1869.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
281 
%c. and for some grades as much as lc. per pound. Sleek 
steers of SOO 1,000 pounds about held tlieir own, 
but very fat ones and poor Texas cattle dropped in price 
at least one cent. This may be accounted for from the 
fact that mutton was cheap and beef was wanted only to 
supply a few regular customers. Most droves were 
peddled out by the half dozen head or so at a time, 
butchers buying only to supply present demand_ 
JJItleU Cows are plenty for a dull market. Indeed, 
they scarcely sell at all. Prices have declined at least $5 
a head, and good cows may be bought for $10 less than 
two months ago. Prices range from $50@$S5 each — 
Veal Calves have been a little more plenty and trade 
quite active. Sales are readily made if the animals are 
lilt, and prices keep about the same as those of last 
month. Fat, fresh milk-fed calves range in price from 
954c.@10!4c. per pound. Grass, buttermilk-fed sell less 
readily, mostly by the head at $7@,$9 each, or if fat by the 
pound for 5c.... Slieep have been more abundant than 
last month, and a decline in price is the result. Drovers 
conld not hold to their resolve and keep them out 
of market, and the advance of last month has been 
followed by a decline. Many of the sheep now coming 
to market are little better than “ store sheep,” and farm¬ 
ers would do well to buy their sheep here for feeding 
purposes. The “culls” of each drove sell by the head 
at $2@$5 each. Good fat sheep sell for 4c.@6c. per pound ; 
lambs, for 7c.@llc. Lambs, if fat, sell more readily than 
sheep_ Sivltie. —The market is strong and steady, but 
we can quote no advance in price. Arrivals have been 
somewhat varied and most of them go at once to the 
slaughterers. For dressed hogs, prices range from lOV^c. 
@ll%c. per pound. 
containing a great variety of Rems, including many 
good Hints and Suggestions which ice throw into smaller 
type and condensed form , for want of space elsewhere. 
l*»stage. — To our published terms for the 
American Agriculturist , postage must in all cases be add¬ 
ed when ordered to go out of the United States. For 
Canada, send twelve cents besides the subscription money 
with each subscriber. Everywhere in the United States, 
three cents , eacli quarter, or twelve cents, yearly , must be 
prepaid at the Post-office where the paper is received. 
Iffovy to ICosnlt;—Oaeck* on Ncw- 
Yorlc Kaiilcw or Hauliers are best for large sums ; 
made payable to the order of Orange Jticlil <fc t o, 
Post-Office Money Orders may Ibe obtain¬ 
ed at nearly every county seat, in all the cities, and in 
many of the large towns. We consider them perfectly 
safe, and the best means of remitting fifty dollars or less, 
as thousands have been sent to us without any loss. 
BScg'istefort Tetters, tana ilea* f lie nnv 
system, which went into effect Oct. 1, 18GS, arc a very 
safe means of sending small,sums of money where P. O. 
Money Orders cannot be easily obtained. Observe , the 
Registry fee, as well as postage, must be paid in stamps at 
the office where the letter is mailed, or it will be liable 
to be sent to the Dead Letter Office. Huy and affix the 
stamps both for postage and registry, put in the money, and 
seal the letter in the presence of the postmaster, and take his 
receipt for it. Letters thus sent to us are at our risk. 
iHSotitjiil Copies ®4* Volaamie XXVII 
(1808) are now ready. Price, $2, at our office, or $2.50 
each, if sent by mail. Any of the previous eleven vol¬ 
umes (10 to 26) will be forwarded at the same price. Sets 
of numbers sent to our office will be neatly bound in our 
regular style for 75 cents per volume, (50 cents extra if re¬ 
turned by mail.) Missing numbers supplied at 12c. each. 
XSie Weather snail tlae Crops. — No 
little anxiety is manifested all over the country between 
the middle of June and the first of August, by almost all 
classes of our population, to know something of the 
prospects of our staple crops. Trade has been dull, and 
money tight, and everybody is hoping for such crops as 
will give a sound basis for credit, and make business 
lively again. By the time this reaches our readers, win¬ 
ter grains, which now (July 12) generally promise well, 
will have been gathered, thrashed, and in market to a 
considerable extent, and the reapers will be at work in 
spring grains. Eastward, we think prospects for an 
abundant harvest are very encouraging. Winter wheat 
was very little winter-killed ; it has made a good growth 
of straw, and is well filled. This is the general-report as 
we receive it, and certainly we never saw the grain crop 
of this part of the country in better condition. At the 
South wheat has turned out very well, and corn pros¬ 
pects are various; the amount planted is large, and 
there is no doubt there will be a full average crop. In 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, farmers arc generally 
jubilant over the fine prospects. West of Indiana, espe¬ 
cially in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri, the 
rains during June were most disheartening. The grass 
crop alone seemed to be uninjured. Corn grew spindling 
and yellow, small grains made great succulent growth of 
straw, which will hardly sustain itself. Through this 
flooded district, we can hardly say that any thing promis¬ 
ed well at last advices, though there was time after the 
first of July for a great improvement, and corn and 
spring grains may yield well. Powerful rain and hail 
storms have been prevalent, doing considerable local 
damage in various parts of the country, but not seriously 
affecting the general harvest. A large crop of hay has 
been secured throughout the Eastern and Middle States. 
