894 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 23 
CHARGE OF THE CHICKEN SQUAD. 
Half a rood, half a rood. 
Half a rood onward, 
All in the garden of death 
Strode the half hundred. 
“Forward,” their leader said; 
“On for a garden raid; 
Into the valley of death 
Strode the half hundred. 
“Forward,” the rooster said, 
Was there a bird dismayed? 
Not though each one then knew. 
Some one had blundered; 
Their’s not to run or fly, 
Their’s not to reason why, 
Their’s but to go and die; 
Into the valley of death. 
Strode the half hundred. 
Clods flew to right of them, 
Bricks flew to left of them, 
Oyster shells in front of them, 
Volleyed and thundered; 
Stormed at with clod and shell, 
Wildly they flew and well; 
’Way from the jaws of death, 
’Way from the mouth of Hell 
Flew the half hundred. 
Flashed all their plumage rare, 
Flashed as they turned in air, 
Trying to hide somewhere 
Among the bushes, while 
Wife stood and wondered. 
No place of rest they found, 
Cackling they raced around 
Brahma and Bantam 
Trying the fence to bound 
Shattered and sundered. 
Then they skulked out—but not 
All the half hundred. 
Clods flew to right of them, 
Bricks flew to left of them, 
Shells flew behind them 
Volleyed and thundered; 
Stormed at with brick and shell, 
While hen and rooster fell, 
They that had planned so well 
Came through the jaws of death, 
Back from the mouth of Hell, 
All that was left of them, 
Of the half hundred. 
When can remembrance fade? 
Of that wild garden raid! 
Wherein they blundered. 
Honor the charge they made— 
Blush at the retrogade 
Of the half hundred. 
J. EDWIN COAD. 
AN IMPROVED DAIRY COW. 
How to Keep Records. 
It is now 20 years or more since Prof. 
Roberts and others commenced artillery 
practice on the unprofitable oow. She 
is stiill much in evidence, but her num¬ 
ber is. without doubt, proportionately 
less than it was a few years ago. To 
purchase a herd of purebred cows of any 
of the dairy breeds is out of the ques¬ 
tion for the average farmer; 'he must 
then depend upon grades from some 
source. These he may purchase, or 
raise from grade calves. The latter is 
the better way for most farmers, for the 
reason that people do not wish to sell 
their best cows, nor, usually, the heifer 
calves from the best cows. Without 
doubt the best way for one to improve 
his dairy is to raJise heifer calves from 
his best cows, using a purebred sire. In 
nearly every dairy that one visits, from 
one-fourth to three-fourths of the cows 
are profitable, while the remainder are 
“boarders,” some of which forget even 
to pay their board, to say nothing of 
any profit. 
Experience has demonstrated many 
times over that little dependence can be 
placed on calves raised from a scrub 
sire, no matter what the good qualities 
of the dam may be. Not but that a 
good dam is more likely to transmit 
good qualities to her offspring, but one 
cannot depend upon it unless the sire is 
from a pronounced dairy type, and this 
sire should be a purebred animal or near 
to it. Stewart mentions that fifteen- 
sixteenths are by many considered pre¬ 
potent, that is, may be sure to transmit 
certain fixed qualities. But let no one 
be deceived by simply a purebred ani¬ 
mal. There are as .many purebred 
scrubs as scrubs of no breed at all. One 
must be sure that his bull is from a line 
of dairy animals, no matter what the 
breed. Pay no fancy prices for animals 
unless you know either personally, or by 
the reputation of the breeder, that the 
animal you are purchasing has some¬ 
thing back of him that is favorable. 
Then do not hesitate to pay a long price 
if necessary. I recently had some ex¬ 
perience in selecting a sire, and while I 
feel that the above is excellent advice, I 
would warn anyone who is looking for 
a perfect animal to look only a reason¬ 
able length of time, and then take the 
one that is nearest perfection. It is 
difficult to get all conditions exactly to 
one’s own liking. 
