OCT 47 
708 
a glance at its topography. Nearly two- 
thirds of it on the west is occupied by the 
Rocky Mountains. The eastern one-third 
consists of an undulating plain, occasionally 
rising into gradual or abrupt elcvatious that 
vary in hight from a few feet to a few hun¬ 
dred feet. These are generally termed hills 
or ridges; but the more elevated ones are 
occasionally dignified with the title of 
“buttes.” These pin ins have an altitude vary¬ 
ing from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea lev¬ 
el, and descend from the base of the moun¬ 
tains at an incline of from ten to 20 feet per 
mile. Much of the soil is light, sandy and 
gravelly, though there is much of it of a very 
fine clayey loam. Where sufficient water 
can be procured for agricultural purposes, 
these soils prove to be very productive. But 
the lack of sufficient rainfall for such purposes 
makes successful farming impossible with¬ 
out irrigation. True, during the months of 
July and August, there are frequent showers 
that, in some years furnish abuudant mois¬ 
ture for growing crops at that season of the 
year; but during the Spring and early Sum¬ 
mer, and most of the Fall, there is but little, 
if auy, rain in those regions. 
Iu the mountain regions there are numer¬ 
ous parks that are susceptible of cultivation to 
some extent. The most important of these 
are the North. Middle. South and San Luis 
Parks. These parks are comparatively level 
tracts of couutr • ^partially or entirely inclosed 
by mountain ranges. They are favored with 
more or less rain; and successful farmiug is 
carried on at many places within their limits. 
Though occupying a comparatively high 
level, they are so surrounded by mountains 
and the modifying influence of these is so 
beneficial that tnauy crops are raised with 
success. 
Many river and creek valleys furnish ex¬ 
cellent lands for farmiug and gardening pur¬ 
poses. This is especially the case with the 
Platte and its tributaries on the north, and the 
Arkansas and its tributaries in the central and 
southern portions of the State. These valley 
lands, being exceedingly rich and easily 
reached with water for irrigation, produce 
wonderful crops. As the mining regions are 
generally too high for the growing of farm 
and garden products, these rich valley lands 
are generally employed iu raising supplies 
for the support of the mining population of 
the State. These products generally com¬ 
mand good prices and make the “ranch” 
business a profitable pursuit. Potatoes, on¬ 
ions and other garden products are largely 
raised for the mining markets. This part of 
the State seems to be peculiarly adapted to 
the production of onions, beets, cabbages and 
turnips. For some reason potatoes do not 
succeed in the Arkansas Valley below this 
point; but the parks and higher valleys, onlv 
a few miles above this, are exceedingly well 
adapted to this crop. Thousands of bushels 
of os fine potatoes as I ever saw are annu¬ 
ally raised in those valleys. 
This vicinity is proving to be a remarkable 
fruit region. The early settlers having to 
bring their trees across the Plainstfn wagons, 
had very poor success with their first attempts 
in this line;aud then, to add to their discom¬ 
fiture. the Rocky Mountain Locust, or the 
hateful grasshopper came down in clouds on 
thou* young orchards and left neither leaf nor 
bark on the trees. Many became discouraged 
and gave up the contest; a few persevered 
and are now reaping a rich reward for their 
perseverance. All kinds of fruits adapted to 
a temperate climate, except peaches, are 
proving a graudsuccess here. I believe this 
county can boast of as fine grapes, pears and 
plums as any that are brought here from 
California whence we have had large quanti¬ 
ties in the past. This is stimulating exten¬ 
sive planting of both small and orchard fruits, 
and there can be no doubt that in the near 
future the Arkansas Valley in Colorado will 
be one of the most successful fruit regions in 
the West. 
Fremont Co., Colo. 
THE EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND. 
Tuts section of the country, with its mani¬ 
fold natural advantages, ought to be better 
known. Possessed of a mild climate, its com¬ 
pared with many places in similar latitudes, 
outdoor work is seldom interrupted the year 
through for more than a few days at a time. 
All of the principal cities of the North are 
reached in a few hours by railroad aud 
steamer. Produce is gathered one morning 
and marketed in New York the next. If the 
capabilities of this peninsula wore thoroughly 
known, a heavy tide of immigration would he 
turned this wnv. As it is. but little effort is 
put forth to secure either capital or labor, 
both of which are sadly needed, being the ttvv 
things needful to make this part of the 
country little less than an Eden. Every 
county has railroads and navigable waters. 
THE RNRM. NEW-YORKER. 
