MOO®,, 
•EC. 10. 
the Negretti, RunbouUlet and American bloods 
have been more recently introduced. Messrs. 
C. «fc Co. think it ‘‘almost too soon to determine 
from their results whether” the last named va¬ 
rieties “are likely to turn out as well as the 
Steiger blood.” They state that “shepherds’ 
wages average from jMO to £50 per annum, and 
those of hut keepers perhaps u trifle lower.” 
“The cost of ratious for hut keepers and shep¬ 
herds is generally reckoned to come to about 10 s. 
per head per week.” They add: 
“ You arc probably aware that wo held an 
auction sale of puro bred imported rams and 
ewes last week, which extended over throe 
days, and a large number of sheep passed the 
hammer, at such prices, however, as must he 
very discouraging to importers —many of the 
fine sheep having changed hands at such a figure 
as hardly cover freight and charges. Thinking 
it may be interesting to you wo inclose you a 
priced catalogue of the sale.” 
Our readers will of oourso understand that the 
prices given above are in sterling money, a 
pound of which is equal to $4.84, and conse¬ 
quently a shilling to 241-5 cents, and a penny to 
a fraction over two cents in American currency. 
Messrs. C. & Co. do not state whether the aver¬ 
age prices of wool given are those of the year 
1*64, or of a terra of years. Weirder the latter. 
The maximum ordinary' price of washed wool, 
it will be seen, is not far from 53 cents, the mini¬ 
mum about 37 cents. Tho wages of shepherds 
(from $193.60 to $212 00 per annum) are a twit as 
high as those of farm hands here, under tho 
present war prices. The board of shepherds 
and hut keepers ($2.42 per week) is also much 
higher than we should have bjen prepared to 
expect, on boundless tracts of 5 ■ ud covered with 
sheep and cattle. 
‘ Old Greasy,’ by ‘ Wooster,’ etc. [See pedigrees of 
Ww. R. Sanford's sheep in this paper. May 7th.] He 
is therefore a InII-blood Tuiiwtado. Mr Delano at the 
same time purchased a number of superior Paular 
ewes mostly at $200 n head, lie believes that the 
cross between the varieties can be made to result in 
the i mproveuieiit of both. ” Our correspondent does not. 
say so, but we believe that Mr. Delano's ram received 
the first premium at the last State Fair In Ohio. Mr. 
D. also drew first premiums in other Merino classes, 
Unsignd Letters. —We have received letters from 
Rose Point, Pii., and from Carlton, N. Y , which re 
quire personal answers—bat to which the writer* acct- 
dentally failed to subscribe their names, so that we 
know not. to whom to direct tho answers. We have 
several well written communications for this depart¬ 
ment lying unused incur drawer, because the names 
of tho writers arc not made known to us We have 
again and again said that a correspondent may use any 
signature he chooses (though wo would prefer to have 
him nee kit ovm,) provided he sends us Lis name and 
address. Them; wc will keep confidential, If requested; 
but they must be conrrannicated as a pledge of good 
faith in the writer. 
IOWA vs. MINNESOTA FOR SHEEP RAISING, 
Waterloo, Iowa, Oct. 20th, 1MJ4. 
Hon. H. S. Randall— tiir: Having res! 
ded iii the Northwest for the past twelve years 
and having traveleJ over nearly e very part of thi 
great country, I may be pardoned for presenting 
a few remarks on the subject. My attention 
was called to it by an article written by John 
VARarcK of Winnebago Agency, Minn., pub¬ 
lished in the Rural of Oct. 8 th. 
Without saying anything against the soil of 
Minnesota, I must assert emphatically that ours 
i* as deep and rieh, find capable of producing as 
much grain or grass. It is a fact that No 
lands can be bought about as cheap along the 
lines of our completed railroads as away up 
north in Minnesota, where the climate is still 
more severe and t oo winters longer. Lands can 
now be purchased cheaper within sound of the 
shrill neigh of the iron horse on the Dubuque 
and Sioux City Railroad in the counties of Del 
aware, Buchanan and Black Hawk, than 100 
miles west of the present termini of the road. 
