©1C. 31 
This result indicates the very high value of 
liquid manures, giving a value per ton of about 
$5, the estimate being made in accordance 
with that for muck and for solid excrement. 
A ton of well mixed manure, containing 
equal proportions of the solids and liquids, 
has a money value of not far from four dol¬ 
lars, or, this is the value of the manure stored 
in the barn cellar at Winnekeni farm, as 
learned from analysis. 
W. W. Traoy, in answer to a question how 
best to preserve onions, has this to say in 
the Michigan Farmer: The onions are stored 
one to two feet deep on the tight floor of 
some barn or shed (the loft of a bam is fre¬ 
quently fitted up for the purpose), but kept at 
least two feet from the sides of the building. 
They are! 't exposed until chilled or actually 
frozen, and then covered with about one foot of 
straw or marsh hay, the space between the 
wall and the onions being tamped solid. In 
putting on the hay care is taken not to dis¬ 
turb the onions in the least by stepping on 
them ,but the hay is thrown on from the out¬ 
side. As the cold increases more covering is 
added, until by mid-Winter it is three or four 
feet thick and the onions are left severely 
alone until the approach of Spring, when the 
covering is gradually removed and the bulbs 
are usually found in the best of condition. 
The object in this method is to have the 
onions as dry as possible and then to chill or 
freeze them and keep them frozen until 
wanted, at the same tirno protecting them 
from the warm damp weather of a thaw, and 
preventing their being moved when frozen; 
this last is considered very important. 
The Massachussetts Ploughman reasons 
that if the potato was the true seed there 
would be but little doubt that planting the 
largest and best specimens would result in 
the improvement of the quality of the pro¬ 
duct. But as they are not the true seed, are 
not a new life secured through the principle 
of reproduction, but simple a continuation of 
the old life secured by a continuation of 
vegetable growth, there is but little more cer¬ 
tainty of getting large potatoes, by planting 
large ones for seed, than there would be of get¬ 
ting large apples by setting large cions. 
Cotton-sked Meal, says Prof. Atwater, if 
decorticated (the tough husk of the seed taken 
off) ami in good condition, is a very valuable 
food. But it. must not be fed in large quantity 
—not more than four to six pounds can profit¬ 
ably be given to a steer or cow per day. It 
ought to be purchased anywhere in the West 
for $1.25 per 100 pounds. It is exported in 
large quantities to England, and used as a 
fattening food for cattle. If mixed with corn 
and bran, let the proportions be 100 pounds 
coni, 80 pounds bran, and O'.) pounds cotton¬ 
seed meal, or 00 pounds of flax-seed meal, and 
then feed of the mixture all the cattle require. 
Glucose meal is better if mixed with some 
corn, this meal having about the same com¬ 
position as bran. 
No finer English fruit than mine goes to 
Covent Garden, says a writer siguing himself 
“A Victim to Pomona,” in the London Chron¬ 
icle. Twenty-five years have I now been a 
fruit-grower, and in one season only bus the 
produce paid the wages, let alone manure, re¬ 
pairs, interest on capital, etc. 
“ Mamma, where do the cows get their 
milk ?” inquired Willie. “Where do you get 
your tears, my son ?” “Mamma, do the cows 
have to ho spanked ?”thoughtfully inquired 
Willie. 
Farmers’ Colleges. 
I was much interested and pleased with Dr, 
J. R. Nichols’s remarks on “Farmers’ Colleges” 
November 26. p. 708. It is evident to farm¬ 
ers that his “head is level.” We also need 
some such schools for farmers 1 sous of 20 and 
near that age or older, who would like to get 
more light; but cannot spend four years 
studying algebra, geometry, and military 
drill, etc., while if they could atteud a course 
in the Winter, taking up some of the studies 
closely coimected with practical farming, like 
chemistry, etc., many who could not leave 
the farm in the Summer, would gladly spend 
part of one or even more than one Winter in 
attending such a practical course. I am glad 
that some of these scientific fellows like Dr. 
Nichols are awaking up to what we fann¬ 
ers need. Those who expect to hold the plow 
and also themselves drive some of the time 
cannot afford to spend much time on super¬ 
fluities. Let us hear more on the subject. In 
closing I will say that I read six agricultural 
papers, but. the Rural New-Yorker is de¬ 
cidedly the best. Everett E. Brown. 
Windham County, Connecticut. 
A Suggestion. 
To dig a ditch with a uniform grade on the 
bottom, in land that is uneven on the surface, 
is very difficult unless one knows how. I will 
give you a plan that I originated myself. It 
has never been in print. At the head of 
the ditch drive a stout stake, and at a distance 
of ten or twenty rods farther up, and on a line 
with the ditch, drive another. Nail a narrow 
strip—a lath will answer—across the first 
stake, on the side next the outlet, just 
as high above the bottom of the ditch as the 
eyes of the digger. Then let him who is to dig 
the ditch go to the outlet and look across the 
lath and direct his assistant to nail another 
strip on the second stake, in a line with the 
first. Now, to find the grade in any part of 
the ditch, it is only necessary for the man to 
stand up straight and look at the two strips. 
