to-day is the excessive number of its creameries beyond legitimate
demands. The co-operative idea, so far as it enters into this business,
implies the most profitable use possible of the resources employed in it
both of patron and creamery owner, and a fair and equitable distribution
of the profits. Said a large creamery owner to me recently, "I find
the comparative value of my butter steadily decreasing from year to
year. I have the same territory, the same butter-makers, the same
patrons, substantially, but my butter is not up in quality and price as
it used to be. I ascribe it to the excessive competition prevailing in
it, i.e., it is one of its results. I have lost my influence over
patrons in securing the best quality of cream. If I make any criticism
of their modes or practices they say to me, 'Mr. ----, if you do not
want my cream I will let the other creamery have it. Do just as you like
about it; take it or leave it.'" But the loss of one or two cents a
pound on the net proceeds of a season means five or ten per cent of its
value, or of the entire season's results enough difference to make any
community in a few years rich or poor, thrifty or unthrifty, according
to the circumstances in the case.
Further: the idea of co-operation implies the doing of equal and exact
justice to all included within the co-operative limits. This, an
excessive and unprincipled competition greatly interferes with. It can
properly be demanded by every fair and honest patron of a creamery that
every other patron should be as fair and honest as himself. Indeed, this
is an essential part of the implied contract. But in the case of
excessive competition no restraints can be imposed and no penalties can
be made to follow attempts to violate the principles of equity, except
the possible inconvenience of changing from one creamery to another. The
straight and honorable patron is powerless; the owner of the creamery is
powerless; and the co-operative element is rendered a nullity.
Further: the co-operative element, in the relations of creamery and
patrons, requires that the price of milk or cream shall vary with the
market price of the finished product. Contracts for the future are mere
speculation, as a rule. If the transaction is large and the turn of the
market unfavorable to the creamery, ruin is liable to come to the
business, and loss and disaster follow to all concerned. If the turn of
the market should be the other way, among the numerous patrons there is
sure to be more or less dissatisfaction and a more or less breaking up
of the condition of friendly reciprocity which should exist between
creamery and patron. Patrons may damage their own interest by exacting
too much from the creamery as well as by accepting too little, and a
greedy grasping after an unreasonable share of the profit on the part of
the creamery owner is sure to bring retaliation, disturb cordiality of
feeling, and bring loss to all concerned.
The remedy for most of these evils can only come from intelligent and
wise action on the part of the creamery patrons of a given locality.
They should study to prevent an unseemly and expensive competition.
They, as the encouraging source, will surely in the end pay the expense
of it. It has been said that no people in the world enjoy paying taxes
like Americans, provided they are only indirect, sugar coated, and with
some plausible pretense. It would seem, however, that even American
dairymen could see that the maintenance of superfluous creameries,
superfluous teams for hauling cream and milk, superfluous men for
manufacturing and handling the product is an extra expense of which they
will surely bear their full share; if not at once, they will do so
before the outcome is reached.
Another thing the patrons of creameries may properly take note of is
that the expense of manufacturing butter in all well regulated
creameries is nearly the same, and the value of the product does not
widely differ. When a creamery therefore claims large and peculiar
advantages, and offers a price for milk or cream markedly above the
ordinary price paid for it by other creameries, you may be sure there is
something illegitimate about it. It may be done to drum up business, to
beat a rival, or it may be a downright swindle, it surely will not be
lasting, and the operator intends at some time to recoup for himself.
It is to be remembered that the dairy business is not one which can be
taken up and laid down hastily without greater or less inconvenience,
expense, and loss. Like most other branches of agriculture, it must be
engaged in with the purpose of a steady, long, strong pull in order to
be a success. It has the advantage of springing directly from the earth
without fictitious help, props, or governmental protection, so-called.
It taxes no other industry for its own benefit, and has expanded to its
present magnificent proportions in spite of the burdens laid upon it
from outside sources.
