farm topics. 
GERMAN FEEDING TABLES. 
Professor E. W. Stewart’s article in a late 
Rural has been read carefully. He talks 
round the subject: I want facts presented 
harmonized if possible, and to give no excuse 
for evasions, I quote from 104 days feeding 
just completed for use, by analysed foods, 
theeorts left being analysed and the steers’ 
dressed weightsnoted. The following table is 
for one, and is a representative period of the 
whole 104 days or for 30 dayp. It will be 
observed that lot five eats less than so called 
maintenance fodder and gains. While lot 
one gains more than two on less food and 
cheaper. Also lot four gains for the whole 
104 days more than three or five, although 
having corn meal added to carbonaceous 
straw. While the albuminous food of lot five 
gives the most shrinkage in dressed carcass 
although albuminoids are the reputed fat- 
formers. Table of daily results: 
cncotoOTtsiCo 
e-t r* c* 
* gc tc p 
SjrttgoSjQ 
IjSo b os s 
£ C v 3 ** 
&SP 3 a CspB ^ 
* o 
‘ S* 30 
PMg 
Ojgg 1 
-3 3^2. 
* 
pP. 
bs 
SJ 
rt £- 
Lots. 
CM cr. - i cr. 13 
b. ie t© cn co to 
Coarse 
Food. 
M *—*-• 
c: w> o. oj cc co 
wwbicicio 
Grain. 
ssssafs 
Total 
Organic 
matter. 
sgesiss 
Digestible 
Organic 
matter. 
K- OC'M WM tO 
►— OJ ** e-oo 
Digestible 
Albumin¬ 
oids. 
86.13 
22.02 
14.05 
10.91 
11.08 
15.31 
Digestible 
Carb- 
Hjdratea. 
CmChmo 
i£t CwlO-H 
Digestible 
Fats. 
M . *-» 
if- <£, tc CD CO 
Ntitrltlve 
Ratio. 
ct» ^ oi o -i o 
CC'i* CO .f- 
Gain. 
lbs. 
SI. 41 
41.50 
28.34 
28.18 
25.30 
28.33 
Cost. 
cents. 
I shall say no more until facts are consid¬ 
ered. J. W. Sanborn. 
- f - 
THE CORN CROP. 
I am sorry not to he able to fully agree with 
your hopeful expectation concerning the corn 
crop, expressed in your issue for July 29. My 
personalobservatiou during the present month 
of many thousands of acres of corn in Illinois 
and Iowa lead me to the conclusion that there 
is no probability of three-fourths of an aver¬ 
age yield per acre in these States. The Spring 
was very wet; much corn was either killed or 
greatly injured by water; most of the land 
was left in poor condition for growth when 
the rains ceased aud now, July 28, much of 
the West is in sad need of rain. This region, 
and I believe most of the West, has great 
crops of other grains and grasses. I have rarely 
seen a larger yield of Timothy; wheat and 
rye generally give good yields and the oats 
are a full average crop. G. E. Morrow. 
Champaign, Ill., July 28. 
Remarks. —Professor Morrow doubtless re¬ 
fers to what was said in our Agricultural News 
Department of above date concerning the out¬ 
look for the corn crop. The prospect then 
was summarized in the remark that on the 
whole, there was good ground for the belief 
that the aggregate corn crop of the United 
States would be considerably above last year’s 
crop though not as large as that of 1880. This 
was the result which our Special Crop Number 
foreshadowed, and which all we have seen 
with regard to the crop, confirms. In addition 
to our own reports, we receive each week 
“ exchanges’’ containing either summaries or 
the full text of several thousand crop reports 
relating to all parts of the country, and 
scores of summaries of a multitude of others 
are telegraphed to this city several times every 
week. In addition to the time taken up 
in studying these, several hours are spent 
every Friday uight in comparing them 
with each other and with the reports of the 
Agricultural Department and the various 
State Boards of Agriculture and draw¬ 
ing inferences therefrom for our Agricul¬ 
tural News which goes to press next day 
Often the result of all this labor appears in a 
short paragraph, sometimes in a sentence' 
and occasionally no direct result appears, be¬ 
cause we have utilized it in shaping 
the condensations of the latest telegraphic 
agiieultural news, which are made up 
piecemeal as “copy” is demanded, and 
the “news” comes to hand just before 
we go to press. Whatever appears in that da 
pertinent is, therefore, emphatically “ news,” 
and gives the latest information about “ mat¬ 
ters and things," honestly condensed in the 
briefest possible space. The condition of the 
growing crops in various sections changes 
every week, often every few days, in accord¬ 
ance with the weather, and, as a truthful 
record of these changes, the reports given in 
the Agricultural News also vary more or less 
every week. The outlook for corn in Illinois 
and Iowa has all along been more gloomy 
than that in any other State, and therefore no 
correct conclusion as to the aggregate yield of 
the country can be drawn from the condition 
of the cr®ps in those two States. According to 
the Census returns, the crops of both States 
in 1879 aggregated 603,890,190 bushels, or a 
little over one-third of the total crop of the 
country, which was 1,773,103,676 bushels. 
