The American Entomologist.— By a specimen or ex¬ 
planatory sheet from the publishers, K. P. Stttdlet & 
Co., St.. Louis. Mo., we learn that a new monthly journal 
with the above title will be commenced at that place 
September 1st, 1808, at one dollar per annum, in advance. 
The editorial supervision of the journal is assigned to 
Benjamin D. Wal->h, Rock Island, HI, and Charles V. 
Rilet, 8t. Louis, Mo., —gentlemen already widely aud 
favorably known to the scientific and reading public. 
Letters containing specimens of noxious, or other insects, 
will receive proper attention, addressed as above. 
help; and so they will call till the end of time, 
till their whitened bones have risen again. 
“Towards the middle of January, great care is 
necessary, as by this time the 6heep have grown 
weak and lean with lack of food, aud the excess of 
cold. Yet as the mountain sheep will not eat tur¬ 
nips, hut must be fed with hay, it is a piece of 
economy to delay beginning to feed them as long 
as possible; and to know the exact nick of time, 
requires as much skill as must have been possessed 
by Eunice’s father in Miss Austen’s delightful novel, 
who required his gruel ‘thin, but not too thin — 
thick, but not too thick.’ And so the Shepherd’s 
Calendar works round to yeaning time again ! It 
must be a pleasant employment; reminding one of 
Wordsworth’s lines— 
4 In that fair clime, the lonely herdsmen stretched 
On the soft, grass, through half the summer’s day,’ Ac., 
and of shepherd boys with their reedy pipes, taught 
by Pan, and of the Chaldean shepherds studying the 
stars; of Poussin’s picture of the Good Shepherd, 
of the * Shepherd’s keeping watch by night!’ and I 
don’t know how many other things, not forgetting 
some of Cooper’s delightfal pieces.” 
Harvesting Peas. 
The Cayuga Sentinel, Canada, publishes a com¬ 
munication on harvesting peas, by Albs. Wink am, 
which may be worthy the attention ©f farmers on 
this side of the lake who grow this crop largely, and 
harvest in the old way. Instead of mowing with 
the scythe he uses a mower, the same as for grass, 
raking the bunches to one side as they are dropped, 
to prevent the team from treading on them, as the 
machine circles arouud the field. The operation 
was entirely successful, the peas being cut clean 
and expeditiously. If the ground Is rolled, at the 
time of sowing, the easier will the crop be removed. 
There may be nothing new in this way of harvest¬ 
ing peas, but we do not recollect having seen this 
method recommended before. Cutting with the. 
scythe we know to he a slow and annoying process, 
and if the mower will do the work better, as is 
claimed it will, the celerity of the operation should 
induce its use. _ 
Skunks as Farm Aids. 
In some of our exchanges we observe allusions 
to the skunk family, giving its members credit for 
aiding the fanner by destroying several small pests, 
which prey upon a portion of his crops. This, we 
believe, is true. The skunk will dig up mice and 
moles and feast upon them. Is not. averse to crick¬ 
ets and grasshoppers, provided nothing more tempt¬ 
ing offers for a supper. The skunk has a “sweet 
tooth” too, and will hunt out aud rob humble bees 
nests of their stores, and some assert, eat the bees 
also, but this we doubt, though the honey part is 
beyond question. So much skunks do for the far¬ 
mer, but the trouble is they do not let “well 
enough” alone. They have a penchant for fresh 
laid eggs and do not object to a small chicken, oc¬ 
casionally, and some assert they will assail the 
mother hen in certain exigencies. Be this as it may 
we do not believe the skunk a profitable farm aid. 
Besides, he is :• frisky animal, a Parthian in action, 
the moment he is stirred up a little, leaving behind 
him an aroma anything but agreeable to such as are 
60 unfortunate as to be made partakers of his com¬ 
pliments. The skunk is in the best position when 
bottled up Lu the shape of oil. 
AN OLD ENGLISH SHEEP SHEARING, 
the poor naked sheep to be “smitten" — that is to 
say, marked with the initials or cypher of the owner. 
