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Title: The Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56, No.

2, January 12, 1884

A Weekly Journal for the Farm,

Orchard and Fireside

Author: Various

Release Date: February 5, 2006 [EBook

#17683]

Language: English

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EBOOK THE PRAIRIE FARMER, VOL. 56 ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Susan

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ESTABLISHEDIN 1841.ENTIRESERIES: VOL.56—No. 2.

CHICAGO,SATURDAY,JANUARY 12,

1884.

PRICE, $2.00PER YEAR,

INADVANCE.

[Transcriber's Note: The Table ofContents was originally located onpage 24 of the periodical. It has beenmoved here for ease of use.]

THE CONTENTS OFTHIS NUMBER.

AGRICULTURE—Dew and Soil Moisture,P a g e 17; Specialty in Farming, 17;Public Squares in Small Cities, 17-18;Farm Names, 18; Diogenes In His Tub,18; Field and Furrow, 18-19;Agricultural Organizations, 19; Didn'tNo. 38 Die Hard, 19; A GrangeTemple, 19.

LIVE STOCK—Items, Page 20; SwineStatistics, 20; Iowa Stock Breeders, 20;The Horse and His Treatment, 20;Items, 20-21.

THE DAIRY—Winter Feed for Cows,Page 21; Churning Temperature, 21;Seas of Milk, 21.

VETERINARY—About Soundness, Page21; Questions Answered, 21.

HORTICULTURE—The Hedge Question,P a g e 22; Young Men Wanted, 22;Possibilities of Iowa Cherry Growing,22-23; Prunings, 23.

FLORICULTURE—Gleanings by an OldFlorist, Page 23.

EDITORIAL—Items, Page 24; IllinoisState Board, 24-25; Sorghum atWashington, 25; The Cold Spell, 25;American Ash, 25; Wayside Notes, 25;Letter from Champaign, 25.

POULTRY NOTES—A Duck Farm, Page 26.

THE APIARY—Apiary Appliances, Page26; What Should be Worked For, 26.

SCIENTIFIC—The Star of Bethlehem,Page 27.

HOUSEHOLD—How the Robin Came,Poem, Page 28; After Twenty Years,28; Will Readers Try It, 28; The Secretof Longevity, 28; How the InventorPlagues His Wife, 28; Recipes, 28;Pamphlets, etc., Received, 28.

YOUNG FOLKS—The City Cat, Poem,Page 29; Amusing Tricks, 29; BrightS a y i n g s , 29; CompiledCorrespondence, 29.

LITERATURE—The Wrong Pew, Poem,Page 30; Yik Kee, 30-31.

HUMOROUS—"A Leedle Mistakes," Page31; Sharper Than a Razor, 31; AComing Dividend, 31.

NEWS OF THE WEEK—Page 31.

MARKETS—Page 32.

Dew and SoilMoisture.

Bulletin No. 6 of Missouri AgriculturalCollege Farm is devoted to an accountof experiments intended to demonstratethe relation of dew to soil moisture.Prof. Sanborn has prosecuted his workwith that patience and faithfulnesscharacteristic of him, and the result isof a most interesting and useful nature.

The Professor begins by saying thatmany works on physics, directly or byimplication, assert that the soil, by awell-known physical law, gains

moisture from the air by night. Oneauthor says "Cultivated soils, on thecontrary (being loose and porous), veryfreely radiate by night the heat whichthey absorb by day; in consequence ofwhich they are much cooled down andplentifully condense the vapor of airinto dew." Not all scientific works,however, make this incautiousapplication of the fact that dew resultsfrom the condensation of moisture ofthe air in contact with cooler bodies.Farmers have quite universallyaccepted the view quoted, and believethat soils gain moisture by night fromthe air. This gain is considered of verygreat importance in periods ofdroughts, and is used in arguments

favoring certain methods of tillage.

Professor Stockbridge, in 1879, at theMassachusetts Agricultural College,carried on very valuable and fullexperiments in test of this generalbelief, and arrived at resultscontradictory of this belief. He found,in a multitude of tests, that in everyinstance, save one, for the months fromMay to November, that the surface soilfrom one to five inches deep, waswarmer than the air instead of cooler,as the law requires for condensation ofmoisture from the air. That exceptionwas in the center of a dense forest,under peculiar atmospheric conditions.After noting these facts, ingeniousmethods were employed to test more

directly the proposition that soil gainsmoisture from the air by night, with theresult that he announced that soils losemoisture by night. ProfessorStockbridge's efforts met with somecriticism, and his conclusions did notreceive the wide acceptance that hisview of the question justifies. Inreasoning from observation, ProfessorStockbridge noted that the bottom of aheap of hay, during harvesting, wouldbe wet in the morning, the under sideof a board wet in the morning, and soof the other objects named. In theprogress of tillage experiments relatedin his Bulletins Nos. 3 and 5, Prof.Sanborn's attention was again called tothis question, resulting in the

prosecution of direct tests of the soilmoisture itself. When completed it isthought that there will then no longerbe occasion to reason from assumedpremises regarding the matter. Thetrials were begun late, and underdisadvantages; and are to beunderstood as preliminary to morecomplete tests during 1884. Theexperiments were all conducted upon asoil bare of vegetation.

Prof. Sanborn concludes from hisexperiments thus far that the surfacegains moisture from soil beneath it bycapillary action, but gathers nothingfrom the air. This is made stronglyprobable, if not shown; first, becausethe soil is warmer by night than the air.

(He relies upon other facts than hisown for this assertion.) 2nd. Becausehe found more moisture in the soilwhen covered over night than when leftbare. 3d. Because when hoed, therebydisturbing capillary action, he foundless moisture than when unhoed, insurface soil. Finally, he concludes theposition proven, for, when he shut offthe upward flow of water to the surfaceof the soil, he found not only lessmoisture above the cut off or in thesurface soil than where no disturbanceof capillary action had been made, butactually less moisture in the surfacesoil than the night before. Stronglycorroborating this conclusion is thefact that all of the tests conspire to

show that the gain of moisture in thesurface of the soil by night is traceableto one source, and only one source.

AMERICAN ASH.—See Page 25.

The facts of this bulletin accord withthe previous ones in showing thatmulching and frequent shallow tillageeconomize the moisture of the soil andadd new proof of this to those alreadygiven.

Specialty in Farming.This subject in my estimation shouldbegin to attract attention, especiallyamong the large land owners andfarmers of the West. If we study thewhole catalogue of money-makingenterprises and money-making men,we find that the greatest success hasbeen attained where there has been thegreatest concentration on a special lineof work. True, it is, that specialists aresubject to unexpected changes of thetimes, and if thrown out of theiremployment are not well prepared forother work, and yet their chances for

success as compared with the "generalidea" man are as ten to one.

For an example look at science. Howhas it advanced? Is it not by theinvaluable aid of men who have giventheir whole lives to the solution ofsome special problem? It could not beotherwise. If every scientist hadattempted to master the majority ofscientific truths before he wascontented to concentrate his time onsome special branch of science, sciencewould have progressed little or none atall. Linnæus opened the way in botany,and the world profited by his blunders.But to be brief—it seems to me that themost successful farmer in the future isto be the man who can so arrange his

work that he is led into the deepestresearch on some one branch offarming. He must be a specialist. Hemust thoroughly master the raising offine stock for breeding purposes, forpractical profit and the shambles.Attend stock associations, and hearwitnesses testify on every hand to thedifficulties connected with properlyrearing calves for breeding purposes.

The honest breeder, though full ofideas, acknowledges he knows but verylittle on breeding. His time in farm life,for twenty years or more has beendevoted to too many things. Is not theexpert swine-grower the successfulman? Books are something, butpractical experience is something

more. It matters little howeverpractical the author of a work onagricultural science may be, unless theman who reads has some practicalexperience, his application of theauthor's truths will be a total failure.

We insist, therefore, that the successfulfarmer must be a specialist. He mustdevote his time to special more than togeneral farm work. You ask me tooutline in detail the idea thus advanced.You somewhat question itspracticability. To attempt it might leadto endless discussion, but let us reduceto example. Farmer A. raises cattle,hogs, and sheep for breeding purposes,devotes some attention to fine horses,and keeps thirty-six cows for dairy

purposes. Farmer B. devotes his entireattention to dairying and has investedin dairy cows as much money as A. hasin all his stock. Is it not evident thatthough each farmer began life the sameyear, the latter man will make the mostmoney, providing the section he is indemands dairy work? It seems to meso. And if we further place limit on thedairyman's work, we should say he cannot afford, with fifty or seventy-fivecows, to give as much attention to themanufacture of cheese and butter asthat work necessarily demands. Eventhough he employs a specialist increamery work, he himself must be aspecialist to some extent. We say toinvesting farmers do not put $500 into

horses, $500 into fine cattle, and $500into swine, but concentrate on one classof stock, and give that your time.

J.N. MUNCEY,

Asst. Ag. Expts. Ag. Col.,Ames, Iowa.

Public Squares inSmall Cities.

BY H.W.S. CLEVELAND.

A respectable looking, middle-agedgentleman called upon me not longsince and told me he was a resident ofan interior city of some eight or tenthousand inhabitants, and at a recentpublic meeting had been appointedchairman of a committee on theimprovement of a small park, which itwas thought might be made anattractive ornamental feature of the

town.

On further inquiry I learned that theproposed park was simply a publicsquare with a street on each of its foursides, on which fronted the principalpublic buildings, stores, etc. It was adead level, with no natural features ofany kind to suggest the manner of itsarrangement, but they thought it mightbe made to add to the beauty of thetown, and he had called to ask myadvice in regard to it.

As the arrangement of such areas hadoccupied my thoughts a good deal in ageneral way, it occurred to me that thiswas a good opportunity to ventilatesome opinions I had formed in regard

to prevalent errors in theirmanagement, and accordingly Iaddressed him substantially as follows:

"It is very rare that the people of anytown show a just appreciation of thevalue of such an area for ornamentaluse. Such a piece of ground as youdescribe in the very business center ofa town must of course possess greatpecuniary value, and the fact that it hasbeen voluntarily given up and devotedfor all time to purposes of recreationand ornament would lead us to expectthat they would at least exercise thesame shrewdness in securing theirmoney's worth, that they do in theirprivate transactions. They have giventhis valuable tract for the object of

ornamenting the town by relieving theartificial character of the buildings andstreets by the refreshing verdure oftrees and grass and shrubbery, and thatit may afford a place for rest andrecreation for tired wayfarers andlaborers, and nurses with their children,and a pleasant resort for rest andrefreshment when the labors of the dayare at an end.

"Its arrangement, therefore, should besuch as to set forth these objects soobviously that no one could look uponthe scene without perceiving it. Thetrees should be so arranged in groupsand in such varieties as would affordpicturesque effects when seen from theprincipal points of approach. The paths

and open areas should be so arrangedas to prevent the possibility of savingtime by a short cut across, and soprovided with seats under the shade ofthe trees as to invite to repose, insteadof this, in nine cases out of ten, thetrees (if any are planted) are simply setin rows at equal distances, without thefaintest attempt at picturesque effect,and the paths are carried diagonallyacross from corner to corner for theexpress purpose of affording anopportunity for a short-cut to every onewho is hastening to or from hisbusiness. The consequence is that atcertain hours the paths are filled by ahurrying throng whose presence wouldalone suffice to banish the effect of

repose which should be the ruling spiritof the place, while at all other times itis comparatively deserted.

"Perhaps these ideas might not besatisfactory to your people, and I havetherefore set them forth somewhat atlength in order that you mayunderstand what I conceive should bethe ruling principle of arrangement."

I perceived that my visitor wassomewhat disturbed and it was not tillhe had told me, in a kind of halfapologetic way, that he did not know"but what I was pretty nigh right," thathe finally informed me that the squarein question was already divided in themanner I described, by diagonal paths,

and moreover that the paths were linedon each side by rows of well-growntrees.

I could not help inquiring what furtherlaying out it required, and it then cameout that there had been no thought of are-arrangement of the componentelements of the park in order to give itan expression of grace or beauty, butthey had thought I might be able tomake it attractive by the introductionof rustic arbors and gateways, orperhaps a fountain or "something ofthat sort to give it a stylish look."

I gave him an advertising pamphletcontaining designs and prices of gardenornaments, and told him they could

select and order whatever they likedfrom the manufacturers,—but declinedto give any advice which shouldconnect my name with the work.

I have told this story as the readiestmeans of setting forth my ideas of thecapabilities of such public areas, andalso as an illustration of prevailingerrors in regard to landscape gardening,which most people seem to thinkconsists solely of extraneous, artificialdecoration, by means of which anypiece of ground can be made beautiful,however stiff and formal may be thearrangement of the trees, shrubbery,and lawns which give expression to itscharacter as truly as the features of ahuman face.

Such squares as I have described arethe most common and simple forms ofpublic parks, and they might andshould in all cases constitute not only achief ornament of the town, but a mostattractive place of resort for rest andrefreshment. Nothing beyond thematerials which nature furnishes isneeded for the purpose, but it isessential that these should begracefully dispersed, and that theyshould exhibit a luxuriant, healthygrowth.

Above all we should avoid theintroduction of artificial decorationswhich are intended to "look pretty." Ifarbors or rests are needed, let them beplaced at the points where they are

obviously required, and be made ofgraceful patterns; but do not putelaborate structures of rustic workwhere no one will ever use them, andwhere in a few years they will be onlydilapidated monuments of a futileeffort at display.

The Village Improvement Societieswhich are everywhere springing upshould devote their earliest efforts tothe tasteful arrangement and care ofthese public ornamental areas, whichshould form the nucleus and pattern ofthe graceful expression which shouldpervade the streets.

Farm Names.Since the call of THE PRAIRIE FARMER for"something new" I have been afraid tofollow any of the old beaten paths solong traveled by agricultural writers;and have been on the lookout for the"something new." Something that doesnot appear in our agricultural papers,yet of interest to the fraternity. Itmatters little how trifling the subjectmay be, if it begets an interest in farmor country life; anything that will makeour homes more attractive, morebeautiful, and leave a lastingimpression on the minds of the boys

and girls that now cluster around thefarmers' hearths throughout this vastcountry of ours.

There is a beautiful little song entitled,"What is Home Without a Mother?"which could be supplemented withanother of equal interest, to wit: "Whatis Home Without a Name?" I answer, adreary waste of field and fence, therebeing nothing in the mind of the absentone to remind him of his distant homebut a lone farm-house, a barn, longlines of fences, and perhaps a fewstunted apple trees; and when he thinksof it, his whole mind reverts to the hotharvest field, the sweat, the toil, andthe tiresomeness of working those bigfields! Nothing attractive, no pleasant

memory. Nothing to draw the mind ofthe youth to the roof that sheltered hischildhood. No wonder boys and girlsyearn for a change.

Then what are we to do to change thisfor the better. I say give your countryhomes a name, no matter how homelyor isolated that home may be. Giveeach one a name, and let those namesbe appropriate and musical, short,sweet, and easily remembered andpronounced, and then, when you go tovisit a neighbor, either on business orpleasure, instead of saying, I am goingto Jones', or to Brown's, or Smith's, letit be, I am going over to "The Cedars,"or, to "Hickory Grove," or, to "HollyHill." How much pleasanter it would

sound. There would be no mistakeabout your destination, there beingperhaps half a dozen Jones, Browns, orSmiths within five miles of your home,but only one "Hickory Hill." Then,when young folks make up theirsurprise parties during the long, cold,winter evenings, in place of notifyingeach other that they are going tosurprise the James', the Jones', or theJackson's, it would be, we are going tosurprise "Pleasant Valley" "Viewfield"or "Walnut Hill." Every member of thesurprise party would know the placeintended, and the squads andcompanies of sleighs with their closelypacked loads of laughing girls, andwell filled baskets of good things

would begin to marshal on the severalroads that lead towards the trystingplace; and when the merry-makersreach the well trimmed walnut grovefrom which the farm takes its name,and march up to the dwelling, insteadof shouting: Mrs. Brown, we greet you,or Uncle Brown, etc., it would be:"Walnut Hill" we greet you, whichwould include all the Browns, old andyoung.

One of the brightest spots in mymemory is the remembrance of "RoseValley" my childhood's happy home.Every pleasant occurrence of myboyhood clusters around that never-to-be forgotten name. It has acted like aguide, a land mark for me through my

life; and my great aim in life has beento make my own home just like dear"Rose Valley." To begin the work, Ihave set my own house in order; andthe following names given to the farmsunder my care will practically illustratemy plan.

FORMER OWNERS. FARMNAMES.

PRESENTTENANTS.

Thompson Place HickoryRidge A. Maddox

Home " ElmwoodMr.Houck'shome

Doutey " SouthElmwood

D.Q.RenfrueT.H.

Horroll " Gravel Hill Miller

Conran " CedarGrove A. Miller

Casebolt " Millbrook C. BlettnerHarness " Burnside A. Tunge

Heller " PleasantHill

J.H.Kempf

Lewis " Woodlawn W. Lewis

Oaks' " CastleRock Noah Neff

Held " The Glade W.Reubelman

Jackson " Beechwald G.Edwards

Bottom " Deerfield . . . . . . . . .. . .

Benna "TheMound R. Oliver

Williams " Blacklands W.Mitchel

McGee " Lone Tree TomMiller

Johnson " South Park OwenBush

New Land Cedar Cliff PeterHeller

" " CypressGrove

Geo.Surlett

Old Homestead MiddlePark

JohdMeintz

West of City West Park DaveMeintz

East of R. By. SpringPark

Jas.Ballinger

Manning Place LongviewAug.Klemme

Cox " MeadowHill

H.Stinehoff

Davis " Lilypond Chas.Davis

Renfroe " Beechfield I. Renfroe

Ruble " SycamoreSprings

Mrs. SarahMiller

Bair Clover Hill W. GunterEdmonson " Riverside J.H. Relley

New " CottonGrove

W.H.Henson

Garaghty " Wheatland J.H. Relley

Price " Roundpond W. Miller

Jordan " Parsonage Wm.Jackson

Bird " RichwoodMrs.Jackson

Laseley " Richland W. Lackey

New " Lakeside D.Edmunson

New " The Island Geo.Laseley

Sexton " Beech Hill J.H. IrvingMartin " Creekfield Joe Bair

Miss Co " CatalpaGrove Geo. Burns

Cramer " Hubbleside . . . . . . . . .. . .

Miller " SpringGrove

A. Miller

Brown " EastGravel Hill J.H. Miller

I give these as samples to guide mybrother farmers in selecting names fortheir homes. Every one of those farmscan be identified by some localpeculiarity, prominent and visible. Forinstance, Davis place is situated closeto a large pond covered with whitelilies. Standing on the doorsteps of theManning place you can view a ten-milestretch of the Mississippi river, whileMr. Relley's place is situated on thebanks of that great stream. Such namescan be multiplied to an indefinite

extent, and duplicated in each county.

If such names were generally in use, itwould greatly assist postmasters intheir difficult task of knowing whichSmith or Brown was intended.

Now brother farmers, I have moved theadoption of appropriate names forevery farm in the land; who will secondthe motion? Give your wives anddaughters a chance to name thehomestead, and my word for it, it willbe both musical and appropriate. Let usgive our children something pleasant tothink of after they have left the dearold home. To afix the name, paint it ona large board and nail it over your frontgate.

ALEX ROSS,

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO.

Diogenes in His Tub.Allow me, Messrs. Editors, to give younotes of what I see, and hear, and learn,and cogitate, and endeavor to inculcate,from my snug little home in my Tub—will you not?

Well—having your assent, I begin bywishing you all—editors,correspondents, typos, and "devils"—aHappy New Year, and your excellentpaper unlimited success in 1884, and along life thereafter. Next, permit me toadvert to the contents of some

RECENT NUMBERS.

First, to the pro and con of pasturingcorn-stalks. That is a subject, likemany others, on which much can besaid on both sides. Mr. Stahl (in No.50) quotes Prof. Sanborn as saying thata ton of corn fodder, "rightly cured andsaved," is worth two-thirds of a ton ofgood timothy hay. That may be true;but to be rightly cured and saved itmust be protected from the rains andsnows as the hay is; otherwise it will beas worthless as the corn left standing inthe field. Most people who have cuttheir corn and left it standing in theshock during the fall rains, know byexperience that large portions of it are

rendered useless. And if we deduct thewaste of corn by wet, and by rats andmice, and the waste of fodder, added tothe cost of cutting, it would seem that a"Subscriber" (in No. 52) has at least astrong side of the argument. But thesemen are both right, in a degree. In theEast in cases where the crop is notlarge, or in the West, and where theproducer has large barns or sheds inwhich to store his fodder, it haddoubtless best be cut and utilized inthat way. But where no such facilitiesexist and the crop is large, as usual inthe West, I can conceive of no betterway to utilize the product than to feedit where it grew.

HOW TO RAISE WHEAT.

Prof. Hamilton (see No. 52) has hit thenail squarely on the head in his essay. Idoubt if there has been a more valuablearticle on wheat-growing in the publicprints, for many a day. It gives a newview of the question, and in my opinionillustrates, at least in part, why it wasthat in the early days of wheat-growingthroughout the prairie States, the cropswere so much better than now. Wheatwas then sown for the most part onnewly broken prairie sod, and itscharacter was such that the grain couldnot be deeply covered, nor could theground be heaved so much as in latersowings, when it has been mellowed by

deeper culture. Prof. Hamilton's essayought to be read by every wheat-growerin the country. Other valuable articlesin No. 52 are those of J.H., on Corn,Prof. Hall's lecture on Schools, andmany others—not omitting what thetwo talented ladies say about hens andbees.

COUNTS AND BARONS INAMERICA.

Some alarm has been manifested incertain quarters, and Congress beeninquired of, concerning the fact thatdivers European noblemen have beenpurchasing large bodies of lands in ourpublic domain. There are no laws, I

believe, to prevent foreign noblemenfrom acquiring lands in large or smallquantities in our Territories; but it isclearly contrary to public policy topermit these, or our own capitalists orsyndicates to do this thing. The publiclands should be held for actual settlers,and for them alone; and it is to behoped that Congress will so amend thelaws as to prevent English or Europeanlords, or American lords, fromacquiring large bodies of land. TheGovernment has been generous—toogenerous—to the railroads in the gift oflands; and that policy ought now tocease, and the roads required to fulfiltheir side of the contract to the letter.

MONOPOLY—AGRARIANISM.

In connection with the above, it will doto say, that as monopolies increase andgain strength, agrarianism also isextending. Legislation should be soshaped as to check the one, and give nocause for the other. Good governmentand strict regard for the rights andinterests of the masses, are the surestmeans of checking agrarian andnihilistic tendencies. Had the Frenchmonarchy and governing classes beenjust, the revolution would have beenimpossible.

TO CONCLUDE.

It does seem to me that yourmagnificent offer of your StandardTime or Commercial Map—worth $2itself—in connection with THE PRAIRIE

FARMER, all for $2, ought to bring youhosts of subscribers, and that it does isthe hope of

DIOGENES.

Field and Furrow.THE best temperature to preserveapples, potatoes, turnips, or any otherroots or fruits stored in the cellar, isjust above the freezing point.

STIFF, hard clays intended for tillage inthe spring ought, by all means, to bebroken up in the fall. A light, sandysoil should, on the contrary, be sufferedto remain unbroken.

A WHOLESALE drug house in Indianapolis,tells the editor of the Drainage Journalthat tile drainage has reduced the saleof quinine and other fever and ague

medicines nearly sixty per cent.

THE American Cultivator says that ifbarley has not germinated the fact ofits having been slightly stained by wetis no actual detriment whatsoever; thegrain is not really injured and ought tobring to the farmer just as much as thebright samples of equal plumpness.

DR. E. LEWIS STURTEVANT, reporting inBulletin LXXII. of the StateExperiment Station his hybridizingtests during the past season with 135different kinds of corn, incidentallymentions that "the red ears have aconstancy of color which is trulyremarkable; where sweet corn appearsupon red pop and red dent ears the

sweet corn partakes of the red color."

AN esteemed exchange suggests, iffarmers would go to the barn on a wetday and spend their time in making aneaves-trough for the barn or stable, andthereby carry away the drip whichwould otherwise fall on the manurepile, causing a waste of the elements ofplant food contained therein, they willmake more money that day than theycould any fine day in the field.

AMERICAN CULTIVATOR: In winter, whilethe ground is covered with snow andthe soil is frozen deeply, it issometimes curious to note the effect ofopenings leading down to deepunderdrains. The snow will be melted

away by the warm air coming up fromthe unfrozen earth. Even in anuncovered drain three feet deep, a littlestraw or loose earth will generallyprotect the bottom from severefreezing.

CINCINNATI GAZETTE: There are so manyexcellencies about the cow pea, and itis good for so many uses, that weadvise our Ohio, Indiana, and Kentuckyfarmers to be sure and cultivate it thisyear. Next spring, when all danger offrost is over, sow, plant, or drill moreor less of these valuable peas, and, inthe language of the elder Weller,"you'll be glad on it arterwards," and sowill your live stock.

NEW ENGLAND HOMESTEAD: Nearly levelculture, hand-hoeing and slightlyhilling but once, and keeping thecultivator running, was recommendedat the Waterbury meeting as the bestculture for potatoes. It was said that thesecond hilling induced a second growthof roots higher up on the plant whichproduced small tubers. If this is notdone the additional growth will makelarge potatoes.

CINCINNATI GAZETTE: During sundryrecent visits to Tennessee, we noticedthat a considerable share of theimmigrants arriving were fromMichigan. They are mostly of thesecond generation from the settlersfrom the East in that State—men in the

prime of life, who are seeking cheaplands in a genial climate, where thepastoral, dairy, and fruit-raisingpursuits to which they are accustomedmay be pursued with perfect success.Michigan farmers are usuallyintelligent, practical workers, whounderstand their profession and like it.They, and such as they, appreciate theadvantages they will enter upon in theirnew homes at the South.

