750 
♦ 
THE BUBAL N1W-Y0BBER. 
all preparations complete, then in the morn¬ 
ing after the surface of the ground was dried 
he had the bunches carefully lifted and set in 
new places loosely on the stubble. That al¬ 
lowed free circulation of air from bottom to 
top bo in a short time the bunches would 
get very dry. This stage reached, drawing 
began, and the flails were kept in motion un¬ 
til 8-t the approach of night dampness gather¬ 
ed in the bunches, when work was suspended 
to be renewed in like manner the next day if 
suitable weather followed. He could not say 
with certaiuty how much grain three flails 
may beat out in a short day, but in the hands 
of Bkillful operators, with the straw thor¬ 
oughly dry, a day’s work will not be much 
less than a hundred bushels provided the crop 
is well filled. Thrashing, in this way, in¬ 
sures the cleanest and best product in suita¬ 
ble condition for storing, which is a very im¬ 
portant matter, 
- 
English and American Cheese.— For long 
after it has been made, the Pall Mall Gazette 
says, an English cheese is crisp and crumbly, 
and retains the taste of curds. Then it begins 
to knit together and to mellow; it improves 
with keeping, and only gets a really rich flavor 
after It has a year or so of age. American 
cheese, on the other hand, is made in a place 
almost as large as a cotton mill; it is ripe al 
most immediately after it has been taken from 
under the presses, and by long keeping it 
usually grows bitter and dry. English cheese 
is a luxury for the prosperous few—to the 
many thousands who “ have little to earn 
and many to keep,” American cheese is by 
no means the smallest of those boons which 
we receive, with rather a bad grace, from our 
cousins on the other side of the Atlantic. It 
is said of the Lancashire cotton operatives 
that they prefer American cheese to any other. 
There are two reasons for this preference, 
American cheese is cheap, and it is “mild.' 
The poorer classes of Englishmen are no fonder 
of “strong cheese” than of “high” game. 
They do not appreciate that biting of the 
tongue which is produced by Roquefort or old 
Stilton. Theextremely mild Gouda, or Dutch 
cheese, has only failed to become popular be¬ 
cause it is too salt, and because when toasted 
it is apt to assume the appears nee and the con¬ 
sistency of leather. 
-m- 
The Labor System at Ag'l Colleges. —It 
is very true, as the Speculum of the Michigan 
Agricultural College remarks, that of all 
problems which our colleges have tried to 
solve, the one of compulsory manual labor by 
the students baa been the most perplexing 
The Michigan Ag. College has, however, from 
its foundation, clung steadily to the idea ex¬ 
pressed in the words, “ Each student not ex¬ 
empt on account of physical disability is re¬ 
quired to labor three hours each week-day 
(except Saturday) in those seasons of the year 
when labor can be furnished.” With trifling 
exceptions, this rule is rigidly enforced so far 
as the officers themselves are concerned. With 
the students, the Speculum says, a few work 
for the money earned, but a large majority 
go through the operation mechanically, just 
as one does some worthless study, because it 
is in the course and there is no way of avoid¬ 
ing it; although at some seasons of the year 
the number who escape through the clause 
“on account of physical disability,” is simply 
enormous. A stranger on looking over the 
list of excuses for this season, would probably 
think that sickness was prevailing among the 
students to an alarming extent. 
One of the prime objects of the labor sys¬ 
tem is to keep up in the student a sympathy 
with labor, But If we find that instead of 
doing this its results are exactly the reverse; 
if we find a student at the end of his cour#e 
more poorly fitted or having less inclination 
for work then when he entered college, then 
the labor system has failed in this part of its 
mission. That the best and most work is per¬ 
formed daring the Freshman year, is an un¬ 
disputed fact. That less and less work is done 
in the three successive years is also true. 
The Speculum assigns two causes for this 
growing aversion to labor as one advances in 
the course. One is the popular sentiment 
among the students; the other, the failure of 
the officers to properly instruct the students 
in what they are required to do. Of course a 
student cannot be held responsible for not 
being familiar with the various farm opera¬ 
tions. Many have never lived on a farm, yet, 
when they go to college, tools are put into 
their hands and they are sent out to labor. No 
one shows them how the tools should be used 
or kept in order. A party may be sent out to 
mow; some have never before handled a 
scythe; they have no idea whether it is hung 
properly or not; they And it does not cut, and 
they go through the formality of whetting; 
but we would not lie afraid to wager that the 
scythe is more often dulled than sharpened by 
the operation. Still no one teaohes them how 
to do better. Verily, the poorest farmer would 
p if mire afcfitntioa to his hired help than this 
Yet the students'are' Bometimes told that the 
labor is educational. The remedy for such 
evils is now, more than ever before, being con¬ 
sidered by the students, faculty and others 
interested in the College, and the Rural pro¬ 
poses to refer to this important subject again. 
