326 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
joicc in every true word that is written to favor progress 
and extend knowledge in agricultural and kindred mat¬ 
ters. Much, however, that is written, deserves severe 
criticism, and but for the fact that there is so much of it, 
many of the “Farmers’ Columns” would be well cut up; 
as it is, the agricultural papers have no time either to 
commend or condemn. 
“ 'I'tiisic Wrsiss ” for* tlie UlisiBicsota, 
jPrairies. —John O. Oien, Freedom, Minn., says: 
“ Please tell us which is the best tame grass for the Min¬ 
nesota prairies. Soil black, 2 to 4 feet deep ; clay sub¬ 
soil.”—We have great faith in red clover and timothy, 
but never having lived in Minnesota, there may be some¬ 
thing more highly esteemed there. If the timothy grows 
too rank, cut it the earlier. The clover will give you but 
two crops, one a full one, the second small, the timothy 
taking the lead, and with other native grasses holding 
the soil for some years, and making excellent hay. 
Stocl£s for CSieri-ies. — “E. Y. T.,” 
Richmond, Ind., writes: “ Much has been said as to the 
comparative merits of the Mahaleb and Morcllo cherries 
as stocks for working the improved varieties upon. I 
have quite a number of trees bearing this year, near a 
bushel each, about one-third of them on Mahaleb and 
balance on Morcllo stocks, and we can see no difference 
in the jwoductivcncss of the trees. A neighbor who has 
a few Early Richmond on Mazzard stocks in his orchard, 
with others on Mahaleb and Morcllo, finds the trees on 
Mazzard to produce only a dozen or so cherries each, 
while those on Mahaleb and Morello yield near a half 
bushel each, the age, soil, and culture being the same.” 
“ 3®ejar Csaltsire for IProfiift ” is the 
title of a work by P. T. Quinn, which is published by 
the N. Y. Tribune Association. When one has been at 
work upon any one thing, and has seen, so to speak, its 
“insand its outs,” wo like to hear what he has to say. 
lienee it is with no ordinary pleasure that we have read 
Mr. Quinn’s work. Mr. Quinn does not come forth as a 
pomologist and discuss the minutiae of varieties ; he sen¬ 
sibly leaves that to others, but he does in tliis work tell 
how lie grows pears and how he has made them profita¬ 
ble. We have long known Mr. Quinn as a pear-grower, 
and we have every confidence that what he may say is 
true according to his experience. The work will of 
course soon be in the hands of all pear-growers; but we 
quote as very timely the following instructions from 
his chapter on packing and marketing the fruit. 
“Fruit does not differ from other articles of merchan¬ 
dise ; its good appearance goes a great way, and ‘ covers 
a multitude of sins.’ Choice specimens should not be 
placed on the top of the barrel; for purchasers usually 
4 empty packages,’ and if the fruit grows smaller in size 
and inferior in quality as the bottom is neared, every one 
knows to what decision the buyer will come. That 
brand will not be sought for by the same party the sec¬ 
ond time. On the contrary, if the fruit is uniform in size 
throughout the barrel, not only is the same brand bought 
again, but it becomes known in the market; itWi 11 al¬ 
ways command the highest price, and will sell readily, 
when the same kind of fruit, carelessly packed, is com¬ 
paratively worthless. 
“ In every case, no matter how small the quantity of 
fruit to be sold, pack in clean, sound barrels or boxes. 
It is certainly poor economy to save ten cents in buying 
a second-hand flour barrel, when you are sure to lose 
more than five times that amount on the price of the fruit, 
by having it packed i n a soiled barrel instead of a new one. 
“When the fruit attains the proper stage of ripeness 
for shipping, pick the pears by hand and put them into 
baskets. Then take a barrel, turn it upside down, and 
remove the bottom by driving off the hoops. Place some 
cheap white paper inside over the lid and around the 
sides,—fruit looks better when the barrel is thus lined. 
The pears are then laid on their sides closely together, 
until the top of the barrel is covered. A second layer is 
added, in the same way as the first. Continue in this 
way until the barrel is one-third full;'then shako gently 
so that the fruit will settle without being bruised. This 
shaking should be repeated several times until the barrel 
is full, when the pears should be in such a position that 
the botiom of the barrel, when pressed in, may come in 
direct contact with the last layer. The hoops should 
then be put on, and four small nails driven through them, 
to keep them and the bottom in place. The barrel may 
be marked 1, 2. or 3. so that the consignee may know the 
quality of the fruit without opening each package; al¬ 
though he should always be advised by mail of the num¬ 
ber of packages and the quality of the fruit shipped. 
