554 
AMERT0AI4 AGRIOIJLTURIST. 
[DiiCEilBER, 
gronncl, seemed to bo in no hurry to get up. This is a 
rather hilly country, well adapted for sheep and dairy¬ 
ing. We pass a lot of small, white pigs, eating their 
breakfast of ears of corn in a pen. Also four wheat stacks, 
English built, but not thatched, and a brick farm house, 
English, too. Prom Summit to Sparta is a beautiful and 
well cultivated country. Buckwheat seems to bo grown 
to a considerable extent in Small patches. 
Sparta. —Twenty minutes for breakfast.” 
The sharp, frosty air, gave us all a good appetite. After 
breakfast, we pass a flock pf sheep, the first I have seen 
since leaving Madison. 
Bangfor is a fine section. Considerable fall-plowing. 
Horses in the corn-field doing their own husking. Hop 
yards. More fall plowing, three horses abreast. Every¬ 
thing indicates thrift. More sheep—and good ones. 
West Salepi is a fine village, with plenty of trees along 
the streets and roads in the vicinity ; good land, and 
good farms. Soon we strike the hills and evergreens 
and ride for miles through a beautiful, picturesque 
country. We pass the mail car going east, and see a boy 
distributing matter, evidently puzzled where to put it. 
Finally, with an uncertain air, he throws it into a box. 
Our present postage laws would puzzle a Philadelphia 
lawyer, let alone a poor boy on a postal car going all night. 
Onalaska is a pleasant village near a large 
river, with thousands of logs; saw a man plowing sod with 
four horses, two and two ahead of each other. Crooked 
furrows. Good clover. Prairie grass on the one hand, 
and high, rolling land on the other, with winter wheat. 
AViiiona.— “Now, Charley, for your first view of 
the Mississippi I” We pass over it on a substantiai 
bridge, standing on the platform. A clear, rapid, beauti¬ 
ful stream. Now we are in Minnesota. We have been 
in New York, Canada, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, 
and are now about to see something of Minnesota. 
Winona is a fine, well-buiit, substantial, enterprising 
city. A lady comes on board with a bunch of dahlias in 
her hand, she does not live in Winona. Lives in the 
country—on the prairie, and likes it. Has visited East. 
Spent a winter in Essex Co., N. Y., and Rutland, Vt, 
Likes the West better. Good society; reading ciub ; 
good schools ; good churches, and good singing—said 
nothing about the preaching. Winters are cold, but if 
provided for, not disagreeable—in fact very pleasant. 
Stocktou. —A fine farm on the right hand. Short¬ 
horn catiie and grades, good horses and colts, all in the 
same field. High bluffs. Three-horse sulky plow ; hard 
work, but they go right along. 
ILewl.stoii and Ctica, a magnificent country. 
St. Cliarles.—Beautiful rolling land. Good clover. 
“Stacks of wheat,” literally, but many of them poor 
stacks, small, and not too well built.* 
Timothy seed still in shock. “ Poor year for timothy 
seed,” says a farmer by my side; “ too cold in May. Good 
May for wheat; but timothy needs warm-growing 
weather early in spring. Timothy seed low this year. 
I took some to Chicago, got one dollar and thirty-two 
cents per bushel of forty-five pounds. It costs eighteen 
cents per bushel to get it from New Ulm, Minn,, to Chi¬ 
cago. The price in New Ulm is $1.00 per bushel.” 
It turned out that my companion was a grain and seed 
dealer from New Ulm. “Last year,” he said, “I sold 
timothy seed in Chicago for one dollar and twenty-two 
cents per bushel. In 188'2 I sold it for two dollars and 
fifty-two and a half cents per bushel. That paid—that 
was all right.” Pays fifteen cents per bushel for 
threshing. The machines do not thresh it clean. Does not 
know why. Much seed is left in the heads unthreshed. 
Does not raise red-top, or millet, or Hungarian grass 
seed. “ I tell you," he said, as we pass a fine field of red 
clover, “ I like to see that. Where you can raise clover, 
you can raise anything.” 