In this case, the sign of the possessor was a circle or 
spot on one side, and a straight line on the other; 
and after the &heep were thus marked, they were 
turned out to the moor, and the crowd of bleating 
lambs that sent up an incessant moan for their lost 
mothers; each found out the ewe to which it be¬ 
longed the moment she was turned out of the yard, 
and the placid contentment of the sheep that wau- 
dered away up the bill side, with their little lambs 
trotting by them, gave just the uecessary touch of 
peace and repose to the scene. There were all the 
classical elements for the representation of life; 
there were the ‘ Old men and maidens, young men 
and children ’ of the Psalmist; there were all the 
stages and conditions of being that siBg forth their 
farewell to the departing crusaders in the ' Saint’s 
Tragedy.” 
[Tea and other incidents being dispatched, the ac¬ 
count of the shearing, & c., proceeds :] 
“ I strolled into the busy yard once more, and by 
watching my opportunity, 1 crossed between men, 
women, boys, sheep and barking doge, and got to 
an old man, sitting under the sycamore, who had 
been pointed out to me as the owner of the sheep 
and the farm. For a few minutes he went on, dog¬ 
gedly puffing away; hut I knew that this reserve 
on his part arose from no want of friendliness, but 
from the shy reserve which is the characteristic of 
most Westmoreland and Cumberland people. By- 
and-by he began to talk, and he gave mu much in¬ 
formation about his sheep. He took a 1 walk ’ from 
a landowner with so many sheep upon it; in his 
case one. thousand and fifty, which was a large num¬ 
ber, about six hundred being the average. Before 
takiug the 1 walk,’ he and his landlord each appoint¬ 
ed two ‘knowledgeable people’ to value the stock 
The ‘ walk’ wa? taken on lease of five or seven years, 
and extended ten miles over the Fells in one direc¬ 
tion —he could not exactly say how far in another, 
but more; yes! certainly more. 
partment! Our old-world ancestors made the sheep- 
shearing, the harvest-home and many other like 
rural occasions, scenes of delightful festivity, as 
unlike our modern prosaic proceedings as is the 
multiplication tabic to an Idyl of Theocritus. We 
have made some little returns, of late years, to the 
merry neighborhood shearings of the olden time. 
Our wives and daughters consent to aseemble and 
make the dinner table brilliant and gay. But they 
are too nm to carry their condescension farther! 
Now let us gaze at a picture of the good old times: 
“ While the tea was preparing, and it took six 
comely matrons to do it justice, we proposed to 
Mrs. G’., (our real hostess,) that we should go and 
see the sheep - shearing. She accordingly led us 
away into a back yard, where the process was going 
on. By a back yard I mean a far different place from 
what a Londoner would so designate; our back yard, 
high up on the mountain 6ide, was a space about 
forty yards by twenty, over-shadowed by the noble 
sycamore, which might have been the very one that 
suggested to Coleridge — 
“ This sycamore (oft musical with bees — 
Such tents the Patriarchs loved,)” &c., &c. 
And in this deep, cool, green shadow sate two or 
three gray-haired sires, smoking their pipes, and 
regarding theproceedings with a placid complacency, 
which had a savour of contempt in it for the degen¬ 
eracy of the present times, — a sort of “Ah I they 
don’t know whatgood shearing isnow-a-days” look 
in it. That round shadow of the sycamore tree, and 
the elders who sat there looking on, were the only 
things not full of motion and life in the yard. The 
yard itself was bounded by a gray stone wall, and the 
moors rose above it to the mountain top; we looked 
over the low walls on to the spaces bright with the 
yellow asphodel, and the first flush of the purple 
heather. The shadow of tile farm-house fell over 
this yard, so that it was cool in aspect, save for the 
ruddy faces of the eager shearers, and the gay- 
colored linscy petticoats of the women, folding the 
fleeces with tuckcd-up gowns. 
“ When we first went into the yard, every corner of 
it seemed as fall of motion us an antique frieze, and, 
like that, had to be studied before I could ascertain 
the different actions and purposes involved. Ou the 
left hand was a walled iu field of small extent, full of 
sunshine and light, with the heated air quivering over 
the flocks of panting bewildered sheep, who were 
penned up therein, awaiting their turn to be shorn. 
