with a horse and cultivator, when wider space 
will be required. The drills may be made 
with a corn-marker, laying off two or three 
rows at once.” 
“ Choose, a still day for sowing, but if obliged 
to plant in windy weather, the seeds must lie 
wet or they will blow away before they can be 
covered. After wetting we sift dry d irt among 
them to prevent their sticking together. They 
should be strewn pretty thickly and covered 
with fine earth scarcely an inch deep; in a 
light or sandy soil they will bear to lie covered 
more deeply than in clayey lands. A dozen 
plants coming up near together, by their united 
efforts, can break the crust where One or two 
might fail to get through and would perish. 
If too thick, they may be thinned and trans¬ 
planted as easily as cabbages, setting them 
with the dibble or trowel. 
“ The plants- should remain in the drills but 
one season before transplanting to the place 
where they are to remain. They may be grown 
pretty thickly in the drills; one to three inches 
apart will do very well, even thicker will an¬ 
swer; if less crowded they will be larger, but 
this is not important. Wo usually plant about 
the middle of May and sometimes so late as the 
first of June, the eatalpa is such a good-natured 
tree it will not complain if put oil' until the 
hurry of Spring work is over, and will attain 
fair size if started early in June, This ap¬ 
plies equally to plants and seeds. 
“ So soon as the young plants appear and the 
rows can be distinctly seen, they should he 
gone through with the cultivator, and if weeds 
or grass appear among the plants they must 
be removed from the rows by using the hoe or 
by hand. * * * When prepared for plant¬ 
ing out they will grow up stronger if they are 
cut back to about two iuches above the collar. 
* * * Cultivate as for coni for two years, 
after which the trees will shade the ground if 
they have been planted four feet by four. 
and need not cost more than a thousand dol- 
lara So that the true use of the subterranean 
streams and lakes is to facilitate the herding of 
cattle on the plains, and not to encourage ag¬ 
riculture. This last hope is futile." 
As an abstract proposition, the cattle-men 
have the right to purchase and own as many 
acres of Western land as they desire, and will 
pay for; this, of course, all will concede. The 
future effect on the country of individuals or 
syndicates owning large tracts of land, is quite 
another question, of which it is not. now neces¬ 
sary to speak. The cattle interests of the 
West, however, while important, should have 
no more favor shown them than the agricul¬ 
tural interests: the same—no more, no less. 
Tbe man wishing to occupy 100 acres of land 
has to pay the Government for it in some way, 
either iu cash or l>y making certain improve¬ 
ments and occupying it. The cattle interest 
should do the same. "While there is no 
other demand for the Western lands now used 
for grazing without Government consent, no 
of insects and plants. To the beginner a good 
hand-lens is of far more value than a com¬ 
pound microscope. Even with the experienced 
student of botauy and entomology the same 
holds true. I use my hand lens more times 
each day than I do my compound microscope 
in a week. In fact, it is surprising what good 
work can be done with one of these hand micro¬ 
scopes, such as 1 advise a person to purchase. 
The best lens is Tollcs’s Chromatic Triplets. 
This, however, costs *14, and, as it is 
but little superior to the Coddington lens— 
which is similarly mounted in German silver 
and costs but two dollars—I should not advise 
its purchase. The Coddington Triplet is of 
foreigu make, and one such as is represented 
at Fig. 133 can be procured for §2. It should 
have a focal distance of three-fourths of an inch. 
These may be secured from any of the large 
dealers iu optical instruments. To use these 
glasses for dissection of either plants or insects, 
we need both hands free, and so must have a 
for its leaves, which are used as a salad. In 
this instance a sowing is made every week or 
two, out of doors or iu the house, according to 
the time of year, and the young plants are cut 
over aud used like mustard and cress. Or 
strong roots of mature plants are lifted and 
Chicory— Fig. 132. 
planted closely together iu beds, boxes or else¬ 
where where they can be kept warm so as to 
induce them to grow, and dark so as to blanch 
their leaves and thus render them more tender. 