Improved lands in favored localities com¬ 
mand a ; ood price. Impoverished lands can 
be purchased cheaply. By cheaply, I mean 
at from $5 to $10 per acre. Good farms 
somet imes reach the exceptional figures of $50 
per acre. Peaches and all small fruits are 
easily and profitably grown. Fish, oysters, 
diamond back terrapin, C’anvass-back Duck, 
etc., can be had at one’s own door almost. 
But to particularize—that part of Dorchester 
County bordering on the Choptank River 
presents more advantages and fewer draw¬ 
backs than any place I know of. Fine 
oysters can be had for the taking, or may be 
bought for ten cents aud upwards per bushel. 
Fish may be obtained for the catching. Ter¬ 
rapin and duck are not so plentiful, and the 
prices rule high. Trucking is very profitable, 
and the producer has the choice of several 
markets. The principal part of the trade 
with Baltimore is carried on by steamers; that 
with Philadelphia, New York and other 
points, by rail. Lively competition keeps 
down freight rates, and telegraphic com¬ 
munication with the commercial centers 
enables the shipper to discriminate in his 
choice of markets. 
Cambridge has just been incorporated as a 
city, and has its mayor and council. It has 
about 3,000 inhabitants aud is rapidly building 
up. It is one of the must progressive towns of 
the peninsula and is claimed to be the hand¬ 
somest town in the state. Its educational 
facilities are excellent, aud the whole county 
is dotted with well-appointed primary schools 
that are open about eight and a half months 
each year. Churches are numerous—M. E,, 
M P., M. E. South. P. E., aud Baptist prin¬ 
cipally, with an occasional Catholic and 
Presbyterian church. 
There are nearly six thousand voters in the 
county, about evenly divided between the two 
great parties, which fact insures good oounty 
government. “ Local option ” prevails in 
nearly, if not quite, all tho election districts, 
and drunken men are rarely seen. 
In conclusion, I would say that energy or 
mone 3 r , or both, can find no better place in 
which to locate than this maligned and little 
known Eastern Shore of Maryland. 
Dorchester Co., Md. “Dorset.” 
Long-Stalked Corn. Unruly Horses. 
Can you tell us what is the use of so much 
legs or stalks as Southern or dent corn usual¬ 
ly h is? Unless for ensilage, which I don't 
know about, I must think the snug, leafy, 
short stalked Yankee corn much nearer the 
ideal corn plant. 
[If you send flint corn South and cultivate 
it a few years it will become dented. So also 
the dent corns when cultivated North incline 
to harden. One of the heaviest yields of the 
long-legged, tall-growing dents, the Chester 
Co. Mammoth, ever recorded was raised at tho 
Rural Farm several years ago. But the cal's are 
carried high and it lodges badly inhigh winds. 
These sorts yield more heavily in the South. 
But farmers ought to try to breed smaller 
stalks.—E ds.1 
In a recent run-away accident hei e, by the 
running off of a fore wheel, our County Sher¬ 
iff had his skull fractured and nearly lost his 
life. In view of the multitude of such acci¬ 
dents, why does not some inventor immortal¬ 
ize and enrich himself by inventing some 
safety-rein or check whereby unruly horses 
can be held in or thrown? If there benny 
such, I have never heard of it. Most, wonder¬ 
ful that man has tamed wind and steam aud 
lightening, but not the skittish horse! My own 
idea is, that in every district where horses are 
used, there should be thorough, accepted, pro¬ 
fessional horse breakers or tamers as well as 
teachers for children. A few dollars spent 
for the services of such a man on each horse 
should add four times the outlay to the anim¬ 
al’s value and vastly lessen the abominable ac¬ 
cidents now prevailing fromiU-broken horses. 
Delavau, Wis. T . k. phoenix. 
-♦ » » 
THE CALIFORNIA RAISIN CROP. 
The raisin crop in California this season is 
almost a failure oxccpt in Fresno County. 
Wo had a very light ruin-full last Winter and 
a hot, blighting wind early in June, ami these 
conditions caused tho failure. The Muscat 
of Alexandria (our raisin grape) was the prin¬ 
cipal sufferer. Tho wine grape suffered but 
little. No more than oue-fifih of a crop of 
raisins will be made this season. The whole 
crop will not exceed 75,000 boxes of 20pounds 
each, and they will he mostly of second qual 
ity. It- is only two years ago last Spring that 
vine-planting was commenced iu Fresno Co.; 
and cuttiugs were planted, there beiug very 
few rooted vines to be had. Rooted vines will 
cave about one-half a year iu time of bearing 
and an advantage worth at least 50 cents a vine 
will be gained by planting roots, I hey are 
worth from $15 to $25 per 1,000; while cuttings 
an be had from $S.50 to $7. 
