626 
the field, arid the produce of the rows which 
had be°n deprived of the flowers showed a 
very marked increase over that of the rows 
which had not been bo treated. 
Mr. Hall is, according to the same journal, 
folly entitled to the distinction of being the 
largest dairy farmer iD the United Kingdom, 
cultivating as be does over 8.000 acres as a 
dairy farm, and keeping seven hundred cows, 
a number which he hopes to increase to 
1000. It is. however, more as a purveyor of 
milk than as a farmer that his success has 
been noteworthy. 
The profits derivable from farming are too 
small to admit of any lavish expenditure, and 
however energetic and spirited the manage¬ 
ment may be, if economy be not studied, the 
chief end of good farming—profit—will not be 
realized. __ _ 
Sufficient Farm Help. —“Now it we stait 
ont in the Spring to till a farm ol a certain 
number of acres without sufficient help, then 
a part of the necessary work must be left nn _ 
done or the work ouly partially accomplished. 
Then is when the farmer has too much to do 
and gets behind with his work; neglect dis¬ 
turbs method and all things are soon out of 
balance. Many farmers Bay they cannot afford 
to hire much luip- It is a& necessary to have suf¬ 
ficient help to carry on a farm successfully as 
it is to have any help. If help can uot be had, 
then let some other farmer have a part of the 
farm to work, for the extra amount of land 
which cannot be properly tilled is so much 
land lying idle." Thus writes a correspondent 
of the Husbandman. He then goes on to state 
his own method:—‘‘I will give the method 
which I have followed for years, and I cannot 
sav that I have had too much to do, and at no 
time have been behind with rav work. The 
first thing I do is to provide the best tools for 
all kinds of work and sufficient team power to 
use them. I employ the best help I can get, 
as 1 have learned that skilled labor is the 
cheapest. Hiring cheap help to save a few 
dollars does not pay, loss in damage to teams 
and tools more than offsetting any saving so 
made. It takes but a few hours for an inex¬ 
perienced or a careless hand to do much dam¬ 
age. It is my method to keep as much help as the 
farm requires. I am well aware that many 
farmers will say, as has been said before, that 
they cannot afford to hire so much; but all I 
have to say to such is, start next Spring with 
more help and till your land as it should be 
tilled, and put the farm in proper shape, and 
when the year comeB round figure up the dif¬ 
ference, and see if money has been lost." 
Culture of tub Moil in Fubiio School 
Yards. —tVe are glad to find an excellent ar¬ 
ticle upon this subject in the agricultural col¬ 
umns of the New York Tribune, the Editor of 
which is ever foremost iu advocating any 
good cause: 
The enormous growth of our population, 
and the little unoccupied area left for farther 
free expansion should suggest the 6erious 
thought, whether we ought uot to require—as 
other nations are doing by legislative enact¬ 
ment—that every teacher should pass an ex¬ 
amination iu the principles of soil aud plant 
cuhure. and that practical lessons iu these 
principles should be given in every primary 
school. It is a consideration that concerns 
everybody : and oue that eminently deserves 
forethought and timely action, because years 
must pass before it can be carried into full 
effect. During these years all our really good 
soil will be occupied, and millions of our acres 
reduced by a thoughtless or ignorant manage¬ 
ment to a lower and lower state of produc¬ 
tion; while our forests, which require a cen¬ 
tury for recovery, will have been wholly de¬ 
spoiled. 
