But when we compare the boasts of adver¬ 
tisers of this year with the facts of potato 
production SO years since, we feel like saying 
the result is not in the merits of the new 
production but in the failure of growers for 
years to know the requisites of seed forma¬ 
tion and reproduction. Under a special cul¬ 
ture, high stimulus, etc., we produce, for a 
season or two, a monstrosity, or as we gen¬ 
erally count it, an "improvementbut let 
it work its own way a few yeais, as its old 
ancestors have before it. and where is it ? 
Just now we have some score or more of 
varieties, which are not worth name here 
because the originators only care to notice 
or advertise them with a view to the money 
returns. The honor, the credit of record 
and of having done a good for the iKMiefit of 
man, has apparently been swallowed up in 
the desire to make money out of one's fellow 
man. Out upon it all ! It is a disgrace to 
humanity, has no connection with rural life 
or honor, or honesty. F. R. Elliott. 
kept perpetually in grass, the farming on 
shares with cattle and sheep would eventual¬ 
ly be a lucrative business, paying far better 
for tenant and landowner. In the first place, 
the freight of butter, wool and meat would 
be so very much less in proportion to the 
sending of the corn, wheat and oats, that 
there would be a great gain in this respect ; 
then the soil, instead of becoming exhausted, 
would by good grazing ami then mowing, 
improve so that more stock could bo kept 
and a better class of cows, sheep. &<\, bred. 
A liberal-hearted, common-sense proprietor 
of land would help hU t enants to obtain a 
good, pure-bred bull and a line thoroughbred 
ram to improve the next generation ; for on 
the share system, it would be a mutual ad¬ 
vantage. 
One good, true, pure-blooded bull and one 
ditto ram, would be sufficient even on alarge 
farm ; for by confining these male animals 
and being at the trouble to have t he females, 
when in season, restricted to one connection, 
all the calves and lambs would be half-bred 
the first generation ; then there would be no 
impropriety in continuing to use the same 
bull and ram ; for the 50 per cent, of grade 
blood would not be at all a near relationship. 
Thus at a very little cost, the very best 
breeds could be brought into existence for 
all purposes of general stock raising ; a few 
repetitions and a continuance of full-blooded 
males of the same breed as the first animal 
and the progeny would soon bo equal to the 
best in tho world. A Working Farmer. 
REAL OLD GRASS LAND 
LENGTH OF WHIFFLETREES, 
“Twenty or thirty years in permanent 
sod” constitute real old grass land, though 
if well managed and properly grazed, it will 
improve up to fifty years and then never 
retrograde unless abused in some way or 
other. Now if the greater part of the land 
iu the United States which is natural for 
grass and adapted for perpetually lying In 
gras? for grazing and mowing, was allowed 
time to become established in a thick-set 
old sod, and the finer and most fattening 
herbage encouraged by judiciously grazing 
with mixed stock (a good proportion being 
sheep) there might be fine districts produc¬ 
ing beef and muttoii, butter and wool, with 
fine horses also and with comparatively little 
use of tho plow, less and lessurablesoil being 
required as Die South was approached, be¬ 
cause the winters would be short and the 
foddering and housing of stock of little mo¬ 
ment in comparison. 
Just as the turnip husbandry of England 
was the salvation of the light soils and the 
hills unci downs of England and the muire, 
&c., of Scotland, at the same time renovat¬ 
ing all the good, dry anti well drained lower 
land, so lying by for real old grass all the 
land most suitable for permanently remain¬ 
ing sacred from the plow, may be the saving 
of agriculture in America ; for the fact of 
about two-thirds or three-fourths of every 
farm being in pasture and meadow, or in 
grass alternating in pasture and meadow, 
would bo an assistance to the arable portion 
and every farmer adopting this system ; be¬ 
cause gross land, when once thoroughly es¬ 
tablished, can be managed so as to enable 
the farmer to support a great quantity of 
animals which, with produce from the soil 
plowed, will give straw, &c., which in con¬ 
junction with better food, increases the ma¬ 
nure heap. 
But hitherto, the greed of gaining a good 
corn crop by plowing under the sod, has 
caused the having uuy established pastures 
ormo^egsout of the question ; and then the 
unaccountable fear that sheep may injure 
the best herbage, has brought about a run¬ 
ning out of tho very grasses the sheep would 
have caused to flourish. In Illinois the grass 
laud that has remained uncultivated for 20 
and 30 yearn, has become so superior to the 
newly laid down fields iu timothy and clover, 
that double the stock can be supported upon 
it; and what is proof beyond doubt is that 
when rented, double the money per acre is 
readily paid for tho " real old grass land.” 