Then wity push otf into the “ wilderness ” away 
from railroads, villages, mills, schools, churches, 
*•• 0 .. When I aucin equally desirable can be had for 
v.isi money where all these conveniences are at 
I'and ? These are questions which every intelli¬ 
gent purchaser should thoroughly consider. I 
do candidly believe that Central Iowa presents 
the best inducements for stock raising of any 
region with which I am acquainted in the same 
s latitude. There are large quantities of first class 
prairie lauds for tale all along this and the Iowa 
and Nebraska railroads at from $3 to $6 per 
acre. There will be any amount of pasturage 
for years to come free of charge, and plenty of 
good prairie and marsh hay can be had for cub 
ting it, which can be done any time from July 
4 th until heavy frosts. Tho country is well 
watered with never-failing springs and brooks, 
is slightly undulating, and sheep seem to bo 
very healthy. Wolves do hut little damage. 
During the pasturing edksou some one attends to 
watching the tdi'-CD, hnd at night they are yarded, 
-libeller teems absolutely necessary to insure 
uuccnfcs, wc have such prodigious storms. It Is 
Usually made of straw stacked on pole hovels. 
There is generally but little wet weather 
during the feeding season. As soon as the corn 
is husked the sheep are allowed to run in the 
stalks until the weather is quite- severe, when 
they are put up to hay and ought to get a little 
corn once a day until they are turned out in the 
spring. Ou mild days In winter, they are 
allowed to run in tho stalks. Com does far bet¬ 
ter here than in Minnesota, and the intelligent 
stock-grower will not overlook this point. 
1 do not say that there are not other places 
where men with large capital can make as 
much money as here, but lor a man with only a 
small capital this is certaluly a good place for 
stock raising. I do not call attention to a “7 by 
9 patch,” but to a large portion of Central Iowa 
where can be found as good sheep walks as 
there is in the Free States. Those who con¬ 
template stock raising will find it to their inter¬ 
est to visit the lines of one or both of the 
before mentioned railroads. 
Very respectfully, L. H. Doyle. 
Sales of Merinos in New York —Gen. O. F. Mar 
shall and Franklin J. Maeshai.i, or Wheeler, Steu¬ 
ben Co., have sold for $S00 to H. M Boardman & Co. 
ol' RnsviJk, a ram teg got by the very superior stock 
ram “Compact,” owned by the Messrs. Marshall and 
JCLIT 78 Sticknkt. Wc have seen this teg and think it 
an animal ot much promise Boardman & Co., h 3 ve 
Also purchased 28 yearling ewes of P. F. Myrtle of 
Whoolcr. 
There is an active sale of Merinos throughout New 
York, immense numbers of them being purchased for 
western markets. For example, upwards of eleven 
hundred have gone from two or three towns in Oaon- 
daga county the past season- Wo hear of large sales 
in other comities. Not a few go to Vermont to he re¬ 
sold from that Stale. 
Horns Growing too Close to the Head.—E or 
Hamilton Co., O , is iuforroed that when the horns of 
the rain press on the head it is customary to saw out 
their inner edges, longitudinally, with a batcher's bow 
saw, smoothing the corners with a rasp. *■ Is there 
any prevention?” For this purpose small iron rods, 
capable of being lengthened by the action of a screw, 
are sometime.? placed between the horns of a ram lamb 
jnst. above Ida neck; and the rod Is kept extended so 
as to press the horns apart constantly. But if the 
pressure is increased too rapidly the horn is some¬ 
times detached from its bony interior or “pith,” and 
the appearance of the animal thus much injured. 
CAST STEEL PLOWS, 
Eds. Rural New Yorker:—I n answer to 
E. C. about steel plows, I would say we have 
used them for nearly three years and like them 
well; so well that wc would not use cast iron 
ones if furnished for nothing, for the following 
reasons, viz: First, the steel plows are lighter 
and stronger; secondly, they are, 1 think, one 
third easier draught; thirdly, they do not clog, 
or in other words dirt does not stick to the 
mold-board on wet ground. 
Observation and Experience 
NearBrewerlon, N. Y., Oct., 1864. 
Eds. Rural New Yorker:—P erceiving an 
inquiry regarding steel plow’s I will give my 
experience. I have used one for the last four 
years, part of the time with three horses, and 
part with two, and am satisfied that my team 
can do as much work on four quarts of oats at a 
feed with a steel plow as they can on five with 
an iron one. A steel plow holds easier, anti 
besides Is always bright and clean. No dirt will 
stick to it. I don’t kuow as they will last, any 
longer than iron plows. Oar soil is gaudy loam 
and stiff clay, with more or less stone among It, 
G. C. H, 
Lewiston. N. Y., Nov*l, 1661. 
