266 
THE EBEAL flEW-Y ©EKEE. 
^bfnjtobfrt. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORT8. 
Col., Canon City, Fremont Co., April f>.— 
We 6ow but very little fall wheat in this section. 
I know of bnt one person in Ibis county that 
nrik^B a practice of sowing fall wheat, and bis 
is not ready to harvest more than a week before 
that sowed in the spring. and the yield per here 
is no more than that of spring wheat, neither 
does it make any better flour. We are not 
troubled with Hessian fly in this country at 
present, nor with anything injurious to wheat, 
except grasshoppers. The acreage iu wheat. I 
think, is less this year than it has been for 
several seasons in this county. I don’t know 
as to other counties. The crop sowed here is 
chiefly oats, und there will he a greater acreage 
under it this year than for several previous 
ones. j o. 
Idaho, Boi6 City, Ada Co.; April 10—The 
wheat crop bids fair to equal that of previous 
years. Acreage about the same as last sca=on. 
Our farmers here know nothing ot any wheat 
disease. They put in their crops and count 
with a certainty upon a good harvest. Nothing 
is raised here wilhonl irrigation. No insects 
have troubled ns as yet. T,. f. c. 
Jll., Hoyleton, Washington Co., April 0.— 
This part of Southern llliuois is known as 
Egypt—a very appropriate name I often think, 
60 far as the mummified character of the old 
settlers is concerned The land, however, is 
rapidly changing hands and becoming the 
property of a more wide-awake and industri¬ 
ous people. Iu this section it Is owned chiefly 
by Germans, and they display an energy, 
industry and true knowledge of farming that 
would be a credit to any people. Three-fourths 
of roy neighbors are Teutonic, and they still 
maintain a great deal of the manners and 
customs of the Fatherland, especially in their 
churches, schools and marriages. They know 
bow to raise wheat, and fully three-fourths of 
their arable land is under it, ami the prospects 
for a flue crop are good. Late-sown wheat, 
however, is damaged a great deal by frost and 
heaving, aud last fall the Hessiau fly destroyed 
some fields entirely. The outlook now. how¬ 
ever, is favorablo, and there has been a large 
increase of acreage. During the winter we 
had a great deal ot rain, aud very little hard 
freezing—hence a good deal of mud; even now 
our roads are nearly impassable. Spring work 
will therefore be late; our plows are still in 
winter-quarters, but a few days of drying 
weather will fetch them out. Fruit prospects 
are flattering. Wheat is now selling at $1.20; 
corn, 25c.; oats, 25c.; potatoes, 40e. A good 
deal of laud changed hands this winter at an 
average price of §25 to $80 per acre. The 
buyers arc all Germans; the sellers, Americans 
who are going West. All tillable land here¬ 
abouts is now occupied. m. b. 
Iowa, Oskalote i, .Mahaska Co., April 10.— 
Wc hud a moderate winter, with very little 
rain and no snow. C^uite a large breadth of 
winter wheat was sowed last fall; but it is 
almost or wholly a failure. The weather is 
quite dry at present with frosty nights. At 
this rate grass and the spring wheat will suffer. 
People generally have sowed spring wheut on 
their winter-wheat ground. This county has 
au abundance of coal aud timber, wdiieli ren¬ 
ders it quite a desirable place to live in. It is, 
too, au excellent gruin_ aud stock county. 
Cattle are just beginning to roam around aod 
pick up a little grass, which, in its present 
condition, is not of very much benefit to them. 
A. 13. 
Kansas, El Dorado, Butler Co., April 6.— 
We hud a splendid winter. With oue excep¬ 
tion it lias been too dry' for winter wheat. 
Peaches will not be over half a crop on ac¬ 
count of the warm weather in January, which 
caused the fruit buds to swell so Lhat the cold 
weather we had on the 12th aud 13th ot March 
killed about half of them. All other lruits are 
safe yet, and the indications are fair lor a good 
crop. We had quite a heavy rain on the after¬ 
noon aud night of March 26.li. which was 
needed very much. Corn is worth 20 cts.; oats, 
40 cts.; wheal, SO cts.; flax seed, $L.7o; millet, 
75 cts.; potatoes, §1.25; buLter, 17@20 els.; 
eggs, S@L0 cts.; cattle, $3@4; hogs, §3 60; 
hay, §3 per ton. l. k, w. 
