DEC 23 
toes covered with straw there were the con¬ 
ditions of coolness and moisture for both tuber 
and root daring the early season of growth, 
dryness and coolness for the tuber during the 
later portion of growth. In the mulched in¬ 
tervals the potato tuber occupied the ridges 
where the soil was measurably dry and worm, 
and the ground within which the roots pen¬ 
etrated was protected from evaporation and 
from the heat of the sun by the mulch. In 
the plats covered with saud dryness and 
heat for the tuber, coolness aud moisture 
for the roots were secured; in other word-, 
the most perfect theoretical conditions that 
could be devised in accordance with the 
assumed hypothesis. The seed used in these 
comparisons was the whole potato. The yield 
calculated to the 100 hills, may be represented 
in the following table:— 
Merchantable 
tubers. 
Ordinary level culture.. 47^5 pounds 
Ordinary ridge culture. SSI* 
In ridges and the Intervals mulched"". “ 
Potatoes covered with straw. 84t£ “ 
Potatoes covered wl t It sand.....184 " 
The potatoes covered with sand yielded few 
small tubers, but the tubers in nearly every 
case were largo and of superior cooking qual- 
ity. W e may state the results of these exper¬ 
iments as follows: Soil which could raise only 
a calculated crop per acre under ordinary 
level culture of 86 bushels, uuder ridge cul¬ 
ture of 151 bushels, under theoretical cir¬ 
cumstances yielded upon the same soil at 
the rate of 3S4 bushels per acre. 
These experiments seem to have a great sig¬ 
nificance, but there is need cf more than one 
year’s trial before we can feel assured of the 
correctness of the hypothesis, and yet it would 
be very strange if the climate of one year 
could be such as to lead to misinterpretation 
of results so clearly defined and offering 
such great differences. 
A statement of the yield of small or unmer¬ 
chantable tubers from these different modes 
of culture may not be without interest, thus: 
Small tuber*. 
Ordinary level culture... 14 pounds 
Ordinary ridge culture. 7k ‘i 
Potatoes ourldges and Intervals mulched. 22k *' 
Potatoes covered with si raw.... 18k " 
Potatoes covered with sand. SM'i “ 
THE VER8MANN*8 PATENT GERMAN MOSS LITTER. 
—Here is an advertisement which we find in 
the London agricultural journals. The whole 
matter of using moss for bedding was referred 
to recently in the Rural New-Yorker. 
This Litter is specially prepared from a moss-pea* 
found In Germany, and introduced Into tills country 
by tbe patentee, Dr. Vessmann. Ph. D. After a most 
severe and extennii-e trial in public and private sta- 
bles, cowsheds and kennels, it U pronounced by the 
highest practical and scientific authorities to be the 
best and cheapest litter known. 
ITS ADVANTAGES ARE: 
I. Cheapness, It being not more than one half the 
cost of straw. 
2 Absorbtlvencss, in absorbing all the urine, and 
rendering drains and flushing of stahlcs unnecessary 
8. Prevention of decomposition and generation ot 
bad odors. 
4. Affording an excellent soft und elastic bed, par 
tlcutarly agreeable and beneficial to the feetof horses. 
5. Horses do not oat It as they do straw litter; there¬ 
fore they do not require to be racked up or muzzled 
to prevent indigestion or broken wind. 
S. It is easily managed In the stable, aud does not 
soil or stain horses, 
7. It has a wonderful Influence on the growth of the 
hoofs and In maintaining the feet In health. 
8. Tt is extremely portable, being compressed into 
bales weighing each about 4 cwt,, M ewt. to 1 cwt., 
being sufficient to litter a norse for a month or six 
weeks. 
9. It Is not inflammable, and therefore offers but 
little danger from fire. 
10. It is essentially a sanitary litter. 
II. The manure is much more valuable than that of 
straw, and occupies considerably less space. 
It will be found of immense advantage In veterin¬ 
ary Infirmaries, In stud farms, dairies, kennelB, etc. 
