472 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
TULY i9 
Publisher's Desk. 
The Autumn Fair is the American 
“ Harvest Home.” 
THE R. N.-Y. AT THE FAIRS. 
WHO WILL REPRESENT US ? 
It is often said by worshipers 
of Old-World customs that we in 
America have no harvest-home 
festivals, and they mourn for the 
institution of those little local 
celebrations, among us. The 
metaphorical tears had better be 
saved. The autumn fair of 
every progressive American 
farming community—unknown 
in any other country — is our 
“ harvest home,” and commen¬ 
surate in its greatness with the 
country itself. The little chap 
of European custom compares 
with it as does the bouquet with 
the garden full of bloom. All 
this is introductory to the state¬ 
ment that The R. N.-Y., and his 
good wife, The American Gar¬ 
den, propose to go to the fairs 
this fall and enjoy the outing 
along with their friends. But 
you know that we are a bashful 
pair, and venture to ask our 
friends to introduce us to the 
rest of the folks on the fair 
grounds. In plain talk, we are 
going partly for business, and 
want an active man or two of 
good repute to act as our repre¬ 
sentatives, calling attention to 
our collective and respective 
merits, and taking subscriptions 
from anybody who cannot resist 
our indisputable attractions! We 
are arranging for the fair cam¬ 
paign now, and shall be glad to 
hear from any of our business¬ 
like friends who would not ob¬ 
ject to making a few dollars in 
this way. 
FOR INTRODUCTION ONLY. 
We will send The R. N.-Y., 
or The American Garden 
from receipt of- order to 
January 1, 1891, to any new 
subscriber for 75 cents, as a 
means of introduction to 
new readers. 
I cannot do without The R. N.-Y., it is 
better than any of the other papers I take, 
or in fact all of them put together, and well 
worth the money. I see no room for im¬ 
provement. N. it. B. 
Meade, Meade Co., Kansas. 
I prize the The Rural very highly, and 
have tried to induce others to read it 
simply because I enjoy so much the reading 
of it. Could the great mass of the farmers 
of our country be Induced to read and 
ponder over the contents of such papers 
more, many of the politic-economic prob¬ 
lems of our day would be much more easily 
solved, food and clothing would be more 
pleiitiluli We could read then, in the 
nation’s eyes, “ plenty scattered over a 
smiling land.” j. b. 
Thomasville, N. C. 
The paper is “ all right,” but for States 
like Indiana, its usefulness would, I think, 
be increased by giving some more atten¬ 
tion to the question “How to do Without 
Fences ? ” The fence tax is the largest the 
farmer has to pay, and from one-half to 
two-thirds might be saved. In this county 
there has been expended over $15,000,000, 
for fences, while the present valuation (not 
value) is less than $14,000,000, so that, ac¬ 
cording to that showing, the fences have 
cost more than all the property is worth. 
Goshen, Elkhart Co., Ind. m. m. l. 
Live Stock Notes. 
TnE “Change in Policy” at the 
Kansas Agricultural College.— A re¬ 
cent R. N.-Y. makes some statements 
concerning the “change in policy” in the 
management of the farm of the Kansas 
State Agricultural College, from beef rais¬ 
ing to dairying and mutton growing, and 
inquires how such change will affect the 
farmers of Kansas. As a matter of fact, 
there is no change inaugurated or contem¬ 
plated in the policy followed heretofore. 
The department will be run, as it has always 
been, with a view to serve the best inter¬ 
ests of the farmers of the State and on lines 
long ago mapped out in harmony with those 
interests. The misconception with regard 
to the so-called change in policy probably 
had its origin in the fact that the Board of 
Regents of the College authorized the sale 
of certain Short-horns and Jerseys in order 
to reduce the herd, which is altogether too 
large for the means of maintenance; and 
the Board also authorized the purchase of 
a trio of Holstein-Friesian cattle and a trio 
of Shropshire sheep, not to inaugurate any 
change from beef to dairying and mutton, 
but because neither of these breeds had 
heretofore been represented at the college, 
and their growing importance in the State 
seemed to demand that they should have a 
place on the farm, which is in perfect accord 
with the farming interests of the State. 
