juices of the grape in nature, is now repro¬ 
duced after the coarser methods of the chemi¬ 
cal laboratory. It is almost or quite a pity 
that this new industry has sprung up and 
reached- such proportions in our country, for 
it opens the door to a new kind of fraud which, 
although not necessarily dangerous to life, is 
of a most reprehensible character. . . 
Tunis as a Grain-Growing Country.— 
The Pall Mall Gazette says that the possibility 
of American wheat being eventually driven 
from the markets of Europe by graiu from 
Tunis has been suggested, Land can be bought 
in Tunis, it is said, for half the price it costs 
in the Western States of the American U nion, 
and it Is so fertile that it will yield two crops 
in the year. The quality of the grain, more¬ 
over, is equal to that of the much-prized Hun¬ 
garian wheat. Excellent horses, though of 
a lighter breed, can be bought for a fraction 
of the cost of horses in the United States, 
and draft oxen far less than one-half the 
American price. Finally, while the Ameri¬ 
can product has to be carried hundreds of 
miles by rail to the coast, and has then to 
undertake a long sea voyage, the most re¬ 
mote Tunisian farms will be comparatively 
near the coast; and the port of La Goletta is 
only sixty hours distant from Marseilles, 
rather less from Genoa, and only twenty-four 
hours farther from Trieste and Fiume. The 
farmers, moreover, will be able to grow a 
vast amount of other pioduce, which will 
greatly increase the remuuetativeness of their 
farms, and consequently decrease the cost of 
raising wheat. All that is required to develop 
this competition is the extensive immigration 
of industrious Europeau settlers, with Eu¬ 
ropean capital and agricultural appliances; 
and the wealth waiting to be secured is so 
great that such immigration, we are infonned, 
is sure to follow French aimexation, and the 
security for life and property consequent 
thereon. It may be suggested that recent 
events in Algeria do not promise that security 
to life and property would necessarily follow 
French annexation. Leaving this considera¬ 
tion on one side, however, the argument is in¬ 
teresting as bearing on the future of the 
American farmer. Granted the full settle¬ 
ment and development of North Africa under 
a more liberal commercial regime than the 
French seem disposed to introduce where 
they set foot, the American farmer would 
soon find out the injury- which the American 
tariff inflicts upon him. 
Professor S. A. Knapp, of the Iowa Ag¬ 
ricultural College, is, says the N. Y. Tribune, 
more and moreimpressed with the great value 
of coal tar for timber. He thinks that coal 
tar does almost perfectly preserve our soft 
woods. “ The vat for heating the tar may be 
made like an ordinary sap pan and of any 
length ; put in a barrel of tar and dip the 
whole post or as much as desired. The most 
pai'ticular part to be covered is that just 
above and below the surface when set. Where 
great durability is desired the post should be 
boiled thirty minutes or more ; ten minutes 
will answer for boards. A barrel of coal tar, 
costing $3 will cover 150 posts if boiled, or 
200 if dipped one half length. The cost of 
boiling lumber in tar is estimated at $5 per 
1,000 feet, and thus prepared even basswood 
is practically indestructible.” 
As to the practical value of good muck as 
a manure, Dr. Hoskins says that within a 
mile-and-a-balf from his home there is a 
muck bed, originally of four or five acres, 
which hits been worked for many years and 
has greatly aided to keep up the fertility of 
one of the best grass farms in the town. This 
muck has now been about one-third used (the 
depth in the middle of the basin being about 
four feet), and the owner will not sell a load 
of it, believing it to be wo th to him as much 
as all the rest of the farm. In the 30 years 
he has been using it he certainly has had am¬ 
ple chance to make up his mind about it. 
Dr. James R. Nichols in a recent address 
said: The whole theory of agricultural edu¬ 
cation is based on the idea that farmers’ boys 
and the young men must be educated by at¬ 
tending some agricultural college, so called, 
for a term of years; but the farmers them¬ 
selves, the real workers in the field, may be 
left to obtain light and help from the profit¬ 
less disputes and endless discussions common 
in farmers’ clubs, or from the vapid talk of 
politicians at fairs and cattle shows .... 
The young men may attend the agricultural 
colleges or any other institutions of learning, 
and be greatly benefited by a prolonged course 
of study; but we need another kind of college, 
—a farmer s’ college, where the practical 
workers can be graduated without diplomas, 
at the end of a brief course of instruction ex¬ 
tending over a few days or weeks .... 
On every farm, says the agricultural editor 
of the New York World, where hogs are j 
butchered annually it pays to provide con- ' 
veniences for this disagreeable work in form 
of a suitable scalding vessel, gambrels, scaf¬ 
fold and sharp knives. As soon as the animals 
are sufficiemtly fattened every preparation 
should be made, so that advantage may be 
taken of the first suitable weather without 
delay. 