Let any disinterested person think ou this 
and it will show what a vast advantage 
would be gained by the whole community' 
if (say half) the land now said to barely pay 
for occupation, could be let lie in grass till it 
would carry- double the stock and be worth 
double what it is now to rent. 
A Working Farmer. 
A HORSE cannot draw as well with a whif- 
fl 3tree 12 feet long, as with one two feet 
six inches iu length, because the line of draft 
is not iu the proper direction to be most 
effective. Nor can two horses harnessed 
abreast, draw well with win flit-trees 10 feet 
long, while their heads arc coupled close to- 
goihei because they must travel sidewise 
more • r less, iu which position no animal 
can ex rt all his strength to the best advan¬ 
tage iii hauling a load. • 
Horsrs draw best with tho double whiffle- 
tree ju >1 Jong enough to allow them to stand 
close to each other, having the single whlffle- 
trees s.Inched directly behind them, and 
just lo rg enough to meet at the middle. 
When the double-tree is very long, each 
horse must draw more or less sidewise, if the 
coupling lines and the neek-yoko are not 
made J mg enough to allow them to move 
directly forward without having their heads 
turned iaward each other. 
In ot tier to determine Lhe correct length 
of wlii.l!- i roes, let two horses stand side by 
side vvIlIi their side6 three inches apart: then 
measure from the center of one horse to the 
other, on their backs. This will give the 
length for the neck-yokc and the correct 
length ! or the double whifiletreo between the 
joints where the singletrees are to bo attach¬ 
ed. When a neck-yoke is only eighteen inches 
long, and the double - tree of the proper 
lengl , horses will bo required to move more 
or le , sidewise. Fur the same reason oxen 
ofte • get in the habit of hauling sidewise, 
bior use the yoke is too short. Neither oxen 
nor lior.se? can travel easily r,nd freely when 
their heads are turned toward, and their 
butts from, each other. 
Whiflletrees lor plowing should always be 
as short a* they can be made, without bring¬ 
ing the traces against the legs of the team. 
A very long double whilfietree tends to make 
a plow take too vide a furx’ow slice. If tho 
clevis be adjusted to take a narrow furrow 
slice—when the double tree is too long—the 
plow will not nut at all satisfactorily. The 
horse in the furrow will not be able to walk 
squarely in his place, because the line of 
draft is such as to keep crowding his hind 
feet out of clie furrow on the plowed ground. 
The length of the double wlnifietree and the 
neck-yoke for a sleigh should be just as long 
as the sleigh is wide, from the center of one 
runner to the other. — Manufacturer and 
Builder. 
FIELD NOTES, 
Doubts the La roe Crop of Peach Blows.— 
I do not know as any of your subscribers 
would wittingly lead you astray ; but from 
actual observation, I do not think that 250 
bushels of Peach Blow potatoes can be grown 
on a measured acre, except it be an acre of 
imagination of some agricultural college pro¬ 
fessor ; 150 Is fair and 200 bushels is extra for 
Peach Blows, Give “Western New York” 
a chance to correct his potato story.— M. h. d. 
Alfalfa or Lucerne.—J. A. Bring Is in¬ 
formed that Lucerne should not be sown 
with other crops—that i*. tuaj- be sown broad¬ 
cast or in drills this spriug ; if in drills, six 
inches to one foot apart, depending upon the 
amount of culture to be given it. Tho seed 
can be obtained of any of the Now York 
s ‘.edsmen. Tho amount per acre should bo 
15 to 25 pounds of seed. The price of seed is 
50 to GO cents per pound. 
Clover In Louisiana —J. A. T.—The plant 
you send us is a clover and will make good 
pasture unless your dry seasons are too long 
for it. We advise you to try it by all means 
as a pasture forage. 
AGRICULTURAL PHILOSOPHY 
This is what John Johnston says : — 
“ There is no great success in farming with¬ 
out hard work ; but it is the good thinking 
that costs, not the plodding alone. It is up¬ 
hill business to go against the common judg¬ 
ment of all your neighbor?, but if you are 
sure you are right go ahead, no matter what 
they say. The servant is not above his mas¬ 
ter in industry'; the farmer must be able to 
lead the field and know whether a man is 
doing good work, and the workman must 
know that he knows what a day’s work is. 
