\ 1324 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
Missie reached' here safely after her 
long journey in a special compartment. 
Who is “Missie”? She seems to be a 
new one. She is, and promises to be an 
important member of the family. Missie 
is a little Jersey cow or heifer. We had 
her sent up from Starkville, Miss., to 
serve as a pleasant reminder of the old 
town. She came by express—four days 
on the road—in an open crate. Of course, 
you will understand that considerable 
“red tape” is necessary in order to trans¬ 
fer a' cow from one State to another. 
That is as it should be, in order to pre¬ 
vent. the introduction of disease. Missie 
was tested and pronounced free from tu¬ 
berculosis and ticks. The journey did 
not injure her. and as soon as we got her 
out of the crate she proceeded to take a 
few mouthfuls of clover and grass. With 
her head on one side, she sampled this 
food. It seemed to please her, for she 
wagged her head as if to say: “Not 
quite so large and rank as the clover in 
the Sunny South, but mighty sweet. I 
think I shall like New Jersey.” So here 
she is—a member of the family—well 
satisfied and willing to do her part. I 
decided to sell “Spot” when this little 
Jersey came. It was a question whether 
to sell her at a good price or attempt to 
sell her milk. We concluded to sell the 
cow. so yesterday Spot and her calf 
walked up into the truck and took a ride 
to their new home. Good cows are scarce 
and bring high prices, and unless a man 
has the equipment for handling milk 
properly I think it pays better to sell the 
cows to the regular dairymen. In our 
country many of our farmers could raise 
a few good heifers without great cost, 
and turn them off at a profit. We are 
trying the experiment now. to see just 
what it costs to produce a good heifer. 
* * * * * 
Missie is a type of cow that I have 
been telling about. I think the story of 
how Northeast Mississippi got into the 
dairy cattle business may have a lesson 
for us all. Forty years ago most of the 
cattle in that country wene what you 
might: call a sorry lot. The Civil War 
had practically cleaned up the better 
class of stock, and for some years after 
little progress was made. I have told 
how. when I first went there, the common 
cows of the country sold at about $10.50 
jeacli. Th/ey were rough and scrubby 
with head and horns and legs all out of 
proportion to their bodies. More than 
that they were alive with cattle ticks, 
and at that time few if any knew that 
the cattle tick presentrd a free .ticket to 
disease for all imported cattle. I pre¬ 
sume this cattle tick represented to cattle 
something of what the malarial mosquito 
represented to human beings. Formerly 
when people contracted malaria it was 
attributed to “night air” or poor drain¬ 
age. Then it was found that the disease 
is carried from one human to another 
by a certain species of mosquito. It does 
not spread in other ways. This discov¬ 
ery showed that in order to wipe out 
malaria we must clean out the mos¬ 
quitoes. In a somewhat like manner the 
cattle tick was responsible for the spread 
of disease like Texas fever from one ani¬ 
mal to another. Many or most of these 
tough little Southern cattle were im¬ 
mune to the disease, but when Northern 
cattle were brought in the ticks from the 
native cattle inoculated them and spread 
the disease, and the imported cattle were 
unable to throw it off. Forty years ago 
some of the far-sighted men of the South 
saw the necessity of improving their live 
stock, and they knew this could only be 
done by bringing in purebred cattle to 
breed to the best native stock. It was 
not. at that time, thought that the South 
could ever excel at dairying. It was 
thought that East Tennessee was about 
as far South as buttermaking could be 
made to pay. So beef cattle were chiefly 
brought in. The Devons were very pop¬ 
ular, and in some sections you will still 
find many bright red cattle tracing back 
to these earlier efforts to import the 
“trim little cow in red.” 
