The Project Gutenberg EBook of Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 3, January 19,
1884., by Various

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Title: Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 3, January 19, 1884.
       A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside

Author: Various

Release Date: July 10, 2007 [EBook #22040]

Language: English

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THE
PRAIRIE FARMER

A Weekly Journal for

THE FARM, ORCHARD, AND FIRESIDE.

ESTABLISHED IN 1841.
ENTIRE SERIES: VOL. 56--NO. 3.

CHICAGO, SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1884.

PRICE, $2.00 PER YEAR,
IN ADVANCE.




[Transcriber's Note: The Table of Contents was originally located on
page 40 of the periodical. It has been moved here for ease of use.]


THE CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.

AGRICULTURE--The Corn Root Worm, Page 33; Biographical Sketch of Patrick
Barry, 33; Compiled Correspondence, 33; Illinois Tile-Makers Convention
Report, 34; Farmers Advice, 35; Cisterns on the farm, 35; Field and
Furrow Items, 35.

LIVE STOCK--Iowa Wool-Men, Page 36; Polled Cattle-Breeders, 36; Merino
Sheep-Breeders, 36; Cattle Diseases, 36; The Horse and His Treatment
36-37; Cost of Pork on 1883 Corn, 37.

VETERINARY--Grease, So-Called, Page 37; Foul in the Foot, 37; Founder,
37; Question Answered, 37.

THE DAIRY--Curing Cheese, Page 37; Items, 37.

HORTICULTURE--Southern Ills. Hort. Society, Page 38; Notes on Current
Topics, 38; Pear Blight, 38; Treatment of Tree Wound, 38; The Tomato
Pack of 1883, 38; Sweating Apples, 39; Prunings Items, 39.

FLORICULTURE--Smilax and its Uses, Page 39.

EDITORIAL--Will You? Page 40; Items, 40; The Wealth of the Nation, 40;
Contagious Animal Disease, 40, 41; Iowa State Fair, 41; Still Another
Fat Stock Show, 41; Questions Answered, 41; Letter from Champaign, 41;
Wayside Notes, 41.

POULTRY NOTES--Chicken Chat, Page 42; Business Still Running, 42.

THE APIARY--The Best Hive, Page 42.

SCIENTIFIC--Some Gossip About Darwin, Page 43.

HOUSEHOLD--"Going up Head" (poetry), Page 44; Too Fat to Marry, 44;
Ornaments for Homes, 44.

YOUNG FOLKS--Chat About a Bear, Page 45; A Fairy Story, by Little
Johnnie, 45.

LITERATURE--For Those Who Fail (poetry), Page 46; A Singular
Philosopher, 46.

HUMOROUS--The Donkey's Dream, Page 47; Tom Typo 47; Courtship of a
Vassar Girl, 47; Items, 47.

NEWS OF THE WEEK--Page 48.

MARKETS--Page 48.




THE CORN-ROOT WORM.


EDITOR PRAIRIE FARMER--I write you in regard to the corn question. I
would like to know if angle-worms damage corn.

Eight years ago I came to the conclusion that I could raise double the
number of bushels of corn that I was then raising. I then commenced
experimenting on a small scale. I succeeded very well for the first
three or four years. I got so that I could raise over ninety bushels per
acre. In one year I got a few pounds over 100 bushels per acre. Three
years ago my crop began to fail, and has continued to fail up to the
present year, with the same treatment. Last year it was so bad that I
concluded to examine the roots of the corn plants. I found both
angle-worms and grubs in the roots. This year I went into a thorough
examination and found nothing there but angle-worms, with a wonderful
increase. They were right at the end of the stalk where the roots were
thick, but the worms thicker.

The corn at first seems to do very well, but long before the grain gets
ripe the leaves begin to get dry and the stalks commence falling. The
consequence is that over one-half the corn is loose on the cob and the
ears very short. I am entirely headed in the corn line. Is it the
angle-worms? If so, what is the remedy? I plant my corn every year on
the same ground. I allow no weeds to grow in my cornfield. Farmers can
not afford to raise weeds. I remove all weeds and put corn in their
places.

I have plowed my land for the next year's crop of corn and put on twenty
loads of manure to the acre and plowed it under. I have no faith in
planting the ground next year unless I can destroy the worms that I call
angle-worms. I have consulted several of my brother farmers, and they
say that the angle-worms never destroy a crop of corn.

I thought last year that my seed corn was poor and run out, so I went to
Chicago and got Sibley's "Pride of the North," but that was no better.

If you will kindly inform me how to remedy this looseness of the kernel
I will agree to show you how 100 bushels of corn can be raised on one
acre every good corn year.

    HORACE HOPKINS.
        DESPLAINES, ILL., Jan. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

We sent this communication to Professor Forbes, State Entomologist and
received the following reply:

EDITOR PRAIRIE FARMER--There can be hardly a shadow of a doubt that the
injury which your correspondent so graphically describes is due to the
corn root-worm (Diabrotica longicornis), a full account of which will be
found in my report for 1882, published last November.

The clue to his whole difficulty lies in the sentence, "I plant my corn
every year on the same ground." As the beetles from which the root-worms
descend lay their eggs in corn fields in autumn, and as these eggs do
not hatch until after corn planting in the following spring, a simple
change of crops for a single year, inevitably starves the entire
generation to death in the ground.

I inclose a slip, giving a brief account of this most grievous pest; but
the article in my last report already referred to will be found more
satisfactory.

    S. A. FORBES.
        NORMAL, ILL., January 3.

P.S.--You will probably remember that I published a paper on this insect
in THE PRAIRIE FARMER for December 30, 1882.

       *       *       *       *       *

The following is the description referred to:

_From the "Crop Report" for 1882._

"The corn-root worm, in the form in which it affects the roots of corn,
is a slender white grub, not thicker than a pin, from one fourth to
three-eighths of an inch in length, with a small brown head, and six
very short legs. It commences its attack in May or June, usually at some
distance from the stalk, towards which it eats its way beneath the
epidermis, killing the root as fast as it proceeds. Late in July or
early in August it transforms in the ground near the base of the hill,
changing into a white pupa, about fifteen-hundredths of an inch long and
two-thirds that width, looking somewhat like an adult beetle, but with
the wings and wing-covers rudimentary, and with the legs closely drawn
up against the body. A few days later it emerges as a perfect insect,
about one-fifth of an inch in length, varying in color from pale
greenish-brown to bright grass-green, and usually without spots or
markings of any kind. The beetle climbs up the stalk, living on fallen
pollen and upon the silk at the tip of the ear until the latter dies,
when a few of the beetles creep down between the husks, and feed upon
the corn itself, while others resort for food to the pollen of such
weeds in the field as are at that time in blossom. In September and
October the eggs are laid in the ground upon or about the roots of the
corn, and most of the beetles soon after disappear from the field. They
may ordinarily be found upon the late blooming plants, feeding as usual
upon the pollen of the flowers, and also to some extent upon molds and
other fungi, and upon decaying vegetation. There can be no further doubt
that the insect is single-brooded, that it hibernates in the egg as a
rule, and that this does not hatch until after the ground has been
plowed and planted to corn in the spring probably in May or June.

"Although the adult beetles, when numerous, do some harm by eating the
silk before the kernels are fertilized by the pollen, and also destroy
occasionally a few kernels in the tip of the ear, yet the principal
injury is done by the larva in its attack upon the roots. The extent of
this injury depends not only upon the number of the worms, but also upon
the soil and weather and the general condition of the crop, being worst
on high land and in dry weather. Under specially unfavorable
circumstances the loss due to the insect may amount to from one-fourth
to one-half or even three-fourths of the crop; but when the conditions
are generally favorable, it rarely amounts to more than ten or twenty
per cent, and frequently even to less. Although the roots penetrated by
the larvæ die and decay, thrifty corn will throw out new ones to replace
those lost. The hold of the stalk upon the ground is often so weakened
that a slight wind is sufficient to prostrate the corn. Under these
circumstances it will often throw out new roots from the joints above
the ground, thus rallying to a certain extent against serious injury.

"As the result of numerous observations and comparisons, it is clearly
to be seen that little or no mischief is done except in fields that have
been in corn during the year or two preceding, and a frequent change of
crops is therefore a complete preventive. Beyond this, the life history
of the insect gives us little hope of fighting it effectually except at
too great expense, as the eggs and worms are scattered and hidden in the
ground, and the perfect beetle is widely dispersed throughout the
field."

       *       *       *       *       *

California has about eighty thousand tons of wheat to ship to Europe.
Besides this a large amount is already stowed in ships.

       *       *       *       *       *




PATRICK BARRY.

[Illustration: Patrick Barry]


Our portrait this week is of Patrick Barry, Esq., the noted nurseryman
and horticulturist of Rochester, N. Y. Mr. Barry was born near Belfast,
Ireland, in 1816. His father was a small farmer, but he gave the boy a
good education, and at eighteen he was appointed to teach in one of the
national schools. At the age of twenty he resigned this position, and
came to America, where he began clerking in the Linnæan nurseries, at
Flushing, L. I. During his stay of four years here he mastered the
principles of the nursery business. In 1840 he moved to Rochester, and
forming a partnership with Mr. Ellwanger, started the famous Mount Hope
Nurseries. They began on a tract of but seven acres. In 1852 he issued
the "Fruit Garden," which is to this day a standard work among
horticulturists. Previous to this he had written largely for the
agricultural and horticultural press. In 1852 he also began editing the
Horticulturist, then owned by Mr. James Vick. Mr. Barry's second great
work, and the one involving most time and labor was the Catalogue of the
American Pomological Society.

Mr. Barry has long been President of the Western New York Horticultural
Society. He is also a member of the Board of Control of the New York
Experiment Station. He has served several terms in the city council of
Rochester and in the Board of Supervisors of the country. Mr. Barry is
an active business man and besides his great labor in conducting the
nursery affairs, he discharges the duties of President of many corporate
enterprises in which he has large financial interests. Mr. Barry was
happily married in 1847, and the amiable sharer of his hardships and his
successes is still living.




COMPILED CORRESPONDENCE.


HANCOCK CO., Dec. 31.--Weather very disagreeable; snow six inches deep,
and from rain and sleet and thaw and freeze, has formed a hard crust, so
as to make bad traveling--in the roads icy and slippery. To-day cloudy,
damp and cool. A few days ago the mercury reached 8 degrees below zero,
the lowest of the season. It is very hard on stock, and many of the
cattle are without shelter, as usual. Accept New Year greetings for all
THE PRAIRIE FARMER family. L. T.

       *       *       *       *       *

MILLS CO., MO., Jan. 8.--Since the first of January we have had hard
winter weather. An old weather prophet says we are to have just such
weather for forty days. I sincerely hope not. On Friday night, January
4th and 5th, all the thermometers commonly used by farmers went clear
down out of sight. As they only mark about 30 degrees below zero it was
uncertain how cold it really was. Unsheltered stock suffered terribly. A
few farmers were caught without wood, and suffered from the storm in
securing a supply. We have had five days of snow so that there is a
heavy coat all over. A. J. L.

       *       *       *       *       *

ST. LOUIS, MO., January 13.--Advices from Mobile say the late cold snap
caused immense damage in that section. The loss to the orange groves is
estimated at nearly a $1,000,000, and the value of vegetables killed in
Mobile county alone will reach the same sum. Great damage was also done
to orange groves in Florida, but many orange growers profited by the
Signal Service warning and built fires in their groves, and thus saved
their trees. News from the Michigan peach belt is that the fruits are
uninjured.

       *       *       *       *       *

Strawberries are sold in New York city at fifteen cents each.

       *       *       *       *       *




[Illustration]

AGRICULTURAL

Farmers, Write for Your Paper.


Illinois Tile-Makers.

The Illinois State Tile-Makers' Convention at Springfield, last week,
was more largely attended than in any previous year since the
association was formed. Nearly one hundred joined the association.

The convention was welcomed to the city by Governor Hamilton in an
appropriate address in which he expressed his deep sympathy with and
interest in all the manufacturing enterprises that are giving employment
to the people and adding wealth to the State. He announced himself as in
favor of protection and encouragement to the manufacturing interests. He
thought the tile men were greatly adding to the wealth and
productiveness of Illinois, and that they were also indirectly improving
the health of the people.

The President's address was brief but full of information and good
sense. He pointed out at length the improvements in tile kilns, and in
various appliances, which have been made in recent years, and declared
that valuable as these all are, they can not make up for the lack of
skill and experience. He believed the increased interest in terra cotta,
and in useful ornamental and out tiling points to the great source of
supply as the timber of the country decreases in quantity. The
drain-tile manufacture was simply the beginning of an era of skillful
clay working, which would not only add greatly to the fertility of the
soil, but to the means of the beauty and endurance in numerous forms of
building. Of the statistics of the business, he said the latest
information is that there are in the State 600 factories, built at an
average cost of $3,000 each, employing about 5,400 men seven months each
year, who receive about $250,000 and their board. The total annual
capacity of these factories he estimates at 56,100 miles annually. He
estimates the amount invested in the industry, including the value of
tile already laid, at $5,000,000, and the increased value of land
drained at $10,000,000.