NEW ENGLAND FARMER: Prof. Goessmann,as Director of the State ExperimentStation, has been analyzing a sample ofrye hay, sent to the Station bySecretary Russell of the State Board ofAgriculture. The sample was not cuttill in full bloom, but Prof. Goessmann

finds it compares well in nutritivevalue with a medium good quality ofmeadow hay. This agrees with our ownestimate of well cured rye hay, judgedby its effect in practical feeding tostock. Animals usually have to learn toeat it heartily, as they do many otherkinds of coarse fodder which areinferior to the best hay. Rye should becut before it comes in full bloom, toobtain the greatest feeding value fromthe fodder. It is then liked better, and alarger per cent will be digested.

REPUBLICAN, Manhattan, Kan.: Intraveling through a considerableportion of the country this week, wenoticed that the wheat lookedexceedingly promising. The contrast

between the green fields and the drygrass and naked trees was cheering tobehold. Cattle are in good condition;most of the farmers are provided withsheds or shelter of some sort to protectthe animals, but we saw some smallbunches of young cattle standing inunprotected enclosures shivering fromthe north wind; it is cruel to take themthrough the winter without so much asa wind break to turn off the scorchingblasts. Surely every farmer can affordto build a wind break, at least a pile ofbrush and old hay, around the stockyards. The cost would be more thanmade up in the saving of feed.

THEY are growing some pretty heavycrops of wheat in New Hampshire. The

Lebanon Free Press reports that HarlanFlint, of Hanover, raised this yeareighty bushels of wheat on five acres ofground, and Uel Spencer, of the sametown, 206 bushels from four and a halfacres, while the town farm cropaveraged forty-three bushels per acre.That raised by Mr. Flint was winterwheat, and Spencer's White Russian. AMeredith correspondent of the LaconiaDemocrat says that eight farmsadjoining each other, in that town, haveproduced this year 524 bushels ofwheat. Reports from all sections of theState show that a great yield of wheathas been secured wherever the crop hasbeen sown. Perhaps by the time theprairie skinners of the Northwest have

spread over all the wheat bearing landthis side of the Rocky Mountains, theymay begin the New England States andtravel the continent over again.

CORRESPONDENT Farm and Fireside:There is nothing so much needed aboutmany houses as good walks in pathsthat must be used daily. There is hardlyan excuse for not having them wheneither brick, gravel, or timber can behad. A good walk through muddy yardscan be easily and cheaply made byplacing poles side by side, a shortdistance apart, and then filling theintervening space with gravel, or withbroken corn cobs, or with sawdust. Oakplanks will last many years, if turnedover occasionally, and this also

counteracts warping. One of the best ofwalks through a level barn-yard can bemade by cutting off short pieces fromlogs, a foot or more in diameter, andsetting them upon end in a shallowtrench. Such a walk from the barn tothe kitchen will always be clean, andthere will be less to disturb the temperof the women folks of the household, tosay nothing of the good effect upon themen folks who take pleasure inlightening the labor required to keepeverything neat and tidy within doors.

AGRICULTURALORGANIZATIONS.

[Officers and members of farmers'organizations of all kinds are invited tosend for publication in this departmentnotices of meetings, time of holdingfairs, and other pertinent information.We desire to make of it a weeklybulletin that shall be looked for withinterest by members of clubs, granges,fair associations, and agricultural andhorticultural societies.]

The Maine State Grange has elected thefollowing officers: Master, FrederickRobie, of Gorham; Overseer, H.E.Gregory, of Hampden; Lecturer, D.H.Thing, of Vernon.

At a meeting of the Wisconsin StateGrange resolutions were passedrequesting the Legislature to separatethe State Agricultural ExperimentFarm from the State University, and tolocate it in an agricultural district.

At the Vermont State Grange's annualmeeting at Brattleboro, December 13-14, 1883, 72 granges were represented.For the first time since the organizationof the grange its doors were opened tothe public, and the State Board ofAgriculture met with it. Worthy MasterFranklin's address revealed a healthycondition of the Order in Vermont.

The meeting of the Massachusetts StateGrange was an excellent one. MasterDraper was again re-elected. Thecommittees' reports and discussionsrevealed a hearty interest in andsympathy with the experimental station

and the agricultural college, but thepresent system by which the collegetrustees perpetuate themselves wassharply criticised, and a change in thelaw was recommended. It was also"Resolved, that as Patrons ofHusbandry, we recommend such achange in the law as will withhold theState bounty from all societies thatpermit liquor selling or gambling attheir annual fairs."

The annual meeting of the MichiganGrange last month was largelyattended. The Secretary's reportshowed the grange to be in good

condition. The committee on theagricultural college recommended theadmission of girls to that institution.Reports were adopted recommendingthe restoration of the duty on wool, sothat it shall equal that on manufacturedwoolen articles; urged that taxpayersbe required to make oath to theirassessments; recommended thecontinued fostering of the sorghumindustry; condemned the extortionatepractices of many millers in the State,urging co-operative mills if necessaryto remedy the same, and asks theappointment of a committee to draft abill similar to the Reagan bill toremedy some of the evils oftransportation.

Didn't No. 38 Die Hard!

New England Homestead: "Theeminent men"—George B. Loring,Daniel Needham, Charles L. Flint,Benjamin P. Ware, and George Noyes—composing the late Massachusettsgrange No. 38, couldn't appreciate whathad happened to them when the StateMaster's action in revoking the charterof their grange was sustained by theNational Grange tribunal. So BrotherWare hied him to Barre, last week, tobring the matter up before the StateGrange at its annual session. No doubtthe "eminent men" supposed that the

presence of the Hon. Mr. Ware wouldalone be sufficient to cause the StateGrange to tremble and humbly begpardon for their Master's action indisturbing the serenity of this mutualadmiration society. Alas, pride musthave a fall! Judge of the consternationof these "eminent men" when the StateGrange unanimously refusedadmittance to Brother Ware because hewas a suspended member! Now if thehonorable delegate from No. 38deceased had known when he was "seton," he would have silently packed hisgrip sack and returned to the secrecy ofthe obscure agricultural newspaperoffice at 45 Milk street, Boston, the"headquarters" of the corpse of No. 38.

But like all "eminent men" he made agrave mistake. At a subsequent sessionhe induced a friend to move that he begiven a hearing, but the grange againvoted against taking any further actionin the matter. This double rebuff waseffectual. With his hopes dashed to theground, the honorable suspendedbrother crept sadly away to the depot,and when last seen was trying to derivesome consolation from his flatteringpicture as it appeared in the Homesteadof December 15.

As our able contemporary, the MaineFarmer remarks, it was a triumph ofprinciple, proving that the grangerecognizes no aristocracy. Thus may itever be!

A Grange Temple.

At its last meeting the National Grangedetermined to enter upon the work oferecting, in Washington city, a buildingin which the records and archives ofthe Order may be preserved. It isproposed to raise the money needful toerect such a building in a way whichshall enlist the brotherhood at large,and yet not to be burdensome to eventhe least wealthy of the members. TheNational Grange asks each subordinategrange to solicit from every name onits roll a contribution of not less thanfifty cents. The money so collected is

to be kept separate from all otherfunds, and is to be used for no otherpurpose than the building of a GrangeHome in Washington. The treasurer ofthe National Grange is directed toprocure a book in which the names ofall contributors, and the sumscontributed, shall be properly entered.In due time a building-fund certificatewill be prepared, containing anengraving of the building, and suchother devices as may be agreed upon,and a copy of the same will be sent toevery individual who donates the sumof fifty cents or more.

CLUB RATES.

To Our Readers.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER is the Oldest,Most Reliable, and the LeadingAgricultural Journal of the GreatNorthwest, devoted exclusively to theinterests of the Farmer, Gardener,Florist, Stock Breeder, Dairyman, Etc.,and every species of Industryconnected with that great portion of thePeople of the World, the Producers.Now in the Forty-Second Year of itsexistence, and never, during more than

two score years, having missed theregular visit to its patrons, it willcontinue to maintain supremacy as aStandard Authority on matterspertaining to Agriculture andkindred Productive Industries, and asa Fresh and Readable Family andFireside Journal. It will from time totime add new features of interest,securing for each department the ablestwriters of practical experience.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER will discuss,without fear or favor, all topics ofinterest properly belonging to a Farmand Fireside Paper, treat of the mostapproved practices in Agriculture,Horticulture, Breeding, Etc.; thevaried Machinery, Implements, and

improvements in same, for use both inField and House; and, in fact,everything of interest to theAgricultural community, whether inField, Market, or Home Circle.

It will give information upon thepublic domain, Western soils,climate, etc.; answer Inquiries on allmanner of subjects which come withinits sphere; give each week, full andreliable Market, Crop, and WeatherReports; present the family withchoice and interesting literature;amuse and instruct the young folks:and, in a word, aim to be, in everyr e s p e c t , an indispensable andunexceptionable farm and firesidecompanion.

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Address

The Prairie Farmer PublishingCo.,

Chicago. Ill.

THE SHEPHERD'S MANUALA PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE

SHEEP.

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THE MODERN HORSEDOCTOR.

CONTAINING Practical Observationson the Causes Nature and Treatment ofDiseases and Lameness in Horses, byGEO. H. DADD, M.D. Will be sent uponreceipt of price, $1.50; or free to anysender of three subscribers to thispaper, at $2 each, by

PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHINGCO., Chicago.

MAPS.

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Agents wanted, to whom liberalinducements will be given. Address

RAND, McNALLY & CO.,Chicago, Ill.

By arrangements with the publishers ofthis Map we are enabled to make thefollowing liberal offer: To each personwho will remit us $2.25 we will sendcopy of THE PRAIRIE FARMER One Yearand THIS MAP POSTPAID. Address

PRAIRIE FARMERPUBLISHING CO.,

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Will be mailed FREE to allapplicants and to customers of last yearwithout ordering it. It containsillustrations, prices, descriptions and

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AGENTS make over ONE hundredper cent. profit selling the

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REMEMBER that $2.00 pays for THE

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FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED

STATES, FREE! This is the most liberaloffer ever made by any first-classweekly agricultural paper in thiscountry.

Hon. A.M. Garland is expected homefrom Australia about the first ofFebruary.

Col. J.W. Judy & Son, the popularthoroughbred cattle auctioneers ofTallula, Ill., last year sold 2,057 headof cattle for $500,620.

Ohio Jersey cattle-breeders will hold aconvention at Columbus, on the 15th.The Short-horn breeders of the Statewill meet at the same city on the same

day.

Mr. C. Huston, Blandinsville, Ill., hasgone to Scotland to purchaseClydesdale horses. He expects to begone about half the year, and will makeseveral shipments.

Wm. Yule, Esq., the well-known Short-horn breeder, of Somers, Kenoshacounty, Wisconsin, names, through THE

PRAIRIE FARMER, March 19th prox., forhis public sale for 1884.

At the annual meeting of the AmericanGuernsey Cattle Club, held at the FifthAvenue Hotel, New York, December20th, Dr. J. Nelson Borland, NewLondon, Conn., was re-electedPresident; Edward Norton was chosenSecretary and Treasurer.

Three new cases of pleuro-pneumoniawere recently discovered near WestChester, Penn. Thus far the disease hasbeen confined to three dairy herds. Allinfected animals are promptlyappraised, condemned, killed and paid

for by the State. The disease wasintroduced there by cows purchased atBaltimore.

The twenty-ninth volume of the newseries of Coates' Short-horn Herd-Bookhas just been published by the EnglishShort-horn Society. It contains thepedigrees of bulls ranging from(47311) to (48978). The larger half ofthe volume is devoted to the entry ofcows with their produce. Each breeder'sentries of females are recordedtogether under his own name. HerMajesty the Queen heads the list,followed by the Prince of Wales.

The offices of the American Short-hornBreeders' Association in Chicago werebadly damaged by fire on Sunday,December 30. Some 1,500 pedigreeswere destroyed and many otherspartially destroyed. Pedigrees receivedprevious to December 20th, weresaved. It will take time and work torestore these pedigrees and the lossmust cause some delay in the work ofthe office. It will be remembered thatthe records of the association had anarrow escape at the time the EveningJournal office burned.

The following are the officers of theNational Chester-White Swine RecordCo. for 1883: Hon. Jack Hardin,Pleasureville, Ky., President; H.W.Tonkins, Fenton, Mo., Vice-President;W.B. Wilson, Eminence, Ky.,Treasurer; E.R. Moody, Eminence, K.,Secretary. The capital stock of thecompany is $5,000, in shares of $10each. Fees are charged as follows:Book of 100 blank pedigrees, with stubfor private record and instructions forfilling, $1; for entry in Record, eachpedigree, $1; stockholders, 75 cents;Record will be furnished at cost ofpublication.

At the late meeting of the AmericanMerino Sheep Register Association atBurlington, Wis., the following officerswere chosen: President, C.S. Miller,Caldwell, Wis.; First Vice-President,Daniel Kelly, Wheaton, Ill.; SecondVice-President, F.C. Gault, EastHubbardton, Vt.; Secretary, A.H. Craig,Caldwell, Wis.; Treasurer, GeorgeAndrews, Mukwonago, Wis.; Directors,C.A. Dingman, Troy Center, Wis.; G.B.Rhead, Norvell, Mich.; George Peck,Geneva, Ill.; E. Campbell, Pittsfield,Ohio; S.D. Short, Honeoye, N.Y.; JohnS. Goe, Brownsville. Pa.; F.C. Gault,East Hubbardton, Vt.; E.F. Gilman,Farmington, Me.; Ward Kennedy,Butler, Ind.; A. Wilson, Richfield,

Minn.; Fayette Holmes, Russell, Kan.;H.J. Chamberlain, Davilla, Tex.Registering committee, T.W. Gault,Waterford, Wis.; C.A. Dingman, TroyCenter, Wis.; Perry Craig, Caldwell,Wis.

Here is an excellent prize winningrecord: S.H. Todd, of Wakeman, Ohio,won on Chester-Whites and Poland-Chinas in 1883 as follows: At the Tri-State Fair, at Toledo, O., sweepstakesfor best herd of Poland-Chinas, and thesame on Chester-Whites. At theMichigan State Fair he tooksweepstakes on Chester-White boar; at

the Illinois State Fair, sweepstakes, forbest Poland-China sow; do. forChester-White sow, and the grandsweepstakes of $50 for the best herd onthe ground regardless of breed. He alsowon in breeders' ring the prize for bestherd of Chesters, and the prize for bestboar with five of his get; also first andsecond prizes for sow with five of herpigs. Besides these notable premiumsMr. Todd's stock won for him nearly100 class prizes at various leadingfairs.

Swine Statistics.One of the Chicago dailies recentlymade the point that this city should bethe center of the swine and porkstatistics of the country on the groundthat here is the center of trade in theseproducts. The point is a good one.Some years ago the bulk of the hogs ofthe West was marketed at Cincinnati.At that time the Price Current ofCincinnati with commendableenterprize established itself as anauthority in swine and pork statistics,and it has held the position from thatday to this, despite the fact that

Chicago has for several years receivedand packed several times as many hogsannually as has the original porkopolis.And this year, as usual, the Chicagopress is dependent upon Cincinnati forpacking statistics throughout theextensive swine-growing regions of thecountry. Of course it makes no realdifference to merchants or producerswhere the figures emanate from so thatthey are comprehensive and reliable. Itis only a bit of local pride that suggeststhe idea that here should the records bekept and the statistics compiled. Ifthere is not sufficient enterprize here tocapture the business, there is no groundfor complaint. We should not havealluded to the matter, probably, but for

the fact that the Cincinnati PriceCurrent, with its hog-packing statistics,for the season of 1883 has just broughtit to notice. Here the figures arecompared with those of last year:

Cities. 1883-84. 1882-83.Chicago, packed 1,405,000 1,500,000Kansas City 254,059 233,336Cincinnati 301,000 300,000St. Louis 200,000 207,000Indianapolis 181,700 183,000Milwaukee 185,000 197,000Louisville, Ky. 142,000 118,000Cedar Rapids,Iowa 91,618 86,965

Cleveland, O. 62,280 42,352

Keokuk, Iowa 28,601 31,411

Iowa Stock Breeders.The Iowa State Improved StockBreeders' Association had a goodattendance at its annual meeting atAmes, last month.

SHEEP.

Hon. J. Kennedy read a paper on thesubject "Will Sheep Breeding Pay."Viewed from a financial point of view,he thought there had been no betterfinancial results from any commoditythan from the sheep—the wool andmutton—when given proper care and

attention. Speculators and traffickers inwool and woolen goods were failing allover the country, but he attributed thisto want of fitness for the business inwhich they were engaged. Though thepresent depression in the wool marketwas somewhat due to tariff tinkering,was more the result of over-production—greater supply than demand.

Mr. Grinnell said that at one time hewas the owner of a flock of 6,000sheep, but wool went down in price,and he did not think it profitable tokeep so large a flock, and sold out.

Col. Lucas believed the owner of 160acres of land could not do better than toput upon the tract at least 100 sheep.

Hon. E. Campbell had found thebusiness profitable where flocks werefairly dealt with. He thought Iowa oneof the best places in the world in whichto raise sheep. He believed that bothsheep and cattle could be profitablykept upon the same farm. His favoritecross is Cotswold and Merino. Theaverage weight of fleece in his ownflock was over six pounds.

SWINE.

Col. John Scott introduced the subjectof swine by reading a compilation ofhistorical facts regarding them. Hepresented drawings, showing thedifferent breeds and the improvements

made in them, in form and size.

Mr. Failor spoke of the Jersey-Reds ashis favorite breed for docility and otheressentials.

Prof. Knapp said the most profitablehogs are those with soundconstitutions, good muscular systems,of early maturity, and in general madeto resist diseases which prevail fromtime to time, all over the country.

Mr. Young said that when we want ananimal for the farm, we must first lookto soundness of constitution. Breed isnot of so much consequence. A breedshould not be run after merely becauseit is novel. He breeds Poland-Chinas. In

order to gain the most prolificbreeding, the sows of this breed shouldnot be allowed to get too fat beforedropping the first litter; simply keepthem in good condition.

C.R. Smith thought early breedinginjurious to the swine interests of thecountry.

H.W. Lathrop asserted that the forcingsystem of putting on meat had injuredthe constitutions of many of our breedsof hogs. In times past, when lesspampering was in vogue and hogs wereallowed wide range, there was lessdisease than now.

CATTLE.

Mr. Clarkson, of Des Moines, read apaper entitled "Plain and PracticalThoughts for Common Farmers." Ittreated of the breeding and care ofcattle.

Mr. Roberts said the more care there isbestowed upon cattle, the moreprofitable they are. He had bred upfrom a good Short-horn bull. Othermembers agreed upon the necessity ofimproving the grade of cattle. The bestdemand is always for the best stock.

Hon. J.B. Grinnell read his paper uponthe extent of the cattle interest and thenecessity of protecting our cattle fromcontagious diseases, in this connection,the following resolutions were passed:

Resolved, That we earnestly urgeupon Congress, in view of thefact, the cattle interest is one ofthe most important industries, thejustice and expediency of passinglaws providing for an effectualeradication of pleuro-pneumoniafrom the entire territory of theUnited States, and alsopreventing the introduction of allcontagious diseases in the future.This is the only authority towhich we can go for the powerfor this purpose, as Congress hasthe exclusive power to regulatecommerce with other nations, aswell as among the several States;and, as there is now no law in any

of the States to prevent any manwho has a herd infected with amalignant, contagious disease,from taking them anywhere hepleases to the herds of any of theStates; to prevent which, theremust be a law morecomprehensive in territorialpower and extent than any Statehas. Therefore, it is of the mostvital importance that theauthority to regulate inter-Statecommerce should promptly act toprotect our great cattle interestfrom total annihilation.

Resolved, That the Legislature ofIowa, as a police regulation,should put the power in some

hands, carefully and wiselyguarded from abuse and wastefulextravagance, to arrest byisolation and destruction, ifnecessary, any contagious diseasewhich may suddenly bedeveloped in any neighborhood.This, however, not to include anyof doubtful contagious character,such as hog cholera; and that werespectfully ask the Governor tocall the especial attention of theLegislature to this subject,though there is no pleuro-pneumonia in our State now, norhas there ever been any, but weneed laws to arrest it if anyshould be introduced.

Resolved, That nations, as well asindividuals, who ask justiceshould do justice, therefore, weinsist that our Governmentshould as carefully and vigilantlyseek to prevent the exportation ofcontagious cattle diseases as toprevent their importation. Thispolicy would create a feeling ofnational comity, and an effort toeradicate the scourge of nations(the cattle diseases).

WOLVES, DOGS, SHEEP.

The committee on resolutionssubmitted the following, which wasadopted:

WHEREAS, It has becomeimpossible to keep sheep insafety in many parts of this State,owing to the loss occasioned bythe ravage of wolves and dogs:therefore, be it

Resolved, That this associationpetition the State Legislature toincrease the bounty on wolvesand the tax on dogs.

Resolved, That the President ofthis association be requested toappoint a committee to draft abill embodying the sense of thismeeting in reference to a wolfand dog law.

BUSINESS.

The next meeting of the Associationwill be held at Ottumwa, commencingthe first Tuesday in December next.

Col. Scott is to prepare and publish theproceedings of this meeting. Theedition will be 5,000 copies.

The following are the officers for 1884:President, C.F. Clarkson; Vice-presidents, H.C. Wheeler, B.F. Elbert,R. Stockdale, H. Wallace, W.H. Jordan,E.W. Lucas, and P. Nichols; Secretaryand Treasurer, Fitch B. Stacy.

The Horse and HisTreatment.

NUMBER ONE.

History chronicles no improvement inthe horse made by the agency of man.The horses of the days of Pharaoh, orof Homer, have their superiors in nopart of the civilized world to-day. TheArabs have for ages been noted for theexcellence of their horses, but thatexcellence was not created, nor has itbeen increased by the arts of man.Since the time of Cromwell the horses

of England have steadily degenerated.Those most conversant with the mattersay that this degeneracy has been themost marked and rapid during the lastfifty years. The horses of this countrylack the value of their ancestors of theRevolutionary period. Nowhere, or atno time, can man boast of improvingthe horse by the arts of breeding. Whatis the reason of this?

The horse, the ox, the hog, and thesheep comprise the four great classesof domesticated farm animals. Incertain directions man has improvedthese three last. These improvementshave made them more valuable. The oxhas been bred to make more flesh fromthe same amount of food, and to lay on

fat at an earlier age; the cow has beenbred to give instead of a supply of milkbarely large enough to sustain heryoung, a bountiful yield, and of a richerquality; the hog has been bred into averitable machine to convert food intopork; the sheep has been bred to yieldmore wool, and of a finer texture, andto make more mutton. All thesechanges have been beneficial becausethe value of the animal lay in itsproduction of beef, milk, pork, wool, ormutton, as the case might be. It is truethat these changes have beenaccomplished at the expense of vigorand endurance. These two qualities areimportant in the hog, ox, or sheep, butthose that have been developed so far

overshadow their lessening that on thewhole we can say that the arts of manhave improved our kine, swine, andsheep.

But it is not so with the horse. Its valuedoes not depend upon the quantity andquality of its flesh, milk, or bodilycovering. Unlike the others its valuedepends upon the work it can do. Hencevigor and endurance are the primeessentials of a good horse. But as manhas lessened the vigor and endurance ofthe hog, ox, and sheep, so he has of thehorse. This is the invariable result ofhuman art. Whenever man tamperswith the work of nature he is certain tolessen bodily vigor. It could not beotherwise. For the course of nature,

undisturbed and undeflected, is alwaystowards the greatest health. Manchanges the course of nature and theresult is lessened vigor and endurance.

Man has improved some qualities ofthe horse. He has increased its speed,perhaps, but only for short distances.Our race horses of to-day would makea sorry record with those of days nolonger past than those of the "ponyexpress," to say nothing of the couriersof centuries ago, because they havebeen made to deteriorate in vigor andendurance. We have ponderous, heavyhorses to-day; but they can not do asmuch work before the plow or dray asthose of the eighteenth century. We cannot point anywhere to horses produced

by breeding that are the equals of thehorses of the days of chivalry. Theylack not only in vigor and hardihood,but in intelligence. As the perfectsymmetry of development by thecourse of nature has been destroyed byman the intelligence of the animallessened. Whenever the hand of manhas touched his equine friend it hasbeen only to mar.

This decrease in the excellence of thehorse can not be shifted from man totime. One instance alone demonstratesthe unfairness of this. The Andalusiansare now mere ponies, yet they are thedescendants of those noble beastsridden to victory by the Spanishchivalry in the days when the valor of

the horse was as important as the valorof the knightly rider. Taken from theirhills and valleys to serve in the hauntsof men, and to be subjected to the artsof breeding, they have sadlydegenerated. But the horses of theSpanish explorers of both North andSouth America escaped, and to-day thedescendants of these same Spanishhorses are, under the nurture of natureand nature's ways, the superb wildhorses of the new world. They are thework of nature; the Andalusian poniesare the work of man's art.

As this degeneracy is the necessary co-existent of man's breeding, so far as itis produced by this cause it can not beescaped. But a good part of the evil is

not the necessary sequence of breedingper se. It is also attributable to errors intreatment so palpable and easy ofcorrection that it behooves us to noteand avoid them. In my next I shallbriefly mention a few of the mostimportant of these.

