I'«il during the winter. They arc never ^u-.k hen 1 . This 
Is emphatically a country ot hills, the soil ipgoiid for 
anything you wl-li to plant in it; nine tenths of the 
county is covered with timber, being all kinds of oak. 
poplar, beech, maple, &e.. &e. Ihico of old farms, 
hack from the Ohio rlvor, # 5 per acre oil an average, 
wood hill lands from 51 cents to $8 pet aero; coal and 
iron ore in great. Abundance; a railroad will soon tie bnili 
up the tile Saudi, and the Central W V. railroad tenni 
nat es on Big Sandy, all in this county; we me 150 mill* 
from Cincinnati. The guerrillas occasionally trouble 
gjttQUivUiB and gtnsww 
once start a petition for an increase of the duty 
on foreign wools. Our Congressmen will listen 
to us if they find that we are in earnest. Ami 
let those who do not, listen, he “spoiled ” to he 
beaten in the next nominating Conventions, or, 
at all events, at the polls. Every neighborhood 
must judge for itself what amount of protection 
to ask on wool. All of the Wool-Grower Asso¬ 
ciations and meetings which have acted on this 
subject, have, so far as our observation lias ex¬ 
tended, unanimously decided that the duty on 
all foreign wools ought not to be “ less than ten 
cents*' per pound. A petition lies before us in 
the following form: 
“ To ihc Congress of the United Staffs: 
“The undersigned, residents of-county. 
State of New York, respectfully p< tilion your 
honorable body immediately to provide bylaw 
that a duiv of not less than ten cents per pound 
be levied on all wool of foreign production im¬ 
ported into the United States.'' 
Will some friend of the cause circulate this 
petition in every neighborhood, and then for¬ 
ward it to the Congressman of bis district tt 
We will, on afuture occasion, attempt to show 
why the American producer stands as much in 
need of protection as the American manufac¬ 
turer of wool. 
any American wool, except that grown in a 
“small district in Virginia.” 
The value of wool imports into the United 
States for the last four fiscal years have been as 
follows: 
Yeats ending Ynlne. 
“ 311, 1801,. J&HS 
« so; iso3,’::::::::::::—. n,m,m 
These returns are from the books of the Treas¬ 
ury, excepting the two last quarters ol 1803, 
which are from the wool circular of Petti bone 
& Wallace. 
The imports of manufactured wool in the 
same four years, were: 
Years ending 
June 30, 18(50,_ 
30, 1SI51. 
»« 30, 1882,.-. 
Six months ending Dec. 31, 1882,. 
If the imports of the remaining 
Spring Rye. —Will some of the renders of the Ru¬ 
ral please inform me through its cointntifl, where end 
spring ri/' cun be obtained?— T. Buchanan, Jit., 
Utica, A. r. 
Terms op the Rural, — New Quarter —Two 
weeks ago we announced that the Subscription and 
Advertising rates of the "Rural would probably bo 
advanced on the 1st of April. The article containing 
the nmiohnefement, aud the reasons therefor, was writ¬ 
ten while we were absent, and, owing to detention of 
the mails, was not published as early ns designed, so 
that it could not be followed, as then anticipated, by 
timely notice of the change. And now, on returning 
home, we find that It will be difficult, if not impossible, 
to make the advancenl. the limespecified— inasmuch a9 
many agents are adding Id their lists, and new clubs 
are being formed to commence with April, at the pres¬ 
ent rates Hence, though we can ill afford to do so, we 
are constrained to continue onr Subscription Rates un¬ 
changed for the present—at least until Mny 1st—furnish¬ 
ing the Rural at $ 2 per single copy and $ 1.50 in clubs 
of tcu or more. 
# 
— As a Now Quarter commences next week, and as 
we cannot fumlsh alt the back numbers from January, 
those, who send additions to former clubs, or form new 
Ones, are advised that April 2d is the best lime for new 
subscriptions to begin. We shall add to onr edition in 
order to supply new subscribers from that date for 
some weeks,—and though no profit may be realized 
from club subscriptions, we shall abide by present 
rates, tilling all orders promptly, until the 1st of May. 