CORN IN CATTARAUGUS COUNTY. 
Editors Rural New Yorker:—I am 
man sixty-five years of age, have lived in this 
town about forty years, own a small farm of 
forty acres, a blacksmith shop, and manage both 
myself. I am not in the habit of writing to 
editors, but I wish to tell yon a little about corn 
in Cattaraugus Co. in the fall of 1863 I broke 
up about 14 acres of pasture land, gravelly soil; 
last spring prepared the ground with my one- 
horse cultivator, and planted one acre and forty' 
eight rods of It to coni. After the first lioing, 
plastered it. The rest of the field I planted to 
potatoes. This fall I had a yield of two hun 
dred and thirteen bushels of ears of com—very 
sound — and about seventy bushels of potatoes. 
Hinsdale, N. Y , Nov., 1661. Luther Scott. 
WARTS ON COW’S TEATS. 
(Jcmmuuicatkrus, (Etc. 
LOOK TO THE POTATOES. 
CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE, ITEMS, Ac. 
Mb. Delanos Sheep.-T he following facte have 
reached ua from a trustworthy correspondent. The 
Merino ram purchased last saininw by Mr. John t. 
Delano of Mount Vernas, Ohio, of Wu It. Sanford 
ami Mr. Bukll of Vermont, for $2,80(1, appears to be 
highly appreciated In tin; former State. He l* described 
us ‘‘a low, heavy, ahon-bodied, wrinkly „hoep, cov¬ 
ered with small wi Inklea-short, silky, wrinkled noae 
—horos very much like those of Mr. Hammond's Gold 
Drop-broad, wrinkly tall-deep, corrugated flank — 
chart, strong legs—fleece very denns and yolky and of 
good style—and ho has yielded 84% tin. of woo!. n e 
is full of Strength and courage. lie is perhaps a 
1 bought too sharp on t he shoulder, atn! his wool is not 
a* tons as some.” “Jlu wae bred by Wm It Hanvoru 
ol' Orwell, and was got by ‘Cosset,’ by ‘Cross Ram,’ 
by ‘Old Greasy,’ (bred by Mr. IUm.monm,) by ‘ Wboa- 
l ' 'i’ by ‘Old Block.’ His dam was by Viutou WmanT'a 
‘California,’ l>y Mr. Hammond’s ‘Long Woo),’ by 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: —An uncle of 
mine, 8 . Flankoan of Hume, a hard working, 
well-to-do farmer, and one who has made Ills 
money by his hard work, dag his potatoes a 
little before any of his neighbors dug theirs, 
and buried them in pits containing twenty 
bushels or more each, covering them, without 
tiiclr sweating, twelve to twenty inches deep 
with straw and dirt The tops were still green 
when the potatoes were dug—entirely untouched 
by frost or rust. The soil was loamy, quite 
wet, naturally, underlaid with clay a little 
ways down, and very rich. Weather, warm 
and damp—quite wet, some of the time. 
In three or four weeks the first pit, containing 
twenty-one bushels of Talc Reds, were entirely 
decayed, so that a stick could be run dowm 
through tbo heap with perfect ease. Thus va¬ 
riety is not apt to rot after being dug. The rest 
of his potatoes were badly damaged by rotting. 
Some that he sold a neighbor rotted some in a 
large cellar, so that deep covering was uct the 
sole cause of decay. Wbat then was it? He is 
anxious, and so am I, to know. So far as we 
have learned, other potatoes of the same or just 
as tender varieties, under the same circum¬ 
stances, excepting that they were dug two or 
three weeks later, after the tops w r ere killed by 
frost, have not rotted at all. Was early digging, 
then, the cause? If not, will you or seme of 
your potato-wise readers please* enlighten us if 
you can? H. f. 
Remarks.— Perhaps the potatoes stored in 
the cellar were in too warm a place. We think 
t quite as likely to be the weather or temperature 
as the digging of the potatoes so early; though, 
other things being equal, a matured potato keeps 
better than an immature one. 
