coal in the gravel, cover with straw and char¬ 
coal and the thing is done. The gravel should 
be washed until water will run off clear. 
When you come to an extra-good hill of po¬ 
tatoes, toss them out separately and pick them 
into a barrel, and save especially for seed. 
Will not this have a tendency to increase the 
the yield if practiced for a term of years?— 
Homo Farm via Tribune.Henry 
Ward Beecher says:—“My father used to say: 
‘Henry, wheu you kindle a fire never throw 
an armful of wood on at once; that will put 
it out. Get some kindling thnt. is dry and put 
one shaving on, and one more, and one more, 
and, little by little, you can build just as big rx 
fire as you have a mind to,’ ” Mr Beecher 
certainly learnt the lesson well; for he has 
kindled several roaring fires during his event¬ 
ful life.Among the cargo of the 
steamer Leipsig, which arrived at Baltimore 
October 22 from Bremen, were 8,000 heads of 
cabbage, imported from Oldenburg, Germany. 
This is said to be the first importation of Euro¬ 
pean vegetables ever brought there, and is due 
to the high prices of home-raised cabbages. It 
is not long ago that the Rural was advising 
its Western friends to send cabbages to the 
New York market.The Herald 
says that 7,000 Morwomen are divided among 
3,000 Mormon.The Lowell Citizen 
says that the man who went to work with a 
will was a lawyer. .... If you wish to 
be really happy take a good deal of out-door 
exei’cise and never run in debt. 
It is one thing to have a house to live in and 
quite another thing to have a home to live in. 
. . . . Professor Beal says that to be 
constantly giving information in science 
makes intellectual tramps, and not trained in 
vestigators. 
Cx>cn)tfi 1) cx'c. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Ciumda. 
Brantford, Out., Oct. 27.—The Washing¬ 
ton Oats yielded 28 pounds; the White Ele¬ 
phant Potato 35 pounds—none very large. 
The Rural Branching Sorghum is not s lited 
to this locality—grew about six feet high. The 
seasons are too short for a successful crop. 
Asparagus seeds were not sown until late, 
consequently they made little growth. I have 
16 picoteek and carnations and the remainder 
of the plants under these names are a mixture 
of Chinese and Japanese pinks, some of 
which have bloomed, but they have pro¬ 
duced none equal to what I have. The 
pink seeds were piulis of all kinds, 
from the florist’s pinks down, or. rather, 
up, to Heddewigii, double and single-fringed 
and plain. My pentstemons of a former distri¬ 
bution bloomed this Summer, and are very 
pretty. One iris also blossomed and was mag¬ 
nificent. Abies Sibiriea succumbed to the heat 
and drought this year. The Cuthbert Rasp¬ 
berry has done well, producing a large quan¬ 
tity of strong canes for next year's fruiting. 
They stood our last severe Winter uncommon¬ 
ly well; thermometer at one time 32 degrees 
below zero. J. G. 
Illinois. 
Champaign, Champaign Co., Oct. 26,—If 
the climate of tire valley of the Mississippi is 
one of intensities and extremes, it is at least 
one in which there is no eml of compensations. 
After three months’ heat and drought we had 
three weeks of moderate aud refreshing r ain, 
and now after the mins comes some of the 
most magnificent weather ever experienced. 
