1394 
not claim that the above showing is anything so 
very remarkable, but it is considerably above the 
average during the months that milk brings the best 
prices. One man whose cows had been fresh about 
four months received only about $8.25 per cow for 
a month, yet he boasted it was all clear profit as he 
had not, any grain. Without going too deeply into 
fractions it cost in the neighborhood of $5.25 for the 
grain each cow consumed during December; so you 
see the premium practically paid for the grain pur¬ 
chased fed leaving a little less than $21 apiece to 
pay for hay, silage and labor. I might add that they 
had a few roots that I raised and did not count as 
grain. 
THE TEST ANALYZED.—Now we will see if we 
can figure out how it happens that a dairy, the most 
of which were nearly fresh milkers, gave such a 
good test. There might have been a mistake in the 
test but when one is getting the limit (they do not 
pay any premium in excess of 5.3%) he is not apt 
to do much kicking. I wish I could say it was the 
result of long careful breeding, the use of purebred 
sires, etc., as I realize that is the right way for 
good dairymen to follow, but the truth compels me 
to say that I do not think I ever kept but one cow 
over two years and never raised but one heifer that 
was any good, and she was dry at the time referred 
to above. Any of you who have ever read “David 
Harum” will remember that the old fellow had a 
disease whereby he was compelled to buy, sell or 
trade horses about every so often, or else he couldn’t 
sleep nights. Perhaps I have a touch of the same 
disease, only mine is cows. 1 like to buy a cow a 
little along in years of a man who does not grain 
very heavily, and if he has no silo so much the 
better. Then I give that cow the time of her life 
for a year or two, when she is usually sold, either 
for beef or to a dealer who buys them for dairymen 
near the city, who milks them for a while, and then 
they go for feed. So we will have to look for an¬ 
other reason besides good breeding, etc. Let us see 
if it could be in the feeding. 
FEEDING AND TEST.—A few months ago, one 
of my neighbors, a good practical farmer, whose 
judgment I value very highly, happened in my barn 
when the company’s inspector drove up. As no one 
was in a hurry we had quite a visit. Among other 
things he asked the inspector what was the reason 
they did not keep the test sheet hanging up by the 
station door as had always been their custom. He 
said that he liked to keep close watch of his test, 
then he could tell a little better how and what to 
feed. The inspector told him it was simply an over¬ 
sight about the test sheet and he added, “When you 
talk about changing your test with feed you must 
show me, for I spent two or three months last Sum¬ 
mer testing out that very question. I experimented 
with about every combination of feed I could think 
of and I don’t believe the thing can be done.” 
The farmer declared that he could and had by 
feeding certain feeds raised his test; when he 
changed the test would go down. 
OTHER FACTORS.—Thus they argued for a 
time. “The weather has more of an effect on the 
test than the feed,” the inspector declared, “and an¬ 
other thing I found out. One afternoon there was a 
Jersey cow, that we had been using in our experi¬ 
ments, running in a pasture back of the station, 
when a couple of dogs began worrying her. As it 
was nearly milking time we let them go and even 
urged then on a little bit. Then we brought the 
cow down, milked and tested her. Before this she 
had been testing five per cent., now she went only a 
little over three per cent.” 
I don’t know that either one convinced the other, 
but this is my theory: every cow is born with cer¬ 
tain possibilities. Give her the right conditions and 
she will reach her limit, deprive her of any of these 
conditions and she will fall short of doing the 
best of which she is capable. To make all the con¬ 
ditions right is something of a study. The feed, 
care, freedom from worry, etc., as well as the degree 
of fatness must be taken into account. I do not be¬ 
lieve that you can in a few weeks or ever a few 
months make much change in a cow’s test by feed¬ 
ing but in a year or two by feeding so as to have 
her in better flesh, I believe there will be a gain. 
ADVANTAGE OF FAT.—I always did like to 
have my cows look good, but had my doubts as to 
there being any profit in having them any better 
than good fair condition. After talking with a 
Cornell graduate who has had some experience in 
testing cows for official records, I changed my 
mind. He said that where they intended to enter a 
cow in a contest they would let the cow stand dry 
f r quite a while and have her just as fat as they 
dared to, when she freshened, and in this manner 
made a good gain in the amount of butterfat. 