Fig. 324, page 883, represents a grade 
Jersey heifer from a superior native 
cow. The heifer has proved herself al¬ 
most a phenomenal animal. She did 
not come in till November, being three 
in the Spring. During the year the milk 
was weighed at frequent Intervals, so as 
to ascertain with considerable definite¬ 
ness the amount of milk given. This 
has been found to be 7,500 pounds. In 
view of the fact that ihe past season has 
been one of 'the worst within memory, 
on account of very dry weather, and that 
the feed has not been such as would tend 
to the utmost production of milk, in 
fact, no better than the rest of the dairy, 
and no better than any good farmer 
would expect to provide any year, the 
amount is surprising. The feed was 
good pasture, with sown corn and pump¬ 
kins in the i> all, good hay and six 
pounds of mixed feed, corn, oats and 
bran, in the Winter; as good pasture as 
could be secured where there was a 
slight overstock in Summer, supple¬ 
mented with a light feed of oats and 
peas in July and a part of August; then 
sown corn and a small allowance—one 
quart—of wheat bran. 
This cow has produced about $65 
worth of milk at the current prices at 
the creamery. The cost of keeping has 
been very little, if any, above the cost 
of keeping a cow which stands by her 
side in the stable, and which has pro¬ 
duced scarcely $30 worth of milk during 
the same time. The cost of keeping is 
estimated at from $30 to $35 in each in¬ 
stance. 
Making Records and Estimates.— 
Most farmers who have to depend upon 
themselves for much or all of the work 
on a dairy farm, would hardly think it 
possible, or profitable, if possible, to 
weight each mess of milk, and deter¬ 
mine the exact amount of feed consumed 
per day by each animal. This, of course, 
is not necessary, but it will prove profit¬ 
able, and a source of much satisfaction, 
if one day each month, or better, each 
week, the milk is weighed with correct¬ 
ness, and a record made. This should be 
done at about the same time each 
month, or the same day each week. It 
is also possible to ascertain at intervals 
nearly the exact amount of food con¬ 
sumed. One or more of the cheap adver¬ 
tising books, with blank spaces, may be 
used for the records, if nothing better is 
at hand. Indeed, I have seen several of 
the gift books which are better for this 
purpose than any I could purchase at 
the book stores, for the month, year, 
and in some the day also, is marked, 
ready for a brief entry. I find it a mat¬ 
ter of much satisfaction to refer back to 
one of these books, and find on what day 
and date we began to feed a certain 
piece of corn, and when the best was 
used up, or the length of time a ton of 
bran lasted. It is a matter of but a few 
minutes’ time to make the record of 
each change of feed, or the amount of 
milk per day, and it forms a basis for 
estimating profits, and for making plans 
for another season. h. h. l. 
A STORY OF “OLEO.” 
State Commissioner of Agriculture 
Wieting gives us an account of an oleo 
hunt which took place in Buffalo. Oleo was 
found at a grocery store in that city, and 
at once the detectives started to follow 
up the clew. The goods were traced back 
to the commission merchant who sold 
them; 200 tubs were found in storage 
with other goods on the way from Chi¬ 
cago. Samples were taken from each of 
the 200 tubs, which shows the immense 
amount of detail necessary to handle 
this fraudulent business. The commis¬ 
sion merchant claimed that he had 
bought this oleo as butter, and believed 
that it was renovated butter, so that he 
had stamped them as such for sale. 
When he was informed that there was 
no question but that the stuff was oleo, 
he shipped the whole lot back to the 
parties in Chicago, from whom they 
were bought. In order to trace the thing 
down to its source, the Commissioner 
had 'these goods followed, but the per¬ 
sons in Chicago did not dare to take the 
tubs off the cars, for they were not 
stamped with the internal revenue 
stamps, as required by law. The per¬ 
sons who made the goods knew that 
they would be identified and arrested 
if they came forward and claimed the 
oleo. They were so thoroughly scared 
that it is said that they have fled to 
parts unknown, having purchased 
tickets for England. This is certainly a 
class of export trade that will prove of 
great benefit to American agriculture, 
and farmers can well afford to pay an 
export duty of $10 per pound for 500 
pounds of just such live stock. When 
these rascals disappeared, the National 
Government officials were notified about 
these illegal goods, and it is now ex¬ 
pected that the Whole carload will be 
seized and destroyed. This little story 
illustrates the difficulty in following up 
these rascals, and it also shows that 
even though this slippery stuff will often 
grease the ways of escape, these frauds 
are sometimes caught, and driven out of 
the country. Now if arrangements can 
be made with the English government 
to put these rogues at the front at South 
Africa, as a mark for the Boer bullets, 
all the ends of justice will probably be 
served. 