But it is written "And Satan came also." Nothing could more aptly
describe the full influence of adulteration which has come upon this
industry. It has come clothed in deceit and fraud, the very habiliments
of the devil. It can be exterminated no more than sin itself. It must be
fought by exposing its nature; by stamping upon it its own features.
Wise legislation, I believe, will be in the direction of Government
inspection and the sure and prompt punishment of fraud. The interest of
the creamery patron is more deeply involved in this matter than that of
any other class, just as in other branches of production the perils and
losses by fraud, deterioration, and adulteration ultimately fall back
upon the producer of the raw product. The apathy now existing among the
producers of milk and cream is ominous of evil, and discouraging to
those who are working in the interest of unadulterated goods. We have no
doubt that the time will come when not only the adulteration of butter,
but the adulteration of other food products as well, will only be
carried on under the stamp and inspection of Government supervision.
The thoughts I have presented are intended to be suggestive rather than
dogmatic, and I leave the subject with the hope that the intelligence of
the average dairyman may be as active in tracing and comprehending the
subtler principles of trade and commerce relating to the products of his
labor as he is in comprehending the more immediate facts of his calling,
such as breeding, seeding, and the handling of the raw products of his
herd.
[A] Paper read before the Illinois Dairymen's Convention by C.C. Buell,
of Rock Falls.
VETERINARY.
FEVER.
Many kinds of horse fevers have been described by antiquated veterinary
writers; but most exist only in the imagination of the writers, or have
been manufactured out of the mistaken analysis of human fevers. All the
real fevers of the horse may be comprised in two,--the idiopathic, pure
or simple fever, constituting of itself an entire disease, and the
symptomatic fever, occasioned by inflammatory action in some particular
part of the body, and constituting rather the attendant of a disease
than the disease itself.
Though idiopathic fever is comparatively infrequent in occurrence, it
unquestionably meets the attention of most persons who have extensive
stable management of horses, and its general tendency to degenerate into
local inflammation and symptomatic fever, seems to arise far less from
its own nature than from foul air, vicissitudes of temperature, and
general bad management. If idiopathic fever is not easily reduced, the
blood accumulates in the lungs, the viscera, or some other internal part
of the body, and provokes inflammation; or, if a horse, while suffering
under this fever, be kept in a foul or ill-ventilated stable, or be
exposed to alternations of heat and cold, he speedily becomes locally
inflamed from the action of the filth or exposure. The symptoms of
idiopathic fever are shivering, loss of appetite, dejected appearance,
quick pulse, hot mouth, and some degree of debility; generally, also,
costiveness and scantiness of urine; sometimes, likewise, quickness of
breathing, and such pains of the bowels as accompany colic. Idiopathic
fever, if it does not pass into inflammation, never kills, but is
generally always curable.
Cattle are subject to both idiopathic and symptomatic fever, very nearly
in the same manner as the horse, and require, when suffering them, to be
very similarly treated. The idiopathic fever of cattle has, in many
instances, an intermitting character, which may easily be subdued by
means of ordinary care; and, in other instances, has a steady and
unintermitting character, and is exceedingly liable to resolve itself
into pleurisy, enteritis, or some other inflammatory disease. The
symptomatic fever of cattle is strictly parallel to the symptomatic
fever of horses, and is determined by the particular seat and nature of
the exciting inflammation. But besides these fevers, cattle are subject
to two very destructive and quite distinct kinds of fever, both of an
epizootic nature, the one of a virulent and the other of a chronic
character,--the former inflammatory and the latter typhoid. Numerous
modifications of these fevers, or particular phases of them, are more or
less extensively known among our readers as black-leg, bloody murrain,
etc. The fever which in many instances follows parturition, particularly
in the cow, is familiarly known as calving fever, or milk fever; and the
ordinary fevers of sheep, swine, dogs, upon the whole, follow the same
general law as the ordinary fevers of the horse, and are classifiable
into idiopathic and symptomatic.
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A MYSTERY OF THE SEA.
