337 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Clydesdale or the Percheron for general farm 
work. The Suffolk is slightly smaller than 
either of the above mentioned breeds, nimble 
and quick, a fast walker aud a good keeper. 
Youatt says the excellence, and a rare one, of 
the old Suffolk horse consisted in nimbleness 
of action aud the honesty and continuance 
with which he would exert himself at a dead 
pull. It is a beautiful sight to see a team of 
flue Buffo] ks, at a signal from the driver with¬ 
out a whip, down on their knees in a moment 
and dragging everything behind them. In 
color the Suffolk is generally a chestnut, fre¬ 
quently with flaxen mane and tail. We have 
still room for this excellent breed in America. 
Bkn Davis Apple. —Dr, Hoskins states, in 
the Vermont Watchman, that last Winter 
wiped out all his Ben Davis trees—some 40— 
though many of them were of considerable 
size and had produced large quantities of 
apples. But the trees have never been entirely 
healthy, and he is glad to replace them with the 
ever reliable Russians, or with the Wealthy. 
He feels sure that Ben Da vis can be grown in 
Maine and be perfectly safe 75 miles north of 
the Baldwin limits. But lie would not plant 
it where the Baldwin succeeds, unless it were 
to sell after the Baldwin is out of the market, 
and he is not sure that it keeps mueh better 
than Baldwin when grown side by side. In 
the Northwest it. is the great standard market 
apple, as the Baldwin is in the East. Its true 
headquarters are in Kentucky, Southern Hli- 
nots, Missouri and Southern Iowa. The flat 
prairie does not suit it, but the farther north 
it can be grown the better it keeps, and the 
poorer its quality. It can never become a 
rival to the Wealthy, which belongs in the 
next one hundred miles north. 
Decline in Value of Cattle in Eng¬ 
land.— Prof. J. P. Sheldon says that the 
serious decline iu the value of cattle in Eng¬ 
land has had comparatively little effect in 
reference to the number of calves that will be 
raised this year. Calves have been so low iu 
price that many farmers have decided to hold 
them in the hope that prices will improve by 
next year. Again, the value of milk is always 
a powerful factor iu the rearing and fattening 
of calves. Milk aud its products are now 
lower in England than for many years, and 
with the great quantities of imported beef, 
English farmers feel that it will pay as well to 
feed the milk to calves as to run it through 
the churn or vat, so that the usual number of 
heifer calves will be raised, and in some sec¬ 
tions more than usual will be held. A loss 
will undoubtedly be felt in the sale of the 
“calf meals 1 ' or milk substitutes which have 
formed so important an element in English 
calf raising. 
-m-- 
SHORT AND FRESH. 
The Loudon Live Stock Journal notes the 
fact that in the days of the Roman Empire, a 
mixed crop of leguminous and cereal plants, 
like peas and corn, whs grown for soiling 
cattle. This mixed food must have been to 
cattle what “succotash" is to human beings. 
This system might be employed at the present 
time. The practices of the old Romans are, 
many of them, too good to be lost. Old 
Roman agriculture maintained in Italy a well- 
fed population, larger than has ever been 
there since...... . 
The North British Agriculturist thinks that 
the work done by American chilled plows is 
yearly gaining favor with British farmers- 
It also says that, rough plowing aud fine 
harrowing are the best preparations for u good 
groin crop. 
A number of Black Javas have been carried 
to England. The breed attracts some little 
attention there. The Plymouth Rock has 
never lw>on very popular on the other side of 
the water.. 
Concrete is found to be an excellent fire¬ 
proof material. It resists the action of fire 
aud still retains its form. Stone, as is well 
known, cracks, while iron twists and bends 
under the action of a severe heat. The Scien¬ 
tific American says it is now possible to con¬ 
struct buildings entirely of concrete. 
•\ Frenchman has invented a machine for 
feeding lambs that works on mueh the same 
principle as many of the calf.feeders’in use iu 
this country. The milk is poured into a long 
trough from which a number of rubber tubes 
protrude. The lambs suck the milk from these 
tubes...... 
Judge says that women should substitute 
ribbons for birds as hat ornaments, and thus 
encourage nn American industry. Yes, aud 
discourage uu-Amcrienu foolishness aud cruel¬ 
ty at the same time. 
Rev. J. (1. Woods, of England, calls a horse 
a machine. The man who understands his 
machine can make it last twice as long as one 
who simply “sets it agoin’. ” Proper treat¬ 
ment will lengthen the years of usefulness of 
a horse. It pays,better 4 to have a*horse]rotain 
its youth and spirits a few years longer than 
to pay for two horses and wear them both out. 
