5io 
AUG. 9 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
o’clock. A horse may take an ordinary draught of wat. r 
when he is warm, without injury, if he is not afteward ex¬ 
posed to currents of cool air. We much prefer that a larger 
part of the grain ration be fed at night. If our horses are 
getting 14 quarts per day. we feed four at morning and 
noon and six at night. We consider 10 hours is a full 
day’s work for man and team and our teams come up for 
good at “supper time,” i. e., six o’clock. We always feed 
the grain (oats) whole and dry; but we feed it in so large 
a box that the greedy ones can by no possibility bolt it. 
We know of no careful trials as to the relative profit and 
loss of feeding grain wet and dry to working horses. 
When we are working mares that have colts, we let the 
mare rest till the colt Is about two weeks old. She is then 
put at light work at first, and the colt is invariably left in 
a roomy box stall. Until the little thing is about six 
weeks old the mare is brought up in the middle of the fore 
and afternoon to nurse, care being taken that at such 
times, and at morning and night she is worked more 
slowly for half-an-hour before being taken out, that she 
may come up comparatively cool. Of course, she is fed 
generously three times a day, and about dusk she and the 
colt are turned out together. We have had excellent suc¬ 
cess from this practice with both mothers and foals. 
H. H. WING. 
THE DAUGHTER OF A MULE. 
With few exceptions, scientific men have always taught 
that the mule is incapable of producing colts. A good 
many reports have been made of mules that have been 
found with foals following them; but in most of these 
cases investigation has proved that the colts had lost their 
real mothers and had been adopted by mare mules. This 
is said to be quite a frequent occurrence on the Western 
plains, and at fmt sight of 
the photograph shown at Fig. 
197, w’e concluded that such 
must have been the history of 
the colt there shown. Mr. T. 
Dyer, an official of Laramie 
County, Wyoming, who owns 
the mule and colt, sends us 
the following note of explana¬ 
tion : 
“ I have the mule and her 
colt on my ranch 20 miles 
from Cheyenne. I could have 
sold them to a Chicago party 
for $1,000, but I am able to 
keep them myself. As far as 
I can find out, this hybrid is 
the only one of the kind living 
in the world, except one in 
Paris, France. My mule’s 
pedigree is straight. S i x 
years ago, I put a jack with 
some young mares I had in 
my pasture; the next sum¬ 
mer those mares had eight 
mule colts; one of those eight 
mules—a mare mule—had a 
mare colt from one of my 
three-year-old stallions i n 
July, 1889. I exhibited the 
mule and colt at our Terri¬ 
torial fair last September, 
and got a certificate from our 
Territorial veterinarians after 
they had made a thorough 
examination of the mule.” 
Mr. W. H. Goodpasture, 
Secretary of the American 
Breeders’ Association of Jacks 
and Jennets, is considered 
about the best American 
authority on mule breeding. 
The R. N.-Y. requested his 
opinion regarding the possibility of securing a foal from a 
mare mule and he replied as follows : 
“The phenomenon of a mule producing a foal, while ex¬ 
ceedingly rare, is quite well established. The best authen¬ 
ticated, and at the same time the most remarkable case of 
the sort is at the Zoological Gardens of Paris, France, I 
think in the Jardin des Plants. She was there during my 
visit to the Exposition last summer, and, indeed, she has 
been there for several years, having produced last season 
her third foal. While we raise mules in great numbers in 
Tennessee and Kentucky, such a thing is so rare that I 
have never seen such a case in this country, though such a 
phenomenon undoubtedly happened in Jackson County, 
Tennessee, about the year 1850. In Mason’s Hand-book 
and Farrier, published not later than 1850, is a prize ad¬ 
dress delivered by Mr. Pomeroy, of Massachusetts, on the 
‘ Mule,’ in which he speaks of a case of this kind which 
happened at or near Pittsburg, Penn. In this essay Mr. 
Pomeroy also speaks of a race of hybrids or mules in 
Arabia Deserta that were said to breed. The author ex¬ 
presses doubts as to the truth of the statement, at the 
same time acknowledging the high authority for the same. 
The writer thought that instead of being hybrids, they 
were only a wild and peculiar race of asses little under¬ 
stood by the people.” 