For four 1 days of last week there were light 
frosts of a morning, but so light they killed 
nothing on the surface, but did change the 
foliage of trees so that they have put very 
unusually high-colored garments on. Then 
came two days of rain aDd then more such en¬ 
joyable and delightful weather it is difficult 
to picture it. The skies area pure and cloud¬ 
less blue; pastures, meadows and wheat fields, 
a vast stretch of living green; tree and shrub 
vegetation shows all colors from deep green to 
bright scarlet and from dark brown to pale 
gray—the temperature ranges from 50° to 
60 ° at sunrise and sunset, and from 70 © to 
75° at noon; the winds are laid ; and, in short, 
Indian Summer has come without the prelim¬ 
inary of frost or the storms which commonly 
usher it in. b. f. j, 
McHenry, McHenry Co., Oct. 26. — We re¬ 
ceived the Rural seeds and gave the follow¬ 
ing a trial. Rural Branching Sorghum is 
doubtless all that is claimed for it; from the 
few seeds that came up it has branched out 
till the row is well filled and eight to ten feet 
high, planted on light, rich soil. Unless the 
frost holds off it will not ripen, but we shall 
give it another trial next Spring as we plant¬ 
ed only a part of the seed, reserving some in 
case of failure. The White Elephant Potato 
contained 14 eyas and was planted in 14 hills, 
of which 13 grew and produced 18 pounds of 
potatoes, the three largest weighing two 
pounds. We think it an excellent yield con¬ 
sidering the dry weather and the potato pests. 
This one-eye business has given us an insight 
as to the waste of planting so many unneces¬ 
sary bushels to the acre. The flower seeds 
gave a fair show and the flowers are highly 
prized, being both new and beautiful. We 
shall have a grand display next year. I think 
we are more pleased with the seeds than wo 
would be with a ohromo, and you can count 
on our subscription another year, for we are 
meditating on that big com, for this is the 
farm for corn, being oak openiugs under good 
cultivation. But wheat is almost a failure in 
this part of the country, it being so very 
light. This reminds me of a suggestion in a 
late Rural about cleaning seed wheat—if 
every seed was good the result would doubt¬ 
less be a heavier crop of grain. Our first 
frosts, which were light, occurred on Oct 111 
and 21. Heavy rains now and warm weather. 
Com and potatoes are plentiful in this sec¬ 
tion. Oats light; apples scarce. Butter, 30c.; 
eggs, 20c. I’ve just sold three dozen chickens 
at 6c. per lb.; ?4, perdoz. Sold 12 hogs for 
$5.50 per hundred. p. l. 
Monticello, Pratt Co., Oct. 24.—From 20 
hills of the White Elephant Potato I dug 85 
pounds of Elephants. The oats I put into rich 
ground and they broke down. I have a fine 
bed of asparagus plants standing about one 
foot high. The flowers were a success; the 
Rural Branching Sorghum a failure. G. a. s. 
I own. 
Illyria, Fayette Co., Oct. 24.—After our 
l<mg drought through July, August and up to 
the middle of September, the rain came and it 
has rained almost ever since; now it is mining 
every day and night. The wells are almost 
full; some are running over. Cellars where 
they are not drained are fast filling up. Far¬ 
mers are getting badly behind with their 
w ork. Our com crop is very good—about an 
average. Potatoes a good crop, but many of 
them have been dug in bad order; some far¬ 
mers are complaining of their rotting in the 
ground. Wheat none; very little sowed; what 
there was, chinch bugs ate up entirely. Oats 
about two-thirds of a crop. Barley not very 
good. Fruit a light crop; hay andgra<-s very 
good. Flax a poor crop. Farmers will do 
well here thi* year, because everything brings 
a fine price, Cream and 1 mtter are very high, 
in fact, the prices are up for everything the 
farmer has to sell. Corn and hogs are very 
high for this time of year. Fayette County 
farmers feel good. I cut my Elephant into 15 
pieces, one eye to the piece and planted them 
in a dr ill 15 inches apart in tire rows, and 
plowed them once, hoed them twice, and dug 
7(1 pounds of nice Elephants, the largest one 
weighed 2'., pounds, the next \% pound; three 
1V pound each; five of the largest weighed 7 
pounds—beat that who can. We had some 
Inked for dinner and found them very good. 
The asparagus is doing well. The flowers are 
the finest I ever saw. 'I'he Washington Oats 
were a failure. The Rural Branching Borghurn 
grew finely; but I cannot tell much about its 
wonderful qualities, as I went to York .State 
and other places the past Summer, and wheu 
1 came home it was five feet high and 1 cut 
it only once; cattle and hogs are very fond 
of it. w. H. 
