C42 
April 4, 
An Experience With Selling Cows. 
The article on selling scrub cows to 
neighbors brings to mind a little exper¬ 
ience we had several years ago. We bad 
an inquiry for cows, and my husband se¬ 
lected some from our herd that be would 
sell, and told the man be could have them 
at $75 each (this was before we bad any 
purebreds to offer). After looking them 
over be said he would take two of them, 
provided be could make bis own selec¬ 
tion. This being agreed to he selected 
two of the four offered and said be did 
not think the others were worth the 
price asked. Soon after another man 
came to look at our cows, and be told 
him he could have the other two at the 
same price. He bought the two cows 
rejected by the first buyer, also two 
calves. We did not call any of them 
scrubs, but have to sell some occasionally 
or would get overstocked. It’s not often 
a person sells what be considers bis best 
stock, unless he makes a sale. 
The cows were removed to their differ¬ 
ent homes and of course fed on different 
feeds. The first man’s sons told around 
that be bad been beaten by Mr. S. on 
the cows be bought; that they did not 
give near as much milk as be said they 
would. The other man was more than 
pleased with the cows and calves he pur¬ 
chased. His cows were given good care 
and feed, and responded by giving him 
more milk than they were giving us, and 
are still in this dairy, giving excellent 
satisfaction. This man has since been 
back for more cows, also leaving the re¬ 
quest that he be notified at any time 
when we might have anything in that 
line to sell. As to the quality of these 
cows, so far as we knew, we had no 
choice, for they had done about the same 
for us, and their breeding was along the 
same lines. 
What made the difference? Was it 
the individual cow, the care and feeding, 
or the man behind the cow? We would 
not believe in selling to our neighbors 
anything we knew was not all right (or 
anyone else for that matter), but we be¬ 
lieve the care and feeding and the cow 
wisdom of the man having them to care 
for has a great deal to do with what they 
do for us. This is just an illustration 
of what different men can do, not mean¬ 
ing in any way to criticise any remarks 
of the man who wrote the article re¬ 
ferred too. MBS. B. M. s. 
Two Acre* of Hog Pasture. 
1. On page 197 C. J. D. asked about 
raising pigs, and F. C. M. tells of a good 
mixture of seed to sow to have pasture 
all Summer. I would like to know how 
many pigs I could pasture on this mix¬ 
ture of seed on two acres, making two 
yards, one acre in each yard? 2. Can 
you give me the mixture to put on calves’ 
horns so they will not grow, and is it in¬ 
jurious to them? D. s. 
Port Norris, N. J. 
1. The mixture referred to by D. S. 
was oats and peas, rape and clover. An 
acre of this mixture would accommodate 
conveniently 1,000 pounds, live weight, 
of pigs. This would mean five sows 
weighing 200 pounds each, or 10 100- 
pound pigs could be pastured on such 
area. The number that it would accom¬ 
modate might depend further upon the 
season conditions, the important point 
to remember being that the animals 
should not be permitted to pasture the 
crop closely, as it will injure not only the 
oat and pea plants, but the rape plants 
as well. Our rule is to turn the pigs in 
when the oats and peas are eleven inches 
high, and feed in addition to the forage 
crop a mixture made up of corn and 
tankage, utilizing 10 pounds of corn to 
one pound of tankage. With smaller 
pigs we feed about 1% pounds of this 
mixture for each 100 pounds of live 
weight. In this way they do less tramp¬ 
ing in the field, and gain very rapidly. 
2. Caustic potash obtainable in sticks 
at any drug store can be safely used to 
prevent horns appearing on calves. 
When the animal is three days old the 
hair should be clipped from the region 
where the horn would appear, covering 
the spot about as big as one-half dollax*. 
The potash stick should then be moist¬ 
ened, and rubbed thoroughly over this 
area until there is evidence of bleeding 
from the point just adjacent to the ap¬ 
pearing horn point. After this treatment 
some vaseline should be rubbed around 
the border to prevent the potash from 
running down into the eyes. If there 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
is any appearance of the horns after the 
above procedure, the treatment should be 
repeated in about 10 days. 
F. C. MINKLER. 
WOOD AND STONE SILOS. 
A complaint from a reader that the 
silage was not keeping well in his new 
tile silo led me to make some inquiries 
of those who had used them as to the 
value of tile and concrete in silo con¬ 
struction. There is evidently some con¬ 
flict of opinion in the matter, and it is 
equally evident that all silos do not keep 
thier contents properly. Whether this 
is due to the material of which the silo 
is made, or whether it is due to faulty 
methods of construction and improper 
filling, seems to be a matter open to 
dispute. So far as I can judge from the 
evidence presented, however, I am com¬ 
pelled to believe that the material of 
which a silo is made is of far less con¬ 
sequence than the care with which it is 
constructed and filled. 
