with some loam : after the rains I could no 
do anything with the land ; it became too wet 
and has continued the same to the present 
time. I sowed two acres of rye on oat and 
pea stubble ground. Came up slowly at first ; 
has done well and now looks green and fine. 
The sowing of Timothy and clover with oats 
last Spring promises well to make a good 
meadow, and I have had better success from 
this Spring sealing than from Fa 11 sowing 
with rye. Garden crops, except peas and 
strawberries, were mostly failures ; what 
cabbages, cauliflowers and tomatoes were 
left were destroyed by the frost, e. s. a. 
Clinton, Oneida Co., Dec. 20.— We are hav¬ 
ing very warm weather for this time of the 
year—quite a contrast with last December;on 
the morning of the 10th of December 1880, the 
mercury stood at 20° below zero with good 
sleighing. December 14,1881, itstood 00° above 
with no frost in the ground and no snow. With 
this addition will be the “ hair ” that “ balks ” 
the horse, and leaves the load in the mud. We 
have many balky horses, more balky drivers 
but most balky “ eveners.” There is only 
one principle to be observed in order that the 
ends of the eveuer (levers) shall be constant in 
their relative proportions under all con¬ 
ditions; all points of attachment whether of 
force or resistance must be in the sanie 
straight line, as shown in Fig. 2, which 
represents a short 12-inch, vertical, iron, 
three-horse evener, 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
Illinois. 
Aurora, Kane Co., Dec. 19.—This is one of 
our mild Winters ; farmers are plowing here 
to-day, the thermometer registering 5(5 de¬ 
grees. We had a hot and dry Summer; no 
rain for eight weeks at one time. Oats, a fair 
crop, bringing 40 cents per bushel. Corn is 
only two-thirds of a crop, bringing 70 cents 
per bushel. Potatoes almost a failure ; $1.25 
per bushel and scarce. L, c. d. 
Rockford, Winnebago Co.—Farmers have 
abundant reason to be thankful, hereabouts, 
this year. Crops have been very fair, with 
the exception of potatoes, and prices have been 
good all around. Prices at present are as 
cc l lixneous 
opinion the Rural New-Yorker is the best 
agricultural paper in this country if not in the 
world. I would not do without it. My White 
Elephant Potato weighed three ounces. I cut it 
into six pieces with three eyes in each, plant¬ 
ed them in the garden and covered them with 
six inches of wheat straw, as I always do with 
my other potatoes ; the result was ten pounds 
of nice tubers: they would have been much 
finer had not the drought injured them. The 
Rural Branching Sorghum was planned on 
fairly good land ; nearly every seed came up; 
I couuted from 15 to 20 stalks to a seed. It 
grew to about six feet high ; then it stopped 
on account of the drought; I cut some for fod¬ 
der and the stumps sprouted very fast ; cattle 
seem to like it very well. We had millions of 
chinch bugs but they did not touch the sor¬ 
ghum before the corn was destroyed. I be¬ 
lieve it is an excellent plant for green fodder, 
but I doubt that it is any better than Pearl 
Millet. My uncle planted some of what I be¬ 
lieve is called Egyptian Pearl Millet; it grew 
a great many more stalks pel - seed than the 
E.ural Branching Sorghum; its seeds ripened, 
and it grew again much faster after cutting. 
It is true that the millet was planted in much 
better soil than the sorghum ; that may ac¬ 
count for its superiority. The asparagus did 
not grow well—too dry and too many weeds. 
The Washington Oats yielded ten pounds of 
fine grain. c. L. R. 
Oquawka, Henderson Co., Dec. 21.—When 
I took my White Elephant Potato out of the 
little box I thought it looked more like a 
mouse, but it had eyes enough for an elephant 
—13. I cut it into 13 pieces and planted one 
piece in a place, one foot apart, and raised 97 
tubers as large as the seed, 30 of them of good 
size. They yielded twice as many as Early 
Rose planted in the same manner and on the 
same ground, and three times as much as 
Snowflake. If they prove to be as good as 
they look, I would not take twice the price of 
the Rural for them. The Washington Oats 
did not do so well ; I planted them too late 
but I have saved three pints of seed. The 
R,ural Branching Sorghum did well, though 
half the seed did not come up. I think the 
seed got ripe, as we had no frost till November 
21. The pinks and the asparagus grew nice¬ 
ly. Will give all a fair trial next year, p.q.f. 
