AMr£:ilIOAN' ACfRLCrjJL.TTJRIST. 
[September, 
"Walks and Talks" Correspondence. 
0NnKR!»KAixi.VG.— " W. H.," Wentworth Co., Ontario, 
writaa : '" Does aaiidy loam generally need underdrain- 
ing, or only Eliat which has a clay feubsoil ? "—It is very 
caay to tell whether land needs uuderdraining. Dig 
holes three or four feet deep, and leave them open. If 
water com-.M in from below and remains there a week or 
ten days, the land needs draining. Frequently low por- 
tions of a farm are kept wet from springs in the high 
Jjind adjoining. If the upland was drained, thi^ low land 
might not need it. This is the case, to a great extent, 
on ray own farm, and also on the farm of John Johnston 
and Mr. Swun. 
SuBsoiLiNo OR Deep Plowixg.— " W. H." also asks: 
*' In plowing deeper is it better to put three horses on 
to a jointer plow, or to do real subsoiling? '"—It will de- 
pend upon the land. If the subsoil is a rich loam, bring 
an extra inch or two to the surface. If it is a raw, cold 
clay, it would probably he better to break it up with a 
subsoil plow, and not bring it to the surface. You can 
plow deep without using a jointer. The only object in 
using a ■■jointer" or "'Michigan double plow," is to 
cover np the sod or weeds by tm-ning them into the bot- 
tom of the furrow I plowed seventeen acres of sod 
land last fall with a three-horse jointer plow. I did not 
plow it again in the spring. The harrows and cultiva- 
tors made it in good condition for peas and barley. The 
30d was buried so deep that the cultivator teeth did not 
tear it up. When laud is to be plowed again in the spring 
I am not Bure that there is any special advantage in using 
a jointer. 
Preparing Land for Root Crops. — "-W. H.'' pro- 
poses to cultivate a wheat stubble immediately after har- 
vest, harrow and roll and sow white turnips. These he 
will eat off on the land with sheep. The land is intended 
for roots in the spring. " Now, after feeding off the 
turnips." he writes, "shall I plow the land deep with 
three horses, or shall I plow shallow and follow with a 
subsoil plow ? "—It will depend on the land. On my 
land I should plow deep this fall, and in the spring plow 
it again twice, not so deep, and either ridge it for the 
mangles or turnips, putting the manure in the ridges, or 
el?e I should spread the manure broadcast and work it 
thoroughly into the soil and then drill in on the flat. 
Good deep fall plowing is an essential point in raising 
roots. 
Loss OP Clover.— Mr. H. C. Loose, Md., has a thirty- 
acre field on which the clover has missed, now for the 
second time. " I wish," he writes, '' to re-seed it with 
clover without putting in a grain crop. Do you think it 
would do to sow clover on it this fall, say from the first 
to the middle of September, harrowing the ground first 
with sharp heavy harrows and then sow the seed and 
harrow again afterwards in the opposite direction?"— 
I would harrow again twice in opposite directions before 
sowing the seed. Much of the success of the operation 
will depend on the thoroughness with which the soil is 
harrowed. Sow as early as possible, say six quarts clo- 
ver and four quarts timothy, or eight quarts clover alone, 
or better still, if you want the field for pasture, sow eight 
quarts red clover and two quarts white clover. Mow the 
field next summer for hay, or if you pastuie it, keep out 
the etock until the clover has got well established. In 
your climate I should expect clover sown in the fall to 
do well. 
High Farming in Illinois.-*' A. D.," Du Quoin, 111. 
