1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
217 
LAST CALL 
Important Notice. 
We invite special attention of all Readers to the 
following: For the reasons stated, we prepared a 
large and extensive list of Premiums. This was 
done early last year, at a period of low prices , and 
such favorable terms were obtained that the offers 
were very liberal. By reason of the special arrange¬ 
ments, all our readers can obtain useful, desirable 
articles and Books at very low rates when taken 
as premiums. Many thousands have already availed 
themselves of these advantages, and thousands of 
Others should do so 
AT ONCE, 
for the premium offers must close this month. 
The prices have advanced generally, and our con¬ 
tracts for obtaining them on the terms offered end 
with this month (June). [g?/“No Premium Articles 
can be given which are not called for this month. 
But there is plenty of time before June 30, to fill 
up any premium lists already started, and to form 
new lists and secure any Premium desired. 
We hope that, on their own account, our readers 
generally will embrace this opportunity to get the 
Books and other articles available, while it is in 
our power to supply them on the liberal terms 
6tated in our Premium List. (A copy of this 
list will be promptly mailed free to any one de¬ 
siring it and sending for it by postal card.) 
BOOKS and LIBRARIES, for one’s 
own use, for a neighborhood, for Farmers’ Clubs, 
etc., ought to be obtained this month through these 
premium offers. Ten or more persons forming a 
Club of Subscribers get not only this Journal for a 
year, but two-thirds of the subscription money back 
in their own selection from 847 Good Books. 
containing a great variety of Items , including many 
good Hints and Suggestions which we throw into smaller 
type and condensed form, for leant of room elsewhere. 
Putting Plants to Sleep.— In a recent lecture 
by the President of the British “ Association for the Ad¬ 
vancement of Science,” Dr. Allman presented some ex¬ 
periments which show that the life of a plant, in at least 
one particular, is not so very different from that of an 
animal. A Sensitive Plant, the leaves of which, as many 
Of our readers are aware, will “ wilt,” or fall down at 
the slightest touch, was confined under a hell-glass in 
which a sponge filled with ether had been placed. At 
the end of half an hour the plant was without “feel¬ 
ing all its leaves remaining extended, and showing no 
inclination to drop when touched. After being removed 
from the bell-glass, the plant soon regained its peculiar 
sensitive properties. Ether will also arrest the germina¬ 
tion of seeds for a considerable time, without doing any 
injury to them. 
Agriculture in Pennsylvania.— The Penn¬ 
sylvania agriculturists have learned that “ nothing suc¬ 
ceeds like success.” Last fall the Agricultural Society 
fiad a fair on the Centennial Grounds and in the “Main 
Building,” and great was the success thereof. The So¬ 
ciety’s Treasury is astonished by a sensation of fullness, 
and its officers are making arrangements for a show this 
fall which promises to be a remarkable one. The Penn. 
Horticultural Society will cooperate, and the refinements 
of agriculture in its widest sense, will be presented by 
them. But to keep the “ boom ” a going, the State Board 
of Agriculture will do some preliminary agitating this 
month. A Summer Meeting is to be held at Gettysburg 
on Wednesday the 9th, at 2 o’clock p. m. A large num¬ 
ber of practical and interesting subjects will be presented 
by competent persons, and discussions are to follow. No 
limit is 6et to the duration of the meeting, but it is to be 
protracted until the business is disposed of. Nor are 
there any restrictions as to who may attend, “ the public 
are invited to attend, as the discussions will be open to 
all.” Information may be had of the Secretary of the 
Board, Thos. J. Edge, at Harrisburgh. 
What This Number Contains: 
The Work of the Month, with numerous helpful hints 
about it for this hurried busy season, on pages 214 to 216, 
and the June Bee Notes, page 220. 
A Special Feature of this paper is the Keeping of 
ONE COW, in Villages and Cities, as well as the Country 
—its convenience, healthfulness, comfort, and especially 
its economy. See example and notes about it, page 
221, and the Prize Essay, page 230. 
The most famous living Cow is pictured and described 
on page 225, and Dairying Hints on pages 226-7-8. 