There are at present in the college herd 40 
Short-horns, seven Aberdeen-Angus, two 
Herefords and 14 Jerseys, all pure-bred 
animals, with the exception of one grade 
Short-horn steer. Now, to sell six Jerseys 
and in their stead introduce two Holstein- 
Friesian cows and one bull, does not 
indicate any violent change in the dairying 
capacity of the herd. In any event, it 
would have been necessary to reduce the 
herd, and the Short-horns being present in 
such large numbers, the draft would natur¬ 
ally be taken chiefly from them, and, ac¬ 
cordingly, I am authorized to sell 13 cows 
and heifers and three bulls from that breed. 
The “change in policy” is, then, one 
which the most conservative can contem¬ 
plate with equanimity, as it will in no 
wise jeopardize or influence the beef inter¬ 
est at the college, much less in the State. 
Nor does the introduction of two Shrop¬ 
shire ewes and a ram forebode any evil to 
the beef, nor, for that matter, much good 
to the mutton interest. This is the first 
introduction of sheep on the college farm, 
although it has been abundantly demon¬ 
strated that sheep can be raised with profit 
in Kansas, and as the tame grasses be¬ 
come more and more common, it seems 
likely that sheep are destined to play an 
important part in the husbandry of the 
State. PROF. C. C. GEORGESON. 
Profitable Age of Sheep.—I have had 
no experience with any of the breeds except 
the Merino, and with only stud sheep of 
that breed. A Merino ram is supposed to 
be in his finest form when from two to four 
years of age, and a ewe is in the same con¬ 
dition when two years old ; then they are 
K ut to breeding and lose their show form. 
Ly ewes are profitable as breeders up to 
the age of 10 years almost to a certainty 
and sometimes to 15 and over. If one of 
our good brood ewes would give us a lamb 
in three or four years it would be profit¬ 
able to keep her. Ours are, however, 
nearly always regular breeders. We sell 
when opportunity occurs, and we almost 
always bell the ewes when one or two years 
of age, as they are then looking their best, 
and, like everything else, bring the most 
money when in the best condition Our 
rams are disposed of in about the same 
way. Stock rams are, as a rule, not long- 
lived, about seven years being the average 
age. The most noticeable signs of old age 
in the Merino are the loss of wool on the 
legs, face, and belly, a drawn expression of 
face and a general withered appearance, 
which we see in all animals when age is 
coming on. My flock consists of 170, of 
which 140 are ewes and 30 rams. The oldest 
ewe is 11 years and the oldest ram two. We 
keep our rams sold off closely, if possible. 
Ferrisburgh, Vermont. c. A. c. 
Young Cattle Parents.—I have used a 
bull at nine months old effectively on 
two heifers several months older, and have 
often had Jersey heifers come in heat regu¬ 
larly, beginning when three months old, so 
if 1 cared to beat the record at the expense 
of usefulness and growth in the future cow, 
1 could easily do so. As for the experiments 
in getting half-blood buffaloes, 1 am con¬ 
fident that the domestic buffalo cow should 
be used, because the buffalo cow is built to 
carry a foetus such as, in part at least, she 
would then have, and if she can carry the 
larger full-blood, it seems she should easily 
carry the halt-blood, as it is smaller than 
the buffalo, while in a native cow the 
buffalo shape adds to her load. It may be 
buffalo cows are few, but if they can drop 
calves, without effort or ill effect, got by 
a native or domestic bull, a herd of half- 
bloods could probably be produced sooner 
in this way than by the means already 
tried. p. 
A National Dairymen’s Meeting will 
be held at the Sherman House, Chicago, 
on the third Wednesday in July. It is to 
be composed of three or more delegates ap¬ 
pointed by each of the several State Dairy 
Associations, and Breeders’ Associations 
representing dairy cattle. The object of 
the meeting is to consider and take action 
on the best means of representing the allied 
interests of the dairy industry of the coun¬ 
try in connection with the World’s Col¬ 
umbian Exposition of 1893 and to take defi¬ 
nite action with reference thereto. 
Feeding Steers. —If milk is low in price, 
I think veals can be raised at a better profit 
than selling the milk. As a case in point: 
A friend of mine in Sussex County, N. J., 
had a hard milker and a bull calf which he 
did not know whether he would raise or 
not. He turned the t wo out together, and 
sold the calf, when four months old, as a 
veal, for $24, and turned another calf with 
the cow. In this case the calf had only 
milk and grass: in winter some meal 
would be required, but even then raising it 
would pay. Milk for the city market now 
sells at \% cent a quart. If a cow averages 
10 quarts daily, the product will be only 
$5.25 a month, and 10 quarts of milk fed to 
two calves twice a day for two months 
will, with a little grass, turn out surely 
over $25 worth of veal. The lorced veal 
pays best, the steer forced to 12 or 15 
months, next. c. 