At the gate by which this field was entered from 
the yard stood a group of eager-eyed hoys, panting 
like the sheep, but not like them from fear, but 
frem excitement and joyous exertion. Their faces 
were flushed with brown-erim&on, their scarlet Ups 
were parted into smiles, and their eyes had that 
peculiar blue l uster in them, which is only gained by 
a free life in the pnre and blithesome air. As soon 
as these lads saw that a sheep was wanted by the 
shearers within, they sprang towards one in the 
field—the more boisterous and stubborn an old 
ram the better—and tugging, and pulling, and push¬ 
ing, and shouting — sometimes mounting astride of 
the poor obstreporona brute, and holding his horns 
like a bridle —they gained their point and dragged 
their captive np to the shearer, like little victors as 
they were, all glowing and ruddy with conquest. 
The shearers sat each astride on a long bench, gruve 
and important—the heroes of the day. The flock of 
sheep to be shorn on this occasion consisted of more 
than a thousand, and eleven famous shearers had 
come, walking in from many miles’ distance to try 
their skill one against the other; for sheep-shearings 
are a sort of rural Olympics. They were all young 
men in their prime, strong, and well-made; without 
coat or waistcoat, and with upturned shirt-sleeves. 
They sat each across a loug bench or narrow table, 
and caught up the sheep from the attendant boys, 
who had dragged it in; they lifted it on to the bench, 
and placing it by a dexterous knack on its hack, they 
began to shear the wool off the tail and under parts; 
then they tied the two hind-legs and the two fore¬ 
legs together, and laid it first on one 6ido aud then 
on the other, till the fleece came off in one whole 
piece; the art was to shear all the wool off', and yet 
not to injure thesheep by any awkward cut: if such 
an accident did occur, a mixture of tar and butter 
was immediately applied; bat every wound was a 
blemish on the shearer’s fame. To shear well and 
completely, aud yet do It quickly, shows the perfec¬ 
tion of the clippers. Some can finish off as many a 
six-score sheep in a summer’s day; and if you con¬ 
sider the weight and unconthness of the animal, and 
the general heat of the weather, you will 6ee that* 
with justice, clipping or shearing is regarded as 
harder work than mowing. But most good shearers 
are content with despatching four or flve*6core; it 
is only on unusual occasions, or when Greek meets 
Greek, that six-score are attempted or accomplished. 
When the sheep is divided into its fleece>nd itself, 
it becomes the property of two persons. The women 
seize the fleece, and, standing by the side of a tem¬ 
porary dresser (in this case made of planks laid across 
barrels, beneath what sharp, scant shadow could be 
obtained from the eves of the house,) they fold it 
up. This again is an art, simple as it may seem; 
and the farmer’s wives and daughters about Lang- 
dale Head are famous for it. They begin with fold¬ 
ing up the legs, and then roll the whole fleece up, 
tying it with the neck; and the skill consists, not 
merely in doing this quickly and firmly, but in cer¬ 
tain artistic pulls of the wool so as to display the 
finer parts, and not, by crushing up the fiber, to 
make it appear coarse to the buyer. Six comely 
women were thus employed; they laughed, and 
talked, and sent shafts of merry satire at the grave 
aud busy shearers, who were too cumest in their 
work to reply, although an occasional deepening of 
color, or twinkle of the eye, would tell that the re¬ 
mark had hit. But they reserved their retorts, il 
they had any, until the evening, when the day’s 
labor would he over, and when, in the license of 
country humor, I imagine some of the saucy speak¬ 
ers would meet with their match. As yet, the ap¬ 
plause came from their own party of women; though 
now and then one of the old men, sitting under the 
shade of a sycamore, would take bi6 pipe out of his 
month to spit, and before beginning again to Bend 
up the soft curling wreaths of smoke, he would 
condescend on a short, deep laugh, and a “ Well 
done, Maggie!” “Give it him, lass! ” for with the 
Condensed Correspondence, Items, &e 
Sample.?.— The card of samples forwarded Q6 by “ D.” 
of Philadelphia, Pa,, rank as follows:—First row, with 
the exception of N®. 5, from fair to prime broadcloth 
wool. No. 5 is fine and short enough, but it lacks felting 
properties. It is too straight and wiry. The -econd row 
is good Delaine and Cassimere wool. The samples in 
third row are with two exceptions good combing wool, 
but none of them are, properly speaking, “ luster wool.” 