A CONVENIENT WAV TO OBTAIN LOAM, 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:— “ A Farmer’s 
Wife” inquires for a cure for warts ou a cow’s 
teats. Let her try this. I do not promise it tv 
be infallible, but I think it good. It is also a 
sure cure for warta on the hands. Make a thin 
paste of soda, or sale rat us, by mixing with it a 
little water, and after each milking anoint the 
warts well with the paste. Let this be done 
regularly for ten or twelve days and I think you 
will soon after be clear of warts. To clear the 
bauds of warts anoint them every evening for a 
fortnight. It makes no sore. Please tell us 
through the Rural if it cures. 
A Rural Reader. 
North Lewisburg, O , 1664. 
gutat spirit t&e 
Eds. Rural New-Yohkkr:—W hen the far¬ 
mer has not an abundant supply of muck for 
stables, hog pens, sink gutters, &e., we would 
direct him to a means of procuring loam, which 
some of us have adopted, and we think prefer¬ 
able to plowing the roadside, or taking the soil 
from some corner of the field as many do. 
Before “ breaking up’’ a Hold ol'green sward, 
“strike It out” Into convenient lands to plow, 
by plowing two furrows. With manure fork 
and cart one can soon draw a large heap of turf 
and loam, taking away the two furrows. The 
heap may be In an out-of-the-way place, yearly 
added to, and taken away as needed,—a portion 
remaining a year or two, to rot and become pul¬ 
verized. Lime, soap-suds, Ac., will do no harm 
to tho pile. A load of well-rotted loam, now 
and then, thrown into certuin places about the 
barn and house, will render the crops more 
abcqxdant, the air sweeter, and the children 
more robust. 
But to return to the field. One will readily 
perceive that the two furrows jvill naturally be 
tilled by the two next plowed, pne on either 
side, making but a slight ridge. W 6 have found 
it practicable to plow two furrows around the 
field, say from ten feet to a rod from the fence, 
according to the team. After the lauds in the 
middle are plowed, go round the outside, turn¬ 
ing, of course, from the fence, thus avoiding an 
accumulation of soil by the walls and fences for 
bushes and briars to- feast upon, as is the case 
with many fanners. C. W. Turner. 
Digfaton, Maas., 18G4. 
Sixty Acres of Cucumbers. 
Mr. L. H. Butler, of Jefferson, Cook coun¬ 
ty, about eight miles from this city, devoted 
sixty acres of land to tho cultivation of cucum¬ 
bers for pickles the past season. This Is proba¬ 
bly the largest plantation of the kind ever 
known in this country. We certainly have 
read or heard of nothing that approaches it in 
extent. 
A portion of the soil is sandy and light, and 
the balance the common black prairie loam. 
Both proved well adapted to the crop, although 
in dry seasons, the prairie soil will yield tho 
most as it i» less susceptible to the drouth. The 
sandy land is warmer and earlier, and suffers 
less in a wet season. 
A few acres were devoted to the production 
of early cucumbers for tho Chicago market and 
for seed. This portion was planted about the 
fifth of May. The ground for the main crop, 
was not plowed until about the first of June. 
It was then plowed deeply—full ten inches—but 
neither harrowed nor rolled. 
The seeds were planted in rows six feet apart, 
and the hills four feet apart in the rows. His 
seed generally coming very finely, but little re¬ 
planting was done, Fouf to five plants In the 
hill are considered suflleienl. The planting took 
place from the tenth to tho fifteenth of Juoe, or 
as immediately after the plowing as possible. 
By preparing for and puttlug in the crop this 
late in the season, several important point'- are 
gained. The spring growth of weeds is avoid¬ 
ed, rendering the crop much more easily tend¬ 
ed ; the ravages of the cut worm are pbviated, 
and there is very much less liability to trouble 
from the striped and other bugs that attack the 
cucumber plant. 
Until the drouth set in, Mr. Butler and one 
hand did the work upon the sixty acres. Hav¬ 
ing then hired a number of hands preparatory 
to the picking season, all were set to work with 
cultivators and hoes, and stirred the ground 
continually. This, Air. Butler considers, was 
the means of escaping almost entire failure from 
drouth, especially upon the sandy soil. 
The pickle picking commenced about the25th 
July, at first getting from fifty to seventy-five 
bushels per day; at the height of the season, 
however, as high us 200 bushels per day were 
picked. A good hand will pick ten bushels in a 
day. His help was principally boys and girls, 
who would not average over from six to seven 
bushels. Four or five weeks constitute a good 
picking season, though this 5 ’ear (t was consid¬ 
erably leas. 