The Secretary's report gave the general condition of the society. In
1879 it was composed of forty-five members; in 1880, of thirty-five; in
1881, of twenty-eight; in 1882, fifty-three; in 1883, of eighty-three,
and in 1884, of eighty-six. The first meetings of the association were
necessarily crude, the programme having been prepared after the
association met. Now, however, they were in working harness, and met
with a regularly prepared programme. The proceedings of the meetings and
a summary of the papers read and discussed, are now published in the
report of the State Board of Agriculture.

The treasurer, John McCabe, Esq., of Rushville, made his report of which
the following is the summary:

Amount on hand at last report                  $29 35
Received from members last year                 82 00
                                              -------
                                              $111 35
Paid out last year                              87 50
                                              -------
    Balance in the treasury                   $ 23 85

These reports were followed by an essay by Mr. C. G. Elliott, which is
of so much merit that we give it in full deferring a further report of
proceedings until next week.




MISTAKES IN DRAINAGE.


To speak of our successes rather than our mistakes, is far more
agreeable to ourselves and also to others. We all take pride in giving
our experience in any work when we have been successful, but our errors
and mistakes we often carefully hide from public gaze. The transactions
of our industrial conventions are largely made up of the successful
parts of the experiences of members. Our tile manufacturers fail to
speak of their losses in correcting mistakes the number of kilns they
have rebuilt, the number of tile they weekly commit to the waste pile,
the percentage of good and poor tile in each kiln, and many other things
that your humble servant will probably never suspect until he attempts
to manufacture tile.

A similar statement may be made with reference to drainage mistakes. How
many dry weather drains do we hear mentioned in our conventions, or see
described in our newspapers. By such drains, I mean those which in
favorable seasons so operate as to permit the land to produce a heavy
crop--one worth publishing--while in wet years, merely a total loss
results. Cases of such drainage can be numbered by the score. How many
miles of drain tile have been taken up and relaid during the past year
because of some mistake in plan, size of tile, or execution of the work?
Much might be said of drainage mistakes in a general way, but it is
proposed in this paper to treat the subject in a specific and practical
manner. It may be encouraging to remember that it is only by comparing
success with mistakes that we make progress in any valuable science or
art. Great skill and success rest upon a foundation of corrected
mistakes.


MISTAKE NO. 1--LACK OF INFORMATION ON DRAINAGE.

We might more properly call this the cause of many mistakes. "Knowledge
is power," says the old adage, and we might add that knowledge in
drainage is success. This knowledge may be obtained in three ways:
First, from reliable books; second, by inquiring of others who have had
experience; third, by our own experience. The first is of prime
importance to the beginner, for in books are found statements of the
general principles and philosophy of drainage, together with the best
methods and practice known. The second is often unreliable, for the
reason that the error of one is often copied by another and becomes wide
spread before it is detected. The third, though valuable is costly, and
discouraging to the learner. Gleanings from all of these sources will,
perhaps, give the most complete satisfaction.

Tile drainage began to be practiced in my own neighborhood about seven
years ago. Those who were about to begin knew nothing about drainage,
except from hearsay knowledge that had crept into the community. Not a
single book upon the subject was consulted or even inquired for. Even
now they are as rare in farmers libraries as the classic poets. Farmer
A. wished to drain and consulted farmer B., who had put in some tile the
year before. Did he think it paid? Yes. What kind of tile did he use and
how was the work done? So A. planned and did his work in accordance with
information obtained from B. Neighbor C. followed A., and so the work
spread. It is now found that mistakes were made in the beginning which
were handed from one to the other, until now, no alternative remains but
to remove the whole work, and no little trouble and expense. This case
is but one out of many which might be stated illustrating the lack of
information at the beginning of drainage work. My observation upon this
point has been that those have availed themselves of information given
in books and papers upon drainage matters made fewer mistakes and did
better work than those who relied upon the general wave of progress to
push them along in the footsteps of their nearest neighbor. The theory,
as well as the art, of drainage should be studied, and all knowledge
adapted to the peculiarities of each case.


MISTAKE NO. 2--NOT PLANNING FOR FUTURE DRAINAGE.

A mistake often made by the novice is, that at first, drains are located
without reference to the future drainage of other parts of the farm.
Drains are put in as experiments, very much as we would plant a new
variety of fruit or grain, expecting that probably the chances are
against their success. Subsequently, when plans for more extended
drainage are made, the drains already in operation were found to poorly
serve the desired purpose.

In order to guard against this mistake, have faith in drainage. Put it
down on the whitest page of your memorandum, and with your best pen and
ink, that drainage will pay, and the fewer mistakes made about it the
better it will pay. Put it down that the time will come when you will
drain all of your wet land, and make your plans accordingly. Many times
have I heard this objection to locating a drain so as to benefit a
certain field, "O no; I'll never drain that field. It's all right as it
is. If I can only get this wet over here dry I shall be satisfied." In
two years this same farmer was planning how he could drain the rejected
field, and regretting that he had not made provision for it from the
beginning. I have in mind several miles of tile that will be taken up
during the coming season and relaid with reference to the drainage of
all land having a natural slope in that direction.


MISTAKE NO. 3--NOT BEGINNING AT THE RIGHT PLACE.

Many of the drains first put in are at the head of the water shed
instead of at the lower part or outlet. They discharge improperly and
fail to fit into a more thorough system, where plans for better drainage
are laid out.

To avoid this error, begin at the outlet and work with reference to
ultimately draining the whole section naturally sloping toward this
outlet. If a surface ditch is necessary, make it. If tile can be used,
lay them, even if only a fraction of the entire work is done each year.
Drain laterally toward the main as it is carried upward. The outlay at
first, rod for rod, will be greater, but the final cost will be less,
and yearly profits greater.

I have in mind several cases of unsatisfactory drainage growing out of a
desire to avoid difficulty and expense in making a sufficient outlet.
Among them may be named the following: Putting a drain across one side
of a pond because sufficient depth can not be had to admit of its being
run through the center. Placing drains each side of a slough, parallel
to its center line, leaving the center undrained. Draining cultivated
fields and allowing the water to discharge upon land occupying a lower
level. All of these are make-shifts for the purpose of avoiding the
expense of a good outlet.

There is in this connection a difficulty which can not be overlooked,
one which is beyond the control of the individual farmer, and that is,
when the drainage section is owned by two or more parties. The
adjustment of such cases has occupied the attention of our legislators,
and some progress has been made in framing laws to meet the case, yet
many difficulties remain unprovided for. If all parties agree to accept
such awards and assessments as a commission may make, then the matter of
drainage outlets can be satisfactorily adjusted, but if any party is
disposed to resist, the desired drainage can be practically defeated. I
may, at present, be justified in saying that where only a few neighbors
are concerned, it is a mistake to attempt to use the law at all. Arrange
the matter by mutual agreement or by leaving it to disinterested men to
decide.


MISTAKE NO. 4--TOO SMALL TILE.

No mistake has become apparent sooner than this. The following
observations will account for this, and also aid in correcting it. The
whole area of land which naturally discharges toward the drain is not
always taken into account. It is generally thought that land lying at
some distance from the drain, though sloping toward it, does not affect
the capacity required for the drain, whereas in times of heavy rains,
when drains are taxed to their utmost, water flows from those more
distant parts over the surface to the ground acted upon by the tile
drain. We must then provide for the drainage not only of land contiguous
to the drains but for an additional amount of water coming from
adjoining slopes.

Another popular error is that the diameter of the tile is the measure of
its capacity, whereas the grade upon which it is laid is as important as
the size of the tile. The extreme porosity of many of our soils, and the
lack of thorough lateral drainage is another thing by reason of which
main drains become over-taxed, simply because drainage water is not held
in check by close soils, or distributed by lateral drains, but is
brought in large quantities over the surface to the drain line, and must
be taken away in a short time or injury is done to the land. In making
mains or sub-mains it is better to err in making them too large than too
small.


MISTAKE NO. 5--NOT LATERAL ENOUGH.

We expect too much from a single line of tile. We often see a line of
tile put through a fifteen or twenty acre field with the expectation
that the field will be drained, and thanks to our tractable soil, and
the magic influence of tile, a great work is done for the field. It is,
however, the dry weather drains previously alluded to. Put in the
lateral drains so that the whole flat will come under the direct
influence of tile, and you will have a garden spot instead of a field
periodically flooded. Your sleep will not then be disturbed by fears
that the morning will reveal your tiled field covered with water, and
your corn crop on the verge of ruin. We often see a single line laid
through a pond containing from one half to three acres. Ponds with such
drainage always get flooded. Put in an abundance of laterals and the
difficulty is overcome.

I am glad to say that the tendency now among farmers who have practiced
random drainage is toward more thorough work in this direction. The loss
of an occasional crop soon demonstrates in favor of more thorough work.


MISTAKE NO. 6--INATTENTION TO DETAILS.

Farmers have been too much under the rule of professional ditchers.
Having no well defined ideas of good drainage work, they have left the
matter largely to the judgment, or rather the cupidity of the ditcher
and the layer. There are many first-class, conscientious workmen, but it
is to be regretted that the average ditcher does work far below the
standard of excellence. If by some magic means the conditions of many of
the drains in our State could be spread out before us in open view, it
would be a wonder to this convention that tile drainage has wrought out
such favorable results as it has. We would see tile laid on the siphon
plan, good and poor joints, faulty connections, ditches crooked enough
to baffle the sagacious mole should he attempt to follow the line.
Patience would scarcely hold out to enumerate the exasperating defects
of much of our drainage work. Nothing can overcome the egotism and
self-confidence of the average ditcher except the constant supervision
of the employer. Such work is so soon covered, and errors placed beyond
immediate detection that nothing else will suffice. To guard against
such mistakes, know what work you want and how you want it done, and
then look after it yourself or employ some one in whom you have
confidence to superintend it. When any mistake is guarded against, from
beginning to end, the work will not be too well done. The cut-and-cover,
hurry-scurry methods of doing things, common on some Western farms, will
not do in drainage work. Carefulness in regard to every detail is the
only safe rule to adopt.


MISTAKE NO. 7--FAILURE TO MAKE OPEN DITCHES FOR WATER COURSES.

The farmers of Illinois have, in many sections, been avoiding the main
question in the drainage of our rich prairies, and that is the
improvement of the natural water courses so that they will carry off the
drainage water of sections for which they afford outlets. Every feasible
plan and device has been used to circumvent the forces of nature and
relieve valuable farm lands from surplus water. In the flat sections of
our State nothing will serve this purpose but the deepening of our large
sloughs by constructing capacious open ditches. Our land can not be
properly drained without them. They must be of ample depth and width,
and well made in every respect. No problem connected with the drainage
interests of our State should, at present, receive more careful
attention than this. Nature, has, in most cases, marked out the line for
work, and says, "let man enlarge and complete for his undivided use
according to his strength and skill." When such work is done, the demand
for tile to supplement the drainage thus made possible will be
unprecedented. The drainage of our roads will be facilitated, and the
greatest difficulty thus far encountered in the drainage of our flat
prairies will be overcome. Much has been attempted in this direction in
some portions of the State, but many open ditches are too shallow, too
small, and too carelessly made to serve the desired purpose.

In pointing out some of the mistakes made in drainage, I am well aware
that there are differences of opinion as to what may be properly
considered a mistake. The aim of drainage is to fit the wet land of the
entire farm for the successful cultivation of all the field crops at the
least expense consistent with thoroughness. Now, if experiments must be
tried by tiling here and there, and afterward take the tile up and
remold the whole work, there is a loss which, were it not for the large
profit resulting from the use of tile, would be disastrous.

Should a Board of Public Works build several bridges of insufficient
capacity in order to find out the necessary dimensions and strength of
one which will serve their purpose, we should at once regard them
incompetent and wasteful. I know of tile which have been taken up at
three different times, larger tile being used each time. This farmer
discards the use of lateral drains and rests his success upon single
lines of large tile. He will probably be disappointed in this and,
perhaps, finally hit upon the correct method. Would it not have been the
part of wisdom to have obtained some reliable information upon that
matter at first from books, from inquiring of others of longer
experience, from a competent engineer, or from all of these sources?
Anything which needlessly adds to the expense, or detracts from the
efficiency of the work, should be regarded as a mistake.

As a summary of what has been said regarding mistakes and how to avoid
them, I append here a few


DRAINAGE MAXIMS.

1. Become informed upon the theory and best methods known and used.

2. Do not literally copy the methods of others, but carefully adapt them
to your own case.

3. Provide good outlets and large mains.

4. Have faith in good tile and thorough work.

5. Study economy and efficiency in locating drains.

6. In difficult cases, or where you have doubt about the success of your
plans, submit the case to a good engineer before expending money or
labor.