If they are in line, his feet are on grade. 
In cases where there is not an Opportunity 
to sight in this manner, as in digging a cellar 
drain, I have adopted the following method: 
Stretch a line at a certain distance above the 
bottom of the ditch and at one side, so as not 
to be in the way, and with your measure you 
can keep just so far below the line. If at any 
place the ditch should be inadvertently dug 
too deep, it is important that it be brought 
to a true grade and tamped, lest the tile settle 
and become filled. M. Crawford. 
Summit Co., O. 
(£vcn)xo I) cxc. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Arkansas, 
Walnut Ridge, Lawrence Co., Dec. 10.— 
Times are hard here on account of last sea¬ 
son’s drought. Prices of everything in the 
food and feed line are high: corn, $1.15@1.25 
per bushel; Irish potatoes, $2; sweet potatoes, 
$1.25 per bushel; turnips, 60c. per bushel, and 
eggs, 20c. per doz.; butter, 25@35c. per pound; 
pork, 8c. per pound and beef 5@6c. w. s. 
Indiana. 
Indianapolis, Marion Co., Dec. 12.—Not 
an asparagus seed came up. Sowed Washing- 
Oats April 22, in drills 110 feet long; grew 
very well, but smutted badly. [This seems to 
be the general report.—E ds.I May 11, plant¬ 
ed three rows of Branching Sorghum 110 feet 
long, four feet apart; hills, 18 inches asunder; 
one to three seeds in hill Came up exceed¬ 
ingly well; when three to four inches high, 
thinned to one plant in a hill. Owing to our 
extreme and unparalleled drought from 
June 8 to Aug. 31, it made slow growth, at 
latter date not much of it having attained a 
bight of three feet. At that time we had a 
drenching rain, which caused it to shoot up 
wonderfully, some of it reaching a hight of 
eight to nine feet in the next, two months. One 
hill made 23 heavy branches, the whole aver¬ 
aging 10 to 12 stalks; but few stalks showed 
any signs of seed; none matured. On Oct. 27 
I cut au average bill of 10 stalks: weight, 71^ 
pounds—an average of over 27 tons per acre. 
Not a blade curled during our loug period of 
more than 10 weeks of terrible drought and 
heat, while evergreen corn alongside curled 
every day as tight as a paper lamp-lighter. 
About Aug. 20 some bottom leaves began to 
dry, and feariug it was all going the same 
way, I began cutting and feeding to my cow 
a few hills daily, and the way the new shoots 
started after our rain on Aug. 20 was a sur¬ 
prise to ail beholders, os was the whole crop, 
which has been cut at intervals since Oct. 15, 
and fed to and devoured with apparently keen 
relish by my cow and horses, not five pounds 
of the coarsest stalks having been refused. 
Perhaps it should be stated that the heavy, 
hard stalks were cut short with a lever cutter. 
What would my crop have been with timely 
rains ! I have spun this Sorghum matter to 
a considerable length, for 1 regard it as an ex¬ 
ceedingly valuable fodder plant, especially 
for soiling. On May IS, brought White Ele¬ 
phant from cellar; removed five sprouts and 
planted them; cut potato to 14 eyes; planted 
them 15 inches apart in drill slightly scooped 
out, leaving the bed rather firm; put on the 
eyes and covered with half a peek of thor¬ 
oughly decomposed chip manure sifted, then 
some short litter, then loam. Two sprouts 
and seven eyes grew. Hoed and kept 
clean. After 1 had overcome the ravages of 
the beetle and the rains came, the vines grew 
vigorously and w ere very green on Oct. 18, 
when I dug five pounds, mostly very small po¬ 
tatoes ; there was but one fair-sized and hand¬ 
somely formed tuber in the lot. w. b. p. 
Iowa. 
Ladora, Iowa Co., Dec. 10.—I divided the 
White Elephant with n neighbor. From the 
four eyes I had left, I got a peck measure 
about even full of very handsome potatoes. 
Last Winter was very hard on the Cuthbcrt 
Raspberries. I had one (Cuban Queen) melon 
that weighed 20 pounds, another 32 pounds. 
Corn, wheat and potatoes in this neighbor¬ 
hood each about one-fourth of a crop J. vv. 
KaiibUH. 
