VOL. XLIX. NO. 2io9. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 28, i 89 o. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
TWO DOGS. 
The R. N.-Y. has never joined in the cry to kill off the 
dogs. Granted that they kill millions of dollars worth of 
sheep; that they do incalculable damage in many other 
ways ; still we are unwilling to advocate their extermina¬ 
tion. A dog—it matters little what his breed or pedigree— 
is capable of education, of being rendered submissive and 
obedient and of serving man in ways in which other 
animals cannot. We hold the owner responsible for the 
dog’s every lawless act. If a dog kill sheep, bite a child, 
kill the neighbor’s chickens, prowl about his premises com¬ 
mitting numberless acts of injury thereto, the owner is 
responsible and the law should see to It that his responsi¬ 
bility cannot be shirked any more than he could evade the 
law if he personally injured a neighbor. Any one that is 
unwilling to control his dog has no right to own one. It 
is manifestly unjust that the members of a community 
should suffer or be liable to suffer from prowling dogs 
which are owned by people too lazy, too indifferent, too 
shiftless to care as to their whereabouts or what mischief 
they may be engaged in. W T e have no patience with such 
lawless indiffer¬ 
ence. But w e 
know not why 
one should kill 
or torture the 
agent while the 
principal escapes 
unpunished. 
Among the low¬ 
er animals, the 
dog seems to 
have been in¬ 
tended as man’s 
natural com¬ 
panion and pro¬ 
tector. Man has 
no right, how¬ 
ever. to convert 
this helper into 
a means of dis- 
tressing his 
neighbors. 1 f he 
keeps dogs, let 
him care for 
them and be 
responsible for 
them. 
The dogs photo¬ 
graphically il¬ 
lustrated on this 
page,are Gordon 
Setters—that to 
the left two 
years, that to the right five years of age. Each has a yard, 
surrounded by a high picket fence, and a kennel large 
enough to protect him from wind and rain. Except when 
accompanied by their owner they are confined in these 
yards. They are given a run of from half-an-hour to two 
or three hours every pleasant day. They are trained to 
mind a whistle to “come in,” and to “down charge” 
even though 50 yards away ; to come “ to heel ” and to 
stay there until permitted to “go on.” Their food is 
cooked for them daily and fed at regular times, 7 a. m , 
and 6 p. m. All this involves a considerable amount of 
trouble and some expense. But it is the only basis upon 
which, in the R. N.-Y.’s estimation, any man has a right to 
keep dogs. And the same may be said of poultry, cattle 
and horses. 
THE STORY OF AN ASPARAGUS ACRE. 
Fourteen years ago I bought the place where 1 now live, 
and began to grow asparagus. My land is heavy loam or 
creek marsh, underlaid with gravel and sand, yet above 
high-water mark. In the creek there is water from six to 
seven feet deep in any place on my lot of four acres. The 
water rises and falls with that in the creek that runs 
within 40 rods of back end of the lot. Twelve years ago 
I put out 500 one year-old roots. The next year I planted 
seed from the strongest plants, and the spring following 
I selected the best and most perfect plants, and set out 
half an acre. From this I again selected seed and roots, 
and set half an acre more. I now have one acre. The last 
half acre produces the largest and strongest growth I have 
ever seen or heard of, and that is what all say that see it. 
This season has been a bad one for cutting, as the frost cut 
the crop to the ground three times. I have, however al¬ 
ready cut and sold 3,329 pounds Last year I cut and sold 
5,500 pounds. I sell on contract at 10 cents per pound for 
the season in the Elmira (N. Y.) market. I cut it all my¬ 
self. No one else is allowed to cut it. I am so old fogyish 
that I believe that if it is cut in a particular way it will 
all be straight and tender, and it is just as well to have 
it so as to have it all sorts of lengths and shapes as well 
as crooked. I never put my knife in the ground, but cut 
at the surface or where I find it tender and brittle. It is 
neither cut nor broken off. I just touch it with the point 
of a knife, and at the same time lift it with my hand, and 
it jumps up so quickly that one can’t tell if I cut or pulled 
it off. 
In putting out the first 500 plants I plowed a double fur¬ 
row and cleaned out the bottom so as to put the plants six 
inches under ground and I planted three by 2)4 feet apart. 
This I found too close. The next I planted three by three 
feet apart in the same way, only the plants were put about 
seven inches underground. The last one-half acre I planted 
3)4 by three feet apart in the row. Even these I find too 
close. I expect to set more next spring and will set the 
plants 3V.j by four feet apart and eight inches deep. 