who has read Walks and Talks, writes : " Nothing excites 
my attention and sympathy more than the recital of your 
woes and 'blues,' ■ poor prospects for wheat,' 'failure of 
corn.' ' clover frozen out,' etc. We have been there." he 
says, '■ and though we complained but little, we felt and 
thought a good deal."— He then says he has underdraincd 
at much cost, and mnmured at the rate of 110 good loads 
of rich manure per acre, kept the weeds down, and the 
result is more failures than successes. '■ My wife says," 
he remarks, " to read Walks and Talks, one would think 
all one had to do to get rich, was to haul out mnnnre, of 
which I can get all I want for the haulinga mile distant, 
and so I have hauled summer and winter, in snow and 
rain, in heat and cold, and am not yet rich, and cannot 
3€€ that the manure has ever yet on the average paid me 
twcnty-fivL' cents per load. On land thirty years in cul- 
tivation without much rest, rotation and manure, and 
which had become so reduced as not to grow corn more 
iJian from ten to thirteen feet high, I undertook to bring 
this farm np with manure and good cultivation. Have 
salted, plastered, ashed, coal dusted, and cindered with 
no visible effect. Have put on slaughter-house refuse, 
hair, cracklins and bones, cooked to powder, at the rate 
of S.OoO lbs. per acre, besides the 1 10 loads of fine manure, 
and could see no effect of the refuse. Am this year try- 
ing bone dust on everything in alternate strips. Can see 
any improvement only on lettuce and grass. It killed 
out my oniov-S. But with butter at 37} cents per lb the 
year through. «kimmed milk cheese 18c. @ 20c., all we 
can make ; corn. 50c. @ 75c. per bushel ; potatoes, $1.00 
per bushel; cabbage, 10c. @ 15c. per head ; cucumbers, 
2oc. @. 40c. per dozen ; onions, $2 j)er bushel ; beets, 2ic. 
each, all we can raise ; the prospect fooks encouraging, 
and I have ' faith in farming,' though I am not rich, and 
though I have not made it a success."— I suppose A. D. 
means what he says, but I have never recommended this 
kiud of farming. Over a hundred loads of fine manure 
per acre, and four tons of animal matter, is too much of 
a good thing, and we should not call land which will pro- 
duce corn ten to thirteen feet high, very much run down. 
It is not often we are called upon to give euch advice, 
but I think A. D. wants a larger farm. He should draw 
all the manure he can get for the hauling, but he should 
spread it over more land. 
Sheep in Montana.—" R. P.,"' writes me an interest- 
ing letter from western Montana. They have an abund- 
ance of bunch grass, and common sheep brought from 
Oregon, some years ago, are remarkably healthy and 
hardy. He wants to raise sheep principally for their 
wool, and asks what kind of a ram he should get to cross 
their common ewes with. He wants to know about 
Cotswolus. My own experience with Cotswold grades, 
has been in raising them for mutton as well as wool. 
For wool alone, I think I should prefer to get good im- 
proved American Merino rams, and cross them with 
common ewes. 
Sowing Rte ajiong Corn. — J. B. Van Eaton, 
Greene Co., Ohio, asks if it woula be a good plan to sow 
rye among corn in the fall, to be fed off afterwards with 
sheep ?— I have never tried it. Bat have been thinking of 
doing so. The chief objection is that our seasons are so 
short, and the rye grows so rapidly, that we should not 
be able to feed it for more than two or three weeks. 
Still even this would often be a great help in the spring. 
Wool From Grade Cotswold Sheep.—" I. B. V.," 
asks, *' How many pounds of wool per iiead can a flock 
of grade Cotswold sheep be made to average ? I keep 
from 35 to 40 head of sheep, and I can not get more than 
5 lbs. per sheep, which does not E^tiefy me." — A good, 
well fed flock of grades, with from one to three crosses of 
pure Cotswold blood, starting witli common Merino ewes, 
should average? lb=. of washed wool. But a good deal 
will depend on the fe 'd, and also on the kind of ram 
used. The mistake usually made, is in selecting a iai'ge 
ram. Generally the best wooled Cotswolds have not the 
largest carcass. The English have been breeding for 
mutton. We should pay more attention to purity of 
blood, and select those of good form, good constitution, 
and good wool. 
Should He Keep More Sheep?— The same corres- 
pondent says, I have a farm of 140 acres, 110 acres clear- 
ed. I raise 35 acres of corn, 40 acres of wheat. Cut 16 
acres of clover, pasture 16 acres of clover, keep five 
horses, 50 Poland China pigs, 4 cows, and 40 grade Cots- 
wold sheep, and try to feed out everything on the farm, 
raise no oats, but summer-fallow for wheat. Do you 
think I ought to carry a larger flock of sheep ? "—I think 
so; I do not quite understand the rotation adopted, but 
suppose the 16 acres which arc mowed fur hay, and the 
16 acres pastured, are plowed up and planted with corn. 
