OCT.45 
70S 
farm Cranomij. 
ENSILAGE. 
J. B. LAWES, LL.D., F.R.S. 
Ensilage has met with no favor in Great 
Britain. This is, I think, more due to the 
general growth of roots, which furnish abun¬ 
dance of food for the wintering of stock, than 
to any distinct investigations into the merits 
or demerits of the process. 
Near London brewers’ grains are sometimes 
placed in silos during the Summer months, 
when the- supply is much greater than the de¬ 
mand and they will pay for storing; but these 
grains have already gone through the process 
of fermentation and have lost the greater por¬ 
tion of their starch and sugar. 
The same may be said of the pulp of the 
sugar beet: here again most of the sugar has 
been abstracted, and it must further be borne 
in mind that both these substances are the re¬ 
fuse of some manufacturing process, which 
must be disposed of, and, if worthless, be either 
given or thrown away. 
To make a silo of succulent vegetation 
abounding in sugar and other valuable ele¬ 
ments of food—with the certainty that a very 
considerable amount will be destroyed—can 
only be advocated on very different grounds. 
We know that com, in the more succulent 
stages of its growth, contains a considerable 
amount of sugar—s'» much, indeed, that its 
manufacture has been suggested as an article 
of commerce. 
I have myself never seen the products of a 
corn silo, but when I read of alcohol and acids 
as forming part of them, it is not difficult to 
conclude that the source of these is the sugar 
of the corn, and probably very little of this 
will be found remaining. 
A farmer who places his corn in a silo should 
clearly understand that in doing so ho destroys 
a considerable amount of the food which the 
com contained when introduced. 
With regard to the value of the process to 
a farmer in the States, I cannot pretend to 
form an opinion. The value of food may be 
so great at one period of the year, as compared 
with another, that the loss attending the op¬ 
eration may possibly yet result in a gain. 
Corn is grown so cheaply in the States that 
a loss of food which would be considered ruin¬ 
ous in England might be there disregarded. 
The advocates of the system say that al¬ 
though a good deal of the frod of the com is 
destroyed, some of the woody matter, which 
in its natural state would be indigestible, is 
during fermentation converted into food. It 
is quite probable that such may be the case. 
Experiments are still wanting to show what is 
the real loss which takes place. In order to 
arrive at any just conclusion, 40 or 50 tons of 
com should be weighed into and out of the 
silo, and samples of the com, as it goes in and 
comes out, should be submitted to careful 
analyses. 
When the results were known it is possible 
that the exaggerated opinions which appear 
to prevail in some places with regard to the 
value of this process, might be reduced to a 
more rational level. 
Rothamsted, Eng., Sept. 13. 
WHEAT IS QUEEN. 
Rural Ramblings Down Red River. 
MESSRS. HOLMES AND SWEETLAND. 
[Special Correspondents of the Rural New-Yorker. 1 
No one properly appreciates the attractions 
of scenes he is perfectly familiar with. The 
citizen who lives within a stone’s throw of 
Niagara fails to compass the grandeur of the 
view. The Indian who stands with folded 
arms gazing idly at the beautiful Yosemite 
mutters his native “ugh!” and, wrapping his 
dirty blauket closely around him, seeks his 
smoky wigwam. So, to a great extent, we 
found the inhabitants who people the park 
region of Minnesota seemingly oblivious to 
the fact that Fate has cast their lines in one 
of the happiest localities we have ever chanced 
to visit. Not grand, not massive with giant 
hills, gaunt bluffs and mountains kissing the 
clouds, but a continuous “park” for over 1U0 
miles after leaving the eastern terminus by 
either line of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and 
Manitoba Railway—a rolling, undulating, 
never-ceasing panorama of scenic beauties, 
coming m rapid succession as the swiftly- 
moving train rattles on to the famous wheat 
fields of the Red River Valley. As we swiftly 
pass, first on one side, then on the other, in quick 
succession appear the pebbly shores of pretty 
lakes—God’s own mirrors—in which are daily, 
aye hourly, reflected the beauties of the skies, 
cloud pictures never-ending, ever-changing. 
