Productiveness of Oregon and Fultz 
Wheat.— John M. Stahl tells the Ohio Farmer 
how 20 acres of wheat yielded in that State the 
past season. Of this, 11 acres were in Oregon 
and nine acres in Fultz. The Oregon thrashed 
out 208 bushels, or very nearly 19 bushels per 
acre. The Fultz yielded 128 bushels, or a little 
over 14 bushels per acre. It will thus be seen 
chat the Oregon yielded five bushels more per 
acre than the Fultz. They were sown side by 
side in the same field, and the Ful tz was on 
slightly the bettersoil. In 1879-80 his Fultz was 
almost a total failure, while his Oregon made 
a fair average yield. The reader may think 
that 14 and 19 bushels are small yields. In a 
good year they would be. But 51 r. Stahl is 
quite sure that, talcing into account the en¬ 
tire acreage of wheat sown, the average yield 
per acre in his county was not four bushels. 
The Rural's experiment of two years with 
this whea t has been very favorable, as alrea dy 
noted. It bears u reddish chaff and is bearded. 
The straw is purplish and slender, but strong. 
The heads average but 2)4 inches—six breasts, 
2>4 kernels to a breast. But the gram is large. 
The following is sent to us, clipped from a 
Wisconsin paper—the name of which does not 
appear:—“C. C. Beits, of Minn. Junction, last 
Spring received from the Rural New- York¬ 
er one potato of the White Elephant breed, 
which weighed 1 }4 ounce, and he planted it in 
five hills. Last Saturday he dug from these 
five hills 83 M pounds of potatoes. They are 
all fin e and large, not one of them being as 
small as the seed. At this rate it has been fig¬ 
ured that on one acre of ground over 2,000 
bushels can be raised.” Ahem! 
sources whence the false teaching emanates. In 
the first place, our human nature carries a 
superfluous and burdensome quantity of the 
spirit of gambling—the desire to take a chance 
based upon our superior judgment and skill: 
This weakness of our nature is taken ad¬ 
vantage of by parties with a view to make a 
profit out of it. Hence we find the arts and 
allurements of the race-course, with its excit¬ 
ing contests and many risks, enlisting the am¬ 
bition of every country boy with the hope 
that some day he may be able to produce a 
a colt that will win not only the thundering 
applause of excited thousands, that he reads 
about iu the papers, but the more substantial 
emoluments of the race track in the shape of 
rich purses. In the lottery of breeding fast 
horses somebody is bound to win a Maud S 
or a St. Julien. Of the thousands of losers 
who contribute to the prize we never hear. 
Thus not only the young men of the farm but 
those who are old enough to know better go 
on from year to year in the effort to raise the 
horse that can win the money. Now, let us 
see what the result of that practice has been. 
Trotters it is well known “ go in all forms,” 
and for the matter of that in all sizes, too; but 
the first requisite of a fast trotter is to have 
plenty of day-light under him. To get the 
benefitof whatever skill has been developed in 
breedingxace-hoi'ses the mass of farmers have 
been crmq>eUed to adopt certain families that 
have shown a predisposition for speed. 
Among the numerous families we may men¬ 
tion Hambletonians, Clays and Black Hawks as 
the most prominent at the East. By bi'eed- 
ing stallions of these families to leggy, cold¬ 
blooded mares, a class of weak, leggy animals 
has been created and the “ bone and sinew" of 
horse flesh well-nigh eliminated from the race. 
If these statements are time, then let me 
ask the question: Does it pay the highest pro¬ 
fit to raise this class of horses ? I think it 
easy to demonstrate that not only does it not 
pay, but that it is rapidly destroying what 
little is loft of a market for Eastern-bred 
horses. Iu the first place, has anybody ever 
made money by simply breeding trotting 
horses ? By breeding is not meant trading in 
horses, nor will it do to say a man makes money 
by breeding trotters when he has bank stocks 
and factories to furnish the money for running 
his farm. The prizes arc so far apart that not 
one in a thousand succeeds. Then if the horse 
doessellata fabulous figure it is never procured 
until his speed has been developed, and that 
is almost invariably done by some pro¬ 
fessional horse jockey, and it is he who reaps 
the benefit, and not the breeder. For medium 
or even high-class trotting stock the general 
market is destroyed by wealthy breeders who 
throw large numbers on the market and care 
nothing for the prices obtained, as they sim¬ 
ply breed for pleasure and are entirely inde¬ 
pendent of success in obtaining remunerative 
prices. 
