I860.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
47 
A Capital Time 
TO SECURE 
MANY GOOD THINGS 
AT 
Trifling or No Cost, 
jgp jsp” The Month of February has, for many 
years, been largely used by our readers in gather¬ 
ing and forwarding the names of their friends and 
neighbors, and, as a rule, quite as many Premium 
articles are sent out in acknowledgment of such 
favors, during this month, as during any other 
month of the year. 
|gp jggr This is comparatively a leisure month, 
and when people are beginning to think and plan 
for the work of the coming season, they are all the 
more ready to avail themselves of the helps, the 
hints and suggestions afforded by the pages of a 
Journal of this kind. 
BSP SKF” Our contracts for the Premium Articles 
and Books, made during the low rates prevailing 
early last year, enable us to continue the liberal of¬ 
fers, despite the general advance in prices. 
[ggp It will be quite easy for any one to now 
obtain the names of two, three, four, and more 
persons as subscribers, and receive in return the 
corresponding Premiums or Books offered, at no 
expense save the cost of delivery, and many of the 
articles are delivered free. 
|gp pgf™ Every one persuaded to become a read¬ 
er will in reality be benefited. It is next to impos¬ 
sible for one to go through a volume of this paper 
without getting some hints and suggestions that 
will be each worth many times its small cost for a 
year’s subscription. Many will save ten-fold this 
eost by the warnings given in the Humbug articles. 
pgr igp* Again look over the descriptive list of 
the Premium Articles, and select one or more de¬ 
sirable articles, and then secure them this month. 
pgT Premium Clubs of two or more names 
may consist of old or new subscribers, or both; also 
of English or German subscriptions. 
pgr tegr BSP” If the Illustrated Premium Sheet 
(32 pages) has been mislaid, or not received by any 
subscriber, a Postal Card request, sent to the Office, 
will bring another copy at once. 
THERC OUGHT TO BE, in every neighbor¬ 
hood, at least a few good books on Animals and their 
Diseases, on General Farming, on Gardening, on Fruits, 
on Farm Implements, etc., and at least a few Standard 
Works on other subjects. These books ought to be ac¬ 
cessible to all for reference in case of need, as well as 
for reading by all—a sort of circulating or reference 
library to be in charge of some one. 
Never before was there so good an opportunity as now 
to get a collection of such Books at veny small cost. Any 
ten or more persons contributing $1.50 each, will each be 
supplied with the American Agriculturist for 1880, and 
In addition, one Dollar’s worth of Books 
will be presented for each contributor to the fund. The 
books may be selected from the list of 847 Good Works 
named in our premium sheet. Where the subscriptions 
are mainly sent in for 1880, subscriptions for 1881 may be 
added, when desired, to increase the Library as far as 
possible. Many new subscribers can also be found. 
Mery neighborhood may thus secure such a Library. 
It only needs some enterprising man, young or old, to 
take hold of the matter as a leader, and he will soon 
have plenty of helping hands, and heads, and hearts. If 
the Men neglect it, their “Better-halves,” or Daughters, 
always foremost in good works, should take it np. 
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. 
Will Present Grain Prices Advance or 
Decline 1 is the burden of many recent letters to the 
Editors of the American Agriculturist , the writers seem¬ 
ing to expect a positive Yes or No by “ return mail.” 
We know of no human being able to answer this ques¬ 
tion. Some hundreds of shrewd business men—those 
whose life-work is dealing in grain, and who carefully 
study the whole situation here and in Europe—are now 
investing their thousands, hundreds of thousands, and 
in some cases their millions, with reference to the rise 
or fall in prices during the next two to four months ; 
and these men are about equally ranged on the two sides 
of this question. Part claim that the deficiency in Eu¬ 
rope is so great that there will be a demand for all our 
surplus, at any price. These are buying and holding all 
the grain they can, at prices now so high that exports 
have come to a stand still. The other side claim that 
Europe will not take all our surplus unless at lower 
prices than now prevail, and they are contracting to de¬ 
liver wheat at lower prices than are now current. So 
the question stands to-day. These great market “ doc¬ 
tors disagree,” and how shall laymen decide ? The Ele¬ 
vators and Storehouses in New York, Chicago, etc., are 
full of this speculatively held grain. Looking the ground 
all over, it seems to us that there is about an even chance 
either way. We can not and will not advise any one to 
sell or not to sell. As for ourselves, our rule is to sell 
farm products at the current prices when we are ready to 
sell and want the money. If prices are likely to go np, 
there are watchful men ready to pay more to-day ; if 
likely to go down, these same men would sell and not 
buy. Having sold and got the money, we feel “ Well, so 
much is safe, anyway.” If prices go down we say, 
“ Lucky that we sold when we did.” If they go up 
we say, “Well, it was just as likely to have been other¬ 
wise,” and-no tears are shed. 
Some Pins!— Less than fifty years ago, and that 
was in the boyhood of a good many of us and the man¬ 
hood of not a few, the most rapid production of pins 
was 14 per minute per man. Now it is over 14 hun¬ 
dred. During 3li years past the Howe Company alone 
has, according to the Derby Transcript , made over fifty- 
six thousand million (56,246,400,000) pins, weighing 
8,000 tons, and stuck them on some 221 million 
papers. These pins laid down end to end would reach 
over 33 times around the earth, or 830,909 miles 1 There 
are at present ten pin manufactories in this country, 
able to turn out, in working ten hours a day, over 181 
thousand million pins a year, which would give 365 pins 
to every man, woman and child in a population of fifty 
millions. Thai, however, is only one pin a day to 
each—a small allowance for many families. But with 
the facilities employed just before the time the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist issued its first number, to produce the 
present regular supply of pins would require the con¬ 
stant work of over 7,000 men, and over 17,000 women 
and children to stick them on papers—the latter work 
is now all done quickly by automatic machinery. 