Chicory roots dried and roasted are some¬ 
times used as a substitute for, or as a material 
with which to adulterate coffee. But Dr. Max¬ 
well T. Martel's has this to say about- it: “Chic¬ 
ory is entirely destitute of those properties 
which render coffee an agreeable and nutritive 
beverage, while, ou the other hand, it poseases 
medicinal properties closely like those of dan¬ 
delion, aud which therefore render it rm whole¬ 
some for constant use. Moreover, the chicory 
nsed to mix with coffee is very often largely 
adulterated with carrot, mangold-wurtzel, 
oak-bark, tan, mahogauj', saw-dust, baked 
horse liver, Venetian-red, etc., etc.” 
be obtained. When bona-Jidf settlers go ou 
them to improve them, neither the cattle inter¬ 
est nor any other should be permitted to inter¬ 
fere with, or retard, occupation. Bnt many hun¬ 
dreds of acres of growing crops have been eat¬ 
en up by stock belonging to men who have no 
legal rights to occupy lands, much less to tres¬ 
pass on the rights of those who are there to im¬ 
prove the property under provisions of law. 
It is simply nonsense to talk of these lands 
as useless for any other purpose than grazing. 
The valleys are now susceptible of the highest- 
cultivation, and as the author of the paragraph 
quoted himself admits and states, there are 
subterranean water supplies sufficient to irri¬ 
gate and make valuable millions of acres more. 
For years there have been efforts made by 
syndicates who desire to possess and control all 
those Western lands known ns arid, and which 
are partially so, The object is not so much for 
immediate grazing purposes, tut for future 
sale, speculation and use for agriculture. It is 
well known that the lands are rich in a II but 
water. Water applied, and they are all valu¬ 
able. This has been practically demonstrated 
both by actual experience and scientific inves¬ 
tigation. 
One of the Rural correspondents, from Pine 
Ridge, an extreme Western point, speaks of the 
hr IjcvDsmart 
RAISING CALVES. 
Formerly I used to raise calves by feeding 
them skimmed milk twice a day, and I usually 
fed them until they were five or six months 
old and thought, on comparing them with 
others not fed as long, that it paid extremely 
well to do so; but last Spring, not having con¬ 
veniences to handle milk profitably and wish¬ 
ing to send it to the factory. I tried a new r 
plan. Oilmeal was bought at $2.50 per cwt., 
and every morning a kettleful of t>orridge 
was made. One porringer full of the oilmeal 
was used, wet up iu a pan with cold water 
and then stirred into the boiling water. The 
kettle held about a pailful. This made a feed 
for ten calves both for morning and night. 
The meal swelled so when wet that it made the 
porridge sufficiently thick. When (lipped into 
the pails to be fed about a quart of skimmed 
milk was added for each calf, which amount 
of milk was decreased, and at last none was 
given as the calves got older. After a while a 
cup of middlings was used with the oil-meal. 
This kind of feeding was begun after the 
calves had been fed new milk until they were 
about four weeks old, and was kept up until 
they were five or six months old. Care was 
taken when this kind of feeding was begun 
not to overdo it at first, and they were accus¬ 
tomed to the new feed by degrees. The result 
has been all and more than was expected; 
the calves grew and throve in a way that did 
credit to their feed. They were kept in a 
pasture where they had grass and fresh water 
and went into the Winter in good condition? 
as good as any calves that we ever raised 
entirely on skimmed milk. A Volunteer. 
xarnt 
cmomij 
FARM BARNS. 
[For Illustrations see page 180.] 
In reply to a request for plans for a $600-baru 
in a late Rural, I send those shown at Fig. 138. 
The barn here represented is for horses, ca ttle 
and bay, aud is 58x00 feet, the main posts 
being 18 feet- and the outer posts eight feet iu 
length. The foundation is rock, two feet in 
the ground and one foot above ground at one 
end of barn; as the ground is not level the 
rock is over four feet out of t he ground at the 
other end. The interior, as well as the outside 
frame, is underlaid with rock. There are 356 
square feet in two eud walls (58 feet each) und 
there are four walls, each 60 feet long. The 
rock, lime aud building of the wall cost $00, 
nud the entire building, viz.. rock, wall, lum¬ 
ber, nails, hinges, fastenings to doors, sliingles 
and window lights, and building, all calculated, 
cost §047, exclusive of cost of hauling timber, 
etc. The barn has now 12 horses standing on 
one side and 10 cows ou the other side. There 
are three boxes inside, having slide doors or 
gates, which can be folded to make one or 
three boxes for cows with calves, or mares 
with colts; the boxes have a floor over them 
for hay. The interior of this barn will hold 
70 or more tons of hay; but in drawing 
another plan I would have the interior, or hay 
mow, narrower, ns a narrower building, but- 
longer, will hold as much hay and accommodate 
more horses und cattle. A subscriber. 