Garden Plain, Sedgwick Co., Dec. 13.— 
Both kinds of asparagus grew splendidly. It 
was too dry for the flower seeds. The oats I 
did not sow, neither did I the Sorghum. I 
gave A. M. George half of the White Ele¬ 
phant Potato. He cut it into six pieces, one 
eye in a piece, and put the pieces into a small 
stone jar filled with sand. When they 
sprouted, he took the sprouts off, and set 
them out. The weather being very dry, they 
did not ali grow. He dug them the 19th of 
October and got 34 pounds. One weighed 1% 
pound; another IX pound. Some were 
cooked and proved excellent. He thinks if be 
bad received the potato in February be could 
have increased the crop half or two-thirds as 
one potato out of a hill planted in July 
weighed 1 % pound. The product of my half 
was destroyed before maturing. H. e. s. 
Norton, Norton Co,, Dec. 15.—This has been 
a harder season on the settlers of this conn fcy 
than last. A railroad that is being built 
through the county has enabled many to earn 
money to “ keep a-going,” but few have any¬ 
thing to sell. Flour, $3.50; wheat, 85c.; corn, 
75c.; meal, $2.20 —so little of the corn is fit to 
grind. My corn averaged bushels per 
acre! I cut my “Elephant” into 10 pieces; 
planted them in two hills; watered the hills 
during the driest part of the season, and 
when I dug them (the hills) I did not find a 
potato, uot even tho size of a pea! I think if 
any set, some grub or worm must have eaten 
them. Only two of the Rural Branching Sor¬ 
ghum seeds grew. The Doura, which I had 
kept over from last year’s distribution, did 
much better—grew higher and larger. During 
the latter part of the season the chinch-bug 
attacked both, and when they were dead to 
about 18 inches above the ground I cut them 
up for fodder. A hill that I had previously 
cut—to see it sprout again—never sprouted, 
owing to the chinch-bug, probably. The as¬ 
paragus and flowers did reasonably well, but 
I think that our soil, while fertile, is almost too 
“raw” yet for small seeds. d. e. s. 
lie hi an ii 
Jonesvtlle, Hillsdale Co., Dec. 12.—The 
XVKite Elephant Potato weighed two ounces; 
from it l raised 20 pounds of very nice tubers. 
I would not take five dollars for them. h. b. 
M nuetiota. 
Cedar Mills, Meeker Co., Dec. 14.—The 
Rural Branching Sorghum was planted 
about May 10. The seeds all came up and 
grew finely from the start. Did not look 
yellow. The cows ate it greedily, preferring 
it to green corn fudder. It is undoubtedly a 
good fodder plant, but uot needed here, where 
natural meadows arc so plentiful. I noticed 
that it remained green for two or three weeks 
after the frost had withered the corn blades. 
Only six stalks matured seed. The Washington 
Oats grew well, but rusted badly and the stalks 
fell down before the seed ripened. Thu White 
Elephant Potato under the circumstances has 
d_ne well, ns I did not expect oven one pound 
after I found that the Colorado beetles had 
killed the vines lief ore they had blossomed, 
but there were nearly eight pounds when 1 
dug them. I think that every asparagus seed 
came up, and all have grown nicely. The 
picotees and carnations germinated well, 
though planted very late, when the weather 
was hot, about the middle of June, but I 
drenched the bed well and covered it with 
boards to keep it moist. This enticed the ants 
and I had to make war on them with boiling 
water, losing a few plants in this way; but 
I have a nice lot of plants and the picotees 
bloomed finely all the Fall. They were mostly 
very double, and even the single ones were 
very large and fine. I found that my pent- 
stemon and iris seeds planted in the open 
ground late hist year, came up last Spring, 
and are now fine plants. I feel quite su re that 
all the failures I have ever had with Rural 
seeds (and they are not many) have been frarn 
too much water in the boxes or pots. Once 
they were too dry. John wishes me to say 
that he prizes Blount's Corn and considers it 
the most prolific of any variety that he has 
cultivated. The first year the sued did not 
mature, but grew all right. The second year 
a part ouly matured, but this year it all 
ripened well, some of it as early' as the first of 
September. m. e. m. b. 
New York Mills, Otter Tail Co., Dec. 12. 
—My White Elephant Potato had six eyes 
five of which grew, making five hills. Had a 
great fight with the potato bugs, but. got one 
peck of nice tubers; several weighed a pound 
and one two pounds; have not tried any yet 
as I am keeping all for seed next year. It is 
a race between the Elephant, and the Beauty 
for the first place in my regard. The Wash¬ 
ington Oats grew finely but turned out just 
half smut, which I pulled up as fast as it 
headed. I have half a peck of oats for seed. 
The Rural Branching Sorghum grew eight 
feet high; two stalks headed out. The aspar¬ 
agus grew about two feet high. The flowers 
are fine. My land is black loam with a clay- 
subsoil. Lc is new ground, the last being the 
first crop. We are all homesteaders here on 
the Northern Pacific R. R. t. d. a. 
New York. 