7. Employ good help by the day, and work it under a competent
superintendent, rather than job out the work by the rod.

8. Drain as you would plant fruit trees--for the future as well as the
present.

I have been prosy and practical enough and now have used my allotted
time and space. It may not be wholly out of place to further tax your
time and patience, and ask you to lift your eyes from taking a critical
view of defective drains, muddy ditches, and unattractive detail work,
and look at the result of careful and thorough labor. As the years come
and go with their changing seasons, your drained fields are ever your
friends, always cheering you with a bountiful harvest, always answering
to every industrious touch you may bestow upon them. "No excellence
without labor," says the scholar to the discouraged student. "No
excellence without labor," says the soil to the farmer, as he drains and
plows and digs, and so we all learn that success in dealing with nature
is brought about by thorough and honest work.

Our enthusiasm scarcely knows bounds when we see that by our drainage
work the apparently obstinate soil is made to reflect the sunlight from
a covering of golden grain; when gardens and orchards bloom and yield
fruit where once the willows dipped their drooping branches in the slimy
fluid below, and frogs regaled the passer-by with their festive songs.
Roses now twine over the rural cottage and send their fragrance into the
wholesome air, where once the beaver reared his rude dwelling, and
disease lurked in every breath, ready to seize his unsuspecting victim.

Think you that these changes can be wrought without earnest and careful
effort? I have but little sympathy with the glittering generalities and
highly colored pictures of success in industrial pursuits, held before
the public gaze by unpractical but well meaning public teachers. We need
the dissemination of ideas of thoroughness and the knowledge necessary
to put those ideas into practical use in order that the farmers of
Illinois may make the fewest possible mistakes in drainage.




FARMERS ADVICE.


Farmers get plenty of advice. Were we able to work as easy and as well
as the advice generally given to us would seem to indicate we could how
easy and independent our occupation would become. In no other line of
business is advice so freely given, and so much blame attached because
the advice is not followed.

The great trouble is that nearly everybody imagines they know how to
farm. Although these same people may never have been practical farmers,
they yet seem to think that anybody can farm, and, of course, they know
as much about it as any one, and can tell at least how it ought to be
done.

Theoretical farming is always very fine--more so than any other calling.
Very few believe in theory in other branches in business. As a rule, to
be successful in other occupations, a long training is necessary; step
by step must one go until each detail is learned. And it is only by
industry, experience, and hard work that these are fully mastered.
Advice is offered sparingly, because it is known that experience is the
only true guide. But in farming theories are supposed to take the place
of experience, and men who have very little, if any, practical knowledge
can tell us how to farm. The fact is there is hardly a business or
occupation that practically requires more study and experience than
farming. A practical farmer, who makes his farm and farm work a study,
learns something every day, and unless he is willing to learn not only
by his own experience, but by that of others, he will soon discover that
he is falling behind.

Such a man is able to discriminate between the practical experience of
one and the theory of the other. If new plans or new methods are
presented, he can, in some degree, judge whether they are in any way
practical, and if they are, he is willing to give them a trial. He knows
that what might prove just the right thing to plant in one section of
country, under certain conditions, and in some soils would, under a
different climate and soil, result far from satisfactory. The large per
cent of this kind of real practical knowledge can only be gained by
experience.

Whenever we meet a man who will not learn, we can not help but conclude
that he will never make a successful farmer. We want to learn, too, not
only by our successes, but by our failures. If we try a new plan and
fail, we want to be able to know why we failed--just as much as to know
why we succeeded.

One great trouble with us in learning is that we are too apt to keep in
mind our successes and forget the failures. This is the great fault of
theoretical farming. If by a combination of favorable conditions success
is obtained, it is given out as a fact--no exception being given or
allowed for the very favorable conditions under which the method was
tried. Such things may rightly be compared to the many specifics given
to cure the various ills of life. A remedy is tried which, under
favorable conditions, effects a cure, and forthwith the cure is given
out as a specific. Others, with the same complaint but under different
conditions, try the same remedy and fail to receive the least benefit.
No mention is made of these failures, and, of course, others are induced
to give the remedy a trial. For this reason it is always interesting to
hear of failures as well as successes, provided the real cause can be
stated.

    MILLER CO., MO.
        N. J. SHEPHERD.




CISTERNS ON THE FARM.


There is hardly any one thing on a well-regulated farm so much needed as
a cistern near the kitchen door, so the farmer's wife will have to go
but a little distance for water, and no man knows how much is used in a
farmer's kitchen, unless he carries it for his wife for six months or a
year, and if he has to carry it a hundred yards or so from the spring,
he will wonder what in the world his wife does with so much water.

The cistern should be a large one and hold not less than 200 barrels,
and well built, that is, walled up with brick and scientifically
plastered. All of the pipes from the roof should lead into one hopper,
and one pipe leading from the bottom of the hopper (under ground is the
best) into the cistern. In the bottom of the hopper should be fitted a
piece of woven wire, which can be readily taken out and put in again;
the meshes of the wire should not be larger than one-eighth of an inch.
This piece of woven wire should never be in its place except when water
is running into the cistern, when it will serve as a strainer to keep
leaves or trash of any kind from running into the cistern. A waste-water
pipe should be attached to the down pipe (all of the down pipes should
lead into one) which leads into the hopper, to waste all the water that
comes from the roof until the water is perfectly clear and free from
leaves or trash of any kind; then the waste-water pipe should be taken
off and a pipe of proper length slipped onto the down pipe conducting
the water, pure and clean, into the hopper. But before letting the water
into the hopper, the piece of woven wire should be put in its place in
the bottom of the hopper, and after the rain is over it should be taken
out and hung up in a dry place until wanted again, and the waste-water
pipe put on. If the piece of woven wire is left in the hopper the meshes
will get filled up, and the hopper will fill with leaves and trash of
all kinds and run over, and no water get into the cistern--and if it
does it will not be pure. By this arrangement only pure water will run
into the cistern; but even then it ought to be cleaned out very fall or
early in the spring. Farmers will find a cistern in their house lots or
inside the barn a great convenience--but the one near the kitchen is of
the greatest importance because the men will not carry water if they can
help it, and the farmer's wife, if she has any spunk, will insist upon
the water being carried for her or raise the roof off the house, and I
don't blame her--the hair on the top of my head is very thin--and
scarce.

    HIKE'S POINT, KY.
        E. F. C.




FIELD AND FURROW.


Mass. Ploughman: Farm accounts, even when kept in the most simple form,
not only afford great satisfaction, but they do much to aid the farmer
in his efforts to success. If at the end of the season he is able to
strike the balance, and thus learn the cost of his principal crops, he
is in a position to correctly judge what crops will promise the most
profit another year.

The Farm Economist has this to say in regard to marketing corn. While it
is contrary to general opinion, it is nevertheless true, as facts and
figures are capable of proving: "Farmers in discussing their declining
markets should remember that every bushel of corn sold in the form of
whisky cuts off the sale of ten bushels in the form of meat. It might be
well to consider this in discussing how the market for farm products can
be improved." This same paper further remarks, "Where's the sense in a
farmer growling because he is not represented in the government when he
won't go to a convention and see that he is represented. Quit your
growling and do your duty. One good vote in the primaries or in the
convention is worth 1,757,362 growls afterward."

The Wisconsin Tobacco Reporter states that the new phase to the Sumatra
question has brought out considerable discussion among dealers in the
Edgerton market and that the prevailing impression appears to be that
even if the recent decision be upheld, under the jugglery by which
Sumatra is run into the country, prices for 1883 Wisconsin leaf will not
be materially affected, as it can not entirely supplant its use and
there will be a good demand for all our product. The editor adds: The
scarecrow argument will doubtless be used by some buyers in bearing the
market, but we are inclined to look upon it more as a bugaboo than many
others, whatever the effect may be on future crops. We know of no good
reason why 1883 Wisconsin should sell for lower prices than have ruled
thus far this season and the report from Eastern markets seem to warrant
this view.

A. B. Allen, in N. Y. Tribune: My cistern is about five feet in diameter
and five feet deep. After cleaning it out in spring, I put about one
bushel of sand in the bottom, and then let the rain-water come in. This
keeps the water sweet and clear for a whole year. I have tried charcoal
and various things for this purpose, but find pure clear sand best of
all. It must not have other soil mixed with it, or any vegetable matter.
The kind I use is white, and very like such as is found at the sea
shore. Of course the roof end of the pipe should have wire gauze
fastened over it so that no foul stuff can be carried down, and the
eaves-troughs must be kept clean, the roof and chimneys also, and never
be painted, or the latter even whitewashed. The sand is an excellent
absorber of even the finest of foul stuff, and this is the reason, in
addition to its own purity, of its keeping the water so free from
generating the smell of ammonia.

Peoria Transcript: During some of the comparatively idle days of winter,
the farmer may combine pleasure with profit by hitching up, taking his
family, and driving to some one of his successful farm neighbors for a
friendly visit. Such an act may be looked upon by the man-of-toil as a
poor excuse to get out of doing a day's work, but we venture that he who
tries the experiment once will be very apt to repeat it as often as time
or opportunity will justify. In our neighborhood, and we presume the
same condition of affairs exists in nearly every locality, there are
farmers who have lived within a mile or two of each other for years, who
hardly know their neighbors from a stranger when they meet upon the
public highway or at town meeting, and as for going to the house,
nothing short of death in the family or some event of great importance
will ever bring them into the friendly relations which should exist
between neighboring farmers.

A New Jersey correspondent of the Rural New Yorker writes: My clear
water carp pond covers an area of about three-fourths of an acre, and is
located about eighty feet below springs in the hillside, which furnish a
never-failing supply of pure, clear water. The normal temperature of
these springs, where they empty into the pond, varies but little
according to season, but maintains an average of fifty degrees, Fah.
Several times through the summer I found the water in the pond indicated
an average of 80 degrees, Fah. The pond is so constructed that the water
is constantly drawn from the bottom, thus keeping the surface at this
high temperature. About one-half the pond is covered with mud to the
depth of two feet or more--an essential in all carp ponds for
hibernating. A limited supply of pure German carp fingerlings to place
in the pond was sent me by Prof. S. F. Baird, United States Commissioner
of Fish and Fisheries, Washington, D. C., and placed therein on April
6th last. No food was given besides that which grew in the pond. I saw
them at rare intervals during the summer, and was agreeably surprised,
when I drew the pond November 16th last past, to find that they had
grown to be sixteen inches in length, and a pair weighed eight pounds.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE MONARCH LIGHTNING SAWING MACHINE.

On our 268th page appears the advertisement of the New Improved Monarch
Lightning Sawing Machine, manufactured by the Monarch Mfg. Co., 163
Randolph. St., Chicago. The result of long experience in the manufacture
of implements for cutting up wood is the superior and valuable machine
which is advertised in our paper.

Such of our readers who live in a timbered district, and who need such a
machine, should send for their large illustrated free catalogue. This
company is the largest and most successful corporation in this city
engaged in manufacturing one man power drag saws. The Monarch Lightning
Sawing Machine has been sold all over the Western States, and always
gives satisfaction. It is a first-class firm, thoroughly reliable, and
their machine is of superior excellence.--Farm, Field and Fireside,
January, 1884.

See their advertisement on another page of this issue.

       *       *       *       *       *

FARM MACHINERY, Etc.

[Illustration: DEDERICK'S HAY PRESSES.]

DEDERICK'S HAY PRESSES.

are sent any where on trial to operate against all other presses, the
customer keeping the one that suits best.

Order on trial, address for circular and location of Western and
Southern Storehouses and Agents.

TAKE NOTICE.--As parties infringing our patents falsely claim premiums
and superiority over Dederick's Reversible Perpetual Press. Now,
therefore, I offer and guarantee as follows:

FIRST. That baling Hay with One Horse, Dederick's Press will bale to the
solidity required to load a grain car, twice as fast as the presses in
question, and with greater ease to both horse and man at that.

SECOND. That Dederick's Press operated by One Horse will bale faster and
more compact than the presses in question operated by Two Horses, and
with greater ease to both man and beast.

THIRD. That there is not a single point or feature of the two presses
wherein Dederick's is not the superior and most desirable.

Dederick Press will be sent any where on this guarantee, on trial at
Dederick's risk and cost.

P. K. DEDERICK & CO., ALBANY, N. Y.

       *       *       *       *       *

GREAT SAVING FOR FARMERS.

THE
Lightning
Hay Knife!

(WEYMOUTH'S PATENT.)

[Illustration]

Awarded "FIRST ORDER OF Merit" at Melbourne Exhibition, 1880.

Was awarded the FIRST PREMIUM at the International Exhibition in
Philadelphia, 1876, and accepted by the Judges as SUPERIOR TO ANY OTHER
KNIFE IN USE.

It is the BEST KNIFE in the _world_ to cut _fine feed_ from bale, to
cut down _mow_ or _stack_, to cut _corn-stalks_ for feed, to cut _peat_,
or for ditching in marshes, and has no equal for cutting ensilage from
the silo. TRY IT.

IT WILL PAY YOU.

Manufactured only by
HIRAM HOLT & CO., East Wilton, Me., U.S.A.

_For sale by Hardware Merchants and the trade generally_

       *       *       *       *       *

THE CHICAGO DOUBLE HAY AND STRAW PRESS

[Illustration]

Guaranteed to load more Hay or Straw in a box car than any other, and
bale at a less cost per ton. Send for circular and price list.
Manufactured by the Chicago Hay Press Co., Nos. 3354 to 3358 State St.,
Chicago. Take cable car to factory. Mention this paper.

