1896 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
51 
fond—crumbs, meat bones, cheese rinds, sweet apples, 
corn, etc. Do this one week regularly so as to get 
them all to come. Then empty out the filling, and 
put in water, a little more than half full. Put on top 
of the water, some of the same filling taken out, to 
cover it, and bait with sweet apples, or pieces of corn 
on the oar, something that will float. The rats will 
jump in, but will stay and drown. If this be done 
when the water freezes, it will be a failure. In that 
case line the inside of the barrel with tin for 12 or 14 
inches at the top ; then leave in the dry chaff, but 
much lower than you would the water, so that they 
can not jump out. Old deep milk cans may be tised, 
and no water be used, only to drown them after they 
are caught, which is the best way to kill them. 
Susquehanna County, Pa. J. m. 
Virginia Winesap Appt.es. —I noticed in the report 
of the late New York Fruit Exhibition, the mention 
of the York Imperial apple. From all I can learn, I 
think this is a new name given to our. 
Piedmont Winesap, the best all-’round 
apple I know. In a market report men¬ 
tion is also made of Virginia Imperial as 
second in price to the York. It is also 
stated that the Yorks are selling better 
in London than the Pippins. If my guess 
is correct, the ‘‘Yorks” arc the best selec¬ 
tions from our reddest and largest Wine- 
sap, while the Virginia Imperials are not 
so finely colored or so large—in fact are 
Winesap seconds. And some sharp and 
cute apple dealer has changed the name 
for trade purposes. Until the Chicago 
Fair advertised our Winesaps, there was 
no great market for them. They are 
bound to lead all others for their ship¬ 
ping and keeping qualities, besides being 
the most beautiful in color, and, withal, 
having a fine spicy flavor. I keep them 
all winter in a dark granary. One 
winter they froze and thawed in the 
dark, without any injury, and I kept some of them 
till May. Another advantage they have is that bruises 
seldom cause rot. Our black mountain soil does 
better for the Pippins, while our red and iron-mixed 
soil beats the world for producing the Imperial Wine¬ 
sap. If I were to put out a new orchard of 1,000 trees, 
1 would use 950 Winesaps. As far as my observation 
goes, the best keeping Northern apples become here 
late fall. My Roxbury Russets mostly fell from the 
trees in September. c. M. E. 
Amherst, Va. 
What Colorado Potatoes Cost. —So much potato 
talk has gone through The R. N.-Y's columns, that 
we can no longer stand it, and herein is our story, if 
the truth is considered as such in the estimation of 
some of the Eastern potato growers. We planted, the 
past year, three acres of potatoes on new land, one 
acre each of World’s Fair, Maggie Murphy and R. 
N.-Y. No. 2, side by side. This ground was sage brush 
plowed or broken up the fall previous. Nine bushels 
of seed of the World’s Fair, were planted in hills on 
this acre, 12 bushels of Maggie Murphy in drills, and 
11 of the R. N.-Y. No. 2. All the above were dropped 
by hand, the first 15 inches apart in the row, the 
second 12 inches, and the third 14 inches, as near as 
they could be dropped that distance, and in rows 
three feet apart. The first or World’s Fair yielded 
425 bushels, the Maggie Murphy 400, the Ii. N.-Y. No. 
2 475—a total yield from the three acres of 1,300 
bushels. Here is the. cost of the three acres : 
Plowing land. $3 75 
Harrowing twice. 1 50 
Furrowing for seed. 75 
32 bushels seed. 12 80 
Cutting. 1 25 
Dropping. 1 50 
up over the nose. Let a man pull on the other end of 
the rope, and the steer’s head comes down in the 
notch, C, so tight that he can neither move nor bawl. 
13 is a small block fastened to the bottom part of the 
stanchion by a staple: P is a temporary bar set up 
while the steer is being put in the stanchion. When 
the horns are oil, take the bar, P, down, and dishorned 
steers pass out into another pen, and are thus kept 
separated. 8 . c. 
South Side, W. Va. 
HORSE SHOE FARM NOTES. 
CARE AND COST OF KEEPING A CHESHIRE. 
