Mr. Simpson —Then let. it he:—Smallness 
of size, 25; color, 20; shape of head and 
neck, 10; shape of body and wings, 15; 
shape of tail, 10 ; shape of thighs, legs and 
toes, 10; condition, 10; total, 100. 
Mr. Halstead—'T hai reads very well. 
The President— 1 think that is about 
the thing. 
The above scale of points was adopted. 
The President—N ow about the 
IliMiiui 1 1 flrn I Ion* of Game Itantnins, 
Mr. Lockwood— I would leave that about 
as it is. 
Mr. Simpson —I find it is rather bard to 
get anybody to agree to a scale any lighter 
than the weights set down here. 
Mr. Lockwood —Then yon think the dis¬ 
qualifications are about as they should be? 
Mr. Simpson—Y es; 1 think we can’t bet¬ 
ter them. 
''I'iiio President— How would it do to put 
in then!, combs oilier than single? 
Mr. Halstead—I think that is a good 
idea, for this reason- 
The President —I have seen th6m on ox- 
bibilion double sometimes. 
Mr. Halstead— There was one in the ex¬ 
hibition flt hich had a double comb trim¬ 
med, and it looked ns if it was a cross from 
a Black African. I think that was done for 
size. They bred down from a small Black 
African. 
Tiie President—T hen we will put in,— 
“ Combs other limn single.” 
Mr. Simpson—D o you think it is necessary 
to say anything about feathers on the legs ? 
Mr. Halstead —I have never seen them 
on a Game Bantam yet. Any judge, it 
seems to me, would rule them out. 
Mr. Simpson— 1 have seen very fine speci¬ 
mens of Bantams with feathers on the legs. 
Traveling .Tinlana. 
Thf. President—I think we must, ar¬ 
range to have traveling judges; and if that 
can lie done everything will be harmonized. 
All of us have men in our minds whom we 
M ould be ready to pin outr faith to. and we 
should have confidence in their ability and 
probity. 
Sebright Bantam*. 
Tnc President —Now we come to Sc- 
bright Bantams, and suggestions are in order. 
Is it llfccessary to change anything on Se¬ 
bright Bantams, with tiie exception of the 
scale of points? 
Mr. Simpson— I don’t see that the scale 
of points wants any alteration. But the 
disqualifications want a change. 
The President—S uppose we give, first, 
the seven conditions which are points in 
Sobrigilts. I notice that plumage is the 
most prominent tiling. Will you suggest 
proper numerals to put against the points? 
Col. Weld—W e will follow as closely as 
possible the English. 
Mr. Simpson—I have put down for 
Points in tSolirlKlitn, 
Plumage most evenly and distinctly bred 
throughout, 80; purity of ground color in 
Silver, and richness and dearness of ground 
color in Golden, 15; comb, 10; tail, 6; 
smallness, 80; symmetry, 10; condition, and 
general appearance, 10. 
Mr IIale —It seems to me that you have 
hardly got enough on comb. 
The President—I would give 5 more to 
plumage and 5 oft - front comb. 
Mr. Hale—W hat buys you got purity of 
ground color? 
Mr. Simpson —15. 
Mr. IIale— You can’t take any off from 
that. 
Mr, Lockwood —Smallness of size you 
allow less'to than on the other. According 
to ibis, you have only got it to 20, and on 
the other it was 25. 
The President—T here is another point 
that comes in here, with regard to plumage. 
Mr. Simpson —The first two points are 
nearly 50, and the others must bo reduced. 
They are tire most important points. 
Tiie President— Suppose we pat plum¬ 
age 25 mid purity of ground color 20, and 
put in the disqualifications combs imper¬ 
fect or oilier Ilian double. Put the first 25 
and tbe next 20. Tlioso two qualifications 
are pretty Uniformly associated, and taking 
them together, it seems to me that—does 
that please you ? 
Mr. Simpson —Yes. 
The President—T hen the scale will be: 
Points o! Sebriifliin. 
