ISEPT. 25 
NEW-VORKER. 
647 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
(Continued from pngs 612.) 
The Report Furnished to the English Parlia¬ 
ment by the tlnmnilssionera, Messrs. 
Head mid Pell. 
From the speeches delivered at various times 
by Messrs. Read and Pell touching their agricul¬ 
tural Investigations while visiting this country, we 
have quoted all that could prove of especial In¬ 
terest to our readers. Much of this Report is 
merely a repetition of those speeches, and we 
now select from It only such portions as have 
not been referred to before: 
“ Few English farmers have any Idea of the hard 
and constant work which falls to the lot of even 
well-to-do farmers In America. Save In the harv¬ 
est, certainly no agricultural laborer in England 
expends anything like the same time and strength 
In his day’s work. 
M AcntNKBY.—The readiness with which tho 
tillers of the soil take to machinery In America 
would surprise some of the farmers in the Old 
Country. The skill and ease with which they are 
worked say something ror the manufacturer, but 
still more for the Intelligence of the farmer. In 
America the presence of labor-saving maohtnery 
upon even a small farm Is an absolute necessity. 
There ts the further Inducement to obtain Imple¬ 
ments of all kinds by buying tbem on long loans 
and by paying for them by Installments, which 
sometimes tempts a farmer to buy more machin¬ 
ery than he can afford. The machines used upon 
the farms are well constructed and exceedingly 
light and handy. When one hears of tho perish¬ 
able nature of the American implements, it would 
appear that the chief fault rests with the farmer 
rather than the maker. We should say that 
good machinery and improved Implements are 
much more common on American than English 
farms. The tools are certainly lighter, better 
shaped and better made. 
Exhaustion op the Soil— Whenever the nat¬ 
ural fertility of the virgin soil is exhausted, or in¬ 
deed seriously Impaired, and recuperative crops 
have to he introduced to repair the damage, then 
no doubt the expenses of growing wheat In the 
western prairies and the great river basins of 
America will he Increased. That this exhaustion 
must come one day with continuous wheat, grow¬ 
ing. followed by burning the straw. Is quite cer¬ 
tain. But It cannot come Immediately. The ac¬ 
cumulated vegetable deposits of centuries, and 
the untold number of grass crops that burn or rot 
upon the prairies, are not to be exhausted In a few 
years When wheat shows signs of flagging, the 
simple alternative of a crop of Indian corn seems 
sufficient to restore Its fertility. And In north¬ 
ern latitudes, where maize cannot he grown, 
one year’s clover plowed m suffices for another 
round of wheat crops. But the impoverished con¬ 
dition of some of the Eastern States, and the 
necessity of manuring and rotating the crops in 
others, plainly Indicate that the fertility of the 
virgin soil, however great, Is not Inexhaustible. 
The Corn Crop.— Next In importance to the 
wheat crop, If Indeed It, does not olalm first rank, 
cornea corn. Slowly, hut surely, It Is thrusting 
the cultivation of the noble grain northward, and 
while wheat, maybe said to be now cultivated to 
the boRt, advantage In the valleys or the Missouri, 
Mississippi and Ohio, with their affluents north of 
latitude Br. degrees, corn will he found as a main 
crop rrora the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of the 
great lakes, and extending from Texas and Kan¬ 
sas In the west to New Jersey, Carolina and Flor¬ 
ida In the east. The cost of growing an acre In 
Iowa Is given at about $5.50, and the cost per 
bushel, taking the yield at 40 bushels, at 13.825 
cents. Another estimate gives the co9t at $5.20— 
this is In Missouri, also on prairie land. Maize as 
a rotation crop answers the same end as root 
crops In England. The land Is rested, cleaned 
and enriched by its introduction. There Is no 
crop in which so little hazard is incurred as in 
this. With wheat the uncertainty is great; out 
of eighteen crops In Ohio six only were full crops, 
some were utterly destroyed by drought, but dur¬ 
ing the same period corn never failed, and the 
average yield was 35 bushels. The variations of 
price have been as marked as with other commod¬ 
ities, ranging within the last 10 years from 13 
cents and 20 cents a bushel up to r>o cents, the 
average for the United states being 42 cents from 
1871 to 1878, The yield, of course, varies with the 
quality of the land from 20 bushels up to oo 
bushels an acre, the average from 1803 to 1878 
being 26bushels. In the river bottoms 60 
bushels are exceeded. While the profit which 
the farmer derives in England by the growth 
of roots ts an Indirect one, and Is esti¬ 
mated by taklDg Into consideration the value 
of the manure which is left from their con¬ 
sumption by sheep or cattle, m America the profit 
Is a direct one. Corn bought at 25 cents a bushel 
brings hack 80 Cents when given to hogs, If the 
latter sell eveu at as low a price as three cents a 
pound live weight, Tho annual growth of corn 
has of late years enormously Increased. In isos 
there were nearly 35 , 000,000 acres planted, and In 
1878, 51,500.000, but the money value per acre has 
keen steadily declining. Tills Increased abundance 
and cheapness have made It the object ot a consid¬ 
erable and growing export trade, so much so that 
probably over six per cent. o( the crop finds Its 
way abroad. 
