in spring, becoming vigorous, and thicken¬ 
ing into a dense, close sward. 
There is no doubt that the time has come 
when the grass lauds in old dairy districts 
can be greatly benefited by the tise of bones. 
The quantity of phosphates that have been 
removed from soils long employed in dairy¬ 
ing must be very large. When in Europe 
in 1800 we had an interview with Prof. 
Voklcker, who has made so many analyses 
of milk. In his laboratory the different 
constituents in a quart of milk are separated 
in bottles. One bottle contains the oil, 
another the casein, another the phosphates— 
the milk, sugar, &c., <£■'. The quantity of 
phosphates in a quart of milk is by no means 
infinitesimal, but if placed in the hand would 
surprise most dairy farmers on account of 
its bulk. If we consider for a moment the 
large number of such handfuls that are taken 
from.dairy pastures in milk every year and 
never returned, and in addition the bone 
material required in the young calf, it must 
be evident that some soils at least must be 
deteriorating in this element. 
The doctor remarked while showing the 
bottle containing the phosphates, that they 
were really the manures upon which the 
finer and more nutritious grasses feed, and 
that the best results nearly always follow 
from their application upon old dairy farms. 
There is an immense waste of bones in 
America. In England they are husbanded, 
and imported from America and other coun¬ 
tries, and largely used. The views of Dr. 
Voelcker correspond with our own obser¬ 
vations and experience in regard to old pas¬ 
tures, if properly kept up in fertility, being 
Bowman k Co., were the most prominent ex¬ 
hibitors. Their display of silver plated and 
Britannia ware and cutlery was very flue. A now- 
tiling, enameled or porcelain fined tea and coffee 
pots, seemed to commend themselves to every 
housekeeper. A model of a steam locomotive 
marie by Louis Carter, (coloredj with a Jack 
knife and a 3aw made from an old table knife, 
fliis only tools,) excited considerable attention. 
A Steam Road Engino was on the grounds on 
Thursday, and was run around the track, carry¬ 
ing some dozen inen and boys. Altogether, the 
Fair was a mo9t successful one. Fully 20,000 
persons passed the gates on Thursday, besides a 
great number of carriage entries, n. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. It., EDITOR, 
Of J.IT+ls KitM, IDbkimkh CoirxTY, N«w Yu*w 
ILLINOIS STATE FAIR 
Decatur, III., Sept. 20, ISO!). 
Tiie IllinoisState Fair, which commenced here 
on Monday, promises to bi a decided success. 
The weather is delightful—just that soft, balmy 
atmosphere that makes out-door fife highly en¬ 
joyable. Tho fair grounds are located about a 
mile from the city, and are well chosen ; indeed 
they are said to be as fine, all things considered, 
ns at any point in the State where the fairs have 
been liojd. Tiny embrace some forty acres, 
with a good track, commodious buildings, ex¬ 
tensive stalls for live stock, and what Is of con¬ 
siderable importance at exhibitions of this kind, 
an abundance of pure spring water. A portion 
i of the grounds above the track Is slightly undu¬ 
lating and thinly set with trees, which afford a 
grateful shade, and yet give no serious incon¬ 
venience to the display of tho farm machinery 
and implements. Which are placed on this part 
or the grounds, Monday and Tuesday were en¬ 
try days, and comparatively low people were 
ort the grounds; but to-day, Wednesday, the 
grounds have been quite well filled. 
The (.'attic Department. 
The strong points of the show, ns might bo ex- 
peeled, arc Stock and Farm Machinery. The 
Bhow of Short-Horns is large and excellent. The 
loading herds In the State are well represented. 
J. N. Brown's Sons exhibit, thirteen head ; Dun¬ 
can of McLean county, twenty-one; Pickerel of 
Macon county, twenty head, including tho re- 
ceuily imported bull, “Baron Booth;'* Rybum 
of Champaign has ton head on exhibition ; John 
It. Spears of Menard county, sixteen head; John 
(J. Taylor of Macon county, nine head; San¬ 
dusky of Vermilion county, four head; and J. 
