3o6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 8 
half to a whole day every Monday selling butter ; but, 
as I would have to go to town every week any way, 
not over half of this time should be charged to the 
butter business. We will say that I give an hour 
every day to the butter business, and use a horse five 
hours a week. Now if we go to a creamery, even 
though it be but one-fourth of a mile, we cannot 
harness the horse, go, unload, load up skim-milk, 
come back and unharness in less than half an hour ; 
and if there be four or five teams ahead, and we get 
to talking politics or prize fight with Smith or Jones, 
it is likely to be an hour before we return (my wife 
says two hours). 
Another objection to the creamery is the fact that 
we are liable to get too careless about the milk ; we 
know that ours is cleaner than Murphy’s, so why 
should we be too particular ? Besides, if there be 
anything wrong, we can blame the buttermaker for 
it; but the result is a poor article and poor prices. 
The general conclusion I come to is this ; if you lack 
backbone, and need some one to lean on, cooperate. 
If you don’t, “ Paddle your own canoe”! 
Chemung County, N. Y. j. grant morse. 
The Creamery Is Cheaper. 
I would patronize the creamery ? Why ? Because 
I could make more money through the creamery. In 
the first place, the butter yield is nearly enough more 
to pay the four cents. Next, the salt, packages, etc., 
to say nothing of time taking to store or depot, cost 
nearly or quite two cents, and nearly always there is 
a difference of three cents in price in favor of the 
creamery, and some months, it runs as high as five 
cents. Lastly, it is more pleasant to ride to the 
creamery than to wash milk pans and churns, to say 
nothing about the harder work. Since writing the 
above, I have talked with a neighbor and he says, 
“ He would better pay five cents per pound than to 
make it at home.” c. m. 
Vermont. 
A WESTERN NEW YORK GUERNSEY FARM. 
NEW THING IN STANCHIONS ; TUB SILO. 
In some essential particulars, Orator F. Woodward 
of Le Roy, N. Y., is not a typical farmer who has 
made his success in life out of the immediate products 
of the soil ; yet the same business care, thrift and 
good judgment that built up a town business are mani¬ 
fest in his farm operations. His is not what, in some 
sections, would be called a large farm ; it is more 
distinguished for its location and beauty than for its 
size, and contains 75 acres just within the village 
limits. Mr. Woodward’s purchase of the farm a few 
years ago was the first transfer made of the property 
in nearly a century. Dairying is the principal feature 
of the farm business, and Guernseys occupy the place 
of honor. Mr. Woodward has been fortunate in his 
selections. Lord Lofty is at the head of the herd. 
He is a son of Squire Kent, formerly of the Old Brick 
Guernsey herd. Some of the cows are also of the 
finest strains of this breed, and for richness, color and 
symmetry, are not often equaled in a herd of farm 
cows kept and used on a business basis. 
The barn is commodious, with cemented floors and 
water throughout, affording facilities for watering 
the cows without leaving the stalls. A feature of the 
stable is the fastenings or stanchions invented by Mr. 
Woodward. They are shown in Fig. 131. The 
stanchions are made of ordinary iron pipe bent by a 
blacksmith as shown. A ring slips up and down one 
of the pipes, and into this the halter is fastened, the 
other end of the halter strap being fastened to a 
strap around the cow’s neck. When the cow is done 
eating and drinking, she backs her head out of the 
stanchion, and the convex iron pipe may be lowered 
as shown in the vacant stall to keep the cow’s head 
out of the stanchion, and away from food or water, 
the tie being long enough to permit her to lie down 
behind it. 
Mr. Woodward believes in the silo. But he made 
some mistakes in putting in his. The first was in 
making it too large. It occupies a place under the 
roof of the barn, but his 20 cattle do not eat enough 
ensilage to keep the top of it fresh all the time. He 
built a smaller tub silo under the same roof, which 
does away with this objection, but following the ad¬ 
vice of those who claimed to know, he cemented 
around the inside of the tub after the staves had been 
put in place, to make it air-tight at the bottom. 