Too Much Salt.—W hat will relieve en I tie or sheep 
when they have eaten too much salt? The symptoms 
or«-fleets are a violent quivering of the muscles, the 
animal loses 1 he use of its limbs, falling upon its side, 
and soon dies with spasms. Any information on this 
subject wilt !»■ thankfully received by—K aNsom Camp¬ 
bell, Cambria. 
Phosphate op Limb.—(O'. D. Waldron, Wyoming.) 
We have already answered your question relative to 
sorghum. Phosphateoflimcmay be applied with good 
results to almost any soil. You do not tell ns what 
your soil is. We remind you that there is a good deal 
of .stuff sold as phosphate of lime that has but a very 
distant relation to it. 
Sheep Eating Tobacco — A correspondent from 
Victor. Ontario Co., N Y , informs its that for the past 
two winters he has, like Mr. Baker, of Lafayette, fed 
out tobacco stalks to his sheep, and that they ent off the 
small leaves, tops, and the bark on the stalks, though 
supplied with an abundance or bay Will our corrts 
pondcnl state the number of sheep, the amount ot 
stalks daily fed; whether the tobacco appeared to pro¬ 
duce auy effect, on the condition of rim sheep; whether 
any of the sheep so fed were breeding ewes, mid if so. 
whether they produced strong, healthy lambs, and had 
their usual supply of milk! 
Value. 
$ 37.(137.1!K) 
28,487,1 (Hi 
15,044.1185 
12,218,897 
half of the 
fiscal year L863 equal those of the first, half, the 
imports of that year will still fall more than 
$4,000,000 short of the imports of 1801, and 
nearly $13,500,000 below the imports of 1860. 
Comparing this with the fact that during the 
same period our wool imports have advanced 
towards 150 per cent., we learn in another way 
whether it is the American producer or manu¬ 
facturer of wool, who has reeeived the princi¬ 
pal accession to his business, and consequently 
we may presume to his profits, since the enact¬ 
ment of the present tariff. Since I860, the 
number of new sets of woolen machinery put 
into operation has been about 1,000, and all 
these have been of the most effective character. 
The running hours of these and of the old ma¬ 
chinery have also been greatly increased. 
Are we told that the enormous increase of 
wool imports is necessarily occasioned by the 
present inability of American producers to 
meet the demand? This is true. But if for¬ 
eign wools do not compete directly and 
injuriously with the prices of our own, how 
does it happen in a period demanding such vast 
importations—a period of such scarcity—that 
American wools have sold so much more tardily 
during the past season than usual, and that they 
only reached their present prices — moderate 
ones compared with the prices of other pro¬ 
ducts—when our woolen mills were compelled 
to use them or to run shorter time? 
By the table of wool-prices published by us in 
the Practical Shepherd , it appears that the 
highest average quarterly prices paid for wool 
during the 35 years which closed with 1861, 
were 75 cents for fine, 63 cents for medium and 
50 cents for coarse. Throughout the whole 35 
years fine wool averaged 50 3-10 cents, medium 
42 8-10 cents, and coarse 35 5-10 cents per pound. 
Mr. George Livermore, of Boston, who pre¬ 
pared that table of wool-prices for our use, has, 
at our request, brought it down to thoopening 
of the present year, as follows: 
Year. Quarter ending Fine. Medium. Coarse. 
. cts. cts. cts.. ■ 
1862. January,. 48 45 42 
“ April,___ 50 50 50 
“ July. 47 47 47 
“ October,.. 56 58 00 
3863. January,. 60 62 64 
« April, .. 76 76 76 
“ July,_ 74 74 72 
“ October,__ 70 70 70 
18M. January,.82 74 08 
It appears from this that the average prices of 
fine and medium wools have not. during any 
quarter since the opening of the civil war, ad¬ 
vanced 100 per cent, above the average prices of 
the 35 preceding years: aud that the prices of 
coarse wool advanced a little over 100 per cent, 
abovesuch average during two quarters. During 
that 35 years, both of the above two first classes 
of wool have been repeatedly worth more in 
gold than they now are. 