BREEDER AND SPORTSMAN: The old story ofthe countryman and his deceptive plugwas recently repeated in Jersey, wherepeople are supposed to have their eye-teeth cut. It was an old gray pacer thistime, attached to a dilapidated wagonby cords and odd ends of harness. Theastute hotel proprietor refused to give

$20 for the outfit. Owner then repliedthat he would pace the horse over agood track in three minutes. Landlordbets $100 to $50 that he can't do it.Money was then put up, and ownerwanted to draw, as the track was a goodway off, and he could not spare thetime to attend to the matter. Landlordinsisted that the horse must pace or payforfeit. A sulky and harness wereborrowed, and judge placed in thestand, according to Hoyle. Ownerclaims the right to three trials,according to National Associationrules. Point conceded. Old crowbait isscored up and given the word. Worksoff the mile very slick in 2:43.Landlord feels small, and $100 goes

into owner's pocket. Another greenhornbets $100 that horse can't beat 2:43.Rips off another mile 2:42, and ownerpockets the money. Landlord feelsbetter; owner better yet. Latest advices:same old side-wheeler won two orthree hundred same way at Flemington,some more at Paterson, and has had alittle pacing circuit all to himself."What fools these mortals be!"

The following by Richard White in theNew York Sun, might very properlyhave been dedicated to those trichinæ-frightened twins, Bismarck and PaulBert.

Sing, heavenly muse, the noblequadruped,

Whom Orientals oftpresume to scorn,

Who glorifies the food that heis fed,

Extracting carbon fromconvenient corn.

Peaceful his life, his deathalmost sublime,

His end a grand effect ofmodern art;

Scarce has he bid a sharp adieuto time,

When he is packed andready for the mart.

He goes abroad, our land torepresent;

The earth, from pole totropic, is his range;

He fills the bill for use andornament,

Greases the world, andregulatesexchange.

Though ministers abroad maylightly treat

The rights that onlyappertain to men,

They must protect our Westerncorn-fed meat,

Defending our four-footedcitizen.

If Bismarck bars our barrels,tubs, or cans,

Forcing our pork to makeits way incog,

Upset his schemes, andoverthrow his plans,

And clear a pathway forthe native hog.

Dr. Detmers, V.S., stationed at theUnion Stock Yards at Chicago, by theDepartment of Agriculture for thepurpose of inspecting swine, allegesthat during the last four months he hasexamined at one packing-house not lessthan four thousand hogs and has seen at

least ten times that number, but has notseen the slightest trace of disease, as hecertainly should if any had existed.During the last two years but very littleswine plague has prevailed anywhere,and, as far as he knows, no diseasedhogs have been shipped; nearly if notall the small rendering tanks havingbeen closed.

M. Pasteur, the eminent Frenchscientist, says epizootic hog-cholera,even of the most virulent type, can beprevented by inocculation with theattenuated virulent virus. He also saysit is proven that the period of immunity

is more than a year; that, consequently,this is long enough for therequirements of hog-raising, since theperiod of fattening does not generallyexceed a year. Yet, in spite of thesehappy results, I repeat that the questionof the use of vaccination for differentbreeds needs new investigation, so thatthe vaccination of swine may be madegeneral.

Dairymen, Write for Your Paper.

Winter Feed for Cows.The increasing demand for milk in ourcities and villages, and for gilt-edgedbutter during the winter season, isleading some of our most intelligentfarmers to study more carefully theproblem of winter dairying. "It costsmore to make butter in winter than insummer," says the AmericanAgriculturalist, "but if a select class ofcustomers in cities or elsewhere, arewilling to pay for the increased cost ofproducing it fresh in zero weather, thenthere is no good reason why theyshould not be gratified. Its feasibility is

already established on a small scale,and there seems to be no discerniblelimit to the demand for a first-classarticle during the six months when thepastures are barren. The farmer whohas the capital can readily provide abarn that will make his cows nearly ascomfortable and healthy in winter as insummer, and shelter all the food theyneed to keep up a constant flow of richmilk. We have not attained, perhaps,all the information necessary to securethe best rations for winter milking, yetwe are approximating toward thatknowledge. Some think they havefound in ensilage the one thing needful.Yet, some of the parties dealing in gilt-edge butter begin to complain of that

made from rations consisting largely ofensilage. We shall probably have to putdown early cut hay with the flavor ofJune grass in it as an essential part ofthe winter rations for first-class butter.We doubt if the bouquet of the Junemade article can be found elsewhere.Another ration will be Indian meal, ourgreat national cereal, which is abundantand cheap and likely to continue so.Then we want green, succulent foodwith the dry fodder to sharpen theappetite and help the digestion. Thissuggests roots as another ration. Wehave carrots, mangolds and sugarbeets; all easily raised, and cheaplystored in barn cellars or pits. And fromour own experience in using them

during several winters in connectionwith dry feed, we judge them to be asafe ration in butter-making. Cabbagealso is available, and in districtsremote from large markets, might begrown for this purpose. Near cities it isprobably worth more for human foodthan for fodder. The whole subject isyet in the tentative state, and all arelooking for further light!"

ChurningTemperature.

A correspondent of the New EnglandHomestead found difficulty in makingthe butter "come" from cream raised inthe Cooley Creamer. In a later issueseveral correspondents tried to help herthrough the difficulty. One said:

First of all be sure your cream is readyto come before you churn it. If youhave no floating thermometer, pleaseget one right away. Deep set creamneeds not only to be ripened, but thetemperature must be right—not less

than 62 degrees, and 65 degrees isbetter. Don't guess at it, but be sure.Mix each skimming with the othersthoroughly, and keep the cream pail ina warm place at all times.

Another said: Keep the cream at 60degrees to 65 degrees all the timebefore it goes into the churn. Take careto thoroughly mix the differentskimmings. Sometimes in cold weatherthe butter will nearly come, and thenhold on without any advance. In suchcases, put into a thirty-quart churning,half a cupful of salt and four quarts ofwater heated to 55 degrees; it will cutthe butter from the buttermilk in fiveminutes. My butter sells for fifty centsa pound and this is the way I manage.

Another: Sour your cream beforechurning and have it as near 62 degreesas you can, and you will have notrouble. The first fall we had theCooley we had one churning that wouldnot come into butter. I found it wasperfectly sweet. Since then I have beenparticular to have it ripe and have hadno trouble.

Seas of Milk.A newspaper correspondent contributesthe following which is of course madeup of a mixture of facts and guesses.But as it is somewhere near the truth,as a general thing, we do as all the restof the papers are doing, print it.

"There are nearly $2,000,250,000invested in the dairying business in thiscountry," said an officer of the ErieMilk Producers' Association yesterday."That amount is almost double themoney invested in banking andcommercial industries, it is estimated

that it requires 15,000,000 cows tosupply the demand for milk and itsproducts in the United States. To feedthese cows 60,000,000 acres of land areunder cultivation. The agricultural anddairy machinery and implements in useare worth over $200,000,000. The menemployed in the business number700,000 and the horses nearly1,000,000. The cows and horsesconsume annually 30,000,000 tons ofhay, nearly 90,000,000 bushels of cornmeal, about the same amount of oat-meal, 275,000,000 bushels of oats,2,000,000 bushels of bran, and30,000,000 bushels of corn, to saynothing of the brewery grains andquestionable feed of various kinds that

is used to a great extent. It costs$400,000,000 to feed these cows andhorses. The average price paid to thelaborers necessary in the dairy businessis probably $20 a month, amounting to$168,000,000 a year.

"The average cow yields about 450gallons of milk a year, giving a totalproduct of 6,750,000,000 gallons.Twelve cents a gallon is a fair price toestimate the value of this milk at, atotal return to the dairy farmer of$810,000,000. Fifty per cent of themilk is made into cheese and butter. Ittakes twenty-seven pounds of milk tomake one pound of butter, and aboutten pounds of milk to make one poundof cheese. There is the same amount of

nutrition in three and one half poundsof milk that there is in one pound ofbeef. A fat steer furnishes fifty per centof boneless beef, but it would requireabout 24,000,000 steers, weighing1,500 pounds each, to produce the sameamount of nutrition as the annual milkproduct does."

About Soundness.It may be supposed that the hackneyedterm "sound" is so explicit as to needno comment,—and most peopleconceive it to be so; but the term"sound" really admits of as muchcontrariety of opinion as the word"tipsy;" one man considers another soif, at ten at night, he is not precisely ascool and collected as he was at one inthe day. Another one calls a man sowhen he lies on the floor and holdshimself on by the carpet. So,—as tosoundness, some persons can not seethat a horse is unsound, unless he

works his flanks like the drone of abagpipe, or blows and roars like ablacksmith's bellows; while some areso fastidious as to consider a horse asnext to valueless because he may havea corn that he never feels, or a thrushfor which he is not, nor likely to be,one dollar the worse.

So far as relates to such hypercriticaldeciders on soundness, we will ventureto say that, if they brought us twentyreported horses in succession, wewould find something in all of thoseproduced that would induce suchpersons to reject them, though,perhaps, not one among the lot hadanything about him of materialconsequence. To say the least, we will

venture to assert that nine-tenths of thehorses now in daily use are more orless unsound. We make no reservationas to the description of horse, hisoccupation, or what he may be worth.We scarcely ever had, indeed scarcelyever knew, a horse that had been used,and tried sufficiently to prove him agood one, that was in every particularunequivocally sound. We have nodoubt that there are thousands ofowners of horses who will at once saywe are wrong in this assertion, andwould be ready to produce their ownhorses as undeniable proofs, wherebyto back their opinion and refute ours.They may, perhaps, say that theirhorses are never lame—perhaps not;

that is, not lame in their estimation orto their eye; but we daily see horsesthat go to a certain degree indubitablylame, while their owners conceivethem to be as indubitably sound. Thesehorses, perhaps, all do their workperfectly well, are held as sound byowners, servants, acquaintances, andcasual observers; but a practical eyewould detect an inequality in theirgoing, as a watchmaker would do thesame in the movement of a watch,though we might look for a week, orlisten for the same length of time,without being able to either see or hearthe variation. The watch might,however, on the average keep fair time;but it would not be a perfect one; and

what matters, if it answers all thepurposes for which we want it? Areally bad watch that can not keep timeis a different affair;—it is pretty muchthe same with a horse. If theunsoundness is such as to render himunable to do his work, or even to do itunpleasantly to himself or owner, or ifit is likely to bring him to this, ouradvice is to have nothing to do withhim. If, however, this is not the case, orlikely to be so,—if you like him—buyhim.

It is not improbable that a man maysay, I begin to believe that few horsesthat have done work are quite sound;but a sound one I will have; I will,therefore, buy a four-year old, that has

never done a day's work. We willacknowledge that if he does so, he mayprobably get his desideratum; but donot let him make too sure of this. Thereare such things as four-year olds,unsound, as well as worked. But,supposing him to have got this soundanimal; what has he got? An animalthat he has to run the risk of makinguseful, so far as teaching him hisbusiness goes; and by the time this iseffectually done, and the colt hasarrived at a serviceable age, he willprobably be quite as unsound as manyof those he has rejected; independent ofwhich, and supposing him to continuesound, the breeder of this horse musthave better luck or better judgment in

breeding than his neighbors, if morethan one in five or six that he doesbreed turn out desirable horses in everyrespect. If he turns out but a middlingsort of beast, it is but small satisfactionto know that he is sound; in fact, solittle satisfaction should we feel, that,if we were compelled to keep and usehim, so far from rejoicing that he wassound, we should only regret that hewas not dead.

In relations to the doings of dealers inhorses, it is not our present object toexpose the tricks of the trade, or toprejudice the unsophisticated buyeragainst all horse dealers. There arehonest horse dealers, and there aredishonest ones; and we are sorry to say

that, in numbers, the latterpredominate; that honesty in horsedealing is not proverbial. But horsedealers, like other mortals, are apt toerr in judgment; and all their actsshould not be set down as willfulwrong-doings. However, be their actswhat they may, the general verdict isagainst their motives. Therefore,supposing we could bring any person ornumber of persons to believe the factthat a man conversant with horsesmight sell, as a sound horse, one thatmight, on proper inspection, bereturned as unsound, all that we couldsay or write, would never convince themajority of persons that a dealer couldinnocently do the same thing. If his

judgment errs, and leads him into erroras to the soundness of his horse, it isset down, not as willful or corruptperjury as to oath, but mostundoubtedly as to his word andhonesty.

Questions Answered.GLANDERS, CHRONIC CATARRH, AND "HORSE

DISTEMPER."—H.P.W., Peotone, Ill.—QUERY—What are the symptomswhereby a person may know thedifference between glanders, catarrh,and ordinary horse distemper?

REPLY—Among the prominentsymptoms of glanders may bementioned a discharge of purulentmatter from one or both nostrils; one orboth glands on the inside of the lowerjaw bones are more or less swollen,hard and knotty. One or both nostrils

are sometimes swollen and glued up bya sticky, unhealthy looking pus,sometimes streaked with blood. Onopening the nostrils, pustules andulcers are seen on the inner surface.The nose may sometimes bleed. Theeyes are often prominent and watery;the coat rough and staring if the horseis in lean condition; and the voice moreor less hoarse. The appetite is not oftenimpaired. Sooner or later, farcy budsmay appear on the head, neck, body orlimbs, generally along the inner side ofthe thighs. In chronic nasal catarrh orso-called gleet, the glands between thejaw bones are very slightly, if at all,enlarged; they are loose, not hard andknotty, as in glanders. This ailment,

which is apt to persist for months,unless properly treated, may leave ananimal in an unthrifty state, with astaring coat, disturbed appetite,dullness at work, cough and dischargefrom one or both nostrils; but there areno pustules or ragged sores or ulcerswithin the nose, as in glanders. Chronicnasal gleet, however, is apt to run intoglanders; and, as there is no tellingwhen the beginning is, such a horse,with chronic discharge from the nose,should always be looked upon withsuspicion, and be kept away from otherhorses. The difference betweenglanders and influenza or ordinaryhorse distemper, is so marked that amistake is not easily made. The more

prominent symptoms of distemper areas follows: With signs more or lessprominent of a general febrilecondition, there is great dullness anddebility, frequent and weak pulse,scanty discharge of high-colored urine,costiveness, loss of appetite, and ayellow appearance of the membranesof the mouth and the eyes. The eyesappear more or less sunken, upper liddrooping and lips hanging, giving theanimal a sleepy look; there is cough,soreness of the throat, and laboredbreathing; the mouth is filled withfrothy slime, the legs are cold andsometimes more or less swollen belowthe knees and hocks. In the advancedstages of distemper, there is a free

discharge from both nostrils.

BRITTLE HOOFS.—I.F.C., Camden, Ill. Ifthe animal is shod, the shoes should beremoved and reset at least once amonth, to allow the feet to be properlypared and trimmed. If habituallybrittle, it will be proper to keep suchfeet off from much moisture, andinstead provide dry floor of whateverkind. Once or twice a week such feetshould be given an ample coat of somesimple hoof ointment, such as equalparts of tar, tallow and beeswax,carefully melted together, and stirredtill cold.

LUNG DISEASE IN SWINE.—A.J.T., Emery,Ill. Most internal diseases of swine,

especially inflammation of the lungs,which is often given the wrong name ofthumps, are very intractable and apt toprove fatal when occurring during thewinter months. Prevention is the sheetanchor for these troubles, and it mustbe a poor farmer indeed who can notmanage to provide clean, comfortableand dry housing for his live stockduring this season, or who can notcomprehend that such is necessary forthe well-doing of animals as well as ofhimself. Any animal, even a hog, willof course suffer more, or less severelywhen constantly exposed to chillywinds, draft of cold air, wet ground anddamp surroundings, icy or frozen drinkor food, etc.

BLINDNESS AFTER LOCKJAW.—M.J.G., LosAngeles, Cal. Let the animal go loosein a comfortable, roomy, well-beddedshed, from which strong light isexcluded. Apply, once daily, to thehollow space above the orbit of theeyes, a small portion of fluid extract ofbelladonna. Give food which does notrequire much hard chewing.

REMEMBER that $2.00 pays for THE

PRAIRIE FARMER from this date toJanuary 1, 1885; For $2.00 you get itfor 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-classweekly agricultural paper in thiscountry.

Horticulturists, Write for YourPaper.

The Hedge Question.At one of the December meetings ofthe Massachusetts HorticulturalSociety a prize essay from the pen ofJohn J. Thomas, of Union Springs,N.Y., was read on the subject "HedgePlants and Hedges."

The subject of the essay was proposedin the form of a question, "Are livehedges to be recommended either forutility or ornament, and if they are,what plants are most suitable?" Theanswer to this question was given fromthe experiments of the essayist during

the last forty years. The deciduousplants tried were the buckthorn, Osageorange, honey-locust, privet andbarberry. The evergreens were theNorway spruce, hemlock, andAmerican arbor-vitæ.

The buckthorn has the advantage ofgreat hardiness, thick growth, and easypropagating and transplanting, andrequires but a moderate amount ofcutting back. But the growth is notstout enough to resist unruly animals,unless in very rich soils, and even amoderate amount of cutting back is anobjection to farmers.

The cost of buckthorn hedges,including the preparation of a strip of

soil five feet wide, purchase of plants,setting, and occasional horsecultivation on each side, was abouttwenty-five cents a rod the first year.The yearly cultivation and cuttingback, until the hedge had reached fullsize, was three or four cents a rod.Though the buckthorn has nearlypassed out of use on account of itsinefficiency, it is not impossible that itmay be extensively planted whencultivators find that it may beconverted into an efficient barrier byinclosing two or three barbed wiresextending its length through theinterior—these wires, supported onoccasional posts, being successivelyplaced in position as the hedge

increases in height, the branchesgrowing around the wires and holdingthem immovably in position.Galvanized wire should be alwaysused, on account of its durability.

Osage orange hedges require more carethan buckthorn, in assorting plants ofequal size and vigor, and the rejectionof feeble plants. Like all other hedgeplants, they should be set in a singleline, and eight inches apart is a suitabledistance. For the first few years theground must be kept well cultivated. Itis partly tender and will not endure thewinters at the North, unless on a well-drained soil. Hence the importance ofplacing a good tile drain parallel to thehedge and within a few feet of it. Thus

protected, good hedges have stood fortwenty-five years where thethermometer has often shown ten ortwelve degrees below zero, andsometimes lower.

No hedge is more commonlymismanaged than the Osage orange. Itis planted in imperfectly preparedground; vigorous and feeble plants areplanted indiscriminately, cultivationand pruning are omitted or not donethoroughly, resulting in broken andirregular lines. When more care isgiven, the hedge is nearly spoiled bybeing pruned too wide at the top, theheavy shade above causing meagregrowth and openings below. It shouldbe pruned in wedge shape, but shearing

is objectionable as causing a thick andshort growth of leaves at the exterior,excluding light from the inside andcausing bare branches there. Cuttingback more irregularly with a knifeallows the growth of interior foliage,and gives more breadth to the hedge.The sheared hedge presents anunnatural stiffness in ornamentalgrounds; but skillfully cut back withthe knife it has more of the beauty ofnatural form. The manner of pruning isvery important, both as regards utilityand beauty. For farm barriers hedgesdo not require so elaborate care.Another mode of treatment has beenadopted in the Western States. Thetrees are trimmed and the main stems

trained upright for a few years. Theyare then cut half off at the ground andbent over at an angle of thirty degreeswith the ground, a tree being leftupright at distances of four or five feet,and the inclined ones interwovenamong them, a straight line of treesbeing thus formed. The tops are thencut off about three feet high. Newshoots spring up in abundance andform an impenetrable growth, as manyas fifty having been counted from asingle plant the first year. The top iscut to within a few inches each year ofits previous height. Hedges made inthis way have no gaps.

A similar treatment may be adoptedwhen a hedge becomes too high by

long years of growth. The trees are firstpartly trimmed with a light axe or hookwith a long handle, and then half cutoff at the ground and bent over. A newgrowth will spring up and form a newhedge. This course was adopted by theessayist with a hedge planted twenty-eight years ago, and which has been aperfect farm barrier for more thantwenty years. The cost of this hedgewas about twenty-five cents a rod thefirst year, and the three subsequentcuttings for sixty rods cost abouttwenty dollars, averaging less than adollar a year. But it was usually too talland shaded, and occupied too muchground, to be recommended where landis valuable.

Ninety rods of Osage orange hedge,properly trimmed, cost about the samefor the first four years of cultivation,but more for annual cutting back. Itwas planted twenty-four years ago, andhas been a perfect barrier for abouttwenty years. The yearly cost ofpruning was about four cents a rod forten or twelve years, and since it hasbecome larger and higher nearlydouble. For cutting back a stout hookwith a handle two and a-half feet longor a stout scythe was used. Hedgeshears are too slow except forornamental hedges, and even for thesethe knife is preferable.

The Honey locust has been extensivelyused for hedges of late years on

account of its hardiness. Seed shouldbe selected from the most thorny trees.The trees have a tall, slender, and nothedgy growth, and require thoroughcutting back to secure a thick mass ofbranches at the bottom, and very fewhave received this treatment whenyoung. The care in planting and rearingis similar to that required by the Osageorange.

Many hedges have been injured or evendestroyed by pruning after the summergrowth has commenced. The pruningmust be done in spring before the budsswell, if vigorous growth is to bepreserved. But strong-growing hedges,that are likely to become too high, maybe checked by summer pruning.

Though the cost of planting andstarting a hedge is less than that ofbuilding a good board fence, they arenot adapted to farmers who will notgive them the continued care requiredto keep them in good order. Thisconclusion is justified by observinghow few have succeeded with hedges,and many have allowed them to beruined by neglect.

The evergreens which have beenemployed have been exclusively forornamental screens, and not for farmbarriers. The Norway spruce may beplaced at the head on account of itsrigid growth, hardiness, and thefreedom with which it may be cut back,it will bear more shade than many

other evergreens, and hence the interiorof the screen is green with foliage. Thecutting back should be done with aknife, and not with shears. Next to theNorway spruce is the hemlock, whichexcels the former in its livelier green inwinter, while it is unsurpassed forretaining interior foliage. It will bearcutting back to an almost unlimitedextent in spring before growthcommences. But it is not so stiff as theNorway spruce as a barrier. TheAmerican arbor-vitæ, though muchused, becomes destitute of foliageinside, and is browned by winter.

By the introduction of barbed wire animportant change is likely to take placein planting hedges. Barbed wire makes

a cheaper fence for its efficiency thanany other material. A serious objectionto it is the danger of animals beinglacerated against it, the wires beingnearly invisible. This objection may beobviated by inclosing the wires invisible hedges. Efficiency may also bethus imparted to small-growing hedgeplants, such as privet, barberry andsmall evergreens, which will requirebut little labor in pruning and wouldbecome handsome ornaments. Thepurple barberry, for example, wouldpresent an attractive appearance duringa large portion of the year. A new valuemay thus be given to hedges byrendering moderate growers and thoseeasily kept in shape efficient barriers

for farm and fruit gardens.

Young Men Wanted.Perhaps one of the greatest needs ofhorticulture at the present day, is youngmen to engage in the work—intelligent, patient, energetic youngmen, who will begin and make it a life-labor and study. What nobleremployment in which young men canengage? What field for study andinvestigation can be found for themwhich offers a more gratifying andpleasant pursuit, and promises richerand more substantial results?

There are so many open questions

connected with the science; so manypoints that need investigation, so manyproblems to be solved; so much tolearn that is yet unknown—that theneeds for more laborers are great andpressing; and the wonder is that moreof our young men are not entering uponthe work.

That young men are needed, rather thanthe old or middle aged, is becausemany of the investigations to beundertaken require a lifetime toperfect, and can only be brought to aprofitable issue in a long series ofyears. Such, for instance, as theproduction of new varieties of fruits;the relative hardiness and longevity oftrees; the effects of soil and climate,

heat, cold, etc., upon plant life; thedegeneracy of species, etc.;—all ofwhich require a long series ofexperiments to determine. Older men,here and there, are engaged in theseinvestigations; but they are passingaway in the midst of their work onlypartially accomplished, and their laborsare thus in a degree lost.

Our farmers' sons—stout, healthy,energetic young men—are the onesupon whom this labor and high dutymore properly devolves. To thembelongs, or should belong, the honorand glory of pushing forward this noblework. Many of these, however, aremistakenly leaving the farms to engagein trade and speculation; while others

who remain at home mostly incline toother branches. The agriculturalcolleges are doubtless developing a fewfaithful workers for these too neglectedfields; but these munificently endowedinstitutions are believed to fall farshort of their duty in this respect.

I will close by recommending thismatter to the thoughtful considerationof the young readers of THE PRAIRIE

FARMER, who, as a class, I believe to beas capable and intelligent as thecountry affords, and with the remarkthat I know of no business in life towhich I would sooner urge any youngfriend of my own to devote his talentsand his energies.

T.G.

Possibilities in IowaCherry Growing.

Prof. Budd, of Iowa, sends THE PRAIRIE

FARMER the following copy of hisaddress before the Eastern IowaHorticultural Society, remarking thatits appearance in this paper may leadthe Bloomington nurserymen to lookup this very important line ofpropagation:

The topic assigned me is, as usual,experimental horticulture. I select thedivision of the work implied in theheading for the reason that it is, as yet,

mainly an unoccupied field of inquiry.If the idea occurs that my treatment ofthe question is speculative rather thanpractical permit me to suggest thatthought and investigation must alwaysprecede the work of adapting fruits to anewly occupied country, especially ifthat country is as peculiar in climateand soil as the great Northwest.

In the summer of 1882, I was fortunatein having a fine opportunity forstudying the varieties and races ofcherries in Continental Europe. Thefruit was ripening when we were in thevalley of the Moselle in France, and aswe went slowly northward andeastward it continued in season throughWirtemberg, the valleys and spurs of

the Swabian Alps to Munich inBavaria, through the passes of theTyrol in Saltzburg to Austria, Bohemia,Siberia, Poland, and SouthwesternRussia. Still farther north of St.Petersburg and Moscow we met thecherries from Vladimir on everycorner, and our daily excursions to thecountry permitted the gathering of theperfectly ripened fruit from the trees.

Still again when we passed six hundredmiles east of Moscow we hadopportunities for picking stray cherriesof excellent quality from trees standingnear the 56th parallel of north latitude.

