MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
merino that can perpetuate its good quali¬ 
ties upon its progeny without materially de¬ 
teriorating the matchless qualities of the 
blood is to be seen. Judging from the sam¬ 
ples before me, the problem has been solved, 
and it will only be a question, in the near 
future, of the cheapness and success of 
American delaines, as it now is of our cotton 
fabrics. 
The N. Y. Tribune wool report for Aug. 
14 says :—“Combing and delaine fleeces con¬ 
tinue in demand. Manufacturers are free 
purchasers of all available lots at current 
rates, and prices are quite firm.” 
I think that a single cross of the Merino 
ewe with the Leicester rarn ( would give a 
variety of wool which would be more de¬ 
sirable for Ind a shawls than any other that 
could be grown. The felting qualities of the 
Merino would be slightly overcome by the 
Leicester cross, while its higher luster would 
assimilate the Cashmere goat and the length 
add strength of staple would he increased. 
The adaptability of breeds to particular 
wants of textile manufactures is but faintly 
understood by our wool growers. It has 
taken forty years to find out the importance 
of delaine and combing wools. 
T. C. Peters. 
will pay four times over at least, besides the 
satisfaction of having work done thoroughly 
rather than in a slovenly manner. In the 
first place, this late hoeing will kill the this¬ 
tles, which has not been done by all the cul¬ 
tivation early in the season. The plant is 
weakened, and though hundreds of young 
shoots are starting, it is from the desperate 
struggles of the root to avoid decay and 
death. Secondly, this slight stirring of the 
ground just as the com is in blossom, admits 
moisture aud the ammonia of the atmosphere 
to the roots and is equivalent to a slight ma¬ 
nuring. The ears of corn will be larger and 
will dll better for this last dressing. As you 
can see, the stand is a good one, and I expect 
to make five bushels of corn more per acre 
for the extra attention now. This will more 
than pay the expense. Next spring I shall 
sow the field with barley and follow it with 
wheat. The land will be free from thistles 
and each grain crop will be enough better for 
having the thistles killed. Besides, I think 
that this thorough cultivation in the season 
makes the soil richer by enabling it to absorb 
more ammonia from the atmosphere/' 
Having often known spring grain to be 
injured ten or more bushels per acre by 
weeds, besides equal damage to wheat from 
the same cause, we could not deny the jus¬ 
tice of this reasoning. Looking at this field 
covered with a heavy growth of barley a 
few weeks ago, with not a thistle to be seen, 
it was plain that the good work done the year 
before was having a most excellent effect. 
It doesn’t take much to convert us to the 
advocacy of anything connected with good 
farming, and in this case we are quite sure 
that late hoeing of corn ground foul with 
thistles, will pay. 
as a pasture, we think it is perhaps more 
profitable as a commercial crop than cither 
wheat or oats. It has demonstrated its im¬ 
pregnability to cold winters, chinch bugs 
and all other insects, and will yield from 30 
to 60 bushels per acre. Last fall it was 
worth more per bushel than wheat, and 
ordinarily it is worth nearly as much. Aside 
from its commercial value it. is a good crop 
for the land ; the roots penetrate to a great 
depth, acting to some extent as an under- 
drain. As a feed for horses it is excellent, 
promoting a good bone, health and a fair, 
glossy coat. When it Is desirable, as it is 
this year, to grain the hogs early, it will pay 
very handsomely to let the crop stand until 
Its straw falls, then turn on the hogs and no 
kind of feed will make a larger or quicker 
growth in them. 
GROWING POTATOES FROM SEED 
The Chicago Times argues that, potatoes 
inherit the disease of preceding generations, 
and as tbe«e accumulate vitality is lost until 
the variety becomes no longer able to with¬ 
stand unfavorable climate and thus “ runs 
out” and is superseded by others. The 
reason of this is that the potato is propagated 
from tubers, and is not like grain a new pro¬ 
duction ,but only n continuation of the old 
life from year to year. It is only one link in 
a chain that Is all the time exposed to un¬ 
favorable influences, and any one of which 
affects all. This is the reason why potatoes 
“run out” more rapidly than the various 
kinds of grains or other roots that are grown 
from seed. 
Potatoes degenerate much faster in the 
west than in other parts of the. country, or in 
favored regions in other countries. A 
variety of potatoes will retain its vigor much 
longer among the mountains of Pennsylvania, 
the forests of northern Maine, or the hills of 
old Ireland than on the prairies of Illinois 
and Lowa. Potatoes thrive best in a climate 
that is cool and moist aud where the tem¬ 
perature is nearly uniform during their 
period of growth. The prairie regions of 
the west have none of these requirements. 
The springs are ordinarily wet and often 
cold, but the summers are likely to be hoth 
hot and dry. These extremes are liable to 
in jure the vitality of potatoes. 
So unfavorable are these influences that 
Western potatoes rarely produce a good 
crop of balls in which I ho seed is found. 
