1879.] 
401 
A ME RT O A N AGrR I CELT U HIST. 
October Fair List. 
STATE FA IKS. 
Arkansas.Little Rock.-Oct. 20 
Connecticut.Hartford. •Oct. 1417 
Georgia.Macon.Oct. 27—Nov. 1 
Illinois.Springfield.Sept. 29-Oct. 4 
Indiana.Indianapolis.Sept. 29-Oct .4 
Montana.Helena.Sept. 29-Oct. 4 
North Carolina.Raleigh.Oct. 13-18 
Nevada.Reno.Oct. 7-12 
South Carolina.Columbia. .Nov. 11-1 [ 
Tennessee.Nashville.Sept *^ ) ^"Oct. 4 
Virginia.Richmond.Oct. 28 31 
Industrial and District Fairs. 
Am. Institute.New York.Sept. 17-Nov. 22 
Am. Bee-keepers.Chicago.OcL 1 1-20 
Cincinnati Ind.Ex.Cincinnati.Sept. 10-Oct. 11 
Illinois Fat Stock.Chicago. -Nov- lU-lo 
Inter-State.Chicago.Sept. 3-Oct. 18 
Nova Scotia, Prov’l.Halifax.Sept. 29-Oct. 3 
St. Louis Ind. Ex.St. Louis,Mo.Sept. 22-Oct. 5 
Georgia North.Atlanta. Oct. 20 ~6 
Indiana, N. East’ll.Waterloo .:.....Oct. 6-10 
Kansas Central.Junction C’y.Sept. 30-Oct. 3 
Kentucky South’n.Glasgow......Oct. 7-10 
Midhigan,Central........Lansing.Sept. 29-Oct. 3 
County Fairs. 
MAINE. 
Androscoggin.Lewiston.Oct. 
Oxford, west.Fryeburg.Oct. 
Piscataquis Cent’l.Foxcroft.Oct. 
Sagadahoc.Topsham.Oct. 
Somerset, West’n.North Anson.Oct. 
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
Upper Coos.Coiebrook.Oct. 
CONNECTICUT. 
Danbury.Danbury.Oct. 
Guilford.Guilford..Oct. 
New Haven.New Haven.Oct. 
Tolland, East.Stafford Springs.Oct. 
Torrington.Wolcottville.Oct. 
NEW YORK. 
Brockport Union.Brockport.Oct. 
Delaware Dairy’n.Delhi.Nov. 
Livingston.Geneseo.Oct. 
Steuben.Bath.Oct. 
Sullivan..Monticello.Oct. 
NEW JERSEY. 
Burlington.Mt. Holly.Oct. 
Cape May.So. Seaville.Oct. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 
Bradford.East Towanda.Oct. 
Chester.West Chester.Oct. 
Columbia.Bloomsburg.Oct. 
Crawford .Conneautville.Oct. 
Franklin.Chambersburg.Oct. 
Green.Carm i chaels.Oct. 
N or tliam pton.N azareth.. Oct. 
Washington.Washington.Oct. 
York.York.Oct. 
OHIO. 
Auglaize. 
Butler. 
Carroll. 
Clyde. 
Fairfield. 
Guern. Co. F.& M 
Hancock. 
Hardin.Kenton 
Hocking.Logan 
Knox.Mt. Vernon.Oct. 
Mahoning.Canfield.Oct. 
Portage.Ravenna .Oct. 
Putnam.Ottawa.Oct. 
Van Wert.Van Wert.Oct. 
Williams.Bryan.Oct. 
Wyandot...Up. Sandusky.Oct. 
INDIANA. 
Daviess.Washington.Oct. 
Greene.Linton..Oct. 
Knox .Vincennes.Oct. 
Marshall. .Flymouth.Oct. 
Noble.Ligonier. Oct. 
Northeastern Ind.Waterloo.Oct, 
“Warrick.Booneville.Oct. 
Wells. .Bluft'ton.Oct. 
ILLINOIS. 
Clark.Marshall.Oct. 
Gallatin..Shawneeto wn.Oct, 
Wapakoneta.Oct. 
