4,A/n^£^A/ tr V h 
NEW YORK, JULY 9, 1898 
$1 PER YEAR 
DUPLICATE TWIN CALVES. 
FOUR REMARKABLE IIEIFKR SISTERS. 
A Quartette of Red Beauties. 
On May 6, 1897, a grade Holstein cow owned by 
Christian Blystone, of Cambridge, Fa., gave birth to 
four heifer calves. This is considered a very extra¬ 
ordinary and, perhaps, unheard-of occurrence. Dr. 
Thos. Merideth, of Jamestown, says that, 
while there is no physiological reason why 
a cow might not have four calves at one 
birth, he has no knowledge that such a 
thing ever did happen before. “ I know,’’ 
said he, “ that the possibility of a cow 
having more than three calves at a time 
was never mentioned by the old professor 
who lectured to us in college, and he was 
not only a scientific man, but a practical 
breeder of cattle as well, of extensive ex¬ 
perience.” 
These twin twins have changed hands 
several times. After going the rounds of 
the local fairs, they were bought by A. G. 
Sweet, of Union City, a prominent busi¬ 
ness man and amateur farmer. He was 
the first to break up the family, which he 
did by selling the dam shortly after 
they came into his possession. And now 
word comes of the reunion of this unique 
family, Mr. L. W. Mitchell having pur¬ 
chased the herd to go on to a farm in the 
State of Connecticut. Early last Fall, a 
Pittsburgh man wanted them for exhibi¬ 
tion at the State agricultural fairs, but the offer of 
$350 was refused. The calves are beauties and no 
mistake. A description of one fits every other one 
exactly. “ How were these heifers bred ?” was asked 
of Mr. Brainard, Mr. Sweet’s farmer. 
“ The dam was a large, spotted black-and-white 
cow, cross-bred, half Holstein and half Short-horn. 
The sire was a Short-horn, of a superior milking 
family, so you see the calves are no scrubs but cross¬ 
bred, three-fourths Short-horn, and one- 
fourth Holstein. But they take after the 
Short-horn type in form and color, as you 
see.” 
“You have seen the dam ? ” 
“ Oh, yes ; I took care of her, and milked 
her for some time after Mr. Sweet bought 
them. She was the largest cow I ever 
saw. Why, I could stand close to her 
with one hip under my arm, and just 
reach across to the other with my hand, 
and she had a magnificent udder.” 
“ Did she give milk enough for four 
calves ? ” I asked. 
“ They claimed that she did, and I see 
no reason to dispute it.” 
“ What is the difference in these calves ? 
You may know of something that a 
stranger wouldn’t notice at once.” 
“ There is no difference that anybody 
can see. You would say that they are 
solid red in color, but they are not. Here 
is one that has a little white on her belly. 
But that doesn’t make any difference, for 
all alike have this private mark. Of the 
scores that have come to see these twins, 
only one man has claimed that he could 
tell one from another, and I tested him at once. I 
asked him to turn his back with his face in the corner, 
while I stirred up the animals. He did so, and I re¬ 
moved a small piece of hay kom the back of the one 
he had picked, and then made them change places. 
He turned to find his calf and, after looking them 
over a minute or two, gave it up. The difference was 
that piece of hay. ” 
At Fig. 213, is shown a picture of the calves and 
their dam, as they appeared at the fairs. Another 
picture at Fig. 214, shows them at home with more 
size to them. l. w. 
Chautauqua County, N. Y. 
R. N.-Y.—This is, certainly, a curious if not an un¬ 
precedented freak. As a rule, freemartins, that is, 
heifers which are twins to bull calves, do not breed, 
though cases are not unknown in which they have 
dropped calves. In the barren ones, the reproductive 
organs are imperfect or undeveloped. Whether the 
same will be true of these twin twins or not, is a 
matter of speculation. And if they do breed, it is an¬ 
other most interesting speculation as to whether there 
will be anything unusual in their progeny. It is a 
well-known fact that some human families are ad¬ 
dicted to the twin habit, and this propensity is trans- 
THE TWIN CALVES AT HOME. Fig. 214. 
mitted from generation to generation. The Dorset 
sheep are very prolific, and if anything, twins are more 
frequent with them than single lambs. It may be 
that this Holstein cow may be the progenitress of a 
race that will bring forth twins, twin twins and the 
mothers of twins. But will they all be heifers ? We 
shall watch the outcome with much interest. Have 
any of our readers heard of a similar case ? 
THE AGE OF A HEN. 
IIOW TO TELL A BULLET. 
No One Has a Simple Rule. 
Not long ago, one of our readers asked for some 
simple rule for telling the age of hens, as he wanted 
to be able, in buying birds in the general market, to 
pick out the yearlings from the two and three-year- 
olds: This seems like such a simple and 
easily - answered question, that we felt 
rather ashamed of ourselves to think that 
we could not answer it offhand. On send¬ 
ing the following questions, however, to a 
lot of the experts, we find that we know 
just about as much about it as they do : 
Will you tell our readers how they may safely 
tell the one-year-old hen from a two-year-old ? In 
a miscellaneous lot of poultry, what signs or in¬ 
dications should they look for in order to be sure 
that they are buying yearlings as distinct from 
two-year or three-year-olds ? 
Wm. J. Salter says that he cannot de¬ 
scribe his method of telling the age of a 
hen. It is more from the appearance of 
the bird and general experience with her. 
D. A. Mount, of New Jersey, can give no 
simple rule that is a sure one. The birds 
have an older appearance as they grow 
old. For example, a pullet looks bright 
around the eyes ; as she grows older, the 
head appears different, and has an older 
look. Still, when pullets are out of con¬ 
dition, they look much the same. While 
he thinks he can generally pick out the 
old birds, he cannot tell another how to do it. 
H. J. Blanchard has had a long and successful ex¬ 
perience with poultry, yet he says that he does not 
know of any sure rule or method by which one-year- 
old hens may be distinguished from those two or three 
years old. 
O. W. Mapes, with his hens by the acre, ought to 
know something about the age of a hen, yet he wants 
to know whether we cannot give him something easy. 
He cannot count the rings on her horns, 
or judge from the condition of her teeth. 
Mr. Mapes says that, if some one tells us 
that an old hen has scaly legs, and the 
young one smooth ones, we do not want 
to believe any such talk. The scales are 
formed by a parasite, and not by Father 
Time. The best way that Mr. Mapes 
knows of is to kill the hen and cook her. 
If she cooks tender in from two to three 
hours, she is a young hen; if not, she is 
an old one. This is about on a par with 
the rule Mr. Mapes has adopted for de¬ 
termining whether an egg contains a 
rooster or a pullet. Hatch the egg under 
a hen, and watch the chick for about a 
year—if it crows, it is a rooster, if it lays 
eggs, it is a pullet. 
J. E. Stevenson has no sure way of tell¬ 
ing the age of a hen after she is one year 
old. The older hens may have rougher 
legs or spurs, but there is no certainty 
about these signs. The point of the 
breastbone usually gets hard and sharp 
with age ; with younger fowls, it is soft 
and gristly, but this will not do for a gen¬ 
eral rule. 
Fred Grundy can only tell the following story: 
“ This query reminds me of a little incident. Some¬ 
thing less than 40 months ago, a breeder, well-known 
among the fraternity, called and asked the privilege 
of selecting six pullets, for which he offered a good 
price. It was in February, and both pullets and hens 
were nicely arrayed in their best suits. He was 
allowed to proceed; and with much pomp and cere- 