The Chicago Exposition.— We learn from the West¬ 
ern Rural that the sale at the close of the exhibition of 
manufactured articles exhibited was a highly successful 
one. Diplomas were awarded to the following persons for 
wool: 
To Ebenczer Ware, Waukegan, Ill., for fleeces and 
samples of Merino wool. 
To Ex-Gov. Blair of Michigan for samples of Cash¬ 
mere wool. 
To Thomas Smith, Dement, Ill., for combing wool. 
To Towne Bros., Geneva. Ill., for Merino fleeces. 
To Israel 8. Deihl, lor most beautiful specimens of An¬ 
gora. both in the raw und manufactured i-tate. 
To Gen. Leggett, for specimens of Angora wool. 
To B. H, Jennings. East Cambridge, 311,, for specimens 
of Merino wool. 
To C. Hills, Delaware, O., for specimens of combing 
wool. 
To E, H. Clapp, Rome, Ill., for samplo of combing wool. 
To James Pierce, Rock Co., Wis., for samples of comb¬ 
ing wool. 
•i'o G. W, Dens, Woodstock, Ill., for specimens of 
grade wool. 
To P. G. Bauder, New Milford, Ill., for combing and 
grade wool. 
To Samuel P. Boardman, Lincoln, III., for specimens of 
line wool. 
To Alleu Fairbanks, Wheaton, Ill., for specimens of 
grade wool. 
To James Harrington, Geneva, Ill,, for specimens or 
combing wool. 
To David Kelley, Wheaton, Ill., for specimens of fine 
wool. 
To E. G. Hes, Springfield, Ill., for specimens of comb¬ 
ing wool. 
To Bin by & Parson, Kalamazoo, Mich., for specimens 
of fine wool. 
To Moore Bros., for specimens of Nebraska fleeces 
grown at Sydney, foar hundred and fifty miles beyond 
Omaha. 
To Lewis Wiley, .Pewana, Mich., for fine wool speci¬ 
mens. 
Preparations for tue State Fair.— The business of 
preparing the buildings and grounds for the next N. Y. 
State Fair, commencing Sept. 23th, is progressing favor¬ 
ably, —giving assurance that both will be in order for the 
occasion. The President of the 8into Society. Thomas 
H. Faile, Esq., of New York, was on a visit to the 
grounds last week, and expressed satisfaction at the pro¬ 
gress making In the way of preparation. 
The Premium List with Regulations may be obtained 
by addressing the Corresponding Secretary, Col. B. P. 
Johnson, Albany, N. V. In the line of Special Premiums 
we notice one offered by Orange Ji ud of New York as 
follow -For the best two barrels of white winter wheat, 
one hundred dollars; for the beet two barrels of red win¬ 
ter wheat, one hundred; and a like snm for the best two 
barrels of spring wheat. 
A member of the Society also offers a Special Premium 
of two hundred dollars for the best stallion for general 
purposes, over four years old, and not less than fifteen 
handc three inches tall. 