Around the banks is a growth of forest timber 
from which even yet the timid deer is often 
seen emerging, while at varied distances are 
thrifty villages which have sprung to life, 
many of them' since the building of the rail¬ 
way. At times we reach an elevation from 
which we can view the landscape for 20 miles 
around, and perhaps see a dozen lakes at once 
and the thrifty farms scattered along their 
borders. Speeding thus along we see hunters 
laden with spoils of the chase—ducks, prairie 
chickens, geese, etc.; sportsmen who prefer 
the rod to the gun, dragging from the shore 
magnificent strings of fish—pickerel, pike, 
bass and perch. By a special invitation we 
spent the Sabbath at “ Fairview Place,” the 
home of K. Rneutson of Osakri, which is 
upon the southern hank of Osakis Lake, 130 
miles from St. Paul. Osakis is one of the 
thousand beautiful lakes which dot the park 
region, and it unites all the advantages desir¬ 
able for a resort for hunting, fishing or pleas¬ 
ure. Fairview Place is al! its name indicates 
and more. Here are a handsome, well kept 
house, a number of cottages, a wealth of 
natural timber, a fleet of sixteen boats, etc., 
and the genial proprietor intends to do still 
more the coming season to increase the pleas¬ 
ure of tourists, sportsmen or travelers, who 
wish to pass a week in the health-giving pur¬ 
suits for which opportunity is here afforded. 
ON TO THE RED RIVER. 
Once more seated in the clean cars of the 
“ Manitoba Route ” we speed along past 
many bodies of pellucid water, varying in 
size, until we emerge at last upon a level, 
which extends as far as the eye can reach. 
Here are thousands of acres just shorn of 
their wealth of golden grain, which appeal's in 
groups of conical stacks at varied distances, 
like the wigwams of the aborigines, who but a 
few years since peopled this region. We are in 
the famous Red River Valley, and we know it 
instincitively, but it is not as we expected to 
see it—an undulating plateau; but as level as a 
table as far as the eye of man can reach, with 
here and there a little strip of timber which 
indicates a stream meandering along, water¬ 
ing the fertile soil and at length finding its way 
to the Red River of the North; near which, 
we sped “ down north ” past the great divide 
and in frequent sight of waters which seek 
the great ocean through the far-distant Hud¬ 
son’s Bay. And this river—how we were dis¬ 
appointed’ Instead of the magnificent cur¬ 
rent our miml had pictured, we found a slug¬ 
gish, narrow stream, as brown and turbid as 
the Big Muddy, but of great consequence to this 
region, as it is navigable as far up as Moor¬ 
head and Fargo and traversed by nearly 3u 
passenger and freight steamers, receiving 
along its course uianj* incoming streams, 
some of which are also navigable. 
The wheat yield of the United States is 
estimated for this year to be between 350,000,- 
000 and 400,000,000 bushels—furnishing the 
world to a great extent with bread. Is Cot¬ 
ton king i It' so, then wheat should certainly 
hold the position and obtain the soubriquet of 
queen. A Cincinnati paper says, in a recent 
issue: “ The progress in wheat culture in the 
United States possesses much interest and 
especially in view of the high price which it 
it now brings as compared with a few yearn 
ago. As recently as 1850 only about 0,000,000 
acres of land in this country were devoted to 
wheat culture. By 1870 the acreage bad in¬ 
creased to about 20,0u0,000, and in 1880 to 
about 38,000,000. Passing some other state¬ 
ments, we will comment briefly upon the fol¬ 
lowing: “ In average yield per acre, Stark 
Co., Ohio, occupies the front rank, producing 
24,7 bushels per acre in 1870.” Query i why 
not give the crop of 1880, in fre same locality ? 
“Next comes Portage Co., Ohio, producing 22 
bushels per acre.” Inquiry will satisfy the 
writer of his mistake as to the best yields. 
Kittson Co., Minn., produced a yield of 22.03 
bushels. “ Michigan has 17 counties that in 1880 
yielded over a million bushels of wheat; Illin¬ 
ois, 11 counties; Ohio, 7 counties—” which he 
kindly names, the largest yield being that of 
Seneca, 1,574,522. 
He forgets(0 to mention, however, that dur¬ 
ing the same year Minnesota had thirteen 
counties with a yield of o-er one million bush¬ 
els each; one having 2,740,902 bushels, and 
that, too, with the disadvantage of a far 
smaller population, and a newer country. We 
simply draw these comparisons because we 
do not want that Cincinnati paper to harbor 
the delusion that Ohio is the only wheat field 
in the world, and for the purpose of seeing 
fair play at all buzzards. 
From Harpers’ Magazine for September we 
quote a sentence suggesting quite t he reverse. 
