Vol. LXII. No. 2775. 
NEW YORK, APRIL 4, 1903. 
11 PER YEAR. 
DAIRY, DUAL-PURPOSE AND BEEF. 
CHANGING CONDITIONS IN WK.STERN LIVE STOCK. 
Whaf the Future Will Bring. 
Tlic question has been raised whether an increase 
in (he dairy industry in the West, where beef cattle 
now prevail to a considerable degree, will result in 
more dairy and less beef herds, or will the dual-pur¬ 
pose cow be taken up by the farmers in order to 
keep close to beef and milk? Undoubtedly the great 
meat-producing section of this country will in future 
he west of the Mississippi River. The more thickly 
Iiojuilated the States become the more intensive wilt 
become the farming, and the greater will be the ae- 
mand for dairy products. This, however, has its spe¬ 
cial application in the thickly settled, irregular and 
higher priced lands. Where great pastures or ranges 
occur, or where vast cornfields grow, beef cattle will 
continue to meet with tavor until the type of farm¬ 
ing changes. Indiana and Illinois 10 years ago were 
undergoing a dairy promotion boom, and dairy cattle 
increased greatly in number. Since then the herds 
have fallen away, but at no time did the dairy cattle 
or the dairy industry set a serious foothold in the 
great corn regions. The large increase in dairy cattle 
occurred on the poorer lands of these States and con¬ 
venient to the great cities, where milk 
was in demand, or where cream or but¬ 
ter was wanted. Where large crops of 
cereals could be grown on fertile soil the 
milking of cows was very unpopular. 
These farmers did not enjoy the regular- 
i(y of the milking operation. 
A great dairy movement, however, 
was on at the same time in Wisconsin, 
Minnesota and Iowa, and later Kansas 
and Nebraska felt the impetus. From 
what I can learn in a general way, dairy¬ 
ing in Iowa is losing in popularity, while 
in Wisconsin and Minnesota it has at¬ 
tained great strength. Kansas and Ne- 
liraska are great States, and are assum¬ 
ing unusual importance in dairying. The 
last census shows the following popula¬ 
tion in these States of dairy cows two 
years old or over: Iowa, 1,423,648; Illi¬ 
nois, 1,007,664; Wisconsin, 998,397; Min¬ 
nesota, 753,632; Kansas, 676,456; Ne¬ 
braska, 512,544. While these figures 
show a large number of dairy cows, it is 
appropriate to state that a far greater 
number of beef cattle existed in Iowa, 
Illinois, Kansas and Nebraska than of dairy cattle. 
There are 5% million cattle credited to Iowa, over 
three million to Illinois, nearly V/z million to Kansas 
and over three million to Nevada. 
If a breed or breed type census were taken of most 
of these Middle West and Western States it would be 
found that the number of real dairy cattle was much 
smaller than the figures would indicate. The Short¬ 
horn IS the most popular breed of cattle in the great 
Mississippi Valley, and undoubtedly many herds are 
milked and classed as dairy cattle, which are either 
dual-purpo.se and so intended or are beef cattle from 
which some dairy revenue is sought. 
In those States where dairying is on the wane beef 
cattle are supplanting dairy herds. Indiana Is a 
good example of this. There is a development, how¬ 
ever, of the dual-purpose idea, and especially in con¬ 
nection with some of the States where dairying is 
growing now. Many farmers of Iowa, Kansas and 
Nebraska will cling to the idea that it is a good 
business policy for them to keep a class of cattle 
that will make a fair amount of milk, produce a 
demandable calf, and will fatten eventually so as to 
sell readily at a good price for beef. The dairy 
breeds will not do all this; the dual-purpose type 
will. The Short-horn is a great favorite, but the 
Red Poll is meeting with more and more favor, and 
to-dav Wisconsin and Iowa are prominent buyers of 
this excellent dual-purpose breed. 
Will the dual-purpose become the popular favorite 
of the farmers in these great milk-producing States? 
