1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
63 
A Jersey Cow. 
We herewith present an engraving of the 
prize cow “Augereys Lass.” While the 
points of the cow, examined in detail, rep¬ 
resent a very beautiful animal, the picture 
is faulty, on account of the distortion which, 
in some degree, is almost inseparable from 
photographs of animals. The head is a beau¬ 
tiful one, slender, nearly straight, yet dishing 
between the eyes, which are full and mild. 
The horns are fine, dropping forward and of 
the desired inward curve. The neck is thin, 
as are the withers. The back is straight and 
level, and the loin very wide. Her limbs are 
excellent, fine and straight. The owner’s 
mind was clearly bent upon showing her 
head to the best advantage, and therefore he 
posed her so as to throw her business end ” 
rather into the 
background, which 
was a mistake, for 
thus it is reduced 
in size by the pho¬ 
tograph. Still we 
see a well-quartered 
udder, with very 
little milk in it; but 
a full milk vein in¬ 
dicates milking ca¬ 
pacities which, had 
the photograph 
been taken at a dif¬ 
ferent time of day, 
would have shown 
a distended udder. 
The tail is thin, 
which is a merit, 
and the cow herself 
is as thin as if she 
were in full milk, 
as no doubt was the 
case. The fact that 
she was sent from 
Jersey,and took the 
second prize at the 
great (Islington, 
Eng.,) Dairy Show, is strong evidence in her 
favor; but that Mr. Le Brocq took her there, 
shows that in the view of a breeder of large 
experience, she is a typical Jersey cow. We 
beg our readers to note that in England they 
award “prizes” at “ shows,” while with gen¬ 
uine American affectation we award “ pre¬ 
miums ” at “Fairs ” which are simply shows. 
post, near the top, to make the fence more 
conspicuous. The ribbon wire is more easily 
seen than the round form, but experience 
has taught that it is less durable. Now dur¬ 
ing the winter is a good time to look into this 
important matter of barbed-wire fences. 
Chemistry of the Farm and Garden—II. 
If any green portion of a plant is kept for 
a long time at the temperature of boiling 
water (212 deg. F.) it loses the greater part of 
its sap, and the dry substance remains. 
In seeds this dry part is often 75 or 
80 per cent, while in young, rapid¬ 
ly growing plants it may not be more 
than 5 per cent. When the dried resi¬ 
due of the plant is exposed to a higher 
heat, as that of a furnace, the larger 
Barbed Wire Fences. 
Steel wire in some of its many forms is be¬ 
coming,in certain quarters,the fencing mater¬ 
ial for farms and railroads, and even for gar¬ 
den and lawn. Some of the points claimed in 
favor of this new fence are; cheapness, 
durability, ease of shipment of the material, 
and indestructibility by ordinary fires, like 
those arising from sparks of a passing loco¬ 
motive. The barb should be short, with a keen 
point, standing at right angles to the wire. 
Some have advocated a dull point as more 
humane, but the success of the barb in turn¬ 
ing stock resides in its sharp point. Often 
animals have been injured and even killed 
by wire fences, and all need to be introduced 
to this form of barrier. A colt, or cow, that 
has once been pricked by the barbs, will 
keep at a safe distance from the fence. Most 
of the damage has been done by the animals 
running upon the wires without seeing them. 
A strip of board may be nailed from post to 
THE PRIZE JERSEY COW “ AUGEREYS LASS.” 
Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
part is burned away, and only a whitish 
powder, the ash, is left. The percentage of 
ashes varies with the kind of plant, and 
the nature and age of the organ. 
The dry substance that may be burned 
away consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, 
nitrogen, and sulphur. The sulphur, during 
the combustion, is changed in form to sul¬ 
phuric acid, which unites with the ashes and 
remains with them. Some of the substances 
found in plants have no nutritive value, and 
may be considered as accidental. Among 
the leading indispensable food materials are 
the above-named five elements of the com¬ 
bustible part, which are present in all 
vegetation. The first three, carbon, hydro¬ 
gen, and oxygen, make up the cellulose or 
woody fibre of plants, starch, sugar, oils, etc. 
All five of them enter into the composition of 
the albuminoids. 
About half the weight of the dry substance 
of ordinary plants consists of carbon. This 
element, when in a free state, is a solid. It 
is familiar to us as charcoal, anthracite coal, 
black-lead, lamp-black, and diamond. The 
presence of carbon in plants is made known 
by a process of incomplete burning, as in the 
preparation of charcoal. Carbon, in its pure 
and uncombined forms, is very indestruc¬ 
tible, excepting when exposed to a high heat; 
then it combines with oxygen, and forms 
carbonic acid gas. This is the familiar gas of 
the soda water fountains. It is produced by 
decaying vegetation, given off in the breath 
of animals, and is the deadly choke damp of 
coal mines. Carbonic acid gas forms, on an 
average, about four-hundredths of one per 
cent (.04°/ 0 ) of the atmosphere. The carbon 
necessary for the production of the an¬ 
nual growth of vegetation is derived from 
the carbonic acid gas of the atmosphere. 
The supply of this gas to the air is con¬ 
stantly kept up by the decay and burning 
of plants. In this way the same particles 
of carbon may be 
taken up by a vege¬ 
table, and, after it 
has decayed, pass 
into the structure 
of a second plant, 
and so on through 
an endless number 
of ages. The car¬ 
bonic acid gas en¬ 
ters . the leaves 
through multitudes 
of small openings, 
called stomata, or 
breathing pores. 
The microscope dis¬ 
closes more than a 
hundred thousand 
of these pores upon 
a single square inch 
of leaf surface. 
Only the green por¬ 
tion of the leaves,, 
and under the in¬ 
fluence of sunlight, 
have the power of 
-decomposing the 
^ carbonic acid gas, 
reserving the car¬ 
bon to produce or- 
- ganic compounds, 
to become a part of 
the plant, while the 
oxygen set free 
passes again into 
the atmosphere. There are some plants that 
have no chlorophyll or leaf green, and such 
are not able to decompose carbonic acid. They 
are called parasites, and absorb the carbon 
they need in the form of organic compounds 
that have been produced in the green leaves 
of true working plants. 
Many experiments have been made to show 
that the plants absorb their carbon from car¬ 
bonic acid gas through their leaves. One ex¬ 
periment by Boussingault was decisive: A 
living branch with twenty leaves was fixed 
in an air-tight glass globe, into which passed 
a slow current of air, containing a measured 
amount of carbonic acid gas. After stream¬ 
ing over the leaves, the air escaped, and the 
remaining gas was weighed. It was found 
that the foliage had removed three-fourths 
of the carbonic acid. Some plants flourish 
much better when the carbonic acid of the 
air is increased to one-twelfth. Foliage can¬ 
not long exist in the absence of the carbonic 
acid. Quick-lime rapidly absorbs this gas, 
and when plants are confined in vessels con¬ 
taining this substance, their leaves soon turn 
yellow and fall away. 
The atmosphere is the great reservoir of 
carbon for plants, and as it usually contains 
enough for a hundred years, with a constant 
supply of carbonic acid from various sources, 
there is no ground for alarm concerning this 
most important element of plant food. 