If wools, fully equal in quality with our own, 
and some of them claimed by leading wool mer¬ 
chants to be superior to prime American Merino 
wools, can compete with ours at present prices, 
when it takes $1.60 of our currency to buy a 
gold dollar’s worth of foreign wool, what ex¬ 
pectation can we possibly entertain that our 
wools can maintain anything like their present 
prices, or good prices, when these same foreign 
wools compete with them, and when ours are 
no longer protected by the present enormous 
rates of exchange? To these rates of-exchange 
exclusively wc owe the present prices or our 
wool—called high, hut actually very moderate 
when compared with those of other leading 
staples. The taritf duties—even when aided by 
the present, scarcity of the commodity—would 
not be a drop in the bucket in producing such a 
result. "When the rates of exchange subside to 
their ordinary limits, the producer of wool will 
be more completely in the power of the manu¬ 
facturer than he has ever before been. 
Even a revenue tariff now demands high 
duties. Shall the wool-growers, who have just 
as good a claim to protection a> the manufac¬ 
turers, and who comprise a thousand times as 
numerous ft budy as the latter, be ignored and 
sacrificed for the benefit of the latter? Let us, 
as producers, ask no advantages over them, for 
their rights are as sacred as ours, and our inter¬ 
ests are. inseparably identified with their inter¬ 
ests. They constitute the only available market 
of the American wool-grower. Consequently 
their decay is our decay—their death our death. 
But we are entitled to an equality in the advant¬ 
ages accruing from protection, and we can 
receive it without cutting down their profits 
below a fair remunerate standard. If vat do not 
secure that equality, we have nobody to blame 
but ourselves. True, we are no match in the 
lobby of Congress, and in some other places, for 
a highly intelligent, highly wealthy, and very 
small body of men who can act almost with the 
celerity and concentration of one man — but 
there is a very important place where we cun 
match the manufacturers, if we try, viz., at. the 
ballot box! We have waited in vain for proper 
Congressional action on this subject. Let us 
now make ourselves heard through petitions. 
Let some spirited man in every school district at 
White Silesian Sugar Beet.— (Chas. B. Bancroft, 
Hamden Co., Mays.) We do not know where yon can 
obtain the While Silurian sugar heel, seed unless at the 
seed stores—probably at Tjuohuukn & Co's, New York. 
Wc do not know how much seed will he required for an 
acre, bat judge that four or five pounds would be an 
abundance. A light, deep, sandy loam is the best soil 
A wet soil should he avoided. Y’our soil should be 
deeply and thoroughly pulverized. 
Stretches, or Colic—Daniel Edwards of Bald 
Mountain, inquires what will cure the stretches in 
sheep. Colic or stretches is produced by loo close 
confinement to dry feed When ii attacks a sheep, an 
ounce of epsotn salts dissolved in warm water, with a 
drachm of ginger and a tcaspooniul of the essence ol 
peppermint, shtmld at once he administered. Hair as 
much is administered to a lamb. Some fanners give a 
decoction of honeset or thoronghwort—others warm 
tea. But the purgative is sutest. The disease is pre¬ 
vented by giving a feed of turnips, potatoes, or beets, 
once or twice a week. We have led several hundred 
sheep with turnips, daily, in the wtutt-r. fur a number 
of years, and retain no recollection of a case of stretch¬ 
es in our flocks. Constant access to salt is considered 
a sufficient preventive by some very experienced shep¬ 
herds. 
