“So am I, and we had better look to the 
Committees.” 
“ Why so ?” 
“ You see the committees are never all full, and 
if you are on hand at the big tent when they are 
called, it’s easy to slip in a friend, which is a 
mighty nice thing sometlmea,” 
“Well, I am showing a patent for making cow- 
enmbers, and if you can get the premium it will 
make my fortune.” 
“And I um showing a new kind of bob-tailed 
hens, and a premium won’t set me back.” 
“ Well, you get me on to your committee, and I 
will name you for mine.” 
“All right; go in to win when you can.” 
Thinks I, perhaps if that's the way the thing 
leans I may as well take care of myself as any¬ 
body else. Everybody for himBelf seems to be 
the rule on these occasions. So oil I streaked it 
to the cattle pens to find Smith, who is my neigh¬ 
bor, you know. Smith is In the patent hull line. 
[ Mr. f‘. evidently meant u improved, 1 ’} Says I, 
“Smith, you’re showing hulls und I am showing 
old Nance, and 1 guefis if merit counts we can 
win. And that’s the talk here on paper.” Then 
I told him what I'd heard about the committee. 
“ Is that so?” 
“Exactly.” 
“Well, I think old Nance is the best mare in 
the yard.” 
“ And you’ve got the best bull on the ground.” 
Then I told him that we must be up at the 
tent in time. 
Well, sure enough, when the committees were 
made up J was ou Smith’s bull committee, and he 
was on the mare committee. 
THK COMMITTEE GOES OCT, 
The head man took the book as had the things 
in it, and we were all introduced to each other, 
and went down to look at the bulls. We were on 
CULTURE OF CARROTS. 
The stalks, when left until the seed is ripe, are 
of very little valae, being tough and woody. 
Almost any one, with a little experience, could 
make passable twine brooms. The beat machines 
for the purpose are made at Schenectady. A 
winder and press costs about $35. Good broom 
twine is also made there. 
The above is intended not for those who wish 
to go into the business on a large scale, but for 
farmers, like myself, who can raise two or three 
acres, and make it up in the winter. 
Glemnorris, C. W,, 1860. j. a. Smith. 
QVgrintlhtral iilieceilanj) 
Mccu has been said in the Rural and other 
Agricultural papers, urging farmers to grow a 
greater amount of roots, particularly carrots; but 
notwithstanding all that has been urged in favor 
of this crop, farmers, generally, are still blind to 
their own Interests, They admit that from COO to 
1,000 bushels can easily be produced per acre, yet 
say that they urc not a profitable crop for two 
reasons:— 1st. They think they are of but little 
value, comparatively, as an article of food. 2d. 
They require ton groat an arnouDt of labor. These 
objections I shall attempt to remove, and I can¬ 
not do it more effectually than to give my own 
experience in their cultivation. 
For the last four or live ycarg, we have raised 
from 200 to 600 bushels of carrots on an area of 
land varying from onc-tbird to three fourths of an 
acre. These we have fed to all our stock, prlncb 
pally to the hogs,—(which we have wintered 
almost entirely on carrots for the last four or five 
years,)—and have thus learned, to our entire satis¬ 
faction, that one bushel of carrots is equal in 
value, for feeding hogs, or any kind of stock, to 
a like amount of poor corn, in the ear,—that two 
bushels are equal to a bushel of sound corn iu the 
car, and, consequently, that four bushels are 
equal to a bushel of sound shelled corn. 
During the past winter we steamed the carrols, 
mashed them, and mixed a bushel of buckwheat 
bian to six bushels of carrots, which lasted our 
four ahoats from five to six days. Although this 
was not high feed, our hogs would average nearly 
200 pounds on the fiiBt of April, and were fat 
enough for market 
And now as to the second objection “that 
carrots are not profitable because they require 
tno groat an amount of labor.” It is not gen¬ 
erally known that the hard, drudging labor 
can be almost entirely avoided, by attending to 
u few particulars, which 1 shall mention. 
In the first place, land intended for carrots 
should be free from stone, and rich; either rich 
in itself or made so by manure. Carrots cannot 
be raised profitably on poor ground. 
