AUG. 24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
§37, 
quence of a rainy season, just set in, it may go 
as high as 80 per oent. o. d. 
Six Mile, Alabama, Aug. 13, 1878. 
The corn crop in this section is better, on an 
average, than in many years. Fruit crop almost 
a failure—very wormy and faulty. Cotton crop 
not so good as last year. Now having too much 
rain, and prospect of more. b. g. 
COLUMBUS, Lowndes Co., Mississippi. 
The prospects of corn-crop are good—better 
than last year at this time for cotton. Corn in 
the uplands good, but in lowlands poor, in con¬ 
sequence of muoh rain in the spring. From the 
Bame cause fruit is in a great measure a failure. 
Oats all over our section are splendid. Wheat 
the same, although we do not do much at that. 
W. N. M. 
* Apopka, Orange Co., Fla., Aug. 8. 
The crops of this county are oorn, a little cot¬ 
ton, a great deal of sweet potatoes, watermelons 
of very large size and fine flavor, and for 
oranges,this section is especially well adapted. In 
some portious of the county banana culture is 
receiving considerable attention, and bids fair 
to turn out highly profitable, but as the plant is 
very susceptible to cold, it requires large water 
protection on the north to insure success. 
Grains suited to the Hoil are being extensively 
introduced. Para-grass for onr lowlands and 
Guinea-grass for the uplands. The pine-apple, 
too, haB lately been largoly introduced and 
promises to be a paying crop. All orops this 
year have been very good. c. h. m. 
Pleasanton, Atascosa Co., Texas, Aug. 9. 
The ootton and oorn orops in this county will 
be considerably above an average both in yield 
per acre and in area planted. Stock raising, 
however, is the principal Industry, especially 
sheep ; indeed the greater part of the county is 
a vast sheep farm, and there is more money in¬ 
vested in this branch of industry than in any 
other. It is calculated that Bheep double in 
value in three years; and at present they are 
eaoh worth $1.50 to $2.50. The soil consists 
mainly of a sandy surface with a clay subsoil, 
and contains a largo admixture of vegetable 
matter, which renders it highly productive. 
There are here some of the finest farms in west¬ 
ern Texas, producing large orops of corn, cotton, 
tobacco, peaches, figs, plums, and every variety 
of vegetables. The price of land varies consid¬ 
erably, but may be put down at 25o, per acre for 
unimproved, and from one to ten dollars for im¬ 
proved land. The area of the oounty is about 
1,300 square miles, and its population in the 
neighborhood of 7,500, about half of whom are 
Mexioans. In this town, the capital of the 
oounty, beef is five cents per pound ; bacon, ten 
oents; oorn fifty cents per buBhel; meal, seventy 
oents; flonr, ten dollars per barrel. j. k. s. 
Houston, Harris Co., Texas, Aug. 16,1878. 
Chops in general throughout the country are 
the best for many a year. Corn plentiful; t a lit¬ 
tle worse in quality on account of too muoh wet 
at gathering time. Oats too, are damaged by 
the same cause, though a bountiful crop. Cot¬ 
ton is being picked and promises an A1 orop 
throughout the State. Peaches never as plenti- 
tiful in the central and upper parts of the State. 
Grass knee-high through the prairies; there¬ 
fore cattle are in tip-top condition. Weather 
warm 5 rains daily. o. m. 
Van Bueen, Crawford Co., Ark., 12th Aug., 1 
1878. } 
The present and past seasons have been most 
propitious for growing crops throughout our 
entire State. Soaroely, if at all, in the memory 
of the oldest citizen, has there been suoh a 
prospeot of heavy orops of oorn, cotton, and 
grapes. The wheat orop was a failure; too 
much wet weather through the past winter was 
the cause ohiefly. The oat crop was simply 
enormous, from 40 to 80 bushels are repre¬ 
sented to have been thrashed and oleaned per 
acre. Our fruit orop is variable. The peaoh 
orop measurably a failure. Grapes almost au 
entire failure from mildew and rot; wet weather 
the oauBe. Norton’s Virginia and Ives’ have 
done well. Apples are very fine, but the orop is 
not heavy, and why no one can tell, as they 
were no late frosts, or storms of any kind. 