“ Wo send the larger part of our pear crop to market, 
packod in new half barrels, and, as a general rule, it 
commands a higher price in these packages, especially if 
the fruit is very choice. 
“The retailer, fancy fruit-dealer, and hotel keeper, buy 
these packages in preference to the larger ones. If half¬ 
barrels are used, pack the fruit the same as in barrels. 
“When the cover is taken off from pears packed in this 
way, each pear lies close in position, the appearance pre¬ 
sented is inviting to the purchaser, and the highest mar¬ 
ket price can be readily obtained for them. It requires 
only a very little practice to become quite expert in 
packing fruit in the way described. When baskets arc 
used, they should be lined with white paper, and the 
pears laid in carefully. Shake the basket gently, occa¬ 
sionally, so that the fruit may settle, and fill the basket 
a little above the rim ; then put on the covers and forward 
the fruit with as much care as possible to its destination. 
“It is not desirable, however, to send fruit in small 
baskets, unless the grower delivers his own fruit to the 
dealer. In sending baskets by railroad or steamboat, the 
fruit will be stolen from the baskets, and it is a difficult 
undertaking to get redress from such corporations for 
losses of fruit.” 
We have given an unusual space to this matter of pack¬ 
ing fruits, but it is the point upon which the success of 
all fruit culture depends. We might have quoted Mr. 
Quinn’s whole chapter on packing fruit, but we have 
given enough to show its sensible tenor. Mr. Q., with 
that modesty which is characteristic of those who are 
born in the Green Isle,has until now abstained from put¬ 
ting his valuable experience into print. We gladly wel¬ 
come his first effort, and hope that he will not feel satis¬ 
fied with this, but give us other practical works. 
-—*>—« -- 
A Word to Farmers About Selling' their 
Produce. 
Farmers are often blamed for not selling their prodnee 
as soon as it is ready for market. And it must be con¬ 
fessed that those who do so, taking one year with an¬ 
other, do quite as well, all things considered, as those 
who hold on in hopes of getting higher prices. They 
obtain their money soon after harvest, and are enabled 
to use it to advantage. Dealers in grain can obtain 
money much more easily than farmers, and can conse¬ 
quently hold the grain longer. 
While, therefore, we think farmers often do better by 
selling early, there is still room for the exercise of judg¬ 
ment. One reason why it is usually best to sell early is, 
that most farmers are disposed to hold on to their grain 
as long as possible, and when the time comes that they 
miist sell, there are more sellers than buyers, and the 
price declines. 
It is a curious fact that people generally are more in¬ 
clined to sell when prices are low than when they are 
high. When wool was 80 cents a lb., it was more diffi¬ 
cult to induce farmers to sell than when it was 40 cents 
per lb. Last fall, with red wheat at $2.25 in the interior 
of Michigan, farmers hesitated longer in making up their 
minds to let their crops go than they did last summer 
when they were offered $1.25 for the same wheat. It is a 
good rule to sell when you can get a price that will af¬ 
ford a good living profit. Farmers, at the present time, 
would have been richer by millions of dollars than they 
now are had they adopted this rule last autumn. We 
know of a great many who sold wheat this summer for 
one dollar a bushel less than they refused for it last fall. 
The whole nation suffered greatly by this indisposi¬ 
tion to sell when a good price could be obtained. We 
might have shipped all our surplus wheat to England at 
a fair price, but by holding on we lost the opportunity, 
and finally sold at a price below the cost of production. 
We should take the lesson to heart. 
On the other hand, when prices are low, we should not 
be in a hurry to sell. Sound wheat is an article that will 
keep, and it is an article that is always required, and it 
is absolutely certain that it cannot long remain at a price 
much below the actual cost of production. We cannot 
hold out hopes to such larmers as grow only ten or 
twelve bushels of wheat per acre, that they will obtain 
prices sufficient to compensate them for their labor. The 
country must be in a very unsatisfactory condition when 
such is the case; but we do firmly believe that there is 
no reason to doubt that a farmer who raises good crops is 
safe in calculating that sooner or later he will be able to 
obtain such a price for his wheat as will enable him to 
make a fair profit. 
