8 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
Money at Six IPer Cent.—An Iowa 
farmer writes us: “I see money quoted in your city as 
being in good supply at 6 per cent. I want to lift a 
mortgage on my farm of $1,000, on which I am payiug 10 
per cent, the current rate here. I send you my note for 
that amount at 8 per cent, payable in one and two years. 
I am responsible, having a farm of 100 acres, worth $40 
an acre, and no debts but the above.”—Money is fre¬ 
quently abundant "on call" at 0 per cent, and often 
lower; but in all these cases it must be fully secured by 
collaterals that can be sold at once for cash, if the loaned 
money is not promptly returned on any day that it is 
called for, and small loans seldom lie, on an average, over 
three or four days. A broker having $50,000 or $100,000 
on hand Saturday, will often loan it over Sunday at 3 to 6 
per cent if Government Bonds or other securities are left 
in its place. The best short time (60 to 90 days) double 
name or endorsed notes, sell at rates to bring double the 
interest of call loans; while unendorsed notes of men 
worth their tens and scores of thousands of dollars, run¬ 
ning two to sis mouths, are sold at rates that will make 
them yield 15 to 20 per cent interest. The banks, being- 
limited by law to 7 per cent, lend money on well en¬ 
dorsed notes, of three months or less, to their customers 
who constantly have balances deposited with them. Our 
Western friends, who so often send to us to borrow some 
of this cheap money for them, will thus sec that for notes 
running beyond three months, the rates are quite as dear 
in New York as anywhere else. People keep their money 
moving here, and only lend temporary balances at low 
rates, on call, with cash collaterals as security. Cer¬ 
tain Government and State Bonds are taken and held at 
lower rates of interest, because they always bring cash 
when wanted, or can be used as collaterals. 
lutrge ’STielfl of Small di-aims;.— 
Daniel Witter, Esq., of Denver, Colorado, sends us a 
statement of T. G. Anderson, the owner of the acre of oats 
to which the prize of the Colorado Agricultural Society 
was awarded. Common black oats were sow'n broadcast, 
being simply worked in with a 7-toothed cultivator. The 
ground was not even plowed, and the yield was ninety 
bushels, sworn to. He sends also a statement of the 
crop of wheat which did not take the premium. Sixty- 
live and one-half bushels of “Arnautka” wheat were 
raised upon one acre. This variety is hard and flinty, 
and not being considered worthy to compete with 
better kinds, no premium was given for the crop. 
^tingle or l>osiS»le S.iues im 1* low¬ 
ing.—L. N. Hager, of Nevada, writes: “This thing 
of single lines on a farm team is a humbug. I have tried 
single, double, and side lines, with heads tied together, 
and have settled down to using double lines altogether 
except when using four or more mules or horses in one 
team. The jockey stick on a high spirited horse is a 
nuisance; and no man can do good harrowing with a 
single line and a contrary horse on the off-side. As to 
right or left-handed plows, it is six of one and half a 
dozen of the other.” 
More atioiiiC Cliess.—J. K. Hiner, Ander¬ 
son Co., Kas., positively asserts that when heads of wheat 
arc bent down and covered with hay, or other material 
having no chess in it, chess will spring from the grain. 
We have no doubt Mr. n. thinks so, but we do not. 
A Horse Saved.—Jas. R. Bruner, Litchfield, 
Ky., writes: “In looking over the Sept. ‘Walks and Talks 
on the Farm,’ I noticed that the writer speaks of a stick in 
a horse’s throat. I read it to my brother, who had a 
mare which he said had had the sore mouth, or sore 
tongue, for nearly three weeks, but he knew not what to 
do for it. I asked him if the description was applicable 
to his mare, and he said that a portion of it was; so he 
went this evening and examined as directed by the 
writer, and found a corn cob, about 1 inch in diameter, 
and 2% inches in length, fast in her mouth, crosswise, 
just behind her teeth, at the root of her tongue. With 
some difficulty he removed the col), and she probably will 
be well in a very short time. lie said that he never 
should have thought of the cause but for this article. 
Corn sit 50«; B*otatoes sit 25c.— 
Levi Clark, St. Joseph, Mo., inquires in regard to the 
relative economy of using corn or potatoes for fattening 
hogs—corn being worth 50c. per bushel and potatoes 25c. 