Treks on the Farm, —A member of the El¬ 
mira Club says that 30 years ago he applied to 
a person In Naples for black-walnut trees suit¬ 
able for setting. He advised planting nuts 
instead, and sent him some for that purpose, 
which were placed in the ground before Win¬ 
ter under a covering of soil an inch thick, 
and were transplanted without loss twice in 
three years in getting where they were finally 
established. Some of them have since heen 
cut and sawed into lumber for moldings and 
bracket work ou a small scale. What re¬ 
main, a dozen perhaps, have a diameter of 
13 to 15 inches where the axe would strike, 
but they were not pruned with reference to 
increased length of trunk. They are reason¬ 
ably productive of fruit which is not much 
prized. If he had it to do over he would 
plant butternuts, or hickory, instead—fruit, 
rather than timber, being the primary con 
sideration. The roots of the black-walnut 
extend a long distance and seem to be very 
poisonous to the soil. Nothing will thrive 
near them while living, of coarse, and where 
a tree has been removed one may vainly 
labor to make anything grow. A village 
market gardener got utterly discouraged after 
successive efforts, and at last made the space 
available by placing his boLbed and cold- 
frames thereon. Another member' remarked 
according to the Husbandman, that if we try 
to turn furrows within a rod of a hickory 
tree grown large enough for use, we find its 
roots occupying the ground so densely that 
the plow cannot enter. There is but one ad¬ 
vantage in having trees of any kind scattered 
over our fields—that i3 in relieving what 
would otherwise be a naked view, They 
please the eye, nothing more. There is cer¬ 
tainly great waste where trees stand in a 
cultivated field. 
Mu. Ketchum remarked that trees in such 
situations are ornamental and desirable, if 
the object be to adorn the landscape, but not 
for profit. He would plant timber belts along 
lines, and elsewhere if desired, especially 
along roadsides, but there is no good reason 
why we should have them distributed over 
fields that are to be used in general cultiva¬ 
tion where they become a nuisance. 
-*-*-•- 
Feeding Horses. —The following notes 
of experience ou the best and most economic 
methods of feeding horses are well worth 
considering, since they all come from 
practical men. We ftud them in the New 
York Grapuic. The North Chicago City Rail¬ 
way Company say: “ We feed corn and oats 
ground together; two parts c< ru to oue of 
oats. We cut all our bay fine and mix with 
meal and oats, seven pounds of bay to 15 or lb 
pounds of the ground feed per day. The cost 
of feeding varies with the price of grain, but 
16 to 13 cents is a fair average cost per hor.-e 
per day.” The Germantown Passenger Rail¬ 
way Company, Philadelphia, Pa., say: 41 We 
feed corn meal and middlings and cut hay at 
the rate of lb pounds meal, one pound tuid 
dlings, 13 pounds cut hay, per day. Cost per 
horse 30 cents per day.” The Philadelphia City 
Passenger Railway Company say: “We cut 
our hay and grind all our grain. We mix 15 
pounds of corn meal and two pounds of bran 
with seven pounds of cut hay for each horse 
p»r day. The average per head of stock is 
from 33 to 30 cents per day owing to market 
price ot grain aud hay.” The St. Louis Bridge 
Company say: “We feed com and oats ground 
together. We mix corn and oats with wheat 
bran aud cut hay; each horse gets 6}£ pounds 
corn, 10>*j pounds oats, pounds bran and 
pounds hay per day. The cost of feeding de¬ 
pends on the price of graiu and hay, but con¬ 
sider 15 to 19 cents a fair average.” 
Late-Sown Wheat. —Colonel F. D. Cun is 
tells the N. Y. Tribune that wheat sown on 
October 30 has not come up, except here ami 
there a kernel. It is now too cold for it to 
germinate, and it will have to wait till Spring 
before it grows. The surface of the ground is 
well covered with manure, which will protect 
it and at the same time keep it frozen. It may 
not amount to much, but he looks for a crop. 