We passed a wheat stubble field as we approach Eyota, 
with a lot of manure drawn out in heaps. Field partly 
plowed. In the next field was a flock of Merino sheep, 
and that explains the manure. Lombardy i)oplar trees 
around the farm house and buildings ; also, wind-mill. 
Willows for fences and screens. “W’heat,” said my 
fi’iend, “does best after corn—that, and new breaking. 
If the corn is clean, we frequently sow wheat without 
plowing.” He referred to spring wheat. Wheat straw 
is burned. Uses a scraper to draw the ashes about. Do 
good wiien scattered about, but when left in a heap, kill 
everything but w'eeds. 
Cliester. — Three large w’heat-straw stacks, mere 
heaps. Good hogs iu pasture. Six wheat stacks un¬ 
threshed, Looked small, but my friend said they would 
average at least one hundred bushels to a stack. Si)lcn- 
did pasture, w'eil stocked with grade Shorthorn cattle. 
*This was written at the time on the cars. We saw 
thousands of such stacks afterwards. .\nd I have an 
idea, that if I had seen these stacks last instead of first, 
I should have thought them about perfect. A close 
examination of the stacks in the West, shows them to 
be better than they look. In fact, they are, as a rule, ad¬ 
mirably well calculated to shod rain, but their first ap¬ 
pearance to us was not particularly pleasing. 
■ Koeliester, Minn.—Still a rich, rolling country— 
considering extent, perhaps the finest I have ever passed 
over. Does not look like one’s preconceived ideas of 
the West, except in stacking wheat and burning straw. 
My companion from New Ulm owns several farms. Rents 
them, and receives one-third the crop. “ All I have to do 
is to hold the bag, and haul the grain from the machine.” 
He gets about two dollars per acre rent, or eight per 
cent on what the land would sell for, say twenty-five 
dollars p,er acre. He did not tell me, but I inferred that 
not half the farm was under cultivation, and for the 
pasture and untilled land he got nothing. “A creamery at 
New Ulm makes one thousand pounds of butter per 
day. Boston and New York men come here to buy it. 
Dairying pays better than anything else—than wheat.” 
At Dodg'c Center there w’as a large gathering of farm 
teams iu a grove. At Claremont is a wind-mill for grind¬ 
ing wheat. Sheds covered with straw. Apple trees few 
and far between. “ Plenty of apples,” said my com¬ 
panion. Perhaps so, I thought, but it is evident that 
farmers and their families do not have them unless they 
buy them. I never before realized what an important 
matter the question as to the best varieties of fruit is in 
a new country. 
Waseca.— A clear, beautiful lake. A large prairie. 
Woman plowing with three horses. She ought to have 
a sulky. Janesville, Kasota, St. Peter, Oshawa, and 
Nicollet, are all thrifty villages in a rich prairie country. 
Cortland..— Beautiful rolling land. Steam thresher 
at work. Steamers not so common as with us. Coal 
dearer, oats and hay cheaper. Flock of twenty or thiity 
prairie chickens get up as the train passes swiftly by. 
At New Ulm my intelligent chance acquaintance 
leaves me. “ All this section,” he said, “ is settled with 
Germans. They wore all poor, are now all rich. No corn 
sold, all consumed on the farm. Feed corn stalks, but 
hay is only three dollars and seventy-five cents per ton, 
delivered in the village. Soft coal is four dollars and 
fifty cents per ton at wholesale. 
Sleepy-Eye and Spriiigfleld are thriving vil¬ 
lages, Beautiful rolling prairie as far as the eye reaches. 
Mr. Harris will continue liis -valuable Notes 
on Western Travel iu succeeding numbers 
of the American Agriculturist. 
Animal Ailments. 
