4:06 
[Moyjemueii, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
TSae FariBLcrs’ This remarkable 
body still meets, and though we are unable to give full 
reports of the talks it lets loose, we are unwilling that 
our readers should not have an occasional taste of the 
richness there poured out. We learn that “ Smut is a 
disease of wheat that is not understood any more than 
consumption is in the human race.” Smut was first cor¬ 
rectly described in 17DG. In 1S03 Sir Joseph Banks pub¬ 
lished a memoir on the subject, with a colored plate, and 
since then Brogniart, Tulasne, Berkley, Cook, and others, 
have made its history as well known to people outside of 
the Club as that of wheat itself_A well-educated lady, 
brought up to know the points of a horse and a bullock, 
has chosen to make an honest living by reporting the 
cattle markets for a daily paper. One of the clubites de¬ 
scribed her appearance in the cattle yard, and Enid, “The 
gentle sheep opened not their mouths, but. the emaciated 
calves set up a doleful ‘ Ma, ma, my mad ” This passed 
unrebuked, and will probably go abroad in the Transac¬ 
tions, to edify and instruct the world....Here is more 
“farmers’” talk. One asks howto destroy cabbage 
worms ; the reply is—“ Don’t have cabbages, as Dog¬ 
berry would say, it is 1 tolerable and not to bo endured.’ ” 
Myd.ropIaol}ia Sei Cattle.—Mr. A. E. 
Downes, of Chemung Co., If. Y., in a letter to the Agri¬ 
culturist , mentions the loss by a neighbor, David Titus, 
of several young cattle by this distressing disease. No 
doubt they were bitten by a mad dog, but without the 
knowledge of the owner. They sulked standing alone, 
frothed at the mouth, attacked other animals, anything 
moving about at times throwing them into paroxysms 
of raving, doubtless accompanied by severe pain. They 
were always docile towards their master, suffering him 
to lead them, administer medicine, etc., without resist¬ 
ance or demonstration of violence. Prof. Law, of Cor¬ 
nell University, declared the disease Hydrophobia, for 
which no cure is known. 
TBie 3Scst Sjock'Fowl.—Henry S. An¬ 
derson, Ontario Co., N. Y., asks: “What breed of 
poultry do you consider ns the best for raising fowls to 
sell ?—also which is the most profitable to keep, take 
them all in all—We like the Brahmas as a stock fowl 
better than any other breed. This answers the second 
question.—There are always more or less fowls which 
are not up to the standard required for breeding, if the 
breed is to be kept up. Brahma pullets of this kind, 
mated with large Dorking cocks, produce a fine large 
fowl which cannot he excelled by any pure breed 
for hardiness, quick growth, and ease cf fattening. 
dsaiclkeiis. -— IPrecocions Mayers.— 
Cross-bred chickens are often the host as layers or for 
fattening. “ D. B.,” of Pittsburgh, Pa., writes : “ I had 
a brood of chickens come out about the 15th or SDth of 
March. On the 17th of July one of the pullets began 
laying, and laid 21 egg3 in 21 days. Soon after others of 
the same brood commenced, and all the pullets of that 
brood have been laying through the month of September. 
The Dorking blood predominates, and they are, perhaps, 
a quarter Dominique.” 
<Csulif<»s-EiSsx State Fair.—The,Sixteenth 
Annual State Pair held at Sacramento, in Sept, last, was 
a sncccss, pecuniarily and otherwise. The Rev. I. S. 
Diehl gave the address, which was devoted to silk culture. 
The silk growers and manufacturers made a great dis¬ 
play of their products. 
©Mills i si the Street.—A few days ago we I 
encountered a hull lending a lad of eighteen through the 
streets of New York. The animal appeared to be two- 
nnd-a-haif to three years old; he had no rfng in his nose, 
and was controlled in but slight measure by the lad, who 
was drawn along by his side by means of a cord or small 
rope, as large as one’s linger. The boy shouted, to clear 
the road, and on they went, the hull stopping now and 
then to paw dust and bellow wildly. Behind this party 
came three others, a few months younger. All the hulls 
were led by poor, miserable little ropes, looking half rot¬ 
ten, and some i:i several pieces, and none of the boys 
appeared to lie twenty years old. Crossing Broadway, 
the leader was caught in a rush of omnibuses and swept 
down with the current a full block, when, somehow, lie 
turned and came back with the ascending stream of vehi¬ 
cles, getting many a crack from the whips of reckless 
drivers, who would as lief as not witness the fearful 
Epcctaclc of a mad bull in the streets. The next day wo 
read the account of a hull which escaped from one of 
the mid-city slaughter-houses, and rushed madly through 
several of the most crowded business streets, chased by 
police, and followed by a crowd of one cr two thousand 
persons of all ages and sizes. He was clubbed, shot at, 
hooted at, and stoned from one end of his hmte to the 
other. Persons were gored, run over, shot, and hurt in 
many ways, and dually the bull was shot and killed. If 
the people of Now York will have slaughter-houses in 
their midst, and insist upon allowing cattle to be driven 
at all times of the day and night through the streets, 
surely they will not object to cither excluding bulls, or, 
if they are admitted, let them come with rings in their 
noses, and a strong rope about their horns, and another 
tied to one fore-leg, so that they may be tripped up and 
shot if they become unruly. 