One vineyard of eight acres, two-and-a-half 
years from cuttings, has yielded over four tons 
per acre. One man has half an acre of rooted 
vines two-and-a-half years old, from which he 
will have 75 boxes of raisins, and he sold over 
1,000 pounds of grapes fresh from the vines. 
Tree-fruits grow as well as grapes. 
* Fresno Co., Cal. G. G. briggs. 
Essays on Agricultural Education. 
I am glad the Rural so frequently calls at¬ 
tention to agricultural education. If the ref¬ 
erence to it in the issue of October 13, should 
cause a renewal of the discussion of the work 
of our agricultural colleges, I hope attention 
will be given, by the writers, to practical 
suggestions concerning what these institutions 
should do, under the conditions created by the 
United States and State laws relating to them. 
I think I may say those connected with these 
institutions will glad ly rearl auy practicable 
plans for increasing the number of students of 
agriculture; outlines of courses of study, etc., 
and I think such articles would be more in 
point than discussions as to what the laws 
ought to have been and what State Legisla¬ 
tures should have planned in establishing 
the colleges. G. e. morrow. 
NOTES. 
The best grapes yet tested here are Salem 
aud Worden, l have seen them nearly cover¬ 
ed by grass and weeds and entirely unpruned 
and uncovered for four or five years at least, 
and they were loaded with nice fruit—just as 
nice as that on my own which are given clean 
culture and are pruned and covered every Au. 
tnmn; but the unkempt fruit is at least ten 
days later this season, although the soil, alti¬ 
tude and exposure are natural]}- the same. 
A neighbor has one Guinea hen which has 
laid 159 eggs this season; who can beat that? 
This has been the worst season for the pear 
blight. Our neighbor’s trees on a hard knoll 
in Quack Grass never plowed .have all but one 
been stricken very badly. rustic. 
Volunteer Apple-trees. 
Kennebec County. Maine, seems like the 
native land of the apple. The trees spring up 
from chance seed by the road-sides and in 
pastures, and grow with extraordinary hardi¬ 
hood and persistence. They are attacked by 
man and beast,, with axes, scythes and brows¬ 
ing mouths; hut they quietly persist, and after 
many years they get to a size that commands 
respect from their foes. Some farmers have 
obtained large and productive orchards bv en¬ 
couraging and grafting these volunteers. I 
have not less than 500 of them on my own 
land. I find that no transplanted trees will 
respond so quickly to the encouragement of a 
little mulch, ora little fertilizer. I suppose it 
is because they have pushed their roots out so 
far in search of food and have a much larger 
number of feeders than the transplants. 
Manchester, Me. c. G. a. 
Keeping Sweet Potatoes. —A correspon¬ 
dent of the Farm and Garden has tried 
several ways of keeping sweet potatoes 
during the Wiuter. and finds that they 
keep best by being put up in dust. 
In the Summer wtaeu the dust is very dry he 
takes as many barrels or boxes as he may want 
to fill with potntoesand fills them with road dust 
and puts them away in a dry place to keep un¬ 
til he digs his potatoes. He prefers digging 
before frost. He digs them aud lets them dry 
in the sun: then they are stored away in a 
cool place; they are spread singly over the floor 
so as not to heat or sweat. When cold weather 
sets iu they are taken and stored in the cellar. 
The bottom of the barrel or box is covered with 
about throe inches of dust, then comes a layer 
of potatoes os close as they con be placed with¬ 
out touching. They are then covered with 
dust, theu comes another layer of potatoes, 
and so on, until the barrel or box is nearly 
full, then it is tilled up with dust. 
Rye for Green Manure.— The N. Y. 
Sun says that Mr. White, writing to the Al¬ 
bany Cultivator, in favor of the use of green 
rye for manuring land, makes a statement 
which our farmers should remember when 
raising auy kind of crop to be turned under 
for the purpose of enriching laud He says 
clover cannot be substituted for rye in .young 
orchards, as it is injurious instead of bene¬ 
ficial. It makes its growth in Summer, its 
roots penetrating deep, while rye makes its 
growth in Fall and early Spring, and its roots 
keep close to the surface. It may be readily 
understood wh y a plant making its most rapid 
growth in Summer should be injuriousto fruit 
trees, as it draws moisture from the soil at a 
season when it is most needed by the trees; and 
for this reason seeding down orchards is ob¬ 
jectionable, unless they are on very moist and 
rich soil. Mr. White also makes another 
good point when he states that rye being 
plowed under in Spring, any injury to the 
roots of trees is soon repaired, when if injured 
in Summer the trees would receive a check to 
their growth. 
