1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
6i9 
THE DELAINE MERINO SHEEP. 
IT nAS A FUTURE. 
As far as my observation goes, the 
future prospects for Merino sheep breed¬ 
ing are very flattering. The consensus 
of opinion among leading breeders is 
that the outlook is very encouraging. 
And why not ? We must have wool, and 
fine wool, too. The Merino is preemi¬ 
nently the wool-producing sheep, and 
stands without a rival both as to quantity 
and quality. As long as wool shall be 
in demand, the Merino sheep will be 
wanted. Where wool is raised, there 
will be a market for Merinos, and that 
the market is not now far off is gathered 
from the statement of an author on sheep 
that 95 per cent of the sheep in the 
United States are Merinos, and further 
that the well-made Merino mutton is 
second only to the South Down, and that 
the Merino-South Down cross produces 
finer mutton than the pure South Down. 
With conditions thus, the breed surely 
has a good footing, and farmers and 
ranchmen are likely to be conservative 
enough to hold fast to that which is good, 
and not turn everything over to the 
English breeds clamoring for recogni¬ 
tion. 
Every industry has its ups and downs; 
Merino sheep breeding has certainly had 
its share of them. From wool at $1 per 
pound, and rams selling up in the thou¬ 
sands, to recent free-wool prices of seven 
cents per pound and registered ewes 
from a fine wrinkly wool-bearing flock 
in Vermont selling at $1.75 per head, 
now we are back to wool at 15 and 20 
cents per pound, and rams selling readily 
for good money. Good, thoughtful breed¬ 
ers have had a lesson—not to breed for 
wool alone with a sacrifice of form, but 
to make mutton along with the wool. 
Stud flocks for wool alone will be kept 
to supply the demand from the ranges 
for some time to come, and I anticipate 
a market in the near future in Mexico, 
for these strictly wool Merinos. As to 
whether we shall be called on to con¬ 
tinue to supply a part of the Australian 
and South African trade, I am unable to 
say. It is probable that we may. But 
the sheep that will most interest the 
general farmer will be the general-pur¬ 
pose sheep, the American Delaine Mer¬ 
ino with few or no wrinkles, able to 
produce both mutton and wool; ewes 
that turn off 13 to 18 pounds of wool 
that briugs the best price, and at the 
same time raise lambs that will go on 
the market as yearlings. They are the 
sheep that adapt themselves to all kinds 
of conditions and climates, the hardiest 
of all, not a hothouse production, or to 
raise hothouse lambs, but to make ma¬ 
ture mutton and raise the finest of wool. 
The ranges must have them for their 
herding qualities, and the farmer will 
have them for their reliable money¬ 
making qualities. There will always be 
a home market for the well-formed 
American Delaine Merino, and the prin¬ 
cipal effort is now to produce a smooth, 
even form and retain the great wool¬ 
bearing quality. l. e. shattuck. 
Stanberry, Mo. 
NOTES OF A WHEELMAN. 
An Independent Dairyman. —Mr. G. 
K. Doughty, of Speedsville, N. Y., be¬ 
coming dissatisfied with the regular 
creamery, bought a separator last Spring, 
and commenced to make his own butter. 
The following statement is given as 
nearly in Mr. D.’s own words as possi¬ 
ble : “ My engine—six-horse—is too large 
for the separator, which has a capacity 
of 300 pounds per hour. I have to run 
the engine so slowly that the governors 
do not work, and the motion of the 
separator has to be controlled by the 
amount of steam, and requires constant 
attention. I expect to exchange it next 
year for a steam turbine separator with 
automatic governor ; this will enable me 
to do other work while separating the 
milk. 
“ While making my own butter before 
patronizing the creamery, my cows were 
•Terseys. I dropped them, and now I am 
sorry that I did so, and shall get back to 
them as soon as possible. I am milking 
11 cows now (August) and am making 10 
pounds of butter per day. I hope to 
keep a Winter dairy of 20 cows next 
year. I have 10 calves that are good, 
and nine hogs. Of course, I would net 
have milk enough were it not that I have 
pasture for the hogs. If one has to 
draw milk much more than half a mile 
to a creamery, I do not think it will pay. 
There are five farms right here that will 
keep 60 cow's if their owners would 
build silos. I hope to build a barn and 
silo next year, and shall have a milk- 
rcom near enough so that I can cut my 
ensilage without moving the engine. 
With better facilities [he has his engine 
under a temporary shed at the side of 
the house and the separator in a lean-to 
at the back of the house], I can work up 
my neighbors’ milk and, I believe, make 
a good thing for them. 
“ I have had no experience with a but¬ 
ter starter, and do not know whether I 
shall try it or not. I am getting very 
satisfactory results at present. My but¬ 
ter is put up in one-pound prints, packed 
in refrigerator cases, and shipped to 
New York. The price realized has been 
two cents per pound above Elgin cream¬ 
ery quotations.” 
A Hog Man. —On August 12, I took 
dinner with J. W. Palmer, of Moravia. 