IPlUaBiimgvsaai!! SEaavliags, etc. — “J. 
II.,” of Rocky Hill, N. J., wishes to be informed whether 
pine shavings, fresh from the planing-mill, arc useful or 
injurious as mulching for strawberries, blackberries, and 
raspberries, and if they are good spread upon sod to ho 
plowed for corn in the spring. — Ans .—They arc not to bo 
commended as mulch for anything, but may be used in 
the stables as absorbents of manure, and when decayed 
or partly decomposed, are useful as an ingredient of ma¬ 
nure, but are not worth much. They would be of still 
less value if spread upon the surface and plowed in, 
though, unless in very large quantities, they would 
probably do no harm. When in masses upon or under 
the soil, such things (sawdust, shavings, etc.) form at¬ 
tractive wintering places for certain insects, and besides 
remain long undecomposed. 
F’crtfilszsatioEi ©S" Sasnil ISaiTens.— 
W. S. Young, of Brooklyn, prefers sand to mosquitoes, 
and writes: “ I have been traveling about the east end 
of Long Island, and am so well pleased with many parts, 
with the pleasant appearance of the country, its liealth- 
mosquitoes, that I would prefer to live there if I knew 
some way to give fertility to the sand and gravel. Can 
you tell how I may, at an expense not out of rea¬ 
son, give to one hundred acres of those sandy barrens 
such permanent fertility that I may raise profitable crops 
of wheat and corn there ?”— Ans .—The east end of Long 
Island is a good deal better to cultivate than the central 
portions, but it is fair to say that no treatment can give 
to such soil permanent fertility. We think it may be 
brought up to yield 20 bushels of wheat or 40 to GO bush¬ 
els of corn to the acre, without, unreasonable expense, by 
thc use of fisli manure and sea-weed compost, and plow¬ 
ing in green crops—buckwheat, corn sown in drills and 
plowed under when beginning to tassel, and clover,—in 
all cases keeping the enriched soil as near the surface as 
possible, until a good degree of fertility is established. 
SSsfEsscfs Wstinted.—\Vc lmvc received in¬ 
quiries from parties in remote sections inquiring where 
ready framed houses can bo purchased. Those engaged 
in tbs business will find it pay to answer through our ad¬ 
vertising columns. 
ISEacliEcli>ej'ry ©mlsUarc.—“ B. G. S.,” 
Cambridge, Mass. We know of no one who lias attempt¬ 
ed huckleberry culture beyond setting out here and there 
a bush of the taller kinds as an ornament. Mr. Fuller, in 
his Small Fruit Cultnrist, suggests that attempts should 
ho made to procure improved seedlings, but we are not 
aware of any one who lias done so. As long as the fruit 
grows in such abundance in the .wild state there is no 
great temptation to engage in its cultivation. 
ISedge 4 £mcs< iosass.— Several ask why not 
sow the seed where the hedge is to stand. The young 
plants are not likely to get so good culture as when grown 
in a seed-bed. By taking up the plants and burying 
them, or keeping them in the cellar the first winter, they 
are saved from the injury likely to result from being 
thrown ont by frost, and besides a greater uniformity in 
ihe hedge is secured, as the planter is enabled to assort 
the young trees_E. Audigier, Ark., has a young Pyra- 
canth hedge, and wishes to know what to do with it. It 
is difficult to advise without knowing more of its present 
condition. The great trouble with hedges is in securing 
a good bottom growth. We have very little experience 
with the Pyracanth as a hedge plant a* the North. White 
recommends to trim it in tho fall in the shape of a broad 
wedge, one foot high, and six inches broad at the base, 
and in future primings the base should increase in breadth 
four inches for every foot in bight. The young growth 
should be trimmed in June also_“ J. II. S.,” Hunting¬ 
don, L. I. Wo should not advise the Osage Orange on 
Long Island. It is a little too tender. The Honey Lo¬ 
cust will suit your purpose much better. Set in spring. 
The 4{caec«is (Tomtsly Agr. Society 
(Long Island) held the largest and most successful 
fair it lias ever had last month. There were 115 
entries of cattle, 201 of horses, and 207 of poultry, be¬ 
sides a good show of sheep and swine, and a most excel- 
1 :nt display of vegetables, potatoes being very fine and 
j<i large quantities. There was a creditable show of 
fruits also, as well as of flowers. The President, S. T. 