Gas Lime —(J. R., BeClt, N. Y.) Gas lime should 
not be applied direct to land except in case of fallows 
where it may become thoroughly incorporated with the 
soil before the crop is put on. It is butter to compost 
it with muck or loam and other manure, and apply it 
in that shape Thoroughly composted, it will not harm 
your orchard; neither will it he found of us much lien 
otlt as if applied to grain and grass crops. 
PLAN OF A SHEEP BARN. 
Sorghum Sugar in Ohio.— In our issue of March 
5th we published an item concerning the product of 
Ohio, in which it was stated that. 27,000 pounds of Sor¬ 
ghum sugar wore made in that. Slate in 1S62. John H. 
Klippart, Sec’y State Board of Agrleiijftire, calls our 
attention to the fact that the figures may be found i n t he 
Ohio Agricultural Reports for 1862. We theru find that 
the amount of Sorghum s-ugar made in 1862 is given as 
27,486 pounds Wc do not believe one lift h llmt amount 
of dry sugar was made. In his note to ns, Secretary 
Klippart says:—“ 1 have never seen any Sorgo sugar 
which was made in Ohio. Our State Board paid several 
premiums Tor Sorgo sugar, but when we enmo to in¬ 
vestigate the matter wc found, in every case, that it was 
made in Illinois or Indiana.” 
Mr. Band all:— I notice a request by O. D., 
for a jilau for a cheap sheep bam. I have made 
a rather iudiflerent drawing of one. which my¬ 
self and some of my neighbor wool-growers 
have, which is considered cheap and convenient 
for that purpose. Some underpin the outside 
with stones. If so, it should be a very tliln 
wall, or it will he in the way of the rack around 
the outside of the sheds. Mine has no sills. 
Posts stand on stone abutments; the timber is 
light, posts to main part 4 by 6, IS feet high, six 
bents, makiDg five spaces of 12 feet each. The 
barn can be any length to suit the builder. 
How to Make a Fihm Barn-Yard—W ill yon, or 
■Mime of your reader*, inform me and others how to 
make a firm barn-yard on a muddy soil, with the least 
expense?—L V. Doiioe, Trumbull , Ohio. 
Not knowing what your resources arc, we cannot tell 
what will be cheapest lor yon Bui the first thing we 
should da, would be to drain ihc yard; and then the 
mud would disappear. Then, if convenient, it might 
he graveled, or grouted, or planked, as would be cheap 
est for you. 
Branding Sheep.—Robert M. Lyon, of Bath, N 
Y., writing ns on the subject of non king sheep, says: 
•• The • tattoo system.’ described by Mr. Fleichmann, 
was tried by me, but failed. Punching or notching the 
ears of sheep seemed to me barbarous, beside injuring 
their appearance, and hence I trusted to the uncut taints 
of painted figures, until I tried, to me. the novel plan ol 
Branding. This was n success. It may not lie new to 
you, but I will give my method. The figures were 
made of ‘nail md,' — a piece about eight- inches loan 
being • upset' ai one end and flattened, was bent to the 
shape required-JIB face (lied evenly-the opposite end 
drawn to receive a handle In which a notch was qm 
to receive the thumb of the right hand, and to indicate 
the lop of the figure. The w hole set co*t me one dol¬ 
lar. They work finely. They are X of an inch in 
height, and on the face are less than ?»' of an inch—can 
be rapidly used, and do not make ihc ears much sore. 
To heat them use a tinsmith's soldi ring furnace and 
fine charcoal In making the figures care must be 
taken to keep them open and broad; don’t close the4, 
6 and 8, but leave them open. 1 brand theiopof the 
left ear, placing a small block on the under side. The 
figures, when branded, arc very plain, and must be per¬ 
manent of course.” 
