139 



For 'R'itli wheat at fifty cents a busliel, beef at seven and one-half cents, 

 and pork at ten cents per i^onud, there must be something- wrong in the 

 farmer's calculations. 



The yield of cereals in this couuty for 1869 may be set down as fol- 

 lows : Wheat, 150,000 bushels; barley, 30,000 bushels; rye, 10,000 

 bushels ; oats, 85,000 bushels ; Indian corn, 50,000 bushels. 



A serious drawback attending wheat culture is the lateness of our 

 spring. The season may also be wet, and the farmer finds it impossible 

 to do all his work in the time allotted him. The wheat must be put in, 

 hovrever, and as there is not time left, other things will be neglected. 

 This trouble will last as long as our farmers continue to raise spring- 

 wheat. They say that winter wheat will not do on our prairies ; it will 

 be killed b}' the frost, especially if there be no snow on the ground. In 

 this they are undoubtedly right, if we briug the winter wheat from the 

 woody districts of the middle States and sow it here on the open 

 prairie. Yet there may be some remedy for this, and my humble opiii- 

 ion is, that if we could introduce the white or red winter wheat grown 

 in the northeastern part of Germany, and especially in Silesia or Poland, 

 these difficulties might be overcome. The climate of that part of Ger- 

 mauj conforms very closely to that of Minnesota ; our "northwesters" 

 are hardly worse than the "northeasters" there, after they have swept 

 over the icy plains of Russia — and yet a most excellent kind of winter 

 wheat is raised there ; the grain large and yielding very good flour. I 

 have no doubt that if that variety could be raised here our farmers 

 could do their sowing in the fall, and the harvest would be two weeks 

 earlier than now. 



Potatoes are generally very good here. The " striped bug," which has 

 played sad havoc with them for the past two years, last fall made its 

 appearance in Wisconsin and Illinois, and we*^ shall probablj^ be free 

 from its ravages during the present year. It has been observed, that 

 potatoes in newly broken prairie ground were not attacked by the bug, 

 while it was found in great numbers in places where potatoes had been 

 raised the year previous. The crop was reduced a great deal by the 

 wet tall season. "Pink-eyes" sufiered more than others ; red varieties 

 less than white ones. 



HOG CHOLEEA. 



James Harkness, of St. Louis, Missouri, writing to the department in 

 reference to "hog cholera," so called, says : A few words about preven- 

 tion and cure. The beautiful butterfly that is seen in every clover field, 

 lays its eggs in the flower and they are eaten by the hogs, when they 

 develop into worms, much as the nits of the bot fly is developed in 

 the horse, but with this difference : the worms are ver^' injurious to the 

 hog, whereas the bot does the horse no harm. 



Sulphate of iron (copperas) in the proportion of a tablespoonful for a 

 hog of one hundred and fifty or two hundred pounds once a week in the 

 slop barrel, will kill every worm it touches as sure as prussic acid will 

 kill red-blooded animals. In case of costiveness from eating nuts, add 

 about the same of sulphur. These safe and simple remedies are equally 

 good for all domestic animals, as they are obnoxious to worms of differ- 

 ent kinds. 



Timothy, herd, orchard, and other grasses are much better for hogs 

 than clover. Hogs will appreciate shelter from summer's sun or the 

 northern blasts, as much as any domestic animal we possess. 