       *       *       *       *       *

Sawing Made Easy

Monarch Lightning Sawing Machine!

Sent on 30 Days test Trial.

A Great Saving of Labor & Money.

[Illustration]

A boy 16 years old can saw logs FAST and EASY. MILES MURRAY, Portage,
Mich. writes, "Am much pleased with the MONARCH LIGHTNING SAWING
MACHINE. I sawed off a 30-inch log in 2 minutes." For sawing logs into
suitable lengths for family stove-wood, and all sorts of log-cutting, it
is peerless and unrivaled. Illustrated Catalogue, FREE. AGENTS WANTED.
Mention this paper. Address MONARCH MANUFACTURING CO., 163 N. Randolph
St., Chicago, Ill.

       *       *       *       *       *

CHICAGO SCALE CO.

2 TON WAGON SCALE, $40. 3 TON, $50.
4 Ton $60, Beam Box Included.

240 lb. FARMER'S SCALE, $5.

The "Little Detective," 1/4 oz. to 25 lb. $3.

300 OTHER SIZES. Reduced PRICE LIST FREE.

FORGES, TOOLS, &c.

BEST FORGE MADE FOR LIGHT WORK, $10,

40 lb. Anvil and Kit of Tools. $10.

Farmers save time and money doing odd jobs.

Blowers, Anvils, Vices & Other Articles

AT LOWEST PRICES, WHOLESALE & RETAIL.

       *       *       *       *       *

[Illustration]

THE PROFIT FARM BOILER

is simple, perfect, and cheap; the BEST FEED COOKER; the only dumping
boiler; empties its kettle in a minute. OVER 5,000 IN USE; Cook your
corn and potatoes, and save one-half the cost of pork. Send for circular.
D. R. SPERRY & CO., Batavia, Illinois.

       *       *       *       *       *

CHAMPION BALING PRESSES.

[Illustration]

A Ton per Hour. Run by two men and one team. Loads 10 to 15 tons in car.

Send for descriptive circular with prices, to GEHRT & CO., 216, 218
and 220 Maine St., Quincy, Ill.

       *       *       *       *       *

REMEMBER _that $2.00 pays for_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER _from this date to
January 1, 1884; $2.00 pays for it 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._

       *       *       *       *       *




[Illustration]

LIVE STOCK DEPARTMENT.

Stockmen, Write for Your Paper.


Iowa Wool Men.

The Iowa Wool-Growers' Association met at Des Moines last week. The
attendance was light. The general sentiment expressed was that sheep
growing was profitable in Iowa, if the dogs could be got rid of. The
Legislature will be importuned to abolish the curs. The session the last
evening was devoted to the tariff on wool. The petition of the Ohio
sheep-growers, presented to Congress, asking a restoration of the tariff
law of 1867 on wool, was read and unanimously accepted. Officers for the
ensuing year were elected as follows: S. P. McNeil, Gordon Grove,
President; J. C. Robinson, Albia, Samuel Russell, West Grove, and A. N.
Stewart, Grove Station, Vice-Presidents; A. J. Blakely, Grinnell,
Secretary.


Polled Cattle-Breeders.

Twenty-seven head of Galloway and Angus cattle, belonging to A. B.
Matthews, Kansas City, were sold at auction at Des Moines, Iowa, January
9th, at prices ranging from $235 to $610. The sale aggregated $10,425,
or $386 per head. In the evening of the same day some twenty-five polled
cattle-breeders met and organized a State association. An address was
read by Abner Graves, of Dow City, in which the breed was duly extolled.
An interesting discussion followed, in the course of which it was stated
that the polled breeds have two anatomical peculiarities in common with
the American bison, indicating a close relation to, or possible descent
from the buffalo family. The officers elected were: President, Abner
Graves, of Dow City; Vice-Presidents, Messrs. Bryan, of Montezuma, D. J.
Moore, of Dunlop, and Charles Farwell, of Montezuma; Secretary and
Treasurer, H. G. Gue, of Des Moines. Liberal subscriptions were made to
the articles of incorporation which were formed inside the organization,
after the meeting adjourned.


Merino Sheep Breeders.

The sixth annual meeting of the Northern Illinois Merino Sheep Breeders'
Association was held at Elgin, January 9th. The meeting was well
attended and enthusiastic. George E. Peck presided. The annual report of
Secretary Vandercook showed the association to be in a growing
condition. The discussion of the day was mainly on the tariff question.
A communication from Columbus Delano, President of the National
Wool-Growers Association was read, asking for the co-operation of the
society in a move upon Congress for the restoration of duties on
imported wools as they were established by the act of 1867 met with a
hearty reception. Thomas McD. Richards delivered an interesting address
on wool-growing and the merino as a mutton sheep. He argued that a
prevailing idea to the effect that good mutton could not come from
fine-wool sheep was entirely erroneous. Touching on the tariff question
he said the past year had been an unprofitable one to mere wool-growers,
and that sheep had been unsalable at paying prices. The removal of the
duty on wool had paralyzed the industry, and the tariff must be
restored. There was an abundance of competition among the wool-growers
of our own land without compelling them to compete with the stockmen of
South America and Australia. The farmers had not clamored for a removal
of the duty on wool. If the tariff was not restored the wool interests
of the country would be ruined. Already legislation had lowered the
price of wool several cents, and had depreciated the value of sheep at
least $1 per head. The tariff was also dilated upon by Col. John S.
Wilcox, of Elgin, Daniel Kelley, of Wheaton, and Asa H. Crary. The
conclusion arrived at was that energetic and united action for the
restoration of the duty was the thing desired. V. P. Richmond read an
interesting essay on "Merinos; Their Characteristics and Attributes."
The annual election of officers resulted as follows: President, George
E. Peck, Geneva; Vice-Presidents, Thomas McD. Richards, Woodstock, and
Daniel Kelley, Wheaton; Secretary and Treasurer, W. C. Vandercook,
Cherry Valley. It was decided to hold the association's annual public
sheep-shearing at Richmond, McHenry county, April 29 and 30, and C. R.
Lawson, L. H. Smith, and A. S. Peck were designated a committee to
represent the association at the annual sheep-shearing of the Wisconsin
association.


Cattle Disease.

The House committee on agriculture last week discussed in a general way
the subject of pleuro pneumonia in cattle. Mr. Loring, Commissioner of
Agriculture, expressed his views upon the subject in a short speech. Mr.
Grinnell, of Iowa, chairman of the committee appointed by the convention
of cattle men, in Chicago, to visit Washington to influence Legislation
in reference to diseased cattle, was present. It was arranged that a
sub-committee, consisting of Congressmen Hatch, Dibrell, Williams,
Winans, Wilson, and Ochiltree, should meet the representatives of the
cattle interests at the Agricultural Department. Pleuro-pneumonia among
cattle will be the first subject considered. The House committee on
agriculture will report a bill at an early day.

The assistant Secretary of the Treasury has transmitted to the House the
report of the cattle commission, consisting of James Law, E. F. Thayer,
and J. H. Sanders, for the past year. The commission recommended that
the National Government prevent the shipment northward, out of the area
infected with Texas fever, of all cattle whatsoever, excepting from the
beginning of November to the beginning of March. Special attention is
invited by the Assistant Secretary to the recommendation of the
commission that the Secretary of the Treasury be empowered to order the
slaughter and safe disposal of all imported herds that may be found
infected on their arrival in the United States, or may develop a
dangerous or contagious disease during quarantine; and that he be also
empowered to have all ruminants (other than cattle) and all swine
imported into the United States, subjected to inspection by veterinary
surgeons, and if necessary to prevent the spread of contagious diseases,
slaughtered or submitted to quarantine until they shall be considered
uninfected; and that an appropriation of $1,500,000 be made to defray
the expenses of preventing a further spread of the lung plague among
cattle in this country, and for stamping out the plague now existing. A
supplemental report of the majority of commission, submitted by Law and
Thayer, and of a later date than the first report is also submitted.
This report deals especially with the inadequacy to the end sought to be
accomplished of the inspection of cattle at ports of export, and
recommends that such inspection and guarantee be delayed. Their reason
for doubting the adequacy of the inspection at ports of exports is that
neither lung plague nor Texas fever can be certainly detected by such
examination, because those diseases pass through an average stage of
incubation for thirty days, during which it is impossible for the most
accomplished expert to detect the presence of the germ in the system.
The result would be, if such an inspection were the only thing relied
upon, that cattle which had been exposed to infection in the stock yards
several days before inspection would pass that inspection, but three
weeks later, when they arrived at a foreign port, would show marked
symptoms of the disease. This result destroys absolutely the efficacy of
the certificates of inspection as to guarantees to foreign imported
cattle. The report closes with the statement that so long as the
infected districts in this country can not be secluded, the landing of
infected cattle in England from this country can not be prevented, and
so long as American cattle show these diseases on their arrival in
England we can hope for no modification of the present restrictions that
country places against American cattle.

       *       *       *       *       *

At the conference between House sub-committee on agriculture and the
Chicago convention committee a general discussion on contagious diseases
among cattle was indulged in. The committee of cattle men, in answer to
the inquiries of representatives, said diseases existed in Delaware, the
District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, New
York, and possibly in other places. In New York a few counties are
reported infected.

Mr. Hunt, of New Jersey, said if Congress would appropriate an adequate
amount payable to the order of the authorities of the different States
and protect New Jersey for six months from the importation of diseased
cattle, the State in that time would stamp out pleuro-pneumonia in its
territory.

Dr. Law, of the Cattle Commission of the Treasury Department, said the
disease was undoubtedly the result of importation. He said that with
plenty of money and a Federal law it could be eradicated in twelve
months. New York City had at one time stamped it out in three months. He
advocated the burning of buildings where the disease occurred.

Judge Carey, of Wyoming, gave the history of the disease, saying it was
like Asiatic cholera spreading through Europe and reaching New York
forty years ago. It existed on the continent of Europe, in Great
Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and this country. He said $100,000,000
was invested in the cattle business of the United States.

Representative Hatch said that Mr. Singleton, of Illinois, had offered
$1,000 reward for an animal afflicted with pleuro-pneumonia, but no one
had accepted.

Several members of the cattle committee at once offered to show the
disease to any one doubting its existence.

Representative Weller gave notice that he would offer a bill
appropriating $10,000,000 by the Government for suppressing contagious
diseases among cattle, to be distributed among the States and
Territories in the ratio of representation in Congress, provided that
each State appropriated a sum equal to the amount given by the
Government.

The legislation proposed is to make the shipment of cattle known to be
diseased a penal offense; to establish a cattle bureau in the Department
of Agriculture; increase the power of the Commissioner of Agriculture;
provide funds for an elaborate investigation of the diseases of cattle;
and provide an appropriation to purchase diseased cattle so they can be
destroyed. An appropriation will be asked the first year of $500,000.




THE HORSE AND HIS TREATMENT.

NUMBER TWO.


First, as regards food. The horse is naturally a wild animal and
therefore, though domesticated, he demands such food as nature would
provide for him. But man seems to forget this. Nature's food would be
largely of grass. It is true that when domesticated and put to hard work
he needs some food of a more concentrated and highly nutritious nature
than grass; but while labor may necessitate grain, the health of his
system yet demands a liberal allowance of grass. In direct opposition to
this many farmers keep their horses off pasture while they are at work,
which comprises almost the entire season of green pasture. I have
frequently heard farmers say that their horses did best during the
spring and summer, if kept in the stable at night. I can only say that I
have found the very opposite to be true and I believe I have carefully
and faithfully tested the matter. I have found that when the horses were
allowed the range of a blue grass pasture at night, they endured work
the best because they digested their grain and hay better, and good
digestion made good appetites. In fact, I consider pasture the best food
and the best medicine a horse can be given. If his coat is rough, if he
is stiff and lifeless, if he is losing flesh and strength, turn him on
pasture and he will soon grow better.

Some grasses make far better pasture than others. All in all, I consider
blue grass the best. It comes earliest in the spring, and while very
palatable and easily digested, seems to possess more substance than
other grasses. Next I would place timothy. Clover is good medicine for a
sick horse, but because of its action on the salivary glands is apt to
make work horses "slobber" at certain seasons.

For winter, hay is provided. But how is it provided in a majority of
cases? The grass is cut out of season; is cured negligently, very likely
is exposed to rain; and then piled up to mold and rot. A few tarpaulins
to put over the cocks in case of rain, and barracks or mow to protect
and preserve the hay would give the horse good hay, and be one of the
very best of investments. It should be remembered that the digestive
organs of none other of our farm animals are so easily deranged as those
of the horse. Musty, moldy hay is the moving cause of much disease. The
man who can not provide a good mow should sell his horses to some farmer
who can manage better.

Though blue grass is the best for pasture, timothy is the best for hay.
Clover makes better hay than blue grass. Corn fodder has substance, and
pound for pound contains about two-thirds as much nutriment as hay. But
it is not good forage for the horse. Where hay is procurable corn
fodder should never be fed.

