1874] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
289 
Improvement in Handling Cotton. 
—By a new process, which has been sufficiently tested to 
bhow its practicability and value, the seed-cotton may be 
taken from the field and, without the use of the gin, 
brought directly to the card. Here a machine known as 
the Clement attachment, which occupies the position of 
the usual " licker-in," takes the cotton and cleans it 
from the seed, dust, trash, and motes, and delivers it in 
untangled condition to the card, from which it emerges 
through the "doflfer" in a continuous roll called a 
" sliver." This improvement in the manufacture of cot- 
ton will be of great benefit to the Southern planters, as it 
makes the use of the gin and the press unnecessary, so 
soon and so far as the manufacture of yarns direct from 
the seed-cotton can be established. Then the natural 
connection between the planter and the spinuer will be 
effected, and instead of the raw material being exported, 
a partly finished product, the yarn, will be. Mr. F. E. 
Whitfield, sr., has several of these machines already in 
successful operation at Corinth, Miss. 
State Fair .^'otes. —As the Ohio State 
Fair is to be held at Columbus for a number of years, the 
Board has taken possession of the County Fair Grounds 
east of the city, has extended them, and is making many 
permanent improvements. This subject of a place for 
[the Fair has been a matter for heated discussion for ten 
years, and was settled in favor of location at the State 
Capitol, at the last winter meeting of the State Agricul- 
tural Society. The fair will be held the second week in 
September— Sept. 7lh to 11th, and a special effort will be 
made by the dominant party, to have the fair all that the 
legitimate AgricultufU;! Exhibition can be. The Northern 
Ohio Fair at Cleveland, will be held a week later, par- 
taking more of the character of an Industrial Exposition. 
An effort is being made to organize a Southern Ohio Fair 
Association to hold a fair at Dayton The Indiana 
State Fair and Exposition, will open at ludianopolis 
Sept. 7th, and hold thirty days The Illinois State 
Fair will be held at Peoria, Sept. 14 to 19; Iowa at 
Keokuk, Sept. 21 to 26 ; Kansas at Leavenworth, Sept. 7 
to 11 ; Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Sept. 7 to 12 ; Wisconsin 
Industrial Association at Mineral Point, Sept. 1 to 4 ; 
Minnesota at St. Paul, Sept. S to 12 ; Nebraska at Omaha, 
Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 ; Colorado at Denver, Sept. 23 to 26 ; 
California at Sacramento, Sept. 21 to 2G ; Michigan at 
East Saginaw, Sept. 14 to 19. The Industrial Exposition 
at Chicago, will open Sept. 9, and continue one month. 
This was a great success last year, and every effort will 
be made to have the exhibition excel, this year, in every 
departm nl. Our Fair List will appear next month as 
usual, and we ask those Secretaries of State, County and 
other Societies, who have not sent us their official 
announcements, to do so as early as possible. It is a very 
difficult matter to make up an accurate list of fairs, as 
the papers published in the same county and town, often 
disagree as to dates. We ask the secretaries to help us 
make our list as correct as possible. 
Ammonia in Peat. — "Lime " Passaic, 
N. J. The advice of your neighbors as to the best way 
to use swamp-muck is correct, and that of your city 
friend is incorrect. Peat contains nitrogen, but does not 
contain ammonia, either free or in combination with an 
acid, and it is only such ammonia that is driven off by lime 
or potash. Peat-muck applied to a field as drawn from the 
swamp, is of no immediate use, and we have had no 
visible benefit from a copious dressing of it. But if 
decomposed by lime, the nitrogen in the peat, which is 
inert of itself, is slowly changed into ammonia, which 
remains in the peat, in combination with acids, until 
absorbed by the soil or used up by the plants to which it 
is applied. Thus fresh blood, flesh, leather, and other 
animal substances are rich in nit.roiren, but may be 
mixed with lime without any ammonia, or any smell 
ii -iiig given off. But aa soon as the nitrogen is changed 
into ammonia by decomposition, a strong smell is per- 
ceived on the admixture of lime or potash. Ammonia 
consists of one atom of nitrogen, with three of hydrogen, 
and this combination takes place during the dccoinposh 
tion of substances wh i ch con lai n nitrogen , and are 
therefore called nitrogenous substances. Peat decom- 
poses slowly, and several months rest in the heap mixed 
in alternate layers of one load, with one bnshel of lime, 
is necessary to render It fit for use. After that time it 
becomes fine and spreads easily. Peat thus treated con- 
tains ammonia in varying proportions of one per cent or 
Jess, up to three per cent. 
The Cattle Business in Mew Yorlc. 
