeds. 
Most of these are described in the ‘‘ American 
Standard of Excellence,’’ with their charac¬ 
teristics. 
The term variety, as generally understood, 
meaus a difference less than is usually implied 
by the word breed, such as a change in 
color or comb only, as Pea-combed, aud 
Single-combed among Partridge Cochins; 
Gray and Silver-Gray among Dorkings, aud 
Silver Duckwing and Yellow Duckwiug 
among Games. The different breeds and 
varieties form so long a catalogue that tlie 
premium list of the National Exhibition of 
Poultry to be held at ludiunapolis, Ind., com¬ 
prises 71 kinds. Premiums for about the same 
number arc also offered by the New Jersey 
State. Poultry Society, at Newark. 
Not the least important peculiarity about 
all these different breeds is lhat, with exter¬ 
nal differences, each one develops some other 
quality in a different degree from the others, 
such as that displayed by sitters or non-sitters ; 
greater or less prolificacy as layers, the pro¬ 
duction of larger or smaller eggs; differences in 
shades aud sizes ; flesh of peculiar flavor and 
color; vivacity, docility, or pugnacity of dis¬ 
position. As to constitution, too, each class 
has its weaker or stronger points. In size 
the difference between full-grown birds varies 
as much as pounds to ounces, or even as much 
as from eight ounces to fourteen pounds. 
In commencing a new series of articles on 
poultry, in the Rural, I shall endeavor to 
describe as plaiuly as possible, the peculiari¬ 
ties of most of these different breeds, from a 
practical knowledge of them, so that the farmer 
or the amateur fancier can get an idea of what 
is most likely to suit his purpose. Not that 
any one can be so thoroughly acquainted with 
all kiuds as to be able to properly judge of 
their merits; for every fancier knows that each 
class has its specialists when close judging for 
exhibitions is required; yet, having kept a 
great many breeds for mauy years, I hope to 
be able to give such general information as 
will be acceptable to the mauy readers of the 
Rural New-Yorker. 
(Sntomolo tjiral. 
L0PHYRU8 OR PINE SAW-FLY LARVIE. 
B. FICKMAN MANN. 
Dr. Asa Fitch says, in his fourth report on 
the noxious aud other insects of the State of 
New York, p. 59, that all the species of the 
genus Lophyrus, whose habits had been ob¬ 
served up to the time of that writing—which 
was in the year 1857—feed upon the Pine or Fir. 
Edward Norton, in tin* Transactions of the 
American Entomological Society, v. 2, p. 321- 
330. gives an account of eleven species of this 
genus, found in the United States up to that 
time, 1869, and repeats the assertion that the 
larvse feed upon the Pine aud Fir. These 
eleven species are the following: 
L. Fabricii, L. cornpar, L. pini-rigidai, L. 
Abbotii, L. Akbursli, L, abietis, L. piuetum, 
L. abdominal is, L. Americana, L. Leeontei, 
L. Edwardsi. 
Iu 1872, Mr. Norton described the female of 
another species, L. fulva, from Texas. Only 
a few of these species have beeu observed in 
the larva state, and the following information 
in regard to these larvae is all that can be col¬ 
lected at present: 
The larva: are 22-legged; that is, they have 
sixteen belly-legs besides the usual six jointed 
brwast-logs ; they are cylindrical, slightly 
tapering from before the middle backwards, 
aud occur in dense groups ou the trees which 
they infest, denuding the branches. 
The larva: of L. abietis aud L. Leeontei are 
eaBy to distinguish. L. abietis is from 12 to 
15 mm. long, when full-grown; but L. Leeontei 
grows to be 25 mm. long, Abietis is dirty- 
green, or utmost yellow; while Leeontei is 
dirty-white, or yellowish-white, aud without 
any greenish hue. The head of abietis is 
black; that of Leeontei is shining reddish- 
brown, with a black eye-spot ou each side. 
Abietis bus a light stripe along the top of the 
back, separating two darker-greeu stripes, and 
has two dark-green stripes ou each side of the 
body also, while Leeontei is uot striped. Abie- 
