2G6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
Farm Animals Wanted in Kansas. 
The following extracts from a letter to the 
American Agriculturist from F. O. Black, of Shaw¬ 
nee Co., Kansas, will be interesting to farmers 
having large stocks of cattle and sheep, and a 
limited supply of fodder for the coming Winter. 
He says: “ I wish to bring before the minds of 
the people the importance of converting the 
grass in the West, into sheep, cattle, and horses. 
Without doubt there will be grass enough burnt 
this Fall and Winter to clothe our army, if it 
could be made into wool. Millions of acres of 
as fine grass as was ever seen, are now growing 
here. Kansas is one vast prairie. It is the 
Atlantic of the United States pastures. The 
banks of the streams are lightly fringed with 
timber; there is stone in nearly every locality in 
great abundance for building and fencing; stone- 
coal in abundance for fuel, and salt works are 
rapidly progressing. Now the question is, how 
is this great work to be accomplished ? We are 
not able to purchase the stock. Most of us 
brought some means with us; we brought oxen 
and plows, and commenced on quite an exten¬ 
sive scale for the amount of means employed. 
We thought we could raise grain in great abund¬ 
ance, but for some reason we have not done so ; 
the grain business has been a failure. Stock 
has always done well, and those that engaged 
iu raising it, have made money. Those that 
went into grain growing, worked harder and 
made money out of pocket. Nine-tenths of the 
farmers west of the Missouri River will vote this 
same ticket, unless I am greatly mistaken. 
There are great quantities of stock grazing on 
the eastern pastures where grain could be 
grown to a great advantage. Now if the gen¬ 
tlemen will lend us a listening ear (the ladies 
will not be excluded, for we need many of them 
here as well as stock,) and send us animals, we 
will take care of them on as reasonable terms 
as it can be done anywhere. Some would pre¬ 
fer horses, some cattle, some sheep. Perhaps 
the latter would be preferable, as the grass in 
that shape would be easier transported and 
cost less. I would take two thousand head of 
sheep, and give two lbs. of wool per head, and 
return the original stock; or I would give half 
the wool and half the increase for a term of five 
years or longer. I presume that there could be 
fifty or a hundred thousand head of sheep let 
in Kansas at these rates. This speculation will 
pay much better than investing in wild lauds.” 
Swelled Legs in Horses. 
This disease takes on several forms. Some¬ 
times it is simply a slight enlargement of the 
larger muscles of the legs, consequent upon 
standing on a hard floor, with lack of ex¬ 
ercise. This often occurs when a horse is first 
taken in from pasture and confined in the sta¬ 
ble. The obvious remedy is a little hard rub¬ 
bing of the affected parts, feeding with grass or 
other light food, and plenty of daily exercise. 
A worse form of this is when a horse, some¬ 
what feeble and diseased in other parts, sudden¬ 
ly develops swollen limbs. This is apparently 
the shifting of disease from the other organs. 
It is accompanied with a lack of healthy circu¬ 
lation, with fever, soreness, and lameness. 
Sometimes abscesses are formed, and the heels 
are affected with “ scratches.” The treatment re¬ 
quired is a mild physic and bleeding, if the horse 
js not much reduced. Warm bathings should 
be used, and bandages. If this trouble arises 
from weakness and low living, the horse should 
have better food, and all means should be tried 
to improve the tone and vigor of his system. 
How to Raise Potatoes Cheaply. 
T. Hudson, La Grange Co., Ind., writes to the 
American Agriculturist: “My venerated father 
used to advise the application of team power in 
farming, whenever it could be done advantage¬ 
ously. Following his counsel, I use my team 
iu planting and digging potatoes—almost in 
hoeing them. My method is this : When the 
ground is mellow, with a single shovel plow I 
run furrows about 3 or 4 inches deep, and 3 
or 31 feet apart, one way. I cut the potatoes, 
if large, and drop them 12 or 15 inches apart in 
these furrows. Then, with a two horse plow, 
turn a deep furrow over them. Let them re¬ 
main in this condition until the young weeds 
show themselves, and before the potatoes make 
their appearance—usually in about 8 or 10 days 
—and harrow the ground level. A warm pleas¬ 
ant day is best. This destroys an army of 
weeds. On sod ground, I usually take every 
third furrow, and where there are no openings 
between the furrows, punch holes with a point¬ 
ed stick about the size of a handspike, and drop 
the potatoes in these holes and openings, being 
careful to get them the proper depth. This is 
soon accomplished. Then harrow thoroughly. 
If weeds appear before the potatoes come up, 
harrow again. Afterward plow and hoe as 
usual. Hoeing will be a light task. The last 
plowing can be done with a single shovel plow, 
one furrow in a row, which will form about all 
the hilling necessary, without the use of the hoe, 
except to destroy the few weeds that remain. 