Winy Some Tetters are not An¬ 
swered.—We have just torn up several letters which 
were plainly written, but the address and signatures of 
which all our powers of guessing failed to make out. 
If one chooses to flourish let him do it on some unim¬ 
portant part of his letter, hut give us the address and 
signature as plainly as possible. 
Maryland. —“P. S.,” Baltimore Co., Md. 
We thank you for your letter concerning Maryland agri¬ 
culture, hut we cannot publish it, as it refers to political 
questions, which we must avoid. If such men as the 
writer seems to be are at work in Maryland, we do not 
doubt that it will become a “garden State.” We con¬ 
gratulate our correspondent upon the improved condition 
of agriculture in his part of the State, hut were we to 
print his letter, we should have many from that portion 
which lie considers slow in agricultural matters. Please 
remember that we are the American Agriculturist, and 
cannot present the claims of one State or part of a State to 
the disparagement of others. Agriculturally or horticul¬ 
tural!}' considered, our country from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific is a magnificent one. That this or that State is 
better than another depends partly upon its natural ad¬ 
vantages, but largely upon the people upon whom the 
task of developing them depends. 
CSrcsut Exlnilsition of Textile Fab¬ 
ric*.—The “Woolen Manufacturers’ Ass’n of the 
North-west” have appointed the first full week in 
August for an exhibition of Textile Fabrics, in Cincin¬ 
nati. There will probably he an interesting display of 
stuffs and of wool, and the exhibition will doubtless 
result in great good to the sheep-growing and manufac¬ 
turing interest. Jas. M. Clark, of Cincinnati, is Secretary. 
A Woa*il 4® 4ke Hollies.—It is a very 
pleasant thing that, we have many lady correspondents. 
We wish that they would sign themselves Mrs. or Miss 
So and So. Some, when they use initials only, leave us 
in doubt. We had a letter from, we will say “C. M. 
Jones,” with nothing in the matter or manner of it to in¬ 
dicate that the writer was a lady. We addressed our re¬ 
ply as to a gentleman, and were informed by the writer 
that she was neither an “Esq.,” nor a “Dear Sir,” but an 
“ old woman of GO ” ! So, also, when a lady signs her 
full name and gives no indication as to whether she 
is Miss or Mrs. Juliana M. Brown, it is a little awkward. 
IVIsira*iag , es anil Ileatlas.— A number 
of friends, who consider the Agriculturist as their paper, 
have sent ns notices of marriages and deaths, evidently 
with the expectation that we would insert them. As our 
paper is for the whole country and not for any one State, 
we must decline these. We have on a few occasions no¬ 
ticed the marriages of persons directly connected with 
the paper, as well as the deaths of those who have been 
so thoroughly identified witli agriculture and horticul¬ 
ture as to make the mention a matter of general interest. 
Should we begin to publish those not so well known— 
hut not less worthy—we could not make room for them. 
T’Sac IB®s4®a “ Peace Festival.”— 
This was a grand affair to see. and for ear-stunning music, 
which one likes to hear sometimes, it has never been 
equaled. The best music there was when Parepa-Rosa 
sang alone so sweetly, and yet so loud and clear as to be 
heard throughout a building 300x500 feet, full of peo¬ 
ple, and a poor building, too, for music. The whole affair 
was a grand success in all that it could have been de¬ 
signed to he, for no one could have anticipated the high¬ 
est musical excellence in such a crowd of performers,— 
more than ten thousand in number. For music alone, 
we enjoyed more the great Musical Festivals in the 
Sydenham Crystal Palace, London, in 1862 and 1867, 
where there were not a third, as many performers, But 
for a grand gathering and display Boston beat the world 1 
The building was misnamed, as it bore little resemblance 
to the Coliseums of Italy. The exhibition buildings at 
Paris, in 1867, resembled, in their elliptical form, the 
ancient Coliseums. They had rising seats all around 
from the arena up to the top, 50 to 90 feet high. We have 
only one criticism to make npon the Boston Peace 
Festival. As one of the original subscribers, with 
the understanding that the profits were to go to the 
benefit of the families of our deceased soldiers, we pro¬ 
test against the allotment of $100,000 or even of $50,000 
directly or indirectly to one individual. Mr. Gilmore 
was the originator and soul of the enterprise, but $15,000 
or $25,000 at most would have been excellent pay, until 
after at least $200,000 had been given to the charitable 
object held out as an incentive. 