THE FATE WHICH OVERTOOK THE "CITY OF BOSTON."--CAPTAIN MURRAY'S IDEAS
AND EXPERIENCES.
A few years ago, the City of Boston sailed from harbor, crowded with an
expectant throng of passengers bound for a foreign shore.
She never entered port.
The mystery of her untimely end grows deeper as the years increase, and
the Atlantic voyager, when the fierce winds howl around and danger is
imminent on every hand, shudders as the name and mysterious fate of that
magnificent vessel are alluded to.
Our reporter, on a recent visit to New York, took lunch with Captain
George Siddons Murray, on board the Alaska, of the Guion line. Captain
Murray is a man of stalwart built, well-knit frame and cheery, genial
disposition. He has been a constant voyager for a quarter of a century,
over half of that time having been in the trans-Atlantic service. In the
course of the conversation over the well-spread table, the mystery of
the City of Boston was alluded to.
"Yes," remarked the Captain, "I shall never forget the last night we saw
that ill-fated vessel. I was chief officer of the City of Antwerp. On
the day we sighted the City of Boston a furious southeast hurricane set
in. Both vessels labored hard. The sea seemed determined to sweep away
every vestige of life. When day ended the gale did not abate, and
everything was lashed for a night of unusual fury. Our good ship was
turned to the south to avoid the possibility of icebergs. The City of
Boston, however, undoubtedly went to the north. Her boats,
life-preservers and rafts were all securely lashed; and when she went
down, everything went with her, never to re-appear until the sea gives
up its dead."
"What, in your opinion, Captain, was the cause of the loss of the City
of Boston?"
"The City of Limerick, in almost precisely the same latitude, a few days
later, found the sea full of floating ice; and I have no doubt the City
of Boston collided with the ice, and sunk immediately."
Captain Murray has been in command of the Alaska ever since she was put
in commission and feels justly proud of his noble ship. She carries
thousands of passengers every year, and has greatly popularized the
Williams & Guion line. Remarking upon the bronzed and healthy appearance
of the Captain, the reporter said that sea life did not seem to be a
very great physical trial.
"No? But a person's appearance is not always a trustworthy indication of
his physical condition. For seven years I have been in many respects
very much out of sorts with myself. At certain times I was so lame that
it was difficult for me to move around. I could scarcely straighten up.
I did not know what the trouble was, and though I performed all my
duties regularly and satisfactorily, yet I felt that I might some day be
overtaken with some serious prostrating disorder. These troubles
increased. I felt dull and then, again, shooting pains through my arms
and limbs. Possibly the next day I would feel flushed and unaccountably
uneasy and the day following chilly and despondent. This continued until
last December, when I was prostrated soon after leaving Queenstown, and
for the remainder of the voyage was a helpless, pitiful sufferer. In
January last, a friend who made that voyage with me, wrote me a letter
urging me to try a new course of treatment. I gladly accepted his
counsel, and for the last seven months have given thorough and
business-like attention to the recovery of my natural health; and to-day
I have the proud satisfaction of saying to you that the lame back, the
strange feeling, the sciatic rheumatism which have so long pursued me,
have entirely disappeared through the blood purifying influence of
Warner's Safe Rheumatic Cure which entirely eradicated all rheumatic
poison from my system. Indeed, to me, it seems that it has worked
wonders, and I therefore most cordially commend it."
"And you have no trouble now in exposing yourself to the winds of the
Atlantic?"
"Not the least. I am as sound as a bullet and I feel specially thankful
over the fact because I believe rheumatic and kidney disease is in the
blood of my family. I was dreadfully shocked on my last arrival in
Liverpool to learn that my brother, who is a wealthy China tea merchant,
had suddenly died of Bright's disease of the kidneys, and consider
myself extremely fortunate in having taken my trouble in time and before
any more serious effects were possible."