I am convinced that the great majority of farmers do nor feed their
horses enough forage. I know of farmers who do not feed hay at all when
their horses are at work, which is more than half the year. Grain is fed
exclusively. Yet they wonder why their horses lose flesh and have rough
coats. Feeding a horse all grain is like feeding a man all meat. The
food is so oily and difficult of digestion that it soon deranges the
digestive organs. The horse should have all the hay he wishes to eat, at
all seasons of the year. This brings me to another error in his
treatment.

When at work the horse should have at least ninety minutes for each
meal. My observation convinces me that a large number of farmers do not
give him this much time. Their reason for neglecting to do so is, that
it would be a loss of time. But the very opposite of this is the case.
Time is gained. The horse has opportunity to eat slowly, which is
essential to complete digestion; can eat all he wishes; and has time to
rest after eating, giving the organs of digestion a chance to work. Give
your horse an hour and a half to eat his noon-day meal, at least, and at
the end of the season you will find that by so doing you have gained
time. He may not have walked before the plow and harrow so many hours,
but he has stepped faster and pulled more energetically.

Another error is the feeding of too much grain. Some farmers have grain
in the feeding troughs all the time during the spring and summer. The
horse is sated. This manner may do for a hog, whose only business is to
lie around, grunt, and put on fat; but for a horse it will not do. A
horse should never be given all the grain he will eat. At every meal he
should clean out his box, and then be ready to eat hay for at least
fifteen minutes.

Another error is in confining the grain feed almost altogether to corn.
Corn is a heavy, gross diet. It contains a large proportion of oil, and
tends to produce lymph and fat, which are inimical to health, and
destructive of vigor and endurance. Oats is a much better food; yet it
is very rarely fed in the South, and not half of the farmers of the
North feed it. Corn heats the blood, and on this account should not be
fed in hot weather. Oats is a lighter, easier diet, does not heat the
blood, and makes muscle, rather than fat. All in all, oats is the most
economical food, at least for horses at work in hot weather.

One more error which I shall notice in feeding is the giving of too much
dry food. The horse does best upon moist food, or that which has a large
percentage of water in its composition. Carrots, turnips, beets,
pumpkins, etc., may be given in small quantities with decided advantage,
especially in the winter. In summer the hay should be sprinkled with
water, and the oats soaked. This will not only make the food more
palatable and easily digested, but will obviate the necessity of
watering after meals. Many object to watering after the horse has eaten,
because the fluid carries the grain into the intestines where it can not
be digested. But if grain and forage are dampened, the horse will not
require watering after a meal. He will rarely drink if water is offered
him, and the moisture will aid digestion. This is surely better and more
humane than to give a horse dry food and then work him for six or seven
hours in the hot sun, afterward, without any drink.

Of the quality of water given to the horse there is not much to condemn.
He generally gets better water than the hog, or sheep, because he is
very fastidious in this matter and will not drink foul water unless
driven to do so by dire necessity. But I believe that three times is not
often enough to water a horse at work in hot weather, though this is the
common and time honored practice. The stomach of the horse is
small--very small in proportion to the size of his body. When he has
labored in summer for half a day his thirst is intense, and when he is
permitted to slake it he drinks too much, producing really serious
disorders. No valid objection can be urged against watering five times
per day. The arguments are all in its favor.

The errors in stabling are fully as grievous as any we have noticed. I
have lately written of the evils of lack of light and proper ventilation
in these columns, and also discussed the problem of currying in various
phases, so shall not repeat here what I have heretofore written. One of
the other evils of stable management often allowed, is the accumulation
of manure. It is not within the scope of this article to notice the evil
the neglect to save manure works to the farm and the farmer. But that
the accumulation of the manure in the stable is a hurt to the horse, no
sensibly reasoning person can doubt. Its fermentation gives off
obnoxious gases which pollute and poison the air the horse is
compelled to breathe, and thus in turn poison the animal's blood. This
is a more fruitful cause of disease than is generally supposed. The
gases prove injurious to the eye, and when we consider the accumulation
of manure and the exclusion of light, we are not apt to wonder much at
the prevalence of blindness among horses. The manure should be cleaned
out in the morning, at noon, and again at night. Use sawdust or straw
liberally for bedding. It will absorb the urine, and as soon as foul,
should be removed to the compost heap with the dung, where it will soon
be converted into fine, excellent manure.

Another thing that deserves attention is the stable floor. I
unhesitatingly say that a composition of clay and fine gravel is best.
Pavement is the worst, and planks are next. The clay and gravel should
be put in just moist enough to pack solidly. Stamp till very firm and
then allow to dry and harden for a week. The stable floor should be kept
perfectly level. Do not make the horse stand in a strained, unnatural
position. The stall should be large enough for him to move around--at
least six feet wide. Narrow stalls are a nuisance but very common.

JOHN M. STAHL.




COST OF PORK ON 1883 CORN.


About three weeks ago the "Man of the Prairie" wanted to know how many
pounds of pork a bushel of corn would make this year. As I wanted to
know the same thing I have weighed my hogs every week and also the corn
I fed them, and for the benefit of your readers I will give the results:

December 10--15 hogs, weight 4,130
    "    17--"   "      "    4,280   ate 960 lbs Corn.
    "    24--"   "      "    4,410   "   864      "
    "    31--"   "      "    4,572   "   816      "

This gives a gain, in twenty-one days, of 442 lbs, and they ate in that
time 2,640 lbs., or 47-1/7 bu. corn.

The corn was planted about the eighth of May; was the large white
variety; is quite loose on the cob, and a good many of the ears are
mouldy. A common bushel basket holds of it in ear 35 lbs. The hogs were
fed the corn in ear twice a day, and had all the water they wanted to
drink. This gives 9-62/165 lbs. pork to the bushel. At the present price
of pork ($5.25) it would make the corn worth about 49-1/2 cts. per
bushel.

    G. W. POWESS.
        WINNEBAGO CO., ILL.

P.S. The weight of corn given is its weight shelled, as it shells out 55
lbs from 80 lbs. in ear.

    G. F. P.




VETERINARY


Grease, So-Called.

This ailment occurs sometimes in the fore feet, but oftener in the hind
feet; and though neither contagious nor epizootic, it not unfrequently
appears about one time or within a brief period, on most or all of the
horses in a stable. It essentially consists in a stoppage of the normal
secretions of the skin, which is beneficially provided for maintaining a
soft condition of the skin of the heel, and preventing chapping and
excoriation; and it usually develops itself in redness, dryness, and
scurfiness of the skin; but in bad or prolonged cases, it is accompanied
with deep cracks, an ichorous discharge, more or less lameness, and even
great ulceration, and considerable fungus growth; and in the worst cases
it spreads athwart all the heel, extends on the fetlock, or ascends the
leg, and is accompanied with extensive swelling and a general oozing
discharge, of a peculiar strong, disagreeable odor.

Most of the causes of grease are referable to bad management, especially
in regard to great and sudden changes in the exterior temperature of the
heels. The feet of the horse may be alternately heated by the bedding
and cooled by draft from the open stable door; or they may first be made
hot and sensitive by the irritating action of the urine and filth on the
stable floor, and then violently reacted on by the cold breezes of the
open air, or they may be moist and reeking when the horse is led out to
work, and then chilled for a long period by the slow evaporation of the
moisture from them amid the clods and soil of the field; or they may be
warm and even perspiring with the labor of the day, and next plunged
into a stream or washed with cold water, and then allowed to dry partly
in the open air and partly in the stable; and in many of these ways, or
of any others which occasion sudden changes of temperature in the heels,
especially when those changes are accompanied or aggravated by the
irritating action of filth, grease is exceedingly liable to be induced.
Want of exercise, high feeding, and whatever tends to accumulate or to
stagnate the normal greasy secretion in the skin of the heels, also
operate, in some degree, as causes. By mere good management and by
avoiding these known causes, horse owners might prevent the appearance
of this disease altogether.

In the early, dry, scurfy stage of grease, the heels may be well cleaned
with soft soap and water, and afterwards thoroughly dried, and then
treated with a dilution of Goulard's extract--one part to eight parts of
water, or one part with six parts of lard oil. In the mildest form of
the stage of cracks and ichorous discharge, after cleansing, some drying
powder, such as equal quantities of white lead and putty (impure
protoxide of zinc), may be applied, or simply the mixture of Goulard's
extract with lard oil may be continued. In the virulent form of cracks,
accompanied with ulceration, the heels ought to be daily washed clean
with warm water, and afterwards bathed with a mild astringent lotion,
and every morning and evening thinly poulticed or coated with carbolized
ointment; and the whole system ought to be acted on by alteratives, by
nightly bran mash, and, if the animal be in full condition, with a dose
of purgative medicine. In the worst and most extensively spread cases,
poultices of a very cooling kind, particularly poultices of scraped
carrots or scraped turnips, ought to be used day and night, both for the
sake of their own action, and as preparatives to the action of the
astringent application; and the whole course of treatment ought to aim
at the abatement of the inflammatory action, previous to the stopping of
the discharge. Nothing tends so much to prevent grease and swelling of
the legs as frequent hand rubbing and cleansing the heels carefully as
soon as a horse comes in from exercise or work. In inveterate cases of
grease, where the disease appears to have become habitual, in some
degree, a run at grass, when in season, is the only remedy. If a dry
paddock is available, where a horse can be sheltered in bad weather, it
will be found extremely convenient; as in such circumstances, he may
perform his usual labor, and at the same time be kept free from the
complaint.


Foul in the Foot.

This name is given to a disease in cattle, which presents a resemblance
to foot rot in sheep, but is different from this. It appears to be
always occasioned by the neglect and aggravation of wounds and ulcers
originating in mechanical injury--particularly in the insinuating of
pieces of stone, splinters of wood, etc., between the claws of the hoof,
or in the wearing, splitting, or bruising of the horn, and consequent
abrasion of the sensible foot; by walking for an undue length of time,
or a long distance upon gravelly or flinty roads, or other hard and
eroding surfaces. It is sometimes ascribed, indeed, to a wet state of
the pasture; but moisture merely predisposes to it, by softening the
hoof and diminishing its power of resisting mechanical injury.

The ulcers of foul in the foot usually occur about the coronet and
extend under the hoof, causing much inflammatory action, very great
pain, and more or less separation of the hoof; but they often originate
in uneven pressure upon the sole, and rise upward from a crack between
the claws, and are principally or wholly confined to one side or claw of
the foot. A fetid purulent discharge proceeds from the ulcers, and a
sinus may sometimes be discovered by means of a probe to descend from
the coronet beneath the hoof. The affected animal is excessively lame,
and may possibly suffer such a degree of pain as to lose all appetite
and become sickly and emaciated.

If the disease is of a mild form, or be merely in the initiatory stage,
it may be readily cured by cleaning, fomentation, and rest; if it be of
a medium character, between mild and violent, it may be cured by
cleaning, by carefully paring away loose and detached horn, by destroying
any fungus growth, and by applying, with a feather, a little butyr of
antimony; and if it be of a very bad form, or has been long neglected,
it will require to be probed, lanced, or otherwise dealt with according
to the rules of good surgery, and afterwards poulticed twice a day with
linseed meal, and frequently, but lightly, touched with butyr of
antimony.


Founder.

This disease consists in inflammation of the laminæ and of the vascular
parts of the sensible foot. It sometimes attacks only one foot,
sometimes two, and sometimes all four; but, in a great majority of
cases, it attacks either one or both of the front feet. A chronic form
sometimes occurs, and exhibits symptoms somewhat similar to those of
contraction of the hoof; but acute inflammation of the laminæ is what is
generally called founder.

This disease is occasioned by overstraining of the laminæ from long
standing, by prolonged or excessive driving over hard roads, by
congestion from long confinement, by sudden reaction from standing in
snow after being heated, or from covering with warm bedding after
prolonged exposure to cold, by sudden change of diet from a
comparatively cool to a comparatively heating kind of food, and by
translation of inflammatory action from some other part of the body,
particularly after influenza.

In the early stages of founder, a horse evinces great pain, shows
excessive restlessness of foot, and tries to lighten the pressure of his
body on the diseased feet. In the more advanced stages he is feverish,
breathes hard, has violent throbbing in the arteries of the fetlock,
lies down, stretches out his legs, and sometimes gazes wistfully upon
the seat of the disease; and in the ulterior stages, if no efficacious
remedies have been applied, the diseased feet either naturally recover
their healthy condition, or they suppurate, slough, cast part or all of
the hoof, and gradually acquire a small, weak, new hoof, or they undergo
such mortification and change of tissues as to render the animal
permanently useless.

The shoe of a foundered foot must be removed; the hoof should be pared
in such a manner that the sole and central portion of the same alone
come to sustain the weight of the body. Therefore, the wall of the hoof,
or that portion of the hoof which, under normal conditions, is made to
bear upon the shoe, should be pared or rasped away, all around, to such
an extent that it does not touch the ground when the animal stands upon
the foot. A well-bedded shed, or a roomy, well-bedded box-stall, should
be provided, with a view of allowing ample room for stretching out, as
well as for changing position on a floor which should not be slanting,
and which conveniences can not be had in a single stall, or when the
animal is kept tied up in a confined space. Fomentations, evaporating
lotions, wet cloths, and moist poultices should be applied to the feet.
The animal ought to have light and spare diet, and bran mashes. When
much fever exists febrifuges and diuretics should be given.


