n A 
* 
brought into national repute at the Shrewsbury 
Meeting, in IMS. He remarks:—"At the Ches¬ 
ter Meeting they beat the Hampshire Downs as 
old sheep, but in their turn were conquered by 
the latter in the younger classes. They present 
themselves to our notice in a more compact 
form; though shorter they are wider, broader on 
the heart and deeper through the heart. - ’ Mr. 
Spooner quotes Mr. J. Meire, as having stated 
at a meeting of the Farmers’ Club in Shropshire, 
fin 1858 or 1859,] that the sheep produced by the 
cross between the original sheep and South 
Down “was well adapted for the downs, but for 
the inclosurce of Shropshire something more 
docile was required, consequently recourse was 
had to the Leicester.' And Mr. Spooner adds: 
—“ This crossing and recrossing at length gave 
place to the practice of careful selection, and 
thus uniformity was sought for and attained, and 
the present superior breed was established. It 
is now held that no further cross is required.” 
Mr. Charles Howard of Biddenham, Bed¬ 
fordshire, in an address delivered before the 
London or Central Farmers' Club, in 18G0, said: 
_« This breed has been established by a prudent 
selection of the breeding animals, and I learn 
from a gentleman who kindly favored me with 
information upon the point, that the late Mr, 
Meire was the first to improve upon the origi¬ 
nal type. This he did in the first place by the 
use of the Leicester: as their faces became 
white he would then have recourse to a South 
Down or other dark-faced sheep. It was, how¬ 
ever, left to the eon to carry out and to bring to 
a successful issue what the father had com¬ 
menced, and Mr. Samuel Mkikk no doubt may 
bo looked upon as the founder of the improved 
Shropshire Downs. MV gather from his address 
to the Wenlock Farmers’ Club that he accom¬ 
plished this, not by resorting to any ol the estab¬ 
lished breeds, but by using the best animals from 
his own largo flock. * * Lately a very great 
change has come over the breeders of Shropshire; 
they have availed themselves of larger sheep of 
heavier fleece and earlier maturity, so that the 
only affinity they boar to the original Shrop are 
dark faces and legs: they now pride themselves 
in exhibiting some well fatted shearlings [ year¬ 
lings past.] weighing upon times 22 lbs. to 24 lbs, 
per quarter, but this is not generat. 
Very fine specimens of this variety have been 
imported into the United States and Canada. 
The two animals represented in the foregoing 
cuts are owned by Hon. N. L. Chaffee, of Jef¬ 
ferson, Ashtabula county, Ohio. The ram 
“ Lion,” now three years old. was bred by Lord 
Berwick, of Shrewsbury, England, and import¬ 
ed in 1861. His live weight is 334 lbs., and he 
yielded on the 10th of May, 1863, 17 lbs. 5 oz. of 
washed wool of 111 months growth. The ewe 
“ Nancy,” was bred by Lord Berwick, and im 
ported at the same time. She is three years 
old, and her live weight is 241 lbs. On the 16th 
of May, 1863, she yielded 9 lbs. 3 oz. of washed 
wool of 111 months growth. Six ewes at the 
same time, and under the same circumstances, 
yielded 42 lbs. 5 oz. of wool. They were sheared 
the fifth day after washing in clear brook water. 
In answer to my inquiries on the subject, 
Judge Chaffeb writes me that these sheepwere 
imported by Mr. George Miller, of Markham, 
Canada West; that they are very hardy, healthy 
and easily kept; and that they excel in these 
particulars all of his other sheep, of which he has 
four kinds. He says “ They are nearly as 
large as the long-wooled breed, say Cotswolds 
or Leicester, and yielding just about the same 
quantity of wool, are in my judgment much more 
hardy and healthy. They,have the dark colored 
legs and face of the South Down: much longer, 
thicker and more compact fleeces than the South 
Downs, and much thicker and more compact 
ones than the long-wooled breeds. They have 
all the nice, round, compact frame, and even, 
uniform symmetry of appearance of the South 
Down, and are about 33 per cent heavier. 1 
have never slaughtered any of this breed, and 
cannot speak from personal knowledge as to the 
quality of their mutton, but it is said, by those 
who do know, to be very superior and hardly to 
be excelled by the South Down,” 
WESTERN FARMING VS. EASTERN. 
lug pumpkins and squashes, the half-shell of 
which we use to shut down over haystacks as a 
protection from storm, or perchance use as cow¬ 
sheds. (?) yet the soil of the East is preferable 
for many other things. “ Whosoever will ’’ is not 
the individual who raises plums here: neither 
grapes: gooseberries. Ac. Perhaps when we get 
a little of the good horticultural education which 
you of the East are producing while we produce 
the large crops, we may be abie. every one of ns, 
to have all the fruit we desire. 
