366 
THE RURAL NEW-VORKE 
money there was in them. It is needless to say such 
farming is not attractive. There has not been anything 
fascinating about it. The young men of spirit refuse 
to endure it, and the older men that have been raised 
on the farin' and have worked all their lives are dis¬ 
couraged. The women raised on Illinois farms protest 
against the situation and prospects. The farms are 
rented for more than tenants can afford to pay. The 
results are dilapidated buildings and fences, less stock 
raised than formerly, and more shabbiness on all sides. It 
is more and more difficult to pay the interest on the in¬ 
debtedness of mortgaged farms, and the relentless mort¬ 
gages are maturing. Unless some changes occur and if the 
present methods are followed the state of affairs in the 
older States will be repeated here. No such promising 
relief offers as the raising, feeding and breeding of sheep 
for some one of the special purposes now possible. It is 
not a question of opportunities or facilities, but of intelli- 
• gence. Our people have the ability but lack the confidence. 
In the past some of them well know from experience how 
the unsettled prices for wool have unsettled the shesp in¬ 
dustry and the wool-raisers. They are afraid of the busi¬ 
ness. The margins of profits were so small and the politi¬ 
cal and commercial manipulations so effective, that when 
the time came to sell the fleeces the prices were below the 
cost of production. But with the prices of mutton away 
above those of beef and pork, the situation is more agree¬ 
able and taking. Nor is this prosperity for sheep-raisers 
likely to be of short duration. It cannot be expected that 
the prices of mutton shall very long exceed those of beef 
as now; but when the cattle industry recovers from the 
panic it has been passing through the real fact will be 
seen that there has been a stampede out of the business, 
and that the numbers in it are greatly reduced. The re¬ 
sult will be better prices for beef cattle than have been 
known in many years. There will be an evening up, no 
doubt; but the demand for good mutton has so increased 
among the Aaierican people that it will continue to share 
with beef in public favor. Meantime the prices of wool 
will rally from the present depression and hence the 
staple will become profitable, so much so with the short¬ 
sighted that the fleece will receive more attention than the 
carcass. 
Our American people are wool-growers rather than mut¬ 
ton-raisers, and readily go back to the old lines of sheep 
husbandry. This will favor a continuance of good prices 
for mutton. 
There need be no doubts about a taste for good mutton 
in this country. It Is a new thing, to be sure; but it has 
come to stay. It did not come as a necessity, but as a 
choice, when the price of mutton was above the price of 
beef. Mutton never finds appreciation with poor or half 
civilized nations. It belongs to wealthy and highly civilized 
people. In proof of this, notice the class of people that use 
mutton ; observe the towns with a good mutton demand. 
Are they not superior to the people that use hog and 
hominy ? The age of “ hog and hominy ” is passing away, 
and, under the pressure of culture and refinement, will 
never return. No one looked for this change under the 
severe circumstances surrounding the cattle and sheep in¬ 
dustry of the last four years. It, however, emphasizes the 
facts here outlined, and gives a valuable promise of 
the future if the American sheep-raisers have the busi¬ 
ness intelligence to see and apprehend the means by which 
the fullest benefits of the situation may be secured. If 
mutton sheep-raisers are disposed to make the most of the 
opportunity, they can establish a powerful rivalry of the 
beef business, and promote a growth of the agricultural 
mutton raising which can be developed into one of the 
largest and most valuable live stock industries of this 
country. _ r. M. b. 
A GOOD HEIFER DAIRY. 
During the past year my dairy consisted of 20 Holstein 
grade cows and heifers. It might with propriety be called 
a heifer dairy, as the oldest cow was only six years old. 
The different ages from two to six years were about evenly 
represented in the herd. One of the six-year-old cows was 
farrow, and there were two or three cases of abortion 
among the young heifers. The 20 made an average of 275 
pounds of butter each. The average earnings, including 
the value of the skimmed milk fed to the calves, breeding 
sows and young pigs, was $75 per cow. I suppose that the 
older cows made about 325 pounds of butter each, and the 
younger ones, including the slinkers, 225 pounds apiece. 