There is one fact in this connection that should not be 
overlooked. In a cool, wet, late season in England, the 
wheat crop is always below the average. And they have 
had such a season the present year. On the other 
band, it is very doubtful if the wheat crop of the United 
States is as largo as was anticipated. We feel tolerably 
certain, therefore, that before another harvest, wheat 
will bring a price sufficiently high to afford the wheat 
grower a good living profit. lie should be satisfied with 
this. He should be in no hurry to take less. 
The question arises: What price should we obtain for 
wheat, to afford us a fair profit? At the present price of 
implements, machines, and other necessary articles, not 
forgetting labor ar.d taxes, wo shall not obtain extrava¬ 
gant profits if we sell good, sound red or amber winter 
wheat— say in Michigan — for $1.50 per bushel. A fanner 
who raises anything less than twenty bushels per acre 
will not get very rich, even if he obtains, in our present 
currency, $1.75 for red wheat, and $2.00 for choice white 
wheat. When we can get these figures in ordinary sea¬ 
sons, it is not safe to hold on too long ; but when, imme¬ 
diately after harvest, the price is much below these 
figures, those who can afford to hold their wheat run 
very little risk of loss in doing so. 
--«*-.-™ o -— 
Death to Half-bred Males. 
Many a man is tempted by tlie beauty and 
promise of a lialf-bred bull calf to keep him for 
the perpetuation of his good qualities. This 
would be yery well if only there were any hope 
of his doing it with even tolerable certainty; but 
there is not. The result of using such an ani¬ 
mal as a sire is generally most unsatisfactory. 
The cloven foot of a mongrel ancestry will con¬ 
stantly show itself in the most provoking man¬ 
ner, and there is really no safety, if we wish to 
improve our stock, except in destroying at least 
the virility of every bull calf that has not a 
clean recorded pedigree. We sometimes hear it 
said of an animal that “he carries his pedigree 
in his horns and in his hide.” There can be no 
greater nonsense than this. The only pedigree 
of an animal that is worth anything is a posi¬ 
tive knowledge that for many generations no 
strain of impure blood has been allowed to 
creep into his veins. This given, then seek for 
the most perfect development of every valuable 
quality; but without this, the highest type of 
outward appearance may be only a snare and a 
delusion. As a case in point, we know a grade 
Jersey cow,—three-quarters Jersey, and one- 
quarter Ayrshire—that, by a thoroughbred Jer¬ 
sey bull, had a calf which would have passed 
muster in a herd of pure Ayrshires. Tlie strain of 
Ayrshire blood — itself thorough blood — for 
once asserted itself, and took possession of the 
field, although the earlier and the later calves 
of the same dam had all the look of the Jersey. 
Commercial Fertilizers—Honest Dealers. 
Many of us at one time or another have ex¬ 
perienced extraordinary profit in the use of 
some kind of commercial fertilizer. We know 
that barn-yard manure, hen manure, bone3, 
ashes, land plaster, and lime, are tlie stand-bys, 
but we are habitually short of these, at least of 
all but the last two, and the necessity for sup¬ 
plying their place drives thrifty farmers, as well 
as unthrifty ones, into the fertilizer market. Here 
we buy we know not what, as school-boys trade 
jack knives, on “unsight-unseen,” trusting entire¬ 
ly to the representations of those who are inter¬ 
ested to sell. If we get too little for our money 
there is no redress. We cannot prove fraud be¬ 
cause the fertilizer does not fertilize our land, 
for it may be tried on our next neighbor’s, and 
if it contains even one ingredient greatly neededj 
it may produce excellent effects. It is therefore 
very desirable that a traffic which is so necessary 
to the farmer, and in which there is almost un¬ 
limited opportunity for fraudulent dealing, 
should be conducted under reasonable checks. 
In Maine a recent law (for which, we doubt not, 
the farmers thank our excellent friend S. L. 
Goodale, formerly Secretary of the Board of 
Agriculture of that State), requires every manu¬ 
facturer and seller to have the chemical com¬ 
position of the fertilizer, so far as it concerns 
its value as a manure, stated upon the bag or 
barrel in which it is sold, and the parties are 
held responsible for the article coming up to the 