Secondly, the seed should be dampened, and 
put in a warm place for three or four days, or 
until some begins to sprout Care should be 
Uken not to allow it to sprout too much, or the 
seed will be injured iu sowing, The seed beiDg 
damp, itmuat be sown by hand, as it will injure 
the sprouts to make it dry enough to sow with a 
machine, A person will sow and cover from 
one-half to three-fourths of an acre in a day, if he 
understands it Cariot seed, if sown dry, requires ' 
from two to three weeks to come up, whereas, if 
treated in the way I have described, will all come 
up in a week, and some may be seen in three or 1 
four days from the time of sowing. The carrots 1 
Thk Wkathsr is seatonable at last—August opening 
hot enough to pieaen tbs corn growers exceedingly.— 
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of this week were models 
for beat, and started the Zen Maize wonderfully_gr, 
that we presume those richly endowed with the proper 
faculty could even hear the corn grow. This is jnst what 
was needed, and will compensate for the cool, wet weather 
of July. According to present prospects most corn grow¬ 
ers will “ make a crop” worth harvesting. 
is tub ichneumon Flt destroying thk Wheat 
Midok ?—Some weeks ago we received a communication 
from Mr. C. Allen. of Wheatland, relating hie observa¬ 
tion* (on the 15th, 16th, 18th and I9lb of June,) con¬ 
cerning an insect prejing upon the wheat midge. The 
letter was mislaid at the time, hut we now give Its sub¬ 
stance. Mr. A states, that on the evenings of the loth 
and 16 th, he noticed iu his wheat an insect which he 
supposed to ho the Ichneumon Fly, (mentioned by Dr, 
Fitch, the entomologist.) that destroys the midge, and 
adds : They were very nnmerous on the heads A few 
evenings before I saw the midge By quite plenty in heads 
of wheat, but since this insect appeared I hare not seen 
any. The ichneumon (if this is if,) appears on the heads 
of wheat at the same time of day the midge formerly did ; 
that is, near sundown, when it is still Those I saw were 
very bu«y reaching their nosea into the crevices of the 
head* of wheat. They resemble the pea hug somewhat; 
same fashion On the 18th and JOth 1 saw them in fair 
daylight, and found they had a little tinge of yellow each 
side of the hack; nnder the Dippers they have a feeler, 
which is used very dexterously. Whatever name they 
go by, I um sure of what they are about. I have just seen 
them in a later sown piece of wheat, kernel half grown, 
and not the least indication of midge. I wish those who 
have late sown wheat would see if they can discover any¬ 
thing of the kind. 1 look upon it as the harbinger of 
better days for the farmer." 
— This is an important matter, and we hope to hear 
from any others who have made similar observations or 
discoveries. 
Datto.v ft HEAT. — Us Success .—Many of onr farmers 
are much pleased with the Dayton wheat, and think it 
preferable, in districts where the midge is feared, to any 
other variety. Our own opinion of it is quite favorable, 
as Rural renders are aware, and we are glad to hear en¬ 
couraging reports from those who have just harvested 
the Dayton. A number of fanners have reported favor¬ 
ably, one of whom—Mr. I,. A. Bunn*, of Lima—writes ui 
as follow f :—“Lost year I obtained of Elisha Harmon, 
of Wheatland, a few bushels of Dsyton wheat, which I 
sowed, and the result is highly satisfactory. Some of it 
I sowed Id the tame field side by side with the Mediter¬ 
ranean, and I find it is quite as early, and 1 think it will 
yield one-third more from the same straw. It is a white 
wheat, resembling what the 1 Soules 1 used to be. A head 
of this was found to contain thirty kernels, while the 
Mediterranean lias only twenty. There is still another 
advantage—the Mediterranean is very apt to get down, 
the straw being limber, while that of the Dayton Is stiff 
and seldom gets down. In short, I think the Dayton ia 
the wheat for the times." 
water concentrated there. After the rain was 
over I took my lioe and went to Bee if the month 
of the drain was clear. When I reached it I 
found water running from it as fast as its capacity 
would allow; the water apparently soaked into the 
ground without washing it, as in other places 
near by. I am satisfied it will pay to drain some 
land.” 
Grinding Corn in the Ear. 
A writer in the Country Gentleman, to prove 
that, whether nut itious or not, cobs ground im¬ 
prove meal as a food, says:—I am acquainted with 
a farmer who was in the habit of feeding from 
twenty to thirty large oxen every winter, and be 
always bought his corn in the ear and had it 
ground in that shape—for the reason that his 
oxen never failed of doing well when fed with 
cob meal—while on the other hand, when fed 
with clear meal, they were very likely to become 
cloyed. 
