the past been so largely responsible. We on 
this coast are too needy, and our country is 
too powerful and too magnanimous to give any 
uncertain sound on a question of such vital 
moment to her Pacific border. The shipments 
of flour to China began with 96,000 barrels in 
1865. For the present year they have been at 
the rate of nearly SOU,000 barrels. But China 
takes more than flour from California. Dur¬ 
ing the last month, August, the exports of 
merchandise from San Francisco weradargerto 
China than to any other foreign country, Eng¬ 
land excepted. 
Here I must mention an extraordinary 
event which took place in a sister's poultry- 
yard. She possessed some very fine cherry 
trees of the best of all kinds for cherry brandy, 
and the cook had been hard at work making 
a large quantity. The cherries, after beiug 
soaked in the brandy until all their flavor was 
drav n out, were thrown by one of the ser¬ 
vants into the poultry-yard. An hour later, 
evei y dweller there was furiously and frantic¬ 
ally drunk. The turkeys went running and 
tumbling all over the place, the du*ks tried to 
stand on their heads, whilst the chickens ran 
backwards. No harm seemed to come, how¬ 
ever, and after an hour or two the drunken 
fit wore off, and the fowls came to their 
senses—Lady Gflay, in the Live Stock Journal 
of England. 
A report of the late British Dairy As¬ 
sociation says that the goats were placed in 
the body of the hall, under the gallery, where 
they were far better situated than last year. 
The demand for these animals was plainly 
evidenced by the number of “ Sold ” cards 
over those exhibits which were for sale, some 
fetching very high prices—in the case of the 
milking prize winner, £7; others more reason¬ 
able sums. 
But while the Canadian farmer is toiling 
from sunrise to sunset, says the Hour, 
his rulers are piling up a debt the payment of 
which must eventually come out of his own 
pocket, so that, granted that he has pur¬ 
chased his land at a fabulously cheap rate, he 
finds at the end of the year that he has to pay 
his share of numerous assessments which he 
had not previously taken into account. A\ liile 
the United States are busily paying off their 
obligations, the. Dominion is clapping on more 
financial sail than she can or ought to carry. 
Several shrewd English papers prophesy that 
her commercial collapse is only a matter of 
time, and that a not very remote one. 
Six Nevada widows, each worth over 
$300,000, have formed a compact and solemnly 
agreed to take no men but editors for second 
husbands. The reason for this is that they 
know editors are above pecuniary considera¬ 
tions, and will only wed for love. And we 
wish to add that every editor in the land con¬ 
siders all those ladies as among the loveliest of 
their sex and highly intellectual.—Boston 
Post.That kind of inane flattery 
which, in the popular slang, is known as soft 
soap is made of very powerful lie.You 
can’t make good out of evil any more than 
you can skim the cream off the top of a pan 
of milk and then turn it over and skim it off 
the bottom.We hope, says the Rural 
Home, that the time will soon come when our 
agricultural societies will bo satisfied to de¬ 
pend upon the attractions offered by a good 
exhibition of farm products, stock, machin¬ 
ery and manufactured fabrics, without bring¬ 
ing outside and questionable attractions to 
draw. The Rural New-Yorker hopes so 
too. When Mr. Moody held his cele¬ 
brated revival in Chicago, he was asked which 
class of persons ho had the most difficulty in 
converting. He promptly replied, “News¬ 
papermen.” .The London Live Stock 
Journal says that no one now doubts that the 
high excellence of Scandinavian dairy pro¬ 
ducts which have so often lieaten their own 
out of the market, is the direct result of the 
Scandinavian Dairy Schools.Tt is not 
generally known how very fond fowls are of 
roots; and a few mangolds, turnips, carrots, 
or beet roots are well bestowed on them, for 
during Winter poultry frequently flag for 
want of green food, which can in this way be 
easily given.“ Now we come to the 
neat little Ayrshires; and if the breeders of 
any other kinds of stock want to know what 
sort of an udder a cow should have, let them 
come to the Ayrshire classes and study the 
models of perfection to be found there, not in 
isolated instances, but in almost every in¬ 
stance.”—London Fanciers’ Gazette. 
The Mark Lane Express (London) says that 
there never were such great discrepancies in 
estimates of the American wheat crop as there 
never were so many speculators having com¬ 
mand of journals i i the United States as there 
are now. Every newspaper report is looked 
at with suspicion, and it is even doubtful 
whether the official estimates are not influ¬ 
enced by the machinations of speculators 
operating on those who supply reports to the 
United States Agricultural Department. . . . 
. . . Finally, our great hope for the future— 
our great wife-guard against danger—is to lie 
found in the general and thorough education 
of our people, and in the virtue which accom¬ 
panies such education.—Garfield. 