Trees were full of bloom, but somehow did not 
set much fruit. PearB are extra fine; my 
Bartletts were the finest I ever Baw; all ripe 
and gone. Seokels are extra beautiful and 
sound ; are now being gathered, and must soon 
be disposed of, or they will rot, as the ther¬ 
mometer etiil stands up to 90 in the shade. 
DuoheBse D’Augouleme, Ilowell and others, are 
looking well; the latter two varieties Just about 
ready to bo gathered to hoiiBe-ripen. The blight 
has been very severe in certain localities. Much 
complaint from low and damp situations, while 
from high and dry well-drained lands but little 
complaint of blight. But for that one cause, we 
have, 1 do really think, the finest pear country 
in the United States. All kinds, np to about 41 
varieties, have been tested by myself and imme¬ 
diate friends with the most perfect Bnocess, 
until Btruck by the blight, which does not often 
attaok the tree until about the time it begins to 
fruit, when it is almost certain to show itself, 
and is terribly fatal to certain varieties, while 
Seckel, Dnohesse, Winter Nelis, Virgalieu, and 
Howell, bo far seem almost entirely exempt 
from the disease. I have Seckel and Duchesse 
25 years old, and they have never been touched 
by blight, and havo borne fuU crops of fruit for 
the last 15 or 16 years regularly. Our peaoh 
crop, which, as a rule, is the most reliable of all 
fruits in our State, was this year ruined by the 
ourculio, wbioh has never oommenoed extensive 
depredations on our peaches before. It was not 
the regular plum ouronlio, but something very 
nearly the same. K . T> 
Sbd alia, Pettis Co., Mo., Aug, 16. 
We have had a remarkably hot, dry season, a 
good rain laBt Saturday, which wUl help the com 
very mu ffi. It is yet almost too early to form a 
correot estimate of the late corn crop, but I 
think it wiU give a very fair yield. Early oorn 
good; also potatoes. Peaohes, grapes, and 
other smaU fruits plentiful. The apple crop 
wiU be light. E . b. l. 
Bkthant, Harrison Co., Mo., Aug. 14. 
ThiB county is 32x24, miles and the surface is 
diversified, roUing prairie, and level prairie, tim¬ 
bered ridges, and river bottoms. Corn in the 
north part of the county owing to more frequent 
showers, will be an average ; in the center and 
south parts, will be out short by drought on tim¬ 
bered ridges ; an entire failure on the bottoms, 
but will be good, all over the county, acreage 
larger than usual. j. w . 
•> ♦ » ■ 
Peovinoe of Quebec, Canada, Aug. 13. 
The corn crop in this section is very good; the 
hot dry season we have experienced with a steady 
thermometor at 90° for weeks, has hastened the 
growth of thiB staple of the poor Canadian, and 
it bids fair to be an abundant yield. Sweet-corn 
was ready for the table by the end of July, and 
the fields of common yellow are looking well, 
except in localities where grasshoppers threaten 
to do some damage to the foliage, stripping the 
ears. A. L. j. 
EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE. 
LKTTEB FROM PROFESSOR X. P. ROBEBT8, OF COR¬ 
NELL UNIVERSITY. 
A VISIT TO TIPTBEE-HALL FARM. 
Mr. Mechi and his Farm—A good Foundation _ 
Reclaiming a Clay-bed—Stock Management 
—Rotation of Crops—Large Crops—Liquid 
Manure — Mr. Mechi's Principles and their 
Beneficent Results. 
Kelvedon, England. 
Tibtbee-Hall, the homo of J. J. Mechi, is 
situated four miles from the Railroad Station, 
and forty-five miles from London. I did not ex¬ 
pect to find suoh poor land in all England as 
some I passed a half mile before reaching his 
farm; and yet out of land but a,shade better 
than this by nature, he has mado one of the 
most productive and profitable farms in England, 
He is still a hale and vigorous old man, and as 
enthusiastic as ever in improved and in improv¬ 
ing agriculture. It is no superficial work that 
he does or aims at, but he commences at the 
root—education. His workmen oould neither 
read nor write, so the first thing was a school- 
house; but knowledge is worth but little with¬ 
out 'morality, so the next was a church. The 
effect of this early work I could see in the hon¬ 
est and intelligent look of hiB laborers. 
