Vol. LXV. No. 2950. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 11, 1906. 
WEEKLY. $1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE OX TEAM STILL ON DECK . 
A Useful Farm Partner . 
Our pictures, Figs. 252 and 253, show some Con¬ 
necticut boys who arc starting early to train their 
Devon steers. Every now and then some one writes a 
solemn article to prove that the ox has had his 
day as a farm team—but he hasn’t. Go to the town 
fairs at such places as Lyme and Hamburg in Con¬ 
necticut, or to the larger Danbury fair, and you 
will see long strings of beautiful red cattle yoked 
and trained ready for work. These cattle find 
ready sale at good prices—quite equal to average 
prices for work horses. True, they arc slow, and 
yet a yoke of active Devons will travel at a pace 
that would surprise one who had never worked 
with them. Let a stranger try to drive such a 
team and he will soon find out. On rough and 
stony ground their work, though slow, is surer 
than that of horses and after their work is done 
they can be fattened into very fair beef. You will 
not find in ordinary .farm life anything closer to 
the plan of “eating your cake and having it’’ than 
this practice of doing the farm work with a yoke 
of oxen and then selling the workers for beef. 
Some of these Devon oxen show an intelligence 
that is surprising. It would seem sometimes as if 
animals have a way of communicating without 
audible sound. We see horses or cattle at pasture 
or in the barn together evidently making their 
wants known, though no sound is made. There 
seems to be something of this thought or brain 
communication between a good driver and a well- 
trained yoke of cattle, for the latter seem to under¬ 
stand what he wants them to do. This is largely due 
to the training, which should begin early with the 
steers. It is hard to think of anything that will give a 
boy greater self-control than the mastery of a pair of 
lively calves. We are not advising all farmers to do 
their farm work with cattle, though there 
are a good many farms whose owners despise 
oxen, where a good yoke of oxen would 
pay well. We would like to have such a 
yoke on our own rough hills. Of late years 
there has been a great demand for the spe¬ 
cial purpose cow, yet many good farmers 
have insisted that the “dual-purpose cow,” 
or the one which will provide both milk and 
meat, is most profitable. A good argument 
for this class of cattle was made by L. P. 
Sisson, of the Ohio Live Stock Association. 
We quote what he says about Devon cattle: 
“As one writer puts it: ‘We do not be¬ 
lieve there is a domestic animal to-day, as 
conditions now exist, in more universal de¬ 
mand the world over than the dual-purpose 
cow. No farm, East or West, but is bene¬ 
fited by her most useful combination, un¬ 
less we except the exclusive special purpose 
dairy farm. The strength of her claim is 
the universality of her sphere. Perhaps her 
most natural home is on the small farm or 
the average farm. Her annual credit ac¬ 
count is a good supply of milk and butter 
for the family and a lusty, vigorous calf, that 
matures into a high-class carcass of beef. 
In this capacity she turns to the very best 
account.’ I take the position, then, that 
cattle are kept mainly, not only for one, or 
even two, but at least three purposes; name¬ 
ly, milk, beef and work. In this part of the 
country this latter purpose has been so little 
in evidence that we have almost forgotten it, and need 
to be reminded how profitable our forefathers found 
it to have oxen growing into good meat while they 
were doing the work. This instead of shoveling oats, 
hay, corn, etc., into the frames of horses and mules, 
which eat them all and then lie down to die a dead 
loss. I know much may be said about ‘slowness’ in 
these fast times, but much, too, may be said for patience 
and endurance, as well as for speed. Well, we all 
know a good Devon ox team will keep a pair of horses 
hitched before them, moving pretty lively to keep out 
A QUARTETTE OF RED BEAUTIES. Fig. 252 . 
of their way, and so I have spoken first of this purpose, 
not that it is the most important, but that it is so im¬ 
portant that we ought not to lose sight of it. We have 
no quarrel with the specialized dairy breeds. They 
have their place. But are all farmers so situated as 
BEGINNING THE WORK OF LIFE EARLY. Fig. 253 . 
to follow this special calling? We say No with a big 
N. As before noted, the small or average farmer is the 
man who is so situated that the double revenue from 
beef and milk fills better his purse than single produc¬ 
tion in either line. There are breeds of cattle that fill 
this line. Breeds that are good at the pail and also for 
beef. Breeds that will raise steer calves equal to the 
special beef breed.” 
CHEMICALS AND CLOVER” AGAIN . 
In considering the crops best adapted to a Henrico Co., Vir¬ 
ginia farm (a very sandy loam) I remembered the 
little book “Chemicals and Clover.” On looking it over 
I find that this place fulfills all the conditions you 
speak of as being necessary to success. Do you still 
think as well of this system as when you wrote in 
1892? The main potato crop is planted here in July, 
by which time the corn cultivation is largely out of 
the way. Then, too, one could use Crimson clover in 
the corn in addition to the regular years in grass. I 
think I shall try the plan in a very small way, and 
see what there may be in it, as I would like to be 
free from the necessity of making and hauling manure, 
though I expect to get around this in large measure 
by the use of cow peas, Crimson clover, and acid 
phosphate. u. \v. b. 
Richmond, Va. 
The first chapters of “Chemicals and Clover” 
were written 18 years ago. Older readers know that 
under this title were given studies of the farming 
conducted by DC C. Lewis, of Cranbury, New 
Jersey. On a 90-acre farm, of naturally good soil, 
Mr Lewis conducts a five-year rotation. Starting 
with corn on sod, he follows with potatoes, using 
1,200 pounds or more of high-grade fertilizer per 
acre. The potatoes are usually early varieties, and 
are dug in time for seeding to grain and grass. 
Wheat or rye is sown, and Timothy seed sown at 
the same time. In the Spring clover is sown on 
the grain. The grass following the grain is cut 
two years, after which the sod is plowed for corn 
and the rotation followed again. Since we first 
began to study this method of farming we have followed 
four rounds of the rotation through. There have been 
some changes, but the principle remains the same—large 
quantities of fertilizer used on the potato crop, all the 
manure crowded upon the corn crop, and humus or 
vegetable matter provided by stubble and 
wastes. The most important change in Mr. 
Lewis’ system of farming is the better use 
of the cornstalks for cow feeding and the 
growth of Alfalfa. When I first visited the 
farm the dry cornstalks were regarded more 
or less as a nuisance A few cows were kept, 
but large quantities of the stalks were merely 
thrown into the barnyard to be trampled by 
cattle and rotted down as manure. While 
this saved the plant food in the stalks, the 
feeding value was lost, and as competition 
in farming grew closer Mr. Lewis saw that 
these wastes must be saved. So a silo was 
built and a part of the corn cut into it. The 
dry stalks, after husking, are cut or shredded 
and fed to a small herd of dairy cows—the 
milk being sent to the local creamery. A 
few acres have also been seeded to Alfalfa, 
and each year some space is given to oats 
and peas, which are fed green to the cows. 
This is all along the line of saving wastes 
at home in order that more hay and grain 
may be sold. There is a gain in plant food 
to the farm in the grain that is bought to 
feed with the silage and stalks—also in what 
is gained through growing Alfalfa. There 
is more manure and of better quality since 
the stalks are now cut, whereas formerly 
they were disposed of entirely. In spite of 
these changes this method of farming can 
still be called “Chemicals and Clover,” and 
chemical fertilizers are now, as they have 
been, the mainstay of the farm. Are they still profit¬ 
able? During the past 20 years over $55,000 worth of 
potatoes, hay, grain, and milk have been sold from this 
farm. The last year closed April 1, 1906, and covered 
the following sales: 17 acres of corn, $402; 36 acres 
