8 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
The War Rumors. 
We are happy to assure our readers that, at 
this date (Oct. 20), there does not appear to be 
any serious ground for fearing a war with Eng¬ 
land. Most of the excitement thus far has been 
mainly due to those unscrupulous newspapers, 
here and abroad, which feed and fatten upon 
popular commotions. To these a battle, a 
catastrophe, a disaster, is food and sustenance. 
If any wrong has. been done, it will doubtless 
be settled by diplomatic correspondence, and 
not by a resort to arms: There are too many 
ties of interest binding this country and Eng¬ 
land together, to permit their being easily sun¬ 
dered. The foreign need of our surplus bread- 
stuifs would alone be a strong incentive to the 
maintenance of peaceful relations, and in this 
respect our farmers stand as arbitrators. We 
firmly believe that the good prospects, which 
we have for months past placed before our read¬ 
ers, are yet to continue, and that by another 
month we shall be able to report the entire sub¬ 
sidence of the recent commotions, which have , 
been mainly produced by the sensation Press. 
Years of Scarcity and Abundance. 
The uncertainty of the weather and of the 
crops is an old subject, but it is one about which 
no agriculturist can feel indifferent. Changeable, 
as the seasons are, there is yet reason to believe 
that, amid much apparent uncertainty, law and 
order do still prevail. At least, this much may be 
held, that in the long run, sunshine will succeed 
storm, and abundance follow scarcity. There 
maybe a year or two of poor crops, but these 
will soon be balanced by as many of good crops. 
We cannot tell how large a period the cycle 
may embrace, but we may be confident that a 
‘cycle there will be. 
The French are more given to observing and 
theorizing on these subjects, than we busy 
Yankees are. Some time ago, M. Becquer- 
el read a paper before the Academy of Sci¬ 
ences, in Paris, on the culture of wheat in 
France, in which he presented some statistics 
worth looking at. His facts show that “ there 
is a periodicity in the recurrence of good and 
bad harvests; that five and six years of abundance 
and five or six years of scarcity follow each 
other pretty regularly.” He quotes from Count 
Hugo the following table, extending 33 years: 
From the year 1816 to 1821 was a period of scarcity. 
From the year 1822 to 1827 was a period of abundance. 
From the year 1828 to 1822 was a period of scarcity. 
From the year 1833 to 1837 was a period of abundance. 
From the year 1838 to 1842 was a mixed period. 
From the year 1843 to 1847 was a period of scarcity. 
From the year 1848 to 1852 was a period of abundance. 
Now, let these facts be taken for what they 
are worth. They do seem to indicate a certain 
order and regularity amid apparent disorder. 
Perhaps, if we should make careful observa¬ 
tions, we should find a similar law prevailing 
here. The cycle may extend three years, or 
five, or some other period, but undoubtedly 
there is some regular balancing of the seasons. 
An ingenious. Scotch writer thinks he has 
found 5 natural cause to explain this law. He 
refers ':c Schwahe, a German astronomer, who 
t\ -s that the spots on the sun maintain a cer- 
lai ) periodicity of about five and six years; 
then to Gautier, a Swiss savan, who affirms that 
this periodicity tallies with that of the grain 
crops. And he reasons that, as the light and 
heat of the sun are essential to the successful 
growth of vegetation, jt is not unscientific to sup¬ 
pose that the diminution of them should dimin¬ 
ish the crops, and their increase augment them. 
We are not prepared as yet, to give much 
weight to this theory; but it will do no harm if 
farmers remember it as a matter for observation. 
The Millers Not Always at Fault. 
A correspondent, who is a miller by trade, 
sends to the American Agriculturist a somewhat 
lengthy communication, from which we con¬ 
dense the following suggestions: The mechan¬ 
ical skill of the miller is often called in ques¬ 
tion by housewives, when the bread does not 
look inviting, and his honesty in the matter of 
taking toll is also sometimes doubted by the 
farmer, when he is not at fault. Frequently, 
wheat which has been poorly screened from the 
chess, “ cockle,” and other foul stuff, is taken to 
be ground; then, if the miller grinds it just as re¬ 
ceived, without re-screening, a poor article of 
flour is turned out. If, however, from a desire 
to maintain his reputation for making good 
flour, he takes pains to remove the foul stuffy 
then the flour from the grist falls short in weight, 
and lie is suspected of cheating in the toll. 
Much grain is injured by being sprouted, and in 
some sections it is threshed on the ground, and 
thus mixed with gravel or dirt, which must injure 
the quality of the flour. If good grain, proper¬ 
ly screened, be taken to mill, our correspondent 
thinks less fault will be found with the miller, 
and this is undoubtedly true. 
