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NORWAY OAT FIGURES. 
What has become of all the Ramsdell 
Norway oats? Mr. Ramsdell says in his 
circular that iu the spring of 1864 he had a 
seed handed him from which lie raised 2,785 
grains; in the spring of 1805 lie sowed on 
land of fair quality 2,040 grains, and raised 
three bushels and one quart. If the 740 
grains given away did as well there would 
have been four bushels and four quarts to be 
sown in the spring of I860, which, accord¬ 
ing to his advertisements, was ample for the 
seeding of four acres, and the crop at one 
hundred bushels per acre, which, is his 
minimum statement, would have furnished 
for the spring’s seeding of 1807four hundred 
bushels, excluding the four quarts of extra 
seed. Now we can seed four hundred acres 
in the spring of 1807, which, at the same 
ratio, would produce (if Mr. Ramhdkll's 
statements as shown in his certificates and 
advertisements are correct,) 40,000 bushels 
for sowing in the spring of 1868, which in 
turn would seed 40,000 acres; for he says 
one bushel of seed is ample for an acre; and 
then we have lor the spring of 1809,4,000,000 
bushels, which, at, one bushel per acre for 
seeding, would seed 4,000,000 acres, and the 
product at the same ratio would be 400,000,- 
000 bushels of the oats for the seeding of this 
present spring. -When shall we sow them, 
and what shall we do with the crop when 
raised ? 
In the above calculation I have taken less 
yield than Mr. Ramsdell claims; in one 
case ho has put it at one hundred and 
twenty-five bushels from less than a peck of 
seed sown. Now, it is very evident that no 
such crop has been grown; and after a trial 
of two years on my farm, and after visiting 
many who raised them last season, 1 am pre¬ 
pared to pronounce them a great sell, and 
the farmers will soon find it out. Instead of 
the crop of 1870 being wanted for seed, if one 
half was true as to their yield, we should 
now have enough to sow all the land that 
would be sown to oats in the United States 
to the so-called Norway. I have not the 
satieties at hand, but believe that much less 
than 200,000,000acres will he sown. 
As to the straw being valuable for feeding 
purposes for stock, it is not. I say it with¬ 
out fear of eontradilion by any good farmer; 
every one who has raised them knows that 
the straw is coarse, and every farmer knows 
that fine straw, fine lmy, or fine feed of any 
description, is vastly superior to coarse, if 
both are gathered in equally good condition. 
I also deny that they are better limn any 
other oat for feeding purposes; they are not 
as heavy by six to eight pounds per bushel, 
as the Prince Edward Island Oats, the New 
Brunswick or the Surprise; and on my farm, 
grown side by side with the New Brunswick 
last year, did not yield any more bushels per 
acre, and much less in weight. They will 
also rust ; 1 Imd a number of farmers say to 
me they were so late that they rusted badly 
with them last year. 
Mr. Ramsdell has doubtless made a large 
amount of money from the speculation, and 
should be satisfied, one would suppose. 
Were the oats better than any other, as he 
asserts, he would be entitled to his success, 
and the praise of the farming community 
also; but I know, from two years’ experi¬ 
ments with them, that they are uot as good 
as some other sorts; also that the straw is 
worthless, or nearly so, for feed tug stock, 
from its coarseness; that the outs are tight 
and chaffy, and will consequently he dis¬ 
carded in a short time; after the sales for 
seed are over, theoats will not bring as much 
in market as the common oat. 
Rome, N. Y. Jonathan Talcott. 
■-♦♦♦- 
FIELD NOTES. 
Sowing Clover nuiniie: Corn. 
M. Moll asksIs it advisable to sow 
clover on corn ground alter the last cultiva¬ 
tion, to plow under the following spring for 
oats?” Wc should think not. Unless the 
ground is very rich, the clover would attain 
but a light growth. We should prefer to 
sow winter rye—a practice quite common in 
some portions of the west. 
Corn—To Umul Mole* and Crows. 
Tiieo. Bissell of Moline, Florida, writes: 
“I perceive that one of your correspondents 
wants to know how to prevent moles from 
troubling his seed corn while in the ground. 
