Newspaper Page Text
THE SOUTHERN WORLD, AUGUST 1*5, 1882.
5
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Live Stock Notes.
The Orange Bulletin says: stock sales in
Kentucky, for the past six months, of fine
stock at auction, are 208 race horses, at $125,-
055 ; 694 trotters at $170,000 ; 480 short horns
at $141,674. Total, $438,044. The private
private sales added, will make the total ex
ceed $500,000.
Four years ago J. P. Couch, of Brown wood,
Texas, bought 477 sheep. He has now 920
head. His two clips of wool netted him
$877; expenses of caring for the sheep $400.
He paid $1,000 for 470 stock sheep, and $70
for 7 graded bucks. The flock can now be
sold for $2,700—profit $2,107.
Four years ago a Texas farmer declared
his intention of making an opossum hunt
net him $19,000 in less than ten years. The
meats and pelts of that hunt were sold for
$95. This was invested in twelve calves,
which, at the end of two years were sold.
The proceeds were invested in one hundred
calves, which now, at the end of four years
from the first investment, are valued at $40
each.
The Begieter says Col. Baldwin, of Mays-
ville, bought 15 head of two year old mules
in Madison, Ky., at $100per head.
Absolom March has sold to O. J. White,
five suckling mule colts, four of them horse
colts, for $300.— Richmond(Ky.) Begieter.
A Clark county, Kentucky jack, was re
cently sold to Capt. Farish, of Charlottsville,
Va. Price, $1,000. Montgomery possesses
one for which $1,500 is asked.
From April 22d to July 22d, 1882, 15,228
head of cattle, have been shipped from Key
West, Fla., to Cuba. The fees to the Span
ish Consul foots up the handsome sum of
$6,101.20.
ChMflB( the Diet of Cows.
Those who have dairy cows need to be
careful in changing their diet. There is a
great deal to be thought of in this connec
tion. It is a fact, well established by the ex
perience of dairymen, that cows which are
regularly fed with grain while they are at
pasture, even if the pasture is fresh and
plenty, will give more milk and make more
butter and cheese than cows equally good,
but living on grass only; yet if a liberal ra
tion of meal is given to the cows living on
the fresh grass, the first effect is to cause
shrink in their miik; and if the cows which
have become accustomed to have meal with
their grass, have their meal suddenly taken
away, they will alio shrink, the pasture in
both cases being equally fresh and plenty.
The loss of milk in neither cose can be
charged to inferiority of the food, since the
chunges in feed are the reverse of the other;
while tiie effects are alike. The effect is due
to a change in the action of the stomach to
adapt its character to the digestion of an es
tablished food.
Ureakliiff Heifer* to JHIk.
Brother farmers, if your young cows show
a disposition to kick when breaking them to
milk, take a stout strap, buckle around the
body just forward of the hips, also just for
ward of the forward teats. Draw up snug or
tight, theu they cannot raise the hind feet
to do any damage. Exercise a little patience;
they will soon get accustomed to the strap
and quiet down. Loosen the strap by de
grees, then lay it across the back until Bhe
stands quiet. X have broken a number this
way; I find it the best plan I have tried, and
1 have tried a good many ways. Patience
and perseverance without harsh means, is
the best remedy in the management of dairy
stock. It will also apply to all our domestic
animals.—C. W. Kellooq, tn Practical Par
mer.
Early Lambs.
There seems a growing demand in cities
lor early farm products, probably arising in
part from the growing up therein of a class
of men of means who are able to buy what
ever is offered in that way. The constantly
growing demand for "spring lamb" in all
cities and large villages, price paid for it has
led many farmers to provide extra conven
iences, warm yards, etc., and have lambs
dropped as early as March, and even In Feb
ruary. The extra care required is usually
fully repa.d by the higher prices obtained.
If the ewes dropping the early lambs are to
be sold for mutton, it is best to push them
forward by good feeding to be ready for the
butcher in June; and the same for wethers
designed for market.
The “Common Vow.”
Let us say a good word for the much-
abused “common cow.” The family is a
very large one, and as is the case in most
large families, there is much difference in
character among the members. It is also
hard to draw the family line. There are
many common, or so-called native cows,
which have but few Rood qualities, but there
are also many that are of very good quality
—especially for the dairy. There are large
numbers of cattle with some slight crosses
of some one or more of the improved breeds,
but which are not recognized as belonging to
any breed and must be classed as “common
stock." Among these there are some of more
than ordinary good quality.
We have seen in some of the dairies of the
country, cows which could not be recognized
as belonging to any distinct breed, but which
would compare favorably with good cows of
any breed of actual merit. As foundation
stock on which to make crosses of the im
proved breeds, the cattle of the farmers of
many sections of our country are well adapt
ed, whether meat or milk be the point de
sired. There are good and poor common
cattle, os there are good and poor specimens
of any of the improved breeds. Where they
have been long bred, with care and some
wisdom in the selection, the common cattle
often have acquired an adaptation to their
surroundings which no one of the improved
breeds have on their first introduction.—The
Breeders’ Gazette.
Oar Natural Resource* for Stork Rais
ing.