Lately a yard was seen, not very large, where 
about 400 children daily nlay—in a railroad 
town with its fall proportion of “street 
Arabs yet rhere have been for years growing 
in it a great variety of plants, vines, and trees, 
with a handsome flower bed gracing the front, 
all as sale as in any private grounds; the 
leaves uobruised and dense enough—In the 
case of oue vine supported only by a stake, 
giving shelter to a bird’s nest within the reach 
of all hands above ten or twelve, yet so secure 
that tin young were safely hatched. No r ales ex¬ 
ist for the preservation of ihcse plants,but there 
is an offer of a reward of $50, posted up for 
the eoavictiou of the spoiler of a tree, outside 
on the street way. No teacher betrays personal 
anxiety, but a feeling of pride and possession 
is gently instilled, and every plaDt in the yard 
becomes dear to each pupil. They are often 
subjects of pleasing and instructive talk aud 
object leBcons. _ 
For lessons iu sobs, etc . it is a first requisite 
that our normal schools prepare teacbei'B on 
the subject. There is as yet no good text book 
npou it in our educational lists. That the 
teachers must first be taught is lire conclusion 
arrived at by the devoted Secretary of the 
Michigan Horticultural Society, Mr, Charles 
W. Gaifield, who sent out circulars of Inquiry 
IT HE 
SEPT. 48 
last year as to the planting and conservation 
of school yards. There were many responses, 
but nothing practical or suggestive from 
teachers. Twenty pages of the Porooioglcal 
Report of the society (1878) are devoted to an 
abstract of the replies. They are worth read¬ 
ing, and wilt no doubt prompt Borne practical 
action. _ 
Parmesan Citkesb. —In a paper wrllteu by 
Dr. Prato, in the Annali del Agriculture, the 
processor making this cheese is given as fol¬ 
lows-—*' The cows are milked by women and 
girls at evening, and the milk carried in 
woodeu or tin pails to the cheese-room, a sort 
of shed inclosed with walls on two or three 
sides, and having in the center a f urnace with its 
copper. Tbcmilk ismeasured, strained through 
a cloth, anil placed i u fiat, shallow dishes ranged 
round the walls of the cheese-room. There is 
another delivery of milk iu the. morning, 
which is measured in the same way. When 
all the cream has been removed the milk is 
placed ia the copper and raised to a tempera¬ 
ture of 81 deg. Fall., which is considered best. 
The tire ia then drawn, and rennet added. 
Natural rennet from the calf is always used. 
It is stirred in and left, for an hour, Next the 
curd& are reduced to a state of even and uni¬ 
form eommunition with the aid of a long stick 
provided with projecting points and a brush- 
like end of wire. Tills operation having been 
carefully performed, a small quantity of whey 
is added, and good saffron, iu the proportion 
of half a drachm per twenty gallons of milk, 
is well stirred into the mass. The fire is again 
set going, the contents of the copper being 
now maintained at 113 deg. Fab., and kept 
well stirred until it is known by the feelthat 
the cooking has proceeded far enough, when 
the copper is lifted ont, and the conteuts are 
allowed to cool, so that the easeine may be 
precipitated. To facilitate the process a little 
cold skim-milk is auded, and at the end of a 
quarter of au hour precipitation is complete. 
The curds accumulate in the middle, aud are 
removed with a cloth. The cheese is lifted out 
in a clorh, and pressed under a thick wooden 
plate weighed with a heavy stone. When the 
wley is well squeezed out, the linen cloth is 
replaced by a hair cloth, fresh weights are 
added, and the cheese trimmed ronud from 
time to time. After this it is carried to the 
salting-room, where it is covered with salt. 
Here it remains three weeks, being constantly 
turned over and salted ou each side in turn 
during that period. Lastly, it is carried to the 
drying-room, well scraped and brushed, and 
the surface oiled. The whey from the cheese 
is made into ncotta, which is eateu, either 
salted or baked, by the peasants instead ot 
cheese. It Is heated to a temperature of 176 
deg., stirring constantly. A little fresh milk 
or butter-milk, or, if the milk be not sour 
enough, a little sour milk is sometimes added. 
QrOerpjjftt. 
NOTES FROM FLORIDA. 
People say this has been the warmest Sum¬ 
mer known here for a great rnauy years, the 
thermometer ranging from 88 deg. lo 100 
deg. most of the time. With the exception 
of three cool days and nights about tne mid¬ 
dle of this month, it has been one intense heat. 