Then, as soon as the com is off, the corn stubble is sown 
to wheat. This is seeded down and kept in grass only 
one year, and is tlien plowed again for corn. Here our 
farmers would think this was too much corn and too little 
clover. I am myself so much of a pig man. that I should 
probably keep as many hogs as I. B. V. does, and I 
should have to raise as much corn. The change I 
should make, would be less wheat and more clover. 
I should keep my land two years in clover and grass, 
pasture it the second year, top-dress it with manure in 
the fall, and plow in the spring for corn. 
Shbep in Eastern Tennessee.— Mr. S. F. Gettys, of 
Tennessee, writes that he has "a grade Cotswold ram 
lamb, dropped February 15, weight at birth. V2 lbs. At 
40 days old, 45 lbs. ; 00 days old, [)-2}^ lbs. ; 78 days old, 
S0]bs.;96daysold,97lb5. This Iamb's mother is a common 
mountain ewe, weighing 8"5 or 90 lbs."— This is a very re- 
markable gain. "Tlie sheep," he adds, " had a bite of 
glass all winter, good rye pasture, and a small allowance 
of grain after lambing— and this, by the wa}-, is a great 
advantage of our climate. With proper management, 
we can have pasture for the ewes the year round. Or- 
chard grass and winter rye I now think, will prove best." 
White Wheat.— "J. W.," Ontario, wants to get some 
more Soules' Wheat. It was raised largely in this section 
fifteen or twenty years ago. It was one of the best varie- 
ties of wliite wheat we ever had. But when the midge 
came, it was so much injured that our farmers abandoned 
it, and went back to the red Mediterranean, which ripen- 
ed a week earlier, and was not so liable to injury from 
the midge. I do not now know a farmer who raises 
Soules wheat. We have been raising the Diehl, but our 
farmers are now giving this up, and Gawson is to-day the 
popular white wheat of western New York. I presume 
it will be advertised in the AgriciiUurlst. 
State, County, and other Fairs for 1875. 
State, Proviucial, etc. 
Alabama Selma .Oct. a6-Nov. 1 
American Pomological.. Chicago Sept. &-10 
California Sacramento Sept. 15-25 
Cincinnati Industrial... Cincinnati .. ..Sept. 6-Oct. 9 
Colorado Denver .' Sept. 21-25 
Connecticut Hartford Oct. 5-8 
Georgia Macon Oct. 18-23 
Gerniantown Hort Germantown Sept. 7- 9 
Illinois Ottawa Sept. 13-18 
Indiana Indianapolis Sept. 9-Oct. 2 
Iowa Keokuk Sept. 27-Oct. 1 
Kansas City Exhibition. Kansas Citv. Mo Sept. 13-18 
Louisville Industrial... .Louisville, Ky Sept. 1-Oct. 16 
Maine Portland Sept. 21-24 
Maine Pomological Wiscaseet Sept. 21-24 
Manufact. & Mech. £i..St. John, N. B Sept. 7 
Maryland Baltimore Sept. 14-17 
Massachusetts Hon"]. . . Boston Sept. 21-24 
Mechanics San Francisco.. .Aug. 17~Sept. 17 
Michigan East Saginaw Sept. 13-17 
Minnesota St. Paul Sept. 14-17 
Montana Helena Sept. 27-Oct. 2 
National Exposition Rome, Ga Oct, 4- 9 
Nebraska Omaha Sept. 21-24 
Nevada Oct. 4- 9 
New England Manchester, N. H,... Sept. 7-10 
New Jersey Waverley Sept. 20-24 
New York Elmira Sept. 27-Oct. I 
Ohio Columbus Oct- e-10 
Oregon Salem Oct. 11-16 
Pennsylvania Lancaster Sept. 27-29 
Rhode Island Providence Oct. 5-7 
St. Louis Association. .St. Louis, Mo Oct. 4-9 
Virginia Richmond Oct. 26-30 
Washington Ter Oct. ia-23 
West Virginia Clarksburg Sept. 7-9 
Wisconsin Milwaukee Sept. 6-10 
County and Xo^vii Fairs. 