I will tell him, as follows:—Let him soak 
his corn over night in warm water—then 
stir in tar enough to make the whole mass 
sticky, next add ground plaster till he can 
handle the corn without, sticking to his 
fingers. Then plant as usual. I have a 
field of twenty acres planted in this way that 
is now up and growing finely and ho crow 
or mole or cut worm has dared to touch, 
although all are plenty in the neighborhood. 
The, crows examined the corn carefully 
when it first came up, but soon found that it 
was no good and left for other quarters. 
Unless the corn is soaked before being tarred 
it will be slow to gather moisture enough to 
produce germination, and in a dry season 
probably would not sprout at all.” 
Applyinar Hen Manure to Corn. 
A NiaGaua Co. Subscriber writes : — 
“ Some years since I planted about one- 
fourth of an acre of ground to corn, drop¬ 
ping the corn in the bill and putting a hand¬ 
ful of hen manure, mixed with leached 
ashes, equal parts, in each bill betore cover¬ 
ing. There were not fifty grains of corn on 
the whole piece that germinated. Waiting 
a sufficient time for it to come up, I ex¬ 
amined, and behold, it was all rotten. I 
think if I had applied the mixture after the 
corn had come up, I should have been better 
rewarded for my trouble.” Yes; or if ben 
manure and ashes had been put in the hill 
and covered with soil and the corn planted 
thereon, it would have been still better. 
How to It nine Broom Corn, 
A CORRESPONDENT of the Western Rural, 
in Washington Co., Ill., says:—" Select a 
good, rich piece of land, plow deep, and get 
in heat possible condition ; mark the land in 
rows three feet or more apart ; set a com¬ 
mon hand corn planter to plant twelve seeds 
to the hill, and plant nineteen to twenty 
inches apart. When done planting, run a 
light harrow over so as to cover all seeds 
that may be on or near the top ; run a roller 
after the harrow, so as to crush every lump 
that may lie left, and you will leave a smooth 
surface to work on. When the corn all gels 
up, commence cultivating by running a 
small baud harrow as close to the Corn as 
possible. If foul, hoe well and tend as 
other corn. 
“ The best variety to plant is the dwarf, 
which far excels the standard known as 
Shanghae and the York. Either of these 
are inferior qualities, as they are badly mixed 
with imphee, or sugar cane. The brush is 
very coarse and crooked, and does not bring 
as much in the market as the dwarf by from 
two to five cents per pound. 
‘‘The nature and qualities of the dwarf 
are these:—It. is a lover of a loose, rich soil; 
bottom lands are preferable, if not too wet; 
does better too dry than too wet; grows 
from five to six feet high, with a root that 
runs two or three feet, deep in the ground ; 1 
have often traced them two feet straight 
down. The stalk saved as feed cannot be 
beaten. I have seen it fed for weeks, and 
you could hardly tell it by the stalks, they 
were eaten up so clean. Harvesting com¬ 
mences about the last of August, and must 
be done promptly, if you wish nice brush. 
If dwarf, commence pulling when the seeds 
are in the dough; let it lay in the field one 
day; then draw it in, and thresh. Spread 
it on scaffolds which are made by setting 
upright pieces, then nailing cross-pieces a 
foot apart. Lay common lath crosswise on 
this; spread your brush thinly. When dry, 
take it down and bulk if not ready to bale. 
Bale in a hay press, if you can’t afford to 
make one of smaller size; tkcu sell to the 
first man that offers you leu cents per 
pound.” 
Pennlit Culture. 
Edward Shippen, Mound City, Illinois, 
writes us that lie was a novice in peanut 
culture, but after consulting with black and 
white refugees from the South, he planted 
the hulled kernels one foot apart iu rows 
three feet apart. As soon as the vines were 
above ground they began to blossom (same 
color as nasturtium) at every joint. Then, 
as soon as the blossom appeared, he laid the 
vines down in different directions, and with 
some hesitation covered the vine and blos¬ 
som with enough earth to keep it horizontal, 
leaving the terminal end uncovered. They 
continued to grow and start other blossoms, 
which he also covered as last as they ap¬ 
peared ; they kept growing until the frost 
killed them, lie planted two rows, some 
forty or fifty feet long—through curiosity as 
much as anything else—and was rewarded 
by pulling some three pecks to a bushel in 
the fall. The vines bore the nuts under 
ground, not in the open air. 