To prove that there is a little virtue in the cobs 
abstractly, be cites the following fact:_A poor 
man who had one cow, ami was unable to sup¬ 
ply her with hay on account of scarciiy, managed 
to keep her alive by grinding cobs for ber, which 
he obtained from his neighbor, who raised a large 
crop of corn, and after shelling it threw the cobs 
out by the side of the road. We don’t know how 
much the miller made by tolling the cobs. 
ABOUT BROOM CORN. 
com 
Hancixg Barn Doors.—A correspondent of the Tri¬ 
bune, who is “footing it” through the West, thus 
describes what he calls an “ improvement in hanging 
barn doors,” which he saw in Seneca Co., Ohio;_“In¬ 
stead of hanging them on hlDges to swing open, they 
are undo to bang on several iron pulleys at tho top, 
which run ou an iron rod laid upon a strip of hoard 
nailed along above the doors. The doors are opened out 
right and left, like the doors that run on wheels in onr 
modern dwellings; at the bottom the doors extend down 
a few inches to secure them from blon-iDg outward. This 
is decidedly the best plan of hanging barn doors—and I 
wonder our Eastern farmers have not long since adopt¬ 
ed it," 
— Though the above “improvement" has been used 
in this section for several yeais, being very generally 
adopted when new barns are constructed, we give it for 
the iuformation of all interested It is a cheap and 
excellent contrivance—a decided improvement over the 
old methods of hanging large doors. 
inquiries anb ^Insroers 
As Excess ok Cream in Curd. — Will some of the 
numerous correspondents of the Rural inform me the 
best method to prevent an excess of cream rising daily 
upon my curd? I am an old cheese-maker, hot I c&Dno’t 
nvercoma this obstacle.—L, H,, Belvidcre , Allegany Co., 
for five or bix weeks. When the carrots are 
nearly as large as a person's Guger, we go through 
them and thin out so that they stand a foot, or 
Some may think that this is 
The International Horse Fair to be held at Buffalo, 
on the last four days of this month—as announced in 
nur advertising department—will probably prove worthy 
the attention and attendance, with their stock, of many 
•breeders and owners of tine horses throughout Western 
New York and Canada West. II will be interesting to 
compare the best specimens of the heavy, elephantine 
breeds, so common among our Canadian friends, with 
the favorite light and Beet roadsters, (the 2.40 Morgans, 
etc,) of our Western Now York horsemeu. Yet Canada, 
no doubt, has many light -‘fast ’ horses, an we have not a 
few heavy draft animals. Saturday, Sept 1st, is to be 
devoted to the purchase and sale of horses, a useful fea¬ 
ture of the exhibition. 
Buckwheat as Food for Cattle.—W ill some of the 
RuraL'S correspondents please inform me whether buck¬ 
wheat is injurious as food for sheep, cattle, hogs? Will 
buckwheat straw give hogs the scratches? Also, if buck¬ 
wheat makes as solid flesh as any other grain':—J. E D , 
Randolph . IS. ¥., 1860 ' ’ 
even more, apart, 
entirely too much space, but it is close enough, it 
the land is rich, and no wise 
raise carrols on poor land, 
apart will yield more 
pedigree, and I’ve seen a heap of people who 
•couldn't go further buck than their father and 
mother that banged them nil to pieces for smart¬ 
ness. Handsome is that handsome docs,” says I, 
“and, as the hyuin-book says, ‘a man’s a man for 
a’ that.’ Pedigree go to grass, I g0 in for the 
animal.” 
SMITH'S BULL WINS. 
When we got through and looked at onr marks, 
the other two had Smith’s bull second. I had him 
first. So we talked it over, and finally, as they 
didn’t care much about it, they altered the figures 
and gave Smith the first premium, which I think 
was right 
and the old make. 
Smith had a great time over old Nance. It 
turned out that each of the other two committee¬ 
men had friends whose mares were to be judged, 
and they pretty soun picked out their favorites. 
So he kept still and let them talk, and they soon 
got into a quarrel, and then they appealed to 
Smith, and lie kinder sided with one, bnt thought 
old Nance was the best mare, and finally, to keep 
the other from getting first, they sided with him, 
and he went in for both of theirs. Smith says he 
saw some queer things on that committee. 
You see we got our premiums, but you don’t see, 
perhaps, Col., as well as I do. that it wants some¬ 
thing more than merit to be sure of winning. 