“ The Red River of the North rises near the 
head waters of the Mississippi, but, flowing 
in the opposite direction to the larger river, 
forms the boundary between Minnesota and 
Dakota, ami entering the Caudiuu province of 
Manitoba, finally discharges itself into Lake 
Winnipeg. The prairie drained by this river 
and its tributaries contains, roughly estimated, 
40,000,000 acres, and from our standpoint is 
the beginning of the vast section of fertile laud, 
which stretching in a widening belt to the 
Rocky Mountains, is drained by the Saskatch¬ 
ewan River, and further north by the Attra- 
basca and the Peace,” and no portion of it 
can excel or equal the fertility of the valley 
traversed by the St. P. M. and M. R. R. along 
the line of which, we gleaned the following 
statistical information, as being more satis¬ 
factory than conjecture. We should, how¬ 
ever, state that the figures given include also 
also the counties in the park region, adjoining 
the prairie lands of the valley of the Red River 
of the North to the southeast, but all of them 
tributary to the Manitoba route. The yield 
for 1880 was 10, 580 bushels of wheat, an av¬ 
erage of 16.88 bushels to t he acre for this tract 
as compared with the official statements of 
13.30 bushels for the entire State while, divid¬ 
ing the sections of country named, the aver¬ 
age yield for the Red River Valley of the crop 
for 1880, reaches 31.17 bushels of wheat to the 
acre; and this is increased in the crop of 1881, 
so far as results have been obtainable, to an 
average of over 21 bushels. The same tract 
produced also 149,950 bushels of oats. Of po¬ 
tatoes the yield was 1,096,706 bushels from 
9,506 acres or an average of over 113 bushels to 
the acre. We saw also beets and other root 
crops of enormous size and remarkably large 
yield, evincing the versatility of the soil for 
au extensive range of products. 
It. would be difficult to fully comprehend the 
present, or anticipate the future of either the 
portion of Minnesota referred to or North¬ 
western Dakota, already resounding with the 
tread of the iron horse, with hundreds of 
miles of railway in process of construction and 
immigrants pouring in daily by the train-load. 
On the train which brought ns up from Saint 
Paul on the St. P. M. & M,, we counted five 
well filled coaches. The population of the 
twenty counties through which we have 
traveled in Minnesota, was in 1875by the State 
Census, 87,964, while the national enumeration 
of 1880 gave them 154,298, both being exclu¬ 
sive of Hennepin County. Parties interested 
iu studying and familiarizing themselves with 
the topography of this State, or of the section 
of which we write, would find a valuable 
auxiliary, as we have, by consulting a sec¬ 
tional and railway map of Minnesota and 
Northwestern Wisconsin published by the 
Merchants’ Lithographing Co., formerly of St. 
Paul, now (we believe) located at Fargo D. T., 
and comparing the statistics aud resources 
therein given with the total area of the State, 
comprising 83,520 square miles—50,759,840 
acres of land besides the 2,700,000 acres of 
water surface. 
There are still opportunities here and there 
for securing Government lands under the 
homestead and other acts, although they are 
rapidly diminishing, as the entries in 1880 
aggre ated 18,271, covering 2.197,160 acres; 
besides 210,200 acres sold by the St. P., M. and 
M. from their immense land grant. Of the 
former it is impossible to ascertain the amount 
brought under cultivation, but of the latter 
there were 54,472 acres, this large amount 
being doubtless stimulated by the liberal 
rebates offered by the company, of 82.50 per 
acre for breaking and 50 cents per acre for 
the first crop produced. Standing where the 
Atlantic’s roar greets one’s ears, one thinks of 
this country as one far distant, and associates 
it with the golden tints and shades of the 
setting sun, or the trials anil deprivations of 
the sturdy pioneer; but, standing here, we 
view the social, religious and educational 
privileges of our Eastern home, and with the 
great lakes, navigable rivers, and nearly 3,500 
miles of railway in this State extra ng its 
steel length eastward, we cannot but leem 
our Eastern or Southern markets as r i ght 
to the very doors of this inexhaustible we ith. 
The St. P., M. and M. Railway alone reports 
on increase exceeding 100 per cent, in its 
traffic over that of the same month of last 
year. The climate in this portion of the 
.Northwest is pleasing, healthful and invigor¬ 
ating, and begets a just pride upon the part of 
its citizens in its position in the mortality 
statistics of the world, which show the death 
rate in Minnesota at one in 121; in the whole 
of the United States at one in 74, and in Great 
Britain and Ireland, one in 46. Supplement 
all these advantages and resources with the 
intelligent character of the people, the pro¬ 
vision by law for free and universal educa¬ 
tion, with most of the religious and aesthetic 
surroundings of older State, and one realizes 
how great arc its advantages for settlement. 
- » - 4 -» - 
CATALOGUES, ETC. 
J. T. Lovett, Monmouth Nursey, Little 
Silver, Monmouth Co., New Jersey. Cata¬ 
logue of the new and promising Manchester 
Strawberry, with a colored plate. 
Also, general catalogue of small fruits, 
with a showy colored plate of the popular 
Pockliugtou Grape. 