Barley.— We saw and heard hut little of the 
cultivation of barley. The few samples which we 
had an opportunity ot examining on the farms of 
the United States were almost universally ot a 
poor character, the grain being lean, irregular 
and parched. It Is, However, remarkable that the 
Canadian barley finds Its way Into the United 
States In tho face of a duty ot 15 cents per 
bushel, and goes Into consumption there In con¬ 
siderable quantities In the form of malt. The 
natural weight ot the Canadian barley is lower 
than that of the Californian by several pounds 
per bushel. The growth of oats appears to be 
steadily Increasing. In 1874 the acreage was 
nearly 11,000,000, in 1878 it exceeded 13,000,000. n 
THE RURAL 
Potatoes.—T he acreage devoted to the growth 
of potatoes does not materially increase: It was 
1,333,333 In 1874, and In 1878 It bad only reached 
1,750,009, Tho State of New York furnishes one- 
fifth of the whole area. The quality, except in 
the Southwestern states, was universally good. 
The average yield la not very large, being esti¬ 
mated at 88 bushels per acre, 60 pounds to the 
bushel. 
American Oxen.— Any one who has seen the 
splendid American oxen which are Imported Into 
this country, and the massive quarters of prime 
beef which find their way across the Atlantic, 
might bo somewhat surprised and disappointed at 
the comparatively few really well-bred cattle that 
are to be found in the United States. There are, 
no doubt, In Kentucky and the surrounding States, 
thousands of beautiful, robust, pure-bred Short¬ 
horns. But In tho Eastern States the cattle are 
mostly ordinary dairy stock, descended from the 
common breeds of the early settlers, with only 
here and there a herd of really good cattle. In the 
South and West the Texan and other similar 
breeds predominate, the originals being no doubt 
imported from Spain. It is only the primest 
bullocks that are exported dead or alive to great 
Britain. The market here will not answer for 
any but the best beef, as the expenses of transit 
are almost as heavy upon an Inferior as upon a 
really good beast. 
Of the enormous crops of maize raised In the 
Middle States of America the quantity exported 
has never exceeded seven per cent. The rest must 
be consumed within the Union; a large portion of 
It close to the spot where it grew. By convening 
hts maize Into beef and perk the American farmer 
expects 10 receive double the value he could com¬ 
mand for this corn. The manure from the stock 
so fed is esteemed of no value, and Is generally re¬ 
garded as a nuisance. The way ot regarding It Is 
altogether different from that of tho English far¬ 
mer, who, when he uses grain or other artificial 
food for tils grazing animals, has Invariably to look 
for a large portion of his return in the Improved 
value of the manure thus produced. 
Fresh Meat Transportation.— The admirable 
manner In which the transit of fresh meat Is man¬ 
aged In America and on hoard the steamships now 
Insures with almost perfect certainty Its arrival 
In prime condition on these shores. All this seems 
to point to a greater development of the dead meat 
trade, aud until some more stringent methods are 
enforced for the eradication of pleura-pneumonia 
In the United States, the unrestricted Imports of 
live cattle into the Interior of these islands cannot 
for the present he resumed with any safety, The 
American government seems now quite alive to the 
necessity of stamping out pleura-pneumonia and 
other contagious diseases. The fact that these 
disorders only exist In the Eastern states, and 
principally among the dairy stock or the great 
cities, proves pretty clearly that they are Imported 
and are not of American origin. Nowhere In the 
Middle or Western do we find any traces ot pleuro¬ 
pneumonia, root-and-mouth, and suen-ltke contag¬ 
ious diseases. Whenever America can show a clean 
hill of cattle health, and live Imports are again in¬ 
troduced, a considerable trade in store stock will 
probably be developed. The cost of transit of 
great numbers or store cattle need not be so heavy 
as It Is now. More of such stock could go In the 
railroad trucks and In the ships’ holds than Is now 
allotted to fat animals. 
