Attend the Fame! — The season for holding the 
Annual Fairs of onr various Agricultural Societies — 
stati. County and Local—Is at hand and It behooves 
all interested in their enccess and usefulness to pre¬ 
pare for the pleasant and profitable re-unlons. During 
the rebellion many Societies omitted their annual fes¬ 
tivals, and others (especially in the border States and 
South,) suspended operations altogether. But now 
the War is over, the Country Is saved. Prosperity 
abounds, and every patriotic producer should make 
an effort, to magnify hie calling, and benefit hi* fellows, 
at and through the Rural Exhibitions. The best way 
to do tills is to go to the Fairs—or to as many of them 
as you can, and especially the nearest—taking your 
family, and not forgetting to exhibit eome product of 
your skill and Industry. Not ouly make the occasion 
a semi-holiday, but see how much you can aid in ad¬ 
vancing the cause of Racal t “ Progress and Improve¬ 
ment," by precept and example. The Fairs are good 
to tbe “high price of the article,” so much as to 
a very general opinion entertained by our best 
potato growers, that there is danger in “liber¬ 
ality” than “parsimony,” in those of seed—any 
excess tending to produce small potatoes. 
Batavia, N. Y„ 1865. » P. P. B. 
underbrush. Toward Glassbdrn', nearer Phila¬ 
delphia, the scrub oak is not found, the timber 
being heavier. The Vineland tract was entirely 
new land three years ago, but is now considera¬ 
bly settled with a thriving village, and for two 
miles out the country is quitfc thickly settled. 
The timber and scrub oak a^e but a little back 
from the houses, even in parts oi the village, 
which make a singular sight iu so thickly settled 
a place. The advantages of society at Vineland 
are evidently excellent, aud, for a man of means, 
it is practicable as a place of settlement within 
two miles of the depot, but the cheap lands are 
four or five miles out. Theb'heapest place I saw 
within a mile of the depot was one containing 
71 ^ acres, with a part ouly cleared, with a small 
house upon it—price $ 12 ,( 100 . 1 wo miles from 
the village the cheapest place I saw was ten 
acres, but a small part cleared —none plowed 
and no buildings—price $750. With improve- 
To imply this fact on all occasions, they must be 
named the “ C. D. Sheep.” But a general J amity 
name, like Paular or Infantado, places too many 
other breeders on the same table-land of equality 
{» respect to blood. In other words, the family 
name signifies to the world that a multitude of 
other breeders have the same 
The narrow exclusiveness, or 
selfishness, ’- 
by any 1 - 
not, we are rejoiced to say, 
from the greal breeders, wL 
appropriated by little meu 
valne to their property. ”* 
blood with C. D. 
rather the utter 
* 3 , which attempts either diiectly or 
sort of evasion, to ignore that fact, does 
, find countenance 
hose names are thus 
~l to give supposed 
We know of no great 
breeder who wishes auy of the families of Amer¬ 
ican Merinos to be called after his name, or who 
would consider it expedient either for his own 
or the public interest to have them so called. 
For whom, on the other hand, do family 
names of sheep make “the ring” too narrow? 
For those who cannot trace their sheep to any 
family, or families, and who imagine that the 
names Paular, Infantado, &c., give a great ad¬ 
vantage over themselves to the breeders whose 
flocks cau claim those names. In short, it is 
tbe cry of sour gropes! There are many good 
Merino flocks, and doubtless some pure blood 
ones, the pedigrees of which cannot be traced 
back beyond a few generations; and there are 
other good flocks in which the blood of the dil- 
ferent families have been indiscriminately mixed. 
These sheep generally sell for all of their appa¬ 
rent value. And the market value of the for¬ 
mer increases rapidly as they are bred to rams 
chant writes for cotton it he wants couon, or 
linen if he wants linen. Suppose the families of 
sheep we have named, instead of bearing four 
established names, marking the boundaries be¬ 
tween them, each bore the name of a dozen of 
its most distinguished breeders. Then E. F. 
would not only be required, as in the other 
case, to find out that one of the twelve had the 
kind of sheep he wanted, but it he chose to ex¬ 
tend Mb range of selection so far, he would also 
be compelled to find out that each of the other 
eleven breeders had the same kind. And what 
is true as between the United States and Eng¬ 
land in this regard, Is equally true as between 
Ohio and Vermont, or Minnesota and New York. 
