“ 315 ? 
Jhulu.strial ®o|uu. 
PRIZES AT PAIRS. 
OOBE ? S BUBAL WEW-YOBKEB 
i 
I 
Since our earliest school days we have 
appreciated “rewards of merit.” This thing 
is very broad, and, applied to great interests, 
is a problem deep and difficult. Mentis 
greatly encouraged and Sham repressed by 
public recognition. The difficulty, and it is 
mountainous, is in the tribunals that under¬ 
take to determine real and comparative 
merit. Take the wide range of agricultural, 
horticultural, mechanical and artistic pro¬ 
ductions in all their various forms and phases, 
who has mastered them ? IVhut knowledge 
of principles, what nice discrimination, what 
large experience, what rectitude make a 
judge 1 
Perhaps it is proper to set up tribunals to 
pass judgment upon matters and things in 
general, we think it is; certainly there is no 
modestv about it, but there is a very grave 
responsilnlity-a responsibility t hat should lie 
weighed by every body of men that under¬ 
takes to decide the positive and comparative 
standing of what is submitted to them 
Has this responsibility always been ielt 
Have associations awarding prizes fully con¬ 
sidered the importance of this department, 
of their work ? Have they not rather made 
it incidental and accidental V if tribunals 
were selected with tolerable care, lias not 
their attendance been irregular and their ab¬ 
sence supplied by extemporized “commit¬ 
tees utterly unqualified i The known incom¬ 
petence. of these committees, has given rise 
to much HI feeling, and has discouraged, dis- 
,rusted and driven away the best class of 
exhibitors, thus doing serious injury to the 
interests the exhibition was intended to 
foster. 
It is useless for boards of managers to say, 
“We do the best we can.” Gentlemen, you 
do not do the best you can. You under-rate 
the importance of this part of your work 
and, consequently, do it imperfectly. You 
do not. accurately measure the grave respon¬ 
sibility you assume as umpires between indi¬ 
viduals modestly following their callings; 
earnest and angry contestants for public 
favor ; great business firms, who look to you 
for the best advertisement of their wares. 
You have undertaken to adjudicate luatteis 
deemed Important by others if not by your¬ 
selves. You do it as coolly, should I say as 
carelessly, as a woman puts on her washing- 
day clothes. It is notorious that exhibitors 
sometimes nominate their judges 
The “noise and confusion ’ that once pie- 
vented LEWIS Cash from making a speech 
lias been your apology for management that 
might be excused in your youth, but which 
disgraces your maturer years. 
Gentlemen, this Fair business lias large 
proportions. There is back of it a great 
social necessity which calls people together. 
If we had move religion, we might assemble 
under that head ; if We were, more military, 
we might come for grand “parades;” as it 
is we have one eye for business and the 
other for ei.joyment-that is, if we have two 
eyes which some have. The fourth of July 
Is intangible, and « e have got its affairs dis¬ 
posed of ; Christmas, Goo bless it, is a rising 
star, but it is rather domestic, and it comes 
in the winter. The Fair is the people’s holi¬ 
day their great sociable, and the occasion 
should be. improved to make it their great 
educator in agriculture, mechanics and art. 
Permanent buildings, graceful in outline, 
faultless In proportions, but of cheap ma¬ 
terials. should be constructed to protect the 
people and their offerings. Here let the best 
models in every department of industry and 
art be put on exhibition ; let their merits be 
canvassed by the critics and the official de¬ 
cision be made by men of probity, who have 
obtained eminence in the department as¬ 
signed to them. The decisions of such men 
will educate the people and satisfy in a good 
degree the exhibitors. 
You can lead a horse to the water; can 
you make him drink? “We appoint good 
judges, how shall we compel them to serve ?” 
First of all we must accomplish what it is 
the design of this communication to promote 
—a full, recognition by everybody of the 
necessity for honest and intelligent decisions 
by awarding committees. This haphazard 
business must be thoroughly repudiated 
everywhere. When a committee has been 
carefully and prayerfully appointed, the 
aut.h« iritativo public sentiment should enforce 
sendee A man is not to decline this office 
and live comfortably in the community. We 
owe duties to the State, and this kind of 
it in like manner 2 At any rate a knowledge 
of the situation, a full appreciation of the 
actualities and possibilities of the Fair, wd 
go far to correct the evils complained of. 
We must bring this thing home to all parties 
concerned. These autumnal gatherings ol 
the people will rise in importance and exert 
ftn e ver widening influence on the social, in¬ 
dustrial and even the moral and intellectual 
interests <if the country. As patrons of agri¬ 
culture and art , there are no bounds to the 
good they may accomplish. The well¬ 
deserving should be complimented and re¬ 
worded, as a stimulant for improvement. 