According to the Department of Agriculture 
the crops of both States in 1880 aggregated 
500,645,736 bushels, which was largely under 
one third of the entire crop of the country, 
which amounted to 1,717,000,000 bushels 
According to the same authority the total 
yield of both States last year was 350,023,000 
bushels, or a little over one-fourth of the ag¬ 
gregate crop of the country, which was 1,194,- 
916,000 bushels. It will be readily seen, 
therefore, that although these two States are 
still the greatest corn States In the Union, 
other States, notably Missouri, Kansas and 
Texas this year, are progressively lessening 
the disproportion. Still the average aggre¬ 
gate yield of the two States is so large that 
any serious deficiency in the total outcome 
would have a considerable effect upon thn 
aggregate yield of the whole country; but it 
must be borne in mind that we only said the 
crop would be larger than last year’s, but less 
than that of the year before, and between 
these two crops there was a difference of 522,- 
084,000 bushels, 106,503,006 bushels less than 
the aggregate oat crop; and 141,803,910 bush¬ 
els less than the total wheat crop of the 
entire country. 
NOTES ON RURAL FOR JULY 15. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
The Rural prints no more interesting arti¬ 
cles. to me, at least, than those contributed to 
its columns by President Lyon of Michigan. 
His classification of popular strawberries, ac¬ 
cording to the stamiuate strength of their 
blossoms, is accurate and useful. But there 
is something curious about the way strawber¬ 
ries get fertilized which are themselves defi¬ 
cient in stamens. With me the Crescent prac¬ 
tically a stamiuate, is as safe to plant alone 
as Wilson. This season I have a small bed of 
Windsor Chief (about 4 by 60 feet) from the 
neighborhood of which a patch uf Wilsons was 
eradicated, while the Windsors were left to 
make runners. From the character of the 
bloom (as purely pistillate as any sort) I did 
not expect a perfect berry. But there has 
been a very large crop. No other bed was 
nearer than 200 feet, at the bottom of a hill, 
where there are a few Glendale plants. But 
in the grass of an adjoining orchard there are 
a good mauy wild strawberries, and all 
around, the fields and waysides are full of 
them. If anythiug is “ natural” to this local¬ 
ity and soil it is the wild strawberry. This 
being the case (and I suppose it is the case in 
very many places), I think use may be made 
of it to shirk the troublesome necessity of 
planting stamiuate berries close to those with¬ 
out good stamens—a practice which, besides 
beiug troublesome, is a fruitful cause of mixed 
plants. My Wilsons are badly mixed, and I 
have tried to get unmixed Wilson plants from 
nearly all the most noted growers at one time 
or another, but never have succeeded. The 
cause is, I take it, that the Wilsons are utilized 
as fertilizer plants, and the pistillate kinds 
run in among them from adjoining rows. 