Iu digging, plow one furrow through each 
row, spending no time to pull tops, pick up all 
that show themselves, and take out the remain¬ 
der with the hoe. I estimate the raising and 
harvesting at about one half the labor required 
in planting in hills, and digging with the hoe.” 
Rotation or Change of Crops. 
A subscriber to the American Agriculturist, at 
Somerset Co., Md., writes: “ I have about 80 
acres of medium quality tillable land. Soil, a 
sandy loam. One half is in corn. The other 
half lies fallow, with a natural growth, quite 
thick and green. According to the system of 
planting prevailing in this Peninsula, this fallow 
ground would be put in corn next year, and the 
other part lie out to recruit itself with its natur¬ 
al growth. ,1 find that so much corn makes 
exhausting work, and I think such a system of 
tillage is gradually impoverishing the soil. 
I think I could do better, as follows: Sup¬ 
pose I turn under my present fallow ground, 
while it is yet green; harrow it well; drill it 
with wheat, and immediately after give it a top¬ 
dressing of lime. Leave enough ground, how¬ 
ever, of this half, to sow down in oats, to make 
grain for my horses. Then next Spring, sow the 
whole half with clover. At the same time flush 
up the other half, and put it in some better 
grass (timothy or clover) than its natural growth, 
to be cut in the Summer and cured for stock, 
and then turned under in the Fall to receive 
wheat and oats, and thenceforth to continue one 
half in wheat and oats, with clover, and the 
other half in clover for cutting, and turning un¬ 
der. It seems to me that this s}’stem would 
make vastly less work (especially if having all 
necessary machinery,) and would also rapidly 
improve the soil, and exterminate the weeds.” 
Remarks.— Probably the proposed change 
of treatment would be an improvement. The 
light growth of grass and weeds ordinarily 
springing up on a summer fallow, is a very in¬ 
adequate return to make to land from which a 
crop of corn is gathered every alternate year. 
Corn is a strong feeder, and must draw heav¬ 
ily upon the original productive elements of 
the soil, unless there be added something to 
replace what is required for the growth of the 
crop. Under such a system the fertility of the 
land will deteriorate year by year, until it be¬ 
comes “ worn out,” as is seen in thousands of 
acres in Virginia, where unintermitted cultiva¬ 
tion of tobacco has drained the soil of its fat¬ 
ness, and left it too poor to pay for plowing, 
until brought into condition by the addition of 
fertilizing material. But the plan suggested, 
may be still further improved by the introduc¬ 
tion of stock to feed off the clover during the 
season after the wheat and oats have been har¬ 
vested. They will give a good account of the 
food they consume in the weight of beef added 
to their frames, and also in the manure which 
they have scattered over the fields. This will 
more rapidly bring up the condition of the land, 
than removing the larger part of the growth, 
by cutting and curing. It will also be fully as 
profitable to buy stock in the Spring, fatten, and 
turn them off in the Fall, as to cut the clover 
for their consumption in Winter. 
---- -- — - . --- 
The International Fair at Hamburg. 
This great exhibition was formally opened 
according to announcement, July 14th, amid 
the most enthusiastic demonstrations. The 
various departments were well represented, lint 
the show of animals was unusually large and 
fine. The exhibition of sheep, particularly, 
was the best and most extensive ever seen in 
Europe; more than seventeen hundred head 
were entered. It is gratifying to know that 
although the American contribution to this de¬ 
partment was small, it was such as to excite no 
little admiration, and even envy, on the part of 
the sheep breeders of Europe. The specimens 
consisted of twelve animals from the flock of 
George Campbell, Esq., of Vermont, and to 
these were awarded no less than three prizes, 
viz: the first prize for buck of best quality, the 
first prize for the buck yielding the greatest 
quantity of wool, and the second prize for the 
best ewe, considering both quantity and quality. 
The amount of the first prizes is fifty thalers 
each, equal to thirty eight dollars in American 
gold. The correspondent of the Tribune writes 
that this entry of twelve American sheep was 
made public through the press of German}’- sev¬ 
eral weeks before the Exhibition, and it -was re¬ 
garded as a great joke that America should for 
a moment think of competing with Germany in 
sheep. But the competition has been eminently 
successful, and the long faces of the other ex¬ 
hibitors indicated their mortification and dis¬ 
appointment. Open dissatisfaction was ex¬ 
pressed that two of the first prizes for sheep 
should be awarded to America, and to settle 
the matter, Colonel Needham, Commissioner 
from Vermont, proposed a sweepstakes of one 
hundred dollars for the heaviest fleece, taking 
into the account the weight of theslieep, the jury 
to be appointed by the Association, the sheep 
to be sheared. But the German and French 
Exhibitors declined the proposition, thus prac¬ 
tically affirming the justness of the award. 
The following is the list of prizes awarded to 
