74 
THE BUBAL fSEW-YOBKER 
JAN. 34 
(ftTOtobm. 
LIFE IN THE BOCKY MOUNTAINS. 
Many of our readers of the Rural, living in 
the laud ol formal and steady habits, among 
the hills and vales of their native States, in 
towns and farm-houses often a century or more 
old, can form little idea of the great difference 
between their surroundings and ours. The 
writer was born on a beautiful, wooded slope, 
in old Chautauqua, in sight of Eric’s beautiful 
blue, where the scarlet strawberry peeped from 
the verdure of the meadows, and the wood- 
side furnished raspberries, blackberries and 
mandrake, each in its season; where youth, 
with its ever-remembered pastimes,was spent. 
But he has wandered far from that blissful 
spot, and now, when gray hairs begin to light¬ 
en his dark locks, he finds himself away in the 
midst of the Rocky Mountains, where from his 
vine-clad cottage he can contemplate snow- 
clad peaks, or in a day’s ride reach mountain 
gorges where the soughing Pines shadow the 
rippling and dancing streamlets that glisten 
with ice in mid-summer, at the moment when 
the blushing peach toothsome fig and glossy 
prune are. in their most delicious condition. 
The climate here is dry, and in summer is 
generally rainless, so we have to irrigate our 
gardens, orchards, vineyards and fields by di¬ 
verting mountain streams and bringing them 
out, upon the most fertile lands in the valleys. 
From these ditches the water for steck and do¬ 
mestic use is taken. As a general thing, the 
people of this country all live in cities and 
towns, ami thus the combined efforts of all the 
citizens of a town arc used to make and keep 
in repair the main canal that brings the water, 
each sharing in the supply in proportion 
to the amount he has paid. This is brought 
through every street in the town or city, aud 
each in turn waters his garden and grounds 
and what is not thus needed is used to water 
field crops adjoining the town. Thus, by peo¬ 
ple living together they are enabled to have 
good schools, aud by a union of efforts, help 
each other lu other ways. 
There are very few wild fruits here, as lands 
not irrigated are desert, where stunted shrubs 
alone, grow spaiaely, except away up lu the 
mountains, where rains make trees, grass and 
shrubs grow more abundantly. We raise fruit, 
however, in abundance and of the finest quali¬ 
ty and richness; namely, apples, peaches, 
plums, pears, apricots, prunes, nectarines, 
figs, almonds, berries and the most delicious 
grapes, and these, ripening in succession 
from April to December, give us a long season 
of enjoyment. Oranges aud lemons may also 
be giowu here iu sheltered places. Of native 
nuts, we have only the pine nut. which is 
abundant in some seasons, and brought in for 
sale by the Indiaus. They are very sweet and 
rich, though small. Every lady likes and eats 
them wheu they are to be had. In our gardens 
we grow some Euglisb and Black Walnuts. 
Our towns are laid out in acre lots, that we 
may have good space for fruit and vegetables, 
and on each side of the street a babbling stream 
flows, watering a row of trees. So our towns 
seem shady and forest-like. Iu summer they 
are very pleasant, and in spring, when the 
trees are in bloom and the garden flowers 
give their perfumeB, it is doubly delightful. 
We have a very interesting group of native 
plants aud flowers many of which flourish in 
dry soils with little or no water, some pro¬ 
ducing magnificent blooms, aud such strange 
and fantastical shapes. Among these are the 
Cactus, Yucca, Agave, Ferns, etc. There are 
also annual and perennial herbaceous plants, 
some giving blooms, of great beauty. Even 
some desert shrubs would make charming ad¬ 
ditions to the old collections extant in the East. 
Washington Co., Utah. J. E. Johnson. 
-»»» 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Canada, Ilderton. Ont,, Jan. 16.—Cattle 
trade brisk, especially for bulls. Closing your 
ports against us has stimulated our farmers. 
They now know all our surplus must go to 
England, as it will pay to send thither well- 
bred steers only—hence the demand for bullB. 
K. G. 
Colorado, Fort Collins, Larimer Co., Jan. 
