e 
FEB, \\ 
London Live Stock Journal. The query was 
answered by a quotation from Professor 
Arnold. This gentleman believes in the germ 
theory, which is regarded as a “bug-boom’’ 
by others, who regard it as “ talking in a 
mysterious way to the uninitiated.” Mr. 
Henry Stewart has no sympathy with this 
sort of talk, and he states that in nine cases 
out of ten “ white specks in butter are due to 
the curdling of the milk in the cream, and 
the separation of the whey from it.” “The 
simple remedy,” he says, “is to prevent the 
cream from souring too much, or at least to 
avoid keeping it so long or so warm that the 
curd in the milk will separate from the w hey.” 
He adds, “If the cream is kept at a tempera¬ 
ture of 45 degrees, and no more than four or 
five days before it is churned, I do not think 
there will be any trouble with white specks, 
germs or no germs, unless the cow’s udder is 
out of order and the milk itself is ropy or 
thick when it is drawn.” 
Foreigners come here, says the Western 
Rural, aud being without a trade, resort to 
the farm, being totally ignorant of anything 
connected with farming. Such help could 
not earn its salt in England, for it would not 
be tolerated on the farm. There boys serve a 
regular apprenticeship at the business, just as 
boys here serve an apprenticeship at the 
trades, with this difference, however—show¬ 
ing how much a farm education is valued— 
they pay the farmer for teacliiug them. 
Mr. Charles A. Green makes the follow¬ 
ing statement in the H. Y. Tribune: “We 
have had tedious work churning in Winter, 
the boy often occupying the larger part of the 
day without effect. Since adopting the fol¬ 
lowing method we have not had any trouble, 
and have never been over fifteen minutes in 
churning; to-day, a very cold day, the but¬ 
ter came in five minutes, aud was nice and 
firm. This recipe is worth the subscription 
price of the paper for many years. Heat the 
milk as soon as strained (but not to the boil¬ 
ing point), which causes the cream to rise iu 
twelve hours. When ready to churn, warm 
the cream to the proper temperature, then 
stir with a spoon, in one direction, 300 times 
without stopping. Churn immediately, and 
the butter will come in from five to fifteen 
minutes. A small piece of pulverized salt¬ 
peter added to t he cream also helps to bring 
the butter quickly.” 
Artificial Milk. —Although apparently 
not to be prepared artificially for human con¬ 
sumption, yet a pa tentee—an Angus man long 
resident in England—has succeeded iu getting 
sufficiently close on the track to deceive even 
the taste of the calf, and to meet all the young 
animal’s requirements till it is able to dispense 
with liquid sustenance. There might, perhaps, 
belittle gained by Mr. Bo wick’s process but 
for the fact that the substitutionary article 
costs only about one-sixth of the wholesale 
price of new milk. As the author of the stand¬ 
ard manual of the Royal Agricultural Society 
of England on “ The Rearing of Calves,” he 
is at least worthy of a hearing on such an im¬ 
portant national subject. If half of the re¬ 
ports of northern uses of the new substance be 
correct, it should prove a great help in these 
times of depressions, says the Edinburgh Re¬ 
view. _ 
Speaking of cabbages, a writer in Bliss’s 
Garden says that in the early days of April, 
when the ground is dry enough to work, thor¬ 
oughly rotted stable manure may be spread 
thickly over the surface, and plowed or turned 
under at once. There is no danger of using 
too much manure for early cabbages. The 
most prosperous market gardeners apply rotted 
manure so liberally that it needs a man to 
tread it down in the furrows so that the fur¬ 
row-slice will cover it. When the ground is 
plowed in the way described, the surface is 
made smooth and level by drawing the back 
of a harrow over the plowed ground. The 
plants taken from the frames may then be 
transplanted in rows two feet apart and 
eighteen inches apart in the row. This is 
done with an ordinary hand dibble, fastening 
each plant firmly in the soil. When it is de¬ 
sirable to couple economy in space with pro¬ 
fit, a row of lettuce plants may be set a foot 
apart between each two rows of cabbages, and 
the lettuce will come to maturity long before 
the whole space is needed by the crop of cab¬ 
bages. When once in p’ace, the only impor¬ 
tant matter is to keep the surface loose and en¬ 
tirely free from weeds and grass. This will 
have to be done with haud-hoes, going over 
three or four times while the plants are small. 
Later in the season the labor is but a trifle, 
for there will be sufficient shade to keep down 
the growth of weeds. 