1 said 40 years ago that 1 would use plaster 
if it cost me. §40 a ton ; but clover and plaster 
atone will not keep up the fertility of grain 
farms. When I see a man draining his farm 
and carting out notable piles of well-rotted 
manure, I consider him safe. He can borrow 
money to make improvements, and the sher¬ 
iff will not often tie up at his hitebing-post. 
When the midge demands an early harvest, 
or the ground is so rich that tho straw falls, 
I have almost saved a crop by sowing Balt 
Farmers miss it iu giving up the old worm 
fence. It is the cheapest in the end. I wire 
the stakes together and keep the bottom rail 
up. It is awkward lookiug, but 1 have sound 
rails now that were not new 40 years ago. I 
have burned good rails in my time, but I did 
not know as much then as I do now.” 
A NEW BREED OF SHEEP WANTED 
Editor Rural New-Yorker I am a 
plain farmer, but at the same time have had 
some experience and disappointment. Let 
me give you mv bearings, and then comes 
my troubles. Forly-three is my latitude, 
New York my State, sheep my hobby. I 
have tried Merinos. Thu wool is good, the 
lambs almost worthless for market. Iu my 
latitude and State farmers cannot afford to 
keep sheep for wool aloue. They ought to 
and must, if there is any profit in the busi¬ 
ness. sell the lambs for big prices. Merinos 
don’t fill the bill. Then I have tried Leices¬ 
ter); they won’t do. They are exceedingly 
tender, and the climate kills them. Cots- 
WoJda are too large and require too heavy 
keep ; they are the Short Horn among sheep. 
Oil meal, corn meal, and a cellar full of roots 
are necessary ; feed to them without stint in 
ol der to succeed with Colswolds, and the 
same is proportionately true of Leicester?. 
Our farmers are not yet up to the standard, 
so their sheep won’t answer. There are the 
Sonthdowns ; they ure hardy, but the wool 
it. so miserably poor ! This reduces the in¬ 
come and lessens the profit. 
Why cannot we hive a breed of sheep 
adapted to 43° and New York—a breed with 
wool of a quality which will command a 
remunerative rate, and at the same time 
have lambs which will mature early and 
bring a first-class price. The fleece ought to 
be thick and hpavy to shut out tho storms, 
and the wool long and ns fine as possible. 
Such wools are in demand. The sheep should 
be heavier than the Southdown and have a 
constitutional propensity —which the English 
long wools have not—to take care of them¬ 
selves— l. e., to liveand do well without being- 
pampered up with delicacies and stimulants, 
which the American farmer-' neither supply 
to their sheep nor ponies. Do you know of 
any breed of sheep such as we heed ? 
Business. 
No ! We do not; but we do know that 
there are some enterprising farmers who 
have been some time at work to till the bill. 
When they think they have done so they 
will probably be heard from. Evidently 
our correspondent knows precisely ivhal he 
wants ; why don’t he try, by careful breed¬ 
ing, to supply his owu want and establish a 
distinct “Down” sheep to which he can at¬ 
tach his own name forever more ? Why 
may we not have new breeds of sheep as 
well as of swine—or as well as new seedling 
potatoes and grape vines l Of course it re- 
qnies patience, intelligence, time and skill, 
and that is just the reason it is worth some 
one’s wlule to make the effort, 
DRILLING vs, BROADCAST SEEDING 
THE Department of Ag’rieulture thus sum¬ 
marizes the facts received from its corres¬ 
pondents relative to drilling or broad-casting 
seed wheat : 
1. Fifty-two per cent, of the winter wheat 
and 3J percent, of the spring wheat, or about 
40 per Cent, of the aggregate of both kinds, 
represent the proportion seeded with a drill, 
2. Nine-tenths of the testimony given as¬ 
serts the superiority of the drill for winter 
wheat. 
3. Au average increase of one-tenth in the 
yield is assured by the use of the drill. 
i, A large majority of observers declare 
that in most soils in which injury resulting 
from frost is liable to occur, drilling prevent? 
or reduces the loss. 
5 . The majority assert that in certain clay 
soils with rolling surfaces, some advantage 
accrues in surface-drainage by use of the 
drill; while in some heavy soils with flat 
surfaces the water freeziug in the drill fur¬ 
row does positive injury. 
