THE BUBAL MEW-YORMER. 
DEG. 17 
Prosperity everywhere. Truly ours is a 
favored land. The Pacific Rural Press says: 
“ There has probably never been a more buoy 
ant spirit, uwuiting the opening of the plant¬ 
ing and growing season, and the alacrity with 
which chosen plans a ic pushed forward will 
be charming to contemplate. The State was 
never in so good shape to go forward. All 
legitimate trades and industries are alert, ex¬ 
pectant and confident. The season has been 
a good one in trade even during the period 
when dullness usually prevails, and now that 
the spell of idleness is broken, the quickening 
will be general. 
Orchard Grass. —Professor D. L. Phares, 
of the Mississippi Agricultural College, 
speaks very highly of Orchard Grass:— 
Of all grasses it is one of the most widely 
diffused, growing in Africa., Asia, every 
country of Europe and all of our States. It is 
more highly esteemed and commended than 
any other grass, by a larger number of farm 
ers in most, countries a most decided proof of 
its .great value and wonderful adaptation to 
many soils, climates and treatments. . . . 
It will grow well on any soil containing sufli 
cient clay and not holding too much water. 
If the land bo too tenacious, draining will 
remedy the soil; if worn out, a top-dressing of 
stable manure will give a good send-off, and 
it will furnish several good mowings the first 
year. It grows well between 2'J° and 48® 
latitude. It may be mowed from two to four 
times a year, according to latitude, season 
and treatment, yielding from one to three 
tons of excellent hay per acre on poor to me¬ 
dium land. In grazing, and as hay, most an¬ 
imals select it in preference among mixtures 
with other grasses. In lower latitudes it fur¬ 
nished good winter grazing, as well as for 
Spring, Summer and Pall. After grazing or 
mowing, few grasses grow so rapidly (three 
to six inches per week), and are so soon 
ready again for tooth or blade. It is easily 
cured and handled. It is readily seeded, and 
catches with certainty. Its long, deeply pen¬ 
etrating, fibrous roots enable it to sustain it¬ 
self and grow vigorously duringdrottgbtsthnt 
dry up other grasses, except, tall Oat Grass, 
which has similar roots and character. It 
grows well in open lauds and in forests of 
large trees, the underbrush being all cleared 
oil". He has bad it grow luxuriantly even in 
beech woods whore the roots are superficial, 
n the crotches of roots undclose to t he trunks 
of trees. The hay is of high quality, and the 
young grass contains a larger percent, of nu¬ 
tritive digestible matter than any other grass. 
It thrives well without renewal on the same 
ground for 85, nay 40 years. How much Ion 
ger the Professor is not able to say. It is 
easily exterminated when the laud is desired 
for other crops. Is there any other grass for 
which so much can he sai l? 
The N. Y. Sun is responsible for the follow¬ 
ing: “ In a recent trial of a butcher for selling 
bad meat ill a town in England, it came out 
that a great deal of horseflesh was sold to 
poor people, But the selling of horseflesh ns 
beef Wile not. the worst, feature in the case, for 
it was shown that, the horse died a naturn] 
death, and was not butcher* d for his flesh. 
In commenting on t his ease an English agri¬ 
cultural contemporary says that it is the prac¬ 
tice of some butchers in England to procure 
aged and diseased horses und slaughter them 
for food; then, in order to attract custom, 
they put a low price on the stuff and label it 
American or Australian beef, on account of 
its uninviting appearance. This is meanness 
of the lowest type. 
It is generally maintained, remarks Dr. 
Voclekor of England, that you can only 
get richnoss in the small breeds, like the Jer¬ 
seys mid the A Idorneys; and it is generally 
true that the Alderney and Jersey cows pro¬ 
duce richer cream than cows of the larger 
breeds; but., nevertheless, it is a fact that by 
proper selection you may got a cow which 
produces not only rich milk, but also much 
milk; and on the occasion of f ile last dairy 
show there was a Short- horn cow winch gained 
the milking prize, and which not only pro¬ 
duced a great deal of milk, but milk that was 
actually as rich as that of some of the Guern 
soy cows that were then exhibited. 
Prok. A knot, n in the New York Tribune, 
says that cows which have a. moderate feed 
of meal while grazing will give more and bet¬ 
ter milk and hold out longer than those which 
live exclusively oil grass. This is more especi¬ 
ally true with large milkers. Mo large a share 
of their food is converted into milk that their 
bodies fail to be properly supported. With 
such eows a moderate feed of meal daily 
while at grass gives a fuller development of 
vigor without undue excitement, and con 
tributes to the duration of the milk-producing 
function as well as to an improvement in the 
quality and quantity of milk. Exhaustion, 
or a failure to fully sustain vital functions, is 
as fatal to duration as over-excitement, or 
over-exertion, and from this cause more cows 
have their time of profitable milk-producing 
shortened from the lack of meal than from 
getting too much while at pasture. 