Branding was, and we believe continues to be, a 
common mode of marking sheep in Spain—but it was 
merely the mark of ownership (say a egofta or the like,) 
affixed with a largo brand on the face. If brands on 
the ear us small us those mentioned by Mr Lyon are 
legible and permanent, we are hv uu means sure that Ms 
mode is uot the best one yet off red to the public. It 
strikes ns very favorably. Tattooing requires such 
careful manipulations that it rarely succeeds. The 
ring and plate, or the ear rival can be changed by those 
who wish to sell a celebrated sheep, several times over, 
iuid the former is oflon lost off. Von Tiiaku’s notch¬ 
ing system disfigures. Will Mr. Lyon inform us 
whether it will do to apply his brands to the thin, soft 
ear of a young lamb? 
The Growth of Cotton Abroad.—Lord Derry, 
on the opening of the British Parliament, February 4lli, 
|« an address relative to Lhe distress existing in the 
manufacturing districts, said that “the anticipations 
which were formed last year, of the expected supply of 
cotton, have been realized to the letter,” and he ex. 
pressed the belief that 11 toward lhe beginning of April 
or May we may calculate upon a supply of cotton suf¬ 
ficient to main lain the mills in working oidei five days 
in the week throughout the manufacturing’ districts.” 
He says also, that there are 10U new mills in course of 
erection, and being prepared to start on the revival of 
the cotton trade. One of these mills has 5,000 looms 
in it. 
Potatoes Wanted.— fan yon inform me of any one 
who hits the Cuzco White. Coppermine, Pink eyed 
Kurilcoat, Rauch Purple Chili mid Early Dykenian 
potatoes for sale'' Or can any reader answer this ques¬ 
tion, nud terms? I believe all except Hie lust named 
ire lhe seedlings produced hy Ciiauncky Goodrich ol 
Ctica. He refused to let me have any, ns he has given 
up the Imriiiesson account of ill health — Chautauqua, 
Gerry. Pi. >'■ 
Replies to snch questions must conic in the form of 
advertisements. 
Grasses for Minnesota —Will some of yourcor- 
spondents inform me of the lies! kind of grass seed for 
a dry climate, mid a dry loamy soil, suck as we have in 
Minnesota) 1 Timothy or herds grass does not do well 
except in timber lands ol Minnesota.—A (.lark, Crys¬ 
tal Lake, Mum. 
We should think orchard grass— Dadilis ytomcrata— 
and red clover, mixed, would succeed with you. And 
as a resource for forage aud soiling, Hungarian grass 
also. Have any of our Minnesota readers had experi¬ 
ence w ith the eloveis and these grasses there? 
RACK 
Wouin wk Pat the Wages?—Wc me asked by 
more than one or onr correspondents if wc would pay 
the wages asked by laborers. Wo should pay lhe 
wages necessary to get good help. The people must 
eat ; if they eat, the material for their nourishment 
must be produced And farmers should remember that 
people will pay for necessities. And there should be no 
hesitation nor any fatlure on the part of the farmer to 
know and demand a fair profit above the cost of the 
product, whatever it may he Farmers hold this pow¬ 
er if they would but unitedly use it. And we arc glad 
to say that we think wo sec the day not far off when 
they will do so. 
A, center barn for hay, 24 by 60. B, B, sheds, IS by 
00. C,^\ C, C, slide windows for yentilalion. D, D, 
D, D, doors to drive into, ten feet wide. E, E, small 
slide. Doors to open out into yard on either side of 
sheds. 
This is about the right size for a flock of 200 
sheep, but will accommodate 800, by putting 
movable racks in the center of sheds. My 
frame is all spiked together; there is not a mor¬ 
tice about Lhe building. The posts to the sheds 
are 4 by 4, eight feet high. The roof comes 
down with a regular slant from the main roof to 
the eight feet posts of the sheds, so there is 
plenty of room overhead in the sheds for venti- 
latiou and unloading hay. It does not need 
boarding up Between the sheds aud the hay; all 
that is necessary is the feeding rack just high 
enough to prevent the sheep from jumping over. 