L. Martin of Union Village, Ohio, Tour or five 
head. We have neither time nor space to enu- 
mornto further, but may refer hereafter to par¬ 
ticular animals. It will tie proper to say, how¬ 
ever, that Illinois may well be proud of this 
large and splendid display of a breed, of all 
others it would .seern, the best adapted to the 
rich, level pastures of the State. Of tho other 
breeds the show is meager. There arc a few 
Devon* on the grounds, but so far as we have 
In other llior- 
IMPROVING GRASS LANDS 
The grass crop is, without doubt, one of 
the most, if not the most, important of any 
known to agriculture. It is the basis for all 
successful farming. It is the natural food of 
our most useful animate, and without grass 
we should soon have no stock, no manures, 
and scarcely any cultivated crop. Tho 
money value of the grass crop in the United 
States is immense. Lewis F. Allen, in his 
work on American cattle, estimates the 
number of neat cattle in the States and Ter¬ 
ritories, in 1867, at 28,146,240 head, and puts 
their value at a thousand millions of dollars. 
That is only one item that may l>e credited 
to grass; for if we add the annual product 
of the ten millions of milch cows, together 
with the horses and tho sheep and wool of 
the country, we shall begin to appreciate 
how much (lie nation owes to grass for its 
prosperity and wealth. But to dairy farm¬ 
ers, who owe so much to this crop, and 
which, if it failed hut for a single season, 
wide-spread ruin would stalk abroad, its im¬ 
portance need not further be discussed. 
The great question with dairy farmers to¬ 
day and at all times, should be in what way 
can grass be best made to thrive and pro¬ 
duce abundantly. 
Tho question is a very broad one, and we 
shall have space only to make note of a few* 
points. 
In the old dairy districts of New York we 
have been cropping notv near sixty years, 
and from inattention to pastures many farms 
are deteriorating. The fact cannot be cov¬ 
ered up, even though the price, of land lias 
advanced in these districts from forty dollars 
to one hundred and fifty dollars and two 
hundred dollars per acre. 
In the first place many pastures are habit¬ 
ually overstocked. By this practice the 
roots of the grass and the whole plant, are 
kept so small that its growth is feeble, and 
not one-half the feed is afforded that, the 
land would produce if stocked lightly a year 
or two ami the grass allowed to get a good 
thrifty start, But this is not the only disad¬ 
vantage from overstocking. Tho feeble 
growth of the grasses allows other plants to 
creep in, and the grounds soon become over¬ 
run with weeds, which, on account of their 
not being cropped by stock, grow in great 
luxuriance, maturing their seed and thus im¬ 
poverishing tho soil. The curse of Ameri¬ 
can dairying to-day is woods. When once 
the}* get full possession they become so for¬ 
midable that t he fanner is often disheartoned 
and gives up their eradication. 
Many farmers have an erroneous notion 
in regard to the destruction of weeds on 
grass lands. The impression prevails that 
tho only way of getting rid of weeds is to 
break up and thoroughly cultivate the 
ground In lioed crops. This is not always 
convenient, or even desirable, for in many 
cases it cannot bo done without breaking up 
the herd or daily, while some uneven sur¬ 
faces oaunot be plowed. There is another 
way of killing weeds, such ns the daisy and 
that class of plants, by the liberal use of ma¬ 
nure and grass seed. We havo eradicated 
white daisy in several instances by simply 
applying farm-yard dung and plaster, and 
strewing the ground with clover. Establish 
your clover upon the soil and feed it until it 
is luxuriant, and it just lays hold of the 
daisy and other weeds and chokes the life 
out of them. 
The question of top-dressing pastures does 
not receive the attention in dairy districts 
that it deserves. Is, is true, plaster is used 
quite extensively in some sections, but this 
is not a manure in the strict sense of the 
word. Plaster stimulates the growth of 
THE GENEVA HORT. SOCIETY, 
Been nothing very meritorious, 
ough-breds, if we except two or throo Alderneys, 
there are none hero. 
The Swine Department. 
The show In Swine is also very large and ex¬ 
cellent, especially in lJcrkshires and Chester 
Whites,—the latter so-called, hut evidently in 
some instances not pure. There is a Rood dis¬ 
play of a breed which appears quite popular 
with ninny hero —a cross of the China and Po¬ 
land. It is said to mature early, fatten easily, 
mid to bo ouo of the most useful of the largo 
breeds. 
The Horse Department. 
There is a splendid show in Horses, the Nor¬ 
man being largely represented. Tho stalls for 
horses occupy ono entire ride of tho grounds, 
and so mr.ny entries have been made that it has 
been found very dilliciilt to supply stalls for 
their aocotBu-odatie’i. 