Some writer for the Rural not long ago had 
an article on the sin of killing birds. If that 
author will re-pubUeh his name in the Rural, we 
will try to discover a modus operandi for catch¬ 
ing the young innocents alive, and will be happy 
to send him 10,000 blue-jays to keep on his prem¬ 
ise*. And we have another bird, a new variety, 
of beautiful plumage, in great plenty here. I do 
not know their ornithological name,—we call 
them all “Jeff Davis.” They destroy the nests 
of all harmless birds. lay their eggs for another 
bird to batch, and in short create as much suffer¬ 
ing and confusion as the one from whom we gave 
them u cognomen. They are famous for destroy¬ 
ing insects, and on that account I think the gen¬ 
tleman bird fancier would like them: but we do 
not just exactly agree with them a* to their plan 
of operations, which is to bore into treee with 
their bills, making holes large enough to admit 
their entire bodies; and when this is done upon 
small trees, of course leaves them very liable to 
be blown down by those winds which are far 
more frequent and stronger in the West than at 
the East. We have also plenty of robins; at 
least two to every cherry; add to these an equa 
number of brown Ihmsh,—the most mischievous 
and sly of all the bird tribe: and if those who 
love birds are not yet satisfied, we have also 
plenty of blackbirds, useful in harvesting corn 
and getting it out of the way of the frost 
But we are told that we should be thankful for 
the music of birds. We are, but if we were de¬ 
prived of the blue-jays—we would try to effect 
an arrangement with a concerting band of cats 
to supply the deficiency, as this would approxi 
mate very nearly to this bird music. To speak 
candidly, we do love birds and appreciate them. 
—of certain kinds. But what think you of whole 
treesfull of apples being eaten up by birds ?— 
and of cherries.' not one is suffered to ripen. 
Under these circumstances we can’t seo wherein 
lies the sin of destroying birds. 
Hence, many things very useful and practica 
at the East fail to reach our necessities. Ajid 
many plans which may lie successfully adopted 
here, would be a failure there. And on this ac 
count we need a Western Editor, and no doubt 
Mr. Bragdox is the man. We are always inter¬ 
ested In his notes, and of course never question 
their correctness. 
For the present our Eastern friends must con¬ 
tent themselves with originating new varieties 
while we grow them, and of putting forth agri 
cultural knowledge while we put it into practice 
Crown Point, Ind., 1863 L. G. Bsdill. 
When the farmers have cleared Ihemselves of 
the incubus of debt, which earlier necessities 
have thrown them into, as they are now rapidly 
doing, we can expect and doubtless will see the 
improvements which the exercise of taste and 
intelligence insures. We predict that Monroe 
county is destined to rank in the future with the 
best counties in the State, for improvements 
enterprise, and general intelligence. e. w. 
Ida, Monroe Co., Mich . fee; tern her, 188a 
NEW YORK STATE FAIR. 
AGRICULTURE IN MONROE CO., MICH. 
V 
No wonder that Eastern farmers are shocked 
at the audacity of C. D. Bragdox, Western 
Editor of the Rural, which suffers him to assert 
that Western farmers can raise corn at the aver¬ 
age rate of labor of three-fourths of a day per 
per acre! Who, that lives among the stumps 
and stones of the East, would not be indignant 
But. nevertheless. Mr. Bragdox is undoubtedly 
correct, and we are under obligation to the good 
management of the Rural, which provides a 
Western Editor. 