The expense of raising a colt to a market¬ 
able age is seldom properly calculated. He is 
generally looked upon as a scavenger to eat 
what would otherwise go to waste OO the 
farm. Such, however, is not the case. A 
colt is rather a dainty feeder, and eats very 
little that other stock reject. The outlay of 
money and trouble in raising him is so small 
day by day that it goes by unnoticed, but 
the aggregate is pretty large, und if the ex¬ 
pense bo carefully summed up. it w ill be found 
. i a * i it *' . fi ■ rn a... b>i ii it i 
iHisceliawcotts 
RURAL BRIEFLETS. 
We believe this is the largest White Ele¬ 
phant Potato we have heard of:— 
Stratford, Ont, C'anda, Oct —This may 
be of interest to you, from the Seaforth Ex¬ 
positor: “Mr. John Teddy of East Wawanosh, 
has grown potatoes on his farm this season 
some of which weigh over three pounds and 
three ounces. These potatoes are called the 
White Elephant and the seed was procured 
from New York.” White Elephants took first 
prize at South Perth County exhibition at 
St. Mary's. Oct. 4. and 5. o. w. y. 
We hav.e to thank Mr. A. L. Crosby for the 
following light upon the history of the Black- 
bearded Centennial wheat: 
In the Rural New-Yorker of October 22, 
you ask for help in tracing the history of Black- 
bearded Centennial Wheat. I will see what 
I can do to help you. In ’7fi there was shown 
at the Centennial Exhibition some wheat 
Nor is it unhealthy to eat pork on general 
principles, the blind prejudice of many to the 
contrary notwithstanding, remarks the West¬ 
ern Rural. We have been careful to observe 
during the last few years the. effect of pork 
consumption upon those who ate a great deal 
of it, and we have no hesitancy in alleging 
that no better or more harmless meat than 
pork comes on to the American table. 
three horses abreast. 
from Australia I think, but won’t be sure. feel i 
A Mr. Easter, of Baltimore, procured some of any c 
it and grew it for a year or two and in the f 0 Uo\ 
Summer of ’79 I first heard of it, and about .. . 
that time I sontto the Department of Agricul- s,1 ‘ 
ture for some new variety of wheat to try, WI 
and I received two quarts of white wheat la- conse 
beled Back-bearded Centennial, and the label . 
also stated that it was grown by 51 r. Easter. 
I saw 51r. Easter and he gave me the account uced 
of it that I have given you. My wheat I stand 
drilled in the same field with Fultz and found r00 m 
it considerably later and not nearlv so hardy. ,. 
On harvesting. I found some of the beards, 
which were uiiusually long, were tipped with *V e s 
black and some were white. The wheat as sown edibl 
was a dirty w hite, the berries large, some of wtlic 
them shriveled and not handsome by any .... 
means. The wheat I grew was greatly changed ' 
in color on accojnt of the character of the soil rrmt 
(a red loam) and might be called a light red. and 
The yield was not satisfactory and as it was thro: 
late and not hardy 1 did not sow it again. 
Mr. Easter has now been dead about a year ‘ * 
or I could refer you to him for these facts. stnm 
As I have a little space left I cannot refrain wlifl 
from telling } r ou uow much I aui pleased j ca ] 
with yow journal. I think you are doing a 
good work. 1 took the Rural for a trial of 
three months when it was published at Roches- rout: 
ter, and three mouths’ trial was sufficient. But it is 
now if any farmer can read it for one year t | 10 ( 
mid not get his money’s worth, he either 
knows all there is to know or else he doesn’t 1 
know anything. A. L. 0. has 
Cider Making,—A late meeting of the Far- 
mere’ Club, as reported in the Husbandman, 
discusses the best methods of cider-making. 