No such accumulation of different names for 
the same thing is tolerated among intelligent 
modern breeders. And as it is impossible to do 
justice to the different eminent, and frequently 
equally meritorious improvers of a family of 
sheep, by giving it the name of one of them, 
heart burnings and jealousies are avoided by 
giving it the name of none of them. No country 
in the world has had as many great improvers of 
sheep as England. Yet there is not a breed, 
variety or family of sheep in Great Britain which 
bears tin? name of one of those great improvers. 
Even the Leicester, almost created , in their 
present form and qualities, by the genius of 
Bake well, were not suffered to take his name. 
They did so temporarily and locally, but no Brit¬ 
ish writer of standing now speaks of “ Bake- 
well Sheep.” No such writer styles the South 
Downs “Ellman Sheep,” the Shropshire Downs 
the “Meirc Sheep,” or the “Oxfordshire Downs” 
“Druce Sheep.” Thesamc avoidance of breeders 
Drying Cows. 
Some cows give milk till up to the calving 
time—some plentifully, so that it is uot easy to 
dry them—and hero a great deal of evil occurs. 
The milk left to accumulate in the bag will 
hurt the bag; the loss of a teat is generally the 
case. Many owners of cows cannot account 
for this loss, 
Trace it back, and you will see it 
was inconsequence of permitting the milk to re¬ 
main In the bag. This will bake and cause 
inflammation, resulting in what we have men¬ 
tioned. It is, heuee, that our best cows are 
unfortunate in their udders. In drying a cow, 
especially one giving plentifully of milk, the 
milk every lew days should be drawn from the 
udder. Iu a few weeks, there will be little or iso 
milk secreted; the job then is preformed. Be 
particular about this thing, aud 6 ave your cows, 
— Cor. Coleman's Rural World. 
SuARr Practice in Selling Lightning Rods.— 
Responsible personslnform us that there is an agent 
(or agents, l for “Haskins’ Improved Lightning 
Rods” performing In this vicinity, aud selling both 
rods and people— operating npnu honest but too con¬ 
fiding parties iu this wise:—The agent examinee a 
house or barn, and proposes to put. up hie rod, staling 
that the expeu9e will probably be a certain quite 
reasonable sum; and having, on his representations, 
obtained the necessary permission, Uc completes the 
job and brings iu a swinging bill for two, three or 
four times the nmouut first named. In several cases 
or this kind which have eome to our knowledge, the 
parties have compromised for a trilling reduction in 
t he bill, while others, we are advised, propose to with¬ 
stand the claim and throw the agent on his legal rem¬ 
edy—if he has one. Those of onr readers Interested, 
tiihifitr.be “sold.” will of coarse “make a note 
Estimating Weight of Cattle by Measurement. 
The Canada Farmer, iu reply to a corres¬ 
pondent, says“ Many experiments have been 
made by graziers and salesmen to ascertain the 
ntt weight of cattle by measurement, and a 
number of rules and tables have been formed of 
the results obtained. None, however, cau be 
regarded as absolutely correct. With the most 
accurate measuring is required a practical ac¬ 
quaintance with the points and forms of animals, 
aud allowance must be made according to age, 
size, breed, mode and length of time ol fattening, 
&c.; conditions which require a practiced eye 
and long experience to appreciate. We have 
fouud the following method to lead generally to 
trustworthy results: 
“Measure carefully with a tape line from the 
toil of the shoulder to where the tail is attached 
to the back; this will give the length. For the 
girth measure Immediately behind the shoulder 
and fore legs. Multiply half the girth by itself 
in feet, and the sum by the length in feet, and 
the product will give the net weight in stones of 
eight pounds each. For example, with an ox or 
cow live feet in length aud seven feet in girth, 
the calculation will be as follows: 
Multiply half the girth by itself in feet... .3.5 
provided they cau obtain a satisfactory guaranty 
of their actual.blood. If sheep without pedi¬ 
grees will uot sell for as much as those that 
have them, who is to blame for it ? The very 
man who rails so londly at names and pedigrees, 
if allowed to choose a ram for himself from two 
of precisely the same appearance—the one from 
a noted purer bred flock, the other of unknown 
pedigree—would be sure to select the former. 
