THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
AUG H 
think I am justified in pushing them on cus¬ 
tomers. uutil I find outsomethiug about them. 
The R mi AX small fruit notes have been a great 
help to a great many, and 1 know of one lady 
who reads the paper, who took a small straw¬ 
berry bed iufco her own hand, did the entire 
work, and this year picked over 100 boxes of as 
fine Sharpless and Wilsons as I ever saw shown 
at any fair. Many of the Sharpless would 
measure four to five inches, and for a wonder 
were of good shape and color. They were 
kept from runners, and mulched with hay, 
and this last I think the cause of their extra 
fine shape, as it kept them off the cold soil, 
and so made both sides of the berry grow 
more uniformly, besides allowing them to 
ripen without a white‘spot or sign of decay on 
the under-side. It was the largest crop I ever 
saw lor the space taken, and she was very 
proud of it, and reading the Rural encour¬ 
aged her to try it. Bulbs of all sorts seem to 
be doing extra well this year, Ever since 
the early tulips and jonquils showed them¬ 
selves, 1 have had plenty of flowers from 
Dutch bulbs and lilies of different kinds. 
Just now I have qualities of L, Humboltii, 
and they ought to be grown more : for 
in masses they make a grand show. Soon 
the Japan Lilies will come in, and in 
spite of the hard Winter I never saw them 
better, Alba in particular. Melpomene is not 
as good, but that is inclined to be weak. With 
me it is as tender as Auratum, For the last 
four years there has been such a display at the 
public gardens of tulips, hyacinths and lilies 
that the people about Boston seem to have 
taken a new' interest iu them. Of all classes 
of flowers, I consider bulbs the easiest to grow, 
either for open air or to force, and they seem 
to be the least understood ; for 1 have to an¬ 
swer more questions about them than any¬ 
thing else. A Gardener. 
E. Braintree, Mass. 
£ \)t Pmdtm jJtui). 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG TURKEYS. 
Of all classes of poultry young turkeys are 
the most difficult to raise: yet when fully 
matured, turkeys cau endure greater extremes 
of cold and heat, and subsist with less assist¬ 
ance than any other class of poultry. Although 
it is often overlooked, yet much depends upon 
the parent stock. Young turkeys hatched 
from eggs laid by hens only one year old do 
not possess the vigor and hardiness of those 
produced from eggs laid by fully developed 
birds. It is better, therefore, to use gobblers 
and hens over two years old for breeding pur¬ 
poses. 
If we can get at the root of the difficulty in 
the way of raising young turkeys, much of 
the loss may be avoided. To do this it Must 
be considered that young turkeys feather very 
rapidly. It is this quick growth of feathers 
that often debilitates them, and causes them 
to drop off suddenly. They require a large 
quantity of food, which must be given often, 
and consist of that which contains a large pro¬ 
portion of those elements essential to growth. 
Hence corn meal is insufficient food lor young 
turkeys, as eveiy farmer's wife knows. Like 
chicks, bard-boiied eggs, finely chopped, and 
mixed with onion-tops, are excellent for the 
first two days. Wheat bread, soaked iu milk, 
may then be given, varied with cooked oat¬ 
meal containing lettuce or onion-tops, As 
they require close attention, owing to the rapid 
development of feathers, the safest mode of 
feeding is to give them four meals daily. As 
soon as they begin to ruu about they should 
have not only a variety of cooked ground grain, 
with milk; but also meat three or four times a 
week, with all the chopped vegetables they 
can eat, as well as grouud bone in the soft 
food. Turkeys thrive best on both animal and 
vegetable food, and cannot endure confine¬ 
ment. When very young, they may be given 
liberty; but the hen should be confined iu a 
small yard to prevent wandering off. The 
little turks should not be allowed in the wet 
grass, and on the appearance of indications of 
a shower, they must be kept shut up until the 
danger is over. 
Dampness is fatal to young turkeys, and 
causes greater loss than anything else. The 
essentials to success are, nitrogenous food, 
warmth, dryness and frequent feeding. If 
produced by the union of vigorous parents, 
and given careful attention uutil after the 
critical period, fewer losses will occur. When 
three months old, they will be able to take 
care of themselves without assistance. Many 
persons recommend keeping the young tur¬ 
keys confined, but they cannot be easily raised 
unless given liberty, as the turkey is natur¬ 
ally addicted to foraging; but if there are a 
number of them, it will be profitable to watch 
them uutil they are well advanced. The milk 
and drinking water should always be so given 
that the birds cannot wet themselves. When 
the young ones are put with the general flock, 
and are made to forage for themselves, it will 
be found an advantage to give them a good 
meal of graiu when they come up at night, 
especially of ground oats and midlings, moist¬ 
ened with milk and baked. This is not abso¬ 
lutely necessary, but if so treated they will 
grow faster and attain larger size, and be in¬ 
duced to come up regularly of eveuiugs. If 
insect food is not abundant, a feeding of 
chopped meat twice a week will be very ac¬ 
ceptable. If hatched under hens and raised 
with the chicks, they can be taught to roost iu 
the poultry'-house at night, but they prefer 
the open air, if well protected from winds 
and enemies. When being fattened they 
should not be confined longer than ten days, 
or they will worry and become discontented, 
thereby losing flesh. p. h. j. 
