254 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 10 
LIVE STOCK MATTERS. 
(continued.) 
“ Farm Cattle Inbreeding 
A. fV. W., Jat/iesloivn, N. Y.—l. What is the most 
profitable general-purpose breed of cattle for the 
farm ? 2. What is the most profitable breed of 
all-around fowls for the farm ? 3. Does it make 
stock impure and unhealthy to breed blood rela¬ 
tions ? 
Ans. — 1 . The most profitable cattle are 
not general-purpose. Probably a dairy 
strain of Short-horns would come as near 
hitting the mark as any. The Holstein- 
Friesians are also recommended, while 
the new Simmenthals are claimed to 
excel for this purpose. 2. Try the Wyan- 
dottes, both Silver and White, and the 
Barred and White P. Rocks. The L. 
Brahmas, and the Black Langshans are 
also good. 3. Continued inbreeding 
weakens any kind of animals, and if too 
long continued, will result in the extinc¬ 
tion of the strain. It is sometimes neces¬ 
sary to inbreed for a time to fix the 
characteristics of a strain, but it will 
not do to continue it too long. It does 
not make them impure; impurity re¬ 
sults from crossing with other breeds. 
Earning Capacity of the American Hen. 
F. W. B., Antwerp, N. Y .—I remember reading, 
a short time ago, that the earnings of hens were 
greater than the combined earnings of the silver 
mines and the sheep industry. Am I correctly 
informed 1 
Ans. —We herewith give the latest ob¬ 
tainable figures from the census report, 
and you can judge for yourself. In 1895 
the silver mines of America produced 
$72,000,051 worth of silver; during the 
same year the total output of gold for 
this country was $46,(310,000. So much 
for the “precious metals” so-called. 
With regard to sheep : The total value 
of the sheep in this country in 1896 was 
$65,167,725, which included the proverb¬ 
ial “ram, lamb, sheep and mutton”. In 
1896, we produced, or rather the sheep 
did, 272,474,708 pounds of wool, with an 
average value of about 14 cents per 
pound. So much for the metals and 
sheep, and now for the poultry. 
In 1890 there were in this country 
258,871,125 “chickens”, and 26,738,315 
other fowl, such as turkeys, geese and 
ducks. The average value of the chick¬ 
ens was 30 cents each, and of the other 
fowls 75 cents each. The American hen 
laid in that year 819,722,916 dozens of 
eggs, with an average export value of 
about 15 cents a dozen. If the increase 
in the past six years has been at all 
proportionate with the increase between 
1880 and 1890, there were in 1896, 350,- 
000,000 chickens and 35,000,000 other 
fowls, and the hens laid 1,100,000,000 
dozens of eggs. We estimate the value 
of these at $165,000,000, and of poultry 
sold as meat, $125,000,000 more, or a total 
of $290,000,000. Here, then, is the state¬ 
ment : 
Va’ue of silver produced.$72,510,000 
Of wool clip. 38,140,459 
Value of all sheep. 65,167,725 
Or a total of.$175,851,185 
Earnings of -poultry.. $200,000,000 
Or if we were to put it another way, it 
might be said that the American poultry 
earned enough in one year to buy all the 
silver and gold that were dug out of the 
mines, all the sheep in the country, and 
all the wool they made, and in addition 
the total crops for the year of buck¬ 
wheat, rye, barley and potatoes. This 
year’s earnings of poultry would have 
bought all the milch cows in the 
country, which were valued at $263,- 
955,545 ! The total value of all the 
minerals mined in this country in 1894, 
including iron, gold and silver was $218,- 
168,788. The total coal product of that 
year was valued at $166,280,472, or about 
the same as the egg crop alone of last 
year. The total State and County tax 
for the entire Union in 1890 was $143,- 
186,007, so that the hens earned enough 
to pay the entire State and county tax 
with $150,000,000 left to pay for the 
tobacco crop, the potato crop, the rye 
crop, and half a dozen other crops 
thrown in. 