English Hereford breeders find themselves 
with many young bulls left on their hands. 
The $100 registration fee levied upon import¬ 
ed Herefords by the Herd Book managers, 
keeps all but the very best at home. Many 
young bulls are sent into districts where 
Short-horns predominate, and rented to fann¬ 
ers who secure their service for their keep. It 
is hoped that the calves from these bulls will 
compare so favorably with those from Short¬ 
horns, that a new market for Herefords will 
be opened. Thus far, however, the venture is 
not particularly promising... 
At a meeting of the Orange Co. Fair Asso¬ 
ciation, it was voted that hereafter the ex¬ 
hibitor of animals or articles must be the rais¬ 
er or producer or the owner, for a period of at 
least SO days prior to the exhibition. This 
was done to prevent the all too frequent eus- 
•tora of buying, and getting together a fine hel d 
of cattle, or buying large vegetables iu order 
to win prizes away from legitimate breeders 
or farmers. This is a good move. The fairs 
are for the good of farmers and not for specu¬ 
lators. There are hundreds of Fair Associa¬ 
tions in the country which might well follow 
this example . 
The prospect for an abundant pasturage is 
good. Be careful about turning the cows out 
too soon. Let the grass get a good start be¬ 
fore it is eaten down... 
English authorities assert that sulphur 
mixed with grease will enable cattle to resist 
the attacks of the gad-fly, and thus be five 
from warble maggots or “grubs." The dress¬ 
ing is well rubbed along the backs of the 
cattle several times during Summer. 
An English farmer was recently tried for 
injury done to land hy excessive cropping. 
The land was rented for a term of years. 
Several crops of wheat were taken from it, 
and but little fertilizer was applied. The far¬ 
mer was found guilty. Can you not rob land 
of its fertility as you can rob an auimal of its 
energy?. 
In an American cheese recently cut open in 
England was found a bottle containing a let¬ 
ter requesting the names of several young 
ladies who would correspond with the writer. 
This is the first time a cheese has ever been 
used as a matrimonial medium. The Ameri¬ 
can dairyman who would send abroad for a 
wife ought to be ashamed of himself.. 
The London Live Stock Journal says that 
calves will thrive better upon sweet milk with 
water added than npon skim-niilk. A calf, it 
says, will thrive and grow upon three quarts 
of milk per day until it is a week old, when 
the quantity should be increased to four quarts. 
This quantity should never be exceeded, but 
a little water should be added, Mauy farmers 
would hesitate to invest four quarts of sweet 
milk per day in a calf, yet they raise some 
spleudid stock in England, and claim that the 
first secret of success lies iu giving the calf 
every chance in the first year of its life. 
The London Farm and Home would mark 
tools by covering the metal with a thin coat¬ 
ing of tallow or wax, writing the desired 
name with a sharp instrument and then tilling 
the marks with nitric acid. In less than ten 
minutes the work will be done and the tallow 
may be rubbed off. 
A writer in the Cincinnati Times sets 
down agriculture itself as a fraud. He says 
the fact is, agriculture would demoralize a 
saint. He was almost a saint when he went 
into it. He is a demon now. He is in war 
with everything. He fights himself out of 
bed at four o’clock, when his better nature 
tells him to lie till seven. He fights himself 
into the garden to work like a brute when 
reason and inst inct tell him to stay in the house 
and enjoy himself like a man. He fights the 
pigs, the chickens, the moles, the birds, the 
bugs, the worms—everything in which is the 
breath of life. He fights the docks, the bur¬ 
docks, the mulleins, the thistles, the grapes, 
the weeds, the roots—the whole vegetable 
kingdom. He fights the heat, the frost, the 
rain, the hail—in short ho fights the universe, 
and gets whipped in every battle.. 
That the great metropolis has been mis¬ 
governed, deceived, robbed by its Aldermen, 
no longer admits of doubt, says the New York 
Herald. But what else can be exacted from 
such ignorant and besotted creatures as are 
elected to office*—elected by rum bribery, 
“deals" and lies.' In this New York and Chica¬ 
go may embrace and shod tears of sympathy. 
Rev. Da Witt Talmage says that one of 
the trials of the newspaper profession comes 
from inadequate compensation. There is 
great rejoicing ever and anon in this land be¬ 
cause the price of newspapers has gone down 
from five cents to four, from four to three, 
from three to two, from two to one. There 
are men who would like to have the price go 
down to half a cent. He never rejoices at 
such a time, because it means hardship, pen¬ 
ury, domestic privation, starvation. “You 
may not see where it strikes, but it strikes. 