Bulletin 70, issued by the Storrs 
(Conn.) Experiment Station two years 
ago, spoke disparagingly of the use of 
concrete or brick in silo building, and 
quoted a statement of the Illinois Exper¬ 
iment Station to the effect that in a silo 
constructed of stone, brick and cement 
the silage rotted at the sides and top 
to the extent of one-third of the entire 
amount, and that there was reason to 
believe that the loss could have been con¬ 
siderably obviated by building the silo 
of wood. This statement was made in 
1SSS, however, when silo building was in 
its infancy in this country, and when 
the principles governing it were less well 
understood than now. The Storrs Sta¬ 
tion explains the alleged failure of stone 
or concrete silos on the ground that these 
materials being good conductors of heat 
permit rapid cooling of the silage next 
to them, and prevent its rising to that 
temperature which most encourages the 
necessary fermentation and discour¬ 
ages putrefactive changes. Despite 
this scientific explanation of why 
such silos do not keep their contents 
well, the fact remains that many of them, 
at least, do; and if some do, it is diffi¬ 
cult to see why all of them should not. 
A dairyman in Cayuga Co., N. Y., re¬ 
cently told me that he was using the 
silage from one of two monolithic con¬ 
crete silos which he built during the 
past season and that it was keeping well 
and was perfectly satisfactory. Another 
dairyman in Schoharie County writes, 
in answer to inquiry, “Our silo is built 
of burned tile, lxl ft. 6 in. in size, with 
three holes. The tile are set on end 
and the holes poured full of concrete, 
making a nearly solid concrete wall. 
There is some frozen silage next the 
wall in severe weather, but I think less 
than in wooden silos. There is no more 
spoiled silage than in a wooden one. I 
expect to coat the inside with coal tar 
thinned with gasoline when convenient. 
Were I to build again, I should use 
something that would give me an air 
space. I should always build of tile, 
brick or concrete.” 
I have been in a great many wood 
silos, aside from my own, and have yet to 
see one in which the silage does not freeze 
next to the walls, in severe weather, or 
one in which there is not some loss of sil¬ 
age from mold and rotting before it is 
fed out. Wood stave silos are the pop¬ 
ular ones in this vicinity, and are thor¬ 
oughly satisfactory, being comparatively 
inexpensive in first cost, and keeping 
their contents as well as any silo can. 
Some square, board faced silos being 
among those first built, are still in use, 
and in the writer’s opinion, this type is 
“coming back.” One on the boyhood 
home farm was recently visited and the 
whole corn which had been put into 
it was found to have made silage of un¬ 
exceptionable quality. This was State 
corn, however, with small stalks. From 
my personal observation and inquiries, 
I am satisfied that silage will not keep 
well in any silo which is not kept air¬ 
tight, and which, when filled, does not 
have its contents uniformly distributed 
so that they will pack without leaving air 
spaces. I am satisfied, further, that 
wood, brick, concrete and tile all have 
their merits and demerits, and that the 
question of which one to use must de¬ 
pend largely upon the amount that one 
is willing and able to invest and his own 
idea of economy. M. B. dean. 
Unseen Forces Behind Your Telephone 
T HE telephone instrument is a common sight, but it affords 
no idea of the magnitude of the mechanical equipment by 
which it is made effective. 
To give you some conception of the great number of persons 
and the enormous quantity of materials required to maintain an 
always-efficient service, various comparisons are here presented. 
The cost of these materials unassembled is only 
45 % of the cost of constructing the telephone plant. 
Poles 
enough to build a stock¬ 
ade around California— 
12,480,000 of them, worth 
in the lumberyard about 
$40,000,000. 
Wire 
to coil around the earth 
621 times—15,460,- 
000 miles of it, worth 
about $100,000,000, 
including 260,000 tons 
of copper, worth $88,- 
000,000. 
Lead and Tin 
to load 6,600 coal cars 
— being 659,960,000 
pounds, worth more 
than $37,000,000. 
Conduits 
to go five times through 
the earth from pole to 
pole—225,778,000 feet, 
worth in the warehouse 
$9,000,000. 
Telephones 
enough to string around 
Lake Erie—8,000,000 of 
them, 5,000,000 Bell- 
owned, which, with equip¬ 
ment, cost at the factory 
$45,000,000. 
Switchboards 
in a line would extend 
thirty-six miles—55,000 
of them, which cost, un¬ 
assembled, $90,000,000. 
Buildings 
sufficient to house a city 
of 150,000—more than 
a thousand buildings, 
which, unfurnished, 
and without land, cost 
$44,000,000. 
People 
equal in numbers to 
the entire population 
of Wyoming—150,000 
Bell System employes, 
not including those of 
connecting companies. 
The poles are set all over this country, and strung with wires 
and cables; the conduits are buried under the great cities; the 
telephones are installed in separate homes and offices; the switch¬ 
boards housed, connected and supplemented with other ma¬ 
chinery, and the whole Bell System kept in running order so 
that each subscriber may talk at any time, anywhere. 
American Telephone and Telegraph Company 
And Associated Companies 
One Policy One System Universal Service 
mourn 
Almost unbelievable—but true just the samel] 
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aGnS^IiOCIdl have ever been able to 
wwtyw offer in our more than 
Of SqIa 20 years of business his-| 
lUUlPIBilg tory that we are the| 
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We established that reputation at the outset of our career when, 
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Here is a fi ne opportunity to save big money on corru¬ 
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Roofing, Per Square Ft.^ /Air 
Highest grade, specially coated, made of specially pre- 
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• It 
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HARRIS BROS. CO., Dept. D A37 
35th and Iron Streets. CHICAGO, ILL. 
Your Name.,.,.......... 
Address...... 
R. F. D ., 
••••••••a 
Stato. 
When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply 
and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