<>. The. broadcast seeder predominates in 
spring wheat regions, because bette r adapted 
than the drill to seeding in unplowed corn 
fields, ou rough surfaces, and in weedy fields. 
7. About one-seventh of tho seed wheat (or 
5 ,000,00u bushels for the crop) might be saved 
by the exclusive use of the drill. 
S, The drill is used for seediug in connec¬ 
tion with thorough culture, especially in 
winter wheat growing ; the broadcast seeder 
for imperfect culture and rough surfaces, 
and sowing by hand is the method adopted 
for small patches and first efforts of impecu¬ 
nious pioneers. 
ECONOMICAL NOTES, 
Use of Plaster .—" Would you advise the 
use of plaster on meadow lands and on sowed 
and planted corn ? Where its use is once 
adopted, must it not be continued ?” So 
asks a correspondent of the Rural New- 
Yorker. We do not advise the use of pias¬ 
ter on upland meadows and on sowed and 
planted corn in like situation?. It is no more 
necessary that the use Of plaster be continued 
after it is once used, than it is necessary and 
wise to use it in the first place—no more ne¬ 
cessary than that barn-yard manure should 
continue to be used when it has once been 
used. On light or even stiff and dry loam 
soils, plaster is of service to clover, corn, 
potatoes and, indeed, in our judgment, to 
almost any crop ; and tho fact that plenty 
of manure is used only renders its applies 
tion the more profitable. 
Tobacco Manufacture .—A Louisiana cor¬ 
respondent writes:—“ Wifi von or some of 
your readers give some simple directions for 
the home manufacture of tobacco ? We can 
raise it here and would do so, and use it, too, 
if we could make it so that it would be nearly 
as palatable as the boxed tobacco that we 
buy. Many of the farmers in this section 
want to raise their own tobacco, but very 
few of them can use it after they raise ir, 
and all from the want of a knowledge of a 
simple way to manufacture it. Any one 
giving directions that will aid us would con¬ 
fer an incalculable favor on thousands of 
farmers who spend much of their money for 
what could be made at home. 
How to Destroy Ants .—Au English writer 
says if one will " place a brood of young 
chickens or pheasants in a coop near the ant 
hills, and then with a trowel turn the eggs 
and ants to the surface, he will find them 
quickly disappear. The birds must not be 
more than a fortnight old, or they will do 
harm to the plants. By this method 1 have 
quite cleared my garden of these trouble¬ 
some intruders.” 
POTATOES.—NEW VARIETIES,—THEIR 
PROBABLE VALUE. 
If we were to believe the statements of 
all who advertise the value of their “ new 
potatoes,” we should have to swallow at one 
gulp a larger potato than has ever yet been 
grown. Having planted, grown and dug 
potatoes since 1830, of nil the shades and 
varieties, from the old English WJute to Ne- 
shannoclc, Pink Eye, Merino, Rohan, Peach 
Blow and on to near 100 varieties, we confess 
orn unwillingness to believe in every state¬ 
ment made. We write only a caution, and 
a request to those who have expended their 
money in these so-called new varieties, that 
they look carefully to past records, cultivate 
their new purchases of prodigies in the field 
with their old sorts and with the same care, 
as thereby they may learn the comparative 
value of the new “ wonder's” as compared 
with the old, reliable varieties of years gone 
by. All this of hybridizing, crossing or rais¬ 
ing of new seedlings from seed balls, etc., is 
perhaps correct; but like all of fruit grow¬ 
ing, it has in it a basis which few of the 
originators ever imagined, thought or stud¬ 
ied ; and like the fruit productions will, in 
05 to 98 cases out of 100, go back upon any 
real advancement. 
We know somewhat of what our past 
years’ crops were, and wo know' also some¬ 
what of what the growers have done year 
after year in neglecting to select their seed 
upon true physiological principles. Just as 
iu the culture of tho grape, the crop has 
been gathered, and no force left iu the germ, 
or seed, for the coming year. Hmv long man 
will be blind to a knowledge of vital life and 
its elements is more than we can estimate. 
FARMING ON SHARES, 
A very great deal of this is done in Ohio 
—chiefly growing corn and grain. If the dis¬ 
tricts which ate adapted for the continual 
growth of grass and which have never been 
plowed year after year and have had an an¬ 
nual drain of the fertility by the repeated 
crops of corn and grain, could be grazed and 