Qbtting rid ok Quack Grass. —Mr. Sim¬ 
mons, a member of the Farmers’ Club said, 
according to the Rural Home, that he had 
a piece of Quack in one of his fields. He 
planted it to potatoes last, year, and cultivated 
them well, and thought he checked the Quack 
decidedly. This year he sowed it to outs, grow 
a very large crop, and could see nothing ol 
the Quack in the stuhhle Turned it under 
and sowed wheat, and cannot, as yet, -cc any¬ 
thing of the Quack, Mr. Ives did not believe 
that Mr. Simmons would see much more of 
the Quack. He had handled a great deal of 
Quack, and finds it will give in to thorough 
til luge. The thorough cultivation of the 
potatoes last year, followed by the Spring 
crop, und then the cultivation for wheat, 
when so dry, was hard upon it, and then the 
wheat will help keep it down. 
The New England Farmer remarks that 
farmers living near villages can make the 
most from their hogs if they will retail them 
out at butchers’ prices. It is very seldom that 
a hundred pounds of cut pork will not bring 
#4 more than a 1011 pounds of whole hog. 
Salt pork, hams, lard, roasting pieces, head 
cheese, pickled feet, und the trimmings, 
“ in llnki-il sweetness Ion#drawn out,” 
are always salable in every Christian market, 
and the different parts are not difficult Incur©, 
while the waste from pork carcass is less than 
from any other animal, except sardines. 
Jr says also that a swill barrel on the 
farm, where every waste substance is thrown 
to sour and rot, is a piece of furniture that it 
has little respect for. There is no place for it 
in the bouse, nor in the dairy room, nor at 
the barn, nor have we found quite enough 
room for it out of-doors. It draws flies, breeds 
mold and maggots, ■smells bad, and not 
unfrequeutly spoils the good food put into it. 
Du. Hoskins says that he began his present 
sandy farm fifteen years ago when it was 
called a “ run out ” place, and having chiefly 
used ground bone and luird-wood ashes ns fer¬ 
tilizers, he now has it in first-rate condition. 
There is not an acre of it that lias received 
this treatment that, is not good for two or 
three tons of hay, 8<t0 to 400 bushels of 
potatoes, 80 bushels of wheat, or fit) bushels of 
com at a crop Some of the land has never 
had a particle of stable manure applied to it 
since it came into his bunds, and none lias had 
muck. He uses some nitrogenous fertilizer, 
usually sulphate of ammonia, with such crops 
as ho thinks need if, hut this is applied rafcuer 
to tin- crop than to the land, and none is sup¬ 
posed to he left in the soil when the crop is har¬ 
vested. This work has all been done at a 
profit, The Doctor is not a “fancy farmer,” 
ami lias had no money to use except what 
has cOlne out of the land while in process of 
improvement. He is still using from one to 
three tons f bone and all the ashes lie can 
get, every year, and is satisfied with this 
method of farming on sandy land. 
The Sweet l’otato must be kept dry and 
wm m, says the Sun, us cold even above the 
freezing point is often destructive to its 
vitality. In warm climates it is only neces¬ 
sary to bury the tubers in dry soil in the 
MiUimn, in order to have them come out 
sound in Spring; hut in cool climates, as in 
our Northern States, a little artificial hen l. dur¬ 
ing the Winter months is required. Packing 
in dry chaff or kiln-dried sand is perhaps the 
best method, after which place the barrels or 
boxes in a dry room or cellar where a fire 
can be occasionally kindled to drive out 
moisture and raise the temperature to Ho or 
70 degrees. The tubers will not sprout eve at 
a higher temperature unless considerable 
moisture is present in the materials used for 
packing. _ _ 
i’ROl'ERl.v viewed in his jilans and objects, 
says Mr. F. J). Moulton, in the Journal of the 
American Agricultural Association, the man 
who does the most to promote the best 
system of agriculture is a philanthropist who 
sets an example to every tiller of the soil, 
stimulating others to accomplish the In st re¬ 
sults, encouraging ail who view his work to 
aim high, and showing tlm world how attract¬ 
ive agriculture may be made. Such a man 
shows his followers how much of beauty und 
enjoyment may bo found in farm life; and 
when we stop to reflect that agriculture is the 
great, industry of our country, and that more 
persons are directly engaged in prosecuting 
it than in nil other pursuits, it must be admit¬ 
ted that too much cannot, lie doiin to lighten 
its burdens, to increase its comforts and to im¬ 
prove its products 
In the same Journal Professor McBryde 
says that there is a weighty reason why the 
history of agriculture should have a foremost 
place in the curriculum of the aj ricultural 
college. In these days of advanced thought 
and arrogunt, self-assertion it is well to com¬ 
pare the pretensions of the present with the 
deeds of the past. Such study and compari¬ 