The farm is composed of 173 acres, nearly all 
of which is heavy day land. But “ heavy clay ’> 
means quite a different thing here from what it 
does in Amerioa. Most of this farm is so in¬ 
tensely clayey that it will not make good brick 
or tile, and is by nature like a mortar-bed in 
wet weather, and like a rook in dry. Again, he 
strikes at the root of the matter and relieves the 
land of stagnant water by blind drains laid four 
feet deep. Next, the open ditches were filled 
np, and three miles of inside hedge fenoes re¬ 
moved. These improvements not only gave 
several additional acres of land, but transformed 
Bmall irregular fields into large square ones suit¬ 
able for cultivation by steam, a thing which he 
most fully believes in and puts into practice. 
The barns next received liis attention. Covered 
yards were built adapted to soiling, and for years 
no cattle have run at largo cither in summer or 
winter, while the sheep are always folded in the 
fields, the fence used being an iron one on 
wheels, which is not only light and durable, but 
easily handled. 
They were just sending their last consignment 
of greeu peas to the London market. The 
ground on which they grew will bo plowed im¬ 
mediately aud sowed to turnips. Half of the 
orop will bo removed, and the other half fed to 
sheep on the ground, with the addition of some 
oil cake and maize. This he claims will leave 
the ground as fertile as when the peas were 
planted. As dry aud hard as the sand is now, it 
will take more labor to fit it for turnips than 
they would be worth in the United States. But 
here it iB very different, and an Englishman 
never waits for rain but plows, cost what it may. 
The immense clods I have seen turned up in the 
clay within the last few days, would appall anyone 
not used to them. Experiments in various 
courses of rotation, depth and time of plowing, 
have been ooudnoted by Mr. Mechi for many 
years, and I understand from him that, as a rule, 
he would recommend a four-year rotation, deep 
plowing by steam, during the dry weather of 
the summer months; thus thoroughly aerating 
the soil and at the same time destroying the 
" twitch ” grass that gives so muoh trouble in 
many parts of England. Whether the large 
crops of wheat and barley I Baw growing were 
attributable to these causes or to the liberal ap¬ 
plication of farm manures, made by fattening 
animals in covered yards, or to all combined, I 
cannot say; but oortain it is, that success has 
crowned his efforts, and the proof of it was be¬ 
fore me in the large fields of wheat and barley 
almost ready for the reaper, which would not 
fall short of 50 bushels to the acre of the former, 
and 60 of the latter. 
His system of sparred floors in a small portion 
of his cattle-sheds, whereby the manure—no bed¬ 
ding being used—drops directly into the manure 
cellar, did not strike me favorably, and they would 
certainly not do for a milk dairy or for animals 
in a cold climate. The stench and dampness are 
certainly both very objeotionable, to say nothing 
of the discomfort to the animals from not hav¬ 
ing bedding. The manure that passes through 
the sparred floor is diluted, and then forced by 
steam-power tbrongh pipes, in some oases to the 
distance of half a mile, where it is usually dis¬ 
tributed over land that is devoted to the produc¬ 
tion of Italian rye-grass—Setaria Italics—having 
learned by experience that it takes kindly to this 
liquid manure even on clay land, while most of 
the other grasses and olover do not. Though 
all might not agree as to the minor methods 
which he advocates and practices, yet it is cer¬ 
tain that, as a whole, his system has resulted in 
not only remunerative harvests, but they have, 
in oonneotion with his writings, beea the means 
of bettering the condition of employed and em¬ 
ployer, and they have also, by setting forth a 
more excellent way, done muoh to improve agri¬ 
culture at home and abroad. 
