The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-09-11
BLUE GRASS woDERLAND.
Where Cows Give Thirteen Gallons of n
Per Day.

nleh anu thlck as the hair on dog s back-as
green as the sea and rs bilowy Cut with
streams as clear as crystal, not yet over the
hurry with which they tumbled down the hill
sloe. Shaded with immense oaks, hickories
and sugar trees, as clean and shapely as ever
gave glory to an English park. And strolling
through this grass, or resting under these
trees, Durham cattle, thoroughbred horses and
colts, and Southdown sheep galore. 1t was
just like dream''
How long were you there?"
Measured by the wonders I saw was there
a year. For instance, 1 saw a Holstein COW
that gave Is gallons of milk dav. She was
as big as Percheron horse. saw a herd of
on Durhams just sold to an Englishman for
export that averaged 1000 pounds apiece. l
saw sucking colt that the owner held at S1O,-
000!" ~4O'
go on with your wonders!"
inns colt was brother of Terra Gotta who
sold for S17 eco when he was three wears old.
and the sucking colt was worth $4,000 on his
prothers reputation. | saw yearling colt
Susie ID. "a Hambletonian) that trotted in
2:243 and l saw $4,000 refused for her 1
saw 1--WE yearling colts put into the ring and
each made mile under three minutes, the
shortest being Psi. You know in Flora Tenn
PIE S DAY 1t was thought no horse would ever
get under 2;i0. Here were five yearings that
averaged 2;45. I saw Susie S. who has trotted
in 2:17 and who her admirers think will 60
down TO 40 and know that $25 900 was re-
fused for her."
Things run to horse up there?"
Everything. Men, women ard children will
knock you Off the pedigree of any colt thew
see, as If they were telling the naturalization
table 1t Is an immense business. Mr.. With
ers has sold $4,000 worth of colts and mares
from his farm this season already, and last
year sold $4,000 worth. We went out to Mr.
ellis place and saw Mrs. Gill, who manages
the stock. She is said 10 be the most brilliant
woman IN kentucky. She offered to show us
her fine horses We took easy chairs under an
immense sugar tree, and with a five-acre lawn
of blue grass stretching out in front of us, the
parade began. The first horse shown us was
Ultimus, superb stallion and the last son of
Rysdyk's Hambletonian, the king sire of trot-
tiers. He is beauty, and is bred at $500 a
mare. Alter he was retired, came his harem,
the most beautiful brood mares, combining all
the royal bloods. After them came the colts,
as 1.-THE and pretty as fawns. and commanding
in the market from $4,000 to 5000 each.
The horse farms are cast on great scalel"
why at Maj. McDowellS farm | examined
his stable It IS vast structure with the stalls in
the center and a race track around the edges.
This track IS an eighth OF a mile and is all I'M
der roof, so that it can be heated in the winter,
and the temperature kept right as the young
sterS are exercised. Mr.. Tracy told me that his
stock had consumed 10000 bushels of oats this
year, although they were kept on pasture about
eight months OF the year. l suppose he
must have 800 head of cattle and
horses; While was in Lexington,
Maj. Mcdowell, who owns King Rene, and
Dictator, one of the great trotting stations
of the world, was shipping five of King Rene's
colts to California, TO compete for a prize of
$4,000 offered for the handsomeSt and speediest
five colts shown from one stallion. They were
beauties, and will also race against five colts
from one of the famous California stations for
a purse of $4,000, the average speed made by
each batch OF colts to govern.
"What is typical home in the blue grass p"
81 spent the night with Mr.. Price, and his
home is a typical one, judge. A three-story
brick house, roomy and with wide halls and
portico, set in the midst of about ten acres of
blue grass, trees and shrubbery. AS we enter
the gate gray mare, that is petted as a dog or
cat, comes ONES up gets an apple from
after us to the house. 1t is explained that
a colt of this mare is now being trained and
has made a mile in $50. About five hundred
acres of land make up the farm-of which
about three hundred is in grass and meadow
the remainder in corn, wheat and tobacco.
The meadows are given up to horses first
then to cattle and to sheep. The brood mares
are selected with great care and new blood
constantly introduced from the stud. The
colts are broken at six months and make a
trotting record as yearlngs. They are usually
sold as such but if one shows unusually fine
movement he is kept and developed. Colts
bring from 1900 to $500-athough standard
colts-which means those whose parents
have trotted in $50 or less-range
much higher The favorite cattle are the red
Durhams. They are raised almost exclusively
for beef, and calf at one year, after grazing
on blue grass, will weigh from TOO to ZOO
pounds and sells at cents pound. On most
farms there are few Jerseys kept for private
use Their milk is richer and their butter
finer than that of the larger breeds, but saw
mono bred for market. The favorite
sheep are Oxford Downs and South
Downs. The Cottswold grows too large on
these beautiful lands and gets coarse The
blue grass is a perennial crop. I saw a field
that had been planted in corn for fifteen years,
and was then turned out and sold as new land.
The purchaser simply let it alone, and in five
years it was green with the richest of blue
grass. Under the soil there are constantly de-
composing stratas of limestone, from which
the grass springs as rain from the clouds. The
trees are beautiful. In our thinner soil q tree
sends out roots all over the neighborhood
seeking for moisture and food. The
blue grass trees have none of these snrad-
ding roots. They shoot straight down
into the rich soil and stand like posts driven
in. The plan and the machinery Of the blue
grass farm is simple. 1t is simply water, grass,
and stock-with enough corn, wheat and oats
to run the family and the stables. 1t is the
house, the barns, the stables and on preten-
tious farms the race track. Tobacco is grown
OF best quality, but it is the horse mainly on
which the blue grass farmer relies. Lexing-
ton and its vicinity Is the center Tor thorough
breds and attracts buyers from all over the
world"
as not corn raised largely for distilling?"
"Prohibiton is rapidly stopping that / saw
at least three enormous distiileries Chat must
have cost 100000 eacl) idle and dismantled.
/ was in five kentucky counties; in three Of
them prohibition had been adopted and was
giving the greatest satisfaction. / was at the
fair at Lexington and saw 20000 people there
and | saw only one drunken man."
"The blue grass farmer lives well, doesn't
hep"
~ should say so. A lamb chop down here
has tender loin about the size of a nickel.
Up there it is as broad as your hand and COW
cred with fat. A spring lamb will weigh a
hundred pounds in September. The steak
just melts in your mouth. The hams are
delicious, and such butter milk and poultry
never saw. | was struck with the number of
handsome men and women | saw, and believe
their beauty comes from the nutritious and
abundant food You can eat steak as wide as
your two hands up there, and never feel it,
while two inches Of our tough steak will
worry you all day."
Another great thing in Kentucky is her
splendid roads They are better than our
streets. Captain T. a. Elkin, to whom and
his wife I am indebted for continued courtesy,
drove us three in a buggy over thirteen miles
of turnpike in an hour and a nalf with a three
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