At the expiration 
of the lease, the stock arc again numbered, and val¬ 
ued iu the same way. If the sheep are poorer, and 
gone off, the tenant has to pay for their depreciation 
in money; If they have improved in quality, the 
landlord pays him; but one way or another the 
same number must be restored, while the increase 
of each year and the annual fleeces form the ten¬ 
ant’s profit. Of course they were all of the black¬ 
faced or mountain breed, fit for scrambling and en¬ 
durance, and capable of being nourished by the 
sweet but scanty grass that grew on the Fells. To 
take charge of his flock he employed three shep¬ 
herds, one of whom was my friend Tom. They had 
otfier work down on the farm, for the farm was 
1 down' compared with the airy heights to which 
these sheep wi ll heratnble. The shepherd’s year be¬ 
gins woeiore incYlwenUetu of March, by rriua, I 
ewewmust be unsafely down iti the home pastures, 
at hand in case they or their lambs require extra 
care at yeaning time. About the sixteenth of Juno 
the sheep washing begins. Formerly, said my old 
man, men stood bare-legged in a ruuuing stream, 
dammed tip so as to make a pool, which was more 
cleansing than any still water, with its continual 
foam, and fret, and struggle to overcome the obsta¬ 
cle that impeded its progress; and these men caught 
the sheep, which were hurled to them by the people 
on the banks, and rubbed it and 6onsed it well; but 
now (alas I for these degenerate days) folk were con¬ 
tent to throw them in bead downwards, and thought 
that they were washed enough with swimming to 
the bank. However, this proceeding was managed 
in a fortnight after the shearing or clipping came 
on; and people were bidden to it from twenty miles 
off or better; but not as they had been fifty years 
ago. Still, if a family possessed a skillful &hearer in 
the person of a son, or if the good wife could fold 
fleeces well and deftly, they were snre of a gay week 
in clipping time, passing from farm to farm in merry 
succession, giving their aid, feasting on the fat of 
the land (‘sweet butter’ amongst other things, and 
much good may it do them !j until they iu their turn 
called upon their neighbors for help. In short, good 
old-fashioned sheep-shearings are carried on much 
in the same sort of way as an Americau Bee. 
“ As soon as the clipping is over, the sheep are 
turned out upon the Fells, where their greatest 
enemy is the lly. The ravens do harm to the young 
lambs in May and June, and the shepherds scale 
the steep gray rocks to take a raven’s nest with 
infinite zest and delight; but uo shepherd can save 
his sheep from the terrible fly —the common flesh 
fly—which burrows in the poor animal, and lays its 
obscene eggs, and the maggots eat it up alive. To 
obviate this as much as ever they can, the shep¬ 
herds go up on the Fells about twice a week in 
summer time, and, sending out their faithful dogs, 
collect the sheep Into great circles, the dogs running 
on the. outside and keeping them in. The quick-eyed 
shepherd stands in the midst, and, if a sheep make 
an effort to scratch herself, the dog is summoned, 
and the infected sheep brought up to be examined, 
the piece cut out, and salved. But, notwithstand¬ 
ing this, in some summers scores of sheep are killed 
in this way: thundery and close weather is pecul¬ 
iarly productive of this plague. The next operation 
which the shepherd has to attend to is about the 
middle or end of October, when the sheep are 
brought down to be salved, and an extra man is 
usually hired ou the farm for this week. But it is 
no feasting or merry-making time like a clipping. 
Sober business reigns. The men sit astride on their 
benches and hcBmear the poor helpless beast with 
a mixture of tar and bad butter, or coarse grease, 
which is supposed to promote the growth and fine¬ 
ness of the wool, by preventing skin diseases of all 
kinds, such as would leave a patch bare. The mark 
of ownership is renewed with additional tar and rad¬ 
dle, and they are sent up once more to their breezy 
1 walk,' where the winter winds begin to pipe and 
to blow, and to call away their brethren from the 
icy North. Once a week the shepherdB go up and 
scour the Fells, looking over the sheep, and seeing 
how the herbage la6ts. And this is the dangerous 
and wild time for the shepherds. The snows and 
the mists (more to he dreaded even than snow) may 
come on; aud there is no lack of tales, about the 
Christmas hearth, of men who have gone up to the 
wild and desolate Fells and have never been seen 
more, but whose voices are yet heard calling on 
their dog6, or uttering fierce despairing cries for 
Potato Bugs.— C., Hlinols, closes a business note by 
au allusion to potato flies and bugs. He writes:—"I 
dissent from an opinion recently expressed in the Rural 
that the potato fly mentioned in it and the Vaetnn bug 
are identical. The old or former bag was nearly round. 
A bug or fly has made Its appearance this year which an¬ 
swers to yotn description.^ They not only cat potato 
vines, but nearly everything in their range, They have 
proved destructive to many acres of potatoes.” 
D. D. VoBRURon, Columbus, Wis., sends us a box con¬ 
taining the Colorado potato bng iu various stages of de¬ 
velopment. The scamps were alive and crawling when 
we opened it, aud no doubt would have been much 
pleased had they been Introduced to a potato field. 