Hamilton.Oct. 
.Carrollton.Oct. 
.Clyde.Oct. 
.Lancaster. Oct. 
Washington.Oct. 
Findlay.Oct. 
Oct, 
Oct. 
7- 9 
14-16 
1 - 2 
14-16 
1 - 2 
1 - 2 
1- 3 
1 - 2 
14-15 
3- 4 
12-13 
1 - 2 
1- 3 
1 - 2 
7-10 
1 - 2 
1- 3 
2- 4 
15 17 
1- 3 
7-10 
2- 3 
7-10 
1- 4 
7-10 
7-10 
6-10 
7- 9 
7-10 
15-18 
1- 3 
2- 4 
1- 4 
9-11 
7-10 
7- 9 
7- 9 
8 - 11 
2- 4 
7-10 
7-10 
7-11 
7- 11 
13-18 
2- 4 
8 - 11 
6-10 
7-11 
6 - 9 
Greene. 
21-24 
J ersey. 
14-17 
Lawrence. 
.Lawreuceville. 
8-11 
Massac. 
8-11 
Perry. 
.Oct. 
1- 3 
Pope. 
.Golconda. 
2- 4 
Randolph. 
.Chester. 
21-21 
MICHIGAN. 
Armada. 
1- 3 
Cass . 
2- 4 
Clinton. 
7-10 
Clinton & Shia... . 
14-16 
Ionia. 
7-10 
Midland. 
8-10 
Sanilac. 
1- 2 
WISCONSIN. 
1- 4 
Racine. 
1- 
Waukesha. 
7- 9 
IOWa. 
Henry. 
.Oct. 
1- 6 
KANSAS 
Burlingame. 
1- 3 
Cowley. 
.Winfield. 
_ .Oct. 
8-11 
Dickinson. 
8-11 
Ellsworth. 
2- 4 
Franklin. 
1- 4 
Harvey. 
.Oct. 
1- 3 
Linn A. & M. 
1- 4 
Marion.. 
1- 3 
Morris. 
.Oct. 
1- 3 
Spring River. 
1- 3 
KENTUCKY. 
Christian.Hopkinsville... 
MISSOURI. 
Barton..Lamar.Oct. 
Cape Girardeau.Cape Girardeau.Oct. 
Harrison. .Bethany.Oct. 
Jefferson.Jefferson City.Oct. 
St. Louis..St. Louis.Oct. 
MARYLAND. 
Alleghany.Cumberland. 
Harford.Bel Air. 
PRINCE EDWARDS ISLAND. 
Queens.Charlottetown.Oct. 
..Oct. 
.Oct. 
7-10 
7-11 
7- 8 
...Oct. 8-12 
7-10 
14-18 
7- 9 
1- 3 
5 9 
Kerosene and Mosquitoes—At Last. 
We have got them, sure, this time ! Those pesky ma¬ 
rauders that swarm in during the chilly nights of Septem¬ 
ber and October, to warm their toes in your bed-room if 
you leave the smallest opening for fresh air—tliat disturb 
your dreams with their high-keyed monotone of piteous 
pleading—that perch down upon your nose, forehead, 
face, bald head, hands, feet, or any oilier surface exposed, 
or even thrust their long spears and suction-hose through 
anything less than half-inch thick coverlids, and draw out 
your life blood, leaving behind their poisonous venom 
that shows itself in swellings like a field of mole-hills, the 
next morning. You have tried window and door-nettings, 
but the pests always find a crack or a defect somewhere. 