14.—We have just returned from a trip to 
Southern Colorado—a section one cannot 
appreciate in my way without seeing it. Two 
days’ ride over the Colorado Central aud the 
Denver and Rio Graude Railroads, brought us 
nto the great Sau Luis Park, containing over 
a million of acres. It is one of the most mag¬ 
nificent bodies of laud in the world, rich and 
unsurpassed by the valleys of the great rivers. 
The entire Park is surrounded by high rnoun- 
alns abruptly, rising to the hight of several 
hou8and feet. This immense plain seems to 
have been a vast lake wliieh, once upon a 
time, cut through the rocky peaks and made 
its way to the Gulf, leaving as its path the 
beautiful Rio Grande. Almost all of it thus 
far has been tfhtouched and “undeflled by 
man.” It is government land and is open to 
settlers. There is room enough for 50,000 
families, and water enough to irrigate every 
acre. Wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, and 
almost any vegetable grow most luxuriant¬ 
ly. and with but little cultivation. Hay is 
raised at the small expeuse of about $2 50 per 
ton, and sold for $20 on the ground. Potatoes 
are planted in every third furrow behind the 
plow, ami witboni any culture whatever they 
turn out from 100 to 500 bushels per acre. 
The only discouraging features of this great 
and fertile tract is the altitude (7,749 feet), 
and the Mexican “ greasers” who occupy the 
best and richest sections. Del Norte is an old 
mining town situated at the extreme west ciul 
of the Park. But for “drinking,” it would 
be quite a pleasant place to live iu. * * * 
Iowa, Marshall Co., Jan. 12.—We are having 
a very open winter hereabouts—no snow to 
speak of; the frost was nearly out of the 
ground last week, but it has frozen up again 
now. The price of grain here varies with the 
Chicago market: wheat, 35c.; corn, 15c. and 
oats 10c.. lens than in Chicago. Butter 22c.; 
eggs, 18c.; hay, $5 per ton. n. L. c. 
KaNSAS, Bala, Riley Co., Jan. 17.—Prices 
here are: wheat, fall, 51@l-85; spring, 75c.@ 
$1; corn, 20e@25e.; hogs, 53.25@$4; oats, 
■ 25c@30c.; rye, 50e@75c.; potatoes, 80c.@51. 
• h. r. j. 
Ky., Wilsonvillo, Spencer Co., Jan. 14. —We 
have had only two spells cold enough to enable 
ue to save our meat. Owing to the very open 
winter many hereabouts have not been so for¬ 
tunate as to save their bacon, aud a good deal 
of meat has bTren lost. Grass looks as it gen¬ 
erally does in April. j. r. i\ 
Mich. Unionville, Tuscola Co., Jan. 14.—We 
have bad a very opeu winter so far—about six 
inchesof snow and about two weeks of passable 
sleighing. It is colder now with a slight cover¬ 
ing of snow. The wheat looks first-rate; with 
good weather from this time on we shall have 
a large crop. Our crops were very good last 
year. Wheat is selling here for 5l.25@51.27 ; 
oats, 40@45c.; corn, 50a.; potatoes, 35@40c.. 
butter, 20e. per pound ; eggs, 20c. per doz.; 
pork and beef,54@5 per 100 pounds. About one 
and a quarter to one and a halt timeB more 
wheat was sown here last fall than ever before. 
This part of the country is quite newly settled 
and all have done the best they could. 
L. A K. NO 2. 
Minn., Howard Lake, Wright Co., Jan 13 — 
We are now, for a few days, enjoying good, 
solid cold weather with little prospect or hope* 
of more snow. The thermometer is ranging 
from zero to 20 degrees below, aud some say 
30. The first week and more of this month, 
gave us a regular Jauuary thaw, aud we lost 
nearly all onr good eieighiug. Previous to 
that, farmers aud everybody were literally re¬ 
joicing over the good roads, which were bet¬ 
ter than for years before, at that season, ami 
lasted through the entire mouth of Dee., which 
mouth toward the last brought some stinging 
cold weather which you have uo doubt heard 
of ere this. But how could 1 write the news 
when the thermometer ranged from 30 to 58 
degrees below zero scarcely 30 fuel from me! 