Wchudagreat deal of rainfall through July, 
but it came in showers, accompanied much of 
the time by terrific thunder and lightning, 
the atmosphere being so completely charged 
with electricity that I would oftenfeelitin my 
hands and arms as sensibly as though I were 
boldiug a sponge connected with an electric 
battery. During one storm three pine trees 
were struck within sight of our house. After 
every shower it would seem as though the 
sun came out hotter than ever. We have had 
let b cool breezes than usuai and the only won¬ 
der is that everything is uot completely burned 
up, and, in truth, everything that is not suited 
to just such weather has met that fate. 
The orange trees like it, and have made 
a wonderful growth during the Summer. In 
this locality the fruit is not rusty and has net 
split aud dropped off as much as usual. The 
Bermuda Grass on our lawn isfrcBhund green. 
Our Charles Downing Strawberries are in fine 
condition. I set young plants in rows two 
feet apart last March, sowed cow-peas between 
the rows to shade Ihem, gathered a good crop 
of peas, and at the commencement of the 
rainy weather In July, eut off the vineB 
and had the roots spaded in, the vines 
being too heavy to turn under daring July. 
An immense crop of CrabGrass came up which 
I pulled up by hand three weeks ago, and had 
a liberal top-dressing of fine manure put on. 
Since then, until yesterday, we have bad but 
oue rain to wet the ground. You would be as¬ 
tonished to see how fast the runners are grow¬ 
ing, the plants will soon cover the ground and 
unless we have frost severe enough to kill the 
blossoms, I shall have my table supplied with 
fresh Ftrawberriesfrom Christmas on through 
the Winter, or Spring, 1 should say, we do 
not.call it Winter hero after the first of January, 
Planters are all busy picking cotton; it 
promises now to be unusually fine. No cottou 
worm has yet appeared in this county. II 
the crop escapes these pests, planters expect 
to make a heavy crop of cotton. Sugar cane 
and rice are also remarkably good Early 
planted rice is about ready to cut, late planted 
la just beginning to head. There 1b said to 
be an immense crop of sweet potatoes put In 
in this section, the early ones scut to market, 
are very large. We feed our cows, pigs, dogs 
and cats on sweet potatoes. Many people 
feed them to tlieiv horses instead of grain. 
The darkeys will live on them, often eating 
them raw, and we often see white children 
eating them like apples; Florida cooks make 
pies, puddinga, pones and bread of them. 
If the crop of sweet potatoes should ever be 
a failure here, I think there would be a 
famine. 
It rained yesterday all day, the wind blow¬ 
ing furiously. This a. m. the wiud has abated 
and it does not rain, but is cloudy aud very 
warm with a prospect of showers. If it keeps 
on raining it will hurt cotton badly. It has 
rained all day only five days during this year, 
and this is the first high wind we have had. 
except little blows during thunder showers 
that would only last a few minutes. 
Bradford Co., Mrs. 1. Sumner 
--- 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Abk., Beebe, White Co., Aug. 30.—Cotton 
picking has now begun auil the first bale was 
sold at 14 cents per pound and got $13 as a 
premium. A St. Louie cottou merchant, who 
lias lately been traveling through the Lone Star 
State, says that the cotton worm working in 
the. lroll, is doing a great deal of damage there. 
Around here rust has struck the cotton and is 
injuring it very much, aud the dry weather is 
also making all the top squares tall off badly. 
We ean count only on the lower bolls for a 
crop. The prospect of a large crop put us all 
in fine spirits, but we eau hardly count on that 
now. Late corn ia very good ; early corn was 
injured by the dry weather. It is now so dry 
that we cannot do any plowing, the ground is 
so hard. Eggs. 10c. per dozen ; corn, 75c. per 
bushel; oats, none for sale; millet, f 10 to $12 
per ton. 11 
Canada. London, Ont., Aug. 31.—Fall wheat 
is now in and much of it is thrashed ; the ber¬ 
ry is good and the yield from SO bushels up¬ 
ward as high as 50 to the acre. Spring wheat 
is very little grown here. Barley is light aud 
colored. Oats are much rusted and light, 
having been beaten down by the storms. Of 
peas not many were planted on account of the 
huge. More corn has been grown than lu any 
previous year, and it is looking well. Potatoes 
are blighted, but there are not many bugs. 
