the meal-ration, in order that both kinds of 
feed may be mixed together as much as possi¬ 
ble in the rumen to induce rumination and to 
prolong the period of the absorption of the 
food in the stomach. The best way to give 
meal is with roots, and. in the absence of 
these, to chop or cut hay and mix it with the 
meal ration, the whole being wetted. This 
system of feeding will insure a more perfect 
mastication, as well as rumination and diges¬ 
tion-all three important and really parts of 
a perfect system of feeding any animal of this 
genus. 
WASTE IN CORN MEAL. 
In feeding clear corn meal there is always a 
waste proportionate to the amount fed in a 
double sort of ratio. A close examination of 
the excrement will always show this. Other 
foods taken iuto the stomach with it help in 
its digestion. Bran should always be mixed 
with it. Without going iuto the chemistry of 
the matter, it may he sutlicieut to say that ex¬ 
perience has taught me that on a ration of 
bran, corn meal and linseed meal, mixed in 
the proportion of three, two and one respect¬ 
ively, cattle will grow faster than when fed 
the same measure of clear corn meal. 
STOMACHS DIFFER. 
Two head of cattle of the same age stand¬ 
ing side by side may eat alike, but it does not 
follow that they digest alike. The difference 
in this respect should be carefully noticed, 
and the animals be fed accordingly—each get¬ 
ting more or less than the other according to 
its ability to digest its food. The difference in 
digestion may be detected by the condition of 
the excrement as well as by the general ap¬ 
pearance of the animal. A looseness of the 
bowels indicates too much food, although it 
may exist from other causes. Cold horns and 
a light skin show that the animal does not get 
food enough or has poor digestion, which 
makes a feeble circulation of the blood, of 
which no doubt there is a scanty supply. 
Such an animal must have a variety of food 
and be kept out of the cold. A moderate dose 
of stimulants daily will do it good. 
YOUNG THINGS. 
Sudden changes of food should always be 
avoided with young animals Lt is the best 
plan to give them bran, or ground oats, mixed 
with one-fourth of linseed meal, and to make 
this food uniform throughout the entire Win¬ 
ter. They should be fed regularly, as two 
meals crowded into the stomach too close to¬ 
gether are likely to produce disarraugement 
and scours. 
ENSILAGE. 
RICHAHD GOODMAN, JR. 
That is a capital two-inch editorial in the 
Rural of March 1, on the ensilage craze, it 
gives the whole thing in a nutshell. For the 
butter-maker, ensilaged food can be of but 
little value: a few roots to keep the bowels in 
good order, and what need of all this wet 
stuff? In fact, admirable butter can be made 
and excellent cattle raised in New England 
on corn-meal, bran and hay, all dry, and noth¬ 
ing else whatever. I am inclined to think 
that for the butter-maker, roots are an unne¬ 
cessary expense, much more so ensilage. 
I am intimately acquainted with a farm in 
New England on which, for a dozen years, a 
herd of 20 or 80 Jerseys have been kept, which 
have averaged 800 pounds of butter a year on 
grass only in the Summer, and one quart of 
corn-meal, three quarts of bran and 20 pouuds 
of hay a day in the Winter, and during these 
dozen years they have had neither ensi¬ 
lage nor roots: yet the butter from those cattle 
brings 60 cents a pound the year round, and 
has taken first prizes in famous dairy shows, 
and the cattle bred at this farm have taken 
first prizes at State fairs. Why bother about 
silos and ensilage? 
Some enthusiasts would reply, “By using en¬ 
silage at £2 a ton, you can sell your hay at $14 
a ton.” In the first place, it is yet undecided 
whether ensilage and-grain butter is equal in 
quality to hay-aud-grain butter. In the sec¬ 
ond place, I am strongly inclined to doubt the 
figures given ns even by the most conservative 
of the ensilagists. No two Of them yet agree 
in regard to the average yield per acre of 
ensilage crops, much less in regard to the 
average cost per ton—not put into thr silo, but 
fed to the stock —that is where we want to 
know the cost, for then we shall have the ex¬ 
pense of making and repairing the silos in¬ 
cluded. I am inclined to believe that as long 
as land does not cost more than $50 to $100 an 
acre, and help does not cost less than $1.50 to 
$2 a day, hay will be just as cheap to feed as 
ensilage. And hay will be a great deal better 
for butter, in the opinion of careful butter 
makers, for many a long day yet. 
For milk producers, the use of ensilage may 
have much to commeud it. Where quantity 
of milk regardless of quality is sought for, 
ensilage, like brewers’ grains, may be very 
profitably fed; at all events, it may be consid¬ 
ered a safe and lawful substitute for the pump 
in increasing the amount of the Winter pro¬ 
duct. I observe that those who advocate en¬ 
silage most loudly are generally men who are 
spending other people’s money, not their own; 
or they are men engaged in the manufacture 
or the sale of ensilage supplies, from cement 
to seed coni. I can imagine it to be most 
enjoyable to make and fill silos if you don’t 
have to pay for the masons and the machines 
aud the men ou the farm! But this is a sen¬ 
sation we do not all experience. 
