the sweepstakes rings at the next Illinois State Fair. This was a slight
error. The change was made with reference to the Fat Stock Show. In this
connection we present the argument of Hon. John P. Reynolds, on the
subject before the board and which governed the board in its action.
THE ARGUMENT.
_To the State Board of Agriculture._
GENTLEMEN.--The undersigned, Superintendent of class A., respectfully
submits the following report for the past year, including the fair in
September, and the Fat Stock Show in November.
THE FAIR.
It was perfectly apparent to any one familiar with the displays of
previous years in this department, that the breeding of fine cattle in
this country is, at the present time, attracting the attention and
commanding the best and most intelligent care of not alone the farmers
who have been bred to their avocation, but of capitalists, who
comprehend the great money values involved, and who either of themselves
or through their sons have set out to identify themselves with this
great interest. As the result of the fact the display of cattle was more
varied as to breeds and greater as to number, if not superior as to
quality, than at any fair, while the visitors in attendance seeking to
purchase and studying the question of breeds with a view to purchase for
breeding purposes, were never so numerous nor so much in earnest.
Under such circumstances, it may easily be imagined that the awards of
prizes, not for the money value of the prizes themselves, but for the
bearing of such honors upon the interests of exhibitors in regard to
sales, assumed an unusual importance and involved a corresponding
responsibility on the part of this board. Impressed, as I think, with a
proper sense of that responsibility, and of the embarrassment which
always surround that position, as your representative I discharged the
duty to the best of my ability.
The most serious and perhaps, the only embarrassment which I should
refer to in this report, was the absence of so large a proportion of the
members of awarding committees originally selected, rendering it
necessary to fill the places of the absentees by selections from the
by-standers after the cattle had been called to the rings. Some of you
"have been there" and have a realizing sense of the difficulties
involved in the effort to make these substitutions intelligently and
with conscientious care, on the spur of the moment. To do so in all
cases with satisfaction to one's self is simply impossible, and to do it
in all cases with satisfaction to unlucky competing exhibitors is not to
be expected. If I could do the first and feel sure that the talisman had
been wisely selected, it would be easy to disregard complaints, if any,
which are known to be unjust.
The question of so modifying our committee system as to avoid the
embarrassment I have referred to and thus to secure a better deserved
confidence in the justice of the awards is one I hope to hear discussed
at this meeting as it has been probably at every meeting of our
predecessors for the past thirty years.
Possibly we are in the light of our own experience, with a different
system at the Fat Stock Shows prepared to try something else at the
fairs; but of this I do not feel certain.
THE FAT STOCK SHOW.
The remarks I have made in regard to the display at the fair and the
great interest it excited apply with, if possible, still greater force
to the Fat Stock Show. Your record shows all material facts in respect
to numbers and quality of the stock on exhibition, and I need not
enlarge.
The importance of this enterprise, in its relation to the meat supply of
the world, can hardly be over-stated, and its direct results to the
producers of the meat producing breeds of stock as well as to the
consumers, are too apparent to require discussion.
The rules and methods adopted by the board for conducting this show
seems to need but little change--some slight modifications of the
requirements of the premium list will be proposed when that subject
shall come up for consideration, but beyond these there is but one
subject which I regard as of sufficient importance to demand a
suggestion from me at this time. I refer to the number of and division
of duties among the awarding committees.
The method of selecting judges seems to me all right and there was much
less difficulty in securing their attendance than at the fair. A few did
not respond, but their places were filled satisfactorily in most cases.
The wisdom of the appointment of your committee to decide upon the age
of all animals on exhibition, prior to the commencement of the work of
the judges and entirely independent of any suggestion or wish on the
part of exhibitors, was practically demonstrated so that there is
probably now no desire to discontinue it. In this case their discussions
corroborated and established the statements and good faith of the
exhibitors themselves in every instance except one, in which one the
result was unimportant.