Mangolds, turnips, carrots, etc., are looking 
well. The hay crop was very good—as much 
as five tons to the acre were taken from some 
fields. The aftermath is very fresh and green, 
making a good growth. Farmers are increas¬ 
ing and improving their live stock very much. 
There are some lino herds of ‘ thorough-breds" 
in this county. R - * s - w - 
Canada, Cornwall, Ont., Aug. 81. —The 
grain crop lu this part of the country is very 
good and the weather is very favorable for har¬ 
vesting. Hay is thin owing to the dry weather, 
and will be from three to four dollars a ton 
higher than last season. Potatoes will be 
small and few In a hUl for the same reason, 
though they looked very promising Id the 
Spring. I do not think the potato bug was so 
bad as last Spring. Mangolds and other roots 
that, are not full-grown have suffered consid¬ 
erably from the drought, but the rain a few 
days ago helped them a good deal. vv. 8. t. 
Canada, Ontario, Oxford Co., Aug. 30.— 
Fall wheat good, yielding from 25 to 35 bushels 
per acre. Spring wheat will be a failure. Oats 
and barley good. Apples very plentiful. 
Grapes good but rotting badly on the vines. 
Potatoes a good crop, but in some places rot¬ 
ting badly. Beauty of Hebron, St. Patrick and 
Bliss’s Triumph have given the very best of sat¬ 
isfaction where they have been tested, yielding 
better than the Early Rose. w. v. 
Canada. Bt. George, Ont. Aug. 30.—Fruit 
and grain come fully up to expectations. 
Wheat averages 25 buBhels per acre; barley, 
30: oats, 45 bushels. Of peas not many are 
grown thlB year on account of bugs. Corn 
has been planted instead. Apples are abun¬ 
dant. Peaches are an average crop. Pears 
scarce. 
Conn., South Glastonbury. Hartford Co., 
Aug 31—Tobacco, the leading crop here in 
the Valley, is about all harvested, aud without 
exception is the very best, in every respect that 
haB ever been grown here, and farmers are all 
happy in the anticipation of good prices. 
There iB an abundant second crop of grass, 
and many are mowing, one man reporting that 
he had 2,200 pounds lrom one acre; 856 bushels 
of Beauty of Hebron potatoes from one acre 
on this farm this season, speak well foi the 
Beauty. Q - H * J ' H - H- 
III., Ludlow, Champaign Co., Sept. 1.—Our 
dry weather ended about the 26th ult. Light 
local showers and sprinkles came first, increas¬ 
ing in frequency and exteut till in this locality 
about inches of water have fallen. In some 
neighboring localities tbe raffis were still 
heavier. The weather is warm and clo6e, with 
prospect of more rain. The pastures are rap¬ 
idly growing green again, the grass starting 
up with the freshness of early Spring. Late 
corn will be much, benefited, as this warm 
weather is rapidly swelling out the ears which 
though short, will,If f rosts do noteome too soon, 
be sound and solid. Much early corn had dried 
up before the rain, and some of it is badly 
shrunken, while the earliest is tilled oat pretty 
well. The ground is in fine condition for 
plowing, and this work is being rapidly pushed. 
Many farmers are trying a little patch of wheat; 
many more would do 60 but for tbe fact that 
chinch bugs so common id wheat are apt, 
when the wheat is harvested, to move into ad¬ 
joining corn-fields and injure the cor n enough 
to take off all the profit on the wheat. It is 
therefore thonght advisable to sow wheat only 
where a strip of grasB or flax may lie between 
it and neighbor-jug corn-fields. Peaches aud 
grapes are ripe and abundant. Tbe price of 
corn bos advanced to 31 cents and of butter to 
18 to 25 cents. *' a." 
111., Union Grove, Whiteside Co., Aag. 81. 