Another difficulty stated to be in the way of 
the miller, is the practice of having corn ground 
together with the cob, particularly where all 
the runs of stones are driven by a single water 
wheel. The corn, being heavier, will nearly all 
pass between the stones first, and when the 
cobs, which are more easily ground, begin to 
run, the mill starts off in double quick time. 
To remedy this, the miller gives a little more 
feed to the stone, and unless constantly watched, 
which is often impracticable, the stone is crowd¬ 
ed, and the mill runs slowly again: thus an un¬ 
steady motion is given, and good flour can not 
be made on the other stones which are affected 
by this continued change. One remedy for this 
latter difficulty would be, to grind such feed only 
on certain days, and then have no other grain 
passing through the stones at the same time. 
Another Husking Pin. 
To the Editor of the American Ag riculturist. 
I send you a rude drawing of a husking pin 
which I have used these twelve years, and think 
it superior to the wooden ones of which you 
made a notice. It is of f-incli iron, made to fit 
the hand, the ring going round the little finger, 
and the point bearing against the thumb. A 
strap of leather, an inch wide, through the ends 
of which the pin passes, goes over the two mid¬ 
dle fingers. Any common blacksmith can 
make the implement. Eli C. Jones. 
Blair Co., Pa. 
Agricultural Dentistry. 
A subscriber writes to the Agriculturist: I like 
the ideas of a correspondent of tlie Dairy Farm¬ 
er, who suggests that one operation be made of 
taking out the 'tree, body, roots, and all. For 
this purpose he recommends to use a stout rope 
eighty or more feet long, with a pully; the rope I 
to be fastened near the top of the tree, the pul¬ 
ley anchored to an adjoining stump, or to a 
loaded stone boat, and horse or ox power applied. 
Small trees could thus be extracted at once; for 
large ones it would be necessary to cut some of 
the main roots near the surface. The tree itself 
would act as a lever to raise its own roots from 
the ground. In localities where wood is valua¬ 
ble, the saving of fuel in the stumps and roots 
brought up, would form quite an item, besides 
the additional land cleared at once. Root. 
[The above we find in type, but do not at¬ 
tach great importance to the suggestion, from 
the fact that it would be found difficult to fasten 
the rope far enough up the trunk to obtain a 
sufficient leverage to pull over a tree with its 
green roots firmly imbedded in a strong soil. 
The use of a long light ladder might be found 
practicable. Indeed, we have seen a few trees 
thus removed, but they were those which had 
been girdled for two or three years, and most of 
the roots were partially decayed. In clearing 
oak land at the West, a somewhat common 
practice has been to clear out the under-brush 
and small trees, then girdle the larger ones, and 
sow a crop of wheat, following with corn. Af¬ 
ter two or three years a heavy Autumn wind 
blows over most of the trees, and they are cut 
or burned into short pieces, and logged up and 
burned. If any one has been successful in pull¬ 
ing over green trees with ropes, we shall be glad 
to hear from him in the Agriculturist. —O. J.] 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Work Bulls in the Yoke. 
Idlers are dangerous members of society, and 
bulls are no exception. Their vicious propensi¬ 
ties when left unemployed, make them the most 
dreaded animals on the farm. But however 
gentle they may remain, it is no small tax to 
support these gentlemen of leisure among farm 
stock. Why should they not be taught to bear 
the yoke and divide the labor with then' less fa¬ 
vored brethren ? They have probably been left 
generally unused for such purposes, because of 
the supposed difficulty of managing them; but a 
well-broken, well-worked bull is a different 
character from the pampered sultan left to his 
own way. If taken young, and properly treat¬ 
ed, they need be little more difficult- to man¬ 
age than oxen. The writer knew a whimsical 
Doctor in this State, who trained a two-year old 
bull to draw his sulky, and he attracted great 
attention, galloping about the country with this 
singular “turn-out.” The Boston Cultivator 
gives the case of an imported Ayrshire bull, 
owned by Mr. E. R. Andrews, of West Rox- 
bury, Mass., which is broken to single harness, 
and worked daily before a cart. He can pull 
more than any horse upon the farm. He is very 
tractable, easily managed, and quick in his ac¬ 
tion, walking faster than the common gait of a 
horse. He is guided with reins attached to a 
ring in his nose. If judiciously kept, and not 
over-worked at the time of special service, such 
treatment will be rather a benefit than an injury, 
giving greater vigor and hardiness of constitu¬ 
tion. Let these sinecurists pay their way. 
Remarks .— 1 The above is perhaps partly true, 
but we can hardly endorse the advice to put 
valuable breeding animals to hard work in the 
yoke—certainly not to work-them sufficiently to 
make them entirely docile. Doubtless, bulls 
can be kept somewhat gentle by constant hand¬ 
ling from “ infancy,” but to work them enough 
to prevent the necessity of using a ring or head- 
rope would lessen their breeding qualities.— Ed.] 