During the summer, the staves shrunk, and he had to 
tighten the hoops as he had provided for with clasp 
screws ; but the cement held the bottom from closing 
in, and he had to cut out the cement around the in¬ 
side in order to let the bottom close up. He would, 
if now building, set the staves on a perfectly flat and 
smooth surface, and if necessary, cement over the 
outside to make it tight. Then if it were necessary 
to tighten the hoops, top and bottom would close up 
together and a little more cement on the outside to 
fill up could easily be applied. He thinks round silos 
no more than 10 feet in diameter, the most desirable, 
and would build two of them in preference to one 
large one. 
Mr. Woodward has his own ideas about putting in 
ensilage with matured ears. He observes that the 
corn passes through the animal undigested, and not¬ 
withstanding good authorities to the contrary that 
he has followed in the past, he does not consider this 
economy in feeding, and now picks off all the mature 
ears before cutting. These he feeds ground with oats 
and bran with the ensilage. He grows State corn, 
Dibble’s seed, in drills three feet apart. From 18 
acres last year, he picked 1,400 bushels of ears, which 
gives some idea of the growth of the corn. He uses 
the No. 16 Ohio cutter, made by the Silver Mfg. Co., 
and the amount it will cut in a day, he says, is lim¬ 
ited only by his ability to feed it. The field cutting 
is done by the McCormick corn binder. The cutting 
he is able to hire done at about SI an acre, he fur¬ 
nishing the horses. Milk is sold to the cooperative 
creamery at LeRoy, on the basis of butter fats which 
it contains. Mr. Woodward was largely instrumental 
in putting the creamery in operation, and being 
familiar with the methods of creamery sharks through 
The R. N.- Y., he avoided them, and had the creamery 
built by a responsible dairy supply house. The cream¬ 
ery is on a business basis and is paying. Mr. Wood¬ 
ward’s skim-milk is brought back to the farm for the 
pigs. 
At first thought, the young man who goes in debt 
for his farm may not see much in Mr. Woodward’s 
success to encourage him, as it began outside the 
farm. True, but he began at the bottom of the lad¬ 
der, and the same traits of character and enterprise 
that fought out success in other lines are now promi¬ 
nent in his farm operations. He selects one of the 
best if, indeed, not the best breed of dairy cattle. He 
profits by the experience of those who have figured 
out ways and means for their own success, so that he 
saves the disappointments and losses they sustained 
in earlier experience. j. j. d. 
WESTERN HORSES FOR EASTERN FARMS. 
ARE THEY SATISFACTORY ? WHY NOT? 
What has been your experience in using heavy western horses 
lor farm work ? Have you found them soft and unable to do the 
hardest work for the first year? Do you find them liable to 
become strained by heavy work ? Do they take readily to oats 
and other feed given usually on eastern farms ? How long does 
it usually take them to become acclimated? On the whole, do 
you consider these horses the equal of horses of similar breeding 
raised on our eastern farms ? What would you advise the farmer 
taking green western horses to do In order to make the best use 
of them the first year ? 
Prefers Eastern-Bred Horses. 
We purchased a span of heavy western horses this 
spring, and have had some difficulty in getting them 
hardened and acclimatized. I think that most of the 
western horses are not nearly so good as those which 
have been eastern-bred, during the first season. We 
have no difficulty in their taking kindly to oats and 
other feed used on eastern farms. From observation, 
I am led to believe, although I have no clear-cut 
facts upon which to found the belief, that horses 
bred on the soft prairies of the West which have, 
relatively, a superabundance of nitrogenous com¬ 
pounds and a relative lack of bone-making material 
in the soil, are not so firm in bone or so hardy as are 
the horses raised in the East, where the soil contains 
relatively less nitrogen and more mineral matter. I 
believe that the success of the horse breeders about 
Lexington, Ky., is due very largely to the fact that 
the land there carries very large quantities of mineral 
matter, especially phosphoric acid. A few days since 
I was struck by the wide difference between the 
composition of some good hay and hay grown upon 
land where it was noted that the animals were weak 
in bone structure. These German analyses showed 
that the good hay contained more than twice as much 
mineral matter as that grown in the district where 
the animals were noted for their weak bony structure. 