The large doors should be made what arc called 
half doors, and swing, with good fastenings, so 
that the top half may be left open in good 
weather, for the purpose ol‘ giving a more per¬ 
fect ventilation. This sort of barn can be made 
quite cheap, (except the cost of material, which 
depends v ery much upon where the man lives,) 
or it can he made very expensive, according to 
the fancy of the builder. Mr. Owkx, of Win¬ 
nebago Co., Ill., has a barn of this style that cost 
$1,500, (so I am informed.) The material for one- 
like this would CbSt here at the present time 
about $300. Two men can do the work in two 
weeks. If the above plan suits O. D., or any 
other sheep man, all right; if not, all right 
I have a little wool item. 1 sheared from 370 
sheep last June, 2,110 pounds of wool and raised 
150 lambs. a. n. 
Beloit, WiB., Feb. 22,1861. 
I would like to ask Mr. Randall the cause of 
sheep nibbling and picking their wool, which 
gives them that feathery appearance that he 
speaks ot in a former No. of the. Rural, a. il 
TTnw to Cure Bobo hum or corn for Fodder —1 
wirii to know ifiu beat way to cure fodder grown in this 
way? I sowed about half an acre to corn last season, 
Mid round two difficulties tn tins way ol raising it on a 
large scale 1-t, The amount of labor required to bar - 
vesi It. 2o. To prevent It* hutting in rfic mow. Gut 
mine about Sept. 1st, and kept it well shocked until 
Nov. 23d, Ian u heated in the tuow, even where there 
was but one load in a place.—G., Ontario Co., A’. Y. 
Cut, bound in small bundle?, set up in shocks, and 
drawn In before the fall rains, wc have seen large ion* 
of H come out blight and frosb in raid-winter. 
A Neighborhood Club — A Suggestion. — Let 
farmers in cacti neighborhood club together and agree to 
spend a lullf day of each week, during the season, in 
looking over some one farm iu the neighborhood, dis¬ 
cuss practice, question and answer Cacti other, and talk 
on topics suggested by such examination, it w111 pay 
to do so, both by stimulating care, system and good 
husbandry, and by Improving the social condition of 
the neighborhood, and the social i elutions of neighbors. 
Tail the mooting be informal, and do not ask your wives 
to stay at home by any means! The half day relaxa¬ 
tion will be worth more to you than the work you 
would do at homo in the same time. 
IIow Shall 1 Skt Posts?—I wish to set pome Tam 
niao fence posts this season. Will you Inform me 
th ough the Rural if they will Iasi any longer if eel 
with t tie top ends iu the ground, and if so, give the rea¬ 
son-, and setlle u question or some importance to liu 
hal readers in this community.—J. B. 
We do not know that they will. There are plenty of 
fanners who think they will, but whether they know it 
or not, is a question we have not solved satisfactorily. 
You have a good opportunity to test the matter now. 
Suppose you set your posts, half of them top ends in 
tile ground. 
Roohno.—(To A. A. Snow, Feb. 18 ) From various 
experiments l have made, I am satisfied that any root 
or exterior wall of a building, composed of lime, sand, 
gravel, plaster, cement, gutta percha, India-rubber, tar, 
Ac., will prove a failure. Our severe Northern winters 
will cause to crack, scale off, and finally destroy a wall 
made of the above named ingredients Grout walls 
will only do for cisterns or cellar's below the action of 
the frost. Distrust ‘‘patent roof-compound*, ” “reci¬ 
pes for roofing,” and everything of that, nature— Ed¬ 
it ardP. Day, Builder and Ural Hitalr Dealer, Brook 
tyn, A". 17 
Drain Plows.— Gan any of the patent drain plows 
he made to work profitably in a clayey loam; if so, 
where and for how much can they tie procured? Aud, 
about how long will the drains last ?—M. L. Davis. 
It will depend upon the amount of clay in the soil. 
