i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
6oi 
Hereford bulls are used. While I am not a partisan of any 
particular breed, it would be folly to deny that the most 
successful animal is the Hereford. His strong constitution 
and thick coat, together with his rustling qualities, prove 
him admirably adapted for the ‘Wild West.’ Stockmen 
have a decided preference for his color. The Herefords 
have on the range proved, without the shadow of a doubt, 
that they transmit their color better than any other 
breed in the world. Again, next to the Texas cow the 
Hereford comes as the best ‘ rustler ’ on the range. This is 
clearly demonstrated in the * pulling of bogs’ in the 
spring, when nine out of 10 of the cows prove to be of the 
above breed. 
What class of animals is in the greatest demand depends 
somewhat on the district they aie going to. Cattle from 
the States sent to Texas below the fever line, must be 
there in the fall or early winter so as to be acclimated be¬ 
fore the malign influences surrounding them become oper¬ 
ative. The animal for that district—Southern Texas—is 
generally a year-old. Beasts of this age are preferred be¬ 
cause so many of them die before the first summer, and, of 
course, it is a smaller loss to lose a one than a two year-old. 
In the more northern range districts the stockmen prefer 
strong yearlings or animals 18 months old. Owing to the 
great depression in the cattle business since 1886, the proper 
supply of new blood in bulls has been frightfully neglected 
and the result is flagrantly showing itself now. The cattle 
companies of the West, without an exception, are showing 
a steadily deteriorating line of stock, and while this falling 
off is accounted for in 100 different ways by 100 different 
stockmen, there is one influential cause which they are 
mostly ashamed to mention, viz., a sad lack of a sufficient 
number of purebred bulls. On the range a bull after he 
has seen six summers, ought to appear on the Kansas City 
market. Any one who wishes to make range bulls a 
specialty ought to throw aside his private likes and dislikes 
SOME MARYLAND FARM NOTES. 
Rapid Cream Raising.— The scarcity of ice this year 
has caused a great deal of trouble and loss in the dairy, and 
it seemed at one time as if we were going to pay pretty 
dearly for doing without ice—there was no question that 
we should pay pretty dearly if we bought ice—but “neces¬ 
sity is the mother of invention,” and after our little store 
of ice and snow had given out on July 4, the problem was 
how to cause the cream to rise between milkings with 
water alone. It could be done readily enough in 24 hours: 
but my Occident creamery hadn’t sufficient capacity to 
allow the milk to stand so long. We filled the cans, there¬ 
fore, about half-full of milk, and then filled them to the 
brim with well-water. That solved the problem ; for all 
the cream rises between milkings, and we get more cream 
than when we used ice and snow economically. The cream 
is ripened in the empty ice-house and the butter is kept in 
the well. From some experiments related at the dairy 
conferences in New-York State, I learn that by putting an 
equal weight of well-water with the milk, all the cream 
rises in two hours. Thus the ice famine has taught us 
something new in dairying, and it is worthy of note that 
dairymen have obtained no practical help from the experi¬ 
ment stations in this matter. 
A Useful Tool. —I have a very handy tool in the shape 
of a common garden hoe, with a handle about two feet 
long. The blade is ground sharp, with the bevel all on the 
under side, and with this tool I can cut weeds and briars 
in places where the scythe cannot be used. It is 
astonishing how rapidly the work can be done provided 
the man at the end of the hoe handle does not have to 
stop to think where he will strike the next blow. I can 
cut off weeds of any size by bending them over a little 
with one hand and using the hoe with the other. The 
shank of the tool should be bent sidewise a little, so that a 
to the trough and drink all they want, and every man on 
the farm drinks as much cold well-water as he wants 
also, and this has been the custom on this farm ever since 
I was a boy. No bad results have followed. 
I also agree with Professor Wing that a horse should not- 
work all day and then work all night for his board. The 
man who feeds his horses in that way should get his own 
supper by pounding up enough corn, a grain at a time, to 
make meal for his corn-bread, and then be compelled to 
light the fire to bake it by rubbing two sticks of wood to¬ 
gether. A. L. CROSBY. 
TENANT FARMERS IN ILLINOIS. 
FRED GRUNDY. 
“In fifty years from now will the majority of the farm¬ 
ers in this State be owners or renters ?” fl'his was the nut 
given me to crack by a friend a few years ago. It is still 
uncracked. But the question is a serious one, and seems 
likely to overtop most others in a few years. Many lead¬ 
ing newspapers and prominent politicians have long been 
bubbling over with sympathy for the tenantry of Ireland, 
while for the tenantry of Illinois they have not a word to 
say, though the condition of the latter is little better than 
that of the former. Over 20 years ago an old farmer and 
politician who was chatting with me about the farms and 
farmers of the world, made one remark that has often re¬ 
curred to me since. It was this: “ The tendency of Europe 
is to division ; in this country to aggregation. In a com¬ 
paratively few years the European farmer will own his 
farm and the American farmer will be a renter. Eventu¬ 
ally the American farmer will take matters into his own 
hands, and there will be such an overturning of things as 
the country has never seen, and then he also will own the 
land he tills.” What do you think of it ? I sometimes 
wonder whether we are not now on the ragged edge of this 
COW-BOY LIFE: MAKING PIES. Fig. 254. 