I thought I know Minnesota pretty well before, 
but our tfmrnaomotore usually froze up at 44 
deg. The severity of our weather farther 
west on the prairies at such times causes too 
much suffering and bereavement to warrant 
badinage, when we think of so many perish¬ 
ing in consequence of it. Probably not so 
many were frozen this year as were during 
the sudden as well as violent storm of three 
days iu January of’73. That storm was more 
fearful, but the weather was not so cold. The 
night of the 33rd of Dec. was windy enough, 
and showed us a grand display of a large 
meteor, appearing to divide and fall in 
different places. This happened near the 
peep of day is this vicinity—the brilliancy of 
the display lasted about three minutes. Bet¬ 
ter times! Wheat which is mostly No. 1. is 
now bringing at the elevator 51 10, and last 
week brought two cents more; corn, 30 cents; 
potatoes, 25c; butter, 15 to 20 cts. Were it 
not for old debts hanging ineuhus-like over 
mo6t farmers, they would bo happy. If they 
would only act upon jvhat the Rural New- 
Yorker has said on that subject, they would 
be wiser aud soon be ont of debt—and keep 
out all the time. Nearly sixty thousand bushels 
of wheat have been received at the ele¬ 
vators at this point on the St. Paul and Pa¬ 
cific R. R. a. M. 
54. Y., Corning, Steuben Co., Jan. 13.—We 
are having a very open winter. Thus far there 
has been but little snow—at present only about 
two inches, and that fell yesterday. The 
ground is uot frozen, and last Friday aud Sat¬ 
urday I noticed a number of farmers plowing. 
Those who contemplated doing a lot of lum- 
beriug, are somewhat disappointed, aud are 
afraid that they cannot do all they had intended, 
as it is getting late. The weather has been 
very changeable—the thermometer at night 
marking perhups down near to zero v and the 
next morning up to freezing point, or above; 
but we have uot had nearly as cold weather as 
Is reported from all around us. Sunday, the 
14th of December, was the coldest morning thus 
far in our neighborhood, and then the mercury 
was only oue deg. below zero at 8 a. m. Much 
complaint is yet heard on all sides, of scarcity 
of water, as the usual fall rains did not come 
in sufficient quantity to raise many of the 
springs. The roads are now. most of the time, 
very muddy, and disagreeable to travel. 
F. H. D. 
Texas, Caldwell, Burleson Co., Jan. 10.—The 
new year is ushered in with an abundance of 
rain. On the 24th of last month we had the 
severest cold known to the oldest inhabitant, 
lasting five or six days; since then it has rained 
more or lc6s up to date. Last year will be 
remembered here as the " Dry Year.” Corn is 
scarce aud chaffy ; cotton less than a quarter 
of a crop ; wheat and oats were almost entirely 
killed by the Christmas cold. Rye has come 
out find looks as well as ever. There will be 
quite a harvest of poor cow-hides this spring. 
Corn has jumped to 5112. while wheat brings 
only 51, which shows how poor it is. Good 
wheat should be worth more than corn. Not¬ 
withstanding the bard times, people are goiDg 
to work with a will to raise another year's 
crops The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe R. R 
will probably reach Caldwell by June. People 
are compelled to kill bogs off after having been 
fed only on what little mast there has been. 
Pork is consequently a thin article, but it sells 
from 3J to 4 cents per pound. We had eggs 
all winter till the cold snap. The bens w ill 
resume busiuess in a few days. We euu have 
eggs all winter here with very little trouble. 
For the last 10 days it has been as warm as 
April. Cotton, beans, ete., etc., are coming 
up freely—volunteers I mean. D. h, h. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Short-horna and Holsteins. 
IS. S., Eagle Harbor, N. Y., asks, 1, the ad¬ 
dresses of'breeders of Short-horns not too far 
away; 2, the comparative merits of Short-horns 
and Holsteins. 
