FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1868 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
foot it is rare for any disease to be developed, but 
when hurried forward by rail and steatu it soon 
manifests itself with great virulence. 
How it is that Texas cattle impart a fatal disease 
to other stock by merely passing through a country 
or roaming over pastures — themselves rarely suffer¬ 
ing from it—is yet a problem to be solved. Of the 
fact itself lucre would seem to be no room for 
question. The rough and hurried manner of trans¬ 
porting these cattle and the cruelties incident to 
the transit are mentioned with suitable reprehension. 
The vast grazing range supplied by Texas and the 
general mildness of its winters, naturally render it 
one of the best stock raising sections of the country, 
and it is to that regiou that the rapidly increasing 
population of the country must look for a large por¬ 
tion of stock to meet the public wants. It is equally 
clear, too, that a change in the system of forwarding 
cattle North is indispensable to a continuance of the 
trade so important to the growers of stock and the 
consumers of it. 
MOOBE’S BUBAL NEW-YORKER, 
AX ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
With a Corps of Able Associates and Contributors 
G. F. WILCOX AND A. A. HOPKINS, Associate Editors, 
Hox, HENRY S. RANDALL, LL. P., 
Editor of tlie Department of Sheep Husbandry. 
Pb. DANIEL LEE, Southern Corresponding Editor. 
HIRAM HUMPHREY and REUBEN D. JONES, 
Assistant and Commercial Editors. 
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AOBHJinUFUBAL 
Bugging Potatoes, 
The process of “hugging” potato fields at the 
West, consists in going over the plantation from 
time to time, shaking off the bugs from the vines 
iuto a pail or pan and then destroying them. This 
was the plan adopted on the farm attached to the 
Madison University, Wisconsin, with complete suc¬ 
cess, at an expeuse of about $5 per acre, A Mr. 
Reynolds, Fond du Lac, recommends, as a bug ex¬ 
terminator, the application of Paris green, — one 
pound with four pounds of dry ashes, sifted and 
well mixed, and applied to the infected vines while 
the dew is on. This was found effective in the ex¬ 
pulsion or destruction of the bugs, on being applied 
twice a week till the leaves became too tough for 
them to feed upon. The mixture produced no in¬ 
jury to the vines. As these bugs may progress east¬ 
ward as far as this State the coming season, it may 
not he amiss to have some settled plan for dealing 
with them in advance of their arrival. That they 
will be here soon, considering the rate of progress 
already made in this direction within two years, 
may be regarded as a fixed fact. 
Many years ago a Yankee from the Valley of the 
Connecticut, bought an improved farm, so-called, 
in a western State. Most of the cleared land had a 
gentle inclination to the east, and along its base 
meandered a brook, or, as it was called there, a 
“ run.” This land had a subsoil of pretty stiff clay. 
The new owner, being desirous of producing his 
own breadstuff, sowed several acres to winter wheat, 
which flourished in autumn fine!}’ and promised au 
exuberant yield at harvest time. In March the 3 now 
went off, the ground was wet, but despite of its dip 
the water did not flow off and siuk through the clay 
subsoil,—it could not. The consequence was that 
between freezing, and thawing, and the lifting of 
anchor ice, the wheat was detached from the soil 
and fully nine-tenths of it killed. 
On making this discovery, the owner said it was 
of no use to farm land where water would not run 
down hill, and proposed to pull up stakes and stick 
them in a section of country where water would 
obey the laws of gravitation. A neighbor advised 
him not to he too precipitate in making a change, 
but to try wheat once more on a few acres prepared 
with under drainage. This was done in a very 
primitive way. Deep furrows were run up and 
down the face of the hill once in about four rods, 
saplings about six inches in diameter placed in the 
trench on each side, and a third placed on top to 
keep them asunder. Hemlock boughs were thrown 
over these and the soil thrown back, making the 
surface as even as before. Three acres were pre¬ 
pared with this rude drainage, which cost but little, 
but its effect ou the succeeding crop of wheat was 
most marked. There was no more throwing out by 
frost; the surface water worked its way out through 
the wooden drains, leaving the soil warm, dry and 
fructifying. The result was a crop of wheat so heavy 
as to make the grain cradle quiver as it was swuug 
through it. In the changed condition of things, 
Crossing breeds of swine has many times been 
attended with the best results, producing stock 
which, for generations, at least, combined the good 
qualities of both breeds, and was superior to cither 
lor general purposes. The most popular and profit¬ 
able breeds of swine in this country are not thor¬ 
ough-bred, but crosses, originating in some locality, 
and, being carefully improved ami disseminated, ac¬ 
quiring a wide reputation. And there is vet auresit. 