This is confirmed by the fact that the admixt¬ 
ure is always of pistillate sorts. [We hope 
Dr. Hoskins will adopt the B.ural’8 sugges¬ 
tion and call perfect flowers 4 bisexual," as 
there are nostamtnates we presume.—E ds ] 
Prof. Sheldon is justly severe on “shoddy ” 
dairy goods. But it seems to be impossible to 
stop or even regulate the making of imitations 
and fraudulent or injurious manufactures in 
which large capital is invested. Our legisla¬ 
tive and executive officials are selected (or 
select one another) from a class of men who 
know how to make the possession of office 
“ pay," and the people are too careless or too 
busy to make a change. When it shall be as 
hard as it now is easy for a professional poli¬ 
tician to get office, we may see a check to 
shoddy and rum, to waste and fraud. 
The report of the butter yield of Smiths & 
Powell’s Dutch herd (why will they persist in 
the absurd name of Holstein f As well call 
them Pomeranian 1 ) does not surprise me One 
of the best dairy herds in this county for the 
last 15 years has been a pure Dutch herd de¬ 
scended from the importation made early in 
ihe century by the famous Consul Jarvis, who 
was also instrumental in the introduction of 
the Merino sheep. There are Beveral of these 
herds In this State, aud their butter stands 
alongside of the best Jersey in quantity, qual¬ 
ity and price. These Jarvis cattle are not so 
large as the more recent importations, and 
are therefore better adapted to New England 
farms. The Iowa and other Western dairy¬ 
men ought to make full trial of the Dutch 
breed of cows. 
It is curious liow persistent an erroneous 
hygienic notion can be. The articleof 1 ‘ Anti- 
Bolter ” is an illustration. As well and as 
necessary to eat the hulls of rice, or the shells 
of peanuts, as the bran of grain. Strong 
stomachs can handle bran bread, and a lively 
conviction that it is “ healthy ” may even en¬ 
able a weak one to stand it awhile. But in 
fact it is injurious; while bolted flour is far 
better and, properly prepared, more easily 
digested. That fine flour can be made into un¬ 
wholesome bread, especially by the admixture 
of grease, as in pie crust and biscuits, is true. 
Hot bread is harmful only because it is easily 
consolidated In the mouth, and thus not easily 
mixed with the digestive fluids. As for the 
cry that “phosphates” are removed in the 
bran, it is not true, though if it were, we 
get a plenty of phosphorus iu other articles of 
diet. The “new process” preserves everything 
but the shell and the germ of the wheat, aud 
makes a far better flour than the old process, 
But, like all patents, a few must be allowed to 
get rich out of it at the expense of the many. 
I do not believe that the patent laws are the 
stimulus to invention they are supposed to be. 
Competition, in these days, and the desire to 
get ahead of competitors, furnish sufficient 
stimulation aud yield sufficient remuneration 
to the ingenious, without the added power to 
tax the people for a term of years. Our 
country is becoming a nest of monopolists 
under this and similar legislation. 
Doesn’t it cost those Oxford, Ohio, farmers, 
who report to their club the cost of crops, 
anything for manure? Only one of them 
SDeaks of manure. He (Waldo F. Brown) esti¬ 
mates a charge against wheat of 50 cents a 
load for the manure. This would about dou¬ 
ble some of the estimates of previous speakers 
as to cost of the grain per bushel. Our crops in 
Northern Vermont average as good as in the 
best States iu the Union, but if we get our 
wheat at a cost of $ 1.00 per bushel on a crop 
of J7 bushels, and corn at 60 cents on a crop 
of 40 bushels, wa think we do well. Our land 
in its fresh state is “ natural potato land,” 
yielding from 250 to 350 bushels to the acre, 
and we think we raise potatoes almost for 
nothing. The average price at the railroad is 
not over 40 cents, and at that a good many 
pay for their new farms pretty quickly; yet 
they find them old farms pretty quickly, too, 
and instead of two or three tons of hay to the 
acre, which is the natural yield, they get, 
after a course of potatoing for five or six 
years, about three quarters of a ton. They 
have spoiled their land in l aying for it ; but 
“ the destruction of the poor is their poverty’ 
and, we might add, many times, their igno¬ 
rance. 
