472 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[.November, 
The Great Grain Speculation, or "Craze,” 
of 1881. 
Never before, in this country, or in any other, 
has there been anything at all comparable to the 
present speculation, rather “Gambling,” in 
Wheat, Corn, and Oats, and in Hog Products. 
This gambling spirit has taken possesion of large 
masses of people, and extends from the great deal¬ 
ers who handle or bet on tens of millions of bush¬ 
els, down through all ranks, to the hotel waiter 
who puts up his week’s wages as a “ margin ” on 
the purchase of a siugle hundred bushels.—The 
methods of speculation we described in our Sep¬ 
tember number (page 378). One explanation more: 
Suppose the present price of wheat be quoted 
at $1.40 per bushel. The speculator, guessing that 
prices will run higher, goes to a broker and offers 
to buy 1,000 bushels, next month, at $1.42, and de¬ 
posits with him a “ margin ” of $50, or 5 cents a 
bushel, which is the regular “margin ” on wheat; 
3 cents on corn and oats. As long as wheat 
keeps above $1.40, nothing is said ; but if it falls 
below, the broker calls for as much more “ margin ” 
as the price falls; he, or the seller through him, 
must always have in hand 5 cents per bushel more 
than the current rate. In thousands of cases the 
buyer uses up all his money in “margins,” and 
not being able to put up more, he loses all he has 
previously invested. In this way multitudes of 
men who have, outside of their regular business, 
speculated in these markets, or in a similar way iu 
the Stock Markets, have been reduced almost, often 
quite, to bankruptcy. 
When the settling day comes there is no actual 
delivery of the grain, in most cases, but the buyer 
and seller settle the difference between the price 
then current and the previously agreed price. All 
this is usually done through “ brokers,” who charge 
a percentage for transacting the business. 
So great is the present rage of this kind of specu¬ 
lation, that on some days sales reach tens of millions 
of bushels. On one day (Oct. 1) the “ deliveries ” 
of grain, on previous contracts, were reported at 
000,000 l*Gtsla«-lls in Chicago alone ! 
This speculation has demoralized the whole trade. 
The “ bulls ’’have run up prices so high as to near¬ 
ly stop exports.—On Oct. 1 the “visible supply” 
of wheat, that is, wheat in the elevators and store¬ 
houses and in transit, amounted to 41,203,648 
bushels. Last year at the same time there were 
only 37,099,745 bushels, showing more available 
wheat now than one year ago, though prices are 
fully 40 per cent higher. Nearly the same of 
corn, the “ visible supply ” being nearer 27,649,173 
bushels ; last year 28,289,298 bushels. 
The increased price, produced largely by specu¬ 
lation, is beneficial to all those producers able to 
get their grain to market while these high rates 
prevail. But it is deranging almost all other busi¬ 
ness very greatly. Money is drawn in immense 
sums, from the banks and from all other legitimate 
business, to supply the “margins,” or to carry the 
stocks actually purchased and held by speculators. 
Exporting being at a stand still, the inflow of 
foreign money we should have, is nearly stopped, 
and European buyers are seekiug cheaper supplies 
in all other parts of the world. 
The high speculative prices are greatly diminish¬ 
ing the consumption, and this alone must, ere long, 
bring about a decline. The laboring classes are 
compelled to pay much higher rates for their daily 
food, the advances mainly going into the hands of 
the speculators. Labor must therefore advance, 
and this iu turn increases the cost of manufactures 
and of all products of labor. 
Of course every speculator, large and small, ex¬ 
pects to sell out before any great decline shall come, 
and the shrewder ones will do so, leaving the great 
mass to bear the brunt of the loss. 
Clear-headed business men now greatly fear that 
in the future, perhaps the very near future, a crash 
will come that will derange the whole business of 
the country. 
To the oft-repeated question from our readers : 
“Shall we sell now, or hold on?” we can only 
answer, that a good general rule is to sell whenever 
ready ; get the money ; pay up debts, and keep in 
as snug and safe a condition, as possible. To sell, 
or hold on for change of prices, is to speculate on 
great uncertainty. One half of the speculators, 
who make a business of studying the prospects— 
viz., the sellers for future delivery—believe prices 
will fall. The other half of them—the buyers—be¬ 
lieve grain, etc., will go higher, from natural 
causes, or that they can “corner” the supplies, 
and put up the rates. The outlook would seem to 
be that, while speculative influences may sustain 
or even advance prices temporarily, there can 
hardly be a demand for all the grain, etc. Con¬ 
sumers both at home and abroad will necessari¬ 
ly curtail their purchases very materially, and these 
high rates will call out supplies from other sources 
not usually drawn upon. 
The Great Atlanta Exposition. 
This exhibition opened October 5, far more com¬ 
plete, and on a much larger scale, than its most 
sanguine friends hoped for less than three months 
ago. The extent and variety of products, natural 
and manufactured, makes this exhibition well 
worthy of a visit by every one who can possibly go 
there, from any part of our country. It marks an 
era in the advancement of our Southern States in 
a new industrial and commercial career. It will 
bring together the people of all sections in har¬ 
monious contact, and it is hardly too much to ex¬ 
pect that it will go very far to obliterate finally the 
last remaining prejudices and ill feelings. 
Speculating on Misfortune.— One would 
think that the people of a portion of Michigan had 
suffered sufficiently by fires without the added 
misery of a gang of land speculators, who are 
ready to take advantage of their distress. The 
Detroit and other Michigan papers state that mauy 
of these unfortunates, who have lost everything 
but their lives, in their Dresent distracted and 
dazed condition, are ready to part with their lands 
for a little ready money. Strange as it may seem, 
there are already speculators on the ground, ready 
to drive hard bargains w'ith these unfortunates. 