I am not eondemuiug all ensilage under all 
circumstances and for all purposes. For the 
milk producer, for the beef producer, and per¬ 
haps for the raiser of sheep aud poultry, ensi¬ 
lage may be of value; but here its value may 
be offset by its cost; but. for the breeders of 
fine butter stock aud for the makers of fine 
butter, ensilage would appear to be wholly 
unnecessary aud possibly, decidedly harmful. 
Certainly, the subject will bear a good deal 
more investigation. 
fit'll) Crops. 
GBxpcnmcttt (Svounds 0t‘ the $uval 
DtcuHBorhcr. 
THE RURAL UNION CORN. 
The originator of this corn wrote us two 
years ago as follows: “ 1 have cultivated it 
for 20 years. Two hundred bushels of ears 
have been raised to the acre—115 bushels of 
shelled corn. It ripens in l .H) days, and grows 
to the average bight of about five feet, vary¬ 
ing somewhat according to soil. It is sure to 
produce three cal’s to a stalk. It is from 
eight to ten-rowed—generally eight—the best 
ears averaging 57 kernels to the row. The 
cob is of a pink color, the kernel very broad 
and quite deep. The color varies from light 
buff to a reddish-orange. The cob is small. 
It makes meal of the first quality, aud may be 
grown from Texas to Maine—from New York 
to California.” 
An examination of a peck of ears which he 
(the originator) kindly sent to us corroborated 
—in so far as they could—his own report, aud 
we resolved to raise a quantity of it and to 
risk it in our next seed distribution. A poor, 
well-worn, saudv-loam field was selected for 
its cultivation. The land was plowed as early 
in the Spring as the weather permitted, and 
well mellowed and leveled with the Acme 
Harrow. Eight hundred pouuds of the Mapes 
Corn Manure were broadcasted and harrowed 
in. On May 9th the corn was planted with 
the Farmers’ Friend Drill. This plants two 
drills at once four feet apart, dropping a 
single kernel every 10, 15, or 20 inches apart, 
as desired. A reversible marker, attached 
behind, makes ft mark which the horses aud 
machine are to straddle for the next two drills. 
It works admirably. With this machine fer¬ 
tilizers may or may not be drilled in with the 
corn, and by using different plates the seed 
may be dropped iu checks at any distance 
desired. In this case a boy rides on a little 
seat in front, moving a lever at every check. 
The coru may be planted at any depth, aud 
the draft of the machine is such that two light 
horses may work it all day without undue 
fatigue. 
The seed germinated finely, and the drills 
could soon be traced by the little greeu plants 
all growing in lines as straight as if they had 
been planted by hand under cords stretched at 
equal distances across the long, narrow Geld. 
Soon, however, the moles which infested the 
land began their destructive work. They 
would follow tbe drills sometimes for 20 feet, 
whether to eat the roots or what remained of 
the kernel, or for some other inscrutable pur¬ 
pose, we cau not say. The plants were destroy 
ed aud a replanting of such drills was made by 
hand on May 24, and it was thought one-third 
of Jbe entire field was gone over. This was 
done to little purpose, as the moles soon 
opened the same runs, aud for the most part 
again destroyed the seeds or plants. It was 
cultivated June 6 with a shallow-running 
cultivator between the drills, and by hoe be¬ 
tween the plants, and kernels were again 
dropped in the many missing places, again to 
no purpose. The stand was but two-tnirds of 
what it ought, to have been. It was again 
cultivated June 22, July 5 aud August 5. 
The corn was ripe August 25. Up to July 5 
the season was favorable, though, perhaps, a 
little cold, aud the corn was deemed very 
promising, After that a drought com¬ 
menced which, in this light soil, was seen to 
affect the corn at once. Growth ceased, the 
leaves curled, no sets formed, and the meas¬ 
ured yield was but 82 bushels of ears to the 
acre. The stalks grew to the bight of from 
eight to nine feet. Few bore two ears—many 
were barren. 
Never did a corn-field receive better care. 
Not a weed was permitted to grow, and dur¬ 
ing the entire season the soil was kept as mel¬ 
low and as level as a garden patch of onions. 
Many of our readers may think that the yield 
would have been greater had we “hilled up.” 
But we believe that moisture is conserved by 
flat cultivation, aud that neither chemical 
fertilizers nor weekly cultivation will bring a 
fine crop of corn on a light, leachy soil in dry 
weather. 