OETS IRREVERENT. 
The State of New York is a great Statp, the big¬ 
gest in the Union, and the New York State Agri¬ 
cultural Society is a great institution, hut if there 
ain’t some of the alldredest big humbugs crawl¬ 
ing around its Annual Fair, then I'm a teapot. 
CONCLUDES. 
I want to tell you a heap more, but I have used 
up so much paper I fear you won’t have patience 
to print my letter. Yours to command, 
John Plowhandle. 
--- . 
Corn Hat. —The difficulty with this crop is 
curing it properly before stacking. The leaves 
may become perfectly dry while a large quantity 
of water remains in the stalks, which causes fer¬ 
mentation and a complete loss of the fodderwhen 
placed in large stacks. 
un will attempt to 
Carrots at a foot 
than they will closer 
h more encouraging to 
dig carrots from four to six inches in diameter 
than from two to three. 
Fourth, Our practice in digging has been to 
plow a deep furrow as close to the row as possi¬ 
ble, and then to pull the carrots out toward the 
furrow. In this way the carrots come up very 
easily, so that two persons will dig and cut off'the 
tops of 150 bushels iu a day. 
I would state that, although our crop was a 
failure last year, (the seed being bad,) still the 
actual cost of a bushel of carrots did not exceed 
ten cents, making due allowance for extra manure. 
tabor, and everything. On the same ground, the 
year previous, we raised double the number of 
bushels, at a cost of from six to seven cents per 
bnsheL I could give the account of the labor 
expended on them for the last year, but this 
article is already long enough. o. 
Saratoga Co,, N. Y\, I860. 
New Rooking Buildings.—H aving for some time been 
a reader of the Rural, and observing that it is open for 
the learner. I would like to inquire of your numerous 
readers if it is profitable to put new roofs upon buildings 
over the old shingles? An nnswer through the columns 
of the Ni w- Yorker would oblige—A Subscriurr, 
Contracted Cords in Horses—W ill some one give 
a remedy for contracted cords aud -muscles on a horse? 
The cause is a hurt, of some two months standing. It 
is all healed up. and apparently sound, but iu healing, 
the cords appear to have contracted, as the skin is tight, 
aud the horse very lame — W. F. W., Hume, Allen. Co.. 
A. ¥., I860. _ ’ 
Wheat after Potatoes —Will you, or some of your 
experienced readers, advise myself aud others interested, 
through the Rural, whether there is aoy tangible ob¬ 
jection to sowing wheat alter potatoes prouded tbe soil 
and circumstances are favorable ? Wheat is said, by 
some, to be an uncertain crop after potatoes. Is this so, 
and if so. wbat is the why aud wherefore?— A Farmer 
Monroe Co., IS. Y. 
Information Wanted —Can some of the numerous 
friends of the Rural tell me what to do for my cow? I 
have a very valuable one that I have owned from a calf, 
and she has always done wtll until the past spring. She 
brought a calf in March, and partly cast her wethers, 
and does 6o, once in a while, to this day. The cow is 
healthy, in good condition, and gives a large quantity of 
milk. I should like to keep heFa little longer, if 1 can 
Any advice will be thankfully received by—A Subscri- 
rek, Pennsylvania, 1860, 
Seed Wheat in Demand, —During the past two weeks 
we have received quite a number of letters inquiring of 
whom, and at what price, good wheat of the Dayton and 
Mediterranean varieties can be procured, for seed. One 
correspondent says he has watched onr advertising de¬ 
partment to see il some one would not offer the Dayton 
seed wheat, Ac. We presume some of our seedsmen or 
farmers will ere long discover that there is a demand 
for the article, and govern themselves accordingly. 
Fine Oats. —The oat crop is very heavy hereabouts. 
We have seen many fields which far exceed the 
product of former years. Among the samples pre¬ 
sented us of late, some heads of the Black Main variety, 
growuon the farm of Judge Wm. Buell, of Gates, near 
this city, which are decidedly extra in both rise and 
weight Several of the heads measure from eleven to 
twelve inches in length. 
PROSPECTIVE STERILITY-REPLY TO H.T. B 
Sand for Horses’ Beds.—M r. Small, of Dundalk, 
Scotland, a veterinary surgeon of considerable experi¬ 
ence, states that sand is Dot only an excellent cubsti- 
tute for straw for horses' beds, hut superior to straw, as 
tbe sand does not heat, and saTes the hoofs of tbe horses. 