Orange County, N. Y. 
“Milk for Coffee.”— E. W. Parry 
writes from Honduras to the Country 
Gentleman: “ On one of the largest and 
best stocked haciendas in Olancho I asked 
one day t 
‘ Can you give me a little milk for my 
coffee ?’ 
‘ Certainly, with great pleasure. Pardon 
us for not thinking to do so before you 
asked.’ 
Of course they could furnish milk. A 
thousand cows could be seen from where 
we sat on the wide, cool veranda of the 
great house In which the Zelayas have 
dwelt for many generations. A word to 
the major-domo, an order to a mnzo, and 
three or four Indian lads were scouring 
across the savanna. A few minutes later 
they came back swinging their lassoes 
around their heads, and driving a flock of 
goats and kids. The kids were hurried into 
a room, and the door closed on them. Then 
one of the goats was lassoed and dragged 
out. One boy held her head, another 
squatted behind and, seizing her hind feet 
held them an inch or two from the pave¬ 
ment of the corridor, while the third strip¬ 
ped the milk from her bag. The second and 
third goat were served in a like manner, 
and enough milk obtained to reduce some¬ 
what the strength of my coffee.” 
Taxable Value of Axtell.— We find 
the following newspaper report. “ The 
Farmers’ Alliance is after Axtell. It del 
egated one of its number to appear before 
the County Board of Equalization and de¬ 
mand that the great stallion be assessed at 
$75,000. Mr. Ijams, part owner of Axtell, 
listed him at $100, as he did Jersey Wilkes 
and 38 fine brood mares. The township 
assessor reported Axtell at $75,000. Before 
the board the representative of the alliance 
declared that Axtell cost $105,000; that he 
could not now be bought from his present 
owners for a less sum, and that he earned 
$40,000 this season, and is, therefore, a good 
investment. He insists that the law re¬ 
quires property to be assessed according to 
its cash value, and says that $75,(XX) would 
be no higher assessment on Axtell, accord¬ 
ing to his value, than is paid by all the 
farmers of Vigo County on what they own. 
After several ballots the board assessed 
Axtell at $8,000 and Jersey Wilkes at 
$3,000.” 
The Promise of a New Animal.—A 
recent issue of the New York Sun, contains 
the following : A movement of most inter¬ 
esting possibilities was definitely arranged 
on June 30 in Cincinnati by about sixty 
f entlemen from the states of Tennessee, 
udiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wiscon¬ 
sin, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ken¬ 
tucky The promise of their meeting was 
nothing less valuable and surprising than 
a new horse, man’s oldest and most useful 
friend in a substantially new type. For 
the first time a considerable and competent 
body of breeders met to form a society to 
engage in multiplying and evolutiug the 
hitherto despised, or at least, neglected 
and uncultivated pacer. A National As¬ 
sociation of Pacing Horse Breeders 
now exists, with Frank G. Buford 
of Tennessee as President, and Frank 
H. Jermyn, of Scranton, Pa., as 
Treasurer. The last 10 or 12 years, during 
which the pacer has risen through preju¬ 
dice and indifference into a permanent im¬ 
portance on the race tracks, have left him 
still what one might call a self-made horse. 
He is the weed of his race, a chance pro¬ 
duct steadily crowded out by the all- 
monopolizing trotter, instead of being help¬ 
ed to improvement by systematic cultiva¬ 
tion. He has enjoyed no more pride of 
ancestry than the mule. No pacing sire has 
ever attained celebrity, nor are there any 
generally recognized pacing families that 
divide the honors of their gait after the 
manner of the Hambletonians and Mam- 
brino Chiefs among the trotters. If a pacer 
could be made into a trotter, a trotter he 
was made, even if it required toe weight 
enough to risk the ruin of his legs. The 
single alleged reversal of this practice, the 
story of Gen. Grant turning trotters into 
pacers, can be set down as fanciful, since 
it is beyond the present sci ice of training. 