Norway Oats Denounced. 
M. Borst, Luwycrsville, Schoharie Co., 
N. Y., sends us a communication, in which 
he denounces the Norway oat business a 
swindle; says he paid $0.50 for a 'half bushel 
of seed, from which he grew twenty bush¬ 
els of mixed grain, which lie offers to sell 
for seventy-five cents per bushel to the dis¬ 
seminators of Norway. He found that 
they did not yield as much per stalk as the 
common oats sowed on poorer ground. He 
cautions farmers against buying them. We 
cannot give space to the entire communica¬ 
tion, but give the gist of it. 
Answers to Inquiries About llrnoin Cora. 
A correspondent from Stark Co., Ohio, 
inquires “ how far apart the rows, in broom 
Corn planting,should be?” Three feet is the 
usual width in all this section. Also, “ how 
many stalks should be in a hill ?” It is never 
planted in hills, but in continuous rows, or 
drills. Two quarts of seed plants an acre— 
with a seed planter. When the corn has 
matured—that is, has attained its growth of 
brush—it is broken down at once, to keep it 
Straight and from further ripening. 
The best seed for feed is horn the brush 
that is nearest ripe. The best brush is that 
which is greenish, and has not advanced too 
far to maturity; consequently the seed from 
such is not very valuable for feed, though 
thousands of bushels of it are carted away 
from the broom corn farms, spread out and 
dried, and is extensively used to feed stock 
in general.—G. 8. B., SchmeeUrdy, N. T. 
Ilow to Procure n I.rime Crop ot Wheat. 
John D. Spinner of Herkimer Co.,N. Y., 
says his mode is to manure in April, plow it 
under, sow to peas, cross plow m August and 
seed the last of that month with wheat. 
(Don’t, say whether he plowed in the peas or 
not.) By this treatment he received full 
lorty bushels of wheat per acre from poor 
gravelly and sandy land, which could not 
have produced ten bushels per acre without 
manure. Prefers to apply the manure to the 
crop previous to the wheat. 
Good ol a Sliiirl Crop of Potatoes. 
J. B. M., Kingston, E. Tenn., writes:— 
“ Our snort crop of Irish potatoes, last year, 
will have one good effect, namely—farmers 
were neat ly all compelled to buy Northern 
seed, and I think they will grow n better 
class of potatoes for a lew years, at least.” 
(flic Apiarian. 
HOW TO HIVE BEES. 
As the time is at hand for bees to swarm, I 
would like to know the best way to hive them. 
I have a way which 1 think very good, but 
would be glad to find abetter and easier one. 
Some will say divide them; but that is but 
little practiced In this section. My mode is 
as follows:—I have my hives clean and 
good; put them in the shade to keep them 
cool; have a box a little larger one way 
than my hives, and six inches deep, and a 
bench or table to set them on, and as soon 
as they come out they will alight on a tree 
near by; then 1 set my bench near by, and 
if they are higher than I can reach, 1 take 
my fruit ladder and set under them; then I 
hold the box close under them and shake 
them off into rt; set them on the bench 
put the hive over them, a little corner¬ 
ing, and they will soon go up. Sometimes 
I saw off the limb and shake them into 
the box. 
Occasionally they will be a little dilatory 
about going up, if a hot day. Then take a 
rod or stick and carefully stir them, and 
they will soon go up. If the hive is not in 
the slnufo it mifct-have a board or boughs 
over it. But the work is not done yet. If 
the weather is very warm a large swarm 
will often come out and alight or go to the 
woods. To prevent this, get a pail of cold 
water, dip in a brush broom, and sprinkle 
the ground, then throw up some in the air, 
and it will come down like rain and cool the 
atmosphere. At night move them to the 
stand. 