The special feature to which I desire to call your attention may perhaps
be best understood if I express my own views in regard to it.
At present it is the practice for one committee of judges to make the
awards on the animals of each breed in their several rings of yearlings,
two-year-olds, and three-year-olds. After that has been done it is the
practice for another committee to select the sweepstakes animals from
among all the entries of all ages of that breed without regard to the
prizes which the former committee may have awarded.
Now it not infrequently happens, and is always liable to occur, that the
latter committee selects as the best animal of any age one which the
former committee did not deem worthy of any prize at all or at least not
a first prize, when judged by them in competition with these of its own
age only. Evidently there is a mistake somewhere. Both decisions can not
be correct. Both committees, we are bound to assume are equally honest,
disinterested, and competent, because the members of both committees
considered in making up a decision such discrepancy of judgment and the
system which renders it possible may be almost excusable, perhaps, but
in the Fat Stock Show, where we deal so fully in details and exact
figures, and where we pretend to use our best efforts in every practical
manner to get at and publish for the benefit of a confiding world the
reliable, bottom facts obtained by the labors of paid experts, reach a
conflicting record is not, in any judgement, one to be greatly proud of.
There is one plain, just and proper remedy for this, to wit: Restrict
the award of sweepstakes prizes in the several breed rings to such
animals as have taken first premiums in the rings for ages, and restrict
competition for _grand sweepstakes_ to such animals as have taken
_sweepstake_ prizes in the breed rings as have not otherwise competed at
all. The awards of all special prizes should follow the decisions in the
regular rings when not offered for animals not included in the regular
rings.
Under this rule every animal competing for a sweepstakes prize, with
possible exceptions in the grand sweepstakes, would have received the
highest indorsement of the committees, and hence there could be no
pretense of prejudice on the part of the judges and hence, too, it would
matter very little whether a new competent committee were called for the
grand sweepstakes or that committee was composed of judges who served in
the rings, the latter, in my opinion, being preferable, because of their
larger opportunity in becoming familiar with the points of difference
between the competing animals.
I am persuaded that no objection to the remedy as I have stated it,
would or could properly be made except by those whose animals were not
included in the first prize or sweepstakes winners, and the only
objection I have ever heard to the adoption of the rule, even at the
fairs, is based on the idea that those animals (or the owners) failing
to take prizes in the rings for ages, should have a "new trial" before
an entirely new jury in sweepstakes. But how about those who won the
verdict in the first trial! Is there any justice in requiring them to
submit to another trial between themselves and those they have once
vanquished? and if there is any propriety in that, why not in still
another new trial and more new trials before new juries until every
animal in the show has received a first prize, or the treasury has been
exhausted or the community fails to furnish any more jurymen?
If it were simply the "consolation stakes" to non-prize winners, some
loose practice might seem justifiable, but it is not the best policy in
conducting the competitions of the Fat Stock Show to be influenced by
any considerations except those which relate to fair, impartial and
intelligent decisions, and no decisions can be fair, impartial and
intelligent which conflict with each other and which, as a whole, fail
to form a consistent record.
JOHN P. REYNOLDS,
Supt. Class A.
* * * * *
James F. Scott purchased 200 mares and 500 one and two year old colts to
be delivered on the 15th of March at the San Antonio Viego ranch.
* * * * *
RAISING YOUNG MULES.
Where land is not too high, and pasturage good as well as cheap, keeping
good mares from which young mules can be raised is certainly a
profitable business; especially so where corn and hay are grown on the
farm, and the mares can be profitably worked at least part of the year.
With a liberal supply of corn fodder for winter feeding, and a good
pasture, with hay and corn during the coldest weather, and when at work,
this branch of farming is not only easy, but certain and profitable. A
mare in good condition, not counting pasturage, can be kept for eight
dollars a year. Service of jack here is generally six dollars, making
keeping of mare and service cost fourteen. There has been no time since
I came to this part of the State when a mule colt would not bring all
the way from twenty-five to fifty dollars, depending, of course, upon
the size, form, and general condition at weaning time. Allowing nothing
for the work the mare would be able to do, which certainly ought to be
sufficient to pay for her keep, there is left a good margin for profit.
