55o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
AUG. 23 
far the larger part of our farmers were unable to meet 
such fierce competition, and gradually drew out of the 
conflict, leaving the field to their successful competitors. 
Some few men, however, still kept on feeding, and while 
some have fed at a loss a few others have made money 
nearly every year. T presume there are those who say that 
it cannot be done at a profit, but our experience proves 
that it can. The ranchmen of the plains, or the corn 
growers of the Middle West, can certainly produce a 
thousand pounds of beef cheaper than we, and in this they 
have an advantage over us, but before this beef reaches 
the local butcher it must pay toll to the railroads on its 
way to Chicago; the commission and refrigerator men 
get a profit and the railroads that handle the dressed-meat 
on its way east must also be paid well, so that the profit 
of the meat kings and transportation companies is all the 
profit that there is in the Western cattle business to-day. 
We raise our own steers, fat them on home-grown fodder, 
and then sell them directly to local butchers, thereby avoid¬ 
ing all commissions and transportation charges. In this 
we have a decided advantage over our Western friends. 
To make cattle feeding profitable in Western New York 
we must begin right. One might just as well expect 
to make money in feeding little Spanish Merino 
sheep as to think of using Jersey, Ayrshire, Alderney or 
scrub steers, as a basis on which to build a good salable 
carcass. Grade Durham cows coupled with pure-bred 
Short-horn bulls give us stocky calves: strong, large-boned, 
with a long straight back, and possessing that great desid¬ 
eratum the power of taking on fat rapidly. If the calf is 
a first one it is allowed to run with its dam several months 
usually, provided the heifer is not a large milker. If from a 
good milking cow, it is weaned in a few days, and fed new 
milk for a short time, afterward skimmed milk. As soon 
as possible we turn the calves in the fields, where they can 
find plenty of young, succulent clover, just the food they 
need. In the winter they are kept in warm stables, and 
have access to water at all times. On very mild days they 
are turned out in the yards to exercise a few hours. We 
give them all the hay they will eat and corn-meal and 
bran, or corn-meal and ground oats twice a day. The fol¬ 
lowing summer they are at pasture—I mean good pasture 
—and by winter they are in good condition. Some farmers 
seem to thi nk that any kind of poor pasture is good enough 
for yearling steers: on the contrary, growing animals re¬ 
quire the best pasture on the farm. When we put the 
steers in the yards we do it with the determination of making 
them do their best on as cheap food as is practicable. 
Our stables are warm, well lighted and well ventilated. 
In the early winter we feed corn stalks morning and night 
with straw in the yards during the few warm noon hours 
when the steers are turned out to water. Until last year 
we had fed corn meal and bran in connection with the 
coarse foods mentioned above, but last winter we began 
feeding ear corn broken into small bits, and were so well 
pleased with the results that we had a great deal of ear 
corn ground. This corn-and-cob meal has proven itself a 
very desirable grain ration for steers, and in the future we 
shall use a great deal of it. It makes beef as fast as corn- 
meal and bran, at a lesser cost. About mid-winter our 
stalks are usually gone, and then we feed hay instead. 
Timothy and clover mixed half and half, cut green and 
cured quickly, is decidedly the hay for cattle. Our grain 
ration is now gradually increased until the animals have 
all they can thoroughly assimilate, and by the last of 
April our steers are ready for market. As a rule, we sell 
stock when it is fat. It does not pay to hold animals over 
week after week just because one wants a little more a 
pound. You probably know when you have been offered 
all your stock is worth, if it has been properly fattened. 
The above is a description of an old-fashioned manuer of 
feeding cattle. Some purely scientific farmer may claim 
that the rations given are very faulty, but no one can dis¬ 
pute the fact that steers fed as we feed them are profitable, 
because we have demonstrated year after year that cattle¬ 
raising in conjunction with general farming pays well 
with us. The cattle business has not looked at all encour¬ 
aging for some years, but now there are indications that 
point towards its revival, and I should not be surprised to 
see large numbers of cattle raised and fed in New York 
again in the course of a few years. Higher prices for beef 
and 10-cent butter must have their effect. 