1 have another way a little easier. I have 
a polo ten feet long; lie on two or three 
boughs two feet long, and when the bees be¬ 
gin to come out. to swarm 1 take some lemon 
baltu (bee balm) and pound it; put it on the 
pole and hold it up in their midst; they 
will often alight on it,. I rub all my hives 
With this balm. In this way I save all my 
swarms, while some of my neighbors lose a 
part of theirs, I have not had a swarm go 
to the woods in a long time; but if any of 
our apiarians have abetter way 1 would like 
to adopt It. When I sec and hear of so 
many bees going off 1 think it is for not 
knowing what they want. R. Wilson. 
MarcuOus. N. Y., 1870. 
- - 
NOTES FOR APIARIANS. 
A Moili Trap. 
It is recommended to make a moth trap 
by placing tbln sorghum molasses iu a shal¬ 
low dish near the bee hives. Bees do not 
like sorghum molasses and moths do, and 
will stick fast in it and die. It is reported 
that by keeping the dish supplied during the 
season the apiary may be cleared of these 
pests. The value of the recommendation 
eau lie learned by a trial, and can do no 
harm. 
Keeping Tices In Garrets. 
Mrs. E. S. Totter writes the Prairie 
Farmer:—“I have beeu sent for several 
times within a year, and repeatedly before, 
to lake the bees out of rooms provided for 
them in the garrets of houses. I have never 
known a colony of bees to do well in such 
places. They sometimes store a good quan¬ 
tity of honey for a while, but after a few 
years dwindle away and have neither in¬ 
crease nor surplus honey. The best apia¬ 
rians iu this country agree that bees caunot 
be kept in palaces or large houses with suc¬ 
cess." 
Giving Bee* Chloroform. 
J, H. Thom as of Canada writes the Bee 
Journal;—•“ Chloroform may be safely used 
in proper quantify for quieting bees. As an 
agent for introducing queens I have found it 
very effectual. The quantity used should 
never exceed one-fourth of an ounce, and 
even that quantity may he found too large 
if the hive is tight and all the fumes are re¬ 
tained in the hive among the bees, it is not 
best to give so much as to make the bees fall 
down out of the combs, because if so, many 
of them would get a doctor’s dose. Not 
dead drunk, but simply drunk, is all they re¬ 
quire.” 
BUTLER COUNTY (OHIO) HOGS. 
Reading the Rural, I see the weight of 
a few good hogs, reported by Robert Cook 
of Warren Co., Ohio, wiiren i read with 
much pleasure. I thought it might be in¬ 
teresting to many of the readers of your pa¬ 
per to know sometlifug about our butler Co. 
(O.) hogs, the weignt of a few, the breed, and 
their management. The average gross weight 
of 400 raised near Mornroe, Butler Co., Ohio, 
is as follows:—William Smith, 21 head, 501 
pounds; Wm. Gallagher, 08, 534; Ayres Mc¬ 
Creary, 40, 578; J. P. Boyd, 8, 530; Jas. Mc¬ 
Creary, 9, 581; Jas. Marshall, 18. 500; Fir¬ 
man Probasco, 20, 491; Andrew Carson, 20, 
503; Thos. Todhunter, 38,576; Win. Magic, 
40,G13; Wilson Compton, 20, 501; Joseph 
Shlde, 35, 500; T. J. Conover, 8, 490; Peter 
Kitchen, 15, 517; Lcamler See, 40, 499. 
Average weight of the whole number, 
400 head, is 527 lbs. The breed is a cross 
of Poland and Big China, and will make 
more pork at the same age, and with the 
same amount of food, than any other breed 
that lias been tried hi this, the greatest pork 
raising locality in the United Slates. 
The mode of raising and fattening them 
is the same ns my friend, R. Cook, gave in 
a previous number of your paper, with one 
exception; wc in Butler reared and fattened 
our hogs, and at the same age of slaughter¬ 
ing found we beat our Warren Co. neigh¬ 
bors In pounds, and the reason is obvious— 
we had little larger hogs. 
