669 
October 30. 
WHAT DOES IT COST ? 
For the past year, quite a number of 
persons have been giving, in The R. 
N.-Y., their ideas and methods of com¬ 
puting the cost of a quart of milk. 
Farmers, in general, I find, think it a 
very difficult problem to carry on the 
business of farming with the same fi¬ 
nancial precision that is used along 
other lines. Many times, it looks as if 
they are actually afraid to face the fig¬ 
ures. We hear it said, “We do well if 
we make a living.” They never take in¬ 
to account their own labor or that of 
any member of their family, allowing 
for each a reasonable salary. This is 
not the case with the large dairy farms 
like Briarcliff or Fairfield Dairy. They 
look for a profit after all expenses arc 
paid. Why should not ordinary farmers 
figure to that end also? A successful 
farmer, not now living, had a method 
of keeping his accounts, which I am in¬ 
formed is used now by a few farmers. 
It seems practical and simple enough for 
all to follow. His fields were all named 
or numbered. All the labor on each 
field, seed, cost of harvesting, expenses 
of every kind, were charged up against 
it, and all crops taken off placed to its 
credit at market value. The result of 
this careful plan was evident. His house, 
barns, fences, were all in good repair, 
demonstrating that he was a man of 
thrift. Added to this dairy farmers 
would have to name or number each 
cow, charging her with her feed and 
care, and crediting her with the milk 
she gives. This plan would 'be of two¬ 
fold value, showing what the profitable 
cows are doing and discovering the un¬ 
profitable ones as well. If farmers had 
thus figured out the cost of producing 
a quart of milk, since the cost of feed, 
etc., has gone so high, I am sure the 
Dairymen’s League would have come 
into existenceesooner. With the amount 
of capital invested and the strict atten¬ 
tion to business required, farmers 
should see to it that in disposing of 
their products, they realize enough 
profit to give them satisfaction and a 
hank account, instead of a mere living. 
And in these days of trusts and com¬ 
binations, co-operation is their only sal¬ 
vation. How many farmers, living as 
they should and keeping somewhat up 
with the times and in touch with the 
world around them, can figure out any 
real profit, at the present price of milk, 
and the cost of everything they have to 
buy? Let us hear from some of them! 
We are “never too old to learn.” 
_ M. B. H. 
GOATS TO PROTECT SHEEP. 
A Pennsylvania reader speaks of keep¬ 
ing a number of buck goats in his flock 
of sheep. The object is to keep dogs at 
hay. Is the practice a wise one? Is there 
any danger of crossing the goats and sheep? 
The experience of your Pennsylvania 
friend is getting increasingly common; 
namely, of allowing a few buck goats 
to run with •sheep, as some protection 
against dogs; but there is not unanimity 
of opinion regarding the desirability 
of the practice. There is practically no 
danger of sheep or goats cross-breeding, 
as they belong to different genera. For 
50 years or more Angoras have been 
running with sheep in this country, with 
scarcely a suggestion of any such cross¬ 
ing occurring. In very rare cases, hy¬ 
brid progeny has been alleged; but it is 
usually found, upon investigation, to be 
nothing but a rumor. I have seen an 
illustration of such an alleged cross, 
but about all agree that that danger is 
virtually nil. Col. Richard Peters, one 
of our first importers of Angora goats, 
made determined experiments, in the 
hope of obtaining a cross between the 
goat and the sheep, and failed in every 
instance. 
The question before us, then, is, will 
a few bucks help to protect sheep from 
dogs? I believe they will, if they are 
well-trained, horned goats, and if the 
number of them be limited to not more 
Tl'HEJ RURAL NEW-YORKER 
than three. If there are too many, they 
are likely to flock by themselves; where¬ 
as, if there are but few, they incline to 
stay with the sheep. But there is in¬ 
volved the question of the rams fighting 
the bucks. Like as a strange queen bee 
put abruptly into a hive will meet with 
death, so a gentle, and especially a 
young buck will occasionally meet 
death by being suddenly placed with 
sheep and rams. Here is an instance, 
which occurred recently at the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington, Station for 
Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring 
Harbor, Long Island, N. Y., as de¬ 
scribed in a letter to me: 
The goat, “Silver Ihiwn,” bought by this 
Station from Mr. Mayers was an Anglo- 
Toggenburg cross. lie was horned, but not 
a goat of much vigor. The rams were 
turned into the pasture in which he had 
been running for some time. These rams 
had had previous experience in lighting a 
cross Angora buck, and had learned the 
trick of watching for an opportunity to 
butt this buck in the side. Probably they 
remembered their experience with the An¬ 
gora, and tried the same trick on “Silver 
Dawn.” If “Silver Dawn” had been a 
healthy, vigorous goat, lie should have been 
able to defend himself. Goats are fre¬ 
quently kept with sheep without anv par¬ 
ticular injury to either. However, it lias 
been our experience here that the male 
sheep and male goats will fight. 