Or if we count the interest on the money invested in the mare, still we
have a good profit left. The difference paid for young mules shows two
facts: first, the importance of a good sire, or jack, and the other of a
well-formed mare. It certainly costs no more money to keep a well-formed
animal than it does to keep a poor one. Of course, at the start, one may
require a somewhat larger outlay of money, and in this way, if we count
the interest on the money invested, cause young mules to cost a trifle
more than if cheaper animals were used. But this is more than
compensated for by the larger price the colt will bring.
The difference between a mare that will bring a mule that only sells for
the lowest price here at weaning time, twenty-five dollars, and one that
brings a mule that will sell for fifty, the highest generally obtained,
would make quite an item in the amount of profit to be derived from her
keep, and especially where the same animals are kept quite a number of
years for this purpose, as is often the case.
And this is not all; the mule will himself pay handsomely for keeping.
Mules a year old, that are broken to the halter, so that they can be
led, bring from eighty to one hundred dollars. When two years old, and
broken to to the wagon as well as saddle, one hundred to one hundred and
twenty-five dollars is the general price. Of course a pair of well
matched mules, well broken to harness, at three or four years, will sell
all the way from three to five hundred dollars, depending upon their
color, form, size, etc. And this difference is, in nearly all cases the
result of the difference between good and poor jacks, as well as good
and poor mares. One other point must always be taken into account in
this work, and that is in having mares that are sure breeders.
I find that those who have made most money out of this line of farming
or stock-raising are those who, when they have secured a valuable brood
mare that is sure of bringing a first-class mule colt, they not only
keep her, but they take good care of her; and in this way they secure
the very best results and realize the largest profits.
Where proper care is taken not to overwork or strain them, mares can
always be profitably worked in planting and cultivating the corn crop,
as well as cribbing it in the fall; fully enough work can be done to pay
for what they eat and the pasturage. So that the cost of service and
interest on the money invested is what the mule costs at weaning time.
After that time, of course, they cost something more, as weaning time
generally comes in the fall at about the time that pastures fail, and
corn fodder, wheat straw, and hay, with a small amount of grain during
the winter must be fed to keep the colt growing in good condition. Many
farmers who do not care to go to the trouble of breaking young mules,
dispose of them at weaning time; while others find it profitable to buy
these up at whatever prices they are obtainable, and keep until they are
two or three years old; during this time they are broken to lead, to
ride, and to work.
To be sure, there is some risk connected with this, but, on the whole,
it is considered very remunerative--so much so that many young men who
manage to get enough cash ahead will buy one or two mule colts in the
fall at weaning time and keep them until well broken in, and they sell
at a profit, and in this way make a good start for themselves. As
compared with other branches of stock-raising, there is less risk in
this than in almost any other branch of farm stock.
N. J. SHEPHERD.
MILLER CO., MO.
[Illustration]
THE DAIRY
Dairymen, Write for Your Paper.
WISCONSIN DAIRYMEN.
The convention of Wisconsin dairymen, at Lake Mills, last week, was an
excellent one. It was largely attended by the most prominent and
experienced dairymen of this wonderful dairy State.
The people of Lake Mills did their utmost to make the visit of delegates
pleasant, and they succeeded admirably. The crowning feature of their
hospitality was the banquet on Thursday night. The feast was prepared by
the ladies of the M. E. church. The supper, the toasts and responses,
the music and all were enjoyable in the highest degree. Wisconsin
dairymen believe in banquets. A leading member of the convention
declared that the prosperous history of the association began with its
first banquet.