* * * * * 
This business proved to be a gamble, 
requiring a stout heart and strong nerve, 
for the imported cattle faded away before 
the dreaded Texas fever. About the sad¬ 
dest sight I have ever seen on a farm 
was that presented by an old gentleman 
who had mortgaged about all the property 
he had left to buy « herd of Devou cattle 
from Wisconsin. They were beauties, 
and just as the owner felt sure that they 
would save his property, they fell sick 
with fever and died. This was a common 
occurrence. I have seen dozens of these 
high-priced animals, imported with high 
hope and eager expectation, lying helpless 
with fever, a disease which baffled the 
wisest, because they did not fully realize 
how it was spread, and therefore could 
not strike it at its source. A few of 
these purebred cattle lived, and the calves 
from them showed what was possible with 
that mild climate and strong soil. Peo¬ 
ple would travel through that country, 
notice the poor, scrubby cattle, and won¬ 
der why the stock had not been improved. 
They did not, of course, know that these 
runty cows had exchanged size and qual¬ 
ity for immunity against the tick. For 
this tiny and treacherous insect stood 
like a giant in the path of cattle improve¬ 
ment,. and said to those who would bring 
in pure blood : “They shall not pass!” 
* * * * * 
There were a few men. however, who 
•Pit RURAL NEW-YORKER 
would not be beaten at this game. The 
world can never be made to realize what 
it. owes to such men. It remembers the 
poets and orators and statesmen, in a 
way. Yet their work is but froth com¬ 
pared with that of the men who endure 
trouble and ridicule and loss in order 
that the soil may be improved and food 
made more abundant. One of the great 
leaders in the campaign for “Queen Cow” 
was Col. W. R. Montgomery. You per¬ 
haps have in your mind a mental picture 
of one of the large slaveholders o.f the 
days before the war. Imagine if pos¬ 
sible, such a man stepping down out. of 
a fine oil painting, hanging on the wall 
of a Southern mansion, pulling off his 
coat, rolling up his sleeves and going to 
work! These were the men who, after 
the war was ended, accepted the situation 
as inevitable, and tried to adjust their 
conditions to free labor. Colonel Mont¬ 
gomery was, as I remember, opposed to 
the war, but he went with his section. 
He told me once that he gained his title 
by taking command of an outfit, of nitre 
beds where they extracted saltpetre from 
manure, for use in making gunpowder, 
lie saw that his section was naturally a 
grass country, with much the same type 
of soil that, is found in the Blue-grass 
country of Kentucky. He knew 'that the 
products of this rich soil could never 
be properly utilized by scrub stock any 
more than the cotton and wool could ever 
be utilized by old-fashioned and crude 
native machines. And Colonel Montgom¬ 
ery refused to believe the “authorities” 
who laid down the law about a “dairy 
belt” which ended just below the Ohio 
River. Instead of trying to bring in 
beef cattle, he boldly imported some of 
the best blood of the Jersey cattle and 
proceeded to build up a dairy herd. 
* * * * * 
There was great prejudice against the 
Jerseys in that section. They were too 
small—“cat-hammed.” the beef men said. 
Many people were actually afraid of their 
butter. I knew a man who went through 
town with five pounds of Jersey butter 
and could sell only three pounds. People 
called it. “painted.” from its color. That 
man was a philosopher, and he took his 
butter home and told the children to “eat 
a little more on the hot biscuits.” Of 
course, he did not realize that, this meant 
an extra lot. of vitamines for the kids. 
There was every prejudice against the 
“little Jerseys.” By and by they found 
that the world demanded yellow color in 
butter, and that the Jersey cow could 
beat the chemist, and actually extract a 
yellow stain from cottonseed. I picked 
up an old book the other day—the author 
a “high authority”—which claims that 
butter-making never can be profitable 
South of Tennessee or North of Vermont, 
any more than cotton or oranges can be 
grown at the North or apples at the 
south of Tennessee or north of Vermont, 
are profitably fed on singed cactus and 
cottonseed meal, while Stefansson, the 
Arctic explorer, insists that 50 years from 
now Labrador and other northern coun¬ 
tries will be our great butter-producing 
sections. If men like Colonel Montgom¬ 
ery had not kept their faith and vision in 
the face of discouragement and prejudice, 
the development, of the Gulf States would 
have been kept back for years. Dairying 
and grass have brought in a new industry. 