APPLE POMACE. 
I have fed apple pomace very success¬ 
fully for several years; commence with a 
small quantity, and give as high as one 
bushel per cow. I" never fed a succulent 
food that gave me better results. It al¬ 
ways increased the flow of milk, as well as 
improving the general appearance. It 
ought always to be fed fresh. If fed while 
sweet they hardly need anything besides it. 
I always fed a little corn meal and bran in 
connection with it. w. m. benninger. 
I have not had experience in feeding 
pomace to cows. The late Harris Lewis, 
among other things, manufactured cider, 
and he spread the pomace in restricted 
quantities on the pasture field for the cows 
as it was made. He claimed that it was a 
valuable food when fed in moderate quan¬ 
tities, and before it had become sour. The 
analysis as given in the Fertility of the 
Land, page 391, shows that dried pomace is 
rich in ash constituents. This is due to the 
large number of seeds which the pomace 
contains. These seeds are bitter, and I 
think are not desirable in a cattle food. 
In any case the quantity of pomace pro¬ 
duced is so little that the subject is not 
one of importance. Then, too, very few 
people are able to get the pomace while it 
is fresh, and few know enough to restrict 
the quantity fed to the animals. A peck 
of fresh pomace per cow per day would not 
be injurious. The produce is of such little 
value that it would not pay to move it any 
considerable distance for the purpose of 
using it as a cattle food, or for the pur¬ 
pose of spreading it upon the land as a 
fertilizer. A dairyman situated close to a 
cider mill might afford to draw it when 
fresh and feed small quantities with other 
foods. It matters little what foods are 
combined with it. i. p. Roberts. 
Oar only daughter had a severe Cough. It con¬ 
tinued to g'ow worse for over a year. We thought 
she was going into consumption and were very 
anxious about her. Jayne’s Expectorant was recom¬ 
mended. After the tlrst two doses, we saw a change, 
and in a very little time she fully recovered — 
A. II. MASSEY, Shieldsville, Minn., Nov 8,1895. 
If bilious take Jayne's Painless Sanative Pills.— 
Adv. 
According to the New York Commercial, 
England imported food products last year 
to the value of 167,633,289 pounds sterling, 
or not far from $720,000,000. About one- 
half of this was for breadstuffs, one-fifth 
meat, and one-sixth dairy produce. Other 
special items were 3,827,307 bushels of ap¬ 
ples, 6,709,074 bushels of onions, and about 
130,000,000 dozens of eggs. 
Vetch Cranks.— In your Brevities of De¬ 
cember 2 you ask if there are any vetch 
cranks. I bid fair to be one, as I have 
several varieties of vetch to experiment 
with next year. I have about one peck of 
Scarlet vetch, and I have an idea that it 
will prove very good for my business. You 
say in the Brevities the dwarf can’t do it. 
He can if he is a Dwarf Essex rape. Our 
sheep and lambs, over 250, were eating rape 
up to December 3. How much high-priced 
fodder has it saved? clark allis. 
Breeders' Directory. 
White Wyandotte Cockerels.— None better 
Write wants. Ralph Woodward,New Rochelle, N. Y 
White Wtandottes Exclusively.— 
Write wants. Spencer’s Poultry Farm, Phenix, R. I. 
Twenty-four-Pound Bronze Gobblers 
$1 till Christmas: pairs. $6. 
GEO. W. SALISBURY, Phelps, N. Y. 
C HENANGO VALLEY STOCK FARMS, Greene, N. 