According to an average of the best analyses we can get, 
dry com contains about 12 per cent of water; potatoes 
75 per cent. Corn contains 62 per cent of starch, fat, 
gum and sugar—all digestible and fat-producing; pota¬ 
toes contain 17 per cent; corn contains about 0 per cent 
of albuminous, commonly called nutritions substances; 
potatoes contain about 3 per cent. The ratio of albumin¬ 
ous to fat-producing matter in corn is about 1 to 7; in 
potatoes about 1 to 0, !'!"ing the advantage to the dry 
substance of potatoes over the dry substance of corn. A 
legal bushel of potatoes in Missouri is 60 pounds. This 
contains only 15 pounds of dry substance, the rest (75 per¬ 
cent) is water. A bushel of shelled corn in Missouri is 
56 lbs., of which over 49 lbs. is dry substance, nearly 
7 lbs. of naturally dry corn being water. At the prices 
above given, and according to the analyses consulted, one 
buys for the same money in the shape of corn 3)4 lbs. 
of nutriment and 17)4 lbs. of fat-producing matter; in 
the shape of potatoes, 2)4 lbs. of the one and 12)4 lb>s. 
of the other. To make them equally economical for feed 
when corn is worth 50c. per bushel of 56 lbs., potatoes 
should sell for no more than 17c., and probably less, 
judging by their analyses. However, the best analytical 
results are not a perfectly sure guide, though they do not 
lead us far astray. The digestive powers of different 
animals vary greatly, and the form in which nutriment 
is presented is important, and this makes a difference in 
value w'hich can only be ascertained by patient experi¬ 
mental research. Thus, cooked potatoes present the 
nutriment in a more digestible form than uncooked corn, 
and ground corn is more digestible than raw potatoes. 
SSig'M Your Name. — At the commence¬ 
ment of a new volume, when we have many new read¬ 
ers, it is necessary to repeat the request that all letters 
should contain the writer’s signature. No one is under 
any obligation to notice an anonymous letter, and with 
our correspondence it is frequently to the disadvantage 
of the writer if the name is not signed. We do not take 
up space in the paper to publish answers which are of 
interest to only one person. We have several inquiries 
which we should willingly answer by mail had the writer 
seen fit to give his name; as it is, they must go into the 
waste basket. Some one in Missouri sent a lot of green¬ 
house plants for name ; the reply interested him alone, 
but as he withheld his name, we did nothing about them. 
As we have not space to print nearly all that we should 
like to, matters of private interest must give place to 
such as are likely to be useful to a number of readers. 
fl-Vuit in Micliig-aiu—S. J. Fowler, Hills¬ 
dale, says: “Grape growing has just begun in this vi¬ 
cinity, and it promises entire success. My vines—a 
dozen varieties—have all made a vigorous growth during 
the past season. Three-year-old Delawares, Concords, 
and Hartfords, have borne abundantly, with no signs of 
any disease about the vines or fruit. Rogers’ No. 15 and 
Dianas grew rampantly, but bore only straggling clusters 
of good fruit. Rogers’ No. 4 yielded compact clusters of 
excellent grapes. The success of the Iona is yet a little 
questionable. The fruit is of first quality, and abundant 
upon old vines, but young vines are not very hardy. The 
Kittatinny is the choicest blackberry yet raised here. 
Mard «si iSie “]F'al■SBnes•«’; , dbaTh."’''—The 
talkers at the N. Y. Farmers’ Club have bGcn bewail¬ 
ing the loss to the country of a million of bushels of 
corn, which they imagine to have been due to the advo¬ 
cacy by some of the members of shallow plowing. The 
deep plowers pitched into the shallow ones, and told 
them how very wrong and wicked they had been to 
preach shallow plowing, and cause the loss of so much 
corn in the Southern States. The American Farmer, 
Baltimore, Md., irreverently says that the corn was lost 
by the drouth, and not by shallow plowing, and that 
“ the people who are supposed to have suffered especially 
by the drought, have not let up their plows the ninety- 
ninth part of a hair for any influence the Club has had 
upon them. They know very little, and care much less 
about the utterances of the notional gentlemen who hold 
forth at their weekly meeting-.” 
H*Imm «sa tlie IPeacli.—“J. T. S.’’Hannibal, 
Mo. The plum has sometimes been worked on the peach, 
and on sandy soils the trees have succeeded, but the pro¬ 
cess is not one that is to be commended as the results are 
uncertain. We do not advise working any trees on “ small 
pieces of the root.” It is generally condemned by good 
cultivators. 
Influence of tlie Sfloelc union tlie 
raft.—Mr. H. Conklin, Morristown (no State), grafted 
two choke pear trees with cions from the Beurri Bose 
all from the same tree. One of the grafted trees pro¬ 
duces regular Beurre Bose pears, and the other, fruit of 
different shape and unfit to eat. Tlie drawings of the 
two fruits sent are quite unlike. 
Cauliflower Seed. —S. N. Blakeley, Glen- 
wood, N. Y. Cauliflower seed requires more care than 
private growers like to give it, and it is safer to buy of 
those who make a business of raising it. The seed is 
sown late, and the partly grown plant3 are set in a roofed 
pit or frame, where they are protected until spring, when 
they arc out, coroo into flower and produce seed, 
I*lease Speak of tlie German Edi¬ 
tion.—Some of our readers may not know that an 
edition of this paper has long been printed in the German 
language. It contains the engravings and principal ar¬ 
ticles of the English edition, and, in addition, a special 
Department, edited by Hon. Frederick Munch, a practi¬ 
cal cultivator of Missouri. Though this German paper 
has a far greater circulation than any other similar 
journal, there are tens of thousands of new comers from 
Germany who would doubtless be profited by its perusal. 
