MAY 20 
THE BUBAL 
process for a very dark oak color; when dry 
oil with burnt oil or beeswax and turpentine; 
you cannot wash this color out. Beuson’s stain 
is only permanganate of potash. At first for 
a few moments the color is bright magenta, 
but this at once changes to a dark permanent 
brown. For fifty cents a whole house may be 
stained. 
Wash for Outside Work.— For wood¬ 
work slake half a bushel of fresh lime, by 
pouring over it boiling water sufficient to 
cover it four or five inches deep, stirring it 
until slaked; add two pounds of sulphate of 
zinc (white vitriol) dissolved in water. Add 
water enough to bring all to the consistency 
of thick whitewash; it may be colored by 
adding powdered ether, Indian red, umber, 
etc. If lampblack is added to color, it should 
first be thoroughly dissolved in alcohol. The 
sulphate of zinc causes the wash to become 
hard in a few weeks. 
Sorghum in Michigan.— The Michigan Ag. 
College, as we see in the Speculum, a very 
creditable college journal, conducted experi¬ 
ments in sorghum growing to ascertain 
whether or not it would prove profitable for 
Michigan farmers to engage in it. An acre 
was planted. The soil was a sandy loam. It 
received ten loads of barn-yard manure and 
thirty bushels of unleached ashes. The variety 
of sorghum was the Minnesota Early Amber. 
Much of the seed failed to grow and a second 
planting was made. The acre was cultivated 
five times and hoed once. The cane was 
harvested Sept. 33, averaging eight feet in 
hight. 
Five samples of sirups were manufactured. 
One was clarified by lime, one by sulphite of 
lime, one by phosphate of soda, one by bisul¬ 
phite of soda and one was not clarified at all. 
They were all perfectly fit for table use or for 
cooking, with the exception of the unelarified 
sample which had a decidedly raw, grassy 
taste. The best tasting sample was probably 
the one clarified by bisulphite of soda,although 
the sulphite of lime sample was nearly as good. 
The unclarified sirup was, however, the light¬ 
est colored, owing, probably, to the clarifying 
agents acting upon the coloring matter in the 
juice of the other samples. 
The sirup could not be prepared quite as 
cheaply there as on an ordinary farm, as the 
student labor could lie employed only half a 
day at a time, an item of considerable impor¬ 
tance during themanufacturing process. The 
total yield from the acre of cane was 150 gal¬ 
lons of sirup. The entire expense of growing 
and manufacturing, including interest on the 
laud, was $43.00, or 30 cents a gallon. Under 
different circumstances of labor, it could pro¬ 
bably be produced for 35 cents a gullon. The 
samples of sirup, wich the figures on expense 
given, show quite plainly that sorghum can 
be grown proutably, and with a reasonable 
amount of care will produce a good quality of 
sirup; and that ten or a dozen farmers, by' 
uniting to buy a crusher or pan, at an expense 
of from $30.00 to $50.00 each, locating the 
works at some central point easily accessible 
by all, can profitably grow from half-an-acre 
to an acre of sorghum apiece, producing a 
good quality of sirup and an abundance of it 
for their own use. 
The Advantages Claimed for Tether¬ 
ing by Mr. Jonathan Smith, in the London 
Live Stock Journal, are; 
1st. Economy of feed. Some good judges 
have put this as high as 50 per cent. They 
assert that three tethered cows may be kept 
where otherwise you could only keep two. 
But no one in Jersey is w illing to put it lower 
than one-third; where three only could find 
pasture loose, you may increase your stock 
one-third, and keep four cows, if you tether 
them. The grass is eaten up clean, fine and 
coarse alike, none is left and none spoiled. 
3d, The feed is regular and equal; the cow 
is not pampered one day, and starved the next; 
its appetite is not spoiled, nor its digestion 
deranged. 
3d. It gives perfect command of the food 
supply. A cow can have much or little, a 
long tether or a short one; it can be confined 
to a poor corner, or favored with the fat of 
the land, as may be necessary or desirable. 
4th. It saves fences, and economizes food 
that would otherwise be wasted, from the 
impossibility of letting-in a loose cow' to graze 
it. 
5th. The cow is more gentle, its keeper is its 
good genius, on whom it is constantly depend¬ 
ent for all its wants. Its docility (and affection 
even) follows as a matter of course. 
0th. It is doubtless to the tether that 
Jersey cows are indebted for their exquisite 
fineness of limb, their airy grace, and general 
elegance of proportions and appearance. 
7th. More butter is obtained. Nothing is so 
destructive to animal fut—whether on the 
flesh or in the udder—as motion and exercise. 
This is so well known as to be proverbial, yet 
how often is it overlooked. The same farmer 
who fats his bullo •ks quietly in a stall, will 
give his cows the run of a large pasture, as if 
they were in training for a race. 