Blood Spavin.— A. L. Jackson, Polk Co,, Minn.—“I 
have a yearling colt which had its feet neglected until 
they were very long. A few days ago I noticed he was 
‘spavined’ in both legs. It is said to be Blood Spavin.”— 
In this case the spavined condition, if actually present, 
is due to hereditary causes. A blood spavin is strictly a 
distended condition of the vein, which has become en¬ 
larged from being pressed upon by the growth of the 
bony or bursal tumor of the hock, which latter consti¬ 
tutes either bone or bog spavin. No special treatment 
can be of avail in so young an animal. Give him good 
pasturage and good food at all times, with plenty of 
chance for liberty of action. As he grows older and 
stronger, nature will aid in affecting a cure, especially if 
proper care has been exercised. At any rate, the animal 
should not be subjected to labor until the limbs have 
become consolidated by age. No colt's foot should bo 
tampered with unless diseased, not even when shod. 
Milch Cows Chewing Bones. —F. H. Lauhton, Cofl’ey 
Co., Kas., enquires why milch cows chew old dry bones, 
.and other foreign substances, and what will cure them. 
This propensity to chew and suck bones, depends princi¬ 
pally upon the want of the animal system for certain 
earthy salts, which have not been supplied by the nutri¬ 
ment given. It is a disease of barren, exhausted soils, 
the produce of such lands being wanting iu just these 
elements. For treatment, give richer fodder from other 
loc.alities, or pasture the auim.als on newer or better 
laud. Improve the general health by attention to clean¬ 
liness, ventilation and sunshine. Keep the skin in the 
best condition by daily carding and brushing. In the 
meantime, improve the laud by supplying it with the 
preparations essential for restoring its value for the pur¬ 
poses desired. Use bone-dust, phosphate, plaster, etc. 
Dislocation of Tendon over Hock Joint.— W. M. 
Harvard (address not given), owns a mare that has been 
injured by strain. “The cap of the hock joint seems to 
h.avo slipped out of place. There arc two swellings, one 
on e.ach side of the joint of the hock. It was done about 
toil months ago. There seems to be considerable in- 
llammaftion in it.”—From the history of the case, this is 
an ins^ice where the tendon has been torn from its at¬ 
tachments at the joint of the hock, and has been forced 
to one side, generally the outer. It is an accident of very 
rare occurrence. Nothing can be done beyond enjoining 
perfect rest and the application of w'et band.ages, until all 
inflammatiou has passed. Then the animal may bo put 
to light, slow work, and it will eventually regain its- 
usefulness but not the natural beauty of the hock. 
Chat with Readers. 
Plant for a Name.— G. Jf. B. Viser, Cook Co., Ill., 
sends us, for a name, a little plant quite common in sandy 
soils in late summer, the Partridge Pea. Cassia cham- 
cecrista. It is an annual, about a foot high, with compound 
leaves of many small leaflets, and numerous bright yellow 
flowers. It is related to the Sensitive Plant, and, like that, 
its leaves shut up when disturbed, though much more slowly. 
Transplanting Trees.— F. M. Gordon, Stanley Co., 
Dakota, has a number of Seedling Maples, and Box Elders, 
and wishes to know the best time to transplant them.—If 
the climate of the locality is favorable for fall planting, the 
season is now too late to risk it. Plant as early in spring as 
the soil can be worked, and to protect them in the dry sea¬ 
son, cover the soil over the roots with an ample mulch of 
some kind—straw, wild hay, leafy brush, or whatever will 
cover the surface, and prevent evaporation. 
A Berry from Manitoba.— M. Jf. MueJcle, Manitoba, 
sends us for a name, a native berry which is “ a nice fruit 
for jam, and pies.” It grows but sparsely in Manitoba, but 
is in profusion in the Northwest Territory.—The fruit in 
question is of the Buffalo Berry,Sfiepherdia argentea,a shrub 
five to ten feet high, with sharp-pointed twigs. The stami- 
nate and pistillate flowers are in separate plants. The fruit 
is scarlet, the size of a small pea, in dense clusters, and is 
sometimes cultivated for its fruit, to have which,both sexes 
must be planted. The fruit is much liked by all who know it. 