We have noticed invariably that the zeal of 
such meu against family names, burns brightly 
just in proportion to the poor quality and want 
of pedigree In their own flocks. 
It is mere pretence to say that a particular 
name, in itself considered, gives any additional 
value to a breed or family of sheep. It is the 
sheep which make the reputation of the name, 
not the name which makes the reputation of the 
sfleep. Any uame applied to a family, comes to 
indicate the pedigree and qualities of that par¬ 
ticular family. If we speak of Short-Horned 
cattle, or South Down sheep, every person cog¬ 
nizant of such subjects, knows what we mean 
in respect to blood and characteristics. Now, 
shall we keep important separate families of 
sheep without names, for fear that those names 
shall indicate, in the public mind, better blood 
or better characteristictH than belong to some 
other sheep ? Why not by a parity of reasoning 
abolish the name Merino for the convenience of 
those who would like to sell some other kind of 
sheep for prices equal to those which the public 
sees fit to give for Merinos ? These name-liaters 
are at war with the shadow instead of the sub¬ 
stance. If their sheep are kept in the back¬ 
ground by the Paulars and In fan tad os, it is 
because the public believe that the latter arc best 
in blood aud quality, not because they chance 
to inherit the wholly unmeaning names (un¬ 
meaning as descriptive terms applied to sheep) 
Paular aud Infantado. Give these sheep other 
names, or deprive them of all names, and still 
they would receive the same preference. 
There is no doubt that a name and a pedigree 
often helps to sell an inferior animal. We might 
enter Into an argument to show that an inferior 
animal of good blood is frequently worth far 
more to the breeder than a superior animal of 
bad blood. But we waive that point. Suppose 
names and pedigrees do sometimes give a very 
fictitious value. Who can help it? Who pre¬ 
tends that all the tools are dead ? Shall we 
abjure our bread and butter because somebody 
else sees lit to choke himself to death on it ? 
Our Vermont correspondent, " 
of Pearl Creek, N. Y., is to deliver the Annual Ad¬ 
dress at the Chautauqua Co. Fair. There will be both 
meat and music In that address, and we can safely 
congratulate the Society in advance. By the way, 
though he may not thank us for it, we are constrained 
to add that the Major is just the man to deliver ad¬ 
dressee at Agricultural Fairs, and hope his services 
will frequently be secured in that line. When intelli¬ 
gent, practical men can be secured on such occasions, 
professionals, however eloquent, ooght to be at a 
discount. 
--— 
Potato Rot in Ohio.— The Ohio Farmer of tbe 19th 
says:—••Complaints of the potato rot reach ua from 
all parts of Ohio, and we have never known a season 
when the disease was eo wide spread as it is now. 
The excessive ratD* appear to have had an injurious 
effect. What proupftioti or the crop may be destroyed 
we have no means of knowing. The Nesliannock is 
reported to be suffering most, while the Peach Blow 
is the least affected. It is stated that the crop Is likely 
to prove an entire falluro in portions of Northern Illi¬ 
nois. The tops have been beaten down and killed by 
tbe rains, and the tubers are covered with white specks 
which develop© into the rot.” 
Multiply by length in feet 
Weight in stones. 
USES OF PLANTAIN. 
Plantain is a well known perennial herb, grow¬ 
ing in fields, by the roadsides, and in meadows, 
in many parts of the country. The ancients es¬ 
teemed it highly, and employed It in visceral ob¬ 
structions, hemorrhages, particularly from the 
cry, and other coin- 
Management of Working Oxen. 
It is not so much hard labor that heats 
oxen and makes them loll in warm weather, as 
the ill treatment of rough and abusive drivers. 