Mentor, Bremer Co., Oct. 22.—The White 
Elephant yielded 46b, pounds of tubers. Of the 
Rural Branching Sorghum nearly all the seed 
grew I Ob, feet high. 1 have got quite a lot of 
ripe seed. If I had planted it as early as I might, 
nearly all of it would have got ripe: as it was, 
only the main stalks produced ripe seed. I did 
not plant until May 20. The hens got the oats. 
The pinks grew and were nice. Potatoes and 
com are good; oats fair. It has rained about 
half the time for the past seven weeks; streams 
so high that mills cannot run; ground so wet 
we cannot plow. e. e. f. 
Newell, Beuna Vista Co., Oct. 24.—All of 
the Rural seeds were planted in my garden— 
black prairie soil, new land broken a year 
ago last June. The Rur al Branehiug Sorghum 
was planted June 1; it grew six feet but pro¬ 
duced no seed. The asparagus seed all grew; 
the plants are one foot high. The oats came 
up well and grew very fast; they rusted very 
badly; heads half smut; saved one quart; will 
try them again. The White Elephant Potato 
I cut into seven pieces aud planted them June 
1; they got no extra care; on October 1 dug 
five pounds of nice tubers, The flower seeds 
did splendidly ; my wife and daughters say 
they are the finest they have seen. We have 
had a very wet Bummer here. June, very 
wet; July, very fine weather; August and 
September, very wet; October, rain all the 
time; cannot do any farm work at all—no 
plowing or thrashing has been done yet, and 
it is too wet to husk corn as it cannot be 
hauled from the field, j. f. l. 
West Branch, Cedar Co., Oct. 24.—The 
Rural seeds were received in duo time last 
Spring, but the season was so late that no 
planting could be done till about the 5th of 
May. The medium-sized White Elephant Po¬ 
tato was cut into 12 pieces, with one eye in 
each, and planted in drills 12 inches apart, 
making 12 nice hills, which did finely till the 
bugs took them when they were nicely in 
blossom, and then, in spite of Paris-green, Lon¬ 
don-purple and hand-picking, they were 
mined about the nuddle of August. How¬ 
ever I got a good yield of small tubers, all of 
which have been saved for seed. The Rural 
Branching Sorghum was planted May 10 in 
three rows four rods long. It grew well from 
the start, there being 10 to 20 stalks about 
eight feet high to the hill. On August 8, I cut 
all but one hill, which was left to see if it 
would seed. I cut off the heads of this hill on 
October 15; the seeds were all hard, and the 
color of the heads was a brownish-gi'een. I 
think the seeds are ripe. The cut Stalks are 
now about four feet high. The asparagus seed 
did not germinate well, and the two months’ 
drought was hard on it, but I will have plants 
enough for a pretty good bed. The Washing¬ 
ton Oats were not. planted. The flower seeds 
gave us some beautiful pinks, some very 
double and some single, but all beautiful. No 
caruatious. The first frost of the season visit¬ 
ed us October 18. w. a. 
Kn nsas. 
Walnut, Crawford Co., Oct. 21.—The sad 
drought of 1881 was broken here September 29 
and was followed by heavy wind and rain 
storms. What com was left on the stalks 
in the field was snapped off or blown down 
upon the ground, and the long-continued 
rain has prevented our farmers from getting 
into the fields to gather it; consequently the 
corn crop is very much damaged. Wheat, oats 
and flax that have not yet been thrashed, are 
also badly injured by the rain. About one- 
half of the hay, straw and fodder is ruined, 
and it will require a very careful use of feed, 
together with good warm shelter- for our stock, 
to get them through this Winter. Since the 
Min set in our late potatoes took a fresh start, 
and if frost stays off two weeks longer we shall 
have a large crop of these tubers, as I never 
saw potatcKja grow faster than they ure doing 
now. B. g. s. 