So I believe that it pays in dollars and cents to 
THE RURAt NEW-YORKER 
have a little fat on the cow’s ribs. Then I believe 
the care a cow receives has something to do with 
her test. Let a cow be well groomed, bedded, etc., 
she will be more contented and feel more like put¬ 
ting her best in the pail. One day last Winter I 
went in a man’s barn to look at some cows. They 
were in poor flesh and did not look as though they 
had ever seen a currycomb. I stepped up to one 
and put my hand on her. She aimed a kick at me, 
that did not land however, and instantly tried to 
crawl through the stanchions. It was after 11 
o'clock a. m. and just then the owner drove in the 
yard partly full of booze. His wife came out and 
called him down for not getting home sooner to 
water the cows. He did not dare say anything 
back to her, so he came in and took it out on the 
cows. lie kicked and knocked the cows out of the 
stable, and before they had all finished drinking, 
dogged them back in the stable. This man had al¬ 
ways been kicking about his low test. I went away 
surprised that he had any test or milk either. 1 
have wondered many times if some one could take 
that dairy, and by good care and feed, raise the 
test. I believe it could be done: am sure they would 
give more milk anyway. 
I read a short time ago of a prominent dairy¬ 
man who made the remark that a man might as 
well be in prison as in the dairy business for the 
same length of time. Well if I felt that about it 
I would sell off the cows and go into the duck busi¬ 
ness. If I can have the silo full of good silage and 
enough Alfalfa hay to feel like throwing some in 
the mangers at any time even if the cows have only 
just been turned out to grass, then if I can raise 
enough peas and oats to furnish about one half of 
the grain ration, and can have sense enough to lay 
in a good supply of feed when it is as cheap, as it 
is liable to be even if I have to go to the bank 
to borrow the money, to pay for it, 1 for one will be 
well satisfied to be in the dairy business, as I like 
cows and enjoy taking care of them. Perhaps this 
is the reason for the 5.3 per cent test j. c. g. 
New York. 
Drought and Business Depression. 
Part II. 
EGULAR VARIATIONS.—It is also true that in 
certain sections of the country periods of heavy 
and light rainfall have alternated with considerable 
regularity. In the above-mentioned bulletin, Henry 
found by examination of actual records that the 
rainfall of the upper Ohio Valley showed a rough 
periodicity of about nine years, the records studied 
being those of Cincinnati, Portsmouth, and Marietta, 
Ohio, beginning with 1S34 and ending with 1896. 
He remarked (1897) that if the periodicity should 
continue, the crest of the next period should fall 
about 1899. As a matter of fact it fell in 1898; the 
crest of the following period came nine years later, 
in 1907, but another occurred in 1911 after an in¬ 
terval of only four years. The records for the mid¬ 
dle Mississippi Valley as studied by Henry gave 
little indication of any sort of periodicity, "but, as 
was found to be the case in many other sections, 
the rainfall of the 10 years ending with 1896 was 
much less than that for the preceding 10-year period. 
Records in New England showed “a rather remark¬ 
able increase in precipitation, beginning about 1S45 
and reaching a climax in 1S8S-S9, if the droughty 
period of 1S80-82 be excepted.” For the 10 years 
ending with 1846, the mean annual precipitation at 
Providence was only 38.4 inches, but for the four 
succeeding 10-year periods the means were 43.9, 
45.1, 49.4, and 50.8 inches, after which there was a 
decrease in the precipitation. 
WET AND DRY CYCLES.—In a study of precipi¬ 
tation, L. II. Murdock, (1902) found that the basin 
of Great Salt Lake had undergone a dry cycle of 37 
years ending with 1804, during which the average 
annual precipitation was about 15 inches; this was 
followed by a wet cycle of 21 years with an average 
precipitation of 18.42 inches and then a dry cycle 
that continued up to the time of his writing. lie 
found also that the “middle Mississippi and Ohio 
valleys received their heaviest precipitation from 
1S40 to 1859,” and observed that “while the central 
portion of the country was receiving an abundance 
of moisture, the country west of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains was passing through the longest dry cycle of 
which we have any record.” 
