APRIL? 
s 
ricties which succeed in Northern Vermont 
and New Hampshire may possibly be culti¬ 
vated to a limited extent. 
The craps must be wheat, oats, barley, roots 
and grass, though whether the cultivated 
grasses and clover will take Idndly to the re¬ 
gion is yet au unsettled problem. As a fixed 
law no country is possessed of au “ exhaustless 
fertility,” and this region is no exception to 
the law. The oldest settlers found there frank¬ 
ly acknowledge that their crops are decreasing, 
and are earnestly discussing the methods by 
which present returns can b° maintained. The 
one most favored, and which is to bo adojjted 
on no limited scale, is that of fallowing, or 
cultivating wheat only in alternate, or every 
third, year. 
The short Summers and long, excessively 
cold Winters, are not the only objections to 
the climate of the country for successful 
agriculture. The rainfall is deficient, and 
this fault is aggravated by the remarkable 
dryness of the air which absorbs the slight 
rainfalls from the soil very quickly. The rain¬ 
fall at Fort Keogh, iu tho Valley of the Yel¬ 
lowstone, from Jan. 1st to Oct. 1st, 1882, was 
but 8.77 inches; and the yearly average 15 
inches. At Bismarck, on the east bank of the 
Missouri River, the rainfall during the four 
growing months outlie Summer, averaged for 
eight years from 1874 to 18S3.11.45 inches, and 
for the same months and years tho average in 
Massachusetts was 15.80 inches; and for the 
year the average was 44.50 inches, or more 
than double that of Dakota and Montana, and 
the air of the former State has double the hu¬ 
midity. If our Atlantic seaboard has no sur¬ 
plus of rain, what is the condition of the 
Northwest ? 
Nearly all the desirable railroal and Gov¬ 
ernment lands along the line of tho Northern 
Pacific, and for many miles on either side of 
tho track, have passed into the possession of 
‘‘land operators,”and much of that of the 
Government has been obtained by fraud on the 
Homestead and Timber Culture Laws. Yet 
these lauds can be bought cheap as compared 
with laud iu the East, and there is limitless 
room for actual settlors. Such may make 
good homes foi their children, but must de¬ 
prive themselves of nearly all the privileges of 
civilization and endure great hardships. I 
have seen uothing iu the whole region to jus¬ 
tify mo iu recommending a poor man to emi¬ 
grate thither. But if a person has become tired 
of a cramped position iu the East, and has 
money enough to go there, pay for the erection 
of goou farm buildings and to support his fam¬ 
ily one year, bo may find himself the possessor 
of a comfortable home, and with enlarged op¬ 
portunities to use his talents and energies in 
creating the manifold privileges enjoyed by 
every dweller iu the East. 
ARE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES A 
FAILURE ? 
PROFESSOR W. W. TRACY OF MICH. 
In the Rural of .Tan. 0, 1 find an article by 
Peter Henderson, the general drift of which is 
antagonistic to agricultural colleges, and I can¬ 
not refrain from saying a word in reply. It 
has always been claimed by the friends of 
these colleges, that unless the student during 
the time necessary to secure a liberal educa¬ 
tion is so placed that ho can, not only be in 
sympathy with, but an actual participant iu 
the labors of the farm, at the completion of 
his course ho is so ignorant of the proper 
methods of performing such labor or has 
acquired such distate for it that he cannot suc¬ 
cessfully assume control of it, and our agricul¬ 
tural colleges were established to avoid the 
very evil Mr. Henderson points out, and which 
he thinks they have failed to do. It is certain¬ 
ly unfair to question a man’s ability in such a 
calling tis agriculture, until he has liad at least 
five years to demonstrate it; but the number 
of graduates of five years’ standing of agricul¬ 
tural colleges is so small that, even had every 
one of them proved a marked success they 
would still be “rarely seen”: there would 
scarcely lx- u one to seven counties," so we can 
only judge of the value of their college train¬ 
ing from the proportionate number of such 
students who prove successful. I do not know 
tho facts as to other institutions; but 1 do 
know that in our State no other classs of men 
of the same age can show such a largo pro¬ 
portionate number of eases of marked success 
iu agricultural pursuits as can be found among 
tho alumni of our agricultural college. Nor 
is this an unsupported statement; I could fill 
this issue of the Rural with evidence to this 
effect were it desirable to do so. Mr. Hender¬ 
son objects to the colleges giving u smattering 
of tho sciences when “a lifetime Is necessary 
to master auy one of them so as to be of any 
practical value to him.” I think he must bo 
unfamiliar with tho spirit of such institutions, 
which I believe is well exhibited by the words 
of one of tho professors upon first meeting his 
class iu chemistry, -‘Gentleman, I shall make 
no attempt to give you a knowledge of chem¬ 
istry; ail I hope to do is simply to point out 
America; but this has not been because of his 
practical knowledge alone—for there are sev¬ 
eral of his neighbors who, in this respect, are 
his equals, who have had no influence except 
as it has come through him. 