We cannot help but honor and admire this 
veteran farmer when we hear him, in his terse 
and forcible language, advocate deep plowing ; 
covered barn-y&rdB ; soiling; uprooting of ob¬ 
structing useless hedges and trees ; large fields 
well under-drained; iron fences where any are 
needed ; steam before horseB ; and horse before 
man-power; repeal of laws that hamper and ob¬ 
struct agriculture; transfer of lands or leases; 
intelligent laborers ; and, last but not least, free 
education to all. 
a « » - 
STATE INDUSTRIAL SURVEYS. 
We have geological, botanical topographical 
and scientific surveys of the different states 
which have done much good iu the directions 
specially required of them, but no complete in¬ 
dustrial record or map of the state oan be ob¬ 
tained from all these together. We know that 
in some parts there are ooal; in some others 
peculiar kinds of clays or scones, but a map of 
hill# aud mountains and their contents, of val¬ 
leys and streams together with an account of 
their adaptability to particular products or the 
amount of land uncultivated, the water-powers, 
forests, kinds and extents, and the products 
now found, and the practicability of other in¬ 
dustries, of these we know of no State in the 
Union which possesses anything like an account. 
This is the peculiar business of the several 
States, and their growth and prosperity depend 
upon such knowledge more than upon all other 
things together. The presence of moist or swamp 
lands which may be drained, the feasibleness of 
water-power, or railroad connections, and the la¬ 
bor for them to do, advantages offered to settlers 
or capital and what industries are in part or 
wholly established or neglected aud in what par¬ 
ticular localities situated, would do very mach to 
direct attention to the development of resour- 
ces and the establishment of new industrial en¬ 
terprises. 
There is no reason why emigration should go 
to the West of the Mississippi river for farms 
when half the lands of the Eastern States is 
idle, or why people should be idle when ten 
acres of land will give any man ample employ¬ 
ment and hundreds of thousands of suoh plats 
may be had in any 8tate upon the easiest terms 
imaginable. Probably no State in the Union has 
more water-power, more fertile idle lands, and 
other natural resources than North Carolina, 
yet it iB next to impossible to ascertain trust¬ 
worthy facts in relation thereto from any body in 
the State or out. Nor is this au isolated instance. 
Indiana has natural resources to place her upon 
an equal footing industrially with any State in 
the Union and half her lands are yet in their 
primeval fertility. The world needs but to 
know the industrial advantages and resources 
of eaoh State in this great country to double 
ita population in many instances and to add 
untold wealth in development of resources in 
others. 
Communications received for the week ending 
Monday, August. 19th : 
J. R.—thanks, we have them.—H. L. F.—L. R, 
—J. C.—W. H. C.—A. H. W.—VV. B. B.-F. B. n. 
—F. E. L.—E. R. H.—F. C.—J. n. T.—W. C. G — 
M. N.—M. L. D.-H. A. P.—J. L.—L. L. M —T. A. 
M.—D. J. P.—J. P. R— J. G. R. K.—C. B.— R. C. J. 
—L. E. B.—E. R.—,T.H. T.—C. F. J.—D. B.—R. E.— 
D. E. 8.—E. L. T.—L. F. A.—S.-E. S. W.—W. C. 
H.—M. J. B.—T. H. H.—W. H. N.—A. V.— C. Me. L. 
—W. 8.—J. A. T.—M. S.—L. P. N.— G. G.-G. W. 
F. —“ Farmer. ”—C. A. L.—E. B. D.—W. E. L,— 
G. L.— W. L. D.—H. S.—W. B.—M. E. T.—A. W.— 
A. G.—I. H. J.—M. R. P.—F- E.—D. E —M. G. R.— 
J. C. P.—J. F.—F. B. D.—C. J. B.—C. H. D.— 
E. H. M. 8.—W. H. H.—Hector Bertram—J. F. C. 
—F. F. M.—W. H. H.—W. H. C.—J. M.—R. S.— 
8. B.P.—D. H.— H. H.—C. B.—J. S —S. W. H.— 
H. S.—M. W.—J. N. C.-J. W.-S. S. W.—T. N. R. 
—A. W' M.—W. J. C.—J. 8. H.—J. L.—W. J. S.— 
J. G. R.—8. R. M.—A. H.—A. A. W.—T. J. B— 
J. C. B.-Z. H.—W. B. .J.-H. E. Mc’C.—L. W.— 
T. H. H.-W. L. Mc’E.-A. T. M.-S. A. M.-A. J. 
B. —R. M. M.—S. C. B-—W. M. H.— 
Jntastrml Implements, 
A FOREIGNER’S OPINION. 