—A change of great importance to feeders of cattle has 
gradual'y taken place in the method of conducting the 
trade in live stock in New York. The slaughtering busi- 
ness Is now in the hands of a few men, and hardly more 
than a dozen of city retailers kill any beeveB, sheep, or 
calves. The meat they sell is purchased at the large 
slaughter-houses, or the wholesale meat-market, by the 
side, quarter or carcass. The few retail butchers who 
still purchase their live cattle are gradually changing 
their methods, and by and by doubtless they will fall into 
the regular channels of the business. The effect of this 
is to narrow the competition and prevent sudden fluctua- 
tion in prices. A few men can now make the market, 
and as it is to their interest to keep prices steady, it is to 
the interest of the country dealers and graziers that this 
state of things should continue. The prices quoted in 
the market reports now more nearly represent the actual 
value of the slock than at any former time, and shippers 
from the West may be more certain of realizing a fair 
market price than they could previously do. The con- 
centration of business in a few hands cheapens the cost 
of handling the stock and the meat, and this saving in 
cost, of course, comes ultimately either to the producer, 
or the consumer, or partly to both of them. Fat cattle 
from the West are subjected, on their arrival here, to a 
shrinkage of 60 lbs. to the 1,000 lbs. of live weight. They 
are then sold on an estimate of 57 to 58 lbs. to the gross 
hundred weight. Beeves, which weigh 1,200 lbs. in 
Chicago, will thus weigli on their «rrival here 1,128 lbs., 
and will be sold on an estimate of 640 lbs. nett weight. 
As to Tile-l>i-ains. — "Subscriber," Wa- 
terbury, Conn. The water enters the tiles in drains be- 
tween the joints. In laying tiles, care should be taken 
tu have the joints as close together as possible, and to 
cover them with compact soil. The largest portion of 
the water enters from beneath tiles and at the sides, 
scarcely any entering from immediately above them. As 
the flow is a gentle percolation through the joints, there 
is only a trifling amount of sediment carried in, and to 
get rid of this, "silt basins" are made in the drains. 
" Waring's Draining for Profit" explains all this very 
fully, and should be studied before any thing is done in 
the way of draining. 
" Horse Books."-" M. E.," Walla Walla, 
W. T. The best book upon horses for general use is 
prnbibly StoneheiiLre's " IIorBO in the Stable and in the 
Field." Its cost is $0.50. It may be procured at the office 
of the Orange Judd Company, 245 Broadway, New York. 
If a mare does not become in foal after repeated visits to 
the horse, it is common to bleed her, and reduce her con- 
ditio i by physic and exercise. A run at pasture along 
with a horse tbr a few weeks, will frequently lead to the 
desired result. In such a case the shoes should be re- 
moved, to avo I injury. 
The I* >tato-Rot.— "G. W. S.," Mifflin, O. 
The origin of the potato-rot is a somewhat disputed 
point, buu we know in a great measure how it maybe 
avoided. The crop should be grown only upon well 
drained, warm laud, a light loam with some gravel in it, 
is the best soil ; only we]] rotted barn-yard manure 
should be used, or some good superphosphate applied in 
the hill. Wet clay soils, fresh unfermented animal ma- 
nures, and a wet season, are productive of rot, and if the 
first two are avoided, the crop often escapes the effect of 
the last. 
What Part of the West?— "B. B. B.," 
Greene Co., Ohio. What part of the West is the best for 
farming or stock raising, depends upon many circum- 
stances. If the emigrant has but little money and much 
patience and perseverance, he may choose the neighbor- 
hood of one of the great railroads, where homesteads 
are still vacant. Through the Arkansas Valley, along the 
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad, the winters are 
somewhat shorter than in the Platte Valley, upon the 
Union Pacific and the Burlington and Missouri roads, and 
there are homesteads far out npon each of these roads. 
If he has more money, he would do better to purchase 
lands near towns from any of these roads, but before 
selecting his home, we would advise him to go and look 
for himself. The present month wonld be a favorable 
time to examine the Western country. 
How Drains Act. — "Milo," Telmacana, 
Texas. The water which runs into drains dug in tough 
clay soil, enters from the sides and the bottom, and not 
from immediately above the drains. The toughest clay 
is sufficiently permeable to water to allow it to pass 
through readily, and after the drains have been in opera- 
tion some time, regular and permanent water channels 
become established in the soil leading from above to 
the bottoms of the drains. In digging drains in tough, 
compact clay, numerous small veins of water are cut, 
which show very clearly how readily the water will pass 
through such soil as soon as outlets are provided. The 
advantage of the deeper drains is thus explained, and it 
is readily seen that their influence extendB further in 
proportion to their depth. 
See Paffe 313— Basket Page 313. 
"Walks and Talks" Correspondence. 
So many persons write to the author of ** Walks and 
Talks," asking questions upon the topics therein treated, 
that to answer them in the articles wonld either extend 
them unduly, or crowd out other matter. To obviate 
these difficulties, we give Mr. Harris a phicc in the 
Basket columns, where his answers to correspondents 
will hereafter be found under the above heading.— Ed. 
