1366 
‘vTfciEC RURA1. NEW-YORKER 
December 20, 
GRADING UP THE HERD. 
We read a great deal about the value 
of a purebred bull at the head of a herd 
of grade cows. Yet mauy farmers are 
disappointed with the results obtained, 
seeing no improvement immediately in 
their herds, either in milk or butter-fat 
production. In the breeding of cattle 
heredity does play queer pranks quite 
often, for which the farmer has not 
planned or intended. However, a study 
of the law of variation as well as that of 
straight heredity ought to make plain 
why the heifer calf is often no improve¬ 
ment over her mother. 
A farmer with a herd of fair-grade 
cows possesses a mixture of blood that 
often, were it possible to have it pedi¬ 
greed, would furnish enough lines of an¬ 
cestors, even only tracing back a few 
generations, to fill many pages. There¬ 
fore with a purebred bull at the head of 
such a herd the mixture of blood of the 
first calves would be almost as bad as 
that of the original herd. Almost but 
not quite, for this reason : Mendel's law 
of heredity says that 25 per cent of the 
calves would be like the sire, or inherit 
more of his qualities than the mother’s. 
This 25 per cent, however, really is only 
per cent if the matter of sex is 
taken into account. Sex seems to be 
beyond man’s control, being as uncertain 
as the flip of a coin, only that in any 
herd half are more than likely to be male 
and half female calves. Getting back to 
the subject of inheritance, out of every 
eight calves four without doubt will be 
males, so that only one in four of the 
heifers of a first cross between purebred 
stock and grades is likely to be an im¬ 
provement over her mother. One of the 
remaining three will inherit qualities 
from her mother, and the remaining two 
can be better or worse, as the law of 
variation works out. 
The first step toward grading up a 
herd because of the mixture of blood is 
complicated and the results tends to dis¬ 
courage most of us, so that the first step 
is all the farther we go. We give up in 
disgust and select as a herd header a 
grade sire from a registered bull and get 
no further than we are, for the breeding 
of grades will always produce low grades. 
Now, if a breeder accepts the Mendel 
law, and makes the best of it, he will 
weed out the cows that are no improve¬ 
ment over their mothers and, buying an¬ 
other purebred bull, carry out the same 
principle in the second generation. To 
do this a man must have faith in this 
new blood he has started with as a found¬ 
ation or his enthusiasm will not help him 
to keep on grading up his herd. Two 
things are taken for granted in this con¬ 
nection. One is that the breeder cannot 
afford to buy .$200 or $300 registered 
stock, and the other is that he believes 
strongly enough in registry of merit cat¬ 
tle, so that he always selects a bull from 
a cow that has a record for production at 
the pail. 
As a second generation of calves ma¬ 
ture with 75 per cent pure blood, marked 
improvement ought to show in the herd, 
for the law of variation has not so strong 
a hold on the grade blood as formerly. 
Purebred cattle show very little varia¬ 
tion as compared with grades, so the more 
pure blood the more chances of a fixed 
type. By the time four purebred sires 
have been used in connection with grade 
cattle the latter, only for the registry 
papers, are nearly as good as purebreds. 
Whether the 10 years’ time necessary to 
build up a high-grade herd pays is an¬ 
other question, however. We believe that 
it does, and can point out several likely 
heifers to-day that, even though they are 
no better than their mothers, are likely 
to produce calves much better than them¬ 
selves in the next generation. 
Jackson Co., Ohio. ir. b. cobb. 
FATTENING A BACON HOG. 
I have two Yorkshire pigs which I 
cannot possibly fatten. I give them a 
fair run and feed half cornmeal and half 
crushed oats in the household waste. 
What can I do to make these pigs fatten? 