the English Sussex and the French Augeron breeds 
is mingled. The original Augeron possessed large 
bone, fine flesh, and attained to great size, but came 
late to maturity. Its faults were corrected by the 
stiain ot Sussex blood. The animal figured above 
weighed eight hundred and forty pounds when four¬ 
teen months old. Its characteristics were white 
color, thick, short neck, medium - sized ears pre- 
jectiug forward; short legs, little hair, and thick, 
well-rounded body. The weight attained at the 
age. of fourteen months, shows early maturity and 
capability for large growth, which are qualities very 
desirable in any breed. 
Can farmers afford to raise tlnT. inmon varieties 
of potatoes ? % , 
“ Minnesota is having real wiffter weather to-day; 
the snow is two inches deep, and the windows on 
the north side of the kitchen are white with frost.” 
Black Kidney Potato. 
L. A. C., Clay, N. Y., writes:—“ With this letter 
I send a small box of potatoes for a name. This is 
an excellent early potato, quite as early as the Early 
Goodrich, and I think several days earlier. It re¬ 
quires good, rich soil, when the potatoes grow long 
and large; the genera! habit is rather kidney-shaped, 
growing tew in a hill and all in a cluster; arc quite 
a blackish purple when first dug; meat white and 
of an excellent quality; good all times of year. The 
seed came trom Pickaway Co., Ohio, to Fulton Co., 
Ohio, thence to this place, about 19 years ago.” 
We think we have correctly named It above. -It 
may be known under different names in different 
localities. There are several hundred varieties in 
the country, including a great many seedlings with¬ 
out anj name, and it would be well worth the while 
to describe and identify them, as is done with onr 
fruits. 
uncut and nncared for! Millions of acres that yi«kl 
from half a ton to three ton3 per acre, and that is 
about as good as New York meadows will do, are 
giving back to the winds and the soil the banquet 
that nobody will accept. 
Near the Missouri River com of the southern 
variety leads the cultivated crops, averaging forty 
to fifty bushels per acre, and growing eight or ten 
feet high. The first crop, planted on the sod, is 
frequently light. The first breaking is about three 
inches deep. 
Wheat, the great prop of human life, the main 
substance that men are made of, the only indispensa¬ 
ble thing, is just what Nebraska was fitted and fash¬ 
ioned for prodneing. Its climate, frequently too 
dry lor other crops, brings wheat to great perfec¬ 
tion. A miller of large experience assures me that 
the finer varieties deteriorate in many of the States, 
but in Nebraska preserve their peculiar excellence. 
By a judicious use of fertilizers and by plowing in 
grass or some green crop, I think Nebraska may 
maintain its present, position as the head of all 
wheat growing sections. Its average yield is 
greater per acre than any other State, of this Union. 
Nebraska is scarce of rain water, a bad thing for 
grass, potatoes and com, but as it allows a good 
crop of wheat, and excellent weather for farm 
Eds. Rural 
A brother farmer in Wisconsin 
wishes you to tell him what will kill Canada 
thistles, and as he promises to become a life mem¬ 
ber of the Rural Brigade, I thought perhaps I 
might aid him a little in carrying out his promise, 
by contributing my mite of experience with the 
prickly pest, though really when reading his in¬ 
quiry I thought of the prophet’s role. 
Well, sir, sixty-five years ago, when I was a 
young man, living on the banks of the Tweed, 
thistles were all over the adjacent country. When 
I left, forty years ago, one might have gone from 
the head of the town to the foot, and never have 
found a thistle. This effect was produced wholly 
by sowing turnips, and bare fallow, every four years. 
1 had a field a number of years since, seeded from 
an old rocky pasture, and covered with a complete 
mat of thistles. I tallowed and plowed it four times 
over, and sowed in the spring with half a bushel of 
timothy and three pounds of clover to the acre, 
and for the seven years thereafter this field lay in 
meadow I frequently looked for thistles. In this 
whole period I found just one. 
I hold bore fallowing to be fifty per cent, profit 
to any farmer, and I will tell you why I think so. 
A number of years ago we had a very dry season 
here—hay crop very light—and I had fallowed 
twelve acres, at say three or four acres at a time, 
and from that twelve acres I took thirty tons of 
hay. One rig in the same field bad never been fal¬ 
lowed, and when, in haying, I came to that, the 
grass was both short and light, as was the entire 
hay crop of my neighbors. Now, sir, what has 
been done by man can be done by man again, so 
yonr Wisconsin member need not be compelled to 
sit at his window and sec how beautifully his thistle 
crop is growing. He will find fallowing, diligently 
pursued, to be a panacea for his thistle Uls. 