Noteworthy Herds of Cattle are talked about page 226. 
Curry Combs are numerously pictured and described, 
pages 228-9. 
New Suggestions for Iron Fence Posts, that may per¬ 
haps prove of great general importance, with other talk 
“ on the fence ” question; pages 222-3. 
A Commodious $1,500 Country House, with plans and 
detailed specifications will meet the actual wants of 
many, and be suggestive to multitudes of others; page 224. 
The Lawns about our houses have a new help to 
neatness in the “Lawn Sweeper,” described on page 221. 
The Balloon Humbug has “gone up,” with sundry 
congeners; pages 218-19. 
Weather Indications for Farmers generally, arc to be 
helped forward by what the “Signal Service” is plan¬ 
ning. See the new Farmers’ “ Weather Case,” page 231. 
Gardening in Public Institutions, by Peter Henderson; 
page 234. 
For Rock-work Plants and others, see pages 233-4. 
Hints and nelps for Farmers of sundry kinds; pages 
226-7-8-9, and elsewhere. 
Household Matters in quantity and variety, pages 236-7. 
And for Boys and Girls there are sundry useful things, 
with pictures, pleasing, puzzling, etc., including the 
Farmer Boy's first sheep shearing,on pages 2:38, 239 & 240. 
The “Basket Items” have no relation to a “waste 
basket,” but are condensed information on a great variety 
of topics. See pp. 217-8-9,220, and over on pp. 245-6-7. 
It is well to always run one’s eye over the adver¬ 
tising pages of this Journal, and see what is offered, by 
whom, etc., as a source of information. There are usual¬ 
ly new and valuable implements, and other things worthy 
of attention, while no vile or quack medical nostrums are 
present to disgust the old, or deceive or allure the young. 
No man is admitted if there is not good reason for be¬ 
lieving that he has both the ability and intention to do 
what his advertisement promises. The Editors have full 
veto power over every advertisement offered, and they 
exclude the advertisements of every party whom they 
would not themselves patronize, if wanting the articles 
offered. CS“When corresponding with any of these ad¬ 
vertisers, sending for their circulars, catalogues, etc., it 
is well to inform them that yon are a reader of this Jour¬ 
nal. They will know what you expect (and what we ex¬ 
pect) of them in the way of prompt and fair treatment. 
Hastening Prairie Sod Culture.— The long 
time general practice has been to break up prairie sod 
in June and wait until the following year for it to rot. 
In “Editorial Notes by the Way." in Minnesota, pub¬ 
lished in the American Agriculturist last November, 
p.p. 457-8, instances were given of success in putting 
crops at once upon the newly broken prairie. Mr. 
Clarkson, in Nebraska, first turned a 3-inch sod and fol¬ 
lowed with another plow throwing an inch of the lower 
soil upon the sod ; then harrowing it well he planted 
it immediately. Mr. Youmans and Mr. Nevins, in Mar¬ 
shall, Minn., broke the sod in May to July ; in Sep¬ 
tember they cut the sod with a disk-harrow or sod- 
cutter, and with a .deeper plow turned them under, and 
got a much larger yield of spring wheat. A letter be¬ 
fore us, from Jno. A. Owen, Esq., in Central Dakota, 
dated April 15, says: “We are using the Randall Wheat 
Harrow on sod broken last week, and sowing wheat 
at once. It puts the land in better condition than most 
of last year's breaking is in—cuts the sod all to pieces. 
Costs about $30. Tell all parties coming to the new 
prairies to get them by all means, or at least seme 
wheel-harrow.”—We suppose he means some sod-cut¬ 
ting harrow. It is certainly of great importance to new 
settlers to gain six months or a year in getting the 
prairies into crops. We invite further correspondence 
from those having experience in this matter. 
“ Canoe and Camera.”— This is the title of 
one of the most entertaining and exquisitely illustrated 
books of the season, which the Orange Judd Co. have in 
press, and which will be ready when this reaches our 
readers. It is the result of recent, personal explorations 
by the author, Mr. Thomas Sedgwick Steele, being, as he 
terms it, “ A Photographic Tour of Two Hundred MileB 
through the Maine Forests.” The work is embellished 
with sixty illustrations of scenery and character, by well 
knows artists, with new Maps of the State prepared ex¬ 
pressly for this book, and the story is told in a most fas¬ 
cinating manner. It is one of the most delightful books 
of the year. Sent post-paid from this office on receipt of 
the price, $1.50. 