GERTRDDB C. DAVENPORT. 
This buck goat was killed in two 
hours; but, doubtless, as this lady in¬ 
timates, it is a rather unusual and very 
unequally matched case; and the prac¬ 
tice is common of allowing rams and 
bucks to run together. A buck goat of 
vigorous 'build and mature age, bearing 
horns, will usually make a strong 
fight against a dog; and, while we are 
constantly hearing of injury to sheep 
by dogs, we rarely hear of injury to 
flocks of goats by dogs. A male goat is 
naturally pugnacious, and may usually, 
if well trained, be expected to vanquish 
the ordinary straggling dog. But much 
depends upon the training the buck gets. 
H. T. Fuchs, of Marble Falls, Texas, a 
well-known breeder of Angora goats, 
once wrote as follows: 
It is quite amusing to see the courage of 
a doe when she protects her young kid 
from a dog, or hog, or flock of buzzards. 
Two of my neighbors’ dogs got In the 
habit of killing my kids, and one doe pro¬ 
tected her kid quite a while from the 
two large vicious dogs, uutil the neigh¬ 
bor caught one of the dogs and gave him 
a good whipping, when the goat assisted 
in this work by butting the dog with all 
her might. You should train the goats 
to be brave by taking your dogs into the 
goat pen with you, and, in case the dog 
refuses to run from a brave goat, scold 
the dog to make the goat think that she 
whipped him. If you had a tame wolf 
trained in that way you could train your 
goats to fight wolves. 
The late Geo. Fayette Thompson, of 
the Bureau of Animal Industry, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., said, on this subject: 
Some breeders state positively that the 
goats are as cowardly as sheep, and just 
as liable to bo attacked by dogs; while 
others cite instances where dogs have ac¬ 
tually been driven off. No doubt both 
Statements represent the experiences of 
respective breeders. It is a fact that one 
or two bucks will serve to protect a flock 
of sheep, if they are trained to attack 
dogs. 
In conclusion, I will say, that I think 
that the last sentence above quoted an¬ 
swers your question; the practice of 
keeping a few male goats with the 
sheep, as a protection against dogs, is 
becoming increasingly and warrantably 
common. Hornless goats bring a higher 
price in the market than horned goats, 
but I think this preference is all a mis¬ 
take, and against nature. 
Connecticut. george w. smith. 
FACTS ABOUT GLUTEN MEAL. 
Some months ngo, in reply to n ques¬ 
tion, The R. N.-Y. made some statements 
about gluten meal as a feed for cattle. 
We stated at that time upon what we felt 
was high authority that a good share of 
(lie gluten sold to farmers is artificially 
colored, and that it contains considerable 
acid. Farmers who have fed large quan¬ 
tities of this feed felt flint an injustice 
was done the handlers of a valuable prod¬ 
uct. We have therefore carefully inves¬ 
tigated the matter, and give herewith the 
results. 
The report, apparently started at the 
Geneva Experiment Station. In their 
“Feed Inspection” bulletin for 1008 “new 
conditions for gluten feed” were reported. 
It was stated that some of these feeds 
were art ideally colored and that, they con¬ 
tained “a considerable proportion of acid, 
mostly hydrochloric add.” Dr. Jordan 
stated that the influence of these acids 
“cannot be stated on the basis of ex¬ 
perimental evidence,” but the inference 
was that the acids and the color might be 
dangerous. Hater the stations of Vermont, 
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jer¬ 
sey also found the coloring matter and 
the acids. It was found, however, that 
the acid was not hydrochloric, nor was it 
sulphuric, as some had suposed. It is 
evidently some vegetable acid, and the 
chemists seem to agree that it is not 
injurious to animals. We understand that 
Ihere is considerably less of it than in 
silage and no more harmful. 
As for the coloring matter, the expla¬ 
nation is that some samples of gluten are 
made from white corn. These white sam- j 
pies are colored so as to make a uniform 
colored product on much the same princi¬ 
ple that color is used in butter. The 
coloring matter used is said to be the 
same as that put into confectionary and 
to some extent into butter. The color used 
is one permitted by the Pure Food and 
Drug Act and samples thus treated are 
marked “artificially colored.” We there¬ 
fore now have sound authority for the 
statement that neither the acid nor the 
coloring matter is injurious when fed to 
cattle. Many practical dairymen assure 
us that they are feeding the gluten with 
great satisfaction. Our desire is to give 
the exact facts, and we therefore make this 
statement. 