No newspaper in the land^can afford to be 
published at less than five cents a sheet.”. 
The spirit of the above is true enough. But 
it strikes ps that we could afford to sell the 
Rural as low as two cents a copy if we made 
it up of clippings, old engravings, gave up our 
Experiment Grounds, aud printed it upon poor 
paper... 
The country is filled with lawyers, says the 
Orange Co. Farmer, aud four out of five are 
an unmitigated calamity to the neighborhood 
they infest. They incite litigation and they 
prey on the weaknesses of their fellows. The 
same is true to a lesser extent of medical men, 
adds the N. Y. Tribune. 
Write us your experience, farmers; send 
your opinions to some other excellent jour¬ 
nal. ..... .... 
The tenderest radishes the Ru ral has ever 
raised were grown in flower-pots of sand. 
The sand was kept moist with water to which 
small quantities of nitrogen, potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid were added. 
A writer in the National Live Stock Jour¬ 
nal believes that DO per cent, of the so-called 
incendiary fires are caused by smoking or the 
careless habit of carrying matches in the 
pocket. It is usual for smokers to carry a 
quantity of matches in the vest pocket. It is 
comparatively easy for a match to escape 
from this pocket and fall unnoticed upon the 
floor, Stock may tramp upon and explode 
them; rats may bite them into flames. There 
are a dozen ways in which they may cause 
mischief. Matches should never be carried 
loosely in the pocket under any circumstances. 
A pocket match safe can be secured for a few 
cents that will prevent all possibility of dan¬ 
ger. It is needless and useless to speak of the 
danger incurred in smoking in and around 
barns. It is plainly evident that the buildiugs 
are filled with the most inflammable material 
which needs but a spark to start it into flame. 
As a rule, smokers will not be taught as they 
should be until they smoke a building through 
the bowl of their pipe. 
Major Brooks says, in the N. Y. Tribune, 
that we bear of hog cholera—that outrage on 
Nature. Exclusive corn diet occasions or ag¬ 
gravates it. Filthy water, made worse by the 
filth of the hogs themselves, full of bacteria 
aud malarial poisons that come from vegeta¬ 
ble and animal decay, is all the drink which 
some hogs get at the season of the year when 
their thirst is greatest. 
Again he remarks that the civilized world 
should enter indignant protest against the 
abuse of dumb brutes. The law should punish 
transgressors much oftener than it does. The 
bight of absurdity is reached when people 
consent to be taxed to “stamp out" what care¬ 
lessness and cupidity brought in; the hight of 
audacity is reached when the mischief-makers 
propose such a tax. Every farm needs cattle; 
the cattle business should be distributed, 
the big herds broken up, civilized treatment 
adopted, and there will be little stamping out 
to do. 
Harris Lewis says that under the auspices 
of the present Secretary of the New York 
State Ag. Society it has “dwindled” down to 
an annual cattle show—no reports, no insti¬ 
tutes”; aud the whole concern is “run as a 
close corporation,” and the •■fellows" “inane 
money out of it.” They get a large “appropri¬ 
ation” of public funds, and their 1885 report 
pleads guilty to ‘“disbursements" aggregating 
#7,040, all but #2.861 of which went for “sal¬ 
aries and traveling expenses.”. 
The acknowledged receipts, it appeal’s, in¬ 
clude: From fair tickets last Fall, #24.412; 
“refreshment privileges" (chiefly “beer”), 
#2,393; catalogues, #183; transportation, etc., 
#141; membership fees, #099; cash from State, 
$S,000; from citizens of Albany, #3,880—a 
total of $39,708. 
Commenting upon the above, the Ag. Ed. of 
the N. Y. Tribune says that in view of the 
fact that the cost of the fail- according to their 
own figures, was #26.091—#18,617 less than the 
income from it—and that $6,719 is acknowl¬ 
edged as “ou hand," we suggest—mindful of 
present and pros]iecfcive low prices for farm 
products—that the Legislature let this little 
ring of parasites on others’ industry worry 
along the present year with their surplus, the 
cattle-show profits, and the evil fruits of the 
“beer privilege," without the imposition of the 
usual draft upon the reduced income of every 
reluctant taxpayer iu tlie Empire State. 
Butter, says Henry Stewart, is kuown to 
be exceedingly absorbent of all kinds of odors. 