To undertake to tell of the varieties ofthe fruit and the relative hardiness of

the trees—as estimated from thebehavior of varieties we knewsomething of—of the many varietiesand races we studied on this extendedtrip would make too long a story. Onthe plains of Silesia, north of theCarpathian mountains we first began tobe intensely interested in the cherryquestion. Here the cherry is the almostuniversal tree for planting alongdivision lines and the public highways.As far as the eye could reach over theplains when passing over the railways,the cherry tree indicated the location ofthe highways and the division ofestates. As we passed the highwaysrunning at right angles with the trackwe could get a glimpse down the

avenues to a point on the plain wherethe lines seem to meet, and we weretold that unbroken lines along thehighways were often found thirty tofifty miles in length.

As a rule these street and division treesare of a race wholly unknown in thiscountry excepting a few trees of theOstheim in Iowa and Minnesota. Theyare classed in the books as Griotteswith colored juice and long, slender,drooping branches. The trees aresmaller than our English Morello withlow stems, and neat round tops. Whilesome other races are hardy on thisplain as far north as Warsaw in Polandand Russia the Griottes are grown forthree main reasons. (1) The trees are

deep rooted and so small in size thatthey do little shading of the street orcultivated fields. (2) They rarely fail tobear full crops as the fruit buds arehardier and the fruit buds expand laterthan the Kentish and the other andmore upright forms of the Morello. (3)The fruit is less acid and richer ingrape sugar than the Kentish formsmaking it more valuable for dessert,culinary use, and above all for makingthe celebrated "Kirsch wasser" whichhere takes the place of wine. Some ofthe thin twigged Griottes with darkskins and colored juice are as large insize as our Morello and nearly or quiteas sweet. That they will prove hardyand fruitful with us we can hardly

doubt as they grow on the dry plains ofNortheast Europe where the Kentishforms utterly fail. Why have they notbeen introduced? I once asked thisquestion of Mr. George Ellwanger, ofRochester, N.Y. He replied that in theearly days of their nursery somevarieties of the Weichel type wereintroduced in their collection. But theEastern demand ran in the line of theHeart cherries and the Dukes, and ifsour cherries were wanted for pies theKentish forms with uncolored juiceseemed to be preferred. I suspect thedifficulty of propagation and theinferior look of the little thin twiggedtrees in the nursery had something todo with the ignorance of our people of

the merits of this hardy and fruitfulrace. In the trying climate of theSwabian Alps, the Tyrol, and the eastplain of Silesia, Hungary, Poland, andSouth Russia, the trees are on their ownroots mainly, and the sprouts are usedfor propagation. When small they areplaced in the nursery with the tops androots cut back in the form of root-grafts. For the use of methodic growersand or planting on private groundswhere sprouts are not wanted the treesare budded or inarched on PrunusPadus.

How will we propagate this valuablerace of the cherry? The scions are toosmall for profitable grafting, andbudding on our Morello seedlings

hardly answers, as the slow-growingtop favors sprouting from the root.Perhaps we shall find that our birdcherry (Prunus Pennsylvanica) is bestsuited for our use. The question ofpropagation of this race is important,as the cherries grown in immensequantities in the Province of Vladimir,one hundred and fifty miles east ofMoscow, and in all the provinces of theupper Volga are of this thin twiggedrace. Beyond all doubt it is the comingcherry for universal use in Central andNorthern Iowa, and even in Dakota andthe far Northwest. Yet it is not the onlyrace of the cherry which will thrive onour prairies and prove longer-lived,more fruitful, and far better in quality

than any we now have.

On the grounds of the PomologicalInstitute, at Proskau, Silesia, we sawmany varieties of the Amarelle andSpanish cherries that will bear moresummer heat, an aridity of air, and alower summer temperature than ourRichmonds or English Morello. In leafand habit of growth these Amarells ofAustria and South Russia are much likeour Carnalion, but some of the varietiesbear large fruit, as nearly sweet as isdesirable for dessert use. The raceknown as Spanish bears sweet fruit,much like our tall growing Hearts and

Bigarreaus, but the leaves are smaller,firmer, and thicker, and the habit of thetree is nearly as low and spreading asthat of the Amarells. In Austria we aretold that the original stock of theseround-topped, sweet cherries camefrom Spain, but as we went east toOrel, Veronish, and Saratov we metvarieties of this race on the grounds ofamateurs and proprietors who told usthat the race was indigenous to Bokaraand other parts of Central Asia. Whilethese varieties are hardier than theRichmond the trees are lightlyprotected with straw during the winterfor protection of the fruit buds, whenpaying crops are secured. North of Orelthe Griottes alone are grown on the

bush plan, with from three to six stemsspringing up from the crown. InVladimir tens of thousands of acres arecovered with these bush cherryorchards, producing many train loadsannually of fruit of surprisingexcellence, considering the far northernand inland location of the plantations.

On the college farm we have somespecimens growing of the Ostheim,Vladimir, double Natte, and otherforms of the Griottes, and a fewspecimens from Orel and Veronish ofthe Amarells and the Spanish races. Wehave now orders out, of which we havereceived a part, for perhaps fifty othervarieties from Austria, Poland, andSouth Russia.

For the present these will be planted inexperimental orchard with a view tonoting their behavior in our climate.Until scions are grown here we can notmake much advance in propagation.The work is necessarily slow, but it cannot fail, I think, to finally demonstratethat so far we have been on the wrongtrack in attempting to grow cherries onthe prairies of the Northwest.

Prunings.IF turnips or other vegetables to be fedto stock become frosted, place them ina cool cellar, cover lightly with straw,and let them remain frozen. If they donot thaw they will be little harmed forfeeding.

SNOW should not be allowed toaccumulate on evergreens. If so, and itpartly thaws and then freezes, it can notbe removed, but will catch the snowand wind, often to the entiredestruction of the tree.

A FROST proof vegetable house is

described as made with walls fifteeninches thick, double boarded, the spacebetween the boards being filled withsawdust. The ceiling is also boarded,with about ten inches of sawdustbetween the boards.

NEW ENGLAND HOMESTEAD: The earlyblack cranberry is the popular earlyberry on Cape Cod. It escapes the earlyfrosts and so the crop produces betterprices. A larger, lighter and longerberry is the James P. Howley, which isbeing introduced in Essex county. Thelatter variety is not so early as theformer, but bears well, and in theprotected bogs along shore isfrequently preferred.

NORTHWEST FARMER: Mr. EdisonGaylord, of Floyd county, Iowa,advocates setting trees in a leaningposture, to prevent them from beingkilled by the combined effects of thewind and sun on their southwest side.Prof. J.L. Budd, of the IowaAgricultural College, says, inconfirmation of Mr. Gaylord's view, hesaw hundreds of the finer cherry andplum trees in Russia planted at anangle of forty-five degrees towards theone o'clock sun. He says that only for ashort time will trees thus set have anawkward appearance.

THE most convenient boxes in which tostart seeds and cuttings are thoseknown as "flats" among gardeners. A

good size for the kitchen garden inwhich to start tomato seeds, etc., or forthe ordinary conservatory, is two feetlong, sixteen inches wide, and threeinches deep. These shallow boxes areeasy to handle, take up little room, andallow of much better drainage to theyoung plants. Salt or soap boxes can beeasily cut up into three or four boxesthree inches deep. Neat leather handleson each end of the box will increase itshandiness. The bottom is better if madeof several pieces of board, as the cracksinsure good drainage.

JAMES VICK'S plan of catching slugs is asfollows: "Take some pieces of slate, orflat stones, or flat pieces of tin, and laythem about in the garden among the

plants, distributing them very liberally;just at sundown go out and place ateaspoonful of bran on each piece ofslate or tin, and the slugs will soonbecome aware of it, and begin to gatherand feed on it. In about two hours,when it is dark, go out again with alantern and a pail containing salt andwater, and pick up each piece on whichthe slugs are found feeding, and throwslugs and bran into the brine, wherethey instantly die. It is well, also, to goaround in the morning, and many slugswill be found hiding under the piecesof slate, and can be destroyed in thebrine. By following up this methodpersistently for a few weeks the gardenmay be effectually rid of the nuisance."

A CORRESPONDENT of the Iowa Registeradvises us as to the proper manner ofperforming this operation: "To heeltrees in properly, a trench should bedug on high, dry ground from two and ahalf to three feet deep; one side ofwhich should slope from the bottom atan angle of 35 to 45 degrees. The treesshould then be set against the slopingside of the trench and sufficiently apartto allow of fine earth being brought inclose contact with every part of everyroot. When the roots and bodies of thetrees are carefully covered, the trenchshould not only be filled but roundedup so as to form a mound over them.When air spaces are left among theroots they are liable to mould and rot.

And very frequently, when they havenot been buried sufficiently deep, theoutside bark becomes detached fromthem and will slip off when they arebeing taken from the trench."

A CORRESPONDENT of GardeningIllustrated (England), says this is theway to make an asparagus bed: Trenchthe soil at once two spits deep, andwork in stable manure as the workproceeds, or if procurable, seaweed andplenty of sand, or any gritty substance,such as road scrapings. It should be leftas rough as possible on the surfaceuntil April next, when the young plantswill be in the best condition forplanting, viz., with shoots a few incheslong; then draw wide drills, and spread

the roots of the plants out, coveringwith fine sandy soil, leaving the tips ofthe shoots just peeping through thesoil, and if mild showery weatherprevails the growth will be rapid. Putsome pea-sticks to support the growthand keep it from suffering by windwaving. Merely keeping from weeds isall the other attention required untilNovember, when the old tops may becut off, and a dressing of rotten manurespread on the surface of the bed, to belightly forked in during the followingspring.

THE Rural New Yorker says as follows:We plant the Cuthbert raspberry forlate, the Hansel for early—both are of abright red color, and suitable for

market as well as for home use. For ayellow plant the Caroline. It is hardyand productive, though not of the firstquality. For canning, or for table use, ifyou like a fruit full of raspberry flavorthough a little tart, Shaffer's Colossal.It is rather dark in color for market,and perhaps a little soft. For a hardy,early, red raspberry that is sweet anddelicious for home use, plant theTurner. For a raspberry that is excellentin every way, plant the new Marlboro.For the earliest and most productive ofblackcaps, plant the Souhegan. For alarger and later blackcap, plant theGregg. For currants, plant the Fay'sProlific for red, and the White Grapecurrant for white. For grapes, plant the

Lady for earliest white, Moore's Earlyand Worden for early black. For later,plant the Victoria or Pocklington, forlight colored; the Vergennes, Jefferson.Brighton or Centennial for red, and theWilder, Herbert or Barry for black. Forstrawberries, try the CumberlandTriumph, Charles Downing, Sharpless,Manchester (pistillate), Daniel Boone,James Vick, Mount Vernon, Hart'sMinnesota, and Kentucky. You can notselect a better list for trial unless byexperience you know already whatvarieties will succeed best on yourland.

Gleanings by an OldFlorist.

PROPAGATING HOUSES ANDOTHER THINGS.

In the days of our boyhood thepropagating house was, in the morepretentious nurseries, a very sacredplace, under lock and key, and some ofits mysteries supposed to be soprofound that prying eyes of otherestablishments were not welcome.

Bell glasses in those days were thought

to be indispensable, and some of theplants desired to be propagated werefound to require months, sometimesnearly a year, before they could betransferred from the cutting pots. Thehot-water tanks, and other bottom heatappliances of the present day were thenunknown; and these appliances haveresulted in greater simplicity ofmanagement. Still we are bound toadmit that the demands here generallyembrace a class of plants that, as a rule,are found to root the most readily,while those that have always beenknown to tax the propagator's skill, asthe Heaths, New Holland, and otherscalled hard wooded plants, are but littlecalled for in this market.

At that time nearly everything wasplaced in pots of almost pure whitesand, surrounded by the ordinaryatmosphere of the house; whilenowadays the establishment must besmall indeed if it does not containsome place where the bed is soarranged that the heat at the bottom isfrom ten to fifteen degrees above thatof the house proper. Here lies thewhole secret as to whether it is a partof a single green-house or a housedevoted exclusively to propagatingpurposes. For the purpose of being ableat all times to control the temperatureof the top, the propagating house hasoften a northern exposure, except in thevery dead of winter. With a bright,

clear sun above it is almost impossiblein the daytime to keep down thetemperature of the house sufficiently toprevent the young cuttings fromwilting, after which disaster is verylikely to follow in their final rooting.Given a top temperature never above55 or 65 degrees, with a bottom alwaysfrom 10 to 15 degrees higher, if thecuttings are in good shape it is a simplematter to root them in from seven tofifteen days; though the time it takesdepends, of course, upon the plant andcondition of the wood. At first effortsused to be contrived to get this bottomheat by means of the old flue system,with plenty of material covering thebricks, to break, in part, the dry

burning nature of the heat.

Then hot water came in and furnishedwhat was thought the acme of apropagator, and tanks of elaborateworkmanship, and made of the finestmaterial down to the commonest wood,were made so a circulation of hot waterwas kept up over as large an area as thenecessity of the owner might require.

The results seemed excellent, but lo,every now and again, disastrousfailures would occur. A material wouldspread all around called by the floristthe cutting bench fungus, that wouldsweep through his crop like a plague;all sorts of theories would be given,and numberless articles appear in the

horticultural periodicals of the day onits cause and cure. Presently it wasfound that those who did not use a tankof water, but had inclosed a space to beheated by hot water pipes, did not seemto suffer so much from the invidiousfoe. Much moisture was found anexcellent remedy for the enemy,though it might have been its firstcause, as it could be best warded off bydousing with the once praised hot watertank.

Whether a house is used exclusively ornot, the ordinary hot water pipes aresimply inclosed in a brick or woodspace, with ventilators that may beopened to let off part of the confinedheat into the house at pleasure. The

front benches used are about two feetsix inches to three feet in width, over,say four 4-inch pipes, up to withineighteen inches or two feet of the glass.On this is a platform over which threeto six inches of sand is put, and in thisbed are placed the cuttings where, withthe differences before mentioned, theyare kept as uniform as possible, and thesand kept decidedly wet. Almosteverything we called soft wooded, orthat can be got from the soft wood,even including most of our hardyshrubs, can be rooted with almostunerring certainty in the largerestablishments by the hundreds ofthousands.

As modern ideas demand large

propagating, even in the summer, whenit is next to impossible to keep theseproportions of top and bottom heat, ifin an ordinary propagating house, suchfirms as Miller & Hunt, strike out withanother idea to overcome the difficulty.This is none other than instead of glass,they have a muslin canvas-coveredhouse, in which they have again pits,where mild bottom heat can beobtained by the use of spent hops, tanbark, manure, or other material. Ofcourse, it would be idle to talk of asummer bottom heat of 60 deg., butinstead of that, they get one of about 80deg., and depend upon a close, uniform,high, moist temperature to carry outthe same results.

With this, rose plants can be and areraised by the hundreds of thousandsfrom the single eye to a cutting, with aloss of not five per cent in theaggregate, and often not one per cent. Itis very evident that with new or scarceplants this is an enormous average, asby its means firms can import the newEuropean plants in the spring, atperhaps very high rates, start them intoimmediate, rapid growth, and from halfa dozen plants to work on, maybe in thenext spring markets have hundreds forsale.

This is all new as managed by us old'uns in former times, but he whoexpects to be up with the present dayand cater for that class of patronage,

must take the new and not the old wayof doing things, or he will, in thevernacular of the streets, "get left."

As we are on this particular topic,however, and as the amateur windowplant-grower may want to propagatesome little stock as well, even if not onthese "high-falutin" ways, it might notbe amiss to say that beyond themethods of "slipping" here and therecuttings in and among others growingin pots, or, mayhap, in a pot all bythemselves, they can readily root lotsof plants in a water and sand bath,which is nothing more than taking adeep saucer, putting half an inch ofsand in the bottom, filling up thesaucer full of water, and keeping it full;

stick your cuttings into this, place rightin the sunniest spot of your window,and they will grow about as certain,many of them, as if treated by theflorist's more portentious method.Likely the reason of all this is, thewater keeps the cuttings from wiltinglong enough for them to put forth theirefforts for existence in the shape ofnew roots, obtained from the stored upmaterial in the cuttings, and as soon asthis is done they become newindividual plants, requiring only to betransferred into a suitable medium ofearth to go on as an independent, butsimilar existence to the plant fromwhich they were obtained.

EDGAR SANDERS.

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

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THE sorghum-growers of Kansas areinvited to meet at Topeka, the secondWednesday in February. The Kansaswool-growers meet on the 15th of thismonth.

DO NOT forget the Mississippi ValleyHorticultural Society meeting atKansas City, January 22-25. This willprove one of the importanthorticultural events of the year.

IF any of our friends have Vols. I toXIV, and the years 1861, 1863 to 1873,and 1875 to 1883, of THE PRAIRIE

FARMER, they would like to dispose of,we should be glad to hear from them.

THE fifteenth annual exhibition of the

Montana Agricultural, Mineral andMechanical Association, will be held atHelena, September 8th-13th, 1884.President, S.H. Crounse; Francis Pope,Secretary.

THE twenty-fifth annual fair of the LinnCounty (Iowa) Agricultural andMechanical Society will be held on thefair grounds at Cedar Rapids,September 9, 10, 11, and 12, 1884. C.G.Greene, Secretary, Cedar Rapids.

IF you are in need of a first-class windmill, find out all about the Nichols'Centennial as advertised in ourcolumns by Nichols & Daggett, and seeif you do not think it just fills the bill.It is strong, durable, steady, and ittakes and uses all the wind there isgoing.

HON. E.B. DAVID, member of the IllinoisState Board of Agriculture fromMercer county, made a brief call at THE

PRAIRIE FARMER office last week. Fromhim we gathered the facts regarding thelate meeting of the Board mentionedelsewhere. Mr. David has long been a

staunch friend of THE PRAIRIE FARMER,and his call was a very welcome one.

IMMIGRATION at the port of New York felloff last year to the amount of 66,405persons, or about 14½ per cent fromthat of 1882. The total number landedthis last year was 388,342. The greatestdecrease was from Sweden and Russia.From England came 30,818; Ireland,52,555; Germany, 164,036; Italy,24,101; Norway, 11,536; Hungary,11,448; Switzerland, 9,447; Denmark,7,770; Bohemia, 4,652. Last year thearrivals were 182,893. It is not unlikelythat there will be a greater falling off

this year for times are not sufficientlypromising here to greatly stimulateemigration from Europe.

THE Crystal Palace Company, ofLondon advertise the holding for sixmonths, from April 3 next, of an"exhibition of arts, manufactures, andscientific, agricultural, and industrialproducts," and invite the participationof American exhibitors. A court in acentral position on the main floor hasbeen set aside for expected Americancontributions, and the ordinary chargefor space is two shillings per squarefoot. This will probably seem a trifle

steep to American exhibitors who arenot accustomed to pay for space intheir own exposition buildings.

LAST year was not a very surprising onein the matter of railway extensionwithin the limits of Illinois. The reportof the Railway and WarehouseCommissioners will show that but 135miles of track were laid. But there are10,456 miles of track in use in theState. The companies among theselines numbering sixty-four, operate29,370 miles of road or nearly 20,000miles outside of Illinois. The total netincome of these companies was

$81,720,256 and the dividendsamounted to $36,374,474. In 1882 thedividends amounted to but$29,000,000. The average freightcharges in 1883 were 1.09 cents permile, while the year before theyaveraged 1.20 cents, hence it mustfollow that the amount of trafficgreatly increased over that of 1882.

A LECTURE course for farmers at theNebraska Agricultural College, will begiven from February 4-15, by theregular instructors in the college. Oneor more lectures will be given on thefollowing topics: Breeds of cattle and

swine; breeding, improving, and careof stock; care of farm machinery;health on the farm; adulteration offood; economical farming; tamegrapes; ensilage; what to feed;meteorology and plant growth;sorghum-growth and manufacture;horticulture; principles of pruning; thedigestive organs of domestic animals;injurious insects. A number of leadingfarmers of the State have been invitedto lecture upon their specialties. All thefacilities of illustration and studyowned by the college will be at thedisposal of the students attending thecourse. These include severalcompound microscopes, a goodagricultural library, meteorological

apparatus, six breeds of cattle and fourof swine, orchard, nursery, arboretum,vineyard, etc., etc. A limited numberwill be boarded at the college farm fora price not to exceed three dollars perweek. Persons attending will be aidedin securing cheap board in the city.Persons expecting to attend or desiringfurther information should write toS.R. Thompson, Dean AgriculturalCollege, Lincoln, Neb.

SOME of our readers may wish to pastethis item in their scrap books. It cost torun the United States Government lastyear the sum of $251,428,117,

expended as follows: To supplydeficiencies, $9,853,869; legislative,executive, and judicial expenses,$20,332,908; sundry civil expenses,$25,425,479; support of the army,$27,032,099; naval service,$14,903,559; Indian service,$5,219,604; rivers and harbors,$18,988,875; forts and fortifications,$375,000; military academy, $335,557;post-office department, $1,902,178;pensions, $116,000,000; consular anddiplomatic service, $1,256,655;agricultural department, $427,280;expenses District of Columbia,$3,496,060. The interest on the publicdebt amounted to $59,160,131 and theamount of principal paid off was

$134,178,756. The receipts frominternal revenue were $144,720,368,and from custom duties $214,706,496.

THE Minnesota State HorticulturalSociety will hold its seventeenthannual meeting at the College ofAgriculture, Minneapolis, four days,beginning with January 15th, and withthe Minnesota State ForestryAssociation on the 18th. A cordialinvitation is given to all personsinterested in horticulture and forestryto be present. A large number of papersand reports are to be read, followed bydiscussions. These reports are by

persons who possess a thoroughpractical acquaintance with thesubjects presented, including such menas Peter M. Gideon, J.C. Plumb, Dr.T.H. Hoskins, Prof. C.W. Hall, Prof.J.L. Budd, Dr. F.B. Hough, H.J. Joly,J.F. Williams, and others. A number ofpremiums are offered for apples,grapes, plants, and flowers, vegetables,seeds, and miscellaneous objects. JohnS. Harris, of La Crescent, is President,and Oliver Gibbs, Jr., of Lake City, isSecretary.

ILLINOIS STATEBOARD.

The Illinois State Board of Agricultureheld a business session in Springfieldlast week. All the members werepresent at one time or another duringthe meeting. The premium list wasrevised for the fair of 1884. Thepremiums for speed were somewhatincreased over last year. In cattlesweepstakes classes it was decided thatno animals can be allowed to competeexcept the winners of a first prize inother classes in which they had been

entered, except in the case of the grandsweepstakes, to which will bepermitted animals not previouslyentered for any prize.

The Board is to make a laudableattempt to stimulate corn culture and tobenefit the corn growers of the State. Itoffers $100 for the best bushel (ears) ofcorn grown in each of the three granddivisions of the State, and a secondprize of $50 for the next best sample inthe three divisions. The premiumsamples are to become the property ofthe Board, and the winners of prizepremiums must deliver on cars directedto the agricultural rooms, Springfield,twenty-five bushels (ears) of samevariety that shall equal in merit the

premium bushel. The winners of thesecond premiums must send thesamples and fifteen bushels of samevariety and of equal quality. Thepremiums will not be paid until thecomparisons of the premium corn withthe larger lots are made by a committeeof the Board at its winter meeting inJanuary next. The corn thus donated tothe Board will be distributed to farmersthroughout the State for planting in1885.

Premiums are to be offered for tools,implements and appurtenances used inthe coal mining and handling industryof the State.

Premiums for poultry have been

increased, and an expert will beselected to do all the judging in thepoultry department.

The chicken exhibit at the Fat StockShow will not be continued.

The committee of dairymen appointedat the late meeting of the IllinoisDairymen's Association did not presentthemselves at the State Board meetingto confer about holding a dairy exhibiteither at the State Fair or the Fat StockShow, as instructed to do. Noexplanation of the failure was made.The State Board, however, to leavenothing undone to establish its desireto meet the dairymen half way or more,appointed a committee consisting of

Messrs. David, Chester, and Griffith, toconfer with the DeKalb committee, inChicago, at some convenient time to beagreed upon.

It was decided to hold the next IllinoisState Fair at Chicago the weekbeginning September 8th, and the FatStock Show at the Exposition Building,Chicago, beginning November 11th.

SORGHUM ATWASHINGTON.

Prof. Wiley, of the Department ofAgriculture at Washington, will soonissue his report upon the sorghumbusiness of 1883. Newspapercorrespondents have been permitted tomake a digest of the report. Hepronounces erroneous the prevalentimpression that every farmer maybecome his own sugar-maker.Sorghum, unlike sugar beet, containsvarious non-crystallizable sugars, theseparation of which demands much

skill and scientific knowledge.Sorghum-sugar will have to be made inlarge factories. The existing factorieshave shown that it can be made, buthow profitably or unprofitably can notbe stated by Prof. Wiley, who suggeststhat farmers near factories may, ineffect, make their own sugar by raisingthe cane and trading it at factories forsugar. Cane giving sixty pounds ofsugar per ton ought to bring the farmerthirty-five pounds, the rest of the sugarand molasses going to themanufacturer to pay expenses and yieldprofit. The profitableness of makingsugar from sorghum depends largely onutilizing all waste products. The scumsand sediments make manure hardly

inferior to guano. Bagasse, or crushedcane, can be turned into manure bybeing thrown into hog-pens, as at RioGrande, N.J., or it will make a fairquality of printing paper. It is noteconomical to burn it. If themanufacture of sorghum-sugar isproved to be profitable, it will result insupplying to a large extent our demandfor sugar, but as sorghum makes agreat deal more molasses in proportionto sugar than sugar-cane does, theProfessor concludes that when there isenough sugar there will be a great dealmore molasses than can be disposed of.