A neighbor who came in to spend the evening, 
said, “Isold eight pigs for §10 to-day; they were 
three months old. I shall fatten the dam and quit 
the business.” 
“ But,” said I, “ you got good interest on the money 
invested and for the feed consumed.” 
A GROUP OF CHESHIRE SWINE. Fig. 21 . 
“ Humph ! ” he snorted ; “ I have fed that worth of 
bran alone since last spring.” 
“ You must have a fine lot of manure, for you kept 
the sow in the pen. That’s worth a good deal.” 
“ No ! I threw it out into the small yard, and she 
rooted it into the ground. I guess there is nothing 
but mud there.” 
That is the style of the ordinary farmer, on nearly 
every farm. Hogs confined to a small pen and muddy 
yard, bare floor, no water to drink, and expensive 
food fed ; manure wasted, small litters of stunted, 
scrub stock, sold at a sacrifice. No wonder my neigh¬ 
bor was discouraged ; but should I tell him that he 
received more than such care deserved, the “fur 
would fly.” The fact is that swine receive the least 
care, and pay the best of any stock on the farm. The 
same lack of intelligent management in the care of 
cows, would ruin both owner and dairy. 
“ Why do you keep your hogs shut up ? ” I asked. 
“ The hog is a grazing animal, and should have vege¬ 
Covering. 80 75 
Harrowing twice. 1 50 
Cultivating three times.. 4 50 
Irrigating twice. 75 
Water tax. 1 50 
Harvesting. 11 00 
Total cost to grow 1,300 bushels of potatoes.841 55 
1,300 bushels at 20 cents. 200 00 
Net profit.8218 45 
Net profit per acre.$72 816 
No manure was used, and the figures above given in¬ 
clude wages paid (including board), at the rate of §1.50 
for team and feed a day (not man and team, merely 
team alone). To the above cost might be added §1 for 
wear and tear of tools, etc. hoover & moore. 
Garfield County, Col. 
How to Dishorn. —It seems to me that your corre¬ 
spondents, page 866 , tell the why of dishorning better 
than the how. Fig. 22 shows how I do it. It is 
a plain stanchion, set in the mouth of a chute three 
feet wide, built inside of a strong corral. The stanch¬ 
ion is built like any other, except the bar, P, which 
is nailed across about 20 or 24 inches from tfie ground. 
The one-half-inch rope,E, should be about 12 feet long, 
with a three-inch ring tied to the end of it. When 
the steer’s head is in place, the stanchion closed by 
means of the rope, D, and fastened by the pin at X, 
put the rope, E, over his neck back of the ears, bring¬ 
ing the ring down under his chin. Then take a bight 
of rope, poke it through the ring', and bring the loop 
table food every day in the year.” Yet men will 
laugh at me when I tell them that they will keep in 
good condition on grass alone during summer, or that 
they can be wintered on raw, flat turnips, or beets, 
with but little grain. Last summer, we kept on two 
acres of land, six mature Cheshires, from May 25 to 
August 15, without any other food except 400 pounds 
of wheat bran. For two weeks green oats and peas, 
and after that corn fodder, were added to the grass. 
They commenced farrowing in September, and re¬ 
ceived a little -milk, wheat bran and oil meal. We 
never had a stronger lot of pigs. Our old sows aver¬ 
aged 12, and those with first litter nine pigs each. As 
soon as the young pigs will notice anything, we 
sprinkle whole wheat where they can get it, and put 
milk in a low, narrow trough for them. They soon 
learn to eat, and do not require so much of the mother. 
She shrinks on her milk, and does not get so thin and 
run down as when compelled to furnish all food. By 
the time the pigs are 12 weeks old, she will take the 
male, though still givinga little milk, which serves to 
put the “ gloss” on the youngsters. 
Fig. 21 shows a litter of 12 pigs two days old, and 
the little mother, 10 months old, looking over the 
board, wondering what is to be done now. The gen¬ 
tleness of this breed is proverbial, and that with their 
ease-loving disposition, accounts for the possibility of 
keeping them so cheaply. They neither worry nor 
wander off any flesh. This little mother had eaten noth¬ 
ing but grass when the little fellows were farrowed, 
since service. The pigs were farrowed in the same 
field with the others seen in the picture, without 
molestation. When cold weather set in, all were put 
in pens. They are fed a quart of fine wheat bran or 
middlings mixed with cold water, and about one-half 
bushel of raw flat turnips each day. They are always 
in good breeding condition. 
