458 
AMERICAN ARMCULTURiST. 
[December, 
personal ends. There are a few special points of 
difference in the modes of tillage and harvesting, 
and in the crops grown in different sections of the 
country; but the foundation principles of success¬ 
ful crop-grouting, feeding, and marketing, are the same 
everywhere. So are those of the mechanical appli¬ 
ances that now enter so much into the operations 
of profitable soil culture. We will not stop to 
illustrate here. This Journal has for twenty years 
circulated very largely all over the Western States, 
and largely at the South, and the testimony to its 
utility has been constant and great, though we 
have always ignored special attention to locality. 
(The largest circulation in proportion to population 
has usually been between Ohio and the Pacific 
Ocean.) But there are some reasons, just now, 
for our giving increased attention to the peculiar 
features of Western and Southern agriculture. 
First, the depressed condition of trade and manu¬ 
factures in the older States is leading hundreds of 
thousands, or millions indeed, to look to the broad, 
unoccupied lands in the Western and Southern 
States, as inviting fields of labor, and future homes. 
We will try to aid them in their desire for more 
specific information.— Second, the demand, greatly 
on the increase, for meats, to be taken, alive or 
dressed, to Europe, makes the grazing and fatten¬ 
ing of good stock at the West, as well as the East, 
especially at the West, and probably at the South, 
a subject of much importance now. Thirdly, it is 
our province to meet the wants of those who are at 
the West, and who think they need special and pe 
culiar information particularly adapted to their 
work. This we shall look to. The truth is, our 
great American field is one in interest, and it will 
be our greatest pleasure to aid in developing every 
part of every section to the highest point possible. 
We invite suggestions, queries, and information 
from all points, West and South, as well as East. 
Special editors or contributors residing in differ¬ 
ent localities will look after the special needs 
and information required in each section. 
“To Do Good and Make Money.” 
Eight and twenty years ago the writer was in 
the Tale Laboratory, with Silliman, Norton, S. W. 
Johnson, Brewer, Weld, Willet, Safford, Shepherd, 
and other now distinguished men—all wrestling with 
practical chemistry, trying to find out what it could 
do, and what it could not do, for the improvement of 
soil culture. What it could not do, for there were 
wonderful hopes indulged then, by true, earnest, 
scisntific men like Liebig, and more wonderful 
claims put forth by those who had a mere smatter¬ 
ing of chemistry, especially those who had an ax to 
grind in the making and selling of fertilizers.... One 
morning, a man came in to sell an Almanac, a good 
one, the title-page of which read : “ Beckwith’s 
Almanac,” “ Published To Do Good and Make 
Money." That motto left upon the writer a strong 
impression. What higher motive for business enter¬ 
prise and activity ? He is a public benefactor, who 
makes two blades of grass grow where only one 
grew before, is a trite old adage, but it is a true 
one. All those who are laboring to this end, are 
doing a good work. Every man who helps get up 
and carry on agricultural societies, chibs and fairs, 
for disseminating information, is helping increase 
thebladesof grass and the ears of corn.- Everyitem 
of knowledge gleaned from meeting with others, 
from conversation, or from reading, gives a man 
new thoughts, and helps make his work more pro¬ 
ductive. Every man will be doing a good work 
who, this winter, helps diffuse information among 
his neighbors, by aiding in organizing farmers’ con¬ 
versational clubs, in circulating useful books and 
papers, etc. A few good books on farming, and Jour¬ 
nals coming fresh from month to month, if circu¬ 
lated in any neighborhood, will have a grand influ¬ 
ence, silent though it may seem and be, in develop¬ 
ing thought, dignifying agriculture, improving prac¬ 
tice, increasing products, and there will be a reflex 
benefit to him who helps in extending such influ¬ 
ences. He will thus be “ doing good, and making 
money." —Our Publishers offer premiums, equiva¬ 
lent to money, to those who help increase the num¬ 
ber of reading, thinking, cultivators. Those who 
work for these, will have a three-fold reward. 
International Dairy Fair. 
The importance of the International Dairy Fair, 
to be opened in New York at the American Insti¬ 
tute building, 3rd Ave. and 63rd St., beginning 
Dec. 2, should attract the attention of all inter¬ 
ested in dairy matters. If the exhibition equals 
the promise of the preparations, it will be worthy 
of the name it has taken, be a credit to the country, 
and result in substantial benefit to the industry. 
Several similar fairs have been held in Europe, with 
marked success. As competitors for European 
trade, American dairymen can not afford to neg¬ 
lect attending this exhibition, and learning what 
they can of improved methods and apparatus. 
The committees in charge comprise many of the 
leading dairymen, and the prizes offered are liberal 
enough to call out many exhibitors. The entries 
are numerous and important, many being from for¬ 
eign countries. The classes include 8 of butter, 4 
of cheese, and one of implements. The sum of 
$500 is also offered in premiums for dairy cows, in¬ 
cluding all the prominent breeds in use in this 
country. Altogether it is an occasion that should 
call out the milk, butter and cheese producers in 
full force ; and even if the fair should be a failure, 
a result we do not anticipate, it will teach us how 
to organize one on a better, more successful basis. 