Farmers of the East, did you ever think of the 
great difference in the face of the country East 
and West? Some of you, perhaps, have had 
glimpses in your travels of some of our broad 
prairies. You have looked upon them in aston¬ 
ishment and admiration, and yet you have gone 
home with a vague feeling that it was all a 
dream; or, if a reality, that there must be some 
condemning fault in connection with these broad 
acres—spread out for miles—which seemed to be 
wooing the toil of the husbandman. Not so; it 
is, for the most part, the best soil in the country; 
a beautiful reward of the patience and endur¬ 
ance of our Pilgrim Fathers, which now their 
sons enjoy. 
Again, take into consideration that all this 
broad expanse of treeless, shrubless land is free 
from stone, or, at least, comparatively so. And, 
hence, every kind of useful machinery that has 
ever been invented to facilitate the labor of 
farming, may become of practical utility, ia its 
greatest degree, here on the prairies of the 
West. 
But our soil and our climate differ essentially 
from yours. The weather-table for this section 
would contrast widely with that taken in New 
York. And our soil, though it raise tall corn, 
Ik the correspondents of the Rural would 
each contribute an article in relation to the agri 
culture and rural pursuits of their respective 
districts, it would be very interesting, it seems 
to me, to many readers. I will try my hand at 
Monroe county. Michigan. 
In 1S60, there was a population in this county 
of 21,643 persons. Subtracting 4,895 as the num 
ber of Inhabitants of the city of Monroe and the 
different villages, would leave 10.789 as the 
number connected with agriculture. These 
occupied 2,138 farms, comprising 94,537 acres of 
improved land, and 107.557 acres unimproved 
The cash value of the whole, 84,031,033. They 
were stocked as follows:—Horses, 6.117; asses 
and mules, 41; milch cows, G,6U; working oxen. 
1,522; other cattle. 0.701; sheep. 27.022: swine, 
12.073. The value of the whole estimated at 
87.-4,474. The value of farm implements and 
machinery, 8156,914. 
The produce of the county consists chiefly of 
wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, hay. wool and fat 
cattle. Rye, barley, buckwheat, fruit, sorghum 
and maple sugar and molasses, tobacco and flax, 
are also raised in various quantities; butter and 
cheese are also produced in considerable amounts. 
The farming population are composed of Yan¬ 
kees, Irish, German and French, and the kinds 
of farming are still more numerous. The aver¬ 
age number of acres of improved land to each Is 
44. What falls to the lot of each is, however, 
quite different, some farms having four or five 
hundred acres improved, while others have only 
four or five. The farming is generally poorly 
performed, and but a small proportion that we 
could call good. The soil throughout the entire 
county is of the first quality, with but trifling 
exceptions. Wherever in it you find a thorough¬ 
going, enterprising man, you will find a good, 
fruitful, and paying farm. 
There is much good farming land still unoccu¬ 
pied, which furnishes a fine chance for new set¬ 
tlers. The prices for improved land range from 
$20 to 8100 per acre; unimproved, from $1 to 
815. Unimproved land of the best quality, and 
adjoining improvements, can be had for from 85 
to 810 per acre. That part of the county lying 
adjacent to Toledo, Ohio, is furnished with a 
good market. The portion depending on the 
city of Monroe is not so fortunate, that place 
being justly celebrated for a lack of enterprise 
in this respect; but as time brings about Us 
changes, we expect to see a favorable alteration 
here.. The town is furnished with ample rail¬ 
road and navigation facilities. 
The pursuits of agriculturists at present are 
mostly for money making. Good buildings are 
interspersed here and there, but the beautiful 
rural aspect given by tastefully cultivated yards 
and lawns, and other agreeable arrangements, 
that a little leisure can establish about farmers’ 
homes, are seldom met with. The first fruits ol 
reform are, however, beginning to appear., 
The following article is from the Utica Morn¬ 
ing Ihrald of Friday week. It was of course 
penned before the occurrence of the severe rain 
storm which prevented the carrying out of the 
programme for the closing day of the exhibition: 
“The Fair of the State Agricultural Society 
will close this evening. It has been on the 
whole a most gratifying success. When we con¬ 
sider that our State is suffering from the burdens 
of two years of stupendous war: that our people 
have become, to a degree hardly surpassed in 
any 1 laud at any time, enured to military avoca¬ 
tions; that all influences tend to fix the best 
thought and effort on warlike plans and acts; 
the industrial exhibition of the current week 
becomes impressive in its testimony to the 
wealth, the developed prosperity, and the latent 
resources of the Empire State. The attendance 
has been very large. ar.d the receipts will com¬ 
pare favorably with the best year in the history 
of the Society. The people have been remarka¬ 
ble in their aspect of thrift, and intelligence and 
character, and one could wish no better refuta 
tion of the slanders of our foreign enemies than 
is presented in such a gathering of our citizens 
and their works. 
