10 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[January, 
Curing Beef, Etc., Expeditiously. 
To cure fresh beef, hams, or shoulders, in a short 
time, put one or two pounds of good salt in a kettle 
or spider, and heat it over the stove until all the 
moisture is expelled and the salt is so hot that it 
will hiss when a drop of water is dropped in. It 
will take about two pounds of salt to 100 pounds 
of meat. Just before removing from the fire, 
where it must be constantly stirred, add one ounce 
of pulverized saltpetre to each pound of salt, or in 
that proportion. Have the meat ready ; if hams, 
lay them on the skin-side, and over all parts where 
the flesh is exposed rub thickly with brown sugar; 
then with a large iron spoon apply the hot salt, 
which will penetrate the meat and take the sugar 
with it. Cover well with this salt, and lay in a 
box on a shelf in the same position for two days, 
when the hams can be smoked-if desired, and they 
will have all the flavor of sugar-cured hams. 
Treat beef in the same way, one side at a time, and 
.after two or three days hang up to dry. I have 
prepared the finest dried beef I ever saw in this 
way. 
To cure or keep fresh b»ef, mutton, or fish, in 
warm weather without salt: dissolve borax in 
water at the rate of of a pound of borax to one 
gallon of water. Cool the meat,.and then cover 
with this liquid in a clean jar or barrel. It can be 
kept for weeks in this way. Salt can be added to 
season, if desired. X. Y. 
Plymouth, Iowa. 
Selecting Cows for the Farm. 
A dairy-man in Delaware Co., N. Y., writes us 
that large numbers of cows of all the butter mak¬ 
ing breeds are coming into that county. In select¬ 
ing cows for his own herd he has regard to the char¬ 
acter of the land upon which they are to feed. He 
aims to find those that will do the best on a rough 
farm, where the best pastures are on the hill-sides, 
so steep, that heavy cows like the Shorthorns, and 
Holsteins find it difficult to graze at all. On these 
pastures, our correspondent finds that Ayrshires, 
and Devons, being lighter and more active, are the 
best breeds. Admitting the excellence of the Jer¬ 
seys as butter producers, and the large quantity of 
milk yielded by the Dutch (or Holsteins) he looks 
with great favor upon the Devons as a breed for 
the’ dairy, especially in localities where hardiness, 
activity, and easy keeping are required. The 
trouble with the Devons is, that good dairy cows 
among them are the exception. In improving the 
breed as beef animals, their milking qualities have 
been neglected. We have no doubt if they were 
bred with an eye to milk production, these beauti¬ 
ful cows would take high rank with the valuable 
dairy breeds. 
Fish Food for Farmers. 
BY WM. C. HARRIS, EDITOR OP “TUB AMERICAN ANGLER.” 
The introduction of German carp into the United 
States, a fish that will thrive and grow fat and 
savory on decaying vegetation, is a progressive 
step toward utilizing the millions of small water- 
tracts that disfigure the farms of the country. It 
is a rare exception when an hundred-acre farm has 
not a pond, or a pool, where fish-culture can be 
made to flourish, if not with the beauty, with more 
than the value of the harvest acre. 
Fresh fish for breakfast is a great rarity upon a 
farmer’s table. This is the more strange when we 
consider that many of our most fertile farms, es¬ 
pecially those east of the Allegheny Belt, lie along 
the great water courses, or are furrowed by streams 
that will yield a bountiful supply of coarse, but 
good fish food. 
Fish-culture, by its rapid, economic progress 
during the last decade, has placed at the will of 
the farmer, a means of providing for his daily 
needs, which ranks in importance with the raising 
of ordinary farm products for home consumption. 
Why the farmer has not found this out long ago, 
it is easy to explain. The pursuit of fish-culture 
has been, almost exclusively, confined to those who 
may be classed, without offense, as professional 
fish-culturists. These gentlemen have made fish- 
culture an art, from a knowledge of which, the 
farmer, with his acres of water area, all ready for 
the seed, has been debarred. Yet all these years, 
fish-raising, for domestic use, has remained one of 
the simplest problems that ever a farmer was call¬ 
ed upon to solve. 
Given a pond, a few fish, a shovel, a few hours 
labor, with twelve months of patient waiting, and 
you have your crop, which, with care, will become 
an annual one, without the use of plow, harrow, 
or seed bag. Take the carp as an illustration. If 
you have a natural pond, covering at least half an 
acre, with an outlet and inlet, its greatest depth at 
least eight feet, with a shelving margin, you have 
your fish farm. Send to the Fish Commission of 
your State for a supply of carp, which will be fur¬ 
nished to you free of cost, except that of transpor¬ 
tation. Place them in your pond, feeding, if need¬ 
ed, with the scraps from the kitchen, or better still, 
with the curd of sour milk. In twelve months 
there will be a crop ready for table use. 
Fish, like cereals, must have protection. Before 
planting the carp, see that the pond is cleared of 
all other kinds of fish, and of frogs, both of which 
will soon eat up the young fish, as well as the 
spawn of the larger ones. The young fish have 
other enemies, such as the kingfisher, the blue 
heron, ducks, water rats, etc., against which they 
will need protection. 
Put no other fish in the pond with carp, but if 
you crave a varied fish diet, and have another nat¬ 
ural pond, or the chance of making one, put a few 
dozen catfish or bullheads in it. This fish protects 
its young, and increases with great rapidity. In a 
separate pond may be planted the large-mouth 
black bass, or the yellow perch may be raised. All 
of the above named fish will live and thrive in ponds 
with a muddy bottom, and their growth in size 
and numbers will be dependent upon the food and 
fresh water supply. The carp is a vegetable feeder, 
and will require little food so long as the pond is 
well filled with aquatic plants. The other fish feed 
on minnows, frogs, the larvae of water insects, 
fresh-water Crustacea, and such other animal food 
as comes within the reach of their rapacious jaws. 