I. P. ROBERTS. 
Buy Them Early in Winter. 
We have bought about a dozen western horses at 
different times, and have found that, when we first 
get them, which is in the winter or spring, they are 
very liable to take cold, caused by a difference in the 
climate and being taken from a warm stable ; we 
have also found that they were unable to stand heavy 
work for the first year. In order to make the best 
use of them the first year, we buy them as early in 
the winter as we can, keep them blanketed, [feed 
them on a ration made up of corn, oats and ' peas 
ground together. f. h. gates * sons. 
New York. 
How they Behave in New England. 
We have had considerable experience with western 
horses. They are usually very fat and soft when we 
buy them. This fat is made on corn and without 
work. When we put them to our hard work, they 
run down. They will not eat cut feed and oats, but 
have to learn. It takes about a year to acclimate 
and get a good oat-made muscle on them. They are 
worth more for work the second year than the first. 
I consider that there is less loss to the farmer who 
buys horses if he buy those raised here, or those that 
have been in use a year, if of western breeding. 
When a farmer buys western horses, he should not 
use them too hard for the first three months, and be 
careful that they do not get overheated and catch 
cold. They are quite likely to have a cough and a 
distemper, which will reduce them very much in 
flesh, even though they do not die. kdwin hoyt. 
Connecticut. 
The Western Horses Improve. 
I have bought and used a number of western horses, 
and have three such now in use. Without an excep¬ 
tion, I have found them very fat and soft, and unable 
to stand hard work or heavy drawing for the first 
year—some of them much longer. Their only grain 
food seems to have been corn, and one of those I now 
have, for a long time would not eat oats or any grain 
but corn, and hardly knew what that was when it 
was shelled. Even now, after five years with me, 
there is nothing he likes so much as an ear of western 
corn. I to-day consider this particular horse the best 
one I ever owned, but for the first year, he was not 
worth his board; in fact, I tried to sell him for less 
than he cost me. He was five years old then, and 
grew tougher and better for, at least, two or three 
years after I bought him. Some western horses be¬ 
come acclimated and used to our system of feeding 
sooner than others; but I never knew one to do as 
well the first year as after. Every one with a west¬ 
ern horse should make the change of food gradual. 
It is better to continue the corn diet for awhile, 
slowly mixing in bran and oats ; better have oats 
ground at first, and put in a little oil meal. If they 
can be turned to pasture for awhile, and all grain 
taken away, I regard it as advisable, and when taken 
up, they may be fed entirely on eastern foods. Care 
must be taken that they be not overworked or driven, 
or loaded for, at least, the first year. I certainly do 
not consider a western-raised horse equal to one 
raised in New York, and if buying a team, and I 
could get a home-raised pair in every way equal in 
size and build to the western horse, I should take 
them at $10 or $20 higher price every time, and think 
I was making a wise choice. J. 8. woodward. 
Western Horse Needs Much Care. 
I am within 100 miles of Buffalo, where hundreds 
of western horses are sold every year. I have not 
used any of them for the reason that those buying 
them have been, as a rule, disappointed. I have had 
occasion to buy two horses this spring, but from the 
experience of others in this section, I thought it un¬ 
safe to buy green western horses for my work. They 
are usually soft, and if put to hard work and heavy 
feed, bad results are almost sure to follow. I do not 
think they are more liable to strain than native 
horses. They take readily to the feed on eastern 
farms. A neighbor bought one that liked oats so well 
that it would break loose every night to get at the 
oat bin, unless hitched around the body with a 
heavy rope. It takes about one year for them to be¬ 
come acclimated ; after that, I can see no reason why 
they are not the equal of eastern horses. Native 
horses here bring from one-third to one-half more 
than western of the same grade. I would advise a 
farmer buying a team of western horses to buy a yoke 
of cattle at the same time, with which to do his work 
the first year, engage a veterinary, then give the 
horses plenty of out-door exercise when not doing 
light work ; keep them out of the stable as much as 
possible—they are not accustomed to confinement— 
and let them lose the flesh they have. Do not try to 
keep them in the condition they are in when fitted for 
