1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
587 
THE COUNTRY’S MILK TRADE. 
St. Louts Milk Laws. —The greater 
portion of the milk supply of this city 
comes from Illinois and Missouri, with¬ 
in a radius of about 100 miles, and un¬ 
fortunately for ourselves, we have a 
large number of city dairies. Of the city 
dairies I can give you some information. 
There are about 400 of them, and 8,000 
cows. Ninety per cent of them are in a 
very poor condition. A great many cows 
are kept stabled all the time, and they 
are a source of constant annoyance. The 
Milk Inspection law of this city is a 
farce, and is useless for all practical 
purposes. The officer who is supposed to 
be Milk Inspector can really do nothing, 
and he, in fact, does this successfully. 
Owing to the large number of dairies in 
the city, it gives these dairymen a po¬ 
litical influence, and they are banded to¬ 
gether in one or two societies, and em¬ 
ploy lawyers regularly to fight all cases 
that are brought against them, and 
where any legislation is proposed to reg¬ 
ulate them, they band together and de¬ 
feat it; still, however, through the ef¬ 
forts of this department during the last 
four years, there has been a great im¬ 
provement in the dairies. I enclose you 
an ordinance regulating the management 
of the dairies. There is a separate ordi¬ 
nance in relation to milk. Besides being 
loosely drawn up this ordinance provides 
for a ridiculously low standard for milk 
and cream. was passed for the inter¬ 
est of the dairymen, and has served them 
well for 15 years. 
CHARLES W. FRANCIS. 
Asst. Health Commissioner. 
At Indianapolis. —The milk and but¬ 
ter supply here is largely a matter of 
private barter between consumer and 
producer. We have no milk association, 
and neither party wants one. Ice cream 
manufacturers contract large quantities 
of cream and milk of dairy farmers. 
Most of these are located over 10 miles 
from the city, and ship by rail. A 
special milk rate per gallon is given on 
most roads, and milk or cream, after be¬ 
ing aired and cooled, can be placed in 
the express car without ice and will 
reach me city in an hour or less, where a 
delivery wagon takes it direct to the cold 
vats of the milk depots. Scarcely a gal¬ 
lon is soured in a whole season; in fact, 
most of it reaches the depot fresh and 
almost ice com. The trade prefers milk 
from dairymen who reside far enough 
out so that they can have large pastures 
and silage, hay and fodder, rather than 
from those who keep cows in a muddy 
barn lot and feed brewers’ grains and 
starch wastes. The hotels prefer to buy 
from milk depots for two reasons. They 
never know even approximately how 
much milk they will need at any hour, 
and don’t wish to work off the surplus 
milk as the depots do. They get better 
milk through the depots from outside 
dairies. So they order by telephone as 
they need it. Private families are large¬ 
ly supplied by wagons from near the city 
at five cents to 6% cents a quart, with 
bottled milk 6 y 2 to eight cents a quart. 
E. II. c. 
Columbus, O.—Milk is supplied by 
about 200 dairies that sell from wagons, 
and 100 dealers who wholesale and re¬ 
tail. If you keep a cow and sell your 
neighbor milk you must have a city per¬ 
mit (no expense). It is done for health. 
Milk is the vehicle that may carry many 
diseases. The city has one inspector for 
milk and dairies, meat shops, markets 
and slaughter houses. He is a very 
busy man. Ohio’s dairy law is a copy 
of New York’s. Some milk and cream 
comes from towns and creameries 25 
miles out. Physicians report any sick¬ 
ness to the health office, and the doctor 
sends the milk inspector immediately to 
investigate. There was talk of preser¬ 
vatives being used in milk for some 
time. Two dairymen arrested i.or put¬ 
ting formaldehyde in their milk were 
fined $50 and costs each. Wnolesale 
price of milk is 10 cents a gallon. Retail, 
four to seven cents per quart. Milk and 
cream of the best dairies is well cooled 
and bottled. The milkman’s bell is a 
back number; 10 milkmen pass the door 
twice a day, drive three squares to sell 
a pint of milk. The milkman of Col¬ 
umbus thinks his woes are many; they 
are trying to organize for mutual bene¬ 
fit. They complain of the test the 
doctor makes; Jerseys and Jersey 
grades furnish two-thirds of the milk. 
_ H. H. R. 
SHEEP IN THE CORNFIELDS. 
We frequently see stones In the papers 
of western farmers who are reported to 
turn their sheep into the cornfields after 
the corn is laid by. It is said that the 
sheep will eat the weeds and grass in these 
fields, without injuring the corn. Do the 
sheep destroy much of the corn, and is it 
considered good practice by the better class 
of farmers? 
I have never pastured sheep in the 
corn, and it is seldom practiced in our 
neighDorhood. It is done, however, but 
under what conditions and with what 
success I cannot say. I have an impres¬ 
sion that old sheep soon take to the corn, 
while the lambs will do no damage as 
long as the grass is green. e. b. 
Ewing, Ill. 