Several of the older ones will give from 50 to 60 pounds of 
milk in a day. The best one gave an average of 50 pounds 
per day for 150 days, beginning May 24, and 12,500 pounds 
in the year. She would have given 13,000 pounds but for a 
slight indisposition that caused a shrinkage for a time. 
Tested for cream, her milk is as good as the average of the 
dairy. None of the cows has been tested separately for 
butter. It takes an average of 25 pounds of milk for a 
pound of butter for the year. They are persistent milkers, 
going dry only for the time deemed necessary to insure 
the wholesomeness of the milk and the health of the cow. 
It has been said, at some of the farmers’ institutes, that a 
cow that gave milk so poor that 25 pounds were required 
to make a pound of butter, was not worth keeping. If it 
had been said that a cow that would not make more than 
200 pounds of butter in a year was not worth keeping, how¬ 
ever great the percentage of solids in her milk, the asser¬ 
tion would have been nearer the truth. 
Eighteen years ago my dairy consisted of native stock 
with some mixture of Ayrshire and Short-horn blood, and 
the cows would yield an average of 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of 
milk in a year. Hoping for improvement, an Ayrshire bull 
was purchased and the heifer calves were raised. Cows of 
this stock proved to be very good milkers; were easily 
kept and easily fattened. My milk had previously been 
taken to a cheese factory, but the low prices for cheese and 
the well-known value of skimmed milk induced the trial 
of butter making through the year. 
The Ayrshire grades with good keeping would never 
average quite 200 pounds of butter in a year Neither Hol¬ 
stein nor Jersey cows had at that time the well established 
position that they now hold among dairymen. The Hol- 
steins that I had seen I did not want, as they were coarse, 
heavy-limbed animals and not at all like those that I now 
have, except in color. Jersey cattle were too small for my 
purpose, as I intended to raise and fatten some young 
stock each year. Some of the best dairies in this vicinity 
were composed of Short-horn grades, and this stock ap¬ 
peared better adapted to my needs than any other. A bull 
was therefore purchased from a well-known breeder of 
milking Short horns. Grades of this stock proved to be 
good milkers, but would go dry three or four months, and, 
like the Ayrshires, would not yield 200 pounds of butter in 
a year. The color and quality of the latter, however, were 
better than before. In the meantime I had seen better 
specimens of Holstein stock, and their profitable milk and 
butter production could no longer be doubted. 
In the spring of 1881 I purchased a well-bred Holstein 
bull calf and the dairy chat I now have is the result of his 
get from the Ayrshire grades. All the heifer calves have 
been raised; but the present herd is not a selection from 
them. Heifers and cows have been sold but they were an 
average of the whole. They were sold at remunerative 
prices and were all good milkers. This speaks well for the 
prepotency of the thoroughbred bull. Failure to Dreed and 
obstruction in the teats interfered with the usefulness of 
four of the heifers raised, and they were fattened and sold 
for beef, bringing the highest price in our home market. Al¬ 
though the use of a thoroughbred Holstein, Jersey, or 
Guernsey bull has not in every case added largely to the 
profits of the dairy, still there are instances all over the 
country where success similar to my own has been reached 
through one such cross. Thanks to the labors of those men 
who have been developing the good qualities of these 
breeds for the last few years, the principles of breeding are 
much better understood than they were formerly, and any 
one who will give the subject proper attention can make 
selection of a thoroughbred from a milk and butter family 
with the certainty of success in securing the desired im¬ 
provement of the dairy. The cost of such an animal at 
present prices bears no proportion to probable gains 
through his use. c. 8. RICE. 
Dowville, N. Y. 
PLAIN TALK ABOUT THE PUMP. 
Place in the water one end of a lj^-inch gas pipe or 
wooden pipe 34 feet long, and pump out the air as perfectly 
as an air pump can do and the water will rise to the top. 