This has put new money into circulation, 
opened up new industries, and improved 
every other branch of farming. In every 
section in which I have lived there have 
been men of the same broad vision and 
determined character, who have looked 
ahead and developed new industries. I 
think the people of Northeast Mississippi 
might well erect a monument to Col. W. 
B. Montgomery. 
***** 
At a time when the future of dairying 
seemed dark and indistinct, he used to 
August 14, 1020 
tell me that the time would come when 
there would be a new strain or breed of 
dairy cattle. He said it would be the 
high-grade cow produced on the limestone. 
That the old t hick-necked scrub 'had value 
was shown by its power to resist disease. 
You could hardly kill one of them. Turn 
it into the canebrakes to hustle for itself 
and it. would fight off wild animals, resist 
disease and raise a calf—giving just about 
enough milk for that purpose. The 
Northern scrub was of a different type— 
a barn-housed animal, underfed and poor¬ 
ly cared for. The Southern scrub was 
a wild, outdoor animal, with the endur¬ 
ance of a deer or buffalo. Colonel Mont¬ 
gomery said that this nigged constitution 
would prove an asset, after generations 
of Jersey blood had been mixed in with 
it. He predicted that in 40 years there 
would be developed in that mild climate 
and in the rough open life of these rich 
pastures a larger and stronger Jersey 
grade, with something of the endurance 
of her canebrake ancestor, and the finest 
inheritance from the Island of Jersey. 
Such a cow put into a comfortable stable 
after her free and open life and fed and 
cared for properly would respond as few 
others can. 
***** 
One must go down into that country to 
realize how true tills prophecy has come 
to be. While within my own remem¬ 
brance it was difficult to sell a pound of 
Jersey butter in town, the annual output 
for the State is now over $5,000,000. 
The section around Starkville has become 
headquarters for butter cows. The tick 
menace has been wiped out, and in that 
mild climate, with cattle at pasture prac¬ 
tically all the year, there is but little 
tuberculosis. The cattle through that 
section are remarkably uniform in ap¬ 
pearance. Some of the finest Jersey 
blood in the world goes down there every 
year, and these limestone pastures have 
developed a cow of good frame, fine bone 
More Profits 
with Silage- 
Use a Fordson Tractor 
and a Little Giant Belt 
Not only does the making of ensilage furnish a 
supply of exceptionally good, economical feed for 
live stock but it clears the corn field for an early 
start the next season. It’s another step toward 
more efficient, more profitable farming. 
And when you belt your Fordson to your ensilage 
cutter, be sure it’s a Little Giant tractor belt 
that transmits the power. Little Giant belts are 
specially designed for exclusive use with the 
Fordson and combine the features that enable 
the tractor to develop a steady, even flow of 
unfailing power through its belt pulley. 
The Little Giant grips the pulley like the clutch of a 
giant hand. There is no slippage and wastage of 
power even when the ensilage cutter is overloaded. 
The Little Giant is an endless belt so there is no 
pulling out of belt ends and no delays for relacing. 
The Little Giant is a special treated, canvas belt 
and is unaffected by the moisture, heat and ex¬ 
posure a belt must meet in farm work. An exclusive 
feature is the extra stitching which resists the effects 
of edge wear and greatly lengthens the life of the belt. 
You can buy a Little Giant from your local 
Fordson dealer—save the expense and delay of 
sending away for a belt. Ask your Fordson 
dealer to show you a Little Giant belt, or write 
us direct for complete information. 
United States Rubber Company 
Mechanical Goods Division 
Distributed by 
GASH-STULL 86 CO., Philadelphia, Pa. 
THOMAS J. NORTHWAY, Rochester, N. Y. 
HOOPER MOTOR CO., Youngstown, Ohio 
LIVINGSTON MOTOR CO., Worcester, Mass. 
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