ECONOMIC CYCLES.—Professor H. L. Moore of 
Columbia University, in a discussion of the law and 
cause of economic cycles, points out no particular 
periodicity in business activity, nor does he find a 
variation in the rainfall suggestive of very marked 
alternation in such activity in seven or approximate¬ 
ly seven-year periods. His main contribution to this 
interesting subject consists of statistical demonstra¬ 
tions of the close connection between the effective 
rainfall of critical periods for certain crops and 
their market price through a period of more than 40 
years. He also establishes the very close relation 
for a similar period between the trend of general 
prices and the yield of crops, making use of Falk- 
ner’s index of prices of “all articles” and the Bu¬ 
reau of Labor’s index of prices of “all commodities.” 
RAINFALL OF THE GROWING SEASON.—It 
appears obvious that the total rainfall of the five 
months May to September ordinarily would con¬ 
stitute a more satisfactory index of agricultural 
success than the total precipitation for the year. 
At any rate this method of studying rainfall records 
should be introduced in the present discussion, since 
it seems to fit very closely what our correspondent 
has in mind. Results of an examination of the 
May to September rainfall in various States made 
by the writer will, therefore, be presented. 
FIGURES FOR TUTS STATE.—Beginning with 
1890, we have precipitation records from about 90 
to 140 different places well distributed over the 
State of New York, the number varying from time 
to time. From these records the average precipita¬ 
tion for the State has been computed for each month 
for more than 25 years. The average rainfall for 
the State during the growing season, May to Sep¬ 
tember, inclusive, ranges from 25.45 inches in 1890, 
the wettest season, to 12.58 in 1913, the driest sea¬ 
son; the 25-year mean for the five months (based 
on the 1890-1914 period) is 18.19 inches. In the 
seven lean years referred to by our correspondent, 
the rainfall for the State averaged less than the 25- 
year mean in only two seasons, a fact contrary to 
his supposition so far as New York is concerned. 
However, there was serious drought in 1894 during 
August over almost the -whole State, though the 
total rainfall for the season was above the 25-year 
mean. george w. mindling. 
U. S. Weather Bureau. 
(Concluded next week.) 
Thanksgiving Feeding for the Soil. 
you see that cornfield over there?” asked 
X -J my friend, slowing down bis car to give me 
ample time to view the field mentioned. 
I saw it. In fact, I had seen it before he spoke of 
it, and had been admiring its thrifty appearance 
and contrasting it with its rather unpromising sur¬ 
roundings. For we were driving through the sand 
barrens of South Jersey, and anyone at all acquaint¬ 
ed with that section scarcely expects to meet with 
a 50-bushel field of corn where the soil is supposed 
to be adapted only to truck and vegetables. 
“Yes, I see it,” said I. “Whose is it and what’s the 
story?” 
“It's mine, and I’m prouder of that little field than 
of a good many bigger things I have done. I bought 
that land three years ago, and it was so sandy that 
almost every step my feet would sink nearly to the 
shoe-tops. The neighbors all laughed at me and 
asked: “What are you going to do with it, now that 
you’ve got it?’ I told them I was going to sell it, 
and sell it for four times what it cost me. For I had 
not lived in Jersey all my life without learning some 
of the things that could be done with Jersey soil. 
“It was in the Summer time I bought it, and in 
August I had it plowed and sowed to rye and cow 
peas. That first crop was not very heavy, but in the 
Winter I had 20 good loads of stable manure hauled 
on each acre. This helped the growth of the rye 
considerably, and when I had it plowed under in the 
Spring it furnished a nice crop of green manure. I 
followed this crop with cow peas alone, for I had 
planned to give that ground a good feed of the best 
legumes before asking it to do any work for me. In 
August I plowed the cow peas under again and had 
the entire field well limed. I do not know how much 
lime we put on it, but I told the boys to make it look 
like the first fall of snow, and they certainly made it 
pretty white. 
“After disking it thoroughly both ways I seeded 
it to Crimson clover, and in the Winter hauled 10 
more loads of manure on each acre. In the Spring 
I had this clover plowed under and the ground 
seeded to oats and cow peas for hay. And it made 
some hay, too, over two tons to the acre of as fine 
cow feed as ever grew on real hay land. 
“After harvesting the hay I again sowed it to 
Crimson clover. That was last Fall, and this corn 
crop you see followed that Crimson clover. Nothing 
difficult about it, was there? And almost no expense 
for fertilizer. Just the same method I would use 
in getting a rundown animal in condition to work 
for me—-feed it. and feed it well. That’s the story 
of the crop. The sequel to it is that I have just sold 
the land to one of the neighbors who asked me what 
I was going to do with it, for $100 an acre—just five 