Plumage most, evenly and distinctly laced 
throughout. 25; purity of ground color in 
Silver, an 1 richness and clearness of ground 
Color in Golden, 20; comb, 10; tail, 5; small¬ 
ness. 20, symmetry, 10; condition, 10; to¬ 
tal, 100. 
Di*<iiialiflcattons of Scbrtghta, 
The President—Now the disqualifica¬ 
tions. Have you any criticisms on those 
weights ? 
Mr. Simpson —Here it is, “ cocks weigh¬ 
ing more than 20 ounces; hens morn than 
18 ounces.” I think the weights ought to be 
made, on the same scale as the Bantams. 
Mr. Halstead —T think the Game Ban¬ 
tams should he smaller, and I would put the 
Game Bantams down to the Sebrigbls. 
Mr. Simpson — The Game Bantams, I 
think, are well enough as they are. 
Tiie President—T hen increase this to 
24 and 20. 
Col. Weld—T wenty-four ounces, do you 
mean ? 1 should hate to have it said that 
wo reduced the English standard, and ad¬ 
mit ted that we could not breed up to it. 
Mr. Halstead —We would better reduce 
it than to have it a dead letter. 
Mr. Simpson—Y ou can’t get Sob rights but, 
what, are disqualified, according to this. 
The President—I think the Sebrights, 
when brought to this country, partake of the 
climatic influences nud grow larger. Then 
we shall have‘‘cocks weighing more than 
24 ounces: liens more than 20 ounces.” 
Shall we sav that “ combs other than dou¬ 
ble” are a disqualification? 
Mr. Halstead —Ollier than rose. 
Tiie President —We will accept that 
emendation or change. 
Mr. Si mi--mx—“L egs of any other color 
than shitey blue.” 
Mr. Halstead — That is right.—[To be 
continued. 
would be difficult to convince many who 
are using it that the fence is not cheaper, 
stronger and more durable than any ordinary 
farm fence. The branch of the Susquehanna 
Railroad, from Cobleskill to Cherry Valley, 
inclosed with this fence in 1869 nearly 
twenty miles, and in 1870, after the “first 
winter,” (the wires holding the pickets 
firmly) put up over twenty miles more. 
Now engineers and practical mechanics are 
very good judges of what is requisite to 
make a permanent fence; and railroad man¬ 
agers will not permit tens of thousands of 
dollars to be expended upon a worthless 
fence—hence you may not have seen this 
kind. 
In the ordinary wire fence the strands arc 
broken by contraction, unless some device is 
used to lessen the tension in extreme cold 
weather; hut, when pickets are woven in, it 
is never broken from tiiat, cause, for the 
reason that the contraction of the picket is 
sufficient to allow for the contraction of the 
wire—a half inch to the rod. No. 9 wire is 
capable of sustaining a weight of about 
2,800 pounds, and four of them would very 
much exceed the strength of any ordinary 
picket rail; then if posts are set fourteen or 
sixteen feet apart, and rived or split timber 
can be used in its construction, it would 
seem you should rather encourage the use 
than otherwise. A. Todd, Jr. 
Pultueyvllle, N. Y. 
It is proper to say that we did not refer 
to, had no thought of, and never saw the 
kind of fence to which Mr. Todd alludes, 
when we wrote our answer to H. Fulton, 
in Rural New-Yorker of April 1. We re¬ 
ferred to that sort of field fence where posts 
are set at long intervals, and the intermediate 
spaces of wire supported by pickets driven 
into tiie ground, and through which the 
wires pass. We have seen many miles of 
such fence, and after the first season the 
pickets are thrown out of the ground by 
frost, and are a weight upon instead of a 
support of the wire. The pickets thus used 
as a substitute for well-set posts are a miser¬ 
able make-sluft ; and wire fence has been 
condemned more because of the uselessness 
of fences so made than from any other cause. 
