1900 
THE RURAL 
NEW-YORKER. 
667 
ARTICHOKES FOR HOGS. 
An Experience of Twenfy-four Years. 
What about artichokes as food for hogs? 
Can brood sows and all kinds of hogs be 
raised and kept on them alone, without 
other food, and the young ones be fit for 
market? What kind of meat do they 
make? If they are fed something else with 
the artichokes, at what rate is it generally 
done? What are the best varieties to 
grow on poor land? Can they be kept up 
without transplanting when the hogs are 
turned on them all the time? What kind 
of feed does the seed make for poultry? 
How are they raised? c. d. g. 
Waynesboro, Pa. 
After an experience extending over so 
long a time I think I am competent to 
speak from my own standpoint, at any 
rate. I found that brood sows required 
other feed to live on, and much more 
to fatten. Young hogs cannot be fitted 
for market feeding on artichokes with¬ 
out additional grain. The grain must 
be fed liberally. The variety I bought 
24 years ago, and that stay by me yet 
without replacing or nursing culture, 
I believe were called the Brazilian or 
Jerusalem artichoke. The variety does 
not make m h difference, at, they are 
all stayers. They are propagated by 
planting the tubers, every eye of which 
will grow, and the tops make about as 
fine hay as hazel brush. Some men ad¬ 
vocate growing them year after year 
for hog feed. I have not seen their 
farms, but I feel sure they are not clean 
farmers. It is said that artichokes are 
such excellent food for swine during 
Winter. If it is true, when most needed 
they are frost-locked in the ground. The 
best way I know to ruin land is to plant 
to artichokes and let the hogs root the 
land when they can, during the Winter. 
When the weather is dry the land soon 
gets so hard that the hogs cannot root 
them out. It is much better to dream 
dreams of their great productiveness 
and value than to try to realize by 
growing and feeding. 
If the artichokes are as valuable as 
they are cracked up to be by some, every 
farmer who grows hogs in America or 
any country would have his artichoke 
field. But the men who have been 
there give them a wide go-by. This 
fact that they are not universally grown 
is the strongest argument against their 
value. New farmers are growing up all 
the time that are wiser in their day and 
generation than their fathers; hence, 
they must needs experiment with arti¬ 
chokes and grow speedily rich. I try 
to do clean farming, but a few tubers 
got into the fence row in 1876, when I 
grew my experimental crop. They have 
been cut off one to three times a year, 
and hogged over, or at least the hogs 
have often been in the field, but they 
are still there. I do not want to sell the 
seed, nor do I want any progressive, 
diligent farmer to plant them, if he 
wishes to leave posterity a clean farm 
as a heritage. The reason they bob up 
so often is that they promise so much 
for so little. They appeal to the weak 
part of human nature, but it takes 
the strength of the man to overcome 
them when once they are grown on the 
farm. Don’t grow artichokes. 
JOHN M. JAMISON. 
A HOLSTEIH-FHIESIAH MAH TALKS. 
Being a regular reader of The R. 
N.-Y. for many years I saw therein some 
controversy in recent issues in reference 
to which breed of cattle, the Holsiein 
or the Jersey, is the all-purpose cow for 
the general farmer. There were some 
flattering communications for both 
breeds in the late issues, so much so, as 
to inspire the writer to give a brief ex¬ 
perience of his knowledge of the Hol- 
stein-Friesian herd which he possesses. 
I had the common scrub cow on my 
farm for many years, also Jerseys, and 
both breeds at present are among the 
“has-beens.” Altogether the all-purpose 
Holstein-Friesians compose my herd, 
which is limited to between 10 and 20 
animals. They are very docile and are 
easily trained; are hardly ever cross 
or unruly, and the bulls specially are 
regular pets if trained as such. Show 
kindness to them and their appreciation 
abounds. Some time ago my farmer 
had a girl eight years old, rather a tom¬ 
boy, who would run out to the barn, 
ahead of the milkers, and would tie up 
the cows, which included a bull of large 
size, six or seven years old. She took 
a great liking to our cows; while the 
milking was going on, she stood be¬ 
tween the cows and pulled the hay out 
of the racks and let the cows eat out of 
her hands. The same treatment she 
would give to the head of the herd, and 
many times she would decorate or orna¬ 
ment him with her bonnet or cap, by 
hanging it to his horns, and he would 
enjoy it hugely. I sold him afterwards, 
being about eight years old, to the but¬ 
cher, who lived 13 miles from my place 
in a town. My farmer and his son of 
about eight or nine, led the bull to his 
new quarters. On approaching the town 
the boy wanted the honor of leading 
the animal through the streets, and 
quite a sensation was created at the 
sight of a large bull, between 1,600 and 
1,700 pounds weight, being led by a 
child through a strange town. Where is 
the Jersey that could be trusted to 
such ? 
The Holstein-Friesian breed grows to 
a large size, matures early, and when 
worn out as milk and butter cows, they 
can be fattened and sold for beef. On 
the other hand, what can you do with 
a Jersey when her usefulness is over as 
a producer of milk and butter? The 
butcher will not buy them except for 
cheap sale, and their standard price is 
under $3. The Holstein-Friesians brings 
from $30 to $40, and bulls when they get 
too big bring from $50 to $60 when they 
are fattened, making a fine quality of 
beef. Where is the Jersey bull to come 
in after his usefulness has ceased? He 
will not do to fatten and sell to the 
butcher, except at a low price. An old 
Jersey bull is a dangerous piece of fur¬ 
niture to have about the house. More 
people have been killed by the Jersey 
than by any other breed. I never heard 
of any person being killed by a Hol¬ 
stein-Friesian bull, though it may have 
happened. 