The conversation drifted to other topics, and as the writer watched the
face before him, so strong in all its outlines, and yet so genial, and
thought of the innumerable exposures and hardships to which its owner
had been exposed, he instinctively wished all Rheumatic Cure which
entirely eradicated who are suffering from the terrible rheumatic
troubles now so common might know of Captain Murray's experience and the
means by which he had been restored. Pain is a common thing in this
world, but far too many endure it when they might just as well avoid it.
It is a false philosophy which teaches us to endure when we can just as
readily avoid. So thought the hearty captain of the Alaska, so thinks
the writer, and so should all others think who desire happiness and a
long life.
* * * * *
THE PRAIRIE FARMER
AND
YOUTH'S COMPANION
ONE YEAR, $3 FOR THE TWO.
It is not required that both papers be sent to one address, nor to the
same post-office.
Address PRAIRIE FARMER PUB. CO.,
150 Monroe Street, Chicago.
* * * * *
REMEMBER _that $2.00 pays for_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER _from this
date to January 1, 1885; For $2.00 you get it for one year and a copy
of_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED STATES, FREE!
_This is the most liberal offer ever made by any first-class weekly
agricultural paper in this country._
* * * * *
HORTICULTURAL
Horticulturists, Write for Your Paper.
ILLINOIS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The ad-interim committee of the Illinois State Horticultural Society for
the northern part of the State reported through Mr. O.W. Barnard and
Arthur Bryant, Jr. Mr. Barnard had found the orchards thrifty and
healthy. The yield of apples had not been large this season, but
orchardists generally felt encouraged in regard to the future of their
orchards. He had found the high clay soils preferable for the apple. Mr.
Bryant reported the apple crop small. Some orchards had borne good
crops, especially of the Ben Davis. In others, this variety had failed.
ORCHARD CULTURE.
Mr. W.T. Nelson, of the committee on orchard culture, recommended the
planting of orchards on high, sloping ground. In the rather low and
level country in which he lived (Will county) orchard trees lasted but
fifteen or twenty years. But few varieties seem to do well in any
locality. He would advise men about to set out orchards to ascertain
what varieties do well in their particular locality, and then plant no
others. He would not prune young orchards. He recommended the tiling of
orchards.
HIGH OR LOW, LAND.
Mr. Nelson's report opened up the subject of high or low lands for
orchards. Mr. Robinson got more apples from trees on low lands than from
elevated sites. Prof. Budd did not commit himself to either theory, but
remarked that some varieties do best on low lands, while others
preferred the higher situations. Parker Earle thought that this theory
of low lands for our apple orchards was contrary to the past teachings
of the society. In his opinion high grounds are preferable. The subject
was a complicated one for Prof. Burrill. He had seen many low ground
orchards that bore good crops this year. There are many modifications
that effect the crop. It is not merely the elevation of orchard sites.
It was his belief that high ground, all things considered, is the best.
Mr. Robinson was not enthusiastic about the tile drainage of orchards.
Our trees need more water than they usually get. They do not suffer from
too much water, but from dry summers and rolling land. Mr. Spalding, of
Sangamon county, had found his nursery trees poorest when planted on a
depressed surface. He tiled extensively. His subsoil was a clay loam.
Nine years ago he laid tile 3-1/2 feet deep and 30 feet apart. He did
not believe in manuring young trees. Too rapid growth is not wanted.
Trees in Illinois grow as much in one year as they do in two years in
the State of New York, where they raise more fruit than we do. The most
rapid growing trees are the tenderest. He does not force the growth of
his orchard trees. He is satisfied nurserymen have manured their young
stock too much. The question of high or low land was not settled. It was
hard for members to give up the old theory that high lands are best for
orchards in Illinois; but it may be set down as a fact that the matter,
as first brought to public discussion through THE PRAIRIE
FARMER by B.F. Johnson, Esq., of Champaign, is having wide
discussion among our fruit men. It will result in close future
observation and closer scrutiny of past results. Without doubt this is
the leading new horticultural question of the day. It requires a careful
collection of facts and a broad generalization. The theories and
teachings of the past are nothing if facts are opposed to them.
