272 



Aveigbed 42^ pounds. Tlie fleece from whicli the sample sent to the 

 Department was taken was the second shearing. The first two fleeces 

 taken from this wonderful ram therefore weighed 121^ pounds. 



Our correspondent in Clinton County, Michigan, writes that a farmer 

 in that county sheared IGO i^ounds of wool from twenty-eight ewes, the 

 breed not stated. 



WHEAT IN IOWA. 



A correspondent of the Dejiartment, writing from Page County, Iowa, 

 says : 



Fall wheat has made a good harvest. Last winter being a mild one, the stand left 

 this spring was good. The season has been favorable to its growth and rijiening. On 

 account of the character of our soil, being light, sandy, vegetable mold, winter wheat 

 freezes out badly, hence it has not been cultivated extensively until within the last 

 two years. Our farmers have ascertained they can succeed by planting it with the 

 drill. Spring wheat, however, is yet our main dependence for the supply of tliis kind 

 of farm product. It has been cut short two-thirds by the ravages of the chinch-bug, 

 {Micropus leucopterus, of Say.) Why this should have occurred is rather a mystery, for 

 we have been abundantlj^ favored with heavy rains in sufficient quantities to make the 

 season a genial one. The heavy rains ought to have destroyed tlie bug, but they did 

 not. 



COTTON IN ILLINOIS. 



The correspondent of the Department in Williamson County, Illinois, 

 "writes as follows : 



Cotton has almost ceased to be cultivated in this county. It cannot be raised for 

 much less than five cents per pound in the seed. It is generallj^ sold to the merchant 

 or speculator in the seed. Last fall and winter the price was uniformly three cents 

 per pound. The great drawback to its culture is the picking, which has all to be done 

 by hand, and which costs from a cent to a cent and a half per pound. A good average 

 day's picking, for a boy or girl of from twelve to sixteen years of age, is from fifty to 

 seventy-five pounds. But, inasmuch as it is a cash article, if the farmers could be 

 sure of four and a half or five cents jier pound, a large breadth of ground would be 

 planted. 



THE COMPASS PLANT. 



In the monthly report of this Department for March and A\)v\\ refer- 

 ence was made to the compass plant, {Silphium laciniatum,) which it was 

 therein stated "is alleged to possess the remarkable tendency to have 

 the plane of its leaves directed north and south to such a degree that 

 these points of the compass can readily be determined from their exam- 

 ination." A letter, inclosing a diagram of a leaf of the plant, has since 

 been received by the Department from S. J. H. Snyder, of Monrovia, 

 Kansas, in which the opinion is expressed that the plant does possess 

 the quality attributed to it. The writer says : 



Having been a resident of Kansas for sixteen years, I have had abundant opportunity 

 to become fully acquainted with the x)lant and its habits, and I am fully persuaded that 

 the course north or south is so infallibly indicated by its leaves, that I would not 

 hesitate to follow their directions for hundreds of miles. The leaves of the plant from 

 which the accompanying sketch has been made were taken from my orchard, which 

 has been tilled for years, and the plants cut np and turned over and under, and every 

 way ; yet every time they come up, either from the old roots or from seed, they in- 

 variably turn their leaves in the same direction. There can be no question of this fact, 

 and if, in a group of these plants here and there, a leaf varies a little from the true 

 course, the appearance of the stem and its relation to the other leaves show the reason 

 for such discrepancy. The average of such a group is infallible. 



The stalk of the plant is from three to five feet high, leaf about twelve 

 inches long, and flower resembling a miniature sunflower. Mr. Snyder 

 says it is sometimes called polar- weed, gum-weed, resin- weed, «S:c. The 

 last names are given to it because of the resinous gum which exudes 

 fiom its stem and leaves, especially when wounded. This gum is 

 chewed, and the plant, as well as its resinou^ gum, is considered highly 

 medicinal. 