These papers urge the people to hold on to their 
lands, saying very truly if these are worth anything 
to others, they are worth still more to their owners. 
After the present shock is over, those who sell will 
be looking around to purchase other lands, and we 
do these people a service when we repeat the ad¬ 
vice of the Michigan journals, not to sell their land 
unless the price obtained will buy as good a tract 
elsewhere. Terrible as has been the devastation, 
the land is still there, and to move from a familiar 
locality to a strange one, is merely to add another 
misfortune to the list of calamities. 
The Spaying of Cows,— Every few years there 
is a revival of the subject of spaying—or the re¬ 
moval of the ovaries from the cow. Recently 
several letters have been received asking us to give 
directions for performing the operation. There is 
a question which should precede this, which is: 
is it worth while to perform the operation at all ? 
The operation is attended by risks, and should only 
be performed by a skillful hand. Every now and 
then an article appears, not in an agricultural jour¬ 
nal, but in some miscellaneous paper, setting forth 
the great advantages that follow the spaying of a 
heifer after her first calf. That good results have 
followed the operation is admitted, and standard 
works upon veterinary surgery describe the method 
of performing it. In view of letters of inquiry, 
we consulted the work by Dr. Steel, “Diseasesof 
the Ox, or Bovine Pathology ”—mentioned else¬ 
where, to learn what were the most recent views 
upon this subject. The author, after giving the 
claims in favor of spaying, such as continued flow 
of and better quality of milk, etc., sums up by 
saying : “ Nevertheless the operation has not been 
generally adopted, for some of the above mentioned 
arguments are of doubtful character. The animals 
operated upon are not so generally useful, tend too 
much, in some cases, to the laying on of fat, and 
altogether not so profitable as the uncastrated 
females.”—In view of the above, from the highest 
authority, it would seem that the risk is one not to 
be taken, except for some other reason than the 
hope of profit. The operation is one of such mag¬ 
nitude that we would not advise an unskilled per¬ 
son to attempt it. 
A Manual of Cattle Feeding,— By Henry 
P. Armsby, Ph.D., Chemist to the Connecticut 
Agricultural Experiment Station.—The readers of 
the American Agriculturist have been made aware 
from time to time of the investigations, especially 
by the German chemists, upon the subject of feed¬ 
ing domestic animals. The work of which the 
title is given above, presents the whole subject in 
a connected manner, and is one which may be 
studied with profit by every one who feeds animals 
for fattening, for work, or for milk. The general 
laws of animal nutrition are treated in the first 
part of the work, describing the processes of di¬ 
gestion, circulation, etc., and the production of 
flesh, fat, or work. The second part is concerned 
with the various feeding stuffs, both coarse fodders 
and the concentrated forms of food. A number 
of articles are here described that are not in gen¬ 
eral use with us, though some of these, such as 
the waste from beet-sugar works, must in time be¬ 
come a common article of food in this country 
also. In this portion of the work the results of a 
vast amount of labor are collected and presented, 
often in tabular form. In the third part the ques¬ 
tion of feeding, whether for growth, labor, for 
fattening, or for milk, are treated, and many valu¬ 
able suggestions will be found on all these subjects. 
Though the title of the work is “Cattle Feeding,” 
it is not confined to cattle alone, but other domestic 
animals are considered. To treat of chemical sub¬ 
jects, chemical terms must often be used, but the 
present work is, as far as may be, divested of techni- 
^ alities, and there is nothing that may not be 
comprehended by a person of fair intelligence. 
Indeed, a young farmer can not make a better in¬ 
vestment of his time for reading than in mastering 
the teachings of this work. While useful as a w r ork 
of reference to ascertain the relative feeding values 
of the different foods, and to learn how to combine 
the rich and the poor for the most economical feed¬ 
ing, still the best use to make of the work is to 
fully understand the principles taught as well as the 
results reached. Sent post-paid, by mail, for $2.50. 
A Treatise on the SJiseases of the Ox.- 
Being a Manual of Bovine Pathology, by John 
Henry Steel, M. R. C. V. 8., etc. This is a reprint 
of an English work, the title of which does not 
give an idea of its full scope. The work is not 
restricted to the working animal known by that 
name, but the term includes beef animals general¬ 
ly. It is not intended as a popular hand-book, but 
is designed for the use of veterinary practitioners 
and students. It treats of the various diseases to 
which bovine animals are especially subject, and 
of the surgical operations they are likely to re¬ 
quire, including emasculation and cases of diffi¬ 
culty in the birth of calves. Diseases of the skin, 
the eye and other special organs are treated in full, 
and the illustrations are numerous. While in¬ 
tended as a work for the veterinary profession, it 
is not so technical that others may not consult it 
with profit. The intelligent cattle breeder, who is 
beyond the reach of educated veterinary surgeons, 
may more safely take this work as a guide, than 
to trust to the ignorant treatment of the road-side 
“Cow-doctor.” Price $6.00. 
Tomatoes.— The season of Tomatoes may be 
somewhat prolonged by pulling up the vines, with 
the partly ripened fruit and hanging them under 
cover. A better way, for those who have green¬ 
houses or frames, is to pick the partly ripened 
fruit, before frost touches it, and place it exposed 
to the sun under glass. Those who have vines yet 
uninjured by the frost can, by these methods, have 
fresh tomatoes for some weeks longer. 