A good crop is from 125 to 130 bushels per 
acre. One acre of this land gave 165 bushels, 
but the geueral average of the whole lot was 
only 57 bushels per acre. 
Besides the pickles grown upon his own land 
Mr. B. has bought largely from others. He 
prepares them for market himself, first packing 
them (assorted) In salt, at the rate of half a 
bushel of sal t to the forty gallon cask. He' after¬ 
wards pickles them in vinegar, and puts them 
up In packages to suit the market. 
Tfie variety principally depended upon, is the 
short green, it giving 3 pickle preferable in size 
and color. He had this season six acres of the 
Russian cucumber, bnt it did not prove of great 
value and will be abandoned. 
Mr. Batter estimates that his pickles cost him 
about 23 cents 4? bushel, delivered in Chicago. 
He has now 1,000 bbls in the salt, for which ho 
has been offered $16 HP bbl. He expects to re¬ 
ceive $20 HP bbL Even at the former price it is 
easy to see that a nice little fortune is in the 
hands of tho enterprising and energetic planter. 
—Prairie Farmer, 
Making Sirup from Corn. 
“A. German chemist has discovered a pro¬ 
cess of making sirup from Indian corn—not the 
stalks but tho grain. Ho gets between three 
and four gallons from a bushel, and it is worth 
$1.50 per gallon. A company has boon formed 
t,o erect an establishment at once, and put tbo 
process in practical operation. All the stock is 
kiken, two of our leading sugar dealers having 
subscribed $50,000 each, and others who are 
anxious to invest in the enterprise are unable to 
get a chance.” Such is the story which is now 
being told by men of the highest respectability 
in this community. 
Perhaps all this relates to something new, and 
perhaps not. If the German chemist spoken of 
has discovered a cheap process of making eano 
sugar from corn, he lisa made one of tho great¬ 
est chemioal discoveries of the age, but if he is 
merely changing starch into grape sugar he is 
accomplishing nothing more than has been done 
ever since the origin of the art of making fer¬ 
mented liquors from grain. 
All of our grains contain a large proportion of 
starch, that in Indian corn being from 61 to 80 
per cent. Starch can be converted into grape 
sugar by several methods. The cheapest and 
most common is by sprouting the grain. The 
sprout comes out of the end of the grain and 
turning back grows along Its side. It is found 
that as the sprout grows, the starch opposite to 
it in the grain is changed Juto grape sugar, 
This process is employed in malting. In malt¬ 
ing diastase is produced, and this substance has 
the property of changing starch to grape sugar. 
One pound of diastase will convert 1,000 pounds 
of starch into sugar. 
Another method of converting starch into 
grape sugar is to steep it in dilute sulphuric 
acid, in the proportion of 10 ports of acid to 
1,000 of water and 500 of starch. lu this way 
there is no difficulty in obtaining pare grape 
sugar from pure starch. This Is practised as a 
commercial industry in France and Germany, 
the sugar being used principally for adultera¬ 
ting cane sugar. 
Grape sugar Ls that which is found on raisins. 
It is far less sweet than cine sugar, the pro¬ 
portion of ite sweetnlng property being stated 
at about one-third. 
Grape sugar can be made from cotton and lin¬ 
en fiber, and from wood, as well as from starch, 
by the same process of steeping in nitric or sul¬ 
phuric acid. Last wiuter Prof. Sbely, of this 
city, made quite a quantity from waste paper 
and saw-dust. 
Cotton, linen, and wood fiber, starch, gum, 
and grape sugar are composed of the same ele¬ 
ments, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, combined 
in tho same proportions with a minute quantity 
of water, and hence it is not strange that they 
should be convertible into each other.— #ciVn- 
ijlc American. 
Alderman Mochi on Storing Eoota. 
“ It is the greatest possible mistake to store 
roots in a dry condition, and Tree from soil; 
they die and then rot, the same as we ourselves 
should wh°n onr vitality had departed. They 
arc never in a better condition to store, than 
when the sticking clay comes up attached to the 
roots of the bulb—the more clay the better. 