Maryland. 
Rayville, Baltimore Co., Oct., 20.—The 
drought which began the first of July still 
continues; corn and potatoes about half t.he 
usual crops. A majority of our farmers are 
unusually late sowing grain this season. That 
which was sown early has come up very thin, 
and has an unhealthy appearance. A large 
acreage of rye is generally sown on account 
of the demand for- straw by the numerous 
paper-mills which are located in this section. 
There are twelve of them within a radius of 
six miles aud all use straw, with one excep¬ 
tion. I planted the seeds of the Rural Branch¬ 
ing Sorghum, on May 14, in ground prepared 
iu the same manner as for cor n. A large per¬ 
centage of the seeds did not germinate. As it 
was planted in a row beside a patch of com, 
it received the same cultivation as the latter-; 
the growth was slow until July 1, when it 
grew off finelj% On July 19, when about two- 
and-a-half feet high, 1 cut a few hills, con¬ 
taining from seven to eleven stalks eac-h, about 
four inches above the ground. On August 4, 
the same hills were cut again about six inches 
li-om the ground and the cut stalks measured 
two and-a-half feet. On September 1, it was 
again cut about eight inches above the ground 
and the stalks measured two-and-u-half feet; 
and on October 4, it was again three feet high 
when it was cut off at the ground, making a 
total growth of 1(1 feet two inches, in the 
driest season our “ oldest inhabitant” remem- 
bei-s. That which was not cut at all grew 
seven feet high; the blades were killed by a 
severe frost on the 5th inst. It was then in 
full bloom, and 1 succeeded in saving enough 
seed to plant next year by covering the tops 
with paper bags when I thought there would 
be frost during the night. The frosts killed 
the blades but did not kill the stalks. I cut the 
tops off to-day and some of the seeds are filled 
with flour, while others are in the doughy 
state; but I think that with good attention 
they will all germinate. The cows and horses 
passed judgment upon it and pronounced it 
good . P. s. c . 
Michigan. 
Evart, Osceola Co., Oct. 22.— We had 
a dry Summer aud Fall up to the middle 
of September. Since then it has been very- 
wet. Crops have turned out very good except 
corn. Considering the drought, the hay crop 
was good, as the dry weather did not come on 
soon enough to hurt it. Late potatoes are 
turning out better than was expected in this 
neighborhood. I planted my White Elephant 
the 9th of May in good garden soil—10 eyes 
and pieces. I dug them Septemlier 8, and got 
48 rather small tubers; the hot, dry weather 
killed the tops prematurely. The Rural 
Branching Sorghum I planted June 10; it grew 
rank, throwing out a good many suckers. I 
cut a part of it about the first of September, 
and the second growth was two feet high on 
October 1. I counted 57 stalks in one hill. 
What I did not cut grew about six feet high, 
but did not seed: my horses and cows ate it 
greedily. The Washington Oats grew finely 
and yielded well, but were badly rusted and 
there was a good deal of smut. My hens got 
at them and harvested most of them for me, 
but I have saved more than the original pack¬ 
age for seed; will try them again. The flower 
seeds came up well and were splendid. Prices 
are: Wheat, $1.30; corn, 60c; oats, 50c; pota¬ 
toes, 60@75c; butter, 28<g30c. Now about 
the Beauty of Hebron Potato: I think it 
the best eating potato I have ever seen—with 
me it is 10 days or two weeks ahead of Early 
Rose; but I find some of them have a hard 
black spot in them. I gave some to a neigh¬ 
bor last Spring; he planted them on ground 
well manured and they were nice in size but 
were nearly all of them black inside. I 
planted some on new ground without manure 
and do not find many affected ones among 
them; the soil is sandy loam, Last year I 
thought it was on account of hot, wet weather, 
but that has uot been the case this year. 
“ But with all their faults I love them still.” 1 
anr trying several new varieties this year. 
