16 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
servation of his health. But his exercise should 
partake of the nature of recreation, not labor. 
No man can well carry on two kinds of work 
at once : it may be either brain-work or muscle- 
work, but not both in the same day. If he toils 
with hands the largest part of each day, his 
reading, during his hours of rest, should not be 
of the nature of stud}'. If he toils with his 
head the largest part of every day, he should, 
for the remainder, seek some kind of diversion, 
amusement, not additional labor of any sort.' 
For all kinds of labor exhaust vitality. " All 
work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." 
An agricultural school should differ from oth- 
er institutions, in that it should be established 
on a farm. This farm should, if practicable, 
present a great variety of soils, also upland, 
lowland, woodland. It should have all need- 
ful buildings for stock, hay and grain, a well 
furnished chemical laboratory, the departments 
of Natural Philosophy, Natural History, etc., 
well provided with apparatus, and collections, 
a well stocked library, a gymnasium, etc. The 
farm, and its buildings and implements, and all 
other needful apparatus, should not be for the 
student to work upon and with, to any great 
extent, but rather to afford him ample means 
for study. He should work enough to learn 
how to handle tools and implements, and to 
know how to perform all kinds of farm-labor. 
The school should have two courses of study : 
the one for a year and-a-half or two years, and 
another for three years. The first should be 
designed for those who are unable or disinclined 
to prosecute any but the elements of agricultur- 
al science ; the second for those who wish to 
become thoroughly educated. The conditions 
of membership should involve only a thorough 
common school education. The course of study 
should embrace such branches as Botany, Veg- 
etable Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Mechan- 
ics, Vegetable and Animal Physiology, Miner- 
alogy and Geology, Surveying, Farriery, Prin- 
ciples of Stock Breeding, Culture of Fruits, 
Draining, Elementary Law, etc., but which 
should be taught in recitation, by lectures, and 
text books, and illustrated by experiments in the 
laboratory and on the farm. 
This course of study, the long or short, should 
be considered as only preparatory to stud}' iu 
the great school of , experience. Actual fann- 
ing on one's own land will illustrate and con- 
firm what has been taught in an elementary 
.way in the agricultural school. 
■ » i m 9 m *-m 
A Word for Mules. 
We are glad to see that the use of mules for 
all kinds of hard, rough work, is steadily gain- 
ing ground. These animals are not beautiful 
or musical, but they are useful and economical. 
They are fit for work younger than the horse, 
since they are put to service at three years old, 
though they do not reach their maturity until 
seven years of age. Their temper, health, and 
usefulness, depend very much on the manner of 
breaking them. The so-called stubbornness and 
obstinacy of this animal arises chiefly from the 
abuse he is wont to receive when young. He 
seldom if ever bites or kicks those who treat 
him kindly. But the fact is, that the club and 
whip and whip-handle and boot-toe are applied 
to him without mercy ; and yet he is expected 
to , be always as patient and gentle as a cow ! 
The mule will do more work, and require less 
grain than a horse ; he is less liable to disease, 
and recovers from sickness and injury quicker 
than a horse. He works better when old, and 
holds out longer. He seldom takes fright, or 
runs awa}'. He does not like overurging when 
drawing heavy loads, and he should never be 
driven very fast. In making up spans (those of 
15 to lo'l 2 hands high make most servicable 
teams), those of similar dispositions should be 
chosen and put together, so that they will work 
together pleasantly and with a will. The mule 
seems made for work — he thrives under it, and 
is better in spirits and temper than when. idle. 
Experiments in Raising Potatoes. 
''Delaware" makes the following communi- 
cation . " Last spring I tried an experiment in 
raising potatoes from whole tubers, halves, and 
single eyes, planting three rows of " White 
Sprouts," one with each, and marked a section 
of thirty feet in each row, near the middle, for 
testing. I planted 5 lbs. of whole potatoes, 12 
inches apart — yield 18 lbs. In the next row, 5 
lbs. of halves, six inches apart — yielded 20 lbs., 
while 1 lb. 12 oz. of single eye pieces produced 
10 lbs. There was no discoverable difference 
in the quality of the potatoes, and very little in 
the size. Those of the whole tubers were a 
shade the largest. This makes it appear that iu 
economy of seed, the advantage is largely in 
favor of single eyes ; for in the same proportion, 
the whole and half potatoes should each have 
yielded 28.57 lbs., instead of 18 and 20 lbs. 
respectively. Having reference to the ground 
occupied, the result is in favor of the halves 
first, and the whole potatoes second. The halves 
yielded double, and the whole ones nearly 
double what the single eyes yielded on the 
same surface of ground. Observe that, although 
the quantity of seed and the ground planted 
with whole and with half potatoes were the 
same, yet the distance apart was double in the 
first mentioned." 
Milk for N. Y. City— Striking Figures. 
