a 
farmers are apt to take the cue from larger 
ones, and invest in machinery entirely beyond 
the capacity of the farm to economically 
handle.In general principles the debt 
for a tool that pinches when payment comes 
is a debt that should not have been incurred. 
Batter have used the old tools another year, 
or hired Che use of one from a neighbor who 
could alTonl to own one, or who had bought 
one to work for hire The prosperous period 
will not always continue, and the advice that 
points toward economy and a generat balanc¬ 
ing up while it does continue, is the safest to 
follow. .... The sales of tools which take 
‘talk’to effect, are the sales that give both 
parties trouble.No test is instituted 
to discover weaknesses or to make compari¬ 
sons, all is done by talk, aqd farmers are fool¬ 
ish enough to be captured by it. The rage for 
buying machinery is all wrong, and when 
another ‘ Black Friday’ comes it will catch 
many a farmer with an iron dad note to 
i pay, for which value has not been receiv¬ 
ed. The investment and interest are gone, 
and the earning' have not been sufficient 
to square the account.* 
The failure of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture to make sugar last year, and the 
ten thousand failures throughout the coun¬ 
try the past twenty-five yea's, have been 
mainly due to this:—that the crop was 
worked too earlyin its development. At 
the Department of Agriculture the fact 
that the seed which gave the crop was only 
cSj planted the last of June, enabled one con 
fklehtly to predict that sugar could no 
be produced from the crop, and it wa 
iSM not, except in small quantities. ^ 
Average analyses ot tire juices of 
varieties of sorghum at the Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., for 
1881. 
Seefltn 5 w’tc 
doir»h. later- 
7. '7 IMt 
R.7n 1.83 
2.63 3 or 
r.U 11.77 
86 18 58.M 
n.v? to. si 
There is no reason why farmers should not 
be the kindest and most cultivated of men. 
There is nothing in plowing the fields to make 
men cross, cruel, and crabbed. To look upon 
the sunny slopes covered with daisies does not 
tend to make men unjuBt. Whoever labors 
for the happiness of those be loves, elevates 
himself, no matter whether he works in the 
dark and dreary shops or in the perfumed 
fields. To work for others is, in reality, the 
only way in which a man can work for him¬ 
self. Selfishness is ignorance. Speculators 
cannot make unless somebody loses. In the 
realm of speculation every success has at least 
one victim. The harvest reaped by the farmer 
benefits all aud injures none. For him to 
succeed it is not necessary that some one 
should fail. The same i 3 true of all pro¬ 
ducers—of all laborers.W hen the 
life of a farmer is such as I have described* 
sleep. . . . The farmer has been elevated 
through science, and be should not forget the 
debt he owes to the mechanic, to the inventor, 
to the thinker. He should remember that all 
laborers belong to the same grand family— 
that they are the real kings and queens, the 
only true nobility.. 
Above all, let every farmer treat his wife 
and children with infinite kindness. Give 
your sons and daughters every advantage 
within your power. In the air of kindness 
they will grow about you like flowers. They 
will fill your homes with sunshine and all your 
years with joy. Do not try to rule by force. 
A blow from the parent leaves a scar on the 
soul. I should feel ashamed to die surrounded 
by children I had whipped. Think of feeling 
upon your dying lips the kiss of a child you 
had struck. Farmers should live 
like princes. Eat the best things you raise 
Jotham.” an octavo volume of 603 pages, by 
the Hon. G. B. Loring, Commissioner of Agri¬ 
culture. The articles of the series here col¬ 
lected in book form were originally contribu¬ 
ted to the Boston Globe. In them Dr. Loring 
presents his views on matters of agricultural 
interest through the mouths of the practical 
farmers of an educated community living in 
Jotham, a fertile, thrifty, picturesquely sit¬ 
uated township imaginatively located in 
Eastern Massachusetts. Instruction is given 
in the form of conversations on various agri¬ 
cultural topics between the members of the 
Club composed of the principal farmers of the 
community. The chief topics treated of 
are: —Th e Organization of a Club; Cattle; 
Fertilizers; Draiuage; The Hay Crop; Pasture 
Land; Root Crops; Grain Crop?; Market 
Gardening; Farm Superstitious; Cranberries; 
Small Fruits Bud Flowers; Fruit Culture; 
Grape Culture ; Implements of Husbandry ; 
Smaller Animals on the Farm; The 
Horse; Tree Planting. Several chapteis 
are devoted to most of these subjects, and i 
the conversational style of treatment 
permits the introduction of various opin (3 
ions on the different points discussed. A pji 
slender thread of sentimental interest con |l 
nected with the rustic courtship and happy g| 
marriage of a couple of the dramatis per j=? 
runs through the work, enhancing P 
sonce 
its value according to some and deprecut 
iug it according to others. Some there are j^|| 
who think an instructive work should be fcg 
crammed with solid chunks of knowledge 
pressed so closely together that there will N ; ; 
be no room for extraneous matter; others |J5G 
believe the ordinary human capacity for 
learning is somewhat like the digestive oi- joSsi 
gans of cattle—both work all the better for 
having sou.e loose matter intermixed 
with the concentrated pabulum. This 
handsome, profusely illustrated volume 
contains a great deal of interesting and 
useful information given in a simple style 
easily intelligible to all. It is also rich 
in those felicities of language and illus¬ 
tration which distinguish the writings of 
a man of broad culture who has read and 
thought much on a multitude of subjects, from 
those of a specialist whose entire atten¬ 
tion has been engrossed by a single study r . 