There is some danger in thus sending these bugs into 
regions hitherto unvtsited by them. We are about as 
familiar with them as we wish to be. Mr. V. says :—"If 
yon or any scientific man wants to propagate them I can 
send yon a bushel." Thank you, but we .decline. We 
have been very careful that none of the few rascals in the 
box escaped, and we should not like to be responsible 
for a bushel. 
Time of Feeding: if* 
An ox, turned into a luxuriant pasture, will fill 
himself “ chock-a-bl^ak" in about twenty minutes. 
a b .r;<» won'il . i ver au (urnr {.o reach the 
same result. The Ifct merely accumulates fodder 
for after masticasu^fcr grinding; the last finishes 
the process as he Wes along. The ox wants the 
most time and thefkorse the greatest amount of 
daily food. \ _ 
Prolificacy of Weeds. 
Remarking on the productive power of weeds, 
Dr. Lindlev assumes, as a low average, the follow¬ 
ing number of seeds from each of the following 
plants: 
1 plant of Groundsel produces. 2.0S0 seeds. 
1 “ Dandelion “ 2,740 “ 
1 “ Sow Thistle “ 11,040 “ 
1 “ Sparge “ 540 “ 
Here then is a good chance for the growth of 16,- 
400 plant&, or enough to cover three acres and a 
half at three feet apart! 
Oct. 20—23 
From Vermont.— J. W. Sanborn, Lyndon, Yt., writes 
ns that the hay crop in that State is regarded as one of 
the beet made in years. It was secured in good order. 
During the hot term in July the thermometer ranged in 
the shade from 100’ to 110’, and in the eun as high as 
1:30", It being the hottest weather ever known in that 
State. Many deaths resulted from sun stroke. This hot 
term was followed by showers with intense lightning, 
heavy hall and a tornado, which in some instances de¬ 
molished bams and fences and damaged the growing 
crops. Luckily, these storms were quite limited in their 
range. 
,,... Sept. 8—11 
.Sept, hi—IS 
.Oct. 13—1C 
.Sept. 23-26 
Sept. 211—Oct. 2 
Sept. 80—Oct. 2 
.Sept. S—10 
...Sept. 22—24 
Sept. 23—Oct. 1 
.Sept. 15—18 
.Oct. 6— 9 
.Sept, 15-13 
.Sept. 15—18 
Assailed by Bees. 
The Fort Byron N. Y, Times states that Abra¬ 
ham Grbtchess of that place, while hiving a swarm 
of bees recently, was severely stung by them. From 
some cause, not explainable, the bees, while being 
housed, got exasperated and assailed the party with 
great venom. They got under the head-6creen aud 
covered the operative’s face stinging him severely. 
But for the interposition of the man’s son it is sup¬ 
posed the assault would have proved fatal. These 
freaks are rare bat their occasional occurrence 
should dissuade those to whom bees do not take 
kindly, from atteopting to handle them without 
previously fumigating the swarms sufficiently to 
keep them quiet daring the operation. 
Todd’s Country Homes.— This is the title of a 12mo. 
work of over live hundred pages, written and published 
by S. Edwards Todd of New York city. It professes 
also to teach how to save money to buy a home, how to 
bulla neat and cheap cottages, aud how to gain an inde¬ 
pendent fortune before old age comes on. In addition it 
contains a description of the agricultural and horticul¬ 
tural advantages of New Jersey, and quite an extensive 
business directory. It is illustrated, anil the practical 
information thus conveyed can hardly fail, in any case, to 
make the book a profitable investment to farmers ‘and 
mechanics. 
.Sept. 22—25 
Sept. 30—Oct. 2 
_Sept. 8—11 
-Sept. 22-26 
Sept. 30—Get. 3 
Sept. 28—Oct. 2 
.Sept. 22 
.Oct. 20-25 
.Sept. 28-25 
.Sept. 14—18 
.Sept. 21-27 
.Sept. 24-26 
.Oct. 5—10 
Sept. 20—Oct. 2 
.Oct. 4- 7 
lorence 
A Plea for Snakes. 
