63 



last tbree years of occupatiou shall be allowed. The value of auy new 

 manures not included in the above list, and the unexhausted value of 

 any included, but of a quality better or worse than average, or applied 

 in exceptional quantity or under exceptional circumstances, is to be 

 determined by arbitration. In the course of the proceedings it was 

 unanimously resolved : 



That in the opiuiou of this meethig the Lauil of this country will uever be faiuied 

 iu such a way as to make it produce all that it is capable of tloinj; uutil a law is passed 

 yiviug fair aud reasouable compeusation to the teuaut, when he leaves his farm, for 

 all unexhausted improvemeuts and manures that will add to the value of the farm : 

 and that, ou the other hand, when a tenant, through negligence aud bad farming, 

 deteriorates the natural fertility of the soil, he should be compelled to pay his laud- 

 lord for all such deterioration. 



Wild cats in Maine. — Our correspondent in Hancock County states 

 that within the last two years wild cats have been making great havoc 

 of sheep in that section. It is estimated that during the past season 

 they destroyed in one town sheep valued at 8100. 



Wolves in Pennsylvania. — Our correspondent in Elk County 

 repdi-ts that wolves have lately been very destructive among sheep iu 

 that locality. One man lost his whole flock, 55 ; and during the past 

 six months as many as 150 had been killed by them within a distance 

 of five miles. Our correspondent in Clearfield also states that great 

 numbers of sheep have been killed by wolves in that county within the 

 preceding two months. 



Extra ORDINARY y^ields op corn. — Mr. John W. Murry, of Carroll 

 County, Maryland, reports in the Westminster Advocate, that on one 

 acre, the past season, he raised 30^ barrels (152i bushels) of shelled corn. 

 The reported culture was as follows : the land was so situated that it 

 received the washings from the road and from his barn-yard, and had 

 been in grass for fifteen years. In the spring of 1872 he ])lowed it and 

 planted it iu corn. The yield that year was 26.V barrels. On the IGth of 

 May, 1873, he plowed the corn-stubble ground very deep, and harrowed 

 aud rolled it. The next day he sowed 300 pounds of bone-dust and har- 

 rowed it again, marked it off 32 inches one way, sowed 200 pounds of 

 Ehodes's superphosphate in the rows, and dropped the corn, one and two 

 kernels in the hills, 10 inches apart. The variety of corn was the Ches- 

 ter County ^Mammoth Yellow. On the 4th of June, as much was miss- 

 ing, he "dragged the ground and replanted ;" plowed on the 10th, some 

 hills still missing; on the 17th plowed, hoed, and " plastered the weak 

 spots ; "' on the 30th dragged, plowed and thinned ; on the ith of July 

 "hilled with a potato-plow as deep as one horse could pull," aud con- 

 tinued to thin as it required until the shoots appeared. 



According to a report of the Agricultural Society of Washington, Pa , 

 Mr. James W. Dickey, whose farm lies partly in that county aud partly 

 in Brooke County, West Virginia, produced last season, on 15 acres, 

 2,5351 bushels of shelled corn — average 169 bushels per acre. The only 

 conditions of culture reported were these : the field had been used for a 

 sheep-pasture for the preceding eighteen years. In the spring, as soon as 

 the frost was out, he broke up the sod, plowing not deeper than three 

 inches, planted with good seed, and gave due care and culture to the 

 growing crop. 



Bledsoe County, Tennessee, — The following is condensed from a 

 report to this Department by the secretary of the Farmers and Mechanics' 

 Association iu this conuty. The crops of wheat and rye the past season 

 were the best for several years. Wheat sells at $1.25; rye, 75 cents ; 

 corn, 50 cents : oats, 50 cents ; potatoes, Irish and sweet, 40 to 50 cents*; 