In Arrtoultin-nl Mnchincry 
the display is pronounced on all sides to be tho 
largest, aud best ever had at tho West, Com¬ 
pared with out- Now York Stnto shows we should 
sny Mint although the variety of devices and ma¬ 
chinery may not bo so large here, yet the display 
in particular classes, such as Plows, Cultivator 
and Planters, and tho like, surpasses anything 
we have had in New York. 
The exhibition of Plows ie really magnificent. 
Reapers uiul Mowers aro here also In groat force, 
nearly all tho leading machines in tiie country 
being represented, together with quite a num¬ 
ber of now devices in this lino, just brought out. 
The show in other departments of the Fair is 
rather weak “ I 
pica out all too nones that are sort, and save 
them lor the next batch, and then pulverize and 
mix the ingredients well together, it makes ono 
of the strongest and best fertilizers lb use and 
when composted with flue manures Is admirable 
for top-dressing grass lauds.’’ 
Wet lands can be improved by drainage. 
In regard to tho construction of drains we 
find the following suggestions in the discus¬ 
sions before the Massachusetts Board of 
Agriculture. Judge French said : 
“It was not necessary to drain land whore 
stagnant water stood more than four feet from 
the surface, but where water stood within two 
and a half foot of tho surface the land was bene¬ 
fited by drainage. A Boil filled with water, be 
said, could not t>o boated downward, and experi¬ 
ments bad shown that ico would remain unlimit¬ 
ed iu tho bottom of a vessel fillod with water 
boiling by tho application of heat to tho surface. 
Uuder-dminod soils were heated by tho warm 
rains sinking into Micro, He would not build 
drains of stones, oven if a supply were found on 
the farm, If ho could get tiles at fifteen to twen¬ 
ty dollars por thousand, for excavations for 
stone drains would roquiro greater labor, and 
they wore liable to fill with mud or silt in soft 
lands. Ho would lay drains at least four feet 
deop, In order to seen re their full benefit In 
heavy rains and place t hem beyond the roach of 
subsoil plows, moles and roots, lu order to 
prevent obstructions drains should have a con¬ 
tinuous fall, which oould be secured by stretch¬ 
ing a line and measuring the depth of each tlio 
from It. There Was no dangor of uniting the 
tilo too closely ; the Joints should not have space 
over a quarter of an Inch, and ground tan bark 
or shavings were u suitable covering for the 
Joints.” 
We do not object to n judicious rotation 
of crops upon dairy farms, but rather to the 
system adopted by many of exhausting the 
land in growing grain crops and then, seed¬ 
ing down to grass, hoping for good returns 
without manures or any further trouble. 
Pastures and meadotv lands arc everywhere 
greatly neglected, and more attention is 
needed to to t -dressings, the eradication of 
weeds, and tho renovation of such lands, 
than generally obtains. 
We shall refer to them hereafter. 
Northwestern Dee Keepers' Association. 
This evening there was a meeting of the 
Northwestern Boo Keepers' Association. The 
Association embraces tlx States-Dlinpis, Iowa, 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri ami Nebraska. 
The officers elected for tlio following year are as 
follows: 
Brcuid/mt— M. L. Drsr.AP of Illinois. 
VtM~PresUlcji to—L. Fruucis, Illinois; E. Gallup, 
Iowa; H. D. Banks, Wisconsin. 
Secretary— M. M. Baldridge ot Illinois. 
Jreagurer —J. M, Mason of Illinois. 
There w*ero, perhaps, a hundred persons pres¬ 
ent, and the discussion, for the most part, was 
on tho subject of marketing honey. The diffi¬ 
culty in the way of sbipplug nml marketing 
honey in the comb has been that tho boxes in 
which li is made arc t rail, tho honey is liable to 
leak out, and great losses are in consequence 
entailed. The liquid honey has not borne u good 
reputation in market on account of its unetean- 
liness, or tho bad inauucr in which It is separated 
front the comb. Somewhat rcooutly a centri¬ 
fugal machine (see current vol. Rural, page 10, 
for illustration and description,) lias been in¬ 
vented for extracting the honey from the comb, 
and front tho statement of persons present who 
had used this prooess, it would appear to have 
been a decided success. The honey, after it is 
separated from the oomb, Is put up in glass jars 
holding from threo to four pounds, and when 
sent to tho consumer Is as perfoot ia flavor as 
honey in tho comb. 