Prof. Wiley has made experimentallysome fair samples of rum and alcoholfrom sorghum molasses. Under

favorable circumstances one gallon ofmolasses weighing eleven poundswould give 2.75 pounds absolutealcohol, 3.03 pounds of 90 per cent,and 5.5 whisky or rum. Thus eachgallon of molasses would give nearlyhalf a gallon of commercial alcoholand two thirds of a gallon of whisky orrum. As it has been abundantly proved,he says, that sugar can be made fromsorghum, the Government should makeno further experiments in thisdirection. Prof. Wiley has tried thediffusion process, and finds it yields 20per cent more sugar, but at a somewhathigher cost than grinding. TheGovernment, he thinks, shouldpurchase machinery for large

experiments in the diffusion process,and should raise its cane somewhereelse than near Washington, as landthere is expensive and not adapted tothe purpose. The Government shouldalso make arrangements withagricultural colleges or other agenciesin various States for experimentingwith sorghum-culture to determinewhat parts of the country are mostfavorable to the culture of sugar-producing plants. Prof. Wiley suggestsin each State the trial of two acresdivided into ten plots—five forsorghum, four for beets, and one forcorn—to test for purposes ofcomparison the general fertility of thesoil and the character of the season.

The Government ought to carry on fora series of years the process ofselection of sorghum seed in order tosecure an improvement in the qualityof the cane.

THE COLD SPELL.The cold weather of last week seems tohave extended over nearly the entireNorth American Continent. Nothing forseverity has been known to equal itduring a long series of years. East,West, North, and South it was all thesame, differing in degree of course, butuniformly colder than scarce everknown in the same latitude.

The greatest loss to stock so far asheard from was in that in transit tomarket. On some of the roads thelosses were heavy. A dispatch from

Independence, Mo., says a train offifteen cars, loaded with mules fromTexas via the Iron Mountain andSouthern road, arrived there on the 5th,when it was discovered that at least 100of the mules had frozen to death, andthe others were in a freezing condition.The mules were two years old anddirect from grass. They had been threedays without food.

Many trains arriving at Chicago hadscores of frozen animals.

No great disaster is yet reported fromthe far West or from Minnesota andDakota. Still there must have beengreat suffering not only among thedumb brutes, but among human beings

as well. It is fortunate that polar wavesdo not visit us more frequently.

The effect upon fruit, buds, trees, andshrubs is not yet ascertained. It will bea marvel if many localities are notbarren of fruit of nearly all kinds nextyear.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER will be very glad ifits readers will favor it with their ideasand the results of their observations inregard to the damage of all sorts doneby the intense cold of the first week ofthe year.

Questions Answered.WILLIAM MILLER AND F. MYRICK, PEOTONE,

ILL.—1. What are the laws in regard todrainage passed by the lastLegislature? 2. Who is the ChiefJustice of the Supreme Court and whohis associates?

ANSWER—1. This is a question probablyneither lawyers nor judges in Illinoisare competent to answer. It you doubtit procure from the clerk of yourCounty Court a copy of the public lawsof 1883 and read the fifteen pagesrelating to drainage. 2. The Chief

Justice of the United States SupremeCourt is M.R. Waite, and his associatesare S.F. Miller, S.J. Field, J.P. Bradley,J.M. Harlan. W.B. Woods, S. Mathews,H. Gray, and S. Blatchford.

SAMUEL SNODGRASS, MEADE CO., KY.—1. Ihave some large, old, and apparentlyhealthy, apple trees, but they arecomparatively barren. What can I dofor them? 2. I have others which appearto be going to decay and will soon die.Had I better anticipate their death bycutting them down, or try to save themas I would like to do, for theirassociations with the past.

ANSWER—1. We know no better coursefor you to take than to dig a deep ditch

all around the trees, say three feet wideand as many deep, and just within theouter reach of the limbs, and fill this inwith half the earth removed and theother half made up of vegetable matter,ashes, road dirt, and such manure fromthe barn and stable as you can spare.Having done this make an arrangementabout each tree that will retain all therainfall which comes down to the earthbeneath and collect as much more fromthe open spaces about as possible. 2.Your old and decaying trees may besaved if decay has not gone too far. Butthe remedy is an heroic one, and ratherexpensive as you will find. First treatthe decaying trees as described for thehealthy ones, with the exception you

add a greater proportion of fertilizersand manure when you fill in the ditchwith half new material. Then (and allthis work should be done, as it canreadily be done, in your latitude duringthe cold months when vegetation is at astand) give the old trees a thoroughpruning, even going as far as to remove90 per cent of all the leaf and fruit budson the tree. Then wait for results,looking for nothing more than a newgrowth of wood the first year, butfruitfulness thereafter and a new leaseof life. But remember as in the firstplace, care must be taken to supplyabundant water, indeed as much moreas the average rainfall, so much beingabsolutely necessary to afford the roots

the amount of manurial plant food, insolution, the new departure demands.Every fruit-grower knows when adwarf pear has borne a certain numberof crops, fruit buds cease to form andthe tree becomes nearly barren. If atthis stage the dwarf is deprived ofevery bud, whether fruit or leaf, and thelimbs are left to resemble bare sticks,and at the same time the earth aboutthe roots is fortified with wood ashesand well rotted manure, a handsomegrowth of branches will be made thefirst year and a crop of fruit result thesecond. This, the writer has tried withperfectly satisfactory results twice onthe same dwarfs, and has others which,having been submitted to this course of

treatment, in the fall of 1882, made ahandsome growth in 1883, and have setfruit buds for a good crop in 1884. Thelife of an average apple tree in Illinoisis scarcely more than 35 or 40 years;but there is no doubt if, when theybegin to show signs of decrepitude ordecay, they are treated as above, theymay be made to live and bear fruit forperhaps a hundred years.

American Ash.There are five well-known species ofthis genus (Fraxinus Americana), andthey occupy an important place asvaluable timber trees. This isespecially true of the white ash, morecommonly called the American ash. Ofthis tree the late Arthur Bryant, Sr.,said in his Book on Trees: "It is one ofthe most valuable and worthy ofculture for the quality of its wood andthe rapidity of its growth. When fullgrown it is one of the largest of thetrees of our forests. * * * * The prairiesoils of Iowa and Central and Northern

Illinois are well adapted to the growthof the white ash."

Wayside Notes.BY A MAN OF THE PRAIRIE.

It is a strange and almost an unheard ofthing for any one to say a good wordfor the "tree peddler" but I am going tosay it if it breaks the heart of everyhorticultural baby in the land. Since atime to which the memory of manrunneth not back, the poor "treepeddler" has been abused and malignedby horticultural speakers and writers.In conventions he has been ridiculedand denounced. Every cross-roadnursery-man not possessed of stock

sufficient to warrant a line ofadvertising even in his local paper, norbusiness force enough to send an agentthrough his own neighborhood to takeorders for trees, has spoken in ahorticultural meeting or written a letterto his favorite paper, warning thefarmers against the wiles of the oilytongued fellow with colored fruitplates, specimens of preserved fruits,and an order book for trees, shrubs, andvines. And I think I have known ofsome of the big fish in the nurserybusiness who with one end of theirtongues have lashed some other bigfish in the same business foremploying irresponsible agents to sellstock for them, while with the other

end they were commanding a smallarmy of the same class of agents to goforth into all the world and preach thegospel of tree planting and—sell trees.Others have sold and continue to selltrees to peddlers without limit, forcash, and of any and all varieties calledfor, while they denounced the systemof peddling in unmeasured terms. Nowit is just as possible for a tree peddlerto be an honest man as it is for the manwho grows trees to sell to be honest. Ido not say that all men belonging toeither class are honest. It would beequally absurd to say that all of eitherclass are dishonest. I despise the quack,the liar, the deceiver in any business,and I have no respect or love for the

man who will sell worthless varietiesof trees or wrongly named varieties,knowingly. Honesty here as elsewhereis the best policy. But here is a fact, asI believe: It is better to plant aninferior tree than none at all, and Iknow of neighbors who would go downinto their graves without ever plantinga tree if some persuasive peddler hadnot talked it into them to do so, andthese same neighbors now have quiterespectable orchards. Here is anotherfact: One half the orders sent tonursery-men by farmers during the pasttwenty years have called for varietiesutterly worthless for the localities inwhich they were to be planted. And thetree peddler often gratifies the

purchaser by pretending to sell to him asort which he has made up his mind tohave because he knows it was good inhis old home a thousand miles away.But the peddler, not having this variety,and knowing that if he did have it itwould prove worthless, substitutes aBen Davis or some other approvedvariety, and it goes into the ground andin due time produces an abundance ofexcellent fruit. In this case the peddlerdoes a really good thing. If nursery-men will stop propagating everythingbut varieties adapted to the country andthe markets, and many of them aredoing this, the tree peddler will bepowerless for mischief—will in factbecome a great public benefactor. But

so long as nursery-men will continue togrow and sell worthless varieties, andso long as the people will remain inignorance regarding adaptability, solong will the dishonest peddler remainan unmitigated nuisance and fraud. Inbrief these three things are wanted:Intelligent and honest nurserymen;orchard planters who either know whatvarieties are best for them to have, orwho are willing to trust the selection tothe afore-mentioned intelligent andhonest nursery-men; and third, first-class talkers, intelligent as to varietiesand methods of culture, who buy onlyof the intelligent and honest nursery-men, to go through the country and selltrees. It is unfortunate that it takes so

many words to express what I wantedto say, but I am done at last.

I have got it! Yes, all the ice I want isnow white for the harvest in our"artificial" pond. It is the only thingthat reconciles me to this fierce visit ofpolar weather. As soon as a triflemilder wave gets along our way weshall carefully store away sufficient forthe year's use. By the way, where arethe poor deluded woodchucks,muskrats, and Old Settlers, who told uswe were to bask in mild etherialness allwinter long? I am disgusted thismorning, with the mercury at 30

degrees below zero, and still goingdown, at the whole batch of them, andwith Vennor and Hazen, and allprofessionally weatherwise men andthings. I have heard of little realsuffering in my neighborhood from thecold, among either humans or brutes.Doubtless, when the weather moderatesand people get out to tell each other allabout the cold spell, there will be manytrue tales of intense suffering and morethan the usual romancing about theterrible week. And then the OldestInhabitant will thaw out, and with allthe self-satisfaction that superior ageand experience crown him with, willtell how much colder it was in such andsuch a year, until we wish this little

spell had sealed his memory andmouth, for we do all take a great pridein living in a time that excels all othertimes, albeit, if it be only in a storm ora freeze. But in these things the earlytimes of the Old Settler can never beexcelled, no matter in what century heflourishes. He is always master of thesituation. His experiences are likethose of no other settler that ever livedand died. With him, imagination hasgradually usurped the place ofexperience and its isothermal dips anddodges carry him through hotter andthrough colder seasons than are markeddown in any Standard Time PRAIRIE

FARMER, or any other map or chart inexistence. But for this weather business

I should like to live next door to theOld Settler, for he is generally truthful,good, kind, full of practical knowledgeand common sense.

Letter fromChampaign.

We are having some very sharp winterweather, and sleighing asuninterruptedly good since the 20th ofDecember as I ever remember. Thismorning, January 5th, the mercuryreported 28 degrees below zero at 5:30A.M., and 20 degrees below at 10o'clock. This is the coldest sinceJanuary 29th, 1873, when 36 degreesbelow was recorded at the IndustrialUniversity here, and 42 degrees belowby the spirit thermometer at one of the

Jacksonville institutions. But the windwas west at that date, and it is so to-day, showing our coldest weathercomes from that direction rather thanfrom the northwest or north. Theexplanation I suppose to be, those greatfountains of cold storage, the Coloradomountains, lie west and southwest ofus, and are several hundred milesnearer than the lower peaks and rangesnorthwest.

It is an interesting and important truthto know at this time that an unexpectedsource for seed corn has beendiscovered here at home. It has been

ascertained by experiment andinvestigation that the early frostedcorn, which has been allowed to standin the field, has a sound germ, andthough shrunken, will make fairly goodseed, whereas corn which was notfrosted till late in October, and ripenedin most respects, save drying out, iswholly unfit for seed, having had thecells of the kernels ruptured by thefreezings it has been subjected to. Thisrupture of cells the grain of the frostedcorn escaped, having parted with thesurplus water of vegetation before hardweather set in. However, the earlyfrosted and shrunken cane fit for seedmay be confined to this county orneighborhood, or a narrow area, and

therefore I advise every one who thinksof making use of it to ascertain forhimself, by the usual methods, whetherthe germ is sound or not.

Several parties have written me—onefrom Missouri, another from Indiana,and a third from Kentucky, that theyhave seed corn for sale, cheap and inquantity. I have no doubt of it, and Ihave accordingly advised each toadvertise it in THE PRAIRIE FARMER, ifthey are really desirous of selling,stating briefly what variety, wheregrown, and at what price. I should beglad to advertise it for them

gratuitously, but the contract of THE

PRAIRIE FARMER with its contributorscontains a clause to the effect that"they shall neither use its columns togrind their own axes nor the axes ofanybody else." With the recourse ofearly frosted corn to go to, and theassistance of appropriately selectedseed from abroad, the gross mistakesand disappointments of 1883 are prettycertain to be avoided in 1884.

No doubt many who are more or lessfamiliar with the Reports on HogCholera in the official publication ofthe Department of Agriculture, ask

themselves why Dr. Detmers is singledout by Frenchmen as the sole authorityon swine diseases, when his colleaguesof the commission, Dr. Salmon andLaws went nearly as far as he did intheir extravagant statements. But theprominence Dr. Detmers has obtainedin the estimation of Frenchmen is nowexplained in this: At a late sitting ofthe French Academy of Sciences thateminent savant, Pasteur, referred tohim and his investigations in flatteringterms. Giving an account of thediscovery of the microbe which causesthe rouget of swine in France, Pasteursaid: "Respect for historic truthcompels me to state, however, that inthe month of March, 1882, the microbe

of the rouget was discovered atChicago, in America, by ProfessorDetmers, in a series of investigationswhich did great honor to their author."With the indorsement of one of themost eminent scientists in the world,before a body equally distinguished,Dr. Detmers may find somecompensation in being singled out asthe scape goat for an unfortunatecommission which has cost the countrymany millions.

B.F.J.

Remember that $2.00 pays for THE

PRAIRIE FARMER from this date toJanuary 1, 1885; For $2.00 you get itfor one year and a copy of THE PRAIRIE

FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED

STATES, FREE! This is the most liberaloffer ever made by any first-classweekly agricultural paper in thiscountry.

Poultry-Raisers. Write for YourPaper.

A Duck Farm.You will not find it on the map becauseit is not mentioned there, and I shallnot tell you where it is because Ipromised the little woman who owns it,and who gave me permission to tellother women what she had done, that Iwould not mention her name or thename of the place where she lives andworks. How did I happen to find her? Ididn't find her; it just happened—i.e., ifanything ever happens in this queer oldworld of ours. We bumped our headstogether once in a railway accident, andwe have been firm friends ever since.

Her farm is only a bit of land, somethirty acres, but for the last five yearsshe has made from ten to twelvehundred dollars a year from it, andmost of the money came from theducks. She sells eggs for hatching, andducks for breeding and for exhibition,but the main object is ducks andfeathers for market. She thinks ducksare less trouble and quite as profitableas hens. She keeps twenty-four stockducks, eight males and sixteen females,through the winter. The duckscommence laying from the middle ofFebruary to the first of March, and layfrom 100 to 125 eggs each in a season.The first laid eggs are set to get ducksto sell for breeding stock and for the

early summer market. For this purposethe eggs from the ducks that are two orthree years old are used, and whenhatched the ducklings from those eggsare marked by punching a small roundhole in the web of the feet. She thinks,and rightly, too, that the eggs from theolder ducks procure larger and morevigorous birds than the first eggs fromthe young ducks.

As soon as the weather gets warmenough to ship without danger ofchilling on the way, she sells eggs forhatching at $3 per dozen, and finds nodifficulty in disposing of as many asshe cares to spare at that price. Hersales of eggs for hatching amount toabout $100 yearly. Besides the eggs

used and sold for hatching shegenerally sends a twenty-four-dozencase to New York just before Easter.These large, finely-shaped, pure whiteeggs sell readily for Easter eggs, andbring from forty to fifty cents perdozen.

From the eggs set on her own placeduring the season she raises from ten totwelve hundred ducks each year. Theducklings are hatched from the first ofApril up to about the first of August.Most of the ducklings are raised by henmothers, and she keeps some fifty hensfor that purpose. The hens are all pureBuff Cochins, and are kept until theyare two years and a half old. Besidesraising two broods of ducks each

season, each hen pays her owner anaverage profit of seventy-five cents ayear from the sale of eggs for market.When fattened for market at the end ofthe second season, these Cochin hensare large and heavy, and the carcass ofthe old fowl generally sells for enoughto pay for a pullet to take her place. Nochickens are raised on the farm; thepullets are bought of a neighbor whokeeps the Buff Cochins.

She aims to set several hens and theincubator at the same time; when theeggs hatch the incubator ducklings aredivided up among the hens; one henwill care for twenty ducklings untilthey are old enough to care forthemselves. The eggs hatch well—

those in the incubator quite as well asthose under hens, and when theincubator ducklings are once mixed upwith the others she finds it impossibleto distinguish "which from 'tother."

When the ducklings are ten or twelvehours old they are moved with themother hen to coops and safety runs,which are placed in an orchard near thehouse. This orchard contains about fourand a half acres, and the coops arescattered over it a few rods apart. Onthe side of the orchard that leads to the"pond lot," the bottom board of thefence is a foot wide and comes close tothe ground in order to keep theducklings from taking to the water tooearly in life.

When the ducklings are four weeks oldthe hens are taken away, but theducklings are kept in the orchard untilthey are six weeks old, or until they arewell feathered on the breast and underpart of their bodies, when they areturned into the pond lot, where they"take to the water like ducks."

The pond lot contains nearly thirteenacres, five of which are covered withwater. Originally, this lot was a pieceof low, rocky, bushy pasture land,between two low ranges of hills. Astream of clear, sparkling water, afamous trout brook, ran through thecenter. The woman who proposed toraise ducks saw at once the advantageof such a situation, and had a dam

constructed near the upper end of thelot, and later another was made lowerdown, so that the lot contained twolarge ponds. Where the fences whichseparate my friend's land from that ofher neighbor cross the stream, water-gates are put in, which keep the ducksfrom swimming out with the water; andthe bottom boards of the fence aroundthe rest of the lot keep them fromgetting out that way. Two well-traineddogs guard this lot at night, and woe tothe two-footed or four-footed prowlerwho intrudes.

The duck houses are simply long, lowsheds—with the exception of the onewhere the breeding stock is wintered,which is inclosed—placed on the slope

a few rods back from the water. Theywere built of refuse lumber, and thecost was comparatively trifling.Connected with the house for thebreeding-stock is a small yard wherethe ducks are shut in at night throughthe laying season. From the time whenthey are twelve hours old till withintwenty-four hours of the time whenthey are killed for market, theducklings are well fed with a greatvariety of food. From the first mealuntil they are turned into the pond lotthey are fed every two hours betweendaylight and dark. "Little and often," isthe motto. Before they take to the waterthe ducklings are fed a little cookedmeat once each day, and doubtless this

ration of meat has much to do towardmaking the fine large ducks that myfriend has a reputation for raising.After they are turned into the pond lotthe ducklings are fed but three times aday till within two or three weeks ofthe time when they are to be marketed;then they are confined in the fatteningyards and fed oftener.

The fattening yards are situatedbetween the two ponds, and so arrangedas to inclose a portion of the stream.

The ducklings are marketed as fast asthey reach a suitable age and size. Shecommences sending them to marketabout the middle of June and keeps itup till about the middle of September,

when she quits till near the middle ofJanuary. These prime young ducks,getting into market at a time when suchpoultry is scarce, bring good prices—from 22 to 25 cents a pound, dressed.By the time the price begins to declineshe has marketed all the earlier onesthat she cares to spare, and the later-hatched she keeps growing till mid-winter, when fine ducks are againscarce and the price goes up. AtThanksgiving and during the holidayswhen the markets are crowded withpoultry of all kinds, she holds on to herducks, unless she has an order at anextra price.

At first my friend kept the Rouens;then she tried the Aylesburys, but now

she keeps only the pure Pekins, and isso well satisfied with them that she hasno desire to change for anything else.She says, "For laying qualities, quickgrowth, great size, fine flesh and finefeathers, the Pekins can not beexcelled."

On her place I have seen six-weeks oldPekins that weighed six pounds a pairalive, and those that dressed from threeto four pounds each at ten or twelveweeks. At five and six months herducks dress from six to eight poundseach. For the feathers, the best andfinest of which are carefully saved bythemselves, my friend obtains fortycents per pound.

All the work connected with the duck-raising, except now and then someheavy work which is necessary in thepond lot, is now performed by myfriend and her three children, a boy offifteen, and two girls of thirteen andeighteen.

There is a moral to this, but if you can'tfind it it will not do you one bit ofgood.

FANNY FIELD

CONSUMPTION CURED.

An old physician, retired from practice,having had placed in his hands by anEast India missionary the formula of asimple vegetable remedy for thespeedy and permanent cure ofConsumption, Bronchitis, Catarrh,Asthma and all throat and LungAffections, also a positive and radicalcure for Nervous Debility and allNervous Complaints, after havingtested its wonderful curative powers inthousands of cases, has felt it his dutyto make it known to his sufferingfellows. Actuated by this motive and adesire to relieve human suffering, Iwill send free of charge, to all whodesire it, this recipe, in German,French, or English, with full directions

for preparing and using. Sent by mailby addressing with stamp, naming thispaper.

W.A. NOYES, 149 Power's Block,Rochester, N.Y.

A GUILT frame—the prison window.

Apiary Appliances.In the last issue of THE PRAIRIE FARMER

the "Italian and German Bees" weredescribed true as life, by that prince ofwriters, L.L. Langstroth. After a carefulperusal of the article named, in whichthe good and bad traits of each race aredelineated, any person ought to be ableto choose intelligently which bee isbest, all things taken intoconsideration, for him to procure.

In starting an apiary, there is anotheritem of equal importance, and that iswhat kind of dwellings should be

erected for the occupants of this futurecity. The wants of the future tenantsshould be considered; provide themwith all modern conveniences, as topantry and larder, and don't forget, assome architects do, that abodes shouldbe ventilated as well as warm. Somebee-masters prefer houses that are highbetween ceilings, others low; someprefer large houses, many again thosethat are smaller. The size has to bemade according to the frame chosen.There are five different sizes ofmovable frames now in use among bee-keepers, and those are equallysuccessful who use either size. TheLangstroth is more in common use thanany other. Some object to it, claiming

that it is too shallow.

In looking at the plates of the fivedifferent sizes of frames, an idea isgained how minds differ. Each one hasits advocates, and its votaries claimthat the frame they use is the very bestfor all purposes. We were once lookingout of the window of a friend's houseon her neat, well-kept apiary, andremarked what baby hives. And wefound no fault with the baby, when thislady showed us her beautiful whitesections of comb-honey, and ate herdelicious peaches, canned, withextracted honey for sweetening.

It must be fun to handle the littleGallup, but the Langstroth has anadvantage over all others; it consists in

this: that it is most used, and if aperson desires to sell his hives andframes, he can more readily do so. It isalso easily obtained, as it is kept instock by supply dealers, and can bequickly sent forward when ordered, butif it was an off size wanted, a delaywould occur; some change might haveto be made in the machinery, and itwould cost more, as well as the delayoccasioned, which, if in the midst ofthe honey harvest, might cause greatloss.

Other appliances of the apiary, to suitthis frame, are kept by supply dealers;such as extractors, comb-baskets,uncapping cans, etc. With any of theseframes a hive can be made large or

small, by regulating the number offrames. If the hives are bottomless, asmany make them, a tall hive can bemade by tiering up, as is practiced bythose who work for extracted honey.The Adair frame was formerly used ina hive called the "New Idea, or Non-swarming Hive." Its non-swarmingqualities consisted in its being a longhive, and if empty frames were alwayskept in front, so that the bees had topass through empty space to reach thebrood nest, they would not swarm.

Frames should be placed in a hive aninch and one-half from center to center,and should have three-eighths of aninch space between them and the hive.This last item was considered of

enough importance to have a patentissued for it. If the distance from thetop of the frames to the honey board, orbetween the frames and the hive, is lessthan three-eighths of an inch, the beeswill propolis it together, and if it ismore, they will build comb between.

MRS. L. HARRISON.

What Should beWorked For.

As publishers, says the Weekly BeeJournal, we should,

1. Encourage planting bee-pasturage,that there may be, every season, a cropof honey to gather, in order to makeapiculture a certain occupation.

2. Foster district and local societies toafford mutual instruction, andstrengthen fraternization.

3. Institute large and attractive honey

and apiarian exhibits at all fairs, toeducate the community to thedesirableness of a superior product.

4. Cultivate a discriminating domesticmarket, to encourage superiority andexcellence.

5. Sell at all times, and in all places, anhonest article under an honest name.

Brown's Bronchial Troches forCoughs and Colds: "I do not see how itis possible for a public man to behimself in winter without this valuableaid."—Rev. R.M. Devens, Pocasset,

Mass.

The Prairie Farmer

AND

Youth's Companion

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It is not required that both papers besent to one address, nor to the same

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Address PRAIRIE FARMER PUB. CO.,

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Scientific.

The Star ofBethlehem.

"We have seen his star in the East,"said the wise men. From what remoteregion of antiquity may we supposethat this fancy came, that importantevents to the world of man wereheralded by marvelous phenomena ofthe heavens? To the ignorant man,there can never be any world outside ofthat with which he is concerned. So theprimitive man had no use for planets,comets, and the like, that were not insome way concerned with his destiny.

And we no doubt own our magnificentmodern science of astronomy to thequack system of astrology, which wasonly a device to induce the heavenlybodies to minister to the importanceand conceit of man.