son will almost induce the belief that modern 
discoveries a re but tin* rehabilitation of truths, 
or the resuscitation of processes and arts, long 
forgotten or neglected, and our present civil¬ 
ization simply retrogression towards the pri 
movuL And surely it will make us all the 
humbler and better to remember that hu 
nmn nature has from the beginning been 
ever the same; that the mind of man has 
always been engaged with the problem of his 
bring and surroundings; and that intellects as 
mighty, and in all probability civilization ns 
advanced, as any our century boasts of, have 
appeared and disappeared, again and again, 
since the advent of our race upon earth. * * * 
After a careful examination of the works of 
all tltoold Roman authors, Profewor McBryde 
has but little hesitation in usserting that the 
agriculture of Rome was characterized by the 
ski 1 1 and thoroughness for which her people 
were so justly renowned, and that it was su¬ 
perior to all but t he very host systems of hus¬ 
bandry prevalent as Into as 40 years ago, and 
fully equal t. nine-teuthsof the present. * * * 
Thorough cultivation was always aimed at, 
anil the necessity of manuring well under¬ 
stood. It was held that soils, like animals, 
needed rest at stated intervals; hence the fal 
low system was generally adopted, and the 
land kept clean and mellow during the season 
by repeated plowings. This fallow formed 
part, of a regular rotation in which different 
kinds of crops wore grown. 
Leguminous plants, more particularly the 
cloven*, lucern, sainfoin, etc., were considered 
especially valuable in such rotations as good 
preparations for wheat and the other cereals. 
They were therefore grown for turning under 
green, as well as for forage, for Columella 
writes of them as follows: “If the lupine, 
vetches, lentils, etc., are cut down green and 
immediately plowed under and covered before 
they wither, they fully supply the place of 
barnyard manure.” He adds, however, that 
if grown for their seeds, such leguminous 
crops as beaus, peas, etc., injure the fertility 
of the soil, anil that the only safe and sure 
remedy in such cases is farm manure, Colu¬ 
mella and Falludius both give full directions 
for the culture of lucern. 
Much attention was paid to the making and 
composting of manure, and the relative 
amount and value of that voided by the differ¬ 
ent. kinds of farm animals carefully deter¬ 
mined- < )n certain crops it was applied green; 
for others it was well fermented. The time 
and mode of application demanded by differ¬ 
ent soils also received due consideration. 
Leaven, ferns, straw, the sweepings of the 
courtyards and roads, ashes, natron, lime and 
chalk, salt, etc., were nil freely used as fertil 
izers. Burning was another method adopted 
for improving unproductive fields. 
A new hi.ai k currant called Black Cham¬ 
pion, raised by Mr. Dunnett, of Dedham, Eng 
land, is said by the Florist and Poiuologist to 
he the finest, variety yet, known, being ex¬ 
tremely prolific, w ith large berries, ripening 
simultaneously in the same cluster. It w ill be 
quite an acquisition, t. - o Poiuologist thinks, 
among new hardy small fruits, mid will he 
especially valuable for market-growers, on 
account of its free bearing habit. 
Mr. Geodes (N. Y. Tribune) finds red clo¬ 
ver, sown thickly, the very best, thing to dis¬ 
pute possession with and keep Cnnada thistles 
down. . . Mr. Cheever, of Massachusetts, 
states that ho has kept hornless hulls for the 
past 1 » years, in all as many as eight mature 
animals, and “notone,us yet, has shown signs 
of viciousness.”.Experiments 
made by Professor Beal and reported in the 
N. Y. Tribune, show- that nothing is gained by 
placing posts in the ground top-end dow n. . 
. . , . Dr. Hoskins thinks that there is no 
machine so poorly understood by the majority 
of those who run it as the plow. 
Mr. Cheever says thut a carpenter who should 
use tools ns far behind the ago ns a re some of 
the plows that are still in use, would find it 
difficult to obtain employment,. 
Professor H. VV. Johnson says that it is often 
said of a machine that it w as good in theory, 
but failed in practice. This is as untrue as un¬ 
true can be, If a machine haa failed in prac¬ 
tice t was because it was imperfect in theory. 
It should be said of such a failure, the machine 
was good, judged by the best theory known 
to its inventor, but its incapacity to work 
demonstrated that the theory had a Haw, , 
.Secretary Chamberlain forcibly 
says, in the Ohio Funner, that poor soil can¬ 
not bo brought up to fertility in u season sim¬ 
ply by an immense amount of manure, any 
more than a lean horse can he fattened in a 
week by an immense amount of feed. The ' 
soil needs time to assimilate the manure and 
improve in texture, It takes time to “fat it | 
up,” just as it does to fatten the lean horse. 
