-±54r 
AMERICAN A GRIG ULT URIST 
[December, 
age of last week being tiie unexampled low figure of 1%. 
Trade closed very weak with sales of Texans and 
Colorados at 7@7Xc. lb on estimate of dressed weight 
of 55 lbs. $ cwt. Natives of same quality sold heavily 
at same rates ; mediums of 55 to 5ti lbs. cwt. sold at 
8 ®S;<;C., many of ihese being taken for export; extras 
50@57 3>s., sold at 10@103^c. ^ D). 
RECEIPTS. 
WEEK ENDING 
Beeves. 
Cows. 
Calves. 
Sheep. 
Swine. 
Oct. 21. 
.12,350 
105 
3,525 
31,792 
45,o;s 
Oct. 28. 
.10,078 
105 
2,770 
33,123 
49,774 
Nov. 4. 
9,701 
151 
2,874 
31,958 
45,381 
Nov.ll. 
12,702 
148 
2,813 
37,246 
57,6-29 
Total for 4 Weeks. 
.44,831 
509 
11,982 
134,119 
197.857 
do. for prev. 5 Weeks 60,519 
354 
18,058 
163,113 
135,412 
Beeves. Cows. Calves. Sheen. Sioine. 
Average per Week .11,207 127 2,995 33,529 49,161 
do. do. last Month.. 12,104 71 3,611 32,622 31,088 
do. do. prev's Month .11,258 66 3,67? 28,749 26,007 
containing a great variety of Items , including many 
good Hints and. Suggestions which we throw into smaller 
type and condensed form , for want of room elsewhere. 
Tlie Best Holiday Present. —Send to a rela¬ 
tive notice that you have paid for him a year’s subscrip¬ 
tion to this journal, and all through the year every time a 
number arrives that friend will have a new reminder of 
your kindness. The many thousand hints and sug¬ 
gestions its pages will aft'ord will be turned to profitable 
account, and supply additional cause of gratitude. 
The prices for the past four weeks were as follows: 
WEEK ENDING 
Range. 
Larger Sales. 
Aver. 
Oct. 21. 
. 6 ®\oy,c. 
IK® 8Jfc. 
8 c. 
Oct. 28. 
. 6H@10tfc. 
7 @ 8&C. 
8 c. 
Nov. 4. 
. 6K@10J4c. 
75f@ 9 c. 
8Kc. 
Nov. 11. 
. 6 @10tic. 
7 K® S%c. 
Tlie. 
Cows.— There has been more demand for good cows, 
but poor ones are neglected and unsalable. A number of 
good N. Y. State cows went off readily at $55 to $G0 per 
head, and these prices may be taken as an index of the 
market. Poor cows were refused at $35. 
Calves have been quiet during the past month with 
prices ranging lower gradually. The range has been from 
2X@7‘Ac. $ lb live weight; closing prices were2@2%c. 
ib live weight for grassers, 3@4j£c. lb for fed calves, 
and 5@7c. for good to fancy veals. 
Slteep. —A dull market has prevailed, with some ir¬ 
regularity in prices. At the close prices ranged from Z% 
to 4 > 4 c. $ live weight; choice wethers brought 4%c. 
$ lb,, and prime lambs 4‘^@5c. $ lb. 
Swine.— Live hogs have been at times unsalable, and 
prices have receded considerably. Z\i@&y 2 c. $ lb lias 
been quoted at times, but without business, and at the 
close, the heaviest receipts ever known in the city in one 
week, broke the market to Z%@HX C - $ B>-, with a 
stronger feeling at the lower prices. City dressed have 
sold for4®4j^c. lb., and some sales of heavy hogs have 
been made at a shade less than 4c. Closing quotations 
are a little in advance of poor business. 
The Horse Market.— But little business has 
been done the past month. Prices are somewhat lower. 
Sales of small driving horses have been made at $100 to 
$150 per head. Western carriage horses have sold at 
$600@$S50 each. A pair of fine lSj^-hand hays brought 
the latter price. There was no inquiry for heavy draft or 
car horses. A shipment of half-bred Normans from the 
West was made to France, this being one of the rare 
curiosities of the horse trade and a reversal of the usual 
current. 30 head of fine coach horses were shipped dur¬ 
ing the last week to London. 
Prices of Feed. 
Bran, per ton.$1S.OO@$29XO 
Middlings, per ton. 19.00® 21.00 
Ground Feed, per ton. 15.00® 21.00 
Linseed-oil-cake, western, per ton. 44.00® 47.00 
Cotton-seed-cake, per ton. 25.50® 40.00 
Chandler’s Scraps, per H>. 3® 4 
Prices of Fertilizers. 
No. 1. Peruv. Guano 10 p.ct. ammonia, standard, V ton..$56.50 
do. do. Lobos, do. do. do. 47.50 
do do guaranteed, $ ton, cargo « 56.00 
do do, rectified, per ton, 9.70 p. c.. 69:00 
do, do. do. do. 8.40 p. c. 51.00 
Soluble Pacific Guano. $ ton. .45.00 
Excelsior Fertilizer Works, Fine Ground Raw Bone,. ..55.C0 
Mapes’ Complete Manure (Ville formula) p. 1,000 lbs 26.14 
do do. do. Grain and Grass, $1 1,000 lbs. 25.00 
do. Fruit and Vine Manure do. 17.50 
do. 