The practice is not followed here to 
any great extent. From my own obser¬ 
vation I am inclined to think that no 
harm would result, provided the condi¬ 
tion of the corn were such as to warrant 
it. For instance, if the corn is of a 
strong rank growth, and stands up well; 
on the other hand if the plant is weak 
or fallen down from any cause it is ob¬ 
vious that such practice results in loss. 
Taking the condition into consideration 
it is not possible to depend on such pas¬ 
tures, and the better class of farmers 
provide other pasture for their flocks. 
Hillsboro, Ill. l. d. o. 
Occasionally some farmer, who has 
heard that sheep turned in a cornfield 
will clean out all the weeds, and eat only 
a few of the lower leaves, tries it, hop¬ 
ing thus to get a lot of pasture that 
would otherwise go to waste, and at the 
same time benefit the corn. One trial is 
usually enough. Grown sheep are al¬ 
most sure to go to work in the corn, and 
will waste much more than they eat, 
pulling the ears off and leaving them 
half eaten on the ground, and making a 
mess of the fodder. I have never turned 
sheep into a cornfield, but have had 
them break in several times, and the 
amount of damage they did satisfied me 
that it would never do to let them run 
in the field all of the time. When corn 
makes a good growth and stands up well, 
as it does this year, it is perfectly safe to 
turn lambs in, but I do not think that 
there is much gained. They do not seem 
to like weeds grown in the shade, and 
will not eat them to any extent. Last 
year I turned my lambs at weaning 
time into a 50-acre field, 30 acres of 
which was new-seeded clover, and 18 
acres of corn, thinking they would do 
well on the clover, but they passed right 
by the clover, and went to work on the 
corn. I left them in about two weeks 
before I took them out. It was a mean 
Job cutting the corn after them. 
Shipman, Ill. l. d. s. 
Sheep-Killing Dogs. 
The English Mark Lane Express says 
that there is a perfect plague of dogs in 
north Yorkshire. Fully 100 sheep dogs 
have become murderers around one little' 
town. Many of these animals were 
formerly faithful watchdogs, taking care 
of their master’s flocks. Some of them, 
in fact, still watch their owners’ flocks, 
but kill the sheep on the neighboring 
farm. These dogs work mostly at night. 
Many of them live and sleep at home 
during the day, but often refuse to eat 
anything there. This seems to be the 
first point of suspicion with many of 
them, for a dog must live somehow, and 
if he will not eat at home, it is evident 
that he finds something more to his taste 
elsewhere. The English dog laws are 
Strange in some respects. Let a man 
be bitten by a dog, and before he can 
recover damages, he must not only proVe 
that the dog bit him, but that the dog’s 
owner knew that it was a dangerous an¬ 
imal. The owner of the sheep killed by 
dogs need not prove this, but it is hard 
in ihe first place to find the dog and 
then prove his ownership. One plan 
suggested for stopping this evil is to 
have the legal authorities declare a dis¬ 
trict infested with dangerous dogs. 
After making such an order, every owner 
of a dog has to keep it shut up or 
chained from sunset to sunrise, or if it 
runs at liberty, to keep it securely muz¬ 
zled. It seems strange to learn of these 
sheep-killing dogs in the north of Eng¬ 
land and Scotland, where many of our 
sheep dogs , come from. We had sup¬ 
posed that sheep were almost always 
killed by curs or mongrels, but in many 
cases it appears that dogs of good breed¬ 
ing and careful training not only acquire 
the habit of killing sheep Themselves, 
but lead other dogs into their murderous 
habits. 
short; but It was so evident that such 
would be the case early in the season that 
most farmers have very nearly made up 
the shortage by sowing corn and millet, 
which are looking well. This will apply 
only to my immediate neighborhood. I 
hear that In the town of Sidney, west of 
here, conditions are very much worse. 
However, there will no doubt be cows for 
sale. Prices range from $20 to $50, accord¬ 
ing to quality and length of time until they 
are fresh. Delaware County Is noted for 
fine cows. n. j. 
Walton, N. Y. 
Although the hay crop is quite short it 
has been secured in good order, and having 
had several short crops most of our farm¬ 
ers make provision for the shortage by 
planting corn and sowing millet and oats, 
all of which are making bountiful crops, 
and having built many silos for the preser¬ 
vation of Winter supply, we are somewhat 
independent of the meadows. We have had 
many showers during July, that all Sum¬ 
mer crops look fine; therefore I think it 
doubtful whether many good cows will be 
sold for low prices. Some will probably be 
sold, and perhaps this is as good as any 
nearby county in which to purchase stock. 
As to the price I could not say what figures 
will rule. a. p. c. 
Cook’s Falls, N. Y. 
SURPLUS DAIRY STOCK. 
New York Stale Cows for Sale. 
Hay crop is rather light, but all kinds 
of other crops are looking well. We have 
had plenty of rain of late, and aftermath 
is good. I think that cows coming in next 
Spring will bring $20 and fresh cows $25 
or $30. The time to buy will be September, 
October or November. w. l. w. 
Cleveland. 