Pigs and Acorns.— lt C. P.," of N. Y. city, writes: "I 
bought a farm of 320 acres in Virginia. Shall move on to it 
this fall. I am going into the milk diiiry business, and 
want to raise pigs. Being near a city where I find a 
ready sale for fresh milk at 30c. per gallon ulmlesale, 
there will be'Httle chance for skimmed milk, or butte*. 
milk. The buildings are surrounded by agroveof 7acrea 
of large oak, with a few hickory trees. Adjoining this 
grove is a wood-lot of 27 acres, mostly oaks. Both are 
fenced in. Mauy bushels of acorna cover the ground In 
the fall and winter. But I want to save all the manure 
from the pigs for my fields, and what I want you to tell 
me is how to utilize the acorns and save the manure." 
There is no way of saving aU the manure, except by 
gathering the acorns, and this, of course, will not pay. 
The best plan I can think of would be to keep the pigs 
out of the grove aud wood-lot until the acorns had com- 
menced to fall freely, and there was a full feed for the 
herd on the ground. Then turn in the pigs for an hour 
at a time twice a day, and keep them in the yard or pens 
at night. After they have got a good meal of acorns, the 
pigs maybe brought back to the yard, or turned into a 
field of stubble or grass that you wish to enrich by their 
droppings. By doing this regularly at a given time, and 
by giving them a few ears of corn in the yard or field, the 
pigs conld soon be taught to come when they are called. 
If you can get 30c. per gallon for milk at wholesale, sell 
every quart of it. At such figures you can afford to buy 
guano and artificial manures to raise grass, corn-fodder, 
and mangles, to feed your cows. Do not go too largely 
into the pig business, until you have had more experience. 
Hurdles for Pigs. — "C. P.' 1 further says: "Hav- 
ing no fences in the fields, I intend hurdling my pigs on 
clover lots." All of us, at some period of our lives, in- 
tend to do a great many things that wc never accomplish. 
I think in C. P.'a case hurdling pigs on clover will be 
one of them. 
Value of Acorns. — " What is the comparative 
value of acorns as food for pigs?" ask3 u C. 1'." Ac- 
cording to the tables given by Prof. S. W. Johnson in 
"How Crops Grow," 100 lbs. of corn contain five times 
as much nitrogen, and about twice as mueh available 
carbonaceous matter, as 100 lbs. of acorns. I should 
think 100 lbs. of corn worth at least as much as 300 lbs. 
of fresh acorns. The manure from pigs feeding on 
acorns would be worth comparatively little. 
Varieties of Wheat. — "R. P. E.," Cumberland 
Co., N. J., asks if I think the Diehl wheat will do well 
in that section. I can not tell. Like all good varieties 
of white wheat, it requires better soil and better treat- 
ment than the hardier aud coarser varieties of red wheat, 
snch as the Mediterranean. Mr. E. says they have not 
raised any white wheat for a considerable time, but can 
grow 25 to 30 bushels per acre of red wheat. Soil, a 
sandy loam, with a red clay subsoil. The Fultz wheat, 
he says, is being tried to some extent, and promises well. 
All I can say is that the Diehl wheat is the hest variety 
of white wheat I have yet tried. The millers do not like 
it as well — or at least tbey say they don't — as the Boughton 
or Soules. The latter has almost entirely disappeared in 
this section, and the Boughton was never raised here to 
any considerable extent, as it proved too tender for our 
winters. Last year the Diehl was badly winter-killed, 
and many of our farmers gave it up and went back to the 
Mediterranean. This year the Diehl gives a good crop 
on good land. It should be sown on no other. If land 
will not produce a good crop of red wheat, it is useless 
to sow the white varieties. But if your Jand wVA produce 
a large crop of Mediterranean— so large that it is fre- 
quently lodged— try the Diehl. If it does well, you will 
get a larger yield of grain, and it will command a better 
price. It has remarkably stiff straw, and yields much 
more grain in proportion to straw than any variety I am 
acquainted with. Some of our farmers obj<et to it on 
the ground that the straw of the Diehl is so hard and 
stiff, that it is not as valuable for fodder as the softer 
straw of the Mediterranean wheat. 
Rape for Sheep— " R. P. E." also writes: "My 
experiment with rape for winter pasture for sheep I con- 
sider eminently successful. I sowed early in August, 
after early potatoes, and by November had a heavy, dense 
growth, almost equal to a heavy crop of clover. Winter 
was open, with little snow, and the sheep led on it ail 
winter, and with reat profit in the saving oi hay and 
condition of sheep. I sold the Bheep and lambs at the 
same time for $12 . e pair, in April and May. i sowed 
gome rape seed in m corn field. It did not do near so 