Some ye.ars the plants blossom well, but the 
flowers all blight. Often the dry, hot winds 
cause the blossoms to fall off. At other 
times the flower-stalks wither. Sometimes 
the balls stay on till near the time of ripen¬ 
ing, when the drouth destroys them. The 
present season has been favorable to the 
growth of potato-balls, having been both 
moist and cool. From present appearances 
a good crop of potato-balls may bo ripened 
and harvested. If such Is the case, farmers 
should avail themselves of the opportunity 
to procure potatoes from the seed, the only 
way new varieties can fie obtained. 
There is a groat difference in potatoes in 
regard t o the production of seed balls. Some 
very rarely blossom ; others drop their blos¬ 
soms, while Others have flower-stalks so frail 
that, they wither before the balls mature. 
Our experience is that the best seed can be 
raised by pulling off most, of the tubers 
from the vines, allowing all the nutriment 
to go into the stalks and balls. In a good 
year and in favorable locations it is not 
necessary to do this, however. New and 
vigorous varieties are likely to produce more 
and larger than old varieties that are begin¬ 
ning to run out. In fact, one of the marks of 
decline in potatoes is the failure to produce 
and mature halls. This is not true, however, 
of all varieties. 
Balls from which seed are to be taken for 
planting should be selected from new varie¬ 
ties while they are still vigorous. None 
should be gathered from potatoes that are of 
dark or of objectionable color, that have 
deep sunken eyes that, are of bad form, or 
that are inclined to be hollow. It is by no 
means certain that these peculiarities would 
appear in the tubers that would grow from 
the seed, but it is the safest way to have a 
good pedigree. 
The ripeness of potato-balls is shown by 
their yellow color and softness. In many 
cases the balls fall from the stalks As soon as 
they mature. Sometimes, however, they 
are so closely attached to the stalks they will 
remain till harvest time, when the clusters 
may be cut off and bung in the sun till they 
become perfectly ripe. The seed may be 
cleaned from the pulp in the same manner 
as the seed of tomatoes and cucumbers. 
REMEDY FOR POTATO BLIGHT 
The Journal of Horticulture and Cottage 
Gardener of England contains a very sug¬ 
gestive communication from Ghari.es T. 
Hayward on the success of using mineral 
manures as a preventive of the potato dis¬ 
ease. By a chemical analysis made by M, 
Si’RENOEt, it appears that 100,000 lbs, of po¬ 
tatoes contain of fixed ingredients in lbs.— 
viz.: 
Potash. 300 
Soda..-.234 
Lime. 33 
Magnesia... 32 
Alumit.a . 3 
Oxide of iron. 2% 
Silica.,... .. 8V4 
Sulphuric add.. 54 
Phosphoric add. 40 
Chlorine. 16‘/4 
Total of fixed Ingredients.814*£ lbs. 
My garden soil consists of a good, rich 
loam well manured ; but as I had in previous 
years found the disease amongst my tubers, 
it occurred to me, having reference to .M. 
Hr uk.no el's analysis, that both the soil and 
the manure I had employed might be de¬ 
ficient in potash, soda, lime and magnesia, 
chemically prepared, and as I term them, 
“ the astringent properties of manure.” 
In some measure to counteract the over¬ 
forcing effects of the sulphates and phos¬ 
phates of animal manure which previously 
stimulated the growth of the potato to a 
very considerable size, and produced at the 
same time a superabundant of 
haulm and 6tetn, I assumed that the careful 
supply of these fixed chemical ingredients 
would in some respect regulate, consolidate 
and restrain the plant and the tuber in their 
growth, and by the formation of a healthy 
skin rectify the disease. 
The favorable result has b:en that this 
year I have not found one bad potato 
amongst my crop, although the market 
gardeners in this neighborhood, without any 
exception, are suffering heavy losses amongst 
theirs. 
Those are the quantities which when well 
combined together are adapted for an acre 
of ground. 
>. d. 
Potash (salt of tartar), 1 lb.2 fl 
Carbonate of soda. 2 lbs . .. . .. - 0 6 
Lime slaked (at 8d. per bushel), 1 peck. .0 2 
Magnesia, 1 lb.2 6 
MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP 
D. S. B. gives some excellent advice in the 
Country Gentleman concerning the manage¬ 
ment of sheep, from which we quote the 
following : 
The number of sheep in a summer flock, if 
the pasture is not rough, thereby causing too 
much travel by the sheep to get their living, 
may be as many as the owner can oversee 
and care for ; in the whiter not more than 
100 should be kept together, and a smaller 
flock is preferable in every respect. Sheep, 
if kept in large flocks, do not winter as well, 
besides wasting more feed in proportion. 
As to which breed will stand the greatest 
amount of cold probably the Vermont Meri- 
noes suffer the least from cold, but any 
sheep, if strong and healthy, with plenty to 
cat, will endure any amouut of cold weather 
if they are only kept in a dry yard and have 
a dry place to eat and sleep in. Here is the 
great cause of failure in many cases—muddy 
yards and leaky sheds, or worse, no sheds at 
all. 