Editorial Correspondence From the 
Far West. 
The Seminole G-old and Silver Mining: Co. 
The comments of the September American Agri¬ 
culturist, upon “ The Seminole Gold and Silver Min¬ 
ing Co.,” are greatly relished in Rawlins, Wyoming 
Ter., where the so-called “mines” are located. The 
talk on the cars and elsewhere, is to the effect that 
certain parties dug a hole in tlie ground, some forty 
miles from here, sufficiently deep to conform to the 
territorial mining law ; they then organized a stock 
company, and have since been selling the stock in 
the Eastern and Middle States, in large and small 
lots ; furthermore, that the whole head and front 
of the Company is one J. M. Pattee, who formerly 
ran a lottery at Omaha, Neb., and afterwards at 
Laramie, Wyoming, at which latter place his circu¬ 
lars were excluded from the mails, thus causing 
a cessation of his business. Whatever may be the 
truth of these statements, there can be no mistak¬ 
ing the meaning and intent of the following lan¬ 
guage which we find in the “Laramie Sentinel” of 
late date, an influential journal, originally induc¬ 
ed to speak favorably of the enterprise : “ A Swin¬ 
dle. —We are frequently receiving letters asking 
for information about the Seminole Gold and Sil¬ 
ver Mining Company. We can’t answer these let¬ 
ters—there are too many of them. But we will 
state in the most public manner possible, that the 
Seminole Gold and Silver Mining Company, J. R. 
Brown, President, with headquarters at Rawlins, 
W. T., IS A PURE FRAUD, SWINDLE AND STEAL. J. 
M. Pattee, of lottery fame, is at the bottom of it. 
Thebe is no mine, no mill, no machinery there, 
and never will be, and every man who purchases 
stock in it, is merely contributing to a lot of dishon¬ 
est Dead Beats, who are making their living by gull¬ 
ing the public. If any one has any doubts on this 
score, we refer them to the Governor, the Judges of 
the Supreme Court of Wyoming, or any other re¬ 
sponsible party.” 
Big 1 Mormon Crops. 
Wheat fields were frequently pointed out to us in 
Northern Utah, which had yielded, this season, 
from 50 to 55 bushels per acre, and we were shown 
potatoes of the “ Peerless variety,” raised by John 
Bowman of Uintah Station, Utah, which weighed 
from two pounds to two and one-half pounds each. 
The crops all through Utah, particularly in the 
Cache Valley, have been large this year. 
Plenty of Game. 
During the past few years, the far Western 
States and Territories have taken measures to pre¬ 
serve the game from the forays of unfeeling Nim- 
rods who mercilessly slaughter wild animals either 
for the love of killing, or to be able to boast of the 
number of their victims. As the result of these 
protective measures, there is, this fall, a very per¬ 
ceptible increase in game, especially in Wyoming 
and Utah Territories. Employees of the Union 
Pacific Railroad tell us that they never before saw 
so many antelope on the plains, while back in the 
foot hills and mountain ranges, elk and deer are 
abundant. In riding, during the month of October, 
from Rock Creek to Laramie, antelope, wolves, 
mountain grouse, sage hens, wild geese, ducks, etc., 
were to be seen from the cars almost constantly. 
The favorite point for English hunters in this coun¬ 
try is about seven hundred miles west of Oma¬ 
ha Here they leave the railroad track, and strike 
back forty miles to the Sweet Water regions. Hav¬ 
ing procured a guide and spent a few days at the 
hospitable ranch of Mr. Tim Foley, who is one of 
the largest and most successful cattle growers in 
the world, they push on to the Wind River country 
northward, in quest of the larger game there is to 
be found in that region. A smAl party of these 
English gentlemen returned from the Wind River 
country, a few days ago, with twenty-one bear 
skins and the heads of numerous elk, mountain 
sheep, etc., which they were conveying to England 
as trophies of their American hunting excursion. 
Irrigation, in Wyoming 1 Territory. 
Of the one hundred thousand square miles of 
area in Wyoming Territory, it has been computed 
that over seventy thousand square miles are adapt¬ 
ed for grazing purposes only. It is not improbable, 
however, that much more land may be brought un¬ 
der cultivation, so that Wyoming may be classed in 
the future as an agricultural, as well as a grazing 
country. The famous plains of Laramie contain 
nearly three million acres of grazing lands, over 
which are now scattered fully fifty thousand head 
of stock. Some of the leading citizens of Laramie 
have organized themselves into an association for 
the purpose of irrigating and raising crops on that 
portion of the plains lying north-west of the city. 
The name of the association is the “Pioneer Irri¬ 
gating Canal Co.,” and the leading spirits in the 
work are Judge J. W. Donnellan, Rev. D. J. Pearce, 
Baptist Minister, Rev. H. L. Myrick, the Episcopal 
Minister, and E. Ivinson, Pres. Wyoming National 
Bank. The enterprise is not undertaken for money¬ 
making purposes, but has its origin in a desire to 
supply the city with farm and garden products, 
which are now brought a long distance by rail from 
the States at considerable expense and trouble. 
As will be seen from the accompanying illustra- 