It cannot winter kill, and is certainly out of 
the reach of the Hessian fl y or any' oiher dep¬ 
redator. When the grains of Winter wheat, 
which are swollen and frozen in Autumn 
and kept in this condition until Spring 
aud then put in tbe ground, they will grow 
and produce a good crop. Colonel Curtis’s 
wheat is in this condition, and will doubtless 
remain in a dormant state until Spring, and 
then come up and mature. 
-- 
Mr. T. Greiner in the Farm and Garden 
says that the easiest and quickest way to de¬ 
stroy the weeds that generally start up about 
the time when the potatoes are up, so that the 
rows can be seen plainly, is by a thorough 
use of harrow or drag. He places great em¬ 
phasis upon this and deems it far more effec¬ 
tive than thecultivator and hoe at lessexpeuse. 
— 
To give an idea of the dairy industry in 
France, M. Herve Mangon recently stated at 
an agricultural gathering that tbe milk pro¬ 
duced in the country would, if collected, form 
a stream three feet four inches in width and 
one toot one inch in depth, flowing night and 
day all the year with a mean velocity of three 
feet four inches per second. Young animals 
drink a part of this enormous volume of milk, 
man takes a good part of it, and the rest is 
transformed into cheese and butter. 
-- 
SHORT AND FRESH. 
Nothing spoils flour more than damp; in¬ 
deed, it can scarcely be kept too dry, and it is 
one of the difficulties found in the English 
climate that flour will not keep well for any 
length of time, w'bereas in the drier air of 
New Zealand and such atmospheres it can bo 
laid in in large quantities without risk. 
We can hardly imagine a greater misfor¬ 
tune to an old horse than that he should fall 
into the hands of an ignorant and passionate 
person with intemperate habits, says the New 
England Farmer. There is uo place where an 
old horse is or can be worth more than on a 
farm, and no farmer should be inhuman 
enough to trade off an old family' pet to an 
unknown or unkind person. 
The crow is a shy bird, but he generally 
has caws for alarm.—Detroit Free Press. 
The man who will live above bis present 
circumstances is in great danger of living in 
a little time much beneath them.—Addison.. 
The Husbandman gives the following recipe 
for hen cholera: Mix with bran and meal 
“condition powders” sold by druggists, at the 
rate of a tablespoonful to 50 fowls and feed, 
moistened each day, that amount. Two shil¬ 
lings worth restored to perfect health a flock 
of 50 fowls that for several weeks bad been 
dying off rapidly. 
Give all attention now when the weather 
permits to gathering all sorts of material out 
of which manure can be made — leaves, 
twigs, muck, the refuse of the house, of the 
barn—all..,... 
Turn the manure—repair the toolR—paint 
aud oil them—repair tbe harness—save old 
pieces for future repairs—lock to the seed com. 
Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry... 
The man who builds, and wants wherewith to pay, 
Provides a home from which to run away. 
—[Young. 
The Rural proposes to continue its refer¬ 
ences to the Lady Elgin Crab apple until by 
cultivation it becomes fairly appreciated. 
The Big Bob Strawberry is roundly praised 
by many. 
Remember to have the covering of celery 
lii/ht. Add as the weather demands. 
Arkansas, 
Arkadelphia, Clark Co., Nov. 33.—The 
Fall here has been very wet and cold. Far¬ 
mers keep themselves poor and in debt by 
raising too much cotton, mortgaging it all to 
the merchants before planting, and not read¬ 
ing the Rural New-Yorker. b. g. s. 
Illinois. 
Bailey vllle, Ogle Co., Dec. 6.—The farm¬ 
ers have about all finished husking. Corn was 
a very uneven crop—some on low land failed 
entirely; ou high, well drained land mostly 
good. The crop in general is far below last 
year’s, both in yield and quality and is only 
about half an average crop. Other crops 
were mostly good. Potatoes a rather light, 
yulrl, aud 9ome rotted in the Fall but they are 
keeping well now. My Beauty of Hebron* 
have again proved the best. A great many 
horses here have “distemper,” but other farm 
animals a re healthy and in good condition, w. D. 