The careless farmers who suffer the butter to 
become odoriferous of rancid tubs and tobacco 
smoke; not to mention Other sources of foul 
smells, lose by this neglect. And why should 
uot careful dairy men gain by exposing their 
butter to the delicate odors of flowers aud 
other sweet seents'of Nature. This^is done by 
some of the French dairymen who supply 
Paris with their choice and expensive products, 
and who pack bunches of sweet violets, jas¬ 
mine and roses in the baskets among the rolls 
of butter, and thus not only make their wares 
agreeable to the sight, but also pleasant and 
fragrant to the taste, for the palate is able to 
distinguish the delicate flavors which these 
odors possess... 
A man may walk a mile in 25 minutes and 
return refreshed and benefited for the exercise. 
Let him run a mile and it may harm him in 
many ways. It is the same with a horse. It 
is fast driving that kills... 
It is admitted, says the Weekly Press, that 
important changes in the diet of cattle should 
be made gradually; experience proves that the 
fresh bite of new grass does not destroy the 
cow’s appetite for hay, and it proves too, that 
cattle fed night and morning and turned out 
a few hours at a time keep in better condition 
than if they were suddenly put upon an ex¬ 
clusive diet of young herbage, which has 
small nutritive value compared with what it 
will acquire after a few weeks' growth, and 
which is also loosening and debilitating. The 
critical change “from hay to grass" is made 
without any loss when it comes gradually, the 
cows having their hay and grain twice a day— 
in diminishing quantity for a time—then at 
morning only for a week longer, until the feed 
is dispensed with altogether. 
Editor Stiles of the above journal, who 
conducts one of the best agricultural depart¬ 
ments we know of, says truly enough that the 
maker of had butter is the best friend of the 
oleomargarine manufacturer. The worse the 
real butter the better is the chance for the 
imitation of the best butter. Let it be borne 
in mind that the maker of bad butter is the 
best friend of oleo .... 
Mrs. L. Harrison, according to the N. Y. 
Tribune, is a competent and trustworthy 
witness against silk culture. She says that 
from a dollar-and-cent point of view it is “an 
utter failure." Also she notes “much dissatis¬ 
faction” felt by those forwarding cocoons to 
the Women's Association of Philadelphia, “as 
after waiting weary months the returns in 
many instances are below the cost of express- 
age.” Moreover, those who make money out 
of this “America’s New Industry" are those 
selling eggs and mulberry trees and books. 
Notwithstanding the mass of evidence to the 
same purpose as the above, a few editors con¬ 
tinue to publish misleading letters from per¬ 
sons who profit by thus deluding the credu¬ 
lous public. 
The N. E. Homestead observes that the 
New York State Agricultural Society holds 
an annual fair, “but that is all.” And the N. 
Y. Tribune adds: “Yes, and it does this only 
by a direct tax upon the people and the indi¬ 
rect one involved in the degrading results of 
its $1,475 beer privileges.”. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
SETTLERS FOR UTAH. 
The Territory: assayists; difficulties of 
freighting; scarcity of swine; farming; 
lawyers; surveyors; architects; florists; 
school-teachers. 
Ogden City, Weber Co.—No Territory is 
less known to the East than Utah, yet few 
would so well repay acquaintance. It is al¬ 
most twice the size of Ohio, aud has a popula¬ 
tion of 150,000, It should claim more atten¬ 
tion from emigrants if only because it ap¬ 
peared attractive to so shrewd a business man 
as Brigham Young. A few years ago, before 
the railroad was built across the plains and 
through Utah, men who listened to advice to 
settle here without embracing Mormonism 
were brave to foolhardiness. The Mormons, 
wishing to be the exclusive inhabitants of the 
Territory, harassed the non-Mormons, or Gen¬ 
tiles, for attempting to settle. The spirit of 
Mormonism is uot yet entirely purged of this 
disposition, still it is held in cheek, and Gen¬ 
tiles now live here not only with safety but 
profit; but one must not care for being called 
“carpet-bagger," or for meeting a cold re¬ 
ception at the hands of the Mormons. 
I put uside the mining and stock interests 
of the Territory, leaving them for capitalists. 
To invest a small amount directly in either of 
these huge enterprises is as hazardous as in¬ 
vesting in a lottery: but to bring a practical 
knowledge of assaying into a mining neighbor 
hood, and to settle down with it, aud adver¬ 
tise it, and keep enough of one’s little hoard 
by one to buy chemicals with, and to cultivate 
the acquaintance of the miners who eome 
into the towns in the IV inter— this is the way 
for a poor young man of education to dig sil¬ 
ver out of a mine. Another way to divert 