One constructed as we recommended—pro¬ 
vided the wires are not strained too much— 
will stand the expansion and contraction of 
beat and cold without damage. 
sunflower seed. The product per acre will 
vary widely; in some instances fifty bushels 
of seed have been produced, yielding fifty 
gallons of oil and over a thousand pounds of 
oil cake. When the object of culture is the 
production of seed, the plants must be al¬ 
lowed to arrive nearly at maturity before 
cutting, although at this time a portion of 
the fodder will be saved. 
arm mmQm# 
SOWING OLD WHEAT, 
SELLING BY WEIGHT. 
The selling of all kinds of farm produce 
by weight has recently engaged the atten¬ 
tion of many to a considerable extent. Both 
producer and consumer begin to feel that 
greater satisfaction would be derived from 
such a system than from the miserable plan 
of measuring or counting. Some of our law¬ 
making bodies also have directed their at¬ 
tention to it, though as yet they have done 
little or nothing to bring about the change. 
A hill to legalize the weight system was in¬ 
troduced into the Legislature of our State 
(New Jersey) three years ago this winter, 
hut it failed to puss, as general opinion did 
not fuvor it. As it naturally takes some 
time, however, to work so radical a change 
in anything, wo do not despair, but hope 
finally to see almost every edible article have 
its standard weight fixed by law, and every 
producer and dealer obliged in all sales to 
adhere to that weight. 
With us—in the vicinity of Trenton— 
dealers almost exclusively buy early cab¬ 
bages by the barrel. And these barrels are 
of very different sizes, bolding from 35 to 
50 heads, so that one dealer may perhaps 
buy the same sort of an article of the same 
producer for 65 or 70 per cent, of what an¬ 
other would he obliged to pay, and the man 
who thus buys pockets money dishonestly 
from both producer and consumer. 
For instance:—Mr. A. is an honest and 
Mr. B. a dishonest dealer. Mr. A. pays for 
a barrel of cabbages, containing 40 heads, 
$2, or 5 cents per head, which is the fair 
market, price. He sells them at a profit of 
35 percent., thus clearing, on the barrel, 50 
cents. Mr. B. pays, for cabbages of the 
same size and quality, $2 per barrel of 50 
heads. lie actually gels 10 heads more 
than he is justly entitled to, which, at 5 
cents per head, is 50 cents; this he pockets 
from the producer. Then he levies a tax of 
25 per cent, of litis amount on the consumer, 
making 12L£ cents from him, or a dishonest 
profit of 62)*j cents from producer and con¬ 
sumer. In addition to this. On liis remain¬ 
ing 40 cabbages, he makes his honest profit 
of 50 cents. So honest Mr. A. clears on his 
barrel of cabbages 50 cents, and dishonest 
Mr. B. $1.12^. 
This same dishonesty may be, and is, 
practiced even when standard measures are 
used. Potatoes, onions, any grain or vege¬ 
table, may be thrown in the measure, first, 
loosely, and then by packing, and the result 
will often he, in a single bushel, a difference 
of several pounds. Eggs are sold by the 
dozen or score, notwithstanding they vary 
in weight from 1 % ounces to 2J>£ ounces. 
The farmer who keeps the old, unim¬ 
proved stock of hens, gets the same price 
for eggs as he who has the larger breeds. 
One man takes to market 100 eggs, that will 
average in weight 2 ounces apiece, giving a 
total of 12 Yi pounds. Another takes the same 
number, averaging \% ounces in weight, giv¬ 
ing in all about 11 pounds. Here is a differ¬ 
ence of 11^ pounds in the two lots, equal to 
12 eggs of medium size, which at present, 
prices are worth 36 cents. In New York 
city alone, according to an estimate on page 
137 of ilie Rural New-Yorker, present 
volume, 100,000,000 eggs are used annually. 
What, definite knowledge have we as to the 
might, consumed. It may range anywhere 
from 5,500 to 7,000 tons. 