Quarterly Report of the Kansas State 
Board of Ag., for the quarter ending June 30, 
1881. J. K. Hudson, Sec’y., Topeka, Kansas. 
loculus, &c. 
SESSION OF THE AMERICAN POMO- 
LOGICAL SOCIETY AT BOSTON. 
[Rural Special Report.] 
A previous article ends with the close of 
the first day’s session. 
The report of the committee on foreign fruits 
was read by Mi-, Ellwanger, of Rochester, N. 
Y., at the opening of the morning session on 
Thursdaj'. In it the committee remarked upon 
the diminished demand for foreign fruits—a 
circumstance which they attribute, no doubt 
correctly, to the more perfect adaptation of 
the now numerous native varieties to our cli¬ 
mates and soils. The subject of 
grapes and grape culture 
was then taken up. Its consideration was opened 
by a carefully-prepared paper from the foster - 
father of the Delaware Grape, George W. 
Campbell, of Ohio, in which he confined him¬ 
self mainly to the improvement of this fruit 
by artificial crossing and hybridization. He 
held that by this process varieties are likely 
to be produced equal to the best foreign kinds. 
As warranting this expectation, he referred to 
the wonderful improvements of the last few 
years, and hoped for still more wonderful re¬ 
sults yet to come. He remarked that, even in 
our Northern States, we have a better climate 
than that of sunny France, and that the time 
is not far distant when America will stand 
first among vine-producing countries. 
This essay was followed by the discussion of 
varieties in the order named in the catalogue 
of the Society. 
AdirondaC elicited a considerable diverg¬ 
ence of opinion. It was said to be successful 
in Rhode Island when grafted upon hardy 
stocks. It was also said to be successful with 
some growers in Michigan, while several oth¬ 
ers urged that it be stricken from the cata¬ 
logue. 
Agawam was commended by President 
Wilder, except that the bunches were often 
small. Rev. Mr. Burnet, of Ontario, said the 
proper way to get good bunches is to give 
the vine room and let it rim. It was com. 
mended for Michigan, Ontario and Eastern 
New York, although Mr, Strong, of Massa¬ 
chusetts, differed from the President as to 
its desirability for that State. 
Alvey found no one disposed to commend 
it, for it was generally regarded as unsatisfac¬ 
tory. 
Barry was commended by the President as 
an excellent grape, as handsome as the Black 
Hamburgh and much like Herbert. Several 
other's similarly commended it. 
Brighton was commended as worthy of a 
star in Michigan. Ohio, Ontario and Virginia, 
but as only doubtfully successful in Missouri, 
when grown upon clay. 
Champion elicited wide differences of opin¬ 
ion. A motion to strike it from the catalogue 
was met by the statement that in Ohio it is 
the most profitable grape, while it was claimed 
to be profitable iu New Jersey, Pennsylvania 
and Western New York. Yet another gentle¬ 
man, in reply to the statement that this is 
profitable in the Canadian Provinces, asserted 
that in Montreal it cannot be sold at a cent a 
pound. Still it was said to be good for wine. 
Cottage received but faint praise, although 
a star was proposed for Missouri. 
Creveling received the same treatment. 
It was found so unproductive at Philadelphia 
that a 50-acre vineyard had been dug up. 
Croton was universally condemned as un¬ 
satisfactory, doubtless on account of its tend¬ 
ency to mildew. 
Cynthiana was passed, with little discus¬ 
sion, as a grape mainly valued at the South. 
Delaware also was passed, with little dis¬ 
cussion, as successful in Maine, one of the most 
valuable in Massachusetts, though liable to 
mildew. In New York it is but partially suc¬ 
cessful. In Missouri it does better than Con¬ 
cord. [This does not accord with my observa¬ 
tion in that State.] In Michigan it is one of 
the most valuable. 
Diana, much to my surprise, was most 
strongly commended for Georgia. 
Elhinburg, Elvira, Essex, Eumelan and 
Goethe each received at best very doubtful 
commendations. 
Herbemont was commended from Ohio and 
Texas as their best wine grape. 
Iona received the highest commendation as 
to quality, but was said to be only locallv suc¬ 
cessful. It was thought that, it would be 
found successful when grafted on vigorous, 
healthy stocks. 
The successful varieties in Georgia were 
spoken of somewhat at length by Mr. Ber¬ 
tram, of that State. 
The Johnson Grape was recommended 
from Virginia and South Carolina. 
Lady was commended as early and good, 
following Moore's Early. 
Ltndley was commended by President 
IV ilder as the best of the Rogers's red hybrids. 
Massasoit was commended as one of the 