Run an eye over the following table 
and see what Uncle Sam’s poultry did 
in 1896 : 
Earnings of poultry . $290,000,000.00 
Total of pensions .$139,280,078.15 
Total of school expenditures. 178,215 556 00 
Total of interest of mortgages. 76,728 077.00 
Value of swine. 186.529,745.00 
Value of potato crop. 78,984.901.00 
Value of tobacco crop. 35.574,220 00 
Value of cotton crop. 259,164.640.00 
Value of oat crop. 163,655.068.00 
Value of wheat crop. 237,938,998.00 
It will thus be seen that the American 
hen is giving an excellent account of 
herself. For when we come to examine 
the above figures, we shall find that she 
takes no mean place among the produc¬ 
ers of this country. Long live the 
American hen ! May her cackle never 
grow less ! May her comb grow red 
with prosperity ! And may her eggs 
roll the mortgage away from many a 
farm ! 
Southern Sheep in New York State. 
W. C. C., Tracy Creek, N. Y.— Would sheep do 
well in this locality shipped from as far South as 
North Carolina ? Would they be likely to be 
diseased ? 
Ans. —There is no reason why sheep 
shipped from North Carolina would not 
do well anywhere in New York. The 
principal difficulty would be in the kind 
of sheep that would be available. The 
most of the sheep are of the long- 
legged, bare-bellied, thin-wooled sort 
that are not desirable, even in the South; 
but if a lot of well-bred sheep of any of 
the mutton breeds were brought North 
in spring, it would be a safe operation. 
Of course, the sheep in the South are 
liable to be diseased, but no more so 
than those of any other part of the 
country, and one would need to be care¬ 
ful in selecting not to get those un¬ 
healthy. J. 8 WOODWARD. 
Raising a Calf. 
W. II., Mohawk, iV. T.—When I get a heifer calf 
from a good milker, how shall l feed and care for 
it, to get the best results ? At what age should it 
be bred ? Should a bull calf have the same treat¬ 
ment as a heifer calf ? Should a heifer’s first 
calf be reared ? 
Ans.—L. S. Hardin, in his excellent 
little book entitled The Dairy Calf, 
gives this synopsis of feeding rules: First 
day, calf run loose with its dam. Second 
to tenth day, dam’s milk warm—enough 
to fill calf’s sides out even. Tenth to 
twentieth day, dam’s milk, skim-milk, 
flax meal, water, pasture. Twentieth 
day to six weeks old, skim-milk, flax 
seed, water—keep off pasture. Six weeks 
old, add clover hay, dry oats, one-half 
ounce of salt a day, flax meal stirred 
into milk, water. Four months old, run 
on pasture or feed ensilage, with oats, 
bran, hay, water. We would advise you 
to buy this little book, which we can 
supply at 25 cents. 
GOOD POINTS OF PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 
Having tried most of the common 
breeds of fowls, I believe that, for the 
every-day, average farmer that wishes 
to keep poultry on a small scale, no 
breed will answer so well as the P. Rock. 
Placing them side by side with other 
kinds, they will lay nearly as many eggs 
as either the White or Brown Leghorn. 
If one have customers, which he sup¬ 
plies week by week, aiming to keep this 
up the year around, surely the P. Rock 
will do more to fill the basket each week 
in the year than any other. They also 
lay the largest sized eggs. Either the 
White or Brown Leghorn will lay more 
eggs than the P. Rock, but as the cold 
winter prevents them from laying, they 
will make up as soon as spring comes 
and continue during the summer and 
fall months ; and as the cost of produc¬ 
ing a dozen eggs is so much less during 
this time than in winter, very likely the 
total number of eggs for the year will 
equal or exceed the number from the P. 
Rock. My experience with P. Rocks 
has taught me that no breed will stand 
the cold and thrive with them. The old 
birds will lay in the fall until the pul¬ 
lets begin, thus insuring a constant sup¬ 
ply. I have heard of great results ob¬ 
tained from the Leghorns in winter, but 
have never been able to get them to do 
anything extra. They are too small for 
sitting, although the Brown Leghorn is 
faithful to her nest. But being so timid 
as they are, it is unpleasant to handle 
them. I would advise using only the P. 