The accepted Scriptures tell us that thebirth of the Savior of mankind washeralded by the appearance of aremarkable star in the sky. Taking thisassertion to be true, it might be amatter of some interest to considerwhat explanations have been made ofthis phenomenon. A large majority ofreligious teachers, we admit, even tothe present day, have attempted noexplanation whatever, but have settledthe subject by calling the star a

miraculous appearance, concerningwhose true nature we can knownothing. But two solutions of thephenomenon have been given by well-known astronomers, either of which, ifaccepted, will place the miracle in thelist of purely natural occurrences.

Kepler held that the Star of Bethlehemwas simply a conjunction of theplanets. Astronomy, which, morefortunate than history, can bringunimpeachable witnesses to its recordof past events, assures us that there wasa remarkable conjunction, or ratherthree conjunctions of the planetsJupiter and Saturn, in the year of Rome747, or seven years before the Christianera. It is now generally admitted that

Christ was probably born at least fouryears before the date fixed upon as thefirst "year of our Lord," andremembering how much uncertaintyhangs about this date we mightconsider ourselves fully justified inplacing it, as Kepler did, in the year 7B.C. This being granted, let us see howthe occurrence of the conjunctions inthis year explains the miracle of the"Star."

In the first place, note that the Magi, orWise Men, of the East (presumably thecountry of Chaldea) were the first tocall attention to the star as indicatingthe birth of the "King of the Jews." TheChaldeans were devoted to astrology,and it is only reasonable to infer that

whatever remarkable appearance theysaw in the sky, they would endeavor toexplain it by their astrological laws. Onthe 29th of May, 7 B.C., a conjunctionof Jupiter and Saturn occurred, in the20th degree of the constellation Pisces,close to the first point of Aries; on the29th of September of the same year,another conjunction of these planetstook place, in the 16th degree ofPisces; and on the 5th of December, athird, in the 15th degree of the samesign. (These are not conjectures orinferences, but known astronomicalfacts.) If we suppose that the Magi,intent on their study of the heavens,saw the first of these conjunctions, theyactually saw it in the East, for on May

29, it would rise three and one halfhours before sunrise. It is not necessaryto suppose that the planets approachednear enough to each other to appear asone star, for they probably did not—itwas their conjunctions that gave theirastrological significance. It plainlyindicated to these observers that someimportant event was impending, andwhat could be more important than thebirth of a great man? But where wasthis one to appear? The sign Pisces wasthe most significant one for the Jews,for according to astrological legend, inthe year 2865 A.M. a conjunction ofJupiter and Saturn in this sign hadheralded the birth of Moses; theproximity to Aries indicated that the

hero foretold was of kingly lineage; theJewish expectation of a great king hadbecome a well-known story in Chaldeaduring the captivity, ergo, the inferencewas prompt and sure, this conjunctionindicated the birth of the expected Kingof the Jews. That they might be amongthe first to do honor to so great apersonage as they believed this king tobe, the wise men soon set out for Judea.The journey probably took them fivemonths or more. On their way theywitnessed the second conjunction,which no doubt only strengthened theirfaith. If they performed the journeyfrom Jerusalem to Bethlehem at thetime of the third conjunction,December 5, in the evening, as the

narration implies, the stars would besome distance east of the meridian, andwould seem to move from southeast tosouthwest, or towards Bethlehem.Their standing over the house we mayregard as an additional statement thatcrept into the narration probablythrough its repetitions.

Such is Kepler's explanation of the Starof Bethlehem. But before he had giventhis to the world, indeed while he wasan infant in his cradle, Tycho Brahehad connected the phenomenon withthat of one of the great variable stars ofthe solar system.

The latter astronomer discovered, in1572, what appeared to be a new star in

the constellation, Cassiopeia. It was astar of the first magnitude when firstperceived, and daily it increased inbrilliancy, till it out-shone Sirius,equaled Venus in lustre, and could beperceived, even by the naked eye, atnoonday. For nearly a month the starshone; at first it had a white light, thena yellow, and finally it was a brightred. Then it slowly faded, and in aboutsixteen months had disappeared.

Amidst all the conjecture concerningthis remarkable appearance, someregarding it as a new world in processof creation, others as a sun on fire,Tycho Brahe held to the belief, thoughunable to prove it, that it was a starwith a regular period of light and of

darkness, caused possibly by itsnearness to, or distance from, the earth.When the telescope was invented, fortyyears later, the accuracy of this theorywas known. At the spot carefullymapped out by Tycho Brahe, atelescopic star was found, undoubtedlythe same one whose brilliantappearance had so startled the world in1572. Upon this, astronomers began tostudy the annals of their science forsimilar appearances, and found that avery brilliant star had appeared anddisappeared near the same spot in theheavens in 1264, and also in 945. Theinference was that this star had a periodof about three hundred years, andcounting back, imagination might place

one of its periods of brilliancy verynear the time of Christ's birth. For thisreason it received the name of the Starof Bethlehem, and many have fullyaccepted the theory which makes thisvariable luminary identical with the"Star of the East."

This second theory has especial interestjust now, for if astronomicalcalculations are correct, we may lookfor the reappearance of this remarkablestar during the coming year. If it doesfulfill the prediction of its return itmust be reckoned as one of the mostnoteworthy phenomena of the century.

For the benefit of amateur observers,who are as likely as any to be the first

to perceive this remarkable sight, wemay say that Cassiopeia, theconstellation in which it will appear,lies very near the North Star. You allknow how to find the Polar Star by thepointers of the Great Dipper; continuethis line beyond about an equaldistance, and you will strike Caph, thelargest star in Cassiopeia, or the Chair,so-called because the stars form theoutline of an inverted chair. Near oneof these the wandering luminary willprobably flash out, "to amaze awondering world."

We may remark, in conclusion, thatthough there are quite a number ofvariable stars, their nature and thecause of their changes are but

imperfectly understood. The Star ofBethlehem has no doubt an orbit, whichbrings it much nearer the earth at sometimes than others. But astronomers donot believe that the mere fact ofdistance explains all changes. There isa star known as Mira, which for elevenmonths is wholly invisible to the nakedeye, then flames forth as a star of thefirst magnitude, and is visible for aperiod of nearly three months, fading atits close into darkness again. The starAlgol, in the constellation Perseus, isusually of the second magnitude, butevery two and a-half days it begins todecline in brilliancy, becomes veryfaint, and remains thus for about threehours, and then waxes bright again.

Possibly this may be caused by theshadow of another star. In 1866 a starof the eighth magnitude, in theNorthern Crown, suddenly flamed upinto extraordinary brilliancy, remainedthus for several months and graduallysubsided. This star was examined withthe spectrum, and showed lines ofburning hydrogen. This led to thetheory, now held, that the increase inbrilliancy of these stars is caused bythe incandescence of this gas. Thesefixed stars are all supposed to be sunsof other systems, and to be surrounded—like our sun—with envelopes offiery gases; from some cause not at allunderstood these gases may, at regularperiods, flame up with fiercer heat than

usual, and produce this appearance ofgreatly increased light. This is a veryinadequate explanation, no doubt, but itis the best that astronomers have yetbeen able to devise in the matter.

A.C.C.

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problem in business.

There are three kinds. We use No. 3.Full leather; assorted colors, with flap,slate pocket, and a renewable accountbook, ruled with divisions or headingsespecially adapted to farmers' use. Theretail price of this book in leather is $1.We will send it FREE to every subscriberto THE PRAIRIE FARMER who sends us $2.Or we will send THREE copies of No. 1,the cheaper issue.

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For nothing lovelier can befound

In woman than to studyhousehold good.—Milton.

HOW THE ROBINCAME.

Happy young friends, sit byme,

Under May's blown apple-tree;Hear a story, strange and old,By the wild red Indians told,How the Robin came to me:

Once a great chief left his son,—

Well-beloved, his only one,When the boy was well-nigh

grown,

In the trial-lodge aloneLeft for tortures long and slowYouths like him must undergo,Who their pride of manhood

test,Lacking water, food and rest,Seven days the fast he kept,Seven nights he never slept.Then the poor boy, wrung with

pain,Weak from nature's overstrain,Faltering, moaned a low

complaint;"Spare me, Father, for I faint!"But the chieftain, haughty-

eyed,Hid his pity in his pride."You shall be a hunter good,

Knowing never lack of food;You shall be a warrior great,Wise as fox, and strong as bear;Many scalps your belt shall

wear,If with patient heart you waitOne day more!" the father said.When, next morn, the lodge he

sought,And boiled samp and moose-

meat broughtFor the boy, he found him dead.

As with grief his grave theymade,

And his bow beside him laid,Pipe and knife, and wampum-

braid—

On the lodge-top overhead,Preening smooth its breast of

redAnd the brown coat that it

wore,Sat a bird, unknown before.And as if with human tongue,"Mourn me not," it said, or

sung;"I, a bird, am still your son,Happier than if hunter fleet,Or a brave, before your feetLaying scalps in battle won.Friend of man, my song shall

cheerLodge and corn-land hovering

near.To each wigwam I shall bring

Tidings of the coming spring;Every child my voice shall

knowIn the moon of melting snow,When the maple's red bud

swells,And the wild flower lifts its

bells.As their fond companionMen shall henceforth own your

son,And my song shall testifyThat of human kin am I."

Thus the Indian legion saithHow, at first, the robin cameWith a sweeter life from death,Bird for boy, and still the same.

If my young friends doubt thatthis

Is the robin's genesis,Not in vain is still the mythIf a truth be found therewith:Unto gentleness belongGifts unknown to pride and

wrong:Happier far than hate is praise

—He who sings than he who

slays.

—J.G. Whittier in St.Nicholas.

After Twenty Years.The following tale of love and faithfulwaiting is told the New York World byits Canton, Ohio, correspondent:

At the residence of Thomas Barker,three miles from this village, twopeople were to-day made man andwife. William Craig left his pretty girlsweetheart in a fit of jealous anger onthe eve of Dec. 9, 1863, returned aweek or two since, found his betrothedstill single and true, and this afternoonthe long deferred marriage wasconsummated. All the surviving friends

of their youth were present, and manyhalf forgotten associates came fromneighboring towns and farms to join inthe merrymaking.

Twenty years ago Will Craig workedon his father's farm near here duringthe day and spent his evenings at theresidence of a farmer neighbor. Theattraction was Mary Barker, a prettyseventeen-year old girl. Craig wasdeeply in love and so was Mary, butlike many other girls she liked to playthe coquette occasionally.

Their wedding-day was set forChristmas, 1863, and the prospectivebride felt secure. One evening,however, the pretty Mary pushed her

coquetry too far. On December 7, 1863,Farmer Barker gave an old-fashioned"sociable" in honor of his daughter'sapproaching wedding. Craig was there,of course, but his happiness wasmarred by the presence of a Pittsburgyouth—a new comer. Mary allowedthis young man to pay her manyattentions.

Craig was madly jealous. After all hisattention he thought his betrothedshowed too much regard for his rival,and as she only laughed at hispleadings he grew angry and threatenedto leave. Her seeming indifferencemade him desperate, and he declared:

"If you dance once more with that

fellow you will not see me again fortwenty years."

"You couldn't leave me for even twentyhours if you tried ever so hard," shereplied, and with a coquettish smile shewent off to dance with his rival.

Craig went home alone that night andthe next day was missing. The mostcareful search failed to reveal any traceof him. The old couple continued to tillthe farm without the aid of the strong-armed son, and at the neighbor's downthe road pretty Mary Barker went abouther household labors with a demure airthat told plainly how she regarded herlover's disappearance. She refused to"keep company" in the old-fashioned

way with any of the young farmers whowould willingly have taken youngCraig's place. She went out very little,kept a cat and grew domestic in herhabits. She had an abiding faith thatCraig would return, and to allentreaties would only shake her headand say: "I am waiting for Will." Thefirm contour of the cheek grewsomewhat less rounded, the springingstep less elastic, but she would notthink of marriage.

Friday, December 7, of this month(December) was just twenty years sincethe disappearance of William Craig. Inthe twilight a bearded man of fortycame up the walk and as Miss Barkeropened the door he put out both hands

and said:

"Mary, I have come again."

"I am sorry you waited so long Will,"was the quiet reply, as she led him intothe house, where each told the story ofthe weary waiting, and Christmas wasfixed upon once more as the day for thewedding.

To the eager questions of old friends asto where he spent the time, he toldthem, as he had already told his wife,how he had at once gone toPhiladelphia, enlisted in the armyunder an assumed name, then, after thewar, gone to Nebraska and taken up atract of valuable land. This he had

diligently cultivated until at present heis in more than comfortablecircumstances. The Craigs will leaveearly in January for their Nebraskahome.

Will Readers Try It.The other day, says an exchange, wecame across the following recipe formaking ink in an English archæologicaljournal. Archæology is the "science ofantiquities," and surely this recipe isold enough to be good. It occurred to usthat during the summer vacation manyof our boys who are longing forsomething to do, might earn somemoney by manufacturing some of thisink and selling it in their neighborhood.At any rate the recipe is a good one andworthy of a trial by old folks as well asyoung people. Here is the recipe, and

the way it was discovered, as told by awriter in Notes and Queries:

While examining a large number ofMSS. of an old scribe some twentyyears ago, I was struck with theclearness and legibility of the writing,owing in a great measure to thepermanent quality of the ink, whichhad not faded in the least, althoughmany of the MSS. were at least twohundred years old. It was remarkable,that the writer must have beencelebrated in his day for the excellenceof his calligraphy, for I met with aletter or two from his correspondents inwhich there was a request for the recipeof the ink he used. I found his recipes,which I copied, and from one of them,

dated in 1654, I have, during the lastfifteen years, made all the ink I haveused. The recipe is as follows:

Rain water, one pint; galls, bruised, oneand one-half ounces; green copperas,six drachms; gum Arabic, ten drachms.The galls must be coarsely powderedand put in a bottle, and the otheringredients and water added. The bottlesecurely stoppered, is placed in thelight (sun if possible), and its contentsare stirred occasionally until the gumand copperas is dissolved; after whichit is enough to shake the bottle daily,and in the course of a month or sixweeks it will be fit for use. I haveventured to add ten drops of carbolicacid to the contents of the bottle, as it

effectually prevents the formation andgrowth of mold, without any detrimentto the quality of the ink, so far as Iknow.

The Secret ofLongevity.

A French medical man who has justdied at the age of one hundred andseven, pledged his word to reveal thesecret of his longevity, when no more,for the benefit of others. It wasstipulated, however, that the preciousenvelope containing the recipe for longlife was not to be opened until he hadbeen buried. The doctor's prescription,now made known, is simple enough;and easy to follow; but whether it is asavailable as he pretends, the Journal of

Chemistry says, is extremely doubtful.He tells his fellow-men, that, if theywish to live for a century or more, theyhave but to pay attention to the positionof their beds. "Let the head of the bedbe placed to the north, the foot to thesouth; and the electric current, which isstronger during the night in thedirection of the north, will workwonders on their constitutions, insurethem healthier rest, strengthen theirnervous system, and prolong theirdays." It is, he adds, to scrupulousattention to the position of his bed thathe ascribes his longevity, theenjoyment of perfect health, and theabsence of infirmity.

How the InventorPlagues His Wife.

A facetious chap connected with one ofour daily newspapers give thefollowing amusing burlesque on thetrials of an inventor's wife:

"It is all very well to talk aboutworking for the heathen," said one, asthe ladies put up their sewing, "but I'dlike to have some one tell me what Iam to do with my husband." "What isthe matter with him?" asked asympathetic old lady. "William is agood man," continued the first, waving

her glasses in an argumentative way,"but William will invent. He goesinventing round from morning tillnight, and I have no peace or comfort. Ididn't object when he invented a fireescape, but I did remonstrate when hewanted me to crawl out of the windowone night last winter to see how itworked. Then he originated a lock forthe door that would not open frommidnight until morning, so as to keepburglars out. The first time he tried ithe caught his coat tail in it, and I had towalk around him with a pan of hotcoals all night to keep him fromfreezing." "Why didn't he take his coatoff?" "I wanted him to, but he stoodaround till the thing opened itself,

trying to invent some way ofunfastening it. That's William'strouble. He will invent. A little whileago he got up a cabinet bedstead thatwould shut and open without handling.It went by clockwork. William got intoit, and up it went. Bless your heart, hestaid in there from Saturday afternoontill Sunday night, when it flew openand disclosed William with the plansand specifications of a patentwashbowl that would tip over just whenit got so full. The result was that I lostall my rings and breastpin down thewaste pipe. Then he got up a crutch fora man that could also be used as anopera-glass. Whenever the man leanedon it up it went, and when he put it to

his eye to find William, it flew out intoa crutch and almost broke the top of hishead off. Once he invented a ropeladder to be worn as guard chain andlengthened out with a spring. He put itround his neck, but the spring got looseand turned it into a ladder and almostchoked him to death. Then he inventeda patent boot heel to crack nuts with,but he mashed his thumb with it andgave it up. Why, he has a washtub fullof inventions. One of them is aprayerbook that always opens at theright place. We tried it one morning atchurch, but the wheels and springsmade such a noise that the sexton tookWilliam by the collar and told him toleave his fire engines at home when he

came to worship. The other day I sawhim going up the street with a model ofa grain elevator sticking out of his hippocket, and he is fixing up an improvedshot tower in our bed-room."

Recipes.A HOT shovel held over furnitureremoves white spots.

A PASTE of equal parts of sifted ashes,clay, salt, and a little water cementscracks in stoves and ovens.

FRIED POTATOES: Chop fine cold boiledpotatoes; heat some butter in a fryingpan and put the potatoes in. A fewminutes before taking them from thefire stir in some well beaten eggs.Serve hot.

SARDINES picked up fine, and mixed with

cold boiled ham also minced fine, andall well seasoned with a regularMayonnaise dressing, make a deliciousfilling for sandwiches.

RYE BREAD: Make sponge as for wheatbread; let it rise over night; then mixup with rye flour, not as stiff as wheatbread. Place in baking pans; let rise,and bake half an hour longer thanwheat bread.

ONE of the best ways to cure sore throatis as follows: Wring a cloth out of saltand cold water, and keeping it quitewet bind tightly about the neck. Coverthis with a dry cloth. It is best to usethis remedy in the night.

A DELICIOUS hot sauce for puddings ismade of six tablespoonfuls of sugar,two of butter, and one egg; beat thebutter, sugar, and the yolk of the eggtogether, then add the white beaten to afroth; lastly stir in a tea-cupful ofboiling water and a teaspoonful ofvanilla.

A DISH FOR BREAKFAST: Take six goodcooking apples, cut them in slices one-fourth of an inch thick; have a pan offresh, hot lard ready, drop the slices inand fry till brown; sprinkle a littlesugar over them and serve hot.

A LITTLE curry-powder in choppedpickle gives a delicious flavor to it. Atablespoonful of the powder to four

quarts of pickle is about the rightquantity to use, unless you like to usethe curry in place of pepper; then atleast twice this quantity should be putin.

A GOOD way to extract the juice of beeffor an invalid is to broil the beef on agridiron for a few minutes, and thensqueeze the juice from it with a lemon-squeezer. Put a little salt with it. Thismay be given, as the sick one prefers,cold or hot, or it may be frozen, andgiven in small lumps.

ROLLS: Flour, two quarts; sugar, onetablespoonful; one half cup of yeast;one pint of scalded milk, or water ifmilk is scarce, and a little salt. Set to

rise until light; then knead until hard,and set to rise, and when wanted makein rolls. Place a piece of butter betweenthe folds and bake in a slow oven.

FOR EARACHE.—A writer in theDruggists' Circular says: "The remedywhich I here offer has, after repeatedtrials, never failed to afford almostinstant relief. It is perfectly simple,easy of application, costs but little, andcan be procured at any drug store:Olive oil, 1 ounce; chloroform, 1drachm. Mix, and shake well together.Then pour twenty-five or thirty dropsinto the ear, and close it up with a pieceof raw cotton to exclude the air andretain the mixture."

The Prairie Farmer

AND

Youth's Companion

One Year, $3 for the two.

It is not required that both papers besent to one address, nor to the same

post-office.

Address PRAIRIE FARMER PUB. CO.,

150 Monroe Street, Chicago.

Pamphlets, Etc.,Received.

Gunnison, Colorado's Bonanza County,by John K. Hallowell, Geologist,Denver, Col. Price 50 cents, postpaid.

Midland Florida: The Eden of theSouth. By "Carl" Webber, New York.

United States Consular Reports, No.35, for November, 1883.

The Saskatchewan Fife Wheat: Itshistory, from its first importation fromthe Saskatchewan Valley, in Manitoba,

six years ago, till the present time. ByW.J. Abernethy.

Price list of Huntsville nurseries,Huntsville, Ala.

Oscar Close, Greendale. Catalogue ofnurseries, Worcester, Mass.

Price list of L.R. Bryant's cider vinegarworks, Princeton, Ill.

Vich's Floral Guide. Here it is again,brighter and better than ever; its coveralone, with its delicate tintedbackground and its dish of gracefullyarranged flowers, would entitle it to apermanent place in every household.The 1884 edition is an elegant book of150 pages, three colored plates of

flowers and vegetables, and more than1,000 illustrations of the choicestplants, flowers, and vegetables, withdirections for growing. The price, only10 cents, can be deducted from the firstorder sent for goods. Rochester, N.Y.

The Great Rock Island Cook Book,dedicated to the women of America,Chicago, Rock Island and PacificRailway. This book contains a selectionof the most useful recipes and othervaluable information in the culinaryart. It will be found especially valuablefor the young housekeepers, as they canhardly fail to become good cooks withsuch a guide.

Buist's Almanac and Garden Manual

for 1884, Philadelphia. This little bookis in its fifty-sixth year, and is one ofthe best of its kind published. Itcontains a full descriptive list (withcuts) of all kinds of vegetables, andmany kinds of flowers.

Report of the crops of the year,December, 1883. Department ofAgriculture, Washington, D.C.

The Household Magazine for Januarycomes to us in its usual bright, readableform. It is an unusually good numberand will be enjoyed by the ladies.

Catalogue of Clydesdale and ClevelandBay horses. Imported and bred by theDoor Prairie Live Stock Association,

Door Village, La Porte, Ind.

REMEMBER that $2.00 pays for THE

PRAIRIE FARMER from this date toJanuary 1, 1885: For $2.00 you get itfor one year and a copy of THE PRAIRIE

FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED

STATES, FREE! This is the most liberaloffer ever made by any first-classweekly agricultural paper in thiscountry.

THE CITY CAT.He is gaunt and thin, with a

ragged coat,A scraggy tail, and a

hunted look;No songs of melody burst from

his throatAs he seeks repose in

some quiet nook—A safe retreat from this world

of sin,And all of its boots and

stones and that—For the life of a cat is a life of

din,

If he is

He is grumpy and stumpy, andold and gray,

With a sleepy look in hislonely eye,

(The other he lost at a matinee—

Knocked out by a bootfrom a windowhigh.)

Wherever he goes, he neverknows—

Quarter or pause in themidnight spree,

For the life of a cat is a life ofblows,

If he is

He is pelted by boys if he stirsabroad,

He is chased by dogs if hedares to roam.

His grizzled bosom has neverthawed

'Neath the kindly blare ofthe light of home.

His life's a perpetual warfarewaged

On balcony, back yard

fence, and flat;For the life of a cat is a life

outraged,If he is

The country cat is a differentbeast.

Petted, well-housed,demure, and sleek;

Three times a day he is calledto feast,

And why should he not bequiet and meek?

No dreams of urchins, tin cans,and war,

Disturb his sensuous sleepon the mat;

Ah! cat life is a thing worthliving for,

If he

And even when dead, the catWith strident members

uneasy liesIn some alley-way, and seems

staring atA coming foe with his

wild wide eye,Nobody owns him and nobody

cares—Another dead "Tom," and

who mourns forthat,

If he'sonlyacitycat.

—Providence Press.

Amusing Tricks.THE FRUIT CANDLE.

Procure a good, large apple or turnip,and cut from it a piece of the shape toresemble the butt-end of a tallowcandle; then from a nut of some kind—an almond is the best—whittle out asmall peg of about the size and shapeof a wick end. Stick the peg in theapple and you have a very fairrepresentation of a candle. The wickyou can light, and it will burn for atleast a minute. In performing youshould have your candle in a clean

candlestick, show it plainly to theaudience, and then put it into yourmouth, taking care to blow it out, andmunch it up. If you think best, you canblow the candle out and allow the wickto cool, and it will look, with its burnedwick, so natural that even the sharpesteyes can not distinguish it from thegenuine article.

Once, at a summer resort inMassachusetts, I made use of thiscandle with considerable effect. Whileperforming a few parlor tricks toamuse some friends, I pretended toneed a light. A confederate left theroom, and soon returned with a lanterncontaining one of these applecounterfeits.

"Do you call that a candle?" I said.

"Certainly," he replied.

"Why, there is scarcely a mouthful."

"A mouthful? Rather a disagreeablemouthful, I guess."

"You have never been in Russia, Ipresume."

"Never."

"Then you don't know what is good."

"Good?"

"Yes, good. Why, candle ends, with thewick a little burned to give them aflavor, are delicious. They always serve

them up before dinner in Russia as akind of relish. It is considered bad tastein good society there to ask a friend tosit down to dinner without offering himthis appetizer."

"The bad taste would be in the relish, Ithink."

"Not at all. Try a bit."

I took the candle out of the lantern, andextended it toward my confederate,who shrank back with disgust.

"Well," I said, "if you won't have it, I'lleat it myself." And so saying, I put itinto my mouth and munched it up,amid the cries of surprise and horror ofthe assembled party. Two old maids

insisted on looking into my mouth tosee whether it was not concealed there.

Having soaked a piece of thread incommon salt water, tie it to a smallfinger-ring. When you apply the flameof a candle to the thread it will burn toashes and yet sustain the ring.

A DIFFICULT CIRCLE TO JUMPFROM.