The asparagus seeds were soaked before p'ant- 
ing, but only a few plants came up, and some 
of them not until this Fall. I think the good 
old Rural is doing ine a great deal of good 
and I shall continue to take it as long as I live 
if 1 can get the money to pay for it. My 
father took the Genesee Farmer and then the 
Rural, and “ us boys ” wheu we got homes 
of oui' own took it—I have only missed one 
year in twenty, and think it improves with 
age and acquaintance. I am trying to have 
my neighbors subscribe for it. [Thanks.— 
Eds.] First frost Oct. 4. e. o. t. 
Minnpaota. 
Hutchinson, McLeod Go., Oct. 24.—The 
season here has been remarkably wet, so much 
so that we cannot do our plowing or much 
other work. There will be a great deal of 
plowing to be done in the Spi-ing. I thrashed 
my Washington Oats. I could not save more 
than half of the seed, but they are very nice— 
large grain and heavy. The flower seeds were 
very satisfactory. j, c. 
St. Cloud, Steams Co., Oct. 24.—We have 
had in this part of Minnesota almost continu¬ 
ous rains since last. Spring, consequently some 
of our crops a re not firsterate, notably wheat 
and hay. The grass was abundant, but the 
meadows were overflowed and the hay in 
many instances was totally ruined, and what 
is saved is generally iu poor condition. This 
applies more especially to the natural mead¬ 
ows; the Timothy and clover hay is gener¬ 
ally in good condition. The White Elephant 
Potato had 13 eyes. I divided the eyes and 
made 27 hills, or, rather, sets, as I planted 
them in a row 20 inches apart. I dug just 
200 pounds, and I think at least 20 pounds 
rotted on account of the wet. We have tried 
them on the table and find them superb, I 
planted the Rural Branching Sorghum on 
May 22, 3>£ feet each way. Just two-thirds 
of the seeds failed to germinate, but as I 
planted three seeds in a hill, I had. enough 
to transplant and have one plant in a hill. 
Soil gravelly loam,manured w ith four wheel- 
barrowfuls of rotten barnyard manure, made 
principally from tame hay and wheat shorts 
and brail. I gave good com cultivation with 
hoe only. There were from nine to thirty- 
tvvo stalks from each plant. I did not out it 
until the middle of September. It grew from 
nine to ten feet high. Seed did not ripen. 
The stalks were cut in the feed cutter and 
mixed with wheat middlings. The cows ate 
it well. In some sections of the country it 
is, no doubt, the fodder plant; with me I 
think sweet com more profitable. The Early 
Marblehead Sugar Corn, the earliest I ever 
saw, had full-grown com for table iu 45 days 
from planting—the best early corn I ever 
had, The aspar agus I could not plant; I in¬ 
tend to do so noxt Spring. The carnations 
were not carnations at all, but beautiful, nev¬ 
ertheless—very double and splendidly colored. 
L. I. Salter, 
Nebrnskn. 
Crawford Valley, Antelope Co., Oct. 32. 
—I planted Rural Br anching Sorghum, May 
10, on light sandy loam. No manure. It 
grew- very nicely; seed did not ripen. Sowed 
Washington Oats and Mold’s Ennobled, in 
drills side by side. Both grew well; like the 
“Ennobled” best. The Asparagus seed all 
grew nicely. The small White Elephant Po¬ 
tato with eight eyes I cut into eight pieces, 
making eight hills; dug 13>£ pounds of rather 
small tubers; bugs destroyed the tops early; 
common cultivation, no manure; ground all 
quite new, only second crop. Com a fair 
crop; wheat and oats failures on account of 
late Spring. a. b. 
New York. 
Moravia, Cayuga Co., Oct. 24.—The “dry 
spell ” reached us this season in earnest. Never, 
in the memory of the oldest inhabitant, 
has it been so severe. Wells have become 
dry that have never been known to have 
failed before. Fruit is scarce. Oats a fair 
crop. Wheat below an average. Com half 
a crop. Potatoes are better in some portions 