Sweet Potatoes. —Miss L. C. Benedict, 
who has given many years of her life to the 
study of agriculture, reminds her readers that 
care must be exercised not to harvest sweet 
potatoes until quite matured, for the unripe 
tubers will not keep. A good test is breaking 
open the potato; if ripe, it maintains its light 
color when broken; if still immature, it will 
exude a gummy juice and turn dark as it 
dries. Large growers at the North build regu¬ 
lar potato or root houses for the preservation 
of this tender crop, with 'uiitablo arrange 
ments for maintaining the proper degree of 
heat. In these houses the potatoes are packed 
in dry sand in bins. It is necessary not only 
to guard against cold, but against too high a 
temperature. If kept much above 50 degrees 
sweet potatoes are liable to sprout, and if 
much below this temperature they will rot. 
The Editor of the Fruit Recorder, Mr. A. 
M. Purdy, says that blackberries do well 
along stone walls; in fact, he has noticed the 
beRt show of fruit on such vines this drouthy 
season. He attributes it to the stone keeping 
the surface moist and the roots running under 
the stone wall. If the ground was well cleaned 
along the fences and set to blackberry plants, 
the me of the land would be thus obtained. 
The Gardeners’Chronicle says, in an article 
on Mr. Warrington’s account of the import 
ant effects produced by different species of 
bacteria in the soil, and in sewage and its 
purification: “Mr. W. himself tells U9 that 
among the many kinds of bacteria of very 
varied life babits, while one will insure the 
formation of nitric acid (from ammonia), an¬ 
other will only form nitrous acid, which con 
tains less oxygen. ADd there is nothing in¬ 
conceivable in the suggestion that as some of 
these organisms are now known to act as cooks 
and dish up good food to the plants, others 
may be found to stop or counteract the pro¬ 
cess. We may yet be able to turn on the ni 
trogen just when it will lie useful (in the grow¬ 
ing season) and turn it off when no longer of 
service; just as we have long done with gas, 
and are now doing with the electric light!”... 
Mr. W. H Benjamin left at this office a 
plant of the Rural Golden Heartwell Celery 
raised by Mr. R. W. Curtis, of Connecticut, 
which has 10 stalks two feet three inches long. 
This, he says, is far ahead of Boston Market. 
We are greatly pleased with this celery, and 
ask our readers to examine theirs. It will 
then appear that it is well named and by no 
means over-praised. 
PITBS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
Ur to now no breed of cattle ever introduced 
into this broad continent has caused so much 
excitement or made so strorg and favorable 
an impression on the public mind as have the 
charming black polled cattle. Bo says Mr. 
Win. Watson. 
Harvest the beets, mangels, etc., before 
freezing weather.... 
DrvTDE old plants of rhubarb and set them 
in good soil three feet apart. 
Asparagus roots may still be planted. 
“There is no doubt of the value of the 
Vitis Californica for grafting stock,and its use 
is recommended either by cuttings or seeds, 
says the Director of the Botanic Gardens of 
Adelaide (New Zealand). But the crowning 
virtue is not alone that it is phylloxera-pi oof, 
but also that it makes a palatable claret wine, 
so that it is worth cultivation for the sake of 
its fruit.... 
In all kindB of internal irritabilities, even 
in dysentery itself, milk is invaluable, and 
the emollient effects of milk warm from the 
cow are well marked in cases of chronic or 
Winter cough, says Harpers Weekly. 
Remember the New York City ordinance not 
to send chickens or turkeys to market unless 
they are drawn or their crops free from food. 
It Is best to send them with empty crops.... 
Now prepare the trenches for wintering 
celery. Select dry ground a foot wide by a 
foot to 18 inches deep as the kinds are dwarfs 
or giants. Place the plants close together 
and when frost threatens cover with straw, 
hay or leaves—more heavily as the frost is 
more severe..... 
Farm laborers are plentiful, says the Lon¬ 
don Agricultural Gazette, and our neighfiors 
are dropping their men’s pay from 13s. to 
12a. (3.00) per week......... 
Meat at the present time is selling for 
more in New York than in England. Eng¬ 
lishmen begin to' imagine the American com¬ 
petition scare is at an end. 
Cobbktt says, “a hen getting wet through 
will take a fortnight to recover her condi¬ 
tion.”... 
Mr. Purdy thinks very highly of the Sup¬ 
erb Raspberry, though rather soft for long 
carriage.,......... 