When mortals play the part of a special 
Providence, rewarding merit, bestowing or 
withholding favor, great diligence and cir¬ 
cumspection are requeslt.e. Horticultural 
establishments have made fine displays o( 
both fruits and flowers at ail the Fairs of the 
State Society since its first organization, and 
even at many of its winter meeting*. The 
public have been greatly instructed uui <le 
lighted iiy their magnificent exhibitions. 
Have they not a right to expect equal honors 
with those who have been honored ? Those 
State Exhibitions, regularly kept up, have 
done mueh to develop on interest in horticul¬ 
ture and correct and cultivate the public 
taste, besides constituting one of the princi¬ 
pal attractions Of 1 ha great Fair. Let none 
have any reason to suspect that they arc not 
treated with perfect fairness and impar¬ 
tiality. Let all organizations making awards 
attach more importance, and give more 
scrutiny to this department of their work. 
We trust the State Agricultural Society, 
yet in its infancy, will assume proportions 
corresponding with the magnitude of the 
work which waits the doing. Let Rural Im¬ 
provement be our watchword. The rougher 
work of the country will soon be done, the 
land will soon be cleared up and the roads 
built; every ship brings laborers and every 
harvest adds to the national wealth. Gon 
irrant, that we may not sink into debauchery 
or fritter away our lives in luxury or vain 
show, but mav we bring rural life up to the 
poet’s and painter's highest conceptions. 
I.et us bring our organizations lor rural im¬ 
provement into the best possible working 
order; and now, as we have abused their 
managers pretty roundly, let us thunk many 
intelligent, generous and pubhc-j-pirlted gen¬ 
tlemen connected with them for then in¬ 
valuable services. H. T. B. 
VALUE OF CORN FODDER. 
service, “in the good time coming,” will 
supersede military service—why not enforce 
WHAT A “BUCKEYE BOY” IS DOING. 
Friend Rural :—l am one of the many 
new ones whose names appear on the visa¬ 
ing list Of the Rural New-Yorker. _ The 
acquaintance is likely to move agreeable to 
me. 1 have just, framed your picture. 1 
procured two undone-half inch walnut mold¬ 
ing, with gilt lining one-half inch m width. 
Tills makes a frame heavy enough lor that, 
size picture. The picture, my wife says, is 
beautiful, iuid i iidnitre her taste- I lo.el well 
repaid already for my investment. 
In eve it paper 1 (iud something whichi is 
of use to me. 1 feel a great, need ol a dis¬ 
tinctly agricultural paper to Keep my every¬ 
day life toned up. We, as farmers, aim too 
low and then fall below the mark wlueh wu 
set uii Cor ourselves. Then comes the disap¬ 
pointment to think we. have not attained our 
ends Without our paper we soon grow dis¬ 
couraged, and content ourselves with doing 
as others around us. But with the paper 
new everv week, we And continual help, en¬ 
couragement and assistance. it is a needful 
tonic or stimulant., and one of your greatest 
rewards must be the thought that you are 
helping so many all over the land to gain the 
obieets for Which we strive to improve our¬ 
selves and our farms. Seven years ago I 
commenced rny life on a farm, three years, 
next, March vr commenced on our own farm 
111 solve the following problem ; — Given fifty 
acres of nourish laud, four head of cat,tie 
large and small, for stock, a small amount ol 
farming utensils, two pan; of willing bauds 
and none too strong bodies, and a debt ot 
about four hundred dollars with which to 
ucertnin the unknown quantity hoped to con¬ 
sist of a ruu down farm rejuvenated, old 
buildings repaired and new ones built, a farm 
well stocked with tine cattle and furnished 
with needful farming implements, a little 
monev ahead for a time of need, and, above 
all we ourselves and those whom God may 
give us, so improved by the discipline of life 
that we may be fitted to till aright whatever 
place we may be called to occupy. 
Now. friend Rural, we liave been at work 
three years on this problem and are ready to 
work ’a good many more before we give up 
beat. Yet our progress, with little experi¬ 
ence and no capital, has been slow, but wo 
are gaining ground ; and if among your read¬ 
ers there are any we call help or encourage, 
we shall be glad to do so, and help our own 
mind in so doing. Should the waste-basket 
be this paper’s filial resting place, we are 
none the worse for having written, and your 
readers avILJ be saved the trouble ot reading 
the t houghts of u — BUCKEYE Boy. 