Treat them with gentleness when at work; feed 
them well and regularly three times a day, with 
water, sprinkled with oat and Indian corn meal, 
at least twelve quarts, besides some roots daily; 
let them have cieau water as often as they arc 
fed, and not require them to drink that which 
is impure, or stagnant; give them at least two 
hours after feeding to chew the cud and rest, 
and they will perform a vast amount of hard work 
and Increase in flesh at the same time, and will 
usually be found to be more convenient for many 
purposes than horses. Let it be reiterated that 
it is not the hard labor that oxen perform that 
exhausts their energies. Oxen were made for 
hard service; and if treated kindly and carefully, 
they will labor hard every day, and still grow 
fat. But when fed a stinted allowance of poor 
hay and meal, worried and abused by a brawling, 
ill-natured driver, who incessantly applies tbe 
lash or goad, aud dragged out by carrying on 
their necks a huge cart tongue, from morning 
till night, their strength fails, aud sensible peo¬ 
ple are lead to conclude that they cannot en¬ 
dure the heat like a horse.— Agriculturist. 
longs, consumption, dy: 
plaints. The plant has been considered refriger¬ 
ant, diuretic, deobstruent, and somewhat astrin¬ 
gent. This plant, so often considered a useless 
weed by those who do not understand its pro¬ 
perties, may be so cultivated as to make health¬ 
ful food for man and beast. 
The latter part of September the seeds may be 
gathered aud sown where it does not grow 
abundantly, and with a little attention in weed¬ 
ing it, may be used as healthful aud nutritious 
greens all summer, thus saving the time and ex¬ 
posure to wet feet of going to swamps to gather 
cowslips, or injury to health from eating various 
other greens. For greens use none but the 
smooth-leaved plantain, keep the bed free from 
weeds, pick the leaves when young and tender, 
and cook as other greens. Then they may be 
eaten with vinegar, or without it, if preferred, 
seasoned with butter. When the leaves ore 
picked they will grow up again In a few days, 
and by having a bed large uuough to last a week, 
a constant supply of tender leuves may be ob¬ 
tained daily. The leaves are excellent food for 
calves and hogs, and all they cost after raising 
is picking and feeding them. They should be 
wed, and the seed stalks pulled out, so soon as 
they make their appearance; then the leaves will 
grow all the season, and you will not be bother¬ 
ed with the seed stalks in picking. I would not 
recommend feeding the to jgh seed stalks to hogs 
as they might lodge in the folds of the intes¬ 
tines, when imperfectly chewed, and in that, way 
do injury. There Is a rough-leaved plantain of¬ 
ten growing among the smooth-leaved; but 1 
would not use it for greens, and I think it not 
so good for feeding, unless it is picked often so 
as to keep the leaves tender. h. 
Another “Good Milk Rack."—I n tbe Rural of 
July 13th is a notice of a good milk rack. My wife 
and I think we have a better one, which te made as 
follows:—Take a scantling six Inches square, long 
enough to reach from collar bottom to the Joists above j 
round the upper end to answer Tor a gudgeon; pnt in 
an iron for a pivot at the bottom; drill a hole in a 
stone, set the pivot in the stone, then fasten the npper 
end by hollowing out twolpiecea of board and nailing 
to the joists each side of the post, so as to hold itye 
post in a perpendicular position. Next nail on the 
slate as on the other rack, only have them long enough 
to hold 8 pans on a tier instead of 4: then nail a thin 
strip of board on the ends to keep them from spring¬ 
ing, and It is done. The advantage of this rack over 
tbe other l#', yon have a rotary rack that will hold 
twice as many pans as the other, and we can skim the 
rack full without stepping out of our tracks, and like¬ 
wise reach all of them from our skimming table. In 
large dairies three of these racks can be reached horn 
one table. This rack can make from 10 to 15 revolu¬ 
tions in a minute without stirring the cream.-S. H. 
Moore, l!V«( Davenport, Del. Co., -V. 1'. 
Communications, <£tc 
FARMING LANDS IN NEW JERSEY 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:— I have several 
letters of inquiry in answer to my communica¬ 
tion in the Rural in reference to a settlement 
in the Shenandoah Valley. Since writing that, 
I have heard much said of the 111 feeling of the 
people of Virginia toward northern men and 
northern ideas. I heard eo much that I deter¬ 
mined to look in New Jersey and Delaware before 
going to Virginia. Accordingly during the past 
week 1 have looked at considerable land in New 
Jersey, and was so well pleased that 1 purchased 
a place there. Thinking that many are situated 
as I was, and would be glad of Information as to 
tbe price of land, kind of soil, advantages of 
market, Ac., and knowing your willingness to 
assist in such cases I would like space in your 
columns for the purpose. 