Mr. C. L. Allen says he finds that the 
American Wonder Pea tr-s no equal as a gar¬ 
den variety for the main crop as well as for 
an early pea. To the market gardener it is 
invaluable, not only on account of its very 
large yield, which is a great point in its favor. 
but also from tbe fact that the crop can be 
picked at a saving of at least one-tbird of la¬ 
bor and ground over the taller-growing va¬ 
rieties, which is another important considera¬ 
tion to the grower. To grow this pea. in its 
greatest perfection, the seed should be sown 
at least twice as far apart, in the rows as is 
the common practice; at the same time the 
rows may be somewhat closer together. This 
method will give the plant a branching habit 
not unlike that of bush beans. Observation 
and experiments made convince him that “fif¬ 
teen pods” to a plant would be the rule in¬ 
stead of the exception, if the plants were not 
less than three inches apart in the drills. 
“ Anything really w orth reading is worth 
reading twice,” says tb« London Academy. 
. . . Rubbing a, bald head daily with a 
fresh raw onion will make the hair grow out 
again. Nature can stand a good deal, but 
when it comes to such treatment she throws 
up the sponge and would start a crop of pea¬ 
cock feathers if the owner desired it.—Phila¬ 
delphia News.Amounts to the 
same : The man who st >ps his paper to econo¬ 
mize ought to cut his nose off to keep from 
buying handkerchiefs.—Louisville Straws. . 
. . , . A young lady was talking very 
earnestly about her favorite authors, when 
one of the company inquired if she liked 
Lamb. With an indignant toss of the head, 
she answered that she “cared very little 
about what she ate, compared with knowl 
edge. . ..... • 
During mild spells—if i he frost is out of the 
ground—prepare the soil for tbe kitchen gar¬ 
den .If you can trust your 
neighbor you may possibly be a credulous 
man. but if you can honestly trust yourself, 
you must be a good one.If you 
should have just what you really deserve—no 
more, no less—would you be as happy as you 
are now? . , . The Christian Union gives 
this bit of good advice: Farmers, take care 
of your wives! The farmer with his active 
out-door life can digest almost anythiug, and 
often thrives on a wretched diet, but the wife 
and daughters, living too much indoors, grow 
pale and dyspeptic on the same fare. They 
need to learn and practice tbe pedestrian 
hahits of the women of England. More out¬ 
door exercise would promote the health and 
prolong the lives of American women . . . 
RURAL SPEClAt hEPORTS. 
Tllinofn. 
Anna, Union Co., Jan. 23,—During the 
twenty y T ears of my experience here in fruit 
growing, 1 have never before known so severe 
a drought as we had last Summer. Three 
months with no rain to amount to anything! 
Result, fanners have sold off their cat tle aud 
hogs closer than ever liet'oro, aud corn and 
hay ure being imported from regions north 
and west to feed the few that remain. This, 
too, iu modem “Egypt,” a country proverbial 
for the excellent quality and quantity of its 
productions. This is eminently a fruit re¬ 
gion, or rather it is a region in which fruit¬ 
growing, near the Illinois Central Railroad, is 
the leading pursuit, has grown to -gigantic 
proportions and is rapidly on the increase— 
this, too, principally because of its superior 
situation und facilities forsupplying Northern 
markets, notably Chicago, one of the best 
markets in the world, also scores of lesser but 
rapidly growing towns in the great North¬ 
west. At onetime the peach crop was almost 
a certainty here, but with the lapse of years 
came curculio, climatic changes aud rot, till 
the vast peach orchards of 15 years ago 
have given place to the more certain and 
profitable crops of strawberries, raspberries, 
melons, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. In ad¬ 
dition to these, large quantities of lettuce, 
spinach, pie plant, onions, etc., are annually 
sent North, keeping up almost a continual 
succession of fruits and vegetables the year 
round. Our Winters are mild, snow when it 
falls generally lying but a few days. Winter 
wheat succeeds well here, also corn. Grass 
does well for a time, but must be re¬ 
newed often or be driven out by weeds. 
Wheat never looked more promising than 
now, with an increased amount sown. 
Last Summer a train of from 10 to 15 cars 
a day was required to carry off the strawber¬ 
ries alone from a region extending from Villa 
Ridge to Makunda, about 85 miles. Among 
the leading varieties grown are the Wilson, 
Sharpless, Monarch, Crescent and Downing. 
Among them all, the Wilson still takes the 
lead. Some varieties are larger, some are 
sweeter, and all are softer. Among the ob¬ 
jections to tbe Wilson is, first and worst, its 
liability to rust. This thing of rust in wet 
seasons sometimes elenus out whole fields, and 
no remedy has > T et become known. Again, 
the Wilson is unable to stand as much heat 
and drought as some other kinds, yet, after 
all, when it comes to counting the proceeds of 
the crop, in the matter of ducats, the Wilson 
is ahead. Some varieties will bear more neg 
lect than the Wilson, but certain it is that all 
varieties do better with clean culture—run¬ 
ners kept off to not less than four inches apart, 
and always mulch lightly late in the Fall with 
straw old enough to insure the absence of any 
seeds in it to grow; or, what is equally good, 
but more difficult to gather and spread—forest 
leaves. We expect less than half a crop of 
st.ra wherries next Spring, as a result of last 
Summer’s drought. E. B. 