You have hung over the bed a canopy that made you feel 
like “ lying in State,” awaiting the undertaker,unless,per¬ 
chance, an unlucky match,or lamp,or gas-jet Inis instantly 
turned said canopy into snioke. You have vainly smeared 
your face and neck and hands with suffocating mint ex¬ 
tracts. You have covered your hands with thick gloves, 
your feet witli the heaviest winter stockings, and hid your 
face with bandages until you resembled an Egyptian 
mummy, stopping the ears with cotton to shut out the 
disturbing hum, and gone to sleep, with the hope that 
the painful mole-hills, aforesaid, would only appear 
around the edges of the nostrils necessarily left exposed, 
and even then found on the morrow that several thinner 
spots in your armor had been penetrated. Is there any 
greater annoyance during these October nights, than 
tiiese most diminutive insects, so small tliat “ a great 
many of them weigh a pound?”... Well, wo “stop the 
press ” to announce that we have a weapon that will he 
new to inai y. that will he a great help, even if in its modi 
fications it does not re-ult in a 
“ sure cure ; ” an apparatus 
made in two minutes, witli the 
materials everywhere available; 
a thing unpatented, free to all, 
and so simple tliat anybody can 
fabricate and use it. It costs 
nothing, and if your experience 
is like that of the writer, you 
will value it ten-foid the cost of 
a year’s subscription to the 
American Agriculturist. To 
wit: Take a tin box cover, half 
an inch or more in depth, and 
anywhere from 4 to 10 inches 
in diameter—a large blacking- 
box cover will do, or the top of 
a spice or other box, or the bot¬ 
tom of a fruit-can cut off, retain 
ing % inch of the sides oil it. 
With a nail through its center, fasten one of the above, 
opening upward, on the end of a broom-handle, or any 
other stick of convenient length (see engraving). Put 
into it a thin layer of wadding or Canton-flannel, patting 
it down so tliat no point will project above the edges of 
the box. Moisten this witli a little kerosene; have the 
box-edge wiped clean, so ns not. to soil the wall, and you 
are ready for effective war. No matches or fire to he used. 
Select your enemy on the ceiling or wall. Raise your 
weapon steadily under him, 0 inches, 4 inches, 3 inches, 
2 inches, 1 inch. If lie don’t, in ten seconds, voluntarily 
take a final rest, on your cotton bed, push the edges up 
against the ceiling, take it down, and your enemy will lie 
there stark and stiff. We cleared a room of 21 mosqui¬ 
toes in five minutes, and it was not a good night for mos¬ 
quitoes, either. The odor even of the kerosene seems to he 
fatal—at least, we have had the mosquitoes fall dead when 
the box was held nearly a foot below them a single minute. 
We have had no time for further experiments, lint what 
possibilities are there not here in prospect! Perhaps 
sme'aring the netting on the windows or the blinds with 
a little kerosene, may secure safety. Perhaps, the public 
authorities of any “infected district” may judiciously 
distribute a few barrels of cheap kerosene over the bred 
ing waters of the mosquito, and thus free a whole town 
or county. (Our recent experience leads ns to commend 
this to the U. S. Official near Lake Kampeska, Dakota, 
and to some other localities we have recently visited). 
These are only hints for the inventive experimenters. 
We are just now satisfied with our box-cover on a stick. 
The Century Flan*.— The blooming of a fine 
Agave, or Century Plant, in Brooklyn, N. Y , has brought 
up anew the question : “ Is it really a fact that this plant 
flowers only once in a hundred years ? ” To answer this 
query, which has been done many times before, we 
will say that this plant (Agave Americana), in its native 
tropical and sub-tropical climate, comes to maturity in 
twenty years or less , that is, it produces its flowers, after 
which it dies. This plant, like many others, spends a 
considerable time in gathering nourishment and strength 
for its one grand effort of bearing flowers ami fruit (seed). 
Ttiis food is stored up in the leaves, the bases of which 
are very much thickened with the nutriment. When the 
supply is sufficient, the flower-stem is produced, some¬ 
times growing very rapidly, and running up for 15 or 20 
feet, bearing a multitude of flowers, and ripening hun¬ 
dreds of seed-pods, all at the expense of the food in the 
leaves; after this, the plant being exhausted, it dies. 
The name comes from the fact that in greenhouses it 
flowers only after it has lived for a considerable number 
of years—the time depending much upon surrounding 
conditions, as heat, moisture, and supply of food. 
SMrd laws, -The new laws of New York, contain 
several with reference to birds. The robbing of wild 
bird’s nests, except of crows, blackbirds, hawks, and 
owls, is prohibited; and no one is to kill, catch, or sell 
any wild song-birds between the end of March and the 
beginning of November, except in the cause of science. 