If there be oue thing upon this earth that 
mankind love and admire better than another, 
it is a brave man—it isamun who dares to 
look the devil in the face and tell him he is a 
devil—Garfield.Poverty is uncom¬ 
fortable, as I can testify; but nine times out 
of ten the best thing that can happen to a 
young man is to be tossed overboard and com¬ 
pelled to sink or swim for himself. In all my 
acquaintance I never knew a man to lie 
drou ned who was worth the saving.—Garfield. 
.President Arthur will have his hands 
full. Ho must decide whether a half-dozen 
swindlers shall bo allowed to take possession 
of the country, or whether it shall be con¬ 
trolled by the people.—The Hour.As 
an indication of the excessive drought in Penn¬ 
sylvania, it is remarked that the fish in the 
Juniata River raise a dust when they move 
about. 
You must either soar or stoop, 
Kail or triumph, stand or droop; 
You must either serve or govern, 
Must he slave or must toe sovereign. 
Must, in fine, be block or wedge, 
Must he anvil or be sledge. Goethe. 
Cuenjuiljfi'f 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
A i kansns. 
Garden, Clark Co., Oct. II.—The drought 
has wholly destroyed all the Rural seeds. 
My Branching Sorghum never put out a single 
panicle. We have had the severest drought I 
have ever known and most of our crops are 
total failures or nearly so. I gathered six tu¬ 
bers from my White Elephant—the largest 
about one inch long. H. M. Y. 
Canada. 
Glenmobris, Brant Co., Oct., 10.—The 
weather in this part, in common with many 
other parts of the country, has been very dry 
the last four months: we had no rain of any 
account in August or September, but we have 
had some fine showers since October came in. 
The turnip and potato crops are poor; pas¬ 
tures bare. Oats, barley and peas good. 
Wheat a little below the yield of the last two 
years. Hay good. The Rural’s seeds all 
grew finely. 1 cannot boast of such a large 
yield from the White Elephant as some of 
your correspondents; neither are they white 
but of the color and size of a Rose potato. 
The Branching Sorghum would have ripened 
seed, I think, if the Fall had been favorable. 
The carnations were beautiful. I took a 
prize for them at our local fair. The Cuth- 
bei t Raspberry plants grew finely, kept grow¬ 
ing all Winter and now stand nearly six feet 
high, having borne a few berries last Summer. 
The early Amber Sugar Cane seems to do 
well in this part. I procured a package of 
seed from Cole & Brothers, seedsmen, Pella, 
Iowa, and tried it this year again, having 
grown some last, and it has done well, con¬ 
sidering the dry weather. Some stalks 
measured over ten feet in length. I showed 
the cane and sirup at our Provincial fair 
and took first prizes on both; but nothing took 
my attention so much as the Cuban Queen 
Watermelon advertised by the Rural. Hav¬ 
ing procured 15 seeds from Burpee of Phila¬ 
delphia, I raised some of the finest ever seen 
in this part; but, alas ! one fine night the big¬ 
gest of them all took to their legs or to those 
of some rascally thief and left. R. R. 
Stratford, Ont., Oct. 12.—At the North 
Perth Agricultural Society’s Fall exhibition, 
which opened September 15, I showed a sam¬ 
ple of the White Elephant Potato grown 
from seed received from the Rural. I 
had not the quantity required to take a 
premium, but the judges highly recommend¬ 
ed the potato, stating that in their opinion 
it was a most desirable variety for general 
cultivation, and as there is a demand for a 
good late potato, there being plenty of good 
early ones, it is likelv to become a standard 
variety. The yield of the White Elephant was 
good, although, owing to the extremely dry 
weather, it was not so large as some I have 
seen quoted. I may state that at the same fair 
I exhibited sweet potatoes grown at Stratford, 
several of which weighed upwards of a pound 
each. Pretty good for so far north, is it 
not ? c. w. y. 
Connecticut. 
Stratford, Fairfield Co., Oct. 8.—In the 
Rural of Octoiler 1 you hoped that I had cut 
some of my sorghum off and would report the 
result. 1 did cut some of it off about August 
15, and the second crop had grown to the av¬ 
erage hight of two feet six inches when the 
frost cut it; it should have been cut earlier in 
the season the first time. I counted the stalks 
in two hills of the first and second crops; one 
hill of the first crop had 12, and one of the 
second crop 22 stalks; the other hill of the first 
crop that I counted had 26, and the second 
crop 30 stalks. I think it a succeses as a fod¬ 
der plant. R- W. 0. 
Dakota. 
