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7*e RURAL NEW.YORKER 
1533 
Outlook for 
Beef and Milk 
T HE production of meat or milk presents many 
interesting and complicated problems. Through¬ 
out the Eastern district pasture conditions have been 
unusual this year, owing to the excessive rainfall, 
and as a result many stockmen have found it pos¬ 
sible to feed less grain than is ordinarily practiced. 
Generally speaking, the outlet for feeding stuffs has 
been restricted, and as a result these materials have 
been reduced substantially in price, and there is 
ample evidence that a further decline 
is on the way. 
Some time ago indications pointed to 
an increased price for milk on the 
farm. Today the cloud has darkened, 
and the old story ©f overproduction is 
proclaimed. Practically every feeder 
who fed out beef cattle for.the market 
last year lost money. As a result of 
this experience there is very little en¬ 
thusiasm among feeders this year, and 
many of them are planning to market 
their cattle directly off the grass rather 
than put high-priced grain or its equiv¬ 
alent under the skin. 
It is not easy to predict what the 
outcome of this situation will be. Since 
milk is a perishable product, it must 
be marketed without delay. The oper¬ 
ation of coudenscries is expensive, 
largely because they are utilized only 
when there is a surplus of milk, and 
hence their output is not a constant 
quantity. Again, a great deal of con¬ 
densed milk was produced last year 
when sugar was high in price. That 
remains unsold, and factories are not 
eager to produce a surplus lest the 
price on the product already manu¬ 
factured should fall below its cost. 
If the finishers of beef cattle are in¬ 
active during a season, and prefer to 
market their grains direct to the trade 
rather than through the agency of fat 
steers, we are apt to face a shortage 
of finished cattle, with the result that 
meat prices will continue at their high 
altitude. Usually the novice in either 
beef or milk production is the one who 
loses money, going into the business 
when products are high, and going out 
of necessity when they are low. One 
of the most successful feeders that I 
ever knew persisted in feeding and fin¬ 
ishing cattle every season regardless of 
conditions or prices. His argument 
was based upon the fact that over a 
period of years prices of finished cattle 
mure than paid a profit on the opera¬ 
tion. and he was determined to be in 
the business with cattle to sell when 
favorable conditions prevailed. I be¬ 
lieve that this doctrine is conservative 
business. Few people are fortunate 
enough to go into the stock business 
"hen prices are low and get out each 
time when they are high. 
What holds true in meat production 
is likewise true in milk production. 
While we must admit that the high 
cost of feeding stuffs, of cows, in fact, 
of every item associated with milk 
production, has increased in cost far 
beyond the corresponding increase in 
the selling value to the farmer of his 
product, it is nevertheless true that 
the dairyman who has continued oper¬ 
ations through thick and thin is the 
farmer in any community usually 
designated as the one who owns his 
°"' n farm and is the prompt payer of 
his obligations. 
1 here is a difference of opinion as to whether the 
American farmer would be justified in copying the 
methods and practices in meat and milk production 
Unit prevail throughout Great Britain. Persistently 
iheir policy lias been to produce meat and milk in 
combination rather than through specialized agen¬ 
cies. The dual-purpose animal is popular in. these 
districts because she is the rent-paying animal, re¬ 
paid less of whether she will make either product as 
economically as animals developed exclusively along 
cither the milk or beef line. 
It will be noted that the animals that appear in 
the accompanying cut represent this dual-purpose 
type. They are stabled in quarters designed 
especially to protect against infection from tuber¬ 
culosis. Individual stalls have been constructed 
that prevent any possible contact of the animals 
when they are in the stable, and as a result of this 
rather expensive and inconvenient arrangement, it 
has been possible to control this disease and develop 
lieve that the stockman who plays the game hon¬ 
estly and persistently will win in the end. f. c, m. 
Two Uses for an Engine 
I HAVE a large engine, one of the first built of 
that size. Last Winter I was cutting off a piece 
of timber. As we trimmed the trees we piled the 
tops in large piles, then I fastened a wood saw on 
the front of the engine and would run 
it up to the piles in the woods and put 
the belt on and saw them up, and when 
done at one pile just pull the belt off 
and run to the next pile and put the 
belt on again. (See Fig. 485.) The 
belt being in the way of the front 
wheel when steering is the reason I 
bad to take that off when I moved 
from one pile to another. It was very 
satisfactory, and it saved a lot of time 
and the work of carting the wood to 
the mill and sawing it there, or else 
setting the engine and saw at each 
pile. 
The other picture. Fig. 486. is the 
way I use it for spraying, which is also 
a very satisfactory thing for the pur¬ 
pose, only for a large orchard one 
wants a very large tank on a trailer. 
The man who was working the nozzle 
happened to be back of the engine when 
I photographed, so it makes it look as 
if the spray 'ran was attached to the 
A Row of Dual-purpose Cows in Individual Stolls. Fig. 
The Handp Engine Works Up the Wood. Fig. J8.I 
engine. If I had a large orchard r 
would take a smaller engine and build 
a- traction sprayer of it. and have the 
tank on the same frame. I do not 
know why the sprayer manufacturers 
haven't got busy and built such a 
machine. In spraying one has to have 
an engine, anyway, and a small one is 
always a lot more trouble than a large 
one any day. so why not have one a 
little larger, and not have to be both¬ 
ered with the horses? 
New Jersey. t. brcce bcxtixg. 
The Engine Rigged For the Spray Job. Fig. J,8G 
a herd believed to be free, as indicated by three 
tuberculin tests resulting in no reactions. Granted 
that production of milk and the reproduction of 
useful types form the basic policy of successful 
dairying, it is folly to follow any practice in live 
stock management that does not protect against 
contagious or infectious diseases. Healthy animals, 
carefully selected, intelligently fed and cared for. 
are the only specimens that will produce for the 
American stockman the results he is entitled to. 
Lven though discouragements are plentiful, we be¬ 
New England Garden Notes 
T HF GREAT APPLE CROP—If 
more eider is made in New Eng¬ 
land this year than ever before, it will 
do be due wholly to prohibition. With 
a great crop of apples and prices dis¬ 
tressingly low. it will not be surprising 
if farmers find it more profitable to 
make cider than to send the apples to 
market. Perhaps Middlesex County 
never had so many Gravensteius as it 
has this year, and the outlook is re¬ 
markably good for McIntosh and Bald¬ 
win; at least, so far as quantity is con¬ 
cerned. One grower told me a few 
days ago. however, that whereas lie 
obtained 83 a bushel at wholesale for 
Gravenstein last year, he gets less than 
a dollar a bushel this year. If he has 
to use a new box. it costs him 30 cents, 
and in addition there are transporta¬ 
tion charges. It is obvious that the 
profit is getting down close to the van¬ 
ishing point, and the peculiar thing 
about it all is that retail prices for 
apples are not very much lower than 
they were a year ago. Possibly farmers 
will get more for the late crop, for 
Gravensteius never sell extra well, in 
spite of their high quality, but the 
feeling is not very optimistic. The 
price of barrels is so high that they 
will be used only in a limited way, 
more apples going to market in boxes than ever before. 
MORE FARM LABOR.—Fortunately the labor 
situation is now easing up a bit. It is possible to 
get pickers, and good men at that, for 810 a week 
and board. More difficulty is found in getting the 
heavy farm work done, but one man of my acquaint¬ 
ance has solved that problem to a partial extent, 
although not in a way which may meet general 
commendation. lie has found that by going into 
the Italian district in the city with a large automo¬ 
bile Sunday morning lie can get a machine full of 
