described and the details of its management 
given. It occurred to me at tho time that some 
of our Kansas orchards need not be ashamed to 
hold up their heads, or tops, even in the pres¬ 
ence of those great Michigan orchards. Com¬ 
parisons in agricultural affairs, ought never to 
be odious, for they are usually full of instruction 
to tho farmer. 
The particular orchard which I now have iu 
mind, is the property of Mr. Welcome Wells, 
and is situated in the Kaw Valley, 115 miles 
west of the Missouri ltiver, and three miles east 
of this city. This orchard deserves particular 
mention for three reasons ; it Is one of the best 
if not the best orchard in a State whose principal 
crop is popularly supposed to lie grasshoppers ; 
it is situated quite beyond what is generally con- 
sidereu the extreme western limit of the fruit¬ 
growing area ; and finally ou account of its 
thriftiness and very great productiveness. This 
orch«rd occupies (hirty-fivo acres of gronnd and 
all, except a few trees around the house, were 
sot in 1866. The soil is very rich alluvial bottom¬ 
land, having a clayey subsoil, but it is wo more 
fertile than the average of the four or five mile 
wide strip of Kaw bottoms, that extends 150 
miles west of Kansas City. 
The first thing that strikes the visitor on en¬ 
tering the orchard, is tho low heads and the 
surprising uniformity of the trees. The clean 
trunks are rarely more than two feet high, aud 
many not eighteen inches, while every tree is as 
nearlv alike everv other, as the individuals in 
of the rural public, that they are willing to 
*• sparo a few trios at 850 to 875!" This liberal 
offer is generally made after a large number of 
fowls has been raised. Now, the most that is 
said about these new breeds is sheer lnmibug- 
gcry. Note the statements made about the 
Houdnns, Crevecomrs, aud La Flecbe fowls when 
first imported, and at what high prices they were 
Bold ; and to-day I would not accept a hundred 
of either breed, as a present, if I were to be 
obliged to keep and breed them. Then came 
the “ wonderful” Pekin ducks at 420 a pair, and 
eggs at 810 a setting, which turn out to bo no 
better than several breeds that we had before 
they were imported; and now wo have the 
“Langshau” fowl, said to have been “discov¬ 
ered in Northern China, by an exploring party . 
Not a word of proof is addueed showing these 
fowls to bo worth over 50 cents a piece, jot a 
breeder of them kindly offers “one trio for 850, 
tnd two trios for 890;” but lie cruelly adds: 
“only two trios sold to one person!” Verily, 
this liumbuggery in both new and old breeds of 
fowls ought to be “ played outhut it is not, 
and Tinvnr will be SO lOUET 88 T>€OplO will tlirOW 
Some one, a number of years ago, conceived 
tho idea of having horses wear blankets on their 
breasts in winter. We thonght bo well of the 
idea that we purchased blankets and have used 
them ever since. They used to he plenty in 
the country, but now scarcely one is seen. Far¬ 
mers have got a notion they do more harm than 
good when horses are traveling on the road. 
They think they lie against tho muscles of the 
breast, and make it hotter and, when stand¬ 
ing, they are blown away by the wind and make 
the horse wearing them more liable to take cold. 
There is, doubtless, truth in this. For truck 
ratio. We will say no bad things of these relics of 
a pre-historio period ; for they are valuable as a 
sort of nncbangable point from which wo may 
reckon our progress. Since we are agreed, I 
think, that all knowledge is valuable if rightly 
used, it would appear to he the part of wisdom 
to devote our energies to perfecting tho methods 
of imparting and acquiring it, rather than of 
destroying or crippling the institutions already 
in existance, because all of their methods arc 
not perfect, or becauso they are not precociously 
fruitful. When we see the increased comforts, 
happiness and education of the average farmer 
of to-day, as compared with half a century ago, 
we must acknowledge that the influence brought 
to hoar on agriculture b&B been on the whole 
beneficial, and the results highly satisfactory. 
But notwithstanding all this, ranch remains to 
bedono, and how can it best he accomplished ? I 
believe the surest, and, in fact, the only means 
is to educate tho masses through general aud 
technical instruction. 
Government should gather and prepare statis¬ 
tics, and carry ou investigations that are too 
large in scope, or too expensive for States or 
local organizations, aud above all, cost what it 
may, it should foster the primary public sohools, 
aud if need bo, compel the 8tates to establish 
aud maintain them in their greatest efficiency. 
The States should each establish a general cen¬ 
tral experiment station, and in time, various 
special local ones as the industries might re¬ 
quire. 