In conclusion, I ask the reader to read the 
earnest, eloquent article on Uupalaf ablc Truths 
by Chas. A. Green, published in the same 
number of the Rural (that for Jan. 6), and 
see if there is not much of truth in it. Are 
you satisfied with your present position l and 
do you not see much improvement in it within 
the last 20 years.’ Whence comes this improve¬ 
ment? Is it not true that it comes largely 
from the increasing number, power and influ¬ 
ence of such papers as the Rural? Now, 
the road to the temple of knowledge and pos¬ 
sibly give you tho key to tho outer door that 
you maj' enter aud in future years may secure 
some of the knowledge which is stored there 
for those who seek it.” This is and has been 
the spirit of our college, and I believe it is that 
of the (fillers. Besides, ho proves too much, 
for I think neither he nor the readers of the 
Rural are prepared to say that Dr. Byron D. 
Halstead has obtained no results of practical 
value in botany; Prof. A. J. Cook, in ento¬ 
mology; or Prof. Peimhallow in chemistry; 
yet they are all young men with the promise 
of many years of usefulness before them, and 
they all commenced their studies in these 
sciences at agricultural colleges. 
and Composite families, are of great import 
an.ee to the apiarist. A. J. Cook. 
3 rrr.pl tmznU, kc 
MOORE COUNTY GRIT. 
The peculiar formation and composition of 
this stone have under the energetic man¬ 
agement of the North Carolina Millstone Co. ,of 
Parkewood, Moore Co., N. C., made for it a 
name that has forced it into the front rank of 
com mill stones in the short space of three 
years since the company undertook to work 
the quarries. The company started in a small 
way, but now have about 40 or 50 men engaged 
in building two sizes of portable com mill and 
quarrying millstones of all sizes, the cut we 
give below being a fair representation of their 
30 and 38-inch mills. The great claim for this 
The Partridge Pea— From Nature— Fig. 163. 
Mr. Henderson mentions a man who was re¬ 
placed atone of the colleges simply because 
he lacked polish in the lecture room. I think he 
gives data enough to enable me to recognize 
tho case, and if I do 1 can assure him from per¬ 
sonal knowledge that he has certainly been 
misinformed; as simple lack of ‘‘polish” was 
no part of the reason for tho change. I agree 
with Mr. Henderson in thinking that the 
professors at such institutions should be prac¬ 
tically familiar with the work of the farm, 
and my experience has been sufficient to know 
that no high degree of such practical knowl¬ 
edge can be obtained without a natural love 
for, and long experience in, the work; but 
during the past 15 years I have been more or 
less intimately connected as student and teacher 
with our State College, and during that time 
I have seen tho experiment of employing 
men who have only “practical” knowledge 
carefully and honestly tried, and the result has 
always been a failure. It needs but little 
knowledge of human nature to see that a pro¬ 
fessor who tells his class in draining that it is 
desirable to put tarred paper over the* joints of 
the rile “in order to keep the atmospheric pres¬ 
sure out of them,” will fail to gain their re¬ 
spect, and that they will soon come to lose all 
respect for the department ho controls—and 
just such cases are always occurring where 
the teacher is simply a "prncti.-al man.” What 
the friends of these institutions most earnestly 
desire is to secure men who combine this prac- 
from their number, as compared with the 
mass of farmers, the graduates of our agricul¬ 
tural colleges would not be entitled to a col¬ 
umn a year in this paper (particularly if we 
consider their age), yet the truth of the matter 
is one can scarcely take up a single number 
without finding one or more of the most valu¬ 
able articles are written by these graduates. 