“In horses the display has been large and 
excellent beyond what is usual. The entries of 
stock were not as numerous as in some previous 
years, but the animals exhibited included a high 
proportion of favorites. In poultry there were 
several novel varieties, but it is evident the 
interest of a few years ago has been lost Our 
florists are greatly to blame for neglecting to be 
represented by their best flowers; for although 
the entries from a distance were generous, floral 
hall has been, compared with wbat it should be. 
a vacant, unattractive spot. In fruits the dis¬ 
play has been much better, but yet not as rich 
and full as it ought to have been. In agricul¬ 
tural implements, on the other hand, in stoves 
and mechanical productions generally, the Fair 
has been affluent beyond parallel. The labor- 
saving inventions for the farmer are numerous, 
covering most of his most onerous services, and 
they promise to relieve him more and more each 
coming year. 
“ The structures for the Fair have been ample, 
and the grounds in all respects desirable. Thut 
portion of the preparations was well done. The 
unfortunate failure to finish the City Ruilroad 
has been a great annoyance; for conveyances, 
which otherwise would have come in from a 
distance, were kept away by the railroad, abd 
thus no adequate means of locomotion were 
provided. That deficiency, however, cannot 
occur hereafter. One thing, however, our city 
greatly needs: and that is hotel accommodations. 
The hospitality of our citizens was generously 
extended, but the hotels, which in ordinary times 
are hardly sufficient, became clogged and flooded 
on the first day of the Fair. Wanted, a new, 
modern hotel for Utica. The Fair closes to-day. 
Our city has been glad to welcome its guests. 
We trust, after making allowance for the incon¬ 
veniences inseparable from a crowd, they will 
have pleasant thoughts for Utica and the State 
Fair of 1863.” 
SPECULATORS 
increase the bulk of the carcass is consumed in 
making good the waste induced in meeting the 
large demand tor animal heat. It is said by 
those who have given special attention to this 
matter, that from one-fourth to one-third more 
food is required to keep up the proper amount of 
animal heat, for an animal exposed to the cold, 
than is required for one thatis protected from the 
elements by proper shelter. 
So with regard to the house. A day or two 
spent in making all tight about the underpinning, 
in supplying whole, or broken glass, and in mak¬ 
ing the ledges about the windows so close as to 
prevent them from rattling, or admitting the 
wind—and similar attention given to the doors— 
will save considerable expense in the amount of 
fuel required during the winter, and greatly pro¬ 
mote the comfort and happiness of the family. 
No barn or house can be kept warm at a mode¬ 
rate cost, where the wind is allowed to pass 
freely under the floors, as the air which is warmed 
in the room is made lighter, and is rapidly driven 
up by the constant current of cold air from 
below. This condition of things in the room is 
expensive, uncomfortable and trying, and has a 
decided effect upon the spirit and manners. No 
person could long preserve a cheerful equanim¬ 
ity. and be exemplary in tone and manner, under 
such circumstances. They make a class of trials 
which no considerate hasbaud should allow his 
family to contend against 
These are only suggestions. Many other things 
are to be looked after, which a discreet fore¬ 
sight will place in proper order.—2V r . E. Farmer. 
Selection of Seed. 
We cut from the July number of the West- 
minder Peview the following passage, as con¬ 
taining a most remarkable experiment upon the 
effects of carefully selecting 6eed wheat: 
“In passing through the Great Exhibition of 
last summer, many of our readers may have 
noticed among the agricultural products of the 
Eastern Annexe some magnificent ears of corn, 
bearing the somewhat novel title of ‘pedigree 
wheat.’ which excited the admiration of all those 
interested in such matters—except, indeed, the 
jurors, who left them unnoticed. This wheat 
was exhibited by Mr. Hallett, of Brighton, who 
has given the history in the Royal Agricultural 
Society’s Journal, vol. xxii. part 2. It appears 
that this gentleman having conceived the notion 
1 hat careful breeding might produce some of the 
same advantages in cereals which it has been 
found to do in cattle and horses, commenced 
some years ago a series of experiments with the 
view of carrying out his idea. Having selected 
one ear of wheat of remarkably fine quality, ho 
sowed the grains separately, at a distance of 
twelve inches apart. The next year ho further 
selected the one finest ear produced from the for¬ 
mer, and treated that in a similar way. The 
following table gives the result at the end of the 
fifth year from the original sowing: 
LmsfOu 
Containing 
JVUMl 
Inches. 