You will find this clay full of white living fibres 
proving that the vitality of the plant still re¬ 
mains. Your great object should be to keep 
this earth and these fibres in a moist condition, 
by preventing evaporation. Nothing will do 
this bettor than soft barley straw, not loosely 
and carelessly throwu on the clamp, but laid 
straight as thatch. Tho additional cost is only 
9d. per acre, or 7s. on a clamp, and it may save 
tons of roots from rotliDg. Having thatched 
the clamp, we then cover it well with earth 
that has been plowed up round the clamp, 
leaving some pipe holes at the top. It is a 
great mistake to throw tho mangel of roots Into 
small heaps on the field when pulled and let 
them lie waiting for carting. The earth gets 
dried and falls from them on a second handling. 
They ought to be pulled, thrown into the oart, 
and conveyed to the clamp. 1 look upon this 
as most important, the earth attached to the 
roots being retained. 
“I observed to-day that tho mangled bulbs 
taken from the clamp had the wet clay sticking 
to the roots, the bulb bring as juicy, heavy and 
crisp as when taken up more than six months 
since. A friend of mine having a very fine piece 
of white turnips which ho wished to preserve 
for his cows, pulled them, and placed the bulbs 
touching each other, with the tops on a pasture 
close to the homestead. The turnips flberod in 
the grass, the foliage protecting the bulb in tho 
severe frost, and his turnips remained available. 
They occupied a very small space when so pack¬ 
ed. It is a great mistake to uncover the top of 
your clamp in the spring. Keep out the air.” 
Rural Jffatca anb (ffitucries. 
To Prevent Boors from Squ baking —A simpler 
aad less objectionable remedy than tbeono lately men¬ 
tioned In the Rubai., Is to lilt the boots with water, a 
pint or more In each, and let them stand twenty four 
hours; then empty and dry them. I speak from ex¬ 
perience, having endured their agonizing music for a 
year. 
Thh Rural’8 Prospects for 1865 - Sub.'tcmlial /tv 
(Ovations —A month ago we anticipated a falling off of 
the Run a 1 ,'a circulation — expecting that wo might 
have from ten to twenty thousand iris subscribers in 
1865 than this year, and were prepared to lose more- 
oven half our circulation —If need be, rather than 
longer (tarnish the paper at a price below actual cost. 
Bat thus tar wo have been agreeably surprised, fur the 
prospects are most chawing-tho substantial results 
greatly exceeding our expectations. Every mail is 
bringing ns single and club subscriptions from all 
parts of the country, near and distant, from parties, 
too, who could noth are roc* iwd onr new Show Bill 
or Inducements foe Clubbing,-(;s ‘ the documents’’ 
have not.yet (Doc 5.) been mailed to Rural Agents, 
t hough they probably will be the present week.) And, 
instead or complaining about onr advance In rates, 
almost every one remitting affirm* that our new terms 
are right—that tho Rural Is worth more than wo ask, 
and Indispensable. Many who have previously taken 
monthly journals- and some who had changed from 
this to monthly and oiher low priced papers—arc sub¬ 
scribing for the Rural, declaring that the monthlies, 
though go. si In their way, are too slow and dry for 
themselves and their families. And, what is very 
encouraging, we are receiving more requests for speci¬ 
mens, hills, Ac,, from persons who propose forming 
dabs, than during any corresponding period for many 
preceding years, 
— We therefore report for tbo Information of the 
warm ami generous friends of the Rural all over the 
land,—many of whom have worked for Its werfare 
over a decade of years,—that its prospects for 1865 are 
mo*t gratifying; for, If present indications are real¬ 
ized, the former circulation and usefulness will be 
fully maintained during tbo publication of Its Six¬ 
teenth Volume. If its former friends unite their 
efforts with those of the now Recruitimr Officers of 
the Rural Brigade the success ot the command will 
surely be complete and triumphant 
Dblay in Issuing and Mailing tub Rural -Re¬ 
form.—Far some months past we have found it Im¬ 
possible to tsrue and mail the Rural os promptly as 
formerly, and haw recently received quite a number of 
complaints oa tho subject. The delay was mainly 
caused by some of onr best men, who are members 
(officers] of the 51th Regiment N. G N. Y. 8, leaving 
t heir posts in the office to serve their country for sev¬ 
eral months at Elmira —to guard rebel prisoners, 
&c,— and the impossibility of securing competent 
persons to till tftuir places. Bit, ns the “Major” 
(Lewis) has returned from ‘‘ Gamp Moore,” and as we 
are getting things “righted” in both priming and 
mailing depaitments, it ls hoped there win be no far 
ther delay or cause of complaint. Indeed, we are 
determined to reform the matter of delay altogether, 
bo that Rural subscribers shall receive their papers 
as promptly in the future as they did previous to the 
"raid ” upon onr arrat gumunhj. 