Rearing Calves by Hand.— Much impor¬ 
tance is attached, he says, to this practice in 
Jersey. The calf is never allowed to suck at 
all, and has, therefore, never to be weaned; 
the rearer has perfect command of the calf’s 
food, and can vary it as needed; like tethering, 
it increases the auimal'sdocilityand its attach, 
ment to its attendant, on whom it has to de- 
i end from the very first. The effect on the 
cow is equally good. Having never suckled 
her calf, she does not fret wheu it is taken 
from her; more important stiff, having never 
yielded her milk in any way but to the gentle 
persuasion of the milkmaid’s hand, she is not 
tempted to withhold it. 
41 Jumbo ” and “ Bearing Reins.” —“About 
a fortnight ago I went to see Jumbo; last 
Sunday I went again with some friends, but 
instead of entering the gardens I waited in 
the road, and heard the people sympathize 
with poor Jnmbo.’’ Thus writes a correspond¬ 
ent of the London Agricultural Gazette. “They 
were ‘extremely humane,’ and got into their 
carriages without a look or a thought of their 
own dumb animals, the homes, which had been 
standing there for hours in extreme pain from 
tight bearing reins. Of course the ignorant 
orcrpel drivers did not regard the tossing and 
turning of the heads of the poor animals to 
get a moment’s relief. The cab horses were 
“standing at ease,” with liberty for their 
heads and necks, but most of the carriage 
horses were tied up so tightly that they could 
not lower their heads an inch, and their lips 
w r ere drawn up most painfully. I noticed 
particularly one pair of well-bred horses, 
drawing a Victoria; the coachman and foot¬ 
man did not unhook the bearing reins while 
the horses stood in great discomfort for an 
hour. Allow me to quote the words of the 
late Sir Arthur Helps:—‘Whenever I see 
horses suffering from a tight bearing rein I 
know the owner is unobservant, ignorant, 
cruel, or pompous. He is unobservant, or he 
would see that his horses are suffering; he is 
ignoraut, or he would know that a horse loses 
much of his power of draught, and cannot re¬ 
cover himself if he stumbles; be is cruel if, 
observing and knowing, he does not remedy 
it; and he is pompous if he prefers that his 
horses rear their heads on high and rattle tbeir 
trappings to beiug dealt with humanely and 
reasonably. Then I look at the coats of arms 
on the carriages, and know who are the great, 
est fools in London in the upper classes. The 
idiot and brute of a coachman likes to sit be¬ 
hind these poor animals with their stuck up 
heads, but his master ought to kuow better.” 
and cheapest incubator takes 13 eggs, costs 50 
cents and is known as a hen—Times. 
Asa certain guarantee against Lima Beans 
rotting, grease them with tallow before plant¬ 
ing, says the Germantown Telegraph. 
Prof. Riley is delivering a very interesting 
course ol 1 lectures in Washington, D. G. upon 
“Little Known Facts about Well Known 
Animals.” Speaking of the mosquito, he says 
the male is a considerate gentleman and that 
he rarely sallies forth from the swamp where 
he w'as born. It is the female alone that bites 
us. Prof. Riley adds that he does not wish to 
make any reflections, but in the insect world 
it is always the females which sting!. 
The Husbandman editors have tried the flour 
made from the grain of the Amber Cane. 
They sav that cakes made of it were in no 
respect inferior to light buckwheat cakes, 
though somewhat darker in color. This gives 
a collateral value to the Amber Cane sugar 
industry.Mr. Tegetmeier, the great 
Euglish poultry authority, says that the yelks 
of all eggs are generally of the same size, 
the difference between the dimensions of large 
and small eggs depending upon the amount of 
albumen, or white.He also says that 
eggs ought to bs tested on the sixth or seventh 
day after setting. He had tried all sorts of 
more or less complicated devices, but the best 
method was, after all, the very simplest. It 
was just this—to take the cover of an old 
book, cut a hole in it not quite large enough 
for the egg to go through, to darken the room, 
and then hold the egg in front of a paraffine 
lamp or other tolerably strong light. I f the 
egg were unfertile, it looked very much as 
though it were filled with melted wax (he 
might mention, by the w'ay, that we could 
judge most accurately from the size of the 
air vesicle whether the eggs were fresh or 
stale, for the vesicle expanded with the lapse 
of time); but if it were fertile, the egg was 
perfectly opaque.A w riter in the Fruit 
Recorder says that he has tried a great many 
remedies for cabbage w’or ns, but finds nothing 
equal to cold water directly from the w T ell or 
ciitern, not sprinkled outlie plants but dashed 
on liberally; this has the merit of cleanliness, 
and if faithfully followed will save the cab¬ 
bages. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Illinois. 
Missouri. 