Grains. 
Ears on 
186"—Original car . 
45 
isfis—Finest cor .. 
.6* 
79 
10 
1869— 
.7« 
91 
22 
1860—E&ra imperfect from 
wet season. 
39 
1861— Finest car .. 
.Stf 
123 
62 
mm. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker:—I am pleased 
with the practical, common sense remarks of 
your correspondent L. F. Allen, in Rural of 
12 th inst. I think 1 am regarded by those ac¬ 
quainted with me as a rather successful common 
farmer; at any rate, I am satisfied with the 
results of some thirty years' labor. Have occa¬ 
sionally purchased stock with the expectation of 
deriving profits from its improvement or growth; 
yet never within my recollection have purchased 
a dollar’s worth of any kind of property with a 
view of deriving profits from its immediate sale. 
Buying and selling i= not my business, yet I 
never denounce as speculators those who make 
it a business to purchase the surplus produce of | * u autumn, it has afforded a yield of about 
the country, with a view of selling at a profit: f seventy bushels per acre, when the same amount 
but, on the contrary, am always thankful for a | applied in spring gave only fifty bushels. A thin 
coating of manure applied to winter wheat at the 
“‘Thus.’ says Mr. Hallett, ‘by means of re¬ 
peated selection alone, the length of the ears 
has been doubled, their contents nearly trebled, 
and the tillering power of the seed increased 
five-fold.’ By * tillering,’ we should perhaps 
mention, i? meant the horizontal growth of the 
wheat-plant, which takes place before the verti¬ 
cal stems are thrown up, and upon the extent of 
which, therefore, dependsln a great degree the 
number of ears which the single plant prodnees. 
Now there can be no doubt that a great deal of 
the marvellous improvement shown in the above 
table is due to the treatment to which Mr, Hal¬ 
lett subjected his wheat; that is to say. to the 
fact of its being sown singly and apart, so that 
each plant has been allowed to develop itself 
fully; but we cannot attribute it all to this cause,” 
Applying Manure in Autumn. 
A correspondent of the Country Gentleman 
thinks the best way for the perfect diffusion of 
the manure, is to spread the manure in the au¬ 
tumn. so that all the rains of the season may 
dissolve the soluble portions and carry them 
down, where they are absorbed and retained for 
the growing crop. He further says : 
“In experiments which we have witnessed, 
where the manure for the corn was thus applied 
call from such, and so express myself, though I 
may not at the time have the particular article 
they wish to purchase. In such case I will not 
say that I do, but that I should express thanks, 
invite them to take refreshments, and call again 
when I may be able to furnish a desired arti¬ 
cle, Ac. a. w. T. 
Troy, Pa., September, 1863. 
gttral £pmt »f ffoc 
Prepare for Winter. 
Many farmers too long delay the necessary 
preparation for winter. In this cold and change¬ 
able climate, it shows a great want of proper 
forethought and economy to neglect such repairs 
and preventives as will secure shelter and 
warmth for themselves and their stock, and tend 
to the preservation of the harvests of every kind 
which have been secured. A board off. or a pane 
of glass gone here and there, may prove the loss 
of young and tender animals, or of & portion of 
the potatoes, roots or apples which have been 
stored away. In such case there is a double loss 
—a loss of property itself and of the labor which 
produced it. and to which is to be added the in¬ 
convenience of supplying a like amount if it be 
absolutely required, for wintering out the stock. 
But this is not all. If the places where ani¬ 
mals are kept are windy and damp, a large 
amount of the food that would otherwise go to 
time of sowing, and well harrowed in, has in¬ 
creased the crop from seven to ten bushels per 
acre, and in addition to this, by the stronger 
growth it has caused, as well as by the protec¬ 
tion it has afforded to the surface, it has not un- 
frequently saved the crop from partial or total 
winter-killing.” 
