426 



raised. From the book of the flax agent I learn tliat fifteen times the 

 amount of hist year's production iu the county will be marketed this 

 year — ()5,000 bushels against 4,000 — which, at $1.30 per bushel, will 

 bring to the farmers $84,500. 



Beet-sugar. — Santa Cruz. Gal. : A beet-sugar factory, built in this 

 county the past season, will commence operations this October. There 

 are 1,200 acres of sugar beets now iu fine condition for its use. 



Hemp in California. — Alameda : The cultivation of hemp is attract- 

 ing some attention in California. That planted in this county the past 

 season has done extremely well ; some small fields have grown to the 

 height of 8 or 10 feet, and the fiber is pronounced equal to the imported. 

 It is conceded by those acquainted with the growing of hemp that there 

 is much land in this county and throughout the State well adapted to 

 its production. 



Burning out chinches. — Stoddard, Mo. : One of our farmers found 

 after his wheat harvest that the chinch-bugs were swarming into his 

 corn, whereupon he strewed dry straw among it and burned it. This, with 

 slight injury to the crop, killed nearly every bug. 



Castor-beans. — Pawnee, Kans. : The grasshoppers, which destroyed 

 other cro[>s, would not eat the castor-beau. Even this dry season the 

 plant is thrifty and full of blooms ; no insect meddles with it at any 

 stage of its growth. 



Live Stock. — Madison, Va. : Increased attention to stock of all kinds. 



Bale, Ala. : Our hogs have the cholera and our cattle the black 

 tongue. 



Greene, Ala.: So much land is lying out that the cattle have better 

 pasturage than heretofore. 



Yorl; Pa. : Very few cattle yet brought into the county for fattening, 

 on account of the malignant disease among the herds of our most ex- 

 tensive buyers. 



Mhaheth City, Va. : In the item of "fcittening cattle" it is diflacultto 

 get a correct estimate. Dwarf, scrawny, lean, is the general rule here, 

 and " fat" is the exception. A good yoke of working oxen is an un- 

 common sight; our farmers prefer mules for heavy work. 



James City, Va. : Heavy mast of chinca^ins ; will give fattening 

 hogs a fine start. 



Beaufort, S. C. : The range for stock in the middle and lower portion 

 of the county is equal to any pasturage iu the world. Cattle areiu good 

 condition the year through, requiring no other feed than grass"; they 

 are as fat as Tennessee stall-fed beef from May 1 to January 1. 



Gibson, Tenn. : Farmers generally are herding their surplus horses, 

 mules, and cattle, and driving them to the Mississippi bottoms to be 

 pastured npon the cane during the winter. Herders are employed at 

 so much per head to watch over them and return them in the spring. 

 The herders salt and feed them to corn twice a week, and charge from 

 $1 to $2 per month per head. By this means large numbers are pro- 

 vided for during the winter and corn saved for fattening pork. 



Monroe, Ala. : No cattle fattened in this county except those pas- 

 tured on the public domain. 



Marion, Ind. : A largely increased number of hogs will be fed this 

 season in consequence of a good crop of corn and the failure of that 

 crop in other States. A large number has been brought from Kansas, 

 Missouri, and Kentucky. This applies to the State at large rather than to 



