Vol. LVI. No. 2459. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 13, 1897. 
*1.00 PER YEAR. 
BUYING FEEDERS IN INDIANA. 
STEERS, COWS OR HEIFERS. 
What Will Pay Most for Fodder? 
I went to the stockyards at Indianapolis the other 
day to buy something to eat a lot of fodder, clover 
hay and grain. Corn is too cheap to sell, clover hay 
is too rich in plant food, and fodder too bulky unless 
shredded, and then we do not have a ready market 
for it. A commission-man took me through the pens 
to see what they had. I said, “ What are farmers 
buying for feeders ”? 
“ Oh, they buy everything, for that matter, from a 
stag to a sheep. I believe, though, that if I borrowed 
money, say for 60 or 90 days, and wished to replace it, 
I would buy yearling heifers or young 
cows.” 
“ Why prefer them to steers ? ” 
“ Because you know that heifers feed out 
quicker than steers. Steers fed two or 
three months and only two years old, would 
just be in prime condition to grass. By 
August or September they would be all 
right, and if I had my own money, I would 
buy steers.” 
“ Why do you prefer young cows ? ” 
“Because I can buy them cheaper, $2.50 
to $2.75 will take them, and they will sell 
in this market full better than heifers. The 
market seems overdone with young cattle. 
A good cow, not baggy or rough or scrubby, 
a good trim cow, that is not paunchy, will 
sell when fat clear ahead of fat heifers. 
Step in this pen ; there are three cows ; that 
one is rough, humpbacked, ewe-necked, 
with a rough head. This one is narrow 
across the hips, paunchy, with a long ugly 
bag, with big teats. But there is one with 
straight back, sides and belly, wide hips 
and back, a good feeder without being 
paunchy ; a high-grade Short-horn, a beau¬ 
tiful red color, with a neat udder. If you 
had 15 or 20 like her they would do you 
some good, and would sell for $3.50 in the 
spring. Here is a car-load of heifers, very 
fair feeders, thin but not poor; they will 
be weighed out empty, will weigh about 800 
pounds and cost you $3 to $3.25. That 
white fellow is a bad color, but he is a good 
steer. That red one over there is a little 
staggy, coarse neck, but he will grow out of 
it a good deal. The trouble in buying heif¬ 
ers is that they will be with calf, and you 
cannot tell it till you have fed them awhile.” 
I said, yes. I have a neighbor who bought 
25 heifers about three months ago, and he 
had to turn three over to the local butchers 
on account of showing calf. But he paid 
$2 80 to $3 for them and they made a nice 
gain—got away with a lot of cheap feed and 
are engaged at $3.25. That makes him over 40-cents 
for his corn. 
As I took the street car, three farmers were wait¬ 
ing, and I asked them what a man would better buy 
to eat his feed. One was a large farmer from 40 miles 
west, and had just left an order for a car-load of 
steers to be bought and shipped to him the next week. 
He said, “ Well, stranger, a man cannot buy wrong, 
that is, if he buys the poorest stuff, it is bound to 
make him some money this year, because feed isn’t 
worth anything”. 
I said, “ What may we look for in prices in May ? ” 
“Well, Mr.-, one of our largest Putnam County 
feeders, says that he doesn’t look for much change ; 
but he says that he has to feed, as a man can’t sell 
corn at 15 cents.” 
“I said, “The Cincinnati Price Current claims that 
there is a general scarcity of cattle, and that, in spite 
of quite a rush for feeders to go to the country, there 
will be a shortage ”. 
In Union Station, I approaened a company of three 
farmers, and in talking a minute, found that two 
were feeders, and one a buyer. I asked them whether 
I would better buy cows or heifers. The feeder said 
that the straight cows, not over four years old, are 
already grown and will lay on flesh quickly, while 
heifers are slower to come up. Then a cow has a 
larger capacity for digestion, and will get away with 
more feed. The shipper said that the trouble with 
cows and heifers is that they will be with calf so much, 
and one gets picked up with some of them. 
The feeder said, “ Yes, but cows are safer than 
' 
SIX CROPS IN THREE YEARS. 