Jamestown, Stutsman Co.—I had pretty 
good luck with the Rural seeds; the aspara- 
gus is doing very well; the Washington Oats 
did not stand the dry weather so well as some 
common oats I had beside them. The Sor¬ 
ghum is a rapid grower. I cut mine three 
times, and fed it to the cows—they ate it 
greedily. The White Elephant I got was 
frozen before planting time. G. G. 
Illinois. 
Oxarga, Iroquois Co., Oct., 14.—We have 
had no frost here to hurt anything yet. It 
was very dry all Summer until the middle of 
August. After that time until the first of 
October, we had a good rain once a week. 
Since the first of October it has rained ouc- 
half the time and the ground is very wet, but 
the pastures are splendid. No apples and but 
few potatoes in this county. Corn half a crop; 
hay a fair crop;oats heavy. I dug the White 
Elephant Potatoes a few days ago, and had 
82 tubers, large and small; quality first-class. 
I have two fine rows of Branching Sorghum 
10 rods long very full of good seed. It stands 
10 feet high and is green yet. The first of 
August I cut several hills; it was five feet 
high at the time. It has made a second 
growth of six feet in hight. A part »f it was 
cut the second time on September 15; the third 
crop is two feet high now: the second growth 
has 40 stalks to the hill. n. H. c. 
WAT AO A, Knox Co., October 0.—When 
the Rural seed came last Spring they were 
all right as I supposed. One small White Ele¬ 
phant potato looked all right, so l put it away 
where I knew it could not freeze until I wanted 
to plant it; then I found nothing but the skin 
with a thin watery matter in it, so I suppose 
it was frozen when I received it. The Sor¬ 
ghum seed came up well and grew as fast as 
corn. It was planted about the first week in 
May. It had from five to twelve stalks from 
one seed. About the middle of August it was 
eight to ten feet high. I cut a few stalks to 
see about its sprouting. The cut stalks grew 
well. Some of them are three feet high with 
seed heads out. The seed was nearly all ripe 
two weeks ago, and I have saved a good quan¬ 
tity. I cut the last 10 days ago and it has all 
started to grow again. I shall plant more of it 
next year. I fed it to my horses, and they 
were very fond of it. The oats did not nearly 
all come up; they rusted and smutted badly. 
I saved a little over a pint, some heads were 
14 inches long. The asparagus did not come 
up well on account of very dry weather. This 
also caused potatoes to be a failure. The 
flower seeds my wife planted, but on account 
of dry weather and too many chickens they 
did not do much. A Subscriber. 
(own. 
Ai.gona, Kossuth Co., Oct. It.—We are 
having a very rainy season and farmers are 
much behindhand with their work. Crops 
are light in this county. Our White Ele¬ 
phant potatoes, dug to-day, were Elephants 
both great and small, and Elephants with 
tusks. We received our Elephant late in May. 
It was small for an Elephant, but had 15 eyes. 
It was planted about the 24t.h in common gar¬ 
den soil that had not been manured this year. 
We had 30% pounds, with common culture. 
We received our flower seeds so late that wo 
did not plant them this year, except the pinks, 
anti they came up well, but the ’hoppers ate 
them up after I had put them in the garden. 
I saved four plants which I have in the house, 
they have not bloomed yet. Two of the pent- 
stemons I got last year bloomed this year and 
were nice. a. c. h. 
Keosauqua, Van Buren Co., Oct. 14.—Our 
long drought is now succeeded by almost con¬ 
tinuous rain. No frost yet. Pasture good. 
Oat crop generally good, and hay also. Wheat 
poor. Corn about half a crop. The White 
Elephant sent mo did well. The Rural Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum is doing finely also. The Wash¬ 
ington Oatsdid not have a fair trial, d.s.j. 
Kansas. 
Fontana, Miami Co., Oct. 0.—After a pro¬ 
tracted drought all through August and July 
rain fell on October 1, and thoroughly satu¬ 
rated the ground and raised all the brooks and 
rivers past fording. Wo had a big rain lust 
night again. The acreage of wheat is very 
small in this county. The White Elephant 
Potato as well as the asparagus and flowers 
came up well, but the drought injured the po¬ 
tato crap, so that there wasn't half a crop, but 
I dug 90 White Elephant potatoes. W. P. 
Agrioola, Coffey Co., Oct. 13.—We have 
had a very dry season: no rain from July 12 
until September 30. My White Elephant Po¬ 
tato made me one-third of a bushel of tubers. 
The Rural Branching Sorghum was eaten 
down by my neighbor’s horses it came up 
again, but the weather was too dry for it to 
make much growth. t. w. t. 
Michigan. 