Gentlemen may cry cashier, and cash 
there, but when the board of directors wake up 
there is cash nowhere. .... New York 
Tribune:—Mary Amanda, quite fresh from 
town, made her rustic friends laugh the other 
day by innocently asking at dinner if the 
white and red beets both grew on the same 
stem.Western Rural:—One of the 
greatest dangers that threatens the American 
jieople to-day iB their failure to act promptly 
in the redress of unmistakable wrongs. . . 
. . The Journal of Chemistry says that the 
following recipe makes a good pain-kiLer for 
external use in bruises, sprains, etc.:— 
Spirits of camphor....... 2 ounces. 
Tincture of capsicum. 1 ounce. 
Tlucture of gnalac . 
Tincture of in vrrh. “ 
Alcohol. 4 ounces. 
, . . . The Druggists’ Circular gives the 
following formula for a liniment. Rub in 
twice a day:— 
Kerosene. 2 ounces. 
Tincture of opium. 4 drachms. 
Tincture of arnica . 5 “ 
Tincture of stramonium. 4 “ 
Aromatic spirits of ammonia. 6 “ 
Spirits of camphor.5 " 
Oil of orlunmim.4 “ 
Chloroform.8 “ 
. . . . According to Bouchert’s experi¬ 
ments, even the tape worm succumbs to the 
digestive action of pepsin. 
A lover forsaken 
A new love may get, 
But a neck that's once broken 
Can never tie set. 
Do you think it is because of the great im¬ 
provement in spring beds and mattresses that 
people lie so easily ? 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
ArkRDIUR. 
Dayton, Sebastian Co., Nov. 5.—My Rural 
seeds were an entire failure on account of the 
severe drought. Crops gener ; were great 
failures. Wheat is worth $3 per bushel: 
corn, 75c. to ; bacon 14 16c ; dressed 
pork 10c. per pound : cotton t . to 10j^c. per 
pound. More wheat has been sown this Fall 
than any Fall since the war. Some are still 
sowing. Weather fine and pleasant; no 
frost yet to speak of. o. w. R, 
Canada. 
The Ridok, North Hastings, Ontario, Nov. 
6.—Wheat crop abundant, b oats and 
peas and roots suffered from the drought. My 
Washington Oats surprised my neighbor 
greatly—they reached the bight of five feet 
seven inches, and the best beads were 17j^ 
inches long. Mold’s Ennobled Oats were greatly 
admired also and reached a bight of five feet 
four inches. The White Elephant Potato was 
very small—1 cut it into twelve pieces and all 
grew. My soil (new) was not equal in kind¬ 
ness and 1 reckon 1 had only four good hills 
out of the 12. They stood the drought won¬ 
derfully, keeping green till the end of Septem¬ 
ber. 1 harvested !S0 potatoes, small and large. 
Would you recommend planting one set 
only in each hill next year. [Yes, for a large 
crop.-Eos.] Your Wheat Number was greatly 
admired. I was a competitor and was sur¬ 
passed by none and only equalled by one in 
Russian Spring Wheat. I did not get a prize, 
but I have a substantial reward in the report 
1 have to make as to the yield per ear of culls 
remaining from the ones I sent. I have 
counted as many as four spikelets with five 
grains each on a single ear, and 12 heads 
yielded exactly an average of 66 grains per 
head. Not bad for a bush farm! My Rural 
Branching Sorghum reached only a hight of 
15 inches, I am too far north for it (lat. 45). 
My asparagus did not come up. H. t. m. 
Florida. 
Starke, Bradford Co., Nov. 9.—It is still 
very warm and dry here—nearly 90 degrees 
in the shade most of the time. We have 
showers occasionally, but they are like angels 
visits, few and far between. Very hard to 
get plants started for winter gardens. A 
light frobt was reported on the 4th and 5th in 
some places near us, but we had none here. 
Cotton is nearly all gathered; the season has 
been a fine one for picking it; it is very 
white, no rain having fallen on it, but the 
staple is short and seeds very heavy, so that 
it takes about a pound more of seed cotton 
to make one of lint, than usual. Sugar cane 
and sweet potatoes are also light crops, owing 
to the dry season. Oranges are scarce, small 
and i-usty. The dry weather coming after 
the severe cold last Winter would not bring a 
very liberal crop of fruit; we could not expect 
it, but we hope for better things next year. l. s. 
Georgia. 