Governor Rusk was in attendance at this convention, and his address was
one calculated to encourage and help on the association. He assured the
members that if they thought the association needed legislative aid, all
they have to do is to ask for it. If they ask for $5,000, he will do his
best to have the appropriation bill passed, and he will sign the
enactment promptly when it reaches him for signature. He believes
Wisconsin one of the foremost of dairy States, and he wants it to retain
its position.
Among other prominent gentlemen present who participated in the
discussions were Prof. Henry, of the Agricultural Department of the
State University; Hon. Clinton Babbitt, Secretary of the State
Agricultural Society; Hon. Hiram Smith, Chester Hazen, S. Favile, J. M.
Smith, J. H. Smith, J. B. Harris, Inspector of Dairy Factories, Canada,
and T. D. Curtis, Syracuse, N. Y.
The election of officers resulted in retaining the incumbents of last
year for another year's service. These gentlemen are: W. H. Morrison,
Elkhorn, President; D. W. Curtis, Fort Atkinson, Secretary; H. K.
Loomis, Treasurer.
One of the prominent papers read was on Co-operative Dairying, by J. B.
Harris, Esq., of Antwerp, N. Y., who is employed by the Canadian
government as inspector of cheese and butter factories. We will give it
in full, and follow next week with some account of the discussions.
CO-OPERATIVE CHEESE-MAKING.
In all human efforts, grand results have been attained chiefly
by concert of action.
In our own time, everything is done by co-operation. Railways
across continents, canals uniting oceans and seas, bridges
almost of fabulous proportions, enterprises in engineering and
commerce, never before known, evince the extent to which modern
genius is availing itself of concert of effort in testing human
capacity.
There is a visible tendency in all branches of business toward
co-operation and centralization.
In looking down upon a large city, the unity visible even in the
diversity of human affairs manifests itself in a manner truly
wonderful. The air is literally filled with a vast net-work of
wire, crossing and re-crossing in every conceivable direction,
and over these, backward and forward, the thoughts of men are
made to vibrate with the speed of lightning, in the elaboration
and consummation of thousands of business schemes, and the air,
as well as the buildings and streets, is full of human activity
and enterprise. The lawyer, sitting comfortably at his desk in
his office, talks with his banker, physician, grocer, a hundred
clients, and his family, all seated like him himself at home, or
at their various places of business. Thus is the telephone made
the instrument of human co-operation and concert of action.
It is now less than thirty years since dairymen stumbled into
the practice of co-operation in the business of making-cheese.
Previous to that time cheese-making in this country was, to say
the least, a crude affair. Every farmer ran his own factory,
according to his own peculiar notion, and disposed of his
products as he could "light on" chaps. In that day,
cheese-making was guess work and hap-hazard. To-day it is a
science. Then there were as many rules and methods as there were
men. To-day the laws which nature has enacted, to govern the
process of converting milk into cheese, are codified, and
cheese-making has become a profession. In that day the
accumulated results of the cheese industry of a neighborhood or
township was a sight to behold--all manner of circular blocks,
of concentrated error, large and small, thick and thin, when
heaped together presented a spectacle that would now bring a
smile upon the countenance of the most sober and dignified
cheese-maker in the State.
The condition of the market at that time was quite as crude and
irregular as the system, or rather the want of system, in
manufacturing. There was no cable, no regular reports from the
great business centers of the land, no regularly organized
boards of trade, railroads not as numerous, less daily papers
were in circulation, and many other circumstances which left the
seller comparatively at the mercy of the buyer, and the purchase
and sale of a dairy was conducted upon principles similar to
those usually practiced in a horse trade.
The great changes which since that day have taken place in the
dairying world are due chiefly to a division of labor, the
introduction of system and co-operation. Our machinery, we are
sorry to say, is not yet quite perfect in all its parts, and
does not move with the precision and harmony of the orchestra,
to which we have already alluded. Yet, although still in its
infancy, it has already produced and does annually produce
results grand indeed.