I expect this will be the last I will ever send you, 
for I am a good way beyond “ three score and ten,” 
and my hand is getting most too unsteady to write 
plainly. David Hill. 
Gouvernenr, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., Oct., 1868. 
“ Pray where is Nebraska?” exclaimed John Van 
Blren, when some one accused him of conniving 
at the introduction of slavery into that territory. 
It is on the same parallel with Pennsylvania and 
Southern New York. The Missouri River takes the 
pains to come all the way from our northern bor¬ 
ders along the British possessions, over three thou¬ 
sand miles, through much miserable country, and 
many hostile Indian tribes, 
boundary for Nebraska 
We have received a pamphlet copy of the Report 
of the Commission appointed to examine the Texas 
cattle disease. One conclusion arrived at is that the 
disease is like or identical with that known in the 
old world as 11 Black Water; ” hence it is proposed 
to denominate this as “ Splecnie Fever, or Black 
Water of Texas.” 
The ordinary symptoms are high fever, pulse run¬ 
ning from 60 to 120 per minute; breathing often 
labored, and generally frequent; loss of appetite; 
in cows the almost entire suspeusiou of the milk se¬ 
cretions ; head drooping, when standing, and, when 
lying, thenose thrust hard upon the ground,—some¬ 
times turned back over the side, and pressed against 
it; the ears drooping, hack arched, flank hollow, 
hind legs drawn up under the body; frequent knuck¬ 
ling over of the hind fetlocks; disposed to lie down 
and get up again, which is done with difficulty. 
When made to move, it is often with a staggering, 
unsteady gait. The coat becomes rough. At times, 
frequent twitching of the muscles appear about the 
shoulders and other parts of the bod}. 
A post mortem examination of cattle, dying from 
this lever, shows almost uniformly a healthy con¬ 
dition of the first three stomachs, especially of the 
third; but the fourth one is intensely congested at 
its upper end, and in nearly all, erosions ol the 
lining membrane.’ Generally the intestines are 
congested and blood stained in the whole extent. 
The gall-bladder, and liver are more or less affected, 
the spleen greatly enlarged, of a dark color and 
structure broken up. The kidneys exhibit the same 
general aspect. 
The Committee do not seem to have passed spe¬ 
cially upon the cause of the disease or its manner of 
being imparted to native stock; but V. T. Chilton 
of Smith City, Mo., who has had much experience 
in the matter, would seem to refer it to climatie 
change. If the cattle are sent North leisurely on 
’, to make an eastern 
with Kansas south, Dako¬ 
ta* 1 north, Wyoming and Colorado territories west, 
it makes out to be thoroughly bounded. 
Like some other people, Nebraska has too much 
land. Its west end is a damage tu it—too high and 
dry for profitable agriculture; the. State would do 
well to bargain for Wyoming and Colorado, that 
haven’t much reputation to lost to take her poor 
land off her hands. 
The soil of Central and Eastern Nebraska is un¬ 
surpassed and unsurpassable. Clay, sand, vegeta¬ 
ble mold, and all essential elements, are so harmo¬ 
niously blended as to produce a soil light, friable, 
free from lumps and stones, dark colored, easily 
worked, and eminently productive. The finest 
garden mold in the State of New' York is not a whit 
better than the average of Nebraska soil. I advise 
my friends, Ellwasoer & Barry, of the Mt. Hope 
Nurseries, to import a car load of it to grow their 
most delicate plants in. Take no precautions— 
send your order to any postmaster, and tell him to 
dig the first dirt he comes to aud send it along. I 
will guarantee the quality—probably any Congress¬ 
man would frank it “ Public Doeumeuts” if you 
will send his wife occasionally a bouquet of your 
fine flowers. 
Some of the river bottoms have a sandy aud 
porous subsoil, generally the subsoil is clay, but 
not too retentive of moisture. Hard rains do not 
subject Nebraska fanners to vexatious delays ; they 
can soon go out without louding their boots with 
mud, aud start their plow's without the furrows 
filling with water, after the u hard pan ” style. As 
in other portions of the West, they get several 
weeks the start of New-Yorkers in sowing their 
spring crops—a very material advantage where life 
Kecesa In Cellar Walls. 