A writer in thf Dixie Fanner enters a plea for 
the snakes, based cu the assumption that most of 
them are harmless—not being poisonous—and de¬ 
sirable aids in the distraction of various insects aud 
reptiles which prej on the farmer’s labors. The 
&nake is especially wmmeuded for his skill in nab¬ 
bing grasshoppers aud swallowing the loathsome 
toad, hut nothing t said of the birds he bolts. A 
toad is not an agreeable object to the sight, we 
admit, yet, uncou'h and ugly as he is, we prefer his 
company to the Aiding form and glistening eye of 
the most harmless of the snake family. Harmless 
or not, we rarely see a snake without Ihiuking about 
a head smashing, ind not unfroquently the thought 
is father to the act. Get away, snakes! 
Production Extraordinary— 1 The editor of the Mil¬ 
waukee Sentinel mentions having seen an oat plant, from 
a single seed, which produced eleven heads of oats, with 
an aggregate of 700 grains. These oats were from the 
field of G. n. Lambeuton, a conspicuous farmer in that 
region. The seed was from Norway, a peck of which 
was sown, with a yield at the rate of 150 bushels to the 
acre. This statement may be all right, but the rutio Of 
product to ground and seed is eo in excess of anything In 
our experience in the oat line that we confess to a feeling 
of incredulity in regard to it. 
.Oct. 6—0 
....Sept. 8—11 
-Aug. 26—ill 
.Sept. 1— 4 
Sept. 30—Oct. 4 
.Aug. 26—28 
Sept. 20-Oct. 1 
.Oct. 6-10 
.Sept. 0—11 
.Aug. 11—14 
.Sept. 5— 7 
.Sept. 1— 5 
.....Aug. 26—30 
.Oct. 6— 9 
.Sept, 1— 4 
.Sept. 15-10 
.Sept. 15-18 
.... Aug. 25—26 
Sept. 20—Oct. 2 
Sept. 29—Oct. 2 
.. .Aug. 18 
Wheat in Virginia.—W. R. G., Cleek’s Mills, Bath 
Co., Ya., Aug. 10th, writes:—" The wheat crop in this 
section is very good, and gathered in excellent condition. 
Oats and rye are an average crop, and grase, our most 
important crop In this stock raising country, is rather 
above an average. The fruit crop is a small one.” 
A Word for Young Folks. 
Taking for a text that, “ All work and no play 
makes Jack a dull boy,” the editor of the Rural 
World makes a p|ea in behalf of the young folks on 
the farm. He tlinks it would tend to their im¬ 
provement, phvdcally and mentally, if specified 
portions of the w«ek were set apart for recreation, 
but, if this is deeded “too much of a good thing” 
they should at lead, have a week during Fair times 
for ranging among Lbe commodities exhibited, and 
for repose after thcjexcitemeut of the show is over. 
Regulated exemptifris, at suitable periods, from the 
toils of the farm, afe no doubt of a beneficial ten¬ 
dency and, to cmttace in these such Fairs as are 
readily accessible, vould seem to be a judicious ar¬ 
rangement. In thfc way the young people would 
be enabled to comtine pleasure with profit—profit, 
in examining the toproyements in stock, in farm 
and household i4plements, and pleasure in ex¬ 
changing greetings with old acquaintances and in 
forming new one4 It is this occasional social 
attention which gites a zest to farm life and imparts 
new vigor for the performance of its duties. 
Curious Hop Leap. —A. H., Siloam, Madison Co., 
N. Y., is informed that his hop sample, a curiosity in its 
way, has been submitted to the inspection ol' a compe¬ 
tent botanist, who says it is nothing but an uncommonly 
well developed male hop. 
Grass Sample.— L. C. Waters, Garretteville, O., sends 
a sample of grass found on his premises not before seen 
in that section. It Is the Pungent meadow grass, (Era- 
grasliv Poesoide$< var Mtgaslachyae,) and of questionable 
value as a forage plant. 
Earlt Rose Potato.— We are indebted to Mr. J. C. 
Dorsey, Geneva, for fine samples of the above variety. 
We have found the "Early Rose” of fine quality for eat¬ 
ing, and in other respects it is certainly very promising. 
Insects.— We have received Part II. of Dr. Packard’s 
Guide to the Study of Insects, printed at Salem, Mass. 
It is liberally illustrated, and is a valuable contribution 
to entomological science. 