The more clay the better, and the more durable the 
drains- If there is not day enough lo render the soil 
quite still', they arc not. to lie recommended. But where 
the subsoil is clay, and there is inclination or fall 
enough they may be profitably used. Wo know drains 
made by them that are nine or ten years old. We do 
not know that these mole plows are manufactured East 
of Ohio They were, wo believe, once made at Madison, 
Ohio. The price ranges from ? 100 to $ 150. 
Communications, t£tc 
GOPHERS vs. CORN. 
Western farmers are much troubled with 
a little grouud squirrel, called a “gopher.” 
Various methods are resorted to in order to 
destroy them and save the corn. The most 
common is to poison them with strychnine. 
Corn, after being soaked in a solution of this 
poison, is placed about the fluids where the 
gophers will readily And it. When their bur¬ 
rows are near the house where cats are kept, 
they will usually soon thin them out. For 
three seasons we have waved our corn, by simply 
sowing a 'few quarts of shelled corn over the 
field. The gophers would eat the corn laying 
on the top of the ground, and leave the planted 
corn undisturbed. This device will succeed If 
sufficient corn is furnished to give the gophers 
all they will eat until the planted eorn has 
grown so as to lie no longer palatable. Some 
may object to feeding the “ gopher,” aud go in for 
utter extermination. Hut would it. not be well 
for such Lo stop and consider whether the 
Striped and Spotted Prairie Squirrel were not 
more the farmer's friend than enemy? Is not 
the little corn they eat more than compensated 
for by the mice and insects that, they destroy? 
Let us study their natural history before we go 
iu for a war of extermination. l. j.. f. 
Every Man's Duty.—K eep an eye upon Congress 
and your legislators these days. Every voter should 
Ira a thinker. Every funner should voto. If there Is a 
public measure which you think should succeed or 
should bo defeated, sit light down and write to your 
representative, whether in Congress or the Slate Legis¬ 
lature, what you think, wish, and why. Get your 
neighbor to do the same thing. lie will give heed to 
you. If lie don’t do it you have n remedy. By this 
course, if your opinions arc. carefully grounded, you 
will influence him, and give tone to legislation- This 
is every citizen’s duly as well ns privilege 
Mail Cue ate u than Express.— Mauy small pack¬ 
ages can be sent cheaper long distances, by mail, than 
by express. A pound of plants, or seeds, from New 
York to St. Paul, by mall, costs right cents The charge 
by express would not he less than one dollar The wri 
ter received a package of sample cloths by express from 
Now York that would have cost by mail about thirty 
cents, but the express charged one dollar. Seeds, plants, 
cards, blanks, books, pens, patterns, and small aud 
light, articles of merchandize, in small quantities, and 
for long distances, arc generally cheaper hy mail than 
by express. f. 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE, MINOR 
ITEMS, &c. 
Thanes to Correspondents— Our tabic is loaded 
with communications which shall lie used, in some 
shape, as rapidly ns possible for our readers 1 benefit. But 
wc pray you, do not stop writing. Let us have some 
tiling fresh from flic farm every week questions, 
answers, experience, practice- something that shall 
elicit and give information. We want lo know how 
you fed, what you do, how you do it, what you want 
aud why you want it. Let our columns reflect what 
our readers are thinking about and doing. Please make 
a note of this and keep us posted! 
“Diamonds” from D.linois. —An Illinois corres¬ 
pondent write*:—'“Inclosed 1 send a specimen of what 
lias been pronounced a diamond. We know liiut they 
came from carbon or charcoal. I want you to see whiq 
it Is, and what a dlnmoud is worth. If diamqjid is 
crystallized charcoal, then what I send you is diamond, 
Ac ” We quote the above simply to show how much 
need there Is that our schools shall teach more of mat 
ter with which wc are constantly coming tn contact. 
Onr correspondent sends us simply a section of a geode 
What he calls diamond* are simply quartz crystals— 
worth nothing except as geological specimens, and too 
frequently found io he worth much for even tills pur 
pose. 
An Outdoor Whitewash — Please inform me 
which i* the best out door whitewash, aud oblige—A 
Rural Keaeh, Bloomington, III. 