Aurora, Ivane Co., Jan. 27.—Farmers in 
this vieiuity are hauling gravel on their roads, 
so when Spring work begins their road work 
will bo out of the way. This is a very favor¬ 
able Winter for fattening hogs and cattle. 
Gi>od to choice heavy hogs bring from {ft.80 
to $7 in Chicago; fat steers bring from *$5.90 
to Sst>.40 per 100 lbs. Corn comes into market 
rather slowly; buyers are shelling the 1881 
crop and paying 58 cents per bushel for it. A 
good many farmers here have rushed their 
bogs oft', and are holding their coni for £1 per 
bushel in the Spring. If corn brings that 
price in April and May, why bogs must go 
up to $8 per 100 lbs. Potatoes seem to be a 
scarce article here. Some of our merchants 
have brought potatoes from M iseonsin, and 
they commenced rotting immediately. They 
retail from tbe stores for {1.40 and {1.50 per 
bushel. Poultry is coming in lively. Chick¬ 
ens, 0c.; turkeys, 13c., and ducks and geese 
8 c per pound. L. c. D. 
Ohio. 
Newton Falls, Trumbull Co., Jan. 23.— 
Wheat is looking very fine; a larger acreage 
was sown last Fall than for years. The far¬ 
mers are using bone dust freely, and the re¬ 
sult is better crops. Trumbull County at one 
time was tbe great dairy county; but it is 
not so now. Stock raising and fruit, are now 
attracting more attention than formerly, 
since the organizat ion of the Trumbull County 
Horticultural Society, which has awakened 
an interest in fruit growing. We have a 
greater diversity of soil iu this county than 
in any other county in the State. The local 
market cannot be supplied; the great manu¬ 
factories of the Mahoning Valiev demand a 
large amount of fruit and vegetables. Apples 
are now worth {1.50 per bushel; potatoes, 
81.25@t.50. Cabbages very scarce. The crop 
of vegetables was about 73 per cent, of au 
average. The extreme drought of last Sum¬ 
mer, and the great number of inserts injurious 
to ve 2 station, made it short. Stockmen have 
been introducing the Jerseys quite largely' in 
parts of this county. They are universally 
liked as butter makers. A cross of tbe pure 
Jersey with a good strain of Durham milkers 
gives us the best of cows. They are better 
feeders than the Jerseys and stand our cli¬ 
mate better, and among tbe small farmers a 
cross of this sort w ill be the coming cow. Corn 
was less than half a crop, and in consequence 
it is very high now: worth 70 cents for 72 
pounds. Oats good; well filled, but there was 
not au average acreage sown last Spring- 
worth 50 cents. H«y was a large crop, ai d 
there is no market for it at {10 per ton E. W.T. 
Wisconsin. 
East Troy, Walworth Co., Jan. 2ft.— Our 
crops were very uneven here last year. So 
was the weather. Hay was a g >od crop; clo¬ 
ver very poor; wheat from 3 t* 24 bushels to 
the acre; Winter wheat was almost all winter- 
killed ; I had 12 acres that went 24 bushels. 
Oats 30 to 70 bushels. Corn that was planted 
eurly was good. Winter wheat is looking 
well; it got a good start last Fall. Our Win¬ 
ter has been very open; tbe thermometer has 
been at zero only once. H. a. t. 
RURAL SPECIAL SEED REPORTS. 
I own. 
State Centre, Marshall Co , Jan. 20.—The 
White Elephant was cut into six pieces, hav¬ 
ing as many eyes; they were planted 15 inches 
apart in the row on May 12, and dug Sept. 25, 
yielding 11 % pounds. Weather very' dry after 
planting aud bugs very thick; picked them off 
two or three times a day. The very heavy 
rains in July almost drowned the potatoes 
out. I think they did well and intend to plant 
all of them iu tbe Spring. The asparagus did 
splendidly; grew three feet tall. I planted 
it in trenches in October—the largest roots I 
ever saw for the age. The flower seeds also 
did splendidly; the flowers have been admired 
by all t hat saw them. The sorghum was drown¬ 
ed out by f the heavy rains in J uly. The Oats all 
rusted; I saved some, but do not think they 
will grow. h. w. 
OlicfaigAit. 