To do this would cost large sums of money, 
but so do alms-houses, prisons and jails, but 
still we have them because they bonefit the 
public. It costs more to try and bang a single 
tection to the broast. It takes but a fow minutes 
for a horse heated up to get a chill iu the breast, 
which is very likely to produoo stiffness or foun¬ 
der. The owner is unable to account for it, ss 
be is sure ho has not given his horse water when 
warm or fed him when overheated. Horses 
will catch cold in the breast while traveling, if 
they have been heated and are then turned to 
face a cold wind. 
Two Jersey cows which came in last March 
and are due to calve agaiu in March, are still giv¬ 
ing a good mess of milk. They must be dried 
off this month, as it is unwise to mi'k a cow up 
to the time of calving. Cows thus milked, when 
they come in, will not give as much arid the 
young calf will he thin and weak, unless ,t may 
be that the mother has beon strongly fed. When 
allowed to go dry, there is always a renewal of 
energy and vital force, hence the udder is en¬ 
larged, and the lacteal glands are also strength¬ 
ened and enlarged, resulting in an increased 
flow of milk. A cow ought, as a general rule, 
to go dry at least three months, but while the 
Jersey cows do not give so largo a moss, they 
arc persistent, continuing in milk all the time 
and thus really force their owners to break the 
rule. We are feeding two new milch cows a 
heaping half bushel of turnips every day. This 
is all the extra feed any of our cows get. They 
have all the hay they can eat three times a day. 
The turnips impart no perceptible flavor to the 
milk. The turnips are fed the first tbiDg in the 
morning and are followed by a generous supply 
of hay. The turnips are mixed iu the stomach 
with the hay and perhaps their odor is neutral¬ 
ized in this way. Tho milk is rich and the but¬ 
ter is or fine quality. There is nothing equal to 
bright, sweet hay as winter food to make good 
milk. It is, and must bo, the most natural and 
best food. Corn-stalks will produce a goad flow, 
but the milk is not so rich in battery qi^lilios. 
The two hull calves which we shut up In order 
to give them more condensed food to reduce the 
capacity of their bellies, in three weeks shrank 
in circumference seven inches. This reduction 
makes a decided improvement in their looks. 
We are now giving them leas moal and turnips 
and more hay. With the lessening in the quan¬ 
tity of turnips, drink is necessary and they get 
a half a pail of wafer each, daily. Their hail is 
glossy, showing a healthy condition, and they 
jump around like lambs when let out of the 
stable._ 
The recent cold snap found the trees full of 
sap and we are looking for many of them to 
split open. The weather had been so mild until 
the cold snell came ou, which it did so rapidlj, 
prune but very little,” he went ou, “ uni the 
less the better. 
This orchard has the indispensaHe adjunct of 
all Western plantations—a “ wind-break,” and a 
magnificent affair it is, consisting of three to 
five rows of trees—Cotton-woods, Black- walnuts, 
Honey Locusts, Soft Maples and White Ccd lis¬ 
ten feet apart and flanked on cither side with 
a vigorous Osage hedge, all planted at the same 
Mmo with the orchard, iu 18GG. The wiud-brehk 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD 
COL. F. I). CUUTIS 
twenty feet or more iu bight, having truuKs six 
to eight inches in diameter. I was particularly 
struck with a double row eighty rods long, of 
White Cedars tho seed of which was sown in 
1866, and which have already attained a bight of 
fifteen and twenty feet, aud although the rows 
and the trees in them are ten feet apart, they 
now form such a dense mass of evergreen foliage 
as would puzzle a rabbit to penetrate. 
I made several measurements of the apple 
trees ; thus a Wine-sap, a fair average of the 
orchard, measured twenty-eight feet in the di¬ 
ameter of its top, and its trunk, thirty inches in 
circumference. Aronnd the house are a few 
trees of standard Eastern sorts set out iu 1861. 
Of these, a Tdiode Island Greening measured 
forty inches aronnd the trunk, aud its top twen¬ 
ty-nine feet in diameter, A Talman Sweet 
measured forty-three inches in circnmrerenco of 
trunk and thirty-four feet in diameter of top. 
The trees in the younger portion or the or¬ 
chard yielded, the present season, in many oases 
sixteen bushels of fruit, and iu a number of 
cases, twenty measured bushels were picked 
from a single tree. In 1876, four thousand 
bushels of apples were sold from this orchard, 
in addition to those used in the family and made 
iuto cider. The average price in the orchard 
was 41.25 per bushel. Tho yield of 1877 has 
been even betUr than this, over five thousand 
bushels having been sold at an average price of 
one dollar per bushel. Mr. Wells has taken, 
in the past two yoard, in cash, from the proceeds 
of this orchard, no less than 810,000. Do East rn 
orchards generally give better results than this ? 