Wasted. IPoxvdea*. — Some person at the 
“ Farmers’ Club ” undertook to lecture our friend Bragdon 
of the Rural New Yorker. With characteristic elegance 
he referred to him as “ A reporter that can fling damag¬ 
ing adjectives much better than be can spread manure, 
and knows Billingsgate better than he does horticulture,” 
—and more to the same effect. After all that Bragdon 
did something severe — he allowed the attack to pass 
unnoticed. 
©ur Toting Folks.— Messrs. Fields, Os¬ 
good & Co. keep their juvenile magazine as fresh as ever. 
It is the custom with many journals to he less interesting 
during the summer months, but it is not so with “ Our 
Young Folks.” A series of articles on “ How to Do it ” 
gives some capital lessons in talking, writing, and read¬ 
ing. The rules in writing are sensible and simple, and 
might be heeded by those who arc no longer young folks. 
1st. Know what you want to say. 2d. Say it. 3d. Usa 
your own language. 4th. Leave out all the fine passages. 
5th. A short word is better than a long one. 6th. The 
fewer words, the better. These rules are illustrated by 
instructive examples. 
The (iircat Eclipse on the 7th of 
August will be an event of especial interest all over 
the United States. The eclipse will be total over a rather 
narrow line of country, extending from Alaska through a 
corner of the British Possessions, re-entering the United 
States at about, lat. 30° West, and passing southerly near 
the cities of Burlington, Iowa, Springfield, Ill., Raleigh 
and Ncwbern, N. C. At a distance from this line the sun 
will be more or less eclipsed. There are great surmises 
as to tile effect on the weather. No doubt, while the 
rays of the sun are intercepted, it will be cooler than 
otherwise, but the effect on the weather will probably not 
he otherwise perceptible. 
New York State Fair.— Remember, 
entries for the Elmira Fair, which occurs Sept. 14th, will 
not be received after August 21st. 
Sundry Maimllni*;'s.—From time to time 
we are asked, Is this or that recipe reliable f Will it, if 
followed,-make the article or do the thing desired ? We 
do not pretend to answer for the reliability of any rec¬ 
ipe, the ingredients of which we do not know. Doubt¬ 
less some recipes advertised for sale are worth some¬ 
thing, but we meet so frequently with those that are per¬ 
fectly worthless, that we arc induced to look with sus¬ 
picion on all that are highly praised for the wonders they 
perform. We have before usan advertisement of a proc¬ 
ess for making vinegar. We cannot answer for its 
value, for the proprietor tells nothing of his mode of 
making vinegar. All such notices we are obliged to 
pass by with mere mention. The trade of humbugging, 
like most trades just now, is at a stand-still, or doing 
only a quiet business. Novelties are rare, and the old- 
fashioned styles gradually growing less_Quack doc¬ 
tors, however, still find plenty of fools to cure of some 
real or imaginary disease, and all we can say for such is, 
lie who reads the Agriculturist and then employs an ad¬ 
vertising “ Doctor,” reads it to very little purpose. All 
should remember that every one calling himself “ Doc¬ 
tor,” and warranting cures, or presenting certificates, is a 
quack, and has no professional standing whatever with 
his brother doctors, or the intelligent general public.... 
W. B. Dewitt, New York, your lottery game is an old 
one. No reader of the Agriculturist will be verdant 
enough to send you a dollar for a ticket that you propose 
to steal of the managers of your proposed lottery, and 
send to them, not if it is sure to draw a big prize. No, 
sir; you are on the wrong track. Try again_S. C. 
Thompson & Co., Boston, propose to have a “great onc- 
dollar sale ” of all sorts of goods, and want agents every¬ 
where to sell checks. Yes, just so, Mr. Thompson. “ Re¬ 
turn the check and one dollar,” says the circular, “and we 
will forward the article,” etc. Any person sending money 
may get the article called for on the check, but we don’t 
believe it,, and advisg all to buy their dry goods by the 