Of course, no one will claim that there would be any 
practical value in breeding a new race of animals—half 
horse and half mule—supposing that such a thing were 
possible, if the colt shown in the picture is really the 
daughter of the mule, it is simply a “freak of nature,” only 
more remarkable than the “ Big Steers ” and the “ Triplet 
Calves.” An enterprising showman may be able to make 
money by exhibiting such animals to the curious, but their 
history proves nothing of practical value and presents no 
facts which breeders may hope to duplicate. 
A LISTENER’S NOTES. 
Snow in an Ice House.—L ast winter Mr. James Perkins 
wrote about an experiment tried in South Jersey of filling 
ice-houses with snow in the place of ice. In a recent letter 
Mr. Perkins says: “ I wrote to The Rural an account of 
an experiment made by a neighbor who filled his ice-house 
with snow, promising to watch the operation and report 
the results. The neighbor is a bottler of mineral waters. 
I went yesterday to inquire about the matter, and the 
owner informed me that the snow had kept in perfect con¬ 
dition, and that the supply was good for July at least. 
He tells me that the snow has answered his purpose as 
well as iee could have done, and he has used nothing else 
for cooling his mineral waters.” 
About Brazil. —I had a talk with a man just from 
Brazil last week. He is a naturalized Brazilian, an en¬ 
gineer, born in California. Since the forming of the Re¬ 
public it seems that many natives of this country have be¬ 
come naturalized citizens of Brazil. In these days when 
everybody is talking “ reciprocity ’’and “ foreign markets,” 
it is natural for one to inquire about trade prospects in 
South America. We hear a great many statements about 
what we ought to sell to Brazil, but nobody seems to know 
just what we can sell there. In talking with this Brazilian 
I was naturally anxious to learn about the chances of in¬ 
creasing our sales of farm products—flour, provisions and 
dairy goods. Regarding flour he said that the Swiss and 
Swedish colonies which have gone into the country 
(Brazil) have made a success of raising wheat. They have 
been raising it there for about five years, and now export 
their produce. They have sent flour to the Falkland 
Islands and Montevideo. They make the best bread in 
the country, the bread made by the native Brazilian being 
very poor. The colonies are very progressive and enter¬ 
prising, and are doing wonderfully well. Each member 
of a colony is allowed four hectares of ground, that is 
about, in English, acres, but the colony is a sort of co¬ 
operative institution; the colonists work together and 
divide the crops, each man getting his share. As far as 
the agricultural pursuits of the country are concerned, the 
people grow fruits of all kinds, and the ordinary crops of the 
country. Once in a while a man grows maize or yellow corn. 
Sooner or later the Brazilians will be able to supply them¬ 
selves with grain and flour. The probabilities are that be¬ 
fore many years Brazil will have corn for export. Parts 
of the empire are rich and flat and foreign immigrants 
seem to take naturally to grain growing. As for dairy 
products, cheese is in good demand and it is possible to 
build up a great trade in it. In order to secure this trade 
Americans must put up the cheese in the shape and size 
wanted by Brazilians. It will be many years before Brazil 
can hope to excel at dairy work. There are few if any dairy 
cattle there. The Brazilians do not care much for butter 
or grease. They eat little meat, as compared with English¬ 
men or Yankees. Fruits and vegetables form a diet better 
suited to the climate. In many families a sort of butter is 
made by putting cream iu a glass and adding a small piece 
of Swedish salt butter. Then with a stick or spoon the 
mass is twirled about until a substance resembling our 
butter is made. It is not safe to expect any very large in¬ 
crease in our butter shipments to Brazil—at least until we 
pack it differently—but there is a splendid chance to in¬ 
crease our shipments of cheese. There is a good demand 
for lean pork and bacon and for canned goods of high 
quality. Tomatoes are in great demand in Brazil, as only 
the small, pear-shaped variety is grown there. Canned 
tomatoes which sell here at 10 cents readily bring 30 
there. At present there is a great demand for all sorts 
of machinery. Since the last election there has been 
quite a little trouble with shipping goods out of the 
country. It is expected that at the next election the Re¬ 
public will be surely ratified when there will be no more 
trouble. Brazil is a great country for the negroes, who are 
intelligent and business-like. There is little prejudice 
against them on account of their color and many black 
men have acquired considerable wealth. In the matter of 
“ reciprocity,” it is safe to say that the Brazilians know 
how to drive a bargain They are not doing business with 
this country on sentiment at all. 