Why ? The Greeks explained this phenomenon by saying 
“ Nature abhors a vacuum,” and to satisfy herself forces 
water into the tube to fill the empty space. But now we 
know that the weight of the air on the water in the well 
presses down hard enough to force the water up in the 
pipe to a hight of 34 feet, provid¬ 
ing the air is all out of the pipe. 
Go up on a mountain where 
meat cannot be cooked in an 
open kettle, and the water will 
not rise as high. It will not do, 
however, to have your pump 
cylinder 34 feet above the lowest 
level of the water in the well, 
beeause there are no pumps made 
for practical purposes that will 
produce a perfect vacuum. Do 
not put the cylinder any more 
than 25 feet above the lowest 
level of the water in the well. 
I. know a representative to the 
Iowa legislature, who insisted 
that a pump would run easier 
when the cylinder was submerg¬ 
ed. Is it so ? If careless in reason¬ 
ing you may make yourself think 
so. When you press down on 
the handle you liftup the plunger 
or piston or pump bucket and 
with it the weight of the water 
from that bucket to the pump 
spout. At this point one man 
said to me “ the higher the cylinder is atove water the less 
you have to lift.” This is not true. For just the moment 
you lift the plunger or bucket, the valve in the bucket 
closes because of the weight of the water above it, and 
when you lift the plunger higher in the cylinder the water 
in the pipe below follows it closely because you have 
pumped out the air. It requires just as much muscle to 
pump the air out of the pipe as it does to lift the water the 
distance from the cylinder to the level of the water in the 
well. As far as power is concerned, therefore, it is im¬ 
material whether you place the cylinder 25 feet above the 
water level or down in the water five feet; it requires just 
enough power to raise the water from the level of the 
water in the well to the pump spout. If the cylinder is 
say five feet below the water’s surface, you are not lifting 
the water in the pipe from the level of the water in the 
well to the cylinder, for the water in the well will seek 
its own level and always stand in the pipe as high as it is 
outside. 
WHAT TO BUY. 
Suppose your well is 50 feet deep and there are always 20 
feet of water in it, it is useless expense to buy either gas- 
pipe or wooden tubing enough to reach to the bottom. 
Galvanized iron pipe will be attacked by rust in eight or 
10 years. Wooden tubing will decay gradually. In either 
case 35 to 40 feet of pipe are all that is necessary for this 
well. If the well is drilled and you know the distance to 
the lowest level of the water, try five or 10 teet more of gas- 
pipe and support the weight of the tubing from the llauge 
on the pump-head. Then when you repair the pump, it is 
Fig. 1 1 6. 
R. TUNE 7 
easier to take it out. Heavy galvanized iron pipe is the 
cheapest. A brass or brass-lined cylinder is better for 
wells and wears better than an iron one. The latter rusts 
sooner. I prefer a long to a short plunger. Hardware 
dealers sell both: those that are four to five inches long 
and those two inches. 
REPAIRING THE PUMP. 
If the pump throws too small a stream, then probably 
the leather on the piston and perhaps also that on the 
lower valve are badly worn. If so, the pump acts as it 
does when the well is nearly dry, lifting with difficulty 
small quantities of water at each stroke and bringing with 
it considerable air; then probably there is a hole in the 
pipe below the cylinder and above the water in the well. 
A hole, the diameter of a small needle, will greatly inter¬ 
fere with the action of the pump and perhaps prevent its 
working entirely. A hole in the pipe anywhere above the 
cylinder only diminishes the quantity of water raised at 
each stroke and of course has no effect on the action of the 
valves. 
The leathers in the cylinder are new and flexible; you 
have just put the pump down; the pipe is free from holes; 
the lower valve and also the plunger would hold the water 
above, as you tested before you put the pump together, and 
yet if after it is ready for use it fails to draw any water 
you are puzzled what to do. Go to work at once The 
pump must come out. The trouble is probably that a nail, 
nut or a piece of wood is between the lower valve and the 
iron, holding it up, so that the water runs out as fast as it 
is rai.-ed. Knowing that the packing is good, put the pipe 
together and you are all right. It is not necessary to 
send to the village, five miles away, to get a man with 40 
years’ experience in repairing pumps to search for this as 
well as some other difficulties. 