They are really more so now than many people are 
aware, but it will be a long time before our people 
will take up the dual-purpose type as the best thing 
for dairying. The beef type of Short-horn was never 
in greater favor, while Herefords and Aberdeen 
Angus are attracting widespread attention all over 
the West. These are all great beef breeds. .lust 
now the beef pendulum is swinging up, it is perhaps 
just beginning its return, and the dairy pendulum is 
down. This, however, marks the regular course of 
events, and undoubtedly will continue to feel a more 
or less periodical rise and fall. As this great coun¬ 
try of ours cDiitinues to grow in inhabitants the 
numbers of the dairy cow will continue to grow, 
convenient to the large centers of population. Herds 
of dairy cattle will also prosper in localities where 
creameries or cheese factories occur. In the more 
thinly settled States, however, where wide fertile 
lands reach away on every side, and where corn is 
king, the farmer with beef cattle will be the leading 
factor in the live stock business. He may sell con¬ 
siderable milk to the creamery if any be near, and 
he will want a type of beef cow that is really of the 
dual-purpose class, but he will not be known as a 
dairyman. He will tell you that he is only a gen¬ 
eral-purpose farmer, but he may be a very success¬ 
ful one for alt that. Ordinarily such a farmer will 
not build up a great dairy community, so for that 
reason there is good ground for believing that dual- 
purpose cattle will not displace dairy cattle, except 
it be to promote beef at the expense of milk. 
C. S. PLUMB. 
R. N.-Y.—The cow shown at Fig. 91 is a fine speci¬ 
men of the Red Poll breed. Hver since the milking 
contest at the Pan-American Exposition this breed 
has steadily won favor and friends. We think that 
another factor will have something to do with the use 
of breeds which will make both milk and beef. The 
growing scarcity of help will induce many farmers 
to keep a breed of cattle which, while fair milkers, 
will still make profitable grazing animals where it is 
difficult to get competent hands willing to attend to 
the seven-days-in-the-week job of milking. 
MR. VERCON^S MULCHED ORCHARD. 
Still Confident That He Is Right. 
1 am glad to say that we have a fine prospect for 
another crop of apples this year. About the middle of 
February I cut small twigs from the trees of our prin¬ 
cipal varieties (as I have done for many years), and 
tied the small parcels of branches with labels, putting 
up in a small jardiniere, filled with water, in the sit¬ 
ting room. March 15 all the branches were profuse 
with bloom. With our system of sod mulch and low¬ 
headed trees, as formerly described, wo have had pay¬ 
ing consecutive crops since 1892, I think, when the late 
hard freeze injured every apple when as large as big 
marbles. Many will recollect that the leaves on the 
forest trees were frozen black, notably walnut and 
hicko’-y. I observe this almost phenomenal success 
since 1892, when we conceived and adopted the mulch 
system for bearing orchards. My orchard land has 
not been plowed for over 50 years. It was a beautiful 
Blue-grass pasture, grazed with Short-horn cattle 
most of the time. 1 hardly need say that this land 
had all the elements in it to produce almost anything 
well, and is still in Blue grass. The oldest section of 
my orchard is 42 years old, the next 22 years, and the 
last planting was in 1888, which is now 15 years old, 
and the larger part of the orchard my 
own planting. Mulching proved to be 
“putting on the cap sheaf.” I am very 
sure it made it possible for my trees to 
bring forth annual crops. Why? Be¬ 
cause the best conditions of nature are 
provided for the trees; they are strong 
and vigorous the entire season. The al- 
m.ost unlimited amount of humus that 
has been stored, continually added to 
from the mulch, and moisture, which is 
conserved practically makes the condi¬ 
tions proof against the unfavorable 
things that will come, that we cannot 
control otherwise. 
Trees usually cannot grow and ripen a 
crop of apples and fruit buds at the 
same time, especially if suffering from 
drought they often do not mature the 
crop of apples. If this be true, which 
every observing man must admit, why 
not mulch? I fear that our great advis¬ 
ers have strayed away from nature, at 
any rate in regard to trees. Nature is a 
great teacher; if anyone will go into the 
primitive forests and see how nature 
has provided for the trees, mulch in abundance 
six to eight inches deep; humus and moisture, 
fertility inexhaustible. The armies of trees have 
flourished for thousands of years, and will continue 
if not disturbed. This is my ideal condition; to have 
it under my trees at least out to the area of the 
branches. Anything will answer for mulch that grows 
out of the ground if so decomposed as not to be 
coarse enough to be in the way about the orchard. If 
the ground is poor spread manure over it first. 
1 am glad that “the wise men from the East” (and 
elsewhere) are becoming aroused concerning the 
mulch system. It is now being experimented on at 
some of the experiment stations, and they go so far 
as to say that in some localities where conditions are 
favorable it is probably the right thing to do. I be¬ 
lieve the mulch system will prove all right if prop¬ 
erly done on any good orchard land. Others persist 
that it Is all a mistake; a delusion for the orchardist 
to undertake it. They insist that the only right thing 
to do is to cultivate the orchard. I admit that this 
system will do fairly well until the trees are 14 or 15 
years old. Then the trouble is about to commence; 
the orchard has been cultivated most of the time, 
THE DUAL-PURPOSE RED POLL Fig. 91 
