Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1875-01-15
Agricultural.

EGGS IN WINTER.-As this is the season of the
year when the usual cry is heard that eggs are
so scarce it IS impossible TO procure fresh ones
little care and attention would obviate all the
difficulty. The secret lies in this, that the hens
at this season of the year are deprived of that
variety OF food SO favorable to the production Of
eggs, and as all vegetable food, as well as worms
and insects, Have disappeared, their places must
be supplied, as far as possible, from the stores
Of the household. Every little bit left on The
plates after meals are favorlie morsels and Nrstz
clover hay cut fine, together with the fat ,lkk,
greese skimmings Of boiled meat or from -
dripping pan, when mixed with meal, are LIZ :
ly devoured by the heus after being satia,ed with
corn. See how eagerly they strip the leaves
from every plant that shows the least sign of
life, and how carefully they look oyer every scrdp
of cabbage or other esculent from the house.
Even the ceanings Of fish and game. and every
little bit Of meat that can be spared are eagerly
devoured. All these should be given them, and
should there be scarcity, the green grocers and
butchers should be visited. and the more unsafe
able portions of meat and the scraps of skinny
fat, &C., (general'y thrown by for the chambers
use) should be bought and given to the hens
Should a little such care aud forethought be
practiced generally, no family need go without
eggs at this season of the year, and could pro-
cure them ut one half the usual cost. Nor is
there a housewife who would not consider il
rather pleasure than task to spend a little
snch extra pains in procuring such needed all
ment in order to accomplish so desirable an OBJ
Ject. But when the hens are allowed to get their
food at haphazard, or best they can, it is rea-
sonable to suppose that the supply of eggs will
be proPortionaby scarce.--BGltinoT, american
The TRAMP OF THE FAT CATTIE.-English
/ farmers manage one way and another to extract
a good deal of recreation out of their business
1t is not all work with them, and among sdays
OIL the numerous fairs and exhibitions afford :
/ frequent occasions for amusement. Their usual :
| yearly fat cattle shows have just ended. These,
| being purposely so timed, give opportunity for
sort of hippodrome affair, in which a procession
! OF stock parades the country from one end to the
other, the same animals "starring it'' by easy
| stages at contiguous towns, until finally the
| company. which started at York or Manchester
ends at London, where it reaches its climax at
the great Smithield show. Thus the same ami
NAL often takes succession of prizes, and its
owner nets considerable profit OH his venture.
Il curious fact is that the same animal rarely
gets the first premium at two places the first
| at one being last at another and the last first.
This illustrates the adage, ''many men, many
minds and proves that opinions differ Thus
the COW which stood foremost at the York show
came second at Manchester, first again at Birs
mingham. {
The most notable feature of this latest acces-
sion of shows was the decadence of the Here
ords and the restoration to the front rank everv-
where of the Shorthorns. The Devons are also
gradually retiring before the more popular
breed; and it seems likely that these useful cat
tie are destined to 90 out of favor entirely At
Birmingham, which was one of the most In
portant shows of the series, there were only two
classes, oxen and cows, opened for the once pop
ular and always handsoue sDevons. At this
show Syrian sheep was exhibited of the fat
tailed species, furnished behind with an appen-
dage weighing thirty pounds, and large enough
to FL a bushel basket. At the Smithfeld show
there was an OK five years old, said to be the
finest specimen of shorthorn since the famous
Durham OK, bred by Chas. Colling. As proof
of the benefit from cross-breeding NAV be in
stanced the fact that first-prize animal this
year at this show is brother TO a first prize
taker last year, and both are. bred from 8 mix
! ture of the three fashionable Bates, Booth and
Knightly families of shorthorns.
Among the sheep the chief facts of importance
[ nj th,. continued If III. Shro7,
shres, and the great increase in size of the speci
mems of the large breeds. Three Leicester shear
Iings weighed 6s2 pounds, and three Catswolds
$50 pounds, three of the Lincons only exceeding
these by % pounds. One item of interest how
ever may be mentioned, viz, that there was
| scarcely pen of sheep that was not got up for
show by some trick, such as ''stubble shearing,''
| trimming and dyeing," ''beaching,'' 'Esmut-
! ting or ''smearing," ''gravel tinging," or
backing Another curiosity of the reports
which are full of the slang curren: with stock
mems the descriptive remarks" which are
often ebsurdly ridiculous. Thus we read of ga
feast of ample sized level FORMS, - 'sof shoulders
filed up like an egg of ''Lady SIaud's over
loaded rumps and grand Grounds, and ''Bella's
level carcass upon a short leg and grand full
bosom'-all of which and much more of the
same sort might be characterized as ''to the
/ Greeks, foolishness. ."-Tribaue.
! How LONG SHOULD Cows BE MTLKED "A
dairymaD, in the course of an article to the Bos-
ton CHltirGt0r, deprectes the practice of milking
cows close up to the time of ealving, ard favors
their being dried off about four month before.
During the last four months the growth of the
| fetus and its appendages draws largely upon
the system of the COW, and she is doing all that
should be required Of her to maintain the growth
/ without being called upon to give milk at the
same time. To persist in milking, he contends,
is highly injurious to the cow as well as to the
future cali. Flint, who is an authority upon
this subject, claims that cows which milk clear
up to the time of cdlving are in some way d.
seased or Gisordered, and their milk is uuwhole-
| some.