Ans —Jonathan Taleot, Rome, N. Y., R. H. 
Allen, 189 aud 191 Water St., N. Y., C. Parsons, 
Jr., Galway, Mass. 2, There is not a little sim¬ 
ilarity between the claims put forth in behalf 
of the Short-horns and the Holsteius. Both are 
massive beasts; both need extra care and feed 
to produce the best results; both mature 
early aud lay ou flesh readily and economically, 
aud under certain conditions both yield large 
messes of milk; while iu its native eouutry, 
Euglaud, the Short-horn holds a position nearly 
as unrivalled as that occupied by the Holstein 
iu its native country, Holland. For the last 
half century, however, or more, the Short¬ 
horn has been bred chiefly for beef, and in this 
country almost entirely so, and consequently 
the deep-milking qualities of the original race 
have, as a rule, greatly deteriorated. Occa¬ 
sionally. especially iu the States east of the 
Alleghanies, some selected herds of the breed 
are found that do so well at the pail as to prove 
that care and selection would ere long re-de¬ 
velop the deep-milking qualities that first at- 
racted attention to the race. There are a few 
families of Short-horns, too, that have always 
been bred for milk as well as for meat, such as 
most of the Bates’stock and Princess tribe, and 
these have generally been satisfactory milkers. 
As a rule, however, the modern American 
Short-liorn is a poor milker, but ou good feed 
matures at leastas early and lays on a first-rate 
quality of flesh at least as readily and at as 
little cost of feed as any breed, while the males 
are remarkable for their prepotency, strongly 
impressing the special characteristics of the 
race on crosses with other breeds, but still 
more markedly ou crosses with native or grade 
eows. In breeding the Holsteins, on the other 
hand, milk has always beeu the main object, 
aud early maturity and aptitude to fatten have 
been secondary considerations. Beiug a very 
ancient race, probably the most ancient of our 
modern breeds, the Holstein also is stiougly 
prepoteut. For heel the. Sbort-horu, uo doubt, 
is preferable to the Holsteins; a natural result 
of the end for which it has. lor many Short¬ 
horn generations been bred; for milk, however, 
the Holstein has decidedly the advantage, a 
natural result, also, of the aim kept in view 
for centuries by its breeders. For milk and 
beef combined there would probably be not 
much difference between a good Holstein and a 
good Short-horn of some deep-milking family. 
Of late, however, there is a growing conviction 
that in the manufacture ot beef and milk there 
is as mneb profit in a division of labor as in the 
manufacture of pig-irou and steel, and conse¬ 
quently, there is an increasing tendency to 
look to the spare breeds, such as the Jerseys 
and Ayrshires, for milk and its products, aud 
to the beef breeds, such as the Short-horns and 
llerefords, for our meat supply—the grades of 
each beiug often better for their respective 
objects than even the pure-bred stock. 
Hogs—Alive and Dressed. 
L. H. N., La Porte, Ind., asks what should 
be the difference iu price between live and 
dressed hogs to pay the same to the farmer. 
Ans. —Personally we have made no experi¬ 
ments by which we could determine this ques¬ 
tion, but ou looking over our Scrap Book, we 
find au account of an experiment, clipped from 
some paper whose name was unfortunately 
omitted, which just answers the query. The 
writer says that this year he selected 20 pins 
farrowed the last, week in Mav, from five lit* 
tors, all cross-bred Suffolk and Polland China. 
They had nothing but tbin grazing after being 
weaned, till the corn was large enough to feed, 
since when they had been fed well, and though 
not largo, were well fattened. The following 
arc the exact weights alive, aud dressed: 
No. Live wt. Dressed wt. 