Lima, N. Y. edward f. dibble. 
A WOMAN’S FARMING. 
NO. VII. 
Let no one suppose that I was so much occupied with my 
stock and crop raising that I neglected the dairy or poultry 
departments. Indeed, both of these were by far too profit¬ 
able to be overlooked. Although winter dairying paid 
best, I had to do a certain amount in summer. At this 
period firkin butter was in better demand than at the 
present day. The commission business favored the pro¬ 
ducer at that time. The middleman did not swallow up 
all the profits, as has since become the case, not that there 
were then more honest men in the business, but old, tried, 
trusted commission dealers have learned the trick of 
pocketing the producer’s profits to so great an extent that 
farmers have had to build up a home market, and make a 
local trade for themselves wherever an opportunity that 
gives better returns has occurred. This could be done to a 
certain extent where the locality attracted summer 
boarders and capitalists, who employed a staff of workmen 
that required board in the vicinity. While I was operating 
in the butter business I got good prices, although I did my 
marketing through the medium of one or two commission 
dealers. I often received during the early summer and 
spring months 38 and 40 cents per pound for the butter, 
and 25 and 30 cents for fresh eggs by the case. At that 
time freights and commissions had not advanced to the 
point they have reached nowadays. Everything appears 
to have turned against the thrift of the farmer. All kinds 
of produce are low, and the comparative value of the 
things he must purchase is not fully counterbalanced ; 
still if expenditures are limited in accordance with the in¬ 
come, farming will yet pay. The old cry that farming 
does not pay has become too much of a hobby. It has be¬ 
come too much the custom to accept the decision second¬ 
hand. 
Although my butter was pronounced by good judges to 
be equal to the 50-cent Jersey product, I could not 
command that figure, and was content to make up in 
quantity what I lacked in fancy prices. During the heat 
of summer I packed the butter in 50-pound, tin-jacket 
pails, and marketed it as soon as the weather would ad¬ 
mit—in September and October as cool spells set in. The 
crisp weather brought good prices. It will be recollected 
that the majority of my herd was of the Jersey type, either 
full-blooded or high grades, and it is better to market their 
butter when fresh, in order to obtain the full nutty flavor 
so much desired, and which the product of Jersey cows 
preserves to a greater extent than that of the common or 
mongrel cow. There is a particular firmness and solidity 
in the product of the island cows that I have never found 
in any other. When properly prepared, it becomes the best 
of butter for keeping qualities. I have packed thousands 
of pounds for customers, who have preserved the same for 
nearly a year in good table condition. In summer I 
always kept my milk in the cellar and strained it in 
shallow vessels. All of it was skimmed while sweet and 
the cream was allowed to ripen properly before it was 
churned, that is, It was permitted to become thoroughly 
acid and thick. If allowed to become too sour, much of 
the richness is consumed by the whey that separates at 
the bottom of the vessel and eats up the butter, hence there 
is a loss both in quantity and quality, which many house¬ 
wives and dairymen overlook. Milk and butter will not 
bear neglect at any season without suffering decay. In 
the heat of summer I set the pans containing the milk 
on the cellar bottom that their contents might cool 
quickly. The cellar was damp and consequently 
the temperature rarely rose above 60 degrees. There 
were windows opposite each other on the east and 
west, that admitted currents of air, passing in and 
out and removing all the animal heat and odors as they 
rose, and they were thrown off from the cooling milk be¬ 
fore they formed a vapor and settled. These windows were 
shaded from the heat of the sun during the day when 
the outside atmosphere was higher than the inner, and 
thrown open at night if cool enough to warrant doing so. 