There are at least three or four indispensable 
requisites to making good cider. The fruit 
should be fully matured and fully ripe, and 
free from bitter, crabbed, unpleasant flavor, as 
the process of grinding and pressing cannot 
enrich or improve the natural flavor of the 
juice. Cleanliness is another indispensable re¬ 
quisite, as sweet cider is most sensitive to any¬ 
thing w ith which it comes in contact, and will 
take an uupleasant and ruinous flavor Horn 
musty or filthy barrels, or from apples that 
have been allowed to heat and mold by lying 
in bins or large piles, or by lying too long un¬ 
der the trees with grass growing over them, or 
by being picked dirty with leaves or other lit¬ 
ter, or by being scooped from a dirty wagon- 
box, or if the straw used in laying up the cheese 
be musty or have any weeds in it, the cider 
will partake of the bad flavor. A half-dozen 
stalks of ragweed will flavor the cider from 
one hundred bushels of apples.It is 
of vast importance that the cider should come 
from the press with the least possible of pom¬ 
ace or sediment: hence the very great impor¬ 
tance of the manner in which the apples are 
ground.Mr. Ketcham 
suid, “ I have repeatedly heard the asser¬ 
tion that cider would be better in large 
quantities, or large casks, than in small ones. 
My experience has proved this to be true. I 
have many times filled a five-gallon or ten- 
gallon keg with choice juice, and after partic¬ 
ular care, invariably and in every instance its 
fine flavor was changed to a dead, sluggish 
sour, and it was consigned to the vinegar cask. 
In larger casks it is less exposed to air and 
fermentation is retarded. A cool place, even 
A RESPECTED friend writes us as follows: 
“Our good friend Mr. Mead has given only 
the laborious and expensive method of making 
and cultivating an asparagus bed, as prac¬ 
ticed in the gentleman’s small, fenced garden. 
Perhaps he means to give field cultivation 
hereafter. I never allow roy garden fence to 
be so near the cultivated ground that a horse 
and wagon or a plow cannot be run ont at 
every side with plenty of room to turn, etc. 
I cultivate the whole garden almost entirely 
by horse power, and thus make and cult ivate 
an asparagus bed at about one-fifth the cost 
of doing it in the way described by Mr. 
Mead.”. 
Ock friend and contributor, Chas. E. Par¬ 
nell, need scarcely have looked for the Tomato 
Worm, even as late as the middle of Septem¬ 
ber. We do not doubt that 5Ir. Stewart is 
quite right in attributing the tomato rot to a 
fungoid oricin—but our readers will find that 
the tomato worm causes the rot too. 
form Somes 
I noticed in a late Rural, another of those 
complicated three-horse eveuere, and I take 
the liberty of sending you a sketch of one that 
I have used for a long time and which 1 like 
very much. It is light, simple and cheap. 
The uvenor, A, five feet long, is two inches 
thick, four inches wide at the middle point, 
and two-and-a-quurter inches at the ends. At 
B, B are two plates of two-inch band-iron, 
with cast-iron rollers, as shown in the cut. C, 
C are small cable-chains v> ith hooks attached 
at the ends. Thu hooks at the ends of the oven- 
er are represented at D, with a loop, which 
slips over t he end of the eveuor, and is fastened 
with a staple in the back side to admit of freer 
movement. Bv removing one set of pulleys 
and chains, and moving the other to the center 
of the evener, two horses may be used conven¬ 
iently. A. V. Clark. 
In the Fall of ’79, about the middle of Octo¬ 
ber, a writer in the Michigan Farmer thought 
his wheat destroyed by the fly, and he sowed 
a piece about the 20th, thinking at least that 
he would raise liis bread and seed. It came up, 
but itdidnot get much growth in the Fall, and 
in the Spring it was literally destroyed by the 
fly, so that he plowed it up: while his wheat 
sowed about the 10th of September, yielded 27 
bushels to the acre. He has raised wheat 
about ‘hi years and never had any destroyed 
by the Hessian fly sowed from the 10th to the 
15th of September. That is his experience, 
whether it is worth anything or not. 
L 