Philo, Champaign Co., Nov. 39.— Com 
husking is the order of the day and I think 
the average for this part of the country will 
be about 20 bushels per acre on well drained 
land. Weather floe; pasturage good and 
cuttle doing well. Not a very large crop of 
hogs this year; wheat and oats fair; hay a 
large crop, and the farmers have plenty of 
feed for their stock. Apples scarce; had 
some peaches; grapes about half crop; plenty 
of vegetables. t. e. o. 
luwn. 
Osage, Mitchell Co., Nov. 29.— The farms 
and farmers have gone into winter-quarters. 
The soil is resting for another year, when it 
will be called upon for a larger yield than 
ever before witnessed in this part of Iowa. 
There is a general feeling that better cultiva 
tion and a more thorough system of farming 
will give us a large increase of crops, tnank-, 
to the Rural New-Yorker and other farm 
journals that are read here more generally 
than heretofore. The light is spreading and 
in the same ratio farming is becoming more 
profitable. The garnered crops of the past 
season afford a limited surplus for market, 
while the bulk of them will be consumed at 
home for feediug purposes. Dairying and 
meat producing create a demand for a large 
portion of the grain products of this county 
and vicinity. The farmers were never so 
prosperous as now and this success will lead 
to the adoption of such plans and improve¬ 
ments as successful and progressive men have 
made so profitable in the late past. All the 
products of the farm bear a remunerative 
price, and where the best quality is produced 
the best price is realized. This fact will stim¬ 
ulate the enterprising farmer to adopt Im¬ 
proved methods in farming. The corn that 
is brought to market is quite inferior in 
quality yet it sells for about 33 cents per 
bushel iu the ear; oats, 32; wheat, 75; hogs, 6 
cents live weight. L. s. k. 
Nebrnetkn. 
Omaha, Douglas Co., Nov. 84.—The season 
of planting had its doubts and labor, but tbe 
gathering of the golden harvest has more 
than fulfilled the expectations of the husband¬ 
man. The weather was as favorable as far 
iners could wish for thrashing, Fail plowing 
anil corn gathering. The long Fall season 
thoroughly ripened the corn and matured 
the growth of forest and fruit trees. The 
branches of cherries and plums are loaded 
with promises of an abundant crop next 
year. Farmers here have no idle time. The 
work is carried ou in rotation during the 
entire 12 months. First comes the sowing of 
small grains or Fall plowing, and as soon as six 
inches of frost is out, Spring plowing, fol¬ 
lowed by planting the great staple, corn, of 
which every year there is an increased acre¬ 
age and less wheat sown on the old ground. 
Harrowing the corn-fields commences as soon 
as the planting is finished, and then culti¬ 
vating four times, when the com is “laid away’ 
and no more work on it is needed. One man 
and team will cultivate 60 acres, and do the 
work well. Then coroe harvest and haying, 
thrashing, Fall plowing, corn-bu.«k(ng, and 
during the Winter feeding stock for Spring 
market. A trip a few weeks ago along the 
Union Pacific as far west as the 100th meri¬ 
dian, showed great activity in the movement 
of wheat to market; price 70 cents, and the 
quality very fire. At the above-mentioned 
point many fields have given a yield of 25 
bushels, corn 00, and oats as high as 85 bush¬ 
els per acre. The average yield of corn in 
the county (Dawson) is 50 bushels;' present 
price, 35 cents; oats, 25. The mining regions 
just west of us call for our surplus of coarse 
grain, ground feed, butter, hay, potatoes, 
etc., and heuce the farmer here has the ad¬ 
vantage of tbe choice of an Eastern or West¬ 
ern market. Farmers are inclined to hold 
their corn rather than sell at present price. 