The terms are the same as for the English edition, and 
clubs may contain names for either or both editions. 
Notices of HBoolcs Received. 
German Handwriting , F. Aim. N. Y.: E. Steiger. 
Manual of the German Language, by W. Grauert. N. Y.: 
E. Steiger. 
Elements of Astronomy , by Elias Loomis, L.L.D. N. 
Y.: Harper & Brothers. 8vo., pp. 224. $2. 
The Philosophy of Teaching. The Teacher, the Pupil, 
and the School, by Nathaniel Sands. N. Y.: Harpers. 
Handbook of Chemistry for School and Home Use, by 
W. J. Rolfe and W. J. Gillet. Boston: WooLvorth, 
Ainsworth & Co., who also publish 
Handbook of Natural Philosophy. By the game authors. 
The Polar World. —A popular description of Man and 
Nature in the Arctic and Antarctic regions of the Globe. 
By Dr. G. Hartig, N. Y: Harper & Bros., pp. 486, Svo; 
$3.75. This work presents at one view the peculiarities 
of polar life and condenses in a single volume the observa¬ 
tions of many different explorers. The American edi¬ 
tor has added a chapter on Alaska and another which 
embodies Capt. Hall’s experience among the Esquimaux. 
The work is abundantly and beautifully illustrated. 
Wild Sports of the World.—A book of Natural History 
and Adventure. By James Greenwood, N. Y.: Harper & 
Bros., pp. 474, 12mo; $2.50. This is a capital work for 
boys for whom stories of wild animals always have a 
great charm. The author lias collected together stories 
of the great hunters and gives us interesting accounts of 
the chase of wild animals from the elephant to the fox, 
and illustrated these -with engravings. 
Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, Relating to all Ages and 
Nations, for Universal Reference. Edited by Benjamin 
Vincent, and revised for the use of American Readers. 
N. Y.: Harper & Brother, pp. 541, 800; $5. This is a 
condensed cyclopedia of important events in the world’s 
history and while it is easy to point out many omissions 
it would be difficult to find a work so useful to both 
writer and reader. 
life of Daniel Webster, by George Ticknor Curtis, one 
of his Literary Executors. N. Y.: D. Appleton & Co., pp. 
589. Svo. The Appletons have produced this work in a 
style worthy of the subject and tlie author. 
lost in the Narrated for Young People, by 
Paul du Chaillu, N. Y.: Harper & Bros.,pp. 260,12mo:— 
$1 .75. The celebrated African traveler, Paul du Chaillu, 
always interests the young people by his lectures and 
now' he has put some of his adventures in a book form 
for them. It is well illustrated. 
Rhetoric. —A Text-Book, designed for use in Schools 
and Colleges and for Private study. By Rev. E. O.Haven, 
D. D., L.L.D., N. Y.: Harper & Bros., pp. 381, 12mo. 
$1.50. Tlie author, who was for some years president of 
the University of Michigan, has invested his subject with 
much interest by the use of judiciously selected examples. 
Trees, Plants and Flowers— Where and how' they grow, 
a familiar history of the Vegetable Kingdom. Philadel¬ 
phia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., pp. 140,12mo. $1.00. 
We cannot regard this as a successful attempt to popu¬ 
larize botany. 
Washington's Words to Intending English Emigrants to 
America. With an introduction and Appendix by Elihu 
Burrit, London : Sampson Low, Son & Marston, pp. 112, 
12mo. Mr. Burrit is interested in the International Land 
and Labor Agency, Birmingham, which is intended to 
aid tlie English emigrant, and this little work is publish¬ 
ed with the view' of affording compact information in re¬ 
spect to the various States. Tlie letter of Washington 
written to Sir John Sinclair in 1796, gives his views of 
the few' States inexistence at that early date, and Mr. Bur¬ 
rit gives his own impressions of these and others. 
Old Testament Shadows of New Testament Truths.— 
By Lyman Abbott, author of Jesus of Nazareth, his life 
and teachings, etc., N.Y.: Harper &Bros., pp. 213, Crown 
4to. Beautifully executed in press work, binding, and 
engraving. The illustrations are from designs by Dor6 
and others. 
Odes and Epodes of Horace _A metrical translation in¬ 
to English with Introduction and commentaries by Lord 
Lytton, N. Y.: Harper & Bros., pp. 521,12mo. 
Sound to John Company, or the adventure* and misad¬ 
ventures of Robert Aimslcigh, Harpers. Paper. 75 cents, 