Kans., Freedom, Butler Co., April 6.—Peach 
trees are in bloom ; hut the crop will he small; 
mostly on seedlings; budded fruit is nearly all 
killed. We generally have ripe peaches from 
June 15 to Get 20. w. j. b. 
Micu., Dausvilie, Ingham Co.—We had no 
snow the past winter to amount to much. It 
was almost like summer. Winter wheat is 
lookiug first-rate around here, though some 
pieces have been heaved out aud the roots lie 
bare. It is the same with clover fields. Wheat 
is worth §1 per bushel; oats 30e. per bushel; 
potatoes 30c. per bushel; eggs »c. jierdoz.; 
butter, 25c. per pouud. 0. g. 
N. Y., Corning, Steuben Co., April b.—The 
past winter was a very mild and pleasant one; 
but little real cold weather aud but very little 
enow—most ol the time the ground was bare 
and plowing was done at intervals of a few 
weeks, all winter long. Owing to the open 
season but little ice has been gathered. Not¬ 
withstanding (lie scarcity of hay at the open¬ 
ing of winter, there will probably be a con¬ 
siderable quantity carried through the sum¬ 
mer. Stock were sold off last fall, so ns to 
greatly reduce the number, and at very low 
prices, on acconnt of the short crop of hay ; 
but the winter has been so mild that far Jess 
fodder has been required than If it had 
been as cold as usual. On referring to my 
diary, I find that robins and blue-birds have 
come one month earlier than last year; §10 at 
the barn, or $12 delivered, seems to be about 
the price paid for hay now. The roads have 
been bad most of the time since last fall. 
f. n. d. 
Texas, Clarendon, Donley Co., April 6.— 
There is no wheat grown in this county for 
two reasons:—We can’t make flour of it, for 
there’s not a mill ot any sort in the county, 
and, again, we can’t sell it, for it’s 170 miles to 
the next railroad at Fort Dodge, and 220 to the 
road at Fort Worth. What little farming is 
done here is confined to raising corn, which 
sells readily to stockmen at $1 per bushel; but 
last season scarcely any was raised on account 
of dry weather. The past winter was very 
open and also yery dry—no rain since Novem¬ 
ber until 10 days ago, and then just enough to 
wet the ground for plowing. That Pearl Mil¬ 
let the Rural sent me last year acted splen¬ 
didly. When five feet high and heading out I 
cut it, and it grew to the higlit, of four feet 
again, headed out aud ripened its seed It was 
greedily eaten by all kinds of stock. o. n. 
Texas. Sulado, Bell Co., April 5.—We have 
lately had a very hard freeze. Corn planted 
and up was all killed; all is now replanted 
and coming on. On the 1st we had the finest 
rain of the season. All small grain is looking 
line, and the promise of a heavy crop of wheat, 
oats, etc., is good, but we raise no grain for 
j export, all being consumed iu this or adjoiu- 
iug counties. The amount of the old crop on 
hand is small, but sufficient to carry us to the 
harvest of new—now only six week6 off. Wc 
have a fine merchant mill at Belton, aud our 
Balado River has live mills in less than ten 
miles, which mosl of the year run night and 
day. b. g. m. 
Vt., North Bennington, Bennington Co., 
April 6.—On a section extending Irons the 
mountains, iu southern Vermont, forty miles 
to the Hudson and as far from north to south, 
1 Lhiuk it will require great icsearoh to find 
ten acres of wheat. I do not kuow or hear of 
a kernel being sown la6l fall. The grand¬ 
fathers, now gone, used to tell what crops of 
wheat their father s raised. It has been grown 
at spasmodic intervals, in various pa* ts since I 
can rem'-mher—about forty years. Bat to 
grow wheat profitably, even for home use, on 
these old lands w’here only i-olatcd acres 6eem 
adapted to it, more knowledge must bo had. 