Hogs and Bacon.— The pig in America has a 
happy time of It. He roams everywhere at pleas¬ 
ure ; he 13 monarch of all he surveys. His freedom 
may he purchased at the expense of shelter, for 
covered pens are exceedingly rare, hut the pig 
seems a much more hardy animal in the New World 
than In the Old. lie makes the most of hts advan¬ 
tages, and at a comparatively early age comes to a 
considerable weight. The average live weight of 
a pig killed lu Winter Is stated to he 280 pounds, in 
Summer It 13 240 pounds. Twenty per cent, reduc¬ 
tion from the live weight Is supposed to give the 
average weight of the dead carcass. Nowhere can 
such grand herds of swine be seen as In the maize 
states of the Union Save In the Indian Territory 
you may see a thousand pigs without finding a 
really bad one, and there can bo no doubt that the 
swine stock of America Is generally superior to 
that ot England. The Berkshire la the most com¬ 
mon breed; they come to early maturity, and have 
a 1 arge amount of lean meat in proportion to the 
fat. The other most popular breed is the Poland- 
Clilna. These pigs fatten very readily and come 
to an enormous weight, hut the pork is not equal 
In quality to that of the Improved Berkshlres, 
The rapidity with which hogs are slaughtered 
and dressed In tho great curing houses of Amer¬ 
ica Is well known. All that need he said here is 
that the pig Is seized by the hind leg, hauled 
aloft, stuck, bled to death, scalded, scraped, disem¬ 
boweled, beheaded, halved and run Into the chilled 
chamber In 10 to 15 minutes. The pig In America 
Is not without some drawbacks, it Is exposed to 
various diseases, the most fatal being hog cholera, 
or whac is now termed lu England swine fever. 
No cure Is known for It, and no substantial rea¬ 
son has yet been assigned for Its origin, it Is 
highly contagious, and occasionally clears off all 
the pigs In the district. Its ravages In some re¬ 
gions are so extensive that farmers are compelled 
to give up keeping pigs tor a time. The great 
danger which must result to our home stock from 
importing live pigs from any country where this 
fatal disease is so prevalent confirms the necessity 
of making the recent orders prohibiting such Im¬ 
portations, ror a time at least, permanent. The 
infinitesimal proportion of live pigs to the pork 
we receive from the other side of the Atlantic 
renders the prohibition of no consequence to the 
consumers of this country. 
Poultry.— Not much can be said in praise of 
the poultry of the United States, with the excep¬ 
tion ot the turkeys, which are generally good, and 
are raised without much difficulty. They do not, 
however, appear to reach the great weight of our 
English birds, being of a slighter form, approach¬ 
ing that of the wild stock. If it may be said of 
the Texan cattle that they are all “legs and 
horn8,”the American fowl may be described as all 
“legs and elbows,” and when plucked presents, 
with Its bright yellow skin, a most uninviting ap¬ 
pearance. They are, too, restless and sprawling, 
and If food were not abundant and cheap, would 
for the table be unremuncraf lve. They are, how¬ 
ever, in request for a change from the perpetual 
repetition of tenderloin and fillet of beef, and the 
prices paid are somewhat high. 