The future prosperity of our prairie coun
try, and in fact all Mississippi, is more de
pendent upon its liay crop than its cotton
crop, and those who are skeptics upon the
subject now, will indorse us thoroughly be
fore they are five years older. But few of
our people have the means, patience or in
clination to engage in the tedious and ex
pensive propagation of the "improved grass
es," but almost all of them command the
means necessary for enclosing, “flushing”
and harrowing from ten to fifty acres for na
tive grass meadows; and those who will ex
pend the little labor and money required for
this progressive venture, are certain of from
one to three tons of hay to the acre; those
who have the hay or the pasturage will be
certain to have the sheep and cattle to con
sume it, and we will become a great stock
raising community before we ourselves are
aware of the change.
Experiment has demonstrated the fact that
our Japanese clover will feed everything from
a hog to a race-horse, and that it is almost as
nutritious as corn; while our crab-grass hay
when well cured, is equal to the best tim
othy. For a rich yield of Japanese clover
we have but to fence in the land where it
grows and it will become as rank os red
clover the first season, while land Hushed by
a single plowing guarantees the richest crab-
grass meadow, and if harrowed, is as easy
cutting for a mowing machine as blue-grass.
In many portions of the country, and par
ticularly in the fifth supervisor’s district, the
whole outlying country is carpeted with Ber
muda grass—if this is enclosed it will grow
several feet high and yield to the mower a
crop of hay that will command the higtiest
price in any market in the Union, and those
whose plantations border it can make money
by “turning out” their cotton and putting
the rails that now enclose it around the Ber
muda gross that is affording free pasturuge
to thousands of bucolic tramps.—Aberdeen
Examiner. ’ ^
Watering Animal*.
Those who ask that in the matter of water
ing animals they should be treated very
much as we treat ourselves, are no doubt
correct. One thing in the treatment of work
horses in hot weather we are disposed to de
preciate, viz: the custom of watering them
three times a day and uo more. It is simply
cruelty on the part of man toward his
beast, to compel the team to plow or mow
from early morning until noon or from noon
until night, without allowing it the privi
lege of a refreshing draught. It is inconven
ient, many limes, to water the team during
the forenoon or afternoon and we are apt to
think the time lost, but when the farmers’
millennium comes, there will probably be
drinking troughs in every field, supplied
from some elevated spring, or from a run
ning stream. In the meanwhile time "lost”
in doing good, even though it may be in be
half of the dumb animals, is well "lost”—
it may be regained.
A Falmouth Kentucky lady sells $8.00
worth of milk and butter every week from
two cows. ,
Inferior Dairy Block.
Practical Farmer.
Writing to tho Western Agriculturist, Mr.
Willard says: One notable source of poor
success in dairying is inferior cows. It is
said that even in the oldest and best districts
of New York, one third of the dairy stock
will not more than pay the cost of its keep
ing. This is not to the credit of good dairy
men, and shows they do not give proper at
tention to their account of profit and loss.
Poor milk-yielding cows are a “crying evil,”
and the annual loss from this cause keeps
many dairymen in straightened circumstan
ces; and so long as they persist in retaining
this kind of stock, there is for them but lit-
the hope of bettering their fortunes in the
dairy. Inferior milkers are not wholly con
fined to the scrubs and common cows of the
country, for they are found among all breeds
of thoroughbred stock. Prof. Roberts, in a
recent address at a dairy convention, affirm
ed that much of the thoroughbred stock of
the country is a positive damage in the
dairy. Weak in constitution, with tho
milking habit bred out, they transmit
these characteristics to their progeny, and
thus become the infinite source of mischief
and loss to the dairyman who is trying to im
prove hisherd by introducing pedigree blood.
Every poor milker, when found out, he said
should have its head cut off and not be
turned away indiscriminately to cheat and
cause loss to other dairymen. No matter
how renowned its pedigree, let it go to the
shambles or to the beef-producer, but not to
dairymen. Mr. Harris Lewis facetiously
urged at the same convention that any
dairyman having a poor milker would make
money by giving her away, and if he had
scruples in this regard, “he might make a
present of the beast to his mother-in-law.”
Some years ago one of the best dairymen
in Herkimer county, New York, desiring to
ascertain the profit he was realizing from
the different cows in his herd, instituted a
series of tests. He had found from actual
experiment that the average cost of keeping
his dairy stock through the year was at the
rate of $35 per head, and this sum was em
braced under the following items:
Two and one half tons of hay at $8
per ton $20 00
Pasturage during the season 7 50
Two hundred pounds of ground feed
in spring 8 00
Interest on cost of cow at$45, and de
preciation at 10 per cent 4 50
Making per cow a total of $35 00
Now selecting five of his best cows and five
of his poorest cows, and measuring the
quantity of milk on certain days of the
month during the season, ho found that the
five best cows yielded 554 gallons of milk
each, which realized in butter and ciiecso,
sold ut market rates, an average for the sea
son o'f IVA cents per gallon, or a total of
$03.11 per cow. This gave him after deduct
ing cost of keeping, $28.72 per cow clear
profit.