THE RURAL BLOUNT’S CORN. 
This was originally Blount’s White Prolific, 
now greatly changed by years of selection 
and crossing. Ever since we distributed this 
remarkable variety of corn, we have selected 
our seed ears with great care, aud the change 
thus wrought is now very marked. We have 
never used an ear of corn for seed that grew 
upon a plant bearing more than one stalk. 
Thus the suckering propensity has been re¬ 
duced to a minimum. Suckers are rarely 
seen. We select the most perfect ears from 
the earliest-maturing, shortest plants, which 
bear the greatest number of ears, and those 
lovrest on the stalks. Thus it ripens two 
weeks earlier than it did at first, and the plants 
do not grow as tall by from two to four feet. 
For several years we raised a small plot far 
away from the main plot. On this the tassels 
of all faulty plants were cut off as soon as 
they appeared, and pollen from the best 
plants of the field was used to pollenate the 
silk of the others. 
Half-a-mile from the Rural Union Com, on 
a strong clay loam, we last year raised our 
Rural Blount Coru. The land—15-16 of an 
acre—had been in grass for several years. 
Twenty tons of coarse barn-yard manure 
were plowed under, and 15 bushels of un¬ 
leached ashes were spread and harrowed in. 
The corn was planted by hand iu drills four 
feet apart—single kernels 15 inches apart in 
the drills. All but 10 rows to the east were 
cultivated flat. In August, after a dry spell, 
these 10 rows were the first to suffer, and as 
the drought continued the stalks turned yel¬ 
low, while the plants of the rest of the field 
were still green and growing, A better 
marked case of the advantage of flat cultiva¬ 
tion over hilling up, in dry weather, we have 
never seen. The yield of the entire plot was 
at the rate of 160 bushels of ear corn to the 
acre 
TESTS OF NEW VARIETIES OF POTATOES CON¬ 
TINUED. 
Arundell Rose. Test 65 B. From Hiram 
Sib'ey & Co., Rochester, N. Y. The reader 
will refer to othei reports for the kind of soil 
of the “B”-plot. Seed pieces and distance 
apart the same as iu all other testa; cultiva¬ 
tion fiat; 800 pounds of potato chemical fer¬ 
tilizer were used to the acre. The yield was 
at the rate of 580. SO bushels to the acre. 
Among the largest, five weighed three pounds 
nine ounces. Large and small, 142,296 to the 
acre, or 9 4-5 to the bill. Rose skin, eyes as in 
Early Rose. Quite late. Eaten Oct. 16: 
white flesh, mealy, mild flavor. 
Dakota Red. Test 66 B. From Sibley & 
Co. Yield 314.60. Best five weighed two 
pounds 8}{ ounces. Large and small, 84.216 to 
the acre, or 5 4-5 to the hilL Skin rose-pink 
or light purple, Prominent eyes; not very 
even surface; oblong, irregular, flattened. 
Eaten March 2d, the flesh was rather dark and 
the quality not of the best, 
Jones’s Prize-taker. Test 68. From J. 
A. Everett, Watsoutown, Pa. Yield 252.12 
bushels to the acre. Best five weighed two 
pounds oVj ounces. Large aud small, 79,800 to 
the acre, or to a hill. General appearance 
that of Early Rose with a lighter skin. Quite 
early. Flesh yellowish-white—quality best. 
Seedling. Test 69 B. From D. N. West, 
Hayden, Gallatin Co., Montana. The follow¬ 
ing is an extract from Mr. West’s lettei: “ It 
is a seedling without name. Planted one eye 
in a hill 18 inches apart, rows 3 1 .;, feet apart, 
irrigated three times, hoed once, plowed once. 
They grew very large with few small ones. 
The largest weighed 4pouuds (!), aud to-day 
1 can select out of every hundred pouuds, as 
they come, 20 potatoes that will weigh one 
pound each.” 
The Rural yield was at the rate of 399.3 
bushels to the acre. Best five weighed three 
pounds three ounces. Large and small 104,544 
to the acre, or 7 1-5 to a hill. Very smooth, 
shapely; eyes not. deep, light-buff skiu. The 
engravings showu at figures 94 and 95, by two 
different artists, of the same potato, show the 
characteristic shape. Quite early. Eaten 
Oct. 7: quite breaking and fine-grained, but 
not quite dry. 
Seedling. Test 70 B. From M. L. Heltzel, 
Colfax, Whitman Co., W. T., who wrote: “ I 
send you a cross between a late white potato 
(name unknown) and the Early \ ermont. 