If we take a glance at the various industries at which men are
to-day engaged, intellectual, commercial, and mechanical, the
painstaking exactitude everywhere practiced will be found to be
a growing subject of wonder and admiration. The secret of this
lies in the fact that perfection in any department of business
not only enlarges that business but also enriches those engaged
in it. For example: there are perhaps ten times as many watches
manufactured in the world to-day as at any other period in its
history. It is a profitable business, or men would not engage in
it, and the superhuman effort that is being continually put
forth to increase the value, by making as perfect an article as
human power can produce, establishes conclusively the assertion
that there is always a profit in doing well. I am glad to
observe that in the cheese industry of the United States and
Canada, the light of this truth has to some extent aroused the
slumbering dairymen. To quote from the Utica Herald of Sept. 11,
1883: "It is estimated that about 700,000 men are employed in
this business, in one capacity or another, and that about
15,000,000 cows are used to furnish the one product of milk. The
returns from this product are over $800,000,000. The total
amount of capital invested in dairying in the United States is
estimated to reach the enormous sum of $2,000,000,000." In
consulting these figures we hope there is no person so dense of
understanding as to entertain for a moment the idea that had the
old system of every man his own cheese-maker prevailed that
anything approaching this grand result would ever have been
attained. Never. The concert or effort attained in the factory
system is the key note to this grand, soul-inspiring chorus.
But an experience of twenty-five years in the dairy industry
leads me to the conclusion that in the music of our business
there is yet much discord. The dairymen and factorymen fail to
understand the spirit of the piece we are attempting to perform,
and fail to catch the idea that individual profit and prosperity
depend upon the success of the business as a whole. No chain is
stronger than its weakest link, and so long as there remains a
slovenly dairyman in the business just so long our system will
be incomplete and the working of co-operation remain imperfect.
Perfect concert of effort, unbroken unity of hand with hand, in
all the various details of the business, reaching down to the
most unimportant items in the production of milk and the making
of cheese, will produce in the long run the most profitable and
permanent results to the individual as well as to the community.
"But," say some, "there is too much of the millennium, too much
of theory, too much of the unattainable, in all this." To such I
answer that there is much of the millennium, much of theory, and
much of the unattainable in the Sermon on the Mount, and yet our
Divine Master preached it, nevertheless.
It may perhaps be considered chimerical and theorizing to talk
of a time when there will be no such persons among dairymen as
what are known to the cheese-maker as a skimmer or stripper, but
we hope such a time will come, nevertheless.
To what purpose do A., B., and C., and a score of other
industrious, honest, painstaking fellows, exert themselves to
collect a model dairy, sparing neither time nor expense in
providing themselves with perfect sets of improved appurtenances
for those dairies, from rich, well-watered pastures down to
good, substantial three-legged milking stools, and labor
incessantly from sunrise until sundown, that their barns may be
in perfect order and everything connected with the business neat
and clean, in order that their material may come into the hands
of the manufacturer in a perfect condition--if heedless, lazy,
shiftless, dishonest, ignorant, good-for-nothing D. keeps about
him a herd of sick, disconsolated racks-of-bones, to wander over
his arid and desolate fields in search of food and drink in
summer, or with backs humped up, hover together for shelter
under the lea of a wheat-straw stack, their only food in winter,
and using a kit of dairying tools, the very best article of
which is an old, water-soaked, dirty wooden pail, drawing his
whey from the factory in the old, rusty, time-embattled milk
cans, in which it is allowed to stand until the next milking,
and which, after an imperfect washing, and refilled and returned
to the factory, freighted with a compound sufficiently poisoned
to nullify and undo the best efforts of a hundred A., B., and
C's. It may be theorizing and visionary to talk of a time when
the spirit of co-operation shall have driven such fellows out of
the dairying business, to betake themselves with a pick-ax and
spade to the ditch, but that such a time may come ought to be
the earnest prayer of every thorough-going friend of
co-operation in the land.