Monroe, O., April 23. John 8. Marshall. 
What was the average age? 
-- 
CHESTER WHITES DEFENDED. 
Please allow a subscriber to send you a 
few fines, in answer to an article In the Ru- 
RALof April 23d, page 270, headed “ Chester 
Whites no Breed,” in which the writer, after 
asking “ by what right they are called ‘ pure 
blood Chester White,’ ” and describing the 
size, form, &c., of those he has seen under 
that name, he winds up by saying that he is 
forced to say, “ humbug,” and “ that the peo¬ 
ple have been humbugged long enough, and 
it is time to put a stop to it,” &c., &c. 
Now, I think that the writer of the above 
has himself been badly humbugged by some 
one, in not getting the real Chester Whites; 
but it is, I think, no reason he or any one 
else should condemn the good, because be 
has obtained the spurious article. Do we 
not all know that no sooner is anything new 
sent abroad and acquires a reputation, than 
some unprincipled persons are always ready 
to supply a worthless article under the good 
name of the genuine? In the last year or 
two, has it not been done in numerous in¬ 
stances In the case of Early Rose Potatoes, 
Norway Oats, &c. ? But does that at all 
prove that the genuine articles of either are 
not in reality valuable improvements? Take 
any of the new varieties of small fruits,—are 
there not thousands “humbugged” every 
year by having spurious plants sent to them 
under the name of some good variety ? And 
because they prove worthless, does it follow 
those humbugged should say the whole thing 
is a “ humbug ?” 
Any one who says the Chester Whites are 
“ Coarse-haired, coarse-boned, long-sided, 
long-snouted, large, lop-eared creatures,” 
has not seen the genuine article. I have no 
doubt that there have been large numbers of 
hogs sent out from Chester Co., Pa., that 
were entirely worthless as a pure or good 
stock; for I have seen a number of such my¬ 
self, that ivere a disgrace to the name; but 
I will venture to say that, lake the country 
through, the Chester Whites have done 
more to improve the stock of swine than all 
the other breeds put together. LeL any one 
travel through the West, and almost always, 
where any attention lias been paid to im¬ 
proving the liog, it lias been done by the 
Chester Whites. Look over any of the 
papers every fall—the Rural, for instance 
—and read the reports of fine hogs killed in 
different places, and nine times out of ten, 
when the breed is mentioned, it will be 
found they are Chester Whites, or crosses of 
that stock. 
It is now four years since I bought my 
first pair of Chester Whites, which cost me 
one hundred uud filly dollars; and I took a 
trip down to Chester Co., Pa., myself, so 
that I should not be “humbugged.” I soon 
found that all the hogs in Chester Co. were 
not Chester Whites; and since theu I really 
think I have seen more good Chesters out of 
the county than I then saw in it. I have 
kept the slock now four years, and have 
never j r et wished to change them. They 
are quiet, sleek animals, good mothers; 
grow to a good size; will fatten at any age, 
and will make more pork from a given 
amount of feed than any breed I have yet 
seen, and I know such will he the testimony 
of thousands of “ the people who have been 
humbugged long enough.” Now, just as 
soon as I am convinced that there is a better 
breed of hogs than “ pure blood Chester 
Whites,” I want them; and if I allow some 
one to palm off a spurious article on me at 
first, I will not get up and write the whole 
tiling “a humbug.” 
Middlebush, N. J. Mortimer whitehead. 
-*-*-♦- 
MILK FEVER IN SWINE. 