My mode of treatment is as follows: For four or five 
years I cut the tops in the fall, burned them, plowed over 
the whole bed, then covered with barnyard manure. In 
the spring I plowed again and dragged until smooth ; then 
when 1 had fini.-hed cutting I ran a light furrow with a 
one-horse plow over each row and let it go until fall, keep¬ 
ing out all weeds. Of late years I leave the tops on until 
spring, believing the mulch is good. In March, 1888 and 
188!). I put on the bed 1,600 pounds of kainit; last winter I 
put on it 200 bushels of hen manure and worked it in well 
with a drag and cultivator. If the cultivator cuts the 
crown of the plant it does that hill an injury. For the 
first time I let my man prepare the bed this spring, giving 
him positive orders not to let the cultivator go in so deep 
as to rake the plants; but he did not understand what I 
meant and shook and tore the plants badly. My man¬ 
ner of cutting the plants is different from that practiced by 
any other person about here in two points: I don’t cut 
underground or let any thing grow up while cutting, no 
matter how small it may be. I keep all cut close until I 
have finished cutting for the season. Then l take out all 
weeds, and let all grow at once. I am willing to compare 
my bed with any in the State when cutting or at any other 
time. I have quite often cut five stalks that would weigh 
a pound, and none of them was more than eight inches 
long. In putting out a bed I would not set plants more 
than one-year old, because a one-year root is more perfect 
than a two-year one, as it is not so likely to be crowded out 
of shape, and the plants grow more perfect when set young. 
Horseheads, N. Y. a. d. 
HOLSTEIN DAIRY COWS IN KENTUCKY. 
Living as far in the interior as we do, dairying in Ken¬ 
tucky can be made to pay only when connected with the 
raising of pure bred stock. But when these two industries 
are combined, considerable profit may be realized by keep¬ 
ing the most suitable cows at home for their dairy pro¬ 
ducts, shipping their calves to the South and West, with 
now and then a few fresh cows as a nucleus for distant 
herds or disposing of some in the neighborhood for family 
use. Believing that the most popular cow of the future 
will be the one which unites in the highest degree those 
qualities necessary for both dairy and beef stock, we, about 
15 years ago, selected the Holsteins, and have since had no 
cause to regret our decision. From half a dozen chosen 
individuals, some of which had been imported directly 
from Holland, the herd but for timely sales would have 
increased far beyond our capacity for accommodation. 
The mild climate of Kentucky seems to suit them ad¬ 
mirably; they grow and thrive on its rich, luxurious 
grasses and produce such hitherto unheard of quantities 
of milk that our neighbors, who still remain faithful to 
the Short-horns, 
open their eyes 
wide with aston¬ 
ishment. 
The herdsmen 
employed are in¬ 
telligent white 
men who seem 
to take great in¬ 
terest in their 
charges, proud 
of having under 
t heir control 
the finest herd 
they ever saw, 
and anxious 
that every indi¬ 
vidual, from the 
youngest calf to 
its great, great- 
grandam, shall 
have precisely 
the attention 
most needed. 
I n engaging a 
herdsman, the 
first thing i n - 
sisted upon i s 
that the cattle 
shall be treated 
with uniform 
kindness and 
consideration. 
The comfort of the dairy cow especially should be of 
the first importance. She cannot do her best if she is 
exposed to inclement weather in winter, or has not an 
abundant supply of cool, fresh water, and pleasant 
shade in summer, together with food suitable to each 
season. There are few animals whose nervous system is 
more highly organized, or whose nature is more sensitive 
than that of the cow, and when this fact is realized, one 
readily sees how important is kind treatment. She should 
be driven slowly to and from the pasture, without being 
worried by dogs or hurried through fear of the drover’s 
whip. In the stable, the attendant should be gentle.and 
deliberate in all his movements, speaking in a low, gentle 
voice and calling each cow i v name. A harsh word or 
a blow will cause an involuntary contraction of her 
muscles, which will prevent the flow of milk, or, as the 
milkman expresses it, cause the cow to hold back her milk. 
We try to get the same herdsman to care for his especial 
charges all the time, for when the cows have become ac¬ 
customed to one attendant whose kindness they can rely 
upon, they lose much of that timidity and nervousness 
caused by the presence of strangers. Then, too, the herds¬ 
man who has seen the young calf develop into a first-class 
cow under his skillful management is more apt to have 
her best good at heart than a stranger would. The milk¬ 
ing is always done in the stable, which the cows enter of 
their own accord when brought from the pasture, and 
though the stanchion stalls all look exactly alike, ranged 
in long rows, yet each cow remembers her own and takes 
her place without hesitation, where she stands patiently 
waiting before the empty trough until the attendant comes, 
and after fastening her leathern collar to the horizontal 
TWO GORDON SETTERS. From a Photograph. Fig. 144. 