Some say it docs not pay to raise wheat, be¬ 
cause when it is carried to the mill, they get 
poor flour aud little of it. e. n. d. 
Va., Newmarket, Shenandoah Co., April 12. 
—Winter here was exceedingly mild up to 1st 
of February ; for a week or so we had snow 
aud cold, then mild untd 1st of March when 
we had a good deal of cold raius, winds, etc., 
nearly throughout the whole month. April, so 
far, has been somewhat blustery, with a few 
Very flue growing day6. Wheat, ot which a 
large acreage is town, is looking exceedingly 
well for the time ot year, in this section, ex¬ 
cept a lew small spots hurt by the drought last 
fall. In the adjoining coti-ty, Page, wheat is 
badly eaten by the fly. We have had some se¬ 
vere frosts the last- week, which, it is feared, 
have injured the fruit crop to some extent. 
Peaches have been iu bloom lor three or four 
weeks ; Plums, Cherries und Apples are blos¬ 
soming now. Fanners have generally finished 
sowing oats, and are preparing to plant corn. 
Peas, radishes, lettuce, onions, etc., have been 
uii for several weeks aud are growing finely; 
juices ior produce are, wheat, $115@1.16; 
corn, 50@60c ; oats, 40c.; rye, 00c*.; butter, 20e.; 
eggs, 8c.; potatoes, 5d(a>00c.; springs and wells 
that were low aud some dry last fall have filled 
up now and water is plentiful everywhere 
here. o, 8. w. 
Va., Priucess Anue Co. Apr. 8—Weare having 
winter by spells—a few days siuce strawberries 
were making uiceiy, aud to-day looks as if it 
might snow. Wo cut our firstasjiaragus on the 
5th. We plant quite a quantity ol the black 
peas among com, pick a part aud turn hogs in 
on the remainder to fatten, finishing on corn. 
They will uoi do for hens—they stop their lay¬ 
ing. A great deal of fish and crabs are used 
here for manure. M. s. m. 
Virginia, Norfolk, Norfolk Co., April 9. 
—On the 24th of March a hard freeze here 
killed ail the strawberries aud peaches that 
were in bloom and injured *• truck" generally. 
We have not much hopes of a good peach croji 
in luis section, as most of the trees were in 
blossom before the late frost. Apples, pears 
aud cherries, however, are safe. j.l.b. 
Wis , Chilton, Calumet Co., April 9. —We 
have had a yery mild aud open winter, and 
are having a wet, backward spring. Winter 
wheat, of which this county sowed an unu¬ 
sually large acreage last fall, has suffered more 
or less, but from an examination of quite a 
number of pieces, I am convinced that people 
are more scared than necessary, and that 
nearly, if not quite, a full crop will be bar- 
vested. The kind sown bas been almost uni¬ 
versally the Clawson. Spring wheat is worth 
$1.10 to $1.15; corn. 50e.; oats, 40c; pota¬ 
toes, 40c. to 60c.: butter, 25e.; cgg6.10c.; hay, 
$12. c. g. c. 
Wis , Edson, Chippewa Co., April 8 —Wheat 
looks well—bettsr than last year. It has not 
been winter-killed to any great exlcut, and 
does not show any signs of any disease as yet, 
or of harm from the Hessian fly. I tliiuk that 
its general appearance is better than last year 
at. this time, and quite as good as the average 
of previous years. The acreage is about the 
same as last year. j. o. b. 
Wis., East Troy, Walworth Co.. April 8 — 
Winter wheat is starting finely; clover is 
mostly killed. We have commenced sowing 
spring wheat. f. 
$|)f (JjHimst, 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Etc., Etc., Etc. 
J. T. F., South Onandaga, N. J'., asks, 1, 
whether the following rule for determining 
the weight of live cattle by measuring them is 
correct:—Measure in inches, the girth around 
the breast just behind the shoulder blade, aud 
tbe length of the back from the tail to the fore 
part of the shoulder blade; multiply the girth 
by the length and divide by 144. If the girth 
is less thau three feet, multiply the quotient by 
11; it between three and five, by 15; if between 
seven and nine, by .31. If the animal is lean 
deduct one-twentieth. Or, second, take the 
girth and length infect; multiply the square 
of the girth by the length, and multiply the 
product by 8 36. Live weight rnultiplidcd by 
.605, gives net weight nearly. 2, Which are 
the more durable—split or round posts, and 
what is the probable respective durability of 
the following kinds of timber—locust, red and 
white cedar, chestnut, oak, elm, red beech, 
white and black ash, and black-walnut. 3. 
