(KOtrytDbrre. 
TO AIKEN. 
Within a few miles of Philadelphia on the 
Penn. R. R., the passenger may count a hun¬ 
dred, perhaps several hundreds of barns and 
other farm buildings with the sides fronting 
the road, painted black with white-lettered 
signs announcing Pectorals. Pills, Bitters and 
other so-called quack medleineB. The travel 
over such central lines is very great and the 
advertisements a-e conspicuous certainly—so 
much so, In tact, that it is a task to look out 
of the windows and keep the eyes off them. 
One finds himself, after having passed through 
this country of barn advertisements, repeating 
“ 8mith*s Porous Plasters,” “ Brown's Instan¬ 
taneous Pain-killer,” etc., much as one some¬ 
times finds himself mentally humming some 
familiar tnne that he would gladly banish from 
his thoughts. Of course, it is not pleasaut to 
have one’s outbuildings turned iuto immense 
advertising placards. But if the advertisers 
pay for the space in anything like the propor¬ 
tion charged by newspapers, such signs must 
very soon pay uot only for the barns but for 
the entire farm?. 
South of Washington, or perhaps I might 
better say, Richmond, the railroad to Aiken 
passes through a country remarkable mainly 
for its poverty. One iuvoluntarily asks him¬ 
self i " Why is this desolate country inhabited 
at all ?” It seemed as if the owners had fled 
from it and that a few poor laborers had been 
left to live as be6t they might uoou the land or 
to starve to death. Occasionally I saw a poor 
old mule (it seemed to be the same one always) 
with head nearly to the ground, drawing a 
plow at the apparent rate of one mile per hour. 
Sometimes big-headed, gaunt-bodied pigs were 
to be seen meandering through the pine woods 
or barren-looking fields as it waiting for some¬ 
thing to turn up—or to die; they looked to 
be indifferent. Thus over an immense area of 
couutry a startling picture is presented of a 
desolation which it would be hard to describe. 
Aiken. 
If this were not a health resort, it would not 
be anything. The city consists of one short 
street of stores, a few respectable dwellings— 
for the most part private hoarding-houses— 
and a substantial hotel capable of accommoda¬ 
ting 350 people. Strange to say, in thegrounds 
about this hotel, excepting a few “ Pride of In¬ 
dia " trees (Melia Azedarach), there are neither 
trees nor shrubs; neither liowers nor lawns. 
There is no grass. Oats are sown in the fall 
and now cover the ground with a foot of 
fresh, green leaves. After the crop has been 
harvested, nothing remains but the oat 6lubble 
through the summer during which term the 
hovel is closed. The thermometer during the 
several days of my visit here (March 4th) has 
averaged over 70 ©. The air is dry and balmy 
and we sit out on the piazza during the even¬ 
ings until bed-time, usually without an over¬ 
coat. Green peas are in blossom, potato vines 
a foot high. Plum, peach and apple trees are 
in blossom. Verbenas bloom throughout the 
winter. Biuaoas lett in the open grouod, are 
now putting forth leaves. Roses are blooming 
in abundance. Grape-vines are starting into 
leaf. Still the general appearance of the fields 
and woods is much like that of winter. 
March 8. Major. 
-- 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Ga m Washington, Wilkes Co., March 7.— 
This has been the mildest winter here within 
the recollection of the oldest inhabitant. I 
have in my garden radishes and lettuces large 
enough to be cut, and some ripe Wilson straw¬ 
berries. spring turnips are mukiog fine head¬ 
way.* Peaches and I’lums are in bloom, and 
som : trees in the woods are full o. young 
leaves. The wheat and oat crops are looking 
fine and are in an advanced condition for the 
season. A good many farmers have planted 
their upland corn, aud are rapidly preparing 
for King Colton. J. c. D. 
Ind., Roanoke. Huntington Co., March 5 — 
We have had a soft winter so far. mud and 
rain have made the roads almost impassable. 