Androscoggin 
Aroostook 
Cumberland 
Franklin, North. . 
Franklin 
Hancock West 
Kennebec 
Lincoln 
Oxford 
Oxford West 
Piscataquis West.. 
Sagadahoc 
Somerset Central. . 
Waldo 
Washington 
NEW 
Contocook 
Conn. River Valley 
Coos and Essex . . . . 
Grafton 
]Mascoraa Valley 
Oak Park Association 
JklAINE. 
Lewiston Oct. 
Houlton Sept. 
West Cnmberiand Oct. 
Phillips Sept. 
Farmington -Oct. 
Bucksport Oct, 
Readfield Comer Oct. 
Waldoboro ..Oct. 
South Paris Oct, 
Fryeburg Oct, 
Mouson Sept. 
Topsham Oct. 
Skowhegan Sept. 
Belfast Oct. 
Pembroke Sept. 
HAMPSHIRE. 
Hillsboro' Bridge Sept. 
, Claremont Sept. 
Lancaster Sept. 
Plymouth Sept. 
Sept. 
Greenfield Sept. 
5- 7 
2a-24 
5- 7 
29-30 
5- 6 
6- 8 
5-7 
12-14 
5-8 
12-14 
29-30 
12-14 
29-30 
11-13 
29-30 
21-22 
14-16 
28-29 
14-16 
14-16 
16-16 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
Banistable Barnstable Sept. 21-22 
Berkshire . Pittsfield Oct. 5- 7 
Bristol Taunton Sept. 28-30 
Bristol Center Myrick's Sept. 15-17 
Deerfield Valley Cliarlemont Sept. 23-24 
Essex Danvers. ... Sept. 28-29 
Frankl in Greenfield Sept. 30-Oct. 1 
Grafton Grafton Sept. 16 
Hampden Springfield Oct. 5-6 
Hampden, East Palmer Sept. 23-24 
Hampshire Amherst : Sept. 88-29 
Hampshire, Franklin. 
and Hampden Northampton Oct. 6- 8 
Highland Middlefield Sept 16-17 
Hingham ...Hingham Sept. 29-30 
Hoosac Valley North Adams Sept. 21-23 
Honsatonic Great Barringion..Sept.29-Oct. 1 
Lunenburg Lunenburg Sept. 22 
Marshfield Marshfield Oct. 6- 8 
Martha's Vineyard West TIsbory Oct. 5- 6 
Middlesex Concord Sept. 28-30 
Middlesex, North Lowell Sept. 29-30 
Middlesex, South Fiarainsham Sept. 21-22 
Nantucket .Nantucket Sept. 29-30 
Norfolk Readville Sept. 30-Oct. 1 
Plymouth Bridgewater Sept. 22-24 
Union Blandford Sept. a3-23 
Worcester Worcester Sept. 23-24 
Worcester, North Fitchburg Sept. 28 
Worcester, Northwest.. Athol Oct. 5- 6 
Worcester, South Sturbridge Sept. 9-10 
Worcester, Southeast.. Milford Sept. 29-Oct. 1 
Worcester, West Barre Sept. 30-Oct. 1 
RHODE ISLAND. 
Washington Kingston Sept. 15-16 
Woonsocket Woonsocket Sept. 14-16 
CONNECTICUT. 
Danburv Danburv Oct. 5- 7 
Guilford Guilford Oct. 6 
Middlesex Middlctown Sept. 28-Oct. 1 
New Haven Meriden Sept. 22-24 
New London Norwich Sept. 14-16 
Ridi^efield Ridgetield Sept. 7-10 
Union Falls Village Sept. 8- 9 
Watcrtown Watcrtown Sept. 2»-30 
Windham Brooklyn Sept. 21-23 
VERMONT. 
Caledonia St. Johnsbnrg. Sept. 21-23 
CiiiitiMulen Essex Junction Sept. 7- 9 
Doi; River Norlhficld Sept. 28-29 
Franklin Sheldon ^.. Sept. 
Oraufre Bradford Oct. D- 8 
Washiuirton Montpelier Sept. 30-Oct. 1 
Wliile River Valley.... Bethel Sept. 21-23 