South Haven, Van Buren Co., Oct., 11.— 
The Rural Branching Sorghum nearly all 
came up and grew well. Now what has not 
been cut stands about six feet high and is a 
dense mass of growth, one hill having 28 fine 
stalks. 1 cut five or six hills in August and it 
is now four feet high. T counted one hill that 
contained 81 stalks. It is undoubtedly an ex¬ 
cellent, fodder plant. The asparagus did well. 
I have 90 plants. 1 drilled the oats and had 
three large sheaves; have not thrashed them 
yet. They rusted. My potato was very 
small, weighing less than two ounces. I 
planted it in good soil one eye in a hill. I 
dug 179 ounces of large tubers, making 89% 
bushels to one. Those dianthus seeds nearly 
all grew and among a large collection of 
flowers they stand unrivaled ; all coloi’s were 
represented, double and single. A few have 
not blossomed this season. I do not think the 
sorghum will ripen in this latitude. I like 
the Rural ever so much. o. b. 
Minnesota. 
Stockton, Winona Co., Oct. 10.—Isendyou 
to day, one head of Rural Branching Sorghum, 
that you may see how it ripens seed in Min¬ 
nesota on the 44th parallel of latitude. [The 
head is fine and the seeds fully matured. 
eds.] The seed was planted May 0, and re¬ 
ceived ordinary com culture. It grew to a 
hight of eight feet, and when it was cut off 
sprouted again. All of it blossomed and 
nearly half of the seed matured before I cut it 
down more t han a week ago. I had 75 hills and 
am convinced it is an excellent fodder plant. 
The White Elephant Potato was divided very 
carefully and made 18 pieces; it was planted 
May 6, one piece in a hill, eighteen inches 
apart; it received the same care as my other 
potatoes and was dug Sept. 21, and yielded 
216 tubers which weighed 80 pounds; the 
largest tuber weighed one pound 11 ounces; six 
of them, six pounds nine ounces. They are 
smooth and of handsome shape and mostly of 
large size. The Washington Oats were drilled 
May 6, and made a very handsome growth; 
but just as the heads began to form some cat¬ 
tle got into the field and ate the tops off. Other 
stalks sprang up and formed heads, but being 
so late they were struck by rust and not a 
seed matured. 1 was very sorry to lose them 
as I prized them highly. The soil upon which 
the foregoing were grown was ridge land and 
the seeds wero the first crop—no manure of 
any kind. I have a nice- lot of asparagus 
about 20 inches high, and the pinks are and 
have been for two months a thing of beauty. 
We have had but one frost yet. Wo are hav¬ 
ing a rainy Fall, and farm work is much de¬ 
layed. Crops were an average, except wheat, 
our main crop, which was injured more than 
usual bv chinch bugs. Prices are high. We 
like the Rural very much and think the 
“ Condensed News ” the best unpatented 
article in the country. w. e. b. 
Missouri. • 
Charleston, Mississippi Co. Oct. 10.—Com 
half a crop; potatoes two-thiids; wheat about 
five-eighths. There will be less wheat for 
next year, more potatoes, and about the same 
area of corn. Up to the present time wages 
are disproportionate to prices of produce in 
this section. M. V. R. 
Kansas City, Jackson Co., Oct. 16. —The 
late rains have had a good effect in Kansas. 
Along the Kansas River from Topeka to Kan¬ 
sas City I noticed that the grass had started 
again, and that Winter wheat was all up and 
lo king remarkably well. This was in marked 
contrast to the burnt-up foliage on the trees. 
This rain 30 days earlier would have had a 
very beneficial effect upon the com crop. The 
drought, continued right up to the time of 
husking, and the crop falls short of the report 
given in your Western correspondents’ letters 
last week. I see that friend Richard Good¬ 
man, Jr., in Rural of October 15, also takes 
up the cudgel for better committees on live 
stock at our fairs. Keep it up, and in time 
the State associations will come to it, and a 
premium will amount to moro than the money 
or medal that goes with it. w. H. K. 
New Jersey. 
Montclair, Essex Co., October 11.—Our 
drought may be said to have terminated, for 
we have had slight showers that have laid the 
dust and dampened the surface sufficiently to 
start the weeds and bring up fodder com 
planted nearly three months ago. Two months 
of foddering already make a gloomy outlook 
towards Spring. But little grain has been 
sown yet and little plowing done—ground too 
dry and hard. Notwithstanding a three hours’ 
rain on the 3d, it is astonishing how little it 
penetrated, A gentle, steady 24 or 48 hours’ 
rain is wanted to wet the earth to any depth # 
A cold ivave struck us on the 4th, sending the 
temperature down to the ice-making point. A 
fall of 50 deg. in 24 hours brings fires in de 
mand and kills all tender vegetation. Potatoes 
about one-third of a crop; the bottoms of the 
hills have not been wet since the vines came up. 