The condition of five 6tock is from f »ir to mid¬ 
dling. Wheat is worth $1.25@tl 30 i corn 40c; 
oats, 35c; clover seed. 53.6u@i3.75; timothy, 
$1.75 @t2 .00; flour, §7; bran, 514; potatoes, 
60c; eggs, 10c; butter, 15c: chickens, 4c per 
ponnd; hogs, 58.5t @53.80. a. 0. H. 
Iowa, Cabs Co.. March 6.—For the past two 
months the weather has been delightful. Fall 
wheat has been hurt somewhat by the open 
winter. The prospect for line crops of fruit of 
all sorts never was better. In 1878-9, however, 
onr fruit was nearly killed as late as May 1st. 
Last year corn here was an average crop; 
wheat half a crop. Corn now sells for 25c; 
wheat, 51; potatoes, 40c. t. n. u. b. 
Kansas. Parkersville, Morris Co., March 4 — 
Wheat looks fine and is as green as in April. 
Some spring wheat has been sown. The pros¬ 
pects are still good for a large crop of fruit the 
coming season. The changeable weather w e 
have beeu having has produced a great deal of 
sickness. But the most prevalent disease is 
measles accompanied with a very had cough. 
Buyers have bought and shipped all the hogs 
out of the country and our merchants are uow 
sending to Kansas City for bacon. Hogs and 
beef cattle bring good prices now. Wheat is 
worth 90c to $1.05; corn, 33c; oats, 25c, aud 
potatoes $1.00 per bushel. There are two fair 
Associations in this county, and each holds an 
exhibition every fall. As most other fairs, they 
give the largest premiums to men who run and 
trot horses. The. premiums offered for farm 
produce are so small that no larnior (akcB 
any thing to the fair unless he tukes pride in 
doing so; for the premium ho gets docs not 
pay for the trouble of getting produce ready ; 
but the premiums offered for races are quite 
attractive. j. e. r. 
Kansas, Lamed, PawDee Co., March 4.—We 
arc having a dry, open winter. Wheat looks 
very well. The outlook for it is as good as it 
was four years ago. Some of the early pieces 
arc beiug hurt by the dry weather. All of the 
late-sown is stooling out nicely. Wc have had 
only one little shower of rain since the 12th of 
November, and only about four inches of snow. 
The corn crop last year was a failure, owing 
to the worm eatiDg it up after it was grown. 
Rice-Corn was a good crop, and our farmers 
have learned that they can raise big crops of it 
even with but little rain. The larger portion 
of the crop was planted after crops of broom 
corn or sorghum, and therefore was mixed a 
good deal, as it readily ‘•mixes.” We raise 
both red and white. Several parties raised 
crops of the white that thrashed over 40 bush¬ 
els per acre. Two to tlr.ee seeds were planted 
to the hill, and there were from five to eeveu 
beads. The6ucker heads wcrcemaller. 1 had 
a small piece of ground that was plowed June 
80, and planted July 1 and5; the crop matured 
and was ready to feed the hogs by Sept 26, as 
it was then io the dough. For a fodder crop 
nothing beats it, as one half bushel sown per 
acre will yield from five to seven tons of choice 
fodder, and the stock eat up all the stalk except 
a small piece of the butt end. We have organ¬ 
ized a sorgo-sugar factory in this county, and 
it is meeting with a big success among the 
farmers, as the cane is a sure crop and will 
grow even if the weather is dry. s. 8. D. 
Kt., Milton, Trimble Co., March 6.—Contrary 
to the predictions of Tice, Ventor, ii. F. J. aud 
others, that we would have a cold winter to 
match that of '78 9, as r ' seasons went in pairs,’ 
wc have had one of unprecedented mildness. 
The mean temperature of January was 59.13 
degrees Fall, and that of Feb. was 41.17 Pan¬ 
sies have bloomed iu the open ground every 
month this winter. We have also had one or 
more thunder showers every month since last 
September. Wheal that was apparently killed 
last fall by the fly, is now os green as grass, 
and promises a good crop. Our pastures pre¬ 
sent the appearance of May instead of March. 