The best, food for sheep I ever used, all 
things considered, is good, bright, early cut 
hay, and one peck of corn and oats, mixed 
equal parts to a 1UM sheep daily. Hoots may¬ 
be well enough, but one season cured me of 
any desire to raise and feed them. 
The sheds for 200 ewes should contain 2,000 
square feet of flooring, and more is better ; 
each sheep needs at least 10 square feet of 
space. 
Opinions differ as to the number of sheep 
to be apportioned to one ram ; many think 
100 enough. Unless everything is arranged 
for the purpose of raising very early or 
winter lambs, it is best to have them come 
about the time grass grows ; but to do this, a 
pasture must be had convenient to the haru, 
as they should be guarded nights during the 
lambing season, aud seen frequently through 
the day. 
The best rack I ever saw was simply six- 
inch boards nailed to posts like a common 
board fence, eight inches apart, three boards 
in hight, with perpendicular slats four 
inches wide, twelve inches apart; rack 
eighteen inches wide, if only one side is used, 
thirty inches if both sides are used. 
Lambs ought to be weaned when from six¬ 
teen to eighteen weeks old, in order that the 
ewes may get in good condition for winter. 
For a beginner it is best to avoid exl remes ; 
build no fancy sheds ; wait uutil you know- 
all about it from experience ; get good sound 
stock, not too old; use them well, in a 
simple, common sense manner, and they 
will pay from the beginning. 
WOOL-GROWING vs. GREASE 
Why is it that men have for so long a time 
sacrificed the sheep and wool for the purpose 
of growing more grease ? I have long been 
growing wool, and when, thirty years ago, I 
dared take the position that when a man 
wanted good Merino sheep bearing heavy 
fleeces of wool, the fibers of which were to 
be long, fine and soft, he must avoid a suner- 
abundance of grease, as when ne decided to 
grow a greasy fleece with a hard surface, 
the result was a small sheep with a small 
fleece, and, therefore, weighed less than 
when he bred a large sheep with long, dense 
wool, containing a lees amount of grease and 
a softer surface, the idea wag not thought 
orthodox, and many still cling to that opln 
ion ; but there are others who, after a care¬ 
ful examination of my fleece. 1 *, are now con¬ 
vinced that my method is the correct one, 
and the time is not distant when many 
more will throw prejudice aside and drop 
into line. The old fleece of a few inches in 
circumference, saturated with grease and 
weighing 10 to IS lbs., forms but a sorry con¬ 
trast to the great fleece several feet in cir¬ 
cumference, whose long, fine and soft white 
fibers united weigh 15 to 25 lbs. and over. 
These huge masses, so soft and yielding, so 
attractive and beautiful, must in time revo¬ 
lutionize wool-growing. J. S. Goe, 
Brownsville. Fa. 
These being retail prices, the cost would 
be much less bought in quantity wholesale. 
This compound reduced to powder should 
be carefully mixed together wi.h the ordinary 
manure applied to au acre, and spread upon 
the land in autuom, or at all events before 
Christmas time, for next spring sowing. 
The amouut to be used per acre may seem 
very small, but then it should be noticed 
that in this particular instance these ingre¬ 
dients are merely remedial, and are not 
required as fertilizers to stimulate quantity, 
bnt rather as a check to regulate and restrain 
the prurient growth of the potato to ma¬ 
turity, and under more salutary influences 
to eradicate disease. 
Such has been the effect upon mine this 
year - - viz., to produce a yield firm, entirely 
healthy, and clear in the skin, of an average 
size, and not as previously was the case, 
some very large and others very small, and 
to curtail the leaf aud stem. 
DELAINE WOOLS 
Profitable Sheep Growing.— A beginner 
in sheep raising, writing from Montezuma, 
la., in Western Farm Journal, gives the fol¬ 
lowing story of his remarkable success, less¬ 
ened only, as usual, by ravages of dogs " I 
have a small flock and have lost two this 
season and five last by dogs or wolves, and I 
don’t know of a sheep owner who has not 
fared the same or worse, some losing as many 
as 8 to 17 in one night. Mine are doing well 
and are free from disease, so far as I am 
able to judge. They are a cross between 
the common wool and the Merino. 1 have 
some ewes that have raised and are raiding 
their fourth lot of lambs in the last nineteen 
months. Lambed in January, and again in 
July and August, 1874, then in January. 
1875, and now are lambing again. Home ui 
them have raised twins part of the time. 
SOW SOME RYE 
That rye as a grain is not equal to wheat 
is conceded, but it serves an important pur¬ 
pose on the farm, especially as a crop for 
green forage in the spring. Referring to 
this advantage the Missouri Farmer says : 
Rye has been very much overlooked in the 
West. Last fall an occasional farmer thought 
far enough ahead to realize that it would be 
a difficult undertaking to get bis stock 
through the winter on the small amount of 
feed on hand, and in searching for a substi¬ 
tute, selected Rye. Never did men make a 
better choice. Those that sowed earlier 
were blessed with a good pasture long before 
even the best Blue grass would do to turn on. 
Aside from the great benefit of this cereal 
LATE HOEING OF CORN 