QUESTIONS ANSWERED.

COW DRYING UP UNEVENLY. D. W., AUBURN, ILL.--1. What is the cause of a
cow going dry in one teat? She dropped her calf the 25th of May, and it
sucked till it was three months old two teats on one side; that was her
third calf; her next one will be due the last of April next. For some
six weeks past the quantity of milk has been diminishing, till now she
does not give more than a gill from one teat, while the opposite one
gives more than double that of either of the others. Can any thing be
done to remedy the difficulty? 2. If a cow gives more milk on one side
than the other, does it indicate the sex of the coming calf?

REPLY.--Most likely the cow will give milk from all four quarters after
calving. She should be allowed to gradually dry up now, and toward the
time of calving, she should not be fed exclusively on dry food. 2. No.




[Illustration]

THE DAIRY.

Dairymen, Write for Your Paper.


Curing Cheese.

The curing of cheese develops not only flavor, but texture and
digestibility. As a rule, says an English exchange, no American cheese
is well cured, and this is for want of suitable curing houses. Dr. H.
Reynolds, of Livermore Falls, Me., remarks upon this subject as follows:
"Increased attention needs to be given by cheese-makers to this matter
of curing cheese. Cheese factories should be provided with suitable
curing rooms, where a uniform temperature of the required degree can be
maintained, together with a suitable degree of moisture and sufficient
supply of fresh air. The expense required to provide a suitable curing
room would be small compared to the increased value of the cheese
product thereby secured. Small dairymen and farmers, having only a few
cows, labor under some difficulties in the way of providing suitable
curing room for their cheese. Yet if they have a clear idea of what a
curing room should be, they will generally be able to provide something
which will approximate to what is needed. Good curing rooms are
absolutely needed in order to enable our cheese-makers to produce a
really fine article of cheese. The nicer the quality of cheese produced,
the higher the price it will bring, and the more desirable will it
become as an article of food. In the curing of cheese certain
requisites are indispensable in order to attain the best results. Free
exposure to air is one requisite for the development of flavor. Curd
sealed up in an air-tight vessel and kept at the proper temperature
readily breaks down into a soft, rich, ripe cheese, but it has none of
the flavor so much esteemed in good cheese. Exposure to the oxygen of
the air develops flavor. The cheese during the process of curding takes
in oxygen and gives off carbonic acid gas. This fact was proved by Dr.
S. M. Babcock, of Cornell University, who, by analyzing the air passing
over cheese while curding, found that the cheese was constantly taking
in oxygen and giving off carbonic acid gas. The development of flavor
can be hastened by subjecting the cheese to a strong current of air. The
flavor is developed by the process of oxidation. If the cheese is kept
in too close air during the process of curding, it will be likely to be
deficient in flavor."

       *       *       *       *       *

An anonymous writer very truly remarks that the dairyman, by the force
of circumstances, has to become versed in the breeding and management of
stock, especially that of dairy breeds; hence, in the very nature of
things, he becomes a thoughtful, studious, observing man, and, what is
better, he attains a higher intelligence. The advantages of dairying
call out, among other things, enhanced revenues, because butter and
cheese have become necessities; it enriches the farm, and is perfectly
adapted to foster the breeding and raising of better and more stock. It
embodies thrift, progress, and prosperity. Under "new methods" it makes
fine butter and choice beef, not by any means less, but even more, and
affords better grain. It does not imply farm houses with added burdens,
but, on the contrary, relieved of drudgery, and the time thus gained can
be spent in cultivating the refining graces, and thus making farmers'
homes abodes of culture, refinement, and education, placing the dairy
farmer upon a level financially, socially, and intellectually with any
other class or profession.

       *       *       *       *       *

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For Sale or Rent.

Farm of four hundred and eighty acres situated in Marlon County,
Illinois, two and a half miles from Tonti Station, and six miles from
Odin, on branch of Illinois Central R. R., and O. & M. Road--300 acres
under plow, 180 acres timber. The latter has never been culled and is
very valuable. Farm is well fenced into seven fields. Has an orchard on
it which has yielded over two thousand dollars worth of fruit a year. No
poor land on the farm, and is called the best body of land in Marion
County. It was appraised by the Northwestern Insurance Co. for a loan at
$18,000 and a loan made of six thousand. Buildings are not very good.
Will sell for $14,800--$2,800 cash, $6,000 May 31, 1887, and $6,000 Feb.
24, 1892, deferred payments to bear 6 per cent interest, or, to a
first-class party, having a few thousand dollars to put into stock, a
liberal arrangement will be made to rent it for a term of years.
Property belongs to an estate. Address

    J. E. YOUNG,
        71 Park Avenue, Chicago.

       *       *       *       *       *

HENRY DAVIS, DYER, IND.

[Illustration]

Breeder of Light Brahmas, Plymouth Rocks, Bronze Turkeys, Toulouse
Geese, and Pekin Ducks. Stock for sale. Eggs in Season. Have won 200
prizes at leading shows, including 1st on Toulouse Geese at St. Louis
and Chicago Shows. Write for prices.

       *       *       *       *       *

[Illustration]

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[Illustration]

HORTICULTURAL

Horticulturists, Write for Your Paper.


SOUTHERN ILL. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The members of the Southern Illinois Horticultural Society recently held
a meeting at Alton, and resolved to put a little more life into the
organization. A new constitution was adopted, and the following officers
were elected for the ensuing year:

    President--E. A. Riehl, Alton.
    First Vice-President--G. W. Endicott, Villa Ridge.
    Second Vice-President--Wm. Jackson, Godfrey.
    Secretary and Treasurer--E. Hollister, Alton.

The following select list of fruits was recommended for the district, or
Southern grand division of the State:

     Apples--Summer--Red Astrachan, Keswick Codlin, Benoni, Saps of
     Wine, and Maiden's Blush.

     Fall--It was unanimously agreed that fall apples were not
     profitable for market purposes.

     Winter--Ben Davis, Rome Beauty, Jonathan, Wine-Sap, Winter May,
     Gilpin, and Janet.

     Apples for family use--Summer--Early Harvest, Red Astrachan,
     Carolina Red June, Benoni, Maiden's Blush, Bailey Sweet and
     Fameuse.

     Fall--Fall Wine, Rambo, Grimes' Golden, Yellow Belleflower.

     Winter--Jonathan, Rome Beauty, Winesap, Ben Davis, Janet, Gilpin,
     Moore's Sweet, Sweet Vandevere.

     Peaches for Market--Bartlett, Howell, and Duchess.

     Pears for Family Use--Bartlett, Seckel, Howell, White Doyenne,
     D'Anjou, and Sheldon.

     Peaches--For Family Use and Market--Alexander, Mountain Rose, L. E.
     York, Oldmixon Free, Crawford's Late Stump, Picquet's Late, Smock,
     Salway, and Heath Cling.

     Grapes--Home Use and Market--Worden or Concord, Cynthiana or
     Norton's Va., Mo. Reisling, Noah, Ives.

     Strawberries--Home and Market--Capt. Jack, Downing, and Wilson.

     Raspberries--Black Caps--Doolittle and Gregg.

     Reds--Cuthbert, Brandywine, and Turner for home use only.




Notes on Current Topics.


FARM ECONOMY.

Now, if one wants to ascertain how many agricultural implements are used
by the farmers of the West, let him take a trip across the country for a
day or two, and he will see reapers and mowers, and hay rakes and
cultivators, and plows and seeders, standing in the fields and meadows,
at the end of the rows where they had last been used. A stranger might
think that this is not the place for them at this particular time of
year. But in this he shows his ignorance of Western farm economy--for it
is the very place for them; the identical locality where a great many of
our farmers choose to keep their costly implements. Besides--don't you
see, our farmers believe in fostering the manufactures of our country;
and this place of caring for their tools after using them adds 15 or 20
per cent to the business of the manufacturers.


ABOUT THE BORER.

I referred to the fact that I had lately been cutting away, digging up,
and making stove-wood of a number of dead and decaying apple trees. Some
of them had been dead and dying for two or three years. In splitting up
the body and roots of one of these, I dislodged scores of the borers, of
all ages and sizes--making quite a dinner for a hen and chickens that
happened to be nigh. This fact brought forcibly to my mind what I should
have thought of before, namely--that these dead and dying trees ought
not to be allowed to remain a day after their usefulness has departed;
but should be removed bodily and consigned to the flames. Otherwise they
remain as breeding places for the pests, to the great detriment of the
rest of the orchard. Cut away your decaying trees at once.


COAL ASHES.

Now that coal has become so common as a substitute for wood for fuel,
not only on the railroads and manufactories, but in the villages and on
the farms, wood ashes will still be harder to procure. Though not near
so valuable for the purposes for which wood ashes is chiefly used in
horticulture, it is believed that ashes from the coal has too great a
value to be wasted. It should all be saved and applied to some good
purpose on the garden or orchard. Has any one tried it as a preventive
to pear blight? or mildew on the gooseberry? or the grape rot? or for
the yellows or leaf-curl in peach trees? or for the rust in the
blackberry and raspberry? In any or all of these it may have a decided
value, and should be faithfully experimented with. As an absorbent
alone it ought to be worth saving, to use in retaining the house slops
and other liquid manures that are too often wasted.


ONE CAUSE OF FAILURE

in our orchard trees, of which we read and hear so much in late years,
is doubtless to be found in the fact that we fail to feed them properly.
A hog will fail to put on fat if he is not fed; a hen will not lay eggs
if she is starved for food; and is it more reasonable to expect an apple
or a peach or a pear tree to thrive and grow and yield of its luscious
fruit in perfection while it is being starved? Our fresh soils--some of
them at least--contain a fair proportion of the food needed to support
the life of a tree; we plant our orchards, and for some years, more or
less, they give us paying returns for our investments. But that food
will not always last; it is gradually exhausted, and we fail to feed
them again, or in that proportion their necessities require. They
languish and die; a disease seizes them, and we complain and grumble at
the dispensations of Providence.

Think of it, fellow fruit-growers; let us begin to treat our fruit trees
as we do our hogs and our hens, and see if we can not be favored with
corresponding results. It is doubtless true that many of the diseases to
which our trees are subject are caused by starvation, or by improper
feeding; and a sickly tree is much more certain to be attacked by
insects than a healthy one.

Rare, indeed, is the case where a tree is carefully fed and cared for,
and its wants regularly and bountifully supplied, that it does not repay
as bountifully in its life-giving fruits.

T. G.




PEAR BLIGHT.

THE TWO THEORIES WITH REGARD TO ITS CAUSE, AND THEIR PRACTICAL VALUE.


It is assumed that this pest has cost agriculturists many millions of
dollars during the past decade; not only in the loss of trees, but the
time--as it seldom appears until after the first crop--consequently the
land, manure, labor, enclosure, and taxes are not insignificant items.
Climate, soil, and cultivation have utterly failed, so also the
nostrums, such as "carbonate of lime" suggested by the best authority,
and the experts now admit that parasites (such as cause the rust or smut
in our cereals) are the cause of this mischief. The only question is
whether they act directly or indirectly: this question determines
whether it is remediable. If these parasites accomplish all this
mischief by direct contact, as in the case of rust, their ubiquitous
character is so demonstrated that we are utterly discouraged; whereas,
if we prove that their indirect action is the only one that is to be
dreaded, and that indirect action is remediable we are encouraged to
cultivate the pear, though we have lost more than five hundred of one
variety and almost all of the other varieties before we discovered the
real cause of the failure. "Where you lose you may find;" success does
not indicate merit, and "fools never learn by experience." As a
celebrated surgeon said in his lecture. "A good oculist is made at the
expense of a hatful of eyes."

The celebrated Johnson who wrote the Encyclopedia of Agriculture a few
years since, is now regarded as an old fogy, because he assumed that the
spores of smut travel from the manure and seed of the previous crop in
the circulation of the plant to the capsule, and thus convert the grain
into a puff-ball, so also the ears of corn, the oats, and rye. This
monstrosity on the rye grains is called ergot, or spurred rye, and when
it is eaten by chickens or other fowls their feet and legs shrivel or
perish with dry gangrene, not because the spores of the fungus which
produced the spurred rye circulate in the blood of the chicken, nor that
the spawn or mycelium thus traverses the fowl, but the peculiar and
specific influence acts upon the whole animal precisely like the poison
of the poison oak, producing its specific effect on the most remote
parts of the system, and not as mustard confined to the part it touches.
The mustard acts directly, but the "poison Ivy" acts indirectly; so also
the virus of cow-pox poisons the whole system, but usually appears in
but one spot unless the lymphatics of the whole arm are weak, and in
that case crops of umbilicated pustules precisely like the original, may
recur on all parts of the arm for several months. The specific effect of
ergot or the fungus when indirect is manifested by contracting and even
strangulating the tubes or capillaries causing them to pucker up (as a
persimmon acts directly on the mouth), but in this case permanently
though indirectly, so that rye bread sometimes causes dry gangrene in
the human subject; the shins and feet shrivel precisely as those parts
of the limbs of the pear do, moreover a dark fluid exudes (as the
circulation is arrested where a patch occurs) in both cases alike,
consequently if the remedy in both cases is based on the same
principles, and is demonstrated to be equally effectual, the cause and
the disease are similar.