The speed that the pacer . is to-day is his 
with next to nothing of the deliberate help 
of breeders that has developed the trotting 
horse. The great objection to his use, we 
suppose, has been that he was mainly a 
cold-blooded beast, of less endurance than 
his more favored but slower rival. With 
his somewhat awkward gait and lowered 
head, he has never been fashionable; and 
it is not surprising, therefore, that the 
West, where fashion, perhaps, sits more 
lightly on its friends than elsewhere, should 
give backbone to the movement for trans¬ 
ferring this disdained animal, which has 
hitherto picked up a providential living by 
the roadside, to the careful superintend¬ 
ence of the breeder, and to the hitherto per¬ 
sistently denied honor of a stud book. 
Coming as it does upon the heels of a pretty 
well confirmed pacing of a quarter of a 
mile in 28 seconds, by Brown Hal, the 
pioneer meeting of pacer-breeders mani¬ 
festly possesses extraordinary interest for 
students of the horse. Their determina¬ 
tion to bestow on his development attention 
equal to that under which the trotter has 
flourished so magnificently, may lead to a 
harness horse so fast as Ho be practically a 
new type. They begin on an almost untried 
field, and although there are undoubtedly 
various good reasons for thinking that 
there can be no such further progress in 
the pacer as his comparatively neglected 
career might seem to afford room for; who 
knows ? Certainly nobody knows well 
enough to rob the enterprise of Mr. Buford’s 
society of all American horsemen’s close 
and respectful attention. 
Pisrcllancousi ^rtfcrtisinn. 
In writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural. 
LINSEED OIL MEAL, 
For Feeding all Domestic Animals. 
Use with your other feed at least One- 
Third Linseed Oil Meal. 
Write us for Prices and other particulars, and 
mention the Rural New-Yorker. 
DETROIT LINSEED OIL CO., 
Detroit, Mich. 
University of the State of New York. 
AMERICAN 
VETERINARY COLLEGE, 
139 and Ml West 54th St., New York City. 
SIXTEENTH ANNUAL SESSION 
Ciruelarand Information can be had on application to 
Or. A. LIAIIT t 111). V. M.. Dean of the Faculty' 
NEW YORK COLLFtiK OF 
Veterinary Surgeons 
Lectures will begin Octolx r l. irwi. For circular ad¬ 
dress Secretary. 881 East 27lb Street, New York City. 
WANTED 
to purchase a pair of ENGLISH ROAN COACH 
HORSES, U>14 hands high. Address 
J. 8. KELLEY, 
75 North Carpenter Street, Chicago, 111. 
Ease, Comfort and. Thrift! 
THE BEST CATTLE FASTENINC! 
SMITH’S SELF-ADJUSTINQ SWING STANCHION. 
The only practical Stofnor Stanchion Invented. 
Thousands In use. Illustrated Circular free. Men¬ 
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F. «. PAKHOIN'S «fc CO.. Addison, Steuben Co.,N.Y 
IlerliHhire 
AMD 
Yorkshire 
l’igs of cho'co 
I'KIZK strains, 
eligltile torca- 
istry. Pitts of 
different ages 
for sale. Prices 
reasonable. W, 
B HARVF.Y, 
West Guovk, 
Pa. 
SHEEP ES8WS& LAMBS 
COTSWOLD. OXFORD DOWN AND MI-KINO. Rretl 
from highest class prize winning stock Lambs 
ready for shipping August 1: also a few choice Hams 
and Ewes. l. 2 ana 8-year old, of all the above breeds. 
A number of prize winners ready for shipment about 
the middle of October. 
YORKSHIRE PICS. 
JKKSFY HKDS. CHESTER WHITE. POLAND 
CHINAS, BERKSHIRE. Spring litters ready for ini 
mediate shipment. Also several Rough-Coated Seotcn 
Collie lillcne*, 1 to 2 years old. Write at once for 
prices. \V. At<ee Burpee dk Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 
HOG CHOLERA AND SWINE PLAGUE 
PREVENTED 
and CURED. 
Particular.; 
and 
Information 
Free. 
AGENTS 
\VA ATE l>. 
W. H. DOLE, 
71 Clinton Street, Boston, Mass. 
THE COMING HOG. 
Not I table to Cholera. 
RAPID GROWTH. WPLENDIO 
FOR EXHIBITION. MOST 
PORK FOR FOOD CONSUMED 
2 WEIGHED 2806 LB8 
L, 11. Silver Co. Clf velsnd, 0- 