Phelps, Lawrence Co , May 2.— We made 
no corn in this section lastyear. Everybody, 
excepting probably'one in a thousand, has bad 
to buy corn at the railroad the past Winter 
and Spring and most of the people’s means 
being exhausted, they will have to plow on the 
grass this Summer. Fruits of all kinds prom¬ 
ise to be abundant. Wheat looks better than 
since I have been here— 12 years. w. h. t. 
New York. 
Garrettville, Otsego Co., May 2.— Snow 
whitened the ground this morning. Oats 
mostly sowed, Hay abundant. Corn and 
oats scarce and high. Stock bringing good 
prices and in good demand. k, f. b, 
Atlantic, Cass Co., May 1. —We had a 
very r open Winter; hut. little sleighing. Spring 
too, was early. Winter rye and Spring w heat 
are looking well. Feed has started so that cat¬ 
tle can get a living. Farmers are planting 
corn. Everything is lively; farmers are get¬ 
ting a good price for everything they have to 
sell. Corn, 03 cts., wheat, $1.15; potatoes, 
$1.30. The prospect is good here for a fine 
crop of fruit of all kinds. Apple trees are 
nearly in full bloom, 10 days earlier than last 
year; the buds were hurt to some extent by a 
little fly about as big as a chinch bug. T. H. 
West Virginia. 
Huttonsville, Randolph Co., May 3 —On 
the nights of April 12 and 13, we had the 
hardest freeze I remember so late in the season, 
and it did considerable damage to the wheat 
crop, and killed nearly all the peaches and 
cherries and a good many apples, but there 
are some of the last still left. This is a good 
agricultural county'. I have raised as much 
as 32>j) bushels of wheat per acre without 
manure of any kind. Corn does well, yielding 
from 30 to 75 bushels per acre. Oats yield 30 
to 40 bushels. Of hay we get from a ton to a 
ton-and-a-balf per acre on our bottom lands, 
and our limestone, rich lands furnish as fiuo 
pastures as can be found. A great deal of the 
unimproved land, however, can stiff be bought 
at from 50c. to $3.00 per acre. m. c. 
£l)C (Oucrist 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
and address of the writer to Insure attention 1 
SOMETHING ABOUT CALIFORNIA FOR SETTLERS. 
II. G., Ellsworth, la. 1. Which part of 
California, south of Sacramento, is the best 
to live in ? 3. What are the best-paying crops 
there '! Is there any more Government land 
to be got there, and at what price f 4, Would 
a young man having a family do well there, 
raising grain and fruit—one with $3,000 to 
start with? 5. How is irrigation managed ? 
0. Will corn grow J 7. How can trustworthy 
informatiou about settlement in the State bo 
obtained ? 
ANSWER by j. B. ARMSTRONG, SONOMA CO., 
CAL.: 
1. California is a large territory. There are 
so many choice localities for farming, fruit¬ 
growing and grazing, that much depends upon 
the preconc jived ideas or desires of the intend¬ 
ing immigrant in selecting a place. Unless 
the w'riter kuew, generally, the plans of an 
inquirer about the best place to live here, the 
question could not be intelligently answered. 
As a general rule, it is well to keep within range 
of the influence of the ocean fogs, which bring 
moisture and bracing winds; and there mala¬ 
rial diseases are entirely unknown, and the 
rainfall is not a prime necessity for making 
crops. Any place north of the Bay of San 
Francisco in Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Mendocino, 
or Humboldt Counties, will insure these con 
ditions. Further south there is a delightful 
region, but there are years when crops perish 
for want of rain. 3. Grapes, prunes, pears 
and other fruits. Grain is largely grown; but 
fruit growing is much the most profitable, and 
the demand is ahead of the supply. There are 
11,000 acres of bearing vines in this county, 
which are as easily attended as corn-fields, and 
paying more thau twice as much net profit as 
grain. 3. Yes. The Immigration Associa¬ 
tion, 10 California Street, San Francisco, Col. 
Preston, Secretary, can furnish particular in¬ 
formation. with maps, etc. Prices of vacant 
lands are from $L 35 to $3.50 per acre. 4. This 
is the hardest question to answer. So much 
depends upon the kind of man, his ability, bis 
grit, that I must leave it unanswered; but I 
am free to say that I know men who would 
do very well here with that start. 5. Irriga¬ 
tion is not required in the counties named for 
any purpose, at any time. Further south it 
is a necessity for growing certain crops; but 
not for wheat or grapes, if the Winter rains 
are ample, fi. Corn grows throughout the 
State on moist lauds; but the area of the crop 
as compared with wheat, is about one to 40. 