This City is supplied with milk brought in 
over eight or nine railroads, and by wagons from 
many points in the immediate vicinity. The 
largest supplies come over three railroads, which 
during the ten months ending Nov. 1st, deliv- 
ered the following supplies: Erie Railroad, 
17,228,985 quarts ; Harlem Railroad, 15,406,605 
quarts ; Hudson River Railroad, 13,007,810 
quarts : Total, 45,643,400 Quarts !— equal 
to 150,143 quarts per day, Sundays included. If 
we add as much more for milk from all other 
sources, condensed milk, etc., which is far too 
great an estimate, the. supply would amount to 
300,000 quarts per day. But this quantity is di- 
vided among the permanent and transient resi- 
dents of New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, 
Newark, and a dozen suburban cities and towns, 
as Hoboken, Hudson City, etc. — amounting in 
all to little if any short of two millions of people. 
The consumption therefore is less than one-third 
of a pint per day to each person. It is evident 
therefore, that there is still opportunity to large- 
ly increase the supply of milk without over- 
stocking the market, even if there were to be no 
increase in population. . . .Taking the average 
retail price at 10c. per quart, the citizens paid 
for the milk brought on over the three princi- 
pal railroads, over 4^ million dollars, of which 
the producers received about $2,300,000, the 
Railroads $800,000 for freight, and the whole- 
sale and retail dealers $1,400,000. These are 
general estimates, based upon the facts as near- 
ly as they can be ascertained This 45,643,400 
quarts of milk (brought over the three Railroads) 
would fill one million one hundred and twenty- 
five thousand ten-gallon cans !..-.. . .Reckoning 
this milk at only wine measure, it would cover 
35 acres one foot deep, or it would fill a tank 
covering an acre thirty-five feet deep ! The 
reader can readily extend the figures to the num- 
ber of cows, the number of milk-men or milk- 
maids required, the feed consumed, etc., etc. 
Middle Tennessee. 
A correspondent, Mr. M. F. Averseiz, who 
refers to Dr. Hart, of Tullahoma, as willing to 
give particular informal Ion about this compar- 
atively new part of the country, sends us the 
following letter. The land is broad, and many 
desirable locations are offered to enterprising 
settlers. Here is a plea for Tennessee : 
" This beautiful country, especially the high 
table-lands in the Counties of Coffee, Warren, 
Grundy, and Marion, have many advantages, and 
are well worthy the attention of every one seek- 
ing a new home. The delightful climate, pro- 
verbially healthy, is very mild. The spring al- 
lows early plowing, sowing and planting. After 
April 1st, there is little or no danger from frost. 
In summer it is never too hot for out-door work, 
and the nights are" always refreshing and cool, 
to such a degree that sleeping without cover is 
uncomfortable. The autumn is very pleasant, 
and the winter never severe ; snow seldom lies 
longer than 3 or 4 days at a time, and ice rarely 
forms thicker than 3 or 4 inches. The land, a 
good deal of which, about 60 years ago, was a 
prairie, is now covered with White, Black, 
Spanish and Post Oak and Chestnuts, and near 
the streams Yellow Poplar, Black "Walnut and 
Ash, having only little undergrowth, is easily 
cleared, and after this, on account of being level 
or slightly rolling, admits the use of all improved 
agricultural implements. The soil, although 
not so rich as the river bottoms, is a happy mix- 
ture of loam and sand, with a good subsoil, very 
easily worked, capable of holding a good deal 
of moisture, not liable to cake very susceptible, 
of lasting improvement by deep plowing, sub- 
soiling, manuring, and a systematic natural ro- 
tation of crops. It is well adapted to the growth 
of all kinds of vegetables and grain. Wheal, 
rye, barley, oats and spring grains are sown in 
February. Corn, grass, clover, tobacco, flax, 
sorghum, yield enormously. Fruit of all kinds 
seldom fails ; peaches grow large, and the trees 
last 40 years. Apples grow quite thriftily and 
bear well almost every year, also Cherries, Pears 
and Apricots. The Grape, though not yet grown 
extensive^, is cultivated with success on the 
level land, and at a small cost, as thus the great- 
est part of deepening, loosening and cleaning 
the soil can be done by horse-power. Although 
not proper cotton land, yet this crop can be 
grown and pay well at present prices. 
All circumstances combine to extend the farm- 
er's work over the whole year, and as plowing 
can be done every month in the year, one man 
can put in and tend about twice as many acres 
of crops as at the North and West, The rais- 
ing of horses, cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry, 
is very easj',and pays well ; wild grasses abound ; 
in the woods, a good mast of acorns falls almost 
every year, and only four months of winter feed- 
ing is needed — for sheep, only when snow covers 
the ground. Large springs of the best, purest, 
and healthiest water, abound in this region, and 
good water-power on different streams. The 
most remarkable of these water-powers is at 
Manchester, the county seat of Coffee County, 