Fruit-men tell us they still have good prospects 
for an abundant crop. I held my hogs through 
the “ temporary depression ” last fall (as the 
Rural called it) and was rewarded by getting 
almost five cents per cwt. increase. Tobacco 
growers are preparing for an unusually large 
crop. One of my neighbor German boys sold 
four hhds. in Louisville last week that aver- 
agrd $14.50 per cwt. all round. The crop 
brought him $550, aud was grown on a little 
less than four acres. Of course, he is going 
to grow ten acres this 6ca6on. s. e. h. 
Kt , Owensboro, March 7ih —We have had 
an unusually mild winter. Some rosebushes 
have retained green leaves all through the 
season and peach trees have been showing red 
for nearly three weeks in protected situalions. 
Peaches have not been injured so far as I Lave 
been able to examine. Wheat is looking well. 
Some oats have beeu sown and some plowing 
is being done between showers. j. n s. 
Miss , Okolona, Chickasaw Co.. March 6.— 
We are having very fine spring weather- 
warm enough for April. Farm work is very 
forward. Corn plauling has been begun aud 
will be finished in a week, except on low 
lauds. a. m 
New York, Sharon Center, Schoharie Co.. 
March 3.—We are having every indication of 
an early spring. Robins aud blue-birds are 
Lore; the weather is warm aud spring-like; 
in fact, the whole winter has been more like 
spring than winter. Grass and grain have suf¬ 
fered severely from the bareness of the ground 
and the constant freezing and lhawiug. Should 
the weather be as unfavorable for the next two 
months as it ha6 been 60 far, winter gram will 
not be half a crop here from present indica¬ 
tions. It is a great deal too soon yet to predict 
with any certainty the immense crop of wheat 
spoken of in a late Rural. A few years ago I 
paid $6 for about two bushels of potatoes of 
six different kinds, and to make them go as far 
as I could. I cut them in pieces of one and two 
eyes, and planted one piece in a hill aud har¬ 
vested the best crop of potatoes I ever raised. 
Since then I don’t put two aud three email 
potatoes iu a hill, as I was taught when & boy. 
I shall cat all my Beauty of Hebron J raised 
last year from the one you sent me, into one- 
eye pieces and plant one piece in a hill. Last 
spring I thought I would try drilling in my 
corn. Some of the wise ones said I would 
never do it again, and I must confess I thought 
so too at one time; but when I harvested the 
crop and found I had the best yield of both 
corn and stalks I ever raised on the same 
ground, I made up my mind to plant in no 
oilier way. My corn was very fine and ripe, 
and it wub a poor corn year. too. I found five 
cars and three stalks from one kernel of 6eed. 
I now have hanging up three stalks with 10 
perfect ears of corn grown from one kernel of 
Blount’s corn. Incog. 
Penn., Rochester’s Mills, Indiana Co,, March 
8, 1880.—This winter has beeu a bad ouetor 
hauling, there being but little snow- This is 
a forest county, but the forests are disappear¬ 
ing. There ha6 been a heap of timber cut tbo 
past season, but it will not all go to market, for 
the roads have been too bad for hauling. 
Wheat looks pretty well, and a large acreage 
of it has been sown. The prices are:—wheat, 
$125; oats, S5c.; corn, 30c.; rye, 75c ; eggs, 
10c. ’ll doz.; butter, 18c Oil has been fouud 
about 15 miles from here, in Jefferson, Co.; the 
well is said to turn out 60 barrels perday. 
f. n. 
Tenn., Humboldt, MarchG.—Warmaudvery 
wet for the past month. Early-sown wheat is 
rusted and thought to be seriously damaged. 
Native Plums aud Apricots are blooming. Be¬ 
fore this is seen by Rural readers the trees 
here will have put on their green spring 
dresses. Clover and Grapes have been grow¬ 
ing all winter. b. f. t. 
Texas, San Antonio, Bexar Co , March 4.— 
The weather is fine; grass is growing fast. 