For trustworthy informatiou write to CoL 
Orchard grass. —A letter from a farmer 
living near Geneva, N. Y., to the Elmira Far¬ 
mers’Club, as reported in the Husbandman, 
says that he finds from an experience of 14 
years that Orchard Grass will stand drought 
and frost better than any other grass he is ac¬ 
quainted with. lie has a piece of about one- 
half acre close by his stable, w'hich was seeded 
fourteen years ago this Spring, and last season 
he took 4 1 j bushels of seed from it, and then 
out the stubble for hi9 horses, aud it furnished 
two horses with all the forage they required 
for 20 day's. Last Winter's alternate freezing 
and thawing had not perceptibly injured it. 
It has had two coats of manure at the rate of 
about 12 two-horse loads per acre since it was 
seeded. The land is well under-drained. 
He legurds Orchard Grass, in short, as the 
most reliable under unfavorable conditions of 
any of the grasses grown in his section. It 
makes first-class hay when cut early' and prop¬ 
erly cured, and excellent and durable pasture, 
aud if he had to be limited to oue kind of 
grass alonebe should certainly choose Orchard 
Grass. The farmers about the Rural Farm, 
who have tried Orchard Grass, tell us tnat 
they prefer it to Timothy for partially shad¬ 
ed fields. Otherwise, Timothy is preferred. 
Mr. P. T. Quinn says that he never permits 
any deep disturbance of the soil between the 
rows of strawberries in the Spring of the 
bearing year. Remember this Rural readers. 
It took us several years to find this out and 
the experience was purchased at a great 
yearly' reduction in our crops of the delicious 
fruit.Dr. James Johnson, a clever 
medical writer, has the bold frankness to de¬ 
clare, says the N. Y. Tribune, as his “conscien¬ 
tious opinion, founded on long observation and 
reflection,” that “ if there was not a single 
physician, surgeon, man, midwife, chemist, 
druggist or drug on the face of the earth there 
would be less sickness and less mortality.” It 
is the Rural’s opinion that most well-educated 
physicians think the same,though they cannot 
afford to bo so bold....We see by adver¬ 
tisements that $30. cash are offered for the 
three largest specimens of Queen of the Valley 
Potato.... The Herald says that during the 
late heavy thunder storm, the Milky Way 
became sour.Somebody advises to mix 
a small proportion of kerosene with castor-oil 
for lubricating purposes. We have tried it 
and find the mixture a decided improvement 
upon the oil alone. It is more diffusive and 
hence is less liable to gum........ The smallest 
Russellville, Lawrence Co., May 1.— 
Spring weather commenced about three weeks 
earlier here thau usual. The first nine days 
of April were very fine and quite warm and 
growing. Fruit trees were in full bloom, and 
everything looked promising, then came a 
change; on the morning of the 10th water was 
frozen over, making ice nearly half an inch 
thick; fruit in this section, except in some few 
localities, was used up. The weather since 
has been cold and dry and we are needing 
rain badly. Wheat does not look as well as 
it did a month ago, and the pastures are 
cropped very short. There must be plenty of 
rain above us, however, for the Wabash has 
been on a rise for several days and is now 
about bank fuff. There is some complaint of 
the fly in wheat and we have chinch bugs 
enough to stock the country if the season 
should be favorable. a. j. h. 
Indiana. 
Burton P. O., Tippecanoe Co., April 30.— 
On 10 and 11 of this month we had a regular 
blizzard, which caught the peaches in fuff 
bloom and all of the earlier sorts of apples 
and cherries budded out. On the morning of 
the I2th the ground was frozen hard enough to 
bear up a team. Old fruit growers say that 
all of the early fruits are killed. Last Sum¬ 
mer was an exceptionally dry one, and the 
past Winter was mud and water from begin¬ 
ning to end. The corn aud wheat crops of 
last year were only about half an average, 
but prices are good:—Wheat, $1.30; corn, 70 
@75c. per bushel; oats, 55c,; potatoes, in re¬ 
tail stores, $1.40@$1,50; 6eed potatoes of the 
new varieties are higher, Beauty of Hebron, 
$3,00; Mammoth Pearl, $2.00; Burbanks $1.50 
per bushel; hay scarce and very little to be 
had at any price. Butter, 25@30c. per pound; 
eggs, 123 ^ 0 . per dozen. All kinds of business 
on a boom and prices for farm produce ad¬ 
vancing steadily, and farmers consequently 
happy. D. c. a. 
Iowa. 
Smyrna, Cherokee, Co., May 3.—This is not 
a Winter wheat county, and the chinch bug 
is prone to destroy our Spring Wheat. s. G, 
Michigan. 
Bowne, Kent Co.,May 4.—Wheat looks well. 
Grass poor. We need warm rain. Very lit¬ 
tle old graiu In farmers’ hands. Farm hands 
scarce at $30. per month. A great many have 
gone to Dakota from this county. Good 
farmers are doing well—they are getting rich 
so easily that they don’t know it. j. o. c. 