The Practical Farmer reports a case of 
milk fever occurring with one of the editor’s 
large Chester White breeding sows, of which 
the following statement and remedy are 
given :—“ The symptoms were, refusal to eat, 
severe pains hi the loins and back, inability 
to rise, and when forced to do so, indications 
of intense suffering. The milk, of course, 
dried up, the teats became very hard, and 
everything indicated a hopeless case. The 
following recipe effected a perfect cure Had 
it been applied in time, wc are satisfied a 
speedy cure would have resulted, and all the 
litter saved. As it was, but two lived till she 
got aide to nurse them again. The treat¬ 
ment operated quickly:—'Take one quart of 
strong vinegar, half a pound of lard and two 
ounces of pulverized camphor. Warm the 
vinegar, mix with the lard and camphor, and 
bathe the hack, while as warm as it can be 
borne. Bathe the teats well with hot vine¬ 
gar and lard, both several limes a day.” 
jlnhustrial (Topics. 
HOW TO CO-OPERATE. 
I saw in the Rural a few remarks in re¬ 
lation to co-operation among fanners. You 
say the apparent necessity for such an or¬ 
ganization on the part of farmers is con¬ 
ceded. Allow me to make a few sugges¬ 
tions. The necessity has weighed heavily 
on my mind for a long time. 1 have often 
spoken of it to my neighbors and friends, 
and they generally agree with me that it. 
would be a good thing if it could he carried 
out. The great trouble is to get a practica¬ 
ble plan, and then to get our agricultural 
and some other papers to advocate it. 
The great necessity for co-operation is in 
marketing our crops. When we have a 
large crop we all go pell mcll to work and 
sell as fast as we can; and the result is no 
price —a great crop, but nothing for it. 
Many times men sell and deliver their whole 
crop before they get any money, and then 
they are told by the gracious purchaser that 
he lias not got any money for t hem, but will 
have some in a few days, and farmers run 
after the purchaser unt il patience is exhaust¬ 
ed before they get their pay, and then, per¬ 
haps, they are turned off with checks on a 
bank that will cost a day’s use of a horse 
and buggy, and a dollar or two in cash each, 
to go to the bank for it. Iu many cases they 
never get the money at all, but are cheated 
out of it entirely. 
A farmer should never he a peddler, but 
should have some convenient place where 
he can take his produce and offer it for sale; 
and if he can’t sell it for what it cost him to 
raise it, keep it until he can. The present 
mode of hauling a load to town and selling 
for what he can get, instead of getting what 
it cost to raise it, Is bad policy—just as bad 
as the other plan of delivering the whole 
crop before lie gets any money. 
1 will suggest a plan which I believe 
could be successfully carried out at the pres¬ 
ent time, but years ago it would have been 
inoperative. Let every community or town 
build a market place or storehouse at the 
most convenient depot, and t here take the 
produce and offer it for sale, having a speci¬ 
fied day as a market day—say one day in a 
week. People who have anything to sell 
will bring it there—say cattle, horses, sheep, 
hogs (which may be driven home if not sold,) 
or grain, butter, cheese or pork ; and if they 
do not find a buyer to suit, leave it in store 
until next market day. This being under¬ 
stood, people that want to buy will go to the 
market place to buy, thereby saving a great 
deal Of inconvenience both to buyer and 
seller; money will be paid and property de¬ 
livered, and all go borne the wiser and bet¬ 
ter for the day’s association and co-operation. 
It would lie a town fair—a selling fair, not 
a horse race, nor a great National horse 
show, where five or six old scabs are trotted 
and jockeyed to fool ten thousand people, 
it will event ually do away with these great 
agricultural shows that are of no earthly use 
to the agriculturist, but are to railroad", hack 
drivers, great town eating saloons, whisky 
shops, and pickpockets. 
By the above mode of marketing, farmers 
can co-operate together; one society can 
confer with another; they can learn the state 
of the crops of the count ry, and shape them¬ 
selves accordingly- They will soon learn to 
help one another. The association will do 
them good; it will create a sympathetic feel¬ 
ing; they can compare the products of their 
farms and talk over the best mode of pro¬ 
ducing, and the country will grow great and 
prosperous. 
In order to accomplish this great work we 
must have the assistance ot the agricultural 
press. Without the press, not much can be 
done in anv great reform. We, as farmers, 
are entitled* to the assistance ol our agricul¬ 
tural papers, when there is a reform so much 
needed as this, without pay. c. w. r. 
Riga, Monroe Co., N. Y. 