We believe that every barrel of cabbages, 
every dozen eggs, every oilier produce of the 
farm or market garden, should have their 
standard weight, for we know if a pound 
weight, is placed on one side of a pair of 
scales, it will take just one pound of produce 
to balance it—no more, no less. But we do 
not know that a dozen eggs will weigh just. 
24 ounces, or that a measured bushel of wheat 
will weigh just 60 pounds. l». 
I bee in No. 13 of the Rural New- 
Yorker, an article headed, " Sowing Old 
Wheat.” If Mr. “Bo Inn, Esq.,” will go 
back to the old custom of forty-five or fifty 
years ago, ami tread out his wheat with 
horses or oxen, he will find a saving of ten 
or fifteen per cent, in his seed wheat alone. 
If any man will take a handful of wheat 
threshed by machine ami put it in the earth, 
lie can readily see that every tenth grain 
will not germinate; and very often twice 
that amount will he injured iu the germ so 
that it never will grow. 
I have followed threshing with a machine 
six or seven seasons, and I have helped to 
thresh thousands of bushels of grain by tiie 
old process of treading out,, both with horses 
and oxen. The old custom was to select as 
much of the best ripened wheat, as we could 
find, and leave what we wished for seed in 
the field until the rest was gathered ; then, 
some fair day, thresh it, right out of the 
field; or put it on a scaffold, where there 
was no chance for it to heat. If your cor¬ 
respondent will treat good, well ripened 
wiieat as above, he will find it will grow 
when a year old, if he docs not let it get 
warm iu his granary; but. 1 do not advocate 
sowing old wheat. The reason why I have 
tried to tell; but wheat that’s spoiled ain’t 
fit to sell. 
Any person having experience in thresh¬ 
ing with a machine ought to know that 
wheat, when very dry, will crack quicker 
than that that is a little tough ; therefore, 
the thrasher ought to understand his busi¬ 
ness. A new cylinder will cut more grain 
than a worn one; therelore, it must he regu¬ 
lated according to the condition of the grain 
we wish to thresh. 
Forty-five years ago, I have heard farmers 
say, they raised good yields of wheat from 
three pecks to a bushel of seed sown; and 
the average rule was a bushel to a bushel 
and a peck per acre; that was all that was 
required to secure good yields. Since ma¬ 
chine threshing is in vogue, farmers throw 
away full half of that amount of grain; 
wheat does not, stand thicker at a bushel 
and a half or two bushels per acre than it. 
did then when above-mentioned quantity 
of seed was used. I believe that a bushel 
and one-half of wheat, trod out, or threshed 
with flail, is worth as much as a bushel 
and three pecks threshed with the ordinary 
threshing machine for seed.—A. W., Sus¬ 
pension Bridge , N. 7. 
HELD NOTES, 
sown per acre. Land, corn-stubble, rich, 
rather low and moist; would grow, in an 
ordinary season, a large crop of our com¬ 
mon yellow, or black oats.— Old Subscrib¬ 
er, North Chili , Monroe Co., N. T. 
New Zen I unit Flax 
is said to grow Avild in Nevada. It grows 
in large bunches malted together. " The 
fiber is so strong that it is difficult to break 
the smallest, thread. The Indians make use 
of it for lines and thread. It, grows on the 
lowland between the “Meadow wire grass” 
and the “ Sage hush.” We notice by Cali¬ 
fornia papers that experiments in the culture 
of this flax are to he made in California. 
Cotton Sent! ns n Manure for 8ucnr Cane. 
A correspondent of the Practical Planter 
in Southwest Georgia states that by the aid 
of cotton seed manure they are able, in that 
region, to raise very fair crops of sugar cane 
on poor piny wood lands, which, without 
Help, would not yield more than five bushels 
of corn to the acre. A ton of cotton seed 
applied to an acre of cane will cause it to 
compare very favorably with that grown in 
the rich districts of Louisiana. 
AVIiy Old When! Does Not Grow. 