Fruit-growers are allowed the privilege of killing birds 
on their own premises when destroying their fruit. 
Figs in Michigan.— Thomas Archer & Co., at St. 
Joseph, Mich., are obtaining success in the growing of 
figs. The crop from some trees is stated at two bushels ; 
and the fruit is well ripened. The account, in a Michi¬ 
gan paper, does not slate the fact, but we presume that 
the trees are laid down for the winter, after the method 
proposed by Col. Worthington, of Ohio. 
Australian Agriculture. — The government 
agricultural statistics gives some interesting figures of 
the crops in Australia. The area in wheat, for 1879, was 
658,413 acres, ail increase of 93,S46 acres over last year. 
The average is only 8.7 bushels per acre, against 12.4 for 
last year, showing a large decrease in the amount of 
wheat raised, though the acreage is much increased. 
Australia will have little or no wheat to export this year. 
Watching the Markets. —After all the trouble, 
expense, mid care of raising a crop, it is unwise not to 
keep a keen eye on the markets, and thus be able to dis 
pose of the surplus products to the best advantage. 
Some crops will keep, while others must be marketed at 
once. It does not pay to hold a crop, unless a rise is 
almost certain. Look well to the chances, by a study of 
crop returns and foreign demands, and sell intelligently. 
BSome Made Fertilizers.—“ G. G. D Lex¬ 
ington, Ya. It is possible to procure the materials for 
almost any fertilizer and mix them. So far as Phosphoric 
Acid goes, the South Carolina Rock Phosphate is as 
effective as Bone Phosphate, and is cheaper , Nitrogen 
may be procured in Nitrate of Soda, or Fish-Scrap , the 
Muriate is the cheapest form of Potash; Soda is not 
needed , and Sulphate of Lime may be added in the 
shape of Plaster. A mixture of Rock Phosphate. 1,000 
lbs., Muriate of Potash and Fish-Scrap, 400 lbs. each, and 
Plaster 200 lbs., will make a very useful fertilizer, from 
which, applied at the rate of 400 lbs. to the acre, good re¬ 
sults may be expected,otherwise something else is wrong. 
Food for a Lifetime.— It has been estimated 
that a man who lives to the age of 70 years will eat not 
far from the following amount of food or its equiva¬ 
lent Cheese, .600 pounds , Fat, 1,620 pounds ; Flour, 
183 barrels ; Meat, 2,100 pounds . Milk, 997 gallons; 
Potatoes, 254 bushels , Sugar, 7.8 barrels ; Tea, 120 lbs. 
Deep or Shallow Plowing,- “ P L. A..” 
Buford, Ill. Six inches is not deep plowing; from 3 to 
6 is shallow plowing, and over that is deep. As a rule 
shallow plowing is preferable. Few of the advocates of 
deep plowing ever plowed a furrow, or if they did, would 
repeat their experiment. A great deal of mischief has 
been done by the nonsense of deep plowing as a rule. 
Draining; Tiles. -Probably for the reason that their 
products are all taken up near home, Tile Manufacturers 
of late years have advertised but little. The numerous 
Inquirers for tiles will find in the proper columns the an 
nouncement of Bell’s Tile Factor}’, of which we hear ex¬ 
cellent accounts, both as to the natural excellence of the 
clay and the care exercised in the manufacture. 
An Advisable Isolation.— “ F H. M.,” On¬ 
tario. The rotation suggested is faulty in having wheat 
come after grass. Wheat does not succeed well upon 
sod unless it is summer fallowed ; and thrives better 
after peas or barley. Changed as follows, your rotation 
would be as good as any for your locality, viz. Wheat 
seeded to Timothy and Clover. grass, cutfor hay, hay and 
clover seed, pasture, peas and roots, barley and wheat 
again The manure should be given on the plowed bar¬ 
ley stubble and on the roots. Fodder corn might be 
grown with the peas on the plowed sod. Wheat suc¬ 
ceeds better after peas and corn than after any other 
crop. Barley witn grass and clover seed might follow. 