I went first to the Newfleld tract, stopping at 
FrankllnvUlc on the Philadelphia and Cape 
May Railroad, Here the proprietor of the tract 
furnished a carriage for the purpose of visiting 
the different farms. Alter examining here I 
went to Vineland, N. J. The soil through the 
whole extent varies but little, the snbsoll being 
a mixture of clay and gravel with a surface soil 
varying from sandy loam to gravely loam of an 
average depth ot about 18 Inches. Much of the 
soil is not strong nor very rich, though I saw 
none that did not produce good crops with good 
cultivation. Corn and potatoes — including 
sweet potatoes—produce very finely, as the sea¬ 
son is long and warm. Wheat and the spring 
grains do not do so well, the yield of wheat 
averaging about 20 bushels. The land Is easily 
tilled, and I observed that hut few weeds were 
to be seen —no thistles. The land can be plowed 
Sentinel,” Im¬ 
pliedly concedes the utility of naming different 
families of sheep, but he asks us: — “ Why not 
name each Cock alter its breeder, and thus let 
every man have his due, as Rich Sheep, Robinson 
Sheep, Atwood Sheep, Hammond Sheep, &c. ?" 
One of the objections to this has been stated 
under a preceding head. There are still more 
serious ones. It would produce incouvenience 
instead of convenience, confusion instead of 
classification. These names in a great majority 
of instances would indicate nothing but owner¬ 
ship — for not one breeder in a hundred has 
done anything to improve the family, and it is 
therefore sheer nonsense to talk about anything 
being “due” to him in the premises. Let us 
assume that five years hence there will be two 
thousand breeders of Iufantados and two thou¬ 
sand breeders of Baulare in the United States. 
We shall then have, on “ Sentinel’s” plan, four 
thousand kinds of Merinos to talk about, or 
rather two kinds to talk about under four thou¬ 
sand names! If there should be ten breeders of 
the name of Smith, we could call them the 
John Smith Memos, the Samuel Smith Meri¬ 
nos, and so on. If there should be more than 
one John Smith breeding them, we could give 
each “his due ” by attaching his residence to Ms 
name thus: — The “John Smith of Weybridge 
Lower Falls, Vt.. Merinos,” the “John Smith 
of West Granville Corners, N. Y., Merinos,” 
&c. And as the occupations of individual^ 
often change, aud as few breeding flocks are 
kept up in the same family of persons for more 
than one or two generations, our four thousand 
names for Merinos (and their natural Increase) 
would have to be changed on the average about 
once in tMrty years! The glaring absurdity ot 
such a i 
How to Head Milk-Weeds.— A correspondent in¬ 
quires how to get rid of milk-weeds. Large fields of 
them are most readily disposed of by pasturing sheep 
upon them, 
effectual core, 
ting the sheep, 
stalk standing. 
Mit. Peters’ Sale of Suort-Horns, — We were 
unnble to attend this sale, which took place at Mr. 
Peters’ residence In Darien on tfie 17th Inst., but a 
correspondent who was present writes us that, “con¬ 
sidering the age of the aulmals, and other circumstan¬ 
ces, prices wore In the aggregate quite satisfactory. 
The whole number sold was 42 head; among them 
were ten calves, several yearlings, ami about fifteen 
oldish cows. The sum realized was a trifle over $8,000. 
Among the purchaser# were Air. Conger, Alt. Aitt.e- 
TOX of Alass., GuirriN of Dutchess Co . Simpson of 
Allegany Co., Gen. Howard of Buffalo. Messrs. How¬ 
ard of Chantaiuuin, IUpelyee or Yates Co., and 
Sam’l Grondyke of Vermillion <’o., Ind. Mr. smith 
of Aticlilgau bought Hotspur, probably one of the best 
If not the best bull of his age in the country. Air. 
Smith may congratulate himself upon having secured 
a great prize. 