“ W.," of Tyrone, Pa., holds an opinion in 
regard to “running sores” on pruned fruit 
trees, which I held myself for a good many 
years. The blackened sap running down from 
where a limb has been pruned away, certainly 
indicates something wrong. I once believed, 
like him, that it was due to pruning at the 
wrong season. But an old orchardist on Lake 
Champlain dropped the remark in my hearing 
that a hardy and healthy tree might be pruned 
at any time without this result, and that in 
any case w-here it occurred the tree would be 
found to be black-hearted. My observation 
since has fully confirmed that opinion. 
Col. Curtis’s article on “ Young Pig Feed¬ 
ing” ought to be printed on a card and stuck 
up in a conspicuous place on every farm. It 
is a solid chunk of wisdom drawn from expe¬ 
rience. There is nothing more destructive of 
the hope of raising the “ boss pigs of the 
neighborhood” than overfeeding, and leaving 
the excess in the trough. Yet it is very com¬ 
mon. “ Behold with how little wisdom the 
world is governed,” said the Chancellor Oxen- 
stiera to his son while coming from a cabinet 
consultation given up to triviality. The same 
could well be said of stock management on 
most American farms, and we cannot have 
too much of the instruction communicated by 
writers so practical and experienced as Col. 
Curtis. 
“ The importance of stirring the soil when 
crops are growing,” is a thing that the Rural 
has much to say upon, I do wish that this 
matter could be made the subject of thorough 
scientific experiment upon a sufficient scale. 
I have followed in the track of men whom I 
thought wiseb than myeelf all my life; but 
sometimes I have almost regretted not taking 
a course such as I once heard an old farmer 
say that he took when his father gave up the 
farm to him. Rays he, “ My father always 
made me follow all the old ways, but when I 
got the reins in my own bands I determined 
to change on everything, and did so. In about 
half the ca.ses I found that the old ways were 
the best, and in the other half the new ways 
were the best.” Now as to tillage. A Mas¬ 
sachusetts business man, looking at a farmer 
plowing, remarked that it was a queer thing 
that God had made the ground all upside 
down. As a matter of fact, who can tell 
whether the soil should be reversed in tillage, 
and who can tell how much tillage of growing 
crops is necessary, and gives the best results '( 
I used to be taught that cabbages ought to be 
hoed every morning. The best cabbages I had 
last year were on a piece of ground not plowed 
at all, and only hoed as much as was neces¬ 
sary to keep the weeds down. One of my 
neighbors never plows his onion ground, but 
only scratches iu fine manuie with « shallow' 
cultivator before planting. All of u» can see 
h >w big the weeds will grow iu hard ground 
if it is only rich. Dr. Sturtevant’s deep til¬ 
lage between the row's of corn, though so ably 
and ingeniously advocated, has gained no cur¬ 
rency among farmers. He did not succeed 
with it himself aa well as he expected to. I 
confess that I till my corn and potatoes only 
as much as l must to kill the weeds (but I kill 
’em all). Yet I have large crops always—over 
300 bushels of potatoes and 70 bushels of corn 
to the acre last year, bad as thi season was. 
As I get older I settle down more and more 
solidly on this basis—Rich Land and No 
Weeds. I find my profit there. But I should 
like to see this tilluge question thoroughly 
tested in all soils and seasons. 
Orleans Co., Vt. 
Sljc tHmijariJ. 
HARDINESS OF GRAPE-VINES, ETC. 
D. S. MARVIN. 
In the portions of country usually covered 
with snow during the Winter the past year 
has been very unfavorable to grape-vines. All 
classes, and their several varieties, seem to 
have suffered more or less. The lesson drawn 
from the observed effects will doubtless be 
welcomed by vineyardists. To understand 
the topic we must first glance at the causes 
that have produced the troubles. The open 
Winter, coupled with the action of frost iu 
uncovering aud then heaving the vines out of 
the ground, was undoubtedly one of the main 
factors, but back of this there are potent 
causes to be considered. The severe drought 
last Summer, which piematurely ripened the 
canes, together with the exhaustive calls upon 
the vital functions of the plants under the 
conditions to mature the unusually rich fruit, 
almost wholly matured during the drought; 
the Fall rains, which again started growth, 
causing a succulent condition of the vines; 
