352 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 1 
used, but which is now so difficult to obtain. Modern 
“ brown ” sugar doesn’t seem to possess the sweetness 
of the old-time article. The making’ of granulated 
sugar requires more complicated apparatus than 
domestic manufacture is likely to possess. 
Dr. Stockbridge states that, in Florida, 500 gallons 
of syrup to the acre are a reasonable crop, exceptional 
crops sometimes producing double the quantity. If 
marketed as sugar, 3,000 pounds per acre may be ob¬ 
tained. Either product may be marketed to advan¬ 
tage, to say nothing of the home supply. The 
estimated profits given, over all expenses, are $50 per 
acre for syrup, and $42 per acre for the sugar. 
CARE OF BOTTLES FOR BOTTLED MILK. 
There has been considerable talk in Philadelphia 
relative to the efforts of some to have the bottling of 
milk stopped, and to return to the old dip-milk system 
of delivery. The objections advanced were that, as 
the bottles go from house to house, and as disease and 
contaminating influences may surround the bottles in 
some of the many places where they are delivered, 
they might be the carriers of disease. This objection 
is by no means a bad one, and every one handling milk 
in bottles should see that proper precautions are taken 
to avoid trouble from this source. At least 90 percent 
of the milk handled in bottles to-day runs considerable 
risk in this direction, as the general custom is simply 
to collect the bottles promiscuously, get them all into a 
tub of soaped water of some character, wash one bot¬ 
tle after another with the same brush, put them in a 
rinse water all together, then into the cases, and put 
the dirty covers down, leaving the bottles open, and 
giving opportunity for the dust and dirt from the 
covers or bottoms of the old cases to drop into the 
bottles. 
With just a little more trouble, and with but a very 
slight expense, the bottles can be so handled that there 
need be no trouble whatever from any of the objec¬ 
tions offered in the line of the bottles being possible 
carriers of disease germs. Every dairy, no matter how 
small, is incomplete without the use of steam, and 
when a dairy is equipped with this, it is but a little 
more expense to have a sterilizer built. This need be 
only a simple wooden structure, and be made to suit 
the space at hand. It can be so arranged that, as the 
bottles are brought in, they can immediately be put 
in the sterilizer, care having been taken that the bot¬ 
tles have been carefully rinsed at the places where 
they have been collected, by the customers. After the 
bottles have been sterilized, they can then be washed 
in the alkaline hot water, and then rinsed in two other 
waters, great care being taken in the last rinse water 
used ; this should be frequently changed. 
After the bottles are rinsed, they should again be 
placed in the sterilizer, and subsequently aired and 
sunned just as milk cans are treated. A system by 
which the dust is kept out and the air allowed to cir¬ 
culate freely is by the use of a rack as shown at Fig. 
153. This bottle rack may be so made that it can be 
run right into the sterilizer; thence the bottles can 
be easily put in good circulating air, and then brought 
to the most convenient place for filling. This rack 
may be made to hold 400 bottles, or less or more if 
necessary. With these precautions, the possibility of 
conveying disease through the medium of the bottles 
is very slight, and the dairyman will find that the in¬ 
creased confidence placed in him by his customers will 
help his trade materially. K. 
know of one man who paid $400 each for two im¬ 
ported Jersey heifers. One refused to breed after 
dropping one calf, and the other lived to be 14 years 
old, bred regularly, but dropped only two heifers in 
her life. A rather discouraging way to raise a dairy, 
wasn’t it ? If one has plenty of means, and intends 
to make a business of breeding and selling stock, it 
might do for him to buy mature cows at these prices ; 
but I am inclined to think that even then it would be 
wiser to buy young heifers to begin with, for I think 
that the heifers would grow as fast as the breeders’ 
reputation would, and he would have stock to sell as 
soon as he had buyers. On the other hand, I do not 
think that one would be very well satisfied by crossing 
a Jersey bull upon Short-horn grades. The Short-horn 
is a beef animal; there is no getting around that fact. 
You may say that you have had big milking Short¬ 
horns. So have I. I had a Short-horn that gave 55 
pounds of milk daily; but she never had a calf that 
was worth keeping as a dairy animal. She was a 
freak, and her daughters were just real Short-horn 
beef cows, as she ought to have been. 