Port Byron, Rock Island Co., Dec. 26.— 
My White Elephant was planted May 6 and 
Colonel F. D. Curtis’s cream party, an ac¬ 
count of which was presented in the Rural 
at the time, is thus alluded to by the London 
Live Stock Journal: “A novel festival, termed 
a cream party, has just been held by a Sara¬ 
toga farmer well known in that part of Arner 
ica for his successful farming. A long row of 
glass cans, filled with milk, thick cream cover¬ 
ing the top, wore ranged on a temporary shelf 
under the trees, and near-by were the farm¬ 
er’s cows, standing in a row, with printed in¬ 
formation, stal ing the amount of milk they 
yielded, and the produce of butter and cream 
therefrom, posted by their sides. There were 
also churns, both primitive and modern, and 
a patent creamer in operation, producing 
cream so rapidly that in three hours it was 
all up to the top of the can. Fodder corn, 
some twelve feet high, was placed agaiust the 
largest trees, and piles of big roots were also 
comprised in this novel exhibition. Friends 
and neighbors flocked to the party in large 
numbers. After full justice had been done to 
the good things on the ground, speeches were 
made, the farmer explaining the methods 
whereby he had attained success, and the 
visitors narrating also their dairy-farming 
experience.” 
mathe matics of an evener, 
follows ; Corn, 55c ; oats, 40c to 46c ; pota¬ 
toes, 90c to $1; hogs, $6 ; butter, fine dairy, 
30c ; live turkeys, 8c per pound ; chickens 
5c. s- H - H- 
Iowa. 
Liberty Centre, Warren Co., Dec. 23.— 
We have had very poor crops indeed in this 
part of Iowa; wheat was almost a total fail¬ 
ure—not over two-thirds of it being hai- 
vested and what was hardly paid the ex¬ 
pense of cutting. Corn ranges ft om five to 
30 bushels per acre. Oats about a good half 
considerable wheat was sown and it looks 
very well. Wheat is worth $1.35; potatoes, 85c; 
turnips, 50c; barley, $1; eggs, 28c. s. c. G. 
Ohio. 
IIebbardsville, Athens Co.,Dec. 20.—Coni 
is only a third of a crop, worth from 65 to 75c.; 
wheat half a crop, selling at $1.25; potatoes 
one-third of a crop, worth 75c. to $1 per bush¬ 
el; apples are $1 per bushel. b. g. 
Lamartine, Carroll Co., Dec. 22.—The past 
season has been a very peculiar one, running 
to extremes, from very wet to very dry ; but 
taking it all in all, we have been favored 
above many sections of the country in raising 
an abundance of almost everyiliing w. E. e. 
Pennsylvania. 
West Auburn, Susquehanna Co., Dec, 
22.—A warm, wet Fall. Dandelions in bloom 
on Dec. 15, and young grass-hoppers plentiful 
on Dec. 20. R - B - 
Vermont. 
South Lunknburgh, Essex Co., Dec. 20,— 
This is a lumber region, and logmen are anx¬ 
iously looking for snow; there hasn't been 
enough for good sleighing yet. December has 
been very moderate, while October aud No¬ 
vember were very cold and stormy. Farmers 
here depend mostly on the sale of hay. pota¬ 
toes aud dairy produce for their ready money. 
Hay is $15, delivered; potatoes, 7.5c.; butter, 
22 to 25 for straight dairy. Some sold earlier 
Advantages of Polled Cattle.—A 
writer in the Practical Farmer says the 
first advantage that polled cattle have over 
horned cattle is that he can build a stable for 
them for half the money. Second, he does not 
have to tie them, but lots them run loose in 
the stable. They are perfectly harmless, like 
sheep. He lets the manure accumulate, sup¬ 
plying plenty of litter, and cleans out the 
stable twice a year and hauls direct to the 
field, thus saviug once haudling. The man¬ 
ure is also much better, he thinks, for being 
kept under cover and all the uriue is thus 
saved. One load of it is worth three of or¬ 
dinary barnyard manure. Another great ad¬ 
vantage is that he can let his hogs run in the 
stable with his cattle, with perfect safety 
to gather up the corn that would otherwise be 
wasted, aud to work over the manure, which 
cannot bo done with horned cattle. Some 
say, the writer continues, that cattle look 
nicer with horns. It is not so. It is a mat 
ter of education. His Satanic Majesty is al¬ 
ways pictured with horns ; they make him 
look mox - e Satanic. And yet “cattle looked 
nicer with horns than without.” If we were 
as accustomed to polled cattle as we are to 
homed, and some one would attempt to intro¬ 
duce the latter, he would be hooted out of the 
community and pronounced an imposter. 
ter, 25c; eggs, 25c. Roads almost impassable 
so that produce can hardly be got to market 
—and still it is raining. h. m. 