By the judicious culture of a small frog preserve, 
sufficient food for the black bass can be raised with 
a surplus of delicious frog legs for private con¬ 
sumption. 
Do House Plants Heed Fertilizers? 
A negative answer would be safe in reference to 
the majority of plants. It is not likely that, in the 
Northern States at least, plants have been in need 
of anything besides water. It is only when the 
plants having become accustomed to their in-door 
life, and the higher sun has started them into 
active growth, that any stimulant should be given 
them. When a plant, with an open soil, proper 
watering and airing remains quiet, wait. See that 
the soil is not water-soaked, and the plant has 
daily airing, and it will soon arouse itself. When 
growth has started, and is pushing vigorously, is 
the time to help it. There are various compounds, 
with high sounding names, for which great claims 
as plant fertilizers are made. As we would not 
administer a secret medicine to a friend, so we 
would not give a favorite plant a mixture about 
which we knew nothing. The best fertilizer for 
house plants is water of ammonia; it is efficacious, 
cleanly and easy of application. Whatever else the 
soil may have needed, should have been mixed 
with it beforehand. The quantity usually recom¬ 
mended is to add half an ounce—a tablespoonful— 
of Water of Ammonia, to two gallons of rainwater. 
But Ammonia differs much in strength, and a safe 
rule is to add enough to make the water just dis¬ 
tinctly smell of it. Do not repeat the application 
of the Ammonia until its effects have been watched 
for a week , afterwards it may be used twice a 
week and will rarely be needed oftener. 
Fat Stock Shows in America. 
BY P. D. COBURN, KANSAS. 
In response to suggestions from stockmen as to 
the prospective value of an annual exhibition of 
butcher’s beasts at some central point in America, 
similar to the popular Fat Stock Shows held by the 
Smithfield Club, in England; the Illinois State 
Board of Agriculture held its first Exhibition of 
Fat Stock in Chicago, December 2nd to 7th, 1878. 
The exhibits were not extensive, or the attendance 
large, yet perhaps as much so as could reasonably 
have been expected. The display was best in the 
Cattle Department, and was made up of Shorthorns, 
Herefords, Devons, and grades. For the best beef- 
animal. in the show, the grand sweepstakes was 
awarded to a red and white grade Shorthorn steer, 
1,328 days old, weighing 2,185 pounds, and show¬ 
ing a gain of 1.69 pounds per day from birth, rear¬ 
ed in the open fields without shelter. Cotswolds 
were the leading sheep, and a Poland-China was 
declared the winner as a fat hog. 
The second show itas held November 10th to 15th, 
1879; the attendance and number of entries were 
large, and the average quality of the animals mani¬ 
festly an improvement on those shown the previous 
year. With 49 head competing, the best beef-ani¬ 
mal was a grade, roan Shorthorn steer, reared in 
Kentucky, 1,335 days old, and weighing 2,060 
pounds. For best cow of any age, or breed, the 
sweepstakes went to a red, thoroughbred Short¬ 
horn cow, from Iowa, 2,035 days old, and weighing 
1,769 pounds. A Shropshire, weighing 242 pounds, 
was voter the best wether, and a Poland-China, 
weighing 415 pounds, at 401 days old, took the 
prize as best hog of any age or breed. 
The show of 1880 was held November 15th to 
20th ; the grand sweepstakes for best beef-animal 
was again awarded to the steer that won it the 
year previous, his weight in the meantime having 
increased to 2,465 pounds, again within the year of 
405 pounds. A Southdown was adjudged the best 
sheep, and a Poland-China sow the best pork 
animal. 
November 7th to 12th were the dates of the 1881 
show, which was in a variety of respects more suc¬ 
cessful than its predecessors, as more stock was 
present, and that of a better quality. The best 
beef-animal was a red, grade Shorthorn steer, rais¬ 
ed in Illinois, weighing 2,095 pounds, and 1,237 
days old. He had made a gain of 1.61 pounds per 
day from birth. The best cow of any age, or 
breed, was a barren roan, Shorthorn, from Canada, 
1873 days old, and weighing 1,875 pounds. A Shrop¬ 
shire was voted the best sheep, and an Essex bar- 
row the best hog. 
The show of 1882, by far the most successful of 
all, was held in November, the dates being the 
16th to the 21st. There were 226 entries of cattle, 
10 of horses (not shown for premiums), 96 of sheep, 
and 82 of swine. The grand sweepstakes for best 
steer, spayed heifer, or cow, was awarded to the 
same red, grade Shorthorn that received it twelve 
months before, weighing now 2,565 pounds, again of 
470 pounds within the year, and a gain since birth of 
1.59 pounds per day. The sweepstakes cow was a 
Shorthorn, 1,404 days old, and 1,865 pounds weight. 
The best dressed carcass was that of an imported 
Hereford steer, 1,121 days old, and weighing 1,765 
pounds, alive. The sweepstakes in sheep was a 
Shropshire, and n swine, a Berkshire. 
The shows held in Chicago have demonstrat¬ 
ed their value to such an extent that there is 
no probability of their being discontinued. The 
stockmen west of the Mississippi have formed an 
association for the purpose of holding an annual 
Fat Stock Show at Kansas City, Missouri, from one 
to two weeks prior to the Chicago show, next year, 
and thereafter, that exhibitors may be enabled to 
take advantage of showing at both places. It is 
not improbable that similar expositions will beheld 
in several other cities. The Fat Stock Show prom¬ 
ises to become in a few years a pre-eminently 
American institution. 