Corn is mostly planted. We shall commence 
planting eotton iu a few weeks. I planted 
sorghum yesterday. Farmers hero plant it in 
drills or broadcast for green fodder. It can 
be cut from two to four times. It is very good 
feed for pigs; there is nothing which they 
like so well and they fatten on it. Q. W. 
Utah, Ogden City T , Weber Co., March 4.— 
We are generally blest with a variety of weath¬ 
er here during winter, and this has been one 
of the old-fashioned sorts. We have had the 
cold wave with snow at intervals, but the snow 
wave commenced on the night of the 22d nit. 
aud lasted uutil the morning of the 26th, ter¬ 
minating with a cold, piercing wind from the 
north. Everything seems dull und dreary 
under the circumstances. However, there are 
good prospects for plenty of water for irriga¬ 
tion this coining summer, aud the gardener 
and farmer expect a good harvest, w. j. h. 
(Ilie 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Onponizing Fowls. 
J). B. 0., ML Union, la , asks 1, how to ca- 
pouize fowls ; 2, where can the proper instru¬ 
ments be procured ; 3, can turkey6 be capon- 
ized. 
Ans.— The best birds for capons are the 
large breeds, Asiatics or Dorkings. They 
6bould be two to three months old. Before the 
operation they should be deprived of food for 
from twenty Jour to forty-eight hours, so as 
not to have their bowels distended. The bird 
to be operated on, must be fastened down on 
his left side to a board or bench through au 
auger bole; the wings should be drawn to¬ 
gether over his back and well secured; the 
legs drawn backward, the upper one drawn out 
furthest and secured. The feathers must be 
plucked irom the right, or upper side, near 
the hip joint, on a line with and between the 
joint of the shoulder. The space uncovered 
should be about one aud a halt inch in diam¬ 
eter on an ordinary-sized bird. Draw the skin 
of the part backward so that when the opera¬ 
tion is flushed, the skin slides back to its 
natural position aud covers the wound in the 
flesh, aud does not, when neatly done, require 
6ewing. Make au incision with a fine sharp 
penkuife (or proper instrument is best), be¬ 
tween the last rib aud hip, commencing about 
an inch from the back-bone; extend it ob¬ 
liquely downward, from an inch to an inch ard 
a-baif, ju6t cutting deep enough to separate 
the flesh; take great care not to wound the 
intestines. The wound must be kept open 
with an instrument with a spring, called a re¬ 
tractor, or with something answering the same 
purpose, stretching it wide enough to afford 
room for the work. Then, carefully cut the 
membrane covering tbo intestines which, if 
not sufficiently drawn up, may bo pushed to¬ 
wards th6 breast-bone lightly by a spoon-shaped 
instrument, or the handle of a tea-spoon. The 
organs to be removed are readily recognized — 
a small reddish-yellow cylinder attached to 
the spine on each side, covered with a flue 
membrane or skin which must first be removed 
with forceps and a fine hook to draw it away. 
With the left hand introduce Hie bowl of a 
spoon (an instrument is made for the purpose) 
under the lower or left testicle, which is gen¬ 
erally a little nearer to the rump than the 
right one. Then take the instrument called a 
cannula, which is a hollow tube with a horse 
hair passed through it, forming at the end a 
loop which can be tightened by pulling on the 
two ends of the hair at the other end of the 
tube. Pass this loop around the testicle with 
the help of something to place it iu posi¬ 
tion, the canuula has a hook for this pur¬ 
pose, so as to bring the loop to act upon 
the parts which connect the organ to the 
back. Then by drawing the cuds of the 
bait-loop backward aud forward, and at 
the Barne time pushing the lower end of the 
tube or cauuula towards the rump of the fowl, 
the cord or fastening of the organ is severed. 