A second potent influence for good is the in¬ 
creasing number and interest in agricultural 
institutes, conventions and societies. Consid¬ 
ering their comparative numbers alone, their 
graduates are scarcely entitled to a hearing 
at such meetings, but in our State such meet¬ 
ings are rarely held without some of the most 
prominent parts being taken by them. In 
view of all this can we rightfully say that, as 
judged by t.he work they are doing, the grad¬ 
uates of our agricultural colleges have re¬ 
ceived no benefit from the time spent in study? 
stone as a corn-meal grinder, is that it wears 
differently from a French buhr or Eusophus 
stone, while its nature makes it impossible to 
glaze, a very serious difficulty with any other 
stone and buhr in use. In the second place, 
the meal it makes is, it is claimed, lighter, 
rounder and more bulky than meal ground on 
any other stone. It is claimed that a bushel 
of corn ground by these stones will produce in 
bulk a bushel and fourteen quarts of meal, 
which is, of course, very light meal and such 
as is particularly adapted for the table. The 
stone, not glazing, requires less picking or 
dressing than ordinary stone, a very desirable 
feature in millstone. Of course, we have had 
no experience with the stone ourselves, and 
merely present the statements of the trust¬ 
worthy Sim that offers the stone and mills 
for sale. 
RIDING CULTIVATORS. 
nan mi 
I have used a riding cultivator for about 
ten years and I think it is a very good thing. 
As a rule, however, a farmer that uses one is 
called a lazy fellow, but as a general thing my 
corn is as good as that of my neighbors and 
also as free from weeds. It is very true the 
majority of riding plows are failures, and are 
a damage to a farmer at any price; but be 
cause one wont work some will condemn all. 
It is true a riding plow is a little heavier on a 
team than a walking ) 'low: but the wheels are 
so much larger that there is not as much dif¬ 
ference as would be supposed. A riding culti¬ 
vator can be used any place where a walking 
cultivator can. I use mine in the garden as 
well as in the field and potato patch. 
The rows should not be less than three 
or more than four feet apart. My plow 
is also arranged in such a manner that 
the operator can change it to a walking culti¬ 
vator in less time than it takes to write an 
account of it. But. as far as the quality of 
work is concerned, I can see no difference be¬ 
tween the work of the riding and that of the 
walking cultivator. On the other hand, I 
would not advise any funner to buy a riding 
plow unless it could bo changed to a walking 
plow, as a person will get as tired by riding all 
day as bv walking. But if you can change off 
occasionally you will not feel nearly as tired 
when night comes. “Cornstalk.” 
Monticello, Iowa. 
Among the many plants which 1 receive each 
year from the bee-keepers throughout the 
United States, as furnishing abundant ueetar 
for the bees, no one comes more frequently, or 
from a wider range of territory, than tho 
Hand Plows Better than Sulkies; Oxen 
Better than Horses. 
I have 400 acres to plow every Fall, and 
can’t reckon on more than 10 weeks at most to 
do it in. I have a 16-inch sulky and two 16- 
inch hand-plows. On the sulky I place three 
horses, and on each hand-plow one yoke of 
oxen. The three plows turn over about eight 
aeres per day. I have bought two more hand- 
plows and am now looking for more oxen. I 
hammer the hand-plows so that they will run 
alone. This is easily done, as there are no 
roots or rocks or rough ground to tip them. 
One man can drive two or three yoke of oxen 