1 .172.143 
2 .lot.128 
3 .155.130 
•1 .126..till 
5 .1S5.US 
6 .163.lSfe 
7 .130.108 
8 .1H6.114 
9 .loll.128 
JO .148.120 
11 .131.112 
12 .176.......145 
13 .148.118 
14 . 153.128 
15 .164. 138 
16 .118.120 
17 .133.115 
18 .168.139 
19 .132.114 
20 .113. 91 
Total., 
..2,936.2,447 
The shrinkage, therefore, was 488 pounds, 
or a trifle over one-seventh. He was offered 
54 per 100 for the lot on foot, which would have 
amounted to 5117 40. He sold them for 55 10 
dressed, amounting to 5135.02, leaving $7.62 
lu favor of dressing at these prices, and the 
rough lard was sufficient to pay for hutcher- 
ing. This clasB of pigs are said to shrink much 
more than the larger and older hogs. Fanners 
can look this over at their leisure and decide 
how they will sell. To determine the vexed 
question how much less a hog will weigh after 
being stuck than when alive, he ivcighed the 
two first before scalding, aud the loss was 8 
and 7} pounds respectively. 
Feeding Linseed Meal. 
Ji. G., address asks'!, whether linseed 
meal can be fed dry with other food, with as 
much good effect as if it were soaked; 2. is it 
good for fattening hogs. 
An 9.—1. Liuseed meal may he fed dry with 
benefit and without danger. All rich, concen¬ 
trated food is best fed dry; if soaked, it can 
lie swallowed without chewing; but no animal 
can swallow line, dry food without chewing it 
and mixing it with saliva. The saliva has con¬ 
siderable solvent powers, and exercises an 
important Office iu Ihe digestive process, ft is 
a highly complex fluid, containing potash, so¬ 
da, lime, ptyaline—a substance which changes 
starch into sugar — aud alkaline chlorides, 
phosphates and sulphates. One inaction of 
the 6a)iva is evidently to prepare food for di¬ 
gestion, and iu feeding, this should be always 
considered. Food bolted or gorged is immixed 
with saliva, aud thus theoretically the food 
should be given dry, so that it may be masti¬ 
cated and mixed with saliva; practice proves 
the truth of the theory. Linseed has a laxa¬ 
tive and softening effect, and the meal may be 
given alone beneficially. 2. It is good for any 
fattening animal, but for hogs it is a dear food 
as compared with corn. Hogs fatten better on 
corn, or other starchy food, than on such oily 
food as liuseed. 
The Honey Loeuat as a Hedge. 
W. O. W., Atlantic, Iowa, writes: 1, Is the 
Honey Locust worth anything for hedges? 2, 
What time should the seed be sown—fall or 
spring? 3, Will the Barberry make a good 
hedge ? The Osage Orange has proved a fail¬ 
ure in that locality, and wanting to start a live 
fence, be desires the information asked for 
above. 
Ans. —1. In northern localities where the 
Osage Orange is not hardy, no better hedge 
plant can be found than the Honey Locust. It 
is “iron-clad" as to hardiness; will, with 
judicious pruning, form a very close and dur¬ 
able hedge, and its strong aud thickly set 
thorns are particularly disagreeable to breaehy 
animals. 2. The seeds should be sown in 
spring. They can be purchased of all large 
seedsmen. 8. The Barberry will do as a hedge 
plant, but it fall6 much behiud the Honey Lo¬ 
cust. Besides being less defensive, its leaves 
form a lodging-place for the fungus known as 
wheat rust, in a certain stage of its develop¬ 
ment, aud to plant the Barberry Is to encour¬ 
age the wheat rust. This fact alone should be 
enough to prevent Its use as a hedge plant, 
even were it the best for that purpose. 
Muck. 
8. H., Montgomery, At. Y., says he has heard 
much about the value of muck as a fertilizer, 
and wants to know if it would be advisable to 
dig holes and thus destroy the land iu order to 
obtain the muck. 
Ans.—I t will depend upon circumstances. 
There Is no doubt that muck has va'uc as a 
fertilizer, but this value i8 not a contant quan¬ 
tity ; it varies with the laud to which it is 
applied as well as with the constituents of the 
muck itself. But generally it is advisable to 
take out the muck, at the sacrifice of a trnall 
plat of arable land, aud, indeed, the muck bed 
if the surface is umnixed with any other 