If I were situated just as N. A. M. is, I would use 
the best Jersey bull I could get, and in buying him, 
I would be governed first by his indicated dairj r abil¬ 
ity, and second by his pedigree; both of these are 
essential points. Never mind about color, or any 
other fad. I would select the calves sired by this 
bull that came up to my standard, if any of them did, 
to raise, no matter from what cow they were. Never 
raise a heifer calf that does not show a good dairy 
form (not a thick-necked, heavy-hammed beefy ani¬ 
mal) with good, well-placed teats. Whenever the 
opportunity came, I would buy some good, purebred 
heifers, and if they proved superior to my grades (as 
they undoubtedly would), I would then raise my heif¬ 
ers from them. 
I think that, if by careful testing, one will deter¬ 
mine which of his cows fall below a certain standard, 
and discard them, he will eventually find himself in 
possession of a purebred herd. In the end, the pedi¬ 
gree or, in other words, the careful breeding for years 
with a single idea, will surely assert itself. I believe 
that, as a general thing, when one pays a fancy price 
(say $300 or $400 or more) for a cow, he pays $100 for 
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A HACK FOR MILK BOTTLES. Fig. 153. 
the animal and the rest for some fad, either in color 
or in breeding. There are plenty of good Jerseys that 
are not St. Lamberts or combinations, and there are 
also some poor ones of these fashionable strains. 
There are, also, good Jerseys, plentifully dashed with 
white, and there are also some worthless solid colored 
ones. 
It is rare that a famous trotting mare produces a 
colt anywhere near as fast as herself, and it is also 
rare that a famous cow produces a famous heifer. 
They bring great prices, and disappointment usually 
goes with them. It is safer to buy a promising heifer 
from a less valuable cow, at a great deal lower price, 
and then develop some of the wonders ourselves. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question please 
see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.] 
HOW TO IMPROVE THE COWS. 
TO BUY AN EXPENSIVE JERSEY. 
N. A. M., Fawn drove, Pa. —I am selling milk to a creamery at 
from SI to 80 cents per 100 pounds, and would like to improve my 
herd so as to be able to get a better test, as we are paid accord¬ 
ing to the butter fat; four pounds to 100 is the standard, but if 
we have milk that tests six pounds in 100, instead of getting Si 
we get 11.50. I have been thinking of buying some purebred Jer¬ 
sey cattle, but they ask me from 8250 to 8400 for a cow. Will it 
pay me to buy one at these prices, in order to improve my herd ? 
My cows are grade Short-horn and Jersey. 
ANSWERED BY J. GRANT MORSE. 
I should say that it would be rather risky business 
to pay from $250 to $400 for a cow with the idea of 
improving a dairy by raising calves. If the cow were 
young, and she lived to a good old age, bred regularly, 
and always had heifer calves, it might do ; but on the 
other hand, what if she insisted upon dropping bulls, 
or perhaps, after a year or two, refused to breed ? I 
WILL ROOTS SUBSTITUTE FOR GRAIN? 
NO, BUT THEY MAY FOR ENSILAGE. 
A western New York reader has an idea that he can raise some 
root crop like carrots, mangels or sugar beets to serve as a sub¬ 
stitute for part of the grain ration for cows in milk, while feed¬ 
ing ensilage and hay. We submitted his questions to a number 
of the authorities, and a summary of their replies follows; 
Prof. Roberts believes, from his past 20 years’ ex¬ 
perience, that it is a good policy to raise a few man¬ 
gels, since cattle relish them greatly, and chickens 
are excessively fond of them throughout the entire 
year. He thinks, however, that they should not be 
used as a substitute for part of the grain ration in the 
sense in which that word is used in this case. He says 
that 15 to 20 pounds of sliced mangels per day not only 
appear to be relished by the cows, but that the flow 
of milk is also increased by this ration. He believes, 
also, that a light feed of mangels improves digestion 
and assimilation, although unable to learn that it can 
be proved. Mangels should be planted early, prefer¬ 
ably before corn planting, and they soon get large 
enough so that their care is no more than that of corn. 
On good ground, with fair management, 30 tons per 
acre or 1,000 bushels, should be secured. They are 
worth, according to their chemical constituents as 
compared with other feeds, not far from three cents 
per bushel. Several times in past years the addition 
of a few mangels and a half-pound of cotton-seed meal 
to the ration showed marked beneficial results. 