We publish this letter in order to say to 
“Buckeye Roy,’’ go ahead'. Keep faith 
with vourself ! Work ! but do uot fail to 
read and think ! Be patient, cultivate con¬ 
tent 1 Enjoy what you have and acquire to 
the uttermost. Envy no one 1 Emulate and 
strive to equal in accomplishment all who 
succeed by honorable means I So shall you 
be happy and prosperous. 
Dr. Nichols, in Journal of Chemistry, 
says :—The opinion we have always held 
upon the question of the value of green corn 
fodder for milch cows has been, that when 
raised for broadcast sowing it is nearly 
worthless, but when sown in hills or in drills, 
and cultivated, with access of air and sun¬ 
light, it is of high value. During the present 
season we have made sonic experiments t o 
test the correctness of these view*. Stalks 
were collected from u> Held where the seed 
was sown broadcast, and also stalks growing 
in drills upon the same field, and they weio 
dried in a drying closet to expel the moist ure. 
Both specimens were planted at. the same 
time (the «th of May), and it was found that 
the broadcast sowing contained 02 per cent, 
of water, those from drills SR per cent , of 
water. Thus it was shown that the differ¬ 
ence of solid matter in the two was relatively 
as 8 to 17 per cent. The solid matter was 
composed of starch, gum, sugar and woody 
fiber. There was almost an entire absence ot 
sugar und gum in the stalks from the broad¬ 
cast sowing, while the stalks that had giown 
under the Influence of light and air held t hese 
nutrient principles inconsiderable quantities. 
The. stalks were collected at the period oi 
growth just before the ear begins to form, a 
period when most, farmers commence to cut 
the fodder for their cows, Our experiments 
upon corn fodder have afforded ns important 
information upon other points. We find that 
the stalks cut before they reach a certain 
stage of growth are deficient in nut rient mul 
ter, end therefore it is a waste to feed them 
too early. The corn plant, like all other 
vegetable structures, has but one object or 
aim in its growth, and that is to produce 
seed. It is engaged during its whole life m 
storing up large quantities of starch, which is 
to be used when t l ie pressing occasion arrives, 
or the seed vessels mature, to form by some 
subtle, mysterious changes the rich nutrient 
principles wh irh are found in seeds. As soon 
as t his struggle is over, the coin plant, like all 
annuals, dies n natural death. It is not 
necessary for frost to strike it ; it dies from 
simple exhaustion. The proper time to cut 
and feed corn st alks is during t he four or live 
weeks which succeed inflorescence, or m other 
word s they should not bo cut, until the flower 
is fairly developed, ami the car commences 
to form ; and any corn that is so planted 
that, the car cannot form and main re, h prac¬ 
tically worthies* us fodder. Farmers may 
learn' from these facts that corn designed to 
be cut for fothlcr should be planted at two or 
three periods during the season ; some fields 
quite early, others somewhat later, and still 
others as late as is safe. In this way, when 
the hot., dry months of July and August mic 
reached, and the jaisLures falter, a supply of 
fodder is secured at a proper stage of growth 
to afford the largest amount of nutriment. 
aud a slight sprinkle of manure put on after¬ 
wards, a great deal of the clover seed would 
grow in the spring. ’This is the best way to 
renew the clover seed without reseeding, and 
answers his second query.—P. d. g. 
Sowing Mixed Groin.—A correspondent of 
the Journal of the Farm says he sowed, last 
season, a mixture of two bushels of oats and 
one of wheat per acre and got, as a result, 
fully one-fourth more grain by measure than 
on the portion of the held seeded with oats 
alone. For stock feed he recommends mixed 
seeding. Finds barley, oats and peas do well 
together and is inclined to think that the 
more kinds of grain are sown together the 
larger will be tb<>. crop, in weight, obtained. 
Hungorinn Grass.-" Has Hungarian Grass 
proved profitable where it has been tried 
thoroughly f” So asks a correspondent of 
Hie Ru ra l N EW YORKER. W e answer, Yes. 
it is a good crop to sow nou\ either for soil¬ 
ing stock, or to make bay—cutting it for ha> 
or soiling purposes when it is in bloom. In 
most cases, when cut at that stage of its 
growth, it furnishes a rich after-math for 
pasturage. 
Harrowing Wheal Field *.—1 notice in the 
Rural New-Yorker accounts of harrowing 
wheat in the spring with very beneficial 
results. Will some of the Rural readers 
please tell us if harrowing the wheat fields 
will injure Timothy that has been sown the 
fall before—the only way we can insure a 
“good catch” in this part of the State.—O. 