It is difficult to say which is best, but the folio wing has 
given satisfaction —2 quarts skimmed milk; 2 o/.s. fresh 
slaked lime; 6 lbs. whiling; put the lime into a stone 
ware vessel, pour upon ii a sufficient quantity of milk 
to make a mixture resembling cream, aud then add the 
balance of the milk. Grumble the whiting and spread 
it on I hr aurfoee of the fluid. Stir or grind ns yon 
would lead paint, and apply a* you do other paints. It 
dries quick, aud a second or third coat can be added if 
desired. It is inodorous, does not rul> off This quail 
tity will cover 07 square yards with one coat It may 
be colored, if desired, by adding auy coloring matter. 
Sheep in Ohio.— It is asserted on the authority of J. 
H- Kliitart, Secretary of the Board of Agriculture of 
Ohio, that there are now more than six millions of 
sheep owned in that State. 
Fouls —G. L. H., of Tioga Co. Pa., inquires for the 
hast and simplest remedy for fouls. Clean the parts, 
apply a solution of blue vitriol, and put the sheep in u 
drier yard or pasture. 
HOP CULTURE. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:—' Withoutspeak- 
ing in relation to an existing plantation of hops, 
1 will, in a general way, indicate the description 
of soil to In? selected for a new one. The variety 
of hops is by no means ft matter of Indifference. 
For some of the coarser kinds will flourish on 
soils where the more delicate will not. The 
Canterbury, the Goldings, and the Farnlmm, 
are the deepest rooted, and require a deep soil, 
while the Grape or Kent, su called, is more shal¬ 
low rooted. The latter is preferable for its rich¬ 
ness and flavor. The soil most Congenial is 
gravel and loam, or eiay loam. 
Expense of plunting aud poling an acre is as 
follows: 
Preparing the ground for plnntimg .. $5.00 
Roots for planting the same. 4.00 
Labor in planting,. 4.00 
1,500 Canada cedar polos at 12 cents,.180.00 
Sharpening the same for setting,. 22.50 
Total,.$215.50 
Hamilton, Fob., 1864. D. B. Shapley. 
It A. Loveland. —Three different, correspondents 
have asked the post-office address of lids gentleman, 
who wrote the excellent letter on “Starling a Sheep 
Establishment in the New Western State*,” page -127 
of the “Practical Shepherd” His residence i* at 
Westport, Esbcx Co, N Y. His present address is 
PostvUle, Ainmakce Co,, Iowa. 
SonontiM Sugar. — A. L. Beals, of Kendallvillc, 
lnd., sends ns u sample of uudrniued Sorghum to prove 
to us that we may hope that it may become a sugar 
producing plant. Wc did not need tills sample; for we 
have seen a great many Just like it. It may be that 
Sorgo, kept pure, undegeuerated, will produce cane 
sugar, and become the source of a staple article. Wc 
know it has been asserted that It will. We hope that it 
will. But we are not over sanguine. 
West Virginia Sheer Lands — Iu answer to the 
inquiries on this subject, by a Subscriber at Pawlet, VL, 
published by us Feb. 27th, Mr. John Adams, of Ceredo, 
West Va., who says he went from Vermont into that 
country in 1858, makes the following reply: 
“ Wayne county is 50 miles long, averaging a hunt 20 
miles -wide, bounded by the Ohio river, Big Sandy river, 
Cabell and Logan Go's. Sheep do live here all the year 
around in the woods and fluids without uuy extra feed¬ 
ing. Sheep will do well without feeding, but better if 
Thorn Hill Farmer’s Club Sheep Show. —We are 
informed by Lewis Spaulding, Secretary, that the 
Thorn Hill Farmer’s Club, (Onondaga Co., N. Y ,) en 
couraged by the entire success of their sheep show, last 
June, have decided to hold another, on a more extended 
plan with more complete arrangements, the 2d day of 
next June. 