I have seen dry gangrene in the human subject originate apparently from
an old "frost bite;" which means merely chronic debility of the
capillaries of the foot or shin. Thus the extremities of the pear, or
the weakest part, always succumb first, and the most vigorous trees
never manifest it until they are weakened by their first crop of fruit.
All are familiar with the fact that an old frost bite will swell or
succumb to a temperature which will be innocuous to any other part of
the body. The microscope may invariably reveal fungi in the patch of
pear blight precisely as the housewife discovers the mold plant in her
preserves and canned fruit, and even in the eggs of fowls, the mycelium
(or spawn) penetrating the fruit or preserve though it be covered while
boiling hot. If so, the reason why all parts of the tree are not
attacked at the same time, is not because the fungus is not ubiquitous.
We first notice the action of strychnia in the legs, or in paralyzed
limbs exclusively, because they are weaker and become subject to its
influence more easily; so also the same tree may escape for a long time
after the limb which has succumbed is removed. Moreover the grafts,
however numerous, may all be blighted, but the standard seedling on
which so many varieties were grafted has survived more than fifty
winters, and it fruited last year.

    DAVID STEWART, M. D.
        PORT PENN, DEL.




TREATMENT OF TREE WOUNDS.


Valuable trees that have been wounded or mutilated are often sacrificed
for lack of the discreet surgery which would repair the injury they have
suffered; and Professor C. A. Sargent, of the Bussey Institution, has
done good service to farmers, fruit-raisers, and landscape-gardeners, by
translating from the French the following practical hints, which we give
with slight abridgment:

Bark once injured or loosened can never attach itself again to the
trunk; and whenever wounds, abrasures, or sections of loose bark exist
on the trunk of a tree, the damaged part should be cut away cleanly, as
far as the injury extends. Careful persons have been known to nail to a
tree a piece of loosened bark, in hope of inducing it to grow again, or
at least of retaining on the young wood its natural covering.
Unfortunately the result produced by this operation is exactly opposite
to that intended. The decaying wood and bark attract thousands of
insects, which find here safe shelter and abundant food, and, increasing
rapidly, hasten the death of the tree. In such cases, instead of
refastening the loosened bark to the tree, it should be entirely cut
away, care being taken to give the cut a regular outline, especially on
the lower side; for if a portion of the bark, even if adhering to the
wood, is left without direct communication with the leaves, it must die
and decay. A coating of coal-tar should be applied to such wounds.

LOOSENED BARK.--It is necessary to frequently examine the lower portions
of the trunk, especially of trees beginning to grow old; for here is
often found the cause of death in many trees, in large sheets of bark
entirely separated from the trunk. This condition of things, which often
can not be detected, except by the hollow sound produced by striking the
trunk with the back of the iron pruning-knife, arrests the circulation
of sap, while the cavity between the bark and the wood furnishes a safe
retreat for a multitude of insects, which hasten the destruction of the
tree. The dead bark should be entirely removed, even should it be
necessary, in so doing, to make large wounds. Cases of this nature
require the treatment recommended for the last class.

CAVITIES IN THE TRUNK.--Very often, when a tree has been long neglected,
the trunk is seriously injured by cavities caused by the decay of dead
or broken branches. It is not claimed that pruning can remove defects of
this nature; it can with proper application, however, arrest the
progress of the evil. The edge of the cavity should be cut smooth and
even; and all decomposed matter, or growth of new bark formed in the
interior, should be carefully removed. A coating of coal-tar should be
applied to the surface of the cavity, and the mouth plugged with a piece
of well-seasoned oak securely driven into the place. The end of the plug
should then be carefully pared smooth and covered with coal-tar,
precisely as if the stump of a branch were under treatment. If the
cavity is too large to be closed in this manner, a piece of thoroughly
seasoned oak board, carefully fitted to it, may be securely nailed into
the opening, and then covered with coal-tar. It is often advisable to
guard against the attacks of insects by nailing a piece of zinc or other
metal over the board in such a way that the growth of the new wood will
in time completely cover it.

Coal-tar, a waste product of gas-works, can be applied with an ordinary
painter's brush, and may be used cold, except in very cold weather, when
it should be slightly warmed before application. Coal-tar has remarkable
preservative properties, and may be used with equal advantage on living
and dead wood. A single application, without penetrating deeper than
ordinary paint, forms an impervious coating to the wood-cells, which
would, without such covering, under external influences, soon become
channels of decay. This simple application then produces a sort of
instantaneous cauterization, and preserves from decay wounds caused
either in pruning or by accident. The odor of coal-tar drives away
insects, or prevents them, by complete adherence to the wood, from
injuring it. After long and expensive experiments, the director of the
parks of the city of Paris finally, in 1863, adopted coal-tar, in
preference to other preparations used, for covering tree wounds. In the
case of stone fruit trees it should, however, be used with considerable
caution, especially on plum trees. It should not be allowed to
needlessly run down the trunk; and it is well to remember, that the more
active a remedy is the greater should be the care in its application.
The practice of leaving a short stump to an amputated branch, adopted by
some to prevent the loss of sap, although less objectionable in the case
of coniferous trees than in that of others, should never be adopted.
Such stumps must be cut again the following year close to the trunk, or
cushions of wood will form about their base, covering the trunk with
protuberances. These greatly injure the appearance and value of the
tree, and necessitate, should it be found desirable, the removal, later
on, of such excrescences, causing wounds two or three times as large as
an original cut close to the trunk would have made.




THE TOMATO PACK OF 1883.


Through the co-operation of packers in all parts of the United States,
the American Grocer was enabled to present its annual statement of the
1883 pack of tomatoes some weeks earlier than usual. Despite a cold,
backward spring, unusually low temperature throughout the summer, with
cool nights in August and September, drouth in some sections, early and
severe frosts in others, the trade is called upon to solve the question:
Can the demand absorb a supply of three million cases?

The pack of 1883 is heavily in excess of that of 1882, due to an
increase in the number packers, and to an unusually heavy yield in New
Jersey and Delaware. In detail, the result in the different States is as
follows:

             Cases, two
             doz. each.
Maryland      1,450,000
New Jersey      612,703
Delaware        156,391
California      117,000
Ohio            112,000
Indiana          90,000
Virginia         75,000
Kansas           65,000
New York         59,344
Iowa             47,925
Missouri         34,500
Michigan         30,700
Massachusetts    25,000
Canada           20,000
Connecticut      18,000
Illinois         14,516
Pennsylvania     15,000
              ---------
   Total      2,943,579

The above total of 2,943,579 cases, of two dozen tins each represents
seventy million, six hundred and forty-five thousand, eight hundred and
ninety-six cans, as the minimum quantity of canned tomatoes packed in
the United States this year.

Never in recent years have the holdings of the jobbers been as light as
at present. Undoubtedly there is an unusually large stock of tomatoes in
packers' hands, but there are innumerable parties in all the great
centers of trade ready to take hold freely at 80 cents.

At no time has the stock of extra brands been equal to the inquiry, and
hence we have seen the anomaly of a range in prices of from 80 cents to
$1.40 per dozen. There is room for improvement in quality, as well as
for methods of marketing the large production of Harford county. A move
in the right direction has been started by the forming of associations,
which seek to build extensive warehouses and aid weak packers to carry
stock, instead of forcing it upon a dull market.

Three million cases or seventy-two million cans means a supply of only
one and two-fifths cans per capita per annum, or seven cans per annum
for every family of five persons. With tomatoes retailing from 8 to 15
cents per can, the consumption could reach three times that quantity,
and then each family would only find tomatoes upon its bill of fare once
every fortnight.

While many packers have failed to secure a fair return for their work,
others have been well paid. Some few have made heavy losses, and will,
in the future, be less inclined to bet against wet weather, drought and
frost.

If general business is good during the first half of 1884, The Grocer
can see no good reason why the stock of tomatoes should not go into
consumption between 85 cents and $1 per dozen for standards. Any marked
advance would be sure to check demand, and, therefore, low prices must
rule if the stock is absorbed prior to the receipt of 1884 packing.

The year closes with Maryland packed obtainable from 75 to 85 cents; New
Jersey and Delaware, 90 to 95 cents; fancy brands, $1.10 to $1.35,
delivered on dock in New York.




SWEATING APPLES.


According to the Popular Science News, apples do not sweat after they
are gathered in the autumn. Here is an account of what takes place with
them.

The skin of a sound apple is practically a protective covering, and
designed for a two-fold purpose: first, to prevent the ingress of air
and moisture to the tender cellular structure of the fruit; and, second,
to prevent the loss of juices by exudation. There is no such process as
sweating in fruits. When men or animals sweat, they become covered with
moisture passing through the skin; when an apple becomes covered with
moisture, it is due to condensation of moisture from without. Apples
taken from trees in a cool day remain at the temperature of the air
until a change to a higher temperature occurs, and then condensation of
moisture from the warmer air circulating around the fruit occurs, just
as moisture gathers upon the outside of an ice-pitcher in summer. This
explains the whole matter; and the vulgar notion of fruits "sweating"
should be dispelled from the mind.

It is almost impossible to gather apples under such conditions of
temperature that they will not condense moisture after being placed in
barrels. It would be better if this result could be avoided, as dryness
of fruit is essential to its protracted keeping.

Our northern autumns are characterized by changes from hot to cold, and
these occur suddenly. The days are hot, and the nights cool, and this
favors condensation. Apples picked on a moderately cool day, and placed
in a moderately cool shed, protected from the sun, will not gather
moisture, and this is the best method to pursue when practicable.




PRUNINGS.


Mr. N. Atwell, one of the Michigan commissioners, whose duty it is to
look after the peach districts of that State and check if possible the
ravages of the destructive disease known as "yellows," claims that there
is no known remedy, and that the only safe plan is to uproot and burn
the trees upon the first appearance of the disease.

       *       *       *       *       *

If you are going to set a new orchard this spring, remember that it is
an excellent thing to prepare a plan of the orchard, showing the
position of each tree, its variety, etc. If a tree dies it can be
replaced by one of the same sort. Some fruit-raisers keep a book in
which they register the age and variety of every tree in the orchard,
together with any items in regard to their grafting, productiveness,
treatment, etc., which are thought to be desirable.

       *       *       *       *       *

Cor. California Rural Press: The first generation of codling moth begins
to fly about the first of May. To make sure gather some in the chrysalis
state in March or April, put in a jar, and set the jar in a place where
you will see it every day. When they begin to have wings, prepare your
traps thus: The half of a kerosene can with the tin bent in at the top
an inch; a half inch of kerosene in the can, a little flat lamp near the
oil. The light reflected from the bright tin will draw the moth five
rods at least. If your orchard is forty rods square, sixteen traps will
do the work. The moth will fly about the light until it touches the oil.
This will end it.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Industrial South has the following in relation to Albemarle and
Nelson (Virginia) apple orchards in the space of fifteen square miles:
"What would you think of an orchard planted, if not since the war, as I
think it was, a very short time before, and away up on the side of the
Blue Ridge, that to look from below you would think of insuring your
neck before setting out to it, producing eighteen hundred barrels? This
was the produce of picked fruit, to say nothing of the fallen--enough to
keep a big drying establishment running for months. These are true
figures--and it is the property of a worthy citizen of Richmond, who, in
its management, has cause to exclaim "ab imo pectore," save me from my
friends. Then there is another from which the owner, with a dryer of his
own, has sold five thousand dollars of the proceeds besides cider,
vinegar, and brandy. There is yet another, that the lady-owner sold as
the fruit hung in the orchard, for forty-five hundred dollars. The fruit
in the area referred to brought over fifty thousand dollars, bought by
the agent of a New York house, and doubtless much of it will reach
Europe."

       *       *       *       *       *

Prof. Cook in the New York Tribune: The Rev. W. W. Meech writes that he
has seen in several papers of high standing "the beetle Saperdabivitati,
parent of the borer," described as a "a miller"--"a mistake very
misleading to those who are seeking knowledge of insect pests." He adds
that among hundreds of quince trees growing he has had but three touched
by this enemy in eight years. He simply takes the precaution to keep
grass and weeds away from the collar of the tree, "so that there is no
convenient harbor for the beetle to hide in while at the secret work of
egg-laying." He thinks a wrap of "petroleum paper around the collar"
would be found a preventive, as it is not only disagreeable but hinders
access to the place where the eggs are deposited. It is an unfortunate
error to refer to a beetle as a moth. It would be better if all would
recognize the distinction between "bug" and "beetle," and between
"worms" and "larva," in writing popular articles. I notice that some of
the editors of medical journals are referring to bacteria as "bugs."
Surely reform is needed. I am not so sure of Mr. Meech's remedy. I
imagine that fortune, not his pains, is to be thanked for his grubless
trees. I have known this borer to do very serious mischief where the
most perfect culture was practised. The caustic wash is much safer than
a petroleum wrap. The eggs are often laid high up on the trunk or even
on the branches. Nothing is better for the borers than the soap and
carbolic acid mixture.