A KENTUCKY DAIRY. 
A home-made creamer; management of the milk, cream 
and. butler; securing steady customers; prices for 
butter; a profitable business. 
We did not intend to keep a dairy when we began with 
the Holsteins ; but the cows gave so much more milk than 
the calves could possibly manage that we were obliged to 
do something with it. So, by degrees, as we felt the need 
for them, the necessary conveniences were got together. 
Believing that by the deep setting of milk a larger propor¬ 
tion of cream is obtained, we purchased a Stoddard 
creamer, but made the mistake of not getting one large 
enough. It held only 30 gallons, so when a number of 
fresh cows came in the next spring some other arrange¬ 
ment had to be made, and after considerable discussion a 
plan was perfected, and with the assistance of the village 
carpenter and tin-man a $17 creamer was made, which 
answered the purpose admirably. It consists of a strong 
wooden box with a top made in two sections hinged to¬ 
gether in the center, the under side of the top, as well as 
the sides aud bottom of the box being lined with good 
zinc. The inside measurement of the box is 5 ]4 * eet * n 
length by two in width ; it is two feet deep aud stands one 
foot from the floor, and is sup¬ 
ported on stout wooden legs. 
This water-box holds 12 mov¬ 
able milk cans, made of the 
heaviest tin that could be pro¬ 
cured, each can holding five 
gallons, being 18 inches deep 
aud nine inches in diameter, 
with Iff iucli feet, so as to 
allow the water to pass under 
it. For convenience in hand¬ 
ling, the cans have ears one- 
third of the way down from 
the top, while the covers which 
fit closely down over the tops 
of the cans also have handles 
extending nearly across the 
tops. The water-box is filled 
with water driven through 50 
feet of hose by a baud pump 
placed over an 80-foot well, 
aud is emptied by attaching 
the hose to a faucet placed 
near the bottom. The temper¬ 
ature of tne water is 59 de¬ 
grees, and the box is filled as 
often as is necessary, some¬ 
times twice iu 24 hours. As 
the water in the box often 
comes up higher than the milk 
iu the cans, some arrangement 
was needed to keep the cans 
stationary, aud this was done 
by attaching to the inside of 
the box a wooden frame, the 
lower edge of winch is half an 
inch above the top of the milk 
cans, which are held station¬ 
ary by slipping over them 
wooden slats whose ends are 
caught beneath the lower edge 
of the wooden frame. These 
slats are very elastic and fit 
tightly under the frame and over the cans, so as to hold the 
milk cans as stationary as the box itself a very important 
consideration in cream-raising. 
Into one of these creamers tfce morning’s milk is strained, 
and into the other that brought in the evening, and after 
standing 24 hours the cream of one day’s milk is skimmed, 
gently stirred together aud set to ripen, the length of time 
required for this process being regulated by the tempera¬ 
ture, which, however, should not be much above or under 
70 degrees. As soon as the cream becomes slightly acid, 
aud thickens or presents a loppering appearance, it is 
churned, the temperature at this time being 60 degrees iu 
summer, and 64 degrees in winter, this dillerence being 
made to allow for the changes occasioned by the surround¬ 
ing atmosphere. A Davis swing churn is used, aud 
w r heu the butter globules are as large as shot, at which 
time the thermometer should register 63 or 64 degrees, the 
milk is drawn off from below, aud cold w’ater added until 
the water comes off clear. The butter is then weighed 
aud salted iu the proportion of three-fourths of an ounce 
to the pound, the salt being lightly worked iu without any 
attempt being made to extract all the water, and a small 
quantity of fine white sugar being added in the propor¬ 
tion of one tea-spoonful to the pound. The sugar seems 
to add a richness of flavor to the butter without impart¬ 
ing any sweetish taste, and those who have used it learn to 
be very fond of the additional seasoning. The butter is 
then kept in well-glazed earthenware crocks on ice until 
the next morning, when it is worked over to extract the 
water, and it should then be packed ready for shipping. 
We keep all butter closely covered with Elliot’s parchment 
paper, which is the nicest thing we have ever used for the 
purpose; it requires no preparation for using except to 
moisten it with water, and, when soiled, it may be washed 
and dried like doth. By carrying out this system of man 
- —: 
THE DAUGHTER OF A MULE. From a Photograph. Fig. 197. 