Published by Lockwood, Brooks & Co. Boston, 
Mass. 
tbe cities and towns will not be filled with 
want— the streets will not be crowded with 
wrecked rogues, broken bankers, and bank¬ 
rupt speculators. The fields will be tilled, and 
country villages, almost hidden by trees, and 
vines, and flowers, filled with industrious and 
happy people, will nestle like gems on every 
plain. They will plant trees and 
beautify their homes; if they will occnpy their 
leisure in reading, in thinking, in improving 
their minds, and in devising ways and means 
to make their business profitable and pleasant; 
if they will live nearer together aud cultivate 
sociability; if they will come together often; 
if they will have reading roomi aud cultivate 
music; if they will have bath rooms, ice 
houses, and good gardens; if their wives can 
have an easy time; if the nights can be taken 
for sleep and the evenings for enjoyment, 
everybody will be in love with the fields. 
Happiness should be the object of life, aud if 
aud sell the rest. Have good things to cook 
with. Of all people In our country, you 
should live the best. Throw your miserable 
little stoves out of the window. Get ranges, 
and have them so built that your wife need 
not burn her face off to get you a breakfast. 
Do not make her cook in a kitchen hot as the 
orthodox perdition. The beef, not the cook, 
should be roasted. It is just as easy to have 
things convenient and right as to have them 
any other way. Decorate your 
rooms, even if you do so with cheap engrav¬ 
ings. The cheapest are far better than none. 
Have books, have papers, and read them. 
You have more leisure than the dwellers in 
cities. Beautify your grounds with plants 
and flowers aud vines. Have good gardens. 
Remember that everything of beauty tends to 
the elevation of man. Every little Morning 
Glory whose purple bosom is thrilled with ths 
amorous kisses of the sun tends to put a blos- 
Percent. Sucrose. 
P«r cent. Glucose. 
Par c°nt. roll 'n not su?w 
P«r cent, jivsllable sugar. 
Per Juice . 
So-clfle g-ar'tv . .. 
Number of Analyses. 
It will be observed from the above results, 
representing the average of a large number 
of analyses and of 35 varieties of sorghum 
that there is an increase in the actual ervstal- 
lizsble sugar in the juice of over 132 per cent., 
while in the available sugar (and by that is 
meant the excess of sucrose over the sum of 
the glucose and other solids in the juices) 
there is an increase of over 033 per cent.; or if 
we consider only the crop as regards its value 
for the production of sirup (in which both 
sucrose and glncose enter), we shall see that 
the sum of these is, in the first stage, 11.17 per 
cent., and in the latter 18.44 per cent, or an 
increase of 65 per cent. 
Here is the average rate of wages paid for 
2? i - n iMi'i r > 
WZyj > 
farm labor in the different States as given 
by the Department of Agriculture: 
AVERAGE MONTHLY WAGES IIY THE YKAB. 
With- Wlthl With¬ 
stands. out Board.Istatea. out With 
Board Board. Bo«rd. 
Maine.8*1 75 81(1 n Texas.20 *0 14 03 
N. Hampshire. 2*25 1(172 Arkansas.185K 1225 
Vermont. 2187 lfi iu Toanetsee.. .13 75 1349 
Massac ho sells. 80 t;fl 18 25 West. Virglnlal!) 16 12 48 
Rhode Iidnnrt.. 27*5 1?u0 Kentucky.18 20 n 75 
Connecticut ... 271*0 17 37 Ohio. ...24 55 16 30 
New York . 21 61 15 38 Michigan .... 2M*i 17 *. 