Carthage, Jefferson Co., Dec. 14.—The 
Rural free seeds came in good condition. I 
planted the White Elephant Potato, cut into 
12 pieces, an eye in each piece. At the time 
of plauting there were tw’O sprouts grown 
from it, about three or four inches in length, 
and I planted these one in a hill, making 14 
hills. The sprouts grew as strongly' and 
thriftily as the other hills, and the yield was 
about the same. From the 14 hills I had 48 
pounds of nice, large tubers. The Branching 
Sorghum did not ripen any seed, but grew 
well. The oats gave a good yield, and the as¬ 
paragus did finely, although the drought was 
quite severe in this vicinity. The flower seeds 
were not sowu on account of our inability to 
prepare the beds until too late; for, as the 
Spring was later than usual, we were ex¬ 
tremely busy. J. v. 
Castleton, Renssalaer Co., Dec. 9.—The 
Mold’s Oats I consider very valuable. The 
Cuthbert Raspberry I consider something ex¬ 
tra and quite hardy. I have now about 30 
plants from the two. The pentstemons and 
wiHows are very fine. I have over 30 iris 
plants. The Washington Oats were badly 
smutted but the White Elephant made up for 
them. I received a two-ounce potato which 
was smashed in the mall; but 1 cut it into 13 
pieces with one eye in each, and planted them 
with the main crop, the hills three feet apart, 
and dug 25 pounds of tubers. The pinks and 
picotees were elegant. F. o. 
Pennsylvania. 
Horn Brook, Bradford Co., Dec. 12.—The 
melons from last year’s Free Seed Distribution 
were splendid, and the hollyhocks bloomed 
finely this year. The hibiscus did not do well. 
Two of the evergreens came up, but that was 
all. They died; so did the Man-root. The 
magnolias did not come up. This year the 
melons were nice. The pinks were very pretty 
and are looking fine now, out mine were not 
as handsome, nor was there such a variety of 
them, as I saw in the garden of another Rural 
reader. The celery is the best I ever saw. 
The tomatoes were good, but were affected 
with the rot, and I have one of the tree seeds 
that came up and grew about four inches. I 
hope it may live. We have had hardly 
enough snow to cover the ground, and it melt¬ 
ed off the next’ day; but now' the ground is 
freezing and it looks like snow. Some of the 
flower seeds did not come up in consequence 
of not being planted early enough to get a 
start before the dry weather came upon us. 
But, taking them all together, I feel very well 
satisfied; but I hope to do better next 
year. T. o. t. 
Tennessee. 
Nashville, Davidson Co., Dec. 12.—I got 
nearly (not quite) a barrel of White Elephants 
—yood ones. j. j. p. 
Wisconsin. 
Cassville, Grant Co., Dec. 8.—My White 
Elephant Potato I planted in good garden 
soil in ten hills. It yielded about half a bushel 
of nice tubers ; one weighed eighteen ounces, 
and three weighed one pound each. I planted 
Early Rose and Victor potatoes at the same 
time and in the same manner. The Early 
Rose yielded loss, and the Victor more than 
the White Elephant ; but the Victor is not a 
first-class potato. I have sufficient asparagus 
plants to set out a good-sized bed. Winter 
wheat all killed out, rye nearly so. Oats one- 
third of a crop. I had 70 acres ; yield 1,112 
bushels. Of corn I had 5U acres; yield 40 
bushels per acre. Flax seed turned out eight 
to eleven bushels per acre. Hay was a good 
crop ; I had about 40 tons from 18 acres of 
bottom land. Very little Spring wheat sown, 
but what was sown the chinch bugs killed. 
There was a large amount of clover cut for 
seed, hilt wet weather spoiled three-quarters 
of it. Dairying is fast taking the place of 
wheat raising hereabouts; quite a considera¬ 
ble number are fattening cattle ; others turn 
their attention to sheep, while all fatten hogs 
more or less; but the hog cholera has been 
troublesome for two years. A good many 
farmers are raising “ half grade” Percheron 
horses. Heavy horses sell well here. This 
is a good stock country. There is plenty of 
good water, and stock generally are healthy. 
I show the Rural to my neighbors, which is as 
good a recommendation as I can give it. All 
who have seen it are pleased with it. I have 
always taken an agricultural paper, but the 
Rural which I subscribed for the first time a 
year ago, pleases me better than any I have 
ever seen. J. w. t. 
Mineral Point, Iowa Co., Dec. 16.— 
Planted the White Elephant Potato one eye 
in a hill ; 16 hills; yield half a bushel of nice 
tubers. The oats grew four feet high, and 
yielded two quarts of good graiii. The Rural 
Branching Sorghum grew 10 feet high with 
10 to 16 stalks iu a hill; seed matured on a 
few heads. The asparagus did not all grow, 
but there is enough to give it a fail* trial next 
season. The flower seeds grow into hand¬ 
some flow ers. E. G, R. 