It is now as good a time as any to prune 
grape-vines. Cuttings may also be made in¬ 
cluding two joints about a foot in length an i 
planted in mellow soil firmly compacted 
about them. Leave the top joint above the 
surface and cover with hay or litter of any 
kind whenifreezing weatbercomes. Cuttings 
of currants and gooseberries may be treated 
in the same way...... 
Among the prize-taking varieties at the 
late potato show in London were Queen of 
the Valley and Pride of America. 
The “Dakota fever” is spreading somewhat 
among the Seniors of the Mich., Ag., College. 
The Speculum says: The wheat of the college 
farm yielded 35 bushels—oats <50. 
Scarcely one in a hundred of the new 
fruits which, for many years past, have been 
deluging the horticultural world have proved 
worthy of a permanent name, says T. T. Ly¬ 
on, iu the Ohio Farmer. He speaks also of 
the great ta«k it has become to fairly deter¬ 
mine their value in the face of the favoritism 
or fraud which has recently entered into the 
process of bringing them before the public. 
CvenjUtljcrf. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois. 
McHenry, McHenry Co., Oct 11—We are 
now selling butter for 30 cents per pound; eggs, 
21 cents; chickens, 9 cents; potatoes, 25 cents; 
dried apples, 10 cents. Apples are plenty for 
home use. Corn is a very good cop, consid¬ 
ering the very poor season. p. l. 
lows. 
Burlington, Des Moines Co., Oct., 10 — 
We have had a very wet and cold season in 
this part of Iowa with the exception of the 
month of September which was dry and hot. 
Corn crop is very short; will not make a 
quarter of a crop in the southeastern portion 
of the State. Wheat is very good, making 
from 15 to 25 bushels per acre. Oats light, av¬ 
eraging about SO to 35 bushels. Hay good- 
above an average. The apple crop is very 
light and of a very poor quality. The acre 
age sown to Fall wheat this year is small, as 
the dry weather prevented the prepara 
tion of the ground in proper time. W. W. P. 
Winfield, nenry Co., Oct. 15 —Cropshere 
are not half an average. One large farmer 
says he will not have 200 bus-hels of corn. Oats 
were not half a crop, taking the acreage into 
consideration. The frnit crop was a very good 
one, all things considered. Apples have sold 
from 40 to 75 cts per bushel. Peaches brought 
five cents for two or three, and near the 
close of the season 51.50 per bushel. Fears were 
very plentiful and fine. There is a largo 
amount of corn drilled for fodder this Fall 
and corn is quoted in Mt. Pleasant market at 
75 cts.—dearer than for years. “xenia.” 
Nebraska. 
Mission Creek, Pawnee Co., Oct. 11.— 
Chinch bugs destroyed much of the wheat. 
Oats yield about 50 bushels to acre. Corn is 
fine; nearly ready for the crib ; will yield 
from 40 to 70 bushels to the acre. The potalo 
crop is very large—the yield is immense. I 
had 25 of the Belle, variety, which made a 
heaped half bushel. m. m. 
New York. 
Glensdale, Lewis Co., Oct. 16.—There are 
but few grapes that will ripen here. Spring 
and Winter wheats generally do well. Pota¬ 
toes must be from medium to early to do well; 
the late kinds don’t turn out of good quality. 
The Early Ohio is the best all-the-year round 
potato 1 ever raised; W, P. Andrew’s White 
Rose the next. G. R. 8. 
Horton Hill, Greene Co., Oct., 15.—Hav¬ 
ing just returned from a trip to FortLarned, 
Kansas, a few notes on what I saw and heard 
may be of interest to the Rural. In that 
section corn was eaten up by chinch bugs and 
cotton worms. Potatoes were destroyed by 
drouth as were millet and sorghum. When 
the rains came the last sent out lateral shoots 
which drew the saccharine matter from the 
main stalks. There are two large sorghum fac¬ 
tories near Ft. Larned,capable of making much 
sugar but they were idle. There was a large 
acreage of wheat sown this Fall and it looked 
very fine. All were in high hopes of a good 
yield another year. If it were not for the 
bugs, grasshoppers, wind, drouth, lack of 
trees or forests, and scarcity of fruit and of 
good, handy water, I should say it was a good 
place to live in, but until I visited Kansas I 
never knew how necessary fruit, wood and 
good water are. On my return I stopped at 
Atchison and thence went by rail to Omaha, 
passing through a very fertile country with 
more fruit than I saw anywhere else west 
of Omaha. I went to Fremont, Nebraska, 
where I fouud things much better than in 
Kansas. Corn and all the crops with the ex¬ 
ception of wheat were fair. Stock of all 
kinds is fed at Fremont, as hay and grain can 
be bought cheaper there than in any place I 
saw West. From Fremont I came back to 
Clinton on the Mississippi, which is a great 
lumber depot. The river had overflowed its 
banks for over 250 miles, which caused an 
immense loss of property. Stacks and corn 
stood all under water from four to 10 miles 
from the river. After returning to Chicago 
we took a short run up iuto Wisconsin. The 
soil in the section we visited is very fertile, 
and it is a fine dairy country. We ate the 
best butter there that we found outside of 
York State. They raise Spring wheat there 
mostly; but little Winter wheat. The sec¬ 
tion where wo were is settled mostly by peo¬ 
ple from New York State. In Michigan we 
learned that there would be a good supply of 
fruit this year. w. H. I. 