Take a piece of chalk, and ask, if youmake a circle, whether any boystanding in it thinks he can jump out ofit. As soon as one proposes to do so,bring him into the center of the room,draw a circle with the chalk around his

jacket, and say, "Now jump out of it!"

AN IMPOSSIBLE WALK.

Ask one young lady in the companywhether she thinks, if she clasped herhands, she could walk out of the room.On her saying she could, request her topass her arm round the leg of the tableor piano, join her hands, and walkaway.

THE HAT TRICK.

Fill a small glass with water, cover itwith a hat, and profess your readinessto drink it without touching the hat. Putyour head under the table, make a

noise, as if drinking, rise, and wipeyour lips. The company, thinking youhave drunk the water, one of them willcertainly take up the hat to see. As soonas the hat is removed, take up the glassand drink its contents. "There!" sayyou, "you see I have not touched thehat."

THE INCOMBUSTIBLE THREAD.

Wind some linen thread tightly round asmooth pebble, and secure the end;then, if you expose it to the flame of alamp or candle, the thread will notburn; for the caloric (or heat) traversesthe thread, without remaining in it, andattacks the stone. The same sort of

trick may be performed with a poker,round which is evenly pasted a sheet ofpaper. You can poke the fire with itwithout burning the paper.

AN IMPOSSIBLE JUMP.

Take a ruler, or any other piece ofwood, and ask whether, if you laid itdown on the ground, any of thecompany could jump over it. Of courseone or two will express their readinessto jump over so small an obstruction.Then lay the ruler on the ground, closeagainst the wall, and tell them to try.

A DIFFICULT LOAD TO CARRY.

Take a piece of wood, such as a lucifermatch, and say to one of the company,"How long do you think it would takeyou to carry this piece of wood into thenext room?" "Half a minute." perhapsone will reply. "Well, try, then," sayyou; "carry it." You then cut off littlepieces, and give them to him one byone. He will soon be tired of theexperiment.

TO TURN A GLASS OF WATERUPSIDE DOWN WITHOUTSPILLING ITS CONTENTS.

Fill a glass carefully, place a piece ofpaper on the top, place your hand onthe paper, and tilt the glass round

sharply, when it will be found that thepressure of the air upward on the paperwill retain the water. The glass maythen be held by the bottom.

Health and Home says: I want to tellyou of something very funny to do, ifyou have a little brother or sister whodoes not mind dressing up and standingstill for a few moments. My auntshowed me how to do it the other day,when sister Nelly had a birthday party.We took little brother Tommy out intothe library and stood him upon a highwooden stool, and dressed him up veryfinely in mamma's clothes. The stoolmade him so full that the dress was ofjust the right length. Then Uncle Ned,telling him to stand straight and firm,

carried him, stool and all, into theparlor. I wish you could have heard thegirls and boys laugh! He had such acomical look—with his tall body andlittle round face—just like some ofthose French Parian figures. One littlegirl handed him a fan, and then it wastoo funny to see the tall lady fanherself affectedly with her very small,dimpled hands. All the boys and girlsjust shouted.—Young People.

Bright Sayings.A writer in the School-Boy Magazinehas gathered together the followingdictionary words as defined by certainsmall people:

Bed time—Shut-eye time.

Dust—Mud with the juice squeezedout.

Fan—A thing to brush warm off with.

Fins—A fish's wings.

Ice—Water that staid out in the coldand went to sleep.

Nest-Egg—The egg that the old henmeasures to make new ones.

Pig—A hog's little boy.

Salt—What makes your potato tastebad when you don't put any on.

Snoring—Letting off sleep.

Stars—The moon's eggs.

Wakefulness—Eyes all the timecoming unbuttoned.

IF you would have good health, go outin the sunshine. Sickness is worse than

freckles.

HYPOCHONDRIA.

The Mysterious Element in the Mindthat Arouses Vague Apprehensions—

What Actually Causes It.

The narrative below, by a prominentscientist, touches a subject of universal

importance. Few people are free fromthe distressing evils whichhypochondria brings. They come at alltimes and are fed by the very flamewhich they themselves start. They are adread of coming derangement causedby present disorder and bring aboutmore suicides than any other one thing.Their first approach should be carefullyguarded.

Editors Herald:

It is seldom I appear in print andI should not do so now did I notbelieve myself in possession oftruths, the revelation of whichwill prove of inestimable value tomany who may see these lines.

Mine has been a tryingexperience. For many years I wasconscious of a want of nervetone. My mind seemed sluggishand I felt a certain falling off inmy natural condition ofintellectual acuteness, activity,and vigor. I presume this is thesame way in which aninnumerable number of otherpeople feel, who, like myself, arephysically below par, but likethousands of others I paid noattention to these annoyingtroubles, attributing them tooverwork, and resorting to a glassof beer or a milk punch, whichwould for the time invigorate and

relieve my weariness.

After awhile the stimulantscommenced to disagree with mystomach, my wearinessincreased, and I was compelled toresort to other means to findrelief. If a physician is sufferinghe invariably calls anotherphysician to prescribe for him, ashe cannot see himself as he seesothers; so I called a physician,and he advised me to try a littlechemical food, or a bottle ofhypophosphates. I took two orthree bottles of the chemical foodwith no apparent benefit. Mylassitude and indispositionseemed to increase, my food

distressed me. I suffered fromneuralgic pains in different partsof my body, my muscles becamesore, my bowels wereconstipated, and my prospects forrecovery were not very flattering.I stated my case to anotherphysician, and he advised me totake five to ten drops ofMagende's solution of morphine,two or three times a day, for theweakness and distress in mystomach, and a blue pill everyother night to relieve theconstipation. The morphineproduced such a deathly nauseathat I could not take it, and theblue pill failed to relieve my

constipation.

In this condition I passed nearly ayear, wholly unfit for business,while the effort to think wasirksome and painful. My bloodbecame impoverished, and Isuffered from incapacity with anappalling sense of misery andgeneral apprehension of comingevil. I passed sleepless nights andwas troubled with irregularaction of the heart, a constantlyfeverish condition, and the mostexcruciating tortures in mystomach, living for days on ricewater and gruel, and, indeed, thedigestive functions seemed to beentirely destroyed.

It was natural that while in thiscondition I should becomehypochondrical, and fearfulsuggestions of self-destructionoccasionally presentedthemselves. I experienced aninsatiable desire for sleep, but onretiring would lie awake for along time, tormented withtroubled reflections, and when atlast I did fall into an uneasyslumber of short duration, it wasdisturbed by horrid dreams. Inthis condition I determined totake a trip to Europe, but in spiteof all the attentions of physiciansand change of scene and climate,I did not improve, and so

returned home with no earthlyhope of ever again being able toleave the house.

Among the numerous friends thatcalled on me was one who hadbeen afflicted somewhatsimilarly to myself, but who hadbeen restored to perfect health.Upon his earned recommendationI began the same treatment hehad employed but with little hopeof being benefited. At first, Iexperienced little, if any, relief,except that it did not distress mystomach as other remedies oreven food had done. I continuedits use, however, and after thethird bottle could see a marked

change for the better, and nowafter the fifteenth bottle I amhappy to state that I am againable to attend to my professionalduties. I sleep well, nothingdistresses me that I eat, I go fromday to day without a feeling ofweariness or pain, indeed I am awell man, and wholly through theinfluence of H.H. Warner & Co'sTippecanoe. I consider thisremedy as taking the highestpossible rank in the treatment ofall diseases marked by debility,loss of appetite, and all othersymptoms of stomach anddigestive disorders. It isoverwhelmingly superior to the

tonics, bitters, and dyspepsiacures of the day, and is certain tobe so acknowledged by the publicuniversally. Thousands of peopleto-day are going to prematuregraves with these seriousdiseases, that I have abovedescribed, and to all such I wouldsay: "Do not let your goodjudgment be governed by yourprejudices, but give the abovenamed remedy a fair and patienttrial, and I believe you will notonly be rewarded by a perfectrestoration to health, but you willalso be convinced that themedical profession does notpossess all the knowledge there is

embraced in medical science."

A.G. RICHARDS, M.D.,

468 Tremont street, Boston,Mass.

CompiledCorrespondence.

E.B.F., SCOTIA, NEB., writes: The weather,so far this winter, has been extremelywarm. No snow to exceed one inchsince October. Cattle and hogs doingfinely. Corn planted early is a goodcrop both as to quality and quantity,but late planted is soft. Wheat and oatswere an extra good crop, wheatyielding from 25 to 35 bushels peracre, and oats from 50 to 75 bushels.

E.B.F.

COBDEN, ILL., Jan. 6.—We have beenthrough the coldest weather everexperienced here since weather recordshave been kept, which is twenty-fiveyears or more. Yesterday morning themercury reached 24 degrees below atmy house, which is 200 feet higherthan the village. Reports from lowersituations run down to 26, 28, with oneof 30. This is six degrees lower thanthe lowest record ever made here,which was twenty years ago, when onthe 1st of January it marked 18 belowat my house, with some other recordstwo or three degrees lower. At thattime peach orchards were badly killed.

There can be no doubt that such is thecase now. And if it has beenproportionately cold north, I fear thatthe injury to all kinds of fruit treesmust have been very serious.

PARRER EARLE.

KANE CO., Jan 7.—The weather has beenintensely cold here since the 3d instant.The thermometer has been from 4 to 28degs. below zero at 7 a.m., and from 2to 16 degs. below at 2 p.m. The 5th wasthe coldest. The mercury dropped to 28degs. below at sunrise; in some places32 degs. below. On the 6th, 22 degs.

below at 7 a.m.; at 12 m. 4 degs. below;at 5 p.m. 10 degs. below. Domesticanimals were kept closely housed,except while being watered. Wherethey were exposed to the weather, theyfroze. We have not had such continuedcold weather since January 1864, whenfor ten successive days it was intenselycold. Some farmers are short of coarsefeed, and are shipping bran andmiddlings from Minneapolis, and cornfrom Kansas and Nebraska. Manyfarmers who were shipping milk toChicago, are now taking it to thecheese factories. There has been anover supply of milk in the city. Thedividends for October were from $1.16to $1.25 per cwt.

J.P.B.

The Prairie Farmer

AND

Youth's Companion

One Year, $3 for the two.

It is not required that both papers besent to one address, nor to the same

post-office.

Address PRAIRIE FARMER PUB. CO.,

150 Monroe Street, Chicago.

BREEDERS DIRECTORY.

The following list embraces the namesof responsible and reliable Breeders intheir line, and parties wishing topurchase or obtain information can feelassured that they will be honorablydealt with:

CATTLE.Jersey.

Mills, Springfield,

Charles F. IllinoisHORSES.

Clydesdales.Mills,

Charles F.Springfield,

IllinoisSWINE.

Berkshire.Mills,

Charles F.Springfield,

IllinoisChesterWhites.

W.A.Gilbert

WauwatosaWis.

SHEEP.Cotswold.

Mills, Springfield,

Charles F. Illinois

LIVE STOCK, Etc.

Jerseys for Sale.

One heifer, 2 years old in May, due tocalve in April. Heifer, 2 years in June,and due to calve in April. Cow, 4 yearsold, due to calve in May. Bull calf 5months old, and one good yearling bull.Address

L.P. WHEELER. Quincy, Ill.

SCOTCH COLLIE

SHEPHERD PUPS,

—FROM—

IMPORTED AND TRAINEDSTOCK

—ALSO—

Newfoundland Pups and Rat TerrierPups.

Concise and practical printed

instruction in Training young ShepherdDogs, is given to buyers of ShepherdPuppies; or will be sent on receipt of25 cents in postage stamps.

For Printed Circular, giving fullparticulars about Shepherd Dogs,enclose a 3-cent stamp, and address

N.H. PAAREN,

P.O. Box 326, CHICAGO. ILL

HOUSE PLANS FOREVERYBODY.

By S.B. REED, Architect.

One of the most popular Architecturalbooks ever issued, giving a wide rangeof design from a dwelling costing $250up to $8,000, and adapted to farm,village, and town residences. It givesan

Estimate of the Quantity of EveryArticle Used

In the construction, and probable costof constructing any one of thebuildings presented. Profuselyillustrated. Price, postpaid, $1.50.Address

PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHINGCO., Chicago

MAP

Of the United States and Canada,Printed in Colors, size 4×2½ feet,also a copy of THE PRAIRIEFARMER for one year. Sent toany address for $2.00.

AGENTS WANTEDEVERYWHERE to solicitsubscriptions for this paper. WritePRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO., Chicago,for particulars.

THE WRONG PEW.There's one who wrote in years

gone by in clear andringing rhyme—

A poet of an elder day and of adistant clime—

Who sang of mortal misery, ofsufferers long and lorn,

"Man's inhumanity to manmakes countlessthousands mourn!"

The hand that held that goldenpen—that goldentongue—is dust;

A dust that's dear to hearts thathold his homely truthsin trust;

And you who read this simpletale of wrath, and ruth,and wrong,

May hear the echo of the sobthat breaks upon mysong!

I sat upon the Sabbath-daywithin the sacred fane,

The sunlight through thewindows poured likerainbow-tinted rain;

While maids and matronspassing fair, and men ofhigh degree,

All fashion's proudest votaries,knelt low on bendedknee.

And there was one of staturetall, whose robe ofsilken sheen

Draped quiet grace andcourtesy that mighthave shamed a queen,

Save only that her pallid face,and drooping, tear-dimmed eyes,

Looked like the Peri's, waitingby the gates of Paradise.

What is it moves that jeweledthrong of dainty

worshippers?Their hearts have probed the

cruel wrong that ranklessore in hers;

For she who sat beside herthere—ah, heart ofhardest stone!

Swept forth with stern andhaughty stare, and lefther there alone.

Then one, God bless herwoman's heart! theloveliest woman there,

Stepped down the aisle withstately tread, and calmand steadfast air;

With gentle voice, and tender

eyes distilling heaven'sown dew,

She whispered to the shrinkinggirl, "I've room, myfriend, for you."

I think earth's sorest sinnersneed a judge less sternthan they

Who wear their ermine claspedacross a breast ofcommon clay!

I think heaven's loveliestangels come among uscircling down,

To bear the cruel earthly cross,and then regain thecrown.

Alas! alas! for paltry pridearrayed in rich attire,

And woe is me for priestlypraise which is ourheart's desire!

Would we could seek, likepilgrims gray, besidethat sunlit sea,

The simple faith that lit theshores of sacredGalilee!

Sometimes it seems that agespast our souls havesojourned here;

But God's great angel guardsthe gate and standsbeside the bier;

For when some mystic touchawakes the chords ofmemory,

His awful hand holds down thenote, and clasps thequivering key.

Bend low, bend low the loftybrow and bring thesack-cloth gown;

Throw dust and ashes on ourheads, and through thesinful town;

I think the green earth growsmore gray, beneath itsgolden sun,

Because the good God sits inheaven, and sees such

evil done.

—Edward Renaud.

YIK KEE.After father died some ten years ago, Ifound, that for three years we had beenliving on credit. I was eighteen, strongand well, but did not know how towork. In the little back room of theNew York tenement house (by the way,the landlady seized my clothes for ourrent) I considered my future. I hadinherited a great faith in relatives, frommy father, so I wrote to seven. Ireceived six polite notes, telling me togo to work, and the following letter:

JONESBORO, COLORADO—JACKSON'S

RANCH.

DEAR NELL.—I'm your cousinJack. Your father once give memoney to come out West. I'vetook up land, got a comfortablehome, no style or frills, but goodfolks to live with and healthygrub. I've got the best wife youever see and seven fineyoungsters. The city ain't noplace for a friendless girl. Wifewants you to come. She'll be amother to you. Come right off.I'll meet you at Denver.

JACK.

Inclosed was a check sufficient to

defray expenses; so I started. Denverwas then only a large town and thedepot a barn-like structure. I got out ofthe cars and stood bewildered amongall the emigrants and their bundles.Some one touched me on the shoulder—a roughly-dressed, broad-shoulderedman with long, blonde beard and bigblue eyes.

"Are you Nell?" he said.

"Yes; and you're Cousin Jack."

"I knew you," he said, as he led theway, "by your black clothes an'sorrerful look, an' them big blue eyes,like yer father's as two peas. We'll gitthe shader outer 'em when we get

home. Yer father was a mighty goodman. Bless yer dear heart, don't letthem tears come. This 'ere's a drycountry, we don't waste no water."

Comforting me in his kind, rough way,he reached his team, a big greenwagon, drawn by two wild-lookingsteeds which I afterward knew to bebronchos. A fat, blonde boy, abouttwelve, held the reins.

"That's Ted," said Cousin Jack. "Ted,this is Miss Nell, yer cousin; give her ahug." The fat boy solemnly obeyed.

After this he seemed to have a specialclaim on my affections because he metme first. Jack's wife was a jolly, plump

woman, with brown eyes and curlyhair. She always had a baby in her armsand another at her heels. She adoredJack. I never knew them to have aquarrel. I soon grew to love the life atthe ranch. I liked the big, half-finishedhouse, its untidyness and comfort—itspleasant, healthy atmosphere. I lovedthe children, the household pets—Shep,the sagacious dog; Thad, the clever cat;the hens and sheep; the horses Dolly,Dot, and Daisy, that did the plowing,and the marketing at Denver, twelvemiles away, and were so gentle andkind we used to ride them withoutsaddle or bridle. I learned that cattlegrew fat on the dry-looking grass andgave the best of milk. I learned to love

the broad plains and the glorioussunsets, and to watch the distant bandsof Indians with half fear, half interest. Ihelped Cousin Mary, sewed andcooked, kept the house and childrenneat, and lifted many burdens from herweary shoulders. We were so happy.The children and I took long walksover the plains, and Ted and I tookmany rides on Dolly and Dot, and inthe long winter evenings I told thechildren stories. Occasionally HarryWhite came over to visit us from hisranch five miles away. He lived withhis old mother; he and Jack were dearfriends. Harry needed a wife, Jack usedto say, winking at me.

One day Jack went to Denver for

supplies. He went alone, and cominghome later than usual, Ted and I andbaby Mame went out to meet him. Jacklooked sober and guilty, and seemed illat ease. If he ever drank, I should havethought him intoxicated. In the wagonwas a queer-shaped heap under a horse-blanket. I was sure it moved. When wegot behind the barn Jack said,sheepishly, avoiding my eye.

"Well, Ted, I calkerlate I've gotsu'thing in that there waggin that 'ulastonish yer marm."

Little Mame pulled the blanket off theheap; she had been peeping under it allthe while she was in the back of thewagon. There lay a human being. Such

an object; short and squat, dressed in aqueer blue blouse with flowing sleeves,wide trousers and queer wooden shoes.He had small, black eyes, a shavenpoll, from which depended a long thinqueue. His countenance was batteredand bruised, his clothes torn andbloody.

"There was a row down to Denver,"said Jack; "the Christian folks stove inthese 'ere heathen's winders, tore theirhouses down, an' killed half on 'em. Icleared out soon as I could. When I gothalf way home I heard a noise back o'me, and out crawled this thing. I was sodumfounded I couldn't speak. Hethought I was going ter send him back,an' he fell ter cryin' an' jabberin' in that

yap of his, an' clingin' onter my han' an'kissin' of it. It sorter turned mystomach. I told him ter set down, givehim some crackers ter eat, covered himup an' told him he could live with me.What do you s'pose marm'll say?"

"Oh! Cousin Jack," I said, "of course,she will not care. Your home is arefuge for all the wretched andunfortunate."

"Now don't, Nell," he said, turning asred as a rose, and busying himselfabout the harness. The Celestial lookedat us solemnly: Mame toddled up tohim. He looked at her curiously, butdid not move.

"Get out, John," said Jack, "you needn'tbe scared no more; we're to home."

He got out stiffly, and, to my surprise,turned and lifted the baby down. Shecaught his pig-tail, and pulled it in wilddelight. He seemed grieved when I tookher away. When Jack told Mary, thegood soul found a thousand reasonswhy he should stay, and hurried tomake him a bed in the attic. TheCelestial did not say much, but whenJack called him "John," he smiled a sadsmile.

"Melican man callee John. Hump. YikKee."

So with due consideration for his

feelings we addressed him as Yik Kee.He was of great use. He helped takecare of the children, did the washing(Mary did not fancy his method ofsprinkling clothes) and helped Jack onthe farm. We made him one of thefamily. He was always pleasant andsmiling, but was a man of few words.

Cousin Jack added much to his incomeby trading in hides. Ranchmen living ata distance sold their hides to him andJack sold them to traders who camearound at certain times in the year.Harry White was a partner in thebusiness. He used to go on a sort ofround-up and visit the ranches all overthe country. The cattle of the ranchmenroamed in vast herds over the plains,

protected only by the brand of theowner. Cattle stealing was frequentlypracticed. Offenders in this respectwere shown no mercy. They wereconvicted, tried, and executed only inthe court of Judge Lynch. I neverblamed the ranchmen for this; it wasimpossible to guard the herds in thevast area over which they traversed,and the cattle must be protected insome way. Gil Mead was a wealthyranchman, who lived about ten milesfrom us. He owned the largest herd ofcattle on the plains. They were brandedwith the vowels of his name. E.A.,which could be recognized anywhere.He always shipped his cattle East to hisbrother in Chicago. I feared the man.

He was tall and gaunt, with deep-setblack eyes and low forehead. His homewas unhappy; his wife cross and ugly,and his children wild and unruly. Thismade him more than commonlydisagreeable.

I think it was in the fall of '74 thatHarry White brought the big load ofhides to Jack. Both were much pleasedat the bargain they made. Harry gaveglowing accounts of a new customer—a ranchman from Chicago, who hadtaken up an abandoned homestead. Hehad purchased many cattle from hiscousin, Gil Mead, and hoped to rivalhim in the number and quality of hisherd. Jack packed the hides away tokeep till December, when we expected

the dealer.

One afternoon, not long after this, GilMead rode up to the house, lookingvery agreeable and pleasant. A coupleof strangers, also ranchmen, were withhim. They wanted to look at the hides,one of the men being a trader, Gil said.Jack was in Denver, so Yik Kee and Iwent to the barn with them. Theylooked the hides over carefully, andconversed in low tones, Gil with asuppressed oath. Finally they thankedus courteously and took their leave.

"Hump; no goodee," said Yik Kee, buthe wouldn't say any more.

At five that evening, when we were at

supper, a crowd of twenty-five or thirtymen rode up on horseback. Jack cameout and met them, inviting them in totake supper, in his generous, hospitableway. They wanted him to go to Denverwith them, there was to be a meetingthere of importance to ranchmen. Themeeting would be at eight. They hadbrought with them an extra horse forJack. Mary looked around for Yik Keeto help her, but he had mysteriouslydisappeared.

I faintly remembered seeing his white,horrified face peering around the barnat the horses. I noted the visitors atelittle—the food seemed to choke them.Some of them watched Mary and thebaby in a queer sort of way. When

Jack, as was his custom, kissed his wifeand babies good-by, one of the visitors,an oldish man, coughed huskily, andsaid: "Blest if I kin stan' this." They allrode off, Jack the merriest of all,waving his hat till he was out of sight.

When we were clearing up the unusualquantity of dishes, Yik Kee appeared atthe end window and beckoned me. Ifollowed him out. Ted was with him.Behind the barn were the three horsessaddled. Shep was with them, releasedfrom confinement, where he had beensecured from following his master.

"Foller 'em," said Ted in an excitedwhisper. "Yik's afraid they're up tosomething."

"What is it, Yik?" I said, sternly. "Nofooling now."

For answer he twisted his long pig-tailaround his neck, tying it under his leftear in a significant manner.

"Hump, he hangee; stealee cow."

"Oh, Mary," I sobbed, remembering GilMead's visit, and his strange actions,and dimly seeing what Yik Kee meant,"I must tell Mary," I said, wildly.

"Hump, no," said Yik Kee. "Yelleesick," and he closed his eyes in a die-away sort of manner. "Go now—toolatee."

We mounted.

"Mother'll think we're gone to ride,"said Ted, as we galloped over theplains. He was deathly pale, poor littlefellow, but he sat erect and firm. I sawhis father's big Colt's revolver stickingout of his pocket. He was a determinedboy. Even in my despair, in my wildhope that I could save Jack by beggingon my knees, that I could cling to him,that they would have to kill me first, Icould not help a smile at the comicalfigure Yik Kee presented on horseback.His loose garments flapped in the wind,his long pig-tail flew out behind, andhe bobbed up and down like a kernel ofcorn in a corn-hopper.

It was a soft, warm night, lighted onlyby the pale young moon and the

twinkling stars. We rode as fast as ourhorses could gallop. Shep was close atour heels. Way ahead, when we reachedthe top of a little hill, we saw the crowdof horsemen. They were riding towardDenver. We galloped on with renewedzeal. They turned into a cross roadleading to Mead's ranch. On this roadwas a bridge over Dry Gulch, whichwas in the spring a roaring torrent.Beyond the bridge, across the fields,was the hay-stack of Mead, where wasstored sufficient to feed his domesticcattle through the winter. We at lastreached the turn in the road. They werethree miles in advance, riding rapidly.Yik Kee stopped at the turn. "Hump!Can't catchee. Hangee at bridge. You

goee!" He turned his horse and spedacross the field, deserting us basely.

We rode on, Ted and I. He was pale andstill; my cheeks were burning. Weneared the bridge. The high mound ofearth before us hid us from sight. Westopped our horses and listened. Themen had lighted torches, some werepreparing a rough gallows under thebridge; two were uncoiling rope; someheld the horses of the others beyond thebridge. The men were masked now, andI could see by the lighted torches thatthis number was increased. Jack wasvery white and sad, but he showed nofear.

"I am innocent, gentlemen," he said,

slowly, "but I refuse to tell you ofwhom I bought the hides."

I understood him. Could Harry Whitebe a cattle thief? I felt as if I weregoing mad.

"What shall we do?" whispered Ted,cocking his revolver?