Rocks for incubation, as they will cover 
a good number of eggs, are easily hand¬ 
led, and make the best mothers. B. m. s. 
■1 ■ 
Experience ; 
Is the t 
Best Teacher If 
Riders of other than Columbia I 
wheels have found that out. 
No bicycle is so good as the 
old reliable. Columbias have 
proved it, thousands of riders | 
are demonstrating it daily— 
STANDARD OF THE WORLD. 
$|QQ to all alike. 
Hartfords, $75, $60, $50, $45 
POPE MFG. CO,, Hartford, Conn. 
Catalogue free from dealers, or by mail for | 
one 2-cent stamp. 
Pricking Separator "Babbles.” 
There are “ bubbles ” in cream separa¬ 
tor representations as in almost every¬ 
thing else. In fact, in most separator 
representations there is a great deal more 
“ bubble ” than substance. 
Some of these “bubbles” are indeed 
fanciful as they float bravely upward in 
the shape of advertising claims, and some 
are quite imposing as they bob along in 
the shape of hap-hazard, one-in-a-hun- 
dred so called Experiment Station 
“records ” and which are seldom official, 
have never been made under conditions 
of practical use, and are often without 
any basis of any kind. 
Unfortunately, it does not cost a cent 
more to claim everything a fertile im¬ 
agination can suggest in an advertise¬ 
ment or argument than it does to tell the 
simple truth. The only strain is on one’s 
conscience, and would-be competitors 
who are still despairingly chasing De 
Laval “Alpha” and “Baby” machines 
have long since accustomed the tension 
of that organ to the stress of circum¬ 
stances. 
But all “ bubbles ” may be pricked 
Stick a pin in them and it’s all over 
Separator “ bubbles” are no exception. 
Stick a financial “pin” in a separator 
“ bubble ” and you will find nothing but 
“ air,” and very thin air too. 
When an agent or dealer talks a ny other 
separator than an “ Alpha” or “ Baby ” 
to you, stick this “ pin ” in his “ bubble 
Tell him that you want the best machine 
made, the one that will do the best and 
cleanest work, and that if he has it you 
want it. Ask him if he will enter into a 
two weeks test with an “Alpha” De 
Laval, the milk to be divided each day or 
each machine to be run every other day, 
under same conditions. Tell him you 
want a practical test—machines to be run 
at full claimed capacities, cream to vary 
from 1 to 5 to 1 to 10 in density, speed to 
be kept down to minimum representa¬ 
tions, and temperature to vary from 60 
deg. to 85 deg. Tell him actual lbs. of 
butter churned out, in proportion to lbs. 
of milk used, will tell the story with you. 
If the prick of that “pin” does not burst 
his “ bubble”, then try this “ crow-bar ” 
on it:—Ask him if he will meet the De 
Laval proposition to place in your hands 
or with the nearest bank or reputable 
merchant, subject to your order, the pur¬ 
chase price of a De Laval “Alpha” or 
“ Baby ” machine, of equal capacity, if 
the De Laval agent will do the same thing 
as regards the price of his machine, you 
to choose the best machine free of cost to 
you, under the proposed test, and use the 
other agent’s money to pay for it. Ask 
him to make the deposit on the spot or to 
meet the De Laval agent at your place at 
a stated hour one week later, and send at 
once for the nearest De Laval agent or to 
the Company directly. 
Such a “bubble” pricking experience 
will help you to appreciate the superi¬ 
ority of “Alpha” De Laval machines, 
even though you do not succeed in having 
some would-be competing agent pay for 
one for you. 
Send for new “ Baby ” or Dairy cata¬ 
logue, No. 257, out soon. 
THE OE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO., 
Randolph and Canal Sts., I 74 Cortlandt Street, 
CHICAGO. | NEW YORK. 
RAD LEY 
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id' 
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