He states that sand is exclusively used for horses' beds 
in his repository. 
Lumps on the Shoulder ok a Horse — A little infor¬ 
mation from some of your experienced correspondents 
upon tbe subject embraced in tbe following questions, 
will be thankfully received;—l have a horse which has 
been troubled with lumps on bis neck, or shoulder, ever 
since we commenced unrig him They are from the size 
of a pea to that of a waluut, and a to under the draught 
of tbe collar, so that, in drawing a heavy load, they hurt 
him very much, making him twist bis’head around in 
every way to get rid of pulling. When we work at 
drawinghesvy loads,they widswell up,but by lettinghim 
lie idle a few days, the swelling will go down. l’lease 
inform me what will take these lumps away effectually, 
—S B. B., Cardiogton Ohio. I860. 
ing manner:—Take an old fanning mill, (a new 
set of wheels in a strung frame, so that yon could 
use a halance wheel, would be better,) put ou two 
plank wheels in place of the fans, then take slats 
of the length you wish to mal;# your cylinder, 
three inches wide and three-fourths of an inch 
thick, hollow them a little at the ends so as to tit 
the wheels; drive eight or ten wrought nails 
through each slat, and nail them to the wheels 
with the points out, in such a way that the 
nails will not be in straight rows around the cyl¬ 
inder, but bristling all over. One to turn tbe 
crank pretty smart, one to hold on the brush in 
handfuls, and a boy to hand it up, will scrape two 
or three wagon loads a day. 
One tun to three acres is considered a good 
crop, and is worth about $100 per tuD, though 
I have paid as high as $150 for it. A tun of dry 
brush will make 120 dozen brooms. I have raised 
60 bushels of ripe seed to the acre, and for 
horses, sheep, or poultry, it is worth a little more 
than oats. 
Ens. Rural New-Yorker:— Not the remotest 
idea had I of troubling you with anything so sood, 
until I received your issue of July 7ih, aud found 
that H. T. B. took so much to heait my little 
criticism. Why, like all other Yankees, I sup¬ 
posed I had a right, as well as H. T. B., to have 
my say, and I intended no disrespect. H. T. B. 
says that when a “man, or even a woman, takes 
np a pen to write, there is no obligation to dis¬ 
pense with common sehse.” Does he mean our 
sense is more than common? No flattery, if you 
please, for 1 never thought of coming up to that 
standard. But I wilt relieve II. T. B.'s anxiety, 
Rural Gleanings.—A ccording to John Johnston, a 
king in the agricultural world, 12 pounds of clover seed 
is euocgh for an acre; 6 quarts of timothy seed is better 
than half a bushel; and bushels of wheat giveB the 
largest yield.-ARTUVR W. Austin, Ex Collector of 
Boston, has, including recent importations, eight of the 
Kerry breed of cattle; they are thriving admiraMy. and 
much admired for their beauty.-A gentleman ia Bos¬ 
ton has just imported a noted steeple-chasing mare from 
Ireland.-Eight superior Cotsweld sheep have lately 
arrived from England, throngh the agency of Sanford 
Howard, or Boston; three go to Westchester, Pa; one 
ram and two ewes to Richard Bradlev, of Brattlcboro’, 
Vt; and two ewes to Albert Fearing, of Hingham, 
Mass-The celebrated Arabian horses, preseuled to 
Senator Seward, during his late visit to the East (Egypti 
Arabia, &c.,) are to be exhibited at tbe next Cayuga 
County Fair, to be held at Auburn in September. 
Destroying Fleas, —An inquirer asks:—Can any of 
the Rural's numerous readers inform me of any method 
of destroying ilea* ? I will give him my experience on 
this subject. Some years since, I left, in the spring, a 
quantity of coarse manure BDd straw in my barn-yard. 
My hogs slept in the yard under the cow shed. In the 
couise of the summer, the fleas became so numerous that 
we did not choose to go there to milk, aud yarded our 
cows in another place. In the fall, as soon as my work 
would permit me to attend to it, we gave the yard a 
thorough cleaning, and scattered fresh slaked lime liber¬ 
ally under tbe entire shed. I then furnished my hogs 
with lodgings in another place, and have not been 
troubled with fleas since.—E. G , Porter, July, 1860. 