A correspondent of the Rural New- 
Yorker, at Jamestown, Chant. Co., N. Y., 
asks why old wheat will not grow. I can¬ 
not tell why his wheat did not grow. It 
must have been injured in some way that 
killed the germ. It might have been in a 
close bin, or heated in mow; veiy little heat 
in mow kills the genn. I sowed, in ihe town 
of Ellery, Chant. Co.,N. Y., over three bush¬ 
els ol old wheat last September. One of my 
neighbors sowed one and a-half bushels of 
tiie same old wheat. It grew and did first 
rate. It is a good idea to count one hundred 
grains or so of wheat and put into dirt, and 
see what proportion does grow, before sow¬ 
ing.— John Smiley, Chant. Co., N. 7. 
Gras»ee for Moving Sand. 
In the Rural New-Yorker of March 18 
I notice mention is made of “Twitch” or 
“ Quack grass," ( Tritie um repent;) also there 
is another kind called “ Spurrey ;” and still 
another called, by Southern slaves, “Shank 
grass,” which looks and grows something 
like 6owod corn, as fodder. All these grasses 
will grow on moving, sandy soil, where, 
from its loose texture, no other can get the 
chance of growing. I have over one hun¬ 
dred acres, bordering on Lake Huron’s shore, 
of this sandy soil, and would be very glad 
for information which will lead me in the 
right direction, for either one or all three 
kinds. —Mrs. C. W, Crawford, Detroit. 
We do not know what grass is meant by 
“SImnk grass.” We do not know that 
Spurrey (Spergula arrxnsis) is cultivated in 
this country anywhere, as it is in some parts 
of Europe, for forage; nor whether the seed 
can be obtained here. Wo have no doubt 
any seedsman can supply 6eed of Coueh 
grass. 
The Ten Acres of Wheat. 
In answer to “Small Farmer,” (Rural 
New-Yorker, page 138,) I would say, that 
I thought the object of “account rendered” 
was so plainly set forth, and the “reasons 
therefor" were saobvious, that no farther 
“explanation” would be necessary. I did 
not suppose that any “ farmer," “great” or 
“small," could possibly mistake a “ ten acre 
lot” for “ Niagara county," or misconstrue 
my meaning into “ a fair average crop.” Nor 
was it my intention to withhold anything 
which might interest or benefit the “ public.” 
I took for granted that every observing fann¬ 
er understood the cause of the wheat failure 
during the past season. Not alone in Niag¬ 
ara county, hut all through Western New 
York, there was a great deal of late sowed 
wheat that did not pay for harvesting. This 
result was principally owing to the extreme 
wet and cold fall, arid early winter, and the 
prolonged drouth of the following May. 
I made no note of straw, from the fact that 
in proportion to the wheat there was but lit¬ 
tle of it, and that of very inferior quality, 
and that there were other minor expenses, 
not mentioned, which would more than bal¬ 
ance.—J. S. W., Suspension Bridge, N. 7. 
AN IOWA HARROW. 
R. B. Ransom of Iowa, sends the Rural 
New-Yorker a sketch of a harrow, which, 
GRAFTING POTATOES. 
A Canada correspondent writes the Amer¬ 
ican Agriculturist as follows:—T grafted, last 
spring, an Early Rose on a Garnet Chili, and 
also a Garnet Chili on an Early Rose, In like 
manner. I took a Chill and scooped out 
every eye, then cut. from an Early Rose a 
slice in shape somewhat like a shield, con¬ 
taining a fine germ or bud 
This shield 
was inserted in a. bed prepared for it in the 
Chili, stuck on with two pins, and bound 
fast, with bass. Tiie bud and shield were 
made to fit as exactly as possible, and the 
grafted specimen immediately planted in the 
usual manner. The two sorts operated upon 
are both reds—the Chili a little darker, and 
round in shape, the Rose paler red, and ob¬ 
long. All the specimens came lip and grew 
well. They were dug Aug. 24. The Rose 
grafted upon the Chili gave a fair crop— 
about one-half of the Rose type and color, 
and the other half of the Chili type, but pure 
white. 