Conclusions.— The view we took of the agricul¬ 
tural affairs in the United States was of necessity 
a broad and general one, and only in some special 
matters were we able to go Into particulars. We 
came to the conclusion, however, that, after all, 
America la no paradise; that in the contest for 
agricultural supremacy, while fresh unexhausted 
soil, a level surface and the absence of stones are 
highly favorable for the profitable use of modern 
machinery and the manufacture ot grain by a 
scouring course of cropping, still drawbacks exist 
which tell in favor ot the Old Country. They may 
be stated In a few word3. Severe Winters, putting 
a stop to agricultural employment, dangerous 
droughts, Injurious Insects, and Ln the prairie land 
(In the absence ot lakes) a short supply ot good 
water. With regard to cattle, for the present the 
American stockman ln the West is possessed of 
singular advantages; land for nothing, and abun¬ 
dance of U; ln the East good markets for dairy 
ana other produce, and in the Middle States 
excellent pastures or Blue Grass (Piw pratmsls). 
The growth of this plant too is extending far be¬ 
yond Its old home of Kentucky, and Is now being 
established to the west or the Missouri. Its suc¬ 
cess ln this district opens fresh prospects to the 
grazer, who will tn time bring the improved turf 
under the hoof of thoroughbred stock, or at least, 
of highly graded cattle. The Western country, 
however, is poorly watered for the better class of 
stock, which suffer It left short of this supply, and 
the struggle for water rights for native cattle, 
which suffer less rrom drought, threatens ere long 
to become a serious difficulty; the allotment of 
land and the termination of free range will tend 
to make cattle raising more costly, though, on the 
Other hand, the Increased consumption of the pop¬ 
ulation as it advances toward the Western plains 
will enhance prices. We have referred to the Im¬ 
portant part the railroad fills tn developing agri¬ 
cultural wealth in the United States. No effort is 
spared on the part of the people to thrust this 
right arm of civilization as far as It can he made 
to reach; with them It is not population first and 
the railroad to follow, but the latter first as a 
means to the former, with an Intelligence quick 
to design and a spirit eager and daring to carry out 
these enterprises It IS difficult to account for a 
dullness of apprehension which tolerates the con¬ 
tinuance of a tariff so hurtful to foreign trade and 
domestic economy as in some measure to render 
the position ot the English agriculturist more ad¬ 
vantageous than that of the American. 
Clark Sewbli. Read. 
Albert Pell. 
-M-*- 
Hop Bitters cures by removing the cause of 
sickness and restoring vitality. 
orafstir (groitomii. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
it is baked. How to have my bread crust soft 
and tender was a problem that puzzled me 
much in my first yearB of housekeeping, and it 
was not solved until after three or four years 
of trial. Lay one end of your bread cloth down 
smoothly, and as you take your loaves out of 
the oven, put them on the cloth in the same 
position in which thev stood in the tins: then 
spread the other end of the cloth over them, 
and over that turn each tin over its own loaf. 
When you make your bread into loaves, do not 
have your tins more than two-thirds full, or 
else the tins will not fit over the loaves nicely 
after they are done. 
Bye Bread. 
Some one inquired about making rye bread. 
I sponge mine at night exactly as I do my 
wheat bread. In the morning, when it is light, 
I stir in rye flonr until it is quite thick (do not 
knead it at all); put it in tins, and when it is 
light bake. Rye does not need as much yeast 
as wheat; if you get in too much, after it is 
cold the top crust will separate from the rest 
of the loaf. 
Dried Crab Apples. 
To those who live in that part of the West 
where appleR are scarce, I would say, if you 
have crab apples dry them; they needuo peel¬ 
ing, and for mince or dried fruit pies they are 
the best apples that can be used; they need no 
cider or anything of the kind. 
Pearlier Cake. 
One egg. one cup of sugar, one tablespoonful 
of butter, three-fourths of a cup of sour milk; 
one half teaspoonful of saleratus, two cups of 
flour. 
Gingerbread. 
One cup sirup, two tablespoonfuls melted 
butter, one teaspoonlul ginger ; mix thorough¬ 
ly together ; one teaspoon ful saleratus in one 
cup of boiling water; let it cool a few mo¬ 
ments, then put all together, and stir in lightly 
three cups of flour. 
Cookies. 
One cup sugar, one cup sirup, three-fourth 
cup butter, one cup of sour milk, one large 
teaspoonful saleratus. some ginger and flour 
enough to roll out. Cut in squares. 
Jelly not Hardening. 
Can some one tell me what to do with my 
currant jelly ? After Testing in a sunny win¬ 
dow for two or threedays. it was nicely jellied. 
