The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-10-18
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers
OF Interest 90 DaIrymen.

regard TO the magnitude of the dairy in
dustry, as revealed by the census takers, and
if the figures given out are anywhere near
accurate, it will he seen that no other in
dustry approaches it in magnitude. In the
period of 20 years previous to 1890 the
number of COWS were doubled in the United
States, and so much better were these COWS
that it is figured that the increase of milk
was 200 per cent.
In 1890 1923 100000 pounds of butter
were reported, and on farms 1S,75OO00
pounds of cheese, but do not find the factory
make as yet reported, which is probably not
far from 400,000,0O0 pounds. OF milk il is
estimated that not far from / .334 900 900
gallons are used in The commercial city trade.
In round numbers IL is conceded that the
dairy industry of 1889 represented fully an
income Of 100000 900, and that the capital
invested in farms, cows, dairy apparatus,
and things pertaining to the dairy, repre-
sented an aggregate Of not less than s., 000,-
100000.
Care of MoultiDg Hens.
We never get many eggs in the noultine
season Of hens, and Is rule 10 Is better not
to try and force the hens with stimulating
food that will produce them. Moulting is
really necessary disease that hens have to
go through in the Fall of the year. and it
requires all Of their strength to resist the
drain upon their systems. If food is given
to them to make them lay right along, the
double drain IS pretty sure to affect the
health of the hens. We have seen hens
that would lay right through the hardest
moulting season, TO the great satisfaction Of
the owners, but during the rest of the Win
ter the birds were so thin, weak, and run
down IN health that they could barely
maintain an existence. At the time of the
year when eggs were the highest, they could
not be forced or coaxed to lay any.
1t is we'll to give the hens a rest at this
mOulting season. Feed them for strength
and for feather making, and do not expect
any eggs for couple of weeks. They viii
be better for it in the end. The hens must
have meat at this season in order to keep
their bodies warm, as well as to make
feathers. Lean meat, by all means, is essen
tial 10 the health of the hens at this season
of the year. Wheat, bran, or middliugs are
also excellent foods for the Fall moulting
season. The extra call for food taxes the
digestive organs very severely, and if all
the food is cooked, and fed warm, the result
will be much more noticeable. Warm food
always increases the healthy action of the
stomach, and cooked food makes the indi-
gestible part more easily assinilated. Those
who do not pretend to cook the food for the
chickens at any other time Of the year
usually resort to this practice during the
moulting season.
IF the hens are fed literally, more than
usual, of good, matchmaking food, they
will pass through the moulting season with
out losing much flesh, and will enter upon
their Winter life properly clad with feathers
to protect them from the cold. In this way
they will require less heat and protection to
resist the cold and will give more eggs in
return for the food. By all means, it pays
to be especially careful at these critical
points in the lives of the hens.
Exercise is also conducive to good health
during the moultiHg season. The hens
should not be confined, but should be given
as wide range as possible. Consequently,
do not feed too literally early in the day.
Give just enough food to sharpen their appe-
titles for more. Then let them scratch and
hunt around for worms, bugs, berries, and
grains. At nighttime, before retiring, give
them all the warm, nourishing food that
they will eat. Some inexperienced keepers
give food too literally in the morning, and
the hens are quiet and dumpy for the rest
of the day. Disease is more apt to attack
the chickens of such an inactive life.
In the feeding of hens at all times the
three essential foods that they need are
lime, albumenoidS and fat. Generally they
are inclined to receive more of the latter
than the two former, and it is stored up in
their systems so that eggs are not produced
rapidly. In making up their rations, see
that they get lime and albumenOids espe.
cially, for egg-msking depends largely upon
these, especially upon the frst.-GermGR-
to1on Telegraph.
Reform in Stock Feeding.
Our beef cattle are oyerfed. Beef that
has less fat would yield more nutrition
for the money, and more strength for the
man. In this statement Prof. Atwater
wishes to impress on the American mind
that our system of feeding is dOubly waste
full. First, in that we use an excess of fats
producing food when growing our beef,
large part of which must be of necessity
wasted and, secondly, we make our beef
too fat. Fat has the smallest food VALUES
worth far less to the buyer and is only thus
grown to excess because it has been the
custom so to do from time immemOrial, not
because of any scientific or well-grounded
reason for such method. 1t has generally
been believed that we could only have the
were very fat, and that the fatter they were
the better we should find the lean meat pro-
portions. This is an error-it has no foun-
dation in fact. 1t has probably grown from
the experience of those who have tried to
eat lean meat from lean cattle that had been
fed, and which naturally would
be tough and inferior in flavor. We should
feed our cattle which are destined for beef
ration which will cause the most rapid
growth and development Of the muscular
parts, and at the same time furnish enough
of the carbonaceOus or starchy material to
supply the fuel for animal heat and enable
the animal TO put on a moderate amount of
fat.
One of the best foods for this work is
wheat, and now that it is as cheap, or
cheaper, than corn, we should naturally ex-
pect to see it freely used. Entire wheat is
probably the nearest perfect food we can
find in any of the cereals, combining IN
about the proper proportions all the essen
tials for making perfect animal. This is
far from being the case with corn, that
cereal being an incomplete, one-sided ration,
too large proportion of carbo-
naceous matter. If the present relative
prices of wheat and corn should lead to
more general use of wheat in feeding beef
cattle, it would be a partial compensation
for the low price.
What is true of beef is equally true of our
pork, our mutton and to large extent OF