Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-09
MAN OF MANY HOMES
Lord Rosebery, Former Prime
Minister, Still Useful.
BREEDING FARMS FAMOUS
Aims to Educate British Farmers in
Agriculture.
RAISES CROPS FOR THEIR SEED
His Ancestral Home-His Political
Success-His Enforced Retire
ment by Insomnia.
BREEDING FARMS FAMOUS
RAISES CROPS FOR THEIR SEED
BY WILLIAM F. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence IF The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald
EDINBURGH, October :. 1908
On the shores of the Firth of Forth.
five or six miles north OF Edinburgh. is
Dalmeny Park. one of several estates be-
longing TO Lord Rose berry. which for
many years has been conducted by hir1.
under the direction o. Andrew l.. u.
Drysdale and a staff of agricultural sci
entists. as an experimental farm. y por-
tion of it is under cultivation and the re-
rIainder is III pasture The cattle. swine.
sheep and poultry raised there are sold
for breeding purposes only. the gra il.
vegetables fruits and other products of
tie soil are raised only for seed 1t is
not a benevolent institution by any
means, as you would understand if you
SAW list OF the prices that lis lord
ships products bring Dalmeny Park is
said TO produce large revenue. but. at
INC same time. Lord Rosebery's object
has been TO promote the agricultural in
tcrests of Scotland and the prosperity of
the farmers by improving their livestock
and showing them how to obtain the
most profitable results for their labor by
the use OF the best seeds and the most
effective methods of cultivation.
His Pigs Are Famous.
Mr. Drysdale tells me he ships seed and
registered livestock all over the world.
good share of it to the United States.
and even more to Canada. Last year
he shipped seventy-five white Yorkshire
sows and boars to Hamilton. Canada to
stock farm. The bears sold for $500
each and the sows for 800 each The
average price of the swine sold last wear
rom the farm was S1325o each. . His
iorGshiD took the highest prizes for both
boars and sowS at the livestock show at
me ST Louis exposition. Last year he
sIipped nearly one hundred swine to the
nlted States, all of them registered and
with long pediSrees.
Mr.. Drysdale showed us his pig pens
with a good deal of pride because they
are as neat and sweet as New England
Galry- He insists that the pig is by ma
cure cleanly animal and will inva riably
select neat home ii he has a choice All
81 the pens "ere dry and strewn with
straw Ike We'll kept stable, and twenty
or more monster SCwS were living about
iazIly Grunting. ltters of eight or ten lit
tie ones swarminS around each of them
rs pink as new baby. The mothers
weigh 500 or 900 pounds each. and we saw
one. only year old. that weighed 1000
pounds. Some of the boars have reached
even LOO pounds. The records of prizes
and medals awarded 10 past and present
inhabitants Of these pens are all tackled
NJ o.! the wall. no doubt to inspire the
present and future generations 10 emit
late the example of their pre- IIeceSSors BIZ
letting as fat as possible. The 'Aspira-
lions of Pig might be a good topic for
philosopher with fertile ina gnation.
Fine Poultry and Costly Eggs.
The poultry yards lie next to the pig
ms and are divided into departments
assigned to different breeds Partridge
Wyandottes Buff Orrngtons. Silver Dork-
and others which are produced not only
hy the natural process. but also with the
assistance of a row of incubators import
cd from Buffalo. MI the eggs laid by
these ari<tocratic fowls are sold for a six
pence each. and those that are not hatch
Cd OH the farm are shipped in cardboard
boxes. made especially for the purpose,
10 India, South Africa. Australia and
Canada and the Severa! European states.
From Sf0 to 1000 chicks are Matched ON
che farm annually. and NEST of them are
shipped To farmers of Scotland. England
and the near European countries to he
come mothers of improved iiocks. Some
of the chicks bring as muck as s. and $40
each. but there Is a good deal of risk IN
sending them any distance, because they
easily affected by change of weather
and temperature.
Immense Farms and Fine Horses.
Most of the plants raised in the nursery
are needed for Lord Rosebery's own es-
;ates in England and Scotland. He ha.
about twenty thousand acres in several
different parks and farms in the neigh
borhcod o. Edinburgh ard about ten
thousand acres in England His lord
ship has 4 horsebreeding establishment
at Leighton Buzzard. about forty miles
from London, where he has stable
Of sixty or seventy thoroughbreds, bred
and trained for the turf. Lord Rose
berys Ladas won the derby in 1894,
the same year that ne became prime min
ister of England-two distinctions which
arc coveted by every man in the british
empire He also has place near Epson
race course called the Durdans where
he entertaius the king and large narties
"f tho sporting nobility ,iurin; the racing
season. He inherited from his late wife
another country place in England called
Nentmore. She was Hannah Rothschi,ds.
the only child and heircSs of Baron Never
Kcthct;ids. They were married in March.
1873. AMI Lady Roscbcry lived until 1880.
Calmeny Trees and Plants Not Sold.
The nursery products. :he trees and
plants. raised al Dalmcny Park, rank
nigh among the gardeners OF the kingdom
and are found in many of the prominent
parks and private grounds, but are not
sold in the general market.
For several years Mr. Drvsdaje has
hocn conducting series OF experiments
WIN gram. potatoes. turnips and cab
pages which he considers the most profit
able crops Tor the Scottish farmers we
have about six hundred acress under cul-
tiVation, ne said, and our crops are for
seed ONLY ard not for consumrtion Nor
81" We sell anything in the general mar
het- All our business is conducted here
tntlrely by correspondence ard everything
l. Shipped direct from the farm TO our Gus
toners There are no middlemen We
nave been conducting u series of unite
successful experiments with POTATOES
turnips, cabbaees. wheat, barley and oats
10 determine. first, which are the hes, va.
fieties for this climate and soil. which are
Inc best methods OF seeding and cul,i
waiting; what fertilizers produce the hes,
results. and also 10 ascertain tbc ,rost
"fectiVe means Of dealing with diseases
mat afiiict agricultural crops in scotland
Every potato we plant, every cabbage and
very turHip is numbered and its biog-
raphy Is kept as accurately as possibIa
from the day the soil is plowed until The
vegetable Is shipped TO the buyer. We
have been crossing the standard varieties
10 improve them and have succeeded in
producing some new ones. which. I think
are better than any in the market TO-DAY
We devote more time IN nnta,oa~