-*♦*- 
HENS WITHOUT ROOSTERS. 
Some persons say hens will lay as well with¬ 
out cocks as with them, .Some years ago, two 
neighbors, both keeping poultry .with only a 
picket fence between their places, were on 
pleasaut terms till one killed off all his cocks 
and kept plenty of hens. These enticed the 
cocks from his neighbor, and with them many 
of his heus, who laid on the wrong side of the 
fence, to the great disgust of their owner. 
Moral: If you are within hearing distance 
of any neighbor’s poultry, and wish to live in 
peace, keep cocks with your heus. h. h. 
Remedy for Lice on Hens.— Crushed coal 
with carbolic acid on it will make lice scarce 
in hens’ nests. I take a square, stout box, and 
crush the coal iu it by poundiug with a round- 
ended stick. For half a bushel of coal five 
tabl-spoonfuls of carbolic acid will do the 
work. A handful of this thrown into the bot¬ 
tom of the nest will make the lice run for their 
lives. j. s. B. 
Hightstown, N. J. 
Jntiiisf’l Societies. 
THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SHOW. 
(RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
GENERAL FEATURES. 
Ever since its first show, in 1889, the Royal 
Agricultural Society ol’ England has held its 
annual exhibitions each year in a different 
section so as to give an opportunity to the 
people of the various parts of the country to 
visit the show with the greatest convenience 
and at the least-expense, and draw from it the 
many useful lessons taught by the great num¬ 
ber of exhibits there brought together as ol >ject 
lessons. The present year the show opened at 
Norwich, the capital of Norfolkshire, on Mon¬ 
day, July 12, and closed the following Friday. 
In 1885 it was held up north at Preston; iu 
1884 it drew crowds to Shrewsbury, in the 
West; and in 1888 York was far once waked 
up to liveiiuess by its presence. 
Norwich is a quiet town of about 87,000 
population, the center of u rich agricultural 
country. It was hardly thought that the 
number of exhibits or visitors would come up 
to the average; but expectations were in both 
cases exceeded. The live stock exhibits compar¬ 
ed as follows with those at other recent meet¬ 
ings: 
Norwich 
1886. 
Preston 
1885. 
£ 
2 • 
0 
ST 
pd 
GO 
York, 
1883. 
Reading, 
1882. 
Derby, 
1881. 
Carlisle, 
1880. 
Horses. 
,. 495 
438 
407 
611 
239 
266 
487 
Cattle. 
.. 692 
539 
579 
462 
598 
392 
434 
Sheep. 
.. 448 
433 
490 
412 
492 
414 
434 
Pigs. 
.. 205 
203 
211 
200 
188 
167 
146 
■ 
- — 
■ — - 
— 
■ i 
_ 
Total. 
. 1840 
1613 
1687 
1685 
1467 
1229 
1501 
Last year the number of visitors at Preston 
w'ns 94,192; this year there were 104,910 at 
Norwich. The daily attendance was; Mon¬ 
day, admission fee, 5s., 625; Tuesday, 2s. lid., 
8,077; Wednesday, 2s. 6d., 11,048; Thursday, 
Is., 42,774; Friday, Is., 42,394. Although the 
show is held at the bight of midsummer, it is 
almost always greatly injured by wet weather; 
and on Monday, the opening day, and that on 
which live stock was judged, there was a regu¬ 
lar downpour in the afternoon, and an extreme¬ 
ly uncomfortable drizzle in the morning. Occa¬ 
sional showers also marred the pleasure and 
kept visitors away on Tuesday aud Wednes¬ 
day; but on the last two days of the exhibi¬ 
tion the weather was ull that could be desired. 
As the show is always held iu the open air, 
the condition of the weather is of great im¬ 
portance, for the number of visitors is small 
during bad weather and they can derive but lit¬ 
tle benefit from the display with raiu overhead, 
mud under foot, and discomfort all arouud. 