L. D. Snook, Yates Co., N. Y., writes:—“The 
keeping clean, cool, and out of the reach of vermin, 
butter, cake, bread, canned fruits, and other articles 
that are usually kept in a cellar, is an object much 
desired, yet obtained by but few. A cheap, clean 
and permanent receptacle for the preservation of 
the articles mentioned is shown in the accompany¬ 
ing sketch. It is simply a recess left in the cellar 
wall when building the same, or it may he con¬ 
structed afterwards. It Is about three feet from 
the cellar bottom, and of the following dimensions : 
Two tcet in length, fourteen inches in depth, and 
one foot in height. The bottom should be con¬ 
structed of stone or brick; the top, in.absence of 
stone of the desired 6ize, can be made of two-inch 
well seasoned oak plank. Often from three to six 
are built in one cellar wall. In constructing them, 
use judgment and get them in the most convenient 
places, saving much time in traveling to and fro.” 
vandal cruelty to other aud eastward conquests. 
Whether they will be a perpetual scourge xo 
Nebraska—whether they will continue their journey 
eastward, are problems for the future: they arc not 
fond of water; perhaps our moister soil and climate 
may be distasteful to them. The Scriptures do not 
convey the idea that the world was made for grass¬ 
hoppers—so we will hope. 
Excepting a border along her water courses, 
Nebraska is treeless; she needs timber. Good luck 
to her—she can grow it. Cuttings of cotton wood, 
seeds of soil maple planted in June, black walnuts 
covered three or four inches deep in the fall, grow 
with surprising rapidity. Very many farmers have 
planted small groves near their dwellings, but they 
don’t begin to realize the vast importance of the 
timber question. One-third of all Nebraska should 
forthwith be planted to forest trees. There is some 
mistake in the making up of any country without 
trees—it needs mending; but. I am not sure but it 
is easier to supply forests where you waut them than 
to remove them from where you don’t want them. 
1 saw ou John J. Paynter’s farm, near Plattsmouth, 
fifty thousand black waluuts, u year old, growing 
finely; he expected to plant as many more this fall. 
I predict that Nebraska will grow timber, and man¬ 
ufacture lumber for the New York markets! No 
crop will pay her as well. By plowing two-thirds 
of her surface, and planting the other third to trees, 
she will grow more grain and grass than by culti¬ 
vating the whole. Trees are earth’s great regula¬ 
tors; breaking the force of austere winds, making 
the dry air salubrious, distilling gentie showers, 
keeping the rivulets alive throughout summer'6 
heat, transforming the parched desert into fruitful 
fields. 
is prairie grass, Good water is generally obtained by digging a lair 
A correspondent, New York city, writes:—“I 
wish to keep a cow for family use, hut have no pas¬ 
ture land. Could I keep her in a stable all the year 
round without affecting her health or milk? 
Many cows are kept In the stable the year round— 
that is, they are not idlowed pasturage, hut should 
have a chance to sun themselves in the open air daily, 
if practicable. With suitable food, varying with the 
season, the health ot the cow might be kept good, 
and this would assure the healthfulnees of the milk. 
There is a considerable drawback to the advantage of 
keeping a cow in a compactly built city, even where 
barn room is not wanting—the constant faultfinding 
of neighbors, especially in the warm season. As to 
breeds, for milking purposes, there is not much to 
choose between the Durham, Ayrshire and Devon. 
The Alderney’s, considering the cost of animals 
and their keeping, are probably as profitable as any. 
Potato Growing in Minnesota. 
H. YV. Crane, Freedom, Waseca Co., Minnesota, 
writes us under date of Nov. 11th as follows :—>• 1 
purchased, last spring, four pounds each of the 
Early Goodrich, Harison, Gleason, and Cuzcos, I 
cut them into single eyes and planted them in drills 
01 3ia apart, putting one eye every 18 inches in 
the drill, with the following results: From the 
Early Goodrich I harvested 10ft bushels ; from the 
Harison 22ft bushels; from the Gleason 9ft bush¬ 
els ; from theCuzcos ‘27ft bushels, making 76 bush¬ 
els from 16 pounds of seed. TheCuzcos had been 
chilled so only about one-halt of them grew,—but 
those that did grow yielded equal to the Harison. 
From 19 eyes of the Harison I raised 2 bushels of 
potatoes, producing at the rate of 8219 bushels to the 
acre. If any one can beat that, Ictus hear from him. 
The Turf, Field & Farm closes an article about 
the Texas cattle disease by saying, with much perti¬ 
nence, that “ the theory that an animal can remain 
healthy, and infect others in sound health with a 
deadly malady, is not plausible, tu say the least.” 
^ - r * 
tr ^. r h 