The pump has been together four years. The pipe is 
rusty at the joints. It was not originally put together 
with white, lead. It seems almost impossible to unscrew it. 
Pound the couplings pretty hard all the way’round and try 
it. You are in a hurry and the tongs slip on the pipe. Take 
a monkey-wrench and adjust it over the end of the tongs 
so that you can press them together, and at the same time 
pound on the end of tongs that grip the pipe so as to make an 
indentation in the pipe before you try to unscrew it. If you 
fail at this, try heating the coupling until quite warm with 
a ball of candlewickiDg soared in kerosene. Judicious and 
hard pounding will not break the couplings. Now, when 
you again screw the pipe together, put quite thick white 
or red lead on the threads, and do not screw together as 
firmly as though it were to be subjected to steam pressure. 
It will be water and air-tight with moderately hard 
turning. 
Figure 116 is an illustration of a convenient device for 
raising an iron pipe from, or lowering it into, a well. It 
consists of three parts; Figure 117 is made of three-eighths 
by five eighths band-iron with thread cut into one arm to 
receive the screw, Figure 118, which is made of one-half¬ 
inch round iron, and which fastens Figure 119 to Figure 
117, as shown in Figure 116. j. N. MUNCEY, JESSUP, IA. 
THE SILO NOT FORGOTTEN. 
Seven Practical Questions. 
1. Would a silo pay in Southern Georgia, where August- 
sown rye-and-oat pasture makes good feed all winter? I 
want soiling crops to keep up the milk flow, as I sell milk 
in the city. 
2. In clay ground, with proper drainage, would a timber 
sill, trenched into the firm clay, make the foundation of a 
silo secure without the use of stone ? 
3. What kind of lumber should be used fora silo, dura¬ 
bility being a prominent consideration ? 
4. How can a silo be filled without doing a large amount 
of treading ? 
5. How should gas-tar paint be mixed and applied, etc. ? 
6. For silage what kind of corn, fertilizer and culture 
should be used ? 
7. What surface protection is desirable for the silage ? 
Since the publication of my article, “ What I have 
Learned About Silage,” in a recent Rural, I have been the 
recipient of a great number of personal inquiries—some 
from the South—in relation to the silo, and from them I 
have condensed what seem to be the most important and 
most frequently repeated inquiries. 
1. In the vicinity of Savannah, Ga., I understand that 
green feed may be had nearly, if not quite, continuously by 
sowing rye and oats in the fall. This mixture makes cheap 
feed, certainly ; but in its relation to winter milk, even in 
the South, I should expect that other influences might 
combine against the system, and that the cows would not 
milk as profitably as they would if the feed were at band, 
independently of the weather and other influences that affect 
the process of milk-giving. With the silo one is indepen¬ 
dent of all outside influences. The big pit of corn-fodder, 
well grained, gives the cow a uniform ration, and with 
cheap cotton-seed meal, etc , and the immense growth of 
corn one could raise at the 32nd degree of latitude, I 
would say that no ration could be made as cheaply as 
silage. It is simply a question whether any other growing 
or harvested crop can approach, in feeding value, the 20 tons 
per acre of ensilage corn fodder, and be preserved with so 
little loss as by the silo system. Mr. Ross, of Auburn, 
Ala., is convinced that even in the South the silo is a 
profitable investment for winter milking, and he will build 
large silos this season, in addition to the one he already 
has. 
2. My experience is that, if the bottom of the silo is 
made concave, being about 16 inches the lowest in the 
center, the silo without a stone foundation, built upon 
mud sills, well trenched, is all right. If the sills are 
10 x 10, or 12 x 12 inches, and well coated with gas tar, es¬ 
pecially at the ends and corner joints, I have little doubt 
but that they will last for years. I would dig the trench 