What quantity ot cats should be sowed or 
drilled in one acre. 4, la there anything in 
which seed corn can be soaked or with which 
it can be mixed, Lhat will prevent crows and 
grubs from eating it, and at the same time act 
as a fertilizer. 5, Name the best books in 
geology, with the price; 6, also the best on 
law and the price; 7, the best on physiology, 
and the price. 
A ns —1, All these rules are based on some 
rough method of finding the cubic contents of 
the carcass. The second rule will work more 
nearly than the first, but it is only au approxi¬ 
mation after all. because cattle differ greatly 
in quality and solidity of frame, and a gaunt, 
bony animal with much offal will yield much 
loss than a well-bred, compact oue. These 
rules are therefore to lie used with variations 
and allowances founded upon experience. 2 ( 
Round posts are more durable than sjilit 
ones, when the bark is stripped off. The tim¬ 
bers mentioned may be classed as to durability 
very mueh in the order given. Chestuut is 
preferable to while cedar. 3. Two-and-a-half 
bushels per acre. 4, Soak coru in hot water in 
which some pine tar has been stirred. A thin 
coating of the tar envelopes each grain and 
serves to disgust the crows. There is no 
necessity to 6leep seed in any fertilizer. If 
lhat is put into the soil, it will be placed where 
it will do the most good. 5, The Elements of 
Geology by Loomis is a small, cheap work. 
Lyell’s, and Dana’s works are more costly stan¬ 
dard works. 6, Waits’s “ Every Man his Own 
Lawyer," is a useful book for inference ; but 
law is a shat ji-cdged tool which no oue should 
play with ; it. is better to pay a moderate fee to 
a lawyer for advice than to he one’s own law¬ 
yer. The adage runs, “ A man who is his own 
lawyer has a loot for his client.” 7, Dalton’s 
is an excellent work. The prices can be ob¬ 
tained by inquiry at the next book store. We 
would remind our friend that Urn department 
is meant for the use of all our subscribers, so 
that no one of them should make so many 
inquiries at once that full answers to them 
would oeeujiy all our space to tbe delay of 
answers to other inquirers. Three or four 
queries are quite enough at one time ; if more 
are sent the answers are necessarily cut short: 
but one can come again. Then again, never 
send all the way to New York to ask a ques¬ 
tion which can be easily answered in the 
neighboring village. 
An Impotent Young Bull, 
11. G., Lewisville, 0., bas a Short-horn bull, 
two and a half years old, that has failed of 
late to get any calves and a cause for his irn- 
potency anti a remedy are asked. He has out¬ 
door exercise every day ; is fed corn aud oats 
mixed ; also corn fodder and hay ; he has not 
been run very hard and has been permitted to 
serve cows only once. 
Ans. —There are so many things that may 
cause impotence in a bull, it is almost impos¬ 
sible to prescribe a remedy without seeing tbe 
animal. Your bull may have received an ex¬ 
ternal injury, as they are liable to by jumping 
a fence, butting against some hard substances, 
or trying to overturn some heavy object, or by 
fighting. If nothing of this kind has happened 
to him, he may have been over-fed at times 
with corn or other food. Wc would suggest 
feeding him uothing for a few weeks but hay, 
and letting him have a roomy yard for exercise 
in all good weather, both during the day and 
night; if you have sufficient pasture, turn him 
out to this, if well fenced. See that he has 
plenty of pure water at all times to drink, and 
give him a heaping tablespoonfui of salt every 
day, if he will take so much, and the same 
quantity of sulphnr once a week. After diet¬ 
ing thus for a few weeks, give him with his 
grass or hay, two quarts of oats and two 
quarts of wheat bran every night and morning, 
with a pint of linseed meal if you have it; if 
not, then a pint of whole flax-seed mixed with 
the oats and brun. After a week or two of 
this feed, let him be tried to a cow of a size he 
can easily cover. Medicine of any kind is 
rarely of any benefit to an impotent animal; a 
judicious diet is the best tblug. 