Bio Crop of Onions. — The editor of the 
Ploughman has been down among the Marble¬ 
head farmers. Among other things he made a no:e 
of, is a statement of the onion crop of Horace 
Ware, Jr,, which is estimated the present season 
at seven thousand bushels! They are grown 
upon fourteen acres. He raised a large crop last 
year, but unlike his neighbors, he did not sell 
them until spring, and thereby saved in the dif¬ 
ference of price the snug little sum of two thou¬ 
sand dollars ! 
Butal Notes anb Items. 
Thk New York State Fair.— To our great regret and 
disappointment we were unable to attend the State Fair, 
held at Utica, last week, and an associate from whom a 
report was expected, was also unexpectedly prevented 
from being present. We are therefore without other de¬ 
tail* than such as hare been given in the Utica and other 
daily papers; and as a correct copy of the list of premi¬ 
um* awnrded has not yet been received, we shall not this 
week undertake to give even a compiled report of the ex¬ 
hibition and its results. 
One of the editors of the Rochester Democrat, who was 
at Utica during the entire Fair, (and engaged in the busi¬ 
ness off.ee. thus sums up the result—“The Annual Fair 
of the New York State Agricultural Society for 1363, at 
Utica, closed on Friday last, having been continued the 
usual length of time. In some respects it was quite suc¬ 
cessful, and in others quite the reverse The general tes¬ 
timony is that as an exhibition it was inferior to the Fair 
held in this city last year The show of horses was bet¬ 
ter, perhaps, and the department of agricultural and me¬ 
chanical implement* may have been superior in certain 
particulars, but in the other departments the Rochester 
Fair excelled the one at Utica. The receipts at the latter 
place were about $13,000, while in Rochester they were 
some {2,000 less It must be remembered, however, that 
the weather was extremely unpropitlous during the Fair 
held In Rochester—it having rained every day—while the 
Utica Fair was fortunate in a succession of pleasant, 
though wnrm days, up to Friday Ilad the weather fa¬ 
vored the Fair in Rochester equally with the one in Utica, 
the receipts of last year would doubtless have run up to 
116,OoO or ?16,00<>—perhaps even more As it was, the 
fact that {11,000 was taken in four rainy, disagreeable 
days, proves that no place in the State offers better facili¬ 
ties for exhibitions of this character than Rochester. The 
means provided at Utica for transporting people to and 
from the Fair Grounds are universal/ condemned, and 
according to all accounts, some of the arrangement of the 
Fair it*clf were very imperfect and unsatisfactory. This 
was particularly the case with the departments of Fruits 
and Flowers. Tailing all things into consideration, Roch¬ 
ester has every reason to be content with the results of 
the Fair of 1S62 as compared with that of 1863 at Utica.” 
Thb Cold Summer, or Fummkrlbss Year or 1816 — 
Though this occurred 47 years ago, it is still called 
the Cold Summer . The account recently published in the 
Rural, and giveu by an observer of that time, seems rath¬ 
er extravagaut; for, though snow and ico and frost were 
frequent, vegetation was not killed to the extent stated. 
Turning to my records made at Williams College that 
year and the following year*, I find the mean temperature 
of several years to have been 45.6% while the mean of 
1S1G was 44.3*. At Rochester the annual mean i» 47 . and 
ranges from 44.7* to 48.3*. But In 1816, the winter 
month* were mild, the summer mouths were cold, and 
except one half of September the other months were cool. 
June 10th, 1810, had a hard frost; com killed to the 
ground, sprung up again; cucumbers, beans and many 
gardeu vegetables destroyed, though some had nearly per¬ 
ished by the cold winds of the Oth and tack to the 6th. 