New Jersey_2123 11 20 Indiana.23 14 15 65 
Pennsylvania.. 2188 >4 81 Illinois.24 V) 1 17 14 
Delaware....... 1820 W W Wl-oon»1n....26 31 17 » 
Maryland . 1834 !> H!i Minnesota....26 36 17 75 
Virginia.13 IW 9 .7 Town..26 21 17 95 
North Carolina 12 *0 8 Ml Missouri,... 22 39 18 91 
South Carolina 1210 8 10 Kansas .53 85 15 87 
Georgia. 12 88 S 70 Nebraska.. ..24 15 16 2U 
Fiorina. 1861 102o California....38 25 23 45 
Alabama. 13 1' 9 n!l Oregon.33 50 2 * 75 
Mississippi. 15 111 10 09 Colorado . ..36 50 27 03 
Louisiana. 13 20 32 61* 
Farm Life as it Might Be —From 
a speech by Col. lugersoll on this subject, 
we make a lew extracts. Much of it is 
worth heeding- some of it is of the flowery 
sort that is far easier said than done: 
It is not necessary in this age of the 
world for the farmer to rise in the mid¬ 
dle of the night and begin bis work. This 
getting up so early in the morning is a 
relic of barbarism. It has made hundreds 
of thousands of young men curse the 
business. There is no need of getting up 
at three or four o’clock in the Winter 
morning. The farmer who persists in 
dragging his wife and children from their 
It will bs seen at a glance that this in¬ 
crease in sugar in these juices is by no 
means due to the concentration of the juice 
by evaporation, as has been generally sup¬ 
posed, since, in the first place, tbe increase 
in sugar is vastly greater than the loss of 
water would indicate, and, besides, as will 
he seen, while the percentage of sucrose 
increase'* 123 per cent., that of glucose 
diminishes over 51 per cent., a result 
which clearly shows that there are going 
on in the plant, after the ripening of the 
seed, chemical changes resultiog in a de¬ 
velopment of sugar in tbeplant. Of course, 
the great change in specific gravity of tbe 
juice is noticeable; a change also dispro-' 
portionate to what would result were this 
due to evaporation of the water of the 
plant. Tbe importance, then, of allowing 
the cane to fully mature its seed and to re¬ 
main as much longer thereafter before 
workiug is manifest. Nor is it other than 
with extreme risks in most climates that 
the cane can be cut and kept a few days 
before working, as i» directed by the 
“ Sugar Hand Book.” In conclusion, 
Prof. Collier says that there is hardly 
one chance in a hundred that sugar can 
be produced from any variety of sorghum 
in paying quantities if the crop is worked 
up when the seed is in the dough. 
beds ought to be visited by a missionary. It 
is time enough to rise after the sun has set 
the example. In the old times they used to 
get up about three o’clock in the morniug, 
and go to work long before the sun had risen 
with “healing upon his wings.” and, as a just 
punishnieut, they all had the ague; and they 
ought to have it now. When you rise at four 
and work till dark, what is life worth? Of 
what use is all the improved machinery unle.s 
it tends to give the farmer a little more leisure? 
What is harvesting now compared with what 
it was in the olden time? . . . You should 
not rob your families of sleep. Sleep is the 
best medicine in tbe world. There is no such 
thing ns health without sleep. Sleep until 
you are thoroughly rested and restored. 
When you work, work; and when you get 
through .talas a :$oud long. <iad ref routing 
Royal Daih 
som in your heart. Do not judge of the value 
of everything by the market reports. Every 
dower about the house e;rtsifies to the refine¬ 
ment of somebody. Every vine, climbing add 
blossom iug, tells of love atid joy. 
Let your children sleep. Do not drag them 
lrom their beds in the darkness of nighr.. Do 
not compel them to associate all that is tire¬ 
some, irksome, and dreadful with cultivating j 
the soil. In this way you bring farming into 
hatred and disrepute. Treat your children 
with innuite kindness—tre.it them as equals. 
There is no happiness in a home cot tilled 
witn iove Where ike husband hates his w ife; 
where the wife hates the husband; where chil- j 
dren hate their parents and each olLo.-, there 
is a iwil upon earth ........ 
y.—Fig. 254. 
life on the farm can be made really happy 
the children will grow up in love with the 
meadows, the streams, the woods, and the old 
home. Around the farm will cling and cluster 
the happy memories of delightful years. 
Farm Machines and their Agents.— A 
writer in the Michigan Farmer has many a 
tme word to say on this subject: “When a 
large farm is run with hired help exclusively, 
machinery must take the place of hand labor, 
aud is therefore a necessary adjunct. Ma¬ 
chines render the employment of a large 
amount of labor within a given period un¬ 
necessary, aud give a certainty to the accom¬ 
plishment of results which are essential to suc- 
oess in every imdoruwng But moderate 
Best Time for Cutting Sorghttm Corn 
—Peter Collier, chemist to the Department 
of Agriculture, writes a letter to the Hus¬ 
bandman to show t hat tbe advice to farmers 
to cut sorghum cane when the seed is in the 
dough and several days ahead of grinding, is 
very bad advice indeed. 
Mr. H. Stewart remarks that we import 
wool and woolen goods to the value of $50,- 
fOO.OOO yearly, or an equivalent to about 100,- 
000,000 pounds of wool, there is certainly little 
fear that American farmers can go astray in 
keeping sheep or in choosing whatever kind 
their circumstances or their tastes might 
make the most desirable. The successful re- 
| suit of wool-growing depends wholly upon 
l tire .quality of tiie product, and this direct 