Taber, and C. II. Joreeach showed good Short-horns, 
Wm. Norton, excellent Hereford?, — not large, but hand¬ 
some, and well marked, — and Wm. Orozier, the finest Jer¬ 
sey bull we ever saw, and good Jersey and Ayrshire 
stock. He is an enterprising breeder, with too glib a 
tongue to praise his own and defame other men’s stock. 
Mr. Crozier also showed Bcrkshires, as well as Cots- 
wold and Southdown sheep, all of good quality. Mr. n. 
G. Gavitt, son cf tho Secretary of the N. Y. State Poultry 
Society, made an exceedingly fine exhibition of poultry. 
There were more coops and tho fowls were in better 
feather than at the N. Y. State show. Most of the birds 
were imported and very choice. Choice birds were 
also shown by Samuel Willets, and there was in this de¬ 
partment its full share cf trash. The victualing depart¬ 
ment scorned to he very well conducted. There was no 
great show cf Long Island manufactures, for a very good 
reason, good wagons and carriages forming almost a 
solitary exception. J. R. Decatur & Co., cf N. Y. City, 
and Isaac nicks, of Hempstead, showed farm implements. 
Bresee’s Aew Potatoes. — The new 
seedlings of Mr. Brcscc were tested by tiic committees 
of the Mass. Hort. Society, and twenty-eight persons 
marked their estimate on a scale of 10. The order in 
which they stood when the votes were counted was as 
follows: Bresee’s No. G received 2!)8 marks, and stood 
No. 1 ; Early Rose, 2; King of the Earlies, 3; Bresee’s 
Prolific, 4; Bresee’s No. 7, 5; Bresee’s No. 5, G. 
Pratt's Astral ©II.—Jacob Kirk, Mont¬ 
gomery Co., Pa. The oil is placed on our premium list, 
which expresses our opinion of it more forcibly than a 
long article. It is no “safer and better than good coal 
oil,” but coal oil, to bo “good,” must be equal to 
Pratt’s, which it is not, one time in a thousand. 
P’lasaJiisg- 'WalBEEats. — J. McClarran, 
-Powsliiek Co., Iowa. Walnuts are planted where tho 
trees are to stand, either in rows, which arc to he thinned 
when necessary, or in hills, with two or three seeds in a 
place. Planting may he done in fall or in spring. If tho 
nuts are to he kept overwinter they should be mixed with 
slightly damp sand. 
SettlEag- Ts-ecs.—“ E. T. M.,” Swan Creek, 
O., writes: “You say that ‘the time of setting the 
trees in the orchard has nothing to do with tho hearing.’ 
There are four Pound Royal Apple Trees in Mr. A. T. 
Blake’s orchard, two of which were planted in the fall, 
and hear one year, and the other two wore planted in the 
spring, and bear the alternate year. How do you account 
for this state of facts J” — M : c can readily conceive that 
cither couple of trees may have been so injured by somo 
circumstance attending the fall or spring planting ns to 
give one a year’s advantage over the other. 
Albroraias.—“I!. II. J.,” Niles, O. Probably 
the difficulty with your Abronias was too much moisture. 
We have seen all three, A. vmbellata , A. arenaria , and 
A. fragrans, growing in their native sands, in places so 
sterile that vegetation was scarce. A. arenaria grows 
upon the blowing sands of the Pacific shore. We have 
only cultivated A. vmbellata , and then in exceedingly 
poor soil, where it did very well. A.fragrans is most 
beautiful when growing wild, but we could not start tho 
seeds in our only trial of it. 
IKasasas sat tlae JPoiiaollogfcal 
cty.—Kansas deserves a separate item. The State Leg¬ 
islature made an appropriation to defray the expenses of 
a delegation to the meeting. The Legislature did well. 
The delegates did well also, for they had something to 
show and something to say. Only a few years ago Kan¬ 
sas was a State known to most people as something to be 
wrangled over by politicians. Now she comes with fruits 
which put the older States in the shade. The collec¬ 
tion, for its size and the beauty cf its individual speci¬ 
mens, was the principal point of attraction in the room. 
Bse Motes.— By 31. Quinby. 
Apiary for November.—In sections where there 
is not much buckwheat, many stocks* will not have collect¬ 
ed honey enough for winter, owing to the cold, wet season. 
Some of these should lie fed, and others taken up, accord¬ 
ing to circumstances. Where there is not comb enough to 
hold sufficient honey for winter, I would advise taking- 
lip just as soon as the brood hatches. Tills, after such a 
summer as the past, will bo as early as the middle of 
October. Where there is comb enough to hold fifteen or 
twenty pounds of honey, Southern honey, ora syrup made 
of sugar, mnvhc fed with profit. I notice in the Bee 
Journal a statement to tho effect that the addition of a 
little glycerine will prevent tile candying of sugar syrup 
in the combs. Where comb is wanting, it takes so much 