TROUBLE WITH HENS. 
What is the trouble with my hens? I 
never noticed any trouble till I found 
one dead; she was by her nest as though 
she had just got off. I called the rest 
up later to feed them, and one came walk¬ 
ing on -her knees; she sits down all the 
time, does not eat or drink. What can 
I do for them ? I do not know if the one 
dead was like this second one or not. 
Florida. l. e. i\ 
Your hen which died suddenly by the 
nest may have been stricken with apo¬ 
plexy, and the other one may have leg 
weakness, both caused by an over fat. con¬ 
dition resulting from feeding a too liberal 
diet of fattening foods and a lack of 
exercise. I would advise you to handle 
each bird In your flock occasionally, and 
kill any that are getting too fat for the 
table. As these troubles are usually con¬ 
fined to Hocks of old liens at this time of 
the year, it has been found more profit- 
aide to dispose of the old and keep only 
the young stock for egg production. 
G. S. GREENE. 
'‘SaveTheHorse'SpavinCure. 
RCG^TRADC MAR* 
No promise of results Impossible to perform or falso 
testimonials to mittloa'l you. You cannot mistako the 
certainty of its unfailing and unoquullod power or tbo 
security of our guurantoo. 
924 Farrngut St., Pittsburg:, Pn. 
I used bottlo of " Savo-tho-Horso,” which I got through Murk 
Cross Co., Now York, and our horso that was lamo for a year with 
spavins is now sound. Kindly send two bottlos by express C.O. D. 
soon as you can. Very rospoctfully, JOHN CLANCY. 
ALLYN-HILL CO., Bonds and Insurance, 
115So. 12th Street, Tacoma, Wash., Juno 24th, 1909. 
Troy Chemical Co., Binghamton, N. Y.: —1 used your " Savo- 
tho-Horso" on my horso, a valuable driving animal, for a spavin 
of two years* standing and the horse now shows no signs of lamo- 
noss and is perfectly sound oven with hard work on pavedstroots. 
It is surely a groat remedy and did great work for mo. 
Very truly yours. FRANK ALLYN, Jr. 
OH a bottle, with signed guarantee or contract. Send 
■ UU for copy, booklet and letters from business men and 
trainers. Permanently cures Hpnvln, Thoroughpln, Ring¬ 
bone (except low), Curb, Splint, Capped Hock, Wlndpulf, 
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of hair. Horso works as usual. Dealers or lixpress Paid. 
Troy Chemical Co., 24 Commercial Are., Binghamton, N. Y• 
KENDALLS 
SPAVIN 
(URE 
“ONLY SURE REMEDY” 
Gudsdon, Ala., Apr. 26, 1009. 
Dr. Ti. J. Kendall Co. 
Gentlemen; Please send me copy of your 
TREATISE. I have been using your Spavin Cure 
for 20 yea re, and lind It I. tho only sure remedy. 
It I* tho boat liniment I can got for boras and 
man. Yours truly, W.J.McUoe. 
That tolls tho wholo story, and it Is tho ex¬ 
perience that hundreds of thousands have had 
In tho past 10 years, and It's tho experience you 
will have—“It Is tho only sure remedy”— 
For Spavin, Ringbone,Curb, Splint, 
Swellings and All Lamenoss 
Sold By Druggist.—SI. OO a Bottlo, 6 I Kittles for 
46-00. Keep It on hand always. Bo road y for tho 
emergency. Kendal I'e stops the pain, starts tho 
circulation, penetrates and removes tho cuuso 
of thcdlsorders. Ask forufroecopy of “A Treat¬ 
ise on tho Horse.” If not at dealers write to— 
OR. B. J. KENDALL CO., Eno.burg Falla, Vt. 
MINERAL. 
_ ~ 'HEAVE 
REMEDY 
NEGLECT 
Will Ruin 
Your Horse’ 
Send today for 
only 
PERMANENT 
- I 
SAFE 
CERTAIN' 
83 PACKAGE^ 
will cure any case or 
money refunded. 
$1 PACKACE 
cures ordinary cases. 
Postpaid on receipt of 
price. Agents Wanted. 
Writo for descriptive book lot. 
Mineral Hoove Remedy Co., 461 Fourth Avenue, Pittsburg, Pa 