A similar process is then to be repeated with 
the uppermost or right testicle, after which 
any remains of the organs, together with the 
blood around the wound or at the bottom, must 
be removed with the spoou. The reason for 
operating on the left or lower organ first is to 
prevent the blood from covering the lower one 
if left last. When the operattou is performed, 
which if skillfully done occupies but a few 
minutes, the retractor is taken out and the skin 
drawn over the wound, which if it was drawn 
on one side before cuttiug (as mentioned 
above), will connect at a place not exactly op¬ 
posite the wound in the flesh, thereby covering 
the flesh wound. If skillfully done it requires 
no sewing. The old Fiench system was to 
operate on each side of the fowl, but the sys¬ 
tem here described is considered an improve¬ 
ment on the antiquated Gallic method. 
2. Suitable instruments can be got from tbo 
Poultry Monthly, Albany, N. Y., or from the 
Poultry World, II. H. Sioduard, Hartford, 
Conn. 3. We have never beard of caponizing 
turkeys, though it probably can bo done; but 
as the build of a turkey is quite different from 
that of a fowl, it would involve some surgical 
experiments which would, most likely, entail 
some loss, and the benefit would, in all proba¬ 
bility, not equal that from a caponized fowl. 
How to >iake a Small Orchard in the Far West. 
It. R., Greenwood, Ark., says: "I am just 
opening a new farm. Have 10 acres cleared 
and under fence, which have been cultivated in 
cotton five or six years. Wish to devote one 
acre to fruit trees :—Apples, Peaches, Plums t 
Pears, Persimmons, Cherries, Apricots—iu fact 
all kinds of fruit that do well here. Will you 
please advise me how to proceed—what pro¬ 
portion of each do I require. One-half of the 
ground I desire to use for a garden and vege¬ 
table patch, and the rest for peanuts, while the 
trees are growing. The field has a gently roll¬ 
ing slope to the north; soil, sandy loam. The 
higher portion of the lot is somewhat rocky. 
The 6oil is partially made by the decomposition 
of the various rocks and shales of the great 
millstone grit formation which is annually 
washed down from the mountains, making it 
very rich and admirably fitting it for the growth 
of an orchard and vineyard.” 
ANSWER BT EX-GOV. FURNAS, OF NEBRASKA. 
The proposition is not sufficiently definite to 
enable one to reply in a way at all satisfactory. 
Ib the undertaking for “ profit," or “pleasure,” 
or for both? Again, if for profit, what is the 
character of the market relied upon? As a 
rule, among fruit consumers appUs aro the 
staple fruit and should preponderate. The 
orchard or ground in which Apples, Plnms, 
Peaches aud Cherries are planted, can be 
used for at least ten years for all small fruits 
as well, at the same time. The proportions 
of large fruits recommended would be one- 
half for Apples, one-fourth for Peaches, the 
other fourth about equally divided for Pear,. 
Cherry, Plum, Apricots aud Persimmons, as 
the taste or inclination of the planter might 
indicate Then, between the rows, and be¬ 
tween the trees in the rows, plant small fruits. 
Preferably the rows should run north and 
south, for by that arrangement better effects 
from the sun would be secured. In addition to 
small fruits between the rows, vegetables may 
also be planted. By using all the space between 
the trees for vegetables and small fruits, prime 
cultivation is thereby more certainly secured, 
which is essential in obtaining any character 
of product from the soil. If profit is sought, 
early returns must be desirable. Therefore 
vegetables first aud small fruits next must be 
relied upon, at least until large fruits come 
into perfect bearing. One 6hould uot think of 
dividing the grouud in reality—one-half to 
fruits aud one-half to garden. But plant all to 
fruit6—Large fruits—aud occupy all the inter¬ 
mediate space with vegetables aud small fruits. 
With this close use of all the grouud, do not 
forget the soil must be Jed, if growth is to be 
kept up and satisfactory results obtained. The 
“lay of the land" and the character of the soil 
as indicated, ought, with reasonable attention, 
to satisfy even a fastidious experimenter or 
cultivator. 
Angora and Ciuhmere Goats. 
L. R. 8., Phoinix, Arizona Ter., asks whether 
Angora aud Cashmere goats are identical; if 
not, what difference is there between them ; 2, 
which would be the more profl.able for wool; 
3, where can the wool be sold, aud at what 
price. 
&N8.— 1 The Angora and Cashmere goats arc 
