160 



(lonble i)low : premiiiin in each case, a silver medal or 820. Siib.^x;il 

 plovv', liill-side plow, oiie-borse plow, double-shovel plow — a premium ibr 

 each of a silver medal or $10. Steam-plow, practical utility of opera- 

 tion to be fully demonstrated, $50 ; improvements in plows, diploma. 

 Two-horse grain-drill, $40 and diploma; one-horse grain-drill, $10 and 

 diploma ; garden seed-drill, $5 ; horse-power corn-planter, $20 and diplo- 

 ma ; potato-planter, $5 ; potato-digger, $10 ; two-horse corn-cultivator, 

 $20 and diploma; one-horse corn-cultivator, $10 and diploma; farin- 

 road scraper, $10 ; roller and crusher, $15 ; harrow, $10; mole or blind 

 ditching-machine, $20 ; post-hole borer or digger, $5. In giving pre- 

 miums on plo^ys, the following points will be considered : Gross draught ; 

 weight; loss of power in overcQuiing friction; net power required to 

 cut and turn the furrow-slice ; width of furrow-slice ; depth of furrow- 

 slice; comparative draught; simplicity of structure ; materials; work- 

 manship; durability; price; superiority of work. Competition is in- 

 vited from all parts of the Union. 



PEET^niTM COEN CROPS IN VIRGINIA. — The following particulars are 

 from statements on corn by competitors for premiums at the Eock- 

 bridge County Fair, Virginia: Farm of J. D. H. Eoss, clay loam, upland; 

 an old timothy and white clover sod, plowed in December with three 

 horses, harrowed four times with three liorses; hills marked 3 feet by 

 3^ feet apart, and manured with home-made compost, a handful to three 

 or four hills; plowed three times in the course of the season; one acre 

 yielded TG^^ bushels of shelled corn, 51) pounds to the bushel, and 

 live acres gave 253i^ bushels. Farm of A. L. JSTelsou, loam, with clay 

 subsoil ; in grass for four years ; plowed in February to a dei)th of 12 

 or 14 inches, and harrowed well just before planting, April 20 and 27; 

 the hills received plaster and ashes at the rate of two-thirds of a bushel 

 of plaster and one and one-third bushels of ashes per acre ; one acre 

 yielded by measure 911 bushels; by weight, So bushels 37 pounds 

 each ; five acres yielded 317 bushels by weight. Farm of G. W. Petti- 

 grew, on a sandy loam, having a northeastern exposure, and overlaid 

 by one to three inches of soil deposited by the flood of 1870; plowed in 

 April to the depth of ten iuches, planted April 12 ; one acre yielded 

 89:1 bushels by measure, or 97 bushels 47 pounds by weight, and live 

 acres gave 400 bushels and 40 pounds by weight. 



ExPERBiENTAT. FARM FOR MISSISSIPPI. — Govcmor R. C. Powers, 

 of Mississippi, in a message recently communicated to the legislature 

 of that State, recommends that the grounds lying between the State 

 capitol buildibg and Pearl Eiver be erected into a public park and ex- 

 perimental farm for agriculture, under the auspices of the Planters, 

 Manufacturers, and Mechanics' Association of that State. But a small 

 appropriation is asked, which the governor thinks should be expended 

 under the direction of tlie State engineer and professor of agriculture 

 of Oxford University. 



Heavy yield of corn.— J. Sanders, of Saunders County, l^ebraska, 

 deposes that he raised 18 acres of corn last year, vrhich averaged 90 

 bushels to the acre. J. H. ISTesbitt, of the same county, also deposes 

 that 75 acres of corn raised" by him averaged 97 bushels per acre, while 

 another field of 175 acres averaged 85 bushels per acre. 



Proper ^iode of testing seeds. — Mr. Elliott IT. Benton, of Le 

 Roy, Dodge County, Wisoonsin, in a letter commending the policy of 

 this Department as to the distribution of seeds, says : 



To get a practical result in the least time, seed sunicient for nt least oue-lialf .acre 