Suddenly a bright red light illuminatedthe heavens, followed by clouds ofblack smoke and a queer cracklingnoise. A yell from the men—GilMead's voice above the rest. The hay-stack was on fire. It seemed to me inthe gale around it that I could see aforeign-looking human vanishingacross the plain.

The men mounted their horses, GilMead at the head, and set off across thefields at a mad gallop. They must savethe stack. They left Jack, bound handand foot, and guarded by one man.

Shep, the wonderful dog, had kept byus until now, slinking in the darkshadows. Now, gliding sidewise andstill, he reached the man on guardwhose back was to us, and with nowarning growl caught him by the throatwith strong white teeth that couldchoak a coyote in a second. The man,who was in a sitting posture, fell backwith a groan. Ted struck him over thehead with the butt of the revolver, andpulled off the dog. I cut Jack's bondswith a knife. He looked at us

wonderingly and staggered to his feet.

"Never mind how we came, Jack," Isaid; "quick, mount the horse beyondthe bridge, and ride to Denver for yourlife. They will not harm a woman andchild."

"Harry White," he muttered, the loyalsoul that even now could think ofanother's danger.

"I will tell him."

"No, no; not of this—only say, if hestole the cattle, to fly the country. Theywill find out, sooner or later."

He galloped down the road. Ted and Imounted, calling off Shep, who sat on

his haunches watching the unconsciousman, and then we, too, sped down theroad. The hay-stack was giving outgreat columns of black smoke, but thefire was dead.

Ahead of us was a riderless horse,Dolly, who greeted her master with ajoyful whinny. Where was Yik Kee?Then Dot, my horse, shied from theroad at a recumbent black figure. It wasthe indomitable Yik Kee, who hadcrawled all the way from the stack onhis stomach, so that he could not beseen, after lying in the ditch till theblaze had faded out. "Hump! nocatchee Chinee; heap sore," he said,laconically rubbing his stomach.

He mounted Dolly, and we rode on toWhite's ranch. Harry rushed out at thesound of horses' feet, at midnight.There, under the twinkling stars Ilooked into his eyes, and I told him thewhole story. He showed no guilt, butonly said we must stay the night at hisranch, for the men would come back toJack's for him, and then mounting hisfleet colt rode off down the road. Icomforted his mother as best I could.At day-break we rode home.

Mary was in a wild state of alarm.Where had we been? Where was Jack?and how cruel we were to leave heralone. She said that at one o'clock threemasked men had come to the house andsearched it and the premises, and had

not molested her or the children, onlyasking where Jack was, very sternlyand sharply.

At noon Jack, Harry, the sheriff, and aparty of armed men from Denver rodeup, stopping only a moment to tell methey would be back at night. I dared nottell Mary, and she worried all theafternoon at their strange conduct. Atnight Jack and Harry came home,looking tired but happy. Then Jack toldMary, and she clung to him as thoughshe could never let him go.

It seemed the pleasing ranchman fromChicago was one of a band of cattlethieves. He sold the hides to Harry,who, honest and open himself, was

slow to suspect wrong dealings inothers. The sheriff had caught the menskinning a cow that belonged to Mead,and had captured the gang and takenthem to Denver.

The men concerned in the attempt tolynch Jack were sincerely sorry. Theirregrets would not have availed much,however, if they had succeeded in theirpurpose. They gave each of thechildren ten acres of land; they gaveTed sixty-five, and me, whom theypleased to consider very plucky, onehundred and fifty acres. I felt richenough, and time has made it veryvaluable land. The man on guard wasour warmest admirer. He thought Ted,Shep, and I wonders of courage. He

said when I came down on the bridgewith the open knife, he thought his lasthour had come.

Gil Mead committed suicide not longafter this. He was always queer. No oneever knew that Yik Kee set the stackafire. I tell you Jack rewarded thefaithful fellow—gave him a good farm,taught him to work it, and built him ahouse. The funniest thing was Yik Keehad a wife and three queer littlechildren back in China, and Jack sentfor them, and Yik Kee and his familyare as happy as they can be. Thechildren play with Jack's (he has twelvenow) and get along finely together.

In '75 I married Harry White, which, I

suppose, was foreseen from thebeginning—at least, Jack says anybodycould have seen it. The most serene andsatisfied face at the wedding was thatof the Celestial. In my innerconsciousness, notwithstanding he is a"heathen Chinee," I have the convictionthat as great a hero as is seen inmodern times is the man of few words,Yik Kee.—The Continent.

"A Leedle Mistakes.""I see all how it vhas now," observedJacob Handonder, as he came out.

"Oh, you do! You are the man who gotdrunk and raised a fuss on a street car?"

"I vhas der man, and I tell you how itvhas. You see, I vhas tight. I took toomuch beer."

"Can a saloon-keeper take too muchbeer?"

"Vhell, maype I vhas seek. I shtart togo home. Vhen der sthreet car comes

along I pelief it vhas my house. I got inund look all aroundt, but I doan' seeKatarina. I call out for der shildrens,und eferybody laughs at me. Maype dotmakes me madt, und der drifer calls aboliceman, und I vhas galloped downhere."

"So it wasn't your home?"

"Not oxactly. It vhas a leedle mistake."

"It'll cost you $5."

"Vheel, dot ain't so bad. I pay him oopund go home to preakfast."

"Be careful next time."

"Oh, I vill dot. Next time I vhas tight I

go home on some shtreets midout cars.If I take some ice-wagon for my houseI pelief I got cooled off pooty queek."

Sharper Than aRazor.

A long-waisted man, with the nose of afox and an eye full of speculation,walked up to a second-hand clothier, inBuffalo, the other day, and said:

"See that overcoat hanging out downthere?"

"Of course."

"Well, I've taken a fancy to it. It'srather cheeky to ask you to go downthere, but I'll make it an object; I won't

give but $8 for the coat, but I'll giveyou $1 to buy it for me. You are also aJew and know how to beat him down.Here are $9."

The dealer took the money and startedoff, and in five minutes was back withthe coat.

"Good!" chuckled the other. "Ireckoned you'd lay him out. How muchdid you make for your share?"

"Vhell, ash dot is my branch shore, andI only ask six dollar fur de goat, I wasabout tree dollar ahead."

A Coming Dividend.Last fall, when a would-be purchaser ofrailroad stock called upon Russell Sageand asked him regarding the outlook ofcertain stock, Mr. Sage replied:

"Splendid idea! That stock is certain toraise fifteen per cent."

"Upon what do you base yourcalculations?"

"Upon the immense crops to be movedalong that line."

The other day the same gentleman

again interviewed Mr. Sage regardingthe same stock, and the great financierreplied:

"Best outlook in the world for thatstock! Certain to advance fifteen percent."

"Do you base your calculations uponlast fall's crops?"

"No, sir; it's going to be an openwinter, and the line will save enough insnow-plows to declare a dividend offive per cent."

At a party: Merchant—"Ah! How d'do,

Mr. Blank? How is your paper comingout? I read it daily. By the way, you aregetting up a report of this grandassembly, I suppose?" Editor—"No. Bythe way, how is your store coming on?My cook buys a good deal of you. Youare here drumming up custom, Isuppose?"

"Yes," said Mrs. Towers, as sheexpatiated upon the beauties of herflower-garden, "I have given it greatcare, and if you come over in a week ortwo, I expect to be able to show yousome beautiful scarlet pneumonias."

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GENERAL NEWS.GEN. BUTLER is now out of office.

A VERDICT of not guilty was rendered inthe Emma Bond case.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, is in a panicover recent acts of the Nihilists.

TWO wolves have lately been killed inthe vicinity of Douglas Park, Chicago.

ANOTHER effort is soon to be made inCongress to reinstate Fitz John Porter.

BROKERS in Dubuque have offered$330,000 cash for the B.F. Allen

Homestead.

AT Winnipeg on Thursday of last weekthe mercury was 45 degrees belowzero.

ALBERT E. KENT, of San Francisco, gives$25,000 for a chemical laboratory atYale College.

JUDGE MCCRARY, of the Supreme Court,has resigned, and accepted a position asa railway attorney.

THE Government of China has orderedthe construction of two more torpedoboats at the German port of Stettin.

ST. LOUIS had many fires last week.There were nine outbreaks within

forty-eight hours. The firemen werecompletely worn out.

THERE were 319 failures in the UnitedStates last week—the largest numberyet recorded within the same numberof days.

THERE was strong talk at Hillsboro oflynching the discharged prisoners inthe Emma Bond case, but bettercounsel prevailed.

GOVERNOR STONEMAN presided at ameeting in San Francisco, wherearrangements were made to hold aworld's exposition in 1887.

THE mercury at Charleston, S.C., was13 degrees below zero January 4th.

Through New England the weather wasextremely cold.

MARY, the seventeenth wife of the lateBrigham Young, died at Salt Lake CitySaturday from blood poisoning. Shehas fourteen survivors.

A PIE made of tainted meat caused thepoisoning of sixteen boarders and threeSisters at a convent in Montreal. Twoof the former are dangerously ill.

IT is announced from Paris that theFrench government is intending to sellthe railways owned by the Republic.The Rothschilds stand ready topurchase them.

BY a railroad accident near Fort Dodge,

on Wednesday last, three persons werekilled and several wounded. Among thekilled was Mrs. J.H. South, of BureauCo., Ills.

MRS. HOLCOMB, daughter of themurdered millionaire Crouch, ofMichigan, has committed suicide.There is some suspicion that she knewsomething about the murder.

A NIHILIST proclamation has been issuedthreatening the Czar. There is muchanxiety at Gatschina palace. It is nowsaid the Czar's injury in the shoulderthe other day was caused by a bullet.

THE United States Consul General atCairo reports the deaths by the cholera

epidemic at from 65,000 to 70,000. Amember of the international tribunalsays there are still from one to threefatal cases each day.

THE Gould system of railroads is aboutto establish a telegraph school at St.Louis, with a view not only toeducating operators, but of selectingpupils from the acclimated peoplealong the Southwestern lines.

THE Catholic convent at Belleville, Ill.,took fire from the furnace Saturdayevening, and in an hour was reduced toashes. Sixty pupils made desperateefforts to escape, some of them leapingfrom the windows. Twenty-seven liveswere lost.

THE Secretary of State at Springfieldhas issued papers of incorporation toCol. Wood's museum, at Chicago, witha capital stock of $100,000. TheColonel is said to have secured a leaseof his old stand on Randolph street, andthe Olympic Theatre.

HENRY VILLARD closed his businesscareer by handing over to assignees hismansion on Madison square and otherproperty, with instructions to disposeof the same, pay a mortgage of$200,000, and discharge anyindebtedness to the Oregon RailwayCompany, the residue to be given to hiswife.

THE directors of the Northern Pacific

road held a meeting in New York, onFriday, of last week. A letter was readfrom Henry Villard, resigning thepresidency of the company because ofnervous prostration and in deference tothe interests of the stockholders. Theresignation was accepted, and a specialelection was ordered to choose asuccessor. The directors voted Mr.Villard $10,000 per annum for hisservices. Vice President Oakes reportedthe line in first-class order except onehundred miles near the junction west ofHelena. It is understood that theOregon Navigation company willreduce its dividends to 8 per cent. TheOregon Transcontinental has raised$3,000,000 in Boston with which to lift

its floating debt.

MARKET REPORTS.OFFICE OF THE PRAIRIE FARMER,

CHICAGO. Jan. 2, 1884.

FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL.

The extremely cold weather of the pastweek interfered with business verygenerally. In financial circles, as inothers, the arctic wave made mattersrather quiet. Early in the present week,however, business at the banks wasactive. The arrival of delayed mailtrains added to the volume of business;but while there was much activity, the

monetary situation remained about thesame as usual.

In the loan market quotations were6@7 per cent.

Eastern exchange sold at 70@75c per$1,000 premium.

Government securities are as follows:

4's coupons, 1907 Q. Apr. 123¼4's reg., 1907 Q. Apr. 123¼4½'s coupon, 1891 Q. Mar. 1141/8

4½'s registered, 1891 Q. Mar. 1141/8

3's registered Q. Mar. 100

GRAIN AND PROVISIONS.

The leading produce markets have beenirregular for several days past, and thetendency, in the main, was downward.Yesterday wheat was moderatelyactive, but the market was depressed atthe close. There was a drop, also, incorn, oats, mess pork, and lard.

FLOUR was quiet at about the followingrates.

Choice to favorite whitewinters

$5 25 @5 50

Fair to good brands of whitewinters

4 75 @5 00

Good to choice red winters 5 00 @5 50

4 75 @

Prime to choice springs 5 00

Good to choice export stock,in sacks, extras

4 25 @4 50

Good to choice export stock,double extras

4 50 @4 65

Fair to good Minnesotasprings

4 50 @4 75

Choice to fancy Minnesotasprings

5 25 @5 75

Patent springs 6 00 @6 50

Low grades 2 25 @3 50

WHEAT.—Red winter, No. 2 96 @ 98c;car lots of spring, No. 2, sold at 93¾ @95c; No. 3, do. 77½ @ 81c.

CORN.—Moderately active. Car lots No.2, 573/8 @ 575/8c; rejected, 46½; newmixed, 48 @ 48¼c.

OATS.—No. 2 in store, closed 33½ @335/8.

RYE.—May, in store 58 @ 58½.

BARLEY.—No. 2, 62 @ 63c; No. 3, 44c.

FLAX.—Closed at $1 41.

TIMOTHY.—$1 25 per bushel. Littledoing.

CLOVER.—Quiet at $5 90 @ 6 15 forprime.

PROVISIONS.—Mess pork, February, $14

45 @ 14 47½ per bbl; May, $15 @ 1505. Green hams, 83/8c, per lb. Shortribs, $7 42½ per cwt.

LARD.—January, $8 75; February, $885.

LUMBER.

Lumber unchanged. Quotations forgreen are as follows:

Short dimension, per M $9 50 @ 1000

Long dimension, per M 10 00 @ 1150

Boards and strips, No. 2 11 00 @ 1300

Boards and strips,medium

13 00 @ 1600

Boards and strips, No. 1choice

16 00 @ 2000

Shingles, standard 2 10 @ 2 20Shingles, choice 2 25 @ 2 30Shingles, extra 2 40 @ 2 60Lath 1 65 @ 1 70

COUNTRY PRODUCE.

NOTE.—The quotations for the articlesnamed in the following list aregenerally for commission lots of goodsand from first hands. While our pricesare based as near as may be on thelanding or wholesale rates, allowance

must be made for selections and thesorting up for store distribution.

BEANS.—Hand picked mediums $2 00@ 2 10. Hand picked navies, $2 15 @ 220.

BUTTER.—Dull and without change.Choice to extra creamery, 32 @ 35c perlb.; fair to good do. 26 @ 30c; fair tochoice dairy, 25 @ 30c; common tochoice packing stock fresh and sweet,20 @ 25c; ladle packed 10 @ 13c;fresh made, streaked butter, 9 @ 11c.

BRAN.—Quoted at $11 87½ @ 13 50 perton; extra choice $13.

BROOM-CORN.—Good to choice hurl 6½@ 7½c per lb; green self-working 5 @

6c; red-tipped and pale do. 4 @ 5c;inside and covers 3 @ 4c; commonshort corn 2½ @ 3½c; crooked, anddamaged, 2 @ 4c, according to quality.

CHEESE.—Choice full-cream cheddars12½ @ 13c per lb; medium quality do.9 @ 10c; good to prime full cream flats13 @ 13¾c; skimmed cheddars 9 @10c; good skimmed flats 6 @ 7c; hard-skimmed and common stock 3 @ 4c.

EGGS.—In a small way the best brandsare quotable at 25 @ 26c per dozen; 20@ 23c for good ice house stock; 18 @19c per pickled.

HAY.—No. 1 timothy $10 @ 10 50 perton; No. 2 do. $8 @ 9; mixed do. $7 @

8; upland prairie $8 00 @ 10 75; No. 1prairie $6 @ 7; No. 2 do. $4 50 @ 5 50.Small bales sell at 25 @ 50c per tonmore than large bales.

HIDES AND PELTS.—Green-cured lighthides 8c per lb; do. heavy cows 8c; No.2 damaged green-salted hides 6c;green-salted calf 12 @ 12½ cents;green-salted bull 6 c; dry-salted hides11 cents; No. 2 two-thirds price; No. 1dry flint 14 @ 14½c. Sheep peltssalable at 28 @ 32c for the estimatedamount of wash wool on each pelt. Allbranded and scratched hides arediscounted 15 per cent from the priceof No. 1.

HOPS.—Prime to choice New York

State hops 25 @ 26c per lb; Pacificcoast of 23 @ 26c; fair to goodWisconsin 15 @ 20c.

POULTRY.—Prices for good to choice drypicked and unfrozen lots are: Turkeys14 @ 15c per lb; chickens 10 @ 11c;ducks 10 @ 12c; geese 9 @ 11c. Thin,undesirable, and frozen stock 2 @ 3cper lb less than these figures; liveofferings nominal.

POTATOES.—Good to choice 35 @ 40cper bu. on track; common to fair 25 @30c. Illinois sweet potatoes range at $3@ 3 50 per bbl for yellow. Baltimorestock at $2 25 @ 2 75, and Jerseys at$5. Red are dull and nominal.

TALLOW AND GREASE.—No. 1 countrytallow 7@7¼c per lb; No. 2 do. 6¼ @6½ c. Prime white grease 6 @ 6½ c;yellow 5¼ @ 5¾c: brown 4½@5.

VEGETABLES.—Cabbage, $8 @ 12 per100; celery, 35 @ 40c per doz bunches;onions, $1 00 @ 1 25 $ bbl for yellow,and $1 for red; turnips, $1 35@ 1 50per bbl for rutabagas, and $1 00 forwhite flat.

WOOL.—from store range as follows forbright wools from Wisconsin, Illinois,Michigan, Indiana, and Eastern Iowa—dark Western lots generally ranging at1 @ 2c per lb. less.

25 @

Coarse and dingy tub 30

Good medium tub 31 @34

Unwashed bucks' fleeces 14 @15

Fine unwashed heavy fleeces 18 @22

Fine light unwashed heavyfleeces

22 @23

Coarse unwashed fleeces 21 @22

Low medium unwashedfleeces

24 @25

Fine medium unwashedfleeces

26 @27

Fine washed fleeces 32 @

33

Coarse washed fleeces26 @

28

Low medium washed fleeces 30 @32

Fine medium washed fleeces 34 @35

Colorado and Territory wools range asfollows:

Lowest grades 14 @ 16Low medium 18 @ 22Medium 22 @ 26Fine 16 @ 24

Wools from New Mexico:

Lowest grades 14 @ 16Part improved 16 @ 17Best improved 19 @ 23

Burry from 2c to 10c off: black 2c to5c off.

LIVE STOCK MARKETS.

The total receipts and shipments forlast week were as follows:

Received. Shipped.Cattle 25,594 13,722Calves 353 166Hogs 45,376 31,864Sheep 14,206 8,903

The live stock receipts are increasing,and show a large gain over last week.

CATTLE.—The receipts for Sunday andMonday were rather large, beingestimated at 6,800 head of cattle, asagainst 3,700 received in thecorresponding time last week. Shippinggrades of cattle were active and firmyesterday at $5 @ 6 67½, exporterstaking a fair number. Common lotswere lower, with sales to dressed-beefbuyers as low as $4 25. A good share ofthe day's trading was done at $5 70 @ 660. Quotations are as follows:

Fancy fat cattle $ 6 75 @ 700

6 05 @ 6

Choice to prime steers 70

Fair to good shippingsteers

5 55 @ 600

Common to medium steers 4 25 @ 550

Butcher's steers 4 50 @ 500

Cows and bulls, commonto good

3 00 @ 425

Inferior cows and bulls 2 00 @ 295

Stockers 3 40 @ 440

Feeders 4 25 @ 475

Milch cows, per head 25 00 @5500

Veal calves, per 100lbs4 00 @ 7

25

HOGS.—The receipts Sunday andMonday were estimated at 18,000 hogs,against only 6,700 received in thecorresponding time last week.Although the receipts have beenincreasing during the last few days,supplies are still remarkably small forthe first half of January. The great bulkof the crop has undoubtedly beenmarketed, but there are known to be avery good number still unmarketed,and it is believed that farmers areunwilling to ship freely to this marketwhile packers are so largely inactive,fearing a decline in prices. Shippers

have been taking most of the hogslately. Butchers took in theneighborhood of 1,900 hogs, leaving afew thousand still unsold. Sales weremade of heavy at $5 10 @ 6 25; light at$5 10 @ 5 75, and skips and culls at $350 @ 5.

Note.—All sales of hogs are madesubject to a shrinkage of 40 lbs forpiggy sows and 80 lbs for stags. Deadhogs sell for 1½c per lb for weights of200 and over and for weights of lessthan 100lbs.

SHEEP.—The market opened with agood supply, the receipts for Sundayand Monday being estimated at 2,500head, as against 1,968 received in the

same time last week. There was anactive local and shipping demand forall desirable offerings, and prices ruledfirm at the recent advance, sales beingmade of fair to choice at $3 65 @ 5 60.

COMMISSION MERCHANTS.

J.H. WHITE & CO.,PRODUCE COMMISSION

106 S. Water St., Chicago.

Refers to this

paper.

MISCELLANEOUS.

YOUR NAME printed on50 Cards ALL NEWdesigns of Gold Floral.Remembrances,Sentiment, Hand Floral,

etc., with Love,Friendship, and HolidayMottoes, 10c. 7 pks. andthis elegant Ring, 50c.,15 pks. & Ring, $1.

12 NEW "CONCEALEDNAME" Cards (nameconcealed with handholding flowers withmottoes) 20c. 7 pks. andthis Ring for $1. Agents'sample book and fulloutfit, 25c. Over 200 new

Cards added this season.Blank Cards at wholesaleprices.

NORTHFORD CARDCO. Northford, Conn.

AGENTS WANTED, Male andFemale, for Spence's Blue Book, amost fascinating and salable novelty.Every family needs from one to adozen. Immense profits and exclusiveterritory. Sample mailed for 25 cts inpostage stamps. Address J.H.CLARSON, P.O. Box 2296,Philadelphia, Pa.

$1000Every

100Days

Positively sure to Agentseverywhere selling our NewSILVER MOULD WHITEWIRE CLOTHES-LINE.Warranted. Pleases at sight.Cheap. Sells readily at everyhouse. Agents clearing $10per day. Farmers make $900to $1200 during Winter.Handsome samples free.

Address , GIRARD WIREMILLS, Philadelphia, Pa.

80 CARDS

BEST QUALITY.

New designs in Satin and Gold finish,with name, 10 cts. We offer $100 for apack of cards any nicer work, orprettier styles.

Samples free. Eagle Card Works, NewHaven, Ct.

500 VIRGINIA FARMS &MILLS

For Sale and Exchange. Write for freeREAL ESTATE JOURNAL.

R.B. CHAFFIN & CO., Richmond,Virginia.

PATENT Procured or no charge. 40p. book patent-law free. Add. W.T.

FITZGERALD, 1006 F St., Washington,D.C.

CARDS

50 Satin Finish Cards, New Importeddesigns, name on and Present Free for10c. Cut this out.CLINTON BROS. & Co., Clintonville,Ct.

EDUCATIONAL.

MT. CARROLLSEMINARY

And Musical Conservatory, CarrollCo., Ill.,

Never had an agent to beg funds orpupils. The PECUNIARY AID SYSTEM isoriginal, and helps many worthy girls,without means, to an education."Oreads" free.

SEWING SILK.

Corticelli Sewing Silk,

LADIES, TRY IT!

The Best Sewing Silk Made.

Every Spool Warranted.

Full Length, Smooth and Strong.

Ask your storekeeper for CorticelliSilk.

SPECIAL OFFER.

$67 FOR $18!

A Superb New Family

Sewing Machine!

Combining all the most recentimprovements, and now selling for$65, is offered by THE PRAIRIEFARMER PUBLISHING COMPANY

to subscribers to THE PRAIRIEFARMER

FOR $18,

including one year's subscription to thepaper.

This exceptional offer will remain openfor a few days only.

MISCELLANEOUS.

"FACTS ABOUTArkansas and Texas."

A handsome book, beautifullyillustrated, with colored diagrams,giving reliable information as to crops,population, religious denominations,commerce, timber, Railroads, lands,etc., etc.

Sent free to any address on receipt of a2-cent stamp. Address

H.C. Townsend,Gen. Passenger Agt., St. Louis,

Mo.

Stock Farm for Sale

Consisting of 565 acres—360 underplow, 35 acres timber, balance in grass—situated in finest County in Iowa,one-fourth mile from Village, Station,and Creamery. Or will sell one-halfinterest to practical stockman andfeeder who will assume management.Write for particulars to

H.I. SMITH,Prest. First National Bank,

Mason City, Iowa.

Print Your OwnCards

Labels, Envelopes, etc.with our $3 Printing Press.Larger sizes for circulars,etc., $8 to $75. Forpleasure, money making,young or old. Everythingeasy, printed instructions.Send 2 stamps forCatalogue of Presses, Type,

Cards, etc., to the factory.

KELSEY & CO.,Meriden, Conn.

We will send you awatch or a chain BYMAIL OREXPRESS, C.O.D.,

to be examinedbefore paying anymoney and if notsatisfactory, returnedat our expense. Wemanufacture all ourwatches and save you30 per cent.Catalogue of 250styles free. EVERY

WATCH WARRANTED.

ADDRESS

STANDARDAMERICAN

WATCH CO.,PITTSBURGH. PA.

PIG EXTRICATOR

To aid animals in giving birth. Send forfree circular to WM. DULIN, Avoca,Pottawattamie Co., Ia.

FREE

By return mail, Full DescriptionMoody's New Tailor System of DressCutting MOODY & CO. Cincinnati,O.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER is theCheapest and Best Agricultural Paperpublished. Only $2.00 per year.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of

The Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56, No. 2,

January 12, 1884, by Various

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