Bone, strictly pure, meal 
42.00 
do 
do. 
do. 
extra fine.. 
do. 
40.00 
do 
do. 
do. 
fine. 
38.00 
do 
do. 
do. 
medium.... 
do. 
S6.00 
do. 
do. 
do. 
dissolved... 
42.0,1 
Etockbridge Corn Manure, per acre. 20.00 
“ Potato do do 10.00 
“ Tobacco do do 50.60 
“ Rve do do 10.00 
“ Wheat do do 15.00 
Bowker's Hill and Drill Fertilizer, per ton. 45.00 
Gypsum, Nova Scotia, ground, per ton. 8.00 
Nitrate of Potash (95 per cent.), per lb. 9 @9kc. 
Sulphate of Potash (potash 41 per cent) per lb_ 3 @3Ke. 
do. do. (potash 27>J per cent) per lb.. 1!4®2 c. 
German Potash Salts (potash 12 to 15 p. c. p. ton.$15.00@18.00 
Muriate of Potash (potash 50 per cent), per lb_ 1&@2 Kc. 
Nitrate of Soda, per lb. S%c.®l'4c 
Sulphate of Ammonia (25 percent.), per lb. 4 1 4c.@l5s(c. 
Dried Blood (ammonia 13 percent) per ton.5>40.00@45.00 
Beef Cattle for Southern Pastures.—“II. 
Q. A.,” Beaufort Co., S. C. Shorthorns, Herefords, or 
Polled Aberdeens may be used to improve the native 
stock of the South ; and the Bermuda and other grasses, 
with cow-peas, clover, roots, corn, and cotton-seed, can 
be made to fatten them. But it can hardly he expected 
that these cattle can he as heavy or as thrifty as those 
pastured in the cooler climates of Kentucky and Illinois. 
Nevertheless, by good management, feeding beef ought 
to be made profitable in many districts of several of the 
Southern States. In many cases the Devon will bo found 
superior to the Shorthorn on light southern pastures. 
Choosing; Seed Corn. —“ N. S.,” Tucker Co., Va. 
There have been numerous experiments as to the effect 
of choosing seed from the ends or the middle of the ears. 
The general results have been that there is no essential 
difference; so long as the ends arc well-developed, the 
seed is as good from the tips and butts as from the mid¬ 
dle. Corn will not deteriorate if the best cars are select¬ 
ed and kept for seed year by year. There are farms in 
many of the older States where good crops have been 
grown for half a century or more from one variety of seed. 
Sending' Subscriptions.—No Letter Need¬ 
ed. —At the bottom of page 488 will be found a conven¬ 
ient blank form for filling up with names of subscrib¬ 
ers. This form can he cut off without materially injuring 
the paper for preservation, and it will save the necessity 
of writing a format letter to accompany the remittance. 
Chicken Yard Fence.— When it is desired to 
keep chickens from straying 
about the farm or gardens, 
or to confine breeding poul¬ 
try, the fence represented in 
the engraving will be found 
to answer the purpose, and 
while it is neat and substan¬ 
tial, it may he constructed at 
a low cost. Three light rails 
are nailed to the posts, two 
near the top, as indicated. 
Slats are fastened from th*e 
lower to the second rail; and 
others from the second to 
the upper one, their lower 
ends being placed between 
the ends of the bottom tier. 
The slats are 2 inches wide, 
split from inch boards; the 
total hight of the fence is 
about seven feet. It costs no 
more to make a neat fence 
of this description, than the 
unsightly things so common with unthrifty farmers. 
Farming on Shares.— “ Capt. C. F. K.,” Fort 
Stockton, Texas. A plot ol' ground being furnished by 
one party,.the seed and labor by the other, one-half the 
products to eacli is considered in many sections as a fair 
division. Exact justice in such matters, however, can 
only be reached by a careful estimate of the value of 
what eacli one puts into the partnership: the interest on 
the value of the land on the one side, and the cost of seed 
and labor on the other; then the products may be fairly 
divided according to these figures. If it he argued that 
the land-owner has no guarantee for skill and care on the 
part of the tenant, so the latter has no surety for the con¬ 
dition of the land. The halving system is a poor one at 
best, for what would he fair when land is worth $59 per 
acre, would be no guide on $10 land. No one rule can he 
made for general application, except the business rule. 