J. B. 
Fattening characteristics depend upon 
type and selection, and it is only natural 
that J. II. is having difficulty in fattening 
the Yorkshires, for the breed is noted as 
a bacon breed, and naturally it would re¬ 
quire some time to develop characteris¬ 
tics of fattening when comparison is 
made with the regular lard hog type. It 
is a much slower process to put on mar¬ 
bled meat such as desired in bacon, and 
unless there is a special market for such 
a type of hog it is very probable that 
more rapid gains can be made by select¬ 
ing representatives from one of the rec¬ 
ognized lard hog breeds. Opinion varies 
as to the economy of representatives of 
the different breeds to put on flesh and 
gain weight, and tests that have been 
carefully conducted at a number of ex¬ 
periment stations, demonstrate that it 
is more a question of the individual ani¬ 
mal within the particular breed, leather 
than that of a particular breed, but they 
all agree unanimously that it requires 
a much longer growing and fattening 
period to develop the same weight on a 
Yorkshire or Tamworth than exists where 
the Duroc Jersey, Toland China, Chester 
White or Berkshire is used. While the 
age of the pigs is not mentioned it is 
doubtful whether equal parts of corn 
and oats will make a suitable ration if 
the pigs are old enough to fatten. For 
pigs weighing less than 50 pounds a very 
good mixture consists of equal parts of 
crushed oats, red dog flour and corn- 
meal, to which a small amount of tank¬ 
age, say five per cent, has been added. 
When the 100 pound weight is reached, I 
would eliminate the crushed oats from the 
mixture, and feed the following: Ear 
corn, 10 parts; red dog flour, three parts; 
digested tankage, (60% protein) one 
part. 
The red dog flour and tankage can he 
mixed and fed as a thin slop, while the 
corn can be fed on the ear in such quan¬ 
tities as the animals will clean up with 
RENOVATING BUTTER. 
How can I renovate butter which has 
acquired a strong taste? D. D. L. 
Massachusetts. 
The following description of factory 
renovation of strong butter is given by 
Prof. E. S. Guthrie of the Department 
of Dairy Industry at Cornell University: 
“The butter is received in barrels from 
country grocery stores and elsewhere. It 
is placed in a large vat that is heated by 
steam pipes. This melts the butter. It 
is held in this vat sufficiently long for the 
fat to rise to the surface and the heavier 
constituents to fall to the bottom. The 
fat is then drawn into another vat, which 
is well equipped with pipes through which 
warm air is forced. The purpose of this 
is to carry away as much of the ‘off’ 
flavor as possible. The fat is now ready 
to be mixed with milk. Usually this milk 
is soured, and is known as ‘starter,’ the 
same that is used on many farms and in 
a large number of creameries and cheese 
factories. This mixture is allowed to 
stand for several hours. The fat absorbs 
the flavor of the nice ‘starter,’ and, in 
fact, in the later churning process, a 
small amount of ‘starter’ is incorporated 
with the butter, as in the common churn¬ 
ing operation. The subsequent washing, 
salting, working and packing is the same 
as in making dairy or creamery butter. 
Such butter is not considered normal 
butter, and must be sold under certain 
restrictions. The Agricultural Law of 
New York requires that such butter be 
plainly labeled ‘Renovated butter’ or 
‘Process butter’ on all packages or rolls 
TAMWORTH PIGS—GOOD BACON TIMBER. 
relish. Toward the latter stage of the 
fattening period, that is, after the ani¬ 
mals weigh 150 pounds, it would be 
economy to eliminate the red dog flour, 
and feed entirely on ear corn and tank¬ 
age, varying the amount of tankage from 
five to 10%, using the amount of corn 
fed as a basis. 
Bacon hogs are found naturally in 
dairy districts, where there is available 
for use, skim-milk and buttermilk, sup¬ 
plemented, of course, by such other feeds 
as can be grown profitably on the farm; 
but the expression “fatten” should hard¬ 
ly apply to bacon hogs that have been 
developed and sold in prime condition. 
Certainly they are evenly covered with 
firm flesh, but there is a noticeable ab¬ 
sence of fat and lard, and it is gen¬ 
erally recognized that it takes more skill 
properly to develop a prime bacon car¬ 
cass than is necessary in case specimens 
of the fat hog type are produced and sold 
primarily at so much per pound. It is 
a wrong idea to think that a thin pig 
of the fat type can be sold as a bacon 
hog, and vice versa, that a fattened 
bacon type is as economically produced 
as a modern fat hog type. For family 
use the bacon type is particularly popu¬ 
lar, and naturally butchers prefer to buy 
a Yorkshire carcass at a fat hog price; 
but where time is considered of value 
and rapidity of gains essential, popular 
judgment certainly disapproves of mak¬ 
ing a fat hog out of a type of animal de¬ 
veloped for another purpose. F. c. M. 
in which it is offered for sale. I have 
known of old butter being heated to 
about 60 or 62 degrees F. until soft 
throughout, and then being worked in 
fresh milk or starter, and salted heavily. 