Chicory or succory, botanically known as 
Cichorium Intybus (Fig. 132), is one of those 
European plants which, like the White Weed 
aud the Canada Thistle, have come to America 
to stay with us and torment us. It has be¬ 
come extensively naturalized along road-sides 
aud waste places, especially near thickly-set¬ 
tled districts in the Eastern States. It is of 
biennial to perennial nature, will grow almost 
anywhere, but seems to prefer an open situa¬ 
tion and deep, free, rich soil. By means of 
seedlings it multiplies itself exceedingly. It is 
Faultless—From Nature—.See Page 1 
cattle interest ab-eady, without consent, fencing nearly rein i 
in large tracts of public land for grazing pur- pers-grass, 
poses, embracing the most fertile and well- deep-reach I 
watered valleys. Ex-Senator Teller, of Colo throws up i 
rado, now Secretary of the Interior Depart- are not iu 
ment, who, of coui'se, is a Western man, aud blossoms, w 
understands the situation, it seems, is disposed are freely 
to meet this question. By Associated Press re- months, an 
ports of a late date it appears that he regards the forenoo 
fern iug in the public lands without ownership those of tl 
or cousont as “a nuisauce, and detrimental to Plants in bl 
the public interest to the extent of preventing feet high, a 
settlement, and interrupting avenues of com- jy once t 
merce,” and that parties thus Infringing ous tipplioal 
“may be enjoined.” He has taken steps that jj ept f .p 0 
ILLEGAL OCCUPANCY OF WESTERN 
LANDS BY STOCKMEN. 
[For Illustration see page 17!>.] 
Make a slanting roof like that in the plan 
on a frame (Fig. 12!)), close the rear part and 
bore four or five half-inch holes near the point 
of the roof for ventilation. If you like you can 
have a door with proper fastenings (Fig. 131). 
I prefer one without, as there is so much less 
to attend to. Iu the front the bar A rests ou 
the ground like the lower end of the roof; put 
a similar bar at B to hold the door D (Fig. 130), 
then fasten slats inside so that when D is closed 
it will be flush with the bar A and the sides F, 
covering the spaces d, d, d, d. Hinge the door 
D to the bar B, aud put a button on bur A to 
fasten it when down at- night. In daytime D 
is raised about us marked in the plan and held 
so by a wire fastened at E (Fig. 120), hooked 
in a screw eye on D, giving desirable shade 
and keeping rain from beating inside. Let 
the roof project several inches over the parti¬ 
tions. It is very desirable to keep the brood 
dry; put the coop, therefore, on a little knoll, 
o that all the ruin must run from it and not 
EX-GOV. R. W. FURNAS. 
In the Rural New-Yorker of January 20 
last, under the caption, “Notes by a Stock- 
man,” in speaking of the cattle-men who occu¬ 
py the public lands in the Far West, the writ¬ 
er says: 
“It is not fair to stigmatize stockmen as 
land-grabbers aud monopolists. The land they 
occupy is useless for any other purpose. Farm¬ 
ing is absolutely impossible upon it. ... A 
stockman has at least equal rights with a farm¬ 
er. A farmer can have 100 acres for the cost 
of surveying it. Now, why should not the cab 
tie-men have equal privileges without being 
called land-grabbers and thieves?. . . The fu¬ 
tility of expecting to make the great plains ara¬ 
ble by means of artesian wells has been clearly 
shown by competent hydraulic engineers, who 
know precisely what a cubic foot of water will 
do and what a vast quantity of water an acre 
of land will evaporate in 24 hours in an arid 
A HANDY MICROSCOPE 
PROFESSOR A. J. COOK, 
[For IUuHfcraUon set) page ISO.] 
I am often asked for advice 1 n reference to the 
purchase of a microscope to be used in the study 