The Uses of the Catalpas.— R. L. WilUains, Balti¬ 
more Co., Md. There are two species of Catalpa, that 
called C. speciosa, being more hardy than 0. bigno- 
nioides and preferable for planting in the Northern 
States. The wood of both is remarkably durable. We 
have a piece that has been exposed to the weather for 
seventy-flve years, which is perfectly sound, and the trees 
will, under proper treatment, prove profitable to timber 
planters. For railroad ties, fence posts, and other uses 
where most wood speedily decays, the Catalpa timber re¬ 
sists the destructive influences in a remarkable manner. 
Rosebugs,- If any insect has been regarded as “ iron¬ 
clad” against the usual insecticides, it is the Kosebug. 
B. Hathaway, writes us from Manitoba, that he kept the 
insects from destroying his roses, by “ a handful of Quassia 
chips, boiled in one or two gallons of water.” He omits to 
state how it was applied, but we presume it was sprinkled 
upon the plants. Quassia has a reputation as a fly poison; 
if it is also fatal to the hard-shelled Kosebug, its usefulness 
will be increased. Quassia is kept in every drug store, and 
is not dear. We mentally “ stick a pin ” here, to try Quas¬ 
sia next rose-time. 
» 
Apples Blooming in September.—G. D. Welch, 
Suffolk Co, Mass., writes us that he has a crab apple tree, 
which, about the first of September, commenced to bloom; 
as fast as the fruit set, and the blossoms fell, new flowers 
continued to appear. He asks if this is at all common.— 
After a tree has perfected its leaf-buds, and fruit-buds, cool 
weather usually comes on, and these remain dormant until 
spring. If the fall is unusually warm, the buds are excited, 
and instead of waiting until spring, they open in autumn. 
This often happens with strawberries, which not only 
bloom, but ripen fruit in autumn. This unseasonable 
flowering and fruiting is at the expense of next year’s crop. 
“The Eucalyptus Tree.”— J. H. Cole, Norfolk Co., 
Va., writes us: “ The Eucalyptus tree is said to be a very 
fine grower, and an anti-malarial tree, or a tree which 
should be cultivated in a malarial country,” and wishes in¬ 
formation about the tree.—As there are about a hundred 
species of Eucalyptus in Australia, the term, “ the Eucalyp¬ 
tus,” is not very definite. The species for which anti-mala¬ 
rial properties are claimed, is E. 8ifo6ulM.9, the “ Blue Gum 
tree” of Australia. Whether It has the power to avert 
malaria, wm much doubt. Our correspondent can not read¬ 
ily test it, as the tree is not likely to prove hardy with him. 
Indeed, it is not certainly hardy at any point on the At¬ 
lantic Coast, north of Florida. 
Trouble tvitb Grapes.— Henry JFrits, Cambria Co., 
Pa., has several varieties of grapes, which did well until 
three years ago. Now, while the fruit is quite small, white 
specks appear upon the berries, and afterwards they rot 
and drop from the clusters.—Apparently mildew or some 
similar fungus causes the “white spots,” ivhicli are the be¬ 
ginning of the trouble. Try Flowers of Sulphur, applied 
liberally by means of a bellows made for the purpose, and 
sold at the implement stores. The application should be 
made at the very first appearance of the white spots. 
If the date of their appearance is known, it will be 
well to apply sulphur a few days before. Use the sulphur on 
a hot, quiet day, and repeat weekly as long as spots appear. 
Preserving Fence Posts.— Every now and then the 
secular papers publish something relating to agriculture, 
more or less absurd, and it goes the rounds, being quoted 
from one to another. The item, after it has gone around, 
is allowed to rest for a few years, when some one revives 
it, and the same thing is repeated. One of these items is to 
the effect that fence posts, of any kind of timber, will last 
as long as locust, if painted with boiled linseed oil, and then 
given a coating of pulverized charcoal. J. W. Bailey, 
Frederick Co., Va., sends us the above item, and asks if it 
is true.—The matter looks to us very improbable, and we do 
not think that posts so treated would be appreciably more 
durable than those without it. Charring thoroughly the 
portion of the posts that goes into the ground, would be 
far more useful, because charcoal does not easily decay. 