All of the churning was done in a swing churn destitute 
of paddles or dashers, and in the same temperature in 
which the cream was raised. As soon as the butter had 
formed in grains as large as a kernel of wheat, the motion 
was stopped; the butter was rinsed down with cold water 
and taken up. In this state it came up dry and free from 
butter-milk. I never washed my butter, but took it from 
the churn with my hands, collecting it in balls, being care¬ 
ful to handle it as little as possible to avoid making it 
greasy. I stacked it up in the working tray, forming a pyr¬ 
amid from which the butter-milk slowly dripped. In this 
state the butter requires but little working ; it was solid 
and firm. After it had all been taken up, with the ladle, I 
spread it around the tray and sprinkled on a sufficient quan¬ 
tity of salt—say about two or three ounces to the pound. 
It is better to do the salting at once and apply a sufficient 
quantity, as much passes off with the butter-milk, and the 
first salting is always the best. A second salting worked 
in, breaks the grain of the butter which should never be 
done. Instead of mashing I chop the salt through tne 
butter and let it stand to dissolve while I empty and wash 
the churn. 
The dairy utensils must be kept immaculately sweet and 
clean in order to have first-class butter. I always made it 
a rule to wash and scald the churn as soon as through churn¬ 
ing. I emptied and took it outside to wash, leaving it to be¬ 
come thoroughly dry from the scalding. Then I turned the 
butter over, chopping it through and drained off all the 
butter-milk, gently pressing with the ladle. After this I 
spread it all out on the tray once more, and sprinkled over 
it as much powdered saltpeter as could be taken on a 10- 
cent piece for a churning of 10 pounds and folded up, all 
chopped through. Then it was done. The saltpeter re¬ 
moves all the superfluous butter-milk, which comes out in 
the pressure of packing, hardens the butter and preserves 
the flavor, at the same time rendering the keeping 
qualities more perfect. A great deal of the success lies 
in the churning, the motion and proper temperature. 
Certain rules must, however, be observed throughout 
from the drawing of the milk from the udder until it is 
packed into the butter pot. c. B. 
14/omans IVork. 
OUR COOKS. 
HERE is no topic of greater interest to a woman ttian 
her neighbors’ cooks, and as we have fallen upon 
rather a novel and effective method of dealing with ours, 
the outcome naturally of the exigencies of our surround¬ 
ings, I think perhaps an account of our policy may prove 
helpful to others placed in somewhat the same situation. 
We live in Southern Kentucky, in a rich agricultural 
district, where the only dependence for domestic help is 
the negro. Now, negroes make the best house servants in 
the world when they have a mind to work, but unfortu¬ 
nately they do not continue in that way of thinking very 
long at a time. Only the direst necessity, as unpleasant 
family relations or the absence of any place they can call 
home, will compel the women to go out to work, and then 
it is for a short time only, until they can make a little 
money to buy clothes. As our family is large, we need 
two competent girls for cooking, dining-room service and 
chamber work, the milking and laundry departments 
being otherwise provided for; but in order to keep two 
girls with us all the time we are obliged to hire four. The 
two most efficient being engaged by the year, with the 
proviso that if they get sick, wish to go away on a visit, or 
to stop and rest awhile, we will let them off and call in the 
other two, who, however, are at liberty to work elsewhere 
whenever they choose, but not being of a particularly in¬ 
dustrious disposition they seem amply content with what 
employment we are able to give them, of course receiving 
wages only during the time they are actually employed. 
So far this has proved an excellent arrangement. When¬ 
ever we find one of the girls becoming disaffected, which 
is shown by a neglect of her work and an indifference as to 
whether it gives satisfaction or not, we ask if she would 
not like to stop and rest awhile, making her feel perfectly 
free to do so. If she has grown tired of regular work, she 
usually says she is sick. Negroes, as a rule, are very proud 
of invalidism, and boast of their incurable diseases with as 
much pride as we do of our good health. 