Both the white aud red were raised from one 
small potato, one side of which was red the 
other white.” The white yielded 882,71 
bushels to the acre. Best five weighed three 
pounds 2)4 ounces. Large und small, 68,970 
to the acre, or to the bill. White skiu: 
tuber the shape of the Early Rose. Straggles 
in the hill. Eaten Oct. 8: rather dark in 
places; not dry. Early. The red above re¬ 
ferred to yielded at the rate of 564.66 bushels 
to the acre. Best five weighed four pounds 
eight ounces. Large and small, 99,220 to the 
acre, oj- 6 5-6 to the hill. Light, bright purple 
skin, streaks of buff showing occasionally. 
Shape long, round, rather deep, and with 
numerous eyes. Straggles in the hill. Eaten 
Oct. 20: rather dark flesh, dry, nutty. Quite 
early, though later than the other. 
Various. 
RAYS. 
TO FORM A LAWN. 
Making the Lawn.— If about to form a new 
lawn, be it large or small, it will pay you to 
make a good job of it. Whether prepared by 
plow or spade, the laud should be subsoiled 
aud care be taken to keep the good, or sur¬ 
face soil, at the top, and the subsoil iu the bot¬ 
tom, as before, A good dressing of well- 
rotted manure is highly beneficial. It should 
be turned under, but kept within a few inches 
of the surface, so as to be of immediate assist¬ 
ance to the young grass. Wheu preparing 
the ground, it is well to remove what rocks 
or stumps may be within a foot of the surface. 
This subsoiliug will not only be of lasting 
benefit to the grass, but also to whatever trees 
or shrubs are to be grown upon the space. It 
will likewise lessen the severity of Summer’s 
drought. To make a really good job, the 
ground should be prepared in the Fall and 
left unfinished till Spring, by which time 
rains, frost aud snow will have settled it so 
that all unevenness is readily discovered and 
then easily mended. But if we have to pre¬ 
pare our ground in Spring to be laid down to 
grass at once, wherever stumps or stones 
have been removed the soil should be firmly 
packed from the bottom up; then the whole 
surface of the lot should be properly leveled, 
trod or rolled. Whether we sow or sod our 
lawns, it should be done as early in Spring as 
the ground is in mellow, working order, so as 
to give the grass a good chance to get estab¬ 
lished before the dry, warm Summer sets iu. 
Whether level, rolling, or sloping, the surface 
of the lawn should be smooth aud even, with¬ 
out any puckers, bumps or hollows, aud so 
disposed that in Summer or Winter, water 
will not lodge iu pools in any part of it. Good 
drainage is very imporlaut, not only for the 
welfare of the grass, but also for that of the 
trees, shrubs, roses and other plants. If pos¬ 
sible, banks such as those around the house, 
also a 12 or 20-inch wide strip along the 
edges of the walks or roadways, should be 
sodded rather tbau sown, but broad, open 
spaces, as the body of the lawn, may as well be 
seeded down as sodded. An old cow pasture 
yields excellent sod. 
Walks, more especially foot-paths, should 
enter from the highway just about where 
one would vPish to come in any way. In the 
case of small house-lots, in most of them a 
straight pathway from, the street to the front 
door is the most desirable, but if a carriage¬ 
way to the door is required, a straight road 
would be impracticable. If there is but one 
entrance-gate, the carriage road should pass 
around a circle or oval grass plot; but if we 
may have two entrance gates, then the road 
may assume a horse shoe form; but iu either 
case I should dlsadvise a straight pathway, 
also, from the door to the street. A path or 
* roadway should run arouud at least one side 
of the house, from the frout to the rear door, 
and elsewhere where necessary; but no 
more paths should be made than are abso¬ 
lutely required. The beauty of a walk, to a 
great exteut, consists iu its meaning. There 
is no overcoming the straight road from the 
street, but elsewhere, if practicably, and as 
convenieut, a curved walk is prettier than a 
straight oue. But the curve should be an 
easy, graceful one, and not at all so much 
beut as to appear inconveniently rouudabout, 
or incite an inclination, wheu iu a hurry, to 
leave it or take a short cut. Avoid an S 
curve of any grade; it is meaningless; also 
wiggle or scroll curves—they are silly. Car¬ 
riage ways iu small places may be eight feet 
wide. Main walks should be six feet wide, 
a ad secondary ones, five or four feet. W alks 
should be wide enough to allow two persons 
to walk abreast comfortably. 
What treeh to tlant upou our lawus and 
around our homes depends ou a variety of 
circumstances; individual cases require in¬ 
dividual directions. Shelter from the north, 
northwest and northeast winds is accessary. 
A close belt of White or Norway Spruces, or 
of Austrian, Scotch, Red or White Fines may 
answer this purpose. A single or double row 
of shade-trees along the street side-walks in 
front of our houses, imparts a cosy, homey, 
comfortable appearance to our domiciles. 
Sugar and Norway Maples aud American 
Elms are admirable street trees. These and 
Red Maple, American Liuden, Black Walnut, 