On the other hand, the five poorest cows
yielded only 243 gallons of milk each,
which at ll'A cents per gallon amounted to
$27.95 each, or $7.00 less than the cost of
keeping. As a result of this test, it is need
less to say the poor cows were not kept over
the second season. If this result was ob
tained by one of the best dairymen, what
could be expected from the herd of the
average dairyman.
• Endorse* the Plan.
Mississippi Coplabam.
Feeling a deep interest in the agriculture
of this country, and especially with my
“Qrunger” friends, I can’t help but give
them an idea I met with in the Southern
World, on the subjeot of raising the second
or fall crop of Irish potatoes, whereby they
can always secure an abundant supply for
winter use and seed for planting.
’Tis a mistaken idea that we cannot raise
our own seed. My neighbor, Barney Moor
man, has secured a new and'distinct variety
from the seed ball, that is ten days earlier
than any grown, and is decidedly the best
flavored and prolific of any I have ever
Been—having now planted them for three
years—saving my own seed. This demon
strates the fact that we can successfully
raise and keep for seed all we desire, and
thus save the $2 or $3 per bushel we pay for
seed every spring.
The greatest difficulty I have found is
they fail to germinate or come up in conse
quence of the dry weather, which usually
prevails in July and .August; when they
should be planted there is not sufficient
moisture to cause them to germinate.
Now the remedy is simply this: Bed your
potatoes as you would your sweet potatoes
—any time in July—and water the bed reg
ularly, keeping it moist, but not wet enough
to cause them to rot; os soon as they come
up, take the potato with sprouts attached
and plant in a suitable place, thereby secur
ing a perfect stand and a fine full crop.
Dig after first frost and keep from freezing
and you will not only have a supply for
seed, but a sufficiency for table uso all win
ter. Just try it one year and you will buy
no more seed. While on the subject allow
me to givo you my long experience in cut
ting for spring, do not cut your potatoes
crosswise, always lengthwise, being careful
to save an eye on the stem end, (or the end
where the eyes cluster together) in halves or
quarters according to size, or rather, cut off
the but end and feed to the pig or milch
cow. Now brother farmer try it, and get
out of the old rut and diversify your crops
and make every thing at home and quit run
ning to town for every thing you want.
A. P. Barry.
Raise your own Neat.
Amerlcus, O*., Recorder.
It isoften asserted that raeatcan’tbc raised
at the south. True, a legend exists among
us that before and during the war provis
ions of all kinds were made in abundance,
but even the legend is now discredited in
this enlightened day, by most of king cot
ton subjects. Wo give the following little
figures for what it ,is worth , "ho that runs
may read.” In the springof 1881 a common
sow with five pigs was bought for five dol
lars ($5). The sow has since given birth to
two or three litters, also one of the former
pigs has brought forth a litter. Here are the
figures:
5 pigs killed for bacon 125 lbs. each
at 8c $50.00
2 sows at $3.50 7.00
33 pigs (large and small) at $1.50 49.50
$100.60
Original cost 5.00
Profit $101.50
The cost of feeding and care of these hogs
of course was something, but in this coso
was almost nominal. Raise youi own meat.
Worthy of Imitation.
Amerlcus Republican.
Mr. V. A. Clegg who is identified with our
city, owning property here, is doing much
for the planting and industrial interests of
Lee county. He has 350 acres of corn in one
field, and out of that he expects to make be
tween four and five thousand bushels. Ho
gave his hands rations out of Golden Dent
corn, on the 15th day of July, ground nt his
mill—this year’s crop. His cotton is boom
ing and by the 15th of next month will have
it on the market for sale. His crop of that
staple reaches between four and five hundred
bales a season. In that large field of corn
he has planted a crop of peas which up to
this time promises an abundant yield. In
connection wih all this he has in operation
a turpentine distillery which is all the time
running and making shipments. His saw
mill is actively at work, doinga most health
ful business. Now, it is well to notice these
things for the very life-blood of our section
flows in the channel of our planting os well
as our industrial interests.
The Pea ns a Renovator.
Every one who thinks at all must admit
that much of the once fertile soil even here
is becoming exhausted. Commercial fertili
zers are expensive, and so much so that few,
if any, make an effort to use them. Stable
manure cannot be supplied unless produced
by stock kept on the farm, and yet but few
farms have systematized theircallingso that
they keep just enough to furnish their lands
with a continuous supply of plant food.
Under tho above heading we find a very
practical article in the Southern World,
which it occurs to us could for reasons set
forth be carried out by many in the North
west. The article is full of information,
and should be well studied.—North Pacifio
Bural Spirit.
Mr. John T. Howell, of Sumter county,
made this season quite a success in the pro
duction of Irish potatoes. He had an acre
planted in these potatoes, and realized about
one hundred bushels. A family of twelve
persons subsisted from them; besides he has
sold fifty bushels, realizing one dollar and
twenty-five cents per bushel. The same
acre is now planted in cotton, which is up to
this time knee high, and, if the season
proves propitious, may make three-fourths
of a bale of cotton. Mr. Howell has planted
for another crop of Irish potatoes.—Repub
lican.