This plan we find much preferable to the old way of let¬ 
ting them go on doing their work worse and worse, until 
finally our patience is worn threadbare and we are obliged 
to dismiss them, when the girls go away with such un 
pleasant thoughts associated with the place that they 
never wish to return. But if checked in time, before they 
“ wear out,” they are pretty sure to return after a week or 
two, as glad to see us all and as pleased to get back as a 
child after a visit. This interval also gives them a chance 
to spend their earnings, and to see a little hard living 
among the negroes who will not work. For although most 
of the young and middle-aged negroes in this section have 
acquired some education, yet they are very slow to learn 
the value of money. They are a simple-minded, trusting 
people, and when one does get a little money ahead he gen¬ 
erally lends it to others who are too lazy to work, and that 
is the last he ever sees of it. Perhaps this is the reason 
why they set so little value upon money, knowing that it 
seldom brings them anything beyond the mere necessaries 
of life—food and clothing. High wages are no induce¬ 
ment to them when necessarily accompanied by regular 
and efficient service; they much prefer moderate pay, 
moderate work, and plenty of time to do it in. Negroes 
are decidedly averse to rising early ; they hate cold weather; 
they enjoy having an abundance of good things to eat, and 
at night, after their work is done, they love to gather 
around a big wood fire and be sociable together. We allow 
our girls one afternoon in the week, and usually the whole 
of Sunday after the morning’s work is finished, our Sun¬ 
day dinner being cooked on Saturday or on Sunday morn¬ 
ing, when part of it is left in a warm oven, tea, of course, 
being always cold. We have always discouraged visiting 
on Sunday, or entertaining company, as much as possible, 
as they necessarily entail extra work on both the house¬ 
keeper and the servants. 
As our colored friends have little entertainment of an 
intellectual nature, their highest enjoyment consists in 
meeting each other, so if there happens to be a gathering 
of the clans anywhere within reach, as a picnic, a big 
meeting, or a funeral—which seems to possess a strange 
sort of fascination for them—we always try and let them 
go. It will not do to let them think their services are in¬ 
dispensable, else they will want to break away entirely. 
We find that the best way to keep them is to hold the reins 
of discipline rather slack—-to be gentle yet firm. In fact, 
they must be managed pretty much as though they were 
children; if found fault with and systematically dis¬ 
approved of, they want to get out of our sight right away; 
to make them happy, they must be treated with uniform 
kindness and consideration, and when we get hold of one 
who cannot stand this we get rid of that one as soon as 
possible. Praise is a much more powerful incentive to 
good behavior than the fear of incurring displeasure, and 
while they will not bear any sort of responsibility, yet they 
will willingly perform the most menial services provided 
the mibtress directs exactly how it shall be done, and in¬ 
stead of objecting to supervision, there is nothing they like 
better, being, in fact, prone to consider that unless the 
work is worth your personal attention it is scarcely worth 
doing at all. We employ only the better class of negroes 
in our household, and, as a rule, find them perfectly 
honest. All day long the door of the store-room stands un¬ 
locked, where the barrel of white sugar, the molasses, 
meal, flour, and other provisions are kept. Our influence 
over them is always exerted to improve their system of 
morality, and those who desire to carry their education 
further are carefully taught by some member of the 
family,Awhile books and magazines are willingly loaned to 
the few who have learned to read well enough to enjoy 
them. In sickness we have no better friends than the 
negroes, who make the kindest and tenderest of nurses, 
possessing, as they do, an instinctive knowledge of what 
attentions will be most acceptable. No people in the world 
have a more delicate sense of the principles of true polite¬ 
ness, or evince a greater repugnance to wounding another’s 
feelings. HORTENSE DUDLEY. 
$Us5rcUnncous> 
In writing to advertisers, please mention Tiie R. N.-Y. 
When liaoy was tick, we gave her Caatorla, 
W hen ahe waa a Child, she cried for Caatorla. 
>V hen she became Allas, ahe clung to Caatorla, 
When ahe had Children, ahe gave them Caatorla. 