This butter has a better flavor for a time, 
but soon becomes as bad as the original. 
It is also a re-made or renovated butter, 
and my understanding is that it must be 
sold under the restrictions of the Agri¬ 
cultural Law. If used by the family mak¬ 
ing it, then, of course, the law does not 
apply. So far as I know, instruction in 
the manufacture of renovated butter is 
not given in any of the dairy schools, it 
being considered that butter which needs 
re-making comes to this stage because of 
carelessness, and that attention should, 
instead, be paid to the proper handling 
of dairy products.” M. B. D. 
“Yes, I consider my life a failure.” 
“O Henry, how sad! Why should you 
say that?” “I spend all my time making 
money enough to buy food and clothes 
and the food disagrees with me and my 
clothes don’t fit.”—Life. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
Rural New-Yorker and you’ll get a quick 
reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee 
editorial page., 
Feed Cooker 
A money-saver—fat¬ 
tens pigs, keeps itock 
sleek and well. Pays 
for itself by doubling 
food value—prevents 
hog cholera, too. 
Strong, simple, qntek- 
heating. Low price — 
write today. 
Heesen Bros. & Co. 
Box 135 Tecumseh, Mich, 
COOK YOUR FEED and SAVE 
Half the Cost—with the 
PROFIT FARM BOILER 
With Dumping Caldron. Empties 
its kettlein one minute. The simplest 
and best arrangement for cooking 
food for stook. Also make Dairy and 
Laundry Stoves, Water and 
Steam Jacket Kettles, Hog 
Scalders, Caldrons.etc. U3?~Send 
for particulars and ask for circular J 
D. It. Sperry & Co., liatavia, Ill, 
BUY AN ICE PLOW 
and save the ice crop. Cut your ice 
quick and cheap with my Double- 
row Ico Plow, It equals 20 
men with saws. Pavs for 
itself in 1 dnv. Also Toole. 
Ask for catalog and prices. 
WM. H. PRAY, Vorbank, N. V 
“Licks the Bucket Clean t ’ 
Blatchford’s Calf Meal 
As good as New Milk at half the Cost. 
100 pounds makes 100 gallons of Perfect 
Milk Substitute. 
Send for pamphlet, “How to Raise Calves 
Cheaply and Successfully Without Milk.” 
At your Dealers or 
BLATCHFORD’S CALF MEAL FACTORY 
WAUKEGAN ... ILLINOIS 
KENDALLS 
has saved thousands oi dollars 
and thousands of horses. The, 
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Ringbone, Splint or lameness. 
For sale at all druggists. Price _ 
‘ per bottle, 6 for $5. ‘‘Treatise on the Horse” 
free at druggists or write to Dr. E. J. KENDALL 
COMPANY, Enosburg Fnlla, Vt., U. S. A. 5| 
SPAVIN 
CURE -v 1 
m. 
\ Let Us Mail to You FREE 
astounding records of sure cures from spavins, splints, 
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ey returned if not satisfied. Un- 
abl 
Mone 
beatable for curing cuts, bruises and 
> scratches. Ask your druggist or 
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on trial Write for booklet anyway. 
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MINERAL. 
"SHEAVE 
years REMEDY 
NEGLECT 1 
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Send to-day for 1 
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$1 Package 
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„ . . n^JAgents Wanted 
-terra 1 j —£j f or descriptive booklet 
cure! 
Mineral Heave Remedy Co.. 4G1 Fourth Are., Pittsburgh, Ft 
Mother to daughter who is being car¬ 
ried off through the air by a blast of 
wind that has caught her umbrella: 
“Hold tight, Emilia ! I will go and tele¬ 
phone to the aviation ground, _ 
them to send an aeroplane after you 
Lustige Blaetter. 
and get 
t»»_ 
-Farm Account Book 
KNOW HOW MUCH YOU 
MAKE NEXT YEAR 
Mr. Farmer, simply send us your name and 
No one shall pay a cent for Bickmoro’a Farm Aocount Book__, _ r ., __, 
address. Business farming puts money in the bank. This book is arranged to keep all accounts in simple 
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BICKMORE’S GALL CURE 
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BICKMORE CALL CURE CO. Box 286 Old Town, ftlalno 