Practical Floriculture,— Mr. Peter Hender¬ 
son's work with this title, while it has been of value to 
commercial florists generally, has been especially useful 
to beginners. We have known of a number of cases in 
which persons in small places, with a taste for culti¬ 
vating plants or those who were already engaged in 
market gardening, have, by the aid of this work, put up 
small greenhouses, which enabled them to add essen¬ 
tially to their incomes. There is scarcely a village or 
town in the country of 500 or 1,000 inhabitants, where a 
small greenhouse, one of sufficient size to meet the 
wants of the community, might not, in addition to other 
j occupation, pay the owner a fair profit. The Germans 
seem to understand this, and in the towns around New 
York, the German tailors, shoemakers, and other me¬ 
chanics have their little greenhouses, in which they raise 
cut flowers for sale to city florists. Other mechanics can 
in a similar manner raise plants for sale. One of the great 
merits of Mr. Henderson's hook is, that it recognizes the 
wants of people of small means, and gives directions for 
building small and cheap structures, as well as large and 
costly ones, while it is at the same time very full on the 
propagation and care of the plants. In the present edi¬ 
tion several chapters have been added, giving informa¬ 
tion on such subjects, as letters of inquiry have shown 
to be needed. The chapter on uniting floriculture with 
market-gardening will no doubt meet the wants of many 
who are already engaged in vegetable-gardening, and 
■would like to add flower-growing to it, or who, fearing 
that either alone might not pay, would unite the two. 
Though the work is essentially enlarged, the price re¬ 
mains as before, $1.59. post-paid, by the Orange Judd Co. 
Over 20,000 Men, Women, and. Children 
have received valuable articles free from this Office, in 
return for their kind efforts in collecting and forwarding 
lists of subscribers—with profit to themselves, and to 
those they have invited to become readers. The reader 
of this might as well ho one of the thousands who will re¬ 
ceive these premium articles the present winter, or even 
the present month. It is worth trying. See page 481. 
Ten Thousand Five Hundred Barrels 
are a good many apples—yet this quantity left New York 
City for Europe on a recent Saturday. There is always a 
demand for our apples abroad, even in years of plenty 
there, as our fruit is much fairer and finer than theirs, as 
well as higher flavored. While we are glad that the 
Europeans get our fruit, we regret that but little of 
the profit of the shipment reaches the hands of our 
farmers. In this case the shippers make the money. 
(i Horse Sorrel ’* once more. In an item in the 
October “Basket,” it was stated that we knew of no 
plant generally called by this name. This has brought 
out several letters, which show the utter confusion that 
exists in the application of common names. There are 
two very different genera of plants known as Sorrel. 
There is the genus Oxalis, of which in the older States 
there are three species, all with three-parted, clover-like 
leaves, and showy flowers with five petals each ; one has 
yellow, one violet, and the other white, red-veined flow¬ 
ers. The other genus is Rumex , the Sorrel of which 
has spear-shaped leaves, and small flowers without 
petals. The common names as fixed by long usage in 
England and in most of the older States here, are: for 
the species of Oxalis , “Wood-Sorrel,” and fer thespecies 
of Rumex in question, “Sheep-Sorrel.” Thesecommon 
names have been adopted by the botanists of both coun¬ 
tries, and it is very desirable that they should, for the 
sake of definiteness, be generally observed. But it 
seems that in some parts of this country the common 
name belonging to Rumex has been shifted to Oxalis, 
and that is wrongly called “Sheep-Sorrel,” while Rumex, 
being thus deprived of its rightful name, is furnished 
with another—“Horse-Sorrel.” We can see no reason 
for this change, as the names as mentioned above have 
been so applied for many years—we may say for cen¬ 
turies, as Parkinson in 1010 figures Oxalis as “Wood- 
Sorrell,” and Rumex Acetosella as “ Sheepe-Sorrell.” 
Let us try to preserve as far as possible uniformity in 
the use of common names of plants. 
Tlie Grape-Vlsie Kaspberry.— An “Agent” 
is around among tlie Kansas farmers trying to get orders 
for a new variety of Raspberry called the “ Grape-Vine.” 
This is said “ to look just like a grape-vine, and to grow 
from year to year the same.”—We repeat, that new and 
valuable plants do not first make their appearance in the 
hands of peddlers. When these chaps offer anything 
new and wonderful—don’t order it. 
When You read this number through, please con 
sider whether there are not hints and suggestions that 
you would not be without for the cost of the paper per 
year. Well, all through the year to come, many active, 
intelligent people will be all the while hunting up other 
new suggestions and information to fill up the pages. We 
feel sure that it will pay you and your neighbors to have 
the paper. Please bring them along to enjoy and get the 
benefit of our chatting circle for the new year, 1879. 
Packing Eggs.—“E. A. D.,” Lamar, Mo. It is 
“milk of lime ” that is used to preserve eggs, not milk 
and lime water. When eggs are preserved by packing 
them in milk of lime, or by oiling, it is not necessary to 
put them in salt; chaff, cut straw or any other light ma¬ 
terial may he used to pack the oiled eggs. Oiling will not 
answer when eggs are packed for sale, as it injures the 
appearance. There is nothing else better than the lime. 
Quinsy In Hogs.—“ P. M.,” Hemlock Hollow, 
Pa. Quinsy, common in hogs that are exposed to cold 
and damp, is an inflammation of the throat, with swell¬ 
ing of the glands, and if this is excessive, there is danger 
of suffocation. To prevent it, keep the pigs warm aud 
dry. Treatment of the disease : rub mustard paste upon 
tlie throat, put the pigs in a warm place with plenty ol 
dry bedding, and give warm linseed or oat-meal slops. 