The prices of last year took all the old corn, 
and 100 per cent, more cattle and sheep will 
he fed than in any previous year. The west¬ 
ern portion of the State, which is about one- 
third of the whole, is a great grazing region, 
where the cattle and sheep can be grown at a 
low rate for pasture on the Buffalo Grass. 
These are being driven east into the corn-lands 
for Winter-feeding, where a three-year-old 
steer will acquire 300 to 400 pounds of fat and 
be in prime condition for butchering or export 
by March or April. Cattle-growers are let¬ 
ting out cattle to feed, giving six cents per 
pound for all increase of weight until April. 
To the 1st of November 130.000 cattle have 
passed over the Union Pacific, 65 per cent, of 
which were shipped from Nebraska, and were 
fed on the grasses of the gTeat native pastures. 
These cuttle, in weight, fat and breeding are 
20 per cent, better than those shipped in any 
previous year, and average 1,175 pounds in 
weight. The Beason has been very favorable 
aud the increase of rainfall, which is yearly 
extending westward, has caused an extra 
yearly growth of grasses. Western Nebraska 
is becoming a great sheep range, and the 
flocks now are in fine condition, with an 
abundance of Buffalo Grass for Winter pas¬ 
turage and hay if there should be continued 
storm or snow. Tbe question often asked is 
“Where will we get our future meat supply?” 
It must come from the prairies, aud Nebraska 
will furnish as much as, and soon more than, 
any other Western State. J, t. a. 
Wisconsin. 
Green Bay', Brown Co., Dec. 8.— Our Fall 
has been altogether good for the getting in, 
and making ready for, our crops—plenty of 
rain and generally not too much, so the farm 
work is well advanced for tbe coming Spring. 
Crops here have been more than an average, 
and prices good, thus many farmers have 
been able to raise the mortgages on their 
pieces, or at least a part of them. We have 
Winter upon us now; yesterday and to day 
the thermometer was 14 degrees below zero 
so that the first cold cuts sharp. t. a. 
RURAL SEED REPORTS. 
Aln.bn.in a. 
Long Island, Jackson Co., Nov. 30.— My 
Rural Heavy Dent Corn ripened in August— 
four weeks earlier than our common corn. 
The crows pulled up all but 60 stalks, and so 
ruined my chances for a prize. p. g. d. 
Arkansas. 
Arkadelphia, Clark Co., Nov. 29.—I 
have concluded that larger returns are made 
by subscribing $2 00 for the R. N.-Y. than by 
any other investment of that amount that 
can be made upon my place. We cannot 
afl'ord to do without it. 1 came here from 
Kansas last Spring and it wax too late when I 
got fairly started upon my farm to give the 
Rural Seeds a fail 4 test. The Rural Thorough¬ 
bred Flint Corn was planted the last of June, 
grew finely blit did not fill well. It does not 
sucker with us. Hollyhocks very promising. 
Pinks bloomed this Summer and are look¬ 
ing well. b. g. s. 
Illinois. 
Del Rky, Iroquois Co., Nov.* 27.—Planted 
153 kernels of Rural Dent Corn on May 24 ; 
owing to wet season only 91 matured ears: 
husked 183 ears, which weighed 203 pounds 
and shelled 151 pounds, which was at tbe rate 
of llfijxj bushels per acre, G. u. van h. 
Lanark, Carroll Co , Nov. 29.— Of tbe 165 
grains of Rural Dent Corn planted all but 
five grew. Yield, 172 pounds 5}^ ounces of 
ears, and 98 pounds 7 ounces of shelled corn. 
1 am content. j. l. s. 
Kikkwood, Warreu Co,—The Rural seeds 
did well. I got 40 splendid Gem squashes, s. s. 
Onarga, Iroquois Co, , Nov 30. —Of 152 ker¬ 
nels of Rural Flint Corn planted about June 
1 , 121 grew: bight of stalks from seven to 