The Money Value of Foods.— To all who are 
interested in this matter—and the number is very large— 
we recommend the careful perusal of Professor Atwater’s 
comprehensive paper given elsewhere. Feeding Stuffs 
and Fodder nations are subjects upon which much light 
is needed by those who have to deal practically with them. 
Lettuce Disease. —“A. L.,” Newark, N. J., brings 
a qnantity of forced lettuce, as a sample of his large crop, 
with the sad complaint, that it is all rotting away. This 
lettuce disease is not a new trouble, but one that has 
done much havoc in market gardens, especially old ones, 
near large cities. The trouble is caused by a fungus, 
closely related to the Grape Mildew, and of which we 
may say more, so soon as the specimens in hand are 
thoroughly examined with the microscope. With our 
present lack of a remedy, the growing of lettuce in hot¬ 
beds had best be.given up for a few years, in these places 
where it lias proved so destructive's is the case at Newark. 
America and England —Perhaps never before 
has America entered so largely into the very life of Eng¬ 
land. They may do without our ideas, political and 
social, bnt they can not do without our bread. The old 
land stretches out her hands to the new, and we send her 
food that to us, is better than bread cast upon the waters. 
England lias suffered from short crops, while we have 
luid enough and to spare. The results of the year will 
be seen next spring by a large immigration to our great 
West, and the now bard-worked and poorly paid British 
farmer will soon become an independent American. 
The Wrong Street. —Messrs. Benson, Maule & 
Co. call attention to the fact that we last month gave then- 
place of business as 223 Chestnut street, whereas their 
seed store is 223 Church street, Philadelphia. 
An Improvement In ('hums, — No doubt 
that many who have used the Blanchard Churn have 
thought it hardly possible to improve it. But the 
makers thought differently, and presented the “Im¬ 
proved Blanchard ” at the Great Dairy Fair iu December 
last. In this chum as formerly made, the top was flat, 
and the portion of cream thrown against the inside of 
the cover would escape churning unless care were taken 
to scrape it down now and then and mingle it with the 
rest of the cream. The improvement consists in making 
the top of the chum of the same shape as the bottom, 
thus bringing all the surface within reach of the dasher, 
so that no cream can escape being constantly agitated. 
Keeping One Cow.—Prizes, 
The Family Cow—How to Keep Her. 
It is perhaps safe to say that there are a greater num¬ 
ber of persons who keep hut one cow than there are 
who own ten or more. No doubt many more living out¬ 
side of closely built cities would gladly lessen the cost 
of supporting their families and at the same time add to 
their comforts and even luxuries by keeping a cow, did 
they know how to keep her. There is a general notion 
that keeping a cow requires a pasture. If a pasture is 
not necessary, how get along without one ? One has 
heard that half an acre of land will supply food for a 
cow. How? Dairymen and farmers can learn how to 
treat herds as a part of general farm management, or in 
treatises on the dairy. There are works on cows, but 
none on the cow. Who knows how little land will keep 
a cow, and how can the most he produced on that little ? 
It is not a question oflarge farming, but of high farming; 
not of dairy fanning, hut of dairy gardening. To call 
out the best information required to enable one to keep 
a single cow with the best possible results, the Pub¬ 
lishers of the American Agriculturist offer 
Prize Essays on Keeping One Cow. 
The Essay need not discuss the selection of the cow or 
the differences in breeds. Let the writer assume that 
one has a cow—the best he can get, or his means 
allow—and takes possession of a place which allows 
him land for his cow on the first of May. The 
main points to be considered are: The stabling 
or housing of the cow; the yard room she re¬ 
quires, and the storage or disposal of her manure. 
Then the least area of land that can be safely set apart 
for the support of the cow. How can that land be best 
managed with reference to that cow ? The manner of 
cropping to obtain the greatest amount of food for the 
whole year. Shall any crops be sown for next year’s 
use ? It is to he assumed that the land is to be made to 
produce all that it will profitably yield, which will bring 
np the question of manure and fertilizers, of course 
considering that produced by the cow herself. What 
proportion of the produce of the land is to be cured for 
winter? Roots and keeping them. How much food 
must be bought, and what ? The cow is to be so fed, 
to he so long milked, and in every respect so treated as 
to give the best returns of which she is capable to her 
owner. Time of calving. What to do if help is needed. 
Treatment after calving ; what to do with the calf. 
Milking. The Essay need not treat of the disposal of 
or the uses of the milk.—We give these suggestions as 
to the kind of Essay desired, but the writer is by no 
means limited to these. The problem is—given a good 
cow, how to get the best possible returns from tho least 
possible portion of the land through the agency of the 
cow. The Essays to be legibly written on one side of 
the paper only, and not to exceed 6,000 words (which is 
about two pages of the American Agriculturist in this 
type). Sketches for engravings may be sent if desired. 
€asl« Prizes. 
For the Best Essay. $50 DO 
For the Second Best Essay. 35 OO 
For the Third Best Essay. 15 OO 
The Essays to he sent to tho Editors of the American 
Agriculturist on or before April 1, 1880, in a sealed en¬ 
velope with an assumed name, and an accompanying 
envelope containing the assumed name and tho reM 
name and address of the writer. The prizes will be 
awarded by a committee of competent and impartial 
Judges. All Essays submitted for these prizes to be¬ 
come the property of the American Agriculturist. 