L’echo Agricole has been looking at the 
American exhibit of farm machinery in the 
Paris Exposition, and has arrived at several 
conclusions that will be interesting to our manu¬ 
facturers. It says: 
AmoDg the foreign sections it is the United 
States which first strikes our wondering atten¬ 
tion. It is difficult to imagine a collection more 
rich and at the same time more elegant. 
To see the threshing machines, constructed 
with perfect taste as to shupe, and with riobness 
in the materials employed, true specimens of 
oabinet-work and inlaying; these reapers and 
mowers, where all the metallic portions shine 
like silver, one does not imagine himself in the 
midst of apparatus destined for work wbioh is 
reputed vulgar, such as cutting the wheat or 
mowing the grass, but in a store of enormous 
jewelry and among true works of art. 
Never, in any country, have been seen such 
grace and splendor. If by the magnificence of 
the machine we are to Judge of the character of 
the workman who runs it, one would be inclined 
to suppose the American farmer to be equally 
fine, walking the earth, not in blouse and wooden 
shoes as with us, but in full-dress and with 
hands gloved. 
If you think we exaggerate, we ask you to 
come and examine the threshing machines, the 
reapers and mowers, the weighing machines and 
scales, the lawn-mower, the grain-drill, and the 
horse-rake, of which the seat resembles a throne 
and is shaded by a blue-satin canopy, having 
without doubt for its mission to guard from the 
sun the delioate complexion of the driver. 
--- 
A NEW CHEAP HORSE-POWER. 
A one, two or three horse-power that can be 
set np inside the barn in less than 30 minutes, 
and when its work has been performed mav be 
folded np and laid aside out of the way, must, 
it would appear, be a serviceable implement. 
An illustration of such a power may be seen in 
our advertising columns. 
A wooden wheel binged through the middle is 
suspended horizontally upon an upright shaft 
by means of jointed guys. The belt is applied 
to the rim of the wheel and aots as a tire upon 
it. The shaft turns with the wheel, and as it 
makes but one revolution while the horse travels 
30 feet, the friction is inconsiderable. Its uses 
will suggest themselves to any farmer, while its 
compactness, portability aud cheapness are 
strong points in its favor. Messrs. Harlow Bros., 
Lancaster, N. Y., are the manufacturers. 
* • »- . 
THE PARI8 AWARDS. 
In the award of prizes at the Paris Exposition, 
the United States agricultural exhibit has re¬ 
ceived a diploma of honor. Of the 11 objects of 
art offered by the Agricultural Society of France 
for exceptional merit iu agricultural' machinery 
in the recent field trials, eight have been awarded 
to American inventions. Dr. Edward H. Knight, 
the American Juror of Class No. 76, has been 
authorized to announce the awards. They are 
as follows: W. A. Wood M. & R. Mch. Co., on 
their reaper and binder; Johnston Harvester 
Company, on their machines; The Farmer’s 
Friend Grain Drill Co., on their drill; Wbeeler 
and Wilson on Sewing-machines. Jno. Deere 
& Co;, on gang plows ; P. K. Dederick & Co., 
on Hay Presses. 
— « ♦ » — . — . 
The Johnston Harvester Company are per¬ 
fecting in their works at Brookport, N. Y., a 
new light double-geared mower. Experiments 
in the field have been very satisfactory, and the 
implement promises to be a suocess. It will 
weigh about 540 pounds. The mower will be 
put upon the market next season. 
- 4 1 » 
The N. Y. Plow Co. has just completed its new 
works comprising a main building 400 feet iu 
length with foundries, <fce. adjoining. Every¬ 
thing in the way of new machinery that can 
facilitate and improve Us products is to be used. 
The shops are located at Newark, N. J. 