Tire groat success of this orchard may be at¬ 
tributed : (1) to the selection of sorts suitable to 
this climate—Wine-saps, Limber Twigs. Ben 
Davis, lUwlo’s Janet, Jonathans, Early Harvest 
and Bed Junes, being the prevailing sorts ; (2) 
to judicious management, good cultivation, low 
heads and very moderate pruning ; (3) to the 
thorough protection it receives from the wind¬ 
break ; (4) to the excellence of the soil, it hav¬ 
ing never yet received a load of manure. 
Januauy 30th.—Within the twenty-four hours 
that have passed since the above was written, we 
have had eight hours' rain fall, and twelve or 
more of snow. This morning there are fully sis 
inches of snow on the ground,and aloft, a bright, 
warm sun that will melt It all within three days. 
Manhattan, Kansas. 
Ocb winter seems to have begun with spring. 
To-day we heard the summer birds singing as 
the rain gently fell, melting away the remnants 
of one week's sleighing. This rain came most 
opportuuely. as the cisterns were getting dry 
and the wells low. 
This year is remarkable for heavy hogs. We 
never knew of so many before. The reason 
is the mild weather of the fall and the 
spring-like winter have been most favorable 
for fattening animals, and then, the price of 
pork is low and many have fed later than usual, 
hoping for a lise in the price. Wo ought to 
begin feeding earlier. In this section farmers 
do not generally commence fattening their pork 
before October. This is two mouths too Jate 
if they would feed to the best advantage j for 
one bushel of corn in warm weather will actually 
make more growth than double the quantity iu 
cold weather. Most of the pig-peus are cold, 
open places, so that a large percentage of car¬ 
bon is required to keep the animals warm. This 
heat is furnished from the food, and if there is 
any surplus after this jdeinaud is supplied, then 
the pig will grow. A oold hog wou'L fatten. He 
has got to lie warmed up first, neither will he 
fatten if ho is hungry and when he is cold he is 
sure to be hungry. Warm weather and profit 
go together. They are mates, aud so are cold 
weather and Iobb. It is strange that so many 
farmers think that ears of corn are cheaper to 
keep out tho cold, than hemlock boards, so they 
stuff their pigs with corn and wonder why they 
squeal and don't get fat wheu lumber, at two 
cents a fool, would keep tho wind out of tho 
pen, and a big armful of straw would make a 
warm nest, an cl so reduce tljecold to a tempera¬ 
ture which would make a gain possible. When 
the mercury iu a pug-pen sinks much below tho 
freezing point, profit sinks with it. 1* our aver¬ 
age ears of corn fed three times a day, will keep 
a breeding sow in good condition iu a pen where 
it does not freeze hard. With such conditions 
a pig will bo well and healthy and a line litter 
of pigs muy bo expected. In an open pen 
where there are cold drafts, a pig is liable to 
have rheumatism, quinsy, dysentery, aud all 
other diseases incident to exposure, aud colds. 
No, it does not pay. A pig wants good air to 
breathe, so does every animal, but it also wants 
to be kept warm. 
WESTERN FARM TOPICS, 
rilOF. E. M. SHELTON 
mild weather. Not that mild weather is an 
anomaly in Kansas winters ; far from it ; our 
winters aboitud in bright, warm Huushine, aud 
dayH and weeks are not uncommon when wraps 
and overcoats are superfluous. But usually be¬ 
fore February 1st, we have two or three “cold 
snaps,” lasting from a few days to a couple of 
weeks, in which the mercury goo* capering-down 
far below the zero point, and indescribably fierce 
winds blow, ice from ten to sixteen incites form¬ 
ing iu a few days. Our wiutcr weather averages 
mild and agreeable, albeit should you travel in 
Kansas iu July or January, provide yourself with 
an Ulster and a fan, a linen duster and a gum 
coat, for the chances are that you will need 
Hum all every two days of your journey. 
The past two wotkH have been very like the 
two weeks previous; the temperature of the 
days has held pretty uniformly between 40° 
aud 59°, three or four rainy days having been 
had and a total down pour of one inch of water. 
Tho result is, the roads are eveiy whore abomina¬ 
ble, ami along the bottoms, quite impassable ex¬ 
cept ou horseback. 
A KANSAS ORCHARD. 
Iu the Ruhal of December 22nd, I read a very 
instructive article from the ] eu of Professor 
Beal, iu which a model Micbigau orchard iB 
RURAL TOPICS 
T. B. MINER. 
HEW BREEDS OF FOWLS. 
Whenever a new breed of fowls is heard of in 
any part of the world, a class of men in this 
country forthwith import such breeds, and then 
they are advertised as something wonderful; 
aud they feel such a deep interest in tho welfaie 
