450 Transactions of the American Institute. 



out the slightest protection, and snow rarely ever fell or remained 

 twelve hours. Mexican ranchmen cost only fifteen dollars per 

 month ; the further south you go, to the Arkansas river or Texas, the 

 wages decline to ten dollars or eight dollars per month ; further 

 north the prices advance to twenty dollars per month. Many exag- 

 gerated reports of the disastrous effects of the weather have been 

 published this winter. I have just received a letter from Dr. Lathan, 

 of Laramie Plains, in which he states these reports are all false ; the 

 actual loss, even among Texan cattle, freshly driven from the lower 

 plain, has been but two to four per cent. J. W. Iliff, out of a herd 

 of 3,000, has not lost one. Creighton's flocks of 17,000 have lost but 

 thirty. But in middle and lower Nebraska and Kansas the losses 

 have been severe. Sheep raising is to be the most profitable pursuit 

 of the plains and mountains, and capital will double every three 

 years. 



Report on Thomas's Smoothing Harrow. 



Mr. John Crane, from the committee appointed to make trial of 

 Thomas's Smoothing Harrow, submitted the following report : 



"We have used it on soils that differ widely in their composition, 

 and on a variety of crops. The chairman of the committee makes 

 the following statement : " I have used the Thomas Harrow the past 

 season, and my experience warrants me in saying that it is all that its 

 inventor claims for it, as a pulverizer, for ease of draft, and as a cul- 

 tivator of young growing crops — such as wheat, oats, barley, and 

 particularly corn and potatoes. My first trial was on an old meadow 

 that had been top-dressed with manure. The manure was in a coarse, 

 wet state, and partly frozen when it was spread on the ground ; con- 

 sequently it was in lumps. The harrow worked admirably, breaking 

 up the manure and spreading it over the ground without clogging. 

 The next trial was on a piece of winter rye ; part of the field was 

 harrowed as an experiment. It broke up the ground admirably, pre- 

 paring it for sowing the clover seed, and decidedly benefiting the rye. 

 For smoothing and mellowing the ground, preparatory to planting 

 vegetables, strawberries and corn, and seeding down for meadows, it 

 worked most effectually. In the potato field it saves half the labor 

 of cultivation. I used it on rows of strawberry plants which were 

 put out last spring, going over them twice ; it pulverized the soil and 

 thoroughly destroyed the weeds, disturbing but few of the plants and 

 destroying none. I tried the harrow on corn, going over one field ; 

 it destroyed the weeds, but the corn looked as if it had suffered also ; 