This year, after re-sowing our seed three times, we 
gave it up as too late. Dry weather and grasshoppers 
robbed us of our cheapest food. Beets 
will be fed instead. One man writes, 
I “ Our pigs won’t eat turnips.” The rea- 
I son is that he fed them whole, and they 
hurt their mouths. They should always 
be cut up. He fed them to supplement a 
grain ration which was sufficient to sup¬ 
ply nourishment. A hog will eat what 
it likes best first, and squeal over what’s 
left. Make the vegetable food the bulk 
of the ration, and supplement with grain 
enough to furnish warmth. There is not 
much warmth in a turnip, and if the pig 
is kept in an open pen, fed in a trough 
frozen half full of dishwater, and sleeps 
on its wet, dirty bed which often freezes 
so hard that it does not thaw out again 
until spring, it will not thrive. No 
animal loves a warm, clean, dry bed, or 
will try so hard to obtain it, as the hog. 
If given free range of the farm for a few 
days, it will always select the biggest 
straw pile in the warmest spot that is dry. Little 
fellows three weeks old, will leave the dirty pen 
where the mother is confined, and sleep in the dry 
litter which is on the barn floor. Man has abused the 
hog so long that his children know no better, and be¬ 
lieve that the reputation given this animal is a fair 
one ; but his character is directly the opposite. 
Our hoghouse is ceiled inside on the sides and top, 
and stuffed with straw. The floor is tight. The 
manure seldom gets cold enough to freeze even 
slightly, and the pens are cleaned every second morn¬ 
ing. “ A good deal of care ?” Yes, but cheaper than 
the cost of added grain, loss of stock and reputation. 
With this comfort, the hogs are esthetical and inclined 
to be vegetarians. Thus far, we have never lost an 
animal by sickness, had pigs eaten by their mothers, 
or bothered to sit up with them at farrowing time. 
By the use of these methods and common sense, one 
can make money with any of the varieties of swine 
adapted to grazing. 
Nine of those shown in the picture were sold for 
§72 when 10 weeks old. Two will be fed beets, wheat 
middlings and a little oil meal, and we confidently 
expect that they will win the greatest honors at the 
fairs next fall. I say this to show that it is not a 
starvation method, and we believe it. I estimate the 
cost of keeping a brood sow to be, for food, 100 
bushels of turnips, §3 ; one-half ton of grain, §10 ; 
pasture and soiling, §3 ; total, §16. As I would be 
willing to care for the swine on a large scale for 
some one else for the manure, 1 make no charge for 
labor. As the “little mother” will raise another litter 
within a year, I claim that a good profit is proved. 
_ C. E. c. 
HOW THEY STUDY HORTICULTURE. 
SOME MYSTERIES OF PLANT LIFE REVIEWED. 
Writers in horticultural papers often deplore the 
fact that schools are not provided for the study of the 
scientific facts, the knowledge of which is so neces¬ 
sary for success in horticultural work. If they are 
referred to the agricultural colleges, wherein many 
a systematic course of instruction is given, they 
immediately decry them as theoretical, impractical, 
book-farming institutions. 
For nearly three years I have been in a position to 
note closely the work in the “ Short Course in Agri¬ 
culture” in the Wisconsin Agricultural College, par¬ 
ticularly the work in “ Plant Life.” The course em¬ 
braces dairying, stock feeding and breeding, agricul¬ 
tural chemistry, etc., in addition to the study of 
plants, 'l’wo hours each working day are spent in 
Horticultural Hall, built and fitted especially for this 
work as well as for experimental work. After one 
hour spent in the lecture room, where the students 
are taught the principles of plant life by Prof. Goff, 
they don their working jackets, and tile into the 
laboratory, where, seated at tables, plentifully sup¬ 
plied with all necessary apparatus, they carry qu work' 