Noticing a large drove of hogs in the 
yard, I inquired whether he usually kept 
so many and, if so, what induced him to 
do so. He said that, while selling Kemp’s 
manure spreader, he saw them feeding 
hogs on clover, in Ohio, I think. This 
was about 1883 When he cime home, 
he, having nine acres of clover, bought 
33 hogs at $2 each, and put them into it. 
It was more than they could use, and 
some was cut. He kept three and sold 
30 at $10 each. He buys in the Fall, and 
winters from 15 to 58. With very few 
exceptions, the operation has proved 
profitable, but he would not advise 
others to engage in the business. Some 
of his neighbors have tried it, and only 
one continues the work. It has been 
close work for the last two or three 
years. From a 70-acre farm he has pro¬ 
duced $900 worth of meat in a year. 
Steers are fed and followed by hogs. 
He has plenty of whey from the cheese 
factory, and feeds some barley. It will 
not pay to feed a hog every time he looks 
at you. The hogs were fed while I was 
there. They came readily, but there was 
no pushing, crowding, or ear-splitting 
outcry as is common where insufficiently 
fed. Clover and running water are 
essential to success. The present stock 
of hogs was bought about April 1 , and 
cost $3 each after being wintered. Still 
Mr. P. does not expect to make much at 
3X cents per pound. g. a. p. 
Feeding for Fat.—A writer in the Breeders’ 
Gazette says: “A calf of one of the milking breeds 
may not have its quality as a milker changed by 
short feeding as is the quality of a calf of one of 
the beef breeds. The dairy calf may be ruined 
as a milker by feeding it feeds rich in fat-form¬ 
ers until the fat-forming habit is stronger than 
the milking faculty. Many a village-raised calf 
makes a good milker, but I have never seen a 
good steer raised on the commons by the vil¬ 
lagers who raise their calves on what they steal 
from the public. 
Skim-Mii.k and Chicks.— The Indiana Station 
has experimented with feeding skim-milk to 
chicks. It concludes: 
1. If skim-railk be added to the ration fed to 
young chickens, it will increase the consumption 
of the other foods given. 
2. The great increase in average gain was co¬ 
incident with the periods when the greatest 
amount of skim-milk was consumed. 
3. Skim-milk is especially valuable as a food 
for young chickens during the hot, dry weather, 
and becomes of less importance as the chicken 
grows older and the weather becomes cooler. 
Bad Butter. —Hoard’s Dairyman comments on 
the following statement from a paper in Bloom¬ 
ington, 111., about a firm in that city: ‘-This firm 
buys all the low-grade butter they can find in the 
country within a radius of 40 miles. Last year 
about 150,000 pounds of this stuff were shipped 
from this city to New York, where it is disposed 
of in a somewhat peculiar way. All of it is 
bought from neighboring farmers and storekeep¬ 
ers, at a low price, and sent here. In Summer it 
is packed in tubs, and in Winter in barrels. Ar¬ 
riving in New York, it is melted, skimmed and 
poured into molasses barrels like lard. Then it 
is sent to Liverpool and other European cities, 
where government inspectors examine it. That 
portion which is too bad to be used by the bakers 
is sold to the makers of sheep dip. These in¬ 
spectors bore into the barrels, and into the bad, 
pour some vile liquid which prevents the use of 
the stuff for culinary purposes. From April 1 to 
July 1 this firm buys 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of this 
bad butter per week, and the remainder of the 
year their purchases will average 2,000 pounds 
each week. The question is, which are the farm¬ 
ers’ wives in McLean County, who make this im¬ 
mense quantity of bad butter ?” The Dairyman 
says that every pound of this stuff costs more to 
make than the finest creamery butter. 
Shoe Box Butter, 
the kind that is 
graded in the mar¬ 
ket as “ ladles ” and 
“grease,” is the re¬ 
sult of the old style 
milk-pan dairying. 
“Select dairies”or 
“ choice creamery ” 
are the brands that 
bring money. 
Sharples Dairy 
Separators 
make that kind of 
butter and make 25 
to 40 per cent more of it from the same 
cows. Further facts free. 
“ALPHA DE LAVAL” 
CREAM SEPARATORS. 
Do Laval Alpha 
“ Baby Cream Sepa¬ 
rators” were first and 
have ever been kept best 
and cheapest. They are 
guaranteed superior to 
all imitations and in¬ 
fringements. Indorsed by 
all authorities.More than 
125,000 in use. Sales ten 
to one of all others com¬ 
bined. All styles and 
sizes—$50 to $225. Save $5 
to $10 per cow per year 
over any setting system, 
and $3 to $5 per cow per 
year over any Imi¬ 
tating separator. 
New and Improved 
Machines for 1898. 
Send for new Cata 
logue containing a 
fund of up-to-date 
dairy information. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO., 
Randolph A Canal Sts., I 74 Cortlandt Street, 
CHICAGO. | NEW YORK. 
Top Price Butter. 
The kind that a fancy private 
trade demands, is colored with 
Branches: 
Elgin, Ill. 
Dubuque, la. 
Omaha. Neb. 
