The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-11-01

like that there mule. They won't drive
at all 'thout bell on o. some kind, and
the fool reformer that thinks it would
be sacrifice of his principles to let 'em
have it gifts kicked into the middle of
next week, while the politician is
willin' to pervide the bell for 'em, and
they get down and hump themselves
while he sits in a spring seat and rides.
An l don't doubt I've ben mule my
self many time, an shall be agin."
WHAT do our readers know about
growing witch grass as a crop? One of
our neighbors has his ground pretty
well seeded with it, and don't brag
great deal over it. Still, it may be, as
some writers contend, that he doesn't
make the ground rich enough for it to
show what it can do. The writer who
recommends it is Henry Stewart. in
the Country Gentleman. He says: My
cattle are now filling themselves with
this grass, and enjoying themselves
amazingly. have weighed out the sod
of quack freed from soil and we'll shaken
out, with all the roots and fibres at
tached, and found it to weigh nearly
four pounds to the square foot;
this is equal to eighty tons per acre of
vegetable matter, ,Ohich l consider equal
TO ordinary manure. The cows prefer
it to timothy or orchard grass" No
wonder that our veteran contemporary
of the Montreal Journal Of Agriculture
| says, ia this connection: "Mr. Stewart
advises farmers to grow this orass-he
is not joking, indeed, dear reader-as a
permanent meadow. Our consolation
is that when it taken full posses
sion of a piece of land, it is more easily
killed than when it is thin and scat
tered If any more weeds are worthy
of cultivation, or preservation, we
should be glad to know what they are,
as, up to the present time, we have
been earnestly striving to inculcate on
our readers the necessity of utterly ex-
tirpating weeds of every description"
WITCH-GRAss is a heavy feeder, and
will not do much, or spread far, in poor,
thin soils, or in any light soils out of
condition. No doubt it contains great
deal of good nutritive matter, for it is
the bad brother" of wheat; but we
must ask Mr.. Stewart to excuse us from
sowing the seed, or introducing the
roots into our land, until he has contin-
ued his trial of it while longer.
THE tremendous triumph of the Jer-
seys at the great Chicago show-both
as to the yield and quality of their pro-
duct-the refusal of the owners of every
other breed, except the dairy strain of
short horns, to compete with them; and
the almost entire disappearance, all
around, of the Dutch black and white
cattle from the field of competition for
dairy purposes is quite surprising. A
CORES pondent of the Stockman says:
CAS- has been previously announced,
the Jerseys were victorious in breed
tests Nos. l and 2, and the figures, as
far as they have been completed, clearly
indicate that they will again lead by
strong Lead in test No. (the thirty
day test for butter), in the two essen
tials, total butter and cost of produc-
ton. The Jersey herd in the third test
was composed of twelve cows that had
been in the stable since January, and
had each, with two exceptions, gone
through herd tests Nos. ! and 2, and
each of the twelve had participated in
the ninety-day test. The fact that
these cows could remain on dry feed,
without exercise, pass through the heat
of the summer, fight such flies as only
sand heaps Con which the barns are
bully can produce, and yet in the last
test prove victorious, is strong COM
mentary on and gives an unqualified
disproval to those who have contended
that the Jerseys are 'delicate,'a lawn
pet,' or the rich mans cow That,
after these unfavorable and disadvan-
tageous surroundings, the cows from
this stable were able to go into the
show ring and practically sweep every
thing before them, attests to their con-
dition after so long a strain. The Jer-
sey COW can no longer be called the rich
mans pet; she has proved herself the
friend of the poor man and the mort
gage-lifter. She is truly the dairy COW
of dairy COWS for profit"
WE believe that there are not a few
of our readers who are grateful to us
for our plain talk about the so-called
Holsteins, which have been pushed
upon thousands, especially of the anna
teur class, for practical farmers have
almost everywhere held off from this
class IF stock whoaa mill is % noor In