Ohio. 
Ada, Hardin Co., Oct. 10.—We had the first 
frost of this season last night. We have very 
good corn and potato erop3. Wheat is about 
half a crop. We have about finished sowing 
wheat. It is up and looking very well, con¬ 
sidering the drouth. O. p. 
♦ ♦ ♦■ ■ — 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Indlunn. 
Churubusco, Whitley Co , Oct. 17.—My 
Rural Heavy Dent Corn will soon be ripe 
enough to cut or pull off and hang to cure. 
The corn will certainly be more valuable f*ir 
seed if left on the cob until thoroughly sea¬ 
soned. 1 planted 150 grains; 88 grew. I have 
other good varieties of corn, but think the 
Rural Dent will cap the climax. The Gem 
Squash seed was planted with care, but not 
one leaf put in an appearance. J. M. D. 
Illinois. 
McHenry, Mcllenry Co., Oct., 11.—The 
asparagus has made a fine growth. The flow¬ 
ers were lovely. The hollyhocks are promis¬ 
ing. The Winter wheats are up and looking 
very nice. The corn was not injured by the 
frost. Our longest ear is 14 inches. The Gem 
Squashes aie very palatable. p. L. 
Lebanon, Boone Co., Oct. 20.—I have one 
ear of Rural corn 16}^ inches from end of 
grain to grain and 17 from butt to tip. J.R c. 
Iowa. 
Burlington, Des Moines Co., Oct., 10—l 
planted the Rural Heavy Dent corn, and a l 
though we have bad the most unfavorable sea 
son for corn that I ever saw here—and I have 
been here for 37 years—Btill 1 will have some 
nice corn. But few of the celery seeds grew 
noneof thesquash, and only threeof the holly - 
hocks. I dug five bushels of nice W. E. pota¬ 
toes this year. I think they are a splendid 
potato for eating. w. w. p. 
Minnesota. 
Stockton, Winona Co , October 14.—The 
Rural wheut grew nicely up to July; blades 
30 inches long but no stalk; rusted and died. 
The Flint Corn wus planted on May 20, tbree- 
and-one-half by two feet, and two kernels 
planted in a hill; 33 grains did not grow, aud 
seven main stalks were broken down by the 
wind. It grew from eight to eleven feet high; 
it is very late. It has suckered much. There 
was a cob 16 iuches long, but it was not well 
covered. Frost on September 23 killed the 
leaves; it is a great fodder corn. Of the Gem 
Squash five seeds grew; about 30 squashes 
were produced. 8. G. R. 
Mississippi. 
Crawford, Lowndes Co., Oct. 19. — I plant¬ 
ed 172 grains cf the Rural corn on April 1; 
109 germinated. The plot was black prairie 
land, manured with stable and hen-house ma¬ 
nure and ashes. The season has been more 
i favorable for corn than for many years, and 
I am surprised at tbe yield of (he Rural 
Dent. Weight in the ear 77 pounds and three 
ounces; shelled, 47 pounds. I first used the 
turning plow and sowed two bushels of cotton 
Beed; next the corn, and threw the dirt back. 
After this I cultivated with hoe altogether ; it 
did not suffer a day for rain or work, j.h.k. 
Nebraska. 
i Champaign City, Champaign Co., Octo- 
i ber 19.—The Rural seeds germinated pretty 
well, except the Cbator Hollyhock, of which 
i only one seed grew. I planted the wheat, ae- 
i cording to directions, on March 4; most of it 
come up, but neither the Fultzo-Clawson or 
Surprise made any stalks. About 20 heads of 
i Shumaker came out about August 1, but they 
' did not mature. There were 22 Gem Squashes. 
! The celery did well. I planted the Rurul 
[ Flint on May 9; 116 grains grew. I have 
shucked it; but it is not dry enough yet to 