Harmony Grove. Jackson Co., Nov. 9.—The 
corn crop of the State has beeu seriously in¬ 
jured by drought und to some extent by iu- 
sectsin many localities. Upland corn is almost 
a total failure, while in limited localities in 
every section of the State the crop is re¬ 
markably fine. The area under oats was re¬ 
duced by the continued rains during the Fall, 
Winter and Spring, and the yield was re¬ 
duced by drought in May. The area sown 
in wheat was small on account of the 
unfavorable weather for preparing the land 
and sowing duriug last Fall and Winter. The 
area sown was only 60 per cent of the aver¬ 
age and much of that was sown in January 
and February ; consequently it was more sub¬ 
ject to rust on account of late ripening. Not¬ 
withstanding these disadvantages the yield 
is reported at 78 per cent of an average crop. 
The average condition of the cotton crop of 
the State on August 1 was 81, compared to an 
average crop. This was st ill reduced by the 
continued drought through August. The cater¬ 
pillar cleaned the fields in this section, but too 
late to do much damage. My White Elephant 
Potato, owing to the drought and poor soil, 
did not yield well. The Washington Oats 
blasted somewhat but stooled well and gave 
a good yield. The Rural Branching Sorghum 
did not germinate well, but it continued green 
through the drought. I planted it March 26 
on poor land and it had but little work. On 
Oct 1. it began to head, and the seed is now 
in the dough: if the frost will stay off another 
week. I will have plenty of seed. It is nine 
feet high. G. w. k. 
Illinois. 
Waukegan, Lake Co., Nov. 14.—The small 
White Elephant Potato had five eyes and was 
planted in as many hills: yield, 28 pounds. 
The other seeds did finely. I have read the 
Rural for 30 years, and never found it better 
than now. J. P. N. 
Indiana. 
Logansport, Cass Co., Nov. 6,—The Wash¬ 
ington Oats were sown broadcast in the gar¬ 
den rather late and raked in; chickens 
scratched the ground over and no doubt ate 
many grains, but what was left came up and 
grew about four feet high and yielded four 
pounds and ten ounces of fine grain—no smut. 
The White Elephant had nineteen eyes; one 
end was sprouted; all the eyes that hail more 
than one sprout I cut iuto two and planted 23 
hills; 22 grew. The eyes that were cut into 
two made fine, thrifty hills. There was only 
one sprout in a hill three feet apart; manured 
with barn-yard manure. I hoed them fre¬ 
quently enough to keep the weeds down. 1 
dug 44 pounds of fine potatoes though they 
seem inclined to rot, probably caused by wet 
weather of late. The Rural Branching Kor- 
ghurn did well considering the excessively 
dry Summer. It grew seven feet high, but 
did not head out until the Fall rains set in— 
about the middle of September; consequently 
it was too late to ripen. I think for fodder 
or soiliug it is sujierior to anything else, as the 
stalk is fine and the blades are large and dense. 
I planted it in rows three feet apart, one foot 
apart in the row, and it was a deuse muss of 
green. The asparagus did tolerably well. The 
flowers were splendid. j. u. s. 
New Holland, Wabash Co., Nov. 1U.— 
Wheat is injured by the fly. Corn is toler¬ 
ably good in this pai-t of the county. The 
same cannot be said of late potatoes, the 
weather having been too dry for them. I 
raised about a peck of White Elephants. I 
think they are the “boss” potatoes. The 
other Rural seeds did well. J. h. w. 
town. 
Olin, Jones Co., Nov. 12.—My Elephant 
potatoes did well, and were admired by all 
who saw the growth they made. My Wash¬ 
ington Oats lodged and smutted badly, but I 
saved some seed. The coni and oat crops are 
very light for this section, the former going 
about 40 bushels per acre, and the latter 
about 30 bushels. Owing to the scarcity of 
hay last Winter, fodders of all kinds (except 
ensilage) were pretty well looked after this 
season. Hogs, $5.25 to $5.50; corn, 50 cents; 
oats, 38 cents; cream, 35 cents per inch; but¬ 
ter, 20 to 25 cents. a. k. r. 
Kannas. 
New Pittsburgh, Crawford Co., Nov. G.—I 
planted the White Elephant late and got 18 
small tubers—hope to have better success next 
time. The asparagus came up well; the 
drought was hard on it, but the late rains 
ha ve started it to growing finely. The Rural 
Branching Sorghum came up well, branched 
out finely, but the chinch bugs made a vigor¬ 
ous attack on it and the extremely dry weather 
killed it all. I have a few seeds left, however, 
to plant next Spring; I feel confident it will 
be a fine fodder plant. The Washington Oats 
were planted late; but did well with but little 
suiut. I shall give them one more trial. The 
flower seeds we did not plant, but I shall try 
them next Spring. We prize the Rural 
highly for its valuable information, j. a. l. 