Prof. W. H. Jordan takes the position that our 
dairy farms produce practically all the carbohy¬ 
drates, and that the purchased grains should supple¬ 
ment the protein production of the farms. He thinks 
it wise for every farmer to grow protein crops so far 
as he can economically—such as the clovers, Alfalfa, 
and peas. The average production contains too much 
of the carbohydrates, because the crops are allowed to 
mature. If eaten in the stage of pasture grass, the 
proportion of protein will be much larger. In view 
of these facts, the production of roots would not ac¬ 
complish the desired results, because roots are like 
corn, essentially a carbohydrate crop. No roots are 
rich in protein, hence there is no choice as to what one 
shall be grown. A pound of digestible food can be 
grown more cheaply in corn in New York State than 
in any root crop, hence, considering the ease of culti¬ 
vation, certainty of a crop, and cost, he advises 
dairy farmers to grow corn rather than roots, unless 
the latter are needed for so me special purpose, or 
unless milk from ensilage will not be accepted in the 
available market. 
J. S. Woodward figures from a table compiled at the 
Ontario Agricultural College, that the carrot is by far 
the richest of all roots in both carbohydrates and fat, 
but about one-fifth below the mangel in the amount 
of protein contained in it. The general opinion is 
that the carrot is preeminently the best of all roots 
for cow feeding, but the difference in cost of growing 
is so great that he has abandoned it. Parsnips are, 
also, very valuable cow feed, and a very large yield 
can be secured ; but they usually sell for more money 
than they are worth for feeding, and they do not keep 
well if stored. Sugar beets are richer in carbohydrates 
than mangels, and the difference is in the sugar, but 
the difference in the cost of raising and harvesting is 
so much more than that of mangels that he has aban¬ 
doned them. He depends for roots for cow feeding 
upon mangels. Mangels may be fed to advantage, 
especially with all rations having a surplus of carbo¬ 
hydrates, and particularly with dry feed. 
As to mangels taking the place of ensilage, it de¬ 
pends upon a perfect knowledge of the business, and 
cost of labor. Probably, with the average farmer, 
they will not, but where milk receivers will not allow 
the feeding of ensilage, dairymen should have a large 
supply of mangels for the whole Winter’s feeding. He 
says that they have found, by repeated experiments, 
that their cows will not only give more milk on the 
same value of food by having a daily feed of roots, 
with the ensilage, but that they can eat and digest 
more of the food when getting a generous feed of 
mangels, even in connection with ensilage. In an or¬ 
dinary year, they grow and store mangels at a cost not 
to exceed five cents per bushel, including rent of land 
valued at $50 per acre. He does not consider roots a 
substitute for any part of the grain ration for a cow 
in milk, but as enabling her to eat and digest more of 
the grain, and to put the proceeds in the milk pail. If 
he were feeding cows where not allowed to feed en¬ 
silage, he would give each cow in full milk, all she 
would eat up to at least one-half bushel, in two feeds, 
daily. Rut when so feeding, every dairyman should 
provide, as nearly as possible, Summer conditions, 
warm, well-ventilated stables, then keep the cows out 
of the cold. 
Celery, Potatoes and Squash in Florida. 
B. F. B., Brocton, Mass.— Can potatoes and celery be grown in 
Florida in Winter ? Do Hubbard squashes grow in the South ? 
ANSWERED BY 1\ II. ROLFS, HORT. FLA. EX. STATION. 
We grow all the ordinary varieties of celery in Flor¬ 
ida. The seed is sown in beds from July to October, 
either in a shady place or else protected by plant cloth. 
The rest of the work is just the same as is done for 
northern crops, excepting that we allow our plants 
to grow somewhat larger than the northern gardener 
does. About the middle of November to the first of 
January, the celery is set out in the fields. The best 
plan for our conditions is to plant two rows a foot 
apart, and then leave three feet, when two more rows 
a foot apart are planted. Our celery growers call this 
planting “ in rows by twos.” The space between the 
twos is cultivated by horse power, and the other space 
is cultivated bj' hand, but as the weather is becoming 
cool during November, very little cultivation is re¬ 
quired excepting to keep the soil stirred to relieve it 
of moisture or to let air into it. When the celery is 
full-grown, it is blanched by setting boards against 
it. This is called the board method. It is not well to 
bank with soil, as this causes the celery to rust. Mar¬ 
keting begins in February and continues until May. 
If the weather turns very warm, very little celery is 
good after the middle of May. Marketing is done al¬ 
together in crates which hold a little more than an 
ordinary apple barrel. The bunches in the crates are 
not always the same, but are varied to suit the mar¬ 
ket to which they are going. Fine bunches of celery 
are frequently tied with red or blue braid. Excellent 
celery will pet the grower from $800jto $1,500 per 