Milk and Milking in Texas.— It may seem 
strange to those who know of Texas as the great grazing 
State of the Union, to learn that nothing is more scarce 
there than milk, and that the owners of vast herds use 
butter brought from northern dairies. This was our ex¬ 
perience 25 years ago, and we learn from recent corres¬ 
pondence that matters in this respect have not changed. 
A friend in Anderson Co., “ W. B. W.,” in reference to 
an article published some time ago on “ Allowing Calves 
to Suck,” writes, describing the manner in which the re¬ 
lations between cow and calf are managed in that State. 
It reminds us of what we have seen a hundred times, and 
is of interest as showing the very different management 
given to animals, according as we raise them entirely for 
their carcasses—beef—or for the products of their bodies 
when alive. Our correspondent writes: “ Here in Tex¬ 
as, it is almost the universal custom amongst farmers to 
allow the calf to suck. When a calf is allowed to draw 
the milk from a young heifer, the mother has been taught 
a lesson which she will never forget, she has learned to 
hold the milk from the hand of the milker, and retain it 
for the calf, and will never afterwards give all her milk 
freely. It is amusing to see the process by which many 
Texas farmers manage to draw half a gallon or so of milk 
from a fresh cow. First, the calf has its turn, and takes 
a good pull, the cow in the meantime, with hajf-closed 
eyes, contentedly lets the milk down, after a while the 
calf is gently moved to one side, and fastened to the fence 
or held by a rope, by an assistant present for the pur¬ 
pose; the milker now takes his turn, and as cautiously 
as possible, draws down the milk. Presently a change 
takes place, the stream gets smaller and then suddenly 
stops. The cow, now wide awake, has turned her head 
and discovered that her offspring is not the milker, and 
no more milk will she give, except for the calf, which is 
now untied and allowed to have its turn again. The milk 
flows once more, and again slowly and cautiously the 
milker (with quart can in hand) takes his stand (for sit¬ 
ting is out of the question) on the opposite side from the 
calf, and they both pull together, the outwitted mother, 
not knowing who she is giving the milk to, calmly re¬ 
signs herself to them both. [We have seen this per¬ 
formance varied by the Mexicans, where the milker is 
usually a woman. The calf begins to suck, and is pulled 
away by the milker, who' takes its place, armed with a 
short club. The milk is received in a gourd or earthen 
dish, and the woman, between milking with one hand 
and holding the dish and clubbing the calf with the 
other, is very busy. Sometimes, if the calf is a strong 
one, milk is not the only thing that is upset. Ed.] This 
is the usual custom all over the country, the consequence 
of which is, that between the two the cow is rarely 
milked clean, and in three months she is dry altogether, 
or the trouble of getting a pint from her is so great that 
it is willingly resigned to the calf. I know a dairyman 
in this neighborhood who owns a lot of fine milk cows 
(as he terms them); he is now milking twenty two , and 
from that number takes sixteen gallons daily. One may 
visit ten farm houses, the owners of which keep from 
six to a dozen cows, and at eight out of the ten there 
cannot be found milk sufficient to whiten a cup of cof¬ 
fee. In this town of several thousand inhabitants, situ¬ 
ated in a fine grazing county, it is almost impossible to 
buy country butter. During the winter months we use 
western altogether, at from 35 to 40 cts. per lb., while 
milk direct from the dairyman costs tea cents per quart 
in summer, and from 12| to 15 in winter. One reason 
why such enormous prices prevail in the best grazing 
State of the Union, is the utter want of minagement 
with the calves, and the pernicious practice of allowing 
the cows to be milked by them.” 
Damage by Insects.— It is estimated that the 
amount of injury done by insects in the United States is 
$200,000,000. The good they do is another question, to 
which no answer is given, and cannot be given in figures. 