RADISHES, STRAWBERRIES, ONIONS AND RASPBERRIES. 
A Specimen of “ Intensive Culture 
Early in April, 1891, we prepared a plot of about 
one acre for onions and strawberries. This land was 
well drained, rich, and in good shape, well-prepared 
by plowing, harrowing, raking and rolling. It was 
then marked as follows: Two rows 12 inches apart, 
then one row 15 inches from the first two ; the next 
t vo rows 12 inches from each other, and 15 inches 
from the center row. The 12-inch rows were sown 
with onion seed in which had been mixed about one- 
quarter the bulk of radish seed. The 15-inch rows 
were planted with Bubach strawberry plants about 
30 inches apart, leaving out every fourth 
plant in every row. After the field had been 
gone over in this manner, the blank spaces 
in the strawberry rows were filled in with 
pollenizing plants, Parker Earle and Michel’s 
Early being used for that purpose, Parker 
Earle in flve rows and Michel’s Early in the 
sixth throughout the field. The reason for 
using the two kinds, which bloom at differ¬ 
ent times, was to furnish a supply of pollen 
throughout the entire season, thus insuring 
perfect fertilization. Cuthbert raspberry 
plants were then set about three feet apart 
in every second row of strawberries. Thus, 
when finished, the plantation was as in the 
following plan : 
|i 
CAPS 
X 
■e 
5 a 
X 
JAMES WILSON OF IOWA, U. S. SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 
See Editorial Page. Fig. 80. 
heifers about that; a heifer with calf has to go right 
away to the butcher because, if you turn her out to 
calve, she doesn’t give any milk the first year, while 
a cow may more than pay her way as a cow, and raise 
you a good calf, too.” 
“ How late in the spring can I find a market for 
that kind of stock ? ” 
“Oh! Any time in May is all right for prime 
butcher stuff.” 
“ How would it do to feed, say 15 or 20 cows till 
grass, and then sell and buy steers ? ” 
“ Well, steers are a little dearer just at that time of 
year, as every body has grass. Then it pays better to 
carry the cattle through winter and feed heavy enough 
so that they gain and go on to grass in good condition. 
It doesn’t hurt if they are pretty fat, they will gain 
that much faster during the summer.” e. h. coli.ins. 
The various plants were cultivated in a 
careful manner, with wheelhoes, and thor¬ 
oughly weeded. The radishes, which grew 
quickly and were a great aid in wheelhoeing 
(locating the rows before the onions were 
fairly up) were pulled out as soon as ready, 
and sold to a peddler, who returned enough 
from them to pay all expenses of weeding. 
We, also, planted a few thousand lettuce 
plants between the strawberry plants,which 
were disposed off in the same manner. The 
onions, a good crop of about 400 bushels, 
were harvested early in August, after which 
the strawberry runners were arranged and 
the young plants “ bedded in ” by covering 
them with earth from the paths. The fall 
was exceedingly dry, but we succeeded in 
getting a good stand of plants, which were 
weU mulched for winter. 
During the next spring, the bed was kept 
thoroughly weeded. A subsoil plow was 
run through between the rows, making the 
paths loose and light for 18 inches in depth, 
which provided a receptacle for water. Thus 
every drop of moisture was carefully saved ; 
there being no weeds, the water went just where we 
wanted it, into the plants and fruits, resulting in a 
large sale of rain water by the crate. The crop of 
strawberries was very large, over 7,000 quarts of fancy 
stock, which sold for 10 to 12 cents here, netting, in¬ 
cluding the cost of crates, over $500. We also picked 
about $50 worth of raspberries. As soon as picking 
ceased, the bed was carefully weeded and hoed, in 
which condition it was kept until winter set in. A 
broadcast application of 900 pounds of Bradley’s fruit 
and vine fertilizer was made in September. Last 
spring, it was again weeded and kept clean until 
picking time. A fine crop was the result, the gross 
returns being $575, while the cost of growing it was 
less than $100. 
There was, also, a fine crop of raspberries, and now 
there is the foundation for a much better one for an- 
