Polled Aberdeen Cattle.
The subject of our 1st page illustration, Black Prince, is a representative of that black, hornless race, which had its foundation in Scotland several hundred years ago, known as Polled Aberdeen-Angus Cattle. This breed of cattle has grown into very high favor in America during the last five or six years; so much so, that, while in 1879 the number of representatives of this race in America were very few, now the demand for them is so great that the number imported yearly is easily disposed of at prices ranging from $250 to $2,000. Messrs. Geary Bros., London, Ont., say that the demand for such cattle during the past winter has never been equaled in their long experience. As the prevalence of the foot-and-mouth disease in Great Britain, will, without a doubt cause the importation of cattle from that country to be prohibited at an early day, it is safe to say that the value of such stock must rise, as the number of its representatives in America is limited, and those who have such stock in their possession fully appreciate their value; and not being under the necessity of selling, will hold their Aberdeen-Angus cattle unless enticed by a very high price. Therefore, the coming public sale of Aberdeen-Angus cattle in Chicago may be looked forward to as going to show unequaled average prices and especially of individual prize animals.
Black Prince was bought by Messrs. Geary Bros., London, Ont., in Scotland, and brought to America last year. In him are to be found all the fine characteristics of his race. He took the second place at the Smithfield Fat Stock Show of 1883; at the Kansas Fat Stock Show of the same year he was placed second to the Short-horn steer Starlight; and at the last Fat Stock Show of Chicago he took first place among the best three-year-olds of the country. At the time of entry for the Chicago Show he was 1,380 days old, and his weight 2,330 pounds, almost 175 pounds less than he weighed before leaving Scotland for this country. Besides the prizes above mentioned, Black Prince won numerous honors in his own country before coming here.
Their black, glossy, thick coats, their hornless heads, and particularly their low-set, smooth, round and lengthy bodies are the principal features of this breed.
Beef consumers will find them in the front rank for yielding wholesome, nourishing food, juicy, tender, and of the best flavor, free from all unpalatable masses of fat or tallow. It is these favorable characteristics which have gained such an excellent, and widespread reputation for the Aberdeen-Angus cattle. The growing belief that the best breed of beeves is the one that for a given quantity of food, and in the shortest time will produce the greatest weight of nutritious food combined with the smallest amount of bone, tallow, and other waste is going to make these cattle as popular with our beef consumers and producers generally as they have been with those who have long been familiar with their many superior qualities.
Grass for Hogs.
With plenty of milk and mill-feed to mix with the corn, good hogs may be grown without grass. But with corn alone, the task of growing and fattening a hog without grass costs more than the hog is worth.
To make hog-growing profitable to the farmer, he must have grass. In the older States where the tame grasses are plenty, it is a very thoughtless farmer who has not his hog pasture. But out here in Kansas and Nebraska, where we have plenty of corn, but no grass, except the wild varieties, the most enterprising of us are at our wits' ends. Hogs will eat these wild grasses while tender in the spring, and, even without corn, will grow long, tall, and wonderfully lean, and in the fall will fatten much more readily than hogs grown on corn. But fattening the lean hogs takes too much corn. We must have a grass that the hogs will relish, and on which they will both grow and fatten. They will do this on clover, orchard grass, bluegrass, and other tame grasses. But we have not got any of these, nor do we know how to get them. Hundreds of bushels of tame grass seeds are sold every spring by our implement dealers. A few have succeeded in getting some grass, but nine out of ten lose their seed. We either do not know how to grow it, or the seed is not good, or the soil is too new. The truth, perhaps, lies a little in all three. Our agricultural colleges are claiming to have success with these grasses, and their experience would be of value to the farmers if these reports could ever reach them. Not one farmer in a hundred ever sees them. I know of but one farmer of sufficient political influence to receive these reports through the mails. The rest of us can get them for the asking. But not many of us know this, fewer know whom to ask, and still fewer ask. I do not know a farmer that orders a single copy. Farmers, living about our county towns, and doing their trading there, and having leisure enough to loaf about the public offices, and curiosity enough to scratch through the dust-covered piles of old papers and rubbish in the corner, are usually rewarded by finding a copy of these valuable reports. But we, who live far away from the county seat, do our farming without this aid, and mostly without any knowledge of their existence. This looks like a lamentable state of agricultural stupidity. Notwithstanding this dark picture we would all read, and be greatly profited by these reports, if they were laid on our tables.