The President, Mr. Dunlap, stated that two- 
thirds of hla honey in frames had been 
[QvnrriQN* to bo FUFwerotl iu Lhli Department, whon accompanied 
by tpaclBHua, aliould be uni Ulr.i tly lo C. V. Kilby, !«1 NorlU 
Main Street, St. Louie, Mo.] 
MISCELLANEOUS MENTION, 
The Cabbage Worm of which so much com¬ 
plaint is mudo In various parts of New England 
Is said by Mr. S. H. Scpdder of the Natural His¬ 
tory Rooms, Boston, to bo Par to mpqj—an Eng¬ 
lish Importation, which is spreading very rap¬ 
idly. He has received It from Northern New 
Jersey, and complaints of Its ravages aro made 
In Maine, Vermont, Now Hampshire and Massa¬ 
chusetts. Mr. Scubbkit says, in the New Eng¬ 
land Farmer, that it produces two broods a year 
—one in May and tho other in J uly. The butter¬ 
flies are of feeble flight, and can be easily taken 
in a scoop net. 
THE QUEENS COUNTY FAIR, 
Trouble with Pismires.— Can you or any of 
your readers tell me how to destroy an army of 
pismires that Infest my peach orchard? Detach¬ 
ments of these creatures are around every tree, 
and havo destroyed several hundred baskets of 
my finest Crawfords and Golden Rareripes. Sul¬ 
phur, salt and ashes seem to have no effect on 
them, and unless I can find something to destroy 
them, they will, next year, take what peaches 
the curculio leave.—J- R. 8., St. Joseph, Mich. 
extract¬ 
ed bv this machine process, put up in jars, and 
sold at thirty coats per pound. The dealer to 
whom the honey goes at Chicago &ays he can 
sell more of the strained honey put up lu this 
way than comb-honey and be (Dunlap) had been 
offered the highest price for his present crop of 
honey if put up in this way. 
Mr. Salisbury said he had no experience in 
putting up strained honey for market, but at 
ludianapolis dealers had told him that strained 
bonoy was worth but forty cents per gallon, 
while honey in the oomb brought thirty cents 
per pound, ne would be glad if a market oould 
bo created for strained honey. Mr. Dunlap and 
others stated that the low price of strained 
honey usually in market came from its inferior 
quality. As soon as the people find out that 
they can got a clean, pure article of strained 
honey, such ns that obtained by using the ma¬ 
chine, strained honey will be preferred to that 
in the comb at the same price. 
The advantages of Alsike Clover as a bee 
pasturage was discussed at some length, after 
which the Society adjourned, fixing the next 
The Recent Deo!»ion of Commissioner Delano 
Is that all sales of factory cheese in excess of 
£•.000 aro subject to taxation. It is a very un¬ 
just ruling, ns the tax was never contemplated 
by Congress, though the loose wording of the 
law allows the Commissioner, by assuming that 
factories arc distinct corporations, to decide in 
fuvor of the tax, The American Dairymen’s 
Association, in January lust, appointed a com¬ 
mittee to wait upon Commissioner Rollins aud 
explain tho nature of tho factory system in re¬ 
gard to this mutter, and tho Commissioner then 
ruled that factory sales of butter and cheese 
were exempt from taxation, precisely the same 
us If manufactured nt the farm dairy. Dairy¬ 
men supposed that this question was fairly put 
to rest, but on tho appointment of the new Com¬ 
missioner, wo find the ruling of Copnnissionor 
Rollins act aside and factories compblled to pay 
the assessments. It is important that there 
8’iould be concerted movement among dairy men 
East and West to have this matter Justly settled. 
A Guide to the Stndv of Insects.—We have 
received the parts of “A Guide to the Study of 
Iusecis, and a Treatise on those Injurious and 
Beneficial to Crops,” by A. S. Packard, Jr. 
This work has been published in ten parts at 
fifty cents each, arid contains over five hundred 
wood engravings and ten plates. It is a care¬ 
fully prepared, interesting and valuable work, 
and ought to be studied by every farmer’s boy 
and girl at home or in school. 
The Army Worm.— GJ?0- HannAMAN, Shelby- 
ville, HI.—Your letter got mislaid, or your in¬ 
quiries would have received earlier attention. 
Write to John P. Reynolds, Secretary of Illi¬ 
nois State Agricultural Society, Springfield, Ill., 
for & copy of the Society's Volume of Transac¬ 
tions for 1861-64, and see pages 469 and 501 for 
information concerning this worm, for which we 
have no space. 