On the 5th at noon the heat was 83'; a thunder shower 
cooled the air rapidly; the Oth had temperature of 44“ 
with some 9now and strong N W winds, giving very se¬ 
vere weather, much snow on the hills. Juue 7th, no 
frost (too windy, | but ground frozen so that it could be 
lifted up around corn left standing. June 8th, still windy, 
ice as before, wind piercing cold; Juno Oth, wind ceased, 
aud corn staudiog; and the 10tii and 11th gave the killing 
frost. By this frost the young leave*, which had Just ap¬ 
peared on trees along the lower part of hills or moun¬ 
tains were killed, and in a few days all the forest for 
miles had the appearance of being scorched by fire, so 
dead was the foliage. Still the leaves catne out anew, 
uni the loafing continued to come forth to the summits 
Grass, rye and oats were uninjured; the harvest Of rye 
wa> good. Indeed the wheat in England gave a good 
crop, cold as was the summer there. The xpceulators 
m untamed that a cold or cool summer was morn ptoduct- 
ive of wheat, rye, and oats, than a hot summer, as proved 
by the lower prices of these cereals in cooler years. We 
see the extravagance of the statement that “ wry litcle 
vegetation matured in the Eastern and Middle States.” 
Indian corn was generally killed by the frost of August 
23th, and only a small portion had matured in the earlier 
fields, or did mature, unless it was cut up by the roots 
and set up in stocks on the ground. In this ca»c, to the 
gratification of the farmer, the corn ripened by the ascent 
of the sap in the stalk. The frost of August, 1863, though 
injurious to corn, sorghum, tobacco, &c , over a large 
tract on the Mississippi, North of the 40th degree of lati¬ 
tude, does not compare with that of the “ Cold Summer.” 
—c. t>, 
The Reserve Strength of the Free States.—a few 
figures lately obtained from the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture tell a story which the world would do well to consid¬ 
er. Our total agricultural exports, (exclusive of cotton) 
in 1866—when we were yet at peace—were 100,849,506, of 
which Southern ports exported {19,736,365. In lsiil, with 
half a million of men in arms, and no Southern exports, 
they araouuted to $137,020,605, aud in 1562, with A mil¬ 
lion of men in the field (one-naif of them from the rural 
districts i and no Southern exports, they reached the Sum 
of $155,142,075. The urnount of wheat and flour alone 
exported in the year ending September 1, 1803, exceeded 
that of the previous year by over seven miliiou bushels. 
Estimating the force of our army (and its employes) 
in the field at one million of men, as I have done—and 1 
deem it a reasonable estimate—aud the rations per diem 
to each man at twenty-two ounces of flour, it requires for 
its supply for a year 12,300,000 bushels of wheat. Was 
there ever a country in the world one-half of which could 
feed such an army, largely made up from its agricultuiul 
population, and j et so wonderfully increase its exports of 
breadstuff's t 
Food for Fattening Pogltry.— The cheap¬ 
est and most advantageous food to use for fatten¬ 
ing every description of poultry is ground oats. 
These must not he confounded with oat meal, or 
with ordinary ground oats. The whole of the 
grain is ground to a fine powder; nothing of any 
kind is taken from it. When properly ground, 
one bushel of the meal will more effectually 
fatten poultry than a bushel and a half of any 
other meal. The greatest point in fattening 
poultry is to feed at daybreak .—Ex. 
Cost of Cultivating Corn.—W hat is the expense of 
an aero of corn cultivated and shocked ? Having raised 
com for more than twenty years in the West, I send you 
my figures for five acres: 
Plowing,......$2 50 
Marking both way s,. 50 
Planting with hand planter,... 60 
Plowing com first time,... 2 00 
“ “ second time,. 1 00 
“ " third “ . 1 00 
Catting up and shocking,. 2 50 
$10 00 
Which divided by 6 gives $2 per acre.— Geo. W. Shaw, 
Limoood, Decatur Co., Iowa. 
Women in the Fields.—A correspondent of the Cleve¬ 
land Herald , who has been traveling in the West, says:— 
“ I! is a very common affair to see a bright-eyed young 
woman seated on the reaper, driving a four-horse team. 
But not only thus are women useful, for I have frequent¬ 
ly seen them using the hoe. Bat what I saw a couple of 
weeks ago in the south pair of Madison, Lake county, 
caps all the scenes in this line within my knowledge To 
appearances a rain storm was coming up, and there was 
one woman in the field dexterously raking up the hay, 
whilst the double team and hay wagon was being driven 
into the field by two other women. Raker, pitcher and 
loader were all women.' 