Missouri. 
Pleasant Mount, Miller Co., Dec. 20.—So 
far the weather has been unusually fine. We 
have had but one cold snap: since then the 
weather has been exceptionally good. Corn 
is about all cribbed, and farmers are through 
to a considerable extent with Fall work. I 
uotice quite a number plowing 1 ind that was 
in wheat the last season; this is as it should be, 
and I am more than glad to see it. Some far¬ 
mers are obliged to buy feed of all kinds for 
1X4V.4 U V** " ~ O- J 
their stock, and the consequence is a good dea 1 
of feed is being shipped in here from other 
points. Corn is worth 85c. a bushel; hay, $20 
a ton; Irish potatoes, $1 per bushel; oats 
60c. N. J. 8. 
New York. 
Buffalo, Erie Co., Dec. 27.—This farm is 
situated within the limits of the city, and was 
used for many years as a meadow and past¬ 
ure. The last three years it has been broken 
up and will all bo manured and laid down to 
grass. The labor of cultivating crops of 
wheat, rye and oats costs nearly as much as I 
the products bring. My hay crop of clover 
aud Timothy was very good for new meadow 
and the dry weather. It was put in the bam 
in good order. The drought prevented the 
clover from growing for a good second crop, 
which was light, but saved in good order. 
Oats were very good in quality ; yield fair ; 
straw good aud bright but fair. Corn was a 
failure on account of poor seed at the first 
planting I saved my owu seed from selected 
ears, but none came up—supposed to have 
been injured by the frost in the Fall of 1880. 
Planted a second time and the birds stole it as 
fast as it came up. Planted the ground with 
beans in the corn rows ; got a small crop of 
beans and about 20 bushels of poor corn from 
three acres. Of potatoes I only planted Early 
Rose : grew well, but matured too early ; we 
had no rain ; small yield and small potatoes, 
but good aud sound and keep well. The 
drought prevented the usual Fall plowing : at 
first it was too dry, the land being strong clay 
Rules for Weighing Cattle. Ex-Sena¬ 
tor T. O. Howe has a farm just outside Green 
Bay, Wis., and, being much interested in 
agricultural matters, he carefully reads agri- 
eultural, and even the agricultural columns 
of non-agricultural papers. A few days be¬ 
fore his appointment as Postauaster-Geueral 
he commented on an item in one of the latter 
class as follows :—The Republican and News, 
a few days ago, contained two rules for esti¬ 
mating the weight of live cattle. The second 
one, as you journalists say, is important if 
true. It makes the weight of a steer of mine 
67,490 pounds. As the great Syracuse ox only 
weighed 4,900, and as my steer is only two 
years old, and not very large for his age, the 
butchers argue that he cannot weigh as much 
as 67,000. Of course, that is a mere theory of 
theirs, and, though somewhat plausible, it 
must yield to scientific truth. May I tell the 
butchers that you warrant your rule? Sin¬ 
cerely yours. T. O. Huwe. 
RURAL SPECIAL SEED REPORTS, 
was so late in tne season last opring oexore 
receiving your valued distribution of seeds 
that I only planted the White Elephant Po¬ 
tato and the Rural Branching Sorghum. The 
White Elephant Potato I cut into 19 pieces, 
one eye in each; 18 grew finely as regards tops, 
but on digging them there were only two 
tubers nearly as large as hens’ eggs and about 
a dozen like boys’ marbles: reason, they were 
planted too late and the season was too hot. 
The sorghum I planted in rows like corn; most 
of it germinated and grew finely to a bight of 
from 10 to 12 feet. I cut a few of the bunches 
to test their second growth, which was quite 
satisfactory. All others l left to make seed, 
of which I have abundance for next Spring. 
I think it will make a valuable forage plant* 
both as regards quantity aud quality. All 
kinds of cattle ate it with avidity, either green 
or dry. J• t. 
Florida. 
Tallahassee, Leon Co., Dec. 21.—I was 
surprised to see the statement that the Rural 
Bran hing Sorghum seeds came up so poorly 
at the Rural Farm. With me they seemed 
“Yes, sir,” said Mr. Gallagher, “it was 
funny enough to make a donkey laugh. I 
laughed till I cried.”. Shingled roofs 
shed water, and shingled boys are apt to shed 
tears. The worst kind of rheumatism 
is the spare bed-roomatism. Many an unhap¬ 
py guest has crowded in between icy sheets 
and died of it.—Ilawkeye. 
