St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-02
A SENATOR'S PARALLELS.
An Entertaining Letter From Senator
Durant to Mr.. Ives.
A CHAT ON BULLS AND BEES.
Some Ideas the Saltwater Farmer Got
From Mr. Hill---How He Spoiled
Melon Patch.

M61OU fatCu.
SALTWATER, Mimi, March 81, 1888.
Hon Warren J. Ives, State Dairy Com
missioner, st. Paul, MINI. Friend Ives:
After our conversation relative to stock,
stock breeding and raising. and acting
upon YOUR suggestion.I called on MIR.
Hill. On explaining to Mr.. Hill the OBJ
ject of my visit he seemed pleased to
see me, and especially so when L men
toned that my visit was prompted by
YOU. Quite number of railway gentle
men were with Mr.. Hill in his private
Office at the time l called; in fact, l felt
somewhat embarrassed Oh being ushered
into the presence of the men who con-
troll so largely the commercial Interests
of this great Northwest. Mr.. Hill very
kindly introduced the gentlemen to
me. and after explaining to them
that nv business was strictly priyote
reouested that he be excused from fur
ther attendance at the meeting then
being held, as he wished to discuss
stock matters with me. So MIR. Hill and
myself adjourned to a private room,
more private than was the other one,
and we sat down in two large easy
chairs. After we were seated Mr. Hill
brushed his hand across his face and
said, s'Well?"
sT'Iereupon said had had some con-
yersation with you about stock-ralslng;
that nv intention was to engage largely
in raising fine stock; that my means
were limited, and acting on your adj
vice, intended to help out little by
selling milk, and in order to do SO
wanted a strain of blood in my stock
that would enable me to raise biOoded
calves fed on skim milk, stating that
had lived on farm and knew how to
Wean calves and teach them to consider
skim milk luxury.
Mr.. Hill then eXpatiated at some
length on bovine philosophy, and cited
You as authority on tactical ducts, and
Stating that, while the color OF the skin,
style of udder, length OF horns and tail
are sometimes safe criterion from
which to Judge the milk-givlng QUALITIES
Of a COW, yet these signs were not III
faIiible. He said that some times in III
breeding none. or scarce any of these
indications might be visible; that eX-
perienced cattle men had learned that to
produce beef was much easier than
milk.
MIR. HILL SEEMED TO THINK
the Polled Angus stock better fitted for
beef than for milk, agreeing with you
that MIR, Staples herd of Dutch
Belts were superb mixers. The
relative merits of DurhamS. DeVOns
and Jerseys were fully discussed.
I gathered from what Mr.. Hill said that
his herd of POlled Angus ran largely to
bulls, while the Staples herd OF Dutch
Belts were largely of the other sex. Not
being able to trace this to climatic IN
fluences, concluded that 1T must be
attributable to location. or, possibly, as
relates to Mr.. Hills herd, to some occult
Egyptian science. My visit to Mr..
Hiil was very pleasant socially, and
enabled me to gain a new insight to one
of the most important and valuable
auxiliaries of farming. Quite likely l
may get bull of Mr.. Hill next winter.
Still, if he does give me one | hope he
will keep him for me until spring.
Washington county presents many adj
yantageS for stock raising, and see by
the city census that large portion
of StillWater's population are engaged
i'm raising children, and although chill
dren may be judges OF milk, they
must take what they can get; SO why
not make butter and let the calves and
children have the skim milk?
Well, after canvaSSing the matter over
fully, think shall risk the venture
and act pretty much on your suggestion;
buy a small herd of Staples Dutch Belts
and cross them with Manheimer's Red
JERSEYS. MY intention is to consult
with some of the owners of Mannheim
er's Red Jerseys, and ascertain ii they
have proven satisfactory. / want to be
reasonably sure, as this will really be
new departure in stock raising. L am
under many obligations to you for
the valuable hints given me, and shall
be most pleased to show my apprecia-
ton of your kindly offices should oppor-
tunity offer.
That political scheme the other day
was, think l may say, incongruous.
: You see, it's high license, low license;
high tariff, low tariff. Well, it's like
something | discovered when l was
boy thirsting after knowledge, and
|, will possibly turn out the same way.
/ When l was about fifteen years Old [
was working on farm, and the neigh
/ borhood school was taught by young
lady who boarded rouni, as they said.
! Our house being handy to the school
| house, we had the teacher good share
|: ufythe time. Well, the lady
\ nfsR WAS WAY UP IN GEOLOGY
|! and botany, but it being prairie coun-
/ trF9 of course the opportunities for
/ Studying geology were limited. Yet it
! was a magnificent field for the study of
/: botany. Now, you know school marin
/ tea boy of fifteen is divinity, and, OF
course was interested in botany. The
/ lady would take flower and explain to
me how the leaves were the petals. and
about the piStils and the stamens and
| theipollen, explaining how the pollen OF
/ blooms and flowers was carried by bees
an6zephyrs one to the other. and that
\ thee pollen, being the provocative power
Of plants. causes the plants and vines to
form and bring forth fruit. Twas
very interesting study to me, and l used
to watch the bees but could not discover
that they were doing anything but buzz
ing about, and l never saw a zephyr in
our truck patch, We had big melon
patch, and near by in the edge Of this
corn-feld right smart lot Of pumpkin
vines.
was out in the melon patch one day
when the vines were full OF blossoms
and the pumpkin vines were in full
bloom, and, as | said before, the bees
seemed to be looking around, thought
would help them out, so took a num-
Der of the pumpkin blooms and scat
tered the pollen OH the melon blossoms,
then took some melon blossoms bach
and scattered the pollen on the pumpkin
blooms. 1t was quite a chore, and
helped out the bees considerably. Well,
in about six or eight weeks the man l
was working for was Dragging to his
neighbOrs about his big watermelOnS,
1t happened one day neighb0r came
over on some errand OF other, and we.
the farmer and myself. went out to show