Eastport, Antrim Co., Jan. 29.—1 counted 
the Washington Oats and took as many of 
Mold's Ennobled and drilled them in aide by 
side, to test them and give the result; but the 
woodchucks began to destroy them, so I had 
to gather them before they were ripe. I like 
the Washington Oats the best. They did not 
smut at all. The White Elephant did not do 
very well; it was not the fault of the potato 
however. I shall give it another trial this 
year. I think the season too short for the 
Rural Branching Sorghum. The asparagus 
seed came up nicely and made a splendid 
growth. The flower seeds did not do well—the 
season was too dry. M. M. C. 
Wisconsin. 
East Troy, Walworth Co., Jan. 26.—The 
Washington Oats were very' smutty. The 
sorghum all grew, and the cattle were very 
fond of it. The pinks were splendid, ana we 
have some nice carnations. h, a. t. 
Highland, Iowa Co., Jan. 29.—The White 
Elephant Potato contained 13 eyes, and was 
planted in seven hills, two pieces with one 
eye in each in six hills, and one hill of one 
piece. They' were planted about May 5th t 
and I dug, September 20th, 87k 3 ' pounds of 
nice potatoes. We cooked two of them and 
think they are very good indued. Will plant 
the rest next season, and hope to be able to 
give a good report. From the Wasbing- 
ington Oats I raised two quarts of very flue- 
looking oats (no smut). 1 think they will do 
well in this locality and intend to test them 
thoroughly. Of the asparagus but 24 stalks 
came up, the partial failure being probably 
due as much to the condition of the soil 
as to tbe seed. That which grew did well. 
The Branching Sorghum and flower seeds I 
gave to friends who have not yet report¬ 
ed. This seed distribution is an excellent 
feature in th‘i management of the Rural, 
and if the proprietors don’t find it a source of 
profit I think their patrons will. D. m’f. 
(IIk (Querist 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of tbe writer to insure attention ] 
CRANBERRY CULTURE. 
IP. B. C., Free Shade, la., has about 10 
acres of land originally a fresh-water pond 
which has been all drained except about three 
acres in the middle; and the level of the 
whole i« so low that it can be easily flooded. 
The soil is composed of well rotted vegetable 
matter and is as rich as land can. be, and he 
asks whether the soil is suitable fur a cran¬ 
berry patch; and. if so, how is the land to be 
prepared; are there any works on cranberry 
culture. 
Ans. —So far as we can judge from your 
statement, we should say that your 10-acre 
plot was well adapted to the successful growth 
of the cranberry, except that we fear that it 
is rather too rich for the purpose, if, as you 
say “ it is just as rich as land cun be.” Too 
much richness causes the cranberry to go too 
much to vine and too little to fruit. This 
richness can be reduced by the addition of 
sand, which will make a better bed for the 
plants. The vegetable matter, however, is 
just what the plants need. The best soil for 
a cranberry plantation is sand or a light, 
sandy loam, having a fair proportion of de¬ 
cayed muck, leaf mold, or vegetable matter. 
Too large a proportion of sand may be modi¬ 
fied by addiug vegetable mold, and vice versa. 
The three acres in the middle should be 
drained and filled up. The ground i-bould be 
made level, plowed, ami harrowed, justas you 
would for a crop of tobacco or any field crop. 
Tbe plants may be planted in the Fall or in 
the Spring. We much prefer young plants to 
old ones. They can be best and most rapidly 
put in with a dibble, insei*tiug them four or 
five inches deep, and pressing the soil firmly 
around them. They are, in fact, substantially 
cuttings, the fine fibrous roots usually dying 
by being removed, and we have to depend up¬ 
on the formation of new roots, which very 
few of the young plants will fail to make. 
They should be put not less than two feet 
apart each way, aud in straight lines, to fa¬ 
cilitate the use of the hoe or the cultivator, 
since they must be kept free from weeds for a 
couple of years at least, or until the plants 
have begun to spread and cover the ground, 
when most of the weeds will be smothered out. 
It is a practice with some (and a good one), 
at this stage of growth, to cover the planta¬ 
tion with two or three inches of clean sand, 
which is best done on the ice in Winter; but 
sand in sufficient quantity can not always be 
had, and we must .ben depend upon flooding 
and the plants themselves to keep the weeds 
down, and judicious flooding will usually ac¬ 
complish this end, if thorough weeding has 
been done while the plants were young. The 
plants must not be covered with water while 
they are in flower (a mistake often made by 
beginners), since it prevents the flowers from 
being fertilized and greatly lessens tbe crop. 
We have found it rather expensive to estab¬ 
lish a plantation, but the cranberry is a profit¬ 
able crop, always brings good prices (in other 
words “pays”), and the demand for it 
abroad is yearly increasing. There are hund¬ 
reds of acres of waste places all over the 