About Steam Plows.— A correspondent Of tho Sri 
entific American, who dates his letter at Erie City, and 
who says he “ traveled all over the western country 
hunting up steam plows and land locomotives,” last 
winter, adds:—“At every town and village I could And 
two or three inventions In that line, more or lorn fool¬ 
ish. A few out of the number were, however, really 
ingenious. The most ridiculous thing of tho kind was 
got tea, up by the editor of tho P minis Kvnnm at Chi- 
etgn 4 Of coarse this sapient attidrut of steam plows 
in the west, is but ding one which Is net "ridiculous.” 
If his invention Only proves as reliable as the above 
quotation from hts article Is truthful, lie will not be 
likely to plow prairie land with it very soon. Will not 
onr Western contemporary tell us about that steam 
plow of his ? 
Faux Book ErrEriNO.— The editors of the CoimLy 
G* oilman are Informed that the writer of the article 
tinder this head In the Rural of the 26tb ult, had not 
load the article In the (Xrunlry Gentleman of the 8d 
ult- on the same sutject, and of count:) knew nothing 
of its recommendations—hence there was no intention 
to reflect at all upon its cor tents or pay a word affect¬ 
ing the interests of the writer thereof. 8a much is due 
our contemporary as well as onrpclves. With this ex¬ 
planation wu have no word to add to or take from our 
article. 
Cultivation on Bret Sugar in Illinois,— A Wash¬ 
ington dispatch Bays that the Agricultural Department 
has jit-1 received a letter from parties In New York, 
who propose, If the government will give them some 
protection and encouragement, to produce pngar from 
the sugar beet, and which shall be equal In quality to 
Southern production and not more expensive. They 
pvopoao to purchase a large tract of land in Southern 
Illinois, and to secure expeilenced agriculturists from 
Balgium, where this experiment has been sucocaefolly 
tried, and to invest tlU0,lW0 In It. 
Unlkaorkd A* tine and Plaster.— II. of Oran, N. 
Y., askB us to toll him If unleached ashes, mixed with 
plaster are not better than leached for dressing clover 
meadows where we intend to raise seed. Most certainly 
they are, and lor any other manorial purpose, too. He 
adds that ho usee them and cuts seed two and three 
years in succession and gets from three to five bushels 
per acre each season. 
Wbaturm ts Dodok Co, Wis.—Nov. 28— We had 
1 id. week about three inches of snow on frozen ground, 
find sleds were brought out. Friday It rained, and the 
ground ls biue and partially thawed up. It froze earli¬ 
er than tituiel, and HO mo were caught with fall plowing 
on hand. They are anxiously looking for warm weath¬ 
er so as to finish up — l. l. f 
Brinsp Machistes—I want to find out who makes a 
good stump machine nearest thispluce — Aliikht Gee, 
Ml Pis pah, n r u. 
At the recent Slate Fair In this city A. Crawford & 
Oo. of Warren, Me., exhibited a Stump and Rock Ex¬ 
tractor. There was also another stump machine exhib¬ 
ited, but wo did not learn tho names of the exhibitors 
Doubtless some of our readers can furnish further in¬ 
formation 
Dynamometer. — (Charles Snoad, Will Co., Ill.) 
Wcdo not know who, if anybody, ls manufacturing 
this instrument. A very good one—porhajw as good as 
any—was made by Emkhv Bro’b, Albany, N. Y. 
Idk's Wheel Cultivator Teeth —Can you, or any 
of the readers of the Rural, Inform me where the 
castings of “ Ido's Wheel Cultivator” cau be procured? 
—A G. Coor hr, Hast Clarkson. 
Scratches in Houses — Kerosene Oil Is tiro best 
remedy lor scratches In horse* 1 ever saw —A. U Gro¬ 
ver. 
Cuzco Potatoes. —(H. N Beach.) J. D. Crank, 
Penn Yan, N. Y., am furnish you with these potatoes. 