COW-BOYS AT DINNER: THE GRUB WAGON. Fig. 255. 
and adopt what has proved to the mind of the range cow-man 
the best bull to cross with in that country. Several of the 
largest cattle companies in the West, such as the Prairie 
Cattle Company, and Maxwell, Grant & Reynolds of Texas, 
are confining their purchases purely to the Hereford 
breed. These companies have been in the van in the im¬ 
portation of the very finest class of purebred stock. The 
steers belonging to the former companies, after they have 
been fed in Kansas a winter, usually briug prices equal to 
the best natives. Whenever any bunch of cattle sell at the 
top prices or more, the report generally runs : “ These were 
Herefords.’ 
The future of the range business is very problematical, 
but it may be safely said that a large portion of the 
country devoted to the business now, will for generations 
be used in much the same manner as it is at present. Of 
course, there may be many differences and improvements 
in the manner of handling stock; but a stock country it 
will always remain. The only mode of growing crops 
there is by means of irrigation, and this is sure to increase 
largely and bring about a transformation in the handling 
of stock. Pastures will be fenced in whenever practicable 
and many cattle will be fed and saved. The main draw¬ 
back to the range country proper is the present absurd 
United States land law. If our legal authorities would 
take a leaf out of the Texas law book, and rent the grass 
every year, leaving to the settler the right to enter at any 
time, the stockman would have some security for his 
capital and could arrange properly how to run his bus¬ 
iness. The calf-branding in Colorado, New Mexico and 
the Panhandle is at least 50 per cent, less than it was four 
years ago, and the falling off is only beginning to show it¬ 
self in the number of steers that come to market now. 
Had the corn crop been good in the States, the prospect for 
feeding range steers such as they raise in the above dis¬ 
trict, would have been good; but of course little or no 
stock can be fed this season.” 
square cut can be made without bringing the hoe too near 
the foot, and a draw cut can be made if necessary. 
Unorthodox Hen Care.— “ Don’t feed your hens on 
corn, as it will make them too fat to lay.” That is cheap 
advice, but cheap things are not always the best. My 100 
hens have had nothing but corn since February 28, except 
two bushels of oats in March, and they have laid 5,714 
eggs, an average of three dozen a day. They have averaged 
nine quarts of corn a day, but this covers all that the 
chickens raised (70) would eat from the time they were big 
enough to swallow it. The hens were allowed all the 
skimmed milk they wanted, and in cold weather had some 
pork cracklings. They were confined in their yards all the 
time. A yield of 36 eggs a day from a steady diet of corn 
does not look as if corn made the hens too fat to lay. The 
corn is fed in self-feeding boxes, and the hens have noth¬ 
ing to do but loaf around and eat. “Hens must have ex¬ 
ercise ; throw the grain in the straw, or bury it so that 
they will have to scratch for a living.” I might have got 
more eggs if I had followed this advice. I did try it for 
a while, but I thought it cost more work for me than it 
did the hens good, and when I put in the self-feeders the 
egg yield did not decrease at all. 
The directions usually given for the care of laying hens 
are enough to discourage any one from trying to keep 
them. My eggs last year cost seven and a half cents a 
dozen for feed. This includes the feed for 100 chickens 
raised, and the average price received for the eggs sold was 
19 cents per dozen, showing a fair profit. This year I ex¬ 
pect the result will be much better, as the feed will not 
cost so much. 
Let the Horses Drink.—I was glad to see Mr. Daven¬ 
port’s remarks in The Rural about giving the horses 
water while they were warm. It has always been my 
custom to give the horses all the cold water they wanted 
to drink when they came from their work. I don’t care 
how hot the weather is, or how hot the horses are, they go 
overturning—this revolution. When a large class of people 
become restive under hard conditions imposed upon them 
by the few, an explosion is inevitable. The great West 
has thus far acted as a safety valve; but that is nearly 
closed, and it is very evident that something must happen 
ere long. 
As to the condition of the average tenant: I interviewed 
him numerously 10 years ago (in taking the census) 
when crops were large, prices very good and he was pros 
perous. Then he was contented. He had no grievances; 
he didn’t feel that he was being imposed upon, and his 
smile was bland. I interviewed him again this year—and 
in our little township he numbers upwards of 70—and I 
found him on the verge of bankruptcy, dispirited, sullen, 
morose, and overflowing with gall. He is ill clad, and so 
are his wife and children. He is living on the plainest of 
fare. His crops have been poor, and, owing partly to the 
drought, they aie nearly a failure this year. His rent bas 
not been decreased a cent, and it is demanded of him as 
promptly as ever. He knows that his landlord is largely 
responsible for his poor crops, because in order to raise the 
annual rent-tax levied upon him he has been compelled to 
grow corn, wheat and oats continually year after year 
until the land is almost exhausted ; and though he digs 
and delves harder and harder, he finds his crops growing 
smaller, himself poorer, and his prospects less and less 
bright as the years go by. Wherein lies his remedy ? 
Just over the way lies one of these farms. The owner 
lives elsewhere, and the tenant pays him one-third of the 
crop delivered in town and $1 cash per acre for the use of 
the land. It has been cropped and cropped year after year 
without fertilizers and without rest until the great abun¬ 
dance of its fertility is almost gone. There are hundreds 
of farms in all parts of the State in a similar condition. 
The owners live in other parts of the country and all they 
care for is the annual rent. I know an old man who has 
lived on a 160 acre farm 11 years. He pays a heavy reutal 