P. M. SHARPLES, 
West Chester, Pa 
Are Filled 
SILOS Quickly and 
Economically with •‘New Hero* 
ENSILAGE CUTTERS 
BECAUSE THEY 
EXCELL 
i in rapid 
work, 
strength, dur¬ 
ability and 
simplicity. 
Two gears only 
on the com¬ 
plete ’cutter. 
Sizes to suit 
all needs. STRONCEST GUARANTEED. 
SOMETHING NEW: 
desired angle, and can be changed from one angle 
to another without stopping cutter. New 160page 
catalogue mailed FREE. Telia all about Hero 
Ensilage and Fodder Cutters, Corn Huskera 
Sweep and Tread Powers. Feed Mills, Goodhue, 
Wind Mills, Shellers, Peck’s Corn Thresher, etc. 
APPLETON MfG. CO. Batavia! ^Hs. 
That 
is how 
much 
the NEW 
TRAVEL- 
INC FEED 
TABLE, which 
we have applied 
to our machines this 
season hasIncreased 
the cutting power of 
FEED & ENSILACE OHIO 
CUTTERS & FODDER SHREDDERS. 
Then, too, it saves about that much of the labor 
of feeding. With their large throats, high 
speed knives, rapidly revolving feed rods, and 
this new traveling feed table, they will cut 
more feed, green or dry, than any 
other machine made—positively a 
self feeder. Catalogue and 
“Book on Silage" free. 
THE SILVER MFG. CO. 
Salem, O. 
20,000 
Mills in Use 
in capacity andqual 
Will grind ear corn 
all grain toany degreeof 
Will make family 
mealorfeed. AGENTS WANT¬ 
ED. Prices *15, *18, *20. Send 
for free circulars & agency. 
STEVENS MFQ. CO. Box 29, Joliet, Ill. 
UfllV A mill that will 
II rl I grind table corn 
|| AT meal.buckwheat, 
H U ■ rye and graham 
til l/C Hour for family 
iiMIC use as well 
as ear corn, and all 
kinds of grain for 
feeding stock. Our 
FRENCH BUHR 
STONE MILLS 
Are the best for this work. Money made custom 
grinding. Your choice 28 sizes and styles. All 
warranted. Most durable. Easily operated and 
kept in order. Book on Mills sent free. We 
build Flour Mills, Roller or Buhr8ystem. 
NORUYKK Si BAKU ON CO., 270 Day St., In<li*iu,polls,Ini). 
Thatcher's Orange Butter Color — 
the color that does not contain 
any poison. Send for a sample. 
THATCHER MFG. CO., Potsdam, N.Y. 
TRUE DAIRY SUPPLY CO., 
CONTRACTORS AND BUILDERS OF 
Butter and Cheese Factories, 
AND MANUFACTURERS OF 
.Machinery, Apparatus and Supplies for 
Cheese and Butter Factories, 
Creameries and Dairies. 
303, 305,307 and 309 Lock St., Syracuse, N. I. 
References: B’irst Nat. Bank of Syracuse; State Bank 
of Syracuse; R. G. Dun A Co.’s Mercantile Agency; 
The Bradstroet Co.’s Mercantile Agency, or any Bank 
or Business House In Syracuse and adjacent towns. 
Charter Gas Engine Co., Box 28, Sterling, Ill. 
FRONTIER GASOLINE ENGINE 
1 to UK) Horse Power. 
No Boiler. Steam, Coal or Kngineer. 
Instantly started and stopped: 
absolutely safe. 
New Process Feed Mills 
for Farmers and Millers. 
Send for Circular. 
THE YARYAN COMPANY, 
41 Park Row, New York City. 
Ohio Ensilage and Fod¬ 
der Cutters and Carriers 
Most durable, lightest run¬ 
ning and greatest capacity. 
Agents Wanted. 
Send for Catalogue. 
The Whitman Agricultural Works, 
General Agents, - AUBURN, MAINE, U. S. 
CORN 
“ HAY. 
“This cyUnder when used la 
THE ROSS 
FODDER GUTTERS 
converts dry fodder into a soft, long fibre substnnee llko hay. In 
fact it is nay--CORN HAY, All animals eat it readily—no waste, 
bend at once tor thd d nr n/\or> «« «... 
Catalogue No. 13, THE & W, ROSS CO,, Springfield, Ohio. 
FEED MILLS. 
(Solo with or without Elkvatok.) 
(Solo with or without Elkvatou.) 
For Every Variety of Work. 
Have conical shaped grinders. Different 
from all others. Handiest to operate and 
LIGHTEST RUNNING - 
Have them in six sizes—2 to 26 horse pow¬ 
er. One style for windwheel use. 
(Also make Sweep Feed Grinders.) 
P.N. B0WSHERC0., South Bend, lad. 
U. S. Cream Separators 
In thoroughness of separation take the lead. 
In completeness of design and ease of operation excel 
all others. 
Are more substantially made and are superior in all 
points to all others. 
All Styles and Sizes. $ 75.00 to $ 625 . 00 . 
Agents in all dairy sections. 
Send for latest illustrated catalogues. 
VERMONT FARM MACHINE CO., - Bellows Falls, VL 