FRUIT GROWERS AND FRUIT SELLERS.
Mr. Ragan, of Indiana, read a suggestive paper upon the relation of the
fruit-grower to the commission man and the transportation companies. The
paper led to considerable discussion. Mr. Earle always sells his fruit
through a commission house. Without the commission men market-fruit
growers could not do business. He found no difficulty in getting
honorable men to do business with. When he got a good man he stuck to
him. The commission man is just as important a factor in the fruit
business as the grower or consumer. He believes in a liberal percentage
for commissions. Dealers can not do an honest business for nothing. He
is willing to pay ten per cent to the man who sells his fruit to the
best possible advantage, and who makes prompt and honest returns. The
cheap commission man is to be avoided. The proper handling of fruit by
intelligent dealers at fair rates is what we want. He ships small fruits
in full quart boxes. Uses new boxes every time. Wants no returned
crates. To get best returns we must have neat packages. Stained drawers,
baskets, old barrels, and the like do not help to sell fruit. He would
advise shipping black and red raspberries in pint boxes; blackberries
and strawberries in quart boxes. He picks his berry plantations every
day during the ripening season. Sundays not excepted. No man who is not
prepared to work seven days in the week during the picking season, or
who can not get help to do the same, will succeed in the raising and
marketing of small fruits. He has this year paid two cents per quart for
picking blackberries and strawberries, and the same for pints of
raspberries. It requires from five to ten pickers to the acre. He likes
women or grown-up girls to do this work. As to varieties he likes
Longfellow and Sharpless. They ripen slowly and everyday picking is not
so necessary. Mr. Pearson said the apple growers in his locality find
that judgment must be used in marketing apples. The Lord made little
apples and we must do the best we can with them. A neighbor had small
apples and the shippers grumbled at them. The neighbor would not stand
this and shipped his apples to Chicago and had them sold on their
merits. The result was satisfactory. An Iowa buyer came down there and
offered 50 cents per bushel for apples without regard to size, etc., and
he got them and shipped them in boxes to Muscatine where they were made
into jelly, dried fruit, etc. We can have no cast iron rules in regard
to marketing, but must be governed by circumstances. This year it was
better for his people to sell as they come, without the trouble of hand
picking, sorting, and careful packing. We must act like intelligent men
in this business as in all others. Circumstances alter cases. Good
common sense is a prime requisite. Mr. Miller agreed with Mr. Earle
about packages for marketing fruit. He uses white wood boxes from
Michigan.
MULCHING AND MANURING.
Mr. Earle was questioned about the use of castor bean pomace for
strawberries. He uses it mixed with wood ashes. It is capital on poor
land. He likes unleached ashes in both strawberry and orchard culture.
He pays six cents per bushel for them. The castor bean pomace is good
for anything in the poor soils of Southern Illinois. He uses about half
a ton to the acre. Spreads with a Kemp spreader. Five hundred pounds per
acre will show excellent results. Has tried a tablespoonful of the
mixture to the strawberry plant when setting out. Has tried salt to kill
grubs in asparagus beds, but found it to kill the weeds and most of the
asparagus, while the grubs seemed to enjoy the application. Did not find
it of much value as a manure. Bone dust had shown no particular results.
Superphosphates acted much like the bean pomace. Does not think coal
ashes of much value. He uses the pomace as early in the spring as
possible. Sometimes he plows it under and sometimes applies after the
plants are set, and cultivates it in. One application answers for two
years' cropping. He fruits a strawberry plantation but two years, and he
sometimes thinks one year sufficient. He does not agree with some of his
neighbors that mulching has resulted unfavorably. Does not think the
mulch has increased the noxious insects. Knows of a plantation not
mulched at all, that suffered more than any other this year from the
tarnished plant bug.
CENTRAL DISTRICTS.