And time requires patience on the part of the 
farmer.It is not always safe to 
give a piece of your mind to an erring friend, 
because you live so close to your income that 
any expenditure of that kind may bankrupt 
you.One thousand shingles, laid 
four inches to the weather, will cover 100 
square feet of surface, and five pounds of 
shingle nails will fasten them on. 
One fifth more siding and flooring is needed 
than the pumber of square feet of surface to 
be covered, because of the lap in the siding 
and matching of the floor.One 
thousand la Mis w ill cover 70 yards of surface, 
and 11 pounds of lath nails will nail them on. 
.Eight bushels of good lime, six¬ 
teen bushels of sand and one bushel of hair 
will make enough good mortar to plaster 100 
square yards.A cord of stone, 
three bushels of lime and a cubic yard of sand 
win lay loo cubic feet of wall. 
Five courseaof brick will lay one foot in bight 
on a chimney; six bricks in a course will make 
a flue four inches wide and twelve inches long; 
and eight bricks in a course will make u flue 
eight inches wide and sixteen inches long. 
Coxn)iol)crf. 
NOTES FROM ARKANSAS. 
Tms south western land may be considered 
a land of promise, as its resources in a great 
measure are yet to lie developed. The first 
really sharp frost of the season occurred on No¬ 
vember Our forest trees hud previously as¬ 
sumed a gulden linenud among our “ up-west.” 
mountains the scene for several days past had 
been beautiful- exquisitely picturesque. Our 
fruit trees this season are going into w inter 
quarters with line prospects for a crop next 
season, the wood, notwithstanding the warm, 
wet weather of two months past, having 
thoroughly ripened, so that all liability to in 
jury from Winter is over. Lust year was 
one of grout disaster to fruit trees through¬ 
out this State. A Mummer and Autumn of 
showers followed hy a fall of temperature un¬ 
precedented both for suddenness and severity, 
destroyed at least fifty per cent of all hearing 
trees. The damage, however, was confined 
mainly to low lands. All high points escaped 
with but, slight, injury. 
The interest in horticulture is dest ined to 
grow into immense proportions in this State. 
That which retards it most will doubtless be 
overcome in a few years. Men who have nl 
ready made a success have labored under 
great disadvantages. First, commencing 
without capital in the woods, they have hud 
to expend a great deal of capital in the slut) o 
of labor to prepare the ground by removing 
the dense forests of oak and ot her grow ths. 
Second, most men engaging in the busi 
ness have immigrated within the past eight 
years with a good knowledge of the fruit 
business in Stales north, and have found from 
experience that the list of varieties with 
which they hud been familiar were largely a 
failure here. This is so especially with (he 
apple and pear. The writer of this has brought 
to fruiting more than 100 varieties of apples 
alone, and now could not recommend for Win¬ 
ter keeping more than one dozen and those 
mainly of Southern developing. Years of 
time, toil and labor have been lost. In addi¬ 
tion to this want of experience by this first 
generation of horticulturists, our Mtate legis 
lator». fail to give aid or even encouragement 
to her agricultural enterprises, A young 
man from abroad goes into a law office and 
reads six weeks, He looks west to find a 
suitable location to develop his hidden genius. 
He has always understood that Arkansas is 
one great big “ mullet-bend.” Ho comes and 
finds that the field for success in his line is 
preoccupied. He cannot wdlh his limited 
know ledge of law ourn enough to meet his 
cuireut expenses. He strikes for the legisla¬ 
tive hulls of the State and hy wiring and pul 
ling he gets In. A legal term of fiodays’ $ sslon 
is occupied in discussing defunct issues about 
“ ahI bandit' and the embezzlements of former 
State olllcials, w hen a committee is raised at 
the close of the session and left (t ad interim ” 
to draw #18.00 a day und contingencies to de¬ 
tect a discrepancy iu the Treasurer’s hooks. 
Thus fifty thousand dollars are expended on 
discrepancies supposed to exist and the young 
man returns homo, full of currency and self- 
complacency ; exhilarated over the wonder¬ 
ful achievement** made and the wisdom dis¬ 
played at the capitol. Much men are al ter the 
“dear people's” money. They get what they 
are after, and all public enterprises of the 
Mtute are lagging. An agricultural college 
iu the State educates the sons of well-to-do 
merchants, officials and professionals at the 
expense of the people of the United States and 
of the State and returns them to their home*— 
to do what t Engage in agricultural pur¬ 
suits after the most modern improved style ? 
No. This is drudgery, only to tie performed 
by the ignorant. 
Thus the intelligent farmers and we have 
many of them—is left without encourage¬ 
ment. That we havo resources equal to those 