-»♦» 
Onion Sets, the Garden says, may be 
planted in the Fall, with a favorable prospect 
of obtaining large onioDS earlier in Spring 
than could be had in any other way: and con¬ 
sidering the risk in wintering sets, Fall plant¬ 
ing is perhaps the safest plan. In this case it 
is absolutely necessary that the ground should 
be in the best condition and perfectly drained. 
Onion sets have a poor chance to survive in 
stagnant water and ice. After the ground 
becomes frozen hard, the beds should be cov¬ 
ered lightly to prevent frequent thawings. 
A GOOD place to sow rye, says the New Eng¬ 
land Farmer, is on land that has been in corn 
the past season. Clear off the corn, plow the 
the land, manure or fertilize if necessary, and 
sow on from one-and-a-half to three or four 
bushels of seed, according to the character of 
the crop desired. If for fodder only, thick 
seeding is best, but if grass is to be grown with 
the rye, or if the main crop is for seed, thin¬ 
ner sowing is to be preferred. Next Spring, 
when the rye is just beginning to run up and 
is making stems, it will be ready to begin to 
cut. and feed; and when the haymows are 
empty and the pastures still brown, this rich, 
green food will be as acceptable to all kinds of 
stock as anything one can give them, and will 
be a very cheap food too. 
Speaking of Alfalfa Professor Shelton, of 
Kansas, tells the Live Stock Indicator that he 
cannot recommend this plant as a hay pro¬ 
ducer in any country where it rains. If cut a 
little too late in the season, the leaves fall off 
in handling, leaving the hard, woody stalks, 
which are entirely worthless. It must be cut 
early, and given plenty of field room: but if* 
while in the field, a rain happens to fall, the 
Alfalfa is reduced to the condition of manure in 
an incredibly short time. For early and late 
pasture, and especiallv for hay pastures. Alfal¬ 
fa has no rival among our so-called tame 
grasses. 
— - » 
Weeds. —No doubt weeds have their good 
uses in the economy of nature, but they are 
clearly not any friends of the farmer, says the 
London Farm and Home. Sir J. B. Lawes has 
published his experience with regard to them, 
whi'-h has upset the theories he held some few 
yeare ago. He had an experimental eight- 
acre plot of mangels, which had grown noth¬ 
ing but roots for 40 yeai*s, and had always 
been heavily manured. This was kept per¬ 
fectly free from weeds, and now shows a grand 
crop. On the other hand, 30 acres of mangels 
heavily manured with dung, in addition to 
one and a half hundred-weight of nitrate of 
soda per acre, as a top-dressing, does not show 
anything like so well, because the weeds grew 
apace with great rapidity, quicker, indeed, 
than he could destroy them. Upon the diffi¬ 
culty of keeping the land clear, he concludes 
that tho weeds absorbed more of the nitrogen 
from the. soil than was snppli d by the nitrate 
of soda. Sir J. B. Lawes, therefore, concludes 
that every weed must be looked upon as a 
thief, which appropriates to itself the food 
which is intended to support the crop. 
At a council meeting of the British Dairy 
Farmers’Association, Mr, Simpson stated that, 
like others, he used to take pride iti seeing his 
Jerseys well bedded with good wheat straw— 
an expensive item—but. he had since discover¬ 
ed that in eating their bedding the cows effec¬ 
tually dried up their milk This he hail proved 
by substituting some material, such as ferns, 
which the animals did not eat, the result being 
that in a shed of 24 cows he obtained an in¬ 
crease of two quarts on au average per cow. 
This is an important discovery, the Dairy 
thinks, and is another recommendation of 
using peat moss as litter. 
Potatoes, says the London Agricultural 
Gazette are much less likely to rot if stored 
in bins a foot or more above the cellar-bottom. 
This arrangement gives opportunity to pick 
them over in case of disease. The requisites of 
a good potato store-room are that it be capable, 
1 , of being made perfectly dark; 3, of being 
easily and quickly ventilated, and, 3, of being 
kept constantly within a range of from 33 