“ The day was line, the attendance large, and but 
for the attempt of a rather notorious Individual to 
disparage pedigrees, nothing occurred to mar the 
pleasures of a very pleasant occasion. Where all par¬ 
ties were known the reputation of Mr. Peters and 
Mr. Page was not affected by the coarse of the Indi¬ 
vidual; but there were ennus present from a distance 
who did not fully understand the worthless character 
of that Individual, and upon them some effect, was pro¬ 
duced. The herd did not bring Into $ 1,000 what it 
would have done but for one of the most barefaced 
attempts at a fraud, and the grossest violations ot 
the amenities of life ever witnessed. Still the sale 
was a fair return upon the capital invested, aud will 
be the means of distributing some very vuluable blood 
over the country.” 
-—- 
Deihl’s Select Wheat. — Those of our readers 
wishing samples of this wheat, or deflulte information 
concerning It, should address T. J. A J. T. Bheldon, 
Cleveland Ohio, as per advertisement. From the 
testimony we have seen lu regard to the reliability of 
the Messrs, Sheldon, we have no doubt they will fill 
Two years may be necessary for an 
Small patches may he klltod by Units- 
Strip the leaves off and leave the 
The stalk then dies and carries dis¬ 
ease aud death to the roots: while, if cut oil', or even 
pulled up, It Immediately sends up new shoots. The 
main root runs like a vine, horizontally In the ground, 
(just like the Cauadu thistle,) often at a great depth, 
sending up its plants at Intervals more or less frequent 
according to the vigor of the roots. Some other 
plants may be killed In the same way.-J. B. Morse, 
Sandwich, III. 
Chicken Feed. — Having seen an inquiry in the 
Rural or August 5th, with reference to the food of 
young fowls, and not seeing an answer in the next 
number, I take the liberty of answering it. If corn 
meal wot tip with water Is used to feed chickens It 
should be prepared a day or two previous to it* use, 
otherwise the meal swells or expands in the chicken's 
crop. Meal should uot be fed In very cold weather. I 
have heard of instances in which fowls fqd on meal 
died by tbe freezing of the meal iu the crop. Wheat 
screenings is a very convenient article for young 
chickens, as it can easily be oaton. Com and wheat 
screenings mixed are very good for hens.—W. B. E., 
Rockford, IU. 
sstovk Hogs.—T he Ohio Farmer learns that “the 
buyers of stock hogs In the Allatnl valleys are paying 
as high as ten dollars per hundred, and farmers hesi¬ 
tate to sell even at this unormons figure. Taking this 
rate as the guide, fat hogs during the coming season 
will sell at a figure uovor heretofore paid in Ohio. Wo 
have heard of offers already made to contract at $8.50 
gross." . _ 
— The crops of cofh aud hay lu Kansas will be very 
large this year, und the wheat crop has been harvosted 
without damage, and will be good. 
ONE OF THE REASONS WHY 
A short article, lu tlic Rural of August 5th, 
with the above caption, has attracted my atten¬ 
tion. In it the writer attibutes the diminished 
yields of potatoes to what he terms “short seed¬ 
ing," Ho discards the Itea that either seed or 
soil has deteriorated suflVlently to produce that 
result. Now lot. me ask,how is it wlt.li wheat on 
our oest. grain farms? Do we raise ins much 
to the nere, as the same land used to produco 
twenty-five yeans ago with mueh less care and 
labor than we now bestiw upon It? At that 
time the old farmers used to think that from one 
to one and one-half bushels of seed per acre, 
sown broadcast, was sufielent.. Now, we drill 
In from one and a half to two bushels. I can 
account for the falling of In yield, in a manner 
satisfactory to myself at least. Frequent crop¬ 
ping somewhat on the “ Miming ” order, with¬ 
out keeping up the fertility of the soil, has 
exhausted it of its nihea'-producing properties. 
Why should net the Baum principle upply with 
equal force to potatoes? Iu regard to “short 
seeding," I apprehend that the “ powerful Influ¬ 
ence which has lor some years back been ope¬ 
rating against a liberal ute ol seed, ” is not due 
February. The advantage of nearness to mar 
ket can hardly be overestimated, as all this land 
is within a lew miles of the Philadelphia and 
Cape May Railroad, and from 18 to 80 miles from 
system of nomenclature needs no further Philadelphia, the second city In the U. 8 , 
demonstration. At Vineland the timber is mostly Bmall oak, 
The same difficulty and confusion would and a complete hedge ol Scrub oak forms the 