The crown and half-crown days usually at¬ 
tract the “more select” class of visitors in suffi¬ 
cient numbers to compensate for the smaller 
attendance common when the admission fee is 
so high; but the wet weather kept this class, to 
a great extent, away this year, and, moreover, 
neither Norwich nor the surrounding country 
is blessed with a superabundance of wealthy 
people. On the brilliant shilling days, excur¬ 
sion trains brought crowds of visitor from a 
distance; but the financial exhibit, though 
fair, was not flattering. The receipts, exclus¬ 
ive of the proceeds of season tickets, amounted 
to £6,784 8s. The corresponding take at Pres¬ 
ton was £8,474 9s. Cd.; at Shrewsbury, £7,088 
Is.; at York, £9,774 9s. fid.; at Reading, £(5,017 
7s. The grounds, lent by Mr. J. J. Colmau, 
Member of Parliament, were admirably 
adapted for show-yard purposes. The classifi¬ 
cation of the entries was better than ever be¬ 
fore, and the city and railroad authorities had 
made excellent provisions for enabling the 
crowds of visitors to enter aud leave the 
exhibition without confusion. The Priuce 
aud Princess of Wales, from their neighbor¬ 
ing estate at Sandringham, were present three 
days with a large number of distinguished 
visitors, aud on Wednesday over 60 of the 
Colonial and Indian visitors bo the great ex¬ 
hibition of Colonial aud Indian products now 
held iu London, went down on a special train 
by special invitation of the Society. On 
the whole, the show is considered a success, 
though not a brilliant one. 
HORSES. 
In this home of the Thoroughbred, horses 
take the first place among domestic animals, 
and at the Norwich show there were no less 
than 493 entries, aguinst 488 at Preston and 
007 at Shrewsbury. Of these, 78 were Shire 
horses, 56 Clydesdales, 98 Suffolk*, 8 “agricul¬ 
tural horses,” 8 Thoroughbreds, 84 haekueys, 
35 ponies and 123 hunters. The Shire, or Cart 
horse of England is a massive, compact, 
rouud-bodied animal, with stout limbs, enor¬ 
mously broad chest, and short neck and back. 
For pulling heavy weights, he cannot be ex¬ 
celled; but his steps are short and his motions 
slow. It is only of late that any special at¬ 
tention has been paid to his pedigree, the first 
Shire Stud Book having been published in 
February, 1880, and the issue of five other vol¬ 
umes since then shows that those interested in 
this massive race are now fully alive to the 
importance of recorded pedigrees. Of late 
years, considerable shipments of this breed 
have been made to the United States, and 
breeders here expect to increase the trade as 
then 1 favorites become better known on your 
side of the Atlantic. 
A short time back a splendid show of the 
breed was made in London by the Shire Horse 
Society, and all agree that the display at Nor¬ 
wich was considerably inferior. Most of the 
prominent studs, however, were represented, 
Though not in some cases by their best speci¬ 
mens. 
Of Clydesdales the display was excel¬ 
lent both iu number aud quality, considering 
the distance from the home of the breed. 
Prince Avondale, an easy first prize winner, 
for whom 500 guineas ($2,550) had lieeu paid, 
was generally considered the finest animal 
among all the heavy draft horses iu the show. 
The short-legged,compact, round-bodied .Suf¬ 
folk, smaller thau the Shit e or Clyde, and 
probably the best established of all the British 
breeds of heavy draft horses, was out in great 
force, as Suffolk is an udjoining couuty, and 
no other breed has ever been so popular there. 
Moreover, the Couuty Society merged its own 
exhibition with the Royal, so that the exliibi. 
tion was certainly the best ever witnessed of 
tills chunky, spirited aud resolute breed. Very 
few Suffolks have ever been taken to the 
United States, nor have they ever become 
very popular here beyond the county from 
which they take their name. The first Stud 
Book was published half a dozen years ago, 
and several other volumes have come out since 
then. 
The “Agricultural Horses” class is com¬ 
posed of draft horses belonging to no particu¬ 
lar breed, or whose breed is not known. Meg 
Moir, the first prize winner among “Agricul¬ 
tural Mares,” was of the latter class; no one 
could tell whether she was a Shire or Clyde, 
which shows that in appearance there is not 
much difference between the two. Such an 
admirable animal would be aii houor to either. 
Among the Thoroughbreds were some remark¬ 
ably fine animals, but they were exhibited as 
getters of hunters, rather than as winners of 
races. 
The Hackneys were divided into three 
classes according to their size aud age. The 
Hackney is a trotter, and Norfolk has long 
been famous for its trotters, so most of the 
prizes went to the horses owned there. A 
Hackney Stud Book was started a few years 
ago, and the third volume was issued last 
February by a Society of Hackney breeders 
now numbering 322. Ponies are very numer¬ 
ous in this country, as the children (male und 
female) of the “nobility and gentry” are near 
ly ull export on horse-back, aud begin to lourn 
on ponies. Hunters are a valuable class in a 
country where hunting is an indispensable 
pastime with u large class of gentlemen at a 
certain season every year, and a great deal of 
interest is always exhibited in the display. 
Some hunters are Thoroughbreds; but as few 
of these can carry weight, the bulk of the 
class are lialf-breds or have a still larger pro¬ 
portion of thoroughbred blood. Many have 
seveu-cighths of pure blood. 