Analyst!) of th® Sweet Potato. 
P. C. 8-, Unrlock , M<1, asks for a full analy¬ 
sis of the 6weet. potato. 
Ans.— The following is tho aualysis of this 
potato given by the North Carolina Experi¬ 
ment Station. We give also that of the Irish 
potato: 
Water. 
• Sweet 
potato. 
Irish 
potato. 
75.00 
Albuminoids. 
. i as 
2.11 
Starch. 
..lfi.ou 
17 32 
Gum, pectine, etc.... 
2.70 
Glucose (sugar).. 
Cellulose (fiber). 
1.65 
Fat aud ««. 
0.30 
Ash. 
0.92 
1UO.U0 
100.00 
The great distinction between them is the 
glucose in the sweet potato. The sweet potato 
iu this particular analj'eis appears to have less 
water, but perhaps in a greater number of 
analyses this would not appear. The sweet 
potato must be extremely valuable as a fatten¬ 
ing food. Dr. Ledoux estimates a good crop 
at 450 bushels to the acre; but if wo should es¬ 
timate them at only 300 bushels per acre, and 
corn at 40 bushels, the sweet potato would 
yield two and a half times as much dry food 
per acre as corn. 
The Cattle Gnd Fly. 
17 8., Fusion, Md., sends some specimens of 
worms taken from the backs of a couple of 
Jersey heifers. They were found just under 
the skin, aud were easily pinched out with tho 
thumb and finger, aud he asks for some infor¬ 
mation about them. 
Ans.— These arc the larva? of tho cattle gad 
fly—oestrus bovis. This fly is much like the 
horse botfly aud belougs to the same family. 
It lays eggs in the skin along the backs of 
cattle in August, and the larvae remuiu in the 
flesh and feed upon the pus caused by the irri¬ 
tation until May, when they wriggle out, enter 
the ground, pupate and emerge as mature flies 
in the summer. They do no particular harm 
except to cause some irritation, aud worry the 
cattle. Tho only preventive is to keep the 
cattle up at the season when the eggs are de¬ 
posited—this, however, is impracticable. The 
worms—so-called " warbles"—are so common 
as to occasion special regulations concerning 
wormy hides by tanuers’ associations; and as 
we never hear of au animal suffering from 
them, they arc among those minor inflictions 
which it pays better to submit to than to fight 
against. They may, however, be easily dis¬ 
lodged by pressing with the finger and thumb 
as above stated. 
The Bartlett nml Clapp’s Favorite Fears. 
Verdant Inquirer , Eait Leering, Me., says 
that he is told by au old nurseryman that there 
is this difference in the Bartlett and Clnpp’B Fa¬ 
vorite Pears—that in a locality where one 
will thrive, the other will not. For instance, 
on the east tide of a high hill in his town 
one thrives finely and the other fails—the tree 
cracks badly; while on the west side of tho 
bill, the case is exactly reversed. The Bart¬ 
lett is at home on the cast side of the range 
and a failure on the west side; while the 
Clapp's Favorite is a success on the west, but 
a failure on the oa&t side, aud our correspond¬ 
ent asks ihe cause of such a phenomenon. 
Ans. —Such differences exist. We cm not 
say, in the case here mentioned, why it is 60 . 
Generally speaking, it may be said that those 
kinds wtilcli push buds the earliest in the 
spring are lees liable to injury if growing in 
situations which retard their spring giowth. 
Bowing Bolt and Plaster, etc. 
O 8. B., Burdett, N. Y., 6ays he thinks bar¬ 
ley does beet broadcasted ; on it he wants to sow 
salt and plaster—a bushel of each per acre— 
and having no drill, he asks whether the best 
results cau be got by broadcasting them. It 
is said thereabouts that commercial phosphates 
do not do auy good on gravelly lando—oak, 
chestnut, walnut, ash aud hickory land ; and 
he asks what is the reason for their failure. 