[Illustration]

FLORICULTURE.

Gleanings by an Old Florist.


SMILAX AND ITS USES.

Smilax, as now used by florists, is but a very recent affair. Although
introduced first into Europe from the Cape of Good Hope as early as
1702, it remained for the florist of our time to find out its great
adaptability for decoration and other uses in his art or calling. To
Boston florists belong the credit of its first extensive culture and
use, and for several years they may be said to have had the monopoly of
its trade, and Boston smilax, along with Boston tea roses, which was
pre-eminently the variety called the Bon Silene, was, for years, shipped
to this and other cities. It is scarcely a decade of years ago, in this
city, when a batch of one hundred strings could not be bought here,
home-grown; now there would be no difficulty in getting thousands. Like
everything else of like character, the first introducers reaped a golden
harvest, so far as price is concerned, having often obtained a dollar a
string; while now, the standard price, even in mid winter, is $2 per
dozen, and often in quantity, it can be obtained at less. But where
there was one string used then, there are now thousands. In olden times
the florist was often put to his wits to find material to go around his
made-up pieces and for relief as a green; now, everything green is
smilax, and it must be confessed, that with the choice ferns, begonia
leaves, and the like, that he used to have to prepare with, his work
then was really often in better taste, so far as relief to flowers is
concerned, with the old material than the new.

But for the purpose of festooning buildings, churches, and the like,
smilax is by all odds the very thing wanted, and as much ahead of the
old-time evergreen wreathing, that we had to use, as the methods now in
use for obtaining cut flowers are ahead of the old. It is hard to say
what the florist could do without smilax, so indispensable has it
become. There are now probably twenty of the principal growers of this
city that have at least one house in smilax, who will cut not less than
three thousand strings in a winter, while of the balance of smaller fry
enough to make up the total to 100,000 strings per year. In times of
scarcity of material, it is cut not over three feet long; again, when
the supply exceeds the demand, the buyer will often get it six to nine
feet long, and at a lower price than he can buy the short--supply and
demand ruling price, as a rule, between $1 and $3 per dozen.

The plant now under consideration is called, botanically, Myrsiphyllum
asparagoides; by common usage it is called smilax, although not even a
member of the true smilax family, some of which are natives of this
country.

The plant seeds readily, hence every one who grows smilax may, by
leaving two or three strings uncut, grow his own seed; it is then sure
to be fresh--which is sometimes not the case when purchased. The seed is
more likely to germinate if soaked twelve hours in warm water or milk
before sowing.

A bed may be formed any time of the year, but the usual custom is to
prepare it so as to be ready to cut, say, in the fall, for the first
time. Take a pan or shallow box and sow the seed any time during the
winter before March. When well up, so they can be handled, transplant
into small pots, and from these shift into larger, say to three or four
inch pots. Keep the shoots pinched back so as to form a stout, bushy
plant. During winter they will require an artificial temperature of not
less than 50 degrees. When summer comes they may be kept in the house or
stand out of doors until the bed in which they are to grow is ready.
This may be prepared any time most desirable, but if to cut first in the
fall, so manage it that they may have two or three months to perfect
their growth.

The common practice is to give the whole house to the use of the plant,
but this may be varied at pleasure, growing either the center bunch, the
front bunch, or both, as may be desirable.

The best soil is decayed sod from a pasture enriched with cow manure. It
requires no benches to grow this plant; all that is necessary is to
inclose the space designed by putting up boards one foot high to form a
coping to hold the soil. Into this the plants are set evenly over the
entire space, in rows nine inches to one foot apart. At the time of
planting, a stake is driven into and even with the soil at each plant,
being careful to have them in true lines both ways, and driven deep
enough to be quite firm; on the top of this stake is driven a small nail
or hook. Directly over each nail, in the rafter of the house, or a strip
nailed to them for the purpose, is placed another nail, and between the
two a cord similar to that used by druggists or the like--but green, if
possible, in color, for obvious reasons--is stretched as taught as may
be, so that when finished the whole house or space used is occupied by
these naked strings, on which, as the growth proceeds, the plants
entwine themselves. Some care will be required at first to get them
started, after which they will usually push on themselves.

The most convenient height of the rafters above the soil is from four to
ten feet, which will give long enough strings, and, what is important
for quick growth, keep the plants when young not too far from the glass.

In planting, some make a difference of a month or two in the time, so
that the crop may not come in all at once; but usually the plants will
vary some in their growth, and hence, by cutting the largest first, the
same result is obtained. If a heat of 55 degrees can be obtained as a
minimum, and care is taken in keeping a moist, growing temperature, a
crop can be taken off every three months at least. So as soon as ready
to cut and a market can be obtained for the crop, strings should be
strung again at once, leaving some of the smaller shoots when cutting
for a starter of the next crop. Like everything else, heavy cropping
requires heavy manuring, and hence a rich compost should be added to the
soil at each cutting.

Some plant their beds fresh every year, others leave them longer. The
root is perennial in character, and consists of fleshy tubers, not
unlike asparagus, and may be divided for the new beds; but the general
practice is to grow new plants. Always beware of buying old, dry roots,
as they will sometimes refuse to grow, even if they look green and
fresh. With many, in cutting, the practice is to cut clear through at
the bottom, string and all, then by a deft movement of the hands the
smilax is slipped from the string which, with the addition of a foot or
two to tie again, is at once ready for the next, while others bring to
market string and all, these being simply matters of practice or
convenience.

    EDGAR SANDERS.

       *       *       *       *       *

Was Noah's voyage an arktic expedition?

       *       *       *       *       *


OUR NEW CLUBBING LIST FOR 1884.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER IN CONNECTION WITH OTHER JOURNALS.

We offer more liberal terms than ever before to those who desire to
take, in connection with THE PRAIRIE FARMER, either of the following
weekly or monthly periodicals. In all cases the order for THE PRAIRIE
FARMER and either of the following named journals must be sent together,
accompanied by the money; but we do not require both papers to be sent
to the same person or to the same post-office.

We send specimen copies only of THE PRAIRIE FARMER.

Our responsibility for other publications ceases on the receipt of the
first number; when such journals are not received within a reasonable
time, notify us, giving date of your order, also full name and address
of subscriber.


WEEKLIES.

                                    Price of  The two
                                    the two.    for

Harper's Weekly                        $6 00   $4 60
Harper's Bazar                          6 00    4 60
Harper's Young People                   3 50    2 55
New York Tribune                        4 00    2 50
Toledo Blade                            4 00    2 20
Chicago Times                           3 25    2 50
Chicago Tribune                         3 50    2 50
Chicago Inter-Ocean                     3 15    2 50
Chicago Journal                         3 25    2 50
Peck's Sun                              3 75    3 00
Milwaukee Sentinel                      3 00    2 50
Western Farmer (Madison, Wis.)          3 00    2 00
Burlington Hawkeye                      4 00    3 00
The Continent (Weekly Magazine)         6 00    5 00
Detroit Free Press, with Supplement     4 00    2 50
Detroit Free Press, State edition       3 50    2 20
Louisville Courier-Journal              3 75    3 00
St. Louis Globe-Democrat                3 00    2 15
St. Louis Republican                    3 00    2 15
Scientific American                     5 20    4 15
Interior (Presbyterian)                 4 50    3 60
Standard (Baptist)                      4 70    3 60
Advance (Congregational)                5 00    3 35
Alliance                                4 00    3 00
New York Independent                    5 00    4 00
Christian Union                         5 00    4 00
Boston Pilot (Catholic)                 4 50    3 50
American Bee Journal                    4 00    3 50
Florida Agriculturist                   4 00    2 75
Breeder's Gazette                       5 00    3 50
Witness (N. Y.)                         3 50    3 00
Methodist (N. Y.)                       4 00    3 50
Chicago News                            3 00    2 50
Globe (Boston)                          3 00    2 75
Youth's Companion                       3 75    3 00
Weekly Novelist                         5 00    4 25
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MONTHLIES.

Harper's Monthly                       $6 00   $4 50
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The Century                             6 00    4 50
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Popular Science Monthly                 7 00    5 50
Lippincott's Magazine                   5 00    4 50
Godey's Lady's Book                     4 00    3 00
St. Nicholas                            5 00    3 50
Vick's Illustrated Magazine             3 25    2 25
Am. Poultry Journal (Chicago)           3 25    2 75
American Bee Journal                    3 00    2 25
Gardener's Monthly                      4 00    3 00
Wide Awake                              4 50    3 00
Phrenological Journal                   4 00    3 00
American Agriculturist                  3 50    2 50
Poultry World                           3 25    2 75
Arthur's Home Magazine                  4 00    3 00
Andrews' Bazar                          3 00    2 40
Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly          5 00    4 00
Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine          5 00    4 00
Frank Leslie's Ladies' Magazine         4 50    4 00
Our Little Ones                         3 50    3 00
Peterson's Magazine                     4 00    3 30
Art Amateur                             6 00    5 00
Demorest's Magazine                     4 00    3 00
Dio Lewis' Monthly                      4 50    3 50

For clubbing price with any publication in the United States not
included in the above list send us inquiry on postal card.

       *       *       *       *       *


MISCELLANEOUS.

ONE CENT

invested in a postal card and addressed as below

WILL

give to the writer full information as to the best
lands in the United States now for sale; how he can

BUY

them on the lowest and best terms, also the full text
of the U. S. land laws and how to secure

320 ACRES

of Government Lands in Northwestern Minnesota
and Northeastern Dakota.

ADDRESS:

JAMES B. POWER,

Land and Emigration Commissioner,

ST. PAUL, MINN.

       *       *       *       *       *

CONSUMPTION.

I have a positive remedy for the above disease; by its use
thousands of cases of the worst kind and of long standing
have been cured. Indeed, so strong is my faith in its efficacy,
that I will send TWO BOTTLES FREE, together with a VALUABLE
TREATISE on this disease, to any sufferer. Give Express
& P. O. address, DR. T. A. SLOCUM, 181 Pearl St., N. Y.

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NOW is the time to Subscribe for THE PRAIRIE FARMER. Price only $2.00
per year is worth double in money.

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PUBLISHERS' NOTICE.

_THE PRAIRIE FARMER is printed and published by The Prairie Farmer
Publishing Company, every Saturday, at No. 150 Monroe Street._

_Subscription, $2.00 per year, in advance, postage prepaid. Subscribers
wishing their addresses changed should give their old as well as new
addresses._

_Advertising, 25 cents per line on inside pages; 30 cents per line on
last page--agate measure; 14 lines to the inch. No less charge than
$2.00._

_All Communications, Remittances, etc., should be addressed to_ THE
PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING COMPANY, _Chicago, Ill._

       *       *       *       *       *

The Prairie Farmer

ENTERED AT THE CHICAGO POST OFFICE AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER.

CHICAGO, JANUARY 19, 1884.

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WHEN SUBSCRIPTIONS EXPIRE.

WE HAVE SEVERAL CALLS FOR AN EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES FOLLOWING THE
NAME OF SUBSCRIBERS AS PRINTED UPON THIS PAPER EACH WEEK. THE FIRST TWO
FIGURES INDICATE THE VOLUME, AND THE LAST FIGURE OR FIGURES THE NUMBER
OF THE LAST PAPER OF THAT VOLUME FOR WHICH THE SUBSCRIBER HAS PAID:
EXAMPLE: JOHN SMITH, 56--26. JOHN HAS PAID FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER TO THE
FIRST OF JULY OF THE PRESENT YEAR, VOLUME 56. ANY SUBSCRIBER CAN AT ONCE
TELL WHEN HIS SUBSCRIPTION EXPIRES BY REFERRING TO VOLUME AND NUMBER AS
GIVEN ON FIRST PAGE OF THE PAPER.

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[Transcriber's Note: Original location of Table of Contents.]

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1841.        1884.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER

PROSPECTUS FOR 1884.

SEE INDUCEMENTS OFFERED

SUBSCRIBE NOW.


For forty-three years THE PRAIRIE FARMER has stood at the front in
agricultural journalism. It has kept pace with the progress and
development of the country, holding its steady course through all these
forty-three years, encouraging, counseling, and educating its thousands
of readers. It has labored earnestly in the interest of all who are
engaged in the rural industries of the country, and that it has labored
successfully is abundantly shown by the prominence and prestige it has
achieved, and the hold it has upon the agricultural classes.

Its managers are conscious from comparison with other journals of its
class, and from the uniform testimony of its readers, that it is
foremost among the farm and home papers of the country. It will not be
permitted to lose this proud position; we shall spare no efforts to
maintain its usefulness and make it indispensable to farmers,
stock-raisers, feeders, dairymen, horticulturalists, gardeners, and all
others engaged in rural pursuits. It will enter upon its forty-fourth
year under auspices, in every point of view, more encouraging than ever
before in its history. Its mission has