Oden, Barton Co., Nov. 10.—The White El¬ 
ephant Potato grew nicely—13 hills of it—but 
at harvest, when we cut the wheat that grew 
near, the potato beetles left the bull nettles 
and made so energetic a raid on the Elephants 
that it was impossible to save them. The 
Washington Oats did well considering the un¬ 
favorable season. The Rural Branching Sor¬ 
ghum seems not to care a whit for dry 
weather; but the cold, wet weather in May 
kept it so far back that we got no seed from 
it. The asparagus promises well. We have 
had plenty of rain since October 1, and the 
prospect for a good wheat crop next year is 
encouraging. A. J. m. 
Peoria, Franklin Co. , Nov. 8.—A great deal 
of rain this Fall; ground pretty well saturated. 
Very few vegetables have been raised here. 
Fruit very scarce, and what there is is of very 
poor quality. Very little wheat has been 
sown this Fall: that sown, however, has made 
a strong growth—it has to be pastured to keep 
it from jointing. M. p. B. 
iHichican, 
Freeland, Saginaw Co., Nov. 8.—The 
Rural seeds did splendidly for the 
dry season we had last Summer. The 
White Elephant Potato I cut into 21 
pieces, planted one eye in a hill on 
May 6. and on Sept. 1,1 dug 49 pounds. 1 shall 
save all of them to plant next Spring. From 
the one ounce of the White Washington Oats 
I harvested 6 pounds and 14 ounces of very 
nice grain. I sowed two ounces of the White 
Russian alongside of it, and received only 8 )4 
pounds. The Washington Oats were ripe 
July 25 aud the White Russian August 10. 
The asparagus seeds grew well and the plants 
stand about two feet high. The Rural 
Branching Sorghum I planted May 5, and 
about two-thirds grew, and all the fault my 
cows found with it was that they did uot get 
enough. The flower seeds came up well and 
mostly all the piuks were double—they were 
beauties. In regard to crops about here: 
Wheat averaged about 13 bushels to an acre— 
better than was expected; quality good, sell¬ 
ing now for $1.35 per bushel. Coni good. 
Potatoes about half a crop, selling from 75 to 
80 cents a bushel. Oats good; 48 cents a 
bushel. Hay very light; baled selling from 
$18 to $20 a ton. H. b. 
North Branch, Lapeer Co., Nov. 7.—We 
have had a very unfavorable season here for 
nearly all kinds of crops. In the latter part 
of March the snow went off leaving the win¬ 
ter wheat exposed to alternate freezing and 
thawing for nearly two weeks, which greatly 
injured the crop. A great deal of the land 
that had been sown to wheat was put into 
Spring crops, or summer-fallowed; what was 
left yielded less than half a crop. The prin¬ 
cipal varieties are Clawson and Fultz. Oats 
are a very small crop and of light weight. 
Com on low land is about two-thirds of an 
average crop; while that on dry upland will 
scarcely pay for the labor required to gather 
it. Hay is a light crop, but of good quality. 
Peas and beaus almost a failure. Potatoes 
yield from 100 bushel-, down to 18 bushels per 
acre; generally the yield is nearer the latter 
number. Fruit of all kinds is very scarce. 
The few apples we have are very poor in 
quality. The main cause of the poor crops 
was the long-continued drought, which com¬ 
menced about the middle of June and con¬ 
tinued about three months. The Rural 
Branching Sorghum withstood the dry 
weather the best of any thing 1 had on my 
farm. It attained the hight of only four feet 
by the 5th of October, when it was singed by 
the first frost of the season that did any dam¬ 
age here. It looked fresh und green all 
through the dry spell, while sweet com near¬ 
by it dried up almost entirely. If it is relished 
by stock and is as nutritious as fodder corn, I 
think it. should take the place of it, for it 
stands the drought so much better after it gets 
fuirly started. 1 received aliout four ounces 
of the White Elephant Potato from which 
1 dug 33>* pounds, most of them being of a 
good market size; the largest one weighed 18 
ounces. The Wasliington Oats did very well, 
but one quarter of the heads were smut. I have 
three good sheaves of them; have not thrashed 
them yet. I think they axe the same as a 
kind my father had sent to him by the Agri¬ 
cultural Department at Washington about 
ten yea re ugo, called Shccnon. I hud them 
growing side by side, and they looker! alike iu 
every particular. Are not Burbank’s .Seed¬ 
ling potato and the White Elephant sent out 
by the Rural the same? [Not at all.— Eds.] 
The vinos look just alike, ripeu at the same 
time, aud the tubers look so much alike that 
if placed side by side I do not think the best 
judges could tell one kind from the other. 
However, if they are distinct varieties they 
are both excellent, for they have yielded twice 
the quantity of any other potato raised 
around here this season. Winter wheat is do¬ 
ing exceedingly well. It has beeu very rainy 
for about five weeks and the ground is getting 
well soaked up again. The prices of farm 