—In July, 1879, the lightning struck u large 
cottonwood tree iu my garden. Near tbe tree 
was a row of grapevines, the posts eight feet 
apart, with a fence wire oil top of the posts. 
The lightning left the tree and followed the 
wire several rods each way from the tree. The 
vines soon looked as if they had been frosted 
and the fruit wilted. In the Fall 1 cut the 
vines off near the ground, but they were dead 
and did not sprout up. Every post was badly 
shattered. The blight has made sod havoc 
with young fruit trees this season. The tops 
of very many of the most thrifty ones are dead. 
The pear trees in particular' ate thus affected. 
The wheat crop in this section was nearly a 
failure ; the Winter wheat died and the Spring 
sown was destroyed by chinch bugs and blight. 
Corn, late potatoes aud pastures are now suf¬ 
fering from lack of rain. a. m. a. 
111., Champaign, Champaign Co., Sept. L— 
The heat here has been terrific, and is still 
60 —at seven o’clock last nircht the mercury in 
a large open house, iu the second story, stand¬ 
ing above 90 deg.; though there had been uo 
fire since before noon. At seven this morning 
it was 80 deg., though at this writing, eight 
a. nr., there are signs of a cooler change. 
Prices for agricultural products are well 
maintained; briefly there is a short crop in 
the West—due to drought since the 15th ot 
July. w. f. j. v 
Ind , Roauoke, Huntington Co., Sept. 3.— 
Crops are fair to good here. Wheat sells at 
90 cents; flax, $1.10. Potatoes and corn are 
good on uplands, but poor ou bottoms. The 
fruit crop is large, but inferior iu quality. A 
large acreage of wheat will he sown here this 
Fall Farmlands for sale are yery scarce. 
a. o. H. 
Ia., Green Mountain, Marshall Co.—It has 
not been a very good season for root crops in 
this locality, it being too dry in the lore-part 
of the season. Small grain crops are very 
good, wheat averaging about 15 bushels of uni¬ 
formly good quality—thutla, Spring wheat: no 
Winter wheat ie raised here. Oats average 
about 40 bushels per acre and flax from eight 
to 15 bush. Potatoes, late varieties, are about 
half a crop; early varieties good. Hay, a fair 
crop. Fruit abundant. a. t. 
Kan., Edgerton, Johnson Co., Aug. 30.—Our 
drought here is at an end ; we are having r ain 
almost night and day; thogrouud is thoroughly 
soaked ; ponds arc filled up. and all tbe creeks 
are running—no lack of stock water now; 
grain is being injured in the stack particular¬ 
ly flax, some of which is still lying a6 it was 
cut in the fields. Where such is tire case it 
will be nearly valued. Corn and potatoes wer e 
greatly injured by the drought, but the pres¬ 
ent ralua will benefit the late corn and potatoes, 
while they will also fit the soil for plowing and 
seeding. The largest breadth of wheat will be 
sowd iu this county this Fall that was ever 
known. Many varieties are grown, but 
Fultz aud Frame take the lead, the Frame 
being earlier has the preference. Both are 
hardy and yield well. The Odossa, or Grass 
Wheat, a new Russian variety, ia a very prom¬ 
ising late kind, but It ia not extensively in¬ 
troduced ; it is hardy, with a fctlff straw which 
standB well up, and it will stand drought und 
chinch bugs, I believe, better than any other 
sort raised here. Our fruit crop never was 
so large—thousands of bushels of apples and 
peaches, must goto waste in this county. The 
best of each are worth only twenty-five cent6 
per bushel; grapes are selling at one and one- 
half to two cents per pound. a. b d. 
Kan., Parsons. Labette Co., Aug. 31—1 has¬ 
ten to correct the statement made in mv last 
as to tbe character of the corn crop of South¬ 
eastern Kaubae. I wub altogether too fast in 
Btating »hat the corn crop was safe aud un¬ 
precedentedly large. There hardly seems a 
sufficient reason for the change. It seemed 
