80 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Feb. 



from time to time so as to promote coolness by 

 evaporation. The result of this care, which costs 

 but little, is tbat the milk supply of Paris is pro- 

 verbially excellent. 



— The Nashua, Iowa, Post, is responsible for the 

 statement that Capt. 0. O. Poppleton of Richland 

 township, Chickasaw Co., raised four hundred and 

 five and ^ bushels of oats — thresher's measure — 

 on six and a half acres of land. He used about 

 twenty-one bushels of seed. He estimates that 

 he fed at least eight bushels in the sheaf before 

 threshing — making a total of 413| bushels, or a 

 little over 63 bushels to the acre. The lard has 

 been tilled over ten years constantly without any 

 fertilizing whatever. 



— A correspondent of the Counti-y Gentleman, 

 went through his orchard some time after the mar- 

 ketable fruit was gathered and picked up a large 

 load of rotten apples — there was not among them 

 a bushel that had anything sound upon them, and 

 manv of them had been rotten for weeks. These 

 were made up as usual. The juice at first was 

 quite bitter and unpleasant. It was put into the 

 cellar where it remained until spring, then re- 

 moved to an outhouse and left until fiill, at which 

 time the bitterness had all disappeared, and it was 

 a pure, pleasant tasted vinegar. 



— "Take this flower pot ;" said the President of 

 a meeting in France lately ; "what is the meaning 

 of this small hole at the bottom ? — to renew the 

 water. And why to renew the water ? — because it 

 gives life or death — life, when it is made only to 

 pass through the bed of earth, for it leaves with 

 the soil its productive principles, and renders solu 

 ble the nutritive properties destined to nourish 

 the plant ; death on the other hand, when it re- 

 mains in the pot, for it soon becomes putrid, and 

 rots the roots, and also prevents new water from 

 penetrating." This is the real theory and illus- 

 tration of draining. 



stored in barns, in the afternoon, provided the day 

 is clear and warm. The influence of dew upon 

 grass after it is cut and lying in the swath, as af- 

 Iccting its preservation in the mow, is imperfectly 

 understood. We intend to refer to this subject 

 again. 



SALT AND LIME FOB HAY. 

 On reproducing in tlie Boston Journal of 

 Chemistry the letter which he wrote for our 

 columns, last August, in reply to the inquiries 

 of E. L. Metealf, Esq., as to the chemical ef- 

 fects of the mixture in preserving bay, Dr. 

 James R. Nichols, adds the following note : — 



It will be understood from the above, that lime 

 and salt are inconipatiljlc substances, so far as by 

 tlicir chemical changes any special preserving or 

 antiseptic properties are secured. Partially cured 

 hay, treated in the mow with these articles, is 

 .practically unaffected by their presence. How then 

 does it happen that green hay is preseiTcd, when 

 it has been applied ? In the experiments made, it 

 is proliable the hay would have cured equally as 

 well if the mixture had been withheld. Twomows 

 of the same hay, stored under precisely the same 

 conditions, one with the salts, the other without, 

 would imduulitei'ly be found alike in the spring. 

 \Vc have long entertained the iilca that hay is cured 

 too long in the field. If grass is mown in the 

 morning, after the dew is off, it may with safety be 



ILLINOIS INDUSTKIAL UNIVERSITY. 



The trustees of this institution met at the 

 University buildings in Champaign, November 

 26. Perhaps the title of this institution is 

 more expressive of the broad purpose of Con- 

 gress in donating land than that of '"Agricul- 

 tural College," which most of the States have 

 adopted as the name of the institution or "de- 

 partment" on which they have conferred the 

 national bounty, inasmuch as that Act provides 

 that the Legislature of each State shall use the 

 fund for the endowment "of at least one col- 

 lege where the leading object shall be, — with- 

 out excluding scientific and classical studies, 

 and including military tactics, — to teach such 

 branches of learning as are related to agricul- 

 ture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as 

 the legislatures of the States may respectively 

 prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and 

 practical education of the industrial classes in 

 the several pursuits and prof essions of life.'''' 



To show what the Trustees of the Illinois 

 Industrial University are doing to accomplish 

 this liberal and comprehensive purpose, we 

 condense from the reports of their Finance 

 and other committees, and from the general 

 proceedings of the Board, as published in the 

 Prairie Farmer, the following facts. 



From the report on finance, we learn that 

 from 280,000 acres of script sold, $160,192.41 

 have been realized, — a little over 50 cents per 

 acre. The Treasurer was authorized to sell 

 100,000 acres more of the land script at the 

 rate of 90 cents per acre. Of the 25,000 acres 

 which have been located in Minnesota and Ne- 

 braska, at an expense of $1300, Mr. Emery 

 Cobb, chairman of the committee, says it is 

 believed that these lands will, in a few years, 

 bring from $3 to $5 per acre. A vote to lo- 

 cate 25,000 more acres was also passed. The 

 total expenditures made thus far for all pur- 

 poses is $25,622.40. 



Exclusive of the "University lot," the insti- 

 tution owns about one thousand acres, near 

 the site of the college. The committee on Ag- 

 riculture recommend the sale of 400 acres of 

 these lands, leaving 410 acres for stock farm 

 and tree planting, 160 for the experimental 

 farm, and 35 for horticulture. 