L. A., Clyde, 0. 
Peanuts for Seed.— OSENKR, Colona, Ill. 
Peanuts for planting can bo obtained at aL 
most any corner grocery in every village and 
citv Of course you do not want those that 
have been roasted. It Is too lute in the sea¬ 
son for planting, with any certainty of ob¬ 
taining a crop so far North as Colona, III 
INDIGO CULTURE. 
Indigo was once a most important crop in 
South Carolina, and proved equally prolific 
in Louisiana. Enough might undoubtedly 
be raised in the United States to supply the 
homo market. Some indigo produced at 
Baton Rouge was pronounced to have been 
equal to the best Caracas, which sells at ?1 
per pound, and experience has proved that 
one acre of ground there will yield sixty ll>s.; 
that it requires only from July to October 
for cultivating it, that there is not connected 
with it one-third of the expense or time that 
is generally required for the cultivation of 
cotton. 
The plant is somewhat like a fern when 
grown, and when young is hardly distin¬ 
guishable from lucerne grass ; its leaves in 
general are pinnated, and terminated by a 
single lobe ; the flowers consist of five leaves, 
and arc of the pupilonoceoua kind, the upper¬ 
most petal being longer and rounder than the 
rest, and lightly furrowed on the side ; the 
lower ones are short and end in a point; in 
this middlo of the ilower is formed the style, 
which afterwards becomes a pod containing 
the seeds. 
,--—-- 
FIELD NOTES. 
How to Saw Orchard Grass.— W. T. T. 
asks liowto save orchard grass. When the 
stalk turns white the grass is ripe ; then cra¬ 
dle off the tops long enough to bind into 
bundles and set them up in the field unt il 
thoroughly dry, when they may be taken 
into the barn and the seed threshed out. 
The stubblo can be cut for hay. it clover 
seed was sown on the ground in the winter, 
THE SWIVEL PLOW. 
Youu correspondent, in Rural New - 
Yorker of , May 31, inquires about the 
swivel plow—how they like it and why ? ” I 
have had one of the iron swivel plows in use 
since 185T),which I boughtof Paschal Morris. 
I have been much pleased with the plow and 
consider it quite an acquisition to fanners 
having hill y ground to cultivate. I would 
not part, with it for any consideration, if it 
could not be replaced. It is for superior to 
any other pattern of aide-hill plow that l 
have overseen. It is a right and left-handed 
plow, each cut-off about the middle of the 
mold-board, and the two forward ends with 
•the shares on braced together, with the 
hinder ends of the mold-boards each cast 
separate and connected by a bolt lunge, to 
the two plows—one right and the other left- 
handed, so t hat the wing not in use is im¬ 
mediately behind the other. There being a 
share on each end, in a line on the ground, it 
is equivalent to two perfect plows, llie laud 
side is a separate piece of hardened metal 
and can be replaced when worn out. On t he 
top of the center is a thick piece of metal 
with an inch hole perpendicular, to receive 
h strong screw bolt, passing through a sim¬ 
ilar piece, being part of the beam, which, 
when brought parallel over each other, are 
secured by a long, narrow bridle or clevis 
hanging to the beam connecting to a rod 
read ling back to the handle, wliieh can be 
thrown forward by the hand of the plow¬ 
man. The beam and handles being bolted 
together, when the clevis or bridle is shoved 
forward they are Ioobo to turn round while 
the lower part of the plow stands in the fur¬ 
row ready to start back, the other end fore¬ 
most. The wings or tails of the mold-boards 
will fall back whenever the plow enters the 
ground. 
The swivel plow is about one to one und a- 
lialf inches narrower than the ordinary iron 
plow, aud is about four to six in< lies long* i 
on the ground, being more tapering and 
taking rather less furrow ; it runs lighter 
and makes better work than any plow we 
have ever had, making no dead furrows. 
The horses turning right and left on the qn- 
plowed ground, you need not have a track 
on your plowing ; and as you can turn in any 
<1 part of the furrow, you can always make 
your plowing to suit the hill. 
It is equal to any other plow, on level 
ground, or plowing around a land. With 
care it is not liable to get out of order. The 
large connecting bolt, in time, will wear out. 
It, should not be used among stumps or rocks, 
or carelessly strain on the wings ol the mom- 
boards. The plow being long and ot good 
weight, it runs very steaddy and is not name 
to be easily drawn out of the ground. 
Grampian Hills, Clearfield Co., Fa. E. H. 