There will be a good many cows that will 
have to be sold here this Fall, as we only 
had about half a hay crop. Cows are sell¬ 
ing here now for about $20 for strippers, 
$30 to $35 for springers. Yearlings are sell¬ 
ing from $10 to $15, according to size. Think 
about October will be best time to buy, as 
milk is bringing a fair price here now, and 
most farmers will milk until cows are 
nearly dry. t. b. 
So. Otselic. 
We have an excellent hay and grain crop 
here this season; the farmers are all in the 
milk business, and do not raise nearly 
enough cows for their own use. Cows are 
shipped in here all the time from Delaware 
County, and at a sale a few days ago 
brought as high as $68 each. The only kind 
of cattle that can be bought here are worn- 
out milch cows, and they are shipped to the 
Jersey City stockyards to be slaughtered, 
unless bought of the dealers who ship them 
in from the West for sale. J. e. m. 
Turners, N. Y. 
Hay is very light, about half crop; oats 
are good, corn looking well, but fodder will 
be scarce, and stock must be cheap, as 
almost every farm is overstocked. There 
will be plenty of stock of all kinds offered 
for sale this Fall, especially old cows and 
young stock. There is always a good de¬ 
mand for new milkers in this section in 
the Fall. What the price will be I cannot 
say, as it is rather early. About October 
will be the best time to buy, unless we 
should have another drought, as it was 
very dry with us through May and June. 
Fulton, N. Y. J. c. s. 
First-class springers will bring readily 
$50, and not plentiful at that, for the 
demand exceeds the supply. Common dairy 
cows are not plentiful for sale, as we have 
in this section two-thirds of average crop 
of hay and large acreage of corn and oats, 
which are being cut for fodder. Corn beats 
the record. The yield will be immense. 
Think there will be no necessity for sell¬ 
ing stock for want of fodder in this sec¬ 
tion. As milk Improves in price there will 
be but few cows for sale. November will 
be the month to buy cows. t. s. 
Sherburne, N. Y. 
I do not think the scarcity of feed will 
cause any considerable exodus of cows. 
The hay crop is from one-half to one-third 
Bull and Tread Power. —We have 
had good luck in working a bull on 
power, especially in the Winter, when 
our horses are sharp. We have done all 
our cutting of stalks, straw, and sawing 
wood, and not only find it good exercise 
for the bull, but it seems to make him 
handle better and be more quiet. Of 
course a bull can’t stand nearly as much 
as a horse, and we have to use our own 
judgment as to that. We have a Heeb- 
ner level tread, and the bull is always 
ready. We took the bull to our county 
fair one Fall, and cut stalks there, just 
to show people what could be done, and 
every time he was put on the power 
there would be a big crowd to see him 
work, and he seemed to enjoy it as well 
as they did. joiin m. stevens. 
Pennsylvania. 
It Cured Asthma 
Mr. EDW. W. PARKINSON, Jefferson, Pa., May 13 
1890. writes : 
About five years ago I had a severe attack of 
Asthma. I tried various remedies, without relief. 
As last resort, I purchased a bottleof Jayne’s Expec¬ 
torant, and after taking a tew doses, began to im¬ 
prove. When three bottles had been used, I was 
completely cured, and have not been troubled with 
the disease since. 1 TRULY BELIEVE THIS 
REMEDY SAVED MY LIFE.— Adv. 
CREAM SEPARATORS 
always the best. 
TUB S1URPLB8 CO. P. It. 9IURPLB9, 
Chicago, 111. West Cheater Pa. 
s in me Dome, 
There’s more profit 
ijR in milk if you use 
iVvithis bottle. Our il- 
*«» lustrated free cat¬ 
alog tells all about 
: it. “Bestov” every- _ 
thing for dairy work. 
TRADE 
MARK 
Bestov] 
The Dairymen’s Supply Co., 1937 Market St., Phila. 
Cream Separators. 
De Laval “ Alpha " and “ Baby " Separators. 
First—Best—Cheapest. All Styles—8Ue« 
Prices, $50 to $800. 
Save 110 per oow per year. Bend for Catalogue. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO., 
Randolph and Canal Streeta, I 71 Cortlandt Street 
CHICAGO I NEW YORK. 
1863 Thirty-Seven. Years Ago 1900 
Worthington, Minn., June 12, 1899. 
L. B. SILVER CO., Cleveland, Ohio. 
Gentlemen:—My O. I. C. brood sows (purchased from vou) will weigh 
upward of 700 lbs., in breeding condition now: 11 aiid 12 pigs by their 
sides. I think my O. I. C.’S first-class. They take first premiums over 
all breeds wherever shown. Respectfully yours, WILSON AGER. 
we originated the now world 
famous O. I. C. hogs and 
established our present bus¬ 
iness. We are still in bus¬ 
iness and the O. I. C’s. con¬ 
tinue as in the past, the best 
general purpose hog known. 
They are less liable to dis¬ 
ease than others, too. They 
have constitutions. We send 
a sample pair of our 
Famous 
O.I.C.HOGS 
on time and allow you 
agency if yon write prompt¬ 
ly. Two of these famous 
hogs weighed 2,806 lbs. Write 
todav. 
l; b. SILVER CO., 
135 Grand Arcade, 
Cleveland, - - OHio. 