I set it on an upper pantry shelf, where 1 think 
it must have been too warm, for after several 
days, when I came to look at it, in tipping the 
glass I found a portion of it was in liquid form. 
Shall I boil it again ? If anyone has had a 
similar experience, will she please respond at 
once, if she has a remedy. 
Will some one teU me just how to make a 
good jelly cake to roll ? I don’t succeed ln 
making it as nice as some I have eaten. 
Mrs. I. C. C. 
-- 
DOMESTIO RECIPES. 
KEEPING SWEET POTATOES. 
MARY BEAL MO LOUTH. 
If G. H. T. t of Mass, does not wish to keep 
sweet potatoes on a very large scale, perhaps 
our plan would be practicable. In our former 
home we had a closet in the chamber, which 
was nearly surrounded by other rooms, and 
chanced to be over a stove in which there was 
a lire every day. We cut a hole through the 
floor, and put in a small tin thimble. This let 
the hot air up and kept the room sufficiently 
warm, and could be closed if too warm. The 
potatoes were dried thoroughly, then packed 
in a barrel or box with very dry sand—sand 
and potatoes alternately, barely letting the 
latter touch each other. Cover with sand, and 
after they have stood two weeks, finish with 
an old quilt or carpet to keep them from the 
air. They will wither after a while, so as not 
to be good for eating, but will keep until time 
to be pat out in a hot-bed. 
Rice. 
Put three tablespoonfuls of rice in a baking- 
dish, fill it with milk and set in the oven 
where you are keeping a slow fire. If done at 
break fast-time or an hour later, it will finish 
cooking nicely by the time your dinner is 
ready, if you do not need to make a great heat 
for that purpose. If meat is roastiDg, an hour 
and a half will cook the rice. It is a very pal¬ 
atable dish; you get all the richness of the 
milk, and can hardly persuade a novice that 
there are no eggs in your pudding. 
Our children are fond of boiled rice, and we 
generally contrive to have some in Summer on 
washing days, using the water in which it is 
just boiled, strained and blued, as starch for 
all light calico dresses and linen aprons. It 
answers the purpose well. Annie L. Jack. 
HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 
Soft Croat. 
I should like to add a few words to that 
interesting article on bread making in the Ru¬ 
ral of Aug. 31st. It is only to tell young 
housekeepers what to do with their bread after 
Roast Oysters. 
Open, leaving the oysters upon the lower 
shells, place in a large dripping-pan and set 
on the upper grate in a quick oven for 10 min¬ 
utes. Take out, season with butter, pepper 
and salt and serve upon the shells. 
Broiled Oysters. 
Select large ones, wipe dry and broil upon a 
fine wire gridiroD. By dredging with flour 
before broiling, a crust is formed which is 
liked by many. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, 
and drop a bit of butter upon each. 
Oyster Soup. 
One quart of solid oysters free from grit. 
Pour into a sauce-pan two quarts of boiling 
water ; crearu a large tablespoon ful of flour 
with a half teacupful of butter, thicken the 
boiling water with the uaste. season with pep¬ 
per, boil up, add the oysters and cook until 
the edges curl. Have heated a teacupful of 
sweet cream or as rich milk as you can get, 
turn into the tureen, pour in the oysters and 
serve. 
Oyster Pates. 
A quart of solid oysters minced fine; a coffee- 
cupful of rich, new milk, seasoned with a 
tablespoon ful of butter, pepper aud salt to 
taste and thickened with a teaspoonful of corn¬ 
starch ; some shapes of pnff pastry baked 
in small tins. When the milk has boiled and 
thickened, add the minced oysters and simmer 
five minutes. Fill the shells with this mixture, 
set into the oven for two minutes and send to 
the table at once. Mary B. 
Fttvre Beaus. 
Boil some white beans until quite dry and 
tender. Into a four quart baking dish put an 
inch layer of the beans, seasoned with pepper 
and salt, strew over minced bits of salt pork, 
cover with a layer of raw oysters, sprinkle 
with powdered cracker crumbs and bits of 
butter and cover with another layer of beans, 
thus alternating until the dish is almost full. 
The beaus should make the last layer. Pour 
over a pint, or more if the beans were very 
dry, of oyster liquor, cover and bake half an 
hour, removing the coyer toward the last that 
the top may brown. Major. 