The Holstein-Friesian cattle are an 
all-purpose breed for the general farm¬ 
er. The last 15 years’ experience has 
taught me the difference between the 
several breeds in question; not being 
prejudiced against any breed, I find 
among them all some very fine individ¬ 
ual cows, the Holstein and Jersey not 
excepted. If a farmer goes into raising 
the Holstein-Friesian breed or any other 
let him get a good foundation stock, of 
good milk and butter strain, purebred, 
and raise his own stock or herd. Keep 
it pure, and treat the herd with kind¬ 
ness. It will be an ornament to the 
place and neighborhood. Surplus stock 
can always be sold at remunerative 
prices, and the demand for such stock 
is prevailing at all times. l. s. 
York County, Pa. 
An Ohio Holstein. —The cow pictured 
on the first page was raised at Dell- 
hurst Farm, Mentor, Ohio, She is a 
good specimen of the Black and White 
breed. As a three-year-old her official 
record was 16.32 pounds of butter in 
seven days, or 382.93 pounds of milk for 
the same period. This test was made 
in midwinter, February 18-24, 1900. That 
is the sort of cow that milks the mort¬ 
gage and puts butter on the farmer’s 
bread. 
Fence Wire for Sii.o. —I have just 
built a silo and hooped it with Page 
woven wire, seven wires, 40 inches high. 
I would answer the question in one 
word, “Don’t.” Why anybody ever 
thought of it or recommended it, I am 
at a loss to know. It has no redeem¬ 
ing features that I can find. Rods, or 
flat hoops, are cheaper, can be put on 
with one-fourth the labor, can be tight¬ 
ened with much less trouble, and you 
get all the strength there is in them, if I 
necessary, while with the fence wire it is 
almost impossible to tighten all the 
wires equally. The simple and easy way 
for a round silo is to use %-inch or %- 
inch steel rods, two pieces to each hoop, 
with good long threads and nut on each 
end. These ends should pass through 
holes bored into two staves which are 
twice the thickness of the others, placed 
fo’* the purpose on opposite sides of the 
silo j. k. N. 
Maumee. O. 
New Test Bottle. —The New York 
Produce Review refers to a new bottle 
for testing milk, invented by Constan¬ 
tine Wagner: 
The Improvement consists in flattening 
the neck of the bottle to facilitate the fill¬ 
ing and emptying and to permit an open 
graduation of tenths and allow accurate 
reading to one-twentieth of one per cent. 
Mr. Wagner claims that the flattened neck 
forms a double passage for the liquid and 
the air, insuring ready inflow of the liquid 
which runs through one side of the neck 
while the remaining portion of the neck 
allows the escape of air; when emptying, 
the bottle is tilted to the right or left in a 
vertical plane coinciding with the largest 
diameter of the tube, so that the liquid 
flows out in a continuous stream. 
SHARPLES 
Cream 
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ALWAYS THE LEST 
If no agent in 
your neigh¬ 
borhood will 
bringaSharp- 
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its superiority 
we will loan 
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The machine 
will be loaned witn no obliga 
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not bought being all we ask. 
One agent may out-talk another 
who represents a better machine, 
but a superior machine will dem¬ 
onstrate its superiority in an actual 
trial. Send for catalogue No 25 
P. M. SHARPLES, 
Wemt Chamfer, Pa. 
THE SIIAKPLES OO., 
88 So. Canal St., Chicago, Ill. 
Late Laying Hens. —In regard to 
forcing hens to lay in October and 
November, my only treatment has been 
to feed well all through the season and 
keep them at it. I have hens all the 
way from one to three, and some four 
years old. The older they are the later 
they will shed, and if well cared for 
many of them will lay until the old 
feathers are nearly all off and the new 
ones well started, after which they will 
take a rest. My oldest hens will often 
lay until December, when the pullets 
will be in full blast. I do not think I 
ever had hens moult and get to busi¬ 
ness again in October or November, al¬ 
though good authorities say that a hen 
that sits and raises a brood of chicks is 
as good as a pullet for late Fall and 
Winter laying. l. j. w. 
Summit, R. I. 
Some cows in the United States have 
made remarkable performances with their 
udders, heels and horns, but they will all 
have to take a back seat before this up-to- 
date bovine mentioned by a Canadian 
paper: “Seven years ago a farmer hung 
his waistcoat in his farmyard, leaving his 
gold watch in the pocket. It was promptly 
devoured' by a hungry calf. Recently the 
animal was slaughtered, and the watch 
was found lodged between the lungs. The 
process of respiration had kept it wound 
up, and it had only lost four minutes.” 
A CHALLENGE 
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duce a hand separator that will 
run nseaBlly (and at the same 
time skim, as much milk and 
skim as clean) as the 
Hand 
?The Reid 1900 Separator 
gained the firet week three 
pounds of butter from the 
same amonnt of milk as bo 
fore. It is the tightest-running 
machine I have ever seen.” 
C. W. Hunts, Bristol, 
Write for the book. 
A. H. REID 
30th & Market Sts., Phila 
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GRAND PRIZE 
PARIS EXPOSITION 
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Lesser awards, of different grades of medals, 
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General Offices: 
74 CORTLANDT STREET, 
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1102 Arch Street, 
P hiladelphia . 
327 Commissioners St., 
Montreal. 