CATTLE. 
Of the 681 cattle on exhibition there were 
187 Jerseys, 146 Red Polled, 82 Short-horns, 
73 Herefords, 41 Sussex and the same number 
of Guernseys, 28 Devons, 25 Welsh and 58 
“other breeds” for which there were no classes. 
These included Abordoen-Angus, Galloways, 
Ayrshires, Kerries, etc. There were also 17 
cows in the special class of “Dairy Cattle.” 
Iu view of the fact that Norfolk and the sur¬ 
rounding country is not a “Jersey” section, 
the large number of Jerseys present was a 
matter of surprise. At the first ltoyul Show 
in ’49 there was only a single specimen, aud it 
was not until 1864 that the Channel Island 
cattle got separate classes at the Royal Shows, 
and not uutil 1871 that the Society first divid¬ 
ed these cattle into separate classes for Jerseys 
gnd Guernseys. The animals on show at Nor¬ 
wich were excellent specimens, and the dis¬ 
play will doubtless still further popularize this 
filist-rate dairy breed. It was noticeable that 
less attention than usual was paid to “fancy 
points,” and more to what you Americans 
would call “practical” features. 
Never before was there seen such a display 
of Red Polled cattle. This was quite natural, 
as Norfolk and the adjoining couuty of Suf¬ 
folk are the homes of this fine beef-and-milk 
breed, the reputation of which has been grow¬ 
ing at home aud abroad of late years. The 
last time the Royal Show was held at Norwich 
—in 1849—there were separate classes for 
Short-horns, Herefords and Devons only, all 
the other breeds competing together, and at 
that time this breed was still divided into 
Norfolk aud Suffolk Red Polled, and of these 
local breeds, only 16 animals were exhibited. 
Of the eight prizes then given to the miscel¬ 
laneous class, these breeds took one each, the 
Ayrshires two, and the Long-horns four. 
This year there were eight classes of the 
Red Polled breed alone, with nu aver¬ 
age of 18 animals in each class. It seems 
to me that there is still a noticeable difference 
between the cattle of the two counties. Those 
of Norfolk have shorter legs, thicker flesh, a 
deeper color and greater symmetry; while 
those of Suffolk are larger, a trifle coarser 
and more of a wedge or “milk” shape. Ani¬ 
mals of the latter type were the favorites with 
the judges, os they took all the prizes. In the 
class for Aged Bulls, Mr. Garrett Taylor’s 10- 
year-old bull, Falstaff, thiek-fieshed, symmet¬ 
rica 11}' shaped, fine in all points, and especially 
in the rib, took the first prize from 10 competi¬ 
tors, aud also the champion prize as the best 
bull of the breed. This animal was generally 
considered the finest specimen of Red Polled 
bulls ever seen in a show-yard. [At Fig. 323, p. 
529, an excellent likeness of this champion prize¬ 
winner is presented to our readers, re-engraved 
from the London Live Stock Journal.— Eds] 
Mr. Column's Midsummer Rose also won first 
prize in her class and champion prize as the 
best cow of the breed, and was an equally fine 
specimen ol‘ f 'male excellence. 
The Short-horns, as usual, made a spleudid 
show—nothing xtmordiuary to be sure, but 
still, what w.i i any other breed would be so 
Considered. In whatever part of the English- 
speakiug world exhibitions of fine cattle are 
bold, what other breed ever makes so line a dis¬ 
play, both with regurd to number and quality, 
as this cosmopolitan race? It is the stand¬ 
ard, the criterion by which all other breeds 
are judged. Its popularity ami pre-eminence 
are not transitory “booms"; they have stood 
the test of a century or more. As at Preston 
last year,Royal Ingram was the champion bull 
of his breed and he won the same houor 
again this year, while Lady Pamela won 
the first prize in the. class for cows iu- 
milk or in-calf, und also the champion 
prize (£25) us the best female Short-horn in 
show. These names, aud many others dis¬ 
tinguished at this show, are household words 
among stock-owners, aud especially Short¬ 
horn men, iu England, but must, 1 suppose, lie 
strange to ears beyond t he water. 
Herefords were finely represented, the pick 
of the best herds iu the couuty being present. 
The contest for honors was one between prize¬ 
winners, for almost every show-yard annual in 
the Kingdom competed. Usually the White- 
faces are not seen iu full force beyond their 
own home; but this occasion was an exception. 
At the Norwich show of 1849, the Hereford 
bull, .Sir David, won the first prize, aud his 
blood now flows in nearly all the winners at 
the present exhibition—thirty-seven years 
afterwards. To Hereford men Sir David has 
become what Favorite has long been to Short¬ 
horn men—the source to which the best strains 
trace their distinguishing merits. 
The Dcvoub made a small but select exhibi¬ 
tion. This breed is probubly the most pre¬ 
potent in England, having been established 