As to the Chili, grafted into the Rose, the 
vines were extremely large, and, when dug, 
gave a large yield of beautiful potatoes, but 
all of them with clear white skins, except 
one or two to each point, which were red; 
both colors were of the Chili type, and no 
apparent sign of the Early Rose among 
them. 
lie says, is cheap and efficient-, and highly 
regarded by the Ilmvkeyes. The harrow is 
made of oak or maple, three by three indi¬ 
es, and the pieces crossing euch other are 
notched or halved, and fastened by bolts. 
He says it is cheap and easily made, but 
does not give any figures. 
ECONOMICAL NOTES. 
Averllt’s Cbeinicnl Paint. 
An Old Subscriber, Monroe Co.,N. Y., 
asks those who have had experience with 
Averill’s Chemical Paint, repainting build¬ 
ings, to say what they think of its value. 
WIRE AND PICKET FENCE 
Fre*li Gas Lime. 
A. W. of Mississippi should not apply 
fresh gas lime to plants; nor should it be 
mixed with lien manure and applied fresh ; 
nor should it be mixed with hen manure at 
all unless at least, five times the bulk of both 
of muck, or vegetable mold, or clayey loam 
soil is thoroughly mixed with it. Even then 
we would not apply it when freshly com¬ 
posted, to plants. It should lie two or three 
mouths, being turned over occasionally. 
Steaming Cut Food. 
I would like to inquire of some of the 
experienced readers of the Rural New- 
Yorker what amount of steaming cut straw 
and stalks need ; in other words wliat should 
be the condition of the feed when done? 
Can it lie steamed by the car load of four 
hundred or more bushels at a time and fed 
out so as to give the same benefit—some of 
it being cold when fed ? Is steaming the 
stalks, straw and hay without adding bran 
or provender—putting on the mill feed after 
the steaming is done — best? — John H. 
O’Hara. 
MAMMOTH SUNFLOWER. 
(IletiantliUA An mills.) 
My attention has been called to your an¬ 
swer to ail inquiry in regard to the practi¬ 
cability of wire and picket fence, in which 
you say:—“No wire fence, supported with 
pickets, that we have ever seen, is worth the 
powder to blow it up. In nine cases out of 
ten the wires support, ihe pickets after the 
first winter, instead of t he pickets the wire.” 
There, are a great variety of wire and 
picket fences in use, and just the kind you 
refer to. Of course I have no means of 
knowing, hut the kind you recommend in 
your answer would probably come under 
that head, for certainly the pickets would 
support, the wires after the first, season iu a 
fence constructed in that manner. The 
wires should support the pickets, and a me¬ 
chanic, after reading your answer, would 
hardly give you credit for being competent 
authority. 
The wire and picket fence advertised in 
the Rural New-Yorker, when properly 
constructed, could not be blown up with 
any ordinary charge of powder, and it 
A New Orleans correspondent writes; 
“In the columns of the Rural New-York¬ 
er is an account of the ‘Mammoth Sunflow¬ 
er.’ I would like to know whether the leaves 
of this plant arecured and put away, or only 
used in a green state for stock. Are the seed 
used also as food?—cooked or iu their natu¬ 
ral state?” 
We have had no personal experience in 
feeding stock with sunflower seed or leaves, 
hut know that they are extensively used for 
this purpose in some countries. The leaves 
may either he stripped from the stalks when 
green, and spread out to dry in a barn, or the 
stalks may be cut up with the leaves adher¬ 
ing, the same as corn. The seeds are very 
nutritious, and both fowls and stock eat them 
with avidity; but tbev contain a large amount 
of oil, and some care is required to prevent 
overfeeding. They are used in a raw state, 
or ground into coarse meal. It requires a 
rich, light soil to produce a good crop of 