Y.—Dutch Belted and Jeisey Cattle; Dorset and 
Kambouillet Sheep; Poland-Chlna, Jersey Red and 
Suffolk Pigs; White and Bronze Turkeys. Peafowls 
and Blooded Chickens. Seed Wheat, *2; Rye, $1; 
best in the world; bags free. 
jLUOul Ikhli v.VLiLO Bull Calves, from ex¬ 
ceptional dams; breeding most fashionable. Bargain 
if taken at once. WHITE OAK RIDGE SlOCK 
FARM, East Orange, N. J. 
L. M.CROTHERS, 
CROTHERS, 
Washington Co., Pa. 
Breeder of Southdown Sheep, 
Jersey Cattle, and Berkshire 
Hogs. Any stock ordered from 
roe which Is not as good as 
my description or better, can 
be returned at my expense and 
purchase money cheerfully returned. 
Golden Beauty Corn for Seed, $<1 perbu. 
HIGH-GLASS SH0RT-H0RHS 
FOIL SAlLE. 
We have a tine lot of drst-class high-grade Short¬ 
horn Calves, three to live months o d, good Beds, 10 
Ileifers and tour Bulls. Prices very low, if taken 
8.on. Also, a line lot of Southdown Sheep. 
ISON & LITSEY, Ilarrodsburg, Ky. 
109 HOLSTEINS IQQ 
IZu for sale. IZd 
Heavy milking cows, fine Heifers and richly-bred 
Bulls, ready for service, at very reasonable prices 
high quality considered. Write now. state j"st what 
you want, to DfeLLHURST FARMS, Mentor. O. 
Some GOOD young 
JfcRSEY BULL CALVES 
FOR SALE at fair prices. No PLUGS nor un 
registered forsale at any price. 
R. F. SHANNON, 907 Liberty St., Pittsburg, Pa. 
HOLSTEIN BULL CALVES 
of the best breeding, from 3 to 10 months old. Chester 
Whites, smooth and growthy. Pamphlet free. Prices 
right CHAS. K. RECORD, Peterboro, N. Y 
Sale of Guernseys. 
Registered stock of all ages, from dams having un¬ 
usual records. Supt. Mablon Sager, Orangeville, Pa. 
BLOODED LIVE STOCK 
Sheep—() x fords, Shropsh ires, So nth- 
downs. Fancy Poultry. Pig*— 
Berkshires, Poland-Chinas, Chester 
Whites, Y orkshires. Catalogue free. 
H. L. HOLMES, Harrisburg, Pa. 
Reg Poland ohr-as Berk- 
shires & Chester Whites. Choice 
Pigs, 8 weeks old, mated not 
akin. Bred sows and service 
Boars cheap. Poultry. Write 
for hard times prices and free 
circular. Hamilton &Co., Rosenvick, Chester Co , Pa 
L arge English berk¬ 
shires. Young boars ready 
for service. Sows already bred. 
Young stock of either sex, all 
sired by Baron Lee IV 45448, & 
Baron Lee XIII 48282.Address 
S. W. SOLENBEUGEK, Box 193, Chambersburg, Pa. 
PlflQITltf Out As our business prevents 
LiIUoIU5”UUl OUR; prompt attention beinggiven to 
our herd, we will close them out at private sale, at 
pork prices. F. U. GATES & SONS, Chittenango,N.Y 
If You Wish 
to know how to raise CALVES 
cheaply and successfully with¬ 
out milk, write to J. W. BARWELL, Waukegan Ill 
Horse Owners! Use 
GOMBATJLT’S 
Caustic 
Balsam 
A Safe Speedy aud Positive Cure 
The Safest, Heat BLISTER ever used. Takes 
the place of all liniments for mild or severe action. 
Removes Bunches or Blemishes from Horses 
and Cattle. SUPERSEDES ALL CAUTERY 
OR FIRING- Impossible to produce scar or blemish. 
Every bottle sold is warranted to give satisfaction 
Price $1.50 per bottle. Sold by druggists, or 
sent by express, charges paid, with full directions 
for its use. Send for descriptive circulars. 
THE LAWRENCE-WILHAMS